Another fast update; with luck, these just might continue through to the end of "part I".

Anyways, reaction to Mai in the last chapter was surprisingly positive; to be honest, I was really worried about that, but somewhat committed to getting it done, and it seems to have worked out well.

There was at least one reviewer who brought up a problem, so I'll discuss it now: the end of the last chapter sort of left the implication that Mai was more important than Naruto for the story; I did not mean for that to be the case, but during an edit of the ending I'd accidentally deleted a line explaining it away a little, so I try to correct my writing fumble a little here.

For those who have enjoyed Mai or been particularly curious about her, this chapter should be a veritable gold mine. For those who don't like her, I apologize.

Let's move on though, shall we?

Disclaimer: Standard disclaimers apply.

Having successfully diverted attention from wondering why they had taken Naruto from Konoha and simultaneously left the jōnin too stunned to think properly, Itachi and Mai quickly initiated another genjutsu communication.

"Danzō's given the letter to Homura with all the proper instructions," said Mai. "It seems that Jiraiya took Naruto from the village just a short while ago, so he won't get the letter until they return."

"That should be fine," replied Itachi. "Though Homura has supported Danzō's policies somewhat through the years, he is an honorable man and will fulfill Hokage-sama's wishes. We should leave soon."

"I want to draw this out just a little more," said Mai. "There's still the matter of my spy; if possible, I'd like to keep my promise to her."

"Very well, but only if circumstances allow it; we're not here to immerse ourselves in a war with the village we slaughtered our clansmen to protect."

"I know… don't worry… two more people show up or we get lucky… we'll leave as soon as one of those comes to pass."

"That claim… is absurd," said Kakashi at last shortly after they break the genjutsu communication. Mai pouted.

"Ah, Kashi-kun doesn't believe Mai-chan!" whined Mai. "Ne, ne, Kashi-kun, what does Mai-chan have to do? Summon the dead? Shatter the moon? Tell Mai-chan!"

"How could Naruto have come away from that woman with his sanity intact?" muttered Asuma under his breath.

"What?! But… but…" Mai had gotten all teary-eyed, though the effect would of course be lost on Asuma since his eyes were still shut tight. "But Mai-chan loves her Naru-otōto! Asu-kun's saying mean things!"

"Kakashi, Asuma-san, Kurenai-san, we would appreciate it if you did not spread this information around," said Itachi, "for Naruto's sake; and I suspect for your own health. Mai would not take kindly to the potential mistreatment exposure of this information could bring."

Well, that was something they could all agree on.

"What I don't understand…" said Kakashi, "is… if you really are a descendant of the founding clans of Konoha… then why have you betrayed us Mai?"

"Ara? Ita-kun, did Mai-chan betray Konoha?" Mai looked at Itachi in a manner that seemed almost fearful. "M-M-Mai-chan d-didn't m-mean it…!"

"You have not betrayed Konoha, Mai," said Itachi, soothingly. It occurred to him as he observed his opponents' reactions that he could understand a little how Mai could enjoy messing with people like this. "You merely did the village a service by removing an… infection."

"Itachi, you manipulative bastard!" shouted Asuma.

"Mai chose to involve herself in that incident," said Itachi. "I have merely done what I must to keep Mai from falling apart completely."

"Butterfly!" squealed Mai suddenly, rushing off after the bug in question.

"Like she hasn't already," muttered Kurenai.

"Mai is not so far gone as she may seem," said Itachi simply. "The power she holds has only ever warped her perception. Never Mai herself; she holds me as the center of her world and will follow me anywhere. It is not within my power to stop her."

"From someone who slaughtered his own clansmen…" muttered Kakashi, "it seems… like there are some things you still care about besides power."

Itachi said nothing. For the three jōnin, the silence was enough to confirm that he did, on some level, care about Mai.

"So what were you looking for?" questioned Kakashi. "Were you planning to finish what you started four years ago? Or just to let Mai see Naruto? Or was it time for your organization to capture him?"

"Sasuke is irrelevant," said Itachi. "I spared him on a whim; destroying the Uchiha was a worthy test of myself, and leaving one or two children alive so that clan might be restored did not seem unreasonable. Who would be chosen for that was ultimately irrelevant."

"I don't even know what to think of you," said Kakashi. "I guess… the only way to look at it would be to say… that you're even more messed up in the head than Mai is."

