Authors's Notes: Well with a thousand reviews it's official now, this story is my second most popular one ever. I thank all of you who have read and especially those who have taken the time to review. Now just a few things that have been coming up in some of the reviews.

Yes, Tsunade will make an appearance and she will be a part of this story. And trust me the reasons for her return will make sense.

As for Jiraiya and Naruto leaving for two and a half years, remember the main reason for that was to protect Naruto from Akatsuki. The two of them will still do some travelling, but nothing quite so extended.

Also some of you seem to be worried that I am not going to finish this story for some reason. Please relax, I always finish what I start, for that is my author's way. Now I hope all of you will enjoy this chapter.

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The Council of Wind sat silently at the table. Their leader was a ninja named Sulamon. Sulamon was a few years older than Sarutobi and the leader of one of Suna's great clans. Had he wanted to he likely could have been the fourth Kazekage. But he had always preferred working behind the scenes. But now, with the fourth murdered, their secret weapon lost, and their army shattered he was being forced to lead.

"The seven days cease fire will be at an end tomorrow. We must make a decision. We must either accept the terms or continue this war." Sulamon informed them.

"We cannot accept the terms!" Hideo shouted angrily. "They are outrageous!"

Most of the other council members nodded their agreement.

Furido decided to read some of them off. "We must pay ten billion ryu in indemnities over the next fifty years. We agree not to wage war without first receiving permission from the leaf village. No sand ninja may accept or perform any mission beyond the borders of Wind country." There was more, but those were the main points.

"These terms would cripple us! We would no longer be considered one of the five great ninja villages!" Hideo stated.

"I rather think that is the point." Sulamon said.

"Could we at least get them to modify the terms? Perhaps we can open negotiations and reach a reasonable settlement." Furido offered.

Sulamon shook his head firmly. "I tried that the moment we received them. I was rebuffed. The reply from Sarutobi was quite clear, there will be no negotiations. We must accept the terms or fight."

Sulamon let out a weary sigh. Things could not have ended much worse. Their army had suffered 50 percent losses while the leaf nins losses had been minimal. He had hoped that the offer of unconditional surrender would have been enough to satisfy the Hokage. If Konoha had suffered heavy casualties it probably would have been. But with the leaf forces still intact and strong Sarutobi was in a position to press hard.

"Does Sarutobi realize that our Kazekage was murdered and that we were actually led into this war by Orochimaru?" Furido asked.

Sulamon nodded. "He has been made aware of that fact. He states that regardless of the Kazekage's murder the fact remains that the decision to attack Konoha with Orochimaru had been made by him. He feels we were not tricked into war but deliberately broke our alliance to attack them. He feels we have proven ourselves untrustworthy, and must be weakened."

Unhappy murmurs spread up and down the table. The sad fact was they had broken a treaty. Sarutobi would have been a fool to trust them again, and Sarutobi was no fool.

"Then it's settled," Hideo said. "We must fight."

"Baki," Sulamon looked to him. "As our general you know the condition of our forces better than anyone. What is your opinion? Can we win or even survive a continuation of the war?"

Baki rose to his feet and looked at the other council members. "We still have significant forces and our defenses are formidable. If it comes to a fight I am certain we could withstand a siege for many months, perhaps up to a year."

"A siege?" Hideo asked unhappily. "Couldn't we fight them in the field?"

"No," Baki replied firmly. "We are much too weak to have any chance in open battle. Were we to fight them in that manner I fear it would only lead to a swift defeat."

"After which Suna would be destroyed." Sulamon elaborated. "Just as it would be at the end of a long siege. No, I am afraid we cannot fight them."

"These terms will ruin us as a great power." Hideo stated.

"They will, for at least a generation." Sulamon said. "But perhaps future generations will be able to win back what we have lost. Regardless, it is our duty to save Suna. While to resist would be brave, it would also be foolish. If we fight the ultimate end will be the destruction of the village. Therefore, we have no choice but to surrender."

