I don't own Naruto, it belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.

I'm so sorry that this took so long to get up and there shall hopefully be more updates in the future and a much faster pace at least until school starts up again.

Chapter 4

Hiruzen sighed as he looked over a few of the members of his Shinobi council after everything had been said and done the members of council had gathered together and they were now pouring over everything that could be found in the Hokage and Jonin's libraries about the Senju family. This had started at nearly 4 am that morning and it hadn't stopped. While normally he wouldn't allow certain persons such high clearance he had allowed Shikaku Nara, Shibi Aburame and Murakumo Kurama and Tsume Inuzuka, he wasn't about to allow the Hyuuga clan or the Uchiha clan into this archive it would be like asking for the headache from hell.

"Oi, how about a break old man?" Tsume asked, finally standing it was roughly the lunch hour and the four of them had been working nonstop. The worst part was when she finally got out of that bent over position her back started popping like there was no tomorrow.

Shikaku sighed, looking over at his fellow clan head "I must to admit Hokage-san I was wondering if we could take a break."

Hiruzen chuckled, "Haven't I told you before Hiruzen is just fine, Shikaku? Either way yes, let's take a break…I suppose most of this shall have to be done in the mornings won't it? I have more…hell," the Hokage continued glaring at the growing pile of paper work. "And I imagine that you all have duties that must be attended to as well."

All four members sighed, sometimes it was no fun being the one in charge making sure that the finances of both their clans and Konoha. It was something that they all wished they could foist off onto their civilian counter parts, but they all knew that would just give that group of cowards, more of an inflated heads than there currently held at this point..

" I suppose I should send a note to Jiraiya today as well." Hiruzen finally spoke up as the four heads began to gather their things. It would take them months possibly years to be able to get through everything hidden away in the Hokage's library. Not to mention that once Tsunade came home they might be able to get access to the Senju library, he was relatively sure that was the only way he was going to get the type of information that he wanted.

Shikaku blinked, "Hasn't he been checking up on Naruto every few months?" He finally asked, looking over at the Hokage in surprise. He'd originally assumed that Jiraiya simply came to check up on the seal, but the older the girl got the more it became apparent that she looked like Kushina, had her mother's personality, and her father's brains and coloring. But he'd kept his mouth shut, Minato would have come back from the grave and killed him if Naruto became the toy of some political nightmare.

Hiruzen nodded, "Indeed." He could only agree and he honestly didn't have a clue was if Naruto had actually met his pervert of a student. Somehow he tended to doubt it, she would have been up in arms with self-righteous anger about perverts….and he could only laugh internally at the thought of Naruto's hormones being awoken.

The clan heads all nodded before shuffling out of the room to give the Hokage the privacy that he seemed to yearn for, though Tsume had to wonder if he just wanted to read his porn. If the old man really thought they hadn't figured it out then he was senile or in denial.

Hiruzen watched them go, before going through a practiced hand sequence before a young monkey appeared within his office. "Hello, Hajime."

"Yo, old man! Watcha need, don't you usually call gramps?" The young white furred monkey asked looking at the old human with a curious expression.

Hiruzen rolled his eyes, it must the day of old men…this was the eighth time he'd been called that and it wasn't past one yet! " I need you to deliver a message for me."

Hajime blinked, his dark intelligent golden eyes seemed to have a hidden question hidden there. "Is it for that old perv?"

Hiruzen snorted his amusement, "Yes, Hajime it's for the old perv."

"Meh…I guess I'll give it to Gamakichi then…they aren't so far away and I won't have to hunt that smelly guy down." Hajime huffed lightly pushing a large amount of air out of his nose in dislike. Honestly that human male always smelled like sex but the gross thing was it was never of his own copulation…no one in the Monkey Summon clan got it and they didn't want to.

Hiruzen sighed, a frustrated expression on his face "Thank you, Hajime and tell Enma I said thank you." The poof of smoke was all that left at the young white furred monkey went to do as he was asked. Closing his eyes and trying to ignore the head ache that was seemed to be exploding at the temple of his head he sighed, before pulling out his stamp and starting to work on his paperwork. Looking out the window he sent up a brief prayer for Kakashi and his son, Genma to for that matter. Kakashi had left late the day before, while Genma and Asuma had left at around the same time he'd gotten up to open the Hokage's Archives.

O

Genma and Asuma knew when they left Konohagakure they would have a hard time finding Tsunade but they never imagined the insanity that would come their way once they left the confines of the city's barrier and it's protection. Apparently they weren't the only ones after Tsunade and she'd gotten into more than a little bit of trouble, because some of the people trying to collect weren't the sort they could see the busty blonde ever asking money from.

Not only that but, Genma was having the same amount of difficulty with this mission as he was both of them wanted to return home but for different reasons. Asuma was getting to know a young woman by the name of Kurenai while Genma was going to be a daddy in the next few weeks, honestly it made the older man freak out at the thought that Suiren his current love interest going into labor when he wasn't there.

Asuma had to wonder if his father wasn't just trying to get Genma's mind off things, then again he didn't blame the older man. He'd sent Kakashi off after Aoi off all people…Kakashi had hated the pompous younger man and Asuma had no doubt that Kakashi would be killing him with the precision he was known for in ANBU. He shuddered at the black cold rage that had seemed to surround Kakashi after he'd left the Hokage's office. He was one of few members of Konoha that could get that close to the man when he was in such a state. Gai stated that he'd gone and asked Naruto's two little friends and Iruka her new teacher to sit with her while he was gone.

