Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or AvP.
A/N:
LoPe21: The Praetorians will not make another appearance for another 2 chapters. That's a cute picture you painted... Know anybody who can draw something like that?
ChibiCraft: I can't please everybody, personally I think there aren't enough harem fics with my personally favorite girls and I think that Hinata and Sakura are the 2 most logical girls that Naruto will end up with if any unless another girl(s) make an appearance. Right now it's still the first half of my story, what I would call the 'Dealing with Konoha' arc, so it is pretty much cleaning up the mess that is Naruto's life.
Hektols: I might do that, thinking about having Hinata as a water type, might put it to a vote later. So for the fic idea if I were to give him slugs as well I'd need a new title, got any suggestions? Also I think Pein is an exception rather than the rule because of hi Rinngan and that that body was 'Animal Path' and can use multiple summon creatures.
---- - ----
"Ero-sennin."
"Is that anyway to greet your elders?"
"Just calling it as I see it."
"Anyway Naruto it's been a while. How'd you been?"
"Can't complain I guess. What do you want ero-sennin?"
"I'm here to introduce you to two important people and to see how far you've come." Jiraiya bit his thumb and ran through the seals, "Summoning Jutsu."
When the smoke cleared, two small toads were standing in front of Naruto, one was a green old toad wearing a black cape. The other toad was female and she seems to be the same age as the old toad, she had her hair tied by lots of hair designs and she was also wearing a black cape.
"Naruto I want you to meet Fukasaku and his wife Shima. You can call them Ma and Pa."
Naruto just stared at the two while his right hand reached for his mask.
"Well it's been a while little Jiraiya, how are you doing?"
"Good I finally managed to track down the gaki."
"And who is this?" asked Shima.
"This is Naruto, he's my student and I'm planning on teaching him everything I know."
Fukasaku gasped softly after getting a good look at Naruto's face, "Little Jiraiya is he….."
"Yes it's him."
Fukasaku nodded, "I see so he is Minato's son, the resemblance is astonishing."
"If you're thinking that I look like my father, I get that a lot."
"I see you found out about your parents. I'm sorry I couldn't tell you before; it was…"
"For my protection. I get it. I've known for quite some time now even before baa-chan decided to announce it to the whole village."
"I see. Alright you two, it's time to show Naruto my secret technique."
"So you're going to use that technique, it's been a while since you last used it," Fukasaku said.
"All right let's do it."
The two toads nodded and got on Jiraiya's shoulders, Naruto watched as the two toads were somehow stuck on his shoulders like they were glued there. Suddenly Naruto saw that Jiraiya's facial features have changed greatly; his nose was larger with warts, he grew a goatee and the red marks from the sides of his face was now larger. Naruto also noticed that his face wasn't the only part of his body that changed; his hands and feet have changed too, he now had webbed hands and feet, making him look like a toad.
"This might be interesting." Naruto thought as he placed his mask on his face.
---- - ----
"Asuma-sensei, can we take a break?"
Asuma turned to look at Ino and the rest of his team; they had just completed a B-rank mission to deliver important information to one of Konoha's border outposts and all was going fine till they were ambushed before they reached the outpost. They were a little banged up but in the end, they were able to deliver their message and head back.
"Alright. We'll stop and rest for a while."
Team Asuma stopped and started to relax till Ino noticed something, "Hey, aren't we near Naruto's Hive?"
Shikamaru thought about it for a moment, "Ya, I'd say we're about twelve kilometers North of the Hive."
"Then why don't we head there!?" Ino jumped to her feet.
"Troublesome. Why?"
"Well think about it. At Naruto's place, we don't have to be on guard all the time, it's comfortable and air-conditioned and he has real food, not rations and granola bars." Ino smirked when she saw Choji stop eating his chips and drool appear at the corner of his mouth.
"YOSH!" Choji jumped to his feet, "I'M WITH INO!"
"Of course you are. Troublesome."
