Note: I aged up the characters. I think I referenced it in my unfinished prologue, but I believe I aged them up about 3 years, though this may vary for a few characters. Events, average graduation age and the like have similarly been moved up.

A beta would be welcome.

Chapter 3: Travels

"Pure instinct can only get you so far. To understand your own power as well as your opponent's is essential to achieve victory on grand scales." - Uzumaki Naruto


"What do you mean you didn't even encounter him! How did most of you come back injured then!"

The ANBU in front of him hung their heads in shame. The squad leader, Tora, mustered the guts to look him in the eyes as he gave his report, "Sir, we tracked him as ordered. He was reasonably competent at throwing us off his tracks, but inexperienced. We eventually found where we thought he was holed up, in a small village just into River Country, but…" the ANBU lost a bit of his courage and trailed off.

The Sandaime wasn't having any of it as he glared at Tora, "Well? Spit it out."

Tora almost gulped. "Despite warnings of the target's skill, we underestimated him. He had set up traps in and around the village that left us injured."

Sarutobi's eye was twitching by now. "You mean to tell me that after I specifically warned you to not underestimate him, you did just that?"

Tora dropped his head, "Yes, Hokage-sama."

Hiruzen let out a puff of smoke as he fired off his next question, "Well what did you do with all the extra time you had? It has been three days. It should not have taken three days to go to River and back, even with wounded."

Tora picked his head up again and answered, "We spent the time treating any injuries, then continuing the mission. We tracked him as far as Tani before we lost him. We know which port he took a boat from, but we don't know where he abandoned ship."

Sarutobi let out an aggravated sigh and waved his hand, "Out," he said. They did so without hesitation, leaving their leader to his thoughts. Turning in his chair to look over his beloved village, Sarutobi couldn't help but wonder why he was the one that had to deal with this shit.

Three days was long enough that the council and the people would really start hounding him for a culprit to paint a target on. He was the Hokage, sure, but a leader without the trust of his people was only a tyrant. He kept plenty of secrets, but this was one that he could not hide in his closet already full of skeletons. Someone would eventually put together who it was once they realized Naruto was no longer in the village. He'd rather announce it than let others put such a revelation together and lose face.

That left the question of exactly what to do. The council would be divided on this situation. Some would want to keep it a secret because he was their Jinchuuriki and they couldn't let it get out. Other, more hot headed members, would see a threat and want it eliminated regardless of the price.

Right now, they were in precarious situation. If the other nations found out that it was their Jinchuuriki that had gone rogue, then it was only a matter of time until war. There weren't too many years left before the other nations - Iwa specifically - were back up to pre Third Great Shinobi War strength. Konoha wasn't, for a variety of reasons.

First and foremost was the fact that the youth had grown arrogant and complacent in this relative peace. They had grown up hearing of how they had never lost any of the Great Wars. Tales from a proud generation, hoping to instill awe in the youngsters and only promoting complacency. As a result, they neglected to think of the reasons that Konoha had won.

The First was won through a combination of a dying Hashirama Senju facing an army alone, Tobirama Senju single handedly eliminating the most dangerous force in that war, the Kinkaku Force, and finally, the shinobi of that day being a cut above the rest.

The Second's victory was contributed to a great deal by Uzushiogakure taking down a good chunk of the forces that attacked them. The other was the rise of his students, the Sannin, and Sakumo Hatake.

As for the Third, to the public it was almost entirely Minato who won it at the end. Minato certainly took the spotlight, but Kushina Uzumaki, himself, and a few others had contributed a great deal.

For all Konoha's talk of being the strongest, at the moment, they were actually on the weaker end. On average, the Genin and Chunin they produced were of lower quality than the other Great nations, in part because of the civilians whining for him to lower standards in wake of the fear for those young lives brought about by the Kyuubi. With no true proving ground for the young to gain scars and experience, the apparent necessity for great strength had faded.

For all of Konoha's talk in recent years, it was mostly due to a few exceptional individuals that they had claimed their spot on top. Because however much they may deny it, many of their ninja were sub par. The only exceptions to this rule were the ANBU and Jonin. He refused to have any Jonin anything less than average and even that grated on his nerves.

If a war were to erupt, Konoha had little chance of surviving. Itachi was a rising star, but he was still a boy and not yet ready to take on an army. Other than him and Kakashi, no one had shown outstanding skill. There weer a few who were a cut above the rest, just not any who had shown themselves to be several cuts above the rest as those two had. The clan heads were all quite skilled, but few, if any, had the potential to take down an army. Shikaku, for example, was a damn good strategist, but he wouldn't ever be a one man army.

So he faced the same problem he had faced years ago when he first released the identity of their troublemaker of a Jinchuuriki. Then he had to do a double fake out to prevent the village and the village's enemies from finding out Naruto's ancestors. Now he had to prevent their enemies from finding out Naruto was a Jinchuuriki if they didn't know already.

So he would put Naruto in the Bingo Book as promised with a high reward for bringing him in alive and only half that for bringing him in dead. He'd much prefer the boy alive and have no reward for dead, but that would draw too much attention. Very few people ever put in the Bingo Book held no reward for a corpse and those that didn't always sent up red flags.

His plan in mind, he called a meeting and made plans to subtly spread the message of who was responsible for the Uchiha Massacre and to have the people keep somewhat of a lid on it. He'd prefer it if some of the more dim ones didn't announce to the world that their Jinchuuriki was gone.

-o0o-

Naruto was sitting in the room his new allies had assigned him in meditation, contemplating his new situation. He had traded one collar for another, albeit one with more resources and a longer chain, but a collar all the same.

When he had met Tempester's master, the man exuded confidence, bordering on the point of arrogance. Of course he could sense his immense power, but it was annoying all the same.

The man had also talked down to him with subtle insults - calling him human as an insult. This lead to his belief that no one in this place was human despite what some may appear to be. This belief was further compounded by the name of their elite. The Nine Demon Gates.

His excitement at finding demons was heightened and then tempered by the fact that these weren't traditional demons he had read about and that he had been strong armed into working for them. In contrast to typical demons, they were very intelligent and half of the Nine Demon Gates had very humanoid appearances. The others varying widely in appearance from what he gleaned from one of the grunts and his own observations. Demons had never been recorded to have humanoid appearances in all the books he had read.

Lastly, from what he had sensed of the members he'd met, they didn't have the typical demon feel to their energy. It had a 'dark' quality to it, sure, but it wasn't nauseating or 'hollow' as he'd heard it described. It was hard to put into words what anyone 'felt' like, but all his sources had agreed on one of those two terms (or similar ones at least). With no deviation, he felt it prudent to trust that fact.

Regardless, he had played the game of words with the master, and the man/thing seemed amused at their banter. The man had eventually decided that he would be a fitting free agent of sorts - kept at base unless he had a mission, and commander to the grunts they kept around if the base was attacked. His only superiors were the Nine Demon Gates. The master apparently found him intriguing enough to keep around.

Looking at his situation objectively, though, he had come out quite good. Most importantly, he no longer needed to worry about Konoha or any bounty hunters - at least while in the base. In addition to that, it sounded like he would be free to do as he pleased and access much of the knowledge they had. He hadn't had the chance to do so yet, but he believed there would be some very useful things he couldn't find in Konoha.

From what he had gleaned from when their leader, Mard Geer, was talking with him, he may also be working with some of the Demon Gates. If Tempester was any indication, he figured that he could learn much from them, even if he could only observe them.

On the negative side, he had a collar once more. He didn't much fancy the idea of having to bend to the whims of others. He was more of a free spirit and leader after seeing how the sheep of Konoha acted and his time in a Genin squad.

Other than that and his suspicion of his new allies intentions, he saw no significant down sides. So he swallowed his pride and decided to make the best of his situation. The library would be a good place to start. Hopefully that would give him some answers. If not, well… hopefully he could get some answers from the grunts or perhaps even a Demon Gate.

-o0o-

A man was sitting in a cave, contemplating the information he had just received. The Uchiha clan, or most of it at least, was dead by Uzumaki Naruto's hand. No one knew how he pulled it off, only that he had.

A number of people were still skeptical of those claims, but he seemed the most likely suspect with all the evidence pointing towards him and his sudden disappearance. This man didn't exactly care what skeptics thought of the potential culprit. He cared about what others might think. Other villages would either take it as a Konoha prodigy gone mad, or - more likely - point to it and take jabs at the Leaf to try to make it a laughing stock.

It never looked good when an entire clan was killed. Even less so when it was by one person who was a member of that village. And a clan as prestigious as the Uchiha taken down by a single child? Ridiculous.

The other villages would no doubt prod for more information and test the borders to check Konoha's strength. With what he knew of their current force, he was afraid of what they'd find. The others weren't entirely prepared for war themselves, but if Konoha looked too weak… they might just decide to strike.

He could not allow that to happen. Standing up, he started to walk deeper into the cave. The cave started to glow with a dim light the further he went, eventually illuminating the area enough to see clearly.

The man with bright blonde hair brushed his hand along the face of a beautiful woman with crimson hair who looked to be in a coma. Then, he spoke, and the woman's form glowed in a faint light, "It's time to wake up and meet your daughter, Kushi-chan. Konoha needs your strength." With that said, a portal appeared to the man's side and he stepped through it, disappearing.

-o0o-

Kushina Uzumaki was a simple, if fiery woman. She loved ramen, her family, and life. She hated Iwa, Kiri, and Kumo. Mostly Kumo.

Despite this simplicity, she had grown clever. From her personal experiences to the lessons Mito taught her to the fall of her homeland. From all of this, she had learned the hard way to prepare for the worst.

And so she had. When she had gotten pregnant, it was simultaneously the happiest day of her life and set into motion the most stress filled months of her life. For with the child - children - she would bear came the threat of someone releasing the Kyuubi, and thus her death. So she had looked far and wide for ways to prevent her death should the worst happen. In the end, she hadn't found a true solution until the time was upon her and the worst had happened.

