Naruto: Hunt for the Nine Rings

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To everyone else who read and reviewed thank you for your time and attention

"Normal Speech"

'Normal Thought'

"Demon/Large Summon Speech"

'Demon/Large Summon Thought'

Jutsu, Kung Fu Technique, Ring Power

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Marvel, or even the original idea for this story. All I own is any of my original ideas.

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Chapter 2: Hunter or Hunted

(Well Past Midnight, Forest Miles from Konoha)

Moonlight shone down across the vast forest that surrounded Konoha. Naruto Uzumaki looked up from his perch in a tree. He'd left Konoha behind hours ago, using the secret tunnel hidden behind his parent's property to bypass the gate. The passage had ended in a hollow tree trunk hidden a mile outside of Konoha. He'd emerged mere moments ago and was now taking in his surroundings. It was kind of ironic, escaping the Leaf Village through a tree; he'd probably inherited his mother's sense of humor.

He let out a sigh before he started moving again. He knew that the old man wouldn't let him go so easily and he wanted to get as much distance as possible before his pursuers started looking outside the village.

'Keeps me there with lies and half-truths, thinking to make me a loyal fool for the village to abuse.' Naruto thought bitterly. "No more." he spat aloud. He hadn't gotten to ask the Hokage about the seal, and he probably wouldn't have trusted the old fool with it even if he'd remembered it.

"I'll find someone to do it. After all Konoha isn't the only ninja village in the world and now it's wide open for me." The blond muttered with a small grin on his face. He clutched his mother's diary in his hand; the ring on his left pinky glowed and pulsed slightly, seemingly as eager as the blonde to finally be free again.

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(Earlier, Konoha)

Hiruzen Sarutobi wondered how things could go so wrong so quickly. Iruka and Kakashi had reported to him and he'd explained some of what happened, leaving out Naruto's parentage.

"He's given up. Learning about the Kyūbi must have been one blow too many for the boy to accept." explained the aged Hokage sadly, Naruto's hitai-ate resting on the desk in front of him. "And what's worse is he's planning on leaving Konoha. We can't let him go. He knows nothing of the world beyond our walls. He needs to be here, where he is safe."

Iruka agreed to look for him and quickly left. Hiruzen, however, held Kakashi back for a moment. "Check around the Namikaze estate. I think Naruto's been spotted around there." instructed the aged kage.

Kakashi looked at the Hokage strangely, raising his one visible eyebrow. "Why would he go there? The barrier and seals surrounding it are lethal and haven't let anyone pass since sensei's death." The one-eyed Jounin asked.

"Be that as it may, start your search there." the Hokage responded quickly, he didn't need anyone else finding out the secret behind Naruto's heritage, just giving Kakashi that information was risking much but it was necessary for finding the boy quickly. As of now he wasn't sure how he was going to get Naruto to keep it a secret when he was returned. He may be forced to take drastic measures to ensure the boy's cooperation, but it would all be for the best in the end. In time the village would accept him and he would learn to love the village as his father had and all would be well. It had to be.

Kakashi nodded and left.

Hiruzen looked at the orb and sighed. It had failed to show him Naruto since shortly after the boy had left his office, which meant he was either in a place with powerful barriers or was outside the village's walls already.

"Where are you my boy?" he asked the wind desperately, staring out from his office's window. The wind gave no answers or comfort to the old man.

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(Predawn Hours of Morning, Forest Miles from Konoha)

Naruto awoke with a snort and looked around. Something had woken him; he knew that as he saw the moon still and the sky and the sun hadn't even begun to rise.

He looked around, searching for what awakened him, and then he heard it, the soft jingling of the bells connected to alarm strings he'd had his clones set around the perimeter before he'd stopped to rest. Someone was coming, and they were coming fast. Naruto quickly shook his head to clear the mist and began leaping higher and moving away. Closing his eyes and concentrating he could hear movement coming closer and closer. He could also smell dogs, his nose naturally sharper than normal and well accustomed to the scent from hanging around Kiba for so long.