Furido sighed. "This treaty will make Konoha much more powerful, and reduce the number of great villages to four."

Sulamon nodded, but there was nothing he could do.

By a vote of eight to one Suna accepted the surrender terms.

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To the north the end played out differently.

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In the castle of the Rice Daimyo the doors to the throne room were opened. From the doorway to the raised dais all the lords of Rice country were lined up. As Danzo entered at the head of a contingent of twenty leaf nins the lords bowed low to him. Danzo knew Sarutobi didn't fully trust him. The Hokage lad allowed him this honor as a way to show favor and keep him tied close. What Danzo thought of that he would keep to himself, but even if he did not smile he was enjoying this. He would have liked to have strutted into the room and towards the throne. With his shattered body he couldn't manage to strut. Instead he walked slowly and with all the dignity of a conqueror.

When Danzo at least reached the foot of the dais the Rice Daimyo stood and came down the steps. The man certainly looked the part; he had on bulky and flowing robes of purple and gold. He carefully moved the robes out of the way as he went down on both knees. He slowly removed his ceremonial sword and offered it up.

"As Daimyo and ruler of Rice country, I submit."

With his single arm Danzo reached out and took the sword from him. "As the representative of the Lord Hokage and of the Daimyo of Fire country, I hereby accept your submission."

All of this was merely ceremony. The surrender had already been negotiated. Sarutobi considered the man to be nothing but Orochimaru's unwilling victim. As such he was being shown great mercy. Rice country was being annexed to fire and the man would no longer be the Daimyo of an independent nation. However he would continue to rule from his castle, the only difference being he would do so as a governor under the authority of the fire lord.

The surrender marked the official end of the war against Sound. Most of the sound nin had died in the streets of Konoha. The few remaining survivors had fled. Everything that Orochimaru had spent his lifetime building was being dismantled and destroyed.

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"So where have you been the last week?" Naruto asked. He and Jiraiya were in the backyard of his new home.

"Believe it or not kid I have responsibilities that involve things other than you."

Naruto frowned. "Like what? Peeping at the women's bathhouse?"

"No, of course not," Jiraiya answered. "I do that strictly on my own time."

"Whatever," Naruto muttered. "So ero-sennin, I'm still waiting for my first mission as a Chunin. I kept asking the old man, but all he would say was that I had to wait to talk to you."

Jiraiya nodded. "That's because for the next few months you won't be going on any missions."

"Say what?! What do you mean no missions?" Naruto demanded.

Jiraiya sighed, why was he not surprised Naruto was making this difficult? "Look kid, we've got just under three years to build up your reputation and turn you into the strongest ninja in the village. That means you're not going to be going on any regular missions. The missions you go on will be especially difficult. They'll be chosen not just to enhance your reputation but to test your limits and force you to develop the skills you'll need."

"Super difficult missions? That sounds great!"

"Yeah, but since these missions are going to be extra rough you need to be ready."

"But I am ready," Naruto insisted. "I mean I totally kicked ass during the invasion. Why do you think the old man promoted me?"

"You did very well," Jiraiya admitted. "And your promotion was well deserved. But despite being a Chunin now the fact remains you have some very basic weaknesses that we need to address before you start going on missions."

"Like what?"

"Well, your most glaring weakness is your taijutsu. Ebisu was able to make it passable, but that isn't near good enough."

"You're going to teach me taijutsu?"

"Not just any taijutsu." Jiraiya said proudly. "Kid you're going to learn hermit style, one of the rarest and most demanding styles known to man or frog."

Naruto gave him an odd look and mouthed the words, 'man or frog?'

"Also, technically, I won't be the one teaching you."

"Oh great, so you're dumping me just like Kakashi-sensei did."

"No kid, I'm going to let a specialist train you in the mornings while I take care of other responsibilities. Then I'll come back in the afternoon to work on teaching you other skills and jutsus."

Naruto looked at the man suspiciously. "Are you really going to teach me jutsus?"

