HELLLO YALL! IM BACK!
Oh my gosh I missed you all! I am so so so so sorry it took me so long to post a new chapter. I was coaching basketball and that took up literally all of my time. We did better than everyone ever thought we would. We did really well. Made it all the way to the championship and the lost... I am so proud of my boys. Anyways, I am back with another chapter. hope you enjoy it!
BTW thank you so much for all the fantastic reviews, it really helps out to keep me going.
sometimes people need a pick-me-up, so guys, you all are beautiful and let no one tell you different!
ENJOY!
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The next morning brought crisp air, thick mist and the rising sun. Four blurs bounced off a high branch in the trees. The blur in front sported longish black hair that was spiked up in the back. Sasuke led Team Taka towards the rising sun.
An annoyed growl came from the back of the group. "Where are we going?"
For every action there is an opposite….
"SUIGETSU! SHUT UP! DON'T QUESTION SASUKE-KUN!"…..reaction.
"Karin," a calm voice warned.
The fiery redhead' attention reverted back to her precious Uchiha leader. "Yes Sasuke-kun?" said in a much nicer voice.
The duck butt haired, stoic man remained silent looking ahead of the group. His eyes narrowed as they approached a lone temple in the middle of a random forest. The rogue team landed at the edge of the clearing that surrounded the old temple. Nature had once again made its claim. Trees and other plants were starting to overtake the whole temple.
A bored sigh was heard at the back of the group. "What is even here?"
Before Karin could berate Suigetsu for the stupid question, Sasuke answered. "This is an ancient Uchiha meeting place, it might have something we need to capture the Nine-Tails with ease."
An evil smirk covered the Uchiha's face.
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Naruto sighed deeply while rubbing his temple with one hand.
It was rare for Naruto to get headaches thanks to his furry friend, but this headache was being caused by more than one of the hardheaded members of the Blue Flame. They were once again in their meeting room. For once, Konan and Anko were on the same page and thought the same thing. When that happened, it became difficult to get anything done and convince the two women of anything else.
"It's a crazy idea!" Anko loudly stated.
"A suicidal mission to be sure," said the blued haired rogue, backing up her fellow female comrade.
Naruto needed them to agree with this. "What is wrong with it?"
"First off, you, a presumed dead jinchuriki, now alive, with a capture on site order, want to personally go. Second, you want to go to the Land of Lightning, straight into Kumogakure. Third, you want to seek HIM out? The brother of the Raikage! What part of that is NOT insane?" Loudly reasoned out Anko. "Hey, I am all for crazy ideas and missions, but even this… I would avoid this mission. So why do we have to do it?"
Konan nodded the whole time in agreement, keeping her eyes on Naruto for his response.
Naruto could not take it anymore, he had to be straight with her. "Because without him, none of our plans will work."
This statement choked up both Konan and Anko. Their faces got even more serious. However, there was still one person who was almost never stumped. "But why do we need him?" Mia, of course.
Naruto started to figure out why Itachi was always sighing around people. They just were not getting the idea. He sighed. Standing up to his full height, wrapping his hands behind his back, he slowly turned around and walked to the window to look over the toad-built city-village.
"What is our ultimate goal?" Naruto asked out loud too no one in particular. He let the question hang in the air for the moment before he turned around to face the Blue Flame. "World peace. For this to happen we need to break the current way the world is run and how peace is maintained. We all know the story of how the power was kept around the world. The distribution of jinchuriki. Without these human weapons, the nations will have much of their power taken from them. As we know, most of the jinchuriki have been taken by the Akatsuki. We are still looking for two more, hopefully they are still alive.
"Without the power of the Tailed Beasts in the hands of either the nations or the Akatsuki, it becomes much easier to achieve peace. For us to achieve that we need the help of the rest of the jinchuriki. Even if they all refuse our help, they can no longer be used as weapons to harm any more people."
Naruto walked back to the large table and looked around at the Blue Flame.
"We all here swore we would do whatever it takes to obtain world peace. But we also swore to be different. We swore to expose the darkness in the world, bringing it all into the light. The jinchuriki are just a big part of the problem in the world, because they are used, slandered and viewed as subhuman.
"Evils like this are why we are here! If we are going to face the world, would we not want to have the most powerful people on our side?"
Konan stared right back at the blond jinchuriki. It was like she was looking into his very soul. One day, when she was not a mad at him, he needs to ask her how she does that.
