Ah, the better version! We can all rejoice, and thank my spiffy beta, Angel's Hazard, who's going to be on vacation for a while. Hopefully, by the time my beta gets back, I'll have the next chapter done. : )

For the Love of my Friends

Chapter 48: The Somethings and the Someones

by Foxie

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The remote was simple in design and had a shiny red button. In Naruto's experience, shiny red buttons were highly dangerous. Naruto snatched the remote out of the businessman's hand without even thinking. Gatou blinked, looking out his empty outstretched hand with all the manner of a goldfish, blinking blankly to himself at the turn of events.

Naruto turned away from him with an angry huff, slipping the remote in his left pocket. "Pull one more weapon out of nowhere, Gatou," he said threateningly, "And I'll shove it so far up your-"

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata exclaimed, her face burning a bright red. Naruto looked at her, making a soft sound of annoyance, but didn't continue with his obviously graphic threat.

"Naruto may have a point." Shino murmured, stepping towards Gatou. "Should he pull something else out, it could prove to be quite disadvantageous to us in the long run." He stretched out his hands. Scurrying around the curve of his wrist and out through the opening of his sleeve, Shino's bugs crawled towards the businessman. Gatou was horrified at the sight and tried to plaster himself against the rock at his back, away from the incoming army of bugs.

Naruto turned away, distractedly watching the men(and Kiba) heave a rock out of the way of one of the passageways. Juro, who also watched but at a much closer position, turned and smiled at Naruto. "I think we're almost out!" the man, waving his good arm. Naruto forced a smile and a nod, not daring to look back at Gatou and Shino's bugs.

There was something about the way that Shino's attack worked that Naruto had always found agonizing to watch. It wasn't that the bugs disgusted him or that he was creeped out by the way they suddenly appeared out of Shino. It was the bugs' slow crawl to their victim that always creeped him out. Something about the drawn out attack, looking your enemy in the eye(s), and knowing that they would consume and/or kill you eventually... Naruto shivered.

The same thing with Gaara's sand, he thought with a grimace. Remembering the slow advance of the bloodthirsty sand made him cringe. Hit me over the head with a boulder, stick a knife through my gut, or break my neck, if you so desire, but please end it quickly! The wait itself would kill him.

A nudge at his elbow broke him out of his thoughts. His attention was immediately captured by the parcel that Shino pushed towards him. He took it from the stoic genin gingerly. "His wallet?" Naruto questioned, narrowing his eyes at the leathery thing. He much preferred his froggy wallet. "Why-"

Shino shook his head, pointing to the wallet. "It's not the wallet itself that is interesting. It's what's inside it that intrigues me." he said quietly before turning away. He moved to aid Kiba in securing Gatou's binds, satisfied to keep him that way now that he knew that the businessman was unarmed.

Naruto watched them for a moment before looking back at the wallet hanging between his fingers. He flipped it open idly, his attention, like anyone else, immediately zooming in on the cash he could see barely sticking out. The blond glared at it disdainfully. Blood money. he thought darkly, pulling out and tossing it to Jiraiya. The hermit promptly began dividing it amongst the men, who crowed in delight at the sudden flow of cash and eagerly pounced on it. Juro, he noticed, didn't take his share.

Naruto, digging through the wallet again, pulled out a series of cards, finally seeing what Shino was talking about. Head CEO of Akatoshi Corps? he wondered to himself, flipping the identification card through his fingers. It had a glossy picture of Gatou with a smirk on his face.

Somewhere behind him, Gatou started struggling desperately, making the men sigh in annoyance. Naruto stared down at the card, a realization dawning on him. Wait a second.. his name isn't Akatoshi Shiro. Two of the men walked up to Gatou, helping Shino restrain him by grabbing Gatou's shoulders and feet while Naruto stared down at the card in his hands, something akin to excitement making his hands shake.

Finally, something was going right! Justice would be served! And not a ninja's version of justice either. Gatou would go down as a criminal and be handled accordingly by the Fire Lord. Naruto didn't have to kill Gatou. He grinned down at the card, happy that Gatou would get what he deserved without Naruto's hands being stained with his blood. Or without his darker nature breaking free and ruining everything.

Right in his hands was proof that Gatou had misrepresented himself to Fire Country, proof that he had honed in on their country and had taken over a business under a false name, proof that-

There was a quick succession of events, most of which Naruto had his back to. Gatou had twisted around and bit one of the men in the arm. Said man backed up a few paces, grunting at the pain and the one holding Gatou's feet suddenly found his grip slipping. Gatou's foot lashed out reflexively, striking Juro's broken arm. The man cried out sharply, the sudden pain bringing him to his knees. Startled at the sound, another man turned around quickly and managed to trip over Juro. He waved his arms around frantically before he grabbed the back of another man's shirt, pulling him down with him as well.

Naruto hadn't been far away from them and ended up being pushed to the ground as the last man fell. With an 'oof', Naruto hit the ground as well, the wallet falling while the incriminating card stayed in his hands.

"Whoops." the guy who had tripped over Juro said sheepishly. "Sorry little guy."

"What about me?" the man who had knocked Naruto down grumbled, pushing himself off of Naruto with his hands. "Clumsy asshole..."

Naruto had gone very still. When he had fallen, he had felt something give in his pocket. The ground had shook, reminiscent of the earlier tremors that had put them on the edge. The only thing he could think of that he had in his pocket was...

He paled, shoving the man off of him as he stood. He reached into his pocket, yanking the remote out, the look on his face darkening as he realized that the button had been pushed. Naruto held it out as the ground shook again, startled eyes meeting Jiraiya's. The air was tense as everyone started to understand what had happened. Even the tied Gatou stared.

The loud noise of moving rock suddenly put everyone in a frenzy. Wherever or whatever the remote had done or set off had started up the volcano again. The men quickly stood up, shooting darting glances every which way.

"We have to get out of here!" Jiraiya said urgently. Team Eight had never seen him so serious. He turned his head to Hinata. "How far are we from the outside and which way do we have to go?" Hinata's eyes began to glow with her blood limit.

She tilted her head left and right, her eyes focused on something beyond them. Her trembling hands gave away her tension. "A-ah, it's that way…" she pointed to the right. "And.. it's um.."

"How far?" Jiraiya snapped out. He could sense the pressure of lava underneath the earth. It was a subtle feeling that steadily grew and grew. They needed to get out of there, and fast. Hinata seemed to wilt, curling into herself.

Naruto, feeling shame for letting this happen in the first place, took a step forward. "Does it matter?" he said rudely. He whipped his head to the side, fixing Kiba with a hard stare. The other boy flinched. "Kiba, get us the hell out of here!"

The boy stared at Naruto before nodding with a determined smirk. "Akamaru!" he immediately began to make the hand seals and then, where before there was a boy and his dog, there were now two extremely feral looking Kibas. "Right! Let's show them how it's done! Gatsuuga!"

As the two whirlwinds of fangs and claws ripped through the rock as easily as a hot knife through butter, Jiraiya turned back to the rest of the people. "You fall behind, you stay behind!" he warned as he chased after Kiba, the rest of the men following suit, not daring to question the older man. Shino followed, staying towards the back of the group.

Juro paused for a moment, his face still pale with pain. He leaned over and awkwardly maneuvered Gatou over his good shoulder and stumbled after the rest. Naruto and Hinata followed him, barely a step behind.

Hinata looked over her shoulder as they ran, seeing a rock fall from the ceiling and hit the ground where their group had assembled. We're in so much trouble, and I.. She could hear the sounds of breaking and shattering rocks as Kiba got them closer and closer to the outside.

In front of her, Shino jumped into the air and kicked a rock out of the air, keeping it from hitting the group. Jiraiya did the same, knocking a huge rock into a wall, a rock so big that it would have crushed half of their group. Next to her, Naruto frowned, forming seals with his hands as he saw someone ahead trip and fall, being left behind by the group. The newly arrived kage bunshins neatly plucked the startled man off the ground without a pause in their run.

We're in so much trouble and I can't do a thing. Everyone's trying so hard... and the one thing that they ask me! I couldn't do it! Her vision kept on wavering and messing up when she had looked for the outside. She had seen it but she couldn't tell how far away it was. It was like her eyes couldn't focus. Lack of control! Her eyes began to well with tears.