She found it in a place that was closest to her all along, though this solution came at a price. The deal was with the damn Fox she was meant to contain.

The price: time and her humanity.

She had taken it in an instant. She didn't know why the fox cared to offer her such a deal when it would be freed. She suspected it was some sick, twisted joke it played on her to see her rage at becoming what she had hated, if only partially.

She didn't really care now. She only cared that she would get to see her children.

Then, for the first time in over a decade, Kushina Uzumaki opened her eyes.

The first thing she noticed was that she was in a dimly lit cave. The second was that her muscles didn't feel sore, nor did they feel deteriorated. In fact, she thought as she clenched her fists, she almost felt stronger. Sitting up, she looked at her surroundings, noting that the dim light was coming from seals. Other than that, the cavern she was in was bare, barring a passage and a solitary scroll on the ground.

Narrowing her eyes in suspicion, she approached the scroll. She knew not how she got here, but she assumed someone had cared enough to not kill her, if not give her aid outright. She picked up the scroll, subconsciously checking for traps - old habits were hard to shake - and opened it. What was written changed and shattered her world.

Kushina,

I've had to keep you unconscious for 11 years now. I must wake you now with a request and bad news.

Our son, he has exterminated nearly all the Uchiha. Konoha is now in serious threat of entering another war severely under prepared. So I must ask you to take our daughter and go to Konoha to prevent it. Your fame will prevent or postpone a war.

I apologize for what I've done, but I cannot regret my decision. I have already told Kyoko that I must leave and you will nurture her in my place. Hate me all you want, but I beg you to heed my last wish, for if you don't, only death will await you when you are found to still take breath.

Signed,

Minato Namikaze

Kushina dropped the paper, her hands shaking, barely noticing as the parchment burned to ashes.

Eleven years.

Eleven years.

She had missed over a decade of her children's lives. Their most formative years. And from what the letter said, Minato had a hand in extending the time she was unconscious.

Anger burned in her heart, but her brain, hardened from war, worked on the information she had been presented. Her son, Naruto, had killed the Uchiha.

He was only eleven.

Pride for her son was only overshadowed by the fact that his letter had implied that he'd had no contact with Naruto. And also the fact that Mikoto was more than likely dead. Her mind ran through multiple scenarios in which that was the end result. Then the memories of her final moments of consciousness hit her.

She came to a startling, or perhaps not so startling, conclusion. Naruto was a Jinchuuriki. Jinchuuriki were not understood or well liked by almost anyone, much less a general populace who longed for a scapegoat to blame their losses on. Jinchuuriki weren't treated well even if the immediate generation hadn't personally experienced the terror of a Bijuu attack first hand. Konoha had. It was almost guaranteed someone would find out about his status and persecute him.

If he lived a hard life, then he would do as all Uzumaki did best. Adapt and thrive. That meant a hardy body and a cunning mind.

She hated Konoha for what it almost certainly did to her son.

But she also loved it for her friends and the home it had become after Uzushiogakure's destruction.

She didn't really want to head back there with what the letter insinuated. Especially with her daughter, who was also the Jinchuuriki of the Yin half of the Kyuubi, but she didn't have much choice. For all that Minato had seemed to do and change while she was unconscious, he hadn't lost his sharp mind and silver tongue. She knew she couldn't exactly stick it out with her daughter alone. She might be a damn good shinobi, but she was never great at stealth or subtlety. Her personality just didn't agree with it. She was always one to get into the thick of the action. The few seduction and infiltration missions she had been assigned had not gone smoothly.

She could always hide in the woods and never get caught, but again, she hated being left out. Plus that was a cruel fate to force onto a child. Which is why Minato knew she'd pick going to Konoha over staying in the shadows. She had nowhere else to go.

That didn't mean she had to like it. She could take her time getting to Konoha.

'And,' she thought in irritation as something soft brushed against her arm, 'I can brush up on my Genjutsu before we get there to hide this damnable tail, so I won't be attacked on the spot.'

Stupid Kyuubi.

-o0o-

It had been a month since he had allied himself with the 'guild' Tartaros. So far he had enjoyed quite a bit of freedom. Outside of having to redesign the guard and watch rotation to be more efficient and unpredictable, he had nothing demanded of him.

He had used the time he had been given to explore this building, observe the grunts, and gather some of the knowledge this place offered.

Overall, the building - he called it that tentatively - was nearly a labyrinth. Good for confusing any infiltrators. There were many winding passages. In fact, there were so many connecting in such odd positions that he eventually came to the conclusion that this place produced its own gravitational field. As he had gathered from minutely sloping paths, he was travelling in more ways than a simple building would allow. It was odd to say the least.

It was also impressive. To be able to have a localized gravity system so contained was no easy feat. He hadn't experimented much with anything gravity related, but he knew it was finicky. There were many things you had to take into account when creating a field as advanced as this one less you end up accidentally creating a black hole.

That was not good for anyone.

After his memorization of most of the passages, he had set about spying on the grunts of Tartaros. They were odd. Many were fanatical worshipers of someone called Zeref. He had never heard of this person. The only things he had heard from the grunts was that the man was an overwhelmingly powerful mage born a few centuries ago. A man that was supposedly still living and the goal of Tartaros. Of course the Demon Gates would only let them know the bare minimum to entice them into joining and remaining loyal.

There were, of course those who were more reserved and he kept his eyes on those ones. Some of them were odd even among the oddities that were these fanatics. All of the grunts had a similar 'flavor' of energy as the Demon Gates, only it was more twisted and artificial. As if it wasn't what their power was originally. He brushed it off for now, not having the ability to question it.

The oddities among them were the few that smelled heavily of death, almost to the point of decay. It wasn't the smell of one who had drenched themselves in blood, but almost the smell of a corpse. It was as intriguing as it was bizarre.

His last excursion in search of knowledge he had found to be the most useful and interesting. These demons had amassed quite the library and he had learned much from it in the short time he was here. For one, they had many books detailing Magic and some sort of branch off that these demons used called Curses. There were apparently many types of magic, so many in fact that it even outstripped what he knew Jutsu to be capable of. Though from what he could tell there were also Jutsu that could accomplish things magic couldn't.

That was another thing. Magic and Chakra were not the same thing. They had similar properties, but for one, chakra had pathways that ran through the body - magic did not. In addition to that, complete exhaustion of magic reserves did not mean instant death as it did for those with chakra. At worst it caused or exacerbated some health problems.

Magic, and by extension, Curses, also didn't require a magic circle all of the time. They acted similarly to the purpose of hand signs. They weren't required, but they made things significantly easier, especially unfamiliar techniques. Though apparently in some more esoteric or powerful spells, not only was it required, it was the circles themselves that did the magic. That made no sense. The energy for it had to come from somewhere. It was just not investigated properly as to where that energy came from. His guess was the Earth. These special magic circles probably acted in a similar way to how a Sage would draw Chakra from the planet to supplement their own.

On that note, magic circles seemed to act, in some cases, similar to how Fuinjutsu could be utilized to accomplish a certain feat. Despite this, the magic community had their own system of Fuinjutsu called Runes, though they seemed to operate differently with different styles. Some styles were more suited toward combat, while others were more geared towards barriers and setting up conditions. He hadn't learned much beyond the basics of Runes, though as he had only found a book on the very basics of them.

In addition to books regarding various magics, he had found a map of another continent. It seemed like a somewhat large continent, though he couldn't verify that because there was no scale. Idiots. Who drew a map with no scale? The continent was called Ishgar and there were many countries listed on it. What drew his attention most though, was the fact that one country, Fiore was circled. It was also the only country that had a labeled capital, Crocus, and something called Fairy Tail (both drawn in).

He couldn't find anything more on either subject aside from a closer up map of Crocus. It was an impressive city from what little the map showed. Regardless, this presented him with the fact that either these demons weren't from this continent or had visited the one on the map.

That was one of the more useful and interesting pieces of information he had gathered. Few had crossed any of the seas and returned. It was becoming slightly more common now as technology advanced, but it was rare enough that when it happened, rumors spread like wildfire. To know that he had access to information unable to be found in the whole of the Elemental Nations made him nearly shake in glee.

The other thing he had noticed when in the library was the abundance of fictional books. There were likely more fictional books than informational ones. While he could enjoy books of any kind, he preferred practical ones. But since he'd been here, he'd seen very few come by the library, and those that did left quickly. So that begged the question of just why there would be so many.

He found out only a few days before his first month of being here. Apparently, one of the Demon Gates was quite partial to reading, especially fictional books. He'd observed her when she had entered and kept his eye on her throughout his research. No need to offend someone with such influence and power.

The woman/demon was beautiful by anyone's definition. He cared little for looks aside from using them to benefit himself, but even he could recognize her beauty. She had long black hair that extended to her lower back. She wore a light blue kimono top that had black spots on it, extending to about her mid thigh. In addition to that, she had three areas heavily tattooed. The first was her forehead that had what seemed to be an oval, only the top was disconnected and the middle had a dot, while it was surrounded by another four dots to its right.

The other tattoos she had were the same, adorning both her shoulders. They had a thick line leading into a half circle facing up with another, smaller curved line on its outside. Inside the half circle, there was an oval with two dots, almost lines, above it.

The black of her tattoos stood out even more by the fact that her skin was pale.

If it were not for the two large, golden-bronze horns protruding from her head, she would look completely human. He had yet to interact with her, but he had seen her in the library everyday since she had apparently returned from a mission.

From what he had observed, she was slightly more tolerant of the grunts than the rest of the Demon Gates. He planned to greet her and slowly increase conversation from there during the next few weeks. Even if she didn't particularly take well to him, he could learn a lot merely by observing reactions.

It was a balancing game of risk and reward, one he had long become a master of. For now, he was content being a lackey of these Demons, but he'd eventually find a chink in their armor to allow him to break away. So he would bide his time - training and waiting for the day that he could escape.