'Damn it.' Naruto thought. 'The old man's already aware I'm not in Konoha anymore. Bet he used that damn orb. Well then Sandaime Hokage-sama, if you thought my time in Konoha avoiding the Anbu after my pranks was something, let's see what I can do with wide open spaces and no walls to trap me with. It's time to put my prankster skills to some more effective use.' He was already plotting traps as he passed by a wasp nest. "Yeah, this will help nicely with the dogs." he whispered to himself, a malevolent smirk forming on his features. Time to show Konoha why you don't mess with a prank-master.

~~~ XXXXX ~~~

"Pakkun, are you certain the trail leads out here?" Kakashi asked his faithful ninken companion.

"I'm telling you, the scent we picked up outside the Yondaime's compound disappeared and then sprung up again about a couple miles outside the village. Now it's moving even farther away from Konoha." responded the nin-pug in his gravelly voice.

Kakashi shook his head wondering how Naruto entered the Namikaze estate and left outside the wall. 'The Hokage isn't telling me something, but Sensei didn't have children…he wasn't even married. He would have told me…if he even knew.' Kakashi thought as he followed his ninken further from Konoha, suddenly remembering his sensei mentioning dating someone during the war. If where his line of thinking was leading him was correct, then the Hokage owed him a shit load of answers.

"Hold up." Pakkun said as he sniffed a branch they landed on. "He was here for some time, a couple hours maybe. Probably resting…something spooked him. He bolted out of here no more than ten, maybe fifteen, minutes ago."

Kakashi knelt and ran a hand over the branch feeling the warmth still lingering on the wood. Noting a small glimmer of metal he picked up a small bell. "He must have set up alarms to warn him if anyone was approaching. Which way?" questioned the one-eyed nin.

Pakkun leapt to another tree and sniffed and then to another. He landed on a third when something snapped, before an object slammed into the branch. Kakashi's eye widened as he realized it was a wasp nest and Pakkun was being swarmed by the angry insects that soon began to sting him rapidly, the ninken yelping in pain all the while.

Kakashi quickly dispelled his summons and the dog vanished in a puff of smoke, further irritating the wasps. Kakashi leapt down to avoid the pissed off bugs, now was not the time to flare his chakra and alert his prey with a Katon technique. He summoned another dog to try and pick up the scent, but with the wasps up and about, they couldn't get close enough to pick up the origional trail.

"We'll have to circle at a distance and try and find the trail." Kakashi said to the ninken, this one a small beagle-like dog with tan fur, a white snout, long ears that had darker brown color and whisker marks.

The dog nodded before leaping to another branch, but Kakashi knew that the trail was getting cold fast. He didn't know which way Naruto had gone, or even if he'd gone higher or lower in the thick branches. Now, he was worried that Naruto was getting further away with each moment wasted, and the blond probably had more tricks up his sleeve.

If only he knew how right he was.

~~~ XXXXX ~~~

Naruto created a dozen clones and quickly began rubbing his feet with theirs to give them an actual scent.

He looked back the way he'd came and the various wire traps he'd set up with some of his clones, all hidden and designed to either confuse, delay, or disable his pursuers. He advised several of the Kage Bunshin to plant explosive tags and other traps along their paths to throw off whoever was tracking him; after all if one route was trapped more than the others it would probably give away his route. A thought suddenly sprang to his mind as he created two more Kage Bunshin. "You two, follow him," he pointed to the clone heading northwest, the opposite way he was going, "and set down some extra traps, hopefully that'll make them think I'm going that way."

The clones all nodded in unison, before leaping off in their assigned directions.

Leaping higher, Naruto put on the speed, stopping every hour or so to create more clones to scatter and leave false trails and to set up more traps, altering the direction and number of traps with each group to prevent forming a pattern, and occasionally altering his own path to keep himself from going in one general direction for too long. The whole time he kept moving, the destination in his mind was a perfect place to get lost in. He'd seen it on the large map in the Hokage's office.

'Now I need to get to Wave.' he thought to himself as he tried to remember all the villages up and down the coast from the map. 'I really need a map and time to plan. Hopefully I can find a quiet place along the coast to start planning my next move.' thought the blonde as he leapt to another branch. To him this was just like evading the Chūnin, Jounin, and Anbu after a prank, only on a much bigger playing field. He'd trained himself better than anything the academy ever taught him and no one even noticed. The only teacher who ever cared was Iruka and that was the only reason the scar-nosed Chūnin had ever caught him.

'I'll make you proud of me mom. They threw me away; well guess what happens when you throw away a real diamond in the rough.' the blonde smirked as he vowed to read his mother's diary once he found a secure enough place to hide out for a while.

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(Late in the Morning, Konoha)

Iruka sighed as he entered the Hokage's office. "I am sorry Lord Hokage, but I wasn't able to find Naruto anywhere in Konoha." stated the instructor sadly as he stood in front of the desk at rigid attention.

"Kakashi hasn't reported back yet, I believe he might be on the trail." The Hokage said taking a puff off his pipe, he hadn't slept all night and needed the relaxing effects of his personal bland of tobacco just to stay calm right now.

"I checked with the gate guards, they haven't seen him, or so they claim at least." reported Iruka with a hint of disgust.

"What do you mean?" the Hokage asked quickly.

"Out of the four gates I checked, three sets of guards said that even if the 'demon' passed through they wouldn't care and their exact words were, "I hope the little monster did leave, he'll probably be dead by the end of the night." And let me tell you Lord Hokage, I reported them to Ibiki before coming here." stated Iruka with more than a little anger edging into his voice

Hiruzen sighed. "And the last gate?" he asked, hoping for some positive news for once.