"Hey." a hand fell on her shoulder. She looked over at its owner, not knowing if it was the real thing or a kage bunshin. Another thing that she utterly failed at. The hand squeezed her shoulder and the owner of it, Naruto, smiled at her. "Try again."

Naruto was always so forgiving; but would even he be disgusted with her if he knew that she couldn't even tell if he was real? She closed her eyes, knowing that he hated to see her cry.

"You know, even tough guys fail at stuff." he said suddenly, his hand slipping from her shoulder. "But the most important thing is to get up and try again. Only then will someone really succeed."

Hinata peeked at him through her eyelashes. Such Naruto logic. He's right. She thought, rubbing at the corners of her eyes. He always is. Byakugan! Her eyes glowed with her blood limit once more.

Her vision suddenly shot forward, zooming past a grim Jiraiya and panting Kibas, who had stopped for a moment, and beyond that. Rock walls and beams and then there was sudden brightness. The outside. It seemed like such an alien and wonderful thing, especially after being stuck in the den for several days.

Before she could figure out the distance, her vision wavered again, retreated back until all she could see were rock walls. No! Control! Focus! She thought desperately. Naruto-kun asked you to! She focused as much of her chakra as she dared into her eyes and her vision strengthened once more, allowing her to see the outside. She was able to calculate the distance. Yes! She grinned brightly.

"Not… not very far!" she said with excitement, ending her blood limit with a blink. Naruto glanced at her through the corner of his eye, smiling a little. "Only about… seventy yards!" His smile grew, his eyes curving with it.

"Great job, Hinata-chan!" he said warmly. Hinata, red from the praise and from the running, ducked her head shyly.

They had to slow down when the group in front of them stopped completely. They edged through the group, finding the Kibas panting heavily, bracing his hands on his knees. The ground shook again, knocking rocks from the walls and ceiling.

"Last wall." Hinata reported quietly. "Then we go down a path and the entrance is there. But it's covered with rocks so we'll need to get through that too."

That must be what Gatou meant by 'destroying your hopes of ever getting out'. Jiraiya mused. He destroyed the entrance to the mine. He didn't pin the blame on Naruto, knowing full well that Naruto was beating himself up about it.

Kiba and Akamaru, energized by the revelation that they were so close to the outside, drew themselves up once more and leapt upon the wall. It fell under their combined efforts. The Kibas stumbled to a stop, one of their bodies shimmering as if the bunshin jutsu that made them identical was fading.

However, the other Kiba's forehead tensed in concentration and the bunshin jutsu strengthened. They stood as one and tiredly ran towards the last obstacle, lagging behind Jiraiya considerably, who now had the lead. Naruto shot the exhausted boys a concerned look.

They've must have ripped through four or so rock walls by now, Naruto thought with a frown. Gatsuuga and keeping up a bunshin jutsu? They must be really tired. They don't usually do that much unless they've taken a soldier pill. Naruto knew that Kiba, when he had looked over the contents of his bag, realized that he had misplaced his precious soldier pills. He had complained for a full minute before Shino finally told him to shut up.

The soft tap of their shoes (or, in Naruto's case, feet) against the ground sounded vaguely like a ticking clock. The ground shook under them dangerously, reminding them of the danger they were running from.

Excess carbon dioxide, ash, lava, the initial explosions, disasters that could come from the effected landscape... Shino went over the possible dangers of being caught near the volcano if it erupted. It didn't look good for them. Even though they were ninjas, they had the same weaknesses as every other human when faced with a natural disaster. Even if it's a human-initiated disaster. Shino upped his speed, seeing the caved-in entrance ahead of him. Nature is a cruel mistress.

Everyone stopped in front of the entrance. Juro wasn't the only one who was red in the face. Kiba had dropped the jutsu on Akamaru, barely having enough energy to breathe, let alone keep up a jutsu. He braced himself on his knees, panting heavily. Akamaru let out a soft whine and toppled over, his tongue hanging out.

"We're almost there!" one of the men said, turning to Kiba impatiently. "Hurry it up!" He sounded almost hysterical. It was a feeling that they all could sympathize with.

Kiba shot him a withering glare through his sweat soaked bangs. "I'd like to see... you... do what I- gah…" the boy sunk to his knees. Hinata rushed to his side, putting her hand on his shaking shoulder.

Shino took a step forward. "Kiba has used most of his chakra. We would only put his life, as well as our own, in danger if we continue to demand his help." The ground shook again, reminding them that the outside was barely ten yards away and they were caged in by a layer of rocks.

Kiba struggled to stand, waving aside Hinata's flustered pleas for him to rest. "I'll... get us through this... dammit." he panted. He leaned forward, picking up his dog and tucking him under one arm. Akamaru only made a slight whine in protest.

Jiraiya stood back, watching them silently. He knew how they could get out. And, no doubt, it would be a much more effective and efficient way than Kiba's, mostly because Jiraiya was a legendary ninja and the boy was just genin.

But he had always hated when Sarutobi, then later Orochimaru, dictated every move and every step of an operation for him to follow, leaving no room for creativity. So he stood back for the time being, just as he had for most of the mission, letting the genins decide what to do on their own. After all, he could always back them up if things went bad.

He glanced out of the corner of his eye, seeing his student right next to him, silent and in nearly the same stance as he was. Naruto looked all too serious with his arms crossed over his chest, his face seemingly stuck in a frown. Jiraiya wondered why he wasn't joining in the argument. After all, the boy seemed to like that sort of thing.

"The best solution right now would be to move the rock manually." Shino said patiently.

"Um, Shino-kun." Hinata moved nervously. "If we did that, wouldn't the entrance cave in more?"

"Yeah!" Kiba said, agreeing with his teammate.

Shino let out a sigh. "I didn't say it was a perfect plan. I said it was merely the best solution we have right now."

"Yeah well I'd rather use up all my chakra that get squashed by a rock!" Kiba exclaimed, stomping his foot.

"If you do that, you'll die." Shino said sharply, his shoulders tensing up.

"And if you keep on arguing like this, we're all gonna die!" one of the men called out, eyes darting around when another earthquake rolled underneath their feet, loosening rocks and making them have to double check their balance.

"Shut up!" they snapped out in unison, eyes focused on each other.

"Look, I can do this." Kiba said, gaining control over his temper quickly. It was one of the many things he had learned from Team Eight. Getting all flustered and hotheaded never helped anyone. "I can get us out of here and fast too." Kiba wanted to get out of the mountain just as much as everyone else, but he had to be the one to do it. Naruto had asked him for help.

Naruto never asked for much. Kiba wouldn't say that he was Naruto's friend, or that he even liked the blond genin all that much, but Naruto was a good comrade, even if he had the tendency to push them around or shield them from the dangers of the world.

Naruto was weird and different from the guy he had pictured him to be in his mind, a loud idiot. He was strong, smart, and, above all, strangely secluded from the rest of them. Here Kiba had thought, because of how loud he remembered Naruto could be, that the boy was highly social.
This mission, with all of its twists and turns, had suddenly forced him to have a realization.

Naruto wasn't social. He wasn't a glory hog. He wasn't even dumb. What he was, Kiba realized, was so damn lonely that he hardly knew how to deal with other people. Kiba felt so stupid when he realized that he had Naruto pegged wrong and wanted to help him out as an apology for thinking that he was an idiot. Only Naruto never asked nor seemed to want any help at all.

But Naruto had listened! He had realized the truth of Kiba's argument and, instead of doing everything by himself, had reached out and asked for help. Naruto asked Kiba to help him! Kiba couldn't exactly put into words how that made him feel but it almost made him want to strut around proudly with his chest stuck out.

But Kiba couldn't get them through the last obstacle without doing serious damage to himself. He felt like a failure. If he did not get them to the outside, Naruto would know that relying on others was a total waste of time and would never ask again. Kiba couldn't stand the thought of it.

"Kiba!" Shino said, his voice ringing out. "If you do this-" Kiba stared down the rocks with determination and walked past Shino. Faint wisps of chakra wrapped around his body as he gently put Akamaru in Hinata's arms. He wasn't going to force the dog to do more than he already had. Shino, more than a little agitated, turned to the only other person he knew could stop Kiba.

