Chapter 10

As expected, Naruto was cursing the old man for quite a while after he met Gai for the first time.

Naruto resolved himself to stick it out for at least a year, as long as he wasn't rubbing off on him too much. On the other hand, Gai's skill in taijutsu was almost unparalleled. If Naruto thought his previous team was devoted to taijutsu, he now knew they were amateurs compared to Gai.

Another thing that made it at least somewhat bearable was his rise among the team roster. It seems that due to Gai's... unique personality, jonin transferring on and off his team happened quite frequently. After only a few months, Naruto became the most senior member of the team, aside from Gai, just from the fact that he had been able to stick with it.

As it was, Naruto was going on a great many A-rank missions with his new team. One thing he noticed however was the lack missions that required clients to spend long periods of time with his team. It was almost as if the leadership was trying to keep their stable clients away from some distinctive personality.

Naruto had been running missions with Gai for almost a year now. Currently, they were on an A-rank mission, just the two of them, due to... (well, you know why).

The intelligence department had assigned them a mission to extract one of their agents from Kiri, who had come under increased scrutiny. They were to enter the village of Kiri and alert the agent that his cover was in serious danger and he needed to leave now. Fortunately, because they were going in under cover, Gai needed to change out of his hideous jumpsuit and act as normally as possible while they were in Water country.

Due to the civil war, which was currently ravaging Water country, security was heightened, so that had to be careful getting in. However, since it was permanently heightened with no breaks and most of the more skilled manpower being in the field, they had an easier time getting in than if it had only been temporarily heightened.

After quickly getting their bearings, they located the address of the spy they had in Kiri. Naruto sent in a shadow clone to make sure the coast was clear for them to enter, although the spy wasn't home at the moment. Since it was an enemy village and they didn't have anywhere else to go, they decided to simply rent a room at one of the local inns. After all, a pair of travelers renting a room for the night was a lot less conspicuous than a pair of unknowns hanging around the apartment of a man they were investigating as a spy.

Once it had gotten dark, Naruto had sent another shadow clone to the apartment to try and intercept the man. However, once it had been dispelled, both Naruto and Gai were loathed to discover a team of ninja searching the apartment and interrogating the neighbors for information.

At this point, Gai and Naruto were left with a decision to make. Should they stick around and try to extract their agent or leave and get out of the village before they themselves were captured. In the end, Gai ordered Naruto to spy on the team of investigators with a henged clone to discover if they could lead them to their agent. If not, they would bail out.

It was a complicated situation they were in now. Military villages usually preferred to avoid entangling with each other, for fear of starting new wars, but active intelligence gathering was something they all performed. If this were any other major military village, they would have bailed out almost immediately and left the unfortunate agent to his fate. But, since this particular village was in the midst of a civil war, they might be able to extract their agent and lay the blame on the other side.

Nevertheless, both Naruto and Gai remained on alert and prepared for one action or another. When Naruto's clone dispelled, they would be ready either way. After an hour of pacing the room, checking their weapons, or mumbling about youth, the clone dispelled.

Naruto actively reviewed the memories in his head while Gai waited for a determination. His clone was able to follow two of the investigators to a nondescript building, where one had entered and the other seemed to go off duty. Naruto then informed Gai of what he had learned.

"The building isn't too big, but I have no idea what the inside looks like, or if that's where they're hiding him." Naruto concluded as he told his commander about what his clone had observed.

Gai made his serious face, weighing his options. On one side, Naruto liked this face of Gai over the others, since it made Gai seem almost normal, on the other, it usually only occurred when they were in a dangerous situation.

When Gai started looking at him with an evaluating expression, Naruto decided to let him know where he stood. "I'm in if you are."

Gai smirked slightly before deciding. "Let's go get our comrade."

-10-

Naruto approached the nondescript building from the east side with a clone next to him. Both of them were henged to look like Kiri chunin in outfits similar to what he had seen from the men investigating the apartment. Naruto himself was impersonating the chunin who had left to apparently go off duty. Naruto and his clone would enter first, using genjutsu to hide while trying to locate their comrade. If they found his location, Gai and one of his clones would enter and execute a break out with whatever plan they could come up with.

Naruto entered the building, trying to tone down his nervousness as much as possible. To his eternal relief, there was no one in the 'lobby' of the building. Naruto and his clone split apart, his clone taking the upstairs, leaving the original to explore the ground level. Naruto explored the area quickly but quietly, listening for any sign of someone being interrogated.

He poked his head into some of the rooms, but found them to mostly contain storage area's for documents. Eventually, he discovered a set of stairs leading down. Reluctant as he was to enter a basement or worse, an underground network of tunnels, he decided to at least scout out the initial area of the level underground.

As he lowered himself carefully down the stairs and approached the door at the end of the stairs, he noted that it was made of a much stronger material than the other doors. He pressed his ear against the door to listen for signs of interrogation when he heard a scream. He debated opening the door, but decided it was better to include Gai on this step. He retreated back to the ground floor, entered one of the empty rooms, made a clone and dispelled it, signaling Gai to enter.

Less than a minute later, Gai joined him in the form of a random Kiri chunin he had shown him previously so he wouldn't freak out when he saw him. Naruto would be entering first, prepared to perform a genjutsu to hide them. If they saw their comrade, they would get him out, if not, they would scrap the mission and retreat back to Konoha.

