I apologize about the wait folks. I got busy at work, and this chapter ended up longer than I had intended to to be. It was going to be a short chapter that led into the next two bigger chapters, but it took on a life of it's own once I realized there were some important things I had to set up here. I hope you all enjoy the chapter.

All rights to the same people I've been giving them to for the past twenty chapters.

Rekindle: Gifts and Unlikely Meetings

Naruto was spread out on top of the bed, holding back another groan as his impatience got the best of him. His mom was already throwing him a look that he took to be a silent order to try and behave, yet Naruto couldn't stand the idleness when they had so much to get done. Turning his head, he saw that his parents were still patiently working on cleaning and servicing their equipment, and he fought back another groan. Naruto had said he would listen to their orders, but sitting around in a hotel was not one of the orders he had counted on having to deal with.

What was worse was that he would be seeing a lot of this hotel for the next few days. His parents had decided that they would try to remain in the hotel as often as they could without raising suspicion, which meant Naruto had little to do. He could deal with the fact that his few excursions into the town would be with one of his parents or Jiraiya, but he couldn't help but get restless at the fact that they didn't seem inclined to let him out unless absolutely necessary.

Naruto wondered just how long it would take that medicine dealer to find the ingredients he had promised them. His parents said it would be a few days, but he really wondered just how much time they had to get everything back to Tsunade. Sure, he trusted Tsunade when it came to medicine and all, but that didn't help his nerves any.

Looking over to Jiraiya's bags, he wondered what the old man was up to at the moment. He had left saying he was visiting some of his spies in order to make sure they were still loyal to him, stressing the point that he had to make them feel obligated to help him from time to time. Kushina hadn't even warned him to stay away from the bathhouses, probably trusting the old pervert to actually focus on his work given the circumstances they were in.

Rolling over, Naruto saw his dad putting away various kunai and shuriken before pulling out a large scroll from his pack. Naruto had seen him working on it from time to time, but had never really thought much about it before now. Seeing nothing better to do, Naruto rolled off the bed, and made his way over to where Minato was spreading the scroll out on the table. Naruto got close enough to look over his father's shoulder to see what was written inside.

Naruto saw all sorts of notes and seals filling every portion of the paper, detailing various effects certain combinations of chakra created, and their side effects. He could tell that while his dad tried to keep it relatively organized, some of the most interesting results were scribbled down messily, as if Minato had been so excited that he had scarcely taken more time to write it than was strictly needed before returning to work.

Even though he had a good idea what the paper was for, he got his dad's attention anyways, "What're you working on?" His dad looked over his shoulder at him and gave him a big grin.

"This is what I do when I try to create or alter a jutsu. Almost everything I've ever worked on has passed through a scroll like this one. They'll also be yours someday; it's sort of my way of creating something for our clan to cherish through the years."

Naruto forgot all about where he was for a moment, and in a brief moment of excitement attached himself to his dad in a large hug, shouting his thanks. Minato took it in stride, and instead of trying to quiet him, Minato just laughed, and Naruto eventually calmed himself, his cheeks dusky as he scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. Even Naruto knew a series of scrolls with techniques and theories created by his dad was something most ninja would die to get their hands on, and here he was entitled to it by birth. He could hardly wait to see what was contained in all those scrolls.

His dad grinned, "I know what you're thinking Naruto, but it will still be awhile until you inherit these, if I have anything to say about it. I expect you'll make your own contributions to them in time, and I think you'll like seeing how some of my jutsu, like the seal for the Hiraishin, were made."

Leaning in to get a better look while he still could, Naruto pointed to a bit of unintelligible scribbling on the margins next to a series of seals that looks familiar to Naruto. He screwed up his face as he tried to figure out what they came from, but couldn't figure out what it was based off of. "What does this one do?"

Minato read the notes Naruto pointed out and smiled at the thought of whatever technique it was he had dreamed up. "That one is for an improvement on shadow clones. I want to find someway to make them last longer in a fight. As it is, they are useful, but the fact that they can only take one hit limits what you can accomplish with one. In theory, they would be able to take more damage if you simply add more chakra to the the modified technique. If there is a way to do it, though, I can't seem to figure it out."