Then again, Kakashi did consider the girl to be his little sister/daughter hybrid relationship, the younger man had softened up in the almost month that they had been allowed her to live with him. And that brought Asuma back to the mission at hand, what would Tsunade do once she learned that she had a relative left? Would she try to take Naruto from the village? And if the woman did what would happen to Kakashi? Not only that but if Naruto did wake up how would she react to everything or would she even be told that she was directly related to three of Konoha's four Hokages?

"Asuma, you're thinking out loud again.." Genma glared lightly, he was not amused with his current partner's ideas or thoughts. He liked Kakashi happy, he was a lot more fun to get along with not only that but he DID indeed want to go back to his girlfriend and see her with her swollen belly.

Asuma sighed, "Sorry…this is getting a little out of hand."

Genma nodded in agreement, "I agree…I really don't want to face Tsunade sober or drunk." Both men grimaced at the thought of what the strength enhanced one woman could do to the two of them.

"Anyway, how's Suiren?" Asuma asked, the two of them had been on the same genin team and they'd stayed friends long afterward. They were part of a group of Jounin's that were always around the other, both Gai and Kakashi were part of this group but both of them tended to prefer Kakashi…he was oh so much calmer.

A small slightly dirty grin ran across the Genma's face, he loved his girl friend more than one could imagine. While many said horrible things about the his lovely lady, the two of them often ignored it…he was twenty-five, she was eighteen this happened to be the biggest part of the contention at least for the civilian side of things. Eighteen, young and oh so beautiful with her deep black hair and soft gray eyes he had a hard time not loving her big heart. Not only that but she had a figure to kill for, they both agree she would stop using the public hot springs mainly because he'd found her figure and face in the comic version of Icha Icha, no one had wanted to kill a white haired sannin as much as the two of them.

"Very very pregnant…we're having twins." Genma grinned happily, Raido and Aoba had been ragging on him like crazy while the rest of his friends had wished him the best.

Asuma blinked in surprise and some amusement at the gooey happy face Genma was making and he had to wonder at the difference a woman like Suiren made on his life. Then again Asuma new it had to have taken some time for Suiren to trust anyone…on her first upgraded missions her jonin sensei left her behind thinking she was dead. Nearly a month later she stumbled into Konoha looking broken but having completed the mission that her former teammates had abandoned her on.

"So boys or girls, or both?" Asuma finally asked, soaring through the trees beside Genma. It seemed like they had been running for hours and both members were getting tired not to mention they'd run between asking about Tsunade through the few villages they had passed and the occasionally enemy ninja things had been going smoothly, but neither men could find rest both felt the quiet before the storm.

Genma shrugged, "Sui didn't want to know…said she wanted a surprise. I don't really care what we have as long as the three of them are healthy at the end of it." It was a solemn comment one that Asuma could understand well, many Kunoichi had a hard time conceiving and an even harder time carrying the baby to full term, it was why women like Mikoto Uchiha and Yoshino Nara retired after giving birth..

A sudden noise to their right stopped all conversation, both men paused before they seemed to simply blend in with the back ground. Two men with strange head bands seemed to be moving about, both seemed to be looking for something in particular but what it was couldn't be seen.

"Nee, Jiro why are we going after these bastards?" The darker haired male asked, he was a chunin and damned good at what he did.

"Syuichi shut the hell up." Jiro replied, his bald head was covered in a thick bandana that had the metal plate of his village. He was a big hulking man larger than the sannin Jiraiya and built very much like a rock. Muscles seemed to ripple with every move the man made, one would assume that the man was slow but you could tell by his light and quiet movements that he had speed and strength on his side of a taijutsu fight.

Syuichi huffed as he looked toward his partner he didn't understand why he needed to be quiet he couldn't feel anyone about. Cold vibrant green eyes glared, he hated being told what to do but Jiro so rarely gave him an order that he really couldn't be mad… "Neee, Jiiro….come on at least tell me what this is all about…." Syuichi climbed on the back of the big man happy to hang from the thickly muscled man.

Jiro sighed in frustration, "Ah…apparently Orochimaru-sama's experiment survived."

A frown fell over the younger man's face, "Which one? He left several in Konoha…including that moron Mizuki." It was a feminine face, Syuichi was one of the best at seduction be they man or woman….even if he preferred big beefy man meat like Jiro.

Jiro snorted softly in scorn, none of Orochimaru's soldiers could stand the double crossing spy "The boy with the ability of Mokuton…he's supposedly a child that had been grafted with the DNA of Hashirama…it's nothing short of a miracle that the thing survived…more importantly according to one of our sources a child has reawaked the Mokuton. A child naturally related to Hashirama….Orochimaru-sama wants him or her." Jiro shrugged, he honestly didn't care.

"Baw! That's not why we were called in." Syuichi replied coolly, before his green eyes went wide before they began to die. Two senbon needles were thrust through his neck, blood tricked down in a virtual river another was thrust through his esophagus it pinned the two sides together at his spinal cord… Jiro was no better several Kunai littered his neck ensuring that the big man died.

Both Konoha ninja re-emerged from the trees both frowning, from what the Hokage had told them only the hospital staff and clan heads knew anything about Naruto let alone Yamato. With in seconds both Leaf ninja moved from where they'd emerged, both holding up a simple hand seal before dispelling the genjutsu.

"Mah, mah…Jiro! They tried to kill me in a horrible way….!" The small man pouted cuddled up against his partner's chest faux tears pouring down his flush childish cheeks

"Now, now Syuichi…I suppose we'll just have to repay them no?" The big man grinned, his sharply planned face cruel and excited at the thought of destroying them. He recognized one of them very well, "We seem to have a little fire Guardian! Why don't I play with him neh? You can get Daddy….maybe we can get Daddy's babies and wifey after everything's over with…she sounds like a good breeding toy."