His musing was interrupted by a knock on his door. "What is it," he grunted.

The voice on the other side responded in a disdainful tone, "Master wishes to speak with you," immediately following the message, he heard footsteps leading off. That was another thing. The grunts were not all that receptive to making the new guy the commander - especially a kid. He normally wouldn't care too much, but he'd prefer avoiding a brawl that could lead to his death. He should probably try to remedy that soon. Perhaps by organizing a tournament of some kind.

That was for later though. Mard Geer wanted him for something for once and he was curious. Taking a leisurely pace towards the room he had first met Mard Geer in, he arrived in barely over a minute. Sitting on his throne of sorts, the demon looked arrogant. That arrogance was well founded from what he could sense.

Mard Geer smiled patronizingly at him as he entered. It made him want to strangle the man. "Ah, Commander," he emphasized almost mockingly, "I have need of your talents. There is a tomb of sorts I wish for you to explore."

The black haired man kept his gaze on him, not offering anything more. Naruto withheld an annoyed twitch. "Well, I suppose I could blindly search for the specific tomb you're looking for, but I might be gone awhile," he replied scathingly.

Mard Geer was only more amused, though he did offer an answer, "Mard Geer has had the information prepared for you. You will find all you need in your quarters."

Naruto withheld a scowl at that. He had trapped his room somewhat extensively. It was annoying to know that whoever Mard Geer had sent was likely able to circumvent them. Though he consoled himself with the fact that it was likely one of the Demon Gates relegated to that demeaning task.

He sketched the barest of bows with a muttered, "It will be done," before walking back to his quarters.

It didn't take him long after that to head out. He always kept anything important in quick to grab packages. The mission he'd been tasked with was to go through this unnamed tomb, bring back anything useful, and record anything odd. Nothing too outlandish, though with his luck he didn't doubt something would go wrong.

It was located to the west, along the cost of wind country, about twenty miles inland, located along one of the few short rivers along its coast. Unfortunately, the best path to it was about a 400 mile trek. Normally even that wouldn't be too bad. Two things made this difficult: one was the fact that he wanted to be discrete. Suna was fairly close to River's border, and while he would be taking the southernmost route into Wind Country, shinobi could patrol a lot of land. It was unlikely he'd be caught by a stray patrol, but the possibility existed.

The second, and more annoying obstacle was one he thought he had avoided. The desert. Wind Country wasn't all desert of course, but it might as well have been. Getting close to the coast was a risk as well since he would draw attention. A person running at speeds not seen outside shinobi, the most elite samurai, and the rare mage was bound to be reported. He would have to stick mostly to the desert.

While he had been glad to avoid the desert when he joined up with Tartaros, he had been conscious enough to know that knowing how to navigate the desert would be a useful skill. So he had taken a little time to learn exactly that. Emphasis on the little time part. There was so much new stuff available to him that he had put it off. It hadn't seemed immediately necessary. Now he was probably fucked.

He estimated about a 30% chance of getting lost in the desert. He didn't like those odds, but he had worked with worse.

-o0o-

Jiraiya of the Sannin, despite his eccentricities, was typically quite capable of controlling his emotions. After all, you didn't become a shinobi of his level without being able to keep level headed. Especially if you were a Sage, however incomplete. One was required to be calm to use even a tiny bit of the Chakra of the World. Still, there was only so much he could take, especially considering he had always been the most expressive of his teammates.

After having found out that he had failed Minato's son, forcing him to fend for himself and finally leading to the near extinction of the Uchiha, he was devastated. Logically, he knew that he couldn't have done anything about it. A Sannin taking in a random kid? There would be too many questions and it would have put a huge target on the kids back if he had taken the boy.

Regardless, emotions could sometimes get the best of even the greatest shinobi. He may not have been a big fan of the Uchiha, especially with how suspicious he had heard they'd been acting, but they were still part of the Leaf. Whatever his reason for doing it, publicly the kid was enemy number one.

For now at least. People tended to remember what was more recent better. If the kid kept a low profile and he found some of Orochimaru's work, that snake might be elevated back up to enemy number one.

Then, two weeks after he had calmed down enough to not drown himself in sake and set his spies to work in finding Naruto, Kushina and her daughter had popped up back in Konoha. He hadn't even known Kushina was set to have twins! And there was no way they weren't twins with the reports of what she looked like.

So now, he had to decide if he could put up with Kushina beating his ass to get some answers. She would not be pleased that he'd left her son in Konoha to fend for himself, regardless of what reasoning he applied.

Eventually, he decided he deserved a beating anyway and he needed some answers. Besides, now seeing what happened to Naruto, he figured it was time to start taking his job as godfather seriously.

-o0o-

Absolute Zero, previously known as Silver Fullbuster, despised the Demons of Tartaros he was forced to work under. However, he also knew that should he rebel, it would only result in his meaningless death (Second death really). He wouldn't even take one of the damned Demon Gates out. If the one who had brought him back from the dead, Keyes, didn't merely restrain him, then he would certainly get thrashed by one of the more powerful Gates.

With no other choice, he bid his time, always looking for subtle ways to annoy the others without incurring their wrath. He may hate them for what they did, but he had a level head and a vindictive side. So when Mard Geer had told him to watch over the new kid he'd brought in for some reason, he was curious and looking for ways to satisfy his curiosity. It was no secret, after all, that Mard Geer hated humans. For him to allow one into Tartaros, and put him in charge of the cannon fodder no less, well he must be something.

Though it was rather distressing to imagine what kind of circumstances could've forced a child to become strong enough to garner the interest of Mard Geer. Mages might start training at a young age, but none of them would've gained the master's interest unless the child was truly unique.

He couldn't sense anything too special within the child. Granted, he wasn't the best at sensing, but he was more than passable by most standards. The only thing remotely unique that he could sense about him was the sheer reserves he had. It was impressive in anyone, especially a child.

Still, that wouldn't be nearly enough to sway Mard Geer. He may present himself as the patient strategist, but the monster was rather impatient when it came to results. If this kid had a unique ability, he certainly couldn't sense it. If his uniqueness was buried that deep, it was unlikely Mard Geer would even bother. Since Mard Geer was bothering with this in spite of his somewhat typical energy signature, the kid had to be skilled in combat. Very skilled considering his age. And now having followed him for the better part of a week, he had seen first hand some of what he could do.

The kid was impressive and knew his stuff. Most obvious was the fact that the kid was fast. Way faster than anything he'd seen someone of that age pull. Nothing too impressive to him, but he was a grown man and fairly powerful on top of that.

The next was that the kid was scary good at stealth. Hell, he could barely detect the kid once he had suppressed his presence after he left the base.

What impressed him more; however, was his intelligence. The only thing he knew about the kid previously was that he was running from someone. Though whoever it was had not entered or camped outside the swamp they were based in. From that, he could understand why the kid chose to stick to the desert rather than catch a boat, despite its much higher risk.

The kid knew he was wanted and didn't want to attract attention. Pretty obvious to a lot of people, but a surprising amount wouldn't consider they could be tracked quite well even if they donned another identity. Especially with the shinobi of this land. They were annoyingly good at that.

The kid also seemed to at least have a general idea of how to navigate the desert. That wasn't something one picked up, even if you were living in a desert village. Many teens and adults learned eventually because they were the ones who left to get supplies or travel, but kids didn't tend to know how. Especially kids who didn't look like they were raised in the desert, as the paleness of the boy's skin indicated. It showed he had foresight to learn how to navigate a desert.

The kid was also a stamina freak. Everyday since he left he had run for fourteen hours, only taking breaks to find food, water, and get a small amount of sleep. The heat and cold extremes of the desert barely even seemed to bother him. Even the sand didn't seem to irritate the kid much!

Of course he was going far slower than he had in the Land of Rivers, but it was an impressive pace to keep in the desert. By this time, it was the night of the fourth day and he was relaxing a couple sand dunes away from where the kid had set up camp for the night. From what he figured, they were at most two more days away from reaching the kid's objective.

The kid was doing his nightly routine of cooking the lizards he had caught and meditating when his reserves split into two different places. 'Clones?' He thought. He had seen them a couple times since coming to this continent, but they always had a certain elemental feel. This one was near identical to the kid. In fact, the only difference he could sense was the far smaller reserves it had.

Then he realized the clone was moving in his direction. He smirked. Interesting, so the kid could sense too. He wondered when he had been caught onto. It only took a few more moments before the clone landed in front of him, taking in his appearance at a glance, and then only spoke a sentence before dispelling in a cloud of smoke, "Boss asks if you would like to join him for his meal."

Silver blinked at that. He'd never seen a clone speak before or dispel in such a way. This kid just kept getting more interesting. And Boss? He almost snickered at that. How adorable.

Well, he reasoned with himself as he stood, the kid already knew he was here. Might as well accept the invitation.

-o0o-

Naruto was curious. He had been booking it across the desert for the past four days. It had been some of the more miserable days of his life. He had suffered some intense training that surpassed the discomfort he felt in the desert, but the constant irritation of sand was something he hadn't quite experienced before. He blew it away occasionally, but it always got back in and he didn't want to expend chakra to constantly keep it out. Mostly because that would be a big beacon for any sensor with some decent range.

The hot and cold extremes didn't bother him nearly as much. The Land of Fire tended to be quite hot anyway and he had supplemented that with special heat resistance training linked to some basic fire natured chakra training. He was a bit more susceptible to the cold, which he countered with the warm blanket he had brought along.

What had him curious was the presence he had detected following him since he left Tartaros. It was not at all unexpected, but he was still mildly surprised to find it was what seemed like one of the Demon Gates following him. He knew in a straight up fight no grunt could come close to matching him. Even discounting his far larger reserves than the average grunt, he had observed the way they walked and some trained. None of them came close to him. On average he'd say they were roughly on the level of a fresh Chunin. And none of them had any notable stealth capabilities.

