Disclaimer: I still don't see a maid at the door but I do see a school bus. Does that count?

Hubby: For what? You have time to clean the house now Rose.

Disclaimer: Bite your tongue!

Hubby: But the boys will gone for a full six hours and I'll be asleep.

Disclaimer: Ooooohh Prime writing time....(runs for keyboard) Nite Honey sleep well.

Hubby: Sheesh not even a kiss

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Opening Moves

He could make two element opposite rasengans now so long as he didn't make them too large or get too much of one element over the other. But the amount needed for both to work together was not equal as he had supposed. It took less fire to heat a pan of water, so long as it had a steady source of fuel, then it did water to put out a fire. Although you could put out a candle flame with a glass of water the same could not be said of a blazing forest fire. The candle didn't have the same availability of fuel as did the forest fire and therefore it took much more water to put out the feeding flames than it did the controlled fuel ones. And so, when he made his fire and water rasengan he used more water than he did fire. Now he needed to add earth to the mix and after that he needed to add air. But for today he had four hundred clones out working with each of them. He divided them into groups of one hundred each and set them to working with the individual elements. He then divided them into twenty-five smaller groups of four each, one clone for each element and set them to mixing and matching to see what worked best. Every time a clone would go poof he'd absorb it's knowledge and recreate it.

The elementals themselves patrolled the groups offering suggestions as to why certain techniques didn't work. They also watched as Naruto himself worked on producing the three element rasengans in both hands at the same time. On his left he worked to produce the water, lightening, and air attack while on his right he tried to produce the earth, fire, and nature rasengan. It was hard work to call on all the elements at the same time and hold them all separate from each other as they formed into the controlled ball of pure chakra he held in the palm of his hand. But he knew he could do it if he wanted to bad enough and so, no matter how many times it blew up on him, he just picked himself up and tried it again. Over and over again until he got it right.

By the end of the day he had two small balls of energy floating in the palms of his hands. The right held the earth, nature, and fire ball and the left held the water, air, and lightening mixture. With a grin like the old days he threw the balls together at a giant boulder twenty feet away. He expected them to blow before they hit but to his surprise both rasengans imploded on the rock he aimed them at. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough of the rock left to determine which way the combined energy had circled the ball. He'd have to do it again and remember to aim them at a rock wall face next time. He cleaned up the yard and dismissed the clones that were left. After he finished absorbing their knowledge, he talked to the elementals for a bit before he said goodnight to his friends and went inside for dinner.

Inside he found the women all excessively glad of their new finery and excited about the upcoming party in just two more days. The guys were sitting there bored out of their minds while trying not to show it as the women gushed about their new kimonos. Well, Gaara always looked bored but this time Naruto thought he really was as bored as he seemed to be. Jiraiya, while happy at seeing Tsunade happy over something, was definitely not enjoying the conversation.

Naruto racked his brain looking for a topic of conversation that would interest all his guests. He came up with nothing. Instead he just filled his plate and listened as the ladies gushed. Hinata's blue and lilac kimono was the all around favorite of the group. The ladies were all convinced she would leave everyone standing in her shadow when people saw her in it. Hanabi had chosen a red and gold number that needed some slight alterations to fit her smaller frame but they thought she'd be just as pretty as Hinata. Temari had chosen a brown and yellow number while Shizune had picked out a blue and white. Tsunade was forced to accept a green and golden kimono that was every bit as fancy as the one Naruto had forced on Hinata. While Hinata's was a deep bluish purple color accented with lilac trim and design with a lilac sash, Tsunade's was a deep bright green accented with gold trim and a golden colored sash. Naruto listened as they described the ones they had chosen and had to admit the one they'd picked for Tsunade would have been his choice as well. She would cause Jiraiya's eyes to pop out of his head when he saw her in that one.

After dinner, while the ladies cleaned up Jiraiya, Gaara and Naruto went into the library to relax. Jiraiya asked, "So how is the practice going? Think you'll have everything ready on time?"

"Yeah," He nodded. "I think I will but it won't matter if I don't. I won't be able to simply walk up to him and say Um hey I'm not quite ready yet. You think you can wait over there until I figure this move out? I don't think he'd be inclined to do that."

Jiraiya flushed. "I didn't mean it like that Naruto."

"I know. It's just working with all the elements is taxing and frustrating. It's hard to concentrate on learning and growing in ability knowing that he is coming. Knowing he is not some distant thing I'll have to face and knowing that so many will be hurt no matter how the battle plays out. Even if I win my people will still be hurt." He shook his head.