Sighing, Asuma dropped his half smoked cigarette and stepped on it, "I guess it couldn't hurt to stop over on our way back. We are early after all."
They quickly covered the distance between them and the Hive and at the edge of the forest, they noticed the other Konoha nin sans Hiashi and Neji.
"Hey Forehead!"
"Ino?" Sakura turned towards the voice and saw Team Asuma jump out of the trees in front of them. "What are you doing here, Piggy?"
"We just finished our mission and decided to see if we can crash at Naruto's for a while. What about you?"
"Oh ya. You left the day before we did." Sakura grabbed Ino in a headlock, "Why the hell didn't you tell me about the marriage contract between Naruto and Hinata?"
"Oh. You found out about that." Ino smirked, "I wasn't the only one who knew but we decided to let the rest of you find out on your own." Ino managed to free herself from Sakura's hold. "Besides, why does it matter to you?"
Sakura was about to answer when everyone felt a chakra spike followed by a few explosions.
"What's that?"
"It's coming from where Naruto-kun is. Let's go!" Tenten took off with the others hot on her heels.
---- - ---
Naruto crossed his arms in front of his chest to block a punch from Jiraiya which sent him flying backwards.
"SHIT! That hit was almost as hard as Sakura's!"
"He's in Sage mode. Those two toads on his shoulders are drawing in Natural energy."
"So take those out and we should have the advantage."
"Exactly."
"Fine!" Naruto activated his plasma-caster and fired a couple of lower powered but rapid shots at the toads.
When Jiraiya dodged the plasma bolts, Naruto quickly created several shadow clones which charged forward while he jumped back and cut his palm and was able to summon when he had to dodge a right-hook aimed for his head.
"Fuck!"
Naruto and his remaining clones extended their wrist blades and prepared to fight him in a taijutsu match. Jiraiya quickly got rid of the clones and was trading punches and kicks with Naruto.
"Shadow Shuriken Jutsu!" A hail storm of shurikens flew towards Jiraiya who disappeared in a puff of smoke, a log in his place.
Naruto quickly activated his thermo-vision and scanned the surrounding area but could not find him. He quickly looked down and jumped pass the tree tops and threw a combi stick like a javelin at the spot he was standing. Jiraiya jumped out of the hole as the combi stick pierced through the ground.
"KAGE BUSHUN NO JUTSU!!!" Naruto created dozens of Shadow clones that rained onto Jiraiya who dispelled them but as the last four clones surrounded Jiraiya, they all exploded.
"AHH!! Damn! I thought he just learned that move. How the hell did he get so good at it already?"
Naruto created a black katana and charged Jiraiya who jumped out of the way of Naruto's initial attack and jump over the second swing and over Naruto.
"Rasengan!"
Naruto blocked Jiraiya's Rasengan with his katana and replaced himself with another exploding clone as his katana broke, causing it to explode. Being prepared, Jiraiya jumped away, avoiding most of the explosion.
"Fire Style: Flame Bullet!"
"Water Style: Water Bullet!" Naruto countered.
The elemental bullets collided, creating a large cloud of steam. Two Predator Shurikens flew through the cloud towards Jiraiya, who wrapped himself in his Needle Jizō causing the shurikens to grind against the needle-like hairs before they turned into Shadow clones. One tried to punch Jiraiya's exposed face but the hairs moved to cover it causing the clone to dispel. While that was happening, the other clone placed a bluish silver ball on Jiraiya before it dispelled itself.
The Sonic Disruptor detonated causing Jiraiya to drop his protective jutsu and cover his ear and try to regain his equilibrium which he did just in time to block a flying kick aimed right at his head, forcing Naruto skywards. Jiraiya formed a Rasengan in his hand which kept growing while Naruto created a shadow clone.
"SUPER GREAT BALL RASENGAN!"
"WIND STYLE: RASENSHURIKEN!"
---- - ----
All the Konoha nin were rushing towards the waterfall where they knew Naruto was and where they believed the fight was but stopped in their tracks because of the large explosion and powerful shockwave caused by the force of the attacks from the combatants, nearly blowing them off their feet.