He'd assumed that they had at least a few members dedicated to stealth away from the rest. It seemed he had been wrong. The man who was following him was clearly strong, but stealth wise he was clearly an amateur. It was impressive the man could track him for so long from so far away, but his shadow's own skill in stealth was sub par in comparison. With nothing but his mind to occupy him on this trip, he had eventually turned his attention to the man following him. The man had the same feeling as a few of the grunts who smelled of decay. Something he found particularly odd. Was he responsible for them or was he from the same source as they were, only much more powerful?

There was also a subtle difference between him and the others. All the rest he had picked out like that were consumed by 'darkness' as best as he could describe it. This man didn't feel like that. Oh, he could still sense a deep 'darkness' - hate perhaps? - but he also had a lightness to him that he hadn't felt in any other demons. He couldn't figure out what it was - was he sensing emotions? - but he knew this man was different from the others.

Mental note, he needed to investigate if he was indeed sensing emotions or base emotional states. That was a useful skill that he had thought only the most skilled sensors could achieve. He was far from what level he assumed he needed from research. Further investigation was required.

As for now, he decided to contact the Demon. It wasn't too risky, and he had wanted to see if he could get more insight from any Demon Gates regardless. So he had sent a clone to get the man while he prepared food and drink.

It wasn't long before the clone popped and he got his first look at the man from the memories.

The man had narrowed, black eyes and a seemingly perpetual smirk on his face with a small amount of facial hair. His black hair was spiked in an almost organized fashion, facing behind him. The most eye-catching of his face was a large scar that started above his left eye, narrowing as it crossed the eye, ending soon after that.

He wore a heavy metal chest plate with hanging dark blue cloth on it, and over the left side of his chest, there were Latin characters he couldn't quite read. He had large, blue metal pauldrons that had the Tartaros guild symbol on them - similar to two keys hitting a line, colored gold. He also wore a white shirt, sleeves tucked into a pair of heavy brown gloves. The beige pants he wore were tucked into black boots.

He could feel the man moving at a leisurely pace towards him. That was a good sign at least. By the time the man had gotten to his camp, he had finished cooking the lizards he had caught. He offered the man one as he sat down, along with a full cup. The man took it with a nod, taking a bite of the lizard before draining some of the cup.

He blinked in surprise, looking down at the liquid in the cup. His voice was laced with a hint of incredulity as he asked, "Is this blood?"

Naruto let off a bit of a smirk at that and responded, "It's better not to waste things. The blood of the lizards can act as a bastardized version of hydration. Instead of wasting it when I drain them, I mix it with the little water I can find."

Surprisingly, the man let out a deep laugh, "I don't think I've ever met a kid who would think like that! And I don't think I've ever drank blood, though I think it needs a little cooling," with that, his hand and his makeshift cup was cover in a layer of frost. Then he took another swig and let out a sigh, "Much better."

Naruto looked on in interest. Ice Release was rare. Only the Yuki clan of Kiri could do it without previously existing snow or ice as far as he knew. Other wielders of it existed in Snow Country, but they couldn't achieve Ice Release without pre-existing snow.

Of course, he reminded himself, these were demons. They would obviously have a way to create something as simple as ice. Especially if what they used was as close to magic as he thought it was. They stayed silent as they ate, observing each other. Naruto took in all the subtle clues the man gave - the pain and hate buried in his eyes, his scent, even the way he ate.

Silver didn't have the skills to observe and make connections nearly as well, still, he was no slouch. The way the boy moved, at least, spoke of paranoia and experience hiding it.

Naruto decided to speak first, saying part of what he observed for shock value, "You were a civilian not long ago."

The brief twitch and minute movement of his facial features confirmed his observation.

Though it didn't seem Silver was quite ready to confirm yet. "And what makes you say that? Many more experienced than you would say that it's impossible for someone who'd been a civilian to achieve my level of strength."

Naruto only quirked his lips at that, "The way you walk is the most damning. Anyone who starts training in their adult years almost never get rid of the telling way civilians walk. The strength you've gained may be great, but there are always those civilians who have had potential - it merely remained untapped."

Silver only let his smirk grow, "You're more observant than I gave you credit for," he paused to take a bite of the lizard, swallowing before continuing, "So who're you? You look like you've been trained from a young age like the ninja of these lands are so fond of doing. Why're you not in one of those villages?"

Naruto stared into the fire, chewing thoughtfully before he looked to the sky and answered, "Being in one of those villages doesn't really suit me."

Silver raised an eyebrow at that, "And what does suit you?"

Naruto smirked, "Who knows? Most back where I came from would say chaos and carnage." Silver looked interested in that but didn't stop him, "I don't necessarily disagree, but I think there's something that suits me better than that."

Silver smirked a little more when he realized Naruto wasn't going to talk anymore. "You don't seem too threatened by me. Any reason for that?"

Naruto didn't move from gazing at the stars, responding in a bored tone, "Because I know your type. I may not have been too social back in my village, but I was observant. You present yourself as arrogant, but really you find amusement in the way people react more than anything," Silver twitched a little at being read so easily. Though what the boy said next made him laugh, "Besides, I'm confident in my ability to escape if you decided to attack for some inane reason."

Silver continued chuckling for a while after that before he regained enough composure to speak, "You might be good, but I'm rather suited to keeping people from running. Maybe you'd get farther than most, but I doubt you'd escape."

Naruto hummed dismissively before bringing up the topic he really wanted to know about, having decided this man was more open to conversation than others, "Why is it that some of the members of Tartaros smell like corpses?" Out of the corner of his eye he could tell Silver barely maintained his composure. As expected, he knew something. Hopefully he wouldn't start acting defensive.

"That's an interesting question there," Silver paused to give him a critical once over, "Not many people have enhanced senses enough to tell that." He stayed silent for a minute more, merely staring ahead with unfocused eyes. Then he focused in on Naruto's laying form, starting to speak with a notable hesitance, "Among the Demon Gates, there is a necromancer called Keyes. He is responsible."

Naruto sat up at that, scrutinizing Silver in more detail now. He seemed like a perfectly normal human. Aside from how his energy felt. And that didn't feel too different than the demons in Tartaros. Honestly, if it hadn't been for his scent, he wouldn't have noticed.

And a necromancer. He had considered the possibility, but to have it confirmed was actually surprising. The elemental nations had stories of them, but none had truly been confirmed. The few more reliable sources on the subject stated that those who had been necromanced most often had dead and decaying flesh or were entirely bones. He'd never heard of one who could bring back humans nearly exactly as they were - and with magical ability no less.

Either those sources were unreliable or this necromancer was a cut above the rest. And considering he was a Demon Gate, that seemed quite possible.

Necromancing had fascinated him since he had first heard of it. Mostly of how it could potentially be used to make past enemies give up intelligence even after entering the grave. Or just to revive historical figures to get their take on certain events. Of course once he heard how they tended to be mindless he had lost interest. Now with proof that the field had far more potential than he had thought, his previous passing interest was reignited.

Though at the moment he needed to focus more on mastering what he hadn't already and using their library to his advantage. Plus necromancers were always agreed upon to not be the most mentally stable, and he didn't fancy becoming an experiment. Perhaps he could learn something from observation.

Back to the present though, it seemed that this topic bothered Silver quite a bit. Just on the edge of bothering him enough to blast him with ice. He'd tread carefully here. He'd rather make an ally in Silver than an enemy. "Does this Keyes see what you do?" He didn't want a puppet of an ally after all.

Silver shook his head, "He can, but only when he focuses on it. And I can force him out for a time if I need to."

Well that was relieving. This Keyes was arrogant to let Silver keep so much of his free will. Perhaps it was an experiment? Regardless, he could use it to his advantage. Not yet though. He hadn't known Silver long enough and he wasn't ready to leave Tartaros either.

But it wouldn't hurt to get a sparring partner and someone who had more experience with Tartaros. That was it for the night. He didn't want to push Silver and he needed to rest if he planned on reaching the tomb tomorrow. So he bid good night to Silver, inviting the man to join him instead of following from a distance. The man gave a nod of acknowledgment before laying down himself.

-o0o-

Naruto woke roughly an hour before the sun rose. Grabbing some left over blood, he drank, quenching his thirst and rising to destroy the few pieces of evidence he left of his camping here.

Looking over, he saw Silver was also sitting up, watching him, scrutinizing him. He didn't care, only motioning for him to follow if he wished. They seemed to have an understanding for now. They would travel together, but they were wary of each other. Silver more so than him. He may not have Silver all figured out as he did most those he knew in the Leaf, but he'd seen enough.

Silver was more than proficient in combat - if because of his sheer power or a combination of that and skill. Still, he was no soldier. He had too many openings. Silver may have had the upper hand in combat, but when it came right down to it, Naruto had a more experienced and ruthless mind. Finding weaknesses in everyone he met had long become a habit. And that was all he needed to keep Silver at bay if the need arose. He may want allies, but his own survival trumped any other necessity.

So for now he felt relatively safe. And that was all that mattered to him as they crossed the desert to arrive at the tomb. It took them nearly the entire day and by the time they arrived the sun was setting.

That suited Naruto fine. In fact, he preferred it. He wanted to search the cave and he'd rather not have Silver follow his every move. He wanted to see the best this cave had to offer himself before Silver saw it. He didn't want to take the chance of being forced to reveal everything he found to the other members of Tartaros. If Mard Geer was interested in it, then surely there was something interesting here.

So he made a few clones to explore the cave and swapped with one to keep Silver occupied and relatively unsuspicious. He only gave the reasoning of wanting to get back faster and to look for potential traps with no risk. The man easily agreed. Even if he was suspicious, the fact that he didn't care for Tartaros would surely overrule any desire to oversee his search.

They, or rather he and his clones, rummaged through the cave, finding a few engravings along the way but little else. There was an occasional desk and book, but even if they were salvageable, they were in a language he couldn't understand - he couldn't even recognize what alphabet it was derived from. He still sealed the books to try to translate later.