Naruto wanted to push a bit further to get her to his side, but he knew, with Konan, push too hard, you will find it right back in your face. There was a silver lining with her. Not too much, not too little, but just right. Naruto because a bit nervous when silence was his only response. He gave her a big confident grin. Maybe that would do it.
Maybe.
A deep sigh escaped the lips of Konan. She looked back up at Naruto. "Fine."
The grin became a smile.
"But I'm going with you."
His smile disappeared. "Why? We need you to go and finish finding the last Jinchuriki!"
Konan's finger found its way to Naruto's mouth to silence him. "But I am coming with you, and before you start complaining and say that I cannot go, I am going to keep you in line and out of trouble and out of Danzo's hands."
Naruto knew there was no arguing with her. As her finger withdrew, he sighed and nodded.
Turning back to the rest of the Blue Flame, Naruto spoke up. "It's time for phase two of the plan! Anko will lead a team to find the last two jinchuriki, and I will lead a team to reach the Eight-Tails jinchuriki. Ranmaru, Gozu, Yukimaru, and Guren, you go with Anko. Itachi, Mia, and… Konan are coming with me."
Everyone nodded, agreeing with their leader's words. "Good luck everyone!" Chanted out Mama Sage Toad.
The Blue Flame filed out of the building heading towards the pools to start their assignments. Konan made her way to Naruto's side. "So when were you going to tell me about what happened when you send a clone into Konoha?" Naruto rolled his eyes and looked back at Itachi, silently asking, 'why'.
Itachi just shrugged.
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High in the Hokage tower, Danzo sat in his office quickly pouring over intelligence reports of Kumo. Danzo would never admit to anyone, but with this annoying bug of the Blue Flame, he would need some help from outside of his grasp. No one knew where they went. He knew that Kumo had looked into the Blue Flame at some point, but obviously they never formally announced it. What Kage would admit a failure? Maybe Kumo would have an idea….
A knock at the door broke his concentration as his lone exposed eye looked up.
"Enter."
Entered in walked Kakashi followed by two cloaked ANBU agents, one about Kakashi's size, and the other about a head shorter. The trio of current and past ANBU arrived before the old Hokage's ornate desk of wood.
Danzo looked up at the men in front of him with an analytical eye. "What I am about to tell you, does not leave this room." He paused to let the gravity of the order he just have sink in, then continued. "The Blue Flame is now a big thorn in our side, or many reasons. Not only because our jinchuriki is leading them, but they now have in their possession precious scrolls that contain top secret and dangerous jutsus by our previous Hokage, and sealing scrolls by the Uzumaki clan. We need those scrolls back."
One of the ANBU spoke up. "Is that what our mission is, Lord Hokage?"
Danzo slightly smirked. "In a way. Even with all the spies and influence we have, we still cannot find out where the Blue Flame resides. To that end, I am reaching out to Kumo. That is where you are going."
Kakashi's eye narrowed slightly. If Kumo got involved with Konoha in finding the Blue Flame, Naruto could be in a heap of trouble. Even though most villages would not put so many people in the field not to draw attention, they would not tell anyone about it. If Konoha was reaching out for help, this could be big.
"Are we going to search for them there? You may think they have Kumo connections?" asked the taller ANBU.
Danzo shifted to a tad more comfortable position in his seat. "I doubt it, but it is always nice to check up on the Raikage. He may be brash, but he is very smart, not to be underestimated. To that end, I have sent a message to the Raikage informing him of your arrivals. Since this is an official mission for the village, you are not wear any ANBU armor."
The ANBU knew an order. Both took off their masks to reveal both Yamato and Sai.
"But why choose us, Lord Hokage?" Sai asked.
The old Hokage leaned forward, resting his arms on the table. "Each of you know our jinchuriki very well, so this puts you at an advantage to find him. You know how he thinks, so go to Kumo, meet the Raikage, just do a quick search of Kumo for him and come back, I will have further orders for you then. Dismissed."
All three ninja bowed to their leader before rising and walking out as a team.
Toward the end of the hallway Sai spoke up. "Kakashi what are yo-"
Sai was interrupted by the silver haired cyclope's hand coming up to stop him. Kakashi's head turned slightly. "Not here."