Naruto got the hint. He took long strides up to the dog user and stopped his advance on the entrance with an idle hand that landed almost weightlessly on the taller boy's shoulder. Kiba looked around, a little confused. The chakra he had been building up faded.

Now that he knew he had Kiba's attention, Naruto switched his gaze to Shino. "You're both wrong." he said simply. "Kiba's plan means that he could lose consciousness or die, Shino's plan means that everyone could die under falling rocks." he paused, shifting his gaze back to Kiba. "Both of your plans suck."

Before Kiba, who made a rude noise, could say anything, Shino spoke up. "Then what do you suggest?" At first glance, the almost boredly worded question seemed mocking but then again, this was Shino. Anyone who knew him well could hear the curiosity in his tone.

Naruto grinned widely. "I got a jutsu." he said in a sing song voice. He took a few steps away from Kiba, walking towards the entrance. He spun on his heel, facing them all proudly with his arms crossed over his chest. "Gatsuuga worked well because it put so much force on the rock that it didn't shove it away, it drilled right through it, creating a somewhat stable passage that was strengthened a little by the excess chakra that Kiba threw out. His plan was a good plan, save for the part where he'd be stupid enough to exhaust all of his chakra."

"But-" Kiba started to say. Naruto turned to him, holding a finger over his lips.

"Don't be such a hypocrite, Kiba!" the blond scolded. "Isn't this what a team is supposed to do? Work together instead of letting one sap do all the work?" Kiba opened his mouth to reply, but then thought for a moment about what Naruto said. The boy blushed when he realized that he had been going against everything he had preached to the blond about an hour and a half before.

"Right!" Naruto cried out, punching his fist in the air. None who knew him well had ever seen him look so cheerful. Only Shino could have guessed correctly that the source of it was resting in his pocket, a fairly innocent card that was one step in the direction of dealing with an annoying enemy. "Keep close behind me!"

He spun around again, facing the entrance once more just as the ground shuddered again. The large group assembled behind him heard a loud groaning noise of weakening rock and looked around anxiously, expecting falling rocks at any moment. Naruto slid in a lower stance, sticking his arm out to the side. Bright blue energy immediately began swirling around his hand, centering on his palm.

Jiraiya watched his student's antics with increased interest. So he had the same idea as I did. He thought, scratching the back of his head. When applied a certain way, it could have almost the same effects as Gatsuuga, ripping through the rock as well as layering on enough excess chakra to hold it for a few seconds even if the rock isn't that sturdy. All in all, it was a good idea and he patted himself in the back for thinking it up in the first place, even though Naruto had been the one to put it in action.

The one thing that completely captured his attention was not the plan itself, but the medium in which Naruto was going to carry it out. More specifically, the glowing orb in his right hand. The rasengan, one of Jiraiya's favorite techniques, formerly the late Yondaime's jutsu.
Jiraiya had taught the Yondaime look-alike the technique, a lesson that he could have sworn that the blond was intensely bored with. And Naruto had struggled with it for a few days, making history by learning the technique in under a week.

On one hand, Jiraiya was proud that Naruto had worked hard those few days to learn how to perform the technique. It pleased him greatly to see someone his age so dedicated. But on the other hand, Jiraiya had doubts if Naruto had worked at all during those days. Every time that Jiraiya came along to see how he was, he was sitting down on the ground, shooting an intense glare at a balloon balanced on his palm, moving water inside of it making a splashing noise as chakra tossed it around.

Yet, every time he was just out of range of Naruto, the steady flow of chakra dissipated quickly. Then, without warning, a suddenly quick gathering and releasing of a large amount of chakra would hit Jiraiya's senses and he'd run back, only to see Naruto still sitting on the ground, looking at the balloon. Though everything looked fine on the surface, Jiraiya did not miss over a huge hole in the side of a tree, nor the bits of bark standing out in heavy contrast against Naruto's hair.

Sometimes, when no chakra bursts came from Naruto's direction, Jiraiya even wondered if the boy in front of him was a kage bunshin. To test this theory, he had walked over and smacked the boy in the back of the head. Instead of bursting into a cloud of smoke, the boy cried out in pain, the balloon bursting suddenly in his hand with an increase in chakra flow. He turned around and started ranting at Jiraiya, shouting something about concentration and flow, something that Jiraiya, who was embarrassed, cut off, making up an excuse and saying that Naruto was gathering energy wrong.

Jiraiya was sure that something was... off about Naruto. But not in the way that he feared that Naruto would defect from the village to go pursuit power. No, the boy had an almost blind loyalty to Konoha, as well as the curious lack of desire to gain any power. Of course, with a demon sealed in his stomach, Naruto had access to an almost unlimited energy source, if the demon was willing to share. But Naruto was odd and that made Jiraiya worried. Naruto reminded him, not for the last time, of the Yondaime, who was just as odd.

Odd people tended to get themselves killed, after all.

Jiraiya's eyes narrowed as the orb condensed and glowed with a bright light, spinning rapidly in Naruto's palm. The Yondaime never told him about his plan to seal Kyuubi, just as Naruto had carefully concealed his advancement into a one-handed rasengan. Every time Naruto had showed him the technique, the blond summoned a clone and they both concentrated hard on creating the orb. They had a concentration so intense that it had to be fake. The hermit played with the idea that Naruto had known how to do it one-handed the entire time.

Jiraiya covered his eyes with a muffled chuckle, wondering if weirdness was inherited. Naruto and Yondaime both were strange, even for ninjas. And Naruto had proved time and time again that he was the oddest of the lot. For such a seemingly open person, he keeps his mouth shut pretty tight. Jiraiya thought with a frown. He keeps things from people for no apparent motive or incentive... what I wouldn't give to know what's going on in his head.

Oh, Stupid... A voice called out in a deceptively light voice. Naruto cringed; the only thing keeping him from covering his ears was the rasengan in his hand. Although it would have certainly quieted the voice in his head, it would effectively killed him as a unfortunate side effect.

We can't have that happen... he thought privately to himself.

The voice was soft but the words were sharp. What are you doing? What about my souvenirs? Kyuubi demanded, youki flicking idly at Naruto's chakra. It had the equivalent effect on Naruto of a hard poke between the shoulder blades.

Stop acting like a damn tourist. Naruto replied with more calm than he felt. Kyuubi was more energetic now. If the demon felt like forcing his host's body back to the innermost chambers of the den to go protect his precious 'souvenirs', Naruto wasn't sure if he'd be able to push him back. The seal on his stomach had severely weakened from years and years of exchanging chakra back and forth by the time he was twenty-two.

The seal on his current twelve year old stomach had nearly been ripped to shreds from the kinjutsu that had forced his and Kyuubi's souls to bond with the old versions of themselves. The weakened seal combined with Naruto's own distaste with caging Kyuubi would prove to be very little resistance if Kyuubi wanted to take over.

Almost as if he could hear these thoughts, Kyuubi pulled back. I suppose I can always start a new collection... Naruto sighed in relief before what the demon said had really sunk in.

Hey, wait a minute... he said, a scowl forming. The answering laugh was almost as harsh as one of Kyuubi's barks.

"Okay, everyone ready?" Naruto said, looking behind him. They looked like they were ready five minutes ago. Naruto flushed slightly, embarrassed that they had caught him daydreaming. He turned back forward. "Alright, keep up with me! Rasengan!"

The form and the angle of the attack was perfect. The rock fell apart as the powerful attack ripped through, blowing larger fragments of it and dust outside. And the sudden glow of the sun was beautiful to the men and the ninjas, like the first glimpse of water by a dehydrated traveler trying to make his way through the desert.

The green earth contrasted with the great blue sky up above them brightly, making everyone sigh unconsciously in relief. The speed in which they raced outside no longer was connected to the disasters of nature behind them but they became laced with the desire to be in the beauty of nature in front of them. The last person bolted out of the entrance before it finally collapsed, marking an end to a difficult chapter in their lives.

The first words to come out of the appreciative noises and wide grins were almost appropriately crude. "Shit, it's bright." Kiba said, looking up. He squinted at the sun with eyes not used to such light. "Is it noon?"