"NARUTO!!!"
---- - ----
Both combatants were on their feet but looked like they were about to collapse any minute. They were covered in cuts, bruises and blood. Naruto took off his damaged mask and dropped it, shorting it out completely. His armor had taken most of the punishment so he wasn't bleeding as much as Jiraiya but all his Pred-tech was useless.
"Damn. You've sure improved Gaki."
"And you're still the same."
"Hey that's not true. You ungrateful brat." Jiraiya dropped his Sage mode and tried to tackle Naruto only to catch his ruined cloak.
Naruto landed behind him but his body finally gave out from the stress and he fell to his hands and knees.
"Naruto!!" The girls ran to him and Sakura and Ino started to remove his upper-body armor and check/treat his injuries.
"Hmph. Gaki gets all the attention." Jiraiya groaned as he rolled onto his back.
"Jiraiya-sama, are you alright?" Kakashi asked as he and Kurenai checked on him.
"I'll be fine. What do you think?" He asked one of the toads that hopped towards him.
"The boy certainly has potential. He did kick your butt… Pervy-sage."
"DAMN IT PA! Don't call me that!"
"Why not? It certainly suits you." Pa laughed but stopped and turned serious. "We have company."
The Jounin and Sannin noticed dozens of Drones enter the clearing, some walking pass the fallen Naruto and girls and walked/crawled towards them.
"Shit! I thought I stopped him from summoning them."
"We're close enough to the Hive that they must have ran here." Kakashi guessed.
"This could be a problem." Pa voiced out.
"Wait!"
Everyone and the Drones turned to Tenten, "Don't hurt them please."
The Drones looked to Naruto for confirmation. "Take them to the throne room."
---- Suna ----
"Temari, I want you to take a Team and try to find Naruto's… Hive as they call it."
"But why?"
"According to Tsunade, Naruto has no allegiance to Konoha and has so far killed one of their Council members; she's sent a team to try and negotiate an alliance with him but most likely they will end up with a truce."
Temari's eyes widened as she realized where Gaara was going with this, "You want him to join Suna don't you?"
"Are you serious?!" Kankuro yelled but was mostly ignored by his other siblings.
"Wouldn't you?"
"Well…" Temari avoided Gaara's stare, "I guess."
"Good. It will be beneficial to the village to have someone as powerful as Naruto on our side."
"True but if he really does not like Konoha enough to kill one of their Council members, there might be repercussions if he joins us and what if he doesn't want to fight for us because we're allied with Konoha?"
"If necessary, I am willing to break ties with Konoha after the war and I would ask that Naruto at least defend Suna and Wind Country in exchange, a place in Suna to set-up his clan and a place where he would be welcomed and treated with respect like the hero he is."
Kankuro and Temari both thought about what Gaara had said; while breaking their alliance with Konoha could be a dicey issue, gaining an ally with the power to single-handedly destroy a Hidden Village would be worth losing their existing alliance. What's more, what Gaara said was true, Naruto would be looked upon as a hero, in a way he already was.
Ever since Gaara gained the respect of the village and subsequently their admiration and love (as well as fangirls) when the whole story of how Gaara became what he is today, it all boiled down to Naruto, defending Gaara, sparing his life and giving Gaara a new goal in life. In the eyes of the people of Suna, Naruto was respected enough to be called a hero.
"I understand Gaara. Where is this Hive?"
"I've requested the information from Tsunade. We should have that information soon. You and your team are to leave as soon as we know."
"Understood."
---- Hive ----
Naruto sat on his throne in an imposing manner, not that it really bothered Jiraiya or the two Toad Elders but Jiraiya was not used to this Naruto. The last time he saw Naruto, he was an undersized, hyperactive knucklehead with a big-heart and a damn near unbreakable will. Now, he carried himself like a Kage or a ruthless warlord and in a way, he was.
