Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. But so what? If I go around saying I do own Naruto what's the worst that can happen to me?

Just for the record I'm not saying that I own Naruto, because I do not have enough money to pay any fines and I'll be damned if I go to prison. Do you know what they make you do in prison? Toss the salad.

Fuck. That.

I can't go to prison with botox-smooth balls and expect everything to be alright, it ain't that kind of place. I'm what they call 'man-pretty'.

Ahem, now that I've alienated 50% of my audience, those of you that remain please enjoy the chapter.

Chapter 38: The Limits of My Ability

Itachi stared down his enemy as he stood in the yard of his neighbors… which were related to him. With any luck he wouldn't destroy too much of their backyard with this fight, and he planned on making it fast anyway. Kimimaro's cursed seal was out and exuding foul chakra that Itachi was able to clearly see now that he had committed to using his Sharingan. But with an opponent like a Kaguya here to do battle with he couldn't afford any holding back.

How a Kaguya wound up in Orochimaru's employ he would never know. They were a pretty tight knit group of killers based out of Mizu no Kuni, a pretty lawless nation that actually allowed a family of murderers to continue to do business in their realm. Having even one of them work for someone else was extremely odd, especially considering that Kimimaro didn't seem to be under any contract… also no Kaguya showed even their employers respect. Having Kimimaro use –sama when referring to Orochimaru showed him that Kimimaro had no relationship with his clan any longer.

Kimimaro wordlessly lifted his hand and fired more finger bullets at Itachi, but now with his Sharingan on Itachi was able to avoid them easily and get to Kimimaro's blindside. Kimimaro's head jerked around to see Itachi's finger's by his mouth, a jutsu at the ready, 'He's so fast. He's still faster than me, and his hand speed is impeccable. I never saw him make a single hand-seal.'

"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu (Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu)!" Itachi fired a close-range fireball directly at Kimimaro that hit him head on. Itachi simply kept pouring more and more chakra into the attack, eventually causing a small crater from the power and intensity of the fireball, 'Survive that.' He thought, just before he felt something slam into him from within the fires he had created.

"Karamatsu no Mai (Dance of the Larch)!" Kimimaro flew out of the fire, spinning around rapidly. Itachi avoided getting hit, but glared at Kimimaro harshly as he looked at the young man's damage count. Itachi saw that his clothes were mostly burned to a crisp, and much of his skin was in a similar state. There were even parts of his skin that had been seared clean off due to Itachi's fire. Muscle and tendons were clearly visible and burned intensely… however Kimimaro's voice showed little to no inflection of pain or discomfort, even as his every motion let off a sound of skin and muscle being forced past the limits of what their injury should have allowed them, "I won't die so easily."

As he said that, his cursed seal began to encompass even more of his body. Kimimaro's skin began to turn dark grey and six large bones protruded from his back to go with a long spiked bone tail, "Now it is time for you to fall Itachi Uchiha. My power is multiplied in this form."

"Clearly." Itachi said, shutting his eyes again, "And I cannot let this battle continue any longer." He said, not shaken at all at Kimimaro's new form despite its rather imposing appearance, "You are truly talented, but if you are here for my brother and you are in the employ of Orochimaru you cannot win here. I am sorry, but you will bear witness to something only one other living person besides myself has seen. Naruto-kun is the only person that has seen this because he was there when I first received it." He opened his eyes to reveal that his Sharingan pattern now took the form of a solid black three-sided pinwheel instead of the normal three tomoe that usually comprised it, "This is my Mangekyou Sharingan (Kaleidoscope Copy Wheel Eye)."

"I see." Kimimaro said, waving his tail behind him calmly, "What do you plan to do with this new power, you can never penetrate my skeletal structure so how could you win?" Kimimaro settled himself back into a stance right his right arm set back in a prepared punching motion as he used his left arm to reach at the back of his neck, "Tessenkai no Mai: Tsuru (Dance of the Clemantis: Vine)." Kimimaro pulled out his own spinal column and held it as if it were a flexible chain staff. The vertebrae were sharp and had elongated points on them.

Itachi didn't care that Kimimaro didn't seem concerned with his Sharingan's new appearance, he didn't know how much trouble he was really in, "This is a power in my clan that is a rather lost practice to obtain. I did it by accident to be quite honest with you."

"Accidental power doesn't seem that threatening." Kimimaro quipped, snapping his chain staff around to get the feel for his weapon, "I have given myself to Orochimaru-sama and he rewarded me with the power of his Cursed Seal of Earth. There was nothing accidental about my strength."

Once again, Itachi failed to rise to Kimimaro's doubts of his power. Had it really been that long since Itachi had beaten someone that had gotten huge news coverage for it? "You were able to put those flames out from before." Itachi said about the fire that Kimimaro had managed to survive, though how he did Itachi had no idea whatsoever, "Let's see if you can put these flames out. Amaterasu (Illuminating Heaven)." Itachi's right eye widened slightly and before Kimimaro knew it his body had caught ablaze, only this time the fire was black.

'What are these?' Kimimaro questioned as the flames were infinitely more intense than the fire that he had been immersed in before. Every nerve ending in his body was being charred to numbness, burned so intensely that he couldn't even feel the pain anymore.

"You will not put these flames out." Itachi said resolutely, "Water will not work, and these flames will burn until they reduce the target to mere ash. The fires from hell as hot as the sun itself. My Amaterasu; the most powerful fire-based ninjutsu in existence."

Kimimaro fell to the ground, his muscles now more or less nonexistent as the fires had done just as Itachi had said they would do, had burned them to ash, and now his organs were getting the brunt of the effects through his bones, "O-Orochimaru-sama…"

Itachi shut his eyes as sweat started beading down his face slightly, 'It still drains me so heavily…' He thought to himself. Kimimaro's advanced cursed seal state slowed him down to the extent that delivering a direct hit with Amaterasu was child's play. He was already shirtless so having nothing to keep the flames away from his actual body sealed his fate. He simply stood there patiently as he allowed himself to accurately confirm his kill of Kimimaro before finally attempting to extinguish the flames that had trickled away from Kimimaro's body while it had been burning onto the ground.

After painstakingly quelling the flames of his creation, Itachi hunched over and began breathing heavily, "No one can learn of the Mangekyou Sharingan… anyone that sees it has to be silenced. If anyone in my clan were to find out that I have it too many questions would fly about. At least the secret is safe with Naruto-kun."

He looked over Kimimaro's remains. All that was left of him was his skeleton. Itachi frowned and picked the corpse up, his original plan to stay up all night was ruined and he'd be up until sunrise bringing Kimimaro's remains to autopsy at his police station. With any luck he'd be back by breakfast and maybe he could still get into some of the family act of grilling Sasuke on what he had been up to for the last few months.