Naruto, who had been looking up as Kiba had, suddenly turned, his eyes following a cloud of smoke and ash to see that it was coming from the mountain. "You guys, we aren't out of trouble yet."

Jiraiya followed his gaze, a concerned frown forming on his face. He looked at the workers. "Where's the closest town or village? We need to warn them."

Juro stepped up to the challenge. He dropped Gatou on the grass and pointed north. "Just a little under two miles that way." He jerked his head back at the lump behind him that spewed muffled curses. "It's his center of operation."

"Two of us will hurry to the town." Shino said quietly. "The rest of us will follow at a slower pace."

"I'll go." Jiraiya volunteered, turning to leave.

"Me too." Naruto piped up, hurrying after him. He flashed them a grin and a wave. "Don't be too long!" The rest of them watched as the two ninjas leapt into the trees in a blurred flash and then completely disappeared from view.

Shino leaned over, grabbing Gatou by the back of his dirty suit and flung him over his shoulder. "Let us hurry." he said.

"Will Naruto-kun and Jiraiya-sama be alright?" Hinata asked worriedly, shifting from one foot to another.

"They shouldn't have any problems, Hinata." Kiba said encouragingly. "The only ninjas that they would have to worry about are our friends from Konoha and maybe a ninja from Suna, if they're unlucky enough to run into one." He looked back at the men, twelve including Gatou. "Come on, let's go!"

"I never want to see another mountain again." one of them moaned.

"Then let's all go back to the desert." Juro said tiredly, his face twisting in a grimace when the ninjas started running after Jiraiya and Naruto. He couldn't understand how they could pull up energy from nowhere to run after full grown men like him were already tired. Nonetheless, he sent a dark glare at the smoking mountain behind him and jogged after the children, joining his fellow workers as he did so.

"I hate ninjas." said a slightly overweight man near the back, panting heavily. "This is just like boot camp."

"I hate volcanoes." another one whined.

"I hate you." the one next to the whiner snapped.

Juro rolled his eyes. Some people were so childish. "Shut up, all of you."

---

Jiraiya was only one step ahead of Naruto as they sped through the trees. They leapt from branch to branch, chakra glowing around their feet as they moved quickly among the green leaves.

"Hey, smoke." Naruto called out, pointing just ahead. In the gaps between the trees, a tendril of smoke rose high into the sky. The smoke was much lighter and thinner than the smoke coming from the volcano. "Do you think it's a fire or something?"

"Most likely from a home." Jiraiya acknowledged. "Chimney, maybe."

As they grew closer, they saw that his guess was right. After running up a steep incline, they were suddenly startled by the appearance of a semi large village nestled between a cliff and a sea of trees.

Very few people were milling about but all were very startled when two ninjas suddenly came out of nowhere. They watched the two strangers with paralyzed curiosity and jumped when Naruto suddenly broke the frozen silence.

"Hey, where's your leader?" he asked, turning to the closest one. "Or... your mayor or something."

After a moment, a girl stepped forward. She was about ten years older than Naruto and had a pinched defiant look on her face. She held the basket of food in her hand like a weapon. "Why d'ya wanna know?" she said rudely. "Short stuff." she added, almost as an afterthought. Naruto scowled at her.

"We have something of grave importance to discuss with the head of your village." Jiraiya said, stepping forward. "It's a matter of life and death."

"I'll say." the girl snapped. She was neither cute nor ugly, Naruto mused, but she had an openly honest face that was clouded over by an anguish of some kind. The girl sighed. "Our village leader... disappeared a month ago." The way that she emphasized the word made it clear that she didn't believe it. "The only leader here is-" her face twisted into a scowl and she jerked her shoulder off in the direction of a tall building surrounded by a wall and several guards, "Akatoshi Shiro."

Jiraiya frowned when the girl spat out his name harshly and the others eavesdropping in shivered. "Well, do you know where Akatoshi-san is?"

Before the girl could answer, Naruto shook his head. "Nah, they don't." he turned to Jiraiya, his eyebrows arching. "But we do." Naruto reached into his pocket, his hand closing around the identification card. He smirked, pulled it out, and tossed it at Jiraiya.

Still a little confused, Jiraiya caught the card between two of his fingers. He glanced at it, his face impassive. "Ah, I see. Very well." he said without feeling. He turned his attention to the girl. "You need to organize an evacuation. The mine- I dare say that you know of it- turned out to be a volcano. And because of some difficulties, we're worried that it might erupt."

The villagers look startled. "Ah…" the revelation seemed to have taken all the fire out the girl. "Um... Okay." She stood there, biting her lip for a moment before she suddenly whirled around to face the other villagers. "Alright! You heard them! Gather your families and items that you really need and get ready to leave." When the villagers had switched their confused stares from them to her, the look on her face soured. "Move it!"

"Yipes." Naruto mumbled. "She's loud."

"Hypocrite." Jiraiya said out of the corner of his mouth, unconsciously straightening when the girl turned back to him. She's too much like Tsunade, he grumbled to himself.

"Now, tell me why we're doing this, ninja." she asked sharply.

"You're doing it 'cause you don't wanna die." Naruto replied. She looked down at him, a frown tugging at her lips. "Your village is at higher elevation than the base of the mountain so you're mostly protected from lava flow, and you happen to be far enough away so that the explosion won't faze you, save for a few minor earthquakes here and there." the girl frowned, knowing that there had been quite a few quakes in the last twelve hours. Jiraiya looked down at Naruto, a little surprised at how well he had assessed the situation.

Naruto continued, crossing his arms over his chest. "But you have one major problem: The ash. If the winds change and the ash starts blowing in your direction instead of the opposite way, like it is now, you are totally screwed 'cause, not only will it be difficult to breathe but you will also have to deal with famine once the plants die and the animals that ate them start dying as well." he paused for a moment, letting the information sink in. "So, you know, this is for your best interest. Of course, you could always refuse. Not our problem. We're just messengers."

"Cocky kid." the girl said, her voice a little softer. "Fine. I'll bite. What the hell made the mine want to erupt anyway?"

"Akatoshi Shiro." Jiraiya said with a half smile.

"Figures." the girl hissed. She looked between them, a tense look on her face. "Alright, I'll believe you. In return for your information, I'll share a bit of my own…"

---

When Team Eight and the rest of the men finally made it to the village, they were surprised to find it almost completely vacated, save for two very annoyed ninjas. Hinata, after a closer look, redefined their expressions.

It wasn't annoyance. It was very tightly controlled anger.

Being ninjas, they were able to mask their emotions very well but Naruto, as Hinata had found out, though very good at masking his pain and sorrow, couldn't completely block out the anger he'd feel at the pain of others. Jiraiya seemed to be much the same.

"Hey." the hermit said, looking at the men over Team Eight's heads. "You guys can split. Go home and visit your families."

The men looked at each other uneasily. "Er…" one man said, trying to figure out a way to politely word what he wanted to say to the ninja.

"You aren't gonna kill us?" another blurted out. He was roughly elbowed by a nervous man next to him. Jiraiya looked at them and laughed.

"I see no gain in killing people over such silly things. So you were hired by the same guy as us, yet you had a slightly different job? Why the hell should that bother me?" he laughed again, wiping at the corner of his eye. "Ah, that was funny." Suddenly, the smile on the older man's face vanished as he looked at Gatou. "However, my mercy does not extend to him."

Terrified by the sudden chilly tone in the mostly nice ninja they had been traveling with, the men hastily said goodbye and took off their own ways. Only Juro stayed, preoccupied with helping the girl before packing up some extra food for the refugees. However, with his broken arm, he was hindering more than helping, but the girl smiled at his attempts. They seemed to know each other.

Jiraiya took Gatou from Shino and threw the tiny man roughly over his shoulder. "I'm gonna take this thing to the capital. And then I'm gonna come back and find some evidence to bring before the Fire Lord." While the other ninjas nodded, Naruto looked faintly distressed.

"But-" he said, taking a step forward. Jiraiya grinned at him.

