Hello everyone. I'm very sorry that you guys were left with a cliffhanger, and I feel way too guilty to leave you guys waiting any longer than a week! I also decided to make the sudden cut because I would have dragged the chapter for too long. By the way, I forgot to make a 10 chapter anniversary commentary. But I've decided to wait until I reach my twentieth chapter before I would do anything super-special-awesome.

Azeroth44: YOU'VE GOTTA BE KIDDING ME!

Kvsyaoran: Oh, let's just give our eager readers what they deserve! A continuation!

Azeroth44: Meh! Meh times infinity!

Kvsyaoran: Okay, so let's get this thing started already!

Here's my rant for this chapter, before we start:

Not that it's vitally important or anything, but if Naruto had an entirely different voice actor other than Maile Flanagan. Who do you think would be the best choice for this particular story? I will post the choices followed by their most notable roles in parentheses.

Jason Liebrecht (Syaoran Li, Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles)

Zach Tyler Eisen (Aang, Avatar)

Aaron Dismuke (Alphonse Elric, FMA)

Dante Basco (Prince Zuko, Avatar)

Elijah Runcorn (Young Prince Zuko, Avatar)

Zack Braff (JD, Scrubs) (He also does some voice acting)

Personally, I see Naruto with Zach Eisen's voice as a kid, with Jason Liebrecht's voice as a teenager.

Maile Flanagan did a good job with his voice sometimes, but it got really annoying A LOT before they decided to cut out 'believe it'. And let's admit, if it had been Aang's voice that said 'believe it', it would have been much better to endure, hell, it would've been music to our ears. And why didn't they re-cast Naruto for Shippuden? Wouldn't VIZ Media change his voice to make it sound more cool and older. Because I can still hear Flanagan's voice just trying to sound older. And when she tries to make it sound older, it makes it sounds like Naruto has throat cancer and is trying to endure. (Kid, I understand that you are a walking inspiration. But this is taking it a bit too far, don't cha think?)

Anyway, that's why I prefer watching the English Sub over the English dub. Even though I love a majority of the voice actors in the English dub, because they can actually do a pretty damn good job. Especially Yuri Lowenthal as the voice of Sasuke, because his voice alone cries out the word 'douche'.

That's my rant then. Here you guys go! Remember to review, please.

"Blah" : Talking

'Blah': Demon speaking/ Inner Sakura

'Blah' : Naruto's Thoughts

'Blah' or 'Blah' : Harry talking to Naruto/other people's thoughts

Remember: Reviews are welcome and wanted!

Disclaimer: Naruto is the property of Masashi Kishimoto,

Harry Potter is property of JK Rowling,


Meanwhile, all the way back at Konoha. Things were not going as well for Danzo Shimura as much as they were for Naruto Uzumaki. Danzo was not happy. The old warhawk had been more miserable than he ever has been in all of his seventy years.

He had been bidding his time for almost fourteen years, waiting, mediating, and trying to figure out a way to finally solve the Kyuubi problem. Trying to conjure a plan to either control or destroy the demon-child, as he preferred to Naruto. Years ago, he planned on taking him in himself and recruit him into his secret army of Root ANBU. All shortly after the outcome of the Kyuubi's initial attack. But that meddlesome Sarutobi had his previous seat of power as Hokage reinstated. He took in Naruto as his own grandson, so he refused to let Danzo take baby Naruto away from him, using the authoritative power of both a grandfather and a Kage ruler. Insisting that it was best if Naruto were raised like a normal boy.

It was then, that Danzo had decided that if he could not control the Kyuubi vessel, then he would have to destroy what he could not control. But Danzo's plans on destroying him were all too risky to enact immediately. He first tried do small things; first by paying expendable civilians to bully and beat up the boy. Overtime, he hired more civilians or even had some of his own Root soldiers to disguise themselves as civilians and shop keepers and attempt to beat him to death. He even paid certain grocery store owners to poison his food and water. But Naruto kept surviving and every other plan Danzo tried kept failing. And with every failed plan, Danzo only grew more impatient and desperate to destroy the demon scum. What mad matters worse for him was that that recent hearing two months ago, was the closest chance he had and it completely backfired on him. The boy was still alive and his powers were growing and becoming more and more of a threat to his future goals. To Danzo, he felt it was his destiny bestowed upon him by the gods, that he should destroy the boy and soon.

