Four Days Later, Konoha, 1409Hrs:

Tenten hated fangirls. They were loud, annoying and a disgrace to strong, independent women everywhere. Yet here she was, surrounded by them waiting to catch a glimpse of the famous Team 7. Word of how the team of young ninja stopped an attempt to assassinate the Raikage despite losing their team leader had already reached the village and spread like wildfire. A couple of hours ago Tenten was in line at the grocery store when a kunoichi a year or two younger than her ran up to the checkout girl and excitedly informed her that she'd just seen Naruto Uzumaki and the Raikage along with a bunch of Konoha and Kumo ninja enter the village through the east gate and head towards the Hokage tower.

The checkout girl promptly took her lunch break and ran out of the store with her friend. Looking to the right Tenten saw that both girls were still in the crowd that'd formed outside the tower. Although Tenten had somehow managed to find herself in the fangirl section there were all kinds of people out excitedly waiting to cheer for the Raikage and the heroic Team 7 who'd saved the alliance and by extension, the village. "Tenten!" Shouted a voice that the burgeoning weapons mistress would know anywhere.

"Lee, I see you got caught up in this too" Tenten said to her teammate.

"Hai, I wanted to challenge Sasuke-san to a spar" Lee said in his usual upbeat manner.

"A spar? Lee you know that Sasuke is probably even stronger than Neji now right?"

"That is why he will make a good training partner he…" But before Lee could fully explain his reasoning the doors at the base of the Tower opened and none other than Naruto Uzumaki and the kunoichi Ami walked out. Upon seeing them the crowd erupted in cheers, cheers that only got louder after Sasuke Uchiha exited a shunshin beside his teammates. As the three members Team 7 started to wave to the crowd while walking off, Tenten and Lee tried to get their attention pushing their way through the dense throng. It was not to be as Naruto said something to his team before the three left in puffs of smoke.

"Damn it, two hours down the drain, I'll never get to ask him about his sword now" Tenten whined.

"If only we knew where they were going" Lee commented.

"We do" A voice said from behind them. Turning around they saw their third teammate Neji Hyuga had arrived.

"Neji, what are you doing here?" Tenten asked.

"Haishi-sama has ordered me to deliver a message to the Uchiha. I read their lips just now and know where they're going. If you want to speak with them follow me"

Training Ground 7:

As team 7 entered their training ground Naruto turned to his raven haired teammate and said one word "So?"

"So what?"

"Why did you leave Yugakure early?"

"We had to deliver Sitreps…"

"If that was the case then why did you and Team 8 stay in the village while Izumo and Kotetsu came back to the Hospital?"

Letting out an annoyed sigh Sasuke prepared to tell the first of what would probably be many lies to his best friend. "Alright fine, the Hokage issued a WARNO (A/n: warning order) that night. You know of the bikōchū right?" Sasuke asked getting nods from both of his teammates.

"Well, check it out" Sasuke said looking up at the somewhat cloudy sky.

"A team of Anbu fought off members of the Kamizuru clan and brought one of the things and one of its eggs to the village. We, plus the Aburame that was on the Anbu team are going to leave the village to track down a target sometime within the next 72 hours. The Hokage didn't let me leave because he wanted to give me a few days off to adjust to my new Doujutsu, as for Team 8…I don't know why he had them stick around"

"Who's the target?" Ami asked evenly.

"Don't know, the WARNO didn't get any more specific than what I just told you"

"When were you going to tell us about this?" Naruto asked.

"I wasn't. I was told you'd be notified right before the mission started" "And I just found out about this yesterday" Sasuke thought to himself.

Looking at his teammates Sasuke had to force himself not to let out a relieved sigh when Naruto and Ami seemed to buy his lie. A scent carrying breeze blew through the training area causing Naruto to turn his head. "Heads up we're about to have company"

Not 20 seconds later Team 9 jumped from the tree line on the opposite side of the training ground and made their way over to Team 7. "Hey it's you guys, long time no see. How's it goin'?" Naruto greeted.

