Nagato walked around the underground base, watching as many other shinobi dug through solid rock to build new 'rooms' for supplies and food. Everyone worked hard, and they would have to work even harder once things started to pick up.

"Nagato-san," a voice called out. The redheaded young man looked over, seeing the hyperactive, unofficial mascot of the rebels: Naruto Uzumaki. The young boy started laughing as he ran towards Nagato and then jumped on him, squeezing his arms around the redhead's body. "Hey Nagato-san, what's up?"

"Naruto, can't breathe…"

"Whoops," Naruto released Nagato who started breathing heavily to catch his breath. "So how'd the meeting go?"

"It was…" Nagato took another deep breath, finally catching wind, "Pointless."

"What'd you all talk about?" Nagato sighed with a friendly smile before continuing his walk through the cavern. Naruto quickly followed him, staring up at the older man.

"Basically we just said how we got Danzo's attention, and we need to bring a few new recruits in before we do anything else too hasty." Naruto huffed then looked ahead with his eyes narrowed.

"Stupid old man…when I get my hands I him I'm gonna get him good!" Naruto started throwing punches into the empty air as well as moving his head back and forth as if he were boxing. Nagato cracked a smirk and looked at the energetic young child.

"What makes you so sure you're going to fight Danzo? You're thirteen and he's been Hokage since master Jiraiya was a kid."

"Bah, I don't care how much older he is than the pervy sage, I'll still knock Danzo's block off! With one of these," Naruto threw a straight punch forward, "And one of those!"

"Hey, maybe you should do a little more training before you try and take on the Hokage kiddo." Naruto lowered his fists and smiled brightly up at Nagato.

"Is that an offer Nagato-san?" The redhead chuckled then ruffled Naruto's blonde hair.

"Sure, why not? Come on kid." Naruto cheered as he jumped for joy. He grabbed Nagato's sleeve and pulled him along through the cavern.

"Come on Nagato-san, you're burning daylight!"

"How can you even tell," Nagato asked hastily. Suddenly a young man with black spiky hair and orange goggles appeared upside down right in front of Naruto. The blonde jumped back and yelped with fear before he realized who it was. The man laughed amusingly as he dropped from the ceiling, flipping over and landing on his feet.

"Obito-san, that's NOT funny!"

"Oh come on, you so know it's funny," the Uchiha replied. Naruto crossed his arms and pouted, glaring at empty space. "Oh, so it's only funny when you do it to other people?"

"Hell yeah it is," Naruto snapped. "Nagato-san and I were just going to go train!"

"Oh, I can come if you want," Obito offered, looking up at Nagato. The redhead shrugged uncaringly.

"Nagato-sama," a voice called out. The three rogues turned their head, seeing an Ame rebel running up to them. "We need your help in clearing a cave-in, there are a few people trapped underneath."

"Shit, sorry Naruto," Nagato ran off, following the rogue to the accident, "we'll have to do this another time!"

Naruto opened his mouth to call after, but Nagato was too far at this point. The blonde Jinchuriki slumped his shoulders and pouted. Obito looked at Nagato then back to the pouting thirteen year old who sulked away. The spiky haired Uchiha sighed, feeling somewhat guilty. The rebels kidnapped Naruto for a number of reasons: one he was a Jinchuriki, and taking him away would give Danzo one less weapon to use. The second reason was because he was Minato Namikaze's son, and his mother Kushina Uzumaki was assassinated by Danzo's ninja for believing her to be a spy, since she wasn't even from the Land of Fire. They told Naruto about Minato, but Jiraiya explained that Minato believed in the village and the Will of Fire. The young Jinchuriki accepted it after a few weeks of brooding along with Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Obito, the three people who really knew Minato, talking to the young boy. They didn't tell Naruto about how Kushina died, for fear that his hatred would blind him, which could also release the Nine Tailed Fox spirit upon the world. Jiraiya decided he would tell Naruto when the time was right. Another reason they kidnapped Naruto, is because the young Jinchuriki hadn't been manipulated by Danzo yet. What with cleaning up the Uchiha massacre, and the war with Kumogakure, the old man didn't have a chance to manipulate Naruto yet. The rebels didn't want to condition the boy to be a mindless drone who was bent on victory like most of the shinobi in Konoha, so they let Naruto grow up his own way. As it turned out, Naruto practically wedged himself within the inner circle of the rebel's leaders.

