Here is the second part of the huge piece that I split into Chapter 6 and Chapter 7. Don't worry, the following updates will be much more eventful and intense- these chapters just needed to be written and I really had to force myself to get them over with. They need to be in here, but weren't the most fun to write. The real fun will start soon!


'Thinking'

"Talking"

'Demon Talking' =can only be heard in Naruto's mind

"Demon Talking" =can be heard by everyone

LOUD SOUND / Jutsu


It was the middle of the night and the Kazekage was up late. Staring out his window at his darkened city seemed to calm him down and help him to relax. The nice view was an abrupt change from his stressful day. Suna was really quite beautiful after nightfall, although sadly few people ever noticed. The redhead was actually in a fairly calm mindset, something that he had gradually perfected over the years.

However, his calm demeanor had changed the instant those six Konoha nin stepped into his office. What. Did. They. Want? Gaara could identify them all: Kakashi Hatake, Sakura Haruno, Neji Hyuuga, Hinata Hyuuga, Kiba Inuzuka, and Shikamaru Nara. Not exactly the people he wanted to see right now. They were from Konoha, a village that was vile and untrustworthy in his opinion. After what they had done to Naruto, his opinion of the village had quickly diminished.

Needless to say, he was now in a foul mood. Gaara was not on the best terms with the Hokage and held off visiting Konoha for as long as possible while still keeping the treaty. A treaty that he was now beginning to rethink. And now they barge into his office and tell him that they come to take Naruto back to Konoha? 'Hah, well that's not gonna happen you ungrateful Leaf shinobi.'

Shikamaru narrowed his eyes; he could almost feel the shockwaves of tension travel throughout the room. That was never a good sign. But, why did the Kazekage react like that? 'He must know something…'

Temari, who had just entered the room, looked at them with an unfathomable expression. Gaara knew that she often stayed up late though he had no idea why she was here. Temari just leaned against the wall without a word. The two siblings had the exact same look on their face; blank, but somehow hinting at distrust. They obviously didn't want to give a single thing away. The Leaf shinobi were visibly confused at their reactions.

Gaara was internally surprised at how direct the Leaf was. They definitely expected to just have Naruto handed over to them. The redhead's eyes shifted off to the side. 'Well if they're looking for Naruto, I'm not going to make it any easier for them. If he wants to go back, then fine. If not, there is nothing that Konoha can do about it.'

"Why?" he asked sharply, "Why are you looking for Naruto Uzumaki?"

"We have orders to bring him back to Konoha and protect him from the Akatsuki. He is from Konoha originally and so it would be best for us to take him back there." Neji was the one who spoke.

Gaara considered that they wanted to protect him, but did not change his mind. All he did was stare at the Leaf nins with that infuriatingly emotionless face. Temari began to toy with one of her fans, flicking its deadly edge in and out of sight.

"Are we talking about the same shinobi that you banished five years ago?" The Kazekage had apparently struck a sensitive spot. All of the Konoha nin looked ashamed. Kiba was about to argue the point, but Gaara raised a hand to silence him. Kakashi was obviously annoyed but said nothing.

Furious red eyes flashed in a shadowed corner of the room. The motion was missed by all but one of the room's occupants.

Gaara's eyes flicked over to that spot, but his searching gaze found nothing amiss.


Unknown to the shinobi, a small red fox slipped out of the window of the Kazekage's office, seething with anger. He ignored the rest of the conversation and leaped to the ground. Kyu's three tails spiraled furiously in agitation as he stalked through the shadowed streets.

'Those ungrateful humans…expecting my kit to be handed over to them just like that. Expecting him to once again rejoin their village after a just few kind words and empty promises,' the fox spat. He had always hated Konoha, now more than ever. Yes, he knew this was coming, but those cocky nins from Konoha acted so superior, as if they had some kind of a claim on Naruto. They thought that his kit was some kind of idiot who loved Konoha no matter what. Ridiculous. Even though he didn't intentionally attack Konoha that night so many years ago, he was suddenly quite satisfied that he did. Oh, how Kyu wished that he could just sink his teeth into their flesh, and let them drown in their own blood.

