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Naruto

It was four days after the funeral of Onoki. The Hokage had returned to the Village Hidden in the Leaves without much incidence. Arriving late the previous night, Naruto had gone straight to bed, taking but a moment to meet back up with the family. This morning he was to brief with Shikamaru and Sasuke about what had happened in the village during his absence.

Naruto opened the door to his office and walked to his desk. He was followed in by Shikamaru, Sasuke, and Shizune. Taking a seat, Naruto folded his hands together placed his elbows on his desk.

"Alright," he said, "what do you have for me?"

Shikamaru was the first to speak. "I'll get the easy stuff out of the way first. There was nothing significant in terms of missions, only a smattering of C and D ranks. There were, however, a string of unusual events that require your attention."

Naruto nodded. "Go ahead."

"Well," Shikamaru said, "we received a message from Orochimaru."

One of Naruto's eyebrows raised and he crossed his arms. "From Orochimaru? What did it say?"

Shikamaru turned to Shizune and nodded, who went to open the door. "The messenger refused to give it to anyone but you. All we know is that the Hidden Sound was attacked and that Orochimaru is assumed KIA."

Shizune stepped back into the office with a jonin from the Hidden Sound following close behind.

The jonin walked to the center of the room and bowed. "Lord Hokage, it is good to finally see you." The Sound ninja pulled a scroll from his sleeve and handed it to Naruto.

Naruto grabbed the scroll and unsealed it. Upon reading the first few lines his eyes widened in shock. He looked back up at the messenger. "Thank you for bringing this to me, you may leave now."

The messenger bowed again and then left the room, escorted by Shizune.

Naruto finished reading the message and then placed it on the table. He folded his hands together under his chin and looked at Shikamaru, then Sasuke. "Orochimaru claims that the person who attacked the Hidden Sound possesses the Rinnegan."

Sasuke showed barely any reaction to this news at all, but Shikamaru had look of shock on his face. "The Rinnegan? But the only person alive who has that is…" He looked over at Sasuke.

The Uchiha looked back at Shikamaru and tsked. "It wasn't me, I can tell you that much."

"He's right," Naruto said, "the message says that the attacker had the Rinnegan in both eyes, it couldn't have been Sasuke."

Shikamaru calmed down. "Can we trust this information? It is coming from Orochimaru, after all."

Naruto nodded in agreement. "You're right, I still don't trust that snake. But if the Hidden Sound has been attacked by a Rinnegan user then we have to look into it."

Sasuke took a step forward. "I can go."

Naruto looked at his rival in surprise. "You?"

"I was his student," Sasuke said, "I understand how he operates better than anyone here."

Naruto thought about that for a moment. "True, but I have a different mission in mind for you." At that moment Shizune came back into the office. Naruto turned his attention to his assistant. "Shizune, go and get Kakashi-sensei for me, please." Shizune nodded and left the room again.

Naruto looked up at his advisor. "Shikamaru, do we know anything else about this."

"We sent out an ANBU team to the Hidden Sound to observe the situation there. They haven't reported in yet, so at this point we have to assume that they are dead or captured."

Naruto sat and thought about this for a moment. "Alright, I have an idea. But lets move on for right now."

Shikamaru looked at Naruto for a moment, as if her trying to gauge what plan the Hokage had, but then he shrugged. "Alright, we also had an incident of grave robbing."

Naruto had very confused look on his face. "Grave robing? Shouldn't this be handled by the Military Police or something?"

Shikamaru closed his eyes. "Normally, yes, but we made an exception for this. The suspect was a highly skilled ninja, and his target was Neji's body."

Naruto made a fist and his right hand and it began to shake as he felt his anger rising. "Shikamaru, tell me that we know who did it and that we've caught him."

Shikamaru, seemingly oblivious to Naruto's seething rage, continued talking. "No, we don't know who did it. We were able to create something of a profile on him based on information from Hinata's account of her battle with him and…"

Naruto stood up and slammed his fist into his desk. "Are you telling me that he attacked my wife?!"

Shikamaru put his hands in front of him in a panicky, defensive manner. "No, no! She attacked him when she caught him robbing Neji's grave."

Naruto slowly began to calm himself and he sat back down in his chair. "Do we know anything about him?"

Shikamaru returned to his normal, relaxed stance. "We know that he has great skill in infiltration and earth style ninjutsu. We have all squad leaders on lookout for anyone who matches those descriptors, but there isn't much we can do."

Naruto, having completely calmed down, checked his desk to make sure he hadn't damaged it. "Fine. What else?"

"This last bit is perhaps the strangest of the lot," Shikamaru said, "though I think that Sasuke should start."

Naruto turned his attention to the Uchiha.