Naruto moved back and rocked on his heels, thinking about how his dad was trying to improve one of his favorite techniques. Feeling motivated to not be upstaged, he started to try and make himself sound smart, "I bet I can make the shadow clone technique ten times better!"

Minato raised an eyebrow, but didn't take offense at his tone. "Oh really? Mind sharing with your old man what you had in mind?"

Taking a moment to try and think fast, an idea started to form in his head. "Ummm...well you know that using a kawarimi takes molding your chakra each time. The hiraishin though uses the seal to avoid that problem, right?" Minato grinned at having Naruto explain his own jutsu, "I'm aware."

Naruto scratched the back of his head, embarrassed by that but kept going. "Well, since you can find shadow clones easily since they have your chakra in it, why not make shadow clones with the hiraishin seal built into it, so you can switch between them in a fight! Kind of like what you do with the kage shuriken thing and your hiraishin seal!"

Naruto felt proud of his idea, and stood a bit straighter, feeling like he had done well. He was expecting his dad to dismiss the idea for one reason or another, though. He waited a full second to hear a soft rebuke, but Minato was silent.

Slowly a light seemed to turn on in his dad's eyes, and he spun himself around to start writing in his notes. Confused, he watched him continue writing for a moment before speaking up softly, obviously confused. "Wait? So that could work?"

Minato didn't look up from his work, "I intend to find out." Sparing a glance up at Naruto for a second, he smiled and placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder. "Sometimes the best ideas are those you come up with when you have no preconceived notions of what you can or cannot do." With that, he turned back to his writing, fully absorbed in writing out various equations and symbols.

Naruto jumped slightly when Kushina came over and placed a hand on his shoulder, using him for balance as she leaned over to see what Minato was doing. Seeing he was completely absorbed in his work, she sighed, though it seemed to be in amusement more than anything else.

Looking down at Naruto, she gave him a mock scolding look. "Seems like you've found someway to distract your father from the business at hand for a few hours, at the least."

Naruto shrugged, still not really sure how he had managed to get Minato so involved in his idea, though he did feel a smile tugging at the corners of his lips knowing he had given his dad a some good inspiration. His mom ruffled his hair and gave him a grin before walking over to where she was storing her equipment and beckoned to him to join her.

Making his way over to her, his mom began to rummage through her pack, mumbling to herself as she sorted through a handful of scrolls, and finally settling on pulling one out and placing it on the desk in front of her. Naruto just watched in fascination as she unrolled it and dropped a small amount of blood from a bite mark she had made on her thumb. From the seal two tanto appeared, and though they didn't seem all that remarkable, even Naruto could tell they were well made and even better serviced over the years.

Looking up at his mom in confusion, she pushed the blades towards him. "These are a reward for doing so well in Wave. You've proven that you've earned them. They're nothing famous, but my clan had an outstanding smith, and this is one of his masterpieces. Me and your father gave it a lot of thought, and we think you're ready to have it."

Not sure what else to do, Naruto picked up the blades, intent on examining them, and he could instantly see why these would be considered a masterpiece. They were both perfectly balanced, and he couldn't spot any difference to differentiate the two from one another. Both handles were polished and used some type of wood instead of more traditional material, and were carved so as to fit comfortably in the user's hand in various grips. It was still slightly large for him, but the maker had obviously tried to make it accommodate a variety of sizes, and he could easily see himself growing into the blade with time.

What truly caught his attention though was the blade, and the hundreds of seals that flowed along its surface and down onto the handle. While the quality of the steel and craftsmanship alone would have made these amazing weapons, it was the seals that no doubt made the tanto's something extraordinary. Each seal was etched in by hand, and to last so long, it would have had to have chakra fused into the blade while they were being carved, Naruto couldn't even guess how long that would have taken to complete.

Naruto sat rather heavily on the nearby bed, slightly stunned that his parents were giving him something like this. They had always been generous, but he had gotten used to a rather spare life style when it came to accessories and equipment, and the sheer value of the gift floored him.

