More chapters more words and a double update! Two chapters over 20,000 words is all one could ask for! Bigger AN at the bottom but just know, it's a heck of a hefty ready. I will be using quote on chapter 7 for both chapters. On we go!

Chapter 8

Naruto looked at himself in the mirror, his new outfit fit better than he expected for his first time wearing it. He had on a skin tight jet black tank top custom made by Kor's brother. Stitched inside the fabric was soft plated chakra armor providing the same protection a metal chest plate would without the weight. It was extremely thin so it also didn't seem too much like it was on, only the design and a side look would show anything was there. Contrast to the black on the majority on the shirt he had on a small necklace with an orange Uzumaki clan symbol pendant.

Following the dark pattern he had on a pair of forest green, brown and black pants ending off tapped into black open toes combat boots. Added to his new outfit was a pair of specially made metal bracers on each forearm, covering from wrist to mid arm which parried with his close range fighting style.

"Not bad, not bad at all" said Naruto, liking the new gear. His only issue was his arms were left open for all to see, not something he was used to doing. He sighed, there was no getting past it right now so he opened his door and left the room, coming into a sight he wasn't expecting. Yugao was sitting on the ceiling in her part of the living room in only a sports bra and shorts, a large 45 pound weight disk stuck to her back with chakra. Each leg had two 45 pound disks and both hands and two 10 pound weight disks. She held each disk by applying chakra to those areas of her body while the ones on her hands she used only the tips of each finger.

"How's that going?"

Yugao opened her eyes and looked to him "Just finishing up." Right after saying that a timer went off on the kitchen counter, signifying her workout done. Naruto walked up to her, letting her drop each weight before getting down herself. He took the weights and put them up as she wiped herself off with a towel then moved to the kitchen to make some breakfast.

"Want anything?" asked the woman, pulling out some eggs.

"No, I need to get going. Thanks though." Naruto waved her off, strapping down two kunai pouches and two back pouches before heading for the door. As he opened it he took a sparring glance, watching her quietly making food. She looked up when she noticed the door hadn't shut yet, seeing him glancing back at her.

"Off on that meeting with Konan and her friends?"

"Yeah, I'll be back but uh…..thanks….and stay safe, yeah?" said Naruto with a smile before shutting the door. Yugao thought for a second she saw him frown, just as the door shut, and it even sounded like he was sad for some reason. She brushed it off, she was just over analyzing. They had to leave tomorrow so maybe he was down about going far from home again.


Naruto stayed silent as he quickly pushed through the village border and onward, moving at full speed through the terrain. His eyes stayed focused on the path ahead but his mind began to wonder as he spoke with Hitome

"Are you sure it was ok to lie to them all? You….you really don't know what to expect here Naruto."

"It's better I don't, they'll want to try to provide some kind of back up or cover if things go bad. This isn't something we can take a single chance on, even sensei is kept out. I'll be at the meet point soon so I won't be talking until it's over but I'll hear it if you suggest things like you normally do."

"Alright, be careful. You've got full access to my chakra whenever you need it."

"Thank you and….I love you."

"I love you too honey." That was the last thing Naruto heard from her before he sensed five different signatures converge around him. A moment later most of Akatsuki was around him. Itachi, Hidan, Kakuzu, Sasori and a new face Deidara. Apparently he was wanting to learn under Sasori after defecting from Iwa, hearing stories of the man's spy network as well as his strength and experience. Naruto was just surprised he even agreed to such a thing, Sasori was certainly a picky man when it came to training people.

"Ne, who's the kid Sasori?"

"A really smart kid, that's who" said Kakuzu.

"Getting that old man to say that is impressive" said Hidan with a laugh.

"He's strong, in his own way. That's all you need to know right now" said Sasori. They stayed silent afterwards, moving through the changing landscape quickly until they arrived at a set of massive tree's marveling the size of those in Konoha. Itachi took front now, Naruto directly behind, Sasori and Deidara on one side, Kakuzu and Hidan on the right.

"So how stro-"

"Shut up" said Sasori, no longer needed to hold a conversation. They were just ahead of the tree, or fake tree, and getting unfocused was the last thing he wanted to do. This wasn't a game anymore. Naruto sighed, letting some tension out of his body but he swore he heard Itachi sigh and watching his shoulder slump ever so slightly.

"Stay alert, stay focused" said the elder Uchiha before the paper tree opened as they approached. The ringed purple eyes of a frail looking man narrowed watching the small group approach. He turned slightly to Konan.

"What's this? I never ordered them here. Are you trying to overthrow me after all these years, Konan?" She shook her head, stepping forward to face him as the rest kept their distance.

"I'd never overthrow you but I'm doing as I've always done, help guide you on the right path. Do you remember why we started this group?"

"For peace, Konan! Peace through pain is the only way!"

"No! It was meant to help everyone and free people from rulers like you! Yahiko…..yahiko is dead and it seems that when you released that thing your mind died with him. You blindly listen to a man filling you with sweet words, words you yourself know to be lies but assume that you'll just toss him aside one day. You've been sitting in the dark for too long and it's time you came out….it's time we did what the Akatsuki was meant to do." Nagato looked to his longtime friend, he heard her words but his mind was far from made up.

"You think doting on them as children will fix everything? We must show pain to let those without it realize what they have, cherish what you love, what you've lost, and become greater from it. Our plan will allow a power greater than anything in existence to destroy what's been left to rot the world and corrupt everyone's lives."

"Right and wrong really" said Naruto, gaining a heated glare from the man locked in the machine.

"What do you know, boy? You were raised by us, I chose to leave you alive as an asset to capture the rest of your kind. Don't speak in a conversation you have no place in."

"Actually, when you're talking about 'my kind' and that statue thing, I can say whatever I want since I know more than you do. I've been told this masked guy spoke to you on how to use it, which means he knows a lot more than you do too. Do you know what happens when you gather all nine bijuu together? The ten tails, the original bijuu, is recreated to wreak havoc. You, nor those eyes of yours, can control such a demon. Unless you have some plan to control it with wood jutsu I'm positive you don't know then you can't do anything but fight a useless fight until this masked man takes control and finishes whatever he started. Wanna know how I know that? The nine tails told me, the one who used to be part of the ten tails and the one who knew more about it than you do. Really Nagato, did you not think sealed chakra into one statue wouldn't stop it from keeping it's sentient energy and reforming into the original being it was?"

It was Itachi who spoke next "Do you think causing pain and oppressing people the same way you were oppressed during the war would change anything? It would breed more rebels, create the same group you made to fight the oppression then we'd be back at square one. Fighting for power someone else killed to get. It's time we stop thinking so linear. If you want change like that, help those who can't help themselves and let them rise up against it all. After all, if people see change as well as have a hand in it, everything runs smoother than a forced ruler with unwilling participants."

"And how would you propose I do that? You still need power to do that!"

Naruto spoke this time "No, not necessarily. If you made connections with, let's say, two kage and they agreed with your viewpoint but as kage they cannot openly do anything to help the people. Where does the useless waste of money go? The daimyo and their parties who 'run' the country. They needless waste food, money and other resources simply because their great great grandfather owned land and suckered the villages into a shitty agreement. Get rid of them, there's a lot of extra budge to work around fixing the economy, slums and the smaller villages scattered across the nations.

Then you do come across another issue, policing such areas. You'd need to go over ever office, have third party agencies run over every single division through the villages, both large and small. Cut corruption immediately and with that you need a fair judge. Some use their power to steal money for themselves others use it to feed their starving families due to the little amount they get paid for such work. It would be delicate and time consuming but after a year or so, with enough people, the system would be mostly cleaned. From here we'd operate as the third party policing staff and extra staff for missions to fill the holes left by ninja sent to oversee the expulsion of corrupt businesses." Nagato never said anything as Naruto and Itachi spoke, his facial expression remained neutral while Naruto explained his plans. Once Naruto was done silence fell and all eyes once again fell to Nagato.

"You seem to have planned this, or created this, for some time now. What makes you so confident in this over my own method? Even if I cast aside gather bijuu our group alone could just overtake each nation piece by piece, carefully and rule from behind the scenes."

"Someone would fight back, release enough information to cause suspicion and turn the entire thing on its head. Your way would have to rely on every kage being under total control, even new ones. If you don't have it all perfectly working together then one slip up, one person leaves and shouts it's all over. This does rely on everyone but it's a loose agreement where they can still regulate their own villages but without needed forehead approval from the Daimyo who simply horde the money for their own personal use. The only thing they'd lose is slight security with our own forces making sure the transition is smooth and corruption is weeded out quickly but correctly. After that we stay the worlds police force, keeping the powers in check with our own group until the nations work out a new agreement through themselves. This is somewhat short term but you can't have too long term of a goal in an everchanging world. Not all of this is going to work out perfectly either but just know, everything has a meaning and one way or another, the plan will come together. Less bloodshed, more happiness for all and one day, we might achieve some amount of peace" said Itachi.

"You sound like Jiraiya. Do you honestly believe in everlasting peace?" asked Nagato to both Itachi and Naruto.

Naruto shook his head "Never, it's not something that would ever happen in a million years. That cannot be reached but we can get close. Even just creating a more peaceful world, one where a world war isn't looming ever generation, would solve some problems. Battles will be fought, no matter what, but doing our best to keep peace afloat will keep it in hearts and minds of those after us. So, even after the inevitable we can rest assured it will pass and they can learn from it, grow and have an even longer period of peace. Life isn't without hardships, we all share some kind of pain but we grow and become greater each time it happens in an effort to prevent it happening once again." The leader of the Akatsuki was motionless, his breathing had slowed and his temper seemed to have subsided. Naruto's only hope was he wasn't bidding time for something but there wasn't much else they could do.

He turned to Konan "Is this what you want? Are you really ok with everything they just said?"

"We'll serve the people like we said we would, do exact what we wanted to do from day one. Yes, I'm ok with this. Are you?"

The man sighed "I guess so, there's not much of a choice anyway. I don't think I could go against you if I wanted to, Konan. There's just one major problem, the masked man. What's your plan for him?"

"We'll hide you for now and do our best to stay off his radar. All the other hideouts have been destroyed, Orochimaru is offering up any of his for our use whenever we wish. Myself, Itachi, Konan, Sasori and Hidan are the only ones staying in the new group. Sasori's going to keep information sustained through messages and Kakuzu will continue to bounty hunt, giving us portions as he catches them. My team will stay as well, this will be who we work with. A small but diverse group, nothing more is needed to get our start. We'll grow as time passes. During this we'll find a way to take down that man and eliminate anything else working with him. Destroy the statue, there's no need for it anymore."

Nagato sighed "I'll trust you on this, I'll trust Konan's word and faith in you all. As your former leader I'll continue to put my faith in you all to execute and exceed your duties. I'll control Ame from now on and if you ever need back up you know where you'll find it."

"Itachi be back to help transport you with Konan, we need to prepare for travel" said Naruto turned to the rest "Go ahead and get moving, guys. I'll get in touch with you three soon." A few minutes later only Hidan, Itachi Naruto and Konan were left traveling back.

"What's my go in all this?" aske Hidan

"Meet up with Ren and head over to Mizu where you'll meet another member joining us. Ren will brief him and get things set up but make sure you help him out when you can. Ren's the leader of you and the new guy, as much as you love to do whatever you want trust in him please."

"Don't get all huffy, I'll listen to him…..mostly. As long as I sacrifice everything's gonna be dandy. Is he still living out at the usual house?"

"Yeah. Just don't go barging in like last time. I'll see you later."

"See ya kid, be safe out there." Hidan veered off, heading to the outskirts of the village while the other three moved towards the center.

"Aki and Kiyo already headed off towards Iron. He planned to meet some old friends of his family, train there. I'll take Yugao and scout the farther regions past the Iwa border. It's high time I went back and this time went farther in than we did before."

"Be careful there, Itachi pulled back for a reason. It's a messy place past with the outlying nations. They don't conform to the same standards most ninja do there since there's not much of a ruling party besides a few large villages that exempted during the founding. Itachi and I will work with Orochimaru to start creating the base, most of the foundation is already set but there's still a long way to go. I'll make sure we check up on Aki and Kiyo often so we know there's safe."

"Thank you. It'll be a long time before we see each other again."

"It will, but when we do meet we'll be ready for the dawn of a new age" said Itachi. He was hopeful for the future. Sasuke was slowly warming back up to him and hopefully soon he'd be ready to train under his watchful eye and excel even farther than he thinks he can.

"It will, won't it? Take care" with that said Naruto fell down, heads straight for his apartment just a few blocked away. As he entered the building and began to ascend the stairs Hitome once again returned into his mind.