Naruto entered the room as quietly as possible, while not appearing to be sneaking in. He immediately took note of two ninja, who were standing behind what looked like one way glass. He looked deeper into the room to see a Kiri ninja interrogating a man. Naruto was able to recognize him as the Konoha spy from a picture he was shown before leaving Konoha.

Naruto weaved a genjutsu as fast and as subtly as he could to remain unnoticed by the two ninja observing the interrogation. Fortunately, the screams of the interrogation helped silence him enough to apply the genjutsu and allow Gai to enter as well.

Naruto nodded toward Gai, while moving to stand behind the man standing to the left. Gai moved into position to the man to the right and counted down with his fingers while motioning with a kunai. Naruto understood this to mean kill, not subdue and pulled out a kunai of his own. When it was time, both of them stabbed their kunai into the necks of the men observing while placing their hands on their mouths. Both of the ninja observing struggled, but made no sounds and soon fell to the ground, dead.

Naruto then henged himself and a shadow clone into duplicates of the observers, while motioning Gai to stand behind the door leading in. Naruto then knocked on the glass twice, in order to hopefully summon the interrogator away from his prisoner. The interrogator looked confused, but returned inside the room to check it out. Gai killed him before he was halfway inside.

While Gai was lowering the body onto the floor, Naruto made his way into the room and quickly began the process of freeing his comrade.

"What...?" the man started, confused at the change to his situation.

"We're here to extract you." Naruto said. "Sorry, we got here a few hours too late."

The man seemed to be deciding whether or not this was some elaborate trick, but in the end just decided to go with it.

"Can you move?" Gai asked, as he entered the room.

"I think so... maybe... I seem to be a little confused, they seemed to focus on my head." The man said, words a bit slurred.

Naruto took a second look at his head and noticed that under the patches of hair, there seemed to be extensive burns. Naruto unsealed some of his medical supplies from his scroll and began applying some burn ointment and bandages.

"We have to go, before anyone shows up." Gai said, hurrying Naruto up.

Naruto finished patching him up as best he could, but knew they needed to get him back to Konoha as fast as possible. When he was done, Gai picked him up and started to leave. Naruto took one last look around and decided to create a shadow clone to hide the bodies in the interrogation room below the mirror and clean up the room a bit.

He made his way back to the 'lobby' where Gai was waiting, probably deciding how they were going to get out of here with an injured man.

"Alright, I don't think we can exit subtly, so we're going to have to go for speed. Sakumo, this is what a Kiri Anbu looks like." Gai henged into a black cloaked Anbu, similar to Konoha's, but with a few differences in the armor beneath. Naruto examined him carefully before duplicating the effect. Gai examined him before nodding in approval. "Good, now make two more shadow clones and we will look like an Anbu team carrying a prisoner. Unfortunately, we'll be going in the wrong direction, so we'll try to avoid ninja where we can, but we need to be out of Kiri as fast as possible."

Naruto nodded, knowing that this was probably going to be the most dangerous situation he had ever been in. Gai took a deep breath, before opening the door and exiting.

Naruto and Gai roof hopped north, trying to avoid anything that looked like it might contain concentrations of enemy ninja. So far they hadn't been observed by anyone too closely, probably due to the fear Kiri ninja had instilled into their lower classes and ranks, but knew it would be a different story at the edge of the village. They successfully made it to the northern wall of the village without knowingly alerting anyone of their true nature, and were currently observing the wall for a weakness. In the end, they decided to go straight through a chunin who was diligently overlooking the outer side of the wall. Naruto landed behind him, again killing him instantly before dumping his body over the edge into some mist. Gai made his way over with his clones as soon as Naruto had made the kill.

Again, Naruto left behind a shadow clone to take the place of the chunin he had killed. It wouldn't hold up to scrutiny, since he never truly saw the chunin's face, but he hoped it would be ignored. He quickly caught up to Gai as they made their way to one of the port towns, to buy passage to the mainland.

About fifteen minutes later, when they were beginning to feel some semblance of relief, Naruto almost missed a step as he felt his clone dispel himself. Apparently, the chunin guard's superior passed by and noticed the flaws in Naruto's henge. The clone tried to dispel out of sight of the jonin, but was unsuccessful. He alerted Gai that they were probably on to them and noted that Gai used this as an excuse to pick up their speed.

The two of them kept running throughout the night, trying to put as much distance between themselves and the village as possible. By morning, they were expecting to make it to one of the port cities to the north-west and buy passage back to either Fire, Wave, or Hot Springs.

They arrived in one of the bigger port cities in the early morning, directly approaching the docks to find a ship that would get them out. Naruto immediately made a dozen shadow clones to look for passage out of Water Country. An hour later, one of his clones dispelled, signaling he had found a boat leaving for Wave country in an hour and it had a cabin for rent. The small group made their way over to the boat and quickly bartered passage. Less than an hour later, the boat was on it's way west, toward Wave.

-10-

A day later, both Naruto and Gai had recovered from their escape from Water Country and were sitting on the rim of the boat. It wasn't the largest ship out their or the fastest, but it got them out of there and was headed in the proper direction. Their injured comrade finally had a chance to rest properly and treat his burns a little better, but they still needed to get him to the Konoha hospital as fast as possible.