Jiraiya had unofficially adopted Naruto, though it seemed to be more of a grandpa/grandson relationship, but still, the two were inseparable. Jiraiya became Naruto's mentor, teaching him as much as the boy possibly could. Unfortunately, Naruto wasn't quite the academic that his father was, so it took a bit longer for Naruto to learn techniques that his father learned in no time flat.

Tsunade and Naruto's relationship was more or less in contrast to his and Jiraiya's. Tsunade was more of the overprotective mother, often scolding Naruto for rash actions, and she was the only one who would punish him if he did something wrong. Ironically enough, Naruto is one of the only people to talk back, and disobey Tsunade, often getting himself in more trouble with the legendary Sannin. Still, the two were very close, when they weren't yelling at one another.

Naruto and Nagato were as close as brothers. Nagato, being the kindhearted person he is, would often converse with Naruto when he first came into league with the rebels. The two had much in common, and Naruto would often want to train with Nagato due to the latter's amazing abilities due to the Rinnengan. There weren't too many jutsus Nagato could teach Naruto, but he did help teach Naruto how to think more in a battle. Granted Naruto is still a brash knucklehead, but he's learned how to be more observant in great thanks to Nagato.

Naruto and Obito were as thick as thieves due to their goofy nature, fun loving attitude, and the many pranks they play on others. Obito was basically a child at heart, which of course allowed the child of the rebels to befriend him quickly. Tsunade would often scold both of them together when they pulled pranks on other people, telling Naruto he should be working on his jutsu for as much as he brags, and telling Obito he should be helping around the base. They never listened of course.

Konan acted as Naruto's older sister in many cases. She would sometimes cover up for Naruto's misbehaving, but Naruto would pay her back later in some way. Naruto also never hesitated to help Konan whenever she needed it. They rarely spend a lot of time together, due to Konan often volunteering to do anything to help and her being one of the rebel leaders, and they had only trained together two or three times. Still, Naruto respected Konan and Konan couldn't help but care for Naruto.

Yahiko and Naruto had more of a love hate relationship. Yahiko thought Naruto should help out more since all he does is play pranks, and rarely works around the base. Yahiko also gets annoyed by the fact that that Naruto takes people away like Nagato or Jiraiya to help him train, when the latter two should be helping make new plans to fight against Danzo. Naruto gets angry, saying that Yahiko is too strict and should lay off him. The two have become so aggravated with one another that they constantly argue, and they've even fought a few times. Jiraiya laughs it off, saying that the two are more alike then they care to admit. Which was true: they both believed that the rebels could beat Danzo, and that people around the world would no longer have to live in fear. Naruto did respect Yahiko for everything he's done for the rebels, and Yahiko does admire Naruto's passion to become the best and top Danzo himself. Still, the two often bump heads more than they get along.

"Hey, Naruto," a voice called out. The young Uzumaki looked up, seeing Ino waving at him, standing next to Neji, Tenten, and Kiba.

"Oh, hey guys," Naruto called back. "What're you all doing?" The gang of four approached Naruto.

"Nothing really," Tenten replied, "Just roaming around. What're you up to?"

"Well I was supposed to train with Nagato-san, but he's got to deal with some cave-in." Naruto's face suddenly lit up as he looked to his friends, "Hey, do you guys wanna train!"

"Sure, it's been awhile since I've kicked your butt," Kiba replied.

"Oh yeah," Naruto asked, putting himself close to Kiba with his fist raised challengingly.