"It went well, very well."

"I expected some kind of fight honestly, which is unsettling me even more. This means he was already having second thoughts and whoever works with him may have noticed and planned accordingly. If he begins to move, most likely with a new team, then we'll need our own to combat that as well as deal with the issue of the elemental nations taking action against us. Only a few villages will join us at first and soon we'll be left with little backing besides our small group. However strong we are, we'll be spread out and too low on numbers. We'll need to amass a larger following, or at least a few garrisons to protect our main base as well as cover small protection detail teams for claimed lands. Then we-"

"Relax, remember we already talked to everyone about this before you left for the exams. It's taken care of and we'll be scouting while we travel so there's no need to worry. You've got plenty of time, love."

"Sorry, Hitome-chan. I just keep so focused I lose track of things sometimes. I'll talk with you again soon, I'm just outside the apartment."

"I'll see you later." Naruto let out a slow sigh, calming his racing heart before opening the door to the room. What he didn't expect was to see Yugao dressed up, fully ready for travel. She had on a grey sleeveless shirt just as he had on, one that she rush ordered a few days before. Added to that was a pair of black pants tapped into anbu style boots with shin and arm guards nearly exactly as her ones from before but fortified in strengthening seals.

Naruto made it a point to add it to her gear, stating she never knew when it would come in handy during their travels. Under both guards was a pair of long sleeved gloved, covering all the way up to her mid bicep, showing off the anbu tatoo Her light brown eyes glanced over him, her hand on her hip as two scrolls, a foot and a half in length, were rested on the small of her back. Two fully stocked kunai pouches, two back pouches and a necklace with a gold band ring with a citrine birthstone Hayate had gifted to her for her last birthday.

"What's got you up in arms?" asked Naruto, shutting the door behind him.

"No need to play the fool, that sensei of yours, Ren I think his name was, informed me of everything in the few hours you were gone. I understand your reason for not telling me, talks with people I don't know or have no business with are understandable but you could at least be honest with me when you said it was a business deal. I wouldn't have demanded I go along. I'm a guard but I'm not stupid, I know when I am in the way of certain things."

'Oh thank god he just said a business deal. She doesn't know everything just yet.'

Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly "Sorry. I was really unsure but I didn't want to take any chances with this. It was really important for the village. I guess he told you we're all setting out to leave as teams for right now?"

"Yes, I already packed and I assume you did to."

"I'm ready to go, everything's sealed up on me" said Naruto, patting his chest, slightly motioning to the seal she knew he put near where the odd seals on his arms stopped. It held all his stored items in scrolls without having to tote them around.

"Lead the way, I'm ready to finally stretch my legs for real this time." Naruto nodded his head, smiling in agreement before leading them out of the building and off through the edge of the village. Just as the two left the village and headed towards the border between Ame and Iwa Naruto stopped Yugao inside the forest where the tree's covered most of the rain. He unsealed a scroll and began to rummage through the scroll, looking for a certain kanji then sudden a cloud of smoke covered his hands. A moment later she saw a fine crafted katana, a little lighter than the standard issue anbu were given as cover ins for their tanto's. However, what she did see was a much finer craftsmanship, a sharper edge, tougher metal, stronger guard and a general improvement in every aspect of the weapon itself.

"Konan sent us on a mission near Iron country before we headed out for the chunin exams, just a supply drop off for some merchants. I stopped by a local blacksmith and mean to restock on a few things but got this sword too. Figured either I might need it, or someone else I knew would, later down the road. I did kinda damage your sword before saying I'd take it to get fixed. I never got around to it so here's a little something to make up for it" said Naruto, rolling up the scroll and sealing it away as he watched her swing it around, getting used to the different weight and handling. She strapped the sheath to her back and slowly sheathed the weapon then turned to him, a smile on her face. Yugao couldn't help it, she'd only ever received gifts from Hayate and now getting it from someone who only a week and a half ago helped her overcome her depression well…..it made her happy. This wasn't some spoiled, strong kid. He was caring and looked after those who worked with him.

"It's perfect, thank you" said the purple haired woman, the genin returning his own bright grin.

"That's not even the coolest part! There's a seal on handle which transfers chakra into the metal which is infused with special properties. That basically makes the blade sharper, similar to if I added wind chakra to my kunai but you don't have to be a wind user. The seal does all the work for you! Now, let's get going! We've got a country to cross and much to explore!" shouted Naruto, taking off into the forest ahead, his new bodyguard and new friend hot on his tail. Yugao thought at the beginning of the trip she would baby sit him, watch over him, cook, clean do everything she would for a child. She never expected she'd be following him into enemy territory. With Hayate gone, she needed to do what made her happy as Naruto said and Yugao was certain of one thing right now. Traveling with Naruto, exploring the world, helping him, that's was what made her happy right now.

Earlier the day before - Aki and Kiyo

Kiyo groaned, stretching out as they walked down the pathway leading out of town with Aki at her right side.

"Just us, huh? It'll be weird without Naruto and sensei here to push our pace" said Aki lightheartedly, already missing Naruto's constant banter with himself or Kiyo as they traveled. It was something he enjoyed, Naruto kept things interesting no matter where they went.

"Yeah, but I think it's for the better really. We all got used to Naruto being here, even sensei too. Now everyone's out with different teams, exploring the world as ninja do. I'm so excited!" said Kiyo, shaking Aki a little as they made it out of the village and began to head towards. He laughed a little, sharing some of her excitement but not all of it was there. They were heading to the land of Iron for a reason, just as Naruto was going past Iwa, east of their own destination. He was seeking help past the elemental nation's borders in an area where few ninja ventured. He intended to come back stronger than ever, to lead their group. Aki was a knight, and Kiyo was part of the group too, they all had their roles. He was headed to where he could train under the best swordsmen around and hopefully get past his disability. The loss of his right eye made it harder for him to battle, leaving one side completely open. A sure way to die in this world.

"Aki-kun, you there?" asked Kiyo waving a hand in his face. He shook his head briefly, bringing her hand down with his own.

"Sorry, Kiyo-chan, I dazed off for a second. What was it you were asking?"

"Are we going to be ok passing so close to the main village? Their ninja might take action against us."

"I really doubt it, Ame has been neutral in most of the wars but let's take off our headbands when we get closer to the border. Best not to take any chances, right?"

"Right!" They kept fairly quite from then on out, enjoying the last bit of Ame scenery as the rain subsided and the temperature began to shift slightly. As the rain subsided Aki took off his headband and sealing it away on a rest stop with Kiyo following suit.

"What's the route plan through here?" asked Kiyo, taking a sip of water as Aki rested against the tree with her.

"Well move through a few small villages just east of Iwa and I rerouted to pass by a hot springs just at the edge of Iron country for you. We just need to be alert when we're traveling and keep close to each other no matter what. We've gotta travel really carefully in the main nation territories."

Kiyo smiled and nudged him "I know, I know, but you just wanna relax with me in the hot springs."

Aki turned his head to hid the small blush from the image in his mind "I….uh…wouldn't mind if you're ok with it."

Kiyo's smile widened and she leaned in to kiss his cheek "I'm always game. The quicker we get there the better! Let's get going!" She got up quickly, jumping on the balls of her feet as Aki made his way up slowly, stretching out his sore right side with a slight wince.

Kiyo's excitement died down when she saw it "Are you ok to travel right now?"

Aki smiled and flexed his right arm "All good to go. The muscles are still sore so moving some ways still hurt a bit. I'll beat you there, even crippled." A moment later he shot off, leaving Kiyo standing alone under the shade in shock. She shook her head to break out of the momentary shock before taking off at full speed after her teammate.

Later that day

The white haired young woman kept close to her teammate as they entered a fairly large town numbering what Kiyo sensed to be around a couple hundred people. Just across a large ravine connected with a massive bridge was another town that looked nearly identical in size and shape. The villages names were Kita and Minami (North and South). Currently they were inside Minami and everything seemed fairly simple, the buildings mirrored one another down to the color, the streets were identical in how everything was placed. It was nothing like Ame, crisscrossing walkways, all manners of turns while everything had its own unique style to it. Even Konoha showed that but these two towns showed off little in terms of uniqueness. The two quietly moved through the town, making their way to a small food stand.

"Hello traveler, what can I get you?" asked a young woman behind the counter.

"Two dishes of today's special please" said Kiyo with a smile that the woman returned in kind with.

"Do you want the beef and potato stew with or without noodles?"

"With please."

"Right away!" She spun on her heel and began to cook, grilling up the meat and tossing a handful of diced potatoes into a pot of boiling water.

"Is this place normally this empty?" asked Aki.

"My shop gets some customers, enough to stay in business but my selection is frowned upon here. Traditionally, we don't offer much to do with seafood and some exotic fruits. It's seen as shameful to make anything that isn't native here, or found here." Aki didn't respond, he and Kiyo kept quiet until two bowls were set down in front of them. The waitress leaned on the counter top, keeping closer to the two then most would as she began to speak in a hushed tone.

"If you mean the town then that's because mostly everyone's out at the new mine that was discovered at the end of the ravine. It's been found rich in a large selection of minerals but both towns are arguing over who gets the right to mine it. It's a perfect split but of course, each side says the other one has more than the other, or more minerals that the other."

Aki waved his hand "I didn't mean that at all! I was just asking abou-"

The woman waved him off and smiled "I know you two are ninja, your set up differently than the rest of my customers. You must be the ronin contracted to help dissolve the fight. Head down the ravine east and you'll run right into the other bridge where they'll be. Meals on the house for you two. Good luck!" Without giving a chance to respond she ducked away, heading into the back of the kitchen with the dirty dishes.

"Look what you went and did" hissed Kiyo as the ate quickly. Not sure if anyone else they passed by had caught on or how she seemed to deduce such a thing. The two finished quickly and left, still setting down a few bills for the food before exiting and heading towards the bridge.

"She's a cook and a waiter so she's probably overheard other's talking about asking Iwagakure for help. We know they've used ronin before to take care of some missions when forces are thin so her deduction after seeing the way we looked was off of what she heard." Kiyo pulled at Aki's good arm, stopping him as they were about to cross the bridge.

"We should help them."

"No. You should know better than that. If they even suspect a single thing we'll be captured or worse. Helping them would put us out there and-"

"It would put us out there, exactly what you just said! That's the goal for the new group! This would be a good way to start, in a new area, and get our faces out there!" said Kiyo and Aki hesitated. He understood her meaning, and it wasn't a bad one but he was still recovering. Kiyo was confident though, in her ability and his as well to that extent and he needed to have faith in her. Just as he had faith in Ren and Naruto to lead them.

He sighed and smiled "Alright, I'll follow your lead and step in if I think you need help. Lead the way."

Kiyo beamed at him "Yeah! Let's get moving!" She practically dragged him through the streets, leading him towards the ravine before looking east, sensing a gathering of people. The two took off from there, running well beyond the ability of civilians to reach the other bridge in just under a minute. The sudden appearance of the two ninja in between both parties along the bridge ceased the loud arguing from each parties representative.

"Finally, those ronin from Iwa showed up!" shouted a man from the north village.

"Yeah, to show you guys who's really wrong!" yelled a woman from the south village.

"Enough, I need both leaders of each side to step forward" said Kiyo, taking charge by resonating chakra through her vocal cords to amplify her words. It had the effect needed as a woman from the North end and a guy from the South end stepped forward.

"Give me a rundown of how things have gone down so far" asked the white haired woman to the two that stepped up.

"We both found this deposit at the same time, I'll agree to that, three days ago. Since then, we've tried to come to mutual agreement but the South believes themselves to be worth more than we are. They want to split mutually but we've found an excess of iron on their end" said the woman.

"Because you have more coal on your side Kitara!"

"Bullshit Morda! You can't even see 10 feet in front of you properly!"

"I can see stupid though and I'm looking right at it shouting at me!"

"That's it! I'll go over there a-"

"Shut up" said Aki, his cold voice washing over the crowd, ceasing the shouting match that was about to begin.

"Thank you. Now that you can hear me let's start this up again. Instead of taking from each side for this specific section we'll do another type of system. Every bit of material mined will go through a general sifting and sorting area before shipping off and sold. Profit will be split evenly between each town which means you need to have the same amount of workers on site and do your best to keep the weight exiting each side as close as possible to the same as you can for this site. As long as both sides agree to the same effort standard and it's enforced by representatives from the other town to assure fairness. Does that sound fair?"

"What if one side finds more than the other? Do we get compensation?"