They had properly introduced themselves as well. Apparently he had heard of the infamous Gai Maito, but not 'Sakumo Hayashi.' He introduced himself as Ibiki Morino, chunin of the intelligence department.

Halfway through the second day, Gai brought his attention to a boat in the horizon that seemed to be trailing them. It could be a coincidence or it could be pursuers catching up with them. Either way, Naruto and Gai prepared for a fight, while Ibiki was given some of their spare weapons to defend himself.

As the ship got closer, Gai was able to identify it as a ship belonging to the Water Country Navy, further cementing their fears. They all knew that the ship would probably be carrying at least a couple squads of ninja, ready to avenge their comrades.

As soon as the ship was near enough, Naruto, Gai, and a couple dozen of his shadow clones charged the ship, hoping to grab whatever element of surprise they could. The Kiri ninja on the ship were a bit shocked at first, but recovered well before any of them made it to the ship. Unfortunately, there were twelve ninja on the surface of the ship in addition to the crew and an unknown number below deck.

Gai was a raging force, using the celestial gates to quickly subdue half the enemy force, before running out of steam. Naruto used genjutsu and quick movements to quickly kill three enemies before they caught on to what he was doing. As an exhausted Gai and Naruto were dealing with the last three men, an extra squad of four came up from below deck.

Gai was holding his own, somewhat used to missions like this thanks to the previous war, but Naruto was barely hanging in there. When a shuriken pierced his back, Naruto stumbled, but kept fighting. Unfortunately, due to this injury he was unable to see a water dragon take him out from the side of the ship, throwing him overboard, into the ocean.

-10-

Naruto awoke in an unfamiliar setting, in a dark hallway of twisting pipes and shallow water. He wondered if this was the afterlife, or if he had been captured and they were using some sort of mind torture on him.

He wandered around before reaching a doorway with what felt like a massive amount of chakra on the other side. Inside was a massive cage, bound only by a single piece of paper with the word 'seal' on it. Inside, was the being that had haunted Naruto's dreams since the moment he had found out the truth, The Kyuubi.

Naruto suppressed his panic and fear over being in the presence of such an evil being before remembering his comrade was still fighting for his life. He took a closer look at the Kyuubi, observing the room more carefully. The beast seemed to be slumbering deeply and wasn't aware of his presence. Naruto examined the pipes in the room, reminded of the conversation he had had with the sandaime so long ago, thinking these could be the means for which the Kyuubi's energy would enter him.

Thinking again of his teammate, Naruto approached the cage, looking for a way to augment that energy, temporarily at least, to get him out of this situation. As he placed his hands on one of the larger pipes exiting the cage, he felt an energy within, powerful, but not unfamiliar responding to his touch. He concentrated, hoping against hope that this would do something.

The pipe, elongated deeper into the cage and increased the amount of energy carried forth somewhat. Naruto knew that this would not be enough and not knowing how much time he had left, decided to go for broke. He placed his hands once more on the pipe and called for as much energy as he could take. Immediately, he could feel a raw power overtake him, seeming to surround and take hold of him. He felt like he was losing consciousness again, hoping that he would awaken in the real world.

-10-

Gai continued fighting, struggling against the overwhelming odds. He had just witnessed his teammate for almost a year forced overboard, if he didn't finish the fight soon, he was as good as dead. Unfortunately, the fight was no where near ending and he had already used the eight gates taking out a bulk of them in the initial battle. Gai sighed internally, while keeping himself focused on the battle.

All of the sudden, he felt a presence. A presence that stopped the battle cold. To the Kiri ninja, it was an overwhelming energy that they had never experienced before. But to Gai, it was a reminder of one of the worst days of his life.

Out of the water, Sakumo came rushing out in a blur of speed that even Gai struggled to keep track of. Sakumo was surrounded by a visible orange chakra that exuded pure malevolence. As soon as he touched down on to the ship, he immediately impaled his fists into two Kiri ninja, who were still shocked by his appearance. The two died almost instantly, spilling their blood across the deck of the ship. The other Kiri ninja stood in absolute horror, only now regaining their senses enough to watch out for a second strike.

Gai tried to ignore the thoughts that were pressuring his mind. Thoughts of 'how is he doing this' and 'there is only one person who should be able to do that' were forcefully suppressed in order to keep his attention on the more immediate situation. He defended against the Kiri ninja, who were now splitting their forces into two for him and three for Sakumo.

Now that he had less forces to deal with, he used his massively superior taijutsu to quickly overwhelm his opponents. He was able to land a powerful kick to one of the ninja's neck, ending with a sickening crunch as the man's neck snapped, further diminishing the forces he was facing down to one. The sole remaining Kiri ninja looked for backup in the form of his comrades facing the demonized Konoha ninja, but was horrified to find that they were down to one as well. In that moment, Gai landed a powerful strike into his stomach followed by an elbow that cracked his skull, dropping him.

At the same moment, Sakumo was finishing off his last opponent with less than fluid taijutsu that was more barbaric but nonetheless effective. The two Konoha ninja's eyes met for the first time since his revival. Gai looked into the familiar red slitted eyes that reminded him so much of that fateful night. Before he could articulate any of the word he was feeling, Sakumo let out a coarse "later."