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Pink hair whipped back and forth in the surprise wind. Sighing heavily Sakura wanted to teach her hair a lesson and pull it back into a messy bun but she was just too tired. She just finished a fifteen hour shift at the hospital and was walking home to just collapse.
She took the left around a corner down the street where her apartment was located. Slowly she grabbed the little charm that was hanging around her neck. It was the charm Naruto gave her two nights ago. She started to smile like an idiot. Every time she thought about Naruto or the necklace she could not stop giggling or smiling. Her pillar was back. He was alive.
It had been two days since Naruto was in her apartment. She had been very since then and had not been able to see anyone else. The hospital was somehow just packed with problems today and Tsunade was not in today for some reason so that left everything in Sakura's care. What could an ex-Hokage who is retired need a day off for? It did not really matter. Sakura did not care. She was happily in her la-la land in her head. Even now she was. So much so, she did not notice the figure that was quickly approaching her from behind.
Sakura's heart almost jumped out of her chest when someone grabbed her arm. She almost punched the person in the face until she stopped and realized it was her blond girl friend.
Ino almost was dragging Sakura along. "Ino?! What's going on where are you taking me?"
Ino spared Sakura a look as she pulled Sakura through the village. "You'll know and find out when we get there."
After a few minutes and growl from Sakura, the blonde haired girl dragged her exhausted best friend all the way to the Nara compound. Noticing this, Sakura got serious because she knew why she was here. Someone had found something out.
Now her mind went crazy, would she be able to tell everyone what happened two nights ago? She had not even seen Ino to tell her. Pus, Sakura was still processing the encounter with her now boyfriend of a rogue ninja. If she could barely believe it, how would anyone else would?
Whether she could tell them or not, she had to make a decision quick, Ino just dragged her past the gate of the Nara compound. Finding the right spot, Shikamaru was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed and eyes closed. As the two beauties approached he opened his eyes and pushed himself off the wall. "Everyone else is inside."
Ino and Sakura nodded as they went inside, followed by Shikamaru, who closed the door behind him carefully before activating the seal. Shikamaru joined the rest of the group on the floor.
Most of everyone expected Shikamaru to speak, instead Neji spoke. "Now I know this is last second and a lot of you had to make-up excuses to get here but I felt this was important to tell everyone. I was barely able to get this information because it was by complete chance that I ran into them. Yamato, Sai, and Kakashi are currently headed towards Kumo on a mission to find evidence or to locate Naruto and the Blue Flame."
Everyone gasped at this. Kakashi was the best tracker besides the entire Inuzuka clan.
"This is sooner than expected," Shikamaru thought aloud while rubbing his chin in thought.
"What do you mean Shikamaru?" The Hyuga heiress asked.
Shikamaru sighed and leaned back on both arms while looking up. "I thought Danzo would send out most of his personal ANBU out to find Naruto, I guess he just got impatient if he sent those three out together. This is also dangerous, now he is getting the regular ninja core involved this soon? This is unexpected. And why send them to Kumo? They have been the most threatened by how powerful our village has become."
"I can answer that one," Neji said. "Kakashi said along with looking for the Blue Flame he is to essentially make an alliance with Kumo against the Blue Flame."
Everyone was stunned. This was big news if the Hokage was asking for help, especially from Kumo where it is known that the Raikage and Hokage do not trust each other. Period.
Lee spoke up now. "So this is what you are telling me, our Hokage is trying to make an alliance with the Raikage to just eliminate Naruto-kun and the Blue Flame?"
Neji nodded slowly. "That sums it up."
Still in shock Kiba whispered, "Naruto is a dead man."
Hinata suddenly slapped Kiba hard on the shoulder. "Kiba, don't say such things!" In a very un-Hinata like way.
"That is actually a very accurate assessment." All attention turned back to Shikamaru. Hinata was about to say something when Shikamaru held up a hand silencing a berating from the Hyuga. "Hinata I do not mean to be insensitive but it is true. If the forces of both Konoha and Kumo were to join up, that is a major force to be reckoned with. They should have no problem finding at least some if not all of the Blue Flame. Plus, think about it, Naruto is our jinchuriki. As much as I hate Danzo for classifying Naruto as simply that, nothing more than a weapon, this means Naruto is a very high priority for Danzo. Plus I do not want to think about what happens when Danzo gets his hands on Naruto. Either way this is very bad. I have been trying to snoop around the intelligence community to maybe see if they might know of a better location to find Naruto in, unfortunately we got as far as Danzo has. Which is to say, nowhere."