"Say if the North side comes across a rare mineral, it needs to be documents and signed by both representative from the other side, the miner that found it and the acting leader for the team before being taken off site. With a multi stage check list everyone would be compensated fairly for special finds" responded Kiyo, silencing Kitara.

"Fine, is that agreeable Morda?"

The burly man crossed his arms with a huff "Sounds fine to me, for now. If I get a lick of deceit then I'm reporting it straight back to the head village for breach of contract."

"Same goes for you, you blind bat." The man growled out but stepped forward, extending his hand. She looked down then back to him and sneered before the two shook hands. They sent their team off as Kiyo wrote up the terms, and mission statement before having each sign it on the bridge.

"You ronin are quick with your work. Guess they have you running ragged, huh?" asked Kitara to Aki as Kiyo spoke to Morda on everything she wrote down as he couldn't read it himself.

"Yeah, not much time to break but it pays well. We get the occasional rest stop at the springs up north when we can so it's worth it."

She laughed "Aye, that place works wonders on a sore body. Thanks again, it's hard to get any plan through his thick skull. Rest easy friend."

"Same to you" said Aki, nodding off to her as she left and Morda walked off the other way to hand off the scroll to a local message carrier. She walked up to him and showed off a rather large pouch of bills and coins.

"Side pay from the two for the quick job. Let's get out of here before the actual team shows up and we really get into a brawl" said Kiyo. Aki shook his head and lead them off the bridge near the north side, shifting through the busier crowd of miners to the exit at the far side. As soon as they made it out of town they pushed the pace again. They covered as much ground as they could, making little rest for the rest of the day until they came to a stop for camp that night.

"Do you think we did the right thing there? Really, don't lie to me. Should we have left them to stay undercover longer?" asked Kiyo, letting out her confidence and showing her anxiety. She worried that stunt would help the group but it would leave them a trail for Iwa to follow if they caught on quickly enough.

"We did a good job, and the right thing. The greater the risk, the greater the reward that follows. We'll need to hold off on doing that too much here but just a singular incident should fly under the radar and help us a little with future movement. Just focus on rest, we'll make it to the springs in a few days and we can relax there.

*Yawn* "Sounds ok to me, I'll see you in the morning."

Next day

Kisuchi kept quiet as he looked over the calm town, not seeing any kind of hostilities between the two. Earlier he had surveyed the area and saw them worked together in agreement, already in some kind of set up manner.

'If they already have everything sorted why did they ask for a team for diplomatic diffusion?' thought the burly jonin before his own daughter showed up, her two teammates landing just after him.

"Kitara said two ronin we sent fixed the issue the day and sent the contract back to the village" said Kurotsuchi.

"Did they say anything about where they were headed?"

"Yea, tou-san. One mentioned resting at the hot springs nearby often but nothing solid besides that."

The man nodded his head and waved them to follow him "Move out team, we'll check there before reporting it in to Onoki. We might catch a break and get them there and solve this issue quickly. Keep up pace, we don't want to miss our window if they did head there right after."

"Yes sir!" shouted the three before moving behind the jonin as they ran across the rocky landscape.

Three days later

Kiyo hummed to herself as she undressed, sliding a towel on and moving to the springs. She moved around the inn, entering the springs and forgoing her town as she dipped down into the water and let her body soak. Just as the water made it up to her neck she let a soft sigh escape her lips, the soothing spring water allowing her to finally relax in the water.

"Nice to see you again" said a voice much to familiar for Kiyo's liking. She spun quickly in the water, seeing Naruto barely poking his head above the water as he faced the rock face.

"W-what are you dong here?! In this side, I mean here in general! And why….are you facing that way?"

"In order, cause we stopped here a few hours ago cause it seemed like a good idea. On this side, because it's mixed bathing day so they moved it to one spring for cleaning and I'm facing this way so I don't see anything until you're all the way under water."

"Oh…you can turn around then. Umm...nice to see you too….Naruto." Naruto spun around and smiled, moving a hand to show Yugao resting her head on the rock next to him, she only didn't notice them because of the thick steam coating the area. She could only see Yugao up to her collarbone, her eyes were closed and she seemed to be barely awake over there. Then the door slid open and Naruto's eyes lit up before a smile spread across his face.

"Welcome Aki!" Kiyo turned her head to see the poorly confused boy, not understanding why everyone he just left was now in the same spring as him, in the same area, at the same time. Then, his mind decided it wasn't important right now and dipped into the water, taking off the towel as he entered the water to preserve his modesty.

"Long time no see" said the brown haired boy, moving near Kiyo as Naruto kept his position nearby Yugao who had yet to acknowledge anyone.

"It's a wonder we met here at the same time. What have you two done?" asked Aki.

"Not much, just been avoiding a large anbu unit headed back to the village. They were pretty spread out when we were resting a little farm town south west of here. It got dicey but we doing fine."

"By fine you mean we killed one that was terrorizing the town and sent a clone to impersonate him till they got far enough away for us to leave. Placed evidence he was killed farther out with another clone and left a trail leading the opposite direction. What trouble did you get into?" asked Yugao, lifting her head up and resting her elbows on the ledge behind her.

"Helped sort out a spat between two mining villages over a new spot each one found at the same time. They suspected us as ronin employed from Iwagakure after they sent an assistance letter a few days before. Glad we aren't the only ones that got into some kind of trouble out here" said Kiyo with a sigh. She was really worried they may have really messed up then. Aki turned to her and they seemed to carry off on a conversation about something to deal with future travels but Naruto noticed Yugao seemed to focus behind her, her eyes darting off and seemed in her own world.

"What's wrong?" asked Naruto quietly as not to interrupt his teammates conversation.

"Four chakra signatures, three genin level and one mid jonin about a mile out now moving at a slower pace. Might be a team trailing from that village from their mission" said the purple haired woman, glancing behind her again.

"Can you estimate a time limit?" asked Naruto. He would try to sense but long distance wasn't his strong suit without using Hitome's chakra.

"Probably around fifteen minutes till they get close enough to dig us out as ninja, five more till they start moving for us."

Naruto sighed "I tried to get some rest here, sorry it didn't work out so well."

Yugao shrugged "I'm used to it, anbu life after all. Do we want to tell them?"

"Tell us what?" asked Kiyo, now listening in since her conversation had ended.

"I won't sugarcoat it now. Yugao sensed a team of most likely Iwa ninja making their way here. We've got maybe fifteen minutes before they find their way to the springs." Aki swore, Kiyo only frowned, extremely unhappy with the sudden change of events. They all only just arrived and the situation was forcing them to leave.

Naruto sat up higher in the water "Look, we don't have far to go to get out of here but you guys still have a small trek left for you. We'll trail them off of you two and lead them out of the town while you two sneak away. I don't want them thinking theirs more of us right now and I do what to see how these Iwa ninja really are. The economies shit and that sometimes reflects on one's own army."

"We aren't gonna lea-"

"I'll be easier to fight without looking over my shoulder" said Yugao.

"Then I'll catch their attention while you make sure these two make it out of the springs then circle back to help you. I'll lure them northwest and you can just curve right after dropping these two off to meet up with me."

"Alright, I'll see you then" said Yugao before she stood abruptly and walked back into her room, not having much shame since she was the only one to wear a swimsuit she was renting from the shop. Naruto let Kiyo go next, covering his eyes until she grabbed a towel before he and Aki returned to their room as well.

"I really wish we could have stayed longer. It really is a nice place to relax in" said Aki, sighing a little as he began to wrap his body back up, putting on his underwear first before doing so.

"Yeah but we shouldn't have gotten so comfortable anyway. It's enemy territory right now, even as ronin. They'll really want me dead and any foreign ninja is enemy to Iwa unless proven otherwise. I'm glad we just didn't get caught empty handed in the springs" responded Naruto as he finished putting his clothes on and began to wrap his arms up once more in the black wrapping. During the short time he left them open, he found the stares to get annoying and any ninja knew that they were certainly for something and he lost some surprise value with it. It was best he kept them hidden unless he really started to fight all out. More surprises the better chances he had. As he finished wrapping his arms Aki was done getting fully dressed, strapping his sword onto his hip. Within half a minute Naruto already sensed Yugao moving towards the edge of the springs, waiting for his two teammates.

"Let's move quickly, I don't have long to make it to the edge of town" said the blonde.


With Naruto

A barrage of kunai and a well-placed explosive tag caught their attention before he took off towards the edge of town. He could get a much clearer sense of the jonin and his group. The large man Kitsuchi was well versed in large scale earth jutsu, he read his updated entry recently but his genin team was almost nothing but. His daughter, and the granddaughter of the current kage had plenty of reserves for a decent fight for mid chunin and her two teammates were probably classified as low chunin from their chakra and reaction time. Overall, an easy mission for him. He would tread carefully till Yugao got there and then the playing field would be weighted to their side.

The jonin wanted to cease the chase quickly so he dashed ahead at a fairly well-timed spot, something his team barely recognized but Naruto was different. To him, it was riddled with flaws. He timed it against his landing, going after as soon as he jumped forward so he didn't have a chance to touch back down and he could subdue the blonde. However, from the days with Akatsuki, he had been in plenty of the same situations. He came up on Naruto quickly but as the man neared he dove head first down towards the roof of a house they were over and swung his left leg high, forcing him to block and come to a stop in midair as his three genin team was a few meters behind.

The jonin saw the tag float from his hand and towards them, knowing full well it was a flash seal etched into the paper. He caught a fleeting glimpse of her as he looked back, seeing nothing but a neutral expression before he disappeared in a shunsin as the note went off and robbed them of their sight.

"Agh, damnit!" shouted Kurotsuchi, crashing down with her teammates as her father landed nearby. The blindness war off quickly but it was painful at first since the three genin were looking directly at the paper, wondering what it was before it went off. After a minute the group had regained most of their sight, save for a few black dots still floated around and the trio looked to the large man.

"He's really agile, sensei" said Akatsuchi, rubbing his left eye.

"He's not just another low rank ronin, that was a calculated and well-planned move from experience. When we intercept, watch each other's backs and I'll face him off first. Step in only if you see things one sided or I call for you."

"We can all go at her father!"

"No, listen to my orders. He's not a normal ronin. Move out" said the man, leaving no room for argument as they chased off in the direction he assumed the boy to be moving towards.

X

Naruto skidded to a stop as the team landed behind him, catching up quickly since Naruto slowed his pace down just for them. He turned and smiled, waving to the four.

"May I help you four? I don't take kindle to ninja following me when I'm trying to defect from my village."

"Defect? What bullshit! What village sent you to spy on us!?" shouted the pink eyed girl and Naruto tiled his head.

"No one, I hail from Ame but I wanted out of this life. I'm moving to the border intent to live past the elemental nations."

"Whatever your purpose, you interfered in village politics and just attacked us moments ago. I'm going to have to ask you to come with us for questioning."

Naruto frowned "I know how Iwa questions people. After it's done you get rid of them if they aren't anything valuable. Everyone knows. You're a village for power, not for economical, not right now at least."

"Our village is-"

"Terrible in merchant sales, creating clothes is nearly disappeared, carpentry and other large buildings are done by out sourcing and only the ninja have decent wages to sustain a nice life. All because you pride military over anything else. Disgusting really, even Kumo knows how to mix the both. Oh, pardon my manners I am speaking to relatives of the current kage" Naruto bowed "I'm Naruto Uzumaki, former genin of Ame. Pleasure to meet you."

Kitsuchi motioned for his daughter to hold her tongue "How do you know of our relations?"

Naruto's smile appeared once more "Ever wonder who used to run Ame? The head of the Akatsuki which your kage has paid for high class sabotage missions all for the sake of 'strengthening the military.' What was that mission again? Hmmm?" The jonin was no longer going to sit idle as this kid spoke of village secrets and made a dash for him, throwing two kunai right for his head. Naruto ducked under the two and swung his fist, meeting the open palm of the large man who made a grave mistake. Just as his fist touched it began to push with much greater power than he'd anticipated, throwing him back and skidding across the rocky terrain past his team. At that point the three moved after the blonde, seeing that as the point to let their sensei recover. What only pissed Kurotsuchi off was the ever present smile on his face, like he was just having a little play date.

"Die, Ame scum!" she shouted, thrusting a kunai forward acting in the exact way they'd practiced. Naruto brought his left hand up quickly, connecting with her wrist and making her drop the kunai which his right hand grabbed. He used that weapon to block the sword of her skinny teammate on his right before sending a kick to his gut and pushing him back a few meters. As that happened Naruto sensed the buildup of chakra below them and heard someone shout from behind.