Whatever reply might of come from Itachi was cut off by a massive wave of killing intent; the force of it was so great that Asuma and Kurenai opened their eyes as they turned along with Kakashi and Itachi to the source.

All playfulness was gone from Mai's eyes, but rather than the rampaging bloodlust from earlier, Mai was giving Kakashi a glare filled with rage.

"What… did… Kashi-kun… say?" growled Mai, stepping towards them slowly and deliberately. "No one… may insult… Ita-kun…"

Another ethereal warrior shot forth from Mai's body, wielding a massive blade. Asuma and Kurenai were preparing to defend the weakened Kakashi when a green object blurred between them and Mai's spirit warrior.

"Konoha Gōriki Senpū!" shouted the figure, delivering a kick to the spirit that actually sent it flying, disintegrating in seconds. The figure landed on the water, assuming a combat stance as he faced down Mai.

"Gai-kun…" said Mai lowly, her voice filled with anger. "Don't interfere."

Anyone else might've been sent running by that; Gai was not one of them.

"Gai, watch out," said Asuma. "She has the Sharingan!"

"Is that right?" said Gai. "Heh… then I guess it's a good thing I'm here, since I've been working on fighting the Sharingan. You'll have to judge your opponent by keeping your eyes on their feet and not looking at their face at all; I'll leave Itachi to you two. Let me deal with Mai."

As Gai spoke, a series of ethereal shuriken shot from Mai towards Gai. He responded by tossing an equal number of his own shuriken, all infused with chakra, allowing them to deflect Mai's spirit shuriken.

"There is no way to defeat Reiton in a drawn-out fight," said Gai. "I'm the only one who can keep that from happening."

"Be careful," said Kurenai.

"Of course!" said Gai, shooting forward as Mai unleashed three more spirit warriors at him. Gai successfully batted away all of them with his chakra-infused blows, appearing next to Mai in an instant and lashing out.

And for the first time since the fighting began, Mai was forced to move, ducking down to dodge the blow, and then bringing her leg around in a kick towards Gai's stomach. The taijutsu master twisted his body, allowing him to bring his hands down on Mai's leg and push off, gaining distance between them.

"Konoha Gōriki Senpū!" cried Gai again, vanishing and lashing out so fast that even Itachi and Kakashi couldn't track it with their Sharingan.

However, the power of Mai's eyes surpassed even Itachi's, and her skill with taijutsu was so great that she could even match Gai, deflecting his leg with such finesse that she didn't even feel any strain from doing so, then lashing out with a two-fingered strike at Gai's right bicep. Gai twisted his body, coming around in another kick, and Mai leaned back, letting the attack go right over her before throwing her body backwards, bringing her feet up in a kick aimed directly at Gai's face.

Gai blocked the attack with his arm, instead turning it into momentum to push away from Mai, landing on his feet and rushing forward while Mai was still in the air, delivering a devastating hay maker to her back… only for Mai to flicker out of existence.

Smack!

Everyone blinked. When Mai reappeared a second after flickering out of existence, rather than strike with anything particularly devastating, she'd gone and slapped Gai. The absurdity of it stunned everyone… except for the two insane combatants of course.

"Hah!" cried Gai, punching at Mai. Her hand caught his wrist, but she lacked the raw strength to actually stop Gai; however, Mai was well aware of that, so instead of trying to stop him directly, she twisted his arm so that his own momentum would catch him in her grip while also causing his strike to miss completely. With Gai locked in place, Mai proceeded to bring her knee up to strike him right in the most unfair place of all; fortunately for Gai, he managed to bring his own leg up to catch Mai's.

Both combatants now balanced on one foot, Mai sent another two-finger strike at Gai, aimed at his neck this time, only for Gai to catch it and forcefully lock her arm in the same way she'd done to him.

Mai responded by slamming her forehead into Gai's, and for the first time in many years, the taijutsu master regretted wearing his hitai-ate on his belt instead of his forehead, as it would've been very helpful to have when Mai's hitai-ate slammed into his forehead, the jagged cut meaning the blow also left a bunch of small cuts at the point of impact..

The blow finally left Gai momentarily stunned, and Mai proceeded to hit him with her head again with even more force, releasing her grip on him and causing Gai to go flying back. However, Gai managed to recover, bringing himself back to his feet, ignoring the damage to his head as he faced Mai down, a satisfied smirk adorning his features as he finally faced a real challenge in his arena of specialty.