"I can't take these from you, mom. I'm fine with my trench knives, really I am." Naruto felt unaccustomedly awkward even thinking about accepting anything this special.

Kushina moved so she was kneeling in front of him, and placed both hands on his shoulders, waiting for him to look her in the eye. Eventually Naruto knew she wasn't going to let him go and he looked up to see her giving him a soft look of approval.

"I'm glad we raised you to be at least a little humble Naruto." Naruto felt his face twitch as he fought against smiling, and if his mom noticed, she didn't show it as she moved on. "Though I think it's the wrong time to try and turn down a gift. You earned these, and though I hadn't planned it to be so, you earned them by a trial through fire. You proved to me and Minato that you can be trusted with these. Besides, only you and I use weaponry very often in our fighting style, and you seem to like your trench knives, so it shouldn't be too difficult for you to pick up on using these. I also think you'll find that you like using these more than the knives you have already, and that's without taking into account the seals on them."

Naruto couldn't help but let his eyes wander back towards the exquisite blades, and his mom seemed to notice because his mom walked to his side and sat down next to him, placing the two tanto in her lap. She turned one of the blades over a few times in her hand then started to trace out some of the seals with her finger as she began to explain their function.

"Most of them have to do with upkeep," Kushina began. "You'd be surprised how useful it is knowing you only have to clean and service the blade every few months, and that it will always be ready for a fight. Truthfully though, those are just nice accessories to the main attraction, which are the seals designed to aid the user during combat."

"If you channel a bit of pure chakra into the blade," Kushina changed her grip so she was holding the handle firmly, and pumped chakra into the blade. The seals glowed brightly for a moment before a sheath of wind based chakra encased the steel. "The blade will react to it by changing the chakra into the element you are most attuned with. It's not unlike a test some people give with specialized paper that reacts to your chakra to determine what element suits you best."

Kushina took a moment and the chakra changed itself to water. With a small flick of her wrist, a very small amount of water launched itself where she had been pointed the blade, splashing harmlessly against the wall. Letting the chakra recede, the blade went back to its normal appearance. "The way it's designed, it should be very easy to fight using your best element, given you won't have to mold the chakra to change its nature. As you saw, you can change its type, but then you do have to expend a certain amount of effort, though it's still rather easy once you get the hang of it. And of course, there are some other tricks you can do with them, once you get proficient with the basics, of course."

She twirled the blade in between her fingers, and held the tanto towards Naruto handle first. Naruto grabbed it lightly, not sure what to do with it, more in awe of the gift than he had been before. Kushina gave him a soft smile and quietly broke him out of his thoughts, "Go on. It's time to find out what element we should be teaching you first."

Tightening his grip on the weapon, Naruto took a deep breath to calm himself. He didn't like feeling awkward, so he tried to push out the thought about whether he deserved the gift or not. If his parents thought he should have it, he would take it and be grateful for it.

Schooling his expression into one of concentration, he found his chakra and pushed as much of it from his reserves as possible into the blade. He jumped when it roared to life, and a harsh breeze came off of it when the wind chakra encased the steel, causing a blade nearly as large as a katana to appear.

Naruto wondered if it was supposed to be quite so draining, and he felt the world start to spin slightly in front of his eyes as he tried to hold the chakra blade at the length he had it. His mom, though, had broken out of her shock, and yelled at him, "Use less chakra, Naruto!" Naruto fumbled with the blade for a moment, almost dropping it in surprise, but managed to lessen the amount of chakra he was using so it only extended out slightly beyond the blade, causing him to feel better as the strain on his chakra lessened.

Kushina turned to look at Minato, sticking an accusing finger at the man, even though he was still absorbed in his work. "I blame you Minato. He's your son in the regard of having that inhuman amount of chakra, you stamina freaks." His dad just nodded absently, raising a hand to show he had heard, but not taking his eyes off his work, no doubt not even registering what Kushina had said. His mom rolled her eyes at Minato, though she shook her head as she chuckled and turned back to Naruto. "What you found out, Naruto, is that yes, the blades do grow with chakra; though from the looks of it, making it that large took a lot out of you. You can make them larger easier if you change the element of your chakra first, though that does take time. I have to admit, I've never seen anyone make it grow quite so large on normal chakra alone, though I don't recommend doing that in a fight given the sheer drain it has on your reserves."