"YEAH!" Sparks flew between Kiba and Naruto's glances as they growled at each other. Neji simply scoffed and turned his head away with a smile on his face.

"I could beat both of you easily," Neji remarked. This snapped both Kiba and Naruto's heads over to the cocky Hyuga.

"Care to repeat that again, I must've had something in my ear," Naruto said slowly and menacingly.

"I said," Neji began, turning his attention to Naruto with his smile widening, "I could beat both you AND Kiba easily!"

"OH YEAH," Naruto and Kiba exclaimed at the same time. Neji chuckled then turned his body to face the two.

"Care to make it interesting," Neji asked. Kiba and Naruto looked to each other then back at Neji. "The loser has to…grab one of Lady Tsunade's panties!" Naruto and Kiba both screamed with disgust, taking a step away from the chuckling Neji.

"No way dude, her face is young, but I'm betting that everything that's covered is wrinkled and saggy," Kiba exclaimed. The remark got Kiba two blows to the back of the head from Tenten and Ino.

"How dare you," Tenten shouted. "Lady Tsunade is an amazing shinobi and leader! How dare you disrespect her like that!"

"Seriously, what's the matter with you," Ino added, placing her foot on Kiba's back. "Haven't you been taught better?" Kiba growled as he tried to get back on his feet.

"The point Kiba made aside," Naruto said, leaning to Neji so the girls wouldn't hear, "If whoever got caught, then grandma Tsunade would kill us!"

"That's what makes it so juicy," Neji replied with a twisted smile. "You're not a chicken are you Naruto?"

"Am I a chicken? No. Am I afraid of grandma Tsunade coming at me in a blind rage with her super powered punches? Yes I am."

"Who said you were going to lose," Neji questioned, "I thought you and Kiba were going to beat me." Naruto narrowed his eyes and growled.

"You're on!" Naruto turned around, seeing Ino and Tenten still scolding Kiba who remained face down. "Hey girls, I need Kiba to beat the crap out of Neji." Tenten and Ino removed their feet from Kiba's back, allowing him to stand up and dust himself off.

"Sheesh, you couldn't have gotten me out of that mess sooner!"

"Hey, quit whining," Naruto snapped. "Come on, we gotta go kick Neji's ass again…"

"Again," Neji repeated. "When have either of you two EVER kicked my ass?"

"The last time we started training remember," Naruto exclaimed. "We were about ready to finish when Nagato-san broke it up!"

"You weren't kicking my ass! I was having an off day, but there was still no way you were going to win that fight!"

"Like hell we weren't you lying bastard," Kiba shouted.

"HEY," a loud voice shouted. The three youths jumped with fear and turned around, seeing Kiba's sister Hana approaching them. "What're you three doing?"

"Nothing Hana-san," Neji replied, his hands stiffly by his sides. The older Inuzuka narrowed her eyes at Neji then looked over to her brother who was practically cowering with fear.

"Kiba, what have I told you about your language?"

"Watch my tongue otherwise you'll rub sandpaper against it…"

"Good," Hana replied with a sharp nod. "Now, don't any of you think about heading up to the surface to spar." The three boys whined in unison, "Hey, I know it's not fun down here, but we can't risk you guys heading topside. If anyone saw you guys we'd all be in serious trouble. Understand?"

"Yes Hana-san," the three boys replied. The Inuzuka sister sighed, and knelt down in front of the trio.

"I'm sorry guys, but you know the rules. I can try to find a vacant area down here for you guys to spar."

"No, it's fine Hana-san," Neji replied. "I wouldn't want to beat up Kiba in front of his sister anyway." Kiba shot an angry glare over at Neji who had a smug grin on his face. Hana smiled then shook her head as she walked away to deal with other matters.

"I'm gonna kick your ass," Kiba shouted as he lunged at Neji. The young Hyuga laughed and dodged, then ran off as quickly as possible. Kiba growled as he gave pursuit on all fours. Naruto chased after them, laughing at the sight. Tenten and Ino simply shook their heads; boys were impossible.