As for Mai…

"This is fun, Gai-kun!" she giggled. "Mai-chan hasn't had to dance in a looonngg time!"

To the observers, it seemed that the two were enjoying this far too much, and not taking it with enough seriousness. Though, it was perhaps the most impressive taijutsu battle any of them had ever seen.

"Then get ready!" said Gai. "Because it's time for me to–"

"Ah, Mito-chan, Mito-chan!"

Everyone froze.

"Mai…" came Mito's voice, thick with hatred. Slowly, everyone turned towards the source to see Mito standing a little downstream of them, her tantō held in her hand, eyes locked on Mai, filled with a pure hatred beyond anything any of them had ever seen.

"Mito-chan! Hi!" said Mai, suddenly disappearing, only to reappear fifteen feet away from where she'd been… hugging Mito from behind. "Mai-chan missed Mito-chan!"

"Argh!" growled Mito, flipping her tantō into a reverse grip and stabbing it at Mai's stomach. Mai vanished in an instant, too fast for Kakashi to track with his Sharingan, reappearing a few feet from Itachi, pouting as she stared at Mito.

"Aah, Mito-chan, why? Why is Mito-chan being mean to Mai-chan?"

"You damn well know why you bitch!" screamed Mito, rushing through hand seals. "Katon: Gōryūka no Jutsu!"

A massive fireball in the shape of a dragon head blasted forth from Mito's position at Mai, creating a wake of steam as it evaporated the water under it. The response of the other jōnin, realizing Mito was royally pissed off, was for Gai to flash over to Kakashi, grab him, and run for it with Asuma and Kurenai a second behind him, but Itachi and Mai barely showed any reaction.

The attack hit Mai head on, creating a massive cloud of smoke and steam. But when it cleared, Mai was still standing there completely unharmed… and surrounded by what seemed to be a cage of ethereal feathers.

"Reiton: Shugotenshi," said Mai cheerfully. "Mai-chan's faavvvorite Reiton." Then, she started pouting again. "Ne, Mito-chan, was Mai-chan bad? Mai-chan didn't mean to make Mito-chan angry."

"Mai… it would seem this is getting out of hand," said Itachi. "It's time for us to leave; we did not come here to start a war."

"But Mai-chan finally got to see Mito-chan again!" whined Mai, glancing back. Her eyes shifted into the Mangekyō Sharingan, but only Itachi was willing to look into her face; as a result, he was the only one who saw as her left eye morphed further, a new shape appearing in it, looking not unlike a deformed shuriken. Mai turned back to face Mito, who stared into Mai's eyes without fear. For a second, she thought she saw an unusual pattern in them, but then, her eyes were back to the normal cerulean without even the Sharingan present.

"Mai, unless we have business left here, we should really be on our way," said Itachi. "It seems the target is no longer here."

"Okay Ita-kun, Mai-chan guesses there's nothing left," said Mai. "Besides, Mai-chan wants to see Naru-otōto."

"What?! Naruto?!" gasped Mito, but Itachi and Mai had vanished in an instant. "Damn it!"

Mito would've tried taking off in pursuit, but at that moment, Kakashi collapsed.

"So Naruto, could you tell me a little about those marvelous dragons of yours?" said Jiraiya as the two walked down the road.

"Sure," said Naruto with a shrug. "What would you like to know?"

"Well, for one, how in the world did you manage to sign the contract?" asked Jiraiya. "The azure dragons haven't been seen in centuries. They were thought to be just a legend."

"Nē-san acquired all of the Four Symbols contracts," said Naruto with a slight smile. "She had a fondness for the dragons though, so she signed the contract with them, and I wanted to be like her, so when she showed me the contracts, she let me pick which one I wanted to sign."

"I see," said Jiraiya, grinning. "What was your nē-san like anyways? Did she have beauty to match her power?"

"Beauty enough to make the most stoic man turn into a lech that could shame you," said Naruto, voice perfectly deadpan. "And the power to chew up an entire country and spit it out when she got bored."

Jiraiya was being left behind, he'd paused, a lecherous expression on his face, drooling slightly and with a faint nose bleed as he envisioned what sort of woman Naruto might refer to.

