Flee on Sight

AN: Are you surprised? Are you ecstatic, overjoyed, elated even? I know I am, I didn't expect to turn out another chapter so quickly. I just sat at my computer turned on Microsoft word and then my mind just went places and this chapter is the end result. By the way, thank you all for the wonderful reviews and suggestions for Narutos tattoo, now, on with show!

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Naruto or other forms of entertainment I may be inclined to take ideas from.

It's been almost two weeks since Naruto began his mission to the Land of Snow. He was currently on the last leg of his trip after changing boats once in Lightening Country and again in the Land of Iron. As part of his mission Naruto changed his appearance just in case he could be recognized.

He died his blonde hair to jet black and left it a stringy mess that fell all over his head and down his face so that it would shadow his eyes. He wore a contact lens in his right eye that turned the cerulean blue into a deep forest green. He covered his whisker marks with white bandages that he wrapped around the lower half of his face.

He was wearing a ragged gray traveling cloak that went all the way down to his ankles and underneath the cloak he had on closed toe boots with black cargo pants tucked into the tops, a machete was sheathed on the outside of his right thigh and tucked in his waist band at the small of his back was a tomahawk. Tied around his belt hung a headband with a scratched out music note. He wore a long sleeve mesh shirt beneath a plain black combat vest that looked like it had seen better days. From his forearms to his knuckles his hands were wrapped in white athletic tape like a boxer. He didn't carry a hip pouch or weapons holster, it was part of his image as a missing nin from the Sound Village, which was the story he made sure to circulate around about himself.

He was going to try and weasel a position within Dotos forces, the Land of Snow has a small military presence when compared to those found on the mainland so they were always looking for soldiers to swell there ranks. He figured he would start a few fights, show off his skills and hopefully get noticed and be in a position to help out Kakashi and Team 7 when they arrived.

Naruto was currently traveling on one of the most decrepit ships he has ever seen. As part of his image as a missing nin, he had to travel by the basic of means and this ship was at the very bottom. It was a slow leaking death trap held together by a combination of gum and prayers. He shook his head at the things he had to endure as a shinobi. He was leaning on the rail over-looking the choppy water and the glaciers in the distance with a far off look in his eyes. He was thinking back to the short time he spent in Wave before boarding the boat to get to Snow Country.

(Flashback)

The sun was just breaking through the clouds as Naruto leapt from tree to tree on his way to Wave Country. He had left Konoha well before sunrise, but not before picking up a few pieces of equipment he would need for his mission. He set him-self to a fast pace and used the same route he travelled when on his first time to Wave. As it started getting light out he decided to take to the trees instead of using the main roads.

It was 3 hours after Naruto left Konoha that he saw a break in the trees ahead and knew that his destination was seconds away, so with a final burst he made a mighty leap and landed in a crouched position in front of the bridge leading into the village. Naruto straightened up and was thankful no one was around to see him emerge from the woods, he wouldn't wanted to be mistaken for an enemy not after what these people went through with Gato.

As Naruto walked towards the bridge he noticed a gleam in the corner of his eye. When he turned to fully look at it, he saw it was a silver plaque attached to the column on the right side of the bridge, as he read the plaque he couldn't help but smile.

"This is the Bridge of Both Arms; with the connection of this bridge to the mainland the hope of an entire island has been restored. It was named after a simple fisherman who died trying to protect his home and family."

"In the words of Kaiza the fisherman, if you love something you have to protect it with both arms."

Naruto was very surprised by what he saw on the other side of the bridge. The last time he was here the village looked like it was deserted, boarded up shops, burned out buildings, empty stalls, barely a soul in sight and those he did see looked so empty. Now though it looked like the complete opposite, people were smiling and laughing although that laughter dimmed somewhat when they saw Naruto decked out in his ninja gear go past them. The food stalls were being filled and it looked like they had rebuilt some of the destroyed shops.

Out of habit and because he really didn't know where else to go Naruto went directly to Tazunas home. This was one place that didn't look like it changed too much. 'Hope it's not too early.' Naruto thought to him-self as he knocked on the door.

Thump, thump,thump

"Just a moment" a female voice said that Naruto knew wasn't Tsunami.

Naruto raised his eyebrows "Maybe things have changed." He mumbled to him-self.

The door was opened to reveal a beautiful girl in her late teens; she had long dark brown hair that fell around her shoulders and down her back. She was wearing a sky blue sun dress with lilies on it and a white apron wrapped around her slender waist. As Naruto was checking her out in a semi- daze he missed the look of recognition the girl had before she hid it.

"Ahem!"

Naruto shook his head trying to reboot his mind when he heard her clear her throat. "I'm sorry to disturb you so early in the morning miss, but I was looking for Tazuna the bridge builder does he still live here?"

"Yes he does, whom may I say is asking for him?" she asked softly, almost shyly.

"Arashi, he will know me as Arashi." He said.

"Very well, please come in." she said and held the door open for Naruto to enter.

Naruto stepped in and stood to the side as she closed the door.

"Please wait here a moment." She said.

Naruto just nodded his head and followed the sway of her hips as she walked down the foyer and turned in the direction he knew the kitchen and dining room were. Once she was gone Naruto took a deep breath and let it out slowly trying to get his mind back on track and out of the gutter. He heard a chair scrape across a floor, and then he heard then pounding of feet coming closer. He wasn't in the least surprised to see Inari come skidding into view.

"It is you! You came back Arashi nii-san!" Inari said with a bright smile.

"I said I would come back to see you whenever I could didn't I?" Naruto said eye smiling, because his eyes were closed he wasn't prepare when Inari slammed into him and tried to squeeze the air out of him with a hug. He was able to get his trapped arms out and return the hug.

"Man Inari, you sure have gotten a lot stronger haven't you?"

"That's what happens when you spend most of your free time building things with your hands." An old grouchy voice said.

Naruto looked up at the voice and returned the smile that Tazuna was sporting. "Hey Tazuna you're looking…less old." He said.

Tazunas smiled dropped as he became indignant "Why you…don't you have any respect for your elders?"

"I meant it as a compliment, I assure you." Naruto said, but it was the truth, Tazuna was looking a lot better than the last time Naruto saw him. His gut was less paunchy, he was wearing, as usual, a sleeveless shirt and Naruto could see his arms were retaining a healthy muscle tone but more importantly it was the eyes, his eyes before had a look of desperation, now they were filled with life.

Naruto disentangled him-self from Inari and approached Tazuna with his hand outstretched and received a bone crushing handshake from the bridge builder.

"It really is good to see you again Arashi-san." Tazuna said warmly.

"You as well, by the way, I go by Naruto now not Arashi."

"You changed your name nii-san?" Inari asked.

"It's more like I changed it back."

"Come in, we were just about to have breakfast." Tazuna said and lead the way to the dining room. "What brings you back this way or can't you tell us?" Tazuna asked as the three of them sat down at the table.

"I can tell you I'm passing through on an assignment but that's about it." Naruto said.

"How long can you stay?" Inari asked.

"Just for the day I'm afraid, I leave tonight. Hey don't look so down, we can spend time together before I have to go." Naruto said as he saw Inaris face fall.

"I have school, and then I'm supposed to help Grand-pa at a new job site."

"It's okay if you want to skip the job site today, Naruto's only in town for a short while." Tazuna said "But you have to ask your mom about school."

"It's fine with me honey, you've been working so hard lately you deserve a break." Tsunami said from the door way leading into the dining.