"Izumo and Kotetsu both asked if they could help with the search and called in a couple favors to summon someone to take over for them at the gate." Iruka said, a small smile edging on his face. "Sir, if Naruto is outside the walls, I request a team with those two and Hana Inuzuka as our tracker."

The Hokage thought about it, "Why Hana Inuzuka?"

"She's the only Inuzuka I know for a fact that bears no ill-will toward Naruto. I can't speak for the rest of her clan, but Hana and I were classmates and her brother calls Naruto, if not a friend, than an acquaintance and she's never had anything bad to say about him. We can't risk someone who hates Naruto interfering with the search out of spite." answered Iruka quickly.

The Hokage nodded in agreement. "Granted. Gather your team and report back, I'll have a mission scroll prepared."

Iruka paused and looked at the Hokage.

"This way I have a reason for letting a team of Chūnin out for an extended period of time. Also ensure all three know that this is to be kept below the radar, I don't want to let anyone learn about Naruto leaving until we have to." explained the aged Kage

"You think it will take that long?" asked Iruka

"Better safe than sorry, Naruto isn't going to be caged in by walls this time and, as upset as he is, I don't think he's going to come back willingly for some time." The Hokage finally admitted.

Iruka nodded before saluting and heading out to gather his team.

"If you see Kakashi, send him back immediately, I have a job for him incase Naruto stays out too long." added the Hokage as Iruka turned to leave

Iruka nodded as he hurried off. Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Sandaime Hokage of Konohagakure put his head in his hands wondering what he could do to make things right.

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(Same time, Miles away)

Naruto sighed as he sat against a trunk several feet off the ground. He sipped the water from his canteen; thanking the Kami he'd filled it before leaving his family's home.

"What do you think boss?" one of the shadow clones asked from where he preparing another trap while the original regained his breath.

"We keep heading for the coast, and then we start traveling south along it." answered Naruto. "Eventually we should hit a village or a trading post. I'll be able to buy some supplies and we'll see where we can find a boat to Wave. If we have any luck at all we may even find a place to hunker down until the heat dies down a bit before grabbing a boat."

The clone scratched its head, a perfect imitation of the original. "Wouldn't it be better to go somewhere else? I mean, Wave is isolated, true…but…"

Naruto shook his head, glad that the clones proved that they could think independently. That would prove useful in the future.

"It doesn't have any treaties with Konoha so there's no reason for Konoha shinobi to be there, and it would be the last place they look for me. They don't have any ninja either so there's less chance someone will be able to find me if I want to stay hidden." answered the original as he screwed the cap back onto his canteen.

The clone smirked. "So we did pay attention to what Iruka was saying."

Naruto nodded, his act of sleeping allowed him to listen and learn more than when he was "paying attention" in class and teachers weren't sabotaging his work. He would have stopped it with Iruka-sensei, but he had gotten too used to it by then and it hadn't seemed worth the effort to ruin the image he'd made to trick the other teachers.

He looked at the clone. "Keep watch for a bit, I want to at least start reading mom's diary. Her letter indicated it would be a big help, and maybe I can learn something about this ring." He said gesturing to the Kōriwa on his pinky.

"Hey, how come we don't get one?" the clone asked looking at his bare hand.

Naruto thought a moment then shrugged. "My guess would be because of its nature. It's a unique and ancient weapon filled with a lot of chakra and power. Makes sense that it would be protected from being copied."

The clone nodded. "Have fun reading boss." stated the clone cheerfully as it leapt away to start patrolling the area.

Naruto pulled his mother's diary out and, after tracing the spiral on the front cover, opened it to the first page, smiling slightly at seeing the now familiar scrawl of his mother's handwriting.

~~~ XXXXX ~~~

I think this is stupid, but mom told me it would be beneficial to write out my thoughts and use it to record my training. She says to write in it like I'm trying to teach someone else what I'm learning, says it'll help me remember it better and that I never know when it will come in handy. I still don't get it, besides this is so GIRLY! I mean yeah, I'm a girl, but I'm not a wimp either. This reminds me of those merchant girls I see passing through. All dolled up and dressed like pretty little princesses. YUCK! I mean technically I'm a princess and you couldn't force me to dress like that!

(Sigh) but I'll do as mom says, and who knows, it might not be bad to vent at someone that won't flick me between the eyes or tell me to mind my manners. Sometimes I hate being a princess, having manners sucks ass.

Anyways, I refuse to write dear diary. I'll talk to you like a person, so…

Hello, how are you? My name is Kushina Uzumaki, age 12.

Today I started learning the first form, that's what grandpa says that the different styles of Wushu are called, of my family's school of martial arts. He says that each style is based around a central stance, or form, and that all techniques in the style extend from it. It's funny that most of the forms are named after animals, but as I watch mom and gramps practiced their own, I couldn't help but be mesmerized. For a crotchety old man, Gramps moves so smoothly, and mom moved almost like she was dancing. I want to learn so badly. Anyways, the first form is called Rabbit, it's really fast, with lots of quick, darting movement, and focuses a lot on defense and quick flurries of light attacks…

~~~ XXXXX ~~~

Naruto read on before picking up one of the scrolls his mother talked about. His curiosity was piqued as he closed the diary after reading several entries about her own studies and day to day lessons. He discovered from one entry that the diary would continue to add pages and never show it, there were seals built in and Naruto knew that he would add to it himself, so his children could learn from both him and their grandmother.