"We are well Uzumaki-san thank you and congratulations on saving the Raikage. It would seem that your team has grown even more youthful since our last meeting!" Lee complemented energetically.

"Um, yeah…so what can we do for you guys?"

"I came to deliver a message. Tenten is here to ask about one of your weapons Uzumaki-san and Lee wishes to challenge the Uchiha to a spar" Neji said causing his teammates to flinch and look at Sasuke to see how he'd handle the disrespect Neji just dealt him. Both we're used to Neji referring to Sasuke as 'the Uchiha' but neither thought he'd do so to the boy's face and definitely not in that tone of voice. Sasuke however didn't rise to the bait and let the slight roll off him, simply leaning on the tree to his right and allowing himself a smirk.

"Go ahead then Hyuga-san, speak" Sasuke urged calmly.

"Haishi-sama has asked me to request that you, Sasuke Uchiha, stay away from Hinata-sama"

"What? Why?" Sasuke asked confused, he'd never done anything to Hinata so why would her father feel the need to tell him to stay away from her?

"I was not informed of the specific reason although I would think it obvious" Neji informed. Prompting Sasuke to rack his brain to see what he was talking about.

"Who's that big brother? She's pretty but her eyes are funny"

"That Sasuke, is a Hyuga. Don't let father hear you say one of them is pretty. I doubt he'd take it well"

"Why?"

"Because the Hyuga are our rivals; Father and the Hyuga clan head are not on good terms plus according to the old stories, our bloodline mixing with theirs always ends in tragedy"

"What kind of tragedy?"

"Blindness"

"Wait, does she have some kind of crush on me or something?" Sasuke asked incredulously. When Neji frowned but didn't deny it Sasuke's grin doubled.

"You hear that dobe? The Hyuga princess has a crush on little ol' me!"

"Yeah teme, maybe you should send her some flowers or something?" Naruto joked.

"That's not a bad idea, unless you have a problem with it Ami-chan" Sasuke said placing an arm around his female teammate's shoulder.

"Why would I Sasuke-san" Ami asked blinking curiously causing Sasuke to hang his head and shed false tears. He even conjured a small storm cloud illusion to rain over him much to Naruto's amusement as he let out a deep laugh.

"Are they always like this?" Tenten asked Ami.

"Hai, Sasuke-san has taken to flirting with me to relieve stress. Naruto-san finds it very funny when I turn him down by playing dumb" Ami said causing Sasuke and Naruto's eyes to widen.

Neji however was not amused and decided to reiterate his point with killing intent attached so the three Chunin would know he was serious. It was a mistake. Before he could even open his mouth all three members of Team 7 sprang into action. One second they were standing 9 or so feet directly across from him and the next his hands were suddenly behind him and encased in crystal. A blade made of the same material was at his throat. Activating his Doujutsu he saw that Tenten was in a similar position only her hands were being held by one Uzumaki while another held a kunai to her jugular. Lee, the fastest of their team, had managed to take up a fighting stance but was frozen in front of the Uchiha who'd apparently found his illusions to be defense enough and had his arms crossed, Sharingan active.

"Fuck!" Tenten swore loudly once her senses caught up to what had happened.

"Hyuga, you'll have to excuse us but my teammates and I are a little on edge still. You see now that we're all famous and everything people try to kill us all the time. Assassins have even tried taking one of us out inside the village before. Now, I've received your message so you can run along back to your master but know that this is your first and only freebie. Hostility of any kind will not be tolerated" Sasuke said before deactivating his Sharingan and freeing Lee from his Illusion.

The Uzumaki behind Tenten went up in smoke while the crystal binding his hands audibly cracked allowing Neji to free himself. "Their speed and ability to move as one is unreal" Neji thought to himself. Having been properly embarrassed he addressed his teammates. "You two may stay here if you wish but I'm leaving" he said before disappearing via shunshin.

"I'm sorry about Neji he's got some…issues he's working through" Tenten said rubbing her hands together nervously.

"Hai, he has an unyouthful habit of channeling killing intent to get his point across but he would not have harmed you, still we apologize" Lee said bowing respectfully.