Naruto stood up as Tsunami entered the room and met her halfway to her seat and pulled her into a hug. "You're just as beautiful as ever Tsunami-chan." Naruto whispered.

"I see you haven't lost your touch." She said as she pulled back with a blush on her face. "Sit down, breakfast should be just about ready." She said and bustled off to the kitchen.

"You heard her right? We can spend the day hanging right?" Inari said excitedly.

"Yes we can, I don't have any plans until tonight." Naruto said.

"Inari, go change out of your school clothes and put on something old?" Tazuna said.

"Okay Grand-pa, tell Haku nee-san not to eat my bacon this time, I'll be right back." Inari said rushing out of the room.

Naruto stilled when he heard that name, now Haku could be a very common name all over the Elemental Nations as far as Naruto knew, but now that he thought about it, that girl who answered the door did look a little familiar. Naruto lowered his masked and channeled chakra into his nose and took a deep sniff. He had to concentrate to filter out the smells of the cooked food coming from the kitchen but he was certain he caught the scent of medicinal herbs and clean water.

He hastily pulled his mask back up as the door to the kitchen opened and Tsunami and apparently Haku entered. He stole a glance at Tazuna who just nodded his head at his silent question. He waited until they sat the bowls of oatmeal, eggs and the plates of bacon and toast on the table before speaking. "I don't think we've been introduced yet, I'm Naruto."

"We've been introduced Naruto-kun, just not properly."

"I'm very surprised to see you here Haku, is Zabuza close by?" Naruto asked.

Haku gave Naruto a sad smile "Zabuza-sama went back to the Hidden Mist. It wasn't long after we helped you out that he was tracked down by some former colleagues and was asked to fight for the rebels in the civil war, he agreed without hesitation."

"Why didn't you go with him? The rebels could have probably used your skills."

"I offered but he said it wasn't my fight since I was never really a ninja of the Hidden Mist, his final order before he left was to find my own path and walk it. I felt Wave Country was the placed that had the most profound effect on my life so I came here. I work part time in the clinic here and Tazuna-san and Tsunami-san have been kind enough to let me stay here." Haku said with a smile gracing her face.

"It's the least we could do after what happened." Tsunami said smiling at Haku.

Inari came racing backing into the room just then "Nee-san did you eat my bacon again?" he asked panting a little.

Haku openly laughed at Inari "Your bacon is safe Inari-kun"

As Inari slid into his chair Naruto asked "How did you come to be living here?"

"That's not really important" Inari said quickly "Hmm, breakfast smells good this morning, did you do something different? Mom, have you lost weight? Grand-pa you're going to be late for work if you don't eat soon. Haku nee-san, are you doing something different with your hair?" Inari talked so fast he sentences practically ran together.

Tazuna, Tsunami and Haku were laughing at the flustered young man. There was obviously a funny story behind Haku ending up in the household.

"Now I have to know the story." Naruto said

"It's boring hardly worth mentioning." Inari insisted

"What happened was…" Tazuna began

"Come on Gramps" Inari grumbled

"My wonderful Grand-son got an idea in his head to build him-self a tree house out in the surrounding forest. But he's not allowed to use any dangerous tools without myself or Tsunami there to watch him. So his tool of choice was a glue gun." Tazuna looked at Inari and couldn't contain the full belly laugh at his Grand-sons red face. "When he hadn't showed up for lunch we got a little worried and were about to go look for him, when he walks in the door with a full body blush in nothing but his boxers, followed by Haku. Turns out he had somehow glued himself to a tree and he didn't think to take his clothes off until Haku came along and found him." Tazuna finished the story with a new round of laughter from everyone at the table except for Inari who was sullenly eating his breakfast.

After a few minutes the laughter died down and Naruto wiped the tears from his eyes "Did you ever finish the tree house?"

"No, I haven't been back out there since it happened." The young builder said.

"How about we do that today? I'll help you finish your tree house before I leave tonight." He offered.

Inari looked at him with excitement shining in his eyes "How are you going to help me build a tree house in one day?"

"I'll show you later if you want my help."

"Of course I do! This is going to be awesome!" Inari stood up from his chair "I'm going to go pull out the stuff we need from the shed, hurry up nii-san!" Inari said running out of the room and then the house.

"I better get going too" Tazuna said standing up "This village isn't going to rebuild itself. Will you be joining us for dinner Naruto?"

"As long as I'm not imposing on you too much."

"After what you did for us, you're welcome in our home anytime. I'll see you all tonight."

"I'll walk with you Tazuna-san; I have a shift at the clinic this morning. It was nice seeing you again Naruto; I hope we can speak more later."

"I look forward to it Haku." He said sincerely

"Tsunami-san I'll be back to help you prepare lunch." Haku said following Tazuna out of the dining room.

"Have a good day you two" Tsunami called out to the departing duo.

"Tsunami-chan, how have you been lately?"

"Wonderful" she said almost gushing "Ever since Gatou disappeared from our lives, I feel like an evil curse has been lifted from Wave. He plagued us for so long, he destroyed so many lives I thought we would never recover but we did and now it's like we've given our selves permission to live again."

"That's great news, amongst ninja, there's an unwritten rule that says, live each moment to its fullest. It's why we're considered adults when we receive our headbands" Naruto said tapping his own that he wore around his head "You guys, this entire village is so completely different then the last time I was here I almost didn't recognize it."

"That's not all, I've been seeing someone recently, and he owns a grocery store in town." She said fairly beaming.

"You lit up like an explosive note just now Tsunami-chan" Naruto said returning her smile "It's more than just dating isn't it?"

"I'm pregnant!" Tsunami said covering her mouth to keep the happy squeals at bay.

Naruto leaped over the table and scooped Tsunami up in a hug "Congratulations, how far along are you?"

"4 weeks, Haku is the only one who knows for now; we plan to tell Dad and Inari when we announce the engagement." Tsunami said with her smile firmly in place.

"Tsunami-chan that is great news, I hope I made the guest list." Naruto said jokingly.

"You and all of Team 7, my father told me you guys could have cancelled the mission when you found out he lied to you but you didn't" Tsunami placed her hands on Narutos cheeks and looked him in the eyes "For whatever reason you decided to come to our aid and you changed so many lives as the result."

Naruto didn't have a response so he just nodded his head "Well Inari is probably wondering where I am, so I better get going." He gave her another hug "Congratulations again"

"Thank you, lunch is at 1 o'clock and keep an I on Inari and the glue gun please."

Naruto was chuckling as he left the dining room and headed for the front door.

(Flashback end)

As promised Naruto helped Inari build the tree house in one day with the liberal use of Shadow clones, he left that evening after veritable feast with a promise from him to visit more often to Inari and with a promise to start writing to Haku.

He was pulled away from his memories by the smell of cheap sake, an unwashed body and cigarettes. He turned towards the smell and wasn't surprised to see a fellow passenger by the name of Satsui approaching him.

Satsui was probably somewhere in his early to mid-30s but to look at him your first guess would probably be around 50 yrs. old. He had greasy brown hair, shifty yellow eyes set into a pale sunken face with dark circles beneath. He had a small constantly red nose from constant drinking and a perpetual 5 o'clock shadow. He stood at about 5'5 and was very skinny almost emaciated, he had boarded the boat in Lightening country and since then he had made himself known to most everyone on board as a person who knew how to acquire things for the right price.

