Naruto's Training Done Wright

by FallenDispair

What if Naruto learned the secret of the shadow clone jutsu during his training trip with Jiraiya, leading to him meeting his father early.

10. Chapter 10

Naruto's Training Done Wright

By FallenDispair

Chapter: 10

I DON'T OWN NARUTO

Authors Notes: Sorry that this one took longer, but I'm not very good at dealing with filler. I had a hard time putting this one together. Plus a lot has to be covered to portray the change in Guren. Also, I spent a few days just watching tv and gaming.

It had been two days since Naruto left to learn senjutsu on Mount Myoboku, and in that time Lady Tsunade had had received word from a now deceased Anbu that Kabuto had been spotted near one of Orochimaru's hideouts. Unfortunately, it was one of the one that Sasuke only had a general idea of it's location, and the Anbu wasn't able to pinpoint it down before dying, so Tsunade had Kakashi take over as squad leader for Team Kurenai, seeing as she's on maternity leave, and sent them to tract Kabuto down.

So, Sakura finds herself getting off of her hospital shift that night as Yamato is training Fuu and Sai, she's on her way to finally talk to Sasuke about her feelings for him and if he feels the same way. She's timed it just right, after failing twice already, so that Sasuke is home alone and still awake. She's nervously waiting out side his home's door, having found the courage to knock, as Sasuke moves to answer it.

Opening the door of his residence, Sasuke says, "Oh, Sakura, it's only you. What do you want?", he's tone giving nothing away.

Sakura asks rather flustered, "Um, ah, S-Sasuke-kun, t-there's something I w-wanted to ask you.", her face turning redder with every word.

Sasuke asks in a completely clueless manner, "What do you want to ask?"

Sakura swallows her fears and answers, "I need to know if you like me? What I mean is, do you see us together in the future, sexually, emotionally, and you know, making a family?"

Sasuke stares at her unaffected and replies, "Of course I do."

Sakura smiles warmly as her face goes supernova, responding, "R-Really?! You truly think so?!", glad she took Anko's advice. Who knows, she might just lose her virginity tonight to the boy of her dreams!

Sasuke answers in a matter-a-fact tone, "Yes, you're an ideal candidate for breeding my offspring. You hale from a civilian clan, so your inferior genetics won't interfere with my kekkei genkai, but you're not so weak as to produce inferior children. Plus, your skills in medical ninjustu will greatly aid the welfare and care of the children that will restore the Uchiha clan."

Sakura's glee quickly dissipates as hurt starts to replace it, getting her to ask, "Is that all you see me as?! A baby factory for restoring your clan?! Don't you love me?!", anger starting to bleed into her voice.

Sasuke answers in his same stock tone, "There's no place for love in restoring my clan, only insuring that I have enough suitable women to bare the necessary number of children to do so. I do feel something for you, you are my friend and comrade, but with the number of wives I must take, there is no point in trying to love all of them. If anything, showing more love to one over the other will only breed a rivalry between all of you, and that dissension could lead to murder plots involving my heirs. I'm sorry if you wanted something else, but that's what I need for my clans revival. Take it or leave it. I can find someone to replace your role in it, I have already been propositioned by numerous women to join my clan on that very same basis.", looking in Sasuke's eyes, all Sakura sees is indifference.

Sakura clenches her fists in rage as tears fill her eyes, getting her to scream out, "GO TO HELL SASUKE! I'LL NEVER BE APART OF SOMETHING LIKE THAT! Sure, I knew I was going to have to share you with others to restore your clan, but, I thought that at the very least you'd love me! But I see now that all I'll ever be to you is a baby maker and care giver! So go ahead and REPLACE me in your harem! I was wrong to think you'd be willing to LOVE ME!", tears of mixed pain and rage streaming down her face as she turns around and runs off!

Sasuke just watches as Sakura runs off in tears, not understanding why she'd take it so hard. The restoration of his clan has always come first over a romantic relationship, only being surpassed by the burning desire for revenge on Itachi. Doesn't she realize that was a apart of why he never reciprocated any of the advances all the girls made on him, he didn't want to instill a since of false hope, that and focusing on getting stronger. He can't openly love people like that anymore, he's not Naruto, who can open his heart to anyone. It's a secret part of why he admires Naruto's strength, but he just can't, not after the massacre of his entire clan. Something broke inside of him that day, that sweet loving boy he use to be died, and as long as Itachi lives, he'll stay that way.

Meanwhile, with Kakashi's search team, they've pinpointed the hideout that Kabuto was hiding in. They only ended up finding dead prisoners with curse marks, and nearly getting crushed to death by triggering a booby trap that caused the whole hideout to collapse into an underground whirlpool, almost sucking them down into it's watery depths. Fortunately, they were able to pick up a trail of a large number of individuals leaving the area. Scouting ahead to better pinpoint their new targets, Shino released thousands of beetles across the area ahead of them, only to lose contact with most of them.

Shino says in concern, "I've lost contact with just about all my parasitic beetles!"

Kiba responds in shock, "What?! Seriously?! There were like tens of thousands of them!", Akamaru barking in agreement.

Kakashi asks, "Were they destroyed by the enemy?"

Shino explains, "I don't think so? I just lost contact with them simultaneously."

Kakashi thinks about the implications and orders, "Hinata, look ahead and tell us what you see."

Hinata replies, "Yes Kakashi-sensei!", while activating her Byakugan and looking ahead of them to see a clearing filled with trapped men and Shino's beetles.

Seeing her shocked and confused expression, Kakashi asks, "What is it Hinata? What do you see?"

Hinata answers, "I'm not entirely sure, but it looks like the escaped prisoners, along with Shino's beetles, are encased in some sort of material!"

Shino asks, "What kind of material? Can you make it out with your Byakugan?"

Hinata shakes her head while replying, "No. I'm sorry, I can't Shino."

Kiba comments, "Damn it! What the hells happening?!"

Kakashi responds, "I don't know, but we're about to find out, so be ready!"

Once arriving, everyone is taken back by what they see, a bit over a dozen men in different states of curse mark transformations trapped inside of pink crystals!

Kiba asks, "What is this?!"

Kakashi guesses, "Perhaps some sort of earth style jutsu?"

As Shino picks up one of his crystalized beetles, it shatters into dust, along with all the prisoners, getting Hinata to say in horror, "What's happening to them?!"

Kakashi just looks at what's happening and thinks about what could be, but having only heard of rumors about it, he can't be certain.

Meanwhile, ahead of them is Guren, she's walking away from disposing of the fools that tried to kill her, running into the five that ran off, illuminated by the moon light in front of a tree along the cliff's edge.

Going from her right to her left, the first is Nurari, sitting on a tree branch, despite his slender and somewhat feminine appearance, he's male. He's wearing a full-body slime suit, leaving only his face uncovered and dark green lipstick, his eyes are always wide open and some pink hair is sticking out.

On the ground is Gozu, he has short slicked combed back brown hair, no eyebrows, grey eyes, sharp teeth, and long arms reaching down to his knees. He's wearing a brown sleeveless kimono shirt with a black belt, bandages around his wrists, grey pants and black sandals.

The next one is Rinji, he has dark brown hair with black eyes. He's wearing a purple loose fitting vest that shows his chest, the rest of his mid-section is covered with bandages, a light blue poncho-like item around his neck, black wrist warmers, and tan pants with dark brown sandals.

Next is Kiho, he has pale, pasty looking skin and white hair with dark blue framed glasses with orange lenses. He's wearing a dark purple cloak with orange outlines, blue pants, and tan geta with black stripes.

Lastly is Kigiri, he has medium-length dull-purple hair and grey eyes. He's wearing a gas mask that covers the lower half of his face, a black cloak with a black under-shirt with lavender pants and sandals.

Guren comments, "Oh, you lot are still here? I thought you were trying to flee while I was killing all those fools."

Gozu moves forward to speak up, only to be stopped by Rinji placing his left hand out in front of him and replying, "We weren't trying to escape, just trying to avoid being caught up in those idiots mess. We know that there is no escaping Lord Orochimaru, so we waited here for you."

Guren wants to just kill them off and be on her way, but knows that showing up without a team would displease Lord Orochimaru, so responds, "Fine. You're all now apart of my team, but do try to be useful, our mission is for Lord Orochimaru's benefit. Oh, and seeing as we're going after a Bijuu, I suggest you don't die too soon!", leaving to meet up with Kabuto to take in the boy who's powers that Orochimaru wants tested on the Three Tails.

The newly minted members of Team Guren are shocked and concerned that they're going after a Bijuu, but Rinji still lets out a reply, "Thank you for the opportunity to serve Lord Orochimaru.", giving a bow in the process.

Back with Kakashi's search team, Shino has collected a crystalized beetle that wasn't destroyed, getting Kakashi to order, "Shino, I'm going to send that intact sample to Lady Tsunade so she can have it analyzed. Hopefully giving us an answer as to what we're dealing with."

Shino hands over the crystalized beetle to Kakashi while replying, "Understood."

Kakashi sends the sample off using Pakkun, his smallest, but most skilled ninja hound, and then orders, "All right everyone, lets continue to track our targets, but until we're sure of what we're dealing with, be careful!", getting affirmative responses from them and moving on.

Meanwhile, back in Konoha, Sakura had ended up running into Ino on her way home, tears still present in her eyes, getting Ino to stop her and ask what was wrong. Not wanting to make a scene, Sakura asked Ino if they could talk in private, which is why they are now in Ino's families flower shop's back room.

Once hearing Sakura's account of what happened with Sasuke, Ino starts to think about how her suspicions about Sasuke's plan of using the C.R.A to restore his clan was correct. That he'd have a more logical and unfeeling approach to forming a harem for the sole purpose of procreation. But, from the way Sakura explained it, she most likely wouldn't even be allowed into Sasuke's harem, seeing as she hails from a kekkei genkai bearing clan, not that'd she want to now. She'd be willing to share him, but there's no way she'd let herself be reduced to a baby factory! She a proud kunoichi and a strong woman! Screw that misogynistic view Sasuke has for restoring his clan, no matter how logical it may sound, that still doesn't make it any better! What self respecting woman would let herself be in a loveless, baby making, misogynistic relationship like that?! The kind that doesn't have any, or are just looking to position themselves in a powerful clan with ulterior motives.

Sakura snaps Ino out of her inner rant by asking, "What's wrong with me? First I start developing feelings for Naruto who starts making his own personal harem, then the boy I've had a crush on for most of my life is doing the same thing!", her voice going from despondent to angry.

Ino chimes in with compassion laced in her voice, "Sakura, there's nothing wrong with you. No one decides who they fall in love with, and remember that I'm in the same boat as you, I've had a crush on Sasuke just as long as you have. Not to mention that I've been sneaking looks and the rare grope of Naruto myself, and even Fuu to, so stop attacking yourself."

Sakura gasps out in surprise, "Wait! You've groped Naruto and FUU?!"

Ino laughs at Sakura's flabbergasted expression, getting her to respond, "What forehead? Since when is it illegal for a girl to lust after another woman?"

Sakura replies, "W-Well, it's not. It's j-just that first it's Fuu, now you! I'm feel like I'm starting to lose my mind, or that she's infecting people with her sexuality."

Ino corrects Sakura, "Fuu didn't infect me with anything. I've always had an attraction to the female form, that's why I've always targeted more feminine men. As an heiress I have to produce an heir or I'll be ending my families rule of our clan to another Yamanaka. Sure, my parents are understanding and would except me anyways, even letting go of the fact that I'd be passing up on maintaining our leadership status in our clan. But I don't want to do that to them, they've always supported me and all of my selfish desires! How can I be so selfish as to end our families direct bloodline too? So I compromised by chasing after Sasuke, who despite being cold an unresponsive, had the feminine look I adore."

Sakura replies apologetically, "Sorry Ino. I didn't know that about you. I hope I wasn't coming off to judgmental."

Ino just waves Sakura off while saying, "No, it's okay. I've been hiding in my closet for so long that I almost convinced myself that those feelings were gone, but our sexual preferences are out of our control. I'm bisexual and I need to except that! Well, I use to think I was just a lesbian, but after getting a nice firm squeeze of Naruto's buns of steal, I know I can be attracted to men to and not just pretty-boys like Sasuke. Man, why does society have to complicate love so much? Can't we just love who we want to without everyone else judging us?"

Sakura starts feeling worse about herself, all this time she been complaining to Ino about how sick it is for Naruto to love all these different women, and Fuu's obsession with having sex with another woman and her desire to have threesome with Naruto. Yet, Ino's been dealing with similar desires herself, but because of her and society, Ino has had to hide that part of herself away in the fear of how people would react to it. Knowing that people, for whatever reason, will fear and hate anyone that's different from them and their beliefs, even if it's out that persons control, like Ino's sexually preferences and Naruto's jinchuuriki status. They didn't chose to be that way, but people will still always judge them for it, regardless of how nice, kind, caring and truly trusting they really are. Sakura now knows that it's not them that are at fault, but her and society!

Sakura voices her thoughts, "You're right Ino. Nobody has the right to judge anyone on such things, it's really no one's business anyways, and I still have to apologizes to you. I have been unintentionally judging you for your sexual preferences, making you feel like you couldn't confide in me! I've been a horrible friend to you. Can you ever forgive me?"

Ino is taken back by Sakura's turnaround, she's usually too stubborn to admit when she's wrong, so it takes Ino a second to respond, "Uh, yeah. Of course you're forgiven! Like you said, you didn't know, and besides, friends always make a few mistakes, but that doesn't mean we just stop being friends!"

Sakura replies with a smile, "Thanks Ino, I'm already feeling better."

Ino responds, "You're welcome, but you're wrong you know."

Sakura asks rather confused, "Wrong? About what?"

Ino explains, "When you said that Naruto and Sasuke are doing the same thing. Sasuke is just doing the harem thing for the C.R.A to restore his clan, but Naruto just fell into it because he couldn't let go of his love for you, Hinata, and Fuu. Naruto has grown up without love, friends, or a family, so he simply can't let go of the bonds he forms with people. Whether it's bonds of friendship or the ones formed between lovers, and it's thanks to that very quality of his, that you have repeatedly attacked him for, is why Sasuke's back in Konoha! So, it's not just me you need to apologizes to. Don't get me wrong, I'm not telling you to go have sex with him and join his harem, just say you're sorry for overreacting to his situation."

Sakura replies, "You're right Ino, I should, but I still have these feelings that-"

Ino interrupts, "For the love of Kami! Look here Forehead! You already got your yes from Sasuke, but turned him down! So now you only have three options left to you! One, go back and tell Sasuke you've changed your mind and want to be his baby factory! Two, go fuck Naruto's brains out and join his harem! If it works for you, then great, but if it doesn't, then leave. Three, move on from the both of them! There are other fish in the sea! So stop dragging your heels and bitching to me about it, and do something already!"