"You're looking in the wrong place." Every head turned to the pinked hair medic. Her eyes were widened. She did not mean to say anything, it just came out. Maybe it was combination of her being so happy to see Naruto and her being exhausted from her day at the hospital that made her have no filter, which put her in this new predicament.
Shikamaru raised an eyebrow, looking over Sakura with a very analytical eye.
"How do you know that, Sakura?" asked her big breasted blonde best friend.
"Uhh…" Sakura had no idea what to say. Was she really going to blab that Naruto was here in the flesh, even if it was a shadow clone?
"Sakura." She came out of her musings and turned to look at the Nara sitting next to her. "What happened?"
Sakura sighed. Shikamaru was too smart for his own damn good. But the look he was giving her was not judgmental or anything like that, it was more surprise than anything else.
It was going to come out eventually, she might as well get it out now, there was no point in lying. "Naruto was in my apartment two nights ago."
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Said blond ninja was hopping from tree to tree, his blue-flamed coat flapping wildly as he and his small assembled team flew from branch to branch at the last bit of forest they had before they got near the Village Hidden in the Clouds.
What do you think Kurama? Naruto asked. Do you feel him yet?
I do. Responded the Nine Tailed fox. But barely. He is still some distance away.
Can he sense us?
I am suppressing our essence to the point where it is almost undetectable…almost. He will able to sense something, but he will not know it is me until we get close enough.
Naruto physically nodded in understanding. He turned around to his comrades in arms. "We need to avoid the village as much as possible. Our target is located near the back of the village. Itachi." The raven haired man nodded. "You take point. Sneak us through their defenses and avoid patrols." Itachi launched himself in front of Naruto.
Konan got herself to beside Naruto. Without turning his head he looked at Konan out of the corner of his eye. "What's up?"
Konan studied him for a few seconds before responding. "What are you going to do if he refuses you?"
Naruto looked back ahead. Confidence written all over his face. As if he knew something no one else did not. "Don't worry. He won't refuse."
Konan frowned. She knew of Naruto's ability to make friends everywhere he went. She was evidence enough of that. She abandoned everything she had for him. For both of them. However, despite this, she was worried that this may be too much for them to handle.
Hopefully this does not get them killed.
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Three Konoha ninja began to slow their pace as they approached the gates of the Village Hidden in the Clouds.
Kakashi was in the lead. As they approached five Kumo ANBU agents appeared out of the ground. "Halt! State your business here Leaf nin!"
Kakashi slowly pulled out a paper from his pocket. "We are here on order from our Hokage to reach Lord Raikage for an audience."
One of the ANBU slowly approached and took the paper and began reading it.
"This is not needed!"
Everyone turned to see a formally dressed, dark skinned, busty, white haired woman approach with two regular Cloud ninja behind her. "Lord Raikage is expecting them."
The ANBU acknowledged them and parted to let them in.
The woman stepped forward. "He is waiting for you. This way."
The three Leaf ninja followed their guide in the village as the large gates closed behind them. Whether they wanted it or not, they were trapped.
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Back in Konoha, the meeting room in the Nara estate was dead quiet. Sakura just let out the biggest secret in the whole village. The village's most wanted man was here. Not only here, but standing in her apartment.
She was waiting for it. Finally the dam broke. Ino basically shouted, "WHAT?"
There it was. Now everyone was shouting, asking question, demanding to know every detail. Sakura just sat in silence letting all the question hammer into her.
"Why was he here?"
"Why didn't you tell anyone?"
"Is he insane?"
"What did he say?"
"Did anything happen between you two?"
Sakura turned to her busty best friend and yell at her, but before she could- "QUIET!"
The group immediately silenced and turned to Neji, who somehow kept his calm demeanor.
"Let Sakura explain what happened."
Sakura nodded at Neji in thanks, which he returned. The pinkette sighed, focusing herself to tell them the very thing she was still wrapping her head around.
"Well… he took me by surprise." Started Sakura. "I attacked him."
Hinata, TenTen, and Ino all gasped. "You attacked him? What happened?"