After an hour of search, he came across a mural that was only slightly eroded. It was a depiction of a green land being swallowed up by a desert. Obviously a depiction of the Land of Wind a long time ago. Millennia certainly. He came to realize this cave had been used or searched far more recently than that - certain desks for example were of a far different style and he found books in two distinctly different languages. Though these things were still old, they were closer to centuries old rather than millennia.

Next, he noticed the people depicted in the drawing. The drawings were of humanoids, but they had distinctly pointed ears. Elves? That's the only thing he could think of barring an odd ritual of an ancient civilization. Elves, strange as the conclusion was since they had devolved into mere myth at best, seemed to be the most likely original settlers of this cave. The books with an alphabet he couldn't recognize, the depiction of humanoids, and the fact that some of these books had even survived - they all pointed towards elves. Perhaps the fantastical claim that they had traveled to a different dimension wasn't so far fetched after all.

More than that, though, the mural depicted a cave under the sands and plains, leading into a giant underground hole with a shadowy depiction of some type of monster. Below the monster, there were some type of rune looking things for a ritual as well

He looked to his right where there was an obvious cave in. Was that blocking up the entrance to this supposed beast? Was this supposed to be a warning? He figured it was possible. Pictures were far better at getting a point across than words ever were. Especially if the few books he had found were in Elvish. No one but the Elves themselves knew their language in all of history - though he personally doubted that claim.

Still, even in the myths the elves now lived in, they were usually depicted as more perfect, powerful humans. Even if that was a false claim, it was probably unwise to provoke what may lie beyond and under for now if the elves seemed to fear it as much as the mural indicated.

Before he met up with Silver, he hid the scroll he had sealed the books into just in case he was forced to hand them over, and claimed there weren't many books. He may not be able to read them now, but from what he had glanced through, the other person who had been here centuries ago had left some notes in the books. Even something that looked similar to a key. Perhaps he could learn that language. It seemed to use Latin-inspired characters.

As for the depicted monster… it had been millennia since the elves were here so it was likely that it was dead. That tempted him quite a bit. But there were creatures who could live for a long time if they went into hibernation. There were many stories of monsters like that, and he knew of one that had been confirmed centuries ago. It was of a dragon - or a dragon-like creature at the very least. The only thing he could find on it was that it had been killed soon after it was unearthed, taking many down with it. Even if most agreed that it had been significantly weakened, significant losses had supposedly been had.

So for now he'd leave it alone, but he mentally noted to come back here sometime when he felt he was strong enough.

It took him no more than another hour and a half to explore the rest of what was here. Aside from another few stray books, he found what was most likely directions in the language that wasn't elvish. There was a map attached to the notes. Unfortunately, he didn't recognize the landmass. It was only shown to be surrounded by water and there wasn't even a reference of size.

Figuring that this was what Mard Geer might want, if this goose hunt to such a random location was any indication, he brought it to Silver. Silver seemed to recognize the characters, but couldn't read it either. They both agreed to camp in the cave for a few hours before heading back. They were both rather sick of the sand. They made some small talk before they slept, Naruto mostly engaging in it to look for more information and have a more friendly ally.

-o0o-

It had been four and a half days since they had reached and left the cave that was Naruto's target. They had been slated to return to Tartaros late tonight - possibly early morning the next day at the pace they had been keeping. Unfortunately, the desert liked to cause all those who traveled problems.

Uzumaki Naruto thought that this damn sandstorm was because his luck was absolute crap - it usually was. He had been so close to traveling the desert without an incident and then he couldn't pick up the signs that this bloody sandstorm was going to interrupt him. But he was stubborn and wanted to at least try to trudge through the harsh storm, so they covered their faces and soldiered on. Though he could've sworn Silver chuckled at his expense as if he wasn't forced to trudge through the sandstorm with him.

It was a mistake. He had lost his bearings in the storm. He couldn't see the sun and night was fast approaching with little sign that the storm would stop anytime soon. They couldn't stop now for fear of getting buried in sand. Even if Silver decided to make tents out of ice, there was a chance Suna shinobi would take notice of the anomaly in the desert. He would prefer not to give away his movements to Konoha.

As a result, their only option was to keep moving. A dubious task at the best of times. For some reason people had trouble moving in a damn straight line if they didn't have a point of reference. So for all he knew, they could have circled backwards or be nearly on top of Sunagakure.

They kept on trudging through the sand, using the absolute minimum amount of chakra and - magic? - to keep from getting stuck. He had read that sandstorms could sometimes pop up out of nowhere and last a long time, but experiencing it and reading it were two very different things.

He wondered if Silver could create a shield of ice and keep it moving with them to block the sand. Then he thought better of it, not wanting to alert any sensors -

And then he stopped mid thought. The sandstorm had stopped.

Or more precisely, the area they had entered had no sandstorm. He could still see the sand raging all around him, but the area they were now in was calm. As if it was afraid to enter.

Sandstorms didn't have calm spots like this. They weren't hurricanes or tornadoes that had an 'eye' that was calm. Especially with such a clean cut distinction between sand and clear air.

And they certainly didn't have kids his age standing in the center of it all, completely unaffected by the storm around. This kid had to be the reason for this. He didn't need to send out a probe of chakra to know that.

And then the kid turned to look at them with dead eyes that he knew - had seen in the mirror before. They had a hint of curiosity in them, as if trying to dissect them.

Then those eyes filled with something he had become rather intimate with, especially right before he left his village.

Blood lust.

It was restrained for now - calm, cold eyes holding it back - but he knew that wouldn't hold true for too long. Plans flew through his mind, coming together and discarded one after the other.

Then the boy spoke, his voice steady, cold, emotionless, "Who are you?" the red head turned his gaze to him, "Mother wants your blood, yet she is wary. Mother has never been like that before. Why is that?" the boy didn't give time to answer, turning his gaze to Silver, "Mother says you are an anomaly. A walking corpse. Something to eliminate."

The boy didn't move to act on his words, and Naruto turned his mind to deciphering the boy's words. He spoke as if someone was speaking directly to him. That implied a mental disorder or mental connection to something sealed within him. Sending out a quick probe, he determined it was the latter. Sensing a little more, he realized it was familiar. Similar in nature to something he'd sensed before.

Then he took in the boys appearance and it clicked. The blackness around his eyes similar to a tanuki as if severely sleep deprived, the sand, where they were in the world. This was the Ichibi Jinchuuriki. And they had just walked straight into his home ground.

This… was the worst case scenario barring meeting the Kazekage. And even that was a toss up.

If the Ichibi had as much influence over this boy as he thought, that likely translated to a lot of its power being transferred as well. Yep. This was worst case scenario.

Well, he amended, as he glanced to Silver who was looking a little unnerved beneath his smirk, not quite worst case. "Silver," he said and the man turned his eyes to him, "Make an ice dome around us. Now."

Silver didn't question him, picking up on the fact that he had figured something out. One instant they were surrounded by the whirling storm of brown sand. The next they could only see the blue sheen of ice.

The Ichibi Jinchuuriki barely batted an eye.

Seeing that he hadn't attacked yet, he decided to talk, "You say your mother wants my blood, yet she is wary. Well the answer to that is quite simple." That caught his attention. It seemed he hadn't actually expected an answer. "You and I are similar. You're one, correct?" He didn't actually need confirmation, but it had grabbed the boy's attention. "I am another of the nine."

The boy considered that, a little more curiosity entering his eyes. A little more of him that didn't seem lost to the Ichibi. Silver looked like he had walked into a conversation over his head and he didn't appreciate it.

"I have never met one like myself." He paused, considering, as if trying to remember something, "I thought all of us were confined villages."

Well, that made things more complicated. It seemed he had been educated on the other Jinchuuriki. There was a 50/50 chance of whether he would report that back to Suna, and have people sent after his head. Though perhaps he could relate to the boy and bring him to his side.

"I escaped from my prison," Naruto said, choosing his words carefully. Jinchuuriki were treated badly 100% of the time. The only current exceptions were the Hachibi and Sanbi Jinchuuriki. That was only true for the Hachibi because he had gone through much hardship to prove himself in the Third Great Shinobi War and the Sanbi's Jinchuuriki had overcome the discrimination by being one of the greatest shinobi of his generation even without the Sanbi.

Now that he thought of it, barring perhaps the Nibi Jinchuuriki, he had probably had the best slate as a Jinchuuriki.

Following that trend and what he could see of how the boy had acted - Gaara his mind supplied - he was no exception. And influenced heavily by what he contained if what he said was any indication. What kind of crap seal did he have?

Still, even if his peer had a modicum of his own mind left, his phrasing of escaping his prison would likely be appealing.

"You… escaped?" He questioned, seeming to find the claim baffling, as if it were impossible. It kinda was. Of the Jinchuuriki who had attempted to run, none had lasted long.

"Yes, I outwitted the fools that chained me," Naruto replied.

Gaara looked at him in a new light, "So you fought to prove yourself?"

Naruto frowned at that tone. There was something desperate in it. Something that reeked of obsession. He replied all the same, "In a way, you could say that."

Gaara briefly turned his gaze to Silver before locking eyes with him once more, "Then why do you travel with the anomaly? Should you not eliminate him to prove yourself? To prove that you are strong?"

Ah, now he understood. He had developed a mentality that only the strong survive. He thought that to kill the strong was to be strong - it was, he supposed - but Gaara killed merely for that, not looking at anything else. To prove he was strong was the sole motivation he had.

That was both relieving and troubling. If he showed any weakness the boy would likely aim to kill him with extreme prejudice. On the other hand, it gave Naruto an avenue to control him through.

He chose his next words carefully, "Killing is not the only way to prove yourself. Killing all in your path will only lead to lost progress and your own eventual demise," Gaara considered that, seemingly confused even as a bit of anger started to bleed through his mask. Naruto quickly added to try to abate the boy, "Other people can be wells of knowledge to learn from and use when you cannot be everywhere at once or can't accomplish something on your own."