XxX

(The Next Day – Kaisha Hien HQ)

Kakashi, Rin, and Obito walked into their office early in the morning to find Naruto sprawled out on his back, sleeping directly on one of the desks there shirtless, covered in dry blood mostly caking his arms and hands under his nails, and smelling slightly of cleaning supplies. The three long-time partners stared at each other before Obito walked over to Naruto and grabbed his nose, holding it shut in an effort to wake him up. All this managed to do was force Naruto to mouth-breathing which forced him to snoring loudly, getting a sweatdrop out of all three elder mercenaries.

Rin walked over and shoved Obito away so that she could stroke his cheek and try stirring him gently, "Wake up Naruto-kun… wake up now…" A tick mark formed on her head when he didn't even budge a hint, "You're sleeping on my desk damn it, wake up!" She said, clearing him off as if he were office clutter onto the floor.

"Ow…" Naruto moaned lowly picking himself up with help from the nearby desk he had been sleeping on, "So mean… can't you let me sleep. I had a long day yesterday and a shitty night."

Kakashi raised his visible eyebrow, "And how shitty of a night are we talking about for you to wind up here sleeping in our office?"

Naruto's lips quirked in slight amusement as he answered, "How high on the shit-o-meter does having your house blow up in flames register as?" He quipped as he looked at the dry blood on his body, "Just so you all know, none of this is mine… I think."

Rin checked him over quickly to make sure he was alright, "What happened to you anyway? Who blew your apartment up? Was it another assassination attempt? Where's your shirt?" She kept asking him rapid-fire questions as her worry for him started becoming more and more evident with each one.

"I was attacked in my apartment by some guy that I think works with someone that was in my classes during the last week of school." Naruto began to explain as he started stretching himself out, "I'm not sure what it was meant to be really, I wound up blowing the apartment up myself by total accident, but it should be okay."

"How could it possibly be okay?" Kakashi wondered. There was no way Naruto would swallow his pride and move in with any of them… besides it was a bad idea anyway. He ran a very high risk of catching Kakashi and Rin in the act so to speak as well as vice-versa with Naruto and Kyuubi among other potential happenings, and he would probably wind up murdering Obito in his sleep if he stayed with him. Obito just had that kind of sparkling personality, "What in the world are you going to do?"

Naruto waved off his concern, "I didn't have anything in that apartment other than what I had in my bag that was worth anything, and I was going to move out soon anyway into a new place, one more girlfriend-friendly. Now's perfect since she should still be out of town so I can keep her dad from finding out where I go." He then laughed evilly, "It's going to be so awesome! I was going to get up early and see if I could pay off a few month's rent on the one I liked the most today and just move right in."

Obito scratched his head in a puzzled manner as Naruto continued to cackle rather evilly, "You know, you're taking the whole 'I-got-attacked-in-the-dead-of-night-and-got-my-house-blown-up' thing really well runt. I'm kind of proud of you."

Naruto shrugged, "I'm different. I've got a different bodily make-up Obito-nii. I have a different brain, I have a different heart. I've got tiger-blood man."

"Aww." Rin cooed as she grabbed Naruto and pulled her close to him in a hug as she rubbed the back of his head gently. Before he could even really start to enjoy it she then held him at arm's length and glared at him, "If anything like this ever happens again and you don't call me or one of us I'm going to surgically implant a cell phone into your forearm so you never forget, understood?"

Kakashi looked at a mortified Naruto in amusement as he spoke to his wife, "That's a little extreme don't you think Rin?"

"No." She replied honestly, "Naruto-kun is like my baby brother. He's like family. And if you're a part of my family I will love you violently!" Rin finished with a pump of her fist and a look of determination on her face that got Naruto to back off a few steps.

Obito stood nearby Kakashi as both of them blinked at her previous action. The black sheep Uchiha leaned over to his friend and whispered, "Yeah… you can really see the whole Kushina-sensei influence more and more in her these days."

Kakashi nodded in agreement, "Absolutely. Still… My wife is hot."

"Never said she wasn't." Obito hastily conceded in agreement only to get a side glare from Kakashi, "What I was just agreeing with you, damn..."

Rin then paid attention to the bloodstains on Naruto and the smell of industrial cleaning supplies wafting from him, "You need a shower Naruto-kun."

Naruto looked at himself and frowned, "Yeah, I know. Too bad there's nowhere to go until I get my new place. It comes with all of the utilities and everything so the first thing I do after I sign my name and fork over the cash."

"Who's going to rent an apartment out to a stinky, bloody kid?" Obito asked him jokingly.

Naruto gave him a deadpan look as he responded, "Someone with common sense that will realize that the question they should be asking isn't should they let me live there; it would be why am I bloody, what did a kid like me do to get the money to pay pretty much a year of my rent in advance, and does it have something to do with the blood?" Naruto then started putting his shoes on and threw his bookbag over his back, "But I guess you guys are right. I know where I can go to take a shower."

"Where are you going to go?" Kakashi asked, "It's Monday so you should be reporting to Jiraiya-sama today. It better not be too far away."

Naruto began walking out of the office and yawning, "It won't be. I'm just going somewhere to shower and get some decent sleep. Desks aren't as comfortable as I remember they were when I was a little kid. I'll be back in time to deal with Ero-sennin's training this afternoon."

XxX

(3 Hours Later – Kyuubi's House)

The front door of the well-to-do home opened up as Kyuubi and her parents walked in, returning home from their trip in Tsuki no Kuni. Setting her suitcase down in the living room, Kyuubi's mother Setsuna took a seat on the couch and sighed, "What a long trip…" She looked over at her daughter that had just walked in behind her and her father, "I hope it wasn't too boring for you all by yourself for most of the time sweetie." She said to Kyuubi.

"It was fine." She replied, "I was the one that asked to go, remember?"

Setsuna smirked as her daughter started heading down the hall towards her room, "You asked at first because you thought that Naruto-kun would be going too."

"My ass that boy would be going…" Isshin muttered as he headed towards the kitchen to get a drink, "I'd have killed him."

"You wouldn't have done anything." Setsuna insisted with a roll of her eyes.

Kyuubi shook her head and continued towards her room, "I guess I do miss him pretty bad." She admitted to herself as she reached her door, "I'm even thinking that I can smell his scent right now. It's embarrassing to have it that bad…" She let out a small laugh as she opened her door only to gasp at what she saw.