Gai nodded, somewhat thankful that Sakumo was able to communicate and distinguish between enemy and ally. Gai took a look around, better analyzing their environment. The crew had retreated to the lower levels of the ship and there was no sign of any more Kiri ninja. Their own ship was now further away, but still within sight. Sakumo still had visible orange chakra surrounding him, but it had seemed to die down just a little bit with the eradication of their enemies.

He made some internal decisions in his head while trying to remain as calm and focused as possible. He couldn't allow this ship to return to Water Country to tell the tale of their survival or this incident. He looked at Sakumo before ordering, "destroy the ship."

Sakumo merely nodded, before looking around. He eventually flipped over the side of the ship and rushed toward the side of the ship, just below the water line. Gai felt the ship give a terrible lurch and heard the sounds of wood breaking and water rushing in. Gai barricaded the doors of the ship, in order to trap the crew on board. He felt terrible doing it, but he couldn't allow anyone else to live. If what he suspected was true, he needed keep this incident as secret as possible.

He could hear the men on the other sides of the door, trying to escape, but unsuccessful in their attempt. Gai felt the ship take another hit as Sakumo must have hit the ship again. He looked over the edge and saw the ship definitely lower into the water. After the ship took a third hit, Gai called out, "Alright, let's get back." He then jumped over the side and began water running back to their boat. Behind him, he could feel Sakumo following. When they had almost returned the to ship, Gai felt the evil chakra behind him lessen as he heard a strangled "Gai!" As he looked behind him, he could see Sakumo had cut himself off from the demonic energy and was losing consciousness. He quickly made his way over and picked Sakumo up before he had sunk too far into the water and carried him the rest of the way back to their boat.

-10-

Naruto followed his commander as normal thought began returning to his mind. He had never felt like that before. The chakra that filled his body gave him a feeling of invincibility, but also seemed to cloud his mind and increase his anger. As he followed Gai back to the ship, he wondered how he was going to turn this chakra off, or if it was even possible. Although, now that he was calming down, he seemed to be feeling more and more like his old self.

When they had almost reached the boat, Naruto closed his eyes and focused on cutting off the chakra supply in a similar way that he would cut off his own chakra. After the first couple attempts had achieved marginal success, he successfully was able to cut off the foreign chakra supply. However, in that moment, he felt a feeling of drowsiness that he knew would knock him out. The only thing he could do was call out to Gai as loud as he could before he felt himself lose consciousness.

When he awoke, he was back in the cabin on the ship. He could feel his body was exhausted, like he had been in a day long training session with Gai, but could also feel his chakra pathway's burning in a way he had not experienced before. A look around the room revealed Ibiki watching him with a suspicious expression, but no Gai.

"How long have I been out?" Naruto asked Ibiki.

Ibiki paused, looking unsure of whether or not to even respond before answering, "only an hour."

"Where's..." Naruto began.

"Gai is talking to the captain of this ship. He was pretty angry to be carrying wanted men, but I think Gai is going to offer him a bit more money for his trouble." Ibiki responded before Naruto could even ask where he was.

Naruto sat in his makeshift bed as he tried to ignore the glares Ibiki was giving him. A few minutes later they were both interrupted by the door of their cabin opening and Gai walking in. Naruto gazed at Gai, wondering what his first reaction would be to the newly discovered presence of the Kyuubi jinchuuriki.

It seemed that Gai was a bit surprised to see him awake, but after, looked at him with his seldom seen, serious face. "Well, I think you owe me an explanation."

Naruto nodded, thankful that his commander was at least not freaking out and had saved him from drowning. "Well, I guess you figured out that my birth name isn't Sakumo Hayashi."

Both Gai and Ibiki nodded, both old enough to know exactly who he was.

"Does the Hokage know?" Ibiki asked.

Naruto nodded, remembering he was also speaking to an intelligence agent. "Yes, although it was my idea to hide in plain sight."

"Why did you change your name?" Gai asked.

"Well, I don't know if you remember how I was treated back then, but it wasn't too good. If I hadn't left and reentered myself as a new person, I doubt I would have been able to become a ninja. I remember some of the lessons my old academy teachers taught me and I can guarantee you that they were purposefully teaching and grading me wrongly."

Gai considered what he had been told. It wasn't exactly wrong of someone not to want to associate with Naruto because of his circumstances, but to purposefully sabotage his education was just... unyouthful.

"Why didn't you use the Kyuubi's power earlier in the fight?" Gai asked.

"Actually, believe it or not, this is the first time I've ever used it." Naruto answered truthfully. "I guess it only activated in a life or death situation and this is the closest I've actually come to dying in my entire career."

The three sat and discussed Naruto's life and reasons for hiding for another hour before Gai stopped the conversation so all of them could rest. Since Ibiki was still recovering from the torture, Naruto from using the Kyuubi's chakra and Gai from using five of the celestial gates, they all fell to sleep with little difficulty.

-10-

A few days later, they exited the ship in the port of Wave Country. The captain and the crew were happy to offload their troubles, but were in no hurry to return to Water Country anytime soon.

Naruto and Gai, carrying Ibiki, headed straight west toward Fire Country. They reached the western side of Wave country after only a few minutes and water ran across the stretch of ocean to the mainland. As soon as the reached the other side, they took off at full speed to reach Konoha and get Ibiki to the hospital.