"Hey, you have that thing in a few days! If you go with me, you'll only miss it and that would be a damn shame." he shook his head lightly, "Nope, not having that at all. That grumpy Uchiha brat would probably castrate me-" he turned to Hinata and Shino, "And your parents would probably help!" While Hinata blushed at the reminder of the exam, Shino made a noise, neither confirming Jiraiya's fears nor easing them.

Juro walked over, smiling at Jiraiya and extended his hand. Jiraiya took it in return, squeezed it in return, and teased the man about his wife. The younger man blushed and mumbled something about going home. Then the man waved at the genins and took off for another town, a trip made much easier because the girl from before had lent him a horse.

While Jiraiya waved the man off, Naruto watched his teacher with a sense of despair. "But... you have to be there." Naruto whispered quietly, his hands clenching. Whether or not Jiraiya came to the final exam could mean the difference between a war and a brief struggle. Jiraiya, thinking that the boy had just wanted him to be there to watch him fight, only ruffled his hair affectionately.

"We'll see. I might make it for the last bit if I hurry." he told his gloomy student. "Well, I'm off-" Jiraiya was cut off when a young man walked up to him.

"Sorry, but I couldn't help but overhear." the man said. He had dark eyes and dark hair and something about him made Naruto tense, even though he couldn't come up with a plausible excuse why. "I'm a messenger from the Fire Lord." he said as an explanation that they didn't really need. His attire was a big enough clue as is. "It seems like this is a bad man and you need to find some evidence so you may have an audience with the lord?" When Jiraiya nodded, the man smiled. With a sudden jolt, Naruto remembered Sai and his all too fake smiles. He hadn't thought about the dark haired ninja in a long time.

The messenger continued. "Well, as a Konoha ninja, you must be well aware of this but the longer that man lingers in the capital as only a captive, the more likely that an unscrupulous vassal or someone of the sort would aid his release." he said helpfully, looking annoyed that someone would dare do something like that.

Jiraiya frowned. "Yes, it is true that most captives tend to magically disappear unless they have a swift trial..." Though the government was mostly sound, there was always someone with too much power that screwed everything up.

The man clapped his hands. "Precisely. Now I owe Konoha a favor since they've helped out my little brother so much, so why don't I take this man up ahead towards the capital while you gather information?" he said. "I have a carriage. And you'll be able to catch up with us once you have the necessary information, since you're a ninja. That way, you won't have to do two trips."

"That sounds like a good idea." Shino offered. "This way, you'd be able to find the evidence, Gatou will get to the capital, and this man will have repaid his debts." While the hermit nodded at the boy's words, the young man waved his hand at a carriage. A man sat in front, his face covered by a hat and his body obscured by a dark cloak. He twitched the reins on the horses and the carriage rolled over to the ninjas and the young man.

The young man turned back to Jiraiya with that not-quite-a-smile. "And you will also get to watch your student in the Chuunin Exam." he said, shifting his gaze to look down at Naruto.

Naruto blinked up at the polite man, wondering why he had the desire to jump him and rip his throat out. He, with a wince, touched his stomach, wondering if it was a backlash of his mind's attempted revert to his more demonic side when he had wanted so much to kill Gatou.

Hey, who doesn't. Kyuubi piped up. Even I wouldn't say no to biting off a foot or two.

But you're a demon. Naruto replied, as if it explained everything. You think differently than I do. I'm not supposed to want to kill. It's just a part of my job description.

Kyuubi couldn't help but agree. I suppose that's why life for a demon is easier than life for a human. Though what job are you referring to? Ninja? Hokage? Anbu? Hero? Or time traveler?

All of the above, I guess. He mumbled back. It's a tough job.

Heh. Kyuubi snickered rudely. That's the essence of the difference between us. The bane of a demon like myself is the abundance of annoying pests I must kill in order to be comfortable. The bane of a hero is the aftermath of the death of one enemy.

What? Naruto was confused. The death of a villain usually meant that peace was inevitable, right? What the hell do you mean by that, fox?

Naruto could practicality feel Kyuubi's wide grin. To me, the world is huge, populated by a bunch of weaklings to be squashed, which is terribly inconvenient. To you, the world as small as your greatest enemy, this, for a hero type, is either a highly intelligent villain or a ridiculously strong one. This tends to amuse me, since, every time one great villain falls, you hero types act surprised when you see that it only led to the rise of an even more powerful villain.

This hit Naruto like a punch to the gut. He had never looked beyond Orochimaru, the Sound, and the Akatsuki. Nothing else had alerted his radar. Those were the only enemies he worried about. But what Kyuubi said was true. Once he had figured out a way to kill Orochimaru, once he had knocked off the Akatsuki for good, who was going to get bold and step up the plate to be the biggest villain on the block?

In Konoha's history, there were many examples of people who were supposed to be good going bad in times of peace. Orochimaru, for one. He had been taught by Sarutobi but, in between the secret wars of the ninjas, he had allowed his thirst for knowledge and ambitions grow stronger and stronger until he didn't care about who was hurt in the process. Sasuke was another painful reminder of how a mostly good person could go completely bad with the right pushing.

Naruto swallowed. He would do everything and anything to make sure that Sasuke didn't go to Orochimaru again, even if that meant hunting down Itachi and killing him. Sure, Sasuke would be pissed, but he'd eventually get over it, right? No villain, no avenger, no running away. It sounded great.

Actually, you would replace Itachi as the villain in his life. Kyuubi remarked. He would become upset that you had taken his revenge away from him and he'd end up twisting the entire situation until he believes that the only way he could 'beat' that weasel would be to kill you. The demon seemed to enjoy pointing out Naruto's mistakes.

Naruto sighed, feeling an overwhelming desire to drop to his knees and hit his head on the ground. There's just no easy way to it, is there?

His question was not answered. It might have been because Kyuubi felt the question needed no answer or that Kyuubi didn't know the answer himself.

---

That white-haired asshole had firmly secured him in the carriage, even mockingly asking if he felt comfortable there, completely ignoring how no civilized man could feel comfortable in a dirty suit and ropes, especially not when they had a hole in their shoulder. It was ninjas like him who made Gatou's stomach turn. Him, and that damn blond brat too.

It was a little disturbing to see how quickly his plans had fallen down all around him at the slightest interference of that kid. Hell, he was just bitchy about the mines! He had no idea what other things Gatou had stored up his sleeve.

Behind hauled around roughly like a doll gave Gatou some time to think and regroup. Not all was lost. Actually, going to the capital would be the best thing for him right now. The Akatsuki and Kazekage wouldn't dare attack him right underneath the nose of the Fire Lord and his Girl Scout ninjas, the leaf ninjas.

The stupid girl with white eyes did something to his shoulder. It no longer bled but it still hurt every time the carriage rolled over a rock. He hated her too. How dare she attack him? She didn't know her place...

The carriage rolled over a large rock, jerking Gatou back against the seat. He hissed in pain when his shoulder made contact with it. He cursed darkly, kicking the partition that kept him separated from the young man who had decided to help the ninjas and the other one that held the reins.

The dark-haired man looked back at Gatou through the small window on the partition. He said something to the other man, then disappeared to the left. A moment later, one of the carriage doors was opening and the man was swinging inside.

He sat next to Gatou, who recoiled with a sneer, and closed the door behind him firmly. "Comfortable?" he asked politely. Gatou sniffed and looked away. That fool of a messenger was beneath him. "Good." the other man said, his voice much colder. "I would imagine that you're in a very tough situation, Gatou-san." Gatou was about to make a rude suggestion before the words froze in his throat. Something about that young man's voice suddenly sounded so familiar… He turned slightly, looking and expecting to see the young man, only to be startled by the sight of another.

The man sat calmly in his seat, his arms crossed over his chest. He idly pulled his hat off, revealing dark hair. He, as he put the hat on his lap, smoothed down his dark cloak that had red blotches of clouds that had previously reminded Gatou of blood. Then, the man turned to him, his red eyes jumping out at Gatou.

Gatou leaned away, managing a small smile. "Er... hi." he stuttered. "I-imagine meeting you here, Itachi-san."

Itachi nodded. "Indeed." he said dryly. "I normally don't travel in carriages." he shrugged lightly, looking out at the passing scenery with boredom. "It.. how you say.. clashes with my character." Gatou laughed nervously.