Naruto was laying in her bed in his boxers asleep. Kyuubi walked in and shut the door behind her before whispering, "How in the hell did he get in here? Why is he even here?" She could have woken him up and gotten the answers straight from him, but from the serene look on his face she would have figured it to be a crime to wake him up right then. So with a small smile on her lips she kicked her sandals off and climbed into bed with him, setting her head on his chest as he unconsciously grabbed onto her and muttered her name, "I guess you missed me too Naru-kun."

"…I had your scent when you walked through the door…" Naruto said quietly as he held his face against the top of her head, taking comfort in her presence once more.

Kyuubi kept her smile on her face as she let him hold her, "Why are you here?"

"My house blew up." He said plainly without tact, getting a gasp out of her, "Needed a place to take a shower and nap, I hope you don't mind."

"Who did it?" She asked him, she knew he was on a mission but as far as he knew his house didn't have a single thing to do with it, "Oh Kami, I'm sorry. What are you going to do? Are you hiding here from someone?"

"It's okay." Naruto assured her before she could panic or freak out over it, "I was going to try and move anyway. This just forced me to get my butt into gear to do it. Don't worry about it."

Kyuubi frowned but didn't say a word. His house was blown up and he told her not to worry? What was she supposed to do? And then she had a thought about why he wanted her to just forget about it that explained everything perfectly, "You blew it up yourself didn't you?" She asked him in a deadpan tone of voice.

Naruto replied sheepishly, "Well, I was in a fight at the time, but I will admit that a badly aimed fireball was what caused the explosion."

"Of course it did…" Kyuubi said, shaking her head. And here for a minute she had been thinking that someone actually planted something in his apartment to blow it up. Still, he admitted that he was fighting so that meant that someone was after him again, which was still unnerving to her, "Why are people after you? I don't hear about anyone else going after other mercenaries like you?"

"It's because I'm still killable." Naruto explained to her, getting a confused look, "Older operatives already proved that they're tough to kill and by now because of the stuff I already did people know that I'm dangerous, but they don't know to stay away. Killing me while I'm still weak would solve tons of problems in the future, so certain PMC's higher-ups would try to do it." He then shook his head, "But this wasn't another attack like before. I think the guy I fought last night has something to do with Sai."

That guy again. Kyuubi bared her teeth slightly at being reminded of the strange boy they had fought not too long ago, "How do you know it was someone associated with him?"

Naruto wriggled his nose as if he were having a flashback, "Both of them had a certain kind of scent. Sai smelled like ink and something else, and the other guy just smelled like the something else. The something else was disinfectant… I don't know any one person that ever smells like that, so having two people with that particular scent is kind of hard-off to be a coincidence. He had the tanto like Sai had too."

Kyuubi made a 'hmm' noise, signifying that she understood the situation, "So what are we going to do about this?"

Naruto smirked at her, "I'm going to keep doing my job, and bully Ero-sennin into teaching me a jutsu in exchange for that bum-ass mission I just did yesterday; way too much trouble for nowhere near enough pay. And then I'm going to somehow find that pasty bastard Sai and shake him down by any means necessary to find out what the fuck he and his friends want with me." He then poked her lightly on the nose, "You, on the other hand, are going to keep your sexy little backside out of it and enjoy your summer."

His response was Kyuubi biting the finger he used to poke her, and with her sharp canines he could swear he almost lost the damn thing as he held back a yelp of pain. It wouldn't do for her father Isshin to notice that something was seriously off in his house and have him wind up noticing Naruto's faint scent the way Kyuubi did. It didn't take long for her to let go of his finger that she had indeed broken the skin on him with her bite, "Make me."

Surprisingly, the sound of her tone was actually rather sultry, and that put a huge grin on Naruto's face, "I can do that you know. I can make it so you can't even walk, let alone follow me around. It sounds bad, but you'd enjoy it at the time though."

"Oh Naru-kun…" Kyuubi said, pushing him directly onto his back as she climbed right on top of him to straddle his waist. If the feeling of her slowly grinding herself against his pelvis and all of his front attachments that came with it wasn't enough to get him excited then the sight of her slowly licking the little amount of blood that she had drawn from biting him from her lips did, "If you think you have what it takes to actually fuck me so that I can't walk then you've obviously forgotten about the regeneration or you've picked up something new while I was gone. Either way I'd love for you to try it."

Naruto rolled her over, getting a pleasantly surprised squeak out of her as he put his mouth down by her ear, "You know, I think I'd like to try it too." He said with a growl before biting her earlobe lightly, forcing her to giggle as she ran her hands over his bare back. They began kissing when Naruto's nose twitched and he pulled away from her, looking towards the door in fear, kicking himself as he seemed to forget where he was and who else was there at the moment.

Before Kyuubi could ask him what the matter was, her door flew open and Isshin stuck his head through with a glare before sniffing the air, "I smell blood, fear, shame, and ramen. Where is he?" He asked, referring to Naruto.

Kyuubi blinked and looked around only to find that Naruto had somehow vanished in between the time it took for her to look away from him and at the door and for the door to actually open, 'Wow… fast.' Thinking quickly to come up with an excuse, she noticed Naruto's clothes nearby on the floor, "I made Naru-kun leave a set of his clothes here the last time he came over so that I could wash them for him. I guess we left before I could do it." She said, picking them up and shoving them in her dad's face hoping that the scent would overload his senses and keep him from actually searching for Naruto who was still somewhere in the room.

Isshin recoiled at the overwhelming scent of the clothes that Naruto had worn all yesterday during his mission and during the fight in his house, "Well… throw them into the washing machine, don't choke me to death on them dear." He then exited the room and shut the door back behind him.

Kyuubi sighed in relief and looked around her room for where Naruto was, gasping at what may have been possible, "Did he finally learn how to do Kitsune no Manto (Fox Cloak)?" She said lowly in an excited manner. She thought it had been hopeless with that technique, like he would never pick it up.

"Pssht." Kyuubi heard from somewhere in her room in a derisive manner, "Yeah right. I still suck at illusions Kyuu-chan." In a puff of smoke, one of the many pillows on her spacious bed transformed into Naruto, "I forgot I knew how to do this move." He said in a satisfied voice.

Kyuubi blinked and walked back over to him, plopping down on her bed as she tried to comprehend what had just happened, "So you can't turn yourself invisible with Kitsune no Manto, but you can turn yourself into a pillow. How?"

"Because it's not an illusion like Kitsune no Manto is." Naruto answered her, "That's actually the very first jutsu I learned how to do. I stopped using it because I thought just hitting people in the face would be more useful than turning into stuff. That's what that does; lets me turn into other stuff. A physical transformation; Henge no Jutsu (Transformation Jutsu)." Kyuubi gave him a dry look that made him tilt his head at her in confusion, "What's wrong?"