He had approached Naruto within an hour of coming aboard, he strolled up to Naruto like they were old friends with a wide smile, showing that whatever teeth that hadn't fallen out of his head were black as coal, before he could utter a single word Naruto sent him scrabbling away from him with a burst of killing intent a cold glare from one blue eye and one green eye. He hadn't the courage to approach him again until now.

"Excuse me, but you are Boku-san correct?" he rasped. His voice sounded like he went through 3 packs a day.

Naruto or Boku as he named himself for the mission just stared at him without answering.

Satsui shifted from foot to foot as he got the silent treatment, he cleared his throat nervously "Word around the ship is that you're a missing nin."

Still keeping silent Naruto shifted to fully face him.

Satsui quickly threw up his hands in a pleading gesture "Wait! Wait, I didn't approach you too cause you trouble, but if you're going to Snow Country looking for work I can help you."

Naruto kept up the silent treatment for a while longer just staring at the filthy little man in front of him. "How can one such as you help me?" he finally said his voice so cold and emotionless.

Satsui shivered at the sound of that voice, he could have sworn with that handful of words his death flashed before his eyes. "I..I'm a native of Snow Country; I can show you the best places to showcase your skills get you noticed. I know people that will pay good money for a trained fighter." Suddenly, Satsui couldn't breathe, it took his brain a moment to register that he was being held in the air by his throat. He pissed himself when he looked into the angry eyes of the monster of a man he approached.

"Do I look like I higher myself out for other people's entertainment or amusement? Trained fighter? I'm a trained warrior!" Naruto snarled fully into his Boku persona. Naruto turned and held his arm out over the railing of the ship "I ought to drop you in the freezing waters for wasting my time." He threatened.

Satsui franticly shook his head begging with his eyes to be spared the slow death of drowning or hypothermia. "I…I'm ….sorry please! I…can find…you…proper work" Satsui rasped out as best he could.

Naruto held him over the water a while longer giving the impression his was thinking before he hauled the man back on deck and dropped him on his ass.

Satsui greedily took in big gulps of life sustaining air as he massaged his throat.

"Tell me about this proper work" Naruto said after giving the man a moment to get himself together.

"I..(cough) know someone; we've had dealings in the past. He's the right hand of the Daimyo. I can get word to him and set up a meeting." Satsui promised.

"What's in it for you?"

"Protection, you give me your word you'll protect me during our travels to the meeting place. The last time I was here I didn't leave on good terms with a lot of people." Satsui said as he rose unsteadily to his feet.

Naruto turned back to look out over the ocean again "I'll agree on one condition, you always stay down wind of me."

"Whatever you want Boku-san, whatever you say." Satsui said as he rushed to get away from the terrifying missing nin and back to his bunk to change his pants.

The ship eventually docked later that day in some small port town away from the swankier area of Snow Country. Naruto was informed by his traveling companion that this particular port was known for harboring a pirate crew as long as they were on time with their payments to the Daimyo. After sending of a message with the last mail cart for the evening, according to Satsui we were set to meet his contact at a tavern 3 days travel from the port.

Naruto didn't think he could stomach being in this smelly man's company for that long but he would tough it out for the mission. He could have left him behind but having never been in Snow Country before he needed a guide.

Naruto spent three days in complete silence as he listened to Satsui talk nervously about any and everything under the sun. He could have shut him up at any time but the best way to gather information was to let the other person carry the conversation. He found out through Satsui's nervous chatter that the reason he really needed to walk in Narutos shadow was because he stole quite a bit of money from the local pirate crew, apparently there was a price on his head.

The roadside tavern they were to meet in was dark and hazy smoke filled dilapidated building. The meeting was set for 6 o'clock in the evening and they had been waiting since around noon, watching from a dark corner, the comings and goings of various travelers. The place was getting packed as the day wore on. Satsui was nervously nursing a bottle of sake.

"Is something on your mind Satsui?" Naruto asked suddenly, the first time he had spoken since the ship ride.

Satsui spilled his saucer of sake down his shirt at the sudden question. "No not really, it's just this place is frequented by people who I'd hope not to run into."

Naruto was spared a response when to door to the tavern was literally kicked down and about men started pouring in to the tavern with drawn swords, cleavers and clubs. One man pushed himself to the head of the horde. He was about 6 ft. with a muscular build but not overly so, he had short cropped snow white hair, round black eyes and a bandana tied around his mouth bandit style. His weapon of choice was a heavy looking spiked metal club which he seemed to hold with ease.

"Nobody move!" he said, either the leader or spokesmen for the group shouted. "We're looking for a man who calls himself Boku! Give him to us and you'll all be spared refuse and you'll all die."

Naruto narrowed his eyes slightly, he knew there was no way in hell these people knew who he was, either Satsui had more balls then brains and set this ambush up or the person he contacted decided to cash in on a missing nin. In either situation he wasn't worried by the way these men held themselves, they were just thugs not trained shinobi. He slowly stood out of his seat and the white haired man.

All attention shifted to him as he walked out of the shadows. "How can I help you upstanding citizens?" Naruto said calmly and sarcastically.

"There's a reward on your head that I aim to collect."

"Is there really, how much?" Naruto asked curiously.

"$100,000"

"Is that all your life is worth $100,000? I think you've been cheated." Naruto said before he turned to the bartender "Is there a back door?" he got a very shaky nod as an answer "I saddest you and everyone else here use it." That was the last thing he said before he whipped back around with his machete in full swing and separated the spokes man's head from the rest of his body. It took a second before bandits got over the shock at the quick death of their leader.

"Kill the bastard!"

"Ahhh!"

And the battle had begun, a mean looking man wielding a switchblade was the first to reach him and was met with a kick to the sternum that dropped him like a stone, he didn't even moan in pain before he was unconscious. Naruto caught the arm of a man to his left who was swinging a cleaver in an overhead chopping motion, he side stepped another man who jabbed a knife at Narutos unprotected stomach. Bringing the cleaver wielding arm down he used it to cut off the hand of the guy he side stepped. As the man screamed in pain from the loss of his hand, Naruto ran the sharp edge of his machete across his throat silencing his screams and releasing a flood of red coursing down his body.

Still holding the wrist of the man who wielded the cleaver he drove his knee into his gut and as he was bent over, stabbed the machete through the back of his neck. Releasing the now limp wrist Naruto pulled his tomahawk out of the small of his back and advanced on the remaining horde. Narutos machete and tomahawk flashed through the bar in a flurry of swings, opening wounds and taking chunks of flesh with every swing. Naruto was proud to say he was in his element. He could perform most duties as a ninja; he could teach, spy, sabotage or gather information. But he was most at home in the thick of battle. Swinging his tomahawk into his enemy's face or bisecting another with his machete. He was a whirlwind of bloody carnage when it came to combat.

It was over before it began, every bandit lay dead or dying and Naruto was in the middle of covered in blood but once again none of it his. He looked around the bar, double checking, making sure he hadn't missed anything. He hadn't, the bar was empty except for him and the bodies.

Naruto walked towards the door bloody machete and tomahawk still in hand. He knew someone was out there he could feel them. As he stepped up to the doorway he was proven right as standing in the shadows across the road were two figures. One was clearly a female by the outline of curves in the right places and the other was clearly a man based on the sure size and mass of the shadow.

"It seems you passed our little interview" a sly female voice called out.

"Hardly an interview, I doubt there was anyone above a street fighter in the bunch" Naruto said coldly.