"Well, actually, she's the fattest, ugliest entity I've had the displeasure to lay eyes on, but still quite strong," said Naruto, rubbing his chin slightly. Somehow, he'd timed it just perfectly that the image got put into Jiraiya's mind, and the perverted hermit screamed in terror as he tried to claw his eyes and brain out of his skull.

"My eyes! My brain! My poor braaaaaain!"

Naruto grinned as he continued on his way, wondering how long it would take Jiraiya to catch up with him.

"You… evil… little brat…" moaned Jiraiya, twitching on the ground.

The "evil little brat" just kept walking.

"What do you mean you knew she had the Sharingan?" Asuma demanded of Mito as the jōnin were placing Kakashi in a hospital bed.

"Mai was Itachi's accomplice in the Uchiha Massacre," said Mito. "It was obvious she had the Sharingan, whether by acquiring it there or because she was related to the clan."

"She claimed relation to both the Uchiha and the Senju," said Kurenai. "Do you know if that's true?"

"I know that the Kazekaika Clan was one of two clans to have been off-shoots of the Senju," said Mito. "They were the second, much smaller and much more recent one, but most of them died in the Third War. There were only three survivors: Kazekaika Asami and her twin daughters, Miyu and Mai. Asami was murdered right in front of them by that Kumo nin that tried to capture Hyūga Hinata, and Miyu died on a mission a few years later after she donated her eyes to Mai when her twin became blind. I'm sure you must've known something about Miyu's strength; they said she was the strongest ninja of her generation, surpassing even Itachi and Uchiha Shisui, with potential that may have surpassed the Kiiroi Senkō, to the point it was thought she might be chosen to be groomed as the next Hokage. No one questioned letting her continue missions without eyes, particularly as she'd proven that becoming blind had hardly hampered her at all."

"And after Miyu's death, Mai was taken in by the Uchiha," said Gai as Kurenai helped him bandage his bleeding forehead.

"It's no wonder the girl went off the deep end," said Asuma. "Though it's a surprise that she really would be Itachi's accomplice. Are you really that sure of it?"

"I'm sure," said Mito. "Not only that, but I'm even sure that it was Mai, personally, who killed Mikoto. It's something I can never forgive."

"No more attempts at lecherous thoughts about nē-san, and I'll continue telling you about the dragons. Do you agree to this deal?"

"Yes," said Jiraiya. "After all, there are plenty of beautiful women in this world."

"Yeah, sure, whatever, just leave the important ones in my life out of it," said Naruto. "So, here's how it goes; the Four Symbols contracts are very different from regular ones. I'm not completely sure of the workings of the other three, but the basics are common to all of them. Overall, the difference from regular summoning contracts is a series of rules."

"Rule number one: the contract is eternally binding. You put your blood on that contract, you're stuck with it until the end of time. There is no breaking under any circumstance, and you carry it through death."

"Rule number two: you have to prove yourself worthy. How tends to vary from contract to contract, but in each case, you can't just summon them up in the middle of everything; you do that and they'll just sit back eating popcorn while you get the shit beaten out of you. Once you've proven yourself worthy of a given summon, you're free to call out anything weaker than that. I'm worthy up to a guy named Takumi, he's a little older and stronger than Kikyō, but Kikyō's my partner and the one I always call on first in desperate times."

"Rule number three, and this one is very important: you don't kill a beast of the Four Symbols. Period, end of story, no way. When I fought the Ichibi, he recognized Kikyō, and didn't say anything about killing, but specifically said that he'd enjoy fighting her. He knew the danger."

"What's the danger?"

"If you kill a beast of the Four Symbols, then all others of their kind will know immediately: who you are, when you did it, where you did it, who you did it to, and even why you did it. But motivation doesn't matter; you kill a Four Symbols, then they will hunt you down and when they find you… well, let's just say that a fate worse than death is merciful by comparison. No one's killed a Four Symbols beast in a long, long time because of that."

"Interesting; anything else?"

"Hmm, nothing of particular note regarding the Four Symbols as a whole," said Naruto. "As far as the azure dragons, well… their primarily wind masters, but they also have some limited ability to manipulate wood, like a weaker version of the Mokuton. And they have some ability with water; I used to think that only Kasumi could do that, but Kikyō told me during the battle that they all can, it's just that Kasumi is the only one particularly interested."

"Kasumi… that was the one who brought all of you back, right? And I recall you saying that Kikyō was twins with that one you left in the village, Isamu."