"How do you forget that you had the ability to turn into other stuff?" She asked him, really wanting to know how the hell he managed to do that.

Naruto lightly tapped his head with his fist three times, "I have taken a ton of hits to the head since I learned the jutsu when I was nine. It's a miracle that I can still even write my own signature."

Kyuubi sighed and kissed him on the cheek, "So sweet, so crazy, and so dumb… I love you Naru-kun."

"I love you too?" He said, in response, not sure if he should be offended or what. He then grabbed his pants from her and fished his cell phone from his pocket to check the time, "Okay, I need to go and get my new place. I'll call you tonight after I'm done training okay?"

Kyuubi nodded and stood up as Naruto shoved his legs through his pants to put them on and search for his shoes and socks, "Seeing as how your house blew up, that means you have no clothes, right?"

"Nothing but the stuff I've got on right now." Naruto confirmed for her. And the stuff he had on included his goggles, his backpack, his orange pair of shorts, his socks, and his white high-top sneakers… because that was all he was able to get out before his apartment was engulfed in flames. Thinking about what he lost forced Naruto to stop and drop to his knees in anguish, "No! I had a cabinet full of ramen that I never got to get into! It's all gone, you maniacs blew it all up!"

Kyuubi's eye twitched, "You were the one that blew it up."

"Right." Naruto said, immediately snapping out of his grief, "I blew it all up. And I keep hearing people call me stuff like maniac, or sociopath, or whatever, so why not?"

"Be that as it may…" Kyuubi said, walking around her bed to get to him, "I'm going to go get you some clothes to replace the ones you lost." She smiled when Naruto immediately, without pulled out his wallet and gave her his card, "Good boy. Now what colors do you want?"

"Orange." He said without hesitation, getting her to palm her face.

"I knew that." Kyuubi said, trying to rephrase what she meant, "What other colors?"

Naruto shrugged, "I don't really care." He admitted, "Whatever you get me I'm sure I'll like. Just… don't break the bank on this one Kyuu-chan. Chances are, I'm going to have to pay damages on my old place and I need to check my balance and see what I've got left."

"You have around nineteen million ryo left in your account." Kyuubi told him, looking at her nails. When she noticed Naruto staring at her she blushed, "What? The only time you really spend money is when you're with me. Doing the math of how much you make and how much you have left whenever we do anything isn't that hard to do." When he didn't stop staring at her she let out a huff, "Fine, call your bank and find out that way, but you'll just be wasting everyone's time."

Naruto didn't do that. He grabbed her wrist and firmly deposited his check card into her hand, showing that he trusted what she said on the matter, "Use debit, not credit. The pin number is-."

"-1835." Kyuubi finished for him, "I've seen it too many times already to forget it."

"Right…" Naruto said before heading over to her window and carefully opening it before starting to slip out of it, "Well I've tried my luck here for long enough, I'm out of here."

Kyuubi quickly bounded over to the window with him, "Where did you park the bike? I didn't even see it around anywhere when we came in?"

Naruto scoffed and rolled his eyes, "That thing isn't in half a mile of this place. I parked it and walked here. I'm not that bad that I'd get busted so easily. Who parks in front of the place they're sneaking into? I wouldn't pull a rookie move like that even if I was ten."

"I wouldn't know since I'm not a hooligan Naru-kun." Kyuubi said before giving him a kiss on the lips and pushing him the rest of the way out of the window to coax him to leave, "Call me later when you have your new place and come get me so I can give you your clothes… Ooh! And I want to help you shop for furniture!" She yelled with her eyes sparkling at the prospect, waving at him excitedly.

"Fine, now stop yelling before your dad finds me and tries to beat the crap out of me!" Naruto said before he started hopping fences and running through yards to get to his motorcycle parked elsewhere, "Bye Kyuu-chan! Tell your mom I said hi!"

XxX

(Two Hours Later)

"You're my hero." Sasuke said to Naruto as he walked down the street with both the blonde and Kiba, whom Naruto had conscripted to engage in acts of debauchery for the early portions of the day, "I thought I would never get out of that living room in one piece."

Naruto snickered. When he and Kiba had made it to Sasuke's house to steal some clothes for Naruto to wear for the day and to retrieve Sasuke himself, it was evident that Sasuke was in dire straits so to speak. The youngest Uchiha was sweating bullets and facing down his father and surprisingly intimidating mother in addition to Itachi as they essentially scolded him for getting involved in something like his re-opening of the Orochimaru investigations and not telling them. It almost hurt Naruto and Kiba's hearts to put a stop to the brow-beating so they could abscond with him for the day.

"Where's this bike you keep telling us you have?" Kiba said to Naruto as he walked alongside Akamaru, not believing that the formerly penniless blonde had one when he didn't even have a car and wouldn't even dream of getting one until he turned sixteen and got his actual license.

"How are all three of us going to fit on a single motorcycle? Unless you're into that kind of thing." Naruto said, getting a paled look from Kiba, "That's why it's parked safely… somewhere." He scratched his head, "I forgot where I put it." He said in a nonchalant voice.

Sasuke palmed his face, "For Kami's sake, he lost his own bike…"

Naruto glared at him, "I didn't lose anything. It's just not here." He ignored both Kiba and Sasuke snickering at him and pointed at an apartment building, "Who cares about that right now? That's the place right there."

Sasuke looked over at a rather upscale-looking nine-story apartment complex, "So you're going to move into this place? It definitely looks like a step up from your old place."

"How do you blow up your own house?" Kiba asked Naruto in bewilderment, "My mom got a good kick out of hearing that one from you. You burned your apartment straight to hell, ha!"

Naruto rolled his eyes, "If I had a jar, a stick to stir, some lighter fluid, and some powdered sugar I could make ghetto napalm in twenty minutes." He cast a cold look over at Kiba, "I know you have all of that stuff in your house right now Kiba, and I can sneak into just about anywhere. Want me to show you how I blew my own house up?"

"No, I'm cool…" Kiba said, averting his eyes away from Naruto's. Even Akamaru subtly placed his body on the other side of his master, using Kiba's body as a buffer between him and Naruto.

"That's what the fuck I thought." Naruto muttered, mechanically flicking a blue fireball on and off in his hand in a threatening manner. Who was Kiba to crack jokes on him? He could blow up his own house if he wanted to… Not that he actually wanted to blow it up of course, but still... the principle was still there.

"Threatening our friends aside…" Sasuke said, diverting attention towards him, "Are we going to go in or what?"