"Not true, there was actually a veteran Jonin amongst them, white hair, black eyes, he should have had a spiked metal club." The same voice said.

"He was the first to die" Naruto said simply.

Then the figures moved from the tree line to the center of the road where the sunlight illuminated them. Naruto was right it was a man and woman, both of them ninjas if the outfits were any indication.

The first person he took notice of was the man. He was a large man with short crop of purple hair and dark eyes. He was wearing a full body blue and white outfit and he had a bulky metal gauntlet on his left arm.

The woman was also wearing a blue and white body suit only more form fitting show off her curvaceous body. She had and green eyes. She was the one who broke the stare off. "I'm Fubuki, the land mass next to me is Mizore, and if you're Boku you passed the first interview"

Naruto didn't say anything; he merely crouched down and began cleaning his weapons using the surrounding snow never taking his eyes of the two Snow ninjas. When he was finished, he stood and made a show of slowly sheathing his machete and stashing his tomahawk in his cloak. "What's the second interview?" Naruto finally asked.

"Keeping up with us" Fubuki said as a set of mechanical wings sprang out of her back and she took to the sky.

Mizore pulled out a snowboard from behind him threw it on the ground and hopped aboard "We won't be stopping until we reach the Daimyos Palace, hope you're not tired after that little sparring session." The big man rumbled before he blasted off on his board.

Naruto dashed off after him and quickly caught up and kept a steady pace with the large snow boarder. They traveled in silence throughout the long journey to the palace. Mizore would every once and a while poor more chakra into his board and get ahead of Naruto but never for long. Fubuki every now again would swoop down take a look at Naruto then return to the sky, but none of them ever saying a word.

Four hours later, Naruto saw that he was coming into the home stretch as he ran up a winding cliff towards a huge gothic mansion. It was a long 4 hour run to the Daimyos palace, with the pace increasing every half hour. When they stopped, Naruto wasn't even breathing hard and made a point of pretending to yawn when the big man Mizore looked his way. Naruto turned away from the purple hair Snow ninja when Fubuki came in for a landing. He saw as she landed that her wings folded into some kind of device on her back.

"Let's go, Doto-sama is expecting you." She said walking through a large wrought iron gate down a massive walk.

Naruto walked behind Fubuki with Mizore bringing up the rear, he raised his eye brow as he noticed she seemed to put a lot more sway into her hips then warranted. 'Okay, I can work with that.' Naruto thought. Since she was putting on a free show, Naruto didn't bother to turn away even when she glanced over her shoulder.

"Like what you see, Boku-san?" she said over her shoulder.

"I wonder is your pink hair natural?" he asked.

"If you're lucky, you can find out for yourself."

"Both of you shut up, we're here." Mizore growled out behind Naruto.

And here was a set of massive double doors 20 ft. high and looked like they were made of steel. Fubuki lifted her foot and banged on the door 3 times, her foot barely touched the ground before there was a loud grinding noise and the doors began to swing inwards. Fubuki began walking through the doors before they were fully open and Naruto followed after her. When he crossed the threshold he immediately scanned his surroundings.

He was in a large foyer that spanned about 40 ft. wide and went up to the ceiling. There were lanterns lining the walls every 20 ft. which hid the ninjas in the shadows very well. Straight ahead of Naruto was a marble staircase that lead to the upper levels but that's not where we went. The pink haired Snow ninja lead him to the right of the staircase further down the hall to a metal door.

Fubuki paused before she opened it "A word of advice, be respectful towards Doto-sama, he doesn't suffer fools."

"I'll keep that in mind."

"Be sure you do, I'd hate for you to die before you found out my real hair color" she said with a sultry wink, before she opened the door.

Naruto was now in what could only be described as a throne room, it was massive, big enough to fit the Hokage tower inside. His attention was drawn to the only other occupants in the room. Both were men, one was seated on a high stone platform in an ornate wingback chair. He had his cheek resting on his right fist as he longed nonchalantly in the seat.

He could tell by the wide shoulders that he was muscular but not how tall he was, he was older maybe about mid- forties with long brown hair, his eyes were too small for Naruto to tell what color they were. He had a large nose, a flat mouth and a square jaw. It could only be Doto Kazahana; the ruler of the Land of Snow.

Behind him and slightly to the right was a man probably in his mid-twenties, he had light silver blue hair in a high ponytail and sea green eyes. He had a slender build and he was armor a blue and white uniform similar to the others.

Naruto followed Fubuki until they reached the bottom of the stone platform.

"Wait here and keep silent" she ordered before leaping to the platform and kneeling in front of her master.

"Aren't you going to introduce us to your friend, Fubuki?" Doto asked dryly.

"Doto-sama, I bring to you Boku, former ninja of the Hidden Sound Village." She said from her kneeling position.

Naruto stood silently as the ruler of Snow Country scrutinized him with his beady eyes.

"Even so far away from the mainland we've heard news of Sounds utter defeat at the hands of Konoha" Doto finally said smirking "Is that why you ran all the way out here, to get away from the shame of your defeat?"

"Yes" Naruto said simply "No one would think to look for me in such an insignificant little country" and even though Doto couldn't see it behind his bandaged covered mouth Naruto smirked anyway.

His reply wiped the smirk off of Dotos face, and earned him a glare from the blue haired man behind him. He felt Mizore move closer to his back but didn't acknowledge him. He kept his attention on Doto who regarded him silently, before a mocking smile formed on his face.

"Hahahaha…Do you consider yourself brave or foolish to mock a lion in his den?" he didn't bother to wait for a reply "How would you rate his skills Fubuki?"

"High Jonin" she said immediately "I sent Eiji and his pirate crew as a test, he killed them all without any jutsu or injury to himself. Then he ran here for 4 hours non-stop and wasn't even winded."

"Eiji? Wasn't he the man who taught you Nadare?" Doto asked without looking behind him.

"Yes he was, Doto-sama." Nadare said through clenched teeth.

"I'm sorry for your loss, if you'd like, I can take you to the tavern and help you match his head with his body." Naruto said coldly

Nadare snarled and was about to leap down and attack before the laughter of his Lord kept him in his place.

"Hahahahaha! There it is again, Fubuki, get him a uniform and show him to the barracks."

"Yes Doto-sama" she rising from her kneeling position.

She hopped down next to Naruto and led him back the way he came, once they were out of the throne room with the doors closed behind them, Fubuki pushed Naruto against the door and leaned into his face, Naruto grabbed the handle of his machete just in case.

"Oh you are a dangerous one, aren't you Boku-san?" she said with a teasing smile on her face. "Not only do you mock Doto-sama but Nadare as well. You better watch your back around him, Eiji was like and older brother to him, he will be coming for you eventually."

"Thank you for the warning" he suddenly reversed their positions but also turned her around so that he was pressed against her back, he ground his hardening cock against her ass, and leaned forward to whisper in her ear "Now here is your warning, watch your back, sooner or later you'll come for me."

He felt her shiver before she pushed her ass into his cock at met him grind for grind. She wiggled her ass around until Naruto gave her enough room to turn around and face him. She reached for his bandages but didn't get far before he caught her hands in his and held them above her head.

She struggled briefly trying to free her hands, but her struggles ceased when Naruto held both her hands above her head with his left hand and grabbed her crotch with his right. Her startled gasp was muffled as she buried her face in his shoulder. Naruto worked his palm in small circles around her covered clit, slowly at first but then sped up as her thighs tightened around his hand.