Syuichi pouted slightly, before an amused expression took over his face "Can I keep Daddy to? I need to practice, yes?

Jiro chuckled, "Sure why not…." He had no doubts in his mind that Syuichi would rape the man over and over again…they were both sick bastards that way.

Genma felt his blood run cold, Suiren was in a vulnerable condition and he wasn't about to let some sick bastard touch what was his. Soft chocolate eyes became hard, as he focused on the smaller man, he could feel Asuma beside him coiling up ready for the fight to get started. There was a similar calm rage in the man's heart and he could understand it, Yamato was another dear friend the thought that Orochimaru was interested in the young man and the young child Naruto was a terrifying thought.

Asuma was off his trench knives ready as he studied his opponent, this fellow was bigger than him and he didn't recognize the man in any bingo book he'd seen. Then again he didn't recognize the music note on the man's head band either. "So were you to from?" Asuma asked with a cool that he didn't feel.

Jiro chuckled, "I suppose I could tell you…" Thick arms were covered in plates of steel, while short daggers were held within the man's hands. He lashed out aiming for Asuma's stomach, Asuma jumped up again away. Using his control he attached himself to a tree before a earth shattering kick splintered the tree, using a cat like grace that was rarely seen Asuma twisted in air to drag his wind covered trench knives over the huge bastards shoulders.

Blood splurged forward, before Asuma was slammed backwards by a large forearm landing on his feet and sliding backwards he had to catch his breath from the sharp pain that seemed to resonate in his chest . Asuma looked up, and took a grim satisfaction in watching the blood spew over Jiro's chest soaking his mesh suit. The bigger man was grinned like a mad man and it made Asuma wonder what he could be thinking.

Just as suddenly the two of them disappeared, the wind in the area seemed to pick up before several blue flashes seemed to rise up. The blue flashes were always followed by the sound of metal slashing against the armored forearms, yellow and red sparks seemed to fly when Asuma's trench knifes came into contact with Jiro's fingerless gauntlets.

Suddenly they were both over come with a large ring of fire and a storm of poisonous senbon needles followed by a large misting of the thick purple stuff. Syuichi was covered in it. Just as suddenly long thin wire made of chakra seemed to cover the grounds. One by one they tripped the others, wrapping both Syuichi and Jiro in the middle of what was left of the clearing.

Asuma grinned to himself in cold amusement, Genma was pissed not if he did this when they had jonin assessments he wouldn't be on the edge of being demoted to Tokubetsu Jonin. Just as suddenly, he watched Genma land down beside him this was one of the few fights that would be short. "Fire Release: Dragon's Breath Technique!" The man seemed to fly through the hand seals before a large flame probably the size of the Konoha's hospital seemed to fly over the poison lighting is a flame making it burn faster and harder. Instead of a normal red orange is was a bright sickening green color almost a bright lime, by the time it settled and the burning had stopped all that was left happened to be were two crispy corpses.

Asuma stared in nothing short of amazement as he looked over the area it was completely blackened, kicking lightly he sighed when all that was left beneath the gray black ash happened to be the chocolate color of the earth. "Don't you think you over did it a little?"

Genma snorted, spitting his senbon out lodging it several inches into Syuichi's forehead "I think it was justification. We need to send a message to Hokage-sama as soon as possible…Orochimaru already knows about Naruto and Yama-chan…and he was trying to keep us from getting to Tsunade…apparently he fucked with the Kazekage and the man crushed both his arms and ruined his leg."

"I take it Syuichi-chan had a mouth…and when did you set up that trap?" Asuma asked, before pulling out his supplies to seal the two bodies away. There would be memories inside Jiro's mind if he was put into stasis….he wasn't to sure about Syuichi there was a Senbon needle three inches into his skull. Shuddering at the bodies, Asuma looked at his long time friend and decided he would never mess with the man's children. "Let's go."

Genma nodded, before following after Asuma, to be honest he felt like he was going to vomit at what he'd done. But he didn't feel any regret, the less people outside of the village who knew about his woman and children the better. The two of them went quiet that had a hint that Tsunade might be in Minoa…the sooner they found her the better.

O

Jiraiya grinned, as he looked over talked with one of his contacts in the red light district. This was one of the best ways for him to get information, Ninja especially men talked after sex and sake. Most of the women knew he was off limits simply because he wasn't the least bit interested in having sex with any of them, he might be a perv that spied and gave the occasional grope but there were only two women he'd happily and cheerily fuck.

One happened to be his old teammate, and another a woman who'd rocked his world every time he returned to Konoha. Miharu Hasegawa was a thick hipped, big breasted woman that was always willing to meet him in the confines of her Konoha apartment. The looks Kami gifted her with wasn't anything to laugh at either deep, violet bedroom eyes or hair the color of silver just the thought sent his heart racing. She was a teacher at the academy and an expert in the art of seduction and genjutsu, she also happened to be the top assassin in the Anbu corps and had been since before little Hatake had made his name known. As always she had a saucy grin and laugh ready for the select few that came knocking, and he was to his knowledge the only man that got to be squeezed by the iron grip of her snatch (he liked it that way and so did she).

Cackling slightly at the thought and more than a little bit ready for his next visit home, he could only sigh as a new girl tried to talk her way into his room. He had to admit she was pretty but then again he was more than ready to return to Miharu and bury his face in the plump mounds that belonged to him. Pushing the dirty thoughts away he turned the corner to his hotel room, once he was back where he needed to be he could only sigh before laying out on the comfortable futon.