Jiraiya looked around the Throne Room; the other representatives from Konoha were behind him and there were a dozen Drones flanking them but if he remembered the reports correctly, there were many more hiding in the walls that even experienced ninjas could not detect.
"Why are you here, Jiraiya?"
Jiraiya winced, "I think I liked it better when he called me 'ero-sennin'," he told himself before clearing his throat, "What? Can't a teacher come visit his favorite pupil?"
"I highly doubt that is why you are here. Is there a reason you wanted me to meet the two of them?" He pointed at the two toads.
"Well it is." Jiraiya crossed his arms across his chest in a huff, "You completely disappeared without a trace and not one word and you don't expect me to worry?"
"I might give you that but why are you really here?"
"Like I said, I've come to check up on you but also to offer you something."
This got Naruto interested and leaned forward, "And that would be…"
Fukasaku stepped forward, "Tell me Naruto-chan, what did you think of little Jiraiya's Sage Mode?"
---- Naruto's Mindscape ----
Naruto entered the clearing in front of Kyuubi's cave who was sitting at the entrance waiting only this time to Naruto's left, sat the Queen on her egg sack though it wasn't in use, the ground around her covered in metal and xeno resin instead of grass.
"So what's this about?"
"The Queen and I have been discussing our current problem of our reduced number of Drones."
"I know… We have enough to defend the Hive or maybe defend a village but to attack one… We don't have enough to outright attack one like we did Iwa, especially one like Konoha."
"Exactly so we've been discussing and we think we might have come up with a solution but we may need the help of one of your female friends."
"I'm listening."
---- Farm land ----
Naruto walked towards the farm where he had sent a Shadow clone to negotiate with the farmer to buy his entire herd of cattle as well as to leave for the day. He was intrigued by the idea proposed by Kyuubi and the Queen but for now he had to replenish their numbers before they put their new plan into action.
Naruto quick ran through the necessary seals and out of the white cloud ran dozens of Face-huggers towards the unsuspecting herd as a dozen Drones stood next to him.
"Clean up when everything's done. I've got a bandit camp to visit." Naruto ordered as he walked off.
---- Hive, Training Area ----
"Tenten." Tenten and her mother turned to see Naruto walking towards them. "I need to speak with you, alone." His voice left no room for argument. "Yukari-san." Naruto greeted as an after thought.
They walked off to a corner away from prying eyes and ears.
"What do you need Naruto-kun?"
"Your blood."
"Huh?"
"Let me explain. I need some of your blood to help me with something but I can't tell you what yet. I want it to be a surprise. It is your choice Tenten, I can get the blood from other sources."
Tenten thought for a moment, whatever Naruto wanted blood for, it had to be important but it shouldn't be a life threatening amount if he's asking her right? And he did say he would tell her about it later…
"Ok but I want a private candle-light dinner tonight just you and me, no one else."
Naruto smiled, "Deal." He held up a test-tube and indicated that she needed to fill it nearly to the top.
"There better be a nice chocolate dessert included as well for this."
---- - ---
Naruto walked into the Queen's Chambers and walked up to her, "Are you ready?"
The Queen nodded and he reached into his coat and pulled out the tube of Tenten's blood and uncorked it. He started to channel Kyuubi's charka into the tube causing the blood to boil and mix with the demonic charka, turning it blood red before the glowing blood mist flowed into the Queen, who hissed as it entered her.
"Good. Now that that is done, the transformation should take twenty-four to forty-eight hours to complete." He said to himself before turning to one of the walls where three Praetorians stepped forward and kneed before him. "I will be sealing this room; no one and I mean absolutely no one is allowed to enter. Understood?"
The Praetorians nodded their understanding, "Kill anyone who enters without me."
---- River Country ----
Temari and her team which consisted of one female and male Jonin and another male Chunin were making their way though a valley in River Country. When the Team members had heard that they were going to meet the man that destroyed Iwa, they were excited and a little scared; anyone that could destroy a Hidden Village single-handedly was certainly a powerful and dangerous man.