"I sure am kid, but now let me bring in your teacher. Now before I do that I'm going to give you a fair warning." For a change Jiraiya looked extremely serious. "Fukasaku-sensei can be very strict. Don't give him attitude and don't make up any of your pet names for him, or you'll get the ruler."

"The ruler?"

"You'll find out kid, trust me. He may seem different but he taught me the hermit style and I guarantee you he'll teach you a lot too. So you ready to meet him?"

"Sure." Naruto expected Jiraiya to leave and return with his new teacher. Instead the old hermit bit down on his thumb and ran through some hand signs. He slammed his hand down on the ground and there was a puff of smoke.

When the smoke cleared there was a frog sitting there. He was easily the weirdest looking frog Naruto had ever seen. He had on a black kimono and had a grey beard and mustache. The frog looked up at him and then turned to Jiraiya. "So is this Naruto?"

"Yeah." Jiraiya said.

Naruto was a bit surprised to be hearing a frog talk. He had seen a talking turtle before though, and Kakashi had mentioned that his nin dogs could talk.

"He looks pretty stupid." The frog said.

"Hey!" Naruto shouted. "Who are you calling stupid you dumb frog?"

Jiraiya closed his eyes and began massaging his temples. "Kid you shouldn't have said that."

The frog eyed Naruto up and down. "Jiraiya-chan, why don't you leave me with the smart mouth here?"

"All right, but try not to hurt him too bad."

"No promises."

Jiraiya sighed. "Kid, remember what I said, be polite." He shunshinned away.

Naruto looked down unhappily at the frog. "No way am I learning anything from a frog."

"Well not with that attitude you're not." The frog took a wooden ruler from his back and held it like a samurai sword. "Now for your very first lesson." The frog leapt up to Naruto's face and smacked his cheek with a loud, 'thwack.'

"Ow!" Naruto slapped a hand over a reddening cheek. "That hurt!"

"As I was saying," the frog continued. "Your first lesson, I am Fukasaku-sensei. You will never refer to me as anything else, especially not, 'dumb frog.' Now Jiraiya-chan asked me to come teach you the hermit style. Now we can do this the hard way or… well, there's really only the hard way."

Naruto was glaring at the frog. "Forget it! No way am I learning anything from you. What would a frog know about fighting anyway?"

"Oh? You don't think a frog can fight?"

"That's right," Naruto said.

"Very well, let's have a spar. If you can hit me just once I'll leave you alone."

"Fine," Naruto swung down trying to hit him.

Only to have the frog land on his wrist, run up his arm and slap him across both cheeks with his ruler, thwack, thwack.

"Oh that's it!" Naruto shouted and went all out to show the frog just who was in charge.

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Jiraiya returned in the early afternoon to find a panting and exhausted Naruto lying flat on his back with Fukasaku sitting on his chest.

"I take it the day went well?" Jiraiya asked.

"He reminds me of you." Fukasaku said. He looked down at the panting ninja and held his ruler threateningly. "So what is my name?"

A weary Naruto looked up at him. "Fukasaku-sensei."

"Good," the frog nodded. "Tomorrow we start with hermit style." With a puff of smoke he disappeared.

Jiraiya came over and helped a sore Naruto back up to his feet. "I told you to be polite."

Naruto nodded. "Man I never knew frogs could be so tough."

"They can be very surprising," Jiraiya agreed. He also began to smile. "So you have a new found respect for frogs huh?"

"I sure do."

"Well that's good, how would you like to be able to summon them?"

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"Yosh, thank you both for doing this."

Tenten smiled at her former sensei. "We are both happy to."

"Are you sure this is wise sensei?" Neji asked as he pushed the wheelchair. "I thought your stay in the hospital would be extended."

Guy nodded wearily. "The doctors speak of four or five months, but I will be there only one. If I am still in the hospital in more than one month's time I will run 500 laps around the village backwards!"

Neji and Tenten shared an amused look. It seemed that despite all he had been through he would be all right. "Are you sure about doing this right now?" Tenten asked. "I am sure they would understand if you waited until you were stronger."