"Earth release: Earth Spikes!" Both genin looked down, seeing the tips began to protrude but Naruto glanced up to see his black haired opponent unmoved in fear. This wasn't part of the plan, he was supposed to wait until she was out of range but she wasn't fast enough to avoid this jutsu without it piercing her leg. Just then, she felt herself get jerked forwards before she hit the ground. Kurotsuchi looked up to see Naruto skidding to a stop a few feet from her, looking at her with concern.

"Are you ok? I told you I'm not here to fight and I wasn't trying to fight you all." Her shocked look was all she could muster, fully expecting him to have let her get impaled, not save her. However, it did little as her father came back seeing her on the ground next to their current enemy.

"Get away from her!" shouted the man, shoot off much faster than before and covering the distance in a split second. Naruto looked to him but he wasn't smiling, or frowning, his face remained neutral as a rock covered fist neared him.

"I give and give and this is how you treat me, huh?" said the blonde before the jonin was kicked off across from his daughter by the sudden appearance of Yugao.

"Nice to see you made it in time. I starting to get mad at these guys" said Naruto, his smile back on. He nodded for Kurotsuchi to move and she quickly moved back to her now regrouping team.

"Recon team is two hours out by last estimation from our scouting. We have less than fifteen minutes before they'll most likely sense the chakra being thrown around" said the anbu, moving to his left side while the jonin rushed to his team's side, now facing off against two ninja. He saw the mark on her arm, Konoha anbu. Not good but the blonde was what worried him the most. He looked just like his team, a kid in all the means, but fought nothing like one. He'd never met someone able to toss him around like that either, not without some serious chakra behind the punch. They needed more information before he could let them run off.

"Hey, now. Don't get funny ideas" said Naruto pointing right at him. "I just saved your daughter from losing a leg or worse from a teammate that can't cast jutsu properly and then you tried to punch my face in. I'm on my last leg of kindness here."

"He isn't lying, as much as I hate even admitting it." Naruto let them whisper amongst themselves for a few seconds, he wasn't worried much about what was going on. They could make it to the border in no time at all and he had plenty of cards to play if things got dicey. Only the current kage, or a jinchuuriki would put a monkey wrench in his plans now.

The man turned to the two assumed ronin "Fine, I'll let you two go only for the sake of what happened here."

Naruto tilted his head "What do you mean? Nothing's happened at all." Kitsuchi couldn't help but smirk, he got the message loud and clear. The blonde motioned to his teammate before looking to Kurotsuchi and nodded to her, adding a wave to her father before they took off to the border.

"If I ever see them again it'll be too soon" said the man, sighing heavily. In all honesty he was worried, about both of those two. That anbu was skilled to avoid his sensed till she appeared and the blonde seemed confident and prepared enough to take on all of them alone. He looked familiar but he wasn't able to place anything solid down. He turned to his team and moved them on. He agreed this didn't happen so they needed to head out and report the failed mission.


Four hours later

"That wasn't very smart to leave Iwa ninja alive like that. You know their reputation with other villages. The pink eyed girls attitude only gave it more credit for you."

"She's the granddaughter of the kage, if we killed her, or did too much damage to her or her father we'd have a mountain rolling at us in no time. The border we're heading to is the only reason he even let us go since they're too afraid to go past it after the last war."

"Hmm, are you trying to befriend a kage candidate? I didn't think you'd be so keen to move through a village intent to kill any foreign ninja just to plan that far ahead."

"Iwa has been a very nasty place for as long as it's stood but the new generation always brings promise, and with that compromise is possible. When we make our appearance in the next few years I'll need every bit of leverage I can get my hands on."

"Very well, I see your point Naruto-kun. Be safe, you've left the lions den for a dragon's nest."

"I'm always safe" said the blonde, just knowing she rolled her eyes before he ducked down to the bottom of the trees as his partner followed suit.

"The tree line ends soon and it'll only get worse from there so let's make camp and rest."

"Alright." She began to unpack and take out some prepackaged food as Naruto followed suit, neither starting a fire knowing it would only revel their location. Once both had settled in and prepared some food they sat down near one another, both resting against their own tree.

"So, what really lies ahead? Kakashi-senpai filled me in on the black ops part of this mission. Try to make it past this nation and get a current outlook on the summoner lands due to the lack of connection so suddenly from every village."

"To put this bluntly, we're on a suicide mission right now. As the elemental land was forming the villages, this small end of the world wanted nothing to do with it so a clan once shunned by them came forward to act as guards. It gave them purpose, a means to leave where they were hated and live in solitude as the guardians of the border. Since then, they've always been here, guarding everything that lies beyond from any hostile ninja. A few made it through to the summoner lands a decade or so ago, only by a narrow margin with a confrontation between the guards and some unknown force. We know the demon clan is still as powerful as ever and the summoner land seemed to be moving into a much more chaotic land. Something happened to the former group in power, the Tiger summon, which kept everyone in check before our contacts went dark. The only way we have any decent chance is by moving as a small unit, trying to either sneak past and hope they see us as nothing to worry over or we just go undetected."

"What if we get caught?"

"Kill whatever moves and push past. This is why it's considered a suicide mission. We don't know anything about their forces or powers but if were quick we should be fine."

Yugao groaned "I can't believe Kakashi put me in this."

"A few weeks ago you were fully prepared to die on any mission given. What's the issue?" asked Naruto getting a glare from her.

"I got my will to live back so I kinda don't want to go off dying just after I do. Defeats the purpose."

"We can't all be winners now, Yugao."

"Yeah, cause we'll be dead."

"So negative, think of the positive!"

"We might get captured and tortured by means never heard of in our lands?" Naruto deflated, giving up on trying to get through. He knew it was useless at that point but there was something he was ready to finally get moving again. From here on out they were going to be fighting for every inch of ground in unknown territory, with an uncertain future. Just like he liked it.


2 ½ years later

"Hokage-sama, urgent news!" shouted a chunin, rushing into the office with a letter already opened.

"What is it Iruka?" asked Tsunade, used to his slightly more…uncalled for shouting.

"Our scouts just got word a huge castle just appeared between Takigakure and Otogakure!" Tsunade's confused expression was all that gave him a response to which he reacted by handing her a letter. On it was the location of where he spoke of and a picture of a massive stone structure towering even the kage tower. It most likely stood nearly at the height of the hokage monument, a much larger structure than any village held. Her main concern was how it just appeared from thin air so suddenly and how Takigakure hadn't contacted them over the issue. They always relied on Konoha for major threats and this certainly qualified as one.

"Iruka, call Shizune from her office and tell her I need Jiraiya here this instant. I know he's been snooping around the village recently and we haven't got the time to waste." The chunin saluted and rushed off down the hall, shutting the door as he left.

"Nice place, taking a vacation there?" asked Jiraiya from behind her suddenly, making her jump a little. He was always the greater of the three at staying hidden, much to Orochimaru's ire.

"No, this just appeared from thin air between Oto and Taki. We haven't gotten word from Taki and that's slightly concerning. Do you think the Akatsuki may have gotten to them for their jinchuuriki?"

Jiraiya shrugged "Probably not, they have been really dormant for the past few years. I haven't gotten a single lead on them so they really are laying low right now." Tsunade narrowed her eyes at him and dismissed the hidden anbu before sealing the room off and standing to meet him at a more even level. His expression only changed a little, he was surprised but showed nothing more beyond that.

"What aren't you telling me? I swear if you pull some shit out your ass I'll let you meet sensei quicker than Orochimaru can go after boys."

Jiraiya held his hands up in defense before stepping back a little "No need to get violent, I didn't want to say anything until you secured the place. Sit down, you won't like what you hear." The only female sanin huffed, upset he riled her up just to do that before sitting down and waiting rather impatiently for an explanation.

"It belongs to…..well…..that group of Naruto's I was telling you about, or I assume it does. That's in the same spot he spoke about plotting it a few years back." Tsunade tapped her finger, wanting more.

"Itachi is always around so he probably put up a strong genjutsu and kept it constantly strengthened so no one ever found out about it. I spoke with a contact in Taki recently and they said they saw Sasori of the Red Sand hanging around at one point, someone that is in Akatsuki but he doesn't wear the cloak anymore. I suspect…." He left it open and Tsunade's eyes widened considerable.

"You don't think he….no….impossible….not with those kind of people! Even he can't do something like that!"

"It's just a hunch but we might be on to something. I'll look into it as soon as-" The sanin stopped when a toad appeared in front of him, holding a letter without a name label.

"Huh, I never get blanks from any contact." He opened it and Tsunade leaned over a little to see what it was. Inside the envelope was a letter addressed to him.

Hey Perv, long time no see huh? Look, to cut things short no worries if a random castle shows up between Taki and Oto. They're both cool with it since I forced Kakuzu to pay them properly for it which he really didn't take a liking too. Who cares?! I'm still his favorite kid in the world, he'd spoil me whenever I asked unless it was to burn money.

Back on track! I hope everything well with you and Tsunade? I got wind she's still kicking as kage so I'm glad she found a place she can call home now. She deserves it after everything she's gone through. You need one too but you're a pervy spy so I don't expect to see you settle down anytime soon. Well, let Tsunade know if she needs some stronger ninja for missions to give us a ring and I'll send a team right over. I've got more letters to write so on with it.

Take care, ya here?

Clipped to the bottom of the letter was a picture with a large group of people. He could clearly make out Naruto in front, smiling brightly with Konan and Itachi at his sides. He could see Naruto's team from Ame just behind him, Yugao directly behind him, Sasuke next to Itachi, some of the Akatsuki members he was looking into, Zabuza and a mass of other people sitting on a large set of stairs outside. All in all, it looked like a happy group photo, albeit, a large group he wasn't expecting. The sanin quickly pocketed it, not wanting Tsunade to take too long of a look but he handed her the note to read. She skimmed it quickly then tossed it over her shoulder as not to rip it.

"I'm sending a letter right now. Right fucking now! I want more than this! Sasuke's there and Yugao too?! They both stopped sending reports in!" shouted Tsunade, scribbling a note before handing it to the frog that quickly disappeared as she set her sights on Jiraiya.

"What have you done, Jiraiya!?"

"I did nothing!"


Naruto stretched a little, walking around his new office which was much larger than he anticipated. It was easily double the size of the one in Konoha for its kage but this place was big after all. It could house all of the current members, each of their two followers as well as the 200 other members now secretly, or openly, worked for him. Those in secret were scattered across the world, keeping an eye on area's some never thought they would recruit at. Other obvious members, those not in position needing to hide their letters, were commonly on the move, not all but many. Most worked as curriers, some worked as transportation and others moved as freelance ronin for smaller towns and villages. This system kept their network wide and if something appeared that was too far above their pay grade a Knight, or team of Knights was called.

Lastly, the castle itself had a constant guard around the perimeter and many workers inside he finished sorting out with Konan. At the main gate in the front were always two ninja, three groups stood in rotating shifts acting as guards as well as watchmen for the front. Inside, atop four towers were ever present spotters, also in three sets of rotating shifts with the sole job of looking for any movement across the horizon. After the guards were the maids, or maid really. One woman handled most of the cleaning of the home due to her unique abilities but there were others to help out with some portions. Outside, a few of the members that had moved into the castle took care of grounds keep as well as taking care of the cooking and in house medical staff. Naruto did remember he and a few others had picked up a few…guests that stayed here without assisting in really anything but there was a special case for those handful.

Just then a knock came to his door.

"Yes?" It opened and Yugao walked in, still wearing her normal outfit from the trip but changing the colors every so often.

"Time to put those new clothes on, you've got a meeting with the Mizukage in fifteen minutes and she's already been spotted with Squad Three on approach."

The blonde sighed "We've only been here a few weeks and were already moving on issues. I can't catch much of a break anymore. I'll be in the meeting room in a few minutes, wait for me there please."

"I know, no need to bark orders your majesty" said the purple haired woman sarcastically before exiting. Naruto chuckled a bit, their relationship had improved drastically during the trip and now they took any chance to make side jokes at the others expense, all in good fun. He moved across the room, opening the door behind his desk and walking into a fairly large closed, equipped with his new wardrobe and other outfits. This allowed him to keep busy in his office and change if necessary without traveling all the way to his bedroom across the grounds.