However, when they found out that it was Naruto they were looking for, they got excited especially Rei Kusanagi, the only other female on the Team who was a bit of a fan-girl of both Gaara and Naruto, though more for the former since Naruto hardly made a name for himself before Iwa.
The team had decided to stop by a river to rest and collect water when Rei decided to ask a question, "Temari-san, what's Naruto-san like? Is he anything like Kazekage-sama?"
"Hahaha… That baka was never anything like Gaara." The others leaned closer to listen to her, "He was the exact opposite of Gaara; loud, brash and annoying but he was also kind, strong willed and friendly. It's hard to believe that he and Gaara experienced that exact something in life but turned out so differently."
Temari proceeded to tell them about her encounter with the blond and her initial thoughts about him, how he advanced to the finals of the Chunin exams (which got a huge laugh), how he defended a supposed prodigy and finally how he beat Gaara and saved him from his darkness.
"Wow. Naruto-san sounds incredible."
"Ya. He is." Temari looked away thinking about the ex-Konoha nin.
---- Clearing near Hive ----
Jiraiya looked to his left and looked at the young shinobi next to him, he'd definitely grown over the years though he was still shorter than Jiraiya, he was noticeably taller than Sakura and Tsunade now. Naruto was definitely different from the hyperactive knucklehead he taught the Rasengan to. Jiraiya wasn't blind, he knew that Naruto wanted to spend time with him when he started teaching him the Rasengen but Naruto needed to complete the steps on his own.
He kinda missed his hyper and loud attitude; the Naruto walking next to him carried himself like a seasoned and hardened shinobi much like his parents when they were heading into battle. The seriousness and battle aura that surrounded the two made even the most experienced shinobi wary of them. Jiraiya wondered if he still wanted to be a kage because he certainly carried himself like one, give him the hat and robes and you wouldn't know the difference.
"I hope I'm doing the right thing." Jiraiya thought to himself.
---- Flashback no Jutsu ----
"It was impressive. I'll give you that."
"Impressive?! In Sage mode, I'm stronger than any Kage and you're lucky I went easy on your ass."
Though Naruto did not say it, he was very sure that that was true. At his current level, actually beating Jiraiya in a straight fight would probably be damn near impossible. At best, their fight earlier can be considered a stalemate or a draw; if Jiraiya had chosen to step things up a notch, he'd have to use his trump cards and even then the result would probably be a toss-up.
"That still remains to be seen."
"Whatever. I want to teach you the Sage Arts."
"And what will be the price? My loyalty to Konoha?!" Naruto spat out the name Konoha which caused the other representatives to winces.
"I'd like that but we'll settle for your word never to use them to hurt the innocent."
"It's hard to say Jiraiya, after all in war there are bound to be collateral damage but I am willing to promise never to intentionally hurt the innocent."
"I guess that's acceptable." Jiraiya gave him a big grin. "So want to get started right now?"
---- Flashback Kai ----
They didn't start right away; Naruto had to go and take care of some deal with the farmers and bandits. He had a hell of a time explaining to the other Konoha nin why he offered to not only train Naruto but train Naruto in the Sage Arts. He made it clear that Naruto was always meant to be trained in the Sage Arts and short of Naruto turning completely evil, nothing was going to change his or the toad elders' minds, not even the Council or the Hokage.
He did not tell them that he believed that Naruto was the child of prophecy, that will either save the World or destroy it and he certainly had the beginnings to do the latter but hopefully by training him, he can remind Naruto even a little about what his goals were, to protect the village and its people or at least the village and most of its people. Sure he told Tsunade of the prophecy which caused her to promptly laugh at him but not who he believed to the child.
"Alright we're here, so what are we going to do?"
"Oh right. Well first thing first." Jiraiya summoned Fukasaku and Shima.
"Ah afternoon. Jiraiya-chan, Naruto-chan."
Jiraiya greeted them respectfully while Naruto just nodded.