Opening the scroll with the Rabbit symbol he saw diagrams of stances and movements as he skimmed through the instructions, noticing that the style of the scroll's writing was similar to the handwriting in the diary but much neater. He realized that his mother spent time copying her family's scrolls when she was younger.

'I will learn all of it mom. I swear.' Naruto vowed to himself as he read the directions and looked at the diagrams of the movements. He could picture his mother painstakingly copying the clan scrolls into a new form just so he'd have a copy when he was learning. That thought only added to his determination to master each and every scroll.

'It must have taken years to get them all.' he thought absently as he looked over the first style, before vowing that they would be well protected until he could find someplace safe.

He began practicing the first motions, checking the scroll every so often and making adjustments to his stance as he tried to get the movements perfect.

The clone returned an hour later.

"Boss, some of the other clones have dispersed!" shouted the panicked clone

Naruto paused and closed his, realizing that their memories were starting to filter in. He smiled as some of the clones took great pleasure in annoying the Jounin and his dogs as they tried to catch up. Every time he summoned one, there was a trap waiting soon after, which slowed down and clearly irritated their one-eyed pursuer.

"Alright, we'd better get moving as well. No point in sitting around and risking getting caught if the idiot chasing us decides to turn around." agreed Naruto as he started packing up the scroll, diary, and canteen. He slipped the straps of his pack over his shoulders and leapt away, the clone following.

"Aren't we going to create more?" asked the clone.

Naruto shook his head. "No, it seems that one eye is heading north-west, along our first diversion. The group of clones I sent that way should have enough chakra to get to the border, they can lose him there and the trail should be plenty cold by time he can pick it up again, so it's best not to waste any more time." explained the blonde as he started leaping away, his clone following slightly behind him.

The shadow clone nodded after reaching the same conclusion. "I think there is more to this jutsu than we first thought boss." the clone said thoughtfully

Naruto smiled. "Yeah. Wish I'd given the scroll more than a quick once through, but I was on a time limit. Now we know that whatever a clone knows and learns, the rest of us learn upon its dispersal."

"That should really help us out when it comes to training, right boss?" the clone asked.

Naruto thought about it for a moment. "We'll see. I want to learn everything myself, but I also know that I don't have a lot of time with Konoha chasing after us. Still I don't want to take any shortcuts with this one. That seems like something the teme would do."

The clone nodded. "And we never want to cheat and take a shortcut." stated the clone proudly.

"Hard work is the best way to go." agreed the original blonde as they continued to leap.

The clone seemed to think for a moment before offering a suggestion. "What about doing a bit of both, learning on our own first then using the shadow clones to master what we've learned. Should cut down on the time needed without giving up any of the real work?"

Naruto thought about it before nodding. "Sounds like a good idea. Sometimes I love the way our mind works." he stated with a wicked smile.

"Boss, why am I still with you?" the clone asked after a while.

"Company mostly. I figured it would give me someone to talk to and bounce ideas off of rather than talking to myself. That and if something happens it'll be good to have some extra hands without needing to do the jutsu first." answered the original blonde offhandedly

"Oh, you mean like when you were memorizing how to do hand seals." the clone agreed knowingly, and then got a look on its face. "Why did you mess up during tests though, we knew everything? I have all of the memories, but…I can't remember any of your thoughts or intentions. I just remember doing it. Not why or what we were thinking about during it."

Naruto frowned in thought. "Hm, that's another thing we've learned about the Kage Bunshin technique. You know what I do, but you don't know my personal thoughts and feelings, it's like you read about my life in a book, instead of actually living it." stated the blonde thoughtfully.

"But you get all our thoughts and ideas when we disperse, I remember one memory of a clone thinking of a trap and its design when it dispersed." added the clone.

Naruto nodded thoughtfully, his mind trying to grasp the strange abilities his newest jutsu seemed to possess. "We learn more on our own than with the 'oh so helpful' teachers of Konoha." Naruto stated with a frown as he stopped. Leaping to the top of the tree he looked back towards the horizon and knew that the forested valley where Konoha was located was now long out of sight.

"Boss?" questioned the clone, surprised by his creator's sudden stop.

Naruto shook his head. "Let's go." he ordered the clone. His thoughts had turned to the old man, trying to sort out his reasons. Even after the rampart betrayal the old man had committed against him, he still couldn't bring himself to hate the man who had showed him so much kindness throughout his life.