Naruto's mood swung again and he led them over towards the front doors of the complex with a bright gait, "Yeah, let's go in so I can snatch up the coolest apartment they've got."

Sasuke shook his head and snapped his fingers in front of Kiba's face to get him to snap out of his trance, "Come on. Let's go see if this place is all it's cracked up to be."

Kiba followed along behind Sasuke and Naruto while scratching his head, "Remind me why I hang out with you guys again?"

Sasuke smirked, "Because the alternative right now is Shikamaru and Chouji and they would only do one or two things all day long."

"True." Kiba conceded as they walked in and saw Naruto standing inside of an office to the side of the lobby, gleefully ringing a bell at the desk there.

"Oi!" Naruto shouted in high spirits, "I'd like to rent out an apartment here, I know someone is here already! Help a kid down on his luck out why don't you?"

"There's no need to shout. Why? Because I already heard you ringing the bell and was on my way back here." A teenage boy their age with bushy brown hair and sunglasses walked past them into the office. He wore a light green long-sleeved button-up shirt that was buttoned up all the way and had the collar turned up to almost obscure the bottom part of his face from view. He took a seat at the desk and looked up at Naruto, "So you are here to obtain a place to stay Naruto-san?"

Naruto, Kiba, and Sasuke all looked at each other before turning back to the person at the desk when Naruto spoke, "You know my name?" He asked rather incredulously.

"It would only be natural for me to know of my own classmates names." The reply came from the person.

Naruto raised an eyebrow in confusion, "Which class?"

"All of them." That answer surprised Naruto. How did he not know that this guy was in all of his classes, "All of them except study hall. Why? Because I am not so lazy as to sign up for that 'class'."

Naruto stared at the boy hard enough to squint his eyes at him before slowly lifting his finger to point at him, "And… who exactly are you? You don't really ring a bell."

"Shino Aburame…" The boy said with a sigh, "And I suppose I wouldn't with all of the things that you get into during school hours Naruto-san."

Kiba elbowed Naruto in the side, "How did you not know that this guy was in all of your classes? I mean, eventually the point would have come up when you kept seeing him, right?"

Naruto rubbed the spot where he took the elbow shot, "Lay off. The only reason I didn't ditch school on a regular basis was because of Kyuu-chan, and the only reason I know you guys enough to talk to you is because I've known everyone I actually talk to in school for years." He turned to Shino, "I don't think we've ever even said two words to each other." A smirk then came over his face, "But… if you or your family are my landlords then I guess we're going to be talking a whole lot more." He stuck his hand out for Shino to shake, "Nice to meet you."

Shino stared at Naruto's hand tentatively before reaching out and getting a hardy shake for his troubles, "Yes, well you said that you wished to see one of our apartments?"

"Yep." Naruto said, drawing his hand back and placing it and his other one behind his neck, "The best one you've got too if you could. Top floor!"

Shino looked through a notebook, reading along with his finger before stopping on something, "The best apartment you say? I think I've got what you're looking for." He stood up and walked out of the room, "Follow me please." Naruto rubbed his hands together in anticipation as Shino hit the button outside of his office for the elevator, "I'm sure you won't be disappointed with this Naruto-san."

XxX

(Uchiha Main House)

Itachi, just as he had been doing the night previous, sat on the roof of the house looking out at the backyard when he felt his father come up to the roof and stand beside him, "Yes father, can I help you?"

"So…" Fugaku said, looking out on the scenery his own son was partaking in, "What do you believe we should do?" He asked Itachi.

"You're the chief of police." Itachi replied, not taking his eyes off of the landscape, "Isn't this your decision?"

Fugaku shook his head with a smirk, "Itachi, both of us know that you're stronger than I am. Stop acting as if you aren't."

Itachi let a ghost of a smile cross his lips, "Maybe so, but you're still my superior aren't you? You're the one that's supposed to be in charge."

Fugaku pat his son on the shoulder, "Maybe for right now, but you should know good and well that when I decide to quit you're the one that's getting my job next. Sasuke would be safer with you figuring out how things should be done than me, and don't act like that's not what you want anyway."

Itachi let out a short chuckle, "I suppose I'll keep training Sasuke all through the summer. By fall his improvement should be extensive enough for him to be left alone at school, especially since Naruto-kun will be there as well to make sure he's safe."

Fugaku frowned but nodded. He may not have liked Naruto very much at all, but it was evident that he and his sons were friends and that both Sasuke and Itachi trusted him. It was clear by now that he was also quite loyal to his sons as friends and even his wife Mikoto for the kindness she showed him regularly, "And if another move is made?"

"Between myself, Naruto-kun, and Sasuke five of Orochimaru's operatives were eradicated by all of us." Itachi explained, "This has bought us some time, but if we had been able to get one of them to pump for information that would have been better." He turned his head towards his father and looked up at him, "What does he want with the Sharingan? And why move now instead of all of those years ago? He could have captured an Uchiha back then, and why is he after Sasuke in particular now?"

Fugaku sighed, "I couldn't tell you… but all we can do is be ready and find things out as they come to us." He walked towards the edge of the roof and jumped down to the ground below to go back inside, "I'm heading to the station, if anything comes up call me or drop by my precinct."

Itachi nodded wordlessly and let his father get out of sight, waiting until he heard the engine of the car out front rev as it left the parking lot, "I wonder if I could ask Obito-ojisan to help? He has to have someone that knows more about this personally than we do in his company."

XxX

(The Northern Part of the Bowery – With Naruto, Kiba, and Sasuke)

Naruto, Kiba, and Sasuke stared in awe at what they were seeing as they stepped outside of the elevator. When Naruto said he wanted to see the best place that Shino and his family had in this apartment complex none of them saw this coming.

Though when they saw Shino flip through keys in the elevator and stick it into a slot just for them to get to the top floor where the apartment sat they should have expected something like this.

"Dude…" Kiba said as he looked around, "Are you serious? Are you really going to buy this place?"

"Yes…" Naruto said with a firm look on his face, "Yes I am. I want this apartment right now Shino. I don't care how much it is to rent. Give me a number and I will pay it and give you over a year's rent right now."

The entire top floor of the building belonged to Naruto to do with as he pleased. The rooms were large and spacious and Naruto had no clue what he was going to do to fill them up. He supposed that he had one large living room that moved into a kitchen area, much like his old place only cranked up to ten on the awesome-meter, to go along with four different bedrooms, an office, and two bathrooms; one master bath connected to the master bedroom that gave Naruto a nosebleed once he saw the tub and shower and had thoughts of certain adult activities with Kyuubi.