Kiba: the resident hot-head of the group along with Naruto, which often caused friction between the two. Still, they got along well and their constant butting heads brought them closer together. Neji was the smart one of the group, both in intelligence and coming up with witty remarks to insult the rest with. Although neither Naruto nor Kiba would admit it, Neji was the best of the younger group. Ino acted more or less as the ringleader of the whole circus of kids. She made sure that they stayed in line and keeps trouble away from some of the more intimidating adults, like Tsunade. Tenten was the peacekeeper between everyone, often trying to diffuse arguments and fights between the group, usually between Naruto, Kiba, or Ino. The gang as a whole tried to help out as much as possible, but often found that adults didn't want their help, or didn't need it. Still, the group was as close as could be, and they all shared the dream of a peaceful world.

Within the village of Konoha, Danzo sat behind his desk, looking at a clipboard with many papers attached to it. The door opened and Orochimaru, wearing a black Jonin outfit, walked in.

"You wanted to see me," the Sannin questioned.

"Yes," Danzo replied. "I want you to take a team go to the Land of Waves. A Gato, from Gato Trading Industries, is paying us handsomely to stop the little speck of an island from building some type of bridge…"

"Really," Orochimaru mused. "Why send me?"

"Because, I want you to kill him after you're finished." Orochimaru cocked a questioning eyebrow up. "But after you find out where the fool hides most of his money of course."

Orochimaru sneered then nodded, "Of course. Kill one of the richest men in the world and take his money."

"Nobody should care about some criminal with a big business. After you're done that's start our campaign in the Land of Water. Assemble your team and get ready to move out." Orochimaru nodded with an evil grin then exited the Hokage's office.

Once outside, Orochimaru was met with his team of five students, all bowing before the snake. On Orochimaru's far left was the tallest boy with white hair and green eyes, and next to him was a boy with blue/white hair and a second head coming out of the back of his neck, followed by a young woman with red hair, a boy with four arms and very dark skin, and last but not least was a large man with a small orange Mohawk. Orochimaru smiled then walked past his students who stood up and followed their master.

"We're heading to the Land of Waves," was all the twisted Sannin said before jumping forward. Without a word his students followed after him.

Naruto was walking with Neji and Kiba, the latter of the three finally having calmed down. The boys were bored out of their wits. The amount of activities when you're underground can be very limiting when your thirteen years old. The trio looked up and saw Shizune, Tsunade's assistant, walking out of a slid open door with a chart in her hand.

"Hey Shizune-san," Kiba called out.

The medical ninja looked up and smiled warmly, "Hey guys!" The three boys walked up with smiles on their faces. "What's going on?"

"Can you come outside with us so we can spar or something," Naruto asked.

"Oh guys, I'd love to," Shizune replied with a disappointed tone, "but I've still got to fill out a requisition of the medical herbs and supplies I need if we're going to have a functioning medical corp." The three boys groaned and slumped their shoulders in disappointment. "Tell ya what…how about if I send you guys out to get this stuff for me?" The boy's spirits shot through the roof as they smiled as wide as they possibly could, "With an escort of course." The boys pouted. "You could get out at least right?"

"Shizune-san is right," Neji said with a level tone. Naruto and Kiba mumbled in agreement. Neji turned to Shizune then bowed his head, "If you could do so then we would be most appreciative Shizune-san."

"Alright," Shizune replied with a small laugh, "I'll see what I can do." The black haired medical ninja then turned and headed down the cavern halls.

"SWEET," Naruto shouted. "We're going outside!"

"Hopefully," Kiba muttered. "I'm not getting my hopes up though." Naruto glared at the young Inuzuka with annoyance.