But no, it was never quite that simple.

Kyu reluctantly suppressed his blood lust and headed back to the inn.


The next day came quickly. Naruto got up at the crack of dawn, as he often did, and found Kyu snuggled into his side, still asleep. 'It's hard to picture Kyu as a demon when he's in a cute little form like that,' Naruto thought, 'And he plays the role so well!' Putting his thoughts aside, the blonde slipped out of the room and away from the inn. Being in close proximity to unknown people always made him uneasy, even as a young child. Naruto leisurely made his way to the Kazekage's private training grounds, which Gaara allowed him to use as much as he'd like. Who knew a former psychopath could be so generous?

Over the course of the next few hours, Naruto practiced some jutsus and pounded multiple training dummies into piles of dust. He even used shadow clones to spar against, though he made sure to only use about a quarter of his true strength. He also resisted using powerful jutsus or ones he had picked up since become the Akatsuki leader. Signature jutsus could easily be recognized, and no one needed to know his true strength or his real identity. People could be watching him anywhere and everywhere, so the less they knew the better.

Naruto paused, panting, and looked up at the sky. By the position of the sun, he figured it was around 9:00 in the morning. He should probably head back o the inn. Maybe he and Kyu could have some fun before he was 'captured'.

But, a few minutes later, he figured that it would be a good idea to check in with Gaara before he did much else. He was in Gaara's village, after all, so he had to show at least some respect. They all thought he was some kind of homeless wanderer so the more appreciation he showed the better.

Another thought suddenly caused Naruto to cast a weak genjutsu that would prevent anyone from seeing what he was doing. He crouched down, although to anyone on the outside it would have looked like he was still standing up and staring off into space. A deceiving jutsu like this was always useful when he needed to be away from prying eyes.

The shinobi performed about fifty hand signs that were too fast for the unaided human eye to follow. He then pressed his hands together and started to channel chakra into his eyes, much like someone with a kekkai genkai like that Sharingan or Byakugan would. Naruto gently closed his eyes and then suddenly opened them after a few seconds. Instead of seeing the sand of the Kazekage's training grounds, however, he was now looking at a place far outside of Suna's walls. A large sand dune made a small camp nearly invisible to passerbys. Naruto squinted and his vision moved further, and he could make out the outlines of two people who were crouching next to each other. Their features became clearer and clearer, and he could tell that they were in a deep conversation.

"Itachi, Kisame," Naruto stated. The two men's heads whipped up from their conversation and looked around for any signs of an intruder. They quickly realized that no one was there.

You see, this is one of Naruto's original jutsus. By keeping perfect concentration on the flow of chakra into his eyes, he was able to transport his vision virtually anywhere he wanted to. Even though his physical body was still within Suna, Naruto could see Itachi and Kisame's camp as if he was standing right there. Another added bonus: he could speak to them. Even if someone where to completely scan the area for his chakra signature, they would find none. Ah, the perks of being a shinobi master.

"Leader-sama," Kisame and Itachi greeted him respectfully once they had caught on. Only the Akatsuki had the ability to sense his presence when using this jutsu. Otherwise they'd probably think that they were going crazy.

"Is there any news from our sources?" Naruto asked them, referring to a secret ongoing mission that had been planned for quite a while now.

Itachi shook his head, eyes cast slightly downward. The man obviously held great respect for Naruto, something that could not be said for most of his previous superiors.

"Okay. Please inform me when there is word," the Akatsuki leader instructed. With a quick goodbye, he dismissed the jutsu and found himself back in the middle of Suna. Naruto quickly noted that his flawless genjutsu was still holding up.

Running a finger over the edge of a kunai, Naruto drew blood. He brushed the dripping finger against a pale mark on his arm. The mark looked much like a scar from a nasty bite, which is exactly what it was. Kyuubi had bitten Naruto and by doing that gave him a way of summoning the beast if he wasn't near him. Now that came in handy. If you looked at the mark closely, you would be able to make out small gashes that greatly resembled Kyu's razor-sharp teeth. Within a few seconds, the cut on his finger had healed, but the message had been sent.