"Yeah, that's right," said Naruto. "Kasumi was the one to be born next. They're all pretty young, but as you've probably figured out, they're still as strong as a summon boss. They get exponentially more powerful as they go up—presumably, the summon bosses of the Four Symbols are each powerful enough to take on all nine of the bijū at once, but the only person even implied to have ever been worthy of summoning them was the Rikudō Sennin. Nē-san's worthiness only goes up to Katsumi, though her partner is his immediate younger sister, Kazahana, who is supposedly able to take down any of the bijū one-on-one except the Kyūbi. Of course, that's never been tested, but it gives an idea of what the Four Symbols are like."

"It's a powerful set of contracts," agreed Jiraiya. "So, any other regulars besides the twins and Kasumi?"

"Fuyuki; he's one of the older ones, not quite an elder, but fairly close," said Naruto. "He's actually only about as strong Kasumi though; he's of a different type from the usual summons. He's a lot smaller and faster, so I primarily summon him for transportation. He's actually the one who got my team through the Second Exam so fast."

"Yeah, you put in a record that no one's gonna be beating any time soon," said Jiraiya, grinning. "You're quite strong for a 'mere' rookie."

"Heh… well, like I've said before, I had a lot of help… and frankly, I cheated as well."

"Yes, there's a lot to love about Kage Bunshin no Jutsu," agreed Jiraiya cheerfully.

"Just as long as you don't use it too much," said Naruto. "Nē-san told me that there comes a point where the effect it has on you becomes too much for it to remain viable, which is why I try not to use it in especially high numbers these days. Nii-san also taught me that it's better to fight smarter, not stronger, which is part of why we focused on drilling common sense into my overly thick skull instead of teaching me ten thousand ninjutsu."

Jiraiya chuckled a bit.

"Probably for the best," said Jiraiya. "Personally, I think it's more useful to know a thousand uses for a single jutsu than to know a thousand jutsu with a single use." Naruto chuckled at that.

"Although, speaking of ninjutsu, there's one in particular I want to teach you," said Jiraiya.

"Oh?"

"It's one of the signature techniques of your father," said Jiraiya. Naruto went silent at that. "It's called Rasengan, a very powerful A-rank ninjutsu that can be used very quickly and very efficiently. It's sort of like a hand-held version of your Hakai Chikyū."

"That right? Huh… that's strange…"

"You've got a lot of both your parents in you Naruto," said Jiraiya, smiling down at the boy. "There should be plenty of time for us to talk and train during this trip. I should warn you, though, it took your dad three years to develop this technique, and it took me and Kakashi a year to learn it ourselves. You might want to use shadow clones."

"No," said Naruto, shaking his head. "I prefer not to use shadow clones except for certain things at this point; I don't know if there's some kind of limit where all that accumulated knowledge fries your brain, and frankly, I don't want to find out. So, if there is a limit, I'd rather save it for emergencies."

"Fair enough," said Jiraiya. "I did hear you made heavy use of the clones early on with your team."

"Only early on; quick expansion of skills mostly," said Naruto. "Also, mastering my chakra nature affinity quicker. Besides, I like the idea of being good enough to learn without relying on the clones."

"Shikamaru, have you seen Kakashi or team seven anywhere?" asked Sasuke. The two were the roof of one of Konoha's taller buildings, with Shikamaru looking up at the clouds as usual. Shikamaru shrugged.

"I haven't," he said. "Why?"

"Asuma wanted me to start training with Kakashi in a new ninjutsu," said Sasuke, shrugging slightly as he sat down cross-legged. "He mentioned it when he was helping me prepare for the exams; he said it was only possible for those with the Sharingan." Sasuke looked at his hand. "Really… I'd like something more powerful so that I could perform better. But I haven't been able to find Kakashi since he sent me off to find info on Raiton; I was waiting for him at the training grounds for awhile when I realized it would be best to ask someone from team seven."

"Makes sense," said Shikamaru. "Speaking of the exams, how are you doing?"

"The doctors think I've recovered fully," said Sasuke. "They did suggest I shouldn't strain myself too much, but that's part of why I thought I'd focus on training; it's something where I can set the pace personally and call it quits if it gets too much, unlike a mission."