One of the major problems for Danzo now was his newly restricted and highly limited power. Ever since his completely outrageous attempt to eliminate Naruto using mob-mentality back at the hearing, Danzo's previous authorities and political powers were almost entirely stripped from him. He was forbidden to speak against any or all decisions that he did not personally approve of. The only political power he had left was the only one he should have had to begin with..

Voting.

Danzo now grew so purely livid at the very mention of the names Naruto Uzumaki and Harry Potter. He now began to make new plans. New ways he could enact to finally end Naruto and get rid of his rival Kage-level Sarutobi. The crippled, old ninja sat in his office in the old ANBU HQ. Years ago, Danzo had bought the property after the Kyuubi attack and had it refurbished into a book depository/extended Hokage build wing. His office was relatively big in size and looked somewhat identical to the Hokage's office, only it had a much darker paint-job that gave the room a feeling reminiscent to a dictator. The warhawk relaxed in his comfortable armchair as he observed his glorious office. He appeared very unsatisfied.

'As soon as I become Hokage, I will see to it that my office will reflect my rightful authority..' he thought to himself ambitiously.

He got up from his seat and dragged himself to his window and starred out to the village..

'In time, I will stand taller than I am at present as I look down upon my village… My soldiers, my pawns will bow down before me as they will…'

He frowned , 'But if I am to do that, I must first deal with Sarutobi and that Potter boy… All in due time, all in due time…'

Danzo turned his back to the window after he closed the blinds, so as not to be seen. So he used his cane to saunter over to his bookshelf. He then clicked a tiny button on his cane, which caused a small key to pop out of the ball of it. He took the tiny key and inserted it into a small opening of one of the books entitled, 'The Will of Fire'. Immediately upon inserting the key and twisting it, a large section of the bookshelf had shifted to the side and into the wall, revealing a poorly lit elevator. Danzo entered and clicked a button that took him down into the earth. It lowered him deep into a hidden realm beneath the foundations of Konoha. The elevator opened to reveal a massive chamber. There was a four-way bridge connect to the ends of the chamber. It appeared that the bridges were the only solid ground to stand on in the poorly lit space. The purplish walls appeared to have no visible ceiling, being down so far underground. As the only source of light in the massive chamber could not even be traced.

From where Danzo stood, a massive assembly of men, women, and children all dressed in ANBU uniforms bowed down before him in the highest respect.

Danzo examined each of them, searching among all of his pawns, one individual he wished to choose for the important mission he was going to assign. Once he spotted the person he wished to choose, and slowly made his way to the front of the line of human puppets. He firmly pointed his walking stick to the smallest male in the second row. The youth appeared to have not even entered his teens yet. His silhouette was very dark but stood out with his unusually pale skin.

"All of you, except for this one leave."

The rest of the assembly vanished without a second thought, leaving no trace that they had even been there. They left Danzo and the young boy alone in the massive chamber. The old man stamped his walking stick on the ground firmly and said with a clear and string voice, "In due time, I will make it certain that you will be assigned to the future Team Kakashi to replace Sasuke Uchiha. I am now planning arrangements…"

The shrouded, but clearly pale-white youth remained very still.

"Not only are you close to Naruto Uzumaki in age, you are also stronger than anyone else in your generation in the village… Most important of all, you possess those incomparable talents with a paintbrush…" Danzo smirked slightly as he imagined the Kyuubi-boy being killed by his errand boy in front of him.

He looked at the boy with his only visible and clearly squinted eye as he pointed his reliable eagle-walking stick at him, "You yourself should be in preparation for the upcoming date… Your mission is to obtain any information regarding the Jinchuuriki host, Naruto Uzumaki…What better way to obtain information, if he can relate to someone his age and become friends?"

The pale boy nodded his head in clear understanding.

Danzo then said, "From today, until the completion of your mission, your name will be… Sai…"


Back in the Eastern Forests, an acre of the Fire-Bark tree population was accidentally lit up and a large chunk was currently on fire ferociously.

Team Kurenai stood and watched in horror as they saw Naruto had sacrificed himself to push Hinata out of the fire to save her. Hinata held her hand over her mouth, trying her best not to believe what had happened.

"…Naruto-kun, no…" she whispered to herself in a quiet voice.

Shino could not believe it as much as Kurenai-sensei did. They both stood wide-eyed as the opening passageway closed into a wall of orange and yellow flame.