During one of their breaks, they stopped at a river to replenish their water and to quickly consume some of their rations. The two didn't need many breaks due to Naruto's stamina and Gai's endurance, but Naruto wanted to discuss a few things before entering Konoha.

"I feel like this should probably be spoken of before returning to Konoha, but I feel I need to request that you keep quiet about me until we've spoken to the Hokage." Naruto began. "I know I can't order you to stay quiet, but I would request that you at least do so until you've spoken with the Hokage."

Both Gai and Ibiki considered what he said before Gai responded. "Well, as the ranking officer, I would agree. Ibiki, as the jonin in charge, I order you to not speak of the fight we had on the boat until the Hokage clears you to." Gai ordered Ibiki and waited for him to nod his head in understanding. "We'll drop you off at the hospital as soon as we get to Konoha and Sakumo and I will head directly to the Hokage."

Both Naruto and Ibiki nodded at this.

"Yosh, let's get going then!" Gai suddenly shouted, surprising his teammates with a return to his default personality.

The three of them reached Konoha early that evening, rushing to the main gate, skipping the short line of people waiting to enter. "Gai Maito and Sakumo Hayashi returning from mission A86-192 with injured ninja Ibiki Morino." Gai firmly told the gate guards, to let them know the urgency of their situation.

The gate guards, Izumo and Kotetsu, quickly assessed the situation, checking their old teammate to make sure he was okay before nodding and motioning them to go to the hospital.

The pair of ninja immediately rushed to the hospital to drop off their comrade in the emergency entrance. After seeing him rushed to an examination room to be checked out by doctors, the two made their way to the administration building, hoping to speak to the sandaime before he retired for the evening.

After passing through the checkpoints, they made their way up to the upper floors of the building, only stopping once they had reached the outer office of the Hokage.

"Excuse me, we need to speak to the Hokage about an A-ranked mission we just returned from." Gai spoke to the secretary.

The secretary, a young woman who was actually an undercover Anbu, analyzed both of them for threats. She recognized Gai, knowing that while he may be highly eccentric, he wouldn't waste the Hokage's time with something unless it was important. She checked the schedule in front of her before entering the Hokage's office to notify him of the visitors. After a few seconds, she exited and told them he would be finishing a meeting shortly.

Thirty seconds later, Koharu and Homura exited the office, glancing at Gai with curiosity, wondering what he would be reporting to the Hokage, before moving aside and letting them enter. As soon as they were inside the Hokage began with, "what's wrong?"

Gai and Naruto glanced at each other before Naruto began. "Nothing is wrong per-say, it's just that during a rough point in our mission I had to use my... special power that only I can use."

The Hokage blinked before recognizing in his mind what Naruto was referring to. "Anbu, leave us. Tell me everything."

Gai and Naruto began with their mission, how they rescued Ibiki while he was being tortured, how they fled from Kiri, and eventually their fight with the platoon of ninja on the other ship. Finally, Naruto explained how he had revealed his identity to the other ninja.

Through it all, the Hokage listened patiently and kept a serious look on his face. When they were finished, the Hokage turned in his chair and smoked his pipe, all the while thinking about what had occurred. 'This isn't a situation that needed immediate action, but the usage of the Kyuubi's power had probably scared Gai and Morino-san into bringing it to my attention as soon as possible.'

"Very well, Gai, the events on the ship will be regarded as an S-class secret the same as Naruto's status as the jinchuuriki. When Naruto reverts back to his previous name and reveals his status, you may speak of the mission to other Konoha ninja, but until then please keep it to yourself. I will speak to Morino-san tomorrow. Until then, dismissed. Naruto, stay for a while."

Naruto nodded to Gai as he left the room to return home.

"Sit down, Naruto." The sandaime waved him to a pair of comfortable chairs off to the side of the room where the Hokage had a seat himself. Naruto sat in the other chair, facing him. "Please, describe exactly what occurred."

Naruto didn't need any more clarification than that to find out what he was referring to. He spoke of the empty hallways, the massive cage, and his interaction with the pipes of the room in siphoning the chakra from the Kyuubi.

"Did the Kyuubi show any signs of waking up when you took the chakra?" The sandaime asked.

"Not that I could tell, although when it's energy hit me I wasn't exactly paying much attention to it anymore. I was more focused on trying to return to the outside world."

The sandaime nodded in understanding. They both remained silent for the next few minutes.

"Naruto, I feel I need to inform you of a situation that has recently come to my attention. Recently, my student Jiraiya, has been investigating a new group by the name of 'Akatsuki.' This group is made up of multiple S-class missing-nin."

"Multiple S-class missing-nin?" Naruto questioned, knowing the power such a group could hold.

"Yes. We have confirmed that both Itachi and Orochimaru are members of this group. Recently they have been hiring themselves out for cheap S-rank missions, but they have also expressed long-term interest in gathering intelligence regarding the tailed beasts and their current containers." The sandaime eventually let out, carefully gauging Naruto's reaction to this news.

Naruto was in fact in a flurry of deep thought. 'Multiple S-class ninja interested in the power inside of him, including two of Konoha's most notorious criminals ever!' He knew he was pretty skilled for his age, but against a force like that... it painted a grim view of the future. "Do we know anything else about them?"

The sandaime shook his head. "At this point, not much else. We are not even sure of which country they are operating out of or even the leadership of such an organization."