"Yeah," said Shikamaru. "If you can't find Asuma-sensei to ask him or anyone from team seven, you should check with Ino or Hinata-san; they both like Naruto, so I'd expect them to be able to tell you more. You'll probably find Ino at Yamanaka Hana, and Hinata will probably be at the hospital visiting Neji or the Hyūga Compound. My advice would be to check with Ino first."

Sasuke nodded, standing up.

"Thanks, Shikamaru."

"Mito, how much do you know about Mai?" asked Kurenai as the four jōnin stared at their unconscious comrade. Mito sighed slightly.

"A lot," she said. "Mikoto was always very proud of Mai. She said Mai was the daughter she'd always wanted; she was proud of her sons, but felt that a mother should also have a daughter to relate to and teach, so she was more than happy to take in her son's teammate when Mai had nowhere else to go."

"I don't know much about Mai," said Asuma. "I was with the Twelve Guardians during her early years as a ninja."

"I didn't hear much outside of my team," added Kurenai. "Gai?"

"Some things," said Gai. "For one thing, she was quite the failure as a student."

"Wait, really?" asked Kurenai in surprise. Mito and Gai both nodded.

"Yes," said Mito. "She graduated the academy at only six years old, but it was pretty much entirely on the merits of Itachi and her twin sister Miyu. They wound up dragging her along with them as they graduated very early, hailed as prodigies of the highest level. She could never really catch up to them; eventually, things improved for her somewhat, but then she suffered damage to her eyes during a mission from taking too many risks when she was seven. Miyu gave up her own eyes so that Mai could see again."

"About six months after that, the mission they were on suddenly became far more dangerous," said Gai, picking up the explanation. "They encountered some dangerous nukenin. Their sensei, Arata Rin, was killed; Miyu killed two of their assailants, but another snuck up on her by taking advantage of her blindness. What exactly happened afterwards isn't entirely certain; they said that Mai couldn't remember it, and Itachi was too terrified by what he saw to speak of it, but all of the enemy ninja were slaughtered. Mai had already started to lose her mind by that point, presumably because she couldn't stand living in the shadow of her sister. And then, to lose that sister…"

"Mikoto said it drove her almost completely over the edge, but she held on," said Mito softly. "She became very attached to her new family, especially Itachi and Uchiha Shisui. She created an entirely new chakra transformation when she was nine, showing it off at her chūnin exam and getting promoted along with Itachi. Three years later, she became a jōnin when it became evident she couldn't properly work with anyone but Itachi or Shisui, but was powerful enough by then to be sent out on high-ranking missions and fulfill the objectives well."

"That's an accurate summary," said Gai. "I'm impressed; you didn't even join our ranks until after the Uchiha Massacre. I'd never even heard of you before then."

Mito shrugged.

"It surprised Hokage-sama too," she said. "I was a friend of Mikoto and… another woman, who died in the Kyūbi attack. I mostly worked on growing strong alone, regularly visiting Konoha, but… well, after I heard what happened, I came here myself. When I learned that Mai was Itachi's probable accomplice in the massacre, I began to try and figure out why they'd do it based on what I knew of them. That's part of why I believe it was Mai who killed Mikoto; because in Mai's twisted mind, that would probably be merciful, and Mikoto was practically her mother."

Grim silence followed that statement.

Sasuke panted as he walked up to the front desk of the hospital after running all the way there from Yamanaka Hana.

"Excuse me," he said. "I was looking for another visitor. Yamanaka Ino?"

"Ah, yes, she just got here a few minutes ago," said the woman at the desk. "She was visiting Haruno Sakura and Aburame Shino in Room 132."

"Wait, Sakura and Shino?! Why are they here?"

Sasuke could hardly believe what he'd heard.

"Not sure," said the woman. "Um, if you want, feel free to…"

Sasuke had already rushed off to the room in question. When he got there a minute later, he barely refrained from slamming open the door.

Ino was in the room, standing next to Sakura's bed.

"What happened?"

"They don't know," said Ino, shaking her head slightly. "I was with them at the main gate when we were seeing off Naruto-kun and Jiraiya-sama for some kind of mission, and the next time anyone saw them was when a couple of kids found them collapsed in the streets. I only just heard about it a little while ago."

"What the hell?" muttered Sasuke. "That doesn't make any sense; what on earth could've happened?"

"I don't know," said Ino, shaking her head again. "But I heard that Kakashi-sensei got hurt as well, and is in room 147 just down the hall."

"I'll go check on him," said Sasuke. "Maybe they know more over there."