"Wwwwwait! Not here, we can't be caught here!" she whispered franticly.

"Is your room far?"

She didn't answer just grabbed his hand and they disappeared in a swirl of snow. They reappeared in what he assumed was her bedroom, it was pretty Spartan, no windows and a dresser with a single lamp on top was all he could see before he was pushed on the bed and his lap was straddled by the horny Snow kunoichi.

She parted the bandages around his mouth and slammed her lips on top of his, Naruto returned the kiss just as fiercely before grabbing her around her thighs and lifting her up. Her legs instantly went around his hips as they continued to kiss, he purposely slammed her back against her bedroom wall hoping to set off her wings which he did.

"Shit! I forgot about the armor. Get comfortable I'll be right back." She said as Naruto set her on her feet and she walked to a door on the far side of the room which turned out to be a bathroom. After she went into the bathroom and closed the door, Naruto began undressing; he took of the bloodied cloak, the stained hand wraps and the beaten flak jacket. The mesh shirt followed, he pulled the tomahawk from his back and sat it on the dresser, the sheathed machete soon rested next to it, he kicked off his boots as he unbuckled and slid his pants off.

Sitting on the bed in nothing but plain black boxers, he reached down and picked up one of his discarded boots and rotated the heel revealing a hidden compartment within, upturning the heel a small clear plastic baggy fell into his hand. Inside the bag were 3 threading needles. What was so special about these needles was that they were coated in a very strong muscle relaxer; it was a combination hypno-drug and truth serum. It was favored among interrogators in case you didn't want to leave any visible evidence that someone had been questioned. Very good for weak minded interrogation prisoners, which Fubuki was unknowingly about to become.

He took out one of the needles and placed it carefully between the middle and ring finger of his right hand before stowing the rest back in his boot. He sat with his back against the head board and waited for his target to come back in.

It wasn't long before the door opened and Fubuki stood frame in the light of the bathroom sans armor, her pink hair fell just below chin level and she was wearing black bicycle shorts and a matching sports bra. She walked, no, more like swayed to the foot of the bed, then crawled towards Naruto on her hands and knees until she once again straddled his lap right over his crotch moaning as she ground her pussy against the hard ridges of his cock.

"I'm glad you didn't take the bandages off, I like a man of mystery and the blood helps." She said.

Naruto slapped her sharply on the ass with the hand he held the needle in injecting her with the muscle relaxer "Bad girls like you need to be treated accordingly"

"Oh! Yes, that's just how I liiike itt puuunnnissh meee…" she trailed off as her eyes went glassy and took on a far off look.

Naruto grabbed her chin and forced her to look him in the eyes "What's your name" Naruto asked in a calm soothing voice, like he was talking to a small child.

"Fubuki (fill in last name later)" she said in a far-away voice.

"What is your occupation?"

"Elite Jonin of the Land of Snow"

"Is Doto aware Princess Koyuki is on her way to Snow Country" Naruto asked.

"Yes, Doto-samas spies have been watching her since Nadare confirmed that the actress Yukie Fujikaze is actually Koyuki Kazahana."

"When does he expect her to arrive?"

"In 3 weeks, she was recently scene boarding a boat leaving the mainland, one of his spies managed to steal the shoot schedule, he is aware of where she will be at all times."

"Does he know of any security detail?"

"Yes, she was seen boarding the boat with Kakashi Hatake and 3 younger Leaf shinobi, 2 boys and a girl."

"Do you have a description of the younger Leaf Shinobi?"

"Only that both boys had black hair and the girl had pink hair."

Naruto decided not to pursue that line of questioning it didn't really matter who Kakashi got to feel in on his team "What does Doto want with Koyuki?"

"He believes she holds the key to the Kazahana clan treasure."

"What key?"

"The hex crystal"

"How does Doto plan to capture Koyuki?"

"We haven't been given a plan yet."

"Great, which means I have to improvise" Naruto said to himself "Tell me about the chakra armor."

"I only know the basics, it boosts the users own chakra and jutsu. It also negates an enemy's genjutsu and ninjutsu."

"Do you know where the chakra armor is being made or who designs them?"

"Only Doto-sama knows that."

"You have been most helpful, when you awake in the morning you will not remember being questioned, you will have vivid memories of a night of incredible sex. You will even walk with a limp and think of me as the man who ruined you for all other men" Naruto said 'I do have an image to maintain' he thought. "Now sleep" he said in the same calm and soothing voice.

Her eyes closed as she slumped forward, Naruto caught her by the shoulders and laid her on the mattress beside him. Naruto then lay down next to her and got comfortable, he was basically stuck there until the morning.

(3 three weeks later)

"One man you've already beaten and 3 fresh out of the academy genins against my elite and you fail?" Doto said calmly. He was in his throne room addressing a kneeling Nadare, Mizore and Fubuki. They had just gotten back from their failed attempt to ambush the Konoha ninjas and bring his niece and the hex crystal to him as he had ordered. "Would you care to explain how exactly that was possible?"

"My apologies Doto-sama, we underestimated them."

Doto's glare was only half wasted, because even though Nadares eyes were on the ground he still felt it on the back of his neck. "Nadare, do I need to impress upon you the seriousness of the situation?"

"No, my Lord, we will not fail you again."

"Is the train prepped and ready?"

"Yes my Lord, it can leave at a moment's notice." Fubuki said.

"Since it seems you 3 can't get the job done on your own anymore, be sure to invite Boku-san." Doto ordered.

Nadare stiffened at the mention of the recently hired missing nin. With all the preparation for that day's mission he never had a chance to exact his revenge for the killing of his former sensei.

"Is there a problem Nadare? If you don't feel you can work with Boku-san perhaps you should stay here and guard the mansion."

Nadare quietly seethed 'After all I've done, he treats me like this!' "I'll be fine Doto-sama."

"Good, we leave in the morning, you are dismissed." Doto said calmly.

While Doto was busy reaming out his elite squad, Naruto was finally making contact with Team7. He knew from another round of interrogation of Fubuki that they planned an ambush at one of the filming sites. So he followed them from a distance and waited until the film crew arrived and he was surprised to see that Kakashi had the mini taijutsu master Lee as a part of his team.

During the ensuing battle, he snuck aboard the ship and stowed himself in the crow's nest to wait out the fight and report to Kakashi as soon as he could. That opportunity came when 2 hours later when all the excitement died down and the ship had docked. He waited until the deck had cleared of the film crew before he shimmied down the mast and didn't waste time before skulking to the lower cabins.

It was dark below decks only a single lantern lighting the way, he followed the sound of voices coming from further along. He crept forward cautiously with his back pressed close to the wall but not on it. He was almost to the opening when he heard the unmistakable last drawl of Kakashis voice.

"Yukie Fujikaze is an alias; her real name is Koyuki Kazahana rightful heir to the throne of the Land of Snow."

Naruto flared his chakra 3 times in rapid succession, paused for a count of 5 then flared it 3 more times.

"Come in, I was hoping to hear from you soon." Kakashi said.

When Naruto appeared in the doorway, everyone who was seated jumped to their feet, the 3 civilians in the room scrabbled over themselves to get as far back as was possible and the ninjas minus Kakashi all grabbed for their weapons.

"Hold it, he's on our side." Kakashis statement had the 3 genins looking back and forth between the uniformed Snow ninja and their jonin leader.