He'd been drifting off when an over done poof of smoke rose up around him, and he was pulled from the hotel room by a webbed hand. Sometimes he really hated having a summoning contract like when they pulled him on to Mt. Myoboku, without warning sometimes they sent Gamakichi but most of the time it was like this a quick puff of smoke and a ringing in his ear and he was gone.

The toad sage blinked roughly looking up at the giant toad he was more than a little baffled, "What in the world is going on?" Several of the toads were looking at him with worry, they knew just like Sarutobi new that this would more than likely push the toad sage into angry and while they teased Jiraiya they did love and care for their summoner.

"Hajime come forth." Fukusaku demanded of the young monkey none to pleased, he had ever intention of speaking with Enma about the young things attitude.

The small ape walked forward a disgusted look on his face, this was why he hated dealing with this particular human. He always smelled like sex, and it grossed him out like nobodies business. "Yeah…this is from Jiji." Hajime grunted while holding out the folded envelope toward the large human.

Jiraiya sighed, before taking the letter and rubbing the sleep from his eyes sometimes he hated the fact that he had such a short time to get information. Most of his informants worked into the early hours and then they had to be sweet talked or paid before they even started to on the circle of questions that often followed. Usually it meant he slept from noon until midnight then the process started all over again, it wasn't that he was happy being a night owl it was actually the opposite, opening up the letter he felt his heart drop.

Whipping out his own letter he handed them to Gamashiro a messenger toad that he worked with on a regular basis, "Take this to Miharu and Sensei." The gray headed toad blinked before nodded, before taking off in a flash.

"Raiya! Child what's going on?" Shima asked a concerned expression on her face.

"Minato's girl, Naruto….she was attacked at the academy she's in a coma." Jiraiya had a grim expression on his face. The girl knew him relatively well and she was about the only female beside his sexual partner and ex-teammate that he bothered to tone down his perversion about.

Gamabunta stared at the man before him, he looked as if his heart had been ripped out again and he wondered briefly how many more times Jiraiya could handle the heart ache of being alone. "I'll send you back then, I suppose you'll be head back now ?"

Jiraiya nodded, "I just need to gather my things. Apparently Sensei is going to try to get Tsunade back in the village as well…but we all know how that's going to work out."

Gamabunta snorted his amusement, before nodding "I'll send you back then, good lucky Jiraiya." And with that the white haired sage was gone, leaving several worried toads. Shima in all her kindness could only worry she new that there were very few that Jiraiya considered to be important to him at this point in his life.

Jiraiya tried not to swallow his tongue he felt an emptiness in his heart at the thought that his goddaughter was so damaged that she was in a hospital. Normally something like this just didn't happen but every once in a while it did and it always made him worry that one day when he came home she wouldn't be waking up and she wouldn't open those big blue eyes of hers.

Huffing in annoyance, he gathered his things before apologizing to the matron of the hotel and began the long run back home. He was roughly eight or nine hours from Konoha meaning he would be getting there late at night and he could only hope that nothing more would happen to the girl while he was away. Sighing in frustration, Jiraiya started off, in a few hours he would call on one of the toads to carry him part of the way but until then he would get there on his own steam.

O

Kakashi sighed, he'd been running the whole night but he was going to have to sleep soon and he had no problems with that but he would admit that he was still none too pleased with his Hokage. Though it had pleased him to see that Naruto had so many students from her own grade worried over her, that and he thought that most of the youngsters were cute. When he'd gone to say good bye he'd been surprised to see the young Hyuuga boy, simply sitting with her with a small frown on his face.

After asking the boy a question about why he was there, Kakashi was surprised when the boy replied that he was curious about her red chakra pool. Kakashi had nearly had a heart attack at the response but the rest of the answer was the most amazing…the extra pool of chakra that had once been red had been refilled by Naruto's natural mixture of blue and green giving it an odd turquoise color.

This had set of a chain of events no one had really expected….Naruto now how a secondary pool of chakra that was nearly three times as potent as her normal pool of chakra but neither were getting any larger. It had left several of the medical heads baffled, and it quickly overwhelmed the boy considering they began to ask more questions than the little Hyuuga boy could answer. Kakashi had huffed before sweeping the boy out of the room, and walked him home, he'd learned if there was one thing that could be said about the white eyed clan the of Hyuuga was that they happened to be overly polite and this was no exception.

Either way he'd left the young boy at the edges of his compound, but he'd honestly thought he was near the Uchiha clan with the evil eye that was sent his way when he'd turned to leave. Thankfully no one had said a thing about the fact that Kakashi was walking the young Hyuuga boy home, though he did here some odd comments about pedophilia…sometimes he was really grateful he was the last of the "white" chakra clan. Raising Naruto here was bad enough the thought of raising his own offspring sent a cringe down his spine, there was a way to ensure he line was passed on…but that was for a later date.

God he really hated camping more importantly he hated having to travel so far to complete his mission this was worse than some of the missions he's been forced to complete in Snow country several years before. Water Country was not some were he wanted to be right now, not only that but the particular place he was heading to happened to be a small snowy area. He hated snow to…

About the only good thing that had occurred from this ordeal happened to be meeting Naruto's very handsome and cute teacher. He had every intention of getting to know the dolphin when he returned, at least once Naruto woke up. That was something he refused to give up on, Naruto was going to wake up damn it he refused to believe that she would spend the rest of her life sleeping. She was too stubborn for that, and he knew some of the things she wanted to do in her life and he couldn't say that they were bad goals. Everyone needed something to live for Naru had just found what she needed from life a little sooner than everyone else.

