[HA]

Ryota Uzumaki of the Hidden Stone Village

[HA]

In the Hidden Stone Village, the Third Tsuchikage, Ohnoki, had called for numerous ninjas from his village to attention as he laid out orders.

"My people, I bring great news from our spies in our enemy nations." Ohnoki said with confident enthusiasm. "The Sand and Sound Villages are preparing to attack the Leaf in the upcoming Chūnin Exams. And it is a situation I believe we should all take advantage of."

The ninja gathered, who disliked the outside villages, murmured in excitement.

Pleased to see the reaction, Ohnoki continued. "In order for this to work, I have sent a request to my Hokage counterpart to allow one of our genin teams to participate, so that we will know when to strike when the time is right."

The meeting carried on until Ohnoki picked Ryota Uzumaki's team to carry out the undercover assignment. By the time it had concluded, Ohnoki called Ryota himself for a private conversation. Once they were alone, Ohnoki looked upon the youth with a stern expression that softened somewhat when he began to talk.

"Ryota, I apologize that I have to send you back to the Leaf Village, but I can assure you, it won't last long, and it's for the good of the Stone Village, so I must ask for your cooperation and patience."

Ryota showed a small smile at Ohnoki's sincerity and spoke reassuringly. "You don't have to worry, Lord Tsuchikage, I won't let you down."

[HA]

Shorter, but it was the best I could manage. I know I said way back that I would like to see Naruto having a unique goal when he becomes the Kage of a different village, but I guess goals are quite interchangeable, whether it be revenge, respect, peace, war, conquest, and whatever else I can't think of at the moment. You get the idea. Thanks for reading.