The blonde quickly swapped his gear for the new attire and admired the new look he now sported. On top was a plain white shirt, armored as his old vest was but with new design it was now threaded into the very fabric and allowed for the same protection with lighter, less noticeable, looks. On top was a solid black long sleeved suit like jacket, trimmed with gold and fully buttoned to high chest, leaving the high collar open to reveal his shirt. Shown over the jacket, hung around his neck, was the Uzumaki clan symbol proudly on display while etched on the back similar to his fathers cloak was the word 'King'. Below that he had on matching black pants and lightweight shinobi boots for ease of movement in changing situations. On his hands were two things, a pair of plain white gloves to hide some of the seals the sleeves didn't and small chain link bracelets on each arm, etched with seals. These seals acted as his wrap used to, keeping the demonic aura at bay during normal activity but they didn't work well once he entered combat.

Concluding the entire piece he placed a golden cross earing, centered with a blood red ruby on his left ear. This symbolized his status as King within the group. All knights not undercover wore a similar version, but silver instead. Only Yugao's was pitch black instead of polishes silver, signifying her position as the King's Guard. Any normal member not undercover wore silver rings, crowned with the same blood red ruby. All were etched with seals and what no one spoke of was the ruby wasn't initially that. It started as a pale gem and with the addition of the members blood, turned it crimson. This acted as a reverse summon and emergency contact to all Knight Squad Commanders within a certain area of activation. It gave off a location but allowed for reverse summon as well if the situation dictates. The crosses worked in the exact same manner as the rings did. The only difference between Naruto and the Knights was that Naruto had a ring on, also gold with a ruby however his were the master copies. They could cease all summon and action of other items no matter the distance in case someone did break the seal lock and try to hunt down the members by reverse summon or tracking through beacons the rings emitted.

He gave a short nod after another glance over before exiting the room, heading down the hall and through a few corridors then arriving at the meeting room. This was the smaller version of the other one, which was called the war room. It was for a meeting as this, for a group or two, not holding the Knights meeting or a meeting between multiple parties. As he made it inside he saw someone he was positive wasn't allowed in this room, for the moment at least.

"Nekomi, leave. I'm sure Yugao said you aren't supposed to be around right now. Wait until after were finished and you can nap in here" said the blonde sternly and he gained a pout from the woman before she slinked away into an adjacent room until they were done. She was fairly small, only about 4'11" in height, certainly not a ninja in build either. Her dress was very formal, a well ironed and seemed similar in dress to a maid minus the frills, the length nearly touching her ankles and the entire piece was all royal blue.

Her cat ears and twin tail also set her apart from being human as well. She was one of the 'guests' at the castle Konan actually came across in her travel. A Neko, an extremely rare breed of half human, half demon cat. The story goes children left alone are sometimes adopted by stray demons that wander the worlds shadows, almost always staying far from the world's affairs. She was such one, raised by a demon cat which over time at a developing age gave her the traits of a cat, or demon cat. Which was why the ears and tail seemed like red flowing flames, tipped in blue and her deep blue cat like eyes. Her traits for napping and generally being very playful around the grounds were very well known to all, not all good.

"So, prepared to finally meet the Mizukage in person? You only exchanged letters and let Konan handle the issues that arose. Count yourself lucky you are meeting as a much more…..grown up looking version of yourself than you were two and a half years ago."

"Your pitiful excuse for side jabs aren't going to break me this time" said Naruto confidently with a smile but she returned with her own as she moved next to him, sensing the group was making their way there.

"Oh really? A pitiful excuse like the one where you had to 'really get sleep alone since it was so hot' when we had that young woman traveling with us in the summoner lands?" Naruto's smile dropped and he could hear Hitome's growl at the reminder of the woman.

"OK ok, don't bring that up. Hitome get's really pissed when we talk about her."

"She ought to, that girl was wild and certainly wasn't afraid to go after you, in a 'relationship' or not" said the guard, using air quoted around relationship.

"You know damn well it is a real one, at least in emotion. I remember quite vividly that she was wild, wild enough to hit on you every time I turned her down." The small blush that crept on her now straight face said all he needed to hear before turning. The small talk between the two quickly died when the door opened, revealing the Mizukage, two body guards and Squad Three. He stepped forward and greeted the Mizukage first, someone he certainly wouldn't deny was a looker. She had a ninja body but her assets were certainly more endowed than most, rivaling Tsunade in that department. He knew the two guards as well, Ao, a former hunter ninja, and anbu as well as the newest member of the Seven Swordsmen, Chojuro.

"Welcome to my castle, Mizukage-dono. As you know I'm Naruto and that is my guard Yugao. It's a pleasure to finally see you in person. I apologize for the past two years of letters, I was out of the nation the entire time." They both shook hands before Mei spoke with a smile

"Mei Terumi, the pleasure is mine Naruto-dono. Please call me Mei, first names are so much more relaxing than using titles, makes me feel old too. This is Ao, a trusted confidant and body guard as well as my other bodyguard and new swordsmen Chojuro. I apologize for not mentioning them in the last letter, the advisors insisting I bring my own guard since I'll be moving alone back home. Now I do want to say no worries on the letters, it's been some time since I've had a pen pal of sorts like you! It reminded me of my genin days when I would write to my friend in Suna."

Naruto returned the smile "Thank you for letting me off and I hope my men haven't caused much trouble through the village?"

"Not much, the two swordsmen tend to get a little rowdy but nothing their leader can't handle." Naruto looked to the Squad, seeing Ren, Zabuza and even Hidan standing a somewhat attention.

"We can have a report of everything later today. Go relax for a little and get settled in if you already haven't."

"Yes sir" said the three most certainly not in unison before exiting the room, Hidan shutting it with a massive grin to Naruto as he pointed to Mei from behind. The blonde refrained from shaking his head, he knew something like that was bound to happen with Hidan around. He quickly motioned for the woman to sit at the circular table in the middle of the room before he took up post at the other side, both flanked by their guards.

"Tell me, how did you hide such a massive building for so long? We've been perplexed, wondering if our scouts were possibly…..redirected in some way." He got the meaning, she was wondering if they had bribed, used a genjutsu on them or had them working for his group. He knew that would come.

"Simple really, as an Uzumaki seals came naturally to me so my first priority before even getting the foundation down was putting up seals to protect this place. It was already barely used as a route, only a few ninja a month would pass by here throughout the year. After adding a suppression seal and cloaking the area we added specialized seals nearby which acted as a deterrent for any ninja not really looking for this place. It routed them just around the grounds and kept it safe during construction and we used heavy guards for the supply movement." Mei showed little surprised but Ao and Chojuro were certainly in awe at what went into it and how easily he talked about it. To them, he was a barely 16 something teen but it seemed Mei knew much more than she let on.

"I'm glad one of the few remaining Uzumaki shows such a talent for a dying art. I remember hearing of the Uzumaki's when I was a child. They were feared by so many, able to use such complicated seals, wield weapons like a demon and reserves kage would pale at. You show that same fire. I didn't misplace my faith in you, I see."

"I always deliver, Mei-dono. Now, down to business. What did you want to speak about?"

"Yes, that's a little private. I'd like it if we were alone please."

"Of course, Yugao you can wait outside." "Ao, Chojuro, follow suit." Without a word the guards bowed and left the room, taking station outside the door and leaving the two leaders alone.

Naruto leaned forward, taking a much more serious stance "So, we're alone. What is it you wishes to tell me?"

Mei batted the perverted thoughts away before speaking "You spoke of some plan with my village, and whatever else joined in our scheme but only mentioned giving power back to the village that was taken. What is it your referring too?" Naruto sighed, he knew this would come up but he wished it hadn't. It was still too early to get anywhere near activating the second step of the plan but as the kage she deserved to know.

"Who holds power over the ninja and what involved them? Untouched and solitary power?"

"The kage, or a village leader if ninja are used in smaller towns."

"Correct and who holds all other power, and rivals the kage with it? Who controls that and the funds the village gets from mission taxes and other contracts."

Mei's eyes narrowed "The….Daimyo."

"Correct again, that is the initial target of this grand scheme. They control alliances with a heavy hand, trade routes, small villages are pushed around by the Feudal Lords and they control a large portion of money and for what? Why do we allow them rule over the main village in such manners? They control every aspect of civilians with little interference allowed from the kage while mission taxes all go to them, forcing the village to rely on the leftover payout, regular taxes usual cut small and whatever amount the Daimyo gives them back. What is gained here? The ease in knowing some book worms with little knowledge in the real world are bartering your nation's livelihood with a pampered child? As if!

If we create such a department in the village, running secular but under the kage's rule and checked by either a second committee of elected officials what's the need of the daimyo? Nothing particularly. Money can be regulated with the kage and the treasury already in place, just add a few more members to help with the influx of money and changing system." Mei seemed to show nothing as Naruto spoke, leaning in a little more than before as he spoke but stayed silent until he stopped which signaled her turn to speak.

"I see, quite a bold move but there is an issue with that. The power is what all villages are held by, every single one. If you kill, say Konoha's and mine then you have destroyed a trade route between other villages without the daimyo's men to continue talks. Not to mention, the other villages will retaliate at such a massive uproar in the system and security on the rest will tighten severely due to that. What do you say to that?"

"I don't see much of an issue. My current goal is your village, Suna and Konoha but that one will most likely be a shadow mission so they aren't directly connected to the killing. It could cause issues, turning Iwa, Kumo and Konoha against us but there's a solution to solve the turning of focus to your villages. If we take claim to killing the three at the same time, under the guise of 'terrorist actions' you are not seen as employers but victims. From there, the plan gets much more complicated and convoluted. After that stage, it'll be solely in our hands, with just the normal assistance we already ask for in exchange for able ninja to help with missions."

Mei leaned back and crossed her arms "This is a very bold move, but you did say this isn't going to take place right now either. I'll agree to the same contract this year but I want a full briefing before you even thing of moving for this plan otherwise we will take it as a real declaration of war. Is this clear, Naruto-dono?"

Naruto nodded his head "Of course, Mei-dono. I wouldn't do such an underhanded tactic to allies. It defeats the purpose of us trying to fix this world of its current plagues. Is there anything else?"

"Besides that, not at all. I expect to see Squad Three in a few weeks for their next mission and I do hope to see a letter with the normal progress report every month as you have been doing."

"I'll make sure everything falls in order just as we planned it too. The letter will be sent before the first moon next month" said Naruto as they both stood and he walked her to the door. He opened it and let her walk past, seeing the three guards now moving to cover their respective members.

"You spoke of staying the night here and exploring what the place has to offer today over the letter, did you not?"

"I did, Naruto-dono." Naruto snapped his finger with his right hand and a maid walked out from the room where Nekomi had walked into earlier. It was plainly obvious to be a maid, her outfit and demeaner gave it all away. She seemed perfectly mannered as well, keeping a neutral expression as she walked with her hands folding in front of her. Her long silver hair reached nearly too her knees as two braids on either side rested down to her waist with slightly off cut bangs in front.

"This is Silver, the head housekeeper. She will walk you to your room and if you need her just snap. She will appear as soon as possible to assist you in any way. Do be mindful, she understands you, but she is mute. Only sign language and basic gestures are her form of communication. I'll see you all for dinner then. Enjoy your stay." The trio bowed their heads, thanking the blonde silently before the maid began to move, guiding the Mizu ninja through the castle.(The name is due to her hair and eye color being silver, not as an intension to seem familiar to Silver((Selkie)) in The Ancient Magus Bride.)

"Time for the next meeting then. Meeting after meeting, greeeaaatttt" drawled out Naruto, walking down a long flight of stairs.

"You'll be fine, this one is more relaxed with your own Knights, not a foreign power."

"Frankly, it's worse for me right now. They aren't afraid to judge me how they see fit and shout it out, unlike the Mizukage who would keep the comment more reserved." Yugao seemed to ponder that before laughing a little. That was certainly the case if she remembered some of the members correctly. She would have teased him but wasn't left with time as they entered the large war room set at the top of the center building of the castle where a throne room would normally be.

The second the door opened the room was already a mess, most of everyone seemed seating except for Ren who was wrestling with Zabuza to get him off Hidan, restrained by Deidara.

'Kill me now.' "Everyone, get off each other and sit down please! We've got a meeting you barely have to attend in person. Deal with it for a few minutes." At the entrance of the blonde everyone seemed to settle down and moved to their seats. Here Naruto could see all the teams as well as the extra few extra's that used to work under the Akatsuki banner.

There were three squads, Naruto being captain of Squad One, as well as the King, and Yugao as his body guard. Itachi was his second in command as king and squad leader but he had no official assistant members. He was tasked with dealing with Kakuzu and Deidara as a pair, both which attended the mandatory meetings, Shizune's letters and the anbu working inside Konoha for him. Sasuke was the last member and the field medic of the group with his assistants being Karin, Suigetsu and Jugo. Currently, he is the only one allowed for three assistants as he travels mostly, requiring extra support in certain situations.