Shaking the less than helpful thoughts from his mind he studied the area in front of him, hours seemed to have passed and the sun had crossed from early morning to afternoon. It was something he was used to, the long runs and lack of sleep. If he really wanted to have any type of life outside of being a shinobi then things were going to have to slow down, it was why he'd gotten out of Anbu in the first place. He couldn't tell if the Hokage was alright with his retirement from black ops or if he was annoyed at losing one of his best trackers and assassins.

Trees seemed to pass by like blurs as did the hours, this was about the only thing he could say that he appreciated about being a ninja. His mind would always go quiet when he was on a mission he could stop thinking about everything that had gone wrong in his life and all things or people he'd lost. He could barely think about a time that he was happy, at the edges of his memory he could hear his mothers laughter or the scent of his father when he returned from working with his tracking team. The where found bitter memories, he wouldn't give them up but that brought a pang to his heart when he thought back about what had happened to his father.

Huffing lightly he looked over the area before him, it was a port town it was nestled into a small cove on the coast of Konoha. There were several port towns, and it was very rare that a ninja needed to use a port. But sometimes stealth or certain limitations on the ninja's part required the use of a boat, or even the inconspicuousness that could come with pretending to be a civilian.

In all honesty it was about the only way Kakashi was going to be able to get into Mizu no Kuni at this point, the civil war over blood lines and the assassination attempts on the third Mizukage had made the ninja of Kirigakure paranoid and mean. It had also run off several members of its sword group and he had no idea how many Black Opps had been forced from their homes when Yagura gave the word for the execution of those who had once protected him. He was relatively sure nearly forty ninja of various blood lines had joined the Leaf village, being a ninja was all that they knew how to do. Needless to say the paper work wouldn't be settled for a while, but many of them came as families and once a second generation of a certain clan was started with Konoha they would have the option of becoming a clan, with a voting seat on council and clan privileges.

Kakashi new that there was more to it than that simplistic outlook, but he also knew that it gave hope to the ninjas' in question…like the woman that Genma was with, she and others like her needed that hope to be able to forgo, and forget their roots in Mizu no Kuni. Kakashi shuddered at the thought, they didn't have many bloodlines in Konoha…many of them had been killed out in the war…both he and Iruka were examples of dwindling family lines. They had once held Clan seats…now they would be things of the past.

Kakashi sighed, before stopping outside the port …he really needed to get his mind off of such morbid thoughts. Glancing up at his head, he sighed before pulling off his Hitae-ite, his sharingan swirled to life before he hunted for a ratty eye patch, it was of hospital quality and white with two stretchy loops that would reach around his head once he put it on. Sniffing the air lightly, he back tracked until finding the water source. a small pond that from the looks of it was used for a farms reserve at one point in time, settling beside the pond he pulled out the temporary hair dye.

It was a light brown, and would work best with his pale coloring…he didn't need anyone to be able to point out the Copy Nin Kakashi. Working the substance through his hair he could only cringe at the scent it was disgusting, he hated the smell of chemicals it made him sick a lot of times after using the stuff. Forty minutes passed before he began to rinse the chemicals, he could only sigh before pulling out his mirror it sometimes made him wonder about the things that a ninja needed to keep sealed. Once he was positive there wasn't a sign of silver, he huffed before beginning to rub his hair dry there wasn't any point in him putting hair-gel in his hair. It was long running down to his chin in the front and down his neck, it was kept scruffy mainly because he didn't keep regular hair cuts on his list of things to do.

Stripping down he quickly changed into a more civilian looking outfit, it was similar to a laborers, A work t-shirt with a ragged hoody, and worn out jeans they were tight, uncomfortably constrictive in comparison with his Jonin gear. Staring at himself in the reflection of the water he nodded, pulling out his faux identification information out of a simple seal that had been inked into his skin. If he wasn't using chakra then none of his seals were visible, the fact that he could seal things like his Jonin suit and other ninja paraphernalia away into his arm was something no one ever picked up on.

Forcing himself to focus on the task at hand, he easily handed his information to one of the guards of the port before entering. Studying the town he could see that it was a well off, the streets were clean and because the town was small so there wasn't much room for rift raft to come in a make a nest in the small sea side town.

He could only look over the entrances there were several small fishing vessels then two large commercial boats that would head out to sea toward Mizu…There didn't seem to be any passenger boats but he could really be surprised, this was a smaller town. And he had picked it for that reason, the trawlers were coming in for the day and he was relatively sure they would be willing to allow him to get off for free labor. Several of the trawlers would be out for weeks and float in the oceans, others would dock in certain ports before going out another day.

As he scavenged the boats, it didn't take long for him to find one of the boatswains willing to allow him passage for labor. This was just what he needed….he could use the extra funds to get home quicker once Aoi was dead. For the rest of the day he would wonder the port, but that night he would have to sleep until then he really wanted to find some food.

O

It was roughly fifteen minutes till the bell rang and the children of Konoha Academy raced from their place of learning. Each one had a different place to return to, some went home some had things that they needed to learn as a member of a ninja clan certain duties had to be looked after for Yakumo it was learning Genjutsu, for someone like Sasuke it was learning about his Sharingan and Katon jutsu.

Yakumo sighed, looking over the room she'd been one of the first to volunteer to sit with Naruto then again no one had argued the point. She felt it was a little silly to be sitting by her unconscious friend but Naruto's guardian had been so concerned that he'd asked all of them to sit with her. They had been surprised but agreed, there had only been four of them in the hospital room at the time. But the others had agreed, thought they had all wondered over the fact that once it was brought up to the other at school everyone had agreed, even Shikamaru being the lazy guy that he was agreed to stay with Naruto.