Sakura gets a little upset and fires back, "W-Well! What about you?! I don't see you doing anything about your problems!"

Ino returns fire, "Yeah! Well, fine! I call your bluff! I'll just go and take Fuu up on her offer to have sex with her!"

Sakura responds skeptically, "Oh yeah! You're just going to put away all of your angst and just do it with Fuu?! Ha! I'll believe it when I see it, Ino-Pig!"

Ino's standing up and eyeing Sakura, as she also stands up to eye Ino back, sparks flying off as Ino yells back, "Just you wait and see, Forehead!"

Sakura proceeds to stomp out of the flower shop and head home, knowing Ino's just all talk, which will allow her to keep avoiding her feelings for Naruto for awhile longer. Unfortunately, what Sakura failed to account for was that Ino has been wrestling with her desire to fuck Fuu for weeks now, and now with the added incentive of proving Sakura wrong, she'll finally cave.

In Naruto's apartment, Fuu is just about to go to bed after a hard days training when a pounding knock at the door prevents her from getting into bed. Reluctantly, Fuu walks to the door in nothing but one of Naruto's black t-shirts and a pair of orange panties.

Fuu opens the door and yells out, "Do you know what time-", only to be cut off as Ino seals her lips to Fuu's!

Fuu is taken back by the sudden lip-lock, but once she sees that it's Ino, she quickly reciprocates by pulling Ino in closer to her body. Ino pushes Fuu far enough into the apartment to kick the door close behind her, never once breaking her connection to Fuu.

Once they break apart due to the need for air, Ino huffs out, "Close. Off. Bed. Now!"

Fuu is taken a bit back, not use to being on the receiving end on such a heavy handed sexual advance, she's usually the aggressor. But she shouldn't be too surprised by Ino's actions, she has been teasing her every chance she gets. From purposely rubbing up against her, to stretching in exaggerated ways to show of her curvatures, ending with flashing her while whispering dirty things into her ears. Now it's payback time and Ino's not going to be pulling any of her punches! What follows is the sounds of clothes being thrown off, the springs in Naruto's mattress creaking, the pleasure filled moans of Ino and Fuu, and the screams of ecstasy as they reach their peeks and orgasm! The both of them having their first lesbian experience, and Ino's first ever sexual act.

With the rising of the sun on a new day, a naked Ino wakes in Naruto's bed with an equally naked Fuu sleeping on her, using her left breast as a pillow. Ino smiles down at Fuu, remembering the pleasant night of love making, well, more like hot passionate sex, glad that she let Sakura push her into giving into her long suppressed desires. As the sunlight hits Fuu's eyes, she stirs awake to look up at Ino, bringing a smile to her face as well.

Fuu happily exclaims, "Yes! I finally did it! I got to have my lesbian experience, and with Ino no less!"

Ino playfully corrects, "Actually, I was the one that got you into bed last night, and yes, I'm quite the catch."

Fuu replies, "Yeah, but I have been slowly breaking you down for weeks, so it's more like I finally wore you down into giving in to my charms!"

Ino responds by giving Fuu's firm ass a nice squeeze while saying, "Fine, I don't care who's responsible for last nights escapades. I'm just happy that they happened and hope they happen again Fuu."

Fuu asks sensually, "Are you looking for a repeat performance Ino?", while kissing her way up Ino's body, ending with a kiss on the lips.

Ino answers hotly, "I'd love nothing more Fuu, but I'm afraid that I have to open my families shop soon."

Fuu pouts while muttering, "That's not fair, getting me hot and bothered to just run out on me."

Ino slides out from under Fuu and walks to the bathroom while responding, "Now, now, Fuu. I said I have to go soon, so I don't see why you can't join me for a shower before I go.", disappearing into the bathroom with Fuu quickly following after her.

Meanwhile, in the Hokage's office, Tsunade has just received Kakashi's update with Shino's crystalized beetle, getting her to order, "Shizune, I need you take this beetle to be analyzed, so that we can hopefully ascertain the effects of this jutsu that crystalized Shino's beetles."

Shizune replies, "Yes Milady!", taking the beetle to be analyzed by the Jutsu Analysis Corp.

As Shizune leaves, Tsunade is hoping that her theory is wrong, that they're dealing with a crystal style user.

Said cystal user, Guren, is entering another Oto hideout after leaving her new team at a rundown shack in the area of the lake that the Three Tails is hiding in. She's descending a staircase leading to an underground cavern behind a cloaked Kabuto to retrieve Yukimaru.

Kabuto explains, "I did a test run with Yukimaru to see if his powers really could control the Three Tails, and it went splendidly. Though I've had to make adjustments to the medication I gave him to amplify his power, and with your powers added to it, control should be complete."

Guren replies, "It'd better be! If I even suspect you of trying to sabotage my chances, I'll kill you!"

Kabuto responds, "No matter how much I might not want you to succeed, Lord Orochimaru's orders are absolute. He wants this mission to succeed no mater what, so even if it kill us, we're not to fail!"

Guren scoffs, "As if I'd be killed off as easily as you! Besides, I have NEVER failed Lord Orochimaru, nor will I ever fail him!"

Kabuto smiles victoriously, his face hidden from Guren, while replying, "Good. Lord Orochimaru knew that no else but you could pull this off."

Guren asks with exuberance, "Did he really say that?! Why didn't he tell me himself?! I was hoping to see Lord Orochimaru to at least see if he's okay!"

Kabuto scolds, "Now Guren, do you honestly believe that he'd risk giving out his location while being in a weakened state! You may well be completely loyal to him, but many others would jump at the chance to kill him, like Sasuke did! Lord Orochimaru is hidden away in a secret hideout that only I know of, and until he's fully recovered no one is allowed near him, not even you! Or do you think that your selfish desire to see him is more important than his safety!"

Guren quickly replies, "NO! Of course not! I understand, I'll graciously wait for Lord Orochimaru's full recovery before seeing him!"

Kabuto's grin increases at how easily Guren is to be manipulated, which drops slightly when Guren asks, "Hey, weren't there suppose to be a thousand Oto shinobi stationed here?"

Kabuto answers, "Yes, there were, but after Sasuke's betrayal, Lord Orochimaru is having every hideout that Sasuke's aware of emptied out and rigged to blow for when Konoha-nin arrive.", when in reality, Kabuto killed most of them to test his newly growing abilities. Thought, he did keep a few alive for using the Edo Tensei jutsu, well they're not alive now anyways.

Guren responds in disgust, "Of course that traitorous cockroach would give away all the locations to our hideouts!"

Kabuto explains, "Yes, I even found a Konoha Anbu near the hideout you were in, unfortunately, he was able to escape from me long enough to send out a message to Konoha and destroy his own corpse. A typical Anbu strategy, so expect to run into Konoha shinobi at the lake."

Guren confidently replies, "If I run into any Konoha-nin, I'll kill them before the can even attempt to flee from me! I'm not so carless as to let even an Anbu escape me!", a little backhanded comment at Kabuto's expense.

Kabuto ignores her remark as they enter the chamber where Yukimaru is, saying to him as they approach, "Yukimaru, this is Guren. She'll be taking care of you as you fulfill Lord Orochimaru's wishes."

Yukimaru gets up from his crouched position and asks, "Are we going to a place that I can go back to? A place I can call home?"

Kabuto answers, "The place you can go back to is Lord Orochimaru. We're going to a place to ensure that you can go back home."

Guren asks, "What's with this kid?"

Kabuto replies, "It doesn't matter to you Guren. You're only job is to take care of him and ensure his safety until the missions completion, but considering your personality, I doubt he'll take a liking to you."

Suddenly from above, crystal spears rain down on Kabuto in an instant, surrounding his entire body in razor sharp crystal blades, leaving him at Guren's mercy. Kabuto is sweating in concern, but can't help but admire how she can even materialize crystals from the moisture in the air without any hand-signs instantly. Grinning at the fact that in time he'll also have this formidable ability.

Guren merely warns him, "Don't test me Kabuto, even as Orochimaru's right hand man, I'll still kill you if you upset me. Actually, maybe I'd be better off just killing you and ensuring my place as Lord Orochimaru's vessel?"

Kabuto warns her, "That would be ill advised, for I'm the only one that knows of Lord Orochimaru's whereabouts and the only one that can heal him! I wasn't kidding when I said that Sasuke nearly killed him, I honestly need to hurry back to him to give him his next treatment. Otherwise, he'll die before he can perform the transference ritual."

A concerned Guren releases Kabuto while demanding, "Then hurry up and go to him! If he dies, you'll wish that I'd had just killed you!", the crystals surrounding him breaking into sparkling dust.

Getting Yukimaru to ask disappointedly, "Does this mean no more rain?"

Kabuto just disappears in a cloud of smoke as Guren orders, "Come now boy! We have to go!", walking off with Yukimaru following after her, asking the same questions he did with Kabuto.

Along the way, to meet up with Guren's team, Yukimaru says, "The home one can go back to is a place where people think about you. Do I have someone that thinks about me?"

Guren replies, "What are you talking about? Just hurry along.", becoming irritated at how slow she's having to move because of Yukimaru.

Yukimaru looks down as he remembers when Kabuto had them rest at a resort where he ran into a blond haired guy with whisker marks on his face, and how he told that that the place he could call home is a place where people think about you. Not knowing that was Naruto, a Konoha shinobi, who had Hirashin'd there, having marked Jiraiya during one of their spars, to ask Jiraiya for help with a sealing jutsu he was working on the side, while training in senjutsu. With Jiraiya being the super pervert that he was, he ended up finding him peeking at that resorts hot-spring, and ended up deciding on taking a relaxing dip before heading back to Mount Myoboku.

Yukimaru looks up at the camellia flower pattern on Guren's back, getting him to ask, "Which one do you prefer, the red or the white camellia flower?"

Guren is confused why he asked, until she remembers the flower pattern on her dress, replying, "I don't, it's just a coincidence that I have these.", turning back around and continuing on.

Yukimaru is having a hard time keeping up as his body starts to overheat and exhaustion over takes him, causing him to fall face first onto the ground.

Hearing him fall, Guren quickly turns around to see him unconscious on the ground, getting her to yell out, "Yukimaru!", running over to him to see if he's okay.

Moving Yukimaru onto his back, glad to see that he's okay, she then curses as a storm starts to pick up, forcing her to find them shelter. Guren was able to find them a small empty cabin to wait out the storm, irritated at how she's going to be late with meeting up with her team, but with Yukimaru's condition, there's no way she can go any further.

Hearing Yukimaru moan in pain, Guren rushes to his side and asks, "What's wrong Yukimaru?"

He looks up at her and answers, "I-It's so cold.", getting her to check his temperature by placing her hand on his forehead.

Guren becomes alarmed as she realizes that he has a fever, so she quickly bundles him up in the thickest blanket she can find. Then runs of to collect fire wood from the indoor pile and start a fire in the cabin's fire pit for cooking.

Meanwhile, Guren's team are waiting out the storm in the rundown shack, complaining at the horrible state of their hideout and how Guren's late. While Kakashi's search team is waiting it out inside a cave after having split up to cover more ground, seeing as Kiba was unable to pick up a scent, and now with the rain, it's practically impossible to. Kiba was able to put together that the dog whistle sound he and Akamaru heard before must be used to control the bats that they've repeatedly run into. Explaining how the enemy is aware of their presence are able to keep avoiding them for the past two days. Hinata returned unsuccessful as well, but Shino is out by himself, cocooned as he was able to find some of his beetles that had survived Guren's crystal attack, and is now waiting as they breed, hopefully giving him beetles with an immunity to Guren's crystal style.

Back with Guren, she'd fallen asleep in a chair by the bedside after tirelessly taking care of the sick Yukimaru, who only woke up once to grab her and comment about her warmth, bringing a smile to her face. Now with the storm passed and sunlight hitting her eyes, does she finally wake to find a blanket draped on her and Yukimaru gone! Guren begins to franticly yell out his name as she goes running through the woods looking for him, she finally finds him sitting under a camellia tree, whistling a tune with a leaf and holding a charm necklace in his right hand.

Guren approaches Yukimaru, getting him to stop playing the somewhat familiar song, while she asks, "Are you feeling better?", getting a smile and a nod from him, she continues, "I can't have you disappearing like that. Lord Orochimaru entrusted you to me."

Yukimaru lowers his head with a frown and a sad look on his face, getting Guren to notice his charm, prompting her to ask, "What's that?"

A surprised look appears on his face, then shifts to a more fond expression while holding the charm closer to his heart, and answers, "My mom."

A somewhat concerned expression appears on Guren's face as she asks, "By the way, where's your family?"

Yukimaru answers, "My mother, didn't return, so, I don't have anywhere to go."

Guren silently stares at him, thinking about how she had no one when growing up, until Orochimaru slaughtered the village she was in single-handed and took her in. She was awe-struck by his power, and unlike everyone in her village that feared her and her powers, he was delighted by them, so she found meaning in her existence by serving the first person to acknowledge her.

Looking up at the camellia tree, she catches a falling white camellia and crystalizes it, and explains, "Camellias, you like them, right? This camellia will never wither as long as I'm alive.", handing Yukimaru the camellia.

Yukimaru holds it dearly as he looks at it fondly, Guren then says, "Lets go.", and turns around and leaves with Yukimaru following after her.

Meanwhile, back in Konoha, Tsunade has received her report on the crystalized beetle, and it's just as she feared, it was crystalized down to the cellular level, changing all of it's bodily fluids into crystal. Realizing the dangers of a crystal user, she summons Yamato to her office to assign him a team to aid Kakashi's team.

After being debriefed on the situation, Yamato asks, "Is this crystal user really that dangerous?"

Tsunade explains, "Yes, though I've only heard of it in rumors, but in the past there have been reports of such an ability being used during the pervious wars. Even a rumor of how a crystal user was able to make an entire village disappear in single night! It's hard to believe that Orochimaru was able to find one, seeing as there was no recorded clan of having this ability, that's how rare it is."

Yamato then ask, taking the threat more seriously, "Who am I to take on this mission?"

Tsunade answers, "It'd be best to have Sai, who can do aerial surveillance with his ink creations. Then having Sakura, who's a shinobi trained in medical ninjutsu would be crucial to the missions success, but I have her out running a few errands for me, so you'll have to wait to leave until she gets back. Hopefully, by then, Naruto will be finished with his senjutsu training and will be able to add some extra muscle to your team, but if he isn't, you'll still have Fuu as extra muscle, plus she has the ability to fly as well, and her communication power will be most helpful."

