Okay, so I may have lied. I was able to write another chapter again today. We'll see if this is going to be a recurring theme or not. Anyways. Thanks for reading you guys! Be sure to leave a review to let me know what you thought.

Naruto and Ayame stood in a crowd of Seiki villagers as they watched a play, a rendition of one of Koyuki's famous movies. Of course, all of this was nonsense to Naruto 'So people gather in places like this and watch other people PRETEND to be great warriors?' Naruto looked on at the scene in boredom. He looked over at Ayame. She was completely entranced by this 'play' unfolding before them. 'Even if all this is stupid, I'm glad I'm here with Ayame'. He spent the rest of the play watching Ayame's reactions, watching her smile.

Eventually the play came to a conclusion, and Ayame continued showing Naruto the more important parts of Seiki, but Naruto ignored her words and focused on her voice and her smile.

The two eventually wound up on the Eastern shore of the village, outside the walls. The two old friends set their feet in the water and got to talking. "You know, my father used to take me to plays like that one all the time. I was always fascinated by them, even as a little girl." She chuckled. "I miss him so much." She said, looking out at the view of the lake.

Naruto extended his hand and placed it on hers. Kurama used to do that whenever he was feeling upset. The contact sent chills down the young pairs spines. They locked eyes, and they moved closer. The two were about to kiss when Naruto's head began to throb. "Gah!" He held his head in pain, as a small dribble of blood trickled down his nose. "Naruto!" Ayame shouted as she placed a hand on his shoulder. "I'm fine." Naruto said as he shook off the pain. 'No I'm not' "No you're not" Ayame said.

"Tell me what that was Naruto. Are you okay?" She asked sincerely. Naruto looked into her eyes, 'Damn her and that face' He thought to himself. "I- I don't know Ayame. I have a demon sealed inside of me and she did something to my head. I don't know how, but if I do something that goes against what she wants me to do my head feels like it'll explode. Even though she's been quelled for now." He explained.

Ayame was infuriated. She knew about the demon inside Naruto. How could she not after seeing the way the villagers treated and spoke of him. She didn't know the demon was messing with his head though. Whatever this demon had done was too far. Naruto spent the next hour filling in Ayame about the events that took place up until now.

They were heading back towards the temple as the sun began to set when Naruto saw a familiar Silver haired 'godfather' in the distance entering the temple with a dark haired female and Konan leading the way. 'Shit' Naruto thought to himself as he ducked behind cover.

Satsuki had turned around to look behind her when she sensed something, but Naruto had already found a hiding spot so a confused Ayame was all that she saw. She was about to walk over to the woman in question when she was urged into the temple by Konan.

With Konan

FLASHBACK

When Konan saw Jiraiya heading towards Seiki, she gave a small smile. It had been a very long time since Konan had seen her old mentor. She ordered the guards to open the gate to the village and let them in.

Konan jumped from the wall and landed right at the entrance to the village. When Jiraiya and Satsuki had walked in, she greeted them with a smile. At seeing a friendly Konan, Jiraiya just closed the distance between them and hugged her. "We saw the dead Zinra in the area and I recognized the jutsu as yours. I'm so glad you're alive." Jiraiya said, taking a load off. Seeing one of his apprentices alive and not an enemy was certainly a pleasant suprise.

Konan returned the hug. "It's been too long Jiraiya-sensei." She replied as they seperated. Jiraiya spoke up again. "Are Yahiko and Nagato here too?" He asked hopefully. Konan just looked down at the ground and shook her head. "They didn't make it." She said in a low voice.

Jiraiya frowned. "I see..."

A few moments of awkward silence were broken by Konan. "So, what brings you two here?" She said, while studying Satsuki. She looked so much like her sister that Konan would've mistaken her for Izumi had she not checked their chakra signatures. Izumi's was much larger and much more dense than Satsuki's.