Sakura could not help but roll her eyes. This could take forever. "I'm trying to tell you Ino!" Ino quietly apologized and Sakura continued. "I attacked him, but I could not land a hand on him. He was too quick. You should have seen him, he was incredible. Well, once we stopped, he explained to me he was just here to talk to me. He wanted to apologize to me, some of the things he said in front of the village was a lie. He does not hate us. He is only after Danzo. He wants to expose Danzo for who he really is. I told him we are trying to do that on the inside. He apparently already has people working for him inside the village."
Shikamaru could not help himself. "What? He as agents inside here? Did he tell you who?"
Sakura shook her head. "I asked him who but he refused to tell me. Just like before, in typical Blue Flame fashion he told me a lot without tell me much of anything. But he did reveal a little of his plans. His plans are to draw Danzo's attention away from the village for him to work on the inside, to basically overthrown Danzo using the village as a weapon."
If it was possible, every eyes got even wider!
"He's going to do…what?" Kiba slowly said in shock.
Sakura smirked and crossed her arms. "And we are going to help him."
"How Sakura-chan?" asked Lee passionately. Sakura growled at him for using the –chan. Ino did not miss this.
"Well if you want to know, we will continue doing what we were doing, but we will just aid in Naruto's venture when the time comes."
"And when, dear Sakura-chan, is that?" Ino asked mockingly.
After a little swat at Ino, Sakura answered her question…kind of. "When Naruto and his agents are ready."
Everyone almost deadpanned at this response. However Sakura was ready for them. "But he said the agent would reveal themselves when it was time. For now we just have to keep doing our parts. I know it sounds strange after everything that has happened, especially how Naruto made it seem like he no longer trust him, but everything that he has been doing has been for Konoha and her people. I know I might have wavered, but Naruto has never once failed us. I will repay him by completely trusting him."
Whether Sakura meant it or not, she inspired the rest of the group, giving them the confidence to keep pushing on with their little coup. Everyone was ready to do their part. Shikamaru calmly looked around at everyone present.
He could not help but smirk as his crossed his arms.
Even when that blond idiot was not here, his heart and actions were being felt. He was inspiring. A natural leader by example. How troublesome.
"I guess the real work begins now," spoke up Choji.
Neji nodded. "Yes, what is our next step?"
"Next step is to keep trying to secure information." Stated Shikamaru. "But I feel like we need to widen this circle just a bit."
TenTen raised an eyebrow. "Are you suggesting what I think you are suggesting?"
The future Nara head nodded. "I believe we need to start finding the people who would support our cause and Naruto's cause. Just find them out, we do not want to write anything down. Just identify them. I know, even though he was basically forced into his position, Sai will take Naruto's side when the time comes." Sakura nodded understanding. When Danzo rose to power, he used some sort of seal that was on Sai and the rest of the ROOT agents to bring them back into his service. Very few people ever see Sai. Ino, Sakura, and Shikamaru occasionally see him in the Hokage palace on guard duty. They say 'Hi' with the knowledge he cannot give one back because of his position. One of the few times Sakura saw Sai he said he appreciated the greetings. Sakura imagined Sai smiling under his mask when she said hi. It made her smile. "Try and stay away from our parents, I know it will be hard to hide this from them and not to drag them into this but most of them are clan heads. Clan heads and the clan itself cannot be punished for the act of only one person under Konoha law. As nice as it would be to have the backing of entire clans for our cause, if this somehow fails, their safety is guaranteed. If worse comes to worst I bet Naruto would not mind taking us in."
"Sakura-chan, do you have a way of communicating with Naruto-kun?" Lee asked. Again, not missed by Ino, Sakura growled at Lee for the –Chan addressment.
"No. He did not give me any way of communicating with him. I assume he will let his agents know to inform us when things are going to happen," Sakura explained with arms crossed over her chest. Ino noticed a little glimmer.
"So how did Naruto get in and out completely unnoticed?" Kiba brought up a good point. "Surely someone must have seen the most wanted man in the Leaf!"
Sakura smiled, chuckling a bit. She quoted her boyfriend. "It's hard to capture a Shadow Clone."
Shikamaru face palmed. Naruto would do something like that. Most of the group was chuckling at the brilliant idea of Naruto's.
"Ok, so are we agreed on just trying to find out who would support us and in a few weeks meet again to discuss who would help?" Sakura received 'hai's and nods to her proposal.