'What a downer…'

The threesome continued roaming around the underground base for a few long minutes when suddenly a figure flashed before them. Kiba shot back, yelping with fright, Naruto twitched slightly, and Neji remained calm. The figure lifted his head up, revealing himself to be Itachi Uchiha. Naruto gave a sigh of relief then stared at Itachi with an agitated face.

"Hey guys," Itachi greeted casually, giving a small wave to boot.

"Hey yourself," Kiba shouted. Itachi rolled his eyes then rose up to his full height.

"Shizune senpai told me to head out to get some herbs and supplies she needed, and she wanted you guys to come along."

"I'm game," Neji exclaimed.

"Me too," Naruto added, equally as excited. The others turned to Kiba who turned away and huffed.

"I've got other things to do," the proud Inuzuka stated.

"Like what," Naruto questioned.

"I haven't seen Akamaru all day, so I should probably play with him." Before anyone could say anything more, Kiba walked away. Naruto and Neji looked to each other and shrugged, unsure what Kiba's problem was. Itachi sighed knowingly, gaining the attention of Naruto and Neji.

"So," Itachi continued, slapping his palms together, "Shall we be going?"

"Hell yeah," Naruto and Neji shouted. Itachi smiled then headed to the exit with the two young teens following behind him.

Yahiko sat at a desk in his private quarters, going through files and papers of different shinobi from various villages and of various ranks. So far most of them seemed too unreliable or too weak to help them in any way. Yahiko screamed in frustration, throwing a file to the side. They had a small army, but Danzo had four large armies. They couldn't hurt him by sabotage alone. They needed to get a sizable force to deal a devastating blow to Danzo and his allies in one fell swoop. Yahiko sighed then opened another file and started reading. His door opened quietly. The orange haired shinobi looked up, seeing his childhood friend Konan walking in.

"Hey," she greeted. Yahiko nodded in acknowledgement. "Need any help?"

"I'm just going through files," Yahiko replied. "There's not much you could do to help." Konan sighed quietly then nodded. "Have you ever heard of the Kurosuki family?" Konan shook her head. "They're probably the most decent individuals I've read about from all these files. They're a gang of misfits that shake down villages for protection money. They're ruthless and strict with one another: if someone doesn't follow orders then they just bury that person alive."

"How horrible," Konan muttered. "Do we need people like that on our team?"

"Maybe not, but they have a large assortment of weapons, and a pretty good amount of money too. And listen to this: the found of the gang is a former member of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, Raiga Kurosuki."

"That's…beneficial." Yahiko nodded in agreement, grabbing the file off the edge of his desk and handing it to Konan.

"Take this to master Jiraiya or lady Tsunade to see what they think."

Konan nodded then took the file. She headed for the door, but stopped halfway. The blue haired kunoichi turned her head, seeing that Yahiko was too focused on the file he was reading to notice her. Konan sighed then exited the room. Once she closed the door, Konan pulled out the file and started going over it herself. This group was little more than a gang of idiotic children. What did Yahiko think he would accomplish with recruiting this group?

"Konan," a voice called out. The blue haired kunoichi lifted her eyes from the file, seeing her redheaded partner walking towards him. "Hey, I've been looking for you."

"Tell me what you think of this file," Konan stated immediately, thrusting the papers in Nagato's face.

"Uh…I think it's a file…"

"Idiot," Konan snapped, smacking Nagato in the back of the head with the file. Nagato flinched as he was struck, but still managed to laugh at his own joke. "Tell me what you think of the group in this file." Nagato took the file, maintaining a smile on his face as held the papers in front of him. His eyes moved back and forth, scanning the file carefully.

"Who gave you this file?"

"Yahiko," Konan replied. "He thinks that we should try and bring those guys into our faction just because they have a little extra money, some extra weapons, and because their founder was a former member of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist."

"Really not," Nagato's tone was impressed as he went over the file again. Konan scoffed then ripped the file from Nagato's hands.

"Did you even read this file? It's a gang of misfits that shake down defenseless villages for money, and if there's someone in the gang that doesn't follow orders they get buried alive."