"We're here looking for someone. They killed a lot of good people, and we're here to find them and bring them back to Kusa." Satsuki said plainly. Jiraiya just nodded and confirmed what she was saying. 'They couldn't be referring to Naruto... could they?' Konan thought to herself. 'The Naruto I know would never do anything like that' She reassured herself.

"Why don't I take you to the village leader, she could probably help you more than I could." Konan said, while motioning for them to follow her.

END FLASHBACK

They had just walked into Eiko's personal chambers. Eiko simply told them to sit and wait to talk about a matter this serious after she'd made some tea for them.

They all sat on coushins around a table, Eiko had just sat down and began sipping her tea while Jiraiya explained. "We've tracked a dangerous fugitive to the general area. He's responsible for the murders of many good people and were wondering if you'd seen him."

Eiko placed her teacup on the table slowly. "We don't get many visitors around here... as you can imagine. Maybe if you described him or gave me a name, I could help you."

Jiraiya just nodded. "He's kind of tall. Blonde hair, blue eyes, whisker marks on his cheeks. His name is Uzumaki Naruto." Eiko frowned. She couldn't sense that Jiraiya was lying to her, but she felt like something was being left out.

'What! There's no way Naruto would ever do anything like that! He must've been framed or maybe Sensei is lying' The blue haired beauty thought to herself'. "Konan, you told me the boy wouldn't hurt a fly and now I hear this?" Eiko questioned harshly.

Jiraiya and Satsuki just looked at each other, Satsuki nodded and Jiraiya smirked. "He wouldn't though! Jiraiya, what you're saying can't possibly be true!" Konan let her emotions come to the surface.

Jiraiya looked at her and spoke, "I wish it weren't, but a few days ago he and Hikari were responsible for the deaths of about a hundred Taki Shinobi and at least fifty Konoha Shinobi. Granted, the Kyuubi has been running loose through Naruto's mind since he left Akatsuki, maybe even before that according to Izumi."

He paused for a moment and then continued, "I've been trying to track him down for some time now. We finally managed to find him but he slipped through our fingers and apparently wound up here."

Konan and Eiko seemed to take in the information for a few moments. Konan finally spoke. 'So he's being manipulated by the Kyuubi...' Konan breathed a mental sigh of relief. That wasn't the Naruto she knew, but maybe he could be saved. "You say you can help him?"

"I know I can, but with the Kyuubi's guidance and chakra it's almost impossible to fight him, let alone capture him. Even Izumi couldn't stop him." Jiraiya added. At this Eiko blanched. 'Perhaps I underestimated the boy a tad' She thought to herself.

"We'll help you any way we can, Jiraiya-san. He should still be in the village somewhere... Ayame isn't going to like this..." Eiko said with a sigh.

"Ayame?" Satsuki questioned.

"Yes, a young woman under my tutelage who's taken a... liking to the boy. Apparently they were childhood friends in Konoha. From what I've heard from her, Konoha treated him less than desirably, perhaps that's why the boy is like you say he is now." She pondered.

Satsuki just looked down. Maybe this Ayame had some answers about Naruto.

Will she be a problem?" Satsuki followed up.

"No, I'm certain she'll understand. And if she doesn't she won't be too much of an issue."

Jiraiya slowly stood up. "Well then, I don't think Satsuki and I should go out and look for him. Where does he sleep? Perhaps we can catch him off guard." He said.

'I can't really hurt Naruto like that...' Konan thought to herself. 'But this is for his own good! If he's got the demon running around in his head telling him what to do he might never truly go back to the way he was. I have to save him!' A fire filled her eyes that one could only obtain when protecting someone they cared for.

Eiko didn't like the thought of jumping the young boy in his sleep, but if he was as strong as these outsiders were saying they would need every advantage they could get. "He stays here in the temple, we can simply wait for his return." Eiko answered.

Satsuki smirked. 'We've got him this time for sure.'