Suddenly they heard a loud explosion from within the wall and they heard someone screaming long and loudly. Hinata cringed and tried not to cry at the noise, but something seemed off about the yell. It didn't sound as if someone were screaming in pain, it sounded as if the scream was that of something else. Soon the screaming grew louder and louder with each passing second. And then Naruto flew out of the wall of fire, covered in ash and dirt but still screaming as he slammed into the solid ground directly next to the gathered team, dropping all of the packages the rest of the team dropped before they fought the bandits.

"GODDAMIT! THAT HURT!" he yelled, clenching both of his ears with his hands.

Hinata was amazed and ecstatic to see that Naruto was still alive, and was about to hug him fiercely saying, "Oh, thank god! Thank you, god! Thank you!"

Naruto was writhing on the ground, clearly in pain.

"ARGHHH! HOW DO THEY WALK AWAY IN MOVIES WITHOUT FLINCHING WITH EXPLOSIONS BEHIND THEM? THERE'S NO WAY!" he screamed at the top of his lungs, clenching his ears that were now bleeding.

Kurenai knelt down to Naruto and tried to ask him, "Is anything hurt, Naruto? Talk to me!"

Naruto hadn't heard her and continued to yell, "THE MOVIE INDUSTRY IS COMPLETELY IRRESPONSIBLE ON HOW THEY PORTRAY EXPLOSIONS! IT'S TOTAL BULLOCKS!"

Kurenai got to work quickly, for she was adept in medical ninjutsu. She quickly focused chakra and her hands soon glowed green as she forced Naruto to remove his hands from his head. Naruto cringed and yelled out in pain as she tried to heal his damaged ears. Shino who was just next to Hinata, but couldn't help but think of his own laughter at Naruto's rant on explosions and thought to himself, 'Heheh! The Other Guys was funny!'

Kurenai ignored Naruto's flinching and yells of pain and she soon noticed his ears began to heal themselves along with her own healing power. The Kyuubi and Harry were clearly working together at once to heal their host. Kurenai smiled as Naruto's contorted and pain-stricken expression started to grow softer and more at ease.

Soon Kurenai pulled out some medicinal bandages and pads and quickly tapped them to Naruto's ears to dry out the blood that was oozing out earlier. Naruto soon sat up straight, Indian-style and tried to test his hearing by listening to the rest of his team.

Kurenai soon spoke out as she relaxed next to her injured student, "Okay then, would you mind telling me what the hell you were think of going back?"

She glared at Naruto angrily for frightening her as Naruto laughed and held up one of the boxes in victory, "I wanted to make sure everyone was okay before I Apparated back to get the goods we need."

Hinata and Shino smiled at their teammate devotion to the missions success and the fact that he was alright again. Kurenai did not looked very amused, "Do you have any idea just how stupid that little stunt of yours was? How did you even survive that blast?"

Naruto smiled a little bit less, "Sorry, sensei. But as far as how I survived, Harry told me to focus a ton of my magic around me and created this protective bubble around me. It vanished right when I hit the wall of fire there." he pointed to the spot where he flew through.

"Naruto, if your life is in that great of danger, then the mission's importance is diminished. You didn't have to do that!"

"I'm sorry, Kurenai-sensei. I just didn't want us to fail the mission and go back home with a failed mission. It's my fault that the forest lit up anyway. So I thought…"

Kurenai sighed as she rubbed her hand across her face to rub off some sweat and dirt.

'Did Kakashi and Guy have to go through this much while Naruto was under their wing?'

"It's fine… But the forest burning up was just an accident waiting to happen,… Let's just say that it's lucky that it was us instead of a few civilians camping out. We got out alive, and that's what is important." she said with a hand on his shoulder, trying to relieve him of his guilt.

Hinata spoke out next, "But Kurenai-sensei, what if the fire keeps spreading. It'll be a disaster!"

Kurenai smiled as she pulled out her pocket map, "According to this," she pointed to the location they were currently resting, "The Fire-Trees such as these are scattered everywhere. This part of the forest is just one of the smaller groups of trees further apart from the other tree colonization's that go for miles. There's nothing to worry about."

Shino then said to help with greater reassurance, "Besides, Fire-Bark trees are filled with gasoline, not oil. The burnings will go out within the hour, guaranteed."

Naruto and Hinata both sighed in relief.

Kurenai sighed and said as she pocketed her map once more, "Lets rest here for a few minutes, and then we'll get back on schedule. Anyone got a problem with that?"