Yakumo grinned, it had been an interesting day to say the least. She'd arrived at roughly the same time school started, needless to say it hadn't taken the young heiress anytime at all to become bored as an eight year old could be . So she'd taken out her amusement on several of the Anbu members who'd been watching over Naruto's room. She knew that she shoulder but she was bored…so what else could she do?

Needless to say once the there was a new rotation of Anbu Members that stepped onto the field she'd had a hayday teasing one of them with everything she could think of, from pranks to sexy nurses, the latter had the most interesting effect. Yakumo wasn't positive but at one point she was positive the newest Anbu member to come on Naru watch had a nose bleed, even if she wasn't quite sure what had caused it.

This was the most fun she'd had in ages though she'd had to remember to do nothing that couldn't be undone, that was one thing that had been drilled into her head since her sealing with Master Jiraiya and Hokage-sama several months before. She was very good at her genjutsu so much so that she'd managed to make several people think what was happening to them was real. Her father had warned her that as her abilities grew she would be able to make what happened in her illusions become real.

Yakumo pouted as she looked over Naruto's sleeping form, it was odd she noticed that Naruto seemed to twitch while sleeping and when she'd asked one of the nurses about it she'd gotten a strange look from one of the nurses. It hadn't taken long at all for a doctor to return to the room to check several things, the fact that one of the Anbu members one with the mask of a Washi or eagle deemed fit to monitor what the doctor was doing. (She thought that was a little odd considering none of the masked members seemed to know much about the medical things.)

"Yakumo…what are you doing?" A young male voice finally asked from the door, a curious look on his face.

"Oh…Choji." Yakumo smiled softly, this was one of the only good things that had occurred from the attack she now had several friends. While she was one of the clan heirs like several others in her class, she'd never gotten to interact with them until this year because of always being too sick to attend school, now she had gotten the chance to get to know them.

"So what are you doing?" The large boy asked a curious expression on his face.

Yakumo blushed lightly very few knew about her mischievous streak her father knew about it considering he and her mother were more often than not her targets. "Well…I was playing a prank.." She muttered quietly.

Choji laughed softly, "So you like pranks? Kiba's always playing pranks on Iruka-sensei…and ever other teacher we get. He likes to play them on Hana, too." Choji had taken a liking Yakumo, and the girl returned the affection. Both of them were really to kind to be ninja but the persevered they both had dreams that only being a ninja could help them complete.

A slow happy grin spread across her lips, "Yeah…I really do like pranks…maybe not like Kiba.." Yakumo made an amused expression., "I play them on my parents all the time…Papa told me I can't play them on anyone else because they can be a little dangerous."

Choji frowned, before a alight of understanding came across his face "Because it's Genjutsu right?"

Yakumo nodded in agreement, "Yeap! Papa said if I work at it a lot and expand my chakra I can make it all become real..so what brings you hear anyway Choji? Don't you normally hang out with Dreamy?"

Loud laughter could be heard from the room, Choji knew that she and Tenten had come up with a nick name for Shikamaru but that wasn't what he was expecting. "Normally I do, but he had to help his dad with the deer so he wasn't at school today. He gets really annoyed when people interrupt them…but I think that's because when people show up it makes the deer harder to handle. So I thought I would spend the rest of the time with you, that and I brought you what we went over today…Iruka sensei said Kotetsu or Izumo would be here later to take over for us."

She nodded, before sighing…Eventually the conversation picked up where it started before, most of it was about food mainly because Yakumo was curious about the types of things Choji's family ate. Choji was also curious about where Yakumo lived, most clans lived in a compound about the only person he knew that didn't was Shikamaru…thought he was a little curious, he didn't think Shikamaru was really working with his dad.

"Alright you to, I need you guys to leave." It was a young woman with a small smile on her face, she was one of the nurses that had continually checked up on Naruto, honestly it was a bit unnerving.

Both students blinked in surprise before actually looking out the window, it was getting dark they each needed to go home. "I'll see you in class Yakumo." Choji grinned, "Who's staying tomorrow anyway?"

"Tenten…Lee demanded to be able to stay on the third day though." Yakumo giggled, she thought the dark haired boy was cute and funny but she would never admit that to anyone else!

"Really? I volunteered Shika for a day, I just have to tell him that," Choji grinned lightly at Yakumo's startled then amused face. It was something he liked about her, almost all the people who's gotten involved with Naruto, almost all of them were different he wasn't sure what it was but they were different.

"Ano….I'm sorry to interrupt the two of you, but you really should get home." A voice from the door way spoke up, a look of amusement could be seen on a clean spoken face. The young man was of an average height and not in the least bit intimidating; he had relatively short hair with longish bangs the fell across one of his eyes keeping it from view. He was also had the metal plate of his Hitai-ate inserted into his bandana and was wearing that instead of a regular headband.

The two youngsters scurried away laughing in amusement, leaving the room empty besides the young chunin. He'd been surprised at the request but it was easily something within his realm so there was little reason to say no. Settling in the chair that was still warm from the Kurama heir, he studied the small girl on the bed. He and his partner Kotetsu were known for always being stuck on guard duty not that Kotetsu would ever complain.

More often than not, they were also called on to try to catch Naruto when she pulled one of her insane pranks….not that either of them where really efficient for that particular duty. Nine times out of ten the two of them would die laughing at whatever it was that she'd done. One such a time she'd dumped a bucket of water resistant paint on a particular merchant that had taken to over charging the children of Konoha, needless to say the man was an interesting shade of gray for several weeks.