An almost unnoticeable rush of wind blew past Naruto's body, and he greeted the small red fox that was now sitting on his shoulder. 'Hey, Kyu. I think it's time for us to check in with Gaara. Maybe we'll get to enjoy out time here before having it interrupted by some annoying gnats from the Leaf.'

'Agreed. Ah, being summoned is so invigorating.' Naruto left Kyu to his own thoughts.

The blonde shinobi turned and headed towards the Kazekage's tower. On the way there, he conversed with Kyu, determined to enjoy any free time they had left. It wasn't until it was too late that he suddenly noticed the six distinct chakra signatures that had just appeared behind them. Naruto didn't even need to look back to know who those people were. Kyu got wind of them too. 'Oh. Shit... well this is annoying.'

"N-Naru-to?" asked a hesitant voice from behind them. Naruto steeled his emotions and strengthened all of his mental barriers. With obvious reluctance, he slowly turned to face the shinobi from Konoha.


All of the Leaf nins had just woken up for the day and were going to meet with the Kazekage again. Last night he had dismissed them fairly quickly and told them that it was too late for such talk. Although he seemed awfully glad to get rid of them, they were definitely not going to give up. At least Gaara had directed them towards a suitable place to stay.

Kiba was attempting to make conversation with Hinata when they suddenly heard a gasp. The two spun around and were joined by Kakashi, Neji, and Shikamaru. The gasp had come from Sakura. Everyone stared at her, wondering why tears had started to form in her eyes. The pink-haired kunoichi was visibly trembling, and her breath was coming out in short gasps. Sakura's complexion had also paled considerably. Neji ran to his teammate in an instant. Her eyes were focused on one point and she didn't even give any notice that her teammates were all looking at her.

"Sakura, what is it?" the Hyuuga asked quickly, concern visible in his eyes. Kiba looked at Sakura with the same question plastered all over his face.

Kakashi had the sense to turn his head to look at whatever had captivated her attention. His one eye widened and his body stiffened in shock. Sensing the change in the man, Hinata looked from him to Sakura, desperately trying to figure out what was wrong. And then her gaze landed on what they were both staring at. Now it was her who had to restrain herself from fainting.

Standing maybe twenty feet in front of them was the unmistakable form of the object of their visit: Naruto Uzumaki. He seemed to be staring out into space as he walked casually along the abandoned road. Sakura suddenly felt warm tears begin to spill out of her eyes. She had never expected to get this emotional. Here was her teammate, standing a short distance in front of them. 'Naruto... I have finally found you...'

Now the entire team of Konoha shinobi were staring wide-eyed at the back of Naruto Uzumaki. He was right there! Kiba's eyes filled with excitement, while Neji's took on a hint of uncertainty. Kakashi's emotions were unreadable. Even Shikamaru was caught off-guard by Naruto's sudden appearance.

"N-Naru-to?" Sakura called out in a shaky voice.

The shinobi in front of them suddenly stiffened. His shockingly blonde hair began to sway in the wind. And then he turned.

It seemed as if time slowed down just at that moment. More and more of his face became visible as he turned to face them. Sakura almost collapsed to her knees. Here he was, her teammate, her friend...he was here! He would be in her life once again! Sakura's hopes rapidly began to rise.

Their gazes all locked onto his face.

Naruto slowly turned around to look them in the eyes.

...And then sent them a glare that could freeze hell itself.


And that is the end of Chapter 7. In case you missed what I said before, I had originally written Chapter 6 and 7 as one long chapter but it didn't really work out. A lot of editing later and I had two good-sized additions to my fanfic... though this turned out a bit short. What really annoyed me is that sometimes my revisions weren't saved even after I hit the 'save' button. Grrrr.

PLEASE REVIEW! In case it has not yet been made extremely obvious, I. Love. Reviews. Thank you to everyone who reads my story!