Kakashi, Sakura, and Hinata stood on a hill overlooking a large town, or a small city depending on how you looked at it. "This is where the picture was taken?" Sakura asked. "Yes," Kakashi replied, "one of our Anbu members spotted him while on a mission that required traveling through this town and took a photo of Naruto." Hinata stared down at the town, "And how do we know that he wasn't just traveling through too?"

"When the Anbu finished their mission it also required travelling through this town again," Kakashi clarified, "and when they did Naruto was still here, doing the same thing he was when he was first spotted." The man glanced at his teammates, "That can at least mean that Naruto has visited this town multiple times, enough for us to pick up a trail. He might even live here." "Then what are we waiting for," Hinata asked before leaping down the hill to the town, followed by her teammates.


The team of Konoha ninja walked down a busy street through the middle of town as they searched for the MIA shinobi. They pushed through throngs of people as they waded against the tide of bodies, looking for the location of where the picture of the blond had taken.

"How are we even going to find this place, there is hardly anything in the picure to go on." said an exasperated Sakura as she fought to keep moving forward against the crowds. "There isn't even enough for me to go on," Hinata huffed, "and I have the Byakugan!" "You could still be looking for Naruto," Sakura said. "What do you think I've been doing?!" Hinata snapped as she turned her head sideways to glare at the girl, Byakugan active.

"Now, now, ladies," Kakashi sighed, "we have plenty to go on." Sakura turned to Kakashi and Hinata glanced out of the corner of her eye. Instead of speaking he pointed to a bar and they followed him in, getting a table in a lesser-populated section of the establishment.

"So what are we doing here," Hinata asked as she turned off the Byakugan and rubbed her tired eyes. "Don't you know," Kakashi asked, "bars are great places to meet and share information." He laid the picture of Naruto in the middle of the table and pointed out his surroundings, "From the looks of it, Naruto is at a restaurant that he has apparently visited on multiple occasions." "But we already knew that, sensei," Sakura said.

"Yes, we did," Kakashi agreed, "but take a look at what else is in the photo." Kakashi pointed to several other people, and even the street. He pointed out how worn down everything looked and said that this place was going to be in one of the more run-down parts of the city. Fortunately for them, this made up only a small part of this settlement, which meant their job wouldn't take even a fraction of the time it would if they had to search the entire city. They set out a few moments later, heading to the poorer sections of the town to begin their search anew.


After several hours of searching the slums of the city, the Konoha team found the place where the picture was taken.

"This is the place?" Hinata asked doubtfully. In front of them was a small restaurant stand, barely the size of Ichiraku, selling food that hardly even looked fit to be near, let alone eat. "This is the place alright," Kakashi affirmed, "let's hope that the owner is in the mood to talk to us about our friend." "Then what are we waiting for," Sakura asked. The group walked towards the stand, but drew to a sudden halt as they were confronted by something unexpected. Standing an equal distance away, garbed in shinobi cloaks, were a group of Kumo ninja.

"Thank you for leading us straight to our prey, Leaf-ninja, but we'll take it from here." The lead ninja said with a smug grin. The teams slid into combat ready stances almost simultaneously. "What are you after him for," asked Kakashi. "It's quite simple," the Kumo leader replied, "the man you are after is also wanted by Kumo. But I doubt it's for the same reason." "Which is?" Hinata growled. A bespectacled Kumo nin spoke up in a formal voice, "Our target is wanted for the murder of several Kumo ninja. The sole survivor of his unprovoked attack had to be taken off the active-duty roster to undergo therapy after the experience."

This was some rather unsettling information for the Konoha ninja. The Naruto they knew hardly even laid a finger on someone even after being provoked, to hear that he butchered a team of ninja for no reason and traumatized whosoever managed to survive was a hard pill to swallow.

"It's a lie!" Sakura accused coldly.

"It's the truth!" another member of the Kumo group yelled.

"It's Tacos!" yelled someone else.

The ninja all turned to the noise and disbelievingly watched the very person they'd been searching for walk right between their groups to the less than appealing food stand, looking like he was actually looking forward to the meal. The blond-haired man turned with a bag full of grease-soaked food in hand with a smile and looked between the two silent groups of shinobi in confusion. "What?"


A plethora of thoughts ran through everyone's heads as nobody moved. 'Naruto?' 'No way.' 'So that's him.' 'Do I have something on my face?'

Sakura spoke first, "Naruto, is that you?" The golden-haired man turned to the girl with a face lacking any emotion, "...".

The Kumo ninja, all with a look of loathing on their faces, slowly slid their assorted weapons out. "You are the one who killed a group of Kumo ninja several days ago," the leader said with a calm voice, eyes filled with a cold-hatred. Naruto now turned to the newest person who was apparently talking to him, "Yeah, so?"