"It's cool" Naruto said looking at Tenten whose personal space he just then realized he was invading.

Tenten on some level had noticed it too but was distracted by how warm he was. "He has more body heat than normal is he sick?" she thought to herself immediately missing the heat once he took a step back and a cool breeze blew through the training ground.

"So you had something you wanted to ask me?" Naruto asked.

"Uh yeah, I was wondering about Kubikiribōchō, I heard that you used to use it and was wondering what happened to it"

"You want to see it?" Naruto asked getting a nod in return. "I'll catch up with you guys tomorrow" he said to his teammates before offering Tenten his arm jokingly but was surprised when she actually took it.

"Let's go" She said pulling him away.

"Lee you still want to spar against me?" Sasuke asked.

"Hai, although I would like to fight you without Genjutsu being involved, it is my weakest area" Lee admitted self-consciously.

"How bout we make a deal? You're a Taijutsu specialist right?" At Lee's nod Sasuke continued.

"Well if you give me some strength and endurance training tips I'll try and help you with your Genjutsu problem"

"Are you ready to start now?"

"Sure"

"Yosh! Then let's warm up with a hundred laps around the village! Ami-san you can come too!"

"I'll pass" Ami said before leaving in a puff of smoke.

"Um… Lee, before we get started…how many laps are we doing again?"

Market District 15min later:

"So you got Kubikiribōchō by blowing up an injured member of the seven swordsmen of the mist and stealing it from his corpse?" Tenten asked sounding somewhat underwhelmed.

"What, you got a problem with that?" Naruto asked, amused by her tone.

"No, well…yeah, I mean the seven swordsmen were the greatest group of weapon users the shinobi world has ever produced. As an aspiring weapons mistress I can't help but find the thought of dying like that…distasteful. Being blown up while sleeping in my bed and having my murderer take my legendary blade for himself, what a horrible way to die"

"So I should have demanded a duel or something?" Naruto asked letting out a chuckle at Tenten's reddening face.

"No of course not, I'm just saying I feel I little sorry for Zabuza. He'd have probably preferred to die on his feet I know I would've" Tenten said being honest while realizing that she sounded a little naïve. They were shinobi after all.

"Hahaha! You sound more like a samurai than a ninja" If Tenten's face was red before it was downright crimson now and as her embarrassment got the better of her she, without even thinking about it, sent a left jab at Naruto's jaw. Naruto for his part saw the punch coming but could tell from Tenten's body language that it had very little power or technique behind it and was an impromptu thing. Thinking back to his early academy days when taking such punches used to do wonders for a certain pinkette's temper Naruto figured taking this one would be worth it to get rid of Tenten's embarrassment. Why he cared about her embarrassment was beyond him.

When the punch connected it made a kind of smacking noise that drew the attention of everyone within ear shot. Deciding to have a little fun for once Naruto acted as if the blow had caught him of guard and 'tripped' off of the sidewalk into the street pulling Tenten with him in an effort to regain his balance.

"Oof" Tenten let out as she landed on Naruto who had twisted at the last second to make sure he broke her fall.

"Hey look that girl punched Naruto-sama!" A child's voice rang out loud enough for both to hear.

"Naruto-sama?...that's new" Naruto thought to himself unable to like the sound of the supremely respectful title.

"He must have gotten to fresh with her just look at his hand" a closer elderly voice whispered so low that Naruto wouldn't have expected Tenten to hear. Unfortunately she did and turned around, looking at his right hand which he'd unintentionally placed half on her lower back and half on her behind.

"Accident!" Naruto yelled snatching his hands away and holding them up above his head.

"Y-yyeah just don't let it happen again" Tenten said looking directly into his eyes for the first time and was distracted by just how blue they were.

"Not that I'm complaining per say but maybe we should get up, we're drawing a lot of attention"

"Rright" Tenten said standing and offering Naruto a hand up. Looking around she was mortified to see dozens of people were staring and pointing at them with amused expressions on their faces. Feeling an arm wrap itself around her shoulder she looked up at Naruto's smiling face and calmed down a little.

"Come on Harashi's place is just up ahead" Naruto said guiding her away from the crowd and into the store.