Gaara calmed slightly, before voicing another question, "And why is knowledge important? And why would you need to be in more than one place at a time?"

Naruto was surprised at the simplicity of the questions. It seemed he had underestimated just how basic his mentality was at the moment. But the why for knowledge being important. He could think of multiple answers, but some deep part of him told him they were all shallow reasons at best. Why was knowledge important to him?

That was a dilemma to solve later. For now he gave the answer that he thought would best appease Gaara, "Knowledge is important because it can tell you anything you want. It can give you an idea of how to kill in new ways or save your life. To fight better, smarter and so much more," Gaara seemed vaguely intrigued at that at least. "As for why you would want to be in more than one place at a time, there are many. There could be two time sensitive things you want to do, but you can't make it to both before one expires. You can have your allies go to the other objective."

Gaara was less interested in that, not quite grasping how that could happen, but nodded all the same. "You are interesting. I wish to learn more from you." He paused, sand floating out of the gourd on his back, "However I must see you are truly strong for myself. Mother longs for blood and if you are not strong enough to resist, you are not worthy to learn from."

'Well', Naruto thought somewhat sarcastically, 'I guess this isn't the worst outcome I could hope for.'

And then he had to dodge as sand was flung his way.

Out of the corner of his eye he could see Silver's characteristic smirk widen a tad. Smug bastard. He would pay him back with interest later, regardless of his own desire for the man to stay out of the fight in the first place. Barring, of course, his ice cage. If that wasn't there he was guaranteed to be dead.

Darting around the red haired boy, Naruto started actively sensing everything he attempted. So far he had only sent waves of sand in a fairly straightforward pattern. Some chasing him while another part came in from another side to intercept him, but it was starting to pick up speed and perform more complex movements. Whether that was from learning on the fly or Gaara merely starting to not play around he didn't much care.

But by now he had picked up on the fact that Gaara always kept some sand around him to defend with. The few kunai he had thrown had been easily blocked. Even manipulating one with wire to hit the back of his head did nothing, that seemed to contribute to his idea that the defence Gaara had was automatic. Which really sucked, all things considered. That meant even when this guy was completely unprepared, the only way you were going to ever take him out in one strike was by being stupidly fast.

So he had to find a way around that. No problem, he excelled at finding unorthodox solutions to annoying problems.

Jerking out of his circling, he threw out some clones to prepare a few traps and charged into close range. Unbelievably stupid considering Gaara's abilities.

Unless, of course, the kunai his sand had swallowed up earlier were rigged with his exploding seals. So as he ran, Gaara lit up in a glorious explosion.

A crazed smile graced his face as the smell of smoke hit his nose, his blood pumped as he burst through the cloud of smoke and lingering embers, throwing a kick that he released his restriction seals for into the meager defence put up. The blackened sand had become brittle and was smashed through. His kick continued on to bash Gaara across the face, sending him stumbling back in shock.

Naruto didn't stop, punching through the feeble guard the boy mustered with ease. Throwing combos that kept Gaara stumbling and scrambling to put up a defence. It took only two combinations to realize that Gaara's skin was cracking and flaking off, as if he were a statue. Yanking off the bandanna covering his Sharingan, he could clearly see what it was.

Hardened sand that conformed to his body so tightly it was like a second, thicker skin. So he had not just one formidable defense, but a second just in case. Luckily, it seemed to be highly chakra intensive. So once it was gone, it was probably gone for quite a while.

Finally after knocking off a good portion of the defence covering his face and left shoulder, his senses screamed at him to dodge. He did so with a quick cartwheel into a back flip, barely slipping past a spear of sand aimed for his heart. It barely clipped his side, cutting into his shirt, but doing little else.

It seemed Gaara had recovered what was still usable of his sand. It was a surprising amount, considering his explosive tags had quite a bang to them. Of course, he noticed with mixed excitement and chagrin that Gaara barely had a scratch on him. And that scratch was only a scuff mark rather than any actual damage.

If this kid had any actual intensive combat training or experience he could've wiped the floor with him. That sand defense was just so difficult to get past and so adaptive that he didn't have too many tools to get past it without prior setup.

Which is what likely contributed to that weakness in the first place. Gaara always had such natural power and adaptability that he didn't ever have too much of a need to brush up on close combat skills. And his experience would likewise suffer because of that and his young age.

Did every Jinchuuriki have a special skill like this that made them so annoying to fight? Or was Gaara just an outlier? As far as he could tell, the only thing he had was stupidly high chakra reserves and way higher than average recovery time from an injury and exhaustion. Possibly enhancement to senses as well, but he had no reference for that to tell for sure.

Still, as far as he knew, those were basic abilities all Jinchuuriki gained in varying amounts depending on the seal and power of the Bijuu. And really, being Uzumaki already gave him large reserves and better than average healing - being a Jinchuuriki just boosted that. While the healing was nice, the stupidly high chakra often seemed more trouble than it was worth. And he could've trained his senses to be higher - as he had - if it hadn't already been boosted.

So either the Ichibi host was an exception, as the previous hosts were reported to have similar abilities, or - more likely as it was generally agreed the Yonbi gave its user the Lava Release - the connection between Bijuu and host played a roll. If the Kyuubi had anything remotely similar in value to give - excluding knowledge - maybe he should look into a way to contact it sooner rather than later.

He mentally slapped himself as he ardently dodged another wave of charging sand. Fight now, theories later. Luckily his clones diverted enough attention that he could still think about how to beat Gaara.

He glanced around, taking everything in with a new view from the Sharingan. Silver's ice was brilliantly colored as expected, as was Gaara's sand. Then he looked closer and noticed something peculiar. The chakra in the sand was undoubtedly contributing to movement, but the main force moving it wasn't that. Rather Gaara created a sort of constantly shifting object that moved in conjunction with the sand.

It sparked something in his memory. Magnetism. There was a lot of details that particular field took into account when moving things in complex ways. The fact that Gaara performed these moves with ease indicated it was more a result of instinct than any actual knowledge on how his power worked. With how mentally unstable he was, there was nearly a zero percent chance his assumption was incorrect.

Gaara most likely charged his sand negatively - though it could be positive - and kept it from becoming neutral again after hitting the ground. Though he did notice sand on the bottom slowed a bit so perhaps it wasn't perfect. But it was still amazing to instinctively understand magnetism to such a degree. And to be able to use it in combat so effectively was highly impressive. It also made him slightly envious - it had taken him a while to understand the greater complexities of magnetism.

Now, though, that presented him with a new possibility to get past Gaara's defenses. If he could figure out how to create a magnetic field with his chakra - even a small one - he could hit Gaara far more easily. And with Gaara only having instinct on his side, it was unlikely he'd be able to easily resist his attempt. The problem was creating the magnetic field. The Sharingan helped a lot in that department, but it wasn't perfect. Many thought that if you perfected jutsu to the point of a few or zero hand seals, the Sharingan couldn't copy it. That wasn't exactly true. It could understand it to an extent, especially if the user knew what to look for, but copying pure chakra flow without the aid of hand seals made it far more difficult and chakra intensive. That was assuming you could even accomplish it in the first place. So almost 100% of the time it was pointless to even try.

Unfortunately, he didn't really have a choice. The desert was dry so he couldn't realistically pull out enough water to slow the sand down enough to matter. Silver's ice wasn't an option for multiple reasons, but mostly due to it giving Gaara more access to sand.

So this was really one of his only options. His clones had had time to brainstorm as well, but they had yet to put anything into motion. It'd be fun though, to be put under pressure to learn such a skill in the span of minutes, if not seconds.

Naruto's grin broadened as he yelled out, "What a challenge!" Then he laughed somewhat sinisterly, unintentionally making Silver think he was quite thoroughly insane and a battle maniac. Both were probably true.

Naruto didn't care for that though. He focused on Gaara and how he combined Earth and Lightning natured chakra to make the sand charged and how he was creating a magnetic field. He quickly realized he only needed to focus on the latter because Gaara was keeping the particles charged for him.

Looking to the box - more like lines he corrected - they were constantly changing in response to his own movements. Now to figure out the how of how he created it. It seemed it was mostly using Lightning natured chakra to constantly redirect electrons.

Simple enough in theory - in fact it seemed almost like he was using the basic principle of a capacitor but with air and the earth instead of metal plates. Despite this comparison he understood, it was far more difficult in practice. He had dipped his hand into the basics of all five natural elements, but he had only really become somewhat proficient in Futon. He still knew a lot of theory (relatively at least) on Raiton but theory and practice were quite different. He knew what was happening though, so he could hopefully replicate it to a small enough degree to negate Gaara's formidable defense for a few seconds.

Testing it in small bursts as he avoided the oncoming sand, he found Gaara seemed to notice something was happening, just not what. Well better to do it when he was unprepared than if he found a way to counter.

Jumping over the sand and using it as a push off point, he launched himself towards Gaara once more. Then as he approached, he held his hands out and started pumping out Lightning natured chakra to create a force enough to make the sand wall in his way split apart. Even if Gaara unconsciously fought against it.

The wall parted, Gaara's light green eyes widened, and Naruto let out a laugh of glee, "I'm a genius!"

He was usually not vain or boastful, but he was in the heat of the moment and feeling proud of himself. His hand came up with a kunai and he slammed its ring into Gaara's temple hard enough to blow out any civilian's head. Gaara was merely knocked unconscious.

Naruto let out a breath as his adrenaline started to fade. That had been a fun fight. And he had learned something new to experiment with. Gaara seemed to have great potential as well. Should he bring him along or just leave him here? Maybe negotiate an alliance? Was Gaara even sane enough for that to be a lasting solution? Mard Geer wouldn't be terribly happy-

Then an insane laugh echoed as sand erupted around Gaara's body and broke Silver's ice prison, unprepared to counter it as he was. He noticed a face forming and it was then he realized he had fucked up.