Itachi said nothing for the longest time, making Gatou edgier and edgier by the minute. Then, finally with a heavy sigh, Itachi pulled his gaze away from the window and looked over at Gatou. The younger man's garnet gaze made Gatou freeze.

"You failed me, Gatou-san." Itachi said calmly. "You allowed your own greed consume you. You depended on too many strong friends when you were pathetically weak." Gatou swallowed, realizing that Itachi knew about the Kazekage and the Oto leader's agreement with him. They had helped him to his feet when he had struggled, all for the financial help that Gatou promised them. Damn ninjas. "And, worst of all, I have a strong suspicion that you tried to destroy my treasure." The look in those horrible red eyes darkened.

"N-never!" Gatou said, drawing back. "It was that damn kid and his friends! It's all their fault that all the treasure is probably melted by now!" Itachi merely arched an eyebrow. Gatou wondered why the younger man looked so unconcerned about the state of his treasure.

"No, my treasure got out of that den well enough." he said slowly. "Without your help, of course." Itachi leaned forward, a small frown marring his face. "Why is it you insignificant people always stand in my way and hinder my path?" Gatou leaned back, feeling the vibrations of the moving carriage at his back.

He could see Itachi's hand. The one thing he had learned about the man was it was never good to see his hands. It usually meant something very bad was going to happen. He shoved himself against the carriage door, his brief relief at the door opening quickly extinguished when he realized that it couldn't open any more than a tiny crack. For some reason, a massive sword wrapped in bandages refused to let the door move.

"I-I'll g-get you your t-treasure!" Gatou stammered, pressing his back against the carriage door in his attempts to get away from the man sitting next to him. He would have pushed himself out, shoving all his strength at the damn sword, and ran for his life but his hands were tied to one of the seats. Not to mention that his energy seemed to be sapped away from him at an alarming rate. If the situation had been different, Gatou would have thought that he was just tired, but the rapid way he lost all strength in his body could have only been because of those damn ninjas.

He stopped pressing back against the door, too exhausted to do anything but stare at the younger man through hooded eyes, breathing heavily. Gatou would have promised the man anything, even sold his soul to him, if he would just spare his life. It mattered not that there was no longer any treasure for him to get.

Itachi didn't even look at him. He continued to sit sedately in his seat, his arms crossed in front of his chest as his painted nails tapped a rhythm against his bicep. "I do not believe that you fully understand the situation you're in." he said softly, unaware that he was echoing another's words. The irony was not lost on Gatou.

"I... um... I..." Gatou couldn't string together the words to form a sentence. "O-Oro…"

"I care not about that fool and his business." Itachi said almost sharply. He turned his head, his red eyes glowing. "But I will get my treasure." Gatou relaxed, thinking that Itachi was going to give him a second chance. "The only treasure that I care about... you have seen it. It is wrapped up in a very odd package." Gatou frowned, trying to think about which of the many treasures he had seen that Itachi would have wanted. Golden trinkets, weapons, scrolls... he couldn't think of one that was wrapped up in an odd package. Actually, he couldn't think of any treasure that had been wrapped up.

"The package... This you have seen." Itachi continued. He turned more fully to look at Gatou. He leaned forward ominously. "This package has blond hair, blue eyes, and a mean temper." As Gatou gaped at him, realizing exactly what, or rather who, he meant, Itachi's eyes narrowed. "That is the only treasure I care to gain. And I don't need your help to gain it." With a blinding movement and a sickening squelch, Gatou was no more.

Itachi pulled back a little, yanking his hand from Gatou's chest cavity, no remorse showing on his face. The only emotion he seemed to show towards the entire situation was faint annoyance that the blood had gotten on his cloak.

He looked back at the corpse for a moment, his eyes flicking over the frozen look on Gatou's face. He leaned forward to the window that separated him and the person steering the carriage. "Kisame. We're leaving." he said shortly. "Ditch the carriage."

---

Jiraiya ran towards the capital, loosely keeping to the well-worn road as he kept a firm grip on the thick folder underneath his arm.

Gatou's office had revealed nothing out of the ordinary until Jiraiya ran across a tense looking secretary who was hurriedly tossing her personal items in her purse. She was one of the last people still in the village and was very startled by Jiraiya's appearance.

He explained what he was doing though, hoping that the anti-Gatou sentiment that he could feel from all the villagers lingered in her too. His hopes were answered because the tiny and soft spoken woman suddenly adopted a rather frightful stare as she marched into Gatou's office and ripped a painting off of the wall. Behind the painting, naturally, had been a safe. Jiraiya could have hit himself for looking that over but he just thanked the woman and she left.

Finding the combo to the safe was even easier: Gatou carved in the wood underneath his drawer. A few turns and clicks later, Jiraiya had his arms full of Akatoshi Corps' confidential papers. And boy did they prove that Gatou had a lot of skeletons in his closet. Contracts, business exchanges, human trafficking receipts(which was quite illegal in Fire Country), as well as a fully detailed set of documents that Jiraiya stuffed in the front of his shirt.

He had known at the mention of Oto, Suna, and Konoha that the conflict with Gatou was quickly escalating into Konoha's problem. Unfortunately, he was unable to find anything in writing that linked Gatou and the Akatsuki. But what he did have was enough to get Gatou into a lot of trouble.

Hasn't this guy ever heard to not put anything that you don't want your enemy to know in writing? Jiraiya thought with a sigh. Some times he wondered why some people were so irrational. But Gatou's mistake was his fortune, he guessed. It was the many paper trails and evidence in writing that would allow the Fire Lord to punish Gatou to the full extent of the law.

And a lot of the documents he had gathered up coincided quite nicely with the story that the angry village girl had related to them before. Perhaps, if he had enough time later, he could bring her up to the capital for an oral testimony.

Flashback

"Whatever you think you know, trust me, you don't know jack shit." the girl had begun rudely. Naruto and Jiraiya exchanged a look. "So, before that thing came, Akatoshi Corps was just a simple mining company that only mined in the mountains a little north of here. The vein of ore dried up or something and the company went bankrupt. But it wasn't such a big deal, not here. Fath- I mean, Akatoshi-san..." her slip didn't go by unnoticed. "He was a good man and everyone here liked him. Even when things went bad, the others were really supportive, like a big family or something."

"So what happened then?" Naruto piped up, a concerned look passing over his face as he crossed his arms over his chest.

The girl sneered. "Shiro came along." she spat out like a curse. "Akatoshi-san had a daughter in which he had given everything to in his inheritance. She wasn't exactly beautiful or what a man would look for in a wife so she wasn't married. She was thirty by the time that Shiro came along. It barely took the little creep a month to woo her. In two months, they were married and everything was signed over to Shiro. He took on their family name, their business, even brought it up and out of the slump it had fallen into. Five days after their marriage, the daughter disappeared. Twelve days after that, Akatoshi-san disappeared as well."

Jiraiya and Naruto exchanged another look. They knew very well what that meant. Gatou had killed an old man and a lonely woman to get a company. It wasn't actually a very uncommon practice but it was definitely something they could get the little bastard for in the Fire Lord's court.

"And things... just changed after that. Shiro fired all the local employees, hired a bunch of foreigners, bringing in some of the worst crowds of people that this village has ever seen. And the village itself suffered. Before, Akatoshi Corps had enforced the laws in this village. Now, it only exploits them and ignores when the people plea for help. Twenty people have gone missing in the last two months. But is Shiro doing anything?" she shook her head angrily. "Of course not. He's basking it all up like a fat cat in the sun." She mumbled a few choice words underneath her breath. "And the worst thing is that the villagers are terrified of him. They won't do a damn thing to stop him and that is half the problem. No one is going to stop him and... He'll just continue unchecked until someone does get the guts to shove a fist through his face." The girl stared sullenly down at the ground, her face tense. Jiraiya was going over in his mind some possible phrases that comfort her when Naruto spoke up.

"Akatoshi-san, the older one, he was your dad, wasn't he?" the boy asked. The way he phrased it didn't sound very much like a question though. It seemed more like a declaration of fact.

The girl flushed red. "How did you.. I mean.. who did you-" she cut off, shaking her head. She covered her face with her hand, sighing heavily.

"Duh." Naruto said, rolling his eyes. "We're ninjas. Underneath the underneath and all that crap."