"Welcome to Harashi's weapons supply how may…oh Uzumaki-san, Harashi-sensei is expecting you. He's upstairs in his workshop right now, please use that black door towards the back of the building, I'm afraid you friend will have to stay here though" the teen cashier informed him.

"Sorry Tenten I'll be back in a sec, have a look around I'm sure you'll find something you'll like" Naruto informed her before heading up the stairs. Upon reaching the building's second level he heard the sound of two men arguing but could make out exactly what they were saying due to the metal door at the top of the staircase being closed. Making a fist he banged on it causing the arguing to stop and the door to open.

"Uzumaki, you got back to the village just in time, we pulled an all-nighter and finished it a couple hours ago" Isao said while clutching a cup of coffee.

"We?"

"Hai, I had to ask an old…friend for help. Come in kid I'll explain"

Upon entering the workshop Naruto saw some pieces of equipment that he recognized and some who's function he couldn't even begin to speculate.

"You made that weapon for this kid, how old is he 11, 12, the weapon is too heavy for him to use for any prolonged period of time. You should give it to me and let me continue to develop it" A man Naruto recognized as Iō the Ninja Tool Inventor suggested.

"Why so you can destroy it trying to install laser beams or some such nonsense? Besides the sword belongs to the kid" Isao rebutted.

"Hump fine but if he can't wield it properly and gets himself killed then it's on you, I'm just a consultant" Iō huffed while crossing his arms and sitting down in a small chair.

"Come on Uzumaki I need to explain some things to you before I let you leave here" Isao said leading Naruto deeper into the shop to a desk. Reaching into is jacket Isao pulled out a black and yellow colored scroll and unrolled it on the desk before channeling a small amount of chakra into it. There was a puff of smoke before a sheathed Jian appeared. "Go ahead" Isao urged prompting Naruto to pick up the sword for a closer look.

"Why is it so heavy?" Naruto said while removing the jet black sheath and noticing that while half of the overall weight was in the sheath; the sword itself was still about five pounds, nearly three times what a Jian that size (18inch blade, 5inch handle) should weigh. He also noticed that at its base, the blade was nearly an inch wider than most other Jian he'd trained with however what really got his attention was the blade's abnormal dual color scheme. Starting at the guard and extending just an inch from the tip was a metal so black it seemed to absorb the light. The black metal was only a half inch wide but its width didn't taper unlike the gold that made up the swords edge and tip. At its base the blade was about two inches wide.

"The sword is four and a half pounds and the sheath is five. The blade is made from the regenerating Iron of Kubikiribōchō, the sample of your summons gold you gave me as payment and a small amount of chakra conductive tungsten a contact of mine smuggled out of Iron Country. Now I know this isn't what you had in mind but you asked me to forge a sword that could survive your Torch Release and this is the best I could do. The iron in the half of Kubikiribōchō you brought me had a melting point that was about a hundred degrees lower than normal Iron so I had to figure out how to introduce an additive that would make the blade both stronger and more heat resistant but wouldn't impede the swords regeneration ability"

"I immediately thought of chakra conductive tungsten which is incredibly strong and has an amazingly high melting point. I drew up some schematics and figured that even though it would be incredibly difficult I'd be able to make an Iron/Tungsten alloy capable of surviving multiple uses of your Torch Release. However I hit a wall when I tried to figure out a way to keep the regeneration ability since Tungsten isn't naturally found in the human body like Iron is. I figured that I wouldn't be able to make any more progress until I was able to understand the secret behind Kubikiribōchō's ability so I called in Iō for help"

"He was stumped at first too until he got the idea to 'borrow' a deep chakra scanner from the R&D department and performed a scan. Turns out the manner chakra moves inside the blade is fairly complex, too complex to merely be a reflex. The scan also discovered that the only organic chakra in the blade was what was left over from the blood meaning that there isn't some kind semi-sentient organism in there controlling everything. Once we gathered this data we hypothesized that the swords ability was the result of some kind of Fūinjutsu technique and we sought out Kichida's help"