Everyone shook their heads and Kurenai breathed, "Good." as she collapsed her head on top her backpack.


Evacuating London by Harry-Gregson Williams

The team ended up resting for a full thirty minutes. The only reason they even moved from where they were was due to a large tree branch having almost landed on top of them and the goods they were still delivering.

They finally decided to keep moving with the deliveries and only looked back at the mess they left behind when they were a mile away. They looked back and saw a black scar-like mark in the place where the tiny labyrinth of Fire-Bark trees once stood. The smoke that rose above the burned remains of the patch of trees, rose up in a high, dark cloud. Naruto felt ashamed as he gazed at the destruction that he caused. He soon continued on with a heavy heart as Hinata urged him to keep going with her at his side.

Naruto now smelled the burning stink coming off from himself and the rest of his team as they kept walking closer to the east coast. He hoped that as soon as he and everyone else got to the ocean, they could jump into the ocean to cool off and get the stink of chard wood off.

Team Kurenai soon got back up to speed as they leapt from tree to tree closer to their destination. After a few hours of non-stop tree jumping, they began to slow down their pace and start walking again. Soon Naruto picked up a familiar scent he didn't get to smell since his mission to the Land of Waves. He relaxed his entire being as he walked through the now cool forest, breathing in lungfuls of fresh, salty air. Hearing the sound of seagulls crowing in the sky above them.

One breath for all

The trees soon parted before them to reveal the harbor town of Minato, named after the Yondiame Hokage himself. The town was apparently built around the natural harbor and became a very thriving community. The town has since become one of the key harbors for traders, merchants, and seaports for delivery. All of the buildings each had a perfect view of the vast, clear-blue ocean. Making the community all the more enjoyable for it's occupants.

Beneath the wall

Naruto and the others gasped in awe at the beautiful sight before them. Hinata was frozen in wonder at the sight that laid before her very eyes. She had never seen the ocean before. She only saw the oceans in books, magazines, and photos. But never before had she seen the sea in person, seen it with her own eyes. It was the most beautiful sight she had seen in her young life so far.

Shino was also enthralled at the sight of the sea. But he didn't seem to want to get anywhere near the water. Due to the fact that he was one with his insects, he was not open to the environments his bugs could not endure. Any body of water that had the element of salt in it, he could not handle.

(Feel This, Feel This)

Kurenai could not remember the last time she saw a place such as this. Her missions usually led her to places more desolate and mountainous than this. She hoped that in her future, herself and a certain bearded man could take a vacation to a place like this.

Naruto quickly got overly excited at seeing the ocean and cried, running ahead to the shore excitedly, "Last one in the ocean is a rotten fishcake!"

Hinata didn't want to pass up the opportunity to jump into the waters of the Great Eastern Ocean. And the fact that Naruto would be with her made it all the more enjoyable. So she raced down the hills to catch up with him.

Kurenai sighed, and then smiled. Remembering that these two were still technically children and had the obligated right to enjoy themselves and be silly if they wished to be.


Naruto and Hinata soon got into a heated competition to see who would reach the sand shores first. Hinata was actually trying to beat Naruto trying to get there, and soon Naruto found himself trying to outrun her more. It wasn't long before they were sprinting through the trees trying to beat one another to reach the beach. Both Naruto and Hinata were both foot to foot, trying to see who would reach the finish line. The two genin were at each others shoulders just like Ino and Sakura were when they raced each other to their home classroom. It wasn't long before they were pushing each other trying to win. The two of them started taunting each other as they ran through the trees that soon began to disappear in numbers.

"I'm gonna get there first!" Hinata laughed.

One breath for all…

"No! I'm gonna beat ya!" Naruto retorted with a soft chuckle.

The forest disappeared, and in a bright flash of sunlight, the beach appeared before them in slow motion. The shimmering waters, the white sand, and the blazing hot sun. It looked absolutely spectacular and more bedazzling to them both. The two genin leapt out of the forest line and landed ankle-deep into the hot sands. Once landed, Hinata felt the loose earth sink in between her toes in a sweet, tingling sensation she never felt before. She breathed in the salty air and exhaled in a satisfying sigh. She had smelled the salty air earlier, only it was much stronger and even more soothing to her at the beach.