Squad Two was Konan as lead, Sasori as her second in command and Shizune as the combat medic. With Shizune currently undercover with Tsunade Naruto gave her permission to recruit a shinobi from the land she was currently contracted to help build better relations with, Snow. She had long since taken over the land for Mrs. Fugikaze and instilled their most skilled ninja, one of the few high level ninja left alive, to work for them. He agreed, seeing as a better alternative then living a life as a ronin for his days. Konan was currently the field medic for the group without Shizune but she was still needed in reverse summon from time to time.

Squad Three was led by his former sensei Ren, with Hidan and the new member Zabuza of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen. He chose to go with them as his alternative was to stay in Kiri, something he was passionately against after the war they were involved with there. He held no grudge against the new kage but it wasn't something he could consider home anymore. They did act as lesion between the two but currently they were tasked with multiple missions from the new kage, Mei Terumi. The village was recovering from the clan cleansing still and the need for ninja in high level settings required so the group was almost solely Kiri based at the moment.

Squad Zero was a squad that didn't exist on paper, or in any form of writing throughout the castle. They were ghosts to all but the Knights. Aki was the current leader, Orochimaru acted as the field medic but he was mainly stationed at his hideouts or the Knights own areas as Aki moved for missions. Kiyo was Aki's right hand and a Knight, the only other one that regularly accompanied him on missions as his backup. They worked well enough together Orochimaru only joined if the situation showed means for a stronger opponent inside. Kabuto was the only reserve member in any squad, acting as Orochimaru would for missions if he deemed the task to menial for his presence but needed an extra set of hands. Only Orochimaru held assistants, both being Tayuya and Jirobo as Naruto had suggested. The sanin did see promise in the two and gave room for that, showering them with attention, not all wanted, but enough to train them in new levels they never thought possible.

This was their first meeting after being separated for two and a half years as well as the first to mark an in-person event. They are allowed to send clones, which are reversed summoned once in range by a waiting sensor within the castle most meetings but they convey at least three times a year in person. Now, with the fully sorted and newly created group everything was set and ready for their official move into the spotlight.

"I hope everyone made it ok. I'll get right down to business so everyone can enjoy the rest of the day off. I already received reports from everyone in the past week and I'm glad to see things are moving smoothly but with that said now is the time things will get difficult. The villages will know of our existence and those not currently with us will attempt to follow, obstruct or detain us as 'terrorist threats' so please be mindful of that traveling.

On to everyone's tasks for now. Itachi, I need you acting as a diplomat for Konoha, contact Jiraiya and Tsunade directly. While you are there, diplomatic immunity does apply due to us currently registered as a political entity land holder under Oto and Taki law. Let that be known when you see Tsunade please, I don't want a report of you setting her off for fun. While you there, check up on Shizune when you can and keep an eye on Danzo and his men. Your presence alone should deter most issues but nothing is set in stone with him. Sasuke, take your team and continue reaching contact points, gathering intel from Sasori's men and check up on our freelance members. I might send you and your team on a mission ever so often for smaller villages in your area so stay sharp.

Konan, your group will continue the work in Snow and do your best to train the new ninja. Take a few training scrolls if you need to and try to find a good leader or two before you leave to help the village a little. They wrote they're pleased with the progress and help but there's a lot to do and we can't leave them alone just yet. Once they say your done, or issues arise, I need you to move to crescent moon island, we have some notices of rebellion in the kingdom that Itachi and Sasuke helped take back over.

Ren, keep your team in Mizu working on missions and whatever else Mei-dono asks of you but I may have a few contracts needing your attention within the next few weeks from Konoha. Itachi will be there but they may have a mission closer to your location which you will be sent instead of Itachi.

Aki, begin your move into Iwa with your entire team. Orochimaru stated he has a well concealed base there. I need more information on them, since almost no one holds anything substantial or up to date on the country. Be mindful, do not interfere with the country unless you know that you won't be spotted, targeted, or lead back. I don't want to loose the cover there, it's too valuable to get that far into their country unnoticed and remain for an extended period. Orochimaru, are the new seals ready to be implemented?"

"I can tag everyone before we leave, Kabuto can assist as well so it shouldn't take but a few minutes" responded the Sanin.

"Ok, good. Kakuzu, continue your hunting but if you can try to regulate how often you move for now with Deidara. I got a message from an undercover operative in Kumo they have caught wind of your movements while you were there and stationed more guards at the smaller villages. If you must, you know where some contacts are deeper in Demon country so try to move towards there for a month or so. Is there any questions?"

"Yeah, when's this plan of your supposed to go down? Getting old moving after small fry" said Deidara, earning a glare from his partner.

"Not for at least a few more months to a year. We need at least two nations fully on board, possibly one willing to look the other way unless we want the world falling down on us."

Sasuke spoke this time "Are you wanting us to move out tomorrow or do we have a few days to rest here? I don't think we've stopped moving since last year."

"You can all stay a week at most, unless you feel the need to stay longer for personal issues, but a week would be best. We have a lot to accomplish."

"Alright."

"Where will you be during all this?" asked Konan.

"Attempting to get good relations with Suna actually. Their chunin exams is coming soon and I thought about attending as a guest of the Kazekage since I got an invitation. One last note, these seals have a limitless range and allow contact with every group connected with it. Each one will have everyone's group seal to push chakra into before speaking. This allows for a much broader form of near instant communication and it will allow for response to all groups as well. I will be the only one with contact to Squad Zero as they aren't supposed to even exist in the first place. Now, is everyone good? Wonderful, Orochimaru, let's get this over with."


Naruto leaned back in his chair inside his office, enjoying the privacy of it's location. It hidden away, spaced far away from any other room with a much thicker layer around it to protect from attackers on any side. It also made it fairly quite if he didn't have the fan overhead going. He thought back to the meeting, feeling the new tattoos behind his ear, each one with the number kanji for each squad. He was happy to see the growth in everyone. Sasuke seemed to have come much farther under his brothers guidance, last he looked the Uchiha was inching into Yugao's old level of skill and on his way to combat Kakashi in pure power alone. The young Uchiha was still far from Yugao's current level, having trained with her for the time they were away and both excelled exponentially during the time away. As Yugao had said once "I feel as if I've moved up almost three steps from my peak before but in your case you jumped up two flights of stairs." What could he say, he knew what was coming after all this.

Konan seemed much happier in her new position and Sasori was…..Sasori as the newest member seemed fairly civil. Ren showed off a few new scars along his arms and he could sense both he and Zabuza had grown since they last met. Aki and Kiyo showed just as much growth as Sasuke and he was pleased with his former teammates progress. Aki's swords strapped to his waist, one wrapped for deadly battle and the other used for menial combat already showed the man was confident enough to need two for separate levels of combat. The way Kiyo just seemed to hold herself alone showed her new confidence and skill, he barley even heard her move around when they shuffled around to get the seals. Orochimaru was….still the same along with Kabuto and the same could be said for Deidara and Kakuzu.

Overall, everyone he was concerned with showed improvement, monumental improvement but his worry for Itachi was growing. It had been a long time since they talked in person and the last conversation didn't go so well. His thoughts were shut off when Itachi entered the cracked door, Sasuke shortly after to shut it behind them.

"What's up?" asked Naruto, keeping the conversation casual. These were friends, no need to be strict outside the meeting now.

"I wanted to ask a couple questions about my mission before Sasuke asked one of his own." Naruto nodded his head and let the two sit down before Itachi continued.

"Be honest, did you send me there so Tsunade could look into my sickness and possibly help my eye sight?"

"Yes and no. I know how your sight is and I know the way to fix that but you and I both know the sickness can be cured which could extend your life more than what you have now. Even without your sight Itachi, you are extremely strong. If you couldn't see I'd have you accustomed to the head of the freelance, keeping up contacts with them and saving you combat issues as Sasuke should be ready by then to take over your position. Does this upset you?"

"No, I just wanted to hear your side of it and what you had plans for. I told you I trust your judgement but I like to hear what your planning sometimes since you like to keep quite and internalize everything. My other issue is Danzo. He will eventually see my closeness with Shizune and I know this hasn't gotten past you. The anbu we use are already pushing the point with every meeting."

"I know, and I want that to happen. I want him to question everything, worry more, become paranoid and slip up. Once he does, whatever that slip up is, then you should be called upon to act as you have before under Konoha. Wet Works. That will solidify the trust between you and Tsunade by then, and destroy most doubt as well." As all this was spoken Sasuke really got introduced to why Naruto was who he was and why he held that position. He seemed to plan for everything, right down to the wire, knowing the lack in power in many aspects put them under water. To Sasuke, he was fit for that position more than anyone he could really think of, almost more than his brother but mainly because his brother placed his faith fully in the blonde.

"Now, Sasuke. What's your question?"

"I have one for the mission and another not pertaining to it. The mission question is where it you wanted me to start with?"

"Travel with Itachi until you reach the border of Fire country, meet the contacts just at the edge there and make your way counter clockwise against contacts. Ignore Demon country and Crescent Moon island but touch up the others and I did have a request for you. Check up on Uzushiogakure island please. I want to make sure it's still as it was and the seals haven't been tampered with."

"Will do, I'll contact you once I reach the island. Outside of the mission, I wanted to ask you a personal favor. Would you spar with me?"

"Spar?"

"More of a mock battle, don't be afraid to injure but keep it light so we can move within a week."

Naruto hummed for a moment before standing "Sure. Let's have some fun for a bit!"


Naruto stood across from Sasuke at the large field set aside near the front gate of the castle, their obvious clearing of the yard from workers made it clear what was happening. As Naruto pressed his gloved hand to the chains on his wrist they sealed away inside before he took them off and handed them to Silver nearby. By then most of the Knights were nearby to watch and Mei had even walked down as she was nearby when she noticed a crown near the front gathering.

"I won't use much past taijutsu and a few smaller jutsu, so we don't damage this place" said Sasuke and Naruto smiled.

"I'd hope you wouldn't hold back on my account. The seals here will protect any outside attacks to the grounds and castle, only interior attacks cause damage. You know that already" said Naruto, stretching a little as Sasuke drew his sword. The blonde hummed before summoning a kunai in his right hand. The moment it appeared Sasuke was upon him, sword poised to strike his throat but the blonde quickly use his own weapon to parry it up into the air and followed up with a hard kick to the stomach. The force behind the kick sent Sasuke skidding but he recovered quickly and disappeared, reappearing behind with another strike aimed for his ribs. In an impressive feat of flexibility and speed Naruto leaned forward and brought his left foot backwards at the same time, hitting the Uchiha in the chin. The blow did nearly no damage but stunned him momentarily, long enough for Naruto to spin and bring his arm around. By then the Uchiha was aware of what was coming, and what the blondes fist would do if it made contact. His sharingan spun to life quickly and he bolted right, not seeing any further movement from that side but he didn't know all of Naruto's quirks. With speed Sasuke hadn't seen since fighting high ranking ninja, Naruto's hand was wrapped around his throat before hoisting him high in the air and throwing him against the castle's bordering wall.

"I wasn't planning on taking it easy on you either, Sasuke. Your sharingan saw me, I noticed it's movements but you can't keep up with that speed. You need some work but you show promise in your abilities."

The Uchiha smirked "I'm glad you think so. I'm just getting started now. Chidori spear!" The hand aimed at Naruto suddenly was lit up in lightning before it shot forward with intent to take out the blonde's shoulder. He quickly avoided it with a side dash but ducked under the swipe before it faded away. Naruto sense the chakra of Sasuke appear quickly in front of him and he saw the shadow overhead before it closed in. He barely had time to move backwards before a heel almost grazed his nose and slammed into the ground with a mighty crash, kicking up a cloud of dust. Within a second Naruto appeared out of it, dashing backwards as Sasuke followed, his hand once more encased in lightning once more. As Naruto slid to a halt Sasuke neared but the leg he hit the ground with seemed to give way, forcing him to the ground just in front of Naruto.

Using this to his advantage Sasuke spoke "Chidori Stream!" As his hand hit, lightning ran across the ground around him, electrocuting the blonde until he burst into a cloud of smoke.

'Shadow clone?! When?!' thought Sasuke before another cloud of smoke appeared behind him. His eyes never followed it but as he stood up a hand grabbed his face and slammed him hard into the ground as a kunai rested against his neck. He glanced up to see the smiling blonde.