"You let us worry about that. We are strong. Strong enough to deal with this. I will not pretend I am looking forward to this. I'm not. Losing you again is not something I want to face but it is something that is inevitable and so I will deal with it when I must," said Jiraiya.

"People get hurt all the time, Naruto. It's a fact of life. You will not be the first person any of us will lose in our lifetimes. Just one of the most important and special but I would not have missed this time with you for anything," added Gaara.

"Nor me," said Temari from the door where she stood with the other three women. They came in and took seats.

Hinata said, "Once I dreamed of being strong enough to show my father I was not weak. Then I dreamed of showing you I wasn't weak. I can accept that you can not stay no matter how much I wish and pray you could but like Gaara I would not trade this time."

"You're important to us, Gaki. To those of us here in this room you are Konoha. It will be hard to go on without you but you have given us something to live for and we will strive to make Konoha what it seems to be to you. For your dreams we will go on. We will find those who have the will of fire and train them in your nindo so that they may chase your dreams and hold them up high for all to see. We will see to it that Konoha never forgets what it means to be a true shinobi," said Tsunade. Shizune placed a hand on the Hokage's shoulder where the woman leaned back with her eyes closed.

"So you see Gaki? You just worry about the techniques and leave the rest to us. We'll make sure the village is ready when that thing shows up," said Jiraiya.

Just then there was a pounding on the door and an Anbu burst in with a battered Iruka in tow. She took the poor teacher straight to Tsunade who sprang into action. Her hands glowed green as she passed them over Iruka's form. "What happened?" she asked.

"He just appeared at the edge of the clearing beaten and bloody. I have to go help the squad but I thought I should bring him in first." The Anbu waited until she received a nod to leave before walking out and closing the door. Shizune had fallen to her knees along with Hinata and now all three of them were healing Iruka's injuries.

The guys all stood and moved to strategic positions. Since Iruka was hurt there were only three of them to defend the women while they worked but then Temari took up a position not far from her brother clearly stating her intent to protect the group as well. They peered out the windows into the night trying to locate the source of the trouble but saw nothing. No sounds betrayed the attackers either. If they didn't have Iruka on the floor before them they'd almost believed nothing was wrong. But they did have him and Naruto knew it really was him and so he didn't relax. Because he didn't relax neither did anyone else.

Reaching a decision Naruto told Jiraiya, "Go release Sasuke and bring him here."

Jiraiya asked, "Are you sure that's wise?"

Nodding he said, "He's what this is about. Someone figured out we took him and they don't like it. So they waylaid Iruka to find out where he was or to find out where I am and since Iruka didn't know we have Sasuke he couldn't tell them. But he could lead them straight to me. So bring me Sasuke unless you want Danzo to die tonight."

"Well, I can't say I would mind that but ok. One traitor coming right up." Jiraiya left the room at a run. Temari went along to watch his back. A few minutes later they were back dragging a barely conscious Sasuke between them.

Naruto quirked an eyebrow at his condition but said nothing as they waited for Tsunade to have a spare moment to heal him up. "Stupid Teme. He decided he wanted to fight me," said Temari. "I decided he needed a refresher course in why people don't mess with me." Naruto raised a brow and she sighed. "I hit him over the head with the edge of my fan. He'll be alright in a minute or two." She let go and Sasuke fell to the floor, still being held up by one arm. Then Jiraiya let go also and he collapsed beside Iruka.

Tsunade finished healing Iruka and brought him around so they could find out what happened. When he opened his eyes he groaned and she held him in a reclined position.

"Just stay down. Your bones need time to fuse properly. Too much moving around and you'll never walk again. Who did this to you and why?"

"Was grabbed on my way home from academy. Tried to fight but got knocked out. Some gas. Choked me. Blinded. Couldn't see."

"But why?" asked Shizune.

"Find Naruto. They want him. Said Master wants him dead. Talked when they shouldn't have." Iruka smirked though he still looked more green than white and he clearly was having trouble focusing his eyes. Tsunade gave him a shot of something and let him lean against the edge of the couch they'd all been sitting on earlier.

"What else did you hear that they don't know you heard?" grinned Jiraiya.

"Master wants to miss fight. Told them take you out for him. Said something. . ." His voice trailed away for a few minutes as he drifted on painkillers the women had given him. "Bout killing holders. Kind of stupid. Not good at knots. Escaped. Got away." He drifted deeper into his drug induced sleep and quit talking.