"Konan you know better than most that we need more people on our side, and we could use every cent we can get, AND some extra weapons wouldn't hurt either…unless Naruto a hold of them I suppose…"

"Aren't you listening though," Konan snapped angrily. "The reason we're all rogues is because we want to make the world a better place, make it fair and equal! If we bring this gang on our side we'll look like a bunch of criminals who encourage the type of behavior! How far are we willing to go just to win this war?"

"Well with due respect this gang is assembled of a bunch of rogues…we're all a bunch of rogues, but we're not the heartless bastards that our villages make us out to be. Who's to say that these guys can't change either?"

"They're criminals, the scum of the earth, pathetic pieces of human life. Why would they want to help us, and why should we even want their help?"

"Wow, those are some harsh names," Nagato rose his hands in defense, "I don't even think you've called out enemies that."

Konan threw her arms up with frustration then walked away. Nobody understood the moral issue! Nagato looked back at Konan with a concerned look then headed for Yahiko's quarters. The redhead knocked then opened the door, seeing his orange haired friend throwing another file to the side.

"Man, aren't we picky," Nagato said mockingly. Yahiko looked up then down at the files on the floor of rejects he found unfit to help.

"We need people who are trustworthy or who are valuable."

"Even a gang of crooks," Nagato questioned. Yahiko looked up questioningly to his friend. The Rinnengan user knelt down then lifted up a file and started reading it. "Oh now this guy could help us big time!" Nagato turned the folder around, showing Yahiko the picture.

"Yeah right," Yahiko scoffed, "Did you see why he's a rogue?"

"He stole a high class jutsu from his village," Nagato replied with a careless shrug. "A lot of others have stolen jutsus from their homes. Why is this guy so different?"

"Read his current occupation," Yahiko challenged. Nagato flipped the folder back around and read it carefully. "Terrorist bomber for hire. Yeah, we can trust him."

"Of course we can," Nagato sniped back. "All we've got to do is keep paying him." Yahiko sighed and rolled his eyes. "Notice where most of his bombings take place!" Nagato threw the folder back on Yahiko's desk, landing it perfectly open and facing up at the orange haired shinobi. Nagato laughed mockingly, believing his point to be proven.

"We still can't trust him," Yahiko replied, leaning back in his chair. "He's unstable and only stole the jutsu to improve his own power. He could just betray us to do the same."

"Yeah right, what do we have that's of any value?"

"Another good point," Yahiko continued, leaning forward. "If we have nothing to offer, then nobody, especially not this man, would want to join us. We've got to attack Danzo and show that we can stand up to him before we bring it people who want something."

"That…makes sense," Nagato mumbled slowly. "But what makes you think this Kurosuki family is going to join us without something in return?" Yahiko sighed with aggravation, falling back into his seat heavily. His eyes looked up angrily at Nagato who simply stared back.

"Konan told you to come in here didn't she?" Nagato's face fell with disbelief.

"What! No man, no she just showed me the file and I thought I'd make sure you thought it out completely and-,"

"Uh huh," Yahiko seethed, unconvinced. "Well tell her I've made up my mind and if it's okay with Jiraiya or Tsunade, then we're setting up a meeting with the Kurosuki family."

"I have no problem with that." Yahiko looked up to his friend with a smug look. Nagato studied it for a moment, then realized what he just said. "What I meant to say is that I have no problem with it, because I know there's no chance Jiraiya or Tsunade will go for it." Yahiko smirked then shook his head, looking back through files. Nagato swayed awkwardly, unsure if he should leave or try to prove his point further. He decided to leave.

Yahiko looked through another useless file then tossed it aside. His brown eyes drifted to the file that Nagato had thrown on his desk. Yahiko snorted then turned away, already making up his mind of that criminal. His eyes reluctantly moved back to the file. Yahiko sighed then pulled the file over and opened it, staring at the picture clipped just above his name: 'Deidara.'