The girl made a sound. It took the hermit a second to realize it was a muffled laugh. "Hm..." the girl said, one dark eyes narrowing at Naruto through the space of her fingers. "Yeah. I'm the daughter of Akatoshi-san... or, Father, rather. But I wasn't conceived with the woman he was married to at the time so I couldn't inherit his company, so he targeted my older sister. Rotten sonofa-" she cut herself off, looking down at Naruto. She seemed to just remember that he was a child.

The smile that showed up on her face was bittersweet. She reached into one of her pockets and pulled out a well worn photo. Jiraiya leaned forward to look out of respect and not out of any real curiosity.

Akatoshi looked like an average villager. He had a pickax propped on his shoulder and stood with a group of men who looked nearly exactly like him. He wasn't quite smiling but he didn't look mad either. The only thing abnormal about the situation was Naruto's reaction to the picture. Very fine trembles went through his arms before his hands fisted tightly at his side.

The girl looked down fondly at the picture, slipping it back into her pocket. "He was a good man." the look on her face hardened. "And that Shiro deserves to die for what he did to him and so many others." Jiraiya was surprised when Naruto growled out his agreement.

End Flashback

After the girl had left to quickly gather her things, Naruto had told him about the trap he had fallen into in the den, the first of many. He explained what he had seen at the bottom of the hole besides some dangerous spikes. He had recognized the face in the picture as the corpse he had stepped on in the bottom of the hole.

Akatoshi had been forced into the mine to look for Kyuubi's treasure and had died in that lonely hole, most likely worrying about his children the entire time.

Jiraiya tried to stay neutral and impassive but he was never the type to be able to pull that off all the way. An intense anger built up in his chest at the thought of Gatou. Only Naruto's obvious enthusiasm at the idea of letting the Fire Lord decide his punishment stopped him from doing anything rash.

He glanced at the folder under his arm, the weight a firm reminder to hurry. He needed to catch up with the carriage. He thought about Sarutobi's request for him to accompany the aging Hokage to the final exam and frowned grimly.

Why would his teacher want him to sit there? It's not like the man to get lonely. Besides, he had the Kazekage up there with him as well, if he felt chatty. So many damn questions and no damn answers! He figured it wouldn't be such a big deal if he wasn't there, even though something inside of him cringed at the idea of not being able to do what his teacher had asked (not ordered!) of him.

Up ahead, he could see a vague form that looked like the carriage that the messenger was in. As he grew closer and the outlines of the simple device grew sharper, he suddenly realized that there was something wrong.

It was on fire. From the looks of it, it had been just recently set. He rushed over to it, yanking open the slowly cracking door. With a thud, a body slid halfway out and hit the ground. Blood coated the ground and sightless eyes sought out Jiraiya.

"Shit." the hermit muttered, his eyes clouded over as he looked down at the body. "Gatou…" Something had hit his chest so hard that the sternum had shattered and crushed the heart underneath. He, after a moment of quick thinking, grabbed the man's limp arm and dragged him away from the fire.

The wood crackled and burned in the background as Jiraiya leaned over to see if Gatou's attackers had left a clue on him. He didn't see the bodies of the young man who had offered his aid or the other who steered the carriage so he had to assume that they were the killers.

"Dammit, how could I have missed over that…" Jiraiya knew why. He just hadn't cared. He didn't do a background check or made sure that the man was really who he said he was. He barely gave them a second glance.

Why? Because somewhere in the back of his mind, Jiraiya thought that if Gatou got killed along the way to the capital, it wouldn't be such a bad thing at all. He gave the papers he had gathered a dark look. They were completely useless.

Only the information that he had gathered about Gatou's connection to Oto and Suna had any worth now. But he had a bigger problem on his hands that just the actions of a few tiny villages. What was he going to tell Naruto?

Obviously the person who killed Gatou was a ninja. He mused, looking over body once more. But who would have been angry enough to- Jiraiya's thoughts suddenly grounded to a halt. Inside of the den, he had overheard a bunch of workers exchanging gossip about two men that Gatou had partnered up with. The two men's description had sounded very much like Uchiha Itachi and Kisame but that had only been a guess.

From what he had gathered from the conversation, the two were annoyed with Gatou. Annoyed enough to kill? Even though that Jiraiya knew the probability of Akatsuki working with a businessman were slim to none, even though Jiraiya knew that nothing could be a hundred percent true unless supported by evidence, even though he had trailed Akatsuki for years and they had never revealed themselves to him.

Nah, can't be them. Jiraiya thought, shaking his head. Gatou is small fry, they wouldn't mess with him. As Jiraiya halfway convinced himself that Akatsuki hadn't killed Gatou, he suddenly recalled with great clarity the last words he had exchanged with the messenger.

"And you will also get to watch your student in the Chuunin Exam." the young man had added. Jiraiya stiffened as he realized a great amount of things in a short span of time. I never said anything about the Chuunin Exam. And I never said that Naruto was my student. The young man had ignored Team Eight and had looked at Naruto with odd intensity, almost as if they had met before. Shit.

Jiraiya stood quickly, no longer thinking about Gatou. It wasn't his problem; one of the villagers would find him sooner and later and take care of things. He turned and started running in the direction of Konoha, hoping he run into a group of genins along the way.

He didn't give a rat's ass what the Akatsuki did to a corrupt businessman. He did, however, find much alarm at the thought of the Akatsuki being so close. One did not closely follow the comings and goings of a group without knowing at least their basic goals. And Jiraiya knew all too well what value the Akatsuki would find in a Konoha genin. Or, rather, what value they would find in a tiny blond with a loud mouth and a hot temper to rival his inner demon's seemingly limitless youki.

He ran faster. He had to get to Naruto before the Akatsuki did!

---

Naruto stared darkly into the fire, his arms leaning on his crossed legs. He leaned so close to the fire that it almost seemed like he was a part of it, his eyes reflecting the red glow while his face look vaguely orange.

Hinata, who was barely half awake, watched him from her sleeping bag. She shifted in her bag as quietly as she could but Naruto still heard and looked over at her.

The tense look on his face quickly abated. "Hinata-chan." he said softly, trying to insert a scolding tone to his voice but failing. "You should be asleep." Now that she knew that he was aware that she was awake, she pushed off all pretenses that she was asleep and sat up. She rubbed at her eyes tiredly.

They had parted with Jiraiya many hours before, after the man had ordered them to head back to Konoha on their own. Such a trip was easy; they weren't very far away from the village, only about a day and a half at their speed. If they went even faster and didn't stop to sleep, they could have been home in half of a day.

Or so Shino pointed out. Naruto and Kiba had quickly disagreed, their reasons why very different.

"Come on, Shino!" Kiba had said, sighing at his stoic friend. "Do you really want to enter Konoha all tired from running like hell? Especially with all those foreign guys in town... Some of them are as scary as hell." he shivered in memory of the few that had made a lasting impression. Naruto would not have been surprised to hear that Gaara was one of them. "They might jump us! And we look like a bunch of fools if we lost on our own territory." While Shino reluctantly agreed, Naruto thought on his own reasons why they should travel back slow.

He didn't think it was particularly selfish or vain. He just wanted Jiraiya to come back. He knew, somewhere in the back of his mind, that the time when Jiraiya would come back had absolutely nothing to do how slow they traveled, but he still couldn't help himself.

"Um.. Naruto-kun." she spoke slowly, not from nervousness but from exhaustion. "It's my turn to watch-" her speech was paused by an impressive yawn that pushed its way through.

"It's fine." Naruto assured her. "I'm not tired but you look dead on your feet." He winced, the careless wording bringing back bad memories.

Hinata missed over the look on his face and instead tightened her hands on her sleeping bag. She gave him a look that Naruto might have very loosely labeled a glare if he wasn't talking about Hinata. "You need sleep." she argued. It might have been more impressive argument had she been more awake.

Naruto frowned, rubbing the back of his head. He felt entirely too antsy to sleep. Something in the back of his mind (not Kyuubi, this time at least) kept on bugging him. There was something wrong with their situation. There was something he had looked over. And until he had figured out exactly what that 'something' was, he couldn't even think about sleeping.