Tsunade turned her attention to the Uchiha and woke him up. He blinked up at her and then looked around. He was in a fancy room with a lot of people standing over him. Wait. Over him? He took stock. He was laying flat on his back on the floor. Why? He pushed himself to his knees. There. That was better he thought trying to get his weight under him to stand. Hands pushed on his shoulders keeping him down.

He tried to say something but his voice frogged in his throat and all that came out was a weak sounding croak. He cleared it and tried again. "Where am I?" he finally got out.

"At my house," answered a voice he thought he should know but didn't. He couldn't see the owner of the voice and he craned his neck to try and get a glimpse.

"And where's that? Why am I here?"

"Because you wouldn't do what you were told," the voice replied ignoring his first question.

"I do as I please. I am not a child to be told what to do." Sasuke glared in the direction the voice came from. He'd given up trying to see the person and now just sat on his knees waiting.

"No. I know exactly what you are. You are an arrogant teme who thinks the world should bow before you because you were born."

Sasuke bristled. Only one person was allowed to get away with calling him that. He growled, "Who the hell are you? What makes you think you can speak to me like that and get away with it?" Then he looked at the faces arranged above him and gulped.

"I am the one you've been breaking the rules to see, Teme. You were told to wait for a reason, you know." Naruto pushed aside Temari and Gaara, who was leaking killer intent because of Sasuke's attitude. He stepped in front of them as a grin spread across Sasuke's face.

"I knew I'd find you," he chortled. "They couldn't ever hide you from me for long. Stupid of them to even try. Now what's this about not wanting to see me?"

"I told them I didn't want to see you because there was no need to. I knew you and I knew what you would do. I don't have time for it so I told them to keep you away." Naruto shrugged. "You wouldn't listen. One day that arrogant streak of yours will get you killed, Teme."

Sasuke had stopped smiling as the words slammed into him. No need to see him? No time? Told them to keep him away? This wasn't Naruto. It couldn't be. "But you. . .I. . . we always. . . I don't understand."

"I know and now is not the time to explain it to you." Naruto pointed to Iruka. "He got hurt because you forced us to take further measures to ensure my privacy. Because you wouldn't listen he took the beating no one should have gotten. What do you plan to do to set it right?"

"It's not my doing. I didn't touch him."

"You are the reason he was grabbed off the street, drugged and beaten. So therefore it is your doing. If you had listened and done as you were requested, he would have been safe. Because you didn't he wasn't."

Laid out like that there really wasn't anything Sasuke could say. "I don't know what I can do. I'm not a medic."

"Look around, Sasuke. I have three of the villages best medics in the room. A medic is not what he or I need."

"Then what? What can I do?"

"You can let the Anbu use the Cocoon jutsu on you again and drop you off at your Estate where you will stop trying to find me ahead of time. Instead, you will concentrate on helping to protect those like Iruka who have been to see me already from vicious cowardly attacks." He dropped down on one knee so Sasuke didn't have to look up to him any more and continued, "This is bigger than anything we've ever done before and you are a part of it but your time isn't here yet. Trust me to know what I am doing as I once trusted you. Then it was you who had the goal and the ambition. Now it is I who does."

Sasuke stared him in the eye for a long time before he finally nodded. "Who am I to protect?"

"You protect those who are in danger, Teme. It doesn't matter who they are or what the danger is. You protect them. I will not tell you the names of the people I care for. That is information you do not need and all you would do is a comparison between them and yourself if you knew who they all are. That isn't needed. Do you agree?"

Sasuke thought about it. He had really hoped to get a list of names from Naruto but he knew Naruto was right too. He really did only want to know who Naruto cared for more than he cared for him since at least some of them had gotten to see Naruto before he had. Finally he sighed and nodded. He owed it to Naruto after everything the blond had gone through because of him and an Anbu stepped forward. The next thing he knew he couldn't sense anything. The cocoon jutsu was in full effect as the Anbu took him off the estate and back to the Uchiha district.

Iruka was moved carefully into one of the spare rooms where the three medics took turn keeping watch over him all night. The Anbu squad leader finally came back and reported they had found no one in the woods. Considering the shape the teacher had been found in no one understood how he had done it but apparently he had not led anyone to them. There was movement in the trees outside the perimeter but other Anbu were stationed out that far and would deter them if they tried to come this way. The squad leader suggested everyone just try to get some sleep while they did their job.

Naruto nodded and led the way up to the bed chambers. Since the ladies and Gaara were also staying the night and there were only four bedrooms total they had to bunk up. Naruto shared his chambers with both Jiraiya and Gaara to make it easier on the women keeping watch over Iruka in the second bedroom. Hinata and Temari shared a room leaving Tsunade and Shizune to the final room.