'I'll be back old man. If nothing more than to show all of Konoha that I am Naruto Uzumaki, son of Kushina, descendent of the Mandarin. You and the village denied me my family's legacy and I will make you all regret it. I am Maelstrom, as my mother named me, and I will show them what that means.' vowed the blonde as he leapt through the forest.

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(A Few Days Later, Unnamed Fishing Village)

Naruto sat in the main room of a small cabin. The cabin itself looked like it, like the rest of the village, had been abandoned recently. It had taken a half-dozen Kage Bunshin less than an hour to get it up to livable conditions, while another group had scouted the remainder of the village and the nearby docks, looking for supplies and information.

He'd been surprised finding the village completely abandoned, but there seemed to be no reason for it. The place was completely deserted and mostly empty, meaning that the villagers had either taken most of their stuff with them when they left, or whatever had taken them had taken their things as well. He'd only managed to find a few containers of dried food and some furniture, but the surrounding woods were full of fresh game, mostly rabbits, boars, and a couple of deer, while the waters were teaming with fish. It obviously hadn't been a lack of food that had sent the people running.

Still he'd taken the largest house in the village and set out a dozen clones in all directions to keep an eye on things, just in case. He had to replace them every couple days, since he'd discovered that the Kage Bunshin seemed to have a time limit anywhere between a few hours to a few days depending on how much chakra he put into them. Another fact to add to the list of his newest jutsu's many surprises. The one he'd created to travel with had disappeared early yesterday, just going *poof* for no apparent reason. From the memories slowly streaming in, it seemed the remaining clones he'd made while trying to avoid his pursuer were also dispersing about that time, he'd have to take a bit of time to sort through those memories tonight.

Hopefully they'd lasted long enough to lose whatever shinobi were on his trail. Still best to be cautious, he'd make a new batch of clones for watch duty and have them on high alert as well as have a couple prepare everything in case they needed to make a hasty exit. While he hadn't found a boat, he'd been lucky enough to find a pretty detailed map of the local coast in one of the smaller huts and found out there was a good-sized port less than a day south by ninja travel. He'd be able to get some answers and supplies there.

He'd have to be careful, he didn't want to be spotted in case Konoha ninja were actively looking for him or had sent out word for him to be detained to the local authorities. The fact that he'd done nothing wrong didn't seem to matter at this point. He'd done nothing seriously bad his entire life and was still treated like scum. It was just another life lesson he'd been forced to learn at an early age: Life wasn't fair.

"Boss?" shouted the clone he'd assigned kitchen duty. "Soup's on."

"Thanks." returned the blonde as he placed a marker in his mother's diary to continue reading after he ate. No sense risking getting soup or grease on it and leaving it unreadable. He looked at the clone. "Aren't you having any?"

"We don't need food." the clone answered, shrugging its shoulders slightly.

Naruto returned the shrug before quickly devouring the fish soup and greens his clones had been able to gather from the surrounding woods. He'd save the canned and dehydrated stuff until he needed it.

After eating, the blonde cleared the table before setting up an oil lamp he'd found and opened his mother's diary, hoping to learn more about his mother while he digested before going to bed for the night.

~~~ XXXXX ~~~

Hey,

You won't believe what happened today. As you know I've been learning Rabbit style and as I've told you before it's hard, but at the same time it's satisfying as I complete each kata and techniques. Well me and gramps were sparring today and I finally understood the over-under combination that I've been stuck on for over a week. Gah, can you believe it? Shocked gramps too when I sent the old badger sprawling, but he was smiling when he got up.

Anyways, mom fought with me again and suddenly she stops and after sending me to get washed and dressed we sat over tea. (Yuck, why do we have to drink that stuff just because we're nobles? I mean we're ninja too right?) Anyways she sits me down and congratulates me on learning Rabbit style. Gramps comes in then with a scroll under his arm. Both are giving me funny looks and smiles. It was then that gramps handed me the next step in my training, Crane Form. From what I've seen it's a lot more graceful than Rabbit's quick and darting movement and features more attacks, mostly palm thrusts, knife-handed strikes and blocks, powerful kicks, strong jumps to augment dodges and kicks, and the use of what Grandpa called 'the crane's beak.' (That's this weird hand-form where the hand is bent downwards at the wrist with all of the fingers extended and closed together to make it look like a beak.) Gramps say the fingers are used to strike at weak spots such as the ears, eyes or use nerve-strikes, while the hard surface of the bent wrist would be utilized to strike with power using odd angles. It's also good for hooking and parrying incoming attacks according to Mom (She always focuses more on defense than offense). Mom says it's a good internal style too (Whatever that means), and if focuses a lot equilibrium, balance, and precision. What's really cool is that it's the first style to have a signature weapon, something gramps says each of the more advanced styles has. For Crane the weapon is a pair of matched Tiě Shàn (War Fans). (I know they look pretty girly, but the way gramps used them was something else.)

~~~ XXXXX ~~~

Naruto sighed and put the diary aside.