So tender…

Naruto also sighed after he took a deep breath of the moisturized air. He relaxed so dramatically that he felt his eyes close against his own will. He couldn't feel the sand through his shoes, but he felt the sand creep into his sneakers and ran against his ankles. He opened his eyes and discovered upon sight that they both won the race to reach the shore line, but the race was to get to the ocean first.

(Feel this, Feel This)

"Race is still on Hinata-chan!" he called out, as he dropped to the sand to remove his shoes and socks.

Tender…

Hinata snapped back to reality and saw the ocean waves in front of her, she sudden had an uncontrollable urge to get into the water. To experience the feel of the liquid, to feel the temperature. There was just something about water that held a power over her that she couldn't explain or understand.

(Feel this, Feel This)

She quickly tossed her delivery package next to Naruto's and slipped off her sandals just as Naruto got his final sock off. She began to run once more and Naruto followed behind her. She swung off her fur jacket as Naruto threw off his jacket and she ran into water and dove the rest of her body in, splashing in he process. The dramatic change in temperature chilled her over-heated being and sent goosebumps down her spine. The cold saltwater cooled her body down from the heat of the day they have all endured. She dove her head down and forced herself to adjust to temperature of the water. The sound of crashing waves disappeared beneath the waters as she felt the clear liquid encase her. There really was something about the water that made her feel at peace. It felt as if the ocean were a part of herself that was missing and had been finally returned.

One breath for all…

She opened her eyes beneath the clear water, and to her surprise, the salty water did not sting her eyes. She saw Naruto having just reached the water and dove himself into the cold water. She soon raised her head out of the water to breath a little bit, when she heard Naruto cry in a mixture of delight and distress, "SWEET JEHOVAH! THAT'S COLD!"

So tender…

Hinata shook the water out of her hair and said, "Looks like I win, Naruto-kun!"

Feel this, Feel This, Feel This…

Naruto turned white-eyed and slammed his raised fists back down into the water and whined, "Aww, man! Next contest, I'll beat ya! You'll see!" he ended with determination.

Tender…

Naruto thought to himself deeply. He suddenly realized that he had just got into a heated race with Hinata Hyuga of all people. He never thought that he would get to have another rivalry any different than the one he once had with Sasuke. But in that inner conflict, Naruto never truly connected with Sasuke. It was just a race between the two of them, set to see who would become the top dog. There was no true friendship or happiness within that rivalry. But just now, with Hinata, Naruto was having fun. This is what Naruto wanted out of his rivalry with Sasuke. Fun, laughter, enjoyment, and above all else, happiness.

Naruto soon got used to the cool water and let his body float with the rising and lowering of the small waves. He let his face absorb the warmth from the sun and closed his eyes in blissful relaxation. He then laughed to himself out loud and said, "Heheheh! Hinata-chan! This feels so good! Hahaha!"

Hinata smiled brightly at her friend's happiness as they both gently floated in the crisp blue waters, side by side. It took about five fast minutes for Shino and Kurenai to catch up to them on the sandy shores. Naruto glanced towards the rest of their team and called out, "You guys! You got to try this out! The water is great!"

Kurenai looked over to Shino and asked, "You're not going into the water, are you?"

"No." Shino said flatly.

Then that's two of us. You guys wrap up your kill-time! We have a mission, remember?" she called over to the two genin.

Naruto gave an exasperated sigh as he stood up in the water, "Oh man… Alright! C'mon Hinata-chan. We gotta go…"

He firmly planted his feet into the loose, sandy seafloor as he began walking back to the shore. Hinata sighing in a more frustrated tone got up and followed behind her teammate. Naruto soon made it out of the water, dripping torrents of saltwater from his pants and shirt. Hinata was the same as he once out of the water, dripping tons of water. They soon gathered their clothes, backpacks and goods as they followed their sensei into the harbor town of Minato.


They followed Kurenai along the harbor around the edge of the sea. She wanted to at least let herself and her students get to glance at the magnificent ocean while they made their way to destination. They walked along, passing by many different ships and ports. They also ran into a great number of merchants of all shapes and sizes selling foods and goods from across the world. Shino looked a bit skeptical while the passed a merchant selling mysterious merchandise. Hinata looked interested at the shouts of offers and deals but generally shook her head and focused on the road. Naruto however, gasped and awed in wonder at the heavily illustrated people and merchandise.

Naruto wasn't paying attention to where he was walking until he accidentally bumped into Kurenai when she stopped to talk to their eagerly awaiting client.