It was odd for him, he saw Naruto on a regular basis she was one of the few people of Konoha that would stop by to talk to Kotetsu and himself. So it wasn't hard to believe that the two young adults had a certain affection for the young girl who made guard duty less boring than it had to be. She was such a vibrant person, to see her so still made him ache…he also knew that he was going to be one of many people that would be on the Tower grounds when the Uchiha who had done this was sealed. They had decided to make it public and he had to cringe at the humiliation this would put the Uchiha clan through, honestly he hoped that the older more sensible members of the clan would realize that there member was in the wrong. But the rumbling on the street were already angry that the Hokage was protecting the "demon" brat again. Shaking his head at the foolishness of the civilian population, Izumo continued to study the room before settling in for the night. For the foreseeable future, both he and Kotetsu would be on night duty to watch over Naruto and to be perfectly honest he would much prefer working inside the Air conditioned room of the hospital in comparison to dusty, and some times rough merchants that accompanied gate duty.

O

Asuma groaned once the rolled in to the town Minoa, they had been in the large trading town for several hours and it seemed that they were on the right trial. Someone of a similar description with a pet pig had been through and they hadn't been seen or heard of leaving this particular village, not only that but most of the Casino owners seemed more than a little happy. This had lead both Asuma and Genma to believe that Tsunade was in the village but both of them were more than worried about getting on her bad side, neither of them really wanted to look like Master Jiraiya after spying on the hot springs.

"Do you want to look for her, or do you want to sleep on it?" Genma asked, eyeing his partner with a lazy confidence that tended to get the older man in trouble. Both men shared a glance before they both sighed, splitting up Genma headed toward the casino's while Asuma headed for the bar.

Genma almost cried, this was the forth casino he'd walked into and so far there was nothing. But then again Minoa was a big town, there were close to forty casino's in a city of this size, thought he supposed he'd gotten the short end of the straw every single one of the casinos had a bar that he had to go through as well. The biggest issue was being harassed by the owners to sit down and play, generally when he just smiled and oh so polite stated he was searching for someone they generally turned away and didn't bother him.

"Genma?"

Genma blinked before turning around, it was a feminine voice and that surprised him then again he must be doomed for something horrible when he got home. Looking over the woman, he could only sigh it was Shizune she had followed Tsunade when she'd left the village a year before the Kyuubi attack.

"It's been a while Shizune…" Genma studied her, she really hadn't changed not much anyway. Her hair was still in that simple short cut that fell around her the tops of her shoulders, while those big black eyes seemed just as innocent and frightened as they had when they had gone on a mission together after the war.

"What are you doing here?" Shizune had to ask returning the curious glance. Genma was certainly taller than the last time she'd seen him, in fact she'd been taller than him…but that had been close to nine almost ten years ago now.

Genma rolled his eyes, "It should be pretty obvious I'm the idiot that got stuck trying to bring Tsunade-sama back to Konoha." He shuddered, both he and Asuma had a copy of the letter that the Third had sent and neither of them wanted to know what was in it. Not only that but they had to hand it to the Kage level kunoichi.

Shizune frowned, "You know she'll never agree!"

"You don't think I know that? I don't really have a choice in the matter! So please put me out of my misery Shizune, were can I find her to at least give her this note." Genma related, he knew that the sannin, all three of them were stubborn asses.

Shizune stared up into light brown eyes, they were weary and held just a smidgen of sadness as if he would rather be anywhere than in Minoa at this point in his life. Nodding sadly, she turned and simply walked toward the gaming room, this was one of the larger parlors in the city.

The room itself was large holding more games than Genma wanted to count and just as many people who were foolish enough to waste their money. He pointedly ignored the fact that the Lady Tsunade was one of many who spent their time addicted to alcohol, and emptying there pockets to people like those who owned Casino's. Looking around light eyes found the woman he was searching for he could only sigh before walking forward.

Gold eyes glared at him was he approached, damn he knew this wasn't going to end well. "Tsunade-sama."

"Jonin…what do you want?" Tsunade asked, coldly glaring over the man. He didn't seem to be any happier about this meeting than she was.

"I was ordered by the Hokage to give you this letter, as such I would appreciate it if you don't kill me. I have very little to do with what is actually in that little letter." Genma replied his humor as dry as his current mood.

Tsunade looked over the younger man before barking in laughter, the boy had guts or he was so tired he wasn't thinking straight. Taking the letter from the jonin she ripped the top away, before pulling the letter out. Before unfolding the letter she was asked to place a bet, looking at the odds she agreed going all in. Just as the letter was completely unfolded she blinked, before her attention was pulled back toward her bet.

Something akin to a scowl covered her face when it listed that she'd won, considering she'd bet roughly 838,899.93 ryo, because of the odds it multiplied by 100 but it was more than enough to cover most of her expensives and even pay back most of her debt….Snarling at the letter her eyes went wide when she read what was written , "That bastard!"

Shizune blinked in surprise, "What's in the letter, Tsunade-sama?"

"Did you know about this!" Tsunade snarled, looking at the young jonin.

"I asked not to be killed for a reason." Genma retorted, "But yes, we were informed of what was in the letter. I wasn't too hot for this mission, no one was." His eyes were cold, very few in Konoha would admit it but Tsunade-sama wasn't the only one who'd lost loved ones but she was the only one that was allowed to act in such a disgraceful way. Many of the ninja in the corps looked at her with a certain type of distain, and some contempt. They would all admit that she was an amazing kunoichi…but that couldn't take pride that she was from Konoha, at least Jiraiya-sama returned and helped the village by being a spy.

Tsunade scowled, she really had no choice but to return, if Sarutobi had completely frozen her assets, then no one in Fire Nation or any other nation would accept her credit. "Fine. I'll come back. Shizune. Take my winnings and pay off as many creditors as possible. I'm assuming more than one of you came on this mission." Her golden eyes seemed to glare, as if demanding that he magically produce his partner.