"It took some arm twisting to get him to make time in his schedule help us out but once I broke down and told him the project was for you he came around. It took him a week but he was finally able to…how did he describe it? Oh, 'Hack' into the Iron's Fūinjutsu matrix and rewrite it. Iō had him rewrite the matrix to absorb the Iron and Tungsten in the sheath, which is why we made it to be so heavy, to repair itself. We tested it out and while we were unable to fully break the sword due to its new density and strength we did notice that the edge would chip on occasion"

"That's the down side to Tungsten, it's somewhat brittle. Iō argued that the blade only chipped against chakra conductive metal that had Earth chakra running through it and that since you'd be using your Torch Release to enhance the blade it wouldn't matter. That didn't sit well with me though since it meant that you'd have to use your Torch Release every time you crossed blades with an Iwa-nin just to be safe. So, I thinned the edges and searched for another metal with a high melting point but was lighter and more flexible than the Tungsten but was still strong. The answer came to me a couple of days ago when I went out for dango and heard a purple haired female Jonin talking about how the dome you put up around FOB Tobirama was still there and how annoying it was overseeing the installation of huge ceiling lights"

"That's when I got the idea to take a closer look at the gold you gave me. Turns out the gold was just what I was looking for. Your summons gold is just as strong and lightweight as steel, is naturally chakra conductive and has a melting point twice as high as normal gold. I placed the gold over the blades edges and this is the result. On the rare occasion that the gold edge is bent out of shape the regenerative ability of the underlying Iron-Tungsten alloy bends it back into shape. Now be advised that this sword will need more maintenance than a normal one. The Gold's melting point is still a couple thousand degrees lower then that of the inner alloy so after 3 or 4, five minute torch bursts equal to the intensity of the one you had me measure when you commissioned the swords creation the Gold will start to deteriorate. Also if you have to use your Torch Release on the blade in succession, something I strongly discourage by the way, you'll need to wait a few minutes between bursts. You'll also need to wait a good thirty seconds before sheathing the blade"

"Whoa this is amazing. Thank you Harashi-san" Naruto said while performing deep bow.

"Don't thank me yet Uzumaki, we still have to test this thing out. Then there's the matter of payment, Kichida might have agreed to help for free once I dropped your name but Iō's gonna want his cut"

"Of course, how much do I owe you?" Naruto asked dreading the answer.

"110,000 Ryo, and only because you get the 'you know what discount' " Isao said to Naruto who was given one more reason to be glad he belonged to Root.

"I won't be able to pay that all at once. My summons won't just give me anymore of there gold and we get paid differently during wartime so I only have 70,000 Ryo to my name right now" Naruto thought to himself lamenting how expensive quality Fūinjutsu equipment is. What Danzo had given him had gone quickly and since he was outside of the village he couldn't ask the man for more and had to by his own.

"In that case I'll just see your boss about my payment, now lets head towards a training ground and try this thing out" Isao said before being stopped by Naruto who reached in to his pocket and handed him a paper filled with random ideas and sketches Naruto had come up with during his time in the pit.

"How many of those do you think you could make a reality?" Naruto asked.

"Half of this stuff just isn't possible but I could probably figure this one, 'heat resistant markers that can be held by my chakra extensions' out. You'll have to let me see these chakra extensions first though" Isao said to which Naruto nodded.

"Alright let's go"

20 Minutes later, Training ground 7:

When the group of Naruto, Tenten, Isao and Iō returned to the training ground the first thing they noticed was a heavily panting Sasuke laid out on the ground. Jogging over to him Naruto asked him what was wrong.

"Huff, huff Lee! I was right with him for the first (huff) 20 mins of our run but then he speed up so (huff, huff) much I had to start using the occasional shunshin to keep up. Then when we pasted back by here for the 30th time he took off his leg weights which left those craters over there…" Sasuke tiredly said while pointing towards two gaping holes. "And took the fuck off! I had to push myself harder than ever and shunshin every couple of seconds just to keep up, my legs are killing me right now. Anyway I told Lee I couldn't keep that speed up and he challenged me to one more lap around the village and here I am" Sasuke said sitting up and rubbing his legs.