Naruto nodded, too much in awe with what the blade could do to worry about its limitations. Reaching over to pick up the second one, he stared at the weapons he was holding for a second before giving his mom a huge grin. "Thank you!" he said, and his mom smiled. "I knew you would come around. Now come over to the desk, I want to at least go over the theory of what you can do with wind jutsu and your new toys."

X X X

Jiraiya walked out of the bar, keeping his face down as he blended into the crowd, not wanting to attract attention. His informant worked at said bar, and had given him quite a bit of food for thought and none of it good. Jiraiya wasn't really sure what to take out of the rumors he had heard, but whatever it was that was happening, it seemed to be big.

What bothered him most though was how difficult it was to get the information out of his informant. The man had been agreeable enough, and willing to tell him what he knew, but compared to his normally concise and blunt nature, he had been awfully vague on several important points. He didn't doubt that the man was loyal, but rather he wondered what was going on that they had managed to contain the rumors enough that it hadn't passed through the local rumor mill. What he had gathered from his informant's stories, though, was that the biggest points of concern for Jiraiya and the others were the council here in grass country, and an upcoming chuunin exam. He wasn't sure if a connection existed between the two events, but it had him worried to think what could be happening.

Turning out of the foot traffic, Jiraiya ducked into a nearby restaurant as a squad of low level ninja passed by. Using the opportunity, Jiraiya picked up food for everyone before making his way back out onto the street, passing by numerous bathhouses without noticing them as he tried to organize his thoughts.

No doubt whatever the young kunoichi they had fought at the border had been referencing when she was talking to Naruto was only scratching the surface of the problems in Grass country at the moment. She probably had little idea of just how bad things had gotten, given her relative rank in the village. Still, given the serious nature of the problem, Jiraiya was surprised that the general populace hadn't caught on to the fact that something was wrong. It was possible that Jiraiya had missed the signs that the common person did indeed know something was happening, but he highly doubted as much. The only thing that could stop news like this would be if there was someone purposefully hiding recent events from the average person.

No one was sure why exactly, but the grass country's ninja had reach an all time low when it came to the survival rates for many of its missions. While it was a depressing thought, death was part of the business ninja dealt in. Hidden villages had all at one point hit relative lows when it came to survivability, usually when they first were founded, but it wasn't unheard of for even large villages like Konoha to hit a rough period well after their founding years.

What did catch Jiraiya's attention though, was that the deaths all were unexplained, and seemed to be centered most strongly on the jounin classes and above. Normally elite ninja, while taking on dangerous missions, were well trained enough to be able to escape harm and at least return alive should they fail a mission. That isn't to say they were immortal, but they tended to demonstrate an ability to stay alive that the lower ranks hadn't discovered yet. So having nearly every one of them die within a few months of each other, when factored in with the fact no one could determine why they died, spoke of foul play against the village.

Evidently, the normally inept council had picked up on this fact as well and had tried to create reforms to address the issue. A conscripted civilian army was stationed throughout various cities, and while too weak to defend against a true invasion of ninja, would slow an opposing force enough to mobilize their own weakened ninja group to combat invaders. It would take time to train more ninja, and utilizing such armies was not an unusual tactic to protect a country in lean times.

Given that, the actions taken with respect to the upcoming chuunin exams made little sense to Jiraiya. While on the surface, sending their genin to the examination seemed like a good way to create a higher ranked fighting force, to any seasoned ninja, it was a horrible move to make. It would be much smarter for them to hold the genin back for a few years and give them field promotions instead.

While they wouldn't technically be chuunin, they would be allowed access to the missions normal chuunin would take part in. Though that could be dangerous in and of itself, it tended to prepare the young ninja better for the potentially fatal chuunin examinations, and allowed the village to hold on to it's manpower until such time that it had recovered from whatever crisis it found itself in.