Yamato replies, "Yes Milady! I'll inform both Sai and Fuu to be ready to move on Sakura's return."

As Yamato is about to leave, Tsunade stops him by saying, "Hold on Yamato. There's another issue I'd like to inform you about, and possible get some insight from you about it."

A confused Yamato asks, "And what exactly would that be?"

Tsunade explains, "You see, we were able to require these strange clones form a member of the Akatsuki that had the ability to hide as small spores and grow to full size by leeching the chakra off of their targets. I personally studied their bodies composition, and came to the realization that they are beings made from a combined structure of plant cells and the cells of my grandfather, the First Hokage, Senju Hashirama!"

Yamato yells out in pure shock, "What?! How can that be?! D-did Orochimaru create them for the Akatsuki?!"

Tsunade answers, "That's always a possibility, which is why I decided to tell you about it. I'm hoping that you'd be able to shed some light on this, seeing as Orochimaru used my grandfather's cells to alter your body."

Yamato replies, "I'm sorry, but the first memories I have are waking up inside Root by Danzo. He had secured Orochimaru's hideout that I was created in, he said that I was the only one to survive and that all the research was on combining the First's cells with human children, not plants. So, all I can say for certain, is that Orochimaru has the knowledge and ability to create them."

Tsunade responds, "True, but I can't help but be concerned that the Akatsuki has there own supply of my grandfathers cells and were the ones that created it, or even worse, Madara did it somehow. If he did, and he found a way to combine my grandfathers abilities to his own, then we're in a lot of trouble.", her hands folded in front of her face as a worried look becomes more evident.

Yamato replies, "Then I hope your concerns are wrong. Lord First was considered the Kami of shinobi and Madara was the only one who could compete with him. If Madara, who's power is already greatly feared, has the added power of the First, then I can't even fathom how we'd be able stop such monster."

Tsunade sighs before agreeing, "Yes, it'd be a worse case scenario, so all we can do is hope for the best and plan for the worst. Keep this to yourself for now, I'll inform all relevant parties when we have more definitive proof. You are dismissed."

Yamato promptly bows and leaves Tsunade to her own troubling thoughts.

It's been five days since Naruto left for his senjutsu training on Mount Myoboku, his first day was filled with eating bug dishes for food, learning about the properties of senjutsu and it's risks. By the end of that day, with the aid of shadow clones and getting beaten with a baton that knocks the nature chakra from his body, saving him from turning into a toad statue, he masters gathering nature chakra with oil. Finding out how much his power and abilities are increased, Naruto figures out how to use senjutsu to complete his Rasenshuriken. He also found out that senjutsu exponentially increased the power and range of his sensory abilities.

The second day was less successful, he was forced to stop trying to take in nature chakra without the oil and was forced to focus on mastering stillness, which is an essential part of mastering senjutsu. He did this by balancing himself while sitting on a tile on top of a tall spiked rock formation, and only once he could stay up there without so much as a tremor, was he allowed to continue gathering nature chakra. Thanks to that approach, he mastered entering Sage Mode to an even higher degree than Jiraiya on the third day. He found out that his body was far more durable and healed faster when in this fully realized sage mode.

The rest of the third day was spent on learning a type of sparring that sages perform using sage jutsu chakra, called Kawazu Kumite. By the fourth day he'd pretty much mastered Kawazu Kumite, being able to jump so high into air that he would be fighting above tall buildings. All the while, he'd be spending the nights to secretly work on his jutsu as Fukasaku was sleeping. Learning to throw his Rasenshuriken, but only four times before his sage mode runs out, and even started working on some of the sealing jutsu inside the Uzumaki scroll he brought with him, but those sealing jutsu are so complex that he ended up Hirashining to Jiraiya for some help. That's where he ran into this strange kid asking about having a place to go back to, he kind of reminded him of himself when he was younger and alone.

The fifth day was spent trying to learn how to gather nature chakra while moving, seeing as the Nine Tails wouldn't let Fukasaku merge with Naruto to gather it for him in battle. Unfortunately, no matter how hard he tried, Naruto couldn't properly gather nature chakra without starting to turn into a toad. Fukasaku compared it to trying to look to the right while looking to left, giving Naruto the inspiration to use shadow clones to gather it for him, then when they'd disperse, he'd receive the gathered nature chakra. Right now he can only maintain four shadow clones to gather nature chakra and can only use up to six more in combat, otherwise his clones will become too distracted to keep gathering nature chakra.

It was after applying the shadow clone method and successfully testing it out, that the messenger toad Fukasaku left behind with Tsunade returned to pass on her message. The message stated that if Naruto has finished his training in senjutsu, then he needs to return to go on a mission to back up Kakashi's search team that is tracking down Kabuto. That was all Naruto needed to hear, and with Fukasaku blessings, Naruto set out to Hirashin back to Konoha, making sure to grab all his stuff. Including his new short-sleeved red Sage coat with a black flame pattern around the hem, he was gifted it by Fukasaku for mastering Sage Mode, making him a fully realized Sage of Mount Myoboku. He is now wearing it over his usual outfit with his families scroll on his back, the Uzumaki clan symbol on it facing outward for all to see. Ready to leave, Naruto says his goodbyes as Shima returns from scrounging up some ingredients for the meal she was planning, Naruto sighs a little to loudly, getting her to make him wait as she makes him a bento box to go, damn it!

Naruto has Hirashin'd back to Konoha's main gate to officially check back in with the guards, that log him as having returned after being gone for five days. So, now everyone in the chain of command knows that he's returned to the village and is ready for active duty. He's decided to be more professional from now on, the lecture Tsunade gave him and the mistakes he's made have really opened his eyes. Plus, since mastering senjutsu, he's been able to really feel like apart of nature. Naruto's spent quite a bit of time meditating while drawing in nature chakra, enhancing his sensory ability to the point that he can actually feel the core feelings of their entire being, like the type of person they are, where they're from, if their chakra is related to someone else's, he can even tell when someone is lying to him. It's given him some perspective about life and how the world works, and because of that, he can feel the anger inside of him diminish a bit. It's not gone, but far more manageable now.

Sakura is headed to the villages gate to assist Kakashi's team with Sai on her right, Fuu on her left, and Captain Yamato in the lead. She's lost in thought about how Fuu had gone into explicit detail of how Ino practically knocked her door down to have sex with her. Not wanting to believe it, she ran off to confirm it with Ino, who didn't just confirm it, but said how she's been spending almost every night with Fuu since then. Before Sakura could try and make an excuse for why she didn't face her feelings about Naruto, Ino simply told her that she doesn't care anymore. That after finally freeing herself to indulge in what she wants, she doesn't need to live vicariously through others anymore, and that she's already given Sakura all the advice she can give. Which means that Sakura can't keep talking about to try and avoid actually doing it, so now she's having to ask herself the hard questions about how she feels and finally act on them.

Sakura is snapped out of her thoughts as Naruto yells out, "Hey! Wait up! Baa-chan just gave me the okay to go on the mission with you guys!"

Yamato replies, "That's good news. We could use your help on this one Naruto, especially now that you've seemed to have mastered senjutsu, right?"

Naruto smiles as he puffs up his chest and boasts, "Yup! Told you I'd have it down in no time flat!"

Fuu asks excitedly, "Really?! Then can you show us what it looks like?!"

Sai adds, "Yes, I too would like to see what the legendary Sage Mode looks like."

Naruto responds, "Yeah, sure. Just give me a moment.", Naruto proceeds to close his eyes and stand perfectly still as he draws in nature chakra.

Sakura comments, "Um? Is he doing something? I don't see any change and he's not making any hand-signs."

Fuu looks harder at Naruto and replies, "I don't see anything. Maybe Naruto's having trouble?"

Just then Naruto gains orange markings around his eyes, opening them to reveal yellow eyes with horizontal square pupils, while saying, "And there you go! Sage Mode! Awesome, right!"

Yamato comments, "I can definitely feel that your stronger, but what does it all do and how long can you maintain it?"

Naruto answers, "Well, I can only maintain it for about ten minutes at the most, for the amount of nature chakra I can take in is based on the amount of chakra I have. Though it will fade faster when I use large jutsu like the Rasenshuriken. While it's active, my entire body is enhanced, from my bodies durability, to healing speed, stamina, strength, speed, even the amount of chakra I have is increased, but the most surprising change is how much it increases my sensory ability."

Yamato asks, "By how much does it increase your sensory ability?"

Naruto explains, "Well, my range extends out side the Land of Fire, I can actually sense Kakashi-sensei, Hinata-chan, Kiba, and Shino from here. I can also sense how Hinata's chakra is related to all the members of the Hyuga clan, Kiba to the Inuzuka, and Shino to the Aburame here in the village. The only problem is that if I don't focus on a particular range or area, I end up becoming over flooded with signatures to the point that it's hard to make sense of any of it. It's like Sage Mode connects my sensory ability to all of the nature energy in the world, it can be too much at times, so I keep it focused mostly on just the immediate area around me. If I focus it on a single person, I can get a feel of what type of person they are, what they're feeling, a general idea of where they're from, and even if they're lying by the way their chakra fluctuates."

Sakura comments, "That's an amazing boost to your sensory ability! I've never heard of one that powerful before!"

Yamato replies, "I have actually. Lady Mito, the First Hokage's wife and a member of the Uzumaki clan, actually had an even stronger sensory ability."

Fuu exclaims, "Wow! That's unbelievable, and here I thought I made a big improvement!"

Sai responds, "Well, senjutsu is extremely rare, so it's over whelming power is to be expected."

Yamato gets them back on point, "Alright now, that's enough of that. We have a mission to go on, lets go!", getting everyone to reply in the affirmative and follow him out of the village to aid Kakashi's team.

Meanwhile, Guren and Yukimaru arrived at the hideout she left her team in, and found out that they're being tracked by Konoha shinobi. Guren decides that it'd be best to simply get rid of them, so has her team go out to confront them while she watches and sees how they operate, both her team and Konoha's, then, she'll formulate a plan to end them.

As Guren is heading out, she tells Yukimaru, "I have something to take care of. You stay here and wait for me. I'll come back here when I'm done. Don't run around, Lord Orochimaru asked me to take care of you."

Yukimaru is filled with fear as he remembers his mother saying the same thing before she died, getting him to quickly grab Guren by her rope belt and respond in concern, "But, my mother never returned."

Guren asks in confusion, "Huh?"

Yukimaru explains, "I wanted to see a red camellia, but that was not the right one. That was a white camellia, in fact. Everyone has left.", getting Guren to wonder if he's talking about his hometown.

Yukimaru then removes his charm from around his neck and hands it to Guren, getting her to respond in shock, "You... This is...!"

Yukimaru replies while pulling out the crystalized camellia she gave him, "I have this, so this one is for you."

Guren responds while taking it, "You want to exchange it, right? Alright.", placing it around her neck and leaving.

Kakashi and his team, with the absence of Shino, are tracking the scent of the bat that the enemy is using to spy on them. They come to a stop as Akamaru growls, indicating that he's picked up the enemies scent.

Kakashi orders, "Hinata, take a look."

Hinata replies while activating her Byakugan, "Yes Kakashi-sensei!", looking ahead to see four chakra signature, and reports, "Confirmed, four shinobi's chakra detected!"

Kakashi responds, "Alright, lets move in on them with caution. Remember that we need at least one of them alive to give us the whereabouts of Kabuto, preferably their leader, so follow my lead."

Hinata interrupts, "Wait! There's another one! Behind us! Move!", having seen Gozu moving behind them.

Gozu pops out from behind them with his right, enlarged, arm cocked back, yelling, "So your the leader!", aiming for Kakashi.

Kakashi's team splits up to avoid the ground shattering blow of Gozu, who takes the opportunity to punch Kakashi away from Hinata and Kiba, so he can keep him busy while the rest of his team kills off the other two.

Kiba yells out in concern as Kakashi is batted away, "Kakashi-sensei!"

Hinata gets Kiba's attention by yelling out, " Don't Kiba!", stopping him from chasing after Kakashi and allowing him to dodge the kunai thrown his way, and notice three men approaching them, Rinji in the center with Nurari on his right, and Kigiri on his left.

Rinji comments, "I missed. But since Gozu is taking care of their boss, it looks like things will be easy. You've got quite the tracking ability, it really is unfortunate."

Hinata moves to Kiba's side and whispers, "It's them, the one's I saw earlier. I think we just walked into their trap."

Kiba replies, "Yeah, The way we were attacked once finding them and how they split us off from Kakashi-sensei, it's obviously a trap, but, these are most likely the guys from the hideout we found. So, hopefully they can lead us to Kabuto."

Hinata asks in concern, "There's three of them Kiba, what should we do?"

Kiba responds, "Me and Akamaru's jutsu are linked, so we need to take out one of them right off the bat, evening our odds. I want to say we can handle them from there, but we should try to just hold them off until Kakashi-sensei returns.", getting Hinata to nod in return.

Kiba is thinking about how the one in the center must be the leader, so they need him alive for now. Moving over to the masked on the left, he decides that he'll be harder to handle, so moves on to the bodysuit one and decides to take him out.

Kiba yells out, "Come on Akamaru!", who transforms into Kiba and charges with him at Nurari, using their Fang over Fang to drill towards him.

Rinji order, "Kigiri, make a smokescreen!", as they jump out the way of Kiba's attack that's still barreling down on Nurari.

Kigiri releases a smokescreen, consuming the area in thick smoke just as Kiba's attack is about to hit it's mark.

Kiba lands on all fours as he misses Nurari, and says in shocked panic, "Posion gas!"

Akamaru barks at him, letting him know that it's not posion, but makes Kiba wonder what it is. Sniffing around, Kiba comes to the shocking conclusion that the smoke erases all scents in the area, explaining why he was never able to find their scents before. Just as he comes to this conclusion, he's kicked in the back of his head, sent slamming face first into a tree.

Kiba grunts in pain while saying, "Huh! This damn smoke erases my sense of smell while obscuring my vision! How am I suppose to fight what I can't even sense where they are?!", Akamaru growling in agreement.

The next several minutes are spend with Nurari kicking and punching Kiba and Akumaru around, laughing at their helplessness the whole time.

Rinji interrupts Nurari's fun by ordering, "That's enough, finish them already! We need to hunt down the little girl that ran off."

Nurari shrugs his shoulder while replying, "Fine. They're too pathetic to continue anyways, best put them out of their miseries."

As Nurari moves in on the battered Kiba and Akamaru, feeling like he's already won, Hinata appears to juken strike Nurari, landing a fatal blow.

Kiba comments, "Took you long enough Hinata, did you take care of it?"