In addition to this, there were stairs that went up a level to a small sunroom area that led outside onto a large balcony that took up a quarter of what should have been the roof overlooking the nine story apartment complex. Penthouse style.

Shino wrote something down in a notebook on a piece of paper and ripped it out, handing it over to Naruto, "This is the rent charged every other month."

Naruto looked it over and nodded, Kiba and Sasuke moved behind him and looked at it as well before Kiba's jaw dropped. Sasuke's didn't because he still had tons of money from gambling on himself and Naruto at the fight club while they were looking for Tsunade, and he knew Naruto had made far more than him. Just how much more he was never told, "So much money." Kiba moved in front of Naruto, "Why do you have so much money?"

"Because I work hard, gamble hard, and invest hard." Naruto said as he fished around in his backpack and pulled out a checkbook with toad designs on the checks. He filled it out and ripped it from the checkbook, "This is enough for a year of rent in this place."

Shino took the check and tilted his sunglasses on his face before pocketing the check, "Very well Naruto-san." He said before extending his own hand, "I'm looking forward to having you as a tenant." He handed Naruto the key to access this floor on the elevator and the key to get to that floor from the stairs.

"No you aren't." Naruto said as he gladly accepted the things from Shino, "I'll call you up here sometime to hang out once I get everything together… it's going to be so cool." He started running around the place and stopped in the living room looking at a large, blank wall, " I wonder how big they make flat-screen TV's… Meh, I can probably get a stolen one for the cheap. And then Tenten can get me free DirecTV!"

"Stolen?" Kiba said questioningly, looking at Sasuke.

Sasuke started listing things on his fingers, "Let's see… Itachi's laptop that he got him for his birthday two years ago, the weights I'm wearing right now, the game console he had in his old house, his old TV… yeah, most of his stuff he bought stolen. I don't even really care anymore at this point."

Shino went over to the elevator and was about to step inside when he turned around, "It was nice to speak with all of you. I hope you all decide to stop by again soon, and I hope that Naruto-san is happy with where he'll be living." He said, pointing over to the newest tenant in the building.

Naruto was standing in the middle of the living room with his arms outstretched, "Opulence… I has it." He said to no one in particular, "I like the best… but I also likes savings the moneys… so when Tenten offered to hook up my TV with free premium televisions package…" He stopped and gave everyone a serious look, "I jump in it…" He then blinked and looked around, "Fuck, I need some kind of tiny mascot in here or something."

Shino pointed to the left, "If you ever require my help or the help of my family, we live in the home next door to the apartments." He then found a card flicked into his hand that had Naruto's cell phone number on it.

"Call anytime." Naruto said nonchalantly, "Everyone else does. Later Shino."

Shino stepped inside of the elevator and gave one short wave to everyone else before the doors closed behind him. Sasuke smirked and looked around Naruto's new digs, "This place is too cool for you dobe. What are you going to do with this place?"

Naruto shrugged, "Whatever I damn well please." He grinned and looked at Kiba, "So what do you think Inu-teme?"

Kiba pointed firmly at Naruto and scratched Akamaru behind the ears, "You have all of those rooms and you only need one. You're letting me crash here when I want to."

"How about no." Naruto said, deflating Kiba's hopes, "One room is mine, one is for guests, one is maybe for the Deputy here if he chimes in on paying my rent and when he's not here it would be for guests." Sasuke quickly raised his hand signifying that he was totally on board for that idea considering the fact that he probably wouldn't be getting much more privacy at his home, "If you could pay part of my rent too then I'd let you keep a room here, but if you can't…" He left the end of his statement up in the air.

Kiba kneeled down on the ground with dark clouds over his head, "I don't have any money… There's no way I could even pay a part of what this place is worth…" Akamaru pawed at him from the side and whined to try and cheer him up, "Mom and sis were right, I am a bum."

Naruto walked over and jerked Kiba back to his feet by his collar, "Then go and get a job. You're 15. It's high time you start contributing to society like me and Deputy." He then pulled out his phone and looked at it, going wide eyed once he saw the time, "And speaking of working, I need to go to work right now. Now get the fuck out of my house!" He yelled, pointing at the door that led to the stairs. Akamaru got a tick mark on his head from Naruto's tone of voice and jumped up to bite and latch onto Naruto's forearm, "Gah! Get him off of my arm before I throw him off the balcony!"

Kiba grabbed Akamaru and forced the dog to let go of Naruto's arm, "Yeah, we're going to stay here for a bit and keep looking at your badass new place because I don't feel like going home."

Sasuke then chimed in, "And I'm not going home until I absolutely have to."

Naruto walked to the stairs and muttered to himself before relenting, "Fine… make sure that if you leave by the time I get back you lock the damn door and the fence in front of the elevator."

XxX

(Two Hours Later – Kaisha Hien HQ)

Naruto had managed to get himself into the air ducts of the building and had managed to maneuver his way through them as he tried to sneak into Jiraiya's living quarters. From his experience, Jiraiya was mostly sleeping whenever he showed up to train with him. Well this time he was going to sneak up on him while he was asleep and punch him directly in the face. Either that or tie him up and torment him until he decided to give up and teach Naruto something. Whichever one seemed more satisfying at the time; hey if he played his cards right he might have been able to do both.

Naruto smirked to himself as he silently crept through the air ducts when he found himself stuck fast, "What the-?"

The metal ducts began to turn into a fleshy substance that began to engulf Naruto completely and suck him into the floor as the boy yelled and tried to free himself, but his arms and legs were stuck first before anything else, "What kind of fucked up defense system is this?" He said to himself as he found himself completely sucked into the floor of the air ducts turned insides of something.

XxX

Jiraiya sat in the middle of the dojo area of his quarters that he trained with Naruto in and had a smirk on his face as he could hear loud banging in the air ducts, letting him know that Naruto was caught in his trap. The kid hadn't done a bad job at all at sneaking in through the roof… it kind of made him want to get someone to fix that shit up before it destroyed them all, because there was no defense system, just this. The fact was, he had been meditating and had sensed Naruto the second he touched the roof.

"Kuchiyose: Gamaguchi Shibari (Summoning: Toad Mouth Bind)." He said to himself as the ceiling of the dojo turned into the same fleshy substance that Naruto had been caught in before it spewed Naruto out dropping him face-first on the floor, "Welcome back."

Naruto hopped to his feet and saw the ceiling return to normal before pointing at Jiraiya, not quite knowing what to say about what he had just experienced, "Don't ever do that to me again. I don't even want to know what just happened."

Jiraiya chuckled before getting to his feet and cracking his joints out, "So are you ready for your asswhupping?"