"So you're not the fastest of our age group after all huh teme?" Naruto joked.

"Actually I am. I tried something new and passed him up during the last quarter mile of the race" Sasuke smirked proud that his status as fastest teenaged leaf ninja was still intact. Of course if Lee's promise to do two thousand laps around Konoha everyday his team was inactive was anything to go by Sasuke would have to work to keep his title.

"What new thing did you use?"

"I'll tell you later dobe" Sasuke said looking at Isao and Iō.

"Um, hey Uzumaki can we get on with this please I got things to do" Iō grumbled impatiently.

"Right" Naruto said bringing his hands together and making eight shadow clones. "I might as well test this jutsu out too" he said mostly to himself before nodding to his clones who paired off and ran in four different directions disappearing into the foliage. The clones took up a diamond formation on the edges of the training ground with one outer clone with their arms extended in the general direction of the outer clone on either side of them and the inner clone standing 20 feet in front of them. Back in the center of the training ground the original Naruto created one more shadow clone before extending his new sword and pulsing his chakra, signaling his clones.

"Wind Release: Zephyr" No sooner had the words left his mouth the inner clones, which were actually Wind Release: Shadow Clones, dispersed themselves exploding in blade-less gusts of Naruto's wind chakra. Wind chakra that the outer clones caught and redirected with low powered Great Break Through jutsu. Thanks to this Naruto was able to fill the area with his chakra and move to the next step far faster than the last time.

As a gentle breeze blew through the training ground Naruto gathered/charged the methane and nitrogen present while his clone gathered the other, more abundant two gasses, cutting down even more time. "Torch Release: Short sword" the blade glowed a brilliant gold before a golden torch that only extended a couple inches from the swords edges erupted from the hilt. "Gold huh? That's new"

"Cool" Tenten simply said as she observed the blade of highly intense flames.

Looking over at a wooden training dummy clad in blue, old school plate armor Naruto took off in a sprint and easily sliced through it. "Alright let's crank things up a bit, Torch Release: Executioners Blade" Naruto said channeling more chakra and fuel into his jutsu causing the torch sword to grow drastically.

"Hey Tenten could you do me a favor and lob some of you hardest metal weapons my way?" Naruto asked.

"You want me to throw weapons at you what if you get hurt?" Tenten asked incredulously. She wasn't too thrilled at the prospect of causing Konoha's new hero to have a training accident.

"Did you forget our little scuffle earlier? I'll be fine" Naruto said lowering the massive torch to a double handed grip at his side.

"Ookay" Tenten said before placing two scrolls on the ground and started going through hand seals. "Twin Rising Dragons!" Jumping into the air as her smoke covered scrolls spun around her Tenten unsealed an iron mace and a steel dagger and threw them at Naruto's non vital areas.

"Interesting use of Fūinjutsu but using this against a wind user is a mistake, she's lucky were just training or I could seriously mess her up" Naruto thought to himself as he swung the massive sword at amazing speeds slicing through the weapons with very little difficulty. Seeing this Tenten speed up throwing a couple dozen more weapons at him. Naruto sliced or deflected them all, again without much trouble.

"Impressive" Isao said proud of his work. Iō on the other hand wasn't that impressed.

"Any quality wind blade could do all that, here if you want to do something cut through this!" He yelled unsealing a large green shield and tying it to a tree with ninja wire. "This shield is made out of…well I don't want to say what it's made of but try cutting through it" he instructed getting a nod from Naruto. Naruto jogged over to the shield and swung meeting a resistance similar to Rotsuchi's Iron covered clone. The blade was slowed down and Naruto had to put a little more muscle behind it but the sword eventually cut its way through not only the shield but the entire tree.

"Now that's impressive, end your technique and let's take a look at the blade" Iō ordered.