Hinata replies, "Yes, that problems been neutralized Kiba. Sorry it took so long but-.", she's suddenly interrupted by Nurari kicking her aside.

Kiba yells out as Hinata screams in pain, "Hinata! How are you still alive?! Hinata never misses her mark anymore and I know heard her make contact with you?!"

Nurari mocks, "The gentle fist technique doesn't work on me, so, little boy, the little girl can't save you now!"

As Nurari laughs at his superiority, Hinata once again speeds towards him and lands a blow to his forehead, getting him to mock, "Ha! The suit's just a fashion statement! Do you really think I'd leave my head expos-", he stops suddenly as blood bursts through his eyes, nose, and ears!

Nurari drops dead, as Kiba use's his fang over fang technique to blow away all the smoke, getting a shocked Rinji to ask, "How?! Nurari excretes a slime-like substance that repels chakra! The Hyuga's gentle fist techniques are useless against him!"

Hinata raises her hand and shows an electric current flowing around it while explaining, "I noticed that when my first attack failed, but, by changing my chakra nature to lightning and combining it with my juken strike, I was able to cause the lightning to bypass the membrane of slime around his body and strike his brain. Once inside his skull, I applied medical ninjutsu to channel the lightning through the neurons in his brain to short circuit them, liquefying his brain matter."

Kiba adds, "Medical ninjutsu was created to save lives just like a scalpel, and just like a scapel, it can just as easily be used to kill someone. Hinata's ability to add her lightning change in nature with her gentle fist style is lethal enough, but by also combining her medical ninjutsu, she's practically a killing machine!"

Kigiri asks, "Rinji! What are we going to do now?!"

Rinji smirks and yells out, "Now Kiho!", expecting him to emerge from the bushes and fire poison smoke bombs at them.

When nothing happens, Kiba smugly explains, "What? Did you think I was just letting your tights wearing friend knock me around for fun? I was stalling as Hinata sneaked around and killed your hidden comrade! Her Byakugan detected his presence from the very beginning, so I let myself be toyed with as she took care of him, after all, your smokescreen all but made my sense of smell useless anyways. Besides, it's not like me and Akamaru haven't had worse beatings! Hell, the love taps my mom gives me hurts a lot worse then the entire beating I took!"

Hinata adds, "Your mistake was concluding that I was a weak little girl that ran away. Focusing on taking out Kiba and Akamaru, thinking that they were the bigger threat, just cost you the lives of two of your comrades, and now evens the odds in our favor."

Rinji replies, "Really? There's two of you and a mutt, who are tired and beat up, while the two of us are unharmed and at full strength! Do you really think the odds are in your favor?"

Off in the distance, an explosion of dirt and debris goes off, getting Guren to comment to herself, "Hmm, looks like it's started. This is a good chance to see both my enemies and my allies abilities. The preparations are complete, so it's about time for me to make my move as well.", making a hand-sign that causes a crystal plant to sprout from the ground and bloom into a crystal flower.

Kakashi's fight with Gozu looked one-sided as he was being pummeled into the ground by Gozu, but it turned out to be a shadow clone. Kakashi took Gozu by surprise and held him at knife point from behind, but Gozu seemed to deflate and suddenly disappear in a massive surge of sudden speed. Kakashi concluded that that while he was buffed up, his muscles were pushed to the highest degree for massive strength, but, by deflating those muscles, he equally increased his speed. Must be from Orochimaru experimenting on Gozu's muscles. With Gozu's increased speed, Kakashi was forced to use his Sharingan to evade his attacks. But, just as he adjusted to Gozu's straight forward attacks, Gozu started changing his attack pattern by firing mud from his mouth, changing his direction on a dime. Kakashi, who had primed a chidori to take him out, was forced to suddenly adjust his attack, not knowing if he'd make it in time to counter Gozu.

Back with Hinata and Kiba, Kigiri had flooded the area with his smoke screen again, forcing Kiba and Akamaru to rely on Hinata to help them dodge Rinji and Kigiri's attacks. Neither one wanted to get close to Hinata, seeing as she's already killed two of their teammates single handed, now focusing on keeping her at bay while trying to kill Kiba. With Rinji's ability to use ultrasonic waves to survey the battle field and give instructions to Kigiri, they were able to separate Kiba and Akamaru from Hinata. As Kigiri's smoke clones keep her busy, Rinji and Kigiri were double teaming Kiba and Akamaru, who couldn't even tell where the attacks were coming from.

Just as Rinji was preparing to finish them off he senses something and orders, "Kigiri, that's enough! I sense something coming, we need to go! Blow the smoke to cover our escape!"

Rinji and Kigiri leap away from the smoke filled area as Kigiri lets loose a fire ball jutsu, igniting the smoke and causing an explosion to consume Kiba, Akamaru, and Hinata as they run away.

Once the fire dissipated, it revealed Hinata standing in a small crater from using her rotation to protect herself from the flame, but Kiba and Akamaru are nowhere to be seen. That is until Kiba pops out of the ground with Akamaru following after him, having used earth jutsu to tunnel underground to avoid the explosion.

Hinata asks, "Why'd they flee all of a sudden?"

Kiba is interrupted as Shino appears on a tree branch above them, commenting, "It seems that they have someone who's also skilled at detection."

Hinata happily replies, "Shino! I'm glad your back! Did you find your beetles in time?"

Shino answers, "Yes, and they've produced enough offspring to hopefully give me a weapon against that strange jutsu of theirs."

Kiba responds a bit irritably, "Well, they'd better! I didn't like being kicked around for nothing Shino!"

Before Shino can reply, Kakashi appears unharmed and saying, "It seems that your targets escaped."

Hinata apologizes, "Sorry Kakashi-sensei."

Kakashi waves her off while replying, "Now, now. It's no big deal. I lost sight of my target as well, they're better than we anticipated, that's all. Besides, it looks like you were able to take down two of them, so we'll have less to deal with during our next skirmish.", pointing to the corpse lying behind them and the one in the bushes.

Kiba corrects, "You mean thanks to Hinata. I just got my ass handed to me! That's all!"

Hinata tries to calm Kiba down by saying, "That's not true Kiba. I was only able to kill them thanks to your diversion.", getting Kiba to feel a little bit better, but he silently promises to do better next time.

Guren is watching them through a crystal ball while commenting, "No wonder Gizu and Rinji were out matched. I didn't expect the Copy Ninja, Kakashi to be here. But no matter, I'll succeed regardless of who gets in my way."

Meanwhile, Team Yamato has followed Naruto's lead to the forest that the search team is currently in, just as he exits Sage Mode.

Yamato orders, "Alright, Sai, I want you to fly over and report back on what you see. I want information on the topography of the area, any structures, and all possible escape routes mapped out."

Sai responds, "Yes sir!", proceeding to use his cartoon art to create a large ink bird and jumping on it's back to follow his orders.

Sakura asks, "What should we do? Should we proceed to join up Kakashi-sensei's team?"

Yamato turns his attention to Naruto and asks, "Is Kakashi's team still engaged with the enemy?"

Naruto answers, "No. The enemies team seems to have given Kakashi's team the slip, but they were able to take out two of them before hand. So It's safe to assume that the enemy is regrouping to lick their wounds with the strongest of them, that was apparently sitting out on the action."

Fuu comments, "That one must have been their leader who was watching to gain intelligence on Kakashi's sensei's team."

Yamato replies, "Yes, that's most likely it, but, seeing as Kakashi's search team is reunited and no longer engaged in combat, we'll maintain our current position while Sai finishes his recon. Then we'll move in, circling around the enemy while cutting off their escape routes. Hopefully pinning them down between our teams and successfully capturing them. So take this time to rest and prepare to move out."

After receiving affirmative responses, Naruto senses a familiar chakra and decides to check it out, getting Sakura to ask him, "Hey! Where are you going?"

Naruto lies, "Um, well, I need to go pee.", chuckling softly while scratching the back of his head.

Getting Sakura to blush while muttering under her breath, "At least this time you're leaving first.", secretly having the thoughts of the time she caught him and Hinata going at it in the woods.

Naruto follows the signature to a camellia tree just as fog rolls in, spotting Yukimaru, asking, "It is you, after all, What're you doing here?", remembering meeting him while soaking in the hot springs at the resort he found pervy sage at.

Yukimaru turns to face the tree while commenting, "Not all camellia trees are short. Some that grow in the wild are this tall."

Getting Naruto to reply, "What are talking about? It's me! You know, from the hot springs!", moving a little closer.

Yukimaru responds, "Everyone has someplace to go home to. Wherever someone's thinking of you, that's where you go home to."

Naruto smiles while bending down to Yukimaru's eye-level and replies, "Isn't that what I taught you?", standing straight and becoming more serious, continues, "Never mind that, though. You're alone, aren't you? Where are your friends? Your family?"

Yukimaru looks at the tree with a saddened look and says, "The white camellias turned, red. Then they disappeared, all of them."

Naruto sympathetically replies, "Just as I thought, you're all alone, aren't you? If that's the case, do you want to come with us?! Come with us to our hometown. We're on a mission right now, but when we're done, we'll come back for you, or better yet, I can teleport you there right now."

Yukimaru thinks about Guren and responds with a little smile, "I have to wait. Where there's someone thinking of me, that's where I go home to."

Naruto replies, "Yes, that's right!"

Yukimaru moves his left hand to his chin into a thinking pose and saying, "Is there anyone thinking of me? I hope there is."

Naruto asks, "Could it be that there's someone thinking of you?"

Yukimaru pulls out the camellia Guren gave him and answers, "When I broke out in a fever, that person cared for me without sleeping"

Naruto responds happily, "I see! That shows that person was thinking of you!"

Yukimaru replies with a smile, "I hope so."

Naruto explains, "Listen, follow that person! Don't let that person go!", getting Yukimaru to nod his head in agreement.

Naruto suddenly senses Fuu's approach, letting Yukimaru slip away as he looks up at her on an tall rock formation behind him. Turning back around, Naruto notices that Yukimaru is gone, but senses his chakra headed off, so doesn't worry, seeing that he has someone that's taking care of him.

Fuu lands in front of Naruto, wrapping her hands around his neck and kissing him, getting him to say afterwards, "I'm not complaining, but you know the rules about having sex while on a mission. I know it's been a while Fuu, but you're going to have to wait until we go back home."

Fuu unwraps her arms from around his neck and nervously replies, "I-I know. It's just that, you see, while you were away, I-I had sex with Ino!"

Naruto takes a moment to process that bit of knowledge before responding happily, "That's great Fuu! You've been trying to get into Ino's pants for awhile now!"

Fuu looks shocked, not expecting that, utters out, "W-what?! Aren't you mad at me for cheating on you?"

Naruto grabs Fuu by her shoulders and explains, "Listen to me Fuu-chan. I already figured you would with some woman, especially with the way you constantly talked about it, so duh! I'm sleeping with Hinata-chan, I slept with Yugito, and it looks like I'll be adding more women to my bedroom, so who am I to judge you. As long as you love her, and she's ok with our arrangement, then it's fine with me. I trust you, and more importantly, I love you.", kissing her to further prove his point.

Fuu returns his kiss and then responds, "Thank you Naruto-kun, and I love you too.", where they spend the next few minutes making out before having to join back up with their teammates.

Back with Guren, she's sitting on a boulder with Rinji, Gozu, and Kigiri standing in front of her as she comments, "You guys are a pathetic lot! Your numbers have practically been cut in half!"

Rinji replies, "We're ashamed. Those guys were quite skilled. I wasn't expecting them to kill off Nurari and Kiho so easily."

Guren responds, "Well, because of that, we got a look at what they can do. Kakashi and that Hyuga girl are about the only troublesome ones, and with my jutsu, the Hyuga's abilities will be almost useless. The first thing we need to do is to deal with Kakashi. We can't let those guys interfere with Lord Orochimaru's plans. I'll see to the rest."

Guren moves to the end of a cliff over seeing the forested area that Kakashi's team is in, Shino's beetles swarming around in search of her team, blurring through hand-signs Guren shouts out, "Blossom! Crystal Style: Jade Crystal Labyrinth!", having placed seeds of the octangular jade crystal in a eight trigrams, eight square formation around the area, trapping Kakashi's team inside an octangular crystal prison.

Inside the prison, Kakashi has ordered his team to move forward to pursue the enemy, only to get Shino to say, "No wait!"

Getting Kiba to ask, "What is it Shino?"

Shino explains, "The parasitic insects are behaving strangely. It's as though they can't find their way out."

Kiba replies, "What do you mean?"

Shino futher explains, "How do I describe it? They seem to have lost all their senses and seem to be wandering aimlessly."

Hinata asks, "Could it be some sort of genjutsu?"

Kiba comments, "One of them did use a ultrasonic attack to mess with my sense of balance. Maybe he's doing it to your insects, but neither Akamaru or myself hear anything like that."

Kakashi orders, "Hinata, check to see if there is a sealing jutsu or a barrier."

Hinata responds, "Will do.", proceeding to use her Byakugan to look ahead.

Hinata ends up only seeing herself being reflected back at her infinitely, closing her eyes while falling to one knee.

Kakashi ask, "What's wrong? What did you see?"

Hinata answers, "Infinite images of us.", Kakashi thinking with concern at how the Byakugan was overcome.

With Guren, who's now inside the prison, uses her "Crystal Style: Jade Crystal Mirror.", to create a full body mirror, getting her to look at her reflection and say, "Lovely as always, Jade Crystal Clone Jutsu.", while making a hand-sign. Her reflection multiplies and moves out of the mirror, forming six crystal clones with the mirror shattering afterwards.

Back with Kakashi's team, Shino's insects are swarming back to him as Kakashi guesses, "Seems they were sealed within a barrier of some kind."

Shino replies, "We thought we had the enemy sealed off with the parasitic insects, but their outer perimeter was further off, is that it?"

Akamaru barks, getting Kiba to warn, "The enemy!", as spinning shuriken speed towards them, to only shatter into dozens of crystal shards, shooting out in all directions.

As Kakashi's team splits apart to avoid the onslaught of crystal shards that are tearing the trees apart, allowing Guren's clone to attack each member of Kakashi's team, one by one, keeping them separated from each other. The clones grow blue crystal blades along their right forearms, forcing Kiba, Shino, and Kakashi on the defensive. Kakashi reveals his sharingan to try and analyze her ability to seemingly materialize an infinite number of weapons, only for her to tell him that it's useless, her Crystal Style can't be copied.

Hinata, who's been cut off from her teammates, hides in some bushes to try and use her Byakugan again, only to met with the same images as before, making her realize it's useless.

Guren appears, leaning against the tree with her arms crossed by the bushes Hinata is hiding in, commenting, "I hear you've got good eyes, but inside my Jade Crystal, light is refracted. Your good eyesight works against you."