Genma nodded, "Will leaving in the morning suit you? I'll be returning with you, Asuma will be going with the Shizune."

Shizune epped, "Asuma Sarutobi!" She looked slightly unsettled and more than a little panicked at the thought in fact a large blush seemed to pass over her cheeks. Genma studied the smaller woman with a slightly amused smile, Tsunade tried not to roll her eyes, Shizune had a crush on the Sarutobi boy when they had left the village nearly nine years before.

Tsunade finally nodded, before taking the winnings and leaving, turning back briefly she seemed to stare into his soul "I expect to see you at the south gate in the morning." With that she resumed her trek toward the door.

Genma huffed in frustration before leaving he would meet Asuma when he returned to their room, that was something that they had done before going on the wild goose chase that so far was turning out to be not so wild. This wouldn't be so bad…it really depended on how fast Tsunade was going to want to get back to Konoha to bitch at the Hokage.

O

Miharu Hasegawa sighed, as she wondered into her apartment she was more than dead tired she'd been drafted for an B rank turned S Rank seduction and assassination mission…. needless to say her target was dead and she'd taken a great pleasure in making sure the man in question would never put his hands on a child again. It was roughly ten at night and she wanted nothing more than a long hot bath, biting her thumb roughly she pressed the bloody digit against her door frame before releasing a small amount of chakra into the seal.

Her door swung open with practiced ease, this was possibly the best thing that her lover had ever taught her. Having enough information to be able to keep her place safe meant more to her than he could know. But then again it was very likely Jiraiya had done it to be certain that nothing could get to her behind these walls, she made things for certain members of the shinobi council more difficult than they had once been. She was the spy within Anbu, she kept things in order. She was silent and deadly sand she always recognized those they weren't really one of Sarutobi nins.

Walking forward, she pulled the steel hair pins from her short shoulder length hair, really there was no need for hair pins other than the things kept her bangs from her face. The particular pair she was wearing happened to be from Jiraiya, no-one of the village new this and she liked it that way, it kept things simple. Laying the hair pieces on her kitchen counter, she blinked studying the note on the table. The only thing that could get into her apartment besides herself and Jiraiya happened to be a summons and not even they could summon another person into her apartment, nothing could override the blood seal keeping those who weren't keyed into her apartment out.

Lifting the letter to her face, she could honestly say that she was surprised. It wasn't uncommon for Jiraiya to send a toad ahead to tell her that he was coming. The odd thing was that he was coming home so soon, not that she really minded but she did have to wonder what could have occurred while she was away? Jiraiya usually came in spring and fall, generally staying in Konoha for a month before taking off for another five or six months, it was just something she and anyone in Konoha was accustomed to.

She could only shrug her shoulders before removing her kunai pouch and medical supplies, walking toward the back of the apartment she could only grin as she began to strip down to nothing. Shivering at the cool air, she could only sigh as steam began to rise in the large bath tub that happened to be her favorite purchase. Slipping into it, Miharu huffed it wasn't quiet as good as going to a hot spring but it was damn close!

Dunking down into the water once she'd resurfaced, long slender fingers wrapped around a bottle, before the small popping sound of the shampoo could be heard as it slipped into her hands. Miharu could only sigh in relief as she began to massage the soapy goodness into her hair. That was the worse part about being in assassination, if they started fighting back they tended to get blood everywhere, normally she killed via poison it was her favorite way to get rid of a victim. She really did hate getting blood in her hair, it always tended to get sticky and gross afterwards.

She soaked for nearly an hour and continued to repeated scrub her hair and skin, the man she'd been sent to kill had disgusted her. But what worried her was the fact that he'd seemed to know that was coming, it was one of the reasons she'd come back home with another wound that would eventually turn into a scar. She was relatively certain that Danzo was now aware that she kept tabs on all his silly little root members, needless to say even if she died only Jiraiya could get to the goods so to speak so either way the old fart was doomed.

Shaking the thoughts from her mind, she settled in her room finding one of Jiraiya's civilian shirts, she could only grin when she got a good whiff of his scent still lingering on the clothing. Pulling the shirt over her head, she crawled into bed she was more than a little tired.

Nearly two hours passed before Jiraiya let himself into her apartment without a bit of sound being made. He had things he needed to do, but they could wait until the morning. Damn it he was too old to be staying up for more than a day at a time, grumbling to himself, he stripped down to nothing before crawling into the western style bed beside Miharu. She was out like a light, not even being in an unconscious state stopped her from rolling over and curling into his body. The light movement awakened her, it was something that all ninja eventually learned withe time, small movements like that and awareness could mean the difference between life and death.

"Raiya?" Sleepy violet eyes were blurry with fatigue and couldn't seem to focus on his face, her thick silver hair seemed to gleam in the low light as it splayed out behind her back and shoulders.

Jiraiya simply looked down at the woman snug against his side, she looked more worn out than normal and he had to wonder at it. "Yeah, it's me Haru." He could only chuckle when she gave a content little sigh before burying her face further into his neck. He could tell by the little noise in the back of her throat that she had more questions but for now it was time for sleep. "Sleep Miharu, we'll talk about it in the morning." There were no questions in his voice, just a gentle command, though he was positive she was dozing off before it even left his lips. It didn't take him long to follow her into a dreamless sleep, tomorrow morning he had a sensei to grill and a little girl to look in after.

Woot conversion, for anyone wondering.

10 yen is one Ryo

10 yen in the American dollar is roughly .12 cents.

Anyone want to try to take a guess at the amount?