Jiraiya wondered about the rumors that it would be held in Konoha as well. As a large and successful village, Konoha had played host to the examination a number of times since Jiraiya and the others had fled the city. So far nothing had happened to any of the examinees that was out of the ordinary, but he wouldn't put it past Orochimaru to have his hand in this. The question was how.

'Gah! None of this makes sense. It reeks of foul play, but I can't even begin to guess what is going on with only this much information.' Jiraiya thought. Sighing, he made his way up to the door of their hotel room, deciding he would bring up his thoughts with the others on the matter.

Opening the door, Jiraiya was greeted with an odd sight. He could see Minato bent over in the middle of a book on the far side of the room, absently writing notes in one of his scrolls. He seemed to be totally engrossed in his work and didn't even notice what was going on around him.

What caught Jiraiya's eye though was what the other two occupants were doing. Floating on what he assumed was a small cushion of air was the only manuscript Jiraiya had for the next installment to the Icha Icha series. He had forgotten to remove it from his pack before coming on the mission, and it was the only copy he had of it. Even as he moved to say something, he knew it was too late. Feeling the buildup of chakra, he watched in horror as the papers shred themselves into enough little pieces there was no hope of restoring it.

Jiraiya knew that today definitely was not his day.

X X X

Naruto was rather distracted as he and the other members of his team made their way through town. He was torn between looking down at his feet in thought and examining the city, trying to memorize the strange architecture so he could describe it later. When he had first passed through the city on their way to find someone selling what they needed, he had been too preoccupied to think much about what was going on around him. Now though, they were on their way to pick up the medicine after three long days of waiting, and he found himself more relaxed than he had been since the whole fight with Orochimaru had first occurred.

Still, normally architecture and other things like that didn't catch his attention, yet he wanted to have the memory of it to bring back to share with the others. The absence of his friends was making him think of all the things they were missing as they lay sick, hundreds of miles away.

What confused him when he thought about what was causing him to be distracted was not that he was thinking about his friends. That part he knew was normal enough. What did bother him was how his thoughts were skewed more to how Hinata as doing, and wanting to tell her all the things he had seen when he got back, knowing she would enjoy it.

Naruto was worried for the both of them, sure, but somehow he felt he was not being a good enough friend to Shikamaru by worrying more about Hinata was faring. The idea that she was fighting for her life against some stupid poison left him feeling distinctly uncomfortable on top of being angry and worried, it was like his chest was aching when he thought of it.

The blond boy frowned as he shaded his eyes to look at a building that reminded him of a shuriken in design, then looked back to the ground, lost in his thoughts once more. Truth be told, he wasn't sure what to do about the feelings he was having. Naruto could accept that Hinata meant something special to him, but he just wasn't sure how to describe it. He had thought up every excuse he could to try and rationalize his additional fear for her, and even gone as far as trying to convince himself that maybe it came from thinking she was more in danger from the potion than Shikamaru was.

He shook away that thought almost as soon as he had it. Naruto knew Hinata was anything but weak, even if she seemed to doubt her own abilities at times, or so his parents put it. Still, it had brought him no closer to finding an answer than he had been before. It was almost as bad as the awkwardness that he felt around her lately, and he knew that the fear and awkwardness were related, but he wasn't ready to try and figure that out yet.

Taking a deep breath, he tried to force the thought of her from his head, telling himself now was not the time to be thinking of this sort of thing. Though Naruto knew it was a bit cowardly of him, he had been avoiding the problem for a long time now, surely a few more hours was easy enough.

Then again, he did like imagining how her pale eyes would light up when she heard he had stories to share about grass country. Which made him look at another building, and the cycle began again as he started to worry over his feelings.

Naruto didn't notice it when the others stopped, and ended up running into Jiraiya, causing Naruto to stumble back. Jiraiya turned around to give him a slightly annoyed look, and Naruto gave him a goofy grin to try and apologize. Jiraiya turned back around, letting Naruto take the chance to move out from behind him and look at their location more carefully.