In no time at all, the captain of the delivery ship paid in full a grand total of 100,000 ryo. As soon as payments were in order, everyone took their individual turns handing over the packaged goods that they risked their lives with bandits and firestorms. When Hinata and Naruto handed over their boxes, the captain of the ship asked, "What happened to you guys? Run through a storm of explosions and decided to cool off in the water too long?"

Naruto happily answered after he slid-glanced to Hinata, "Yep!"

The sailor remained blank-faced for a moment before breaking out in sheer laughter.

"HAHAHAHA! Yeah right, kid! But thank you for delivering this stuff for us, seriously!" he laughed.

Naruto frowned and remained silent. Hinata just shrugged and urged Naruto to come along, "Just forget it."

The team soon departed from the port and stood by to see the ship set sail.

"…I hope they run into pirates…" Naruto mumbled to himself. Clearly unhappy that he did not receive the thank you he was in need of from their mildly rude client. Hinata elbowed him lightly and just smiled at him to help them forget their unbelieving client.

"It doesn't matter, Naruto-kun. Someday, that man will look back on this day, knowing full-well who you are and regret what he said. You'll see."

Naruto looked at her interestingly, "You think?"

She nodded, "Yeah."

Naruto shrugged in response and said, "I really wish we knew what it was that was so important about that baggage we had to carry these past two days."

Hinata looked a little uneasy as to whether she should answer or not. Unfortunately Naruto noticed her perplexed look.

"What? You know what was in the package?" he asked insistently.

Hinata started to fiddle with her fingers a little in a nervous fit.

"Well-Uh-actually it was… um… firewood." she said after a moments hesitation.

Naruto suddenly turned rigid and his face began to slowly turn red. He stood absolutely motionless until he started to shake with building anger.

Suddenly, several fruits that a merchant was selling, exploded out of nowhere. Causing bits of fruity fresh to fly everywhere and spray bystanders with juice. Several shoppers and store keepers screamed when a number of other foods they were either buying or selling randomly started to walk around on their own or explode violently. Naruto's teammates looked very wary as they realized that Naruto was the one who was causing this weird stuff to happen.

Naruto breathed in a great lungful of air and then yelled at the top of his lungs, "WHAT-THE-FRICK?"

Suddenly a merchant who was carrying a huge crate of fresh, hand-picked cabbages, wheeled into the market at the wrong time and place. His carefully collected vegetables suddenly exploded into thousands of shredded lettuce pieces.

"My cabbages!" he screamed in horror.

(A/N: Lol! I had to do it!)

Hinata saw this and quickly urged Naruto to calm down and move away from the chaos he accidentally caused.

"Move! Move! Move! Move!" Kurenai urged her team away before they could be accused of the accident. Carrying Naruto, who was still stiff with anger and his ears were now whistling steam.


Team Kurenai was now walking down the main street of the harbor town trying to wait out the unexpected uproar. Naruto soon calmed down and tried to apologize for his loss of control. The rest of the team understood and insisted to him that he forget that it even happened. Naruto would have continued his apologies when he suddenly realized how itchy and uncomfortable he felt. So did Hinata. Everything except her coat and his jacket seemed to cause them both great irritance. They quickly summed up that it was the salt water they were foolishly swimming in earlier that was making their clothes starchy and itchy.

Kurenai held his nose and said to the two Genin, "You guys are starting to stink."

Naruto lifted his arm to smell himself and cringed, "I smell like Grandpa's great Aunt Tessy."

Hyuga sniffed the sleeve of her coat and said, "I'm not that much better."

Shino looked over to the boardwalk and pointed, "There's a few sand showers at the boardwalk over there."

And sure enough there were several outside showers lined across the boardwalk. All of them were lined up, in case some beach goers needed to spray some sand and saltwater off of their suits and bodies. But a majority of the stalls were taken by several locals, leaving only one available for the two preteens.

Naruto did not look very open to the idea of letting water pour down his body, while everyone passing by would watch.

"After you two have washed down, then you could go to a bathroom a change up into dryer clothes. Maybe?" Shino suggested.

"I'm not taking a shower with hundreds of bystanders walking around!" Naruto stated uncomfortably.

Hinata smirked as she started making her way, slowly, toward the shower, "Then if your not going to, then I guess I will. And that's one more thing I beat you at, Naruto-kun." she ended with a playful wink.