"What's wrong boss?" the clone asked as it cleaned up the kitchen.

"I need to finish the style mom suggested first before I can read further." stated the original blonde sadly. "She writes a lot about her training and how she did things. I don't want to confuse things by reading about something before I start it."

The clone shrugged, "If you say so boss. Still I thought we were planning on using the Kage Bunshin to train some?"

"I am." agreed the blonde. "I just want to get the basics firmly rooted on my own before I start using the clones to train. That way they'll have a solid grasp of it when I make them and I can use them further master it while moving on to the next style."

The clone nodded his head in agreement before heading back to the kitchen to washing the dishes. The village lacked running water, so a couple of clones were constantly porting in fresh water from a nearby spring for drinking and cleaning.

As the clone left, the original blonde sighed to himself. "I know I'm going to have issues later if I keep talking to myself like this." the blonde muttered before chuckling. "Then again I've never been the picture of sanity anyway so what does it matter?" Shaking his head slightly at the odd turn of his own thoughts, he put down his mother's diary and pulled out the scroll on Rabbit style. Soon enough he was rereading the scroll again, committing as much to memory as he could so the clones would know it as well. Somehow the jutsu passed knowledge to his clones without personal thoughts or feelings but transferred all of it back to the original; another odd fact for his favorite jutsu.

"I'll need to get some weights and things at some point." muttered the blonde after he finished studying and put up the scroll before heading to bed. He'd found a couple of pretty nice mattresses in a couple of different huts and they made for a nice soft bed. As he walked he mentally cursed having to leave Konoha in such a rush, if he'd had a day…hell if he'd had a couple of hours to buy some training supplies this would be so much easier.

But if he'd stayed the old man would have never let him leave. He didn't know what the old man could have done to force him to stay, but he didn't want to wait and find out. Sarutobi had already shown he was capable of a lot of things the blonde had never believed his grandfather-figure capable of. Lying to him his entire life and denying him his heritage had proven that much. He wasn't willing to risk anything involving the old man or Konoha anymore.

Besides the village wasn't his home, not anymore, and he'd be damned thrice-over if he let it bind him down anymore. Konoha had lost its whipping boy when he found the truth and his heritage and now it could burn for all Naruto cared. Maybe later he'd find a village to call home, but for now the road was his home and he was going to get to know it as well as possible.

The blonde yawned once as he headed for his temporary bedroom. Time to sleep. He'd get an early start in the morning practicing Rabbit some more. Hopefully he'd have the basics down well enough to start using clones to master it by the end of the week and then move on to the next style in his mother's journal.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(Same time, Konoha)

"Report." ordered the Hokage gruffly.

Kakashi stood at attention, even though his whole body ached and protested the action. He'd had little to no time to rest over the past few days. "I lost his trail at the border with Iwa." reported the one-eyed nin.

"WHAT!?" Hiruzen Sarutobi shouted in shock, rising to his feet. "Didn't our patrols try and stop him?"

Kakashi shook his head in the negative. "No, they actually laughed as he crossed over. The Iwa border guards took him in."

"Blast." The Hokage slammed his palm on his desk. "Remind me to put the entire damn border guard on report for that, we'll see how much they laugh while cleaning the sewers." grumbled the old man quietly.

"Sir?" Kakashi offered, regaining the old man's attention. "Pakkun and I believe that the Naruto we were pursuing was a clone. We found too many trails to be sure and simply followed the one we thought best. It seemed to have more traps placed along it than the others, so we assumed it was the one that Naruto used, which, I think, is exactly what he wanted us to believe."

Hiruzen took in Kakashi's bedraggled appearance, it looked like the younger man hadn't slept since he left and had been fighting for half the time. "What happened?"

The one eyed Jounin went on to explain the large number of traps that kept taking out his dogs and how he figured that he was on the right path. "But one of my dogs mentioned that the scent was weakening, I didn't think about it at the time as I was…annoyed." That was an understatement; he was half-ready to strangle the blonde at that point. "When we do get him back, may I suggest apprenticing him to a trap-master? The kid's clearly got the talent for it." he added as an afterthought, some of those traps were downright devious, if a bit amateurish.

"I'll consider it." agreed the Hokage before sighing. "Get cleaned up and get some rest. I've already sent out Iruka for a more long-term search, he and his team left more than an hour ago."

"Team?"

"I gave Iruka a squad to track and find Naruto. It's an all Chūnin team, but they are all skilled in their own fields."

"May I ask who?" questioned Kakashi curiously.

"Iruka's the team captain and he took Izumo and Kotetsu, since both have experience chasing the boy and are fond of him, and Hana Inuzuka as the team's main tracker."

Kakashi blinked. "Sir, after I clean up, permission to join the team?" if his growing suspicions were right he wanted to get some answers from the blonde himself before the Hokage.