They were in front of a large warehouse located on the outskirts of the city. It appeared to be in good repair, but the location was so typical of the lessons he had received on ambushes Naruto couldn't help but gawk. Looking up the others, he saw Jiraiya rolling his eyes as well at the cliché meeting place, and his parents just exchanged worried glances. His dad turned to Jiraiya first, "What do you think sensei? You know more about the state of affairs here in grass than any of us."

Jiraiya shrugged, "Doesn't do me much good, now does it? We have to go in there and get that medicine. I don't think they would attack ninja in the city, as all those who've gone missing were out on missions at the time, but we should be ready."

His dad nodded then turned to Naruto, giving him a look that brooked no arguments. "Follow our lead, and be ready to do what we tell you." Naruto nodded, taking his cue from the others as they made sure their weapons were easily accessible. Jiraiya also made sure to have a pouch housing various scrolls with different seals unbuttoned and ready to be used. Checking that he could grab his new tanto quickly, Naruto also readied himself to enter the building.

They made their way into the warehouse slowly, expecting something to happen but were only met by the merchant he had seen in the store his parents had placed the order at. He was an overweight middle aged man, and if not for the fact that he appeared to be wearing rather expensive clothing, would have blended in with the crowd as a rather uninteresting individual. He just stood there wringing his hands as he watched them, and after Minato coughed slightly to get his attention, the man jumped, bursting into motion.

He led them further back into the warehouse and ushered them into a small but well furnished office. Reaching for some tea, he offered them refreshments, but seemed left unsure what to do when the adults refused his offer. Not wanting to go against his orders to mimic the others, he turned the man down as well when he offered tea to him next. The man edged himself towards the door, clearing his throat as he placed a hand on the door knob. "Ahem. Yes, well, I guess you will be wanting to be picking up your goods then, won't you?"

Minato just nodded, and the man struggled to not grimace before bowing and backing out of the door. Naruto was about to say something to the merchant before he left earshot, but Jiraiya placed a hand on his shoulder and with a nearly imperceptible nod warned him against it. Jiraiya snorted, "Real smooth that one. I would say we've been set up, though that's pretty obvious by now."

Instead of replying, his parents began to examine the office, looking for anything that would give them a clue of what they had found themselves in the middle of. When they found nothing, they frowned, not sure what to do. "It's not like we can leave," Kushina pointed out. "He still is the only distributor of what we need." Everyone nodded, resigned to waiting for the dishonest man to return, but not without taking care to prepare themselves for a fight.

It took a lot of effort for Naruto to not fidget as they waited for their contact to return, and instead let his index finger trace the seals on the hilts of his weapons. Finally, the man returned to the office, a weak smile on his face holding half a dozen reinforced vials of the medicine they had come for.

His mom gave the man a very small bow of the head in thanks, before snatching it away from him. Opening one of the vials, she began to perform various tests of its consistency, smell, and other qualities, before finally deeming it to be what they were looking for. She nodded to Minato, who turned to face the merchant and gave him a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes, but seemed to calm the merchant a small amount. "Thank you for your business. We understand it must not have been easy to gather so much in a short time. We must be going, however, so if you'll excuse us."

The man seemed to be all too willing to let them go, and he bowed deeply multiple times before moving to the door to open it for them. Before he could move out of the way to let them pass, his eyes rolled up into his head, and he collapsed from the kunai that had pierced him in the spine. Naruto and the others were ready for an attack, and moving quickly, vacated the office, offering small fast moving targets as they hunched down to avoid further attacks. Spreading out from one another slightly, they looked up to see Orochimaru standing a few dozen feet away, his arms cross as he smiled at them, no doubt hoping to see their shocked faces.

"Surprised, Minato-kun?" Orochimaru drawled, his grin growing wider as he no doubt enjoyed the thought of having fooled them. Minato gave Orochimaru a small smile like one would to a small child who had asked a foolish question, "No, not really. The whole cliché of trying to trick us here just stunk of something you would come up with."