Hinata stands up and replies while facing her, "I have more than just Byakugan!", jumping to face Guren while taking her fighting stance.

Guren chuckles and responds, "You want to fight me face-to-face? What can you do with your eyes sealed? Are you that anxious to die?", a smug tone laced through her voice.

Hinata activates her Byakugan, forcing herself to focus with pure determination to get Guren's image to solidify into one place as she nonchalantly walks towards Hinata. Remembering how hard she's trained to get Naruto to acknowledge her abilities and the vigorous sparring sessions with Neji, she activates her "Gentle Fist Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Plams!", slamming in to Guren at frightening speed. As the sixty-four palm strikes hit all of Guren's chakra points, she ends up getting slammed through the tree she was leaning against earlier, causing the tree to splinter apart and her to shatter into crystal pieces.

Hinata's eyes widen in shock before she quickly turns around to see Guren holding a hand-sign and saying, "Crystal Style: Jade Crystal Prison!", instantly capturing Hinata inside a crystal prison!

The rest of Kakashi's search team regroups as Guren's clones flee, getting them to wonder why and where Hinata is, getting Guren to answer, "Here's your friend", having the crystal prison holding Hinata sprout from the ground.

Kiba yells out, "Hinata!"

Meanwhile, with Team Yamato, having seen the crystal dome form, they stand near it as Sai fills them in on what he was able to map out before and after it formed. Naruto has already entered Sage Mode and informed them that Kakashi's team is fine and that there appears to be only one enemy inside with them, using clones to engage Kakashi's team. Also that there is a three man team waiting outside the dome, most likely the crystal users teammates.

Yamato replies, "I think it's about a kilometer across. The crystal user is very skilled."

Naruto suggests, "Let's break it down right away."

Yamato replies, "Hold on a minute, Naruto. There's a kind of barrier here. We can't risk the possibility that it's been rigged somehow."

Yamato moves toward the barrier while having his right index finger change into wood, then proceeds to tap it with his wooden appendage, and when nothing happens, he says, "It's okay. It doesn't react to an attack from the outside."

Sakura comments, "We know that the others are trapped inside, but if there's a trap set up, this is going to be trouble."

Naruto asks while touching the crystal barrier, "Captain Yamato, can't we break inside the same way we did when we snuck into Orochimaru's hideout?"

Yamato explains, "I'm afraid that this crystal possesses an extremely tight structure at the molecular level. Unlike the wall around Orochimaru's hideout, there are no weak spots, but if we went from underground...", placing his hand on the ground and having it transform into wood, and burrowing through the ground.

Only for it to come piercing back up, getting Yamato to say with some frustration, "Even the ground itself is encased in crystal. There are no weak spots at all. It appears very strong. It doesn't look like we could break it with a jutsu concentrated at one point."

Sakura responds, "I agree. With something this large, the force would be dispersed equally, weakening the power of the attack"

Yamato nods his and replies, "Yes. It would have to be a jutsu that could do both widespread and powerful damage."

Naruto smiles while saying, "Alright! I'll handle it!"

Sakura replies immediately, "No Naruto! You can't use the Rasenshuriken! You've been told that if you continue to use it, then you'll lose the ability to mold chakra!", concern evident in her voice.

Naruto calmly responds, "True, but thanks to my mastering of senjutsu, I've overcome that problem. Just watch and see Sakura. Believe me, I know my jutsu and body better than anyone else."

Fuu decides to chime in, "Hey! I know your body just as much as you, if not better!"

Naruto chuckles and replies, "I know you do, so obviously, you know I can do it too, right?"

Fuu gives Naruto a smirk and responds, "Of course you can!"

Back with Guren, who's standing next to the crystalized Hinata, she makes her crystal blade on her left forearm and holds it to Hinata while threatening, "If you guys keep following us, then your friend will end up as shattered shards of light!", bringing worried looks to all their faces.

Over with Yamato's team, Naruto has jumped above the barrier and created a clone to help him make the Rasenshuriken during freefall, while having his teammates look up in awe at his amazing jumping ability and wondering if his jutsu looks different than they remember. It seems to be giving off more chakra than before, yet seems far more stable as well. Then their jaws practically hit the ground as Naruto then throws the Rasenshuriken, watching at it slams into the crystal barrier and shatters it like it was made of glass! Then the sheer force of the jutsu crashes into them, knocking them back as they struggle to stay upright with some of the nearby trees giving way and being blown away.

Inside the barrier with Guren and Kakashi's team, they all look up at the massive explosion above them that's shattering the barrier and is slamming a powerful wind current on them. Having recognized the jutsu, Kakashi is relieved to know that their backup has arrived, but knows that it doesn't change they fact that Hinata is being held hostage. Kiba and Shino are simply shocked that Naruto has a jutsu that powerful, well, Kiba's more jealous than anything.

Guren on the other hand, can't look away from the stunning form of Naruto, the moment she felt her barrier shatter and the immense chakra overwhelm her, she became captivated by the one responsible. Then, seeing him land right in front of Kakashi, eclipsing even the legendry Copy Ninja with his presence, she feels awestruck. She's only felt this once before, when Orochimaru slaughtered her home village, his power captivating her entire being. Now she feels it once more from this handsome blond shinobi, his power feeling just a strong as Orochimaru's, perhaps stronger, yet it has a unfamiliar warmth to it. A chill runs up her spine as she looks into Naruto's fierce toad-like eyes, and a moistness forming in her panties as she eyes his firm body.

Guren is snapped out her stupor by Naruto yelling out, "Hinata! You! What did you do to Hinata?!", anger laced in his voice, yet he maintains his composure, standing straight with his arms crossed and his eyes narrowed dangerously.

Guren feels another chill mixed with arousal flood her body as Kakashi explain, "Relax Naruto. We can't attack her recklessly since Hinata has been taken hostage. Besides, any small shock will cause that crystal to shatter. What a mess."

Fuu links them all up, getting Yamato to say, {Sai, I want you and Fuu to hit her from above while I distract her.}

Sai and Fuu give affirmative responses, getting Naruto to add, {You guys can go ahead and try, but if I see an opening to rescue Hinata-chan, I'm taking it! Saving her is all that matters right now!}, while never breaking his composure.

Kakashi replies, {Naruto's right. Our first priority is rescuing Hinata, but considering the fragile state she is currently in, we should retreat once we have her. With Naruto here we can quickly track the enemy down again.}

Fuu adds, {Plus, Naruto said that the crystal users teammates were waiting out side the barrier. So, they are most likely already on their way here.}, Naruto confirms Fuu's theory by sensing their approach.

Guren regains her control and starts chuckling, but yells, "Freeze!", as she notices Sai and Yamato making a step forward in preparation to attack.

Naruto takes the chance to throw a kunai right next to Hinata, getting Guren to smugly laugh out, "You get a single shot a me and you miss! Kami! You're not what I thought you were! You are nothing like Lord-"

Only to be interrupted by Naruto Hirashining to Hinata and having a shadow clone attack Guren, so he can gently remove the encased Hinata from the ground and teleporting them both away in a flash of orange. With her attention focused on destroying Naruto's shadow clone, who has already shattered her crystal blade with a palm strike so powerful that she felt her bones creek, Guren is suddenly surrounded by Kiba's smoke bombs. Responding immediately, Guren bombards the entire smoke filled area in large crystal blades, destroying Naruto's clone in the process, only to find out that she hit nothing when the smoke clears.

Naruto reappears by Fuu, who had already flown off once the fight started, with the others following after them until they reach a clearing with a hollowed out tree, and after confirming that the enemy isn't pursuing them.

Naruto has placed Hinata upright while making sure not to crack the crystal, getting Kakashi to ask, "Naruto, is Hinata still alive in there?"

Naruto answers, "Yes, I can still feel her chakra signature, so she has to be."

Prompting Fuu to ask, "Then how are we suppose to rescue her if all of Hinata's bodily fluids have been crystalized?!", an almost frantic worry evident in her voice.

Shino replies, "So it's true that my beetle's were crystalized on the cellular level? Then I'm afraid that there maybe nothing we can do."

Sakura responds, "At least from here anyways. We need to get her back to the village and hopefully Lady Tsunade can figure out a way to save her."

Kakashi agrees, "Yes, Naruto can Hirashin her to Lady Hokage immediately and-Naruto! What are you doing?!"

Naruto has taken a stance in front of Hinata in preparation to shatter the crystal encasing her, explaining, "Back when my shadow clone shattered the crystal users blade with senjutsu, I felt how it was structured. Then there is the fact that as I was touching the crystal encasing Hinata's body, I felt through nature chakra that the crystal stops around her skin. In sort, I sense a chakra membrane surrounding Hinata-chan, but I don't know how long it will last and whether the crystal will continue to spread once it fails. So, instead of wasting time on guessing on what to do, I'm going to free Hinata now!"

Shino responds, "That would explain why some of my beetles were able to survive the crystallization."

Kakashi replies, "It is a reasonable theory, but if we're wrong, then Hinata will die."

Naruto says firmly, "Trust me. My sensory ability while in Sage Mode is unmistaken. This is our best chance to free Hinata."

Yamato responds, "It's true that your sensory abilities have grown exponentially, but I'm not certain that we should risk Hinata's life on just that. We won't get a second chance at this."

Kakashi closes his eye and thinks about it, before replying, "Alright Naruto, do it. Sakura, once Hinata's free, I want a full evaluation on the status of her well being."

Sakura replies with uncertainty, "Y-yes Kakashi-sensei. I just hope your right and we don't end up killing her."

Naruto proceeds to slam his palm into the crystal, making sure to control the nature energy around Hinata's body to protect her from the shock. The crystal shatters into tiny particles, freeing a seemingly unharmed Hinata into Naruto's waiting arms.

Naruto gently lowers her onto her back as Sakura move to her left and starts examining her, telling everyone, "She's alive!", getting sighs of relief from everyone as Sakura continues to examine Hinata.

Hinata awakens to find herself free and over hearing Kakashi and Shino talking about Naruto's theory being right, and decides to sit up to explain, getting Sakura to say, "Don't move soon Hinata.", grabbing her by the shoulders to help her stay up.

With everyone's attention on her, Hinata explains, "When I received the jutsu, I released my chakra from my chakra points all at once, to make a thin film in which to cover myself."

Shino responds, "I see. Naruto was right, even her Crystal Style failed to crystallize chakra."

Kakashi praises with an eye-smile, "Although you face the unexpected, you did a great job, Hinata."

Hinata smiles a bit as Kiba comments, "Only a Hyuga could pull that off. Hinata, you're awesome!", Akamaru barking in agreement.

Naruto, having exited Sage Mode, adds, "I'm glad you're okay Hinata. I don't know what I would have done without you."

Hinata gains a light blush as she replies, "Sorry you had to worry about me, Naruto."

Naruto responds by kneeling down in front of her and placing his right hand against Hinata's left cheek affectionately while saying, "No need to apologize. The fact that you're okay is all I need."

Getting Hinata to place her hand on top of his and lean into it affectionately while muttering out, "I love you Naruto-kun."

Everyone smiles at their tender moment, with Sakura thinking about how much she wants the same thing, only being interrupted by Yamato asking, "Well, Senpai, what are we going to do now?"

Kakashi responds, "Well... Let's see...", looking a Hinata while thinking about what to do with her current condition.

Recognizing his look, Hinata insists, "I-I'm all right.", then starts moving to try and stand up.

Sakura stops her by saying, "Don't force yourself just yet."

Shino comments, "I think we were lucky because Hinata was the only victim of the Crystal Style."

Kakashi replies, "We don't have any countermeasures against the Crystal Style at this point, so retreating is the best option for now."

Naruto responds, "Yeah, we should wait to make sure that Hinata is fully recovered before we continue to pursue the enemy. I can keep tabs on them from here by staying in Sage Mode, and if they start to travel to far from here, I can have a shadow clone follow after them."

Kiba comments, "It's good to have someone that can track them by sensing chakra, seeing as they can erase their scent."

Kakashi replies, "True, with Naruto here we can track them with ease now, but I want to add that once we move on them, I don't want anyone to engage them. We're here to find out what they're up to and see if they can lead us to Kabuto.", getting affirmative responses from everyone there.

Meanwhile, Guren and her team return to there hideout where Yukimaru is waiting, getting him to run to her while calling out her name, a smile spread across his face.

Once he stops in front of her, Guren asks, "Is everything okay?"

Yukimaru answers, "I ran into someone I know."

Getting Rinji to stop and ask, "What?!"

Guren continues, "Who was that?"

Yukimaru replies, "The man with the headband"

Getting Rinji to say in confused concern, "Headband? Could it be the guy we just met?"

Prompting Guren to ask Yukimaru, "How do you know about him?"

Yukimaru explains, "Um, well, oh! When I went out with Kabuto the other day, I met him. The man said he has a place to return to. And asked me to return with him, but I didn't. Because I thought that was not the kind of place where I could return to."

Gozu asks, "Was that just a coincidence?"

Rinji responds, "I think so. Because there's no way they saw us and this kid together. Well, what should we do, Guren?", who's currently sitting down away from Guren and Yukimaru.

Guren looks at Rinji and answers, "There can only be one answer.", moving to kneel down and place her hands on Yukimaru's shoulders while saying with a smile, "Good boy, thanks for coming back. It's not them to whom you return, but to me. But if he's your friend, I want to say hello to him. Where did you see him?"

Getting Rinji to ask, "Are you going to track them?"

Guren responds while moving to stand in front of Rinji, "Yeah. Once I decide to go after something, I stick with it. That's the way I do things.", while secretly wondering if she'd be able to beat him, and if it's a fight she actually wants to have. The excitement and awe of Naruto's presence is still embedded in her body.

Kabuto interrupts, "Guren, that's a bad habit.", getting everyone to face him as he enters their hideout.

Yukimaru replies, "Kabuto-san!"

Kabuto continues, "It's easy for you to go overboard."

Guren responds in shocked disgust, "What?!"

Kabuto smugly replies, "I hope you have some remorse. Based on the story I just heard, I think you were very lucky that they didn't take Yukimaru away. If you lose Yukimaru, Guren, You'll lose credibility with Lord Orochimaru.", getting a worried look to cross Guren's face.

Later, Kabuto, Guren, Gozu, and Yukimaru are on a boat at the lake that Kabuto ahd taken Yukimaru to earlier, the one containing the Three Tails. Rinji and Kigiri are standing on the dock with mist filling the area.