As everyone got up to leave, Ino grabbed on to Sakura's arm like she was a bird of prey who just caught a mouse. "You. Me. Talk. Your apartment. Now." There was just no arguing with Ino. Sakura left in the same fashion as she arrived, being dragged by an impatient blonde.
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Deep in ancient structure, a four man team was sitting in front of what looked to be just a dead end passage way. One sat cross legged in front of the wall, eyes closed in concentration while the other three stood either against the wall or just standing. In silence.
A groan echoed through the passage.
An evil look was thrown at the source of groan.
"Why are we just staring at a wall?"
Karin began to throw something at the walking water man when-
"Karin." The feisty redhead froze immediately. Sasuke turned slowly to look at Suigetsu. "It's all part of the plan."
…..Suigetsu sighed heavily, letting the weight of his head take over as he dramatically looked at the ground before looking up again. "You mean looking at a wall is part of the plan?"
Before Karin could snap on the white haired man again, as if on cue Sasuke said "Open," and the wall slowly started sinking into the ground.
Karin and Suigetsu stared at Sasuke with eyes larger than diner plates. How did he get it open?
The silent Jugo spoke up. "It was optically locked door. Only someone with the Sharingan could open it."
Sasuke slowly stood up using his sword as a makeshift cane. The Uchiha nodded at Jugo's statement. "Only one with the Sharingan can see what was written on the wall and figure out the puzzle on it."
The group knew that was all they were going to get from Sasuke as he started his first steps into the hallway that laid beyond the now collapsed wall. Their footsteps eerily echoed off the walls as they traveled down the barley lit corridor.
After what felt like miles of walking the corridor opened up into a large room. At the center of this room was situated a stone altar. Sasuke wasted no time in approaching the altar. But as they got closer, the altar appeared to be a sarcophagus. The squad stopped before it. Sasuke smiled. This was it. He had finally found it. Without hesitation Sasuke pushed the top off. The cover went crashing to the ground, breaking as it hit the hard floor. The sound reverberated back to the team, where everyone but Sasuke had to cover their ears.
Sasuke did not care about some loud noise. He was entranced by what his eyes laid upon.
A scroll.
Carefully, like a surgeon, Sasuke removed the scroll from the skeleton of one his dead ancestors. Sasuke delicately turned the scroll over his hands, examining it. A few particles of red hair came into Sasuke's view. "What is that Sasuke-kun?"
The fearless Uchiha turned on his heel to face the team. Karin was extremely close.
"This is going to capture the Nine-Tails."
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The door was slammed shut. The locks were locked in record time. Then the dragging of feet was heard, ending at the couch. Two plops of bodies were heard.
"You. Talk."
The pinkette just rolled her eyes. She was not even going to start talking because-
"Why didn't you tell me you saw Naruto? Are we best friends or not?" There it was. Ino always told you to talk then she would butt in. "You had a secret meeting with one of Konoha's most wanted men, in this apartment! He came back from the dead, challenged Danzo, then was in your apartment…"
Ino waited for Sakura to say something before she screamed, "WHAT HAPPENED?"
Sakura sighed before she looked over at Ino. Ino's eyes were constantly moving all over Sakura's face, waiting in anticipation for Sakura to confirm what Ino thought she knew.
"We talked." Sakura did not really want to talk about it just yet. Well, looks like she may have no choice in the matter at this point.
Ino slapped Sakura on the shoulder. "I knew that! But what else happened? I know something happened. You got all mad when Lee called you 'Sakura-chan', it was plainly obvious. So what happened?"
Ino's persistence with information was unmatched. Maybe that is why all Yamanakas were so good at mid walking. Persistence.
"Well…we admitted we like each other, as more than friends." Sakura hoped that would please the hunger for information.
"That's not all, something else happened."
Apparently not.
"We kissed."
Surprise suddenly took over Ino's face as she slapped both hands over her mouth, yet with this Sakura could easily hear her scream, "OH MY…TELL ME EVERYTHING!"
This was going to be a long night.
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The representatives of the Leaf were led through the Village Hidden in the Clouds. Every ninja and civilian alike were astonished to see the Leaf Ninja there. It was no secret among Kumo that they and Leaf did not get along, hence the all the stares the Leaf ninja were getting.
"Ignore them," said the white haired lady who was leading their group.
Finally the group reached the bottom of the tallest building. Kakashi had to crane his neck to catch a glimpse where he thought the Raikage was. The group was lead through a set of double doors flanked by ANBU.