"Are they actively hunting jinchuuriki?"

"No, although I don't know what would happen if they ran into one by accident."

Naruto again thought about what he had heard, but in the end, needed more time to process it. "Can I be relieved of duty for the next few days? I'd like to consider what you've said and recover from my last mission."

The sandaime nodded and stood up to return to his position behind his desk. "Take a week off. I'll send a notice out for another meeting and we'll talk more then."

Naruto bowed gratefully and exited the office, determined to get some rest and shelve thinking about the conversation until tomorrow.

-10-

Naruto had spent the next few days both relaxing and studying in the library. He had tried to work out a couple of times, but every time he did the thought of multiple S-class ninja entered his mind. He knew that he was probably a solid B-rank ninja at the moment and showed potential for eventually becoming an A-rank, but that wasn't for a few more years at current pace. If he wanted to advance more quickly, he had to find way's to rise above his current abilities. Far above.

If there was one thing that set S-class ninja apart from their A-rank counterparts, it was the prodigious talent and power they showed to at least one of the ninja aspects. Upon reviewing the bingo book, he highlighted the strengths of the S-class missing-nin and tried to learn what made them so great.

Sasori of Suna for instance, had shown a mastery of puppets that had risen above any other puppeteer on the planet. Kisame Hoshigaki of Kiri had shown a mastery of water that was almost equal to the nidaime Hokage and had been a high ranking member of the seven swordsmen of the mist, so that had to be considered as well. The current Raikage had developed a lightning jutsu that allowed him to move at speeds faster than any man alive, and had taijutsu skill even greater than Gai. Naruto knew that if he wanted to match any of them, he needed to give himself an edge, develop one or more of his skills beyond that known to any other.

Since the development of these skills was often times highly explosive and dangerous, he needed to do it in an area devoid of any life. With this, Naruto began developing a rough training plan for the future. He knew that he would need to leave Konoha to do it, so he prepared for his next meeting with the Hokage to hash things out with him. It reminded him of his original conversation many years ago, where he was asking the Hokage to leave for years, but suspected that this conversation would be much easier than that one.

-10-

Naruto entered the Hokage's office for the second time in a week. This time, he was more resolute in his thoughts and decisions. He knew what he needed to do. He may not have a precise plan and a surefire way to reach the S-class level, but he at least understood the methods he would have to employ to even have a shot.

After dismissing his guards, the Hokage opened with a simple "hello again, Naruto."

"Hey, Hokage-sama"

"So, shall we resume where we left off." The sandaime seated himself back within one of the comfortable chairs off to the side.

"Yes. I suppose before I begin with my thoughts, did you have anything else to add from our last conversation? Any other groups interested in me or Konoha I should be aware of?" Naruto began, slightly lighthearted at the end, hoping that was the last of the bad news.

"Well, fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, that is the extent of what our intelligence has been able to gather." The sandaime concluded, happy to see that Naruto was at least in good spirits.

"Well then, I've come to a conclusion that I suppose you have come to as well." Naruto said, advancing the conversation along the same path as his thoughts over the last week.

"And that is?"

"I need to be a hell of a lot stronger by the time they make their move." Naruto said simply.

The sandaime grinned, but nonetheless nodded his head.

"I've spent the last week studying S-class level ninja and I've decided on a course of action I'd like you to sponsor."

"Go ahead," the sandaime motioned.

"I need to go on a training trip and try to advance some of my skills beyond that of what normal ninja are capable of."

The sandaime nodded, having expected this. "Do you have a plan for such a training trip?"

"I have a rough idea for one, although I will need some initial assistance for the first few months of said trip." Naruto admitted.

"What kind of training do you have in mind for the first part of your training trip?" The sandaime asked.

Naruto paused, as if reassuring himself of this path. "Kyuubi training. I need to learn how to call upon the Kyuubi's chakra at will as well as finding out how to safely use more and what limits exist for me. I will also need a place I can safely use this energy without any settlements in the area to harm or foreign ninja to alert."

The sandaime nodded, again having suspected that Naruto would one day have to be trained in this way. "What do you need? I assume you would like a seal master to observe and monitor the training."

"Actually, I'd prefer to have a Yamanaka mind walker, possibly one with some medical training as well." Naruto interrupted his current thinking path.

"Why?"

"The last thing I want at the moment is a seal master mucking around the the seal that the yondaime designed specifically for me. If he intended for me to be able to use the beast's chakra, then I have no doubt that the seal is capable of doing so. The last thing I want however, is a seal master thinking he knows better and altering the seal in some way that will come back to bite me in the ass later. I would over course be grateful if a seal master could provide chakra suppressing tags to stop me from going on a rampage, but I want to try to do it my way first." Naruto explained.

"Furthermore," Naruto continued before the Hokage could interrupt. "I need someone who can help me train to access the Kyuubi's cage at will. The first time I was able to do so was during a situation where I was near death. If a Yamanaka was not involved and I wanted to get there quick, the only way to do so would be to recreate the experience, which I, quite frankly, don't want to do."

The sandaime thought about what Naruto had said. He had originally wanted to send for Jiraiya when Naruto had brought up the idea of a training trip. However Jiraiya was rather impetuous when it came to training students and wouldn't hesitate to do something incredibly stupid in order to force Naruto to access the Kyuubi's cage again. He long suspected it had been more of a testament to Minato's incredible talent rather than Jiraiya's teaching ability that gave him the strength to rise to the rank of Hokage.