Orochimaru's triumphant look transformed into a hard glare, and everyone could feel his chakra begin to rise a bit as he lost control of his temper. His mom was the next one to step forward, not bothering to conceal her contempt for the Sannin like Minato was. "Any reason you're here you asshole? Haven't you caused us enough trouble for a few weeks, or are you out of little ninjas to molest? Though to borrow a few from grass maybe?"

Orochimaru's cheeks flushed at the accusation, but he somehow kept a reign on his temper, giving himself a moment before he gave Kushina a sneer. "Ahh, I had forgotten how much I missed speaking with you, Kushina. Tell me, how are the other two children doing? You always had a weakness for children, it would be such a shame should they pass away without you there to see it."

Kushina instantly stiffened, and Naruto could swear he could hear her teeth grinding together as her temper started to boil over. Minato placed a hand on her arm, and even though she glared at him for a moment for stopping her, the distraction seemed to do the trick, because she didn't attack the snake summoner.

The fact that she hadn't retaliated either verbally or physically seemed to bolster Orochimaru, and he was smirking again as he continued. "It's their fault they couldn't dodge a simple kunai. I figured you would come here for that medicine you're holding, so I decided I would stop by to give my regards."

Now it was Naruto's turn to lose his temper. Before he could even think of what he was doing, he had stepped out from behind his parents, face flushed with anger. "You bastard! You used my friends just to set us up, didn't you?! I'm going to kill you, you snake freak!"

Though Orochimaru must have known Naruto was there, when he locked eyes with the boy, Orochimaru stiffened, a terrible anger in his eyes. Glaring at Naruto, Orochimaru tried to send enough killer intent to drop Naruto, but he stood there, short of breath but not giving him the pleasure of seeing him yield. "Ahh yes, the brat. Pity, I hoped you would have died from your wounds. Once I'm done with the real ninja, I'll have to fix that."

Naruto was about to take another step forward to curse at the sannin when Jiraiya placed a hand on his shoulder and yanked him back, glaring at Naruto for his actions. "Stop being an idiot, Naruto. Your first priority is to get of here and hide while we take care of Orochimaru. We'll find you when things are settled here, so go." Naruto was about to protest, looking at his parents for support but found them nodding, even as they kept their eyes on their enemy. Naruto growled a bit in frustration, wanting to argue against the order, but not sure what he could do to convince them. He knew that he wouldn't be of much help, his last fight against Orochimaru had made that painfully clear, but surely he could do something to make the fight easier for the others.

"Naruto." Minato said, and Naruto looked at his dad, not liking the look of command on his face. "This is one of those orders I told you about, and I expect you to follow it. I know you're strong, but this is our fight this time." Kushina looked at Minato, and he nodded. She stepped back to face Naruto, pulling out the vials of medicine, holding them out towards him. She gave him a grim smile, "We love you Naruto, and that's why we're trusting you to keep these safe while we take care of this traitor here. Right now this is the most important thing you can do to help us." His dad nodded, "Do it for your friends if nothing else. Show them that you're brave enough to retreat for now."

Naruto felt his throat tighten as they told him all these things. He didn't want to leave them, regardless of what they said, but he knew they were right, and he couldn't make them change their mind. It was enough for him for now that they trusted him with the medicine they came for, and eventually he would be strong enough that he could fight by their sides. Taking the vials, he gave all of them a long look, and without thinking about it told him what was on his mind. "I love you guys." Normally he wouldn't say anything so embarrassing, but somehow he knew that know was the right time to tell them.

His parents gave him one last smile, and Naruto took in their faces for a moment before he took off running, not even attempting to look behind him to see if he was being followed. He knew his parents and Jiraiya would not allow Orochimaru to pass them. The most important question now was where to go. If he could escape the village, that would be best.

Turning the corner at another warehouse, Naruto skidded to a stop, only keeping himself from colliding with another boy by a few inches. Jumping back into a fighting stance fueled by adrenaline and instinct, he was surprised to see that the other boy was actually Sasuke, wearing the mark of a grass country ninja. The boy ran up to grab his elbow, and pulled him in the direction Naruto had just come from. "A secret exit from the village is this way. You don't want to be around when those four really start going at it."