Before another word could be spoken the leader of the enemy shinobi group slammed into the younger man and nearly flattened him as his body was sent flying. A heavy crash echoed as the boy's body slammed into the side of a building, completely buried in rubble. Hinata shot through the air like an arrow, a look of rage marring her features, and a lethal strike to the Kumo shinobi's throat was only just stopped by the sword of one of his subordinates. Lightning chakra crackled along the blade's length, making the already dangerous weapon even more so, but failed to cut through the girl's bare hand, shrouded in a chakra that was especially dense around her fingers.

The Hyuuga girl hardly glanced at the ninja as she grabbed his and, swinging her other hand up, cleaved it in two, her fingers sharp as daggers. The shinobi stumbled back, the rest of his comrades rushing to his aid, as the Konoha team collided with the Hidden Cloud ninja. Hinata was swiping at anything within reach of her with limbs that could hack through steel. Sakura was slower, almost clumsy, in comparison with her teammate's swift grace, but anything or anyone foolish enough to close in on the pink-haired kunoichi was swatted aside as if they were mere pests. Kakashi engaged the head Kumo ninja in a lightning battle that left the air sizzle and crack around them.


Nearly forgotten in the frenzy, the very reason they came lay buried beneath a pile of rubble, what hadn't been broken by the blow that sent him flying had when he hit the wall. The boy lay there, still alive and conscious through all the excruciating pain and in the foulest mood he'd been in all week, but he wasn't upset about being so injured. "I was looking forward to eating that," Naruto muttered.

He lay there and listened to the sounds of battle as he felt each of his ruptured blood vessels close-up the openings, his torn muscles crawl back together under his skin, and his broken bones reconnect as if they had wills of their own. In under a minute the unmoving man had felt all the damages done to his body come to life and move beneath the surface as they were mended under their own power. When it all stopped he shifted the rubble off of him slowly and looked out as the shinobi fought amongst themselves. He spotted the large man who'd sent him through the air fighting another ninja. The blond shifted under his stony cover until he grasped a knife, "You're first."

If you had blinked, then you would've missed what happened next.


The Hidden Leaf ninja were evenly matched with their counterparts, matching each other blow-for-blow, when the pile of rubble that covered their fomer-friend suddenly exploded violently. The two groups of startled shinobi immediately separated at the noise as a shroud of pulverized rock flew out.

As the two teams shot away from each other, the leader of the group of Hidden Cloud ninja was suddenly covered in blood. Naruto stood in the center of the street, half of his form hidden by the dust that was kicked up. But the blade in his hand, blood dripping from every part of the weapon, practically glowed red.

The Kumo squad leader desperately tried to hold the wound together, but it was far too massive to hold closed. The cut started on the back of the left hand, just behind the knuckle of the middle finger, and traveled along the arm all the way to the shoulder before veering inwards and cutting across his chest, just under the collarbone, and stopped when it reached the sternum. The wound missed every possible spot that would kill the man, but it didn't matter with an injury of that size.

A Hidden Cloud kunoichi reached out and tried to help stop the bleeding, but that was a lot of blood. "How are you not hurt at all," the wounded shinobi snarled, "You should be dead." Naruto looked genuinely baffled by this information, "Am I?" He glanced down at his bloody clothes and patted over the tears in the fabric before shrugging it off.

"You bastard," the injured man strained before he fell to his knees. Naruto tapped his chin in contemplation as the rest of the Kumo team helped their commander to his feet, "You know, I had a thought." He casually walked towards them, twirling the knife in hand. "You can stay, in which case you'll die; or you can... what's the word? Ah, order a 'tactical retreat, or something.'"

He stopped a meter away from them as he stared an entire squad of trained killers down like they were no more interesting than an insect. A particlularly annoying insect. He put on big grin for them, "But please, by all means stay. I'm sure we'll get along just fine"

The Kumo leader weighed his options carefully, "We're pulling out." His squad members barely said a word in protest and left in short order, leaving a visibly upset Naruto behind. "Hey, wait a minute, was it something I said?" He huffed and turned towards the silent group of Konoha ninja, eyes narrowing into malicious slits as he set his sights on them. "And as for you."

The squad of former friends felt something cold slither up their spines at those words. Naruto raised his knife and pointed straight at them, blood still dripping from the handle. "You're buying me a new lunch."


'Is he serious,' they thought as one.

A stray wind blew through the street, kicking up some of the loosened dust and carrying a tumbleweed.

The three ninja continued staring at him as the blond now watched the tumbleweed bounce by. After it was out of sight he turned to them once more, "I wasn't the only one who saw the tumbleweed, right?"

They remained silent, frustrating the man. "Oh, come on! People think I'm weird enough without me seeing tumbleweeds now."


That was just a little humor for ya. I might do more. See ya.