He walked out of the room and headed down the hall.

"Do you have any idea why they were after Naruto?" asked Mito; her initial concern had been alleviated heavily by the knowledge that Naruto was under the personal protection of Jiraiya.

"Actually… somewhat," said Kurenai.

"From what Kakashi was saying, they're part of an organization that wants the Kyūbi," said Asuma. "But it seems there were more personal reasons as well."

"Whatever the case, it seems they hadn't found Naruto," said Gai.

"Yeah… but there's something I find odd about that," said Asuma, idly pushing a cigarette out of his pack, though he was forbidden from smoking them in the hospital of course. "Naruto doesn't go out of his way for attention now the way he did a few years ago, but he's still pretty easy to find, they know his face, and they were in the village for a while before we confronted them. So that begs the question: what else were they up to?"

The group fell silent, partially because no one had an answer, and partially because they could hear footsteps approaching.

The door slid open, and Sasuke stood in the doorway. He was surprised to see all of them there, but figured with all of them they were more likely to know something. He looked over and saw Kakashi in the bed; he looked uninjured.

"What happened to Kakashi?" asked Sasuke, stepping into the room. "Is it the same thing that happened to Sakura and Shino?"

"Wait, something happened to Sakura and Shino?" questioned Asuma as all of the jōnins' eyes widened in shock at the implications.

"Y-yeah. They were found unconscious in the street a little while ago. I just found out myself." Sasuke looked back to Kakashi. "What happened to Kakashi? It might be the same thing."

Before any of those in the room could answer, someone else rushed into the doorway from the hall.

"Is it true that Itachi's come back to the village?" questioned the newcomer, tokubetsu jōnin Yamashiro Aoba. "And that he's after Naruto?"

It was only when he was done talking that Aoba noticed just who was in the room. Gai face-palmed.

"Idiot…"

Sasuke turned to face Aoba, his eyes widening in shock. Briefly, he looked back to Kakashi.

He remembered now… he remembered being in a similar condition to what Kakashi was in now… physically unharmed… but brutally beaten in the mind. Kakashi's state… and that of Shino and Sakura…

No sounds came from Sasuke's lips as he shouldered Aoba aside, rushing out of the room and down the hall.

"Wait, Sasuke!" he heard Mito call after him, but he just kept running.

Itachi… this time… this time you've gone too far! Do whatever the hell you want to me, but leave my friends out of this!

Remembering what Ino had said about Naruto, Sasuke headed immediately for the village gates.

"Geez… that Ero-sennin… what a disgrace."

These were the words Naruto used to express his opinion of Jiraiya after the self-proclaimed super pervert was drawn off by an attractive woman who stopped outside the inn Jiraiya had decided to stay at and given a flirtatious wink in their direction. Whatever self-control the perverted sage had was lost instantly; he then sent Naruto off to their room with a book Jiraiya had written called Dokonjō Ninden.

Initially, Naruto had planned to brush it off after reading a page or two, assuming it was just some trashy relative of his Icha Icha series.

And then he caught sight of the writing inside the front cover.

For Namikaze Minato, my favorite student.

~ Jiraiya.

After that, Naruto had decided to give it a shot. To his surprise, it was actually quite enjoyable so far, though he was quick to realize why it hadn't sold that well: Jiraiya's writing style was still kind of rough, but more to the point, it seemed that the narrative was fairly optimistic early on. Given that the ninja world could never really be considered stable until after the Third War, it had probably been seen as too idealistic by a lot of people.

That was kind of disappointing; maybe Naruto should talk to Jiraiya about cleaning up the rough early writing some more and trying to put it on the market again. He wondered if he should ask Jiraiya to change the protagonist's name in that situation.

Well, he'd decide that if it came to it, and once he'd finished the book. Regardless of all that, Naruto now understood why Jiraiya had given the book to him.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.

"Hmm? Did the old hentai get dumped already?" questioned Naruto, placing a few bills in the book as a makeshift bookmark before getting up to walk over the door as another knock was heard. "I'm coming, I'm coming. Geez."

Naruto unlocked the door and pulled it open. However, it wasn't Jiraiya he saw on the other side. His eyes widened in shock, and his face broke out in a grin.

"Itachi-nii, Mai-nē!" he said excitedly. "What are you doing here?"

"It's a bit of a long story," said Mai, pushing the door open a little so she could see Naruto better. She smiled down at him. "How's my otōto doing?"