"I've got a better idea." Naruto said with a twitching eyebrow, "How about you actually hold off on beating the shit out of me and toss me a new jutsu?"

"Why would I do that?" Jiraiya asked him.

Naruto then smirked, "Because Tsunade-baa was reading the mission reports when I got here and wrote mine out really quick to give to her instead of you…" Jiraiya paled considerably, "And she should have finished about thirty seconds ago since sneaking all the way down here took twenty minutes." And right on cue a massive banging noise rang out on Jiraiya's huge double-doors at the front of the living quarters, "Good luck with that."

Jiraiya looked from the way to the front door to Naruto, "What's it going to take for you to calm her down?"

"A jutsu." Naruto reiterated, "Because I got paid shit for the last mission. 5000 ryo that I had to split for any kind of mission is shit. It was a waste of my day. I made twice that much back when I was outsourced missions."

Another loud set of bangs forced Jiraiya's brain into hyper-drive, "Fine! I have a jutsu for you to learn, just call her off when she comes in here or no deal."

"I'll do my best Ero-sennin." Naruto said as he left the room to go and open the front door, leaving Jiraiya a cowering mess inside of the dojo. He opened the front door and gave Tsunade a beaming grin, "Hi Tsunade-baa, what's up?"

Tsunade dropped the scowl from her face when she saw Naruto and placed her hand on his cheek, "I'm just looking for that damned pervert. Is he in here brat?"

"Tsunade-hime!" Jiraiya said nervously as he finally gathered enough courage to face his fate whichever way it was meant to go and left the minute safety of the dojo, "How are you?"

She held up Naruto's filled-out mission report with a dry look on her face, "I just got through with some light reading from the brat here. 5000 ryo? No one here works for crap like that here. What makes you think that underpaying even a rookie is okay you cheap bastard? Especially one with no outside means of support."

"I'm glad you said that hime!" Jiraiya said, trying to come up with something good so that he didn't wind up splattered on the wall nearby, "I was going to teach him a high-class jutsu in exchange for going on that mission for Sarutobi-sensei."

'Sensei?' Naruto filed that one away for later reference, instead he was more interested in what jutsu Jiraiya was going to come up with to teach him. What would it be? He had used quite a few of them in his periodical beatdown sessions against him recently so it could be anyone's guess.

Tsunade narrowed her eyes at him, "It had better not be that transparency jutsu of yours, you remember what happened the last time you tried that around me don't you?" She said threateningly.

'You beat me to the point of near-death, how could I forget?' Jiraiya thought, backing up a step, "No, not that one. I was going to teach him… teach him…" Jiraiya repeated as he tried to think of something to teach him.

"You were going to teach him what exactly?" Tsunade said, tapping her foot on the ground expectantly as if to say it had better be good after what she had read had transpired in his report.

Jiraiya looked over at Naruto where his eyes lingered for a moment before smirking and crossing his arms in a satisfied manner, "I was going to teach him how to do the Rasengan." He said as if it had been the obvious answer the entire time.

Tsunade's eyes widened and panned over to Naruto for a second before returning to Jiraiya, her ill temperament now forgotten, "Well I guess that's more than good enough for him to learn for payment if he agrees to it." She looked over at Naruto expecting an answer from him.

He didn't know what the hell Rasengan was, but from how quickly Tsunade had switched moods it had to be something of a game-breaker, and would probably be good for him to know, "Uh, yeah. Sure, let's go with that. I don't know what that's going to do, but let's try it."

Jiraiya walked over to Naruto and patted his student on the head, "Kid trust me when I say you were born to learn this jutsu, and you can even train with it at home, no problem. You ready to start?"

Naruto grinned at the two older mercenaries, "Fine, let's get to work."

XxX

(Undisclosed Location in Konohagakure no Sato)

The masked man that Naruto fought last night bowed inside of a darkened office in front of a man sitting behind a desk. The man was of advanced age and wore bandages around his head and right eye as well as keeping his right arm concealed in a large brace that he kept in a large black sling. He had an 'x' scar on his chin and wore a black suit underneath a trench coat that was pulled back over his right shoulder to keep his right arm free from.

"Danzo-sama, Sai's previous report on the abilities of Naruto Uzumaki are well founded." The masked man said, bandages visible through his cloak where Naruto cut him deeply the previous night, "He has very dangerous abilities and it would be suggested that we keep an eye on him."

Danzo nodded, "Very good. You may leave." The masked man quickly vacated the premises, leaving Danzo alone with his own thoughts, "I assume it would serve my purposes to keep tabs on you Uzumaki. Sai mentioned your chakra having an odd taint to it, and the ethereal blue fire of yours was not from human chakra. Perhaps the source of your odd powers would do my ROOT good to have for itself."

Character Profile 19

Name: Anko Mitarashi

Nickname: Crazy Snake Lady/Bitch (by Naruto, and depending on her proximity to him and whether or not she is messing with him at the time), "The Super-Sexy and Single" Anko Mitarashi (self-given), Anko-sama (self-given).

Age: 22 (Birthday: October 24th)

Height/Weight: 5'4/Due to fear of poisonous snakes this could not be determined for publishing purposes

Special Skills/Traits: Quick reflexes, pinpoint aim with projectiles, good misdirection skills, high level of intimidation skills, several forbidden techniques, many snake-based techniques, brutal taijutsu style, slightly bloodthirsty personality, fun-loving demeanor, light brown pupil-less eyes, violet hair in a short spiky ponytail, an archaic Cursed Seal on the back of her neck.

Likes: Blood, sweet bean soup, dango, scaring the crap out of people, going on foreign missions, fighting, her breast size, sleeping in places she shouldn't, hazing rookies, tea, crashing company vehicles or vehicles that don't belong to her in general.

Dislikes: Spicy foods, Orochimaru, brash kids (i.e. brats), boring jobs and low-paying missions, paying money for just about anything, bigots, women with breasts larger than hers, men that attempt to ignore her breasts.

Theme Song: "Little Girls" by Say Anything.

Notes: Years ago, Anko was the apprentice of the fallen mercenary Orochimaru before his acts of treachery that led to him fleeing the country. After learning of her master's experiments on others she was captured and branded with Orochimaru's prototype Cursed Seal and was abandoned after the effects of the seal were made evident to its creator. This led to her being very bitter against Orochimaru and having a chip on her shoulder towards anyone exhibiting Orochimaru-like traits in her presence. Anko is a very easy-going young woman with a tomboyish, playful, and stubborn attitude. She is very proud of her naturally seductive appearance, actually taking offense when people go out of their way to ignore her sex-appeal. She enjoys her job and is very protective of her PMC Kaisha Hien, taking her missions very seriously and doing whatever needs to be done to accomplish them. Despite the home she has with her comrades, her overall dream in life is to find and kill Orochimaru, seeing it as her duty after what had been done to her and what she had seen as well as the fact that she was his student.