"I would consider it incredibly dangerous for a Yamanaka to attempt to access your mindscape. No one really knows what sort of damage the Kyuubi could do." The sandaime eventually responded to Naruto's idea.

"I know." Naruto said. "But if the Kyuubi is indeed still asleep, we can figure that out now, instead of later when it might not be. From what I observed, the Kyuubi is sealed in a small portion, as long as the Yamanaka is skilled enough, we should be able to appear on the outside. Aside from that, it is a risk, but it's a calculated one."

The Hokage nodded, understanding more than anyone the weight of risk taking. "And what you said about one with medical training?"

"Well I only have one experience so far..." Naruto began. "But even the limited amount of energy from the Kyuubi was quite corrosive for me. I could still feel the burns it gave my internal chakra pathway's even hours afterward. Perhaps I would adapt over time, but I would prefer to have a medical expert there to confirm what is happening and perhaps even hypothesize ways I could protect myself from it's effects."

The sandaime nodded, noting that Naruto had given this quite a bit of thought. "Very well, I will approve. I will begin looking for members of the Yamanaka clan that meet your expectations, but you should be warned, I will be looking for advanced members, so finding one with medical training is unlikely. There will probably need to be a separate person there for what you have in mind. And I assume you are aware, both people would know exactly who they are working with."

Naruto nodded, "yes, I don't think I will require a face mask for this trip."

"How long do you think it will take?"

"Well, the Kyuubi training I'm hoping I can do in maybe three months. However, that is just the first thing I want to do on my trip. I also want to try and enhance some of my ninjutsu as well as try out a few other things." Naruto ended his statement rather cryptically.

"Very well, I will allow you to leave Konoha for a maximum of one year. As for where, I would advise either some of the uninhabited islands near sea country or possibly the untouched forests to the south."

Naruto nodded, making a note to look at the atlas's in the library for more information.

"Come back tomorrow at this time. I will assemble a list of trustworthy Yamanaka's and medical-nin to accompany you for the first few months. We can interview and brief whoever we decide before you leave." The sandaime ordered, using the critical thinking that had so helped him during his long tenure as Hokage.

"Yes, Hokage-sama." Naruto replied simply, but happily at the favorable outcome.

-10-

Over the next two days Naruto and the Hokage went through a list of active ninja who would have the necessary skills to help Naruto while being open to helping a jinchuuriki as well. Almost all the genin were immediately crossed off the list as well as those too important to leave Konoha for an extended period.

Eventually they found a potential candidate in the form of a chunin working within the interrogation department. This particular Yamanaka, named Tetsuya was technically on the injured list for extensive burns on his left arm, but was still one of the best mind specialists in Konoha. Reports from fellow ninja listed him as helpful, good spirited, and a bit of a joker.

On the third day of their search, the Hokage brought Tetsuya Yamanaka into his office and briefed him on the potential mission. He made it clear that this mission would be voluntary and carry inherent risk before even explaining what it was, and although the mission would be an A-rank for him, it would be classified S-rank.

Upon explaining what the mission was, Tetsuya was noticeably worried. After all, it was considered a spectacularly bad idea to mind walk a jinchuuriki.

"Why me, Hokage-sama?" Tetsuya asked.

"Naruto only recently activated the Kyuubi's powers for the first time. He needs to learn how to control these abilities for the future. You have a lot of mind walking experience, but aren't high ranked enough that your presence would be too missed for a few months." The Hokage explained.

"So I'm expendable, in other words." Tetsuya said snidely.

"I guess there is no denying that that's a factor, but we really don't expect there to be a problem. Uzumaki reported that the Kyuubi was asleep during his encounter and that he originally appeared away from it's cage. Furthermore, the link between his mindscape and the seal is not completely understood. It's highly possible that you will not even be able to access the Kyuubi." The Hokage tried to be as honest as possible, knowing that trying to fool the interrogation expert would only cause future problems.

"Then why does he need a Yamanaka at all?"

"As I said before, this is the first time he was able to access the cage and that was when he was in mortal peril. After much thought, I can think of there are only three ways to reach the cage again: another incident of mortal peril, which would be dangerous, advanced meditation, which could take years, and a mind walk." The Hokage explained.

Tetsuya sighed before thinking about this as rationally as he could. "So what is it exactly that you are expecting of me?"

"First, access his mindscape and assess the situation with the Kyuubi. Next, help Naruto figure out a way to access the Kyuubi's cage on his own without being in mortal peril. Finally, observe the process of how Naruto takes the Kyuubi's energy and see if you can offer any suggestions for either making it safer or potential dangers in what he is doing."

"Are you asking me to teach him Yamanaka secret family jutsus?" Tetsuya asked, slightly outraged.

"If necessary... yes. I will smooth things over with Inoichi, but I'm not trying to steal your families techniques, I just want to make sure Naruto is mentally prepared for any future interaction with the most dangerous demon in the world. And since most of that interaction will be happening in his own mind, I would be a fool not to ask your clan to give him even a little training on how to defend his mind."

Tetsuya grimaced and pondered the thought of fighting a mental battle against a demon, if he were the jinchuuriki. "Alright, but we perform the initial mind walk here with Inoichi standing by, just to make sure such an attempt is even possible."