"Kakashi sensei how is a Snow ninja on our side?" Sakura asked in alarm.

"I'm truly hurt that you don't recognize me Sakura-chan. After all we've been through together, the long sweaty nights we've shared." Naruto said teasingly.

"What the hell are you talking about?" she screeched with her face turning redder by the second.

"I will not have you besmirching the beautiful Sakuras name in such a way; I challenge you to a duel of honor!" Lee said before he shifted into his Strong Fist stance.

"Alright, everyone calm down, normally I wouldn't mind the teasing but now isn't the time Naruto." Kakashi said.

The eyes of Team 7 widened at the name.

"Naruto?"

"My eternal rival?"

"Hn?"

"Sorry about the levity, just trying to break the tension, Kakashi." The disguised Chunin said as he walked further into the room.

"Kai!"

"It's really me Sakura; this is hair dye and a contact lens." Naruto said gesturing towards his hair and green eye.

"What do you have to report?" Kakashi asked.

"Wait a minute, what is he even doing here, we don't need his help." Sasuke said sneering at Naruto.

Kakashi sighed exasperation "Sasuke, Naruto was a part of this mission before you were. He was sent in ahead of us to gather information and if you close your mouth he can now share that information with the rest of us."

Sasukes clamped his lips together in a firm line as he was reprimanded in public.

Naruto took a seat at the table they were all gathered at, he glanced at the 3 civilians as they made their way back to the table when the possible violence seemed to pass. "Shouldn't we clear the room first?" he asked looking at the 3 of them.

"This is Sandayu Asama" Kakashi pointed out a man who looked to be in his late 40s with long brown hair pulled into a pony tail, a neatly trimmed beard and small round glasses perched on his nose "he was an advisor under the former leader of Snow Country Sosetsu Kazahana, what you have to say can be said in front of him. However but you two will have to excuse us." Kakashi he said politely to the other two gentlemen who turned out to be the director and his assistant.

"Awww, do we really have to?" the assistant whined.

"Come on you fool, with all that's happening we have major rewrites to supervise." The director said grabbing the other man by the arm and hauling him out of the room.

"Koyuki-hime, you might as well come in, this concerns you as well." Kakashi said, and sure enough, not a second after the director and assistant cleared the doorway, Koyuki was standing in there leaning on the door jam.

"Now Naruto, what do you have to report?"

"After spending 3 weeks here, I can tell you he's ruthless and cunning. As you can ascertain from the ambush, Doto knew you were coming, with that failure he most likely has a backup plan already under way." Naruto glanced around to make sure he had their attention. "His goal is the Kazahana clan treasure and he believes the hex crystal that was in the possession of Koyuki is the key, although I doubt he's going to stop there he's most likely going to kill you once he gets what he wants." Naruto said looking over his shoulder at the Princess.

"I don't care, he can have the crystal and my life, I don't care about either of them." She said coldly.

Naruto was surprised to hear her say that 'What the hell has gotten into her? She wasn't this fatalistic when I knew her"

"Koyuki-hime you must not say things like that, we were frantic worrying about you. We never gave up praying you were alive." Sandayu insisted.

"After that night ten years ago, I stopped living. I walk, I talk but I don't feel. I don't care whether I live or die." She said without any emotion in her voice.

"Koyuki-hime, the people need you! You have to take your rightful place as leader of the land of Snow" Sandayu said coming around the table and dropping to his knees in front of her "We would gladly take up arms and fight for you if only you would stake your claim."

Naruto watched as Koyuki stared at the man with absolutely no emotion on her face. The woman he had gotten to know during his stretch as a security was nowhere to be found on her face. The Koyuki that he knew was ill-tempered sure but she had a fire behind her eyes that drew Naruto to her. He couldn't believe that this woman devoid of any emotion and the woman with a hidden volcano beneath the surface were one and the same.

"I don't think so" she said coldly, shocking everyone in the room.

"But what about the people, they need you." Sandayu pleaded still on her knees.

"I could care less about the people" was the last she said before walking away.

There was complete silence as she walked away; no one spoke until the sound of door was heard in the distance. "What a bitch" Naruto said into the silence.

"Please do not judge her harshly; she has her reasons for..."

"I don't care! Every time I leave the village on a mission I have to play psychiatrist to someone or compare childhood traumas to see who has had it worse" Naruto stood and starting pacing behind his chair "You can send the princess to therapy after this is all over but for now we have to come up with a plan, to take out Doto."

"Naruto's right, let's get back on track" Kakashi said "Does Doto have any weaknesses we can exploit?"

"I've only met him once briefly that was when I first got here. I haven't seen him since" Naruto reached under his cloak and slid a folded piece of paper towards Kakashi at the other end of the table. "That's a map of as much of the mansion as I could cover so far. There are a lot of restricted areas I couldn't get into, but there are a few good entry points, maybe you can make something out of that."

Kakashi picked up the map and studied it briefly before passing it around the table "I'll let you know if I come up with anything, any idea what his next move will be?"

"Not a clue, whatever he's going to do will be…I just realized we know exactly where he's going to strike next."

"We do? How do we know that?" Lee asked

"He has a copy of their filming schedule, that's how he knew where to ambush you today. We could set a trap for him at the next film site and be done with it." Naruto suggested

"Solid plan, except we don't know how he's going to attack." Sasuke sneered

"That's a good point, well I can do what I did today and follow them and strike when an opportunity presents itself." Naruto said

"That leaves a lot room for error, we better take precautions for now" Kakashi picked up the map when it made its way back to him and put it in his pocket. "You head back and be our ace in the hole, we may need a trump card and soon."

"I have been gone long enough, I left a clone behind but you know how fragile they can be." He looked between the 3 genin still seated at the table "If we come across each other on the battle field don't hold back, come at me with the intent to kill, we can't afford any slip ups and expose me as a spy."

He got two nods of understanding from Lee and Sakura and an "Hn" from Sasuke. After that Naruto left the little dining cabin and made the trip back to Dotos mansion.

The next day Naruto found himself as part of Dotos traveling entourage. He was one of only a few who were standing within Dotos personal luxury compartment. They were chugging along to the next film sire where Doto was planning to overwhelm Team 7 and take Koyuki by force.

Naruto finally felt the train stop its constant motion and with a hand motion from Doto was ordered to follow him to the portion of the train that connected the rail cars. It was from the middle of the rail cars that he addressed his niece.

"It's been ten years dear niece, don't you have a hug for your favorite uncle?" he asked cruelly. Koyuki stared in open mouthed shock at the reason for ten years of nightmares. Whatever else he was going to say was cut off by tree trunks rolling down the nearby hilltop and colliding with the train.

We all looked in the direction they came from and on the hill was about 50 men all dressed in samurai armor and carrying weapons, and standing front and center leading these men was Sandayu Asama. "It's been ten years Doto, but finally I, Sandayu Asama and fifty of men will have our revenge for the death of our beloved ruler Sosetsu Kazahana!" he said pulling a sword from a sheath at his side. "Men take a good look, it is our Princess Koyuki and rightful ruler of these lands, with her here to witness it; we'll be victorious!"

"Nadare, I thought you got rid of all these peasant rebels." Doto said calmly while looking at mass of men.

"My apologies Doto-sama, allow me to correct my mistake." Nadare asked with a bowed head.