"Great overall! I even got to learn who my parents are just earlier today! But… well, there's that stuff ojiisan."

"I'm sorry about that," said Mai. "I kind of feel responsible for it; we had a chance to kill that rotten snake a few years ago, but we let him get away."

"Mai, we don't have much time," said Itachi.

"Right, sorry," said Mai, stepping forward while Itachi stepped back. "We kind of used genjutsu to get that woman to flirt with Jiraiya and distract him for awhile. I feel pretty guilty about it to be perfectly honest, but I wanted to see you without him getting in my way."

"I'm not sure how to feel about that," said Naruto. He shook his head, stepping forward and hugging Mai. "It's great to see you again, nē-san."

Mai smiled down at him, leaning down a little and wrapping her arms around Naruto.

"I missed you too, otōto," she said softly. "I'm sorry I can't be around more."

"It's okay… I know why…" Naruto tightened the hug just a little. "Nē-san… ojiisan told me about the massacre… did you really…?"

"Yes," said Mai softly. He could hear the tears in her voice as she squeezed him a little tighter. "They were my family. I loved them. But… but I couldn't let it happen. The future isn't set in stone, but I knew that the clan would be wiped out if they didn't give up on their plans… it was just a question of if they'd take Konoha and the world down with them. So I…"

"I understand," said Naruto, laying his head on her shoulder.

"Thank you."

"Mai…" said Itachi.

"Yes." Mai broke the hug, looking at her little brother with all the love one would expect from a sister who couldn't be there as much as she wanted to be. "Naruto, when you get back to the village, there's a letter from Hokage-sama waiting for you; it details how to find the legacy your parents' left behind for you. And I need you to promise me something: look after your friends, okay? Especially Sasuke."

"I will; that's a promise," said Naruto. Mai nodded, tears at the corners of her eyes. She reached up, pulling up his hitai-ate, and kissed his forehead.

"Make me proud, otōto," she said softly. But then, sensing a presence nearly upon them, Mai pulled the hitai-ate back into place, quickly backing away from Naruto. "Otōto… Naruto… I'm sorry for what's about to happen. Please play along."

Naruto was confused… until Sasuke rounded the corner, eyes blazing with anger as he glared at Itachi. Mai's head was tilted forward slightly and her side was to Sasuke, hiding her face from him.

"It's been a long time, Sasuke," said Itachi coolly. Naruto winced, suddenly realizing why Mai had apologized and asked him to play along.

"Uchiha… Itachi…" growled Sasuke, Sharingan eyes blazing. "I don't care… I don't care what you do to me… but leave my friends out of it!"

"Foolish little brother… you believe yourself that important?" said Itachi. "You're not even worth our time. We came for Naruto-kun."

"Naruto, run!" shouted Sasuke as he suddenly ran forward. "This guy…!"

At that moment, Mai turned her head to face Sasuke, hair falling away from her face to reveal it to Sasuke.

In that instant, Sasuke froze, eyes widening in shock… and horror…

"N-n-no way…" stuttered Sasuke, taking a fearful step back. Mai turned to face him more fully, her expression one of sorrow as she faced Sasuke.

"Hello Sasuke."

"Mai… nē… san…"

Author's Notes: I think I actually managed a halfway decent cliffhanger there.

Anyways, this chapter relates a lot about Mai's past, though nothing in real detail. I also show that something happened to Sakura and Shino, but you'll have to wait a while to find out what. Because I'm a bitch like that.

I also relate some more information about the Azure Dragon Summons, so I hope you all appreciated that.

I really enjoyed Naruto's reunion with Mai, so I hope you all did as well. Writing her brief fight with Gai was really fun to, because his way of fighting makes him one of the few characters currently in the story who can actually challenge Mai. And then there was what Naruto did to Jiraiya.

Next chapter, I have a surprise for all of you. You can look forward to it, though it might be just a tad weird.

Please leave a review! I probably won't update for awhile, both because I seem to finally be losing steam and having a hard time writing, and because I really do need to try and focus on some other stuff for at least a little while.

Jutsu Translations:
Konoha Gōriki Senpū – Leaf Strong Whirlwind
Katon: Gōryūka no Jutsu – Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Technique
Reiton: Shugotenshi – Soul Release: Guardian Angel
Rasengan – Spiraling Sphere