Meanwhile, With Naruto

Naruto's face had quickly turned from that of happiness to that of seriousness. "Ayame, I need to leave. Now." Naruto said desperately to a confused, somewhat scared Ayame.

"What are you talking about? You're still hurt! Plus, you just got here-" Ayame was interrupted by Naruto, who grabbed her hand. "Those people Konan just took into the temple are after me, they want to take me away to Izumi."

Ayame was flustered for a moment but spoke softly, "Where are would you go?" She asked.

"I don't know, but I need to buy myself time to fix my problems with Kurama. I can't deal with more enemies right now. Maybe Suna?" He said.

"Naruto, just stay here for a bit, okay? Eiko won't let them take you." She said confidently.

She had no idea just how tempting those words were to Naruto. 'Maybe she's right. Maybe I really can trust Eiko and Konan. They wouldn't sell me out to Izumi like that, right?' Naruto thought to himself. 'I want nothing more than to stay here with you, Ayame.' He wanted to say aloud.

Naruto was stuck for a moment, but his paranoia and his gut were telling him to leave. "Ayame, I'll stay here for a few more hours, but if they're not gone by then I have to leave. I'm sorry." Ayame nodded, at least there was hope for him to stay.

The two got comfy and huddled up next to each other watching the temple intently. Time slowly passed. The sky began to darken until night was in full swing.

With Jiraiya

Something was wrong. Naruto should've showed up by now. The Ayame girl hadn't returned either. Could Naruto have seen him enter? It was entirely possible, but Satsuki should've seen him first.

Jiraiya slowly peered out a window on the second story of the temple. The village was near silent, but it was pretty well lit. Jiraiya knew he couldn't afford to wait any longer, it was time to find Naruto.

Konan sent out her paper with a message asking Naruto to return to the temple as soon as possible and dispersed them all throughout the village. 'Hopefully this will at least draw him out' She thought to herself. Then, the four of them split into teams of two (Jiraiya and Eiko, Konan and Satsuki) and began to scour the village.

With Naruto

The young man had recieved the message loud and clear. Konan and Eiko had no intention of protecting him. Tears threatened to form at the corners of his eyes. 'Betrayed again... I really can't trust any-' He stopped himself and looked over at Ayame's shocked expression. 'I can trust her. I need to get out of here now though.' Naruto thought desperately.

He quickly formulated an escape plan.

With Satsuki

Satsuki ran along the rooftops, sharingan blaring, looking for her target. Wherever he was, he was dug in pretty well. She stopped on the tallest building in the village and looked around. At first she saw nothing, but finally, she found something. A faint trace of demonic chakra hidden in an alleyway. 'Gotcha!' She thought with excitement.

She signaled to the others and they moved in. Konan and Satsuki came in from above while Eiko and Jiraiya covered the exits. Satsuki landed right next to Naruto and socked him square in the face. 'POOF'

It was only then that Satsuki realized that in her haste she missed that there were several pockets of demonic chakra all around the village. This was a trick. "Damnit!" She said as she looked down, mentally kicking herself.

With Naruto and Ayame

They stood outside the wall on the Eastern side of the village. "Ayame, I've got to leave. Thank you for everything." He said, as he turned to leave.

Ayame just grabbed his hand and said, "I'm coming with you." Naruto shook his head. "It's too dangerous out there, I don't want you getting-" He was interrupted by Ayame's lips capturing his own. Naruto's head felt like it was about to explode, but he ignored it, intent on getting the most out of the moment that he could. They stayed like that for a moment before ending the kiss.

"I'm coming with you. I don't want you to be alone out there and I know how to defend myself." Ayame reasserted. She left no room for argument.

"Okay..." Naruto said meekly. Once again he fought back tears, 'She's sacrificing everything just to be with me...' He wiped away the tears that had only just begun to form. Ayame just smiled. "Come on, let's go Naruto-kun."

With that, the two left Seiki and headed towards the nearest village. Sunagakure no Sato.