"Well since you said you will not be going to Mount Myōboku till you have at least finished your business with Konoha, we will only be able to start with the basics and theory of Senjutsu." Pa explained.
"That means that later we'll have to get you to Mount Myōboku and the quickest way is through reverse summoning unless you want to spend months walking." Jiraiya pointed out.
"Then I guess I need to get rid of my suppression seal then."
"Suppression seal?"
"Yes. I know you tried to reverse summon me before because of the seal. It was placed on me about three weeks after I left the village. It prevents me from being reversed summoned."
Jiraiya clicked his tongue if he had thought about reverse summoning Naruto the moment he heard instead of trying to look for him the old fashion way, he would have found Naruto sooner but if he did, Naruto might not be as powerful as he was now. He never told anyone but even though he was not part of Konoha, he was proud of Naruto's achievements.
"How'd you learn about that seal?"
"Kyuubi."
"Alright. How do we get it off?"
"Simple, I have to summon a toad." Naruto pulled up the hood of his cloak and proceeded to summon toads for the first time in years. Naruto felt the seal appear at the base of his neck appear before glowing and evaporating always. As the smoke cleared, standing before the gathered group were the (much bigger than when Naruto last saw them) forms of Gamakichi and Gematatsu.
"Yo."
"Wow. It's been a long time since I've been summoned. Are there any snacks around?"
"Nice to see you two again."
"Yo. Jiraiya, why'd you summon us?"
"I didn't. He did." Jiraiya pointed to the cloaked Naruto.
"And who the heck are you, a new summoner?"
"Do you have any treats?"
"No on both counts though I think I might still owe Gamatatsu some snacks from last time." Naruto answered as he pulled his hood back.
"NARUTO!!!"
"Long time no see. Man you two have grown."
"So have you. Where the hell have you been!?"
"Training."
"Dad's pretty mad at you for disappearing for so long."
"Is that so? Then I better call him."
"Naruto! Wa…" It was too late Naruto had already slammed his head on the ground and a giant cloud of smoke appeared.
"JIRAIYA YOU PERVERT! WHY'D YOU SUMMON ME?!"
"Same old Gemabunta. Ero-sennin didn't summon you. I did."
Gemabunta looked down and thought for a while before he recognized Naruto.
"NARUTO!!! YOU LITTLE SNORT! WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN!?"
"Training."
"TRAINING?! TRAINING?! You little snort I ought to stomp on you! And what's this crap I heard from the pervert you have a new summons?!"
"My Angels? Just some creatures that I have a contract with that acts like a summoning contract that allows me to bring them to my location in an instant."
Before Gemabunta could continue, Pa stepped forward and stopped him informing him that he and Shima were going to train Naruto in Senjutsu. A smile appeared at the corner of Gemabunta's mouth before it turned into a full blown smirk.
"Then I want to test him."
"WHAT!?"
"Yes. He hasn't summoned one of us in years and he goes and gets himself another summons creature. I want to make sure his skills haven't dulled."
"So you're giving him the usual test then?" Jiraiya asked somewhat relieved.
"No."
"What?" Jiraiya went pale.
"You and me little snort are going to have a little match."
"WHAT!!!" Jiraiya was about to have a heart attack.
"If you land one good hit." Gemabunta pointed with his thumb to his forehead. "Not only will I acknowledge that your skills have not dulled but you will be my partner instead of my henchmen. Something not even your dad or that pervert can claim."
"Sounds interesting. You're on." Naruto put on his mask much to the shock of everyone present.
The others quickly jumped out of the way when Gemabunta shot a stream of water towards Naruto who ran to the right as the water followed him. When the water stopped, Gemabunta leaned forward, "Come on try and hit me."
"FIRE STYLE: FIRE DRAGON MISSILE!!!
The white hot flames flew towards the toad's head who jumped back avoiding the fire stream.
"Since when could that little snort use fire jutsus?" The boss thought, not knowing that that was the same thing that most of the others were thinking.
Naruto however, did not let up, "Fire style: Art of the Dragon Flame!"