Kabuto says to them, "Sorry, but you guys must stay here and watch out for the Konoha-nin. Be especially wary of Uzumaki Naruto, he's the one who destroyed Guren's barrier. He was strong enough to critically injure Lord Orochimaru, even though it was with Sasuke's help, it's still an impressive feat. Also, his sensory ability is quite formidable, he most likely knows that we're here, so expect them to be here soon. Remember, you job is to keep them from interfering in our test run with controlling the Three Tails."

Rinji asks irritably, "What?! We can't come with you?!"

Guren scolds, "Rinji, this time just follow what Kabuto says!"

Rinji lowers his head and replies, "All right. If you say so, Guren."

Kabuto responds, "Sorry. Let's go.", getting Gozu to start rowing the boat forward.

Kabuto notices Yukimaru dragging his hand across the water with a gloomy expression, and asks, "What's wrong Yukimaru?"

Yukimaru explains, "Kabuto-san, I have a bad feeling. When I took the medicine, my head really hurt."

Kabuto replies, "Don't worry. Nothing will go wrong. When something happens, Guren will protect you."

A large smile breaks across Yukimaru's face and gets him to ask Guren, "Really?"

Guren responds a little shakily, "Y-yeah. That's true.", a smile appearing on her face.

Naruto is leading Kakashi, Yamato, Shino, Kiba and Akamaru to the lake, having sensed Kabuto meeting up with the crystal user and her team at there hideout, and then moving out to the lake with the boy he saw earlier. Then Kabuto, the crystal user, one of her team members and the boy split from their group, leaving behind two of them, and are moving out to the center lake. Wanting to see what they're up to, Kakashi formed their team to go and investigate, while looking out for the opportunity to capture Kabuto.

Kakashi asks, "Naruto, can you sense anything in that lake?"

Naruto answers, "Well, I can sense fish and other aquatic life forms, but I can't really sense anything that'd be worth Kabuto exposing himself for. Though, I do sense a lot of nature chakra coming from the lake, but that could just because of how healthily the lake is and that it's in the center of a large forest."

Shino chimes in, "Perhaps it's an item or scroll that holds a lot of value."

Kiba asks, "Then what does this boy that Naruto supposedly met before has to do with it?"

Naruto replies, feeling a bit offended, "Hey! What do you mean supposedly?! I know what I saw and I remember the feel of his chakra! It's very unique, but I wouldn't expect you to know that dog breath!"

Kiba fires back, "What did you say GENIN?! You should be careful how you talk to your superior!"

Naruto returns fire, "Hey! don't get all uppity with me just because you're a chunin! After all, the last I checked, I've defeated three members of the Akatsuki while you got your butt handed to you by a bunch of Orochimaru's lackeys! Oh, and it's thanks to me that we can even track these guys down because your most valued ability is useless against them!"

Kakashi get them to stop bickering by ordering, "That's enough you two! Stay on mission! I expect better from the both of you, you're not children anymore, so act like it!"

Naruto and Kiba lower there heads in shame and apologizes simultaneously, "Sorry Kakashi-sensei. It won't happen again."

Kakashi replies, "Good. Now Naruto, can you elaborate on what you meant by the boy's chakra being unique?"

Naruto takes a moment to think about it, before explaining, "Well, it's hard to describe, really. When I first met him, his chakra felt lonely, kind of like how Gaara's and mine were. Though the last time I saw him, near this area actually, he seemed a little more happy, his chakra was brighter. But the strangest part was that when I sense him now in Sage Mode, I can feel something similar to nature chakra resonating from him, but that shouldn't be possible, right?"

Yamato responds, "Maybe it's due to Orochimaru experimenting on him. We once received intelligence from Lord Jiraiya that Orochimaru was interested in senjutsu and was looking for a way to use it himself."

Kakashi continues, "And now Kabuto is trying to do the same thing by using this boy as a lab rat. That could explain why he's here, a place with an abundance of nature chakra, to give his experiment a better chance of success."

Naruto replies, "Then we need to hurry and stop him!"

Kakashi responds, "No. Not until we see exactly what Kabuto's up to. We're only guessing at what his intentions are, so only once we know for sure what he's doing, do we can stop him, Naruto."

Naruto wants to yell out against the plan, but decides to hold his tongue and replies somewhat begrudgingly, "Understood Kakashi-sensei."

Back with Kabuto's group on the lake, Gozu asks Kabuto, "What are you going to due here?"

Kabuto answers, "Well, I'll perform a little test. With him and Guren.", he proceeds to pull out a device with several nodes on it and orders Yukimaru, "Here, put this on."

Yukimaru takes it and puts it on his head and painfully inserts the needle tipped sensors into his temples. Kabuto then takes out a pill bottle and dumps about a dozen pills into his right hand to give Yukimaru.

Guren suddenly stands up and says with worry, "If you give him that much medicine-", stopping herself from scaring Yukimaru.

Kabuto asks, "Are you trying to disrupt Lord Orochimaru's plan?", getting Guren to gasp in shock, she'd never betray Lord Orochimaru.

As Guren yields, Kabuto kneels down in front of Yukimaru and places the pills in his hand while saying, "Don't worry. Let's start something fun. This medicine is different from what you took before. This medicine won't bring you any suffering. You can't go back until you take this."

Yukimaru looks uncertainly at Guren, asking silently if it's okay, getting her smile softly and nod her head. Taking that as it being okay, Yukimaru downs the fistful of pills, as Guren's face shifts to one of concern as she worries about the damage those pills could cause him.

Kabuto snaps Guren out of her concern by ordering, "Guren, it's your turn."

Getting Guren to snap at him, "Stop being so bossy all the time! Your not Lord Orochimaru!", then proceeds to blur through some hand-signs, "Crystal Style: Jade Crystal Hexagonal Column!", getting fine massive crystal columns to rise around them, forming a hexagon.

Yukimaru begins to breath heavily before a shooting pain takes him, getting him to grab his throat as chakra begins to pour from his body in waves. Once his chakra reaches it's maximum output, Yukimaru stands up and screams as a pillar of pure chakra shoots from his body into the air. That cause the waters surface to shake outwards and the crystal columns to resonate with his chakra, glowing brightly while giving off a kind of ultrasonic sound.

Light begins to form from underneath the water in front of there boat and in the center of the hexagon, getting Guren to order, "Be careful! The Three Tails is coming!", the water then explodes upward, causing the boat to shake rapidly.

Kabuto excitedly says, "The test was successful! The Three Tails will appear!", as the shadow of the Three Tails emerges with the top part of it's shell already out of the water.

Over with Naruto's group, Naruto suddenly senses the massive increase in nature chakra, but this time it feels much different. At the next moment, both Shino's beetles and Akamaru sense the powerful chakra coming from the lake.

Naruto says with shock in his voice, "I sense a massive chakra signature coming from the lake!"

Kakashi replies, "What?!"

Shino adds, "My insects feel it too. They've never felt so much chakra before."

Akamaru barks his agreement, getting Kiba to respond, "It looks like Akamaru feels the same thing as your insects!"

Naruto clarifies, "I think it was that large amount of nature energy I felt earlier, but it feels different. Like it has a will of it's own!"

Kakashi orders, "Let's hurry!", jumping ahead at a faster pace.

It doesn't take them very long to get within visual range of the lake, but it's surrounded by fog so dense that they can't see through it, causing Kiba and Akumaru to land in a tree filled with bats.

The bats signal Rinji that they are approaching, getting him to say to Kigiri, "They have us at a disadvantage, number wise. Let's buy some time until Guren gets here! Lay a somke screen!"

Kigiri replies, "Understood!", and starts filling the area with his smoke screen jutsu.

Kakashi see's the smoke screen and stops while holding his right hand up to signal the others to stop, and explain, "A smoke screen. They're lying in wait for us, but if we stay here too long, we won't be able to find out what's happening at the lake. We should split up into two groups. Naruto, you go by yourself and see what's happening at the lake. We'll create a diversion and you head off to the center of the lake, but don't attack."

Naruto responds, "Yes, understood.", then proceeds to jump away.

Yamato asks in concern, "Are you sure? Only Naruto?"

Kakashi replies, "Let's show him a bit of trust, and after mastering senjutu, he has the best chance of surviving what ever it is that's at the lake."

Naruto appears to jump into the smoke screen and look around as nothing happens, getting Shino to say, "No reaction. There's no trap.", getting the rest of them to land next to Naruto who then dissolves in to beetles and goes up Shino's sleeves.

Kiba asks, "Could they have escaped already?"

Kakashi suggest, "They're probably just trying to buy time. Stay on guard."

Back on the lake, the boat that Kabuto's group is on is being pushed back outside the hexagon as the Three Tails fully emerges from the water inside the crystal columns.

Guren comments in fear , "So that's the Three Tails."

Kabuto with equal concern states, "It's more than I expected."

Gozu adds, "What is this? This intimidation!"

Kabuto's expression changes to glee as he exclaims, "We did it, it was a success. Yukimaru is controlling the Three Tails!"

Yukimaru continues to scream as blood starts to pour from his ears and nose, getting Guren to yell out in concern for his well being, "Yukimaru!"

Kabuto replies frantically, "Damn! If he keeps using his power...!", rushing over to remove the device and stop Yukimaru.

Guren asks frantically, "If he fails, what will happen to the Three Tails?"

Kabuto answers, "Your job is to stop that from happening!", getting Guren to grunt in annoyance.

Yukimaru finally stops screaming as his chakra dissipates and he passes out, getting Guren to yell out again, "Yukimaru!"

The Three Tails then starts roaring out and slams it's head into the water, capsizing their boat, sending them all flying away into the water, Kabuto ends up catching Yukimaru and lands on the water as Gozu sinks below the surface, and Guren is sent sliding backwards and coming to a stop on top of the water.

Guren then charges toward the Three Tails while Kabuto yells out, "Guren! Hurry up and stop this beast!"

Getting Guren to yell back as she passes him, "Stop being so bossy!", coming to a stop and preparing a jutsu.

Only for the Three Tails to rush in on her in surprising speed, and just as it looks like it's about to hit her, Gozu comes shooting out of the water and pushes it back while yelling, "Hurry! Do it!"

The Three Tails shakes Gozu off just a Guren finishes her jutsu, "Crystal Style: Divine Pathway Jutsu!", causing massive blue crystal columns to rise from the water towards the Three Tails, lifting it out of the water! Unfortunately, they fail to impel it and shatter to pieces as it thrashes about.

Guren says in shock, "My crystal shattered?!", then cocks her right arm while forming a giant hexagonal shuriken and throwing it at the Three Tails while charging after it.

The shuriken shatter on impact, getting Guren to curse while running around it, trying to create a large scale jutsu that can contain it, but knows that she needs more time. Unfortunately, as Guren goes through her hand-signs, the Three Tails quickly advances on her before she can finish. Just as it look like it's all over, the Three Tails stops! Gozu has grabbed it by one of it's tails and is hopelessly trying to hold it back. He's only able to hold for a few seconds before it whips it's tails, sending him flying.

Fortunately, it was all Guren needed to perform her jutsu, "Crystal Style! Crystal Wall, 8th Formation! Eat this, turtle bastard!", encasing the Three Tails inside giant crystals.

Kabuto looks at the trapped Three Tails and comments, "She did it! Crystal Style... I never knew Guren had this much ability"

Guren falls to one knee in exhaustion, having used up too much chakra, breathing heavily as Gozu approaches her.

Back with Kakashi's group, they're having no luck find the enemy, having formed at circle to protect each other from surprise attacks. Kiba's getting agitated from just standing there and practically explodes from bumping his shoulder into Shino's. Kakashi's has to keep them focused on keeping their guard up.

Then Shino suddenly yells out, "Above us!", Rinji and Kigiri are descending upon them as their guard is down, prepared to strike.

Before they can respond Sai and Fuu fly in and bat Rinji and Kigiri away while they're still in mid-air, Kigiri's neck snaps from Fuu's blackened arm slamming into his head, sending his corpse slamming into a nearby tree. Rinji was more fortunate, he was able to block Sai's tanto with a kunai and take cover behind a tree with the aid of the smoke screen. Though, once he sees that that Hinata is back in action, which explains how they got the jump on them and killed Kigiri, he decides to flee.

Naruto has made it to the center of the lake, having watched as Guren encased the Three Tails through the cover of the fog. If she wasn't his enemy, he'd be rather impressed with her ability and overall power, but she is his enemy, one that's using that boy to control the Three Tails. Which brings to mind, why does the Three Tails chakra feel so different from the other Bijuu he's sensed? Looking closer at it, Naruto still senses that it's mostly made of nature chakra and wonders if it's just a unique aspect of the Three Tails. Then it hits him, he remembers Pervy Sage telling him how Bijuu are immortal beings that, even if you kill one, which only has happened by killing a jinchuuriki host, the Bijuu will reform at a random time and place, typically years later. He also knows that the Three Tails died with it's last host and hasn't been seen until now. Could it be? Do the Bijuu reform from nature chakra?! That'd explain why they are so strong, they're all made from nature chakra! But, why doesn't he sense this from the Nine Tails inside of him, or the Seven Tails inside Fuu? Perhaps, the Three Tails has only recently reformed and it's will hasn't fully taken effect, which alters the nature chakra they are made of, to create their unique chakra.

As Naruto is pondering the nature of the Bijuu, Gozu is lifting the boat upright onto the surface of the water with Guren and Kabuto, who's still holding Yukimaru, approach him. Kabuto proceeds to place Yukimaru's unconscious body into the boat, getting him to stir awake.

Naruto then sees the Three Tails eye look at him and start roaring, getting the crystal to start cracking and break apart as it thrashes free.

Guren's group is shocked to see that even her large jutsu couldn't hold it, getting Kabuto to frantically order, "Guren! take Yukimaru and run! Gozu! You too!", Kabuto then pussies out and disappears into a cloud of smoke.

Guren move forward and take a protective stance while yelling out, "Gozu, protect Yukimaru!"

Gozu replies, "All right!", as a wave pushes the boat back and Guren leaps into the air.

As Yukimaru call out Gurens name with concern, Guren is making a hand-sign with her chakra spiraling around and yelling out, "You fight with me!" releasing thousands of crystal senbon to rain down on the Three Tails.

Guren then falls towards the Three Tails while creating a large blue crystal lance on her right arm, and is cocoking her arm back to try and pierce through it's shell. Naruto is watching her, wondering why she'd be fighting the Three Tails. Just as Guren's lance is about to hit the Three Tails in the head, it roars out a massive amount of chakra, shattering her lance and knocking her back, getting Yukimaru to yell out for her again. Naruto turns his attention to Yukimaru, while now knowing the crystal users name, and wonders with shock if Guren is fighting a Bijuu to protect him. Getting Naruto to conclude that Yukimaru's place to return to is with Guren, especially with the way Yukimaru is smiling at him.