Naruto complied and as everyone gathered around him he felt two chakra signatures enter the training area, one of whom was huge, like nearly as much chakra as Naruto himself had (without factoring the Kyuubi) huge. He would have freaked out if he hadn't recognized the other one as Ami. "I can sense them from so far away? This is a nice fringe benefit of the Zephyr, I can literally 'feel them in the air'"

Looking at the sword he noticed saw that the blade was glowing red from the heat but was still very much intact. "This is great Harashi-san, Iō-san, thank you" Naruto said pleased with his new sword.

"Hey could you guys make something for…" Tenten started but was interrupted by the rustling of branches and the appearance of Ami and a certain ninja legend who looked around the training ground and whistled.

"Hey, looks like we missed all the fun"

"Jiraiya-sama" Naruto said as he Tenten and Sasuke bowed in respect. Isao and Iō who'd known Jiraiya for years simply nodded at him, knowing the man wasn't one for such displays.

"Oh stop that kids there's no time for it" Jiraiya said growing serious.

"The mission's been moved up" Sasuke stated, his legs aching at the very inopportune reality.

"Yup, I don't know what you all had going on here but wrap it up and meet my original in 20 minutes. Ami-san knows where. Uchiha, bring 'that' set of gear" the Jiraiya shadow clone said before dispersing itself.

"You're leaving already?" Tenten frowned, she'd already decided she liked Naruto and wanted to hang out with him a little more before he disappeared for another three months.

"Sorry, duty calls. I'll look around for you when I get back. There are some questions I want to ask you about your jutsu" Naruto told her before turning to leave.

"You aren't leaving without paying me are you Uzumaki?" Iō asked crossing his arms.

"Don't worry kid I'll take care of him" Isao assured before walking off with Iō in tow.

After nodding to the blacksmith Naruto turned to see Sasuke already running off.

"I just told him where to meet us, please follow me senpai"

Anbu Standby Station # 2, 15 minutes later:

Naruto, in a brand new Anbu uniform (minus his Crane mask that was in his hand) sat on a stool as Jiraiya finished appling an Anbu tattoo to his left shoulder.

"There finished" Jiraiya said while standing and walking over to the wall passing an Anbu uniform clad Ami who was wearing her Osprey mask, a female Anbu wearing a Scorpion Mask and Sasuke who, like Naruto, was only holding his Eagle mask. Flipping the switch on the wall while simultaneously pressing the button beside it Jiraiya cut off the lights but cut on the projector which already had a map of the western half of the continent loaded up.

"Alright this is the situation. The Raikage's top guard Darui's condition has taken a turn for the worst. I don't know the specifics but apparently his brain activity is slowing down and the first signs of organ failure are starting to present themselves. The best doctors we have are working on a way to reverse it all but they're not sure it will work. The Raikage has asked that we recall Tsunade and have her treat Darui. The problem with that was that no one knew where she was. See the old man asked me to track her down before this war even started but since my plate was so full I couldn't actively look for her myself and had to delegate down to my informants. I got a message from one of them last night on my way back to Fire Country" Jiraiya said before walking over to the map and pointing just left of its center.

"Tsunade's somewhere in the Land of Sand" Jiraiya said getting looks of surprise from those unmasked.

"Sand Country? But that place is on the other side of Ame and smack dab in between Wind Country and Earth Country. Why would she hide some place surrounded by our enemies?" Sasuke asked.

"Tsunade hid there before the war started probably not expecting Suna and Iwa to sign a treaty. See Suna and Iwa entered the Second Shinobi World War as allies but betrayed one another repeatedly and ended up at each other's throats after it was over. However both villages realized that the war had weakened them to much too keep up the post war skirmishes and they signed a treaty dividing up the countries in-between them. Iwa could have shinobi in and take mission requests from the Land of Bears while Suna could do the same with the Land of Mountains. When they were trying to decide who got the Land of Sand they ultimately decided that the territory would be off limits to them both and made the place a kind of neutral zone. Seeing an opportunity the Hokage sent Root into Sand Country to try and influence the new Daimyo to utilize his spies to monitor both countries. Unfortunately the Root operative in charge was all stick and no carrot and tried to intimidate the Daimyo. Turns out, despite being a 16 year old spoiled brat, Daimyo Kariya was the prodigious student of a missing-nin from Suna. The kid opened up a can of rage filled, near Kage level, whoop ass killing all of the lead operative's teammates and nearly cut off the leader's right arm before he got away"