The head of the Sarutobi clan sighed before shaking his head. "Denied. I had hoped they would have sent you back earlier. You being missing for a few days has already started raising certain eyebrows, adding you to the team would only garner further suspicion. Four Chūnin are assigned missions all the time, but adding a Jounin to them this late would alert certain elements of the council."

"How do you plan on preventing the council from marking him as a missing nin?" Kakashi asked.

"Technically, we can't officially. The boy was within his rights to quit the shinobi program and leave since, officially, he was just a Genin." stated the Hokage quietly, 'Just like we have no rights to try and stop him.'

"That won't stop certain elements of the council from putting a bounty on his head." stated Kakashi.

"That's where you come in." the Hokage agreed. He laid out his plan and Kakashi blinked at what he heard.

"It's a long-term mission. It means you'll be taking a Genin Team this year."

Kakashi sighed but nodded his head in agreement. "I'll use the Kage Bunshin then, maybe have one of my summons stand in when they can. I was already worried about Danzō and his interest in Sasuke, this just adds another reason."

"I am as well. You'll have your work cut out for you in this one Kakashi; it will be S-rank pay."

Kakashi nodded. "I just hope we can get Naruto back before too much time has passed. It will be nearly impossible to keep this charade up for long."

"I do as well." The Hokage said, his eyes going to the portraits of the other Hokage's, lingering on his successor and predecessor for a while longer. "I do as well."

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(Short Time Later, Miles away)

Team Umino had paused several times already as they pursued the wayward blonde, stopping to study the dozens of paths arrayed before them, each sporting a variety of traps. This time was no different

"Well it looks like Kakashi followed him to the Iwa border." Iruka said, reading a message a messenger hawk had just delivered. "Hana?" he asked, looking up at the Inuzuka vet.

Her dogs sniffed the surrounding air, before looking at her and whining. She shook her head. "The trails are all getting weaker; the one heading due south-east, toward the coast and the border with Mizu no Kuni (Water Country) is the strongest, but all of them are starting weaken. It could either be because the trails are simply getting cold, or we took the wrong path. The others seem to be fading faster though, so I think following that one's our best bet."

"Man, we knew Naruto was good, but to fool Kakashi?" stated an impressed Kotetsu, scratching his bandaged nose.

"Don't forget, he led Anbu around the village for hours when he was barely in his teens." Izumo reminded his partner. "It's not really that surprising that he's a lot better now that he's got more space to move around in. What's impressing me are the traps he's setting along the way. Some of the ones we've encountered were down right nefarious."

"Now you're the one forgetting the kid was a prankster prodigy." cut in Kotetsu. "Pranking and trap-laying aren't too different, one's just aimed to humiliate, the other's designed to eliminate."

Iruka nodded his head slowly, agreeing with both. "We'll go slow with the one heading south-east then, we don't have time to back-track and see if we made a wrong decision. All we can do is follow the best lead for now. We'll send a messenger bird back about our findings later when we stop for the night."

They continued their journey mostly in silence, Iruka having them stop and disable any traps that he detected, which was most of them since trap-detection was one of Iruka's specialties.

"Kid's good." Hana said as she inspected another trap. "How's he laying so many traps and trails while still staying ahead of us?"

"Kage Bunshin." answered Iruka, "He learned it the night of the graduation exam. Mizuki tricked him into stealing the Forbidden Scroll for him, saying it was a secondary exam, and learned the jutsu from it in just a few hours."

Hana whistled lowly, impressed. "How the hell did the kid fail three times if he could do all that? His stealth skills and trap-laying alone should have seen him pass the first time, with honors even."

"He couldn't pass the final tests." Iruka answered sadly.

"Bullshit." snorted Hana, "There's a kid in last year's group that can't use chakra at all. And I know my little brother can barely perform the academy Henge and Bunshin. He has to use Akamaru."

Iruka nodded remembering Kiba's use of his dog to pass his test. "Naruto…he never asked for help." he offered sadly, thinking of all the ways he could have helped the blonde but didn't, all because he didn't want to show favoritism.

Kotetsu snorted from his position. "You blame him? I bet the teacher before you squashed that desire."

Izumo nodded. "Kid's had it rough; most of the stuff he knows probably comes from being self-taught. Would explain the lack of book-smarts anyway."

Iruka was feeling worse at how little he knew about the blond. He touched the headband in his vest. 'I will give this back to you Naruto. You earned it beating Mizuki and protecting the scroll from him.' promised the Chūnin instructor He vowed to do better for the blond. 'I'll make sure you learn everything and no one will deny you your right to be Hokage.' he thought remembering the blonde's dream and hoping it still rang true.

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(Next Day, Unnamed Village)

"Boss?" shouted a clone, the blonde thought it was one of the ones he'd sent to scout the nearby area.

"What?" Naruto asked as he stopped going through the kata for Rabbit style.

"We found a boat." stated the clone proudly.

Naruto looked over the place that been his temporary home for the past couple of days. "How far, and what's its condition?"