Guren in the meantime, is thrown back against the waters surface and cartwheels while forming a vertical crystal circle around her while yelling out, "Don't underestimate me, Muddy turtle!", then charges forward by spinning the ring to increase her momentum, but is apparently crushed by the Three Tails.

Yukimaru cries out, "Guren!", and proceeds to pull out the camellia she gave him, knowing that she's still alive as long as it's still encased in crystal.

"Gozu! What are you doing?! Take Yukimaru and get out of here!", a weaken and floating Guren shouts.

Gozu nods his head in understanding, getting Yukimaru to stand up and face Naruto to say, "I figured out where to return home to.", giving Naruto a full open mouth smile.

Turning to face the Three Tails, Yukimaru's face shifts to one of determination before releasing his power to control the Three Tails at will as it move towards them, getting it to stop in it's track. Naruto senses how Yukimaru's chakra is resonating with the Three Tails once being amplified by the crystal columns, confirming that he is controlling the Three Tails.

Unfortunately, the columns crack and start breaking apart, freeing the Three Tails as it sends out a massive tidal wave to completely shatter the crystals and sweep up everyone around it. Gozu and Naruto are sent spiraling away from the torrents caused by the Three Tails, though Naruto ends up dissipating into smoke, revealing it to be a shadow clone. The wave continues on to smash into the area where Kakashi and the others are at, removing the smoke screen and completely destroying the dock and nearby trees.

Guren is desperately swimming with all her might to reach Yukimaru, having noticed the dimensional rift caused by the reforming of Three Tails, knowing that if they are shucked into it, they will never return. Guren is thinking of all her moments with Yukimaru, from him being sick, to him giving her his mothers charm, he is the first person she has bonded with in a very long time and she desperately doesn't want to lose him. Reaching out to grab Yukimaru's outstretched hand, she's finally able grab him firmly and pour all her chakra in her jutsu, causing a massive crystal pillar to lift them out of the water with them holding on to each other in a loving embrace, like that of a mother and child.

Guren later wakes in the woods with Yukimaru holding her hand and smiling down at her, they're both still drenched in water with Yukimaru happily saying, "This time, I'll hold your hand", bringing a smile her face before she passes out again.

Back out on the lake, the Three Tails remerges from the water and starts releasing a mist from it's shell, mixing with the fog and spreading out to fill the entire area. Naruto had received the memories of his shadow clone just as the tide wave hit him by the shore line, he was able keep himself from being washed away be gripping the ground with his chakra and the added guard of his mud wall jutsu, all of which were reinforced with senjutsu chakra. Naruto has exited Sage Mode as he processes what happened on the lake and how it's his fault that boy is now working with Orochimaru's lackeys, not noticing the fog around him thickening.

As Naruto moves forward to find Yukimaru, he suddenly finds himself standing in a shadowy realm with mixtures of light and dark, items of his life passing by him.

Looking around to try and figure out what's happening, he suddenly hears a very familiar voice mocking him, "Ha-ha-ah. You're pathetic! All your hard work and training won't change how they look at you! You can succeed on every mission, save all their lives, even delude yourself into believing that you've found love, but none of that will get the villagers to stop hating you!"

Images of his past appear around him, the hate filled stares, the times he'd cry himself to sleep as a boy, the unbearable loneliness of his childhood, and the faces of Fuu, Hinata, and Sakura shifting to ones filled with hatred and disgust for him.

Naruto yells out, "Shut up! This isn't real! I won't be tricked by genjutsu!"

The other voice replies, "Genjustu?! Ha! You're truly a fool! I'm not an illusion! I'm your true self!", revealing another Naruto with blackened eyes.

Naruto responds with shock and denial, "That's bullshit! You have to be an illusion, there's no other me!"

The dark Naruto replies, "Go ahead, keep fooling yourself, but you can't escape the truth."

Naruto yells back, "What truth?!"

Dark Naruto explains, "That I'm you. The real you, the one that doesn't hide behind a smile and pretend that everything is okay. I'm the one the Nine Tails likes."

Naruto is hit by the shocking revelation that this is the negative part of himself that the Nine Tails uses to take control of him!

Naruto's eyes narrow as a smile breaks across his face, getting him to say, "Then all I need to do is defeat you and then I can finally take control the Nine Tails chakra!", and proceeds to create thousands of clone in preparation to battle himself.

Dark Naruto just smirks while creating the exact same number of shadow clones as Naruto as he replies, "As if you could possibly beat me! I'm you, remember! I have all your jutsu, techniques, fighting style, everything!"

What follows it a quick battle between Naruto armies, using just about every jutsu in his arsenal, including his kenjutsu and recently acquired senjutsu. Just as Naruto is about to shove a rasengan in his dark self's face, he's snapped out of it, showing a battered Kiba instead of his dark self.

Kakashi yells out from behind Naruto, having stopped him from killing Kiba with his sharingan flaring, "That's enough, Naruto! Snap out of it!"

Naruto lets his rasengan dissipate while he looks around himself, seeing that all the nearby trees have been reduced to kindling, large caters here and there, deep slash marks littering the area, but most noticeably is that all his friends and teammates are battered, bruised, and bleeding.

Kiba yells out with rage, "Damn it Naruto! You nearly killed us! What the hell were you thinking?!"

Naruto stutters out in disbelief, "I-I didn't m-mean for- w-what's going on h-here? I thought I-I was fighting m-myself."

Kiba replies heatedly, "What the hell are you talking about?!"

Kakashi interrupts, "Relax Kiba. It appears that Naruto was under some kind of illusion. This thick fog has already messed up Shino's insects and Fuu's communication abilities. I'm not surprised that it's also causing illusions."

Sakura and Hinata are healing Sai and Shino as Yamato walks forward while holding an open gash on his left shoulder, asking, "Senpai, what should we do?"

Kakashi answers, "We retreat back out of this fog, so we can share information and come up with a strategy on what to do next. We can't risk acting in this fog, plus, we need to finish treating everyone's wounds."

Naruto apologizes with remorse evident in his voice, "I-I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to-"

Fuu interrupts him with a tight embrace while saying, "It's not your fault, Naruto-kun. You were under an illusion, you couldn't possibly have known you were attacking us.", she herself is covered in cuts and her clothes are practically shredded, but the cuts are miniscule due to her mastering the Earth Style: Iron Skin technique that Kakuzu often used.

Naruto returns her embrace and replies, "Alright. Let's go."

Meanwhile, with Yuikmaru sitting by the unconscious side of Guren, she is having a nightmare about how she killed a woman that nursed her back to health because Orochimaru ordered her to. Snapping awake and sitting up after killing the woman and turning a white camellia red with her blood, she wonders why she's remembering that. In fact, she's wondering why all these feelings that she thought she buried away, deep inside herself that day, are resurfacing.

"Guren.", a flushed Yukimaru says, happy to see Guren awake.

Guren is confused ask she replies, "Yukimaru?!", then she remembers that she was beaten by the Three Tails and was knocked unconscious, she wasn't expecting it to be that powerful. Now she's worried about the Konoha-nin being on the move, and how she wants to find Rinji and the others, but with this dense fog it'd be to dangerous to move.

Guren then asks, "What happened to the Three Tails?"

Yukimaru answers, "I don't know. It just suddenly left. But I'm glad that you woke up. You were moaning the whole time. You couldn't wake up, no matter how many times I called out your name"

Guren is hit by the reality that he stayed by her side the whole time she was unconscious, getting her to smile while asking, "Now then, shall we go find the others?"

Yukimaru answers, "Yeah, but it's strange. I don't have any strength in my body.", placing a hand on his forehead as he starts burning up.

Guren notices this and states, with concern in her voice, "You have a fever again! Since when?"

Back with Naruto's group, that have already moved out of the fog and have had Sai and Hinata confirm that the fog is coming from the Three Tails, acting as a barrier to protect it's self. Naruto had even informed them of everything that happened at the lake with the Three Tails, including his theory on why he didn't sense it earlier. Naruto wanted to go and rescue the boy that's still inside the fog, but relented when Kakashi reminded him that he nearly killed his own comrades because of that fog. So for now, they're going to stay away from the lake and the fog surrounding it.

Kiba asks, "What are we suppose to do now?"

Kakashi answers, "We've gone a far ways off from simply capturing Kabuto and now with the Three Tails involvement, I can't just arbitrarily make decisions about what to do. So, I want you all to stay out of the fog while maintaining a watch on both the lake and the enemies movements. While Naruto has a shadow clone Hirashin's me back to Konoha to inform Lady Hokage and receive orders from her on how to proceed."

Naruto ask, "Why one of my shadow clones and not me?"

Kakashi answers, "Because, you're our only sensory type shinobi, and with the added boost from your Sage Mode, you'll be able to best keep tabs on what's happening at the lake while safely maintaining your distance."

Naruto proceeds to make a shadow that then Hirashin's Kakashi to Tsunade's office, they had the fortunate luck that she was alone and happy to put her paperwork to the side. Once properly greeting Tsunade and apologizing for interrupting, Kakashi fills Tsunade in on what's been happing on the mission and the current state of things.

Tsunade fold her hands in front of her face as she takes a moment to think, before responding, "This may work in our favor. The Akatsuki have been gathering up Bijuu rapidly, and even though we still don't know exactly why, we can safely assume that whatever they're doing with them is going to be catastrophic for the world. So, we now have the chance to keep the Three Tails out of there hands by sealing it away, but I'm not exactly sure on how we can do that."

Naruto's clone offers, "I can handle it. I've recently mastered one of my clan's more powerful sealing jutsu. All I need to know is what way you want me to seal it up, like using an scroll or a special jar. I can even seal the Three Tails into the nearby landscape, like the lake, or a mountain."

Tsunade asks with trepidation, "What about sealing it into another person and creating a new jinchuuriki?"

Naruto wants to yell out his disgust with that idea, but knows that Tsunade is the Hokage and they are in an official meeting, so replies after calming himself, "I could do that, but I don't really like the idea of burdening someone with that fate. So, respectfully, I wouldn't do it unless that someone volunteered to be a jinchuuriki."

Tsunade is taken back by Naruto, yet again he shows restraint when she expected him to throw a fit, getting her to respond, "Look, Naruto, sometimes for the greater good we have to do some unsavory things, like creating another jinchuuriki, but, I'm willing to compromise. So, I'll allow you to seal the Three Tails in an object or scroll that you can then bring back to Konoha, but, if I'm able to find someone who is willing to become it's host, then you have to agree to seal it inside of that person, deal?"

Naruto yields, "Fine, but that still doesn't mean I have to like it!"

Tsunade replies, "Then it's a deal. Now, Kakashi, head back and shift your focus in aiding Naruto into sealing the Three Tails. Kabuto is a secondary concern, but if the opportunity to either capture or kill him arises, then don't hesitate to do so."

Kakashi responds, "Yes Milady."

Tsunade then asks, "Do you think that you'll need anymore help in achieving this mission?"

Kakashi thinks about for a moment, before replying, "No. With the enemies number already cut down to a four-man cell, and that they have to protect this boy that can control the Three Tails, we easily have enough man power to get it done."

Tsunade nods her head and responds, "Alright, and while you brought it up, do try and bring back the boy as well. I'd love to be able to analyze his ability, and who knows, he might be able to help Naruto and Fuu in controlling their Bijuu. You can go now.", Naruto's clone then proceeds to Hirashin them back and dissipate to inform Naruto of what happened.

With Guren, who is now watching over the sickened Yukimaru, she is thinking about how this the second time she's taken care of him and how it might be because of those pills Kabuto gave him. She's also thinking about how she can't risk getting into another battle with the enemy while she has him, so she'll have to lay low for now.

Yukimaru then starts coughing, getting Guren to take him into her arms while saying, "Hey, Yukimaru. Wake up."

Yukimaru slowly opens eyes to say weakly, "You know. The place I can return to, is by you. I finally, found it.", before slipping back into unconsciousness and surprising Guren.

Meanwhile, Naruto is sitting in his meditative position on a small cliff over looking the lake, focusing on gathering nature chakra when he needs to and keeping tabs on the enemy. He knows where the Crystal user, Guren, and the boy are right now, and wants to go save the child at this very moment, but he's hesitating due to having nearly killed the people most precious to him. Then there is the whole essence of the illusion he experienced, it felt like he was actually talking to the darkest recesses of his soul, the things he tries to burry away. Can it really just be a coincidence, or was it really what's inside him? Maybe, just maybe, that mist can help him over come the negative emotions that are buried away, deep inside himself and finally master his own hatred.

Naruto is snapped out of his thoughts by Sakura walking up to him and asking, "Hey, Naruto. Is this a good time to talk?", uncertainty clearly visible in Sakura's demeanor.

Naruto replies, "Yeah, I can spare a few minutes. Things are relatively quiet for the moment. What's on your mind Sakura?", causing Sakura to flinch, secretly missing the honorific he use to use for her.

Sakura strengthens her resolve and moves to sit down next to Naruto, with her knees held to her chest, she answers by laying out everything that happened between her and Sasuke.

Sakura ends, "And that's how it is. I can't be in a relationship like that! I've always known that Sasuke might not have any feelings for me, at least in that way, but to just rationalize it away like that! It, it hurt worse than if he simply would have just turned me down and said he didn't like me.", tears welling back up as she let's out a small sob.

Naruto, without even thinking about it, pulls Sakura into hug and whispers soothingly to her, "It's okay Sakura-chan. Let it out. There's no shame in crying when your hearts been broken. If you ask me, it's Sasuke-teme's loss. You're a beautiful, smart, strong, and kind woman that any man would be happy to love. I know it's a cliché, but, there are plenty of other fish in sea, and I KNOW you'll find the one that will love you the way you deserve. So, cheer up. It may hurt now, but trust me when I say that things will get better, Sakura-chan.", Sakura's grip on Naruto tightens a bit before she pulls back to look him in the eyes.

Sakura gazes into Naruto's eyes with a smile, overjoyed at him using the honorific chan with her name again. Seeing only love in them, she moves in close to him and seals her lips to his, trying to desperately put all the past angst, confusion, and love for him she's had all this time into it. Naruto is taken back by Sakura suddenly kissing him, not knowing what to do, he just goes with his instincts and kisses her back. He can feel the passion, the love, confusion and some angst in her kiss, but he can also feel them bleeding away the longer the kiss goes on, leaving only the love and passion behind.

As they separate, Naruto utters out, "S-Sakura-chan. W-why are you- What? I t-thought you s-said?", a dumbfounded look plastered across his face.

Sakura giggles at his reaction, before affectionately rubbing his left cheek with her right hand and replying, "Isn't it obvious? I love you, Naruto."