"It happened the day that you left," Sasuke said. "There were a group of about two dozen Rain shinobi approaching the village. When a squad of ANBU and I confronted them they retreated without any incident."

Naruto looked at his friend, somewhat confused. "Ok, and…"

Shikamaru picked up where Sasuke left off. "They left behind the body of Jiraiya, which they had somehow and for some reason regenerated to an earlier state of decomposition."

Naruto turned his attention to Shikamaru, and though his expression of confusion remained it was now mixed with a bit of bewilderment. "An earlier state of what now?"

Shikamaru sighed. "It doesn't look like he's been dead for as long as he has."

Naruto's face returned to normal as he comprehended the simpler explanation. "I want to see the body as soon as possible. But first I need to talk to Kakashi-sensei. Speaking of which."

The door to the office opened and Shizune walked in, accompanied by Kakashi.

Naruto looked up at his former teacher. "Kakashi-sensei, I know that this is kind of weird, but I have a mission for you."

Kakashi looked at his successor with a look of mild surprise. "Um…what do you need?"

Naruto leaned in. "There was an attack on the Village Hidden in the Sound. We have reason to believe that Orochimaru is dead and that the attacker had the Rinnegan. Of course, all the information we have on this comes from Orochimaru's messenger so we don't know how trustworthy this is."

"Alright," Kakashi said, "is there anything else we know?"

Shikamaru spoke up. "We sent an ANBU team to the Hidden Sound a week ago but haven't heard anything back. Finding them should be a considered a priority."

Naruto nodded in confirmation. "Considering that this involves Orochimaru and possibly the Rinnegan, on top of the lack of good information, this is a S-Rank mission. I think you're the best suited for the job."

"Understood," Kakashi said. "Is this a solo mission?"

"No, I'm giving you a squad of three, all jonin," Naruto replied. "Tenten, Ino, and Mirai as an attachment from the Hokage guard. She'd kill me if I sent you on a mission without her," Naruto said with a smile.

Kakashi turned around and started to walk towards the door. "I'll be at the main gate, waiting for my team."

Naruto turned to Shikamaru. "Go and collect the rest of that squad."

Shikamaru nodded and left the room.

Naruto turned his attention to Sasuke. "Sasuke, I have a very important mission for you."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at this. "A mission? I don't think you've ever sent me on one."

"Well, now seems a good time to start," Naruto said. "Besides, you're the best suited for this mission. I'm sending you to investigate the situation in the Village Hidden in the Rain."

Naruto stood and opened a drawer on his desk, pulled out a map, and laid it on the table. "We're running a joint mission with the Hidden Stone and Sand to find out what's happening in the Hidden Rain. We are to meet in one week to begin the mission."

Sasuke looked at the map. "You want me to be the Leaf's representative on this mission?"

Naruto nodded. "You, Sai, and Yamato. You're to meet in the Land of Earth at a secret staging area that the Stone set up during the Second Great Ninja War."

Sasuke studied the map for a moment. "Alright, but if the mission starts in a week why are you telling me now?"

Naruto put the map away in his desk. "You know more about this situation than anyone else and I want you to find out as much as you can."

Sasuke stood there quietly for a moment before speaking. "I'll do it." Sasuke began to walk out of the room, but before he reached the door he turned to face Naruto. "Naruto, you remember that promise, right?"

Naruto held up a thumbs up. "Of course," he said with a smile.

Sasuke nodded and then left the room.

Shizune watched Sasuke leave and then turned to Naruto. "What promise is he talking about?"

Naruto looked over to his assistant. "Hm? Oh, nothing. Come on, I want to see Pervy Sage."

Naruto and Shizune made their way to the hospital, where they were greeted in the lobby by Sakura, who then guided them down to the morgue.

When they stepped into the room Sakura went to get the body out of storage while Naruto and Shizune stood at the door. Sakura found the proper shelf and pulled out the table. After folding the cover at the waist she went back to the door.

Naruto slowly walked over to the body, his eyes welling with tears with each step until he stood over the body. He stared at it, letting the memories come to him.

After a few moments of this Naruto spoke. "Good to see you, Pervy Sage. You look almost exactly as I remember, though I'm sure I'd look different to you. I did it. I beat Pain. I took down the Akutsuki. I saved the world. I saved Sasuke. I became Hokage. I became a father and a husband. Everything you hoped and dreamed for me came true."

After lingering there for a few moments more in silence Naruto dried out his eyes and turned away. He slowly walked towards the door. When he reached Sakura he stopped.

"Put him where he belongs, with every honor that we can give him," he said without looking at her.

Sakura looked at him with a surprised expression. "Yes, but…are you sure, Naruto?"

Naruto took a deep breath. "I made my peace with this a long time ago. I'm just glad that he got to come home."