"Hinata-chan," he began quietly, leaning towards her. "I'm going to scout around. You get some more sleep, okay?" he crossed his fingers behind his back. "I'll wake you up after."

Hinata looked up at him, then back at her crumpled sleeping bag with longing. She looked back up at him, her eyes narrowed. Naruto could feel her defenses crumbling. "And you'll really wake me up?" she asked finally. She was already lying back down.

Naruto nodded. "Of course." he said soothingly. She didn't address exactly when she wanted to be awoken so Naruto figured, with a soft smile as he watched her eyes close, that she wouldn't be so mad at him if he woke her up in the morning and she realized that Naruto hadn't woke her up for her shift.

He stood, stretching out his sore muscles. Naruto's eyes flickered over Team Eight, unconsciously making sure they were alright. Hinata was curled up in her sleeping bag, her hands fisted in the material while Shino lay completely and perfectly still on his back on top of his unopened sleeping bag. Somehow, Kiba's sleeping bag had ended up about ten feet away from Kiba himself. The boy was sprawled on his stomach on the ground and Akamaru was nestled on his lower back. Fortunately the ground was covered with thick grass so Naruto doubted that the boy felt much discomfort from his position.

Maybe a walk around wouldn't be such a bad thing after all. Naruto mused, performing quick seals. In moments, three other blond genins were there. Without a word, each took a corner of the makeshift campsite and sat down heavily, wary eyes looking out into the darkness.

Satisfied with the arrangements, Naruto stretched a little more and started ambling randomly in the woods around, taking note of the type of plants and animal abundant. He wasn't exactly sure how far they were from Konoha, being bad with all types of maps, but having a basic idea of what kind of wildlife was around would give him an general idea where he was.

Besides, I think Shino would hit me if I asked him again how many minutes we're from home. Naruto laughed lightly, shaking his head. Boy, Naruto... you sure are useless sometimes.

No kidding. Kyuubi rumbled. He started to say something but then a viscous growl ripped from his throat. Brat, you aren't alone.

Naruto had sensed it before Kyuubi had revealed it. It was the same sort of wrongness that he had felt before, only multiplied by a thousand. He reached for his kunai, his bare feet digging into the ground as he looked around the suddenly unfriendly trees and shadows. For a second, Naruto was almost positive that the bright moon had flashed a deep red.

After a moment of standing defensively but seeing nothing and feeling nothing but that weird feeling of that there was something that he had neglected and it had just come back to bite him in the ass, Naruto shouted out into the darkness. "You! Show yourself!" It wasn't exactly the best thing to yell out at an unknown enemy but Naruto wasn't exactly the type to beat around the bush.

After another long moment, a long shadow in the clump of trees in front of him began to move towards him. Naruto tightened his grip on his kunai but did not move. The shadow slowly glided amongst the shadows until it had reached a small patch of ground brightened by the glow of the moon.

Like a fist had suddenly tightened over his heart and squeezed, Naruto knew what that evil something that had lingered at the back of his mind was. "Uchiha Itachi." he breathed quietly, going limp for a moment.

How could he be so stupid? He only thought of Itachi as simply a force that would corrupt Sasuke and ruin Naruto's plan to save Konoha. He had completely forgotten that Itachi was a human. And, as humans often were, completely unpredictable.

Naruto had never seen Itachi as a threat to Sasuke. He only saw Itachi as the reason why Sasuke had left Team Seven. He only saw Itachi as a vague threat to himself and Kyuubi. But, seeing Itachi here and now, at the exact time and place where Naruto had believed that the Akatsuki member would not be (shouldn't have been!), Naruto realized how much of a fool he had been.

Itachi wasn't easily avoided. Itachi couldn't be brushed off or hidden from, just as Sasuke's thirst for revenge would never go away. Naruto wanted to shake his fist at the stoic man in front of him, shouting that he wasn't supposed to be there. But such careless outbursts would only lead to more trouble in the long run. He tightened his grip on his kunai and waited.

Itachi arched an eyebrow, his face almost hidden in shadow. The moon was at his back and only his eyes glowed in the darkness his face was thrown in. "You know of me?" he asked, but it was questioned so blankly that it might have been a statement and nothing would have been different. "That makes things a little easier then. You know who you're dealing with so you won't do something foolish and inconvenient in the long run." He walked over to a tree carelessly, his eyes focusing on a red flower that bloomed out of the darkness.

Naruto, watching him warily, remembered a time when he wanted to walk like Itachi. It was before he fully understood what Itachi had done, how it affected Sasuke, and really before he understood the pain of having someone close to his heart heartlessly killed. Something about the missing nin's walk was threatening, a sort of dangerous glide that seemed both casual and defensive. He now revolted at the thought of being remotely like the red-eyed man.

Itachi usually wasn't the one to engage in pointless chatter so Naruto was surprised when Itachi looked up at him again, continuing the conversation. "Do you know why I am here?" he asked softly, pointing at him casually. From at that angle, he almost looked like Sasuke, only Sasuke's eyes had never been that cold and uncaring.

Naruto swallowed. Why was it suddenly so hard to think? "Kyuubi." he rasped out, his eyes narrowing. "You want him."

Itachi blinked, the only sign of his surprise. "In the long run... yes. You are very well informed." he admitted. "But now, my purpose is simple. I wish to warn you to not move against me, Naruto-kun."

A frown tugged at Naruto's mouth as some half forgotten memory tugged at his mind. "Don't call me... that." he mumbled, wondering why it felt so right and familiar to say that. Naruto was quiet for a moment, trying to fit information into a mind half frozen in confusion and shock and perhaps something else. "Why…" he never finished.

Itachi turned away. "When I do come for Kyuubi, do not resist. It is futile and, in all honesty, rather dull." he slid on his hat, making Naruto blankly wonder why he had never noticed it in the man's hands. "It would be better for you if you do not bore me with your petty struggling, Naruto-kun."

Something about being docile jump-started his brain. He suddenly snapped up his kunai in front of his chest. "Screw you!" he shouted immediately. "And don't call me Naruto-kun!" Itachi glanced over his shoulder, confusion making him look more like Sasuke than ever before. That enraged Naruto even more. "I'm not gonna be a good little boy and you're not gonna get Kyuubi!"

"Odd..." Itachi murmured, fully facing the irate boy. The sight of the impassive sharingan eyes threw Naruto into action. He ran at the man, hurling the kunai at him quickly. Itachi caught it between his fingers and prepared for Naruto's charge.

With a roar of anger, Naruto threw everything behind his first punch. Itachi quickly dodged it by leaning to the side. Naruto swiftly turned around, launching himself at the dark-haired man again. Itachi jumped out of the way, then blocked the next kick with his arm. This continued for several moments where Naruto angrily attacked Itachi and the man either blocked or dodged.

"Naruto-kun, you are far too attached to your anger." Itachi murmured as he slipped behind the panting boy. He grabbed the thin neck barely protected by the high collar of the boy's dark vest before yanking him back. "Do you think it is wise to attack an S-class missing nin?"

The boy looked back at him from the odd angle and suddenly grinned. "Do you think it is wise to judge a guy by his rank, Itachi-chan?" he taunted with that oddly feral grin. Itachi's eyes narrowed but before he could do anything, the blond disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

"A kage bunshin." Itachi murmured. "So you swiped that scroll? Interesting…" Naruto jumped out of the tree, hurling kunai at the red eyed man. Itachi just jumped out of the way, his eyes narrowing when a kunai clipped the end of his cloak. He landed lightly on the ground, then jumped backwards to land on a branch of a tree

Naruto hid amongst the trees, feeling oddly nervous even though he was back in his element. Being one of the few Anbu left in Konoha after the war, he had become accustomed to stalking his prey with terrifying stealthiness and quick executions.

Nothing but walking corpses. That's the only opinion Naruto had on the Sound forces and Akatsuki. They were merely there to be knocked down. It wasn't really killing if he thought about it like that.

He knew what had taken his confidence away from something that he had been so good at. A flash of a memory, flashing red eyes and a face he knew all too well. "You took away my reason for living! You selfish bastard!" Naruto felt sick as he remembered Sasuke's anger when Naruto had killed Itachi and how Sasuke had ended up killing