Naruto responds with a huge grin on his face, but quickly says, "But you said that you didn't want to be apart of a harem. I don't want you to get your hopes up, because I still love Fuu and Hinata-chan, and I'm not going to leave them!"

Sakura lowers her face, so that it's hidden from Naruto's view while asking, "Do you still love me too?"

Naruto answers immediately, "Of course I do! I've never stopped loving you! I just wanted to let you go so that you could find your own happiness, even if it's with someone else."

Sakura keeps her face hidden as she continues to asks, "Will you love me, or any of the others, less or more than another?"

Naruto doesn't hesitate to answer, "Never! I know that I'm being selfish and even unrealistic, but I've chosen to love all of you with everything I have! I didn't start this whole clan restoration thing to revive my clan, or sleep around with as many women as I want. I only did it because I can't see myself loving you, Fuu, or Hinata more than the other. So I'm using an old law and my bloodline to love all of you equally! And if I have to have more wives or lovers, or whatever word they want to use, to do it, I will! But only with women that I can love just as much as I do you, Sakura-chan, otherwise I'll just dig in my heels and refuse to budge on adding anyone else! No matter the consequences!"

Sakura lifts her head up, revealing a loving smile and responds, "Alright then. I'll give this a try, but if you fail to keep your word to always love me equally, and with all your heart, then I'm gone. Understand?"

Naruto replies, "Perfectly. I give you a promise of a lifetime to always love you with all my heart! After all, there's no other way I can love you, Fuu, and Hinata-chan!", sealing his promise with a kiss.

Sakura ends up getting Naruto onto his back and starts grinding into him, getting him harder and hotter by the second. Just as it seems like it's going to get good, Sakura pulls back and stands up to leave.

Naruto looks at her with a confused and frustrated expression, getting her to reply, "What? Did you honestly think I was going to give you my virginity out here in the open! Not to mention that we're on a mission, which means there's no having sex right now. But, once we get back to the village, I don't see why you can't take me out on a date and see how you fair then.", giving him a coy smile and a wink before she goes.

Naruto falls flat on his back with a massive grin on his face, saying to himself, "It's a date.", before jumping up and leaping off the cliff to go save Yukimaru. He doesn't see why not, after all, his luck couldn't be any better at the moment.

Naruto is headed for Yukimaru, but stops as he senses Guren laying in wait, and says, "I think it'd be best if we got this over with before the boy gets here, Guren, was it?"

Guren hops down from the tree she was waiting in and replies, "You're a sharp one. You must be a sensory type to have picked up on my location with such ease. Not to mention that you ran straight here without changing direction, so you must have already known where I was. So you came here all on your own to kill me. That's very brave, but exceptionally stupid!"

Naruto looks at Guren as she blurs through some hand-signs to create her jade crystal blade along her right forearm, calmly replying, "I didn't come here to kill you. I'm just here to rescue the boy that's with you. Just hand over the child and I'll leave you be."

Guren responds while charging him, "I'll never hand him over to you!"

Naruto easily dodges all of the swings of her blade and rapid kicks that follow them, asking, "Why not?! Oh, right! He's your little lab rat that you're using to take control of the Three Tails! You don't care about him at all!"

Guren lands a blade strike on Naruto's left forearm while replying heatedly, "Shut up! It's none od your business, and Yukimaru is on our side willingly, so stop acting like he needs you to rescue him!", unfortunately for her, her crystal blade shatter after making contact with Naruto's arm.

Naruto responds to Guren's shocked expression by hitting her with a palm strike to her torso, knocking her back into a tree that splinters apart on contact. Walking towards her, Naruto responds, "The only reason he's with you is because if what I told him. I never thought that the consequences of them would be for him to join your side."

Guren is holding her bruised ribs, looking up at the stunning sight of Naruto's intimidating stature. That awestruck feeling she got the first time she saw him, similar to the one she got from Orochimaru, is flooding her body again. She knows that despite the damage she's received from just one blow is nothing to what he could have done to her. His power far surpasses her own, which is why she's so enticed by it, knowing that he could have killed her just then sends a chill up her spine, yet somehow she also finds herself aroused. What's more is that unlike Orochimaru, Naruto gives off this sense of warmth that seems to envelope you, letting you know that there is no better place to be, but at his side.

Yukimaru suddenly says, "Thank you. You taught me, didn't you?", getting Naruto and Guren to look to the side, seeing Yukimaru there.

Guren replies in shocked surprise, but with a hint of relief at him being better, "Yukimaru?!"

Yukimaru continues, "Wherever someone thinks of you is the place you go home to.", he starts moving towards them.

Guren orders out with concern for his safety, "Don't move any closer!"

Yukimaru just continues on, "I'm really grateful to you. I finally found the place where I can go back to. Right Guren?"

Naruto blurs in front of Yukimaru, putting up a defensive posture while saying, "So your name is Yukimaru? I'm Naruto. You're going home with me to Konoha."

Yukimaru asks, "Why?"

Naruto answers as Guren painfully lifts herself off the ground, "She's not the one you're going home to! She's a servant of Orochimaru and is working for Kabuto. And they're the type of people that'll do anything to achieve their ambitions. They're bastards who thinks nothing of taking people's lives. Anyone who'd serve guys like that can't be a decent human being!"

Yukimaru responds with the utmost confidence, "Guren will protect me. She's kind to me and she thinks of me."

Naruto replies, "It's obvious she's just using you!"

Guren yells out, "Shut up! Yukimaru won't return to your place! His place to return to is me! I'll protect him with my life! So just stay out of things that have nothing to do with you!", hoping he'll just leave, knowing that he's in the same class as Orochimaru and that she doesn't stand a chance against him.

Naruto focuses his gaze on Guren, analyzing her chakra to see if she's lying, but shockingly finds that she's being completely honest with him. What's more, is that he can feel actual concern for Yukimaru coming from her, but it's confused and uncertain, like she's never felt such things before. Naruto is also sensing the movement of one her comrades that's tunneling towards him from underground.

Naruto decides to ask, "Guren, if Orochimaru himself showed up here and demanded that you kill Yukimaru this very instant, would you?", knowing that'd never happen because he's dead, but that doesn't take away the seriousness of the question.

Guern is taken back by the question, knowing that she's done that exact same thing before, and tries to deflect by asking, "W-what are you talking about?! Why does this concern you anyways?!"

The ground in front of Naruto explodes as Gozu comes out throwing a punch at Naruto, which he easily catches with his left hand, getting Gozu to utter out in shocked fear, "I-Impossible!", before Naruto slams his right fist into Gozu's face, knocking him unconscious.

Naruto then tosses his unconscious body to the side while stating in a deadly serious tone, "I don't want to kill anyone in front of Yukimaru, so answer my question truthfully. Otherwise, I'll have to kill the both of you and take Yukimaru with me by force."

Guren is desperately wondering what to do, she can't beat Naruto and she's not completely sure if she'd kill Yukimaru if Lord Orochimaru ordered her to. Then she suddenly grabs the side of her head in pain as the memories of all the time she's spent with Yukimaru speeds through her mind, stopping on the time she found him playing a song with a leaf blade. That's when it hits her, the memory of killing that woman that healed her wounds and saved her life. She was playing that exact same song with a leaf's blade when she first woke up! Thinking on it now, there's a striking similarity in appearance between her and Yukimaru. Could she have killed his mother?!

Yukimaru calls out in worry, "Guren! Are you okay?", seeing tears welling up in her eyes.

Guren looks at Yukimaru as the old feelings she kept buried away resurface in full force, just as she comes to the realization that she killed his mother. Making her the one responsible for his loneliness and all the pain he's gone through, getting her to lower her head as tears start to fall from her eyes while saying, "I-I'm fine. I-if Lord, no, if that snake Orochimaru wants Yukimaru's life, then he'll have to get through me first! It's the least I can do after what I've done to him.", her eyes filled with determination as she looks up at Naruto.

Naruto felt it, the sudden influx of emotions flooding Guren entire being, the love and joy, then a startling revelation, followed by a massive swell of pain and regret, and ending with determination. She means what she just said, but the part that's concerning him the most, is what she's done to Yukimaru.

Out of the darkness of the forest come a chilling laughter as Rinji walks out, saying, "Well now, I never would have thought that Orochimaru's most loyal subordinate would be willing to turn on him over some little boy. My, how the mighty have fallen."

Guren snaps out, "Shut up Rinji! Do you plan on killing me here and taking my place at Orochimaru's side?!"

Rinji moves towards Guren with his hands up while answering, "No. Why would I, one of his disposable test subjects want to do that? I have no love for the man, I only followed orders to keep myself alive. If you're turning on him, then I'm going to take this chance to help you escape, so that I can also escape with my life intact. After all, all the others are dead, Gozu's out cold, and Kabuto's gone, so why not leave while I can?"

Naruto feels something off about Rinji, his chakra feels similar to Kabuto's, but also like Orochimaru is mixed with it. Plus, despite what he just said, he doesn't seemed worried in the least.

Guren lowers her guard to ask, "So Kigiri is dead and you don't know where Kabuto is?"

Rinji moves to her right side to whisper into her ear, "Actually, I know exactly where Kabuto is.", stabbing Guren in her side with a kunai.

Guren responds in shocked pain, "Y-you're n-not! What a-are you d-doing?", grabbing her side as he removes the kunai.

Yukimaru yells out, "Guren!", moving to run to her side, only to be pulled back by Naruto.

Gozu had regained consciousness in time to see Rinji stab Guren, setting him off into a rage, getting him to charge Rinji and smash into him with his enlarged fist, sending Rinji crashing into the lake. Gozu follows the careening Rinji, landing on top of the lake as Rinji pulls himself back on top of it with his face peeling off.

Gozu yells out, "Why?! Why did you do that to Guren, Rinji?!"

Rinji's laughs as her tears off the rest of the mask, revealing Kabuto's twisted and deformed face, while explaining, "Well, I'm actually not Rinji for starters, he apparently was a spy for Orochimaru, so I killed him and took his place. You see, Orochimaru is dead and I'm set to be his replacement, but Rinji didn't like that idea, so he just had to go. As for Guren, well, we never really got along in the first place, so I highly doubt her reaction would have been any better than Rinji's. Besides, the test run proved that Yukimaru can control the Three Tails, so all I need now is his D.N.A and a sample of his chakra. Then by adding his blood and chakra to my ever changing body, I'll have that ability as well, so Guren's no longer needed, as are you!"

Kabuto then proceeds to blur through hand-signs and summons two coffins from the lake, or so it seems anyways. The coffins open to reveal two figures with cracked pale skin and black eyes, one is very tall while other is rather small, like a kid in his early teens.

Gozu is looking at them in fear as he utters out, "W-what are t-those?", as the fog around them grows denser from the tall one making a hand-sign with on of his hands raised above his head.

Meanwhile, Naruto is standing over a wounded Guren as Yukimaru is kneeling at her side, his eyes locked on the white camellia on her dress turning red from her blood. Naruto is lost in thought as he senses two new chakra signatures that came out of no where, most likely a summons, but the strange part is that he some how feels like he knows them.

Naruto is snapped out of his thoughts as Yukimaru starts screaming and releasing a lot of chakra from his body, just like when he was controlling the Three Tails, getting Naruto to yell out, "Stop it Yukimaru! Guren will be fine, so stop before you cause the Three Tails to attack you again!"

Yukimaru is unable to listen as he keeps thinking about how her found his murdered mother with her blood soaking the camellia flowers around her. He can't bare to lose Guren too, after going on for so long with no place to call home, and to finally find a place with Guren, the thought of losing her now is too much for him.

Naruto curses as a massive water bullet slams into the nearby shoreline, dousing them in water. The Three Tails can feel Yukimaru's power trying to control it, so it's trying to kill him before he does. Naruto charges toward the Three Tails on the lake, ignoring that one of the chakra signatures on the lake by Kabuto just vanished, focusing on how he's going to stop a Bijuu.

Guren recognizes the danger Yukimaru is in, so she grits her teeth and stands up to pull Yukimaru into an embrace, getting him to stop his tantrum while she says to him soothingly, "It's alright Yukimaru. I'm not leaving you, so relax, just listen to my voice and calm yourself."

Yukimaru looks up a Guren's smiling face and asks, "Are you really okay? You're not going to leave me all alone, are you?"

Guren replies, "I'm fine and I'm staying right here with you. I promise.", only for another shot come firing at them from the Three Tails.

Just as it's about to hit them, "Gale Palm!", Naruto intercepts it with his wind jutsu, causing it to explode into water vapor.

Guren grabs Yukimaru and moves him farther away from the lake, then performs, "Fructify! Crystal Style: Crimson Fruit!", surrounding Yukimaru in a dome of hardened crystal, while saying, "That should protect you, it's very strong, so don't worry. I'll chase away that over sized turtle, then we'll go, okay?"

Yukimaru reluctantly nods his head and says, "Okay Guren. But you promise to come back for me, right?"

Guren replies, "Of course!", the jumps away to confront the Three Tails.

Naruto dodges another one of the Three Tails water attacks and launches his rasenshuriken at it's face, but the damn turtle rolls up into a ball and spins away to avoid being hit, yet again! He's used two rasenshuriken, a massive gale palm attack, plus his little skirmish with Guren earlier, and he's now down to about two minutes before his Sage Mode ends. The Three Tails is charging up another water bullet attack just as a massive crystal column slams into it's eye, getting it to stop it's attack to thrash around in pain.

Guren's running across the water while blurring through hand-signs, "Crystal Style: Jade Crystal Dragon Wild Dance!", unleashing a barrage of crystal dragons at the Three Tails.

As the crystal dragons shatter upon impact with the Three Tails, Naruto takes the opportunity to fire off one last rasenshuriken, ending his Sage Mode, but this time his jutsu hits it's mark. The Three Tails roars out as it's bombarded by Naruto's justu, consuming it in a massive ball of destruction, and sending wind currents outward. Guren ends up getting knocked down from the shockwave of Naruto's jutsu, grabbing her now profusely bleeding wound. Naruto move over towards her to help her up, having sensed the Three Tails dive down in retreat, so he saw his opportunity to fall back to safety.

Naruto comments, "You were going strong there for a moment, but by ignoring that wound to enter a fight may have made it a lot worse. If you don't get it treated soon you'll bleed to death.", while reaching down to pick her up.

Guren slaps his hand away while replying, "I don't need your sympathy! I can take care of myself!"

Before Naruto can respond to her reaction the Three Tails bursts out of the water from beneath them with it's mouth wide open in an attempt to eat them. Naruto can easily Hirashin away, but Guren's already inside it's mouth, so he let's himself fall into it's mouth to grab her, but get washed down as he's hit with a stream of water from behind, getting swallowed along with Guren.