"When you attacked and the dust appeared, I set my plan in motion. The kunai was a clone which I transformed and sealed away so I just switched places with it and he dropped me as soon as we made it out of the dust cloud. When you attacked, I was out of range so once it died off the clone was gone and I made my appearance. Word of the wise, work on your chakra control and leg strength before trying to imitate Tsunade's crazy leg kicks. Otherwise great job!" He lifted the Uchiha up with a hand and let his other kunai reseal away.

"You showed some versatile moves in a short time and reacted accordingly even though you couldn't keep up with my speed. You tried distance then used it to distract me before delivering a strong blow. You'll be greater in no time at all if you keep training when you can and experience will only broaden your abilities!"

Sasuke bowed his head a little "Thank you, Naruto." He was frankly upset the blonde easily defeated him in the spar. Of course, they weren't going all out but it seemed just a little too easy for him to do what he did. It made the Uchiha wonder. What was he really capable of if he was fighting for his life? His title certainly wasn't just for his thinking abilities as he just showed. He was going to say more but suddenly felt a heavy weight crash down on him. He noticed everyone else was having the same problem, only Naruto seemed fairly unaffected by the sudden intrusion and only looked to the castle. He snapped his fingers and nothing happened and at that point Sasuke noticed the maid was gone. Why did she leave with his things?

He snapped again and spoke "Selkie." Nothing. His face showed minor irritation as the weight increased a little more before he changed his approach, shouting this time in an odd manner.

"Kiana!" he shouted with a snap of his fingers. In the blink of an eye she appeared in front of him, her form glowing dark purple and her face contorted into what seemed to be anger with her hand outstretched. As soon as she saw Naruto the weight disappeared, her form stopped glowing, her hand dropped and she seemed rather shocked to be there.

"What are you doing?" asked the blonde, showing obvious signs of irritation.

She used sign language to talk 'The older man started to try and map the area. I attempted to direct him back his room but he refused and stated he was just getting exercise but you know I see everything in the castle. He didn't fool me. I asked more forcefully and he batted me away, stating I was being a rude maid and should keep to my business. I got angry and forced him to stand still. I was about to bring him to you before I was summoned.'

Naruto's frowned deepened "Very well. Walk the Mizukage to the secondary meeting room and gather her younger guard. Itachi, please get our guest and escort him to the secondary meeting room." Without another word the blonde disappeared in a burst of speed as Selkie moved to lead the Mizukage and Itachi followed suit with Naruto.

"Maa maa, Kakuzu-dana. Things might get rowdy soon."

"Your lack of knowledge bothers me. If it took that much to make Naruto fight then we'd have killed him long ago."

"Pretty heavy there man" said Deidara but never got another response back.

"Ao….that's a familiar name" said Orochimaru, gaining other Knight's attention.

"You know him?" asked Konan.

"Oh no. I just heard he was a very…..as you say, by the books man on the outside. Under all that, he was a ruthless hunter ninja and anbu member, fairly well known during the third war actually. He wasn't a pleasant man to deal with but he's strong for a jonin. I wondered if he'd do something like that while here."

"Now he's on Naruto's bad side, not a very good thing to do" said Sasori, his captain agreeing with him.


Naruto sat down, looking rather impatient as Mei and a very nervous Chojuro were seating across from him. They had been sitting for a few minutes, not told much but brought to this room. Mei didn't know sign language so she couldn't know what the strange maid had said to Naruto but he wasn't happy with Ao for some reason.

'What did you fuck up Ao?!' thought the red head before the door opened and Ao stepped in stiffly. Frankly, he was nervous after the experience with the maid, her sudden disappearance and the appearance of Itachi Uchiha of all people. When he walked in and saw Naruto sitting down and his team he knew shit was already hitting the fan.

"Itachi close the door and stay outside if I call. Ao, sit down, now." His calm, friendly tone he held before with the trio had disappeared and now they sat in front of a very irritated king. Mei had seen the fight, he wasn't a pushover but her skill rating on him was still loose since she didn't see much. He sat quickly, not saying a word.

"I would like you to tell us what you were doing just a few minutes ago."

"I….I-I was looking around, seeing what this place had to offer. It's quite lavish and I wondered what kind of amenities you had-"

Naruto's killing intent leaked out a little, unnerving the man "Do not lie to me, Ao. I'm not in the mood for whatever games your playing. I may seem like a child but I assure you, my wit is sharp and my blade sharper. Do. Not. Test. Me." The cold blue eyes bore into his skull, making him sweat a little. He wasn't scared per say of the blonde that much but the fact of his location. If he was in Mizu, he wouldn't even be nervous but with the famous clan killer outside and the multiple massive chakra's all around he wasn't in a position to feel safe.

He gulped and spoke "As I stated, I was-"

"Ao!" shouted Mei, making Chojuro jump and causing the man in question to look at her in shock. She rarely raised her voice, and at him was even more of a rarity.

"You have disgraced our village and my title enough! Unless you wish to be court marshalled right now I suggest you speak the truth before this man here finds a way to wring it from you!" His shock was now clearly evident and he never expected that. He didn't know his kage had any inkling of his actions, he never meant to make it known until they left the grounds. There was nothing left in his hands to play. The blonde had won this battle.

"I was….mapping the building as best I could with a basic layout of the area."

"Give him the paper. Now." With a bowed head, he handed the sheet that held nearly a quarter of the castles middle level near the edge of the complex.

Naruto spoke as he snapped his fingers "Nekomi." In a swirl of fire, a small woman appeared, almost childlike in appearance but the two fiery tales and ears set her off immediately for the Mizu group.

"Burn this" said the blonde, holding out the paper. Selkie, who had been standing in the corner of the room stepped forward, holding a trashcan over the paper as the small woman held her tail over the papers edge. It caught just enough and began to smolder away, ashes falling into the can as Naruto kept full eye contact with the blue haired jonin. No one said a word as the paper crumbled away. Once it was done the cat like woman seemed to move next to him and sit down near his chair and the maid moved back to her post in the corner.

"Mizukage-dono, do you recommend a punishment? I feel my earlier spar has my blood pumping so I don't think my idea would be proper. I have been disrespected in my own home, my own guest taking advantage of my hospitality and then attempting to lie to my face as if I was living under a rock. I don't take kindly to such disrespect." Naruto made it clear then, to all three ninja, he wasn't here to be treated as a child in power. He gained this because he was capable to do so, not given it by name right. Naruto needed to show he wasn't going to let things slide and he wasn't afraid to be rough.

"When we return home I will be doling my own harsh hand for such actions while visiting here as esteemed guests. Please have faith in my own judgement but I would prefer to be the one to deliver the punishment befitting lying to both you, and in turn myself, and the actions committed previously, your liege" said Mei, the full honorifics now coming into play. She knew there was now a barrier between the group, at least to her guard and a small extent to them. Making an enemy with someone like this boy who had a multitude of S-rank ninja at his command was not a game to be played so lightly. She was extremely upset with things right now. With one having close relations to her village just made it all the more dire for them.

"Very well then, Ao. As much as I want to see you bleed I will place my faith in your honorable kage, unlike yourself. You are no longer welcome on this property after leaving and Mei-dono, please refrain from bringing him as a guard anymore. I wouldn't like to turn him away after such a long journey. Silver will walk you back to your room and from now on Nekomi will also escort you around the premises. I apologize for such restrictions on your party, but I hope you understand. Nekomi, Selkie, only the Mizukage is allowed restricted access from now on and I want Selkie to be her guide if she is to walk around. Do not let them out of your sight, Nekomi." The cat like woman smiled brightly and saluted as the maid walked forward, bowing silently.

"Mizukage, you and you alone are welcome to use the hot springs connected to the tower you are staying in. Feel free to use it whenever you wish." The group stood, all three bowed and Naruto retuned with a nod of his head before they all exited. Itachi was just outside the door, his eyes cracked open as the trio left with their two guards and Naruto walked towards him.

"Did things go well?"

"The Mizukage seemed upset about the issue and I let her oversee his punishment. A gesture of good faith for the new alliance I guess. Nekomi and Selkie are to guard them at all times but while you around try to keep an eye on them. Speak with squad three as well, let them know of what happened since you could read what she said. They'll need to pay attention in case he tries to get back at them in Kirigakure" said Naruto as the walked towards Naruto's personal quarters.

"A smart gesture on your part, it should help the alliance more showing you let them deal with a minor matter without your own heavy hand. I'll speak with Ren now before I go and get some rest. You need some too soon, you've been getting things ready and all day and you had a very busy second half of the day.""

"I know, Itachi, I know. I'll see you tomorrow, ne?"

"Of course." With his arrival at his room the Uchiha left and Naruto entered. It wasn't far from the Mizukage's room actually. The guest tower was on one side, towards the far end on the left and the Knights quarters were all stationed at the tower on the far-right end. All of the other quarters for regular service members, traveling or home working, were split between the other two at the other end of the last building. The castle was set as so, business, books and other such things in the front, living and another smaller half library, half lounge in the back, with a large hot spring at the bottom at the end of the grounds. All around the castle, between the castle and the barrier wall, was a very well kept and serene garden with all kinds of plants, roses and a mix of small trees as well. Only the front remained somewhat barren and large, leaving for an ideal sparring ground for light training. If things were going to get messy, one would take it just outside where there was plenty of forest and plains nearby to battle.

Silently, the blonde grabbed a change of clothes and walked down to the basement, leaving both clothes in his personal locker he walked into the hot springs. This was his best way to relax after a long day but he was quickly interrupted only a few minutes in when the door opened and out walked Konan.

"Well hello there" said the blonde waving to her. She smiled and nodded her head, keeping the towel on as she entered, placing a dry one nearby as she took the wet one off under the water.

"It's been a while since we've enjoyed a nice springs together, huh?" asked Konan, using the bucket to wash her back off with water.

"Yeah, way too long. How's Snow been?"

"Cold but bearable. We've got a fairly easy job and Sasori only complains about the useless ninja once a week now instead of every day when I see him. Nadare is helping them train too but he's less then happy to be working anywhere near some of them. The Princess is doing good, she's trying her hardest to learn the system and build her country back up from what is was. How was the trip outside the nation?"

"Terrifying." That caught Konan by surprise as Naruto was rarely every heard using that word. Next to nothing really scared him.

"The border protectors alone were difficult to deal with and honestly without Hitome's help we may have never made it past them. Once we got beyond there it got even worse. The summoner lands was riddled with messes and we had to…create a new seat in power to fix the fucked up system that had overthrown the last one." Overthrown, Konan knew the meaning. Whoever was in charge is either dead or dying as they speak.

"What of the rest of the time?"

"I met a few contacts at the edge but the summoners lands control all of the edge, so we returned to the border and trained for the rest of the time. I still had been called back to the land for some diplomacy issues and I helped a little at the border between the clans guarding it. They were hospitable after the first meeting and we learned a lot."

"Ok, besides what I could guess from that, why did you call I terrifying?"

"The demon clan, their leader to be exact, I've never met someone so well versed with a blade. Even when I watched Itachi move around, it paled to hers. I haven't ever met someone that knew Hitome's human form either."

"W-what? She hasn't been out of the seal in-"

"A very long time, I know what that implies but as I said. Hitome got us out of that mess and I didn't pry for information against her even though she trained us and gave us our current night time gate guards.

"The twins?"

"Yes, one from the demon clan, one a holy ronin, formerly hell bent on 'saving her sister.' After a brief fight, a lot of blood and her sister's own words, things settled down. All that as we were returning, and we didn't even intend to run into her. Small world we live in."

Konan shook her head and sighed "I'm just glad my life wasn't as eventful as yours seems to be right now. Mine is finally settling down after all these years." Just then Itachi walked in, seeing the two he seemed to smile a little before dipping into the water silently as Naruto put a towel on and stepped out.

"I'll leave you two love birds alone to enjoy the bath. I won't forge to put the private sign up too" said Naruto, ignoring the feeling of Itachi's sharingan boring holes in him as he left, got dressed in a casual outfit and returned to his room. On arriving he moved to his private study he saw Hitome sitting in the large plush couch reading a book about Kiri. To him, this was one of his greatest jutsu to ever learn and one that took him a long time to full master at this level. It was called Astral Body Projection and normally used as a transparent copy of yourself tethered to your chakra. He tied it in through a few extra seals etched on his chest, linking the tether to Hitome's chakra. The added side effect was she wasn't transparent but seemed completely normal, she could interact with most objects but anything organic like a human, plants, animals and such she would pass right through. It was enough for him though, even though she seemed like a ghost it was just enough seeing her outside his mindscape and in the real world.

She looked up from her book and smiled "Glad to see you looking a little more relaxed."