"Not far, a bunch of the others are carrying it back right. It's pretty small, but there's little real damage we can't fix in a few hours, and there is still some gas in the motor."

Naruto nodded. After a few moments of thought, he came to a decision. "When they get back with the boat have everyone start gathering everything up. We'll start heading toward the port-town tomorrow, hopefully we'll be able to gather some supplies and information there before heading to Wave."

"What's so special about Wave?" questioned the clone, still not sure why their boss was so fixated on that small dot on the map.

"A fresh start." responded the blonde with a small grin. "We won't stay long, maybe a couple months, but we do need to get our head on straight and take some time to seriously train. There shouldn't be any ninja there so hiding out shouldn't be a problem."

The clone nodded. "That's a good plan boss. I'll go and tell the others, if we head out early we can probably make it there by early evening. Should give us enough time to get any supplies we need and we can ship out by nightfall."

Naruto nodded, it was a sound plan. "Good thinking. I've nearly got the basics of Rabbit style down pat, once we get to Wave I should be able to start using Clones to help me master it while I move on to Crane."

The clone nodded in agreement before running off to meet the others and relay the orders.

'The Kage Bunshin really is an amazingly useful jutsu, and the more I learn about it the more amazing it becomes.' thought the blonde with a grin. His eyes landed on the Kōriwa. 'I'll begin learning more about you as well my little friend. With the help of my clones I'll be able to catch up on all the lost time far quicker than I ever imagined possible. I can't search for Tsunade or the other rings until I can defend myself properly, particularly with Konoha hunting for me.'

The blonde went back into his kata, not noticing the ring shining slightly with a pale blue light.

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(Next Evening, Port Town of Maguro (Tuna))

Naruto was in a small camping shop. He was currently disguised using a Henge to turn his blonde hair and blue eyes an unremarkable shade of brown and to hide his whisker marks. He'd stopped by several other shops already, a local beauty shop to buy dies and makeup to hide his real hair color and birthmarks without relying on the Henge, an exercise shop to buy some light training equipment, a grocer to stock up on dry goods and supplies, a clothing shop to pick up some less visible clothes other than the ones he'd taken from his family's home, and now this shop to pick up a few extra necessities for surviving in the woods.

So far things were going well. Granted the exercise shop was mostly a waste of time since the equipment was all for civilian use and not designed to help shinobi and he didn't want to risk going to a weapon shop where there was a chance Konoha shinobi would be, and he doubted they'd have any shinobi-grade weapons anyway, besides he hadn't gotten a chance to go through all the weapons he'd taken from his parent's dojo yet so he had no idea what he needed. Still, other than those minor disappointments, things were going well. The blonde absently picked up a book on edible plant and wildlife and added it to the basket that already contained a tent, a hatchet, a shovel, a few extra blankets, a couple first aid kits, some flint and tinder, and a couple of other survival manuals. He also picked up a bow and arrow set, it wouldn't be much use in combat but it was perfect for hunting.

"First time heading out for a bit of camping son?" asked the old timer who seemed to own this place.

"Not really old man. Just got a bit of money for my birthday and was planning on using it to get some new stuff." answered the blonde.

The old man nodded his head from behind the counter. "Always good to have new equipment when you can get it." he agreed.

"You can say that again." agreed the blonde as he added a couple more books to his bundle and carried it up to the front. Deciding to try and get some Intel while he was at it he asked, "Hey old timer, you know anything about that abandoned village a few days north-east from here? My friends and I were out hiking and camping a week ago and stumbled across it."

"Oh that place? Aye, it's a terrible thing, there's been pirate raids all along the coast for the past few months, a number of villages were attacked and the people were either taken or slaughtered. Terrible thing really. So a lot of the smaller villages have pulled up roots and came to the cities to try and stay safe. The chief's doing his best to keep everyone fed and safe at least, and he's sending out patrols of soldiers from the local garrison to investigate. I hear he's even sending out a contract to get some ninja from Konoha to help look into things, so things should clear up soon." offered the old man while he rang up his purchases. "Still, it'd be smart to stay away from the coast for a while if you go camping again soon."

"Yeah, I'll do that old timer, thanks for the news." agreed the blonde, trying to keep his nervousness out of his voice. That was just another reason to get to Wave quick, if Konoha ninja were investigating the coast; he didn't want to be anywhere near it. Paying the man he hurried out and headed toward the small dock where his clones had set up the boat.

They needed to get gone, ASAP!

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END CHAPTER 2

Again mostly a bit of reprinting with some changes and adjustments with a bit of my own madness stuck in here and there. It's going to be that way for a few chapters more.

As EroSlackerMicha stated in his own fics a couple of things:

1) The idea of the rings and the Mandarin are all that was taken from Marvel. The Mandarin himself and the powers they possess will be mostly original.

2) The pendent Tsunade is holding is not the Shodaime's Necklace, it is something else entirely.

Until next READ AND REVIEW