"These insects will only understand an overwhelming show of force before they are squashed." With a signal from Doto, several train compartments on the train opened up to reveal some kind of weapon mounted contraption manned by several Snow ninjas.

"Doto-sama, forgive me for speaking out of turn but if you would allow me, I believe I can make an even stronger statement on my own." Naruto said coming up with a plan on the fly "Allow me to succeed where Nadare failed."

Doto turned to look at the foreign shinobi silently "Very well" he said after a few seconds "Show me that I haven't made a mistake in granting you a place in amongst my forces."

Naruto bowed before jumping from the train.

"Now is our time men…attack!" Sandayu said and lead his men in a full on charge.

Naruto casually walked towards the charging men at the same time as he grabbed his machete stilled sheathed on his thigh. He took one calming breath and as the blade cleared its sheath he disappeared in a blurred, faster than the people charging or watching could see, you couldn't even mark his progress as he didn't even leave footprints in the snow.

The charging Samurais seemed to all stop in their tracks with his disappearance; they all stood there for what seemed like eternity but was actually less than 10 seconds.

Naruto reappeared in the same place he started in the processing of sheathing his blade, as the blade was fully seated within the sheath, the fifty men all seemingly collapsed in unison as blood misted from their bodies and settled on the white snow surrounding them.

"Hahahahahaha!" Dotos cruel laughter echoed around the mountain, Koyuki and Lee's gasp of horror could be heard by all.

Naruto turned in their direction and began to slowly approach them "Princess, I think it's time for a family reunion, so come quietly or not." His walk was interrupted by a kunai with an exploding tag landing in his path, he jumped back to avoid its detonation range, he was forced to retreat back to the train as more kunai were thrown at him and the train. He made it back to the train just as an avalanche was started and partially buried the train. He looked back as the train pulled away to see the faces of Koyuki and Team 7 looking at him with utter shock on their faces, he shrugged as he retreated back to Dotos luxury cabin.

Back at the massacre on the mountain Lee was walking towards the newly arrived members of Team 7 in a daze. "D-d-did you see what he did? He killed them all. He wasn't supposed to kill them."

Kakashi was watching as the film crew was gathering the bodies of the fallen and checking for survivors "Calm down Lee, its fine." Kakashi said

Lee turned sharply towards Kakashi an angry scowl on his face "Calm down, its fine, have you lost your mind? These people were fighting to get their country and we are here to help them and Naruto just killed them! How can be so clam at a time like this?"

"Because I trust Naruto to do the right thing he wouldn't kill innocents in cold blood. It's not in his nature." Kakashi turned away from the angry genin as Sakura and Sasuke approached at a jog.

Sakura was out of breath but had a very relieved look on her face "Kakashi sensei, there alive! All of them, they're all alive, he didn't kill a single one."

Kakashi just nodded his looked around him and saw the fallen men gingerly sitting up with help of the film crew; he turned a walked towards Sandayu, Koyuki who was standing over him jumped back in surprise. As he sat in an upright position his armor fell from his shoulder revealing a long cut from his left shoulder to his right hip.

Kakashi approached Sandayu and placed a hand on his shoulder gently urged him to lie down.

"H-how is it possible, I thought you were all killed." Lee said, from his position over Kakashis shoulder.

"I don't know, I thought I was dead as well, the only thing I remember is seeing Naruto-san disappear then darkness, I thought it was the end, until I woke up with the princess standing over me." Sandayu explained

Kakashi who had been silently examining the wound on his chest finally spoke "It was the shock that caused you to black out, this cut is shallow; it'll leave a scar but it's not life threatening."

"Do you see why I didn't want to come back here? That man wasn't even your real enemy and he decimated you all, next time Doto will kill you and there is no way around it." Koyuki said turning her back on them.

"I have never met anyone so un-youthful in all my days; these men put their lives on the line for you, for their country and you don't even care. These people deserve better than you." Lee said glaring at Koyuki.

I never thought I would say this but he's right." Sandayu said.

Koyuki spun around to stare at her manager in shock.

Sandayu shakily stood on his feet with the help of Sakura "If Sosetsu-sama were alive today, he would be so a shamed of who; you have become. I foolishly thought; that once you saw that we were willing to fight for you, that it would stir something in you, but I was wrong" Sandayu bent down to retrieve his fallen sword, he stood and looked Koyuki in the eye "I don't know who's worse, Doto, who feels nothing for anyone but himself or you who feels nothing for no one not even for yourself." With that said, he walked away without another word.

"Sandayu?" Koyuki whispered

(Rumble…Rumble…Rumble)

The people on the mountain turned to see a floating balloon appearing on from below the cliffs, as the balloon got higher they could see attached to the bottom was a train compartment and standing in the open compartment door was the Snow ninja Mizore, his eyes widened as he took in the still very much alive rebels. He shook the shock off quickly and fired the cables in his gauntlet at the princess and snatched her right from the ground.

"Aaaaah!"

Before anyone could react she was hauled inside the floating contraption.

"Damn it! What do we do now?" Sasuke said

"Now, we come up with a plan and get her back" was the muffled reply.

They all looked around, not far from where Koyuki had been standing the snow began to rise up to reveal Naruto.

"Naruto? I thought you got back on the train?" Sakura said.

"I switched out with a clone, which has been swiftly dispersed once Mizore informed Doto that the rebels were still alive." Naruto looked in the direction the balloon had went "I do know that they were planning on going to some kind of hidden valley west of here to retrieve the treasure once they got the key from Koyuki."

"Well what if they don't have the key?" Kakashi asked holding up a crystal on a string. "I switched out the real hex crystal with a fake, would they still take her to this secret valley?"

"I don't know, our best bet is to split up, I'll take Lee to the valley you take Sakura and Sasuke to the mansion." Naruto suggested.

"Sounds good to me, Sasuke, Sakura, prepare to move out." Kakashi ordered.

"Wait, we can help, we know this country better than you we can get you there by the quickest way." Sandayu said

"We can't afford to lag behind, gather anyone ready to travel now, we have to get going." Kakashi urged

"Five minutes and we'll be ready" Sandayu promised

"Lee?" Naruto turned to the green clad genin "we have a long way to go"

"YOSH! LET US FINALLY PUT AN END TO THE MOST UB-YOUTHFUL DOTO!"

Naruto flinched back at the volume. "Lee we're on a mountain, bring the volume down before you cause an avalanche."

"Sorry"

"I'll meet you at the valley Kakashi, let's go Lee!" Naruto said and took off back down the train tracks that lead to the ice cave with Lee on his heels. It was a long difficult run over the snowy and twisting terrain to the other end of the island where the valley was. By the time they got to their destination it was falling to darkness.

Naruto and Lee finally arrived at the edge of the valley.

"It is too late, Doto has beaten us here." Lee said.

Naruto watched as Doto dumped Koyuki on the ground and approached some kind of shrine. He watched as he inserted the crystal into the center, light spread out from the center and then all throughout the valley. Naruto and Lee waited on the cliff side for something to happen; even Doto was looking around in confusion.

"Lee do you feel that?" Naruto asked looking around him.

"What do you feel?" Lee asked confused.

"It's getting warmer, look over there." He pointed in the direction of a tall pillar of snow "It's melting"

"A heat generator? That's the treasure of the Kazahana clan? This is nothing, that bastard brother of mine was worthless!" Doto raged

"Alright Lee, I'll distract him while you get the princess out of there." Naruto summoned a clone and took off down the cliff. "Hey, Doto!" Naruto yelled to get the dictators attention "I would like to officially tender my resignation"

"You traitorous scum, I had a feeling I should have killed you when you showed up." Doto sneered.