After making their way up the building they arrived at the Raikage's office. The infamous A sat behind an overly large desk, to adjust for his size.
The three Leaf ninja stopped before the Raikage and all bowed.
"Lord Raikage, I am Kakashi Hatake, my companions are Yamato and Sai. We are-"
"I know why you are here," interrupted the Raikage.
The three stood up. Kakashi's eye narrowed. What did Danzo say in that letter?
"Lord Hokage told you of our mission?" Kakashi was skeptical. He might need to try the stepping lightly approach.
"No, he didn't," confirmed the ripped Raikage. "All he said in his letter was he was sending people to investigate my village. WHO THE HELL DOES HE THINK HE IS?" A stood up and shatter his desk in one punch. Papers and splinter flew everywhere as the desk shattered. Kakashi stood motionless, like this was a normal thing, while Yamato and Sai were suddenly hiding behind Kakashi, using him as a human shield against the Raikage's fury. The Raikage stared at Kakashi looking for… something. Kakashi looked back as if almost bored, not mocking but bored. Kakashi sighed. He would be a year's salary Danzo purposefully put him in this situation. So Kakashi put to use his second favorite past time, smooth talking out of situations.
"Forgive me, Lord Raikage but we were simply ordered to come here. I do not know the contents of what our Hokage sent you, but I can assure you, we are not here to make enemies. Our situation is obviously not in our favor. I am curious, Lord Raikage, what do you think we are doing here?"
Kakashi was studying A's face closely as he spoke. The Raikage may be a man driven by emotions, but if he ever played poker, he would be a tough opponent. He face did not reveal any secrets.
"Danzo claimed that his ninja were coming to simply check out the security of our village." The face on the Raikage was one of sheer disgust and insult.
Kakashi visibly sighed. He slowly spared the two people hiding behind him before looking at the powerful man standing in front of him. "I apologize for my Hokage's letter, as I am sure he did not mean to send anything that would tip off the people we were assigned to search for."
"You mean the mysterious group wearing blue-flamed, white coats?"
Kakashi was not too surprised that Kumo knew of them. Naruto had told him so. "So you know of them."
The Raikage turned and walked to look out the window over his village. "We have been searching for either them, their base, or any information on them. Unfortunately whichever village they came from trained them too well." He turned back to the Konoha visitors. "They have not directly affected our village. We had a squad out on a mission when they ran into them. They were not hostile towards us, but questioned my ninja. When they left, we tried pursuing them only to lose them. I sent out orders and ANBU to find out more information or find them. All attempts were failures. My orders are still to find them or any information about them. I take it this is why Konoha sent you here?"
Kakashi sighed. He would need to be very careful how he handled this. One wrong step and Naruto would have the Raikage and Kumo after him. The blond knucklehead owed Kakashi big time.
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Said knucklehead was leading his small team up steps carved into the mountain they were tracking up. The air whipped at their coats making the snap constantly. Naruto was leading the team up to a small structure that led to inside the mountain. He was drawn to it. Like a moth to fire. He was getting closer to his goal.
Do you feel him kit? Kurama was in the mindscape, sitting on his hind legs. He was ready for this. There was no sleeping or relaxing for this. Both host and beast had to be ready for the fight that was sure to come.
Naruto nodded.
He was ready. "Are you sure he is here?" Konan voiced her questions a few times. But she never sounded so worried. Maybe it was the fact they were entering a mountain about to find a wielder of one of the world's most dangerous beings to exist, being in a dangerous hostile territory, and was with two guys that always gave her heart attacks. Either way she was worried. Naruto was not.
Finally the team walked into a large room with one person in the middle of the room twirling blades around like it was second nature.
Naruto turned to his companions. "Stay here." Without further explanation he walked away from them.
Konan looked over at Itachi. "What is he going to do?"
Itachi skillfully was watching the sword dancer at the room who Naruto was walking towards. The man was very skilled.
As Naruto got closer the man finally noticed Naruto, and instantly sheathed all his swords at once, getting into a very weird standing position. Naruto stared into the googles of the man who was a bit shorter than he was.
"Yo, yo, yo. I say what are you doing here, come to find me, I see?" the man spoke in a weird rhyme.
"Hey Hachibi, I challenge you to a fight!"
Konan and Itachi's eyes widened. What the hell did Naruto just say?