"When the Root operative reported back to the Hokage he mentioned how the Daimyo was a fan of the Sannin particularly Tsunade. At that point Tsunade who'd suffered the loss of her brother and fiancé in the war was in a deep depression and was desperate to get away from the village permanently, the only thing holding her up was not wanting to be labeled a missing-nin and bring dishonor to her family name. After being notified of the Sand Daimyo's crush on her the Hokage made Tsunade a deal" Jiraiya paused to see if the group of ninja was keeping up.

"A honeypot mission" Naruto sated having already been told all this by Danzo who was the lead Root operative in charge. It was the man's most humiliating defeat and he wanted to make sure that Naruto didn't make the same mistake.

"Yup, see as a young Chunin, Tsunade had a particularly traumatic experience on a similar mission and the Hokage gave her his word that he'd never force another mission like that on her again. So instead of forcing her to do the mission he offered it to her in return for a subsequent, 'extended training mission'. Luckily a part of their deal stated that the Hokage could recall Tsunade in a time of crisis to resume her duties until said crisis was over. Because she took the mission and charmed the Daimyo, Tsunade could come and go in Sand Country as she pleased. That is until Iwa and Suna decided they hated us more than each other and signed their damned treaty. Now, since the Sand Daimyo doesn't have the forces to help her out of the country she's stuck and in hiding" Jiraiya said stopping at Scorpion's raised hand.

"Tsunade-sama couldn't fight her way back to Fire Country?"

"If she was on her own, in her prime and Ame was what it was a few years ago instead of the S-class monster haven it is now then…probably. However she isn't alone, she has her fiancés Specal-Jonin level niece and a 12 year old orphan she picked up in Kusa with her. If she's gonna get out of there she's gonna need help which is where you four come in."

"You four? You're not leading this mission?" Sasuke asked not believing they'd been tasked with what was obviously an S-class mission so deep into enemy territory with only one Anbu of unknown skill level as back up.

"Nope I have a double S-rank mission happening sometime soon, so he'll be taking point on this one" Jiraiya said pointing at Naruto.

"Me? This retrieval mission is S-ranked right? Shouldn't Scorpion or a Jonin be leading a mission like this?"

"When the members of the war council got their hands on the Sitreps from your last mission they were very impressed. The Anbu commander, Hound nominated you for promotion and Bo Akimichi seconded the nomination"

"But I'm not qualified, I haven't been a Chunin for a full year and I only have one official elemental affinity" Naruto said not understanding how it was possible for him to get promoted so soon (even with Danzo's meddling).

"The Hokage can wave that one year rule if there is I dire need for Jonin and your Torch Release has been recognized as your second element. After you were nominated the head Jonin called a meeting of all the Jonin currently in the village. In a 30 for, 2 against, vote you were made a candidate. I hope your ready Uzumaki cause this isn't just a retrieval mission, this is your Jonin exam"

Same time, 2 Miles North of the Earth/Sand Country Border:

"So why are we going to this back water country again?"

"Because the gramps ordered us to"

"Yeah but why? We don't have any orders except to keep training so why there instead of home?"

"I don't know but be on guard, the look on his face was weird there may be something more to this we…"

"Shut up brats we're all most at the border"

"Hai Roshi-sensei"

A/N: Okay, done with the filler and can get to the big fight scenes. They make me happy. Hope you guys liked the chapter it sorry for the long sword explanation but that particular piece of equipment is gonna be pretty important to our hero/eventual villain. As you might have guessed I've finally decided on Tenten as Naruto's love interest but for all those Naruto/Tenten shippers don't get too happy. After all how many first loves last? But Sasuke's the one who'll end up with girl problems. Next chapter is gonna take a while since its going to happen in two (maybe three) different countries with multiple groups charaters, some of whom will have epic skill levels. If I'm gonna do it justice I have to hit up Narutopedia and youtube and do a serious amount of research on top of my personal everyday stuff. Reviews might make me go faster though...