He saw the face of the Ichibi forming and watched in a small amount of awe and fear with a large dose of fascination. He absently noticed the sand storm was almost non-existent now. That was the least of his concerns though.

He couldn't fight the Ichibi in the desert! It was suicide for anyone barring the strongest people in the world! Hell, it was suicide for well trained armies! He glanced to Silver and noticed he was in a state of shock as well. Probably because he didn't know a kid transforming into a monster was possible. It usually wasn't unless the Jinchuuriki willed it and the seal was weak enough. Not if they fell unconscious! He cursed the idiots who sealed the Ichibi. He was supposedly the easiest to seal! How had they screwed it up so badly!

It didn't matter for now. Even if Silver joined him it was pretty unlikely they would win. He didn't know exactly how magic worked, but he could take a pretty good guess and say that an ice mage in the desert was not at an advantage. Especially not against a sand demon. It was time for a tactical retreat.

"Silver," he said not waiting for a response, "We need to make a tactical retreat. Make sure to create a path of ice as we run."

He looked to the sky, got a quick bearing of the general direction they needed to go and started running. Silver followed soon after, tossing down an ice path and throwing ice spikes back at the Ichibi.

They heard the Ichibi laugh louder as it started to finalize its shape into a 30 something story tall tanuki. Then it laughed and screeched to the world, "The great Shukaku is free again!" It turned its eyes to our running forms and huffed dismissively, as if they were ants, "I'll spare you for now. You contributed to this temporary freedom, and I can't wait to smell blood in Suna!"

Naruto twitched at being called an ant, but restrained himself from turning around, pleased at least that they wouldn't be dying today. Self preservation over road pride in this situation. The Ichibi was a problem for the Kazekage now.

And it seemed his choice of bringing Gaara along or not was gone for now. Perhaps he would search for the boy in a few years when he was prepared for a potential fight with the Ichibi.

Silver had cut off his ice and dispelled it, realizing they were no longer in danger and didn't want to leave a trail. Then he noticed small, shiny particles being pulled out of the sand and being summoned towards Shukaku. He saw and felt it at the same time. The Kazekage had arrived.

As much as he wished to see those two clash, it would be rather difficult to lose any pursuers who knew the desert better than he and Silver. So they ran until they found the border to the Land of Rivers and a little further into it before stopping.

Silver stared at him as they rested with a look that demanded an explanation. He petulantly stayed silent, refusing to answer until the question was voiced.

Silver decided to humor him and asked, "What the hell was that?"

His response was short, "The Ichibi, Shukaku."

Silver's eye twitched, "That's not what I meant."

Naruto refused to meet halfway, "Then what did you mean?"

Silver lost the smirk he had regained once they had entered River Country and his forehead throbbed in annoyance. Naruto had to hide his own smirk at that. Maybe Sakumo was onto something when he was so vague with him. It was fun to annoy people like that. "I meant what was it, not what is it called."

"A Bijuu," he informed seeing still more twitching. Deciding to answer partially, he gave a peace offering, "Many call them masses of chakra or chaos given a will or consciousness."

Silver visibly relaxed, but caught onto his wording, "Many? You don't?"

Naruto shrugged, letting him come to his own conclusions as he stood back up and stretched a little. He looked towards the sky and saw it would be night soon. It seemed their blitz out of the desert had made up for time spent wandering in the sandstorm. Now they just had to get their bearings of just where they were before they got back. "Let's go. If we're quick we can be back by sundown."

-o0o-

The Kazekage, Sabaku Rasa, was displeased. His youngest child, Gaara, had gone out into the desert to calm himself and prevent the release of the Ichibi as he had ordered. Despite being in the desert, Gaara had ended up releasing the Ichibi, forcing him to confront the beast.

He enjoyed some exercise and a good fight, but not at the cost of the lives of any of the men and women under his service. So he was displeased, but he was also curious and possibly out for blood.

Gaara hadn't lost control and transformed for about half a decade now. Something had to have provoked him and threatened him enough to force him into that state. He found it even more likely after recovering his son's unconscious body and finding half of his upper sand armor was gone. From what the medics had informed him, the boy also had a minor concussion.

There were not many people who could fight Gaara effectively enough in the desert to force Shukaku out. In fact, discounting the Kage and those few elusive mages who wandered the Nations, he could think of no more than 20 that could perhaps accomplish that feat alone. And of those people, most would have no reason to be anywhere near Wind Country's desert, let alone in a place where sandstorms had been known to form.

So it was likely there was a new player who was moving up in the world. When he had approached Shukaku he had noticed the slightly bluish tint something - ice he thought - gave in the distance. It faded quickly, but he had seen it easily, being so obviously out of place in the desert. He had only sensed two presences. One of them was obviously of a ninja, the other was some sort of odd mage. They had both been rather impressive, but the mage, in this case, seemed to win out.

He had sensed residue of techniques from both, but it seemed the mage had only used a single large spell. Either what ended the fight or something to contain them. Either could be true as Gaara liked to play with his opponents at times. So it was possible the ninja had fought with Gaara for a while and then the mage pulled out an unexpectedly powerful attack to knock Gaara out.

All the same, he didn't like two unknowns like that so close to his village. Regardless of whether they were the aggressors or had acted in self defence, they were a threat. He had sent some trackers to follow any trail, but those were hard to find in the desert in optimal conditions. A desert post fight with the Ichibi was anything but optimal. And if the level of suppression the ninja was capable of was any indication, he would be good at covering their tracks.

So he sat at his desk, waiting for Gaara to wake from one of the few times he had genuine rest to get answers. It was sixteen long hours before the boy stirred.

"Gaara," he greeted rather coldly.

Gaara sat up, confused for a moment before his face settled on his typical stoicism, "Father," he greeted, equally cold.

They stared each other down for a time before Gaara finally backed down, looking away. Rasa took that as his cue to speak, "Who was it that attacked you?"

Gaara stayed silent for a few moments, seemingly contemplating his answer, finally responding when Rasa exuded some chakra, "I do not know."

Rasa was not pleased by this game, and it showed with his rising presence. Gaara understood his displeasure and revised his answer, "A boy my age with bright blonde hair and a red and blue eye."

Rasa calmed and reiterated, "And who was the other?"

Gaara responded promptly this time, "A man with black hair, a metal breast plate, and a large scar over his left eye."

Rasa contemplated those answers. He was completely unfamiliar with the description of the second man, but the first tickled something in his memory. Something recent. Few children were as powerful as Gaara, inexperienced as he was. And bright blonde hair was exceedingly rare in the elemental nations, not to mention heterochromic eyes of rare colors.

He brushed a few papers to the side of his desk and looked down at a masked, blurry face. It had bright blonde hair and what was probably a blue eye, but the other was covered. Naruto Uzumaki - the most recent young and notorious traitor to Konoha. He had supposedly annihilated most of the Uchiha clan alone. He was Gaara's age and skilled if the report held any truth. And a red eye. It was possible the boy had transplanted a Sharingan to himself after slaying the Uchiha.

He personally cared little for the Leaf's loss of the Uchiha and another rogue traitor from there, but it did present a problem that he did care about. Most immediate was the question of what Uzumaki was doing in the middle of the desert. Avoiding detection was an easy answer, but there were easier ways to do that. It was common knowledge the desert was dangerous to travel through. It would have been more ideal for the boy to keep his head down and head along the ports if he was avoiding attention. Though that didn't even consider where or when he had time to ally with a mage. It was a question he couldn't get an answer to unless he met the boy face to face.

So he moved his attention to the larger threat and one not so immediate, but far more large scale. Konoha was a bit of a laughing stock at the moment and seen as weak because of the Uchiha incident. Many were sending out feelers to determine if they could fight a war. While the Uchiha weren't the entirety of the Leaf's forces, they certainly made up a good chunk of its strength.

If Kumo and Iwa decided it would be worth the casualties to start a war with Konoha, Suna would be legally compelled to help Konoha. Not that ninja cared too much for treaties, but they had to at least make an effort to seem somewhat trustworthy, otherwise clients would hire less and everyone ended up being your enemy.

"Leave me, Gaara."

He did. Gaara had things to think on himself. That boy had beat him. Perhaps he hadn't defeated Mother, but the blonde haired one had defeated him. The blonde at least had some sort of idea of what he was talking about.

Perhaps he would try having some allies himself. Test if what the boy had said was true first hand since he couldn't join him now to observe. Perhaps his siblings? They feared him like everyone else, just not to the same degree. Yes, they would be the ones he would start with.

-o0o-

Kushina had been having a difficult time of reigning in her temper. She had brushed up enough on Genjutsu to hide her fox tail most of the time, but it wasn't perfect and if she got too distracted she would lose control of the illusion. She and Kyoko had arrived in Konoha a little more than a week ago and her reunion with Old Man Sarutobi had been… shaky to say the least. She was still a little mad that he hadn't gotten someone to care for Naruto as Minato had for Kyoko. He was likewise angered over how Minato had been alive and well, not come back to Konoha, and on top of it all, not helped his son.

He may have also been a little upset that she had gone so far as to make a deal with something like the Kyuubi, but it's not like she was happy about it either. In fact, this thrice damned tail was pissing her off quite a bit. It didn't seem to obey her commands to stay fucking still and it was a hassle to hide it all the damn time.

But for all the annoyance it was causing her, it was worth it to see her daughter's smiling face and to connect with her. She hadn't met any of her blood since Mito had died just under three decades ago. It felt nice. Friends and comrades in arms were one thing, but the Uzumaki had always been a clan concerned with family.

She still cursed Minato to hell for making her coma prolonged though. It seemed he had used some of that time to ingrain loyalty to Konoha into her daughter. It hadn't taken complete root, Kyoko having never been in Konoha before playing a large role in that, but it was there. As much as she loathed Minato for doing such a thing, Kyoko was still young enough to instill different values than to fight and die for a nation you barely knew. Like the importance of family and friends.