Quote: "Hello boys and girls! Meet the woman that will be killing you today! Now arriving: The Super-Sexy and Single Anko Mitarashi! Unfortunately for all of you this glorious sight will be the last thing the rest of you ever see!"

"Hey could you hold this knife for me? …In your stomach?"

"I hope you brought your wallet, 'cause the rent in hell gets paid in advance!"

"Yes, I'm a bitch, and I need to be calmed down all the time or else I get so mad I kill all of the cute little rookies on my squad."

"I love blood and violence and I've got a boner for murder! …Please forget I said that."

Character Profile 20

Name: Jiraiya

Nickname: Ero-sennin (by Naruto), The Most Depraved Man in Konoha, Boss (by his underlings in Kaisha Hien), A Visionary Once-In-A-Lifetime Author (self-given).

Age: 48 (Birthday: November 11th)

Height/Weight: 6'2/221 lbs.

Special Skills/Traits: Very long and spiky white hair tied back into a ponytail, red lines running down his face from his eyes, usually wearing a pair of geta no matter what, a self-proclaimed super-pervert, award-winning author, penny-pinching outlook on funds, flamboyant and showboating personality, immensely powerful fighter, well-versed in various types of ninjutsu as well as capable of using multiple elements, extremely deadly even with basic techniques, expert espionage skills, great with barriers and traps, ability to use toads in combat and for other assignments, good at taijutsu, impressive natural strength, mastery with fuuinjutsu, worldly-wise and deceptively studious.

Likes: Writing books, 'researching' for said books, any kind of food with garlic in it, toads, training hard-nosed brats with potential to be great, peeping on women, hitting on Tsunade, watching Naruto try to beat him up, hot women.

Dislikes: People with superiority complexes, prudes, getting caught peeping, getting beaten up after getting caught peeping, having to fund anything that goes on inside of Kaisha Hien, using weapons in fights, snakes, traitors, cracks at his age.

Theme Song: "Dead or Alive" by Bon Jovi.

Notes: Jiraiya is the leader of the PMC Kaisha Hien based out of Konohagakure no Sato. An extremely experienced mercenary, Jiraiya has seen every aspect of life on the battlefield and has survived more than almost any other warrior alive. In his youth he formed a powerful team with Tsunade and Orochimaru, however Orochimaru's treacherous actions splintered the team and sent the three on their own paths. Jiraiya chose to take over the reins of the company and to this day is still the man in charge. He has something of a bitter feud against Salamander Hanzo after a meeting between his team and the man in question in his youth. He trained the last leader of the city, Minato Namikaze, before his death during the events of the Nenshou Ha no Yoru (Night of the Burning Leaf) And is still investigating the events of that night with his resources at hand. He directly helps fund Kaisha Hien through the large amounts of money that he regularly receives for his critically-acclaimed book series, Icha Icha.

Quote: "I'm grandiose, because I live a grandiose life. I'm not all 'aw shucks'… because I'm gnarly like that."

"I'm like Superman; I know when I'm needed."

"Oh you see, I'm actually allergic to things I don't want to do. *cough cough* See?"

"If love is blind then why is lingerie so popular?"

"We all know that I am twice the man you are and that I have half the brain that you do."

"So Tsunade-hime… I for one would love to see if that 'Legendary Sucker' nickname of yours has other connotations if you know what I mean. Yeah, I wish I could say that to her out loud…"

Character Profile 21

Name: Tsunade Senju

Nickname: Tsunade-hime (by Jiraiya and people that respect/fear her), Tsunade-baa (by Naruto), The Legendary Sucker, The Strongest Woman in the World.

Age: 48 (Birthday: August 2nd)

Height/Weight: 5'3/121 lbs.

Special Skills/Traits: Blonde hair in two pigtails, large (seriously fucking huge) bust size; 106 centimeters, diamond mark on her forehead, completely absurd raw strength, incredible durability, masterful skill with Henge no Jutsu, flawless chakra control, lightning element chakra, well-versed in fuuinjutsu, master of her own taijutsu style, the best medic in the world with the ability to cure the incurable, ability to utilize slugs in combat and for other tasks (this is rare to see), adept at barriers and other security measures, readily tough demeanor, compulsive gambler with downright shitty luck.

Likes: Shizune, Naruto, gambling, sake, obtaining easy money, helping her patients, sunrises, high places, watching daytime TV in her office, teasing the younger operatives, swimming.

Dislikes: Blood, Jiraiya, perverts in general, stubborn patients, insolent medics, losing bets, liver, people that besmirch Kaisha Hien's reputation.

Theme Song: "American Woman" by The Guess Who.

Notes: Tsunade is the granddaughter of the founder of Kaisha Hien and is currently the only living link to the founding family of the company, that alone would make her damn near royalty among the ranks even if the fact didn't exist that she was the single most effective female operative in the PMC's history before she retired due to her teammate Orochimaru's crimes against humanity and the death of her little brother and her lover; at the hands of Orochimaru by experimentation and killed in battle respectively. After two decades of keeping out of the business she was returned to Konoha due to the interest she had taken in Naruto Uzumaki. Despite the secrets she keeps from the young boy she does truly care for him and looks out for his well-being, wanting to see him succeed and live happily. Tsunade is world-renowned as the single best doctor that has existed period, and has created numerous techniques and procedures used by both medics and civilian doctors alike. Tsunade took Shizune under her wing as a medic in the girl's youth, and has a hobby of observing the skills of the doctors of today, hoping to find another one with raw talent to help along.

Quote: "Aw, I got blood all over my good shoes."

"I don't yell all of the time, only in the most crucial situations… like when someone eats my lunch when they can clearly see the label on the container with my name on it, the fucking bastards!"

"Why do I even bother getting you idiots all better when you're just going to go off and get yourselves blown up all over again?"

"I only yell at you and beat you up because I love you! Now get over here so I can show you how much I care brat!"

(Before flicking someone in the face) "Hey, is this paint or blood on my fingernail? Come here and check it out for me, my eyes aren't that good."

"You don't remember someone trying to stab you? That's like not remembering your first girlfriend had a dick… right Jiraiya?"

Yeah, I'm done for this chapter folks. It's been a while for this story in particular, but fear not, I still remain around… hell it's been long since I've updated anything by my standards, but that's a more personal thing.

Hope you enjoyed, I'll catch you guys around. Show your boy some love… or hate, I don't care.

Kenchi out.