"Yeah, I didn't spend too much time there since Itachi showed up and Konan was there so I let them have their time alone. I guess this way we get ours too." She rested her head on his shoulder, or it seemed as so, and she continued to read once again.

"Hmm, it would seem so. You handled the issue with the Mizukage well enough, good for a first time problem with a brand new alliance." As they began to enjoy the silence and Naruto was starting to doze off Nekomi appeared near him, resting on his leg.

"Is there a reason you're here and not watching our guest?"

"They went to sleep and Selkie said she'd let me know if he gets up. I don't think he'll get any ideas after what happened."

"And what is that, little kitten?" asked Hitome.

Flashback

Mei got her spare change of clothes and tucked them on her arm as she prepared to leave with Selkie as her guide to the general springs area. She stopped when Ao stood suddenly and spoke.

"Someone must go to guard you, Mizukage-sama! We cannot let you move alone now that we've angered the ruler of the castle and his….men." He finished slowly when he got a glare from the busty woman.

"You. Angered the man and his guards, not us. I am perfectly capable bathing alone without a watch man at someone else's public springs. Besides, I don't think these two would let you leave if you wanted" said Mei, reaching for the door but her guard stepped forward, intent to speak sense into his kage. The moment he moved towards the door it was coated in flowing fire, not burning the wood but acting as a deterrent barrier. The short woman stepped in between Mei and Ao, her once warm and happy smile replaced with a cold grin as her one red and one blue eye narrowed at him.

"Hey dumbass, here the girly? You can't leave here till it's time to go, you got a bath, a toilet, a bed and some books if your just bored. Keep pushing and I'll break your legs, 'kay?" If her sudden shift in attitude didn't shock them, or the ability to control fire as she did, the language and easy of how she spoke certainly unnerved them.

"You wouldn't da-"

"Wanna die, eyepatch?" asked the girl, her tails now turning fully blue as she took a step forward but stopped when Selkie placed a hand on her shoulder. The taller woman pointed to Ao and back to his seat which he slowly moved to. Nekomi pouted as the base of her tail returned red and she moved to look at Mei.

"I'll lead you, red. Selkie would probably do better here since she'll only knock him out instead of trying to barbeque him. C'mon!" Mei left the room, still in a little shock as she followed closely behind.

"I know you have red hair too, so why call me red?"

"Mine is crimson, much better than yours. Naruto-sama said to be nice to you, so I can't call you cow or bimbo but your hair is too bright so I'll call you Red. Unless you wanna let me call you cow lady!" said the Neko, turning with an excited smile to which Mei shook her head.

"Well poo, off we go then!"

Flashback end

"That's what happened with cow lady." Hitome laughed a little, finding the nickname well put and funny. She wasn't lacking in the department but she certainly didn't have such assets like that woman did.

"Now shhhhh, nap time is the best time" said Nekomi, curling around Naruto's legs as Hitome got comfortable against his side. Slowly, he could feel his eyes closing, slowly, he let his consciousness slip.


Naruto opened his eyes again to see everyone gone around him.

"Hmm, Hitome must have gone back in the seal to sleep better. Did Nekomi go off to another room to sleep alone? Ah well, I need to get something to drink. My throat's so dry" said the blonde, rubbing his neck as he walked out of the study and into the main hall. Making his way down a few flights of stairs he saw the large study for private guests and Knights was in shambles. Books were pulled out, chairs thrown around, ninja tools where scattered. Now he had his full attention on point.

"What the hell?! Did Ao go crazy?! Why did no one wake me?" he jumped down stairs, landing on the ruined library and sensed someone in the large dinning room in front of the library. He rushed through the kitchen and stopped dead to see Nagato's main path. However, he was standing in the carnage of the dinning room. Kakuzu was slumped at the other end, Deidara was nailed to the wall with black rods while Sasori was strewn across the broken table, ripped apart and pierced through his 'heart.' Pein lowered the body of Konan who was no longer of this world.

He saw red "You. You piece of FILTH!"

"Now you see true pain, the path I wanted for you but it's too late for peasantries. I have no time for your games anymore, boy." With a lift of his arm Naruto felt himself being dragged across the room, right before a spike shot out of the path of Pein and pierced through his spine. Blinding, searing pain shot through his body as he hung there.

"Sleep jinchuuriki, your purpose has been fulfilled." Naruto saw him lift another hand, a rod that had slain Konan second ago now poised at him. Then, he only saw black when it rushed towards him.


Hitome was awoken by surprise when Naruto shot forward, screaming in rage. He seemed to be searching for something while he began to pull on her chakra only not getting a response. She appeared in front of him, her form solidifying as she stood there and saw his pain filled eyes. Slowly she brought her hands to his face, the motion alone not felt but understood by Naruto.

"Calm yourself, Naruto. Nothings wrong, everyone's ok and your safe, I'm safe. Relax." His eyes, once bleeding red now shifted back to their normal azure and he slumped over a little. Nekomi stood up and helped him back to the couch where he sat back down.

"What happened?" asked Hitome while she stood in front of him, Nekomi providing her natural warmth as she curled up against his side.

"It's just a nightmare" said Naruto, closing his eyes as he started to rub the bridge of his nose.

"The same one you've had before?" asked the young girl by his side and received a nod of his head.

"I think it's less of an omen and more my mind stressing out about what could happen. Last time it was Konoha burning, but it's always from someone I know and everyone is dead around me."

Hitome sighed "I'd been trying to warrant this out on my own but I don't think I can anymore, it seems like more and more of a possibility. Do you remember how I spoke about the adverse effects of my chakra?"

Naruto opened his eyes and nodded "Yeah, I only sustain most of the damage because of my Uzumaki blood and the fact I was born to a host and became one as soon as I was born."

"I think this may be a side effect of both the seals and my chakra. The seals used an extremely large portion of my chakra to create and it was permanently etched into your skin, always active to a degree while my charka has it's own adverse effects. Your body can withstand it but I believe your mind is plagued by the negative energy that flows through it. Nothing can stop it, it's apart of all bijuu chakra but no one has such seals as I, nor do any of my brethren have as potent of chakra like I do."

"You think the damage is already done, using your chakra created the problem inside my own head but its nothing we can control. The negative energy within the seals alone makes these nightmares possible and using more just creates more frequent dreams."

"Yes."

Naruto sighed heavily then stood "Then there's nothing to do than to move past it as best I can. Maybe when all this war is over I'll be able to quell the number of nightmares. For now, I have a job to do. Nekomi, what time is it?"

"It's nearly 7 am."

Naruto stuttered in surprise "I slept that long! Get Mei and her team ready for departure and tell Yugao it's time to move. I have business to attend to in Suna." Without a word the cat like woman disappeared in a swirl of fire, leaving the two alone as Naruto walked to his dressing room to change.

"Liking the kingly attire so far?" asked Hitome with a smirk from his frown.

"It's nice, but irritating knowing what comes with it. The end goal is my priority but everything else involved is a hassle. Guess the title of King isn't just for show then now hahaha!" She only smiled and shook her head, finding her lovers antics funny but her smile faded. Her mind too was plagued with thoughts but not ones she was in the mood to entertain at the moment. She had lost track of time and he had finished, looking at her in questioning.

"What's the matter?" asked Naruto causing her to snap up.

"N-nothing! Just lost in thought is all."

"About?"

"I'll….we'll speak about it when I'm ready. I'm not done thinking it over just yet, it's an idea really, for the future." That piqued his interest and he smiled, walking past her and towards the door to leave.

"Are you staying here or are you going with me?"

She spun on her heel and rushed to his outstretched hand "I'm coming with you. You wouldn't last a second outside the grounds without me." The moment their fingers touched she disappeared, her form and consciousness fading back into the seal and into his mindscape. With that done he pushed open the doors and walked downstairs, moving through the library and past a few workers organizing books or cleaning. As he moved past the lower level of the Knights rooms Naruto saw Kakuzu, Hidan and Deidara down the hall, just near the walkway separating the two sections of the castle. As he walked up to Kakuzu and noticed he was arguing with Deidara Naruto intended to intervene. Right up until Hidan superplexed Kakuzu making the blonde walk just a little faster down the hall. His adoptive uncles were, if nothing else, scary when they were angry.

As Naruto made it into the main castle area he was stopped when Aki appeared before him in a burst of speed. Not expecting such a thing Naruto nearly stumbled back a little making Aki chuckle which he earned a short glare.

"That wasn't very kind of you, Aki."

"True, but it was hilarious. I'm about to move out with Orochimaru and everyone else. Mifune wanted me to give this to you once I saw you again. He says it exactly as you asked, to the letter." The brown haired man opened his cloak and handed him a fully wrapped sword then bowed.

"Kiyo's already outside so I need to get going. Good luck, old friend."

"The same to you, travel safely." A moment later he was gone, leaving no trace of his existence. Naruto wrapped the weapon and smiled in satisfaction. The weapon was a double sided sword, a rarity in this area. As was his halberd and Naruto enjoyed having the oddities. It made him much harder to fight against. It had a black sheath reaching all the way to the gold crescent moon shaped guard. Beyond the guard was a solid black leather handle topped with the Uzumaki symbol sticking out of the hilt. A weapon fit for a king, elegant, unique and well crafted. He pulled the belt open that was already tied to the sheathes clip and strapped it to the left side of his hip. It hung low and nearly parallel to his leg so he could wear a cloak and still keep it easily concealed.

"Quite a weapon, Naruto" said Yugao as she walked next to him from behind.

"I'm glad it made it in time for the trek. I'm tired of having to pull out my best weapon for basic fights all the time. Makes keeping all my trump cards concealed pointless when I start swinging that thing around. Is the Mizukage ready to depart as well?"

"Last I was told by Nekomi they were headed to the front already when she went to meet them. They're probably already waiting on us."

"No sense in letting them wait anymore! Onward!" his sudden shout made a few workers jump a little and his guard sigh as she rested her head in her hand.

"One of these days…I swear." They made their way through the last portion of the castle, nodding off to Konan and Itachi that were planning something on world map and waving to Ren who walked by wearing what was all to obviously pajamas. The man really did get comfortable when he was at home, no matter who was around. Once they hade made it too the giant doors of the castle wall barrier both king and guard met with the kage and her guards.

"I trust the stay was well?"

"The bed was much more comfortable than most hotels, or a tent we normally use. Once again, thank you for such hospitality Naruto-dono. Our alliance is sure to blossom in the coming months" said Mei as the doors began to open slowly.

"I make sure all my guests are comfortable, despite their past grievances, as long as they are within these grounds they are treated with the same respect I treat them. It was a pleasure to have you and I can't wait to visit your own village in due time. Best wishes with your travels, Mei-dono."

She bowed her head, Naruto mimicking "Good luck with your own travels." After they made it past the doors and the last words were given her team took off into the forest just ahead.

"Those tits have to weigh her down" said one guard making the other snigger. The one that spoke first was dressed professionally, looking just as Naruto had with slight uniform modifications, including a skirt and a katana.

"If only I could see them, I'd be making some jokes too" responded the other, her ice white eyes narrowing from her laughter. She had on a loose brown kimono top with a grey bottom, ending with wooden sandals. She held two swords, one regular length katana and a smaller nodachi length just above the other. These were the twins, one of the demon clan, another a holy warrior who used to wish her death. Now they served him as gate guards and their shift was about to end in a few minutes. They looked exactly the same save for their dress, the twin wielding one had her hair out of a pony tail and well….she was blind. An obvious give away due to how her eyes looked.

"Keep this place in order while I'm gone. You guys are the guard heads so make sure no one tries to be lenient now that I'm going away."

"I know" drawled the professional one.

"Don't be so informal, Mira."

"He said I could be as long as I worked here Suyin. I'm doing as I was allowed." She was graced with a tongue sticking out, granted it was more sticking out just on front of Mira but she took offense. Naruto chuckled then ushered Yugao after him as he took off into southwest. There was no time to waste anymore, reports were coming in that Suna was already in a troubled spot and Naruto needed to help his friend as quickly as he could.

Done! Done done done! This is my new longest story at over 23,000 words and boy did I scrape for every single one. It's finally complete and I have a good double update for you guys and girls. It's a lot but I felt it was needed to breath some fiber into this husk of a story. More words, more plot! The next chapter you'll see a lot more of Naruto interacting as a regular person since making an alliance doesn't happen overnight. He'll spend time there to create one and make some friends along the way. Next chapters shouldn't be so big but who knows anymore! I sure as fuck don't! Hope you guys enjoyed it, I'm putting a lot of effort into a fairly small story of mine. What can I say? I really do like this concept. Take care everyone and you'll see me again someday!