Jiraiya watched in awe as the dragon shaped fireballs flew towards Gemabunta, burning his jacket causing the Toad boss to yell in anger. "That's an incredibly high chakra consuming move and he doesn't even look winded or drawing on Kyuubi's chakra. He's definitely improved."
Naruto created a clone and both ran through different seals.
"Fire Style: Art of the Dragon Flame!"
"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"
Gemabunta jumped out of the way of the super-powered fired balls.
"BRING THE HOUSE DOWN!" Gemabunta leap up and came back down causing a large earthquake.
"Damn, Bunta's serious." Jiraiya thought out loud, "Hope he doesn't hurt Naruto."
"Summoning Jutsu: Angel of the Apocalypse!" Gemabunta suddenly found himself covered but dozens of Drones clawing their way up his body biting him as they went.
"WHAT THE HELL!?"
The Toad boss tried to brush them off of him, partially succeeding while Naruto used the remaining Drones as stepping stones to make his way up to Bunta's head.
"OH NO YOU DON'T! BRING THE HOUSE DOWN!"
Naruto had no choice but to jump off with the resulting impact knocking him off his feet but he recovered just in time to avoid a stream of water shot at him.
"Get over here you little snort!" Naruto jumped out of the way as the giant toad reached for him and threw six kunai with exploding notes. "Ow. The really hurt." Bunta taunted.
Naruto rushed forward and rolled avoiding a tongue shot from Bunta and created six exploding clones which jumped onto the tongue and exploded at the same time. Sending Bunta reeling back and on to his back.
"OW!!! THAT REALLY HURT!!!" Bunta drew his sword, "I'll smack you with the flat of my sword!"
Naruto disappeared just as the sword crushed the ground where he stood earlier. Gemabunta brought his sword back up failing to notice that Naruto was crouching on it. Just as Bunta was able to return the sword back, Naruto made his move and jumped towards the Toad boss and delivered a hard punch to his forehead though it didn't affect him at all.
Naruto landed on Gemabunta's nose and collapsed to his hands and knees panting and sweating up a storm.
"Not bad, little snort. Not bad."
---- - ----
Temari and her team just arrived in the clearing where Naruto and Gemabunta squared off the day before and noticed the destruction.
"What the hell happened here? It looks like a war zone."
"More like a giant toad decided to do some landscaping." Temari pointed to the giant foot prints that Gemabunta had left behind.
"Think that Jiraiya of the Sannin is in the area?"
"Most likely but if we're lucky it's Naruto and hopefully he's close."
Just as Temari finished, they noticed that they were surrounded by Drones.
"What the hell are those things?!" The Chunin yelled.
"Easy! Easy!" Temari tried to calm everyone down. "If these are what I think they are, we don't want to attack them."
"What are they Temari-san?" The male Jonin asked.
"They're Naruto's Angels, the creatures he used to destroy Iwa." Temari held her hands up to show that she was unarmed and meant no hurt, "We're not looking for trouble. We're here to see Naruto on behalf of Gaara, the Kazekage."
"Temari-san, are you sure these things can understand you?" The Chunin asked and was answered by one of the Drones roaring at him and snapping its tongue's jaw.
"Shut it, Shinji." The other Jonin yelled.
"Sorry about that but can we see Naruto? Please." Temari and the rest of her team stood nervously, surrounded by the unmoving Drones till suddenly all but one of them ran off before the Suna nin knew what was happening, the one in front of them swung its head and ran off. "Let's follow it."
They followed the Drone till it stopped and scratched the ground, showing the outline of a trapdoor. They opened it and after checking that it was safe, jumped in one by one.
"Where the hell are we?" The male Jonin asked.
"Long time no see, Rakan and to answer your question, this is the Hive."
The Suna nin turned towards the voice at the end of the corridor.
"Kakashi?"
"Yo."
"What are you doing here?"
"Naruto asked me to come and greet you." He answered nonchalantly.
"I mean what the hell are you doing here in the first place?"