Naruto opened his eyes wide and rushed over to the shower to beat her, "Oh no, you don't Hinata-chan!"

The two friends soon pushed at each other playfully, trying to beat the other in getting to the outdoor cleaning stall. Shino remained stoic while Kurenai sighed and shook her head with a smile, 'Oh, those two…'

Eventually Shino called over to them when Hinata and Naruto decided to Rock, Paper, Scissors for the first shower, "You know, there is another shower that just opened right next to you two."

They both froze and noticed that the person who was using it before had just left.

"Oh." they realized in unison.


Naruto soon grabbed some dispensable soap and ran it over most of his salty clothes and armpits. Hinata mirrored his cleansing ritual, minus the armpit bit. While Naruto let the soup set in, he started humming to himself and ran soap through his untidy hair. Once he started rising himself he shook his body rapidly in the water, shaking out any soap he missed. He also started singing to himself subtly, "I'm a maniac, maniac on the floor! And I'm dancing like I never danced before!"

Shino grew bored that it was taking him so long and spotted a hose nearby. He then sprayed Naruto down with freezing cold water to quicken the process.

"Oh my god! That's cold!" he cried as Shino twisted the knob of the shower and pulled Naruto out.

Shino then asked with curiosity, "How many paint chips did you eat while you were little?"

Naruto laughed a little bit and then turned a little serious, "W-why?"

(A/N: CONTEST! Whoever can name that movie reference first wins a Cyber Cookie and their name put into the next introduction. :D)


Naruto and Hinata quickly changed into dry clothes once they were finished cleaning off. And within the hour, they and the rest of their team were soon walking out and away from the town of Minato. Naruto noticed on his way out, that there was a bronze statue built and dedicated to the fourth Hokage himself, Minato Namikaze. Naruto stared at the giant, bronze figure as if he were hypnotized by it. Naruto gazed into the eyes of the lifeless figure with some strange sense of familiarity.

It was rather strange to him, whenever Naruto would look, or in this case, gaze into the face of the world-famous ninja. He felt as if he knew him or met him somehow or someway. Everytime he would question this strange feeling, he kept reminding himself that he must have gaze up at his face. Just as he was being taken away from his paternal mother and sealed into the destiny he never asked for. Naruto still respected the Yondiame Hokage even after he discovered that he had the Kyuubi sealed into him. Naruto had no idea and could not possibly fathom what it must have been like to be in the Hokage's place during that horrific night. He ultimately decided that it would not be fair if he hated the Namikaze for what he did. His last request was that the newborn Jinchuuriki should be respected as a hero. Even if his final request was never carried out, the fact of the matter was that he wanted him to be called a hero. That fact alone id the reason Naruto still does not hate the Yondiame Hokage.

He looked at the statue as he was passing by with his friends and smiled at the statue with a proud smirk. He soon quickened his pace and caught up with Hinata to talk some more. Before the town disappeared from sight, Naruto caught one last glance at the statue. He smirked one last time and thought to himself with Harry smiling with him,

'Thank you, Yondiame-sama for the life you have given me. Thank you.'


To Be Continued


The random lyrics you saw earlier, believe it or not, are actually the lyrics I found that the woman who sang those random words in that song by Harry Gregson-Williams.

I'm sorry again everybody for the cliffhanger, I was having one of my rare evil moments. It happens to us all at one point or another.

I hope you guys enjoyed that mission because there are more mission chapters and training chapters to come!

Azeroth44: Now our next mission for us, is what movie we are going to see this week in theaters!

Kvsyaoran: That's a good plan! We gotta figure that out with KoW360 and Al.

Azeroth44: Inception?

Kvsyaoran: I heard that was really good. But what about Dinner for Schmucks?

Azeroth44: I heard it was funny.

Naruto: How about Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow?

(Both authors look at each other)

Kvsyaoran: You mean the movie you stared in back in 2004 that we both have seen over 37 times?

Naruto: ….. Never mind….

Azeroth44: What'smatter with you?

Kvsyaoran: I think I wanna see Inception.

Azeroth44: But Dinner for Schmucks has Steve Carell and that dude from The Hangover…

Kvsyaoran: Oh well! We'll discuss this with Al and KoW360 when they show up. Care to help me make some chocolat fondant?

Azeroth44: LET'S GO!

Naruto: I get to lick the spoon!

See ya until next time everyone!

Review Please!