The Hokage thought about this, deciding that it would be an acceptable risk. "Very well, meet me at the safe-house here in two days time at 10 am." The Hokage quickly wrote down the address of a building near the Anbu headquarters they used for meetings outside of the tower.

Tetsuya nodded before leaving to prepare for what could be his most dangerous mind walk ever.

-10-

Naruto walked into the building, whose address was on the note provided by the Hokage. At first glance, it appeared to be just like any other house, but after a deeper look, Naruto could see that things were not as they seemed. The building had the appearance of a larger house, but it had almost no windows facing the street, and there appeared to be multiple entrances or exits in and out of the building, with none of them facing the street. On the walk here, Naruto had become aware of two separate Anbu patrols nearby, so it was in a well guarded section of town as well.

As Naruto went around the side of the house, he felt the presence of someone watching him, but couldn't identify who or where it was coming from. Naruto supposed that since he was not dressed in his traditional 'Sakumo' uniform, he was somewhat extra paranoid, after all, the people inside were suppose to be meeting Naruto, not Sakumo.

As he entered the building, he immediately took note of two separate people, both Yamanaka's by the hair style. It also seemed that the Hokage had not arrived yet.

"Greetings, thank you for your assistance today." Naruto said while bowing his head, trying to remain as polite as possible.

The two Yamanaka's both examined him carefully before neutrally responding with polite, if rather low toned, formalities.

Two minutes later, the Hokage arrived, instructing his Anbu guard to remain outside. He took quick stock of the room, noting everyone was here, with a slightly heavy atmosphere. "Well, shall we get started? I would like to remind both of you that you are here to assess the situation with the Kyuubi." The Hokage started, speaking to the two Yamanaka. "You are not here to dig into the personal or professional life of Naruto."

Both Tetsuya and Inoichi nodded, not particularly happy to be doing this, but both had considered and discussed the ramifications of not having a mentally stable jinchuuriki with access to demonic powers.

Tetsuya gestured toward a pair of seats facing each other. "Let's get this over with. Please have a seat, Uzumaki-san."

Naruto nodded and made his way over, almost as nervous as Tetsuya. After all, if something went wrong, the Yamanaka clan would likely hold him responsible and never forgive him. He took a seat and tried to relax as Tetsuya started slowly making hand seals.

"Mind Walking Jutsu" Tetsuya declared, apparently wasting no time.

-10-

Tetsuya immediately took note of his surroundings. He did a full 360 degree turn, twice, verifying that their was no sign of the Kyuubi in sight. He breathed a sigh of relief, before starting his exploration of the mind.

He took a brief look around, noting that their were a few area's of interest that he would normally go straight for if this were a regular interrogation, but ignored them for now. After a few more minutes with no sign of the Kyuubi, he decided to leave, knowing that now that he could access the mind, this would likely only be the first of many trips to this mind.

He prepared the hand seals and departed the mind in the exact spot he entered, noting it's position as a safe entry point. As he appeared into the real world he saw three relieved faces, all happy to see that he had made it back safely.

"Well?" The Hokage questioned.

"I was able to travel safely to his mind, but after an initial search was able to find no trace of the Kyuubi." Tetsuya briefed the Hokage on his short search.

The Hokage looked to the head of his clan, Inoichi, and stared at him, as if having a completely silent conversation.

"Very well." Inoichi eventually responded to the Hokage's silent stare. "Tetsuya, you will instruct Naruto on how to access his mindscape at will and continue to search for access to the Kyuubi. You will teach Naruto how to defend his mind from external and internal intrusions and if possible, provide insight as to how he might be able to access the Kyuubi's chakra or youki or whatever it is."

Tetsuya nodded to his clan head, at least happy that the worst part was over and that he was still in one piece.

Three days later, Tetsuya and Naruto left the village together, preparing to make their way to remote sections of Fire Country for training that neither one of them was looking forward to. The Hokage had said that he was still looking for a medical-nin, but would direct him or her toward them within a few weeks.

-10-

AN: I like the name Gai Maito better than Guy Might. I've always been a little confused about his level of non-taijutsu abilities. He can summon turtles, water walk, and dispel genjutsu, but not do anything else? So, in my story he can to some ninjutsu, deal with it.

I'm sure a few people will try to flame me saying that Ibiki received his scars from Ame ninja while pursuing his brother and Aoi, but this happens prior, just before he became a torture specialist. Again, my story, deal with it.

The thing with the pipes in the Kyuubi's cage, again I didn't want to have the Kyuubi conversation quite yet, so had to think of something else. Feel free to flame, but if you do, tell me what I could have done instead while keeping the Kyuubi asleep. (and don't flame as a 'guest' or 'userid')

I'm not sure of when exactly it was that Orochimaru separated from Akatsuki, but I'm pretty sure that it took Konoha more than a few months to find out, hence why according to the sandaime, they are both current members.

Tetsuya is an OC with a name that means 'clear philosophy'. There really aren't that many Yamanakas shown in the manga or anime and I plan on making them a major clan of Konoha, so I will be inventing a few characters from this and the other clans.

Mind Walking Jutsu – Pretty original huh! I really thought there were more Yamanaka family jutsus than the ones I found online, so I have to invent a few.