Guy vehemently shook his head. "Though I lack the strength to walk there I am strong enough to do what must be done, and I have delayed too long already."

His two former students did not try and talk him out of it. Truthfully they were both happy to help him. They owed a duty as well. As they went through the streets people stopped to bow to them or applaud them. Their faces were all well known within the village, especially Guy's. Normally Guy would be gushing at all the praise he was receiving. But he seemed a little subdued, almost embarrassed by it.

At long last the three of the arrived at a small in the northern end of the village. Though he grunted from the exertion Guy stood up and knocked on the door. When the door opened two surprised people greeted him. There was a very small dark haired woman and a man with some incredibly thick eyebrows.

Though it hurt Guy gave them a deep and respectful bow. Standing behind him Tenten and Neji did the same.

"I have come to apologize to you and to ask your forgiveness." Guy told Lee's parents. "I was Lee's sensei and I failed him."

The parents were silent for a moment, and then the father spoke in a quiet. "Maito Guy, we know you did the best you could for our son, and you avenged him. You have both our forgiveness and our thanks."

Guy lifted his head and nodded gratefully. "Your son was my precious protégé, I will always miss him."

Together the five people present remembered and honored the fiery and youthful Rock Lee.

He would forever enjoy the springtime of youth.

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Having signed the summoning contract Naruto bit down on his thumb and ran through the hand signs like Jiraiya had shown him. He poured in as much chakra as he could, wanting to summon a really big frog. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu" Instantly there was a huge puff of smoke.

Naruto looked eagerly as it cleared to see just how big a frog he had summoned.

"Hi there, you got any chips?"

Naruto looked down to see a red and black frog about the size of a small dog. "Aw man! I wanted to summon a big one!"

Jiraiya didn't say it, but he was impressed. Summoning Gamakichi, the boss toad's own offspring, was pretty damn good for your very first try. "I can already see you're going to need to work really hard at this kid."

Gamakichi looked over to Jiraiya and then back to Naruto. "So are there any chips around here or what?"

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Another week passed.

As it became clear the war was over repairs began to speed up and life began to return to normal. In his office the Hokage and Jiraiya were having a private meeting.

"How is Naruto's training going?"

"Not bad," Jiraiya admitted. "He is starting to pick up the hermit style and he has summoning down. I've started to show him the rasengan and he's doing pretty well with that. A few months and he might just be worth something."

Sarutobi nodded.

"Have all the strike teams retuned?"

"They have," Sarutobi said. "All of Orochimaru's facilities have been destroyed and all his prisoners have been freed. Although we did not manage to capture many of his people, most of them fled upon hearing of Orochimaru's death."

"Can't say I blame them, considering the research they were involved in." Jiraiya paused for a bit. "There's something I've been wanting to talk to you about, it involves Akatsuki."

Sarutobi gave the man his full attention, anything that involved Uchiha Itachi always drew his full attention. "Yes?"

"It's rather interesting; they had just started becoming more active recently. And now they've gone completely off the map. My spy networks have been tracking them; they've been a high priority. Now all at once they seem to have disappeared."

"That is unusual; do you have any idea why they've suddenly become inactive?"

"Well, given the timing I have to think it has something to do with either the war or with Orochimaru's death. Given that he was once a member I suspect the latter to be the most likely cause, but what the real connection is? I couldn't even begin to guess."

Sarutobi lit his pipe and took a couple puffs as he considered. "Well, whatever the reason if they have decided to become inactive I think we can call that good news."

"Probably," Jiraiya was slow to agree. "But I've got this nasty little feeling that we'll have to pay for this good fortune later on."

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In his hidden base in Rain country he looked at his plans and nodded. The new plan was just starting to go into effect. It would likely take a couple years before he would begin to see the results. That was all right, he knew how to be patient. In the meantime he would work on increasing his organization's wealth and on destroying Hanzo and his power structure. Before long he would be the ruler of this country, and some day after that he would be the ruler of the world. Pein again nodded.

Operation Legacy was under way.