Kyoko had asked about her brother - apparently Minato had convinced her it was alright to leave him alone in Konoha as a child - and she was eager to meet him. So far she had avoided her daughter's inquiries about where he was, but she couldn't do it for much longer. Both for herself and her daughter's sake. They had to face the truth. She had decided to have that conversation today or tomorrow. And considering it was approaching evening, she either had to have it after dinner or steel herself for tomorrow.

As she was about to decide, she heard a knock on the door. She frowned. The only one who knew where she was right now was Old Man Sarutobi. He had said he'd let them settle down and bond for a couple weeks before they had to start on their own duties - Kyoko the academy and she getting back into active shape.

Feeling the presence outside, it wasn't Sarutobi, but it was intimately familiar. Someone she knew well. She just couldn't recognize it because she was still a little groggy from her wake up call and change in body. It wasn't hostile, she could at least tell that. Tentatively opening the door, she saw white spiky hair and immediately regretted her decision. The man opened his mouth - likely to say something stupid - but she didn't give him a chance. Fist met face and Jiraiya, the legendary Gama Sennin of the Sannin, was blown through a tree.

She didn't say anything as Jiraiya stood up, only glaring daggers at him while releasing killing intent. She saw Jiraiya gulp and hold up his hands in defense, scrambling to find words to defend himself. "Now Kushina, let's not be rash. I know you're angry, but -"

She cut him off there, hissing out in a low, venom filled voice, "Angry? No I'm not angry. I'm well past that point," she could see Jiraiya beginning to sweat. Good. "You left my son to rot in this hell hole when you knew damn well how he'd be treated. And now look what happened. So yes, I'm well past angry."

Jiraiya swallowed heavily, finding his voice once more, "I know what I did. And I regret it. I was a fool to leave him here alone despite the risks it would present if I had taken him. Say what you want, but at least give me a chance to be the godfather to your daughter that I never was to Naruto."

The raw emotion in his voice halted her anger from progressing any further. Logically, she had known Jiraiya taking Naruto would've painted a huge target on her son's back, but emotionally she hated the end result of Naruto's stay in Konoha and she partially blamed the Sannin for that. At the same time, Jiraiya was truly remorseful. And despite his… perverted antics and way of coping, he was typically a pretty decent role model. And a good friend besides.

So she huffed dismissively, showing she wasn't completely pleased, but still willing to give him a second chance as she motioned him in. He brightened considerably as he followed her in.

"You don't seem to have aged a day," he complimented. It was true, but it still made her want to pound his face in.

She refrained, though, as it was a genuine compliment, "Thank you. And you seem to be the same as you were eleven years ago."

He grinned broadly, and boasted, "Well I know my dashing looks and personality had been retained, but it's good to hear it confirmed!"

Kushina sighed in fond exasperation. It was hard to stay mad at this idiot for long when he acted like that.

"Kaa-san? Who is that?" Kyoko's voice floated in from the living room.

Before she could reply, Jiraiya sped ahead of her and started his own flashy introduction, "I am the great Toad Sage of Mount Myoboku, the - Gah," he stopped rather abruptly after being pounded into the ground.

"Now Jiraiya, such an introduction isn't needed. A simple 'I'm your Godfather' would've been plenty."

Kyoko's eyes widened and sparkled, "You trained Tou-san! And if you're my Godfather, you're Onii-san's too, right? Where is he?" She asked in rapid succession.

At her questions Jiraiya sobered a little and shot Kushina a look. She gave him a look of her own that was halfway between dread and resignation as she gave a nod. It seemed the decision of when to tell Kyoko had been taken from her.

Jiraiya sighed and spoke, voice full of regret, "I am, but I've only ever met Naruto once when he was a baby."

Kyoko's expression noticeably dimmed, but her voice kept its upbeat tone, "Well where is he then? Who took care of him in Konoha?"

The two adults shared a hesitant glance and Kushina answered, "Your brother mostly took care of himself when he lived here with a little help from the Sandaime."

Kyoko drooped even more at that, seeming to realize her brother hadn't had a dedicated care taker. Then she seemed to pick up on her wording, and asked a question she dreaded the answer to, "Lived? You mean he isn't here anymore?"

Kushina took a deep breath to prepare herself to say it out loud, "No. He no longer lives in Konoha. He is the one who killed the Uchiha and he fled the village."

Kyoko's face showed her utter shock. "He, he killed them? But he's only my age! How could they accuse him of doing something like that!" By the end, she had recovered from shock and replaced it with anger.

Kushina tried to stay calm in the face of her own rising anger. She was the adult, she had to maintain a veneer of calm, "Your brother was said to be quite skilled despite his age. It seems he was just more skilled than most suspected. They have found conclusive evidence Naruto was responsible and he was gone when they went to look for him. He is more than likely guilty." Kushina tried to keep calm and deliver the news, but she couldn't help but get in one last jab, "They probably gave him a good reason to take them out," she muttered somewhat lowly, just not enough to be inaudible.

Kyoko didn't seem calmed in the least by that. "If he didn't have someone taking care of him, then how could he be able to kill the Uchiha! Why would he! Isn't Konoha supposed to be the greatest of the five!"

Jiraiya decided to take this one. "Kid, look at me," he demanded. She complied, tears running down her face. "I don't know why Naruto did what he did, but I can tell you this. Every place has a dark side to it. Naruto just happened to get deeply entrenched in Konoha's through no fault of his own," Kyoko was visibly confused, so he explained, "I take it you know you're the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi?" She nodded, "Well that's not entirely true. You hold its Yin half. It's why I suspect you are or will be good at Genjutsu. Naruto holds the Yang half of it."

Kyoko took that in. How come she hadn't been told that? Did Tou-san just think it wasn't that important?

Jiraiya continued his explanation before she contemplated it too much, "Jinchuuriki are never treated very well no matter what village you go to. Konoha may like to say it's the most righteous, but they treat their Jinchuuriki the same as any other village - as a scapegoat. That's why we hid Kushina's status as one, so she wouldn't have to bear that hate. Naruto's status, unfortunately, was not nearly as discreet as would be ideal."

Kyoko took that in, forming opinions and connecting dots. She was starting to see a more complete picture of the world and Konoha.

"Look kid, when you're hated like that you either adapt and thrive or you sink. Naruto thrived in the face of adversity. I don't know exactly how he got that strong, but I suspect he somehow found a mentor to teach him. Plus, from what I know, his best friend was Itachi Uchiha. That kid is damn skilled so he probably learned a thing or two from him."

Kyoko thought about that, confused at the fact that Naruto would kill his best friend's clan. She dismissed it quickly. Itachi Uchiha had survived. Maybe it was the rest of the clan as a whole that had offended her brother. And she saw now that maybe Konoha wasn't great for everyone. Tou-san had said to listen to Jiraiya if she ever met him, praising him as a wise man. Maybe Tou-san had been a little short sighted in thinking that Naruto-nii wouldn't be discovered. Still, everyone made mistakes. Even Tou-san.

If Naruto had hated this place so much to run away, then maybe she should look a little more critically on Konoha. And when she became a ninja and could leave on missions, she would search for him. Ask him why he did it and bring him home with her to Kaa-san, wherever she decided her home was.

For now though, maybe she should talk to Itachi Uchiha. If he was Naruto-nii's best friend then surely he had some answers or could tell her about him.

"So, do you think he's a good person? Or did he turn into a monster?"

Her question surprised them, but Jiraiya was quick to recover, "Let me be honest with you. The only things I know about Naruto are from what sensei and some friends here told me, ok?" Kyoko nodded impatiently, "Alright. From what I know, no I don't think he's some monster hellbent on destruction."

Kyoko narrowed her eyes, "But you do think he's after revenge," Jiraiya showed surprise and she let the scorn of being underestimated show in her voice, "I'm not stupid. What does that mean?"

Jiraiya grinned and let out a sharp laugh, "You're a perceptive kid, you know that?" the blonde didn't dignify that with a response. "Alright, I'll tell you then. I've been told Naruto doesn't act rashly. That he meticulously weighs consequences. That he gets back at people in subtle ways that screw them up in the long run. Do I think he's planning revenge on Konoha? It's possible. But the Uchiha? No, he must've had a damn good reason to take a risk like that."

Kyoko seemed satisfied with that. "Thank you," she paused, hesitating for a moment before adding, "And could you please tell me more about what you know about Naruto?"

Jiraiya gave a soft smile and let his large hand ruffle her hair, "Sure kid, anytime."

She smiled and went to her room to contemplate what she had learned.

Kushina whipped around to Jiraiya as soon as she left and hissed, "What the hell are you thinking, telling her something like that!? Are you trying to get her to turn on her brother or not, cause I really can't tell! And-"

"Kushina," Jiraiya told her seriously. She immediately relented. He smiled softly at her, "She's a smart kid. I wasn't going to lie to her. She would've come up with a worse opinion if she hadn't been told now, by one of us. It's better that it's the truth than something she'll find out is a lie."

Kushina considered that, knowing it was right but not really wanting to admit it to him. Still, "You're lying," she accused quietly, "You know why he did it."

Jiraiya narrowed his eyes in irritation. That was off, he hardly ever did that. "Kushina, I'm trying to mend the bridge between us, don't make this difficult," he almost pleaded, but Kushina wasn't too moved. She continued to glare defiantly at him until he folded. "Fine," he hissed, "I really am not certain why he did it, but I've got a theory. I don't want to break your hearts if I'm wrong though, so I'm not telling you. Satisfied?"

Kushina nodded, conceding and letting go of her glare. She needed to get caught up on current events to see if she could figure out what this theory of his was that would give them hope. At the moment though, it was time to prepare dinner. She sighed. "Come on, Jiraiya. Any exotic foods you know how to cook from your travels?"

And Jiraiya was back to his old self in a second, "Do I ever!" He boisterously boasted as he followed her to the kitchen.


Ho boy, extra long chapter. Tell me what you think, I'm curious. Also would like a beta reader if anyone is interested.