"Let's skip the name calling and try to kill each other in a manly fashion. Wind Style: Divine Down Current Jutsu!" Naruto called, a powerful vortex of wind was released from his hands, his clone quickly followed "Fire Style: Dragon Flame Bomb!" the two powerful jutsu coalesced into a writhing white hot dragon.

"Celestial Dragon Bomb!"

Even Doto wasn't confident enough in his chakra armor to stand before such a devastating attack. He activated his wings and launched himself in the air, he watched from the air with gritted teeth as the white dragon burn a trench in the snow covered ground. "Ice Style: Black Dragon Blizzard!" Doto launched the devastating attack from above.

Naruto and his clone dodged the jutsu and had to jump to more solid ground as the dragon decimated the area they were in. He cupped his hands for his clone to use as leverage and launched him in the air at the winged Doto. The clone missed Doto but clipped one of the wings knocking Doto out of the sky.

Doto was quick to recover and stand on his feet, Naruto was waiting for him with a swirling orb of blue chakra in his right hand.

Doto scoffed at the technique "Do you honestly think that pitiful jutsu will pierce my armor? I'm going to enjoy crushing you into oblivion."

"You don't stand a chance in hell Doto, you never did."

Doto began his hands seals but before he could finish two hands shot out from the ground beneath him and clamp down on his ankles with an iron grip.

"Rasengan!"

Before he knew it the blue orb was grinding away against the chakra shield generated by his armor "You're finished Doto!" Naruto snarled as he pressed harder into the shield and was rewarded with the crack in Dotos armor.

Doto hearing the crack and seeing pieces of his armor falling away took a wild swing and connected with the side of Naruto who exploded in a cloud of smoke.

"Odama Rasengan!"

Doto looked up at the shout his eyes widened in horror as he saw the same blue orb only twice as big was descending on him from above. Dotos mouth was open in a silent scream that would never be heard as his organs were quickly ground into liquid.

"Princess Koyuki! Princess!"

Naruto turned around to see Sandayu and the rest of Team 7 converge on Koyuki and Lee.

"Sandayu!" Koyuki screamed as she broke away and ran into her mangers arms with tears streaming down her face. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry for the way I've been!"

Sandayu wrapped his arms around his charge and held her as she cried and pleaded for his forgiveness over and over. "All is forgiven Princess Koyuki, your father would be so proud of you."

"Koyuki, the easy part is over, the hard part hasn't started yet, and I hope you're ready for it."

Koyuki turned still within the shell of Sandayus arms to look at the person that had spoken to her; it was the shinobi who disposed of her uncle.

"Thank you for all you've done, the Land of Snow is in your debt."

"No it isn't I was just doing my duty. It was nice to see you again Koyuki."

Koyuki's brow crinkled in confusion "Have we met before?"

In response Naruto reached up and removed his green contact lens "I had blonde hair at the time and was going by the name Arashi." Naruto said eye smiling, and because he was smiling with his eyes closed he missed the look of recognition and the flash of fury but he felt the slap that turned him in the other direction.

"I don't think I deserved that"

(Konoha)

Team 7 stayed an extra two weeks to provide protection for Koyuki until she could set up her defenses. In all that time Koyuki refused to even acknowledge Narutos presence. Naruto was completely confused but he swore to himself he would find out eventually.

As the returned team was making their way through the village and towards the Hokage Tower they heard a rhythmic chant getting steadily closer from behind them. They all turned to see what it was and then moved aside as a procession of academy students jogged by.

Naruto smile when he saw Konohamaru in the head of the run and he was also calling out a cadence in his cracking almost teenage voice.

"Up in the morning with the rising sun!"

"Up in the morning with the rising sun!"

"Gonna run all day til the running's done!"

"Gonna run all day til the running's done!"

"If the Kage asks me to go and fight!"

"If the Kage asks me to go and fight!"

"Gonna fight all day til I drop and rot!"

"Gonna fight all day til I drop and rot!"

"If I'm told to run and hide!"

"If I'm told to run and hide!"

"Gonna say "Hell no!" then kick her in the eye!"

"Gonna say "Hell no!" then kick her in the eye!"

Naruto shook his head at the last verse and didn't concern himself with hiding his laughter. "I did not teach him that and will not take the blame." He said to himself.

"It's kind of catchy" Kakashi said

"SUCH YOUTH SHOULD BE CELEBRATED WITH 500 LAPS AROUND THE VILLAGE!" Lee said before he shot off, leaving a trail off dust behind him.

"Where does he get all his energy?" Sakura asked no one in particular.

"I was going to dismiss you when we got to the Tower but since Lee is already gone there's no reason to hold you two back, Naruto and I can handle the debriefing, take the next couple of days off to rest up and adjust, I'll send for you when I want to meet." Kakashi said to his two students.

"Thanks sensei, I've been dying to get back in my own bed, good bye Sasuke, Naruto-kun." Sakura said before turning and heading off home.

"Bye Sakura-chan"

Sasuke barely acknowledged Sakuras farewell with a nod and didn't even give that much to Kakashi and Naruto. But to be fair Kakashi already had his nose in his book and Naruto walked away having absolutely no intention of speaking to the Uchiha. It was a silent walk the rest of the way, to the tower. As they neared the Hokages office Kakashi quickly put his book away knowing full well what awaited him if he was caught reading it in the presence of Tsunade.

Naruto was about to knock on the door when he heard loud but muffled voices coming from inside. He was debating whether to interrupt when the decision was taken out of his hands.

(CRASH!)

Narutos collapsible bo-staff was in his hand in an instant and his foot was already connecting with the door knocking it off its hinges. He sprang into the room with Kakashi right behind and immediately pulled up short. He came in expecting Tsunade to be under attack, but what he saw was Hiruzen Sarutobi on his knees in the middle of the room apparently begging Tsunade not to drop her desk on his head. Off to the side of the confrontation was, to his surprise, Temari of the Desert, looking on in glee at the imminent danger Sarutobi was in and next to her was her Jonin sensei, Baki looking on in sympathy.

"What the hell is going on in here?"

Tsunade looked up in surprise apparently too engrossed with inflicting bodily harm on her former sensei to notice her door being kicked in. "Oh Naruto, perfect, you can help me kill him" she said nodding at the still cowering former Hokage.

"Why would I be helping you to kill him?"

"Because apparently one of his last acts as Hokage was to arrange a marriage for you with Temari over there" now gesturing at Temari who waved at him shyly "without telling me or you about it."

Naruto looked back and forth between Temari and the old man who wouldn't meet his eyes; he even looked at Baki for confirmation and got a nod. Naruto slowly advanced on Hiruzen "Between the two of us we can make this look like an accident."

AN: Well there you go folks! Some of you may be wondering about that scene with Tsunami, I just felt I had to close the book on her. I'm trying to steer Narutos relationships toward women with a warrior's spirit who can stand with Naruto not only in battle but can also form a connection at soul level. Tsunami just didn't fit the mold and honestly I'm on the fence about Koyuki. If I think on it hard enough I can probably find a place for her but I fear it would look like a half assed attempt to pad Narutos harem list and ruin a significant part of the story. Please excuse the spelling mistakes but I'm tired and I just want to get this out there. Please review I have bills to pay.