Naruto stared at Sasuke, stumbling behind him, too stunned to resist as the boy took him through a secret tunnel and out into an open field. He wasn't sure what was going on exactly, but whatever it was, it was big, and he knew he had to figure it out quickly. He appreciated the boys help, but he was suspicious of it.

How did a genin from the country of grass know about who Orochimaru was, or more importantly, who his parents and Jiraiya were? Sure, they were famous, but it had been over ten years since they really showed themselves, so how did a kid his own age know who they were. Yet obviously Sasuke knew full well that they would have been witness to one of the most intense fights possible between ninja had they stuck around. That left only one possibility then...

Realizing the truth had put Naruto on edge, and right after he had figured it out, he was forced to lean to the side to dodge a kunai Sasuke had sent at him. The raven haired boy had been steadily running faster to get enough leeway to use his kunai effectively, he guessed. Realizing his attack had missed, Sasuke smirked at him, placing his hands in his pockets in a cocky manner. "It seems you have pretty good reflexes, for a loser that is."

"Who are you?" Naruto asked, glaring at the boy, his hands slowly moving towards his weapons. He was sure that Sasuke saw what he was doing, but the boy made no move to stop him.

Sasuke's eyebrow rose as he looked at Naruto. "Not very smart for someone Orochimaru would class as a B rank ninja, though. Still, when the Hokage brought me along to fight you, I was worried it would be too easy. From the looks of it, though, you might be an interesting opponent to test my skills against."

Naruto growled, though mostly at himself, for not realizing he had been fooled sooner. No one who wanted to be a ninja should ever believe that some random stranger just wanted to sit down and talk to them for no reason, but he had been so excited to see a friendly face he hadn't thought of that. Still, he did seem to have a good cover, and Naruto instantly began to look around for Sasuke's father once he thought of the man.

The konoha ninja watched him look around, "Lose something, dobe?" Naruto turned his attention back onto Sasuke. "Where's your father?" Surprisingly, Sasuke started to laugh, though it was almost too cold to really be called that.

"Dead. Killed by the clan's traitor." He spat out, and with a quick handseal made a bunshin in the disguise of the man he had seen Sasuke with previously. This time though he noticed a detail about the man he hadn't before, the blood red eyes. All of a sudden the symbol on Sasuke's shirt made more sense, and with a growing dread Naruto realized what clan the other boy belonged to.

"You're an Uchiha, aren't you?" Naruto asked, and Sasuke smirked. "It seems you can think after all. Even though I'm the only living Uchiha who can use the sharingan, I'm sure you've heard of us."

Naruto's expression went from angry to a predatory grin fast enough that the other boy flinched despite himself. Hearing that he was the last Uchiha they would have to face was good news. "Well, it seems that Konoha is about to lose the sharingan, then."

X X X

A/N

Hopefully that chapter served to answer any questions you had from last chapter. I was purposefully vague on many points involving Sasuke. I don't really care for the character, but given that I am following the original story loosely, one might consider him important. :p

I have a question for everyone out there, though. I admitted to the fact that I don't follow the anime at all, and only occasionally read the manga, so I am unsure on one point. Other than Suna, is there another major village (I know that in the anime there were supposedly some minor villages) that has a good reputation and is known for trying to be as kind and helpful as Konoha? It is actually important for the story in a few arcs, but I need to decide on a village, so I leave it up to everyone here.

Finally, the next chapter should not take long. I already have the rough draft pretty much finished. Not that anyone cares, but I normally write four to five pages for the rough draft, and that is lengthened into ten after I actually add detail and other elements. This one is already close to eight pages. So it may take some time to rewrite it. And then of course the beta has to get through it if he has time, so it might be a few days. But at least you know it's right around the corner. As compensation, I'll say it has Naruto/Sasuke action, and some Naru/Hina fluff. So I look forward to getting that to everyone.

Stay safe until next time.