"Oh. I'm here as part of a diplomatic mission to meet Naruto. Nice to see you again Temari-san."
"Kakashi-san." Temari nodded as Kakashi kept his book, "Can you take us to see Naruto-san?"
"Of course."
Kakashi led them into the throne room where they saw the other members of the Konoha team as well as Team Asuma. After exchanging greetings, Temari looked around but noticed that the main reason she was here was not present in the room.
"Where's Naruto-san?"
Naruto stepped out of his room dressed in his black trench-coat, "Welcome to the Hive Temari."
Both Temari and Rei blushed as they got a good look at Naruto.
"That's the shrimp from the Chunin exam?"
"Naruto-san is sooo hot."
"Oh Hell No! You're not going anywhere near him you hussies!" Thought several others.
"Why are you here?" Naruto asked as he sat on his throne.
Temari shook her head to clear her thoughts and stepped forward with the scroll from Gaara, "The Kazekage would like to extend and invitation for you to come and formally join Sunagakure."
Naruto read the scroll and smiled as the Konoha nin grew nervous, "Suna is still allied with Konoha, I doubt Konoha's Council will be happy with this offer, let alone me accepting."
"Kazekage-sama is well aware of that and is…" Temari thought for a moment if she should continue but decided that it would be out sooner or later. "Prepared to end our alliance with the Village Hidden in the Leaves."
Gasps were heard as Hiashi stepped forward, "Temari-san, you can't be serious."
"I'm afraid so. Gaara was never happy about what happened to Naruto and neither have quite a few of our citizens and in this war, we need all the help we can get."
"A very interesting and tempting offer. I will have to think about it as I still have some business to attend to in Konoha. Till I leave, I'd like to offer you food and lodging."
"Thank you, Naruto-san." The Suna nin bowed as Naruto created a clone to show them to there room which was next to the Konoha room.
---- - ----
The ninjas gathered in the dining room and decided to talk to each other while they waited for their host.
"Temari."
"Tenten."
The two former opponents stared at each other for a moment before smiling at each other.
"So how have you been? Gotten any better?" Temari smirked.
Tenten returned the smirk and reached for her Chakra, "Ya and I have a new toy I wouldn't mind trying out on you."
"What's that?" Temari asked curious but still confident.
"A little something Naruto gave me from his armory, just the thing to use against a wind user."
Temari eyed the weapon warily, "And what did you do to get sure a toy?"
"I took a test and now have an open invitation to join his clan."
Temari was stunned for a moment but decided to use a new approach, "So I'll be seeing you in Suna soon, since it is likely that Naruto will join Suna rather than return to Konoha."
"Naruto and I are in a relationship and…"
"NO YOU'RE NOT!!!" Yelled both Sakura and Hinata which surprised Temari.
"When did he get this popular though I can see why." Temari thought.
Just as an argument was about to break out, Naruto bursted through the kitchen door and headed for the exit, "Sorry but dinner will be delayed as I have something urgent to attend to."
"Naruto-kun, what's going on?" Tenten and the others quickly followed Naruto who did not say a word till he reached the Queen's chamber.
They entered the Queen's Chamber behind Naruto; looking around the chamber, nothing was different or out of place till all eyes fell on where the Queen usually sat.
"Oh my god."
"Oh boy."
"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!?"
"I give you… The Empress."
TBC
A/N:
I'll tell you guys more about the Empress in the next chapter, promise.
I've read the latest chapters of Naruto... and I want to pull my hair out! Sakura has made a lot of progress in my opinion from the useless fangirl where I could not even stand watch/reading most of the first series at least till Sasuke leaves. I just hope it's the stress of the situation. Sigh... Glad I got that out of my system. Now what I would like to see in the next few chapters would be something like this, Naruto somehow either captures/drives off Sasuke and Donzou is revealed to be Madara or just an evil guy and Naruto somehow gains the suport of the other Kages and somehow becomes Hokage at least till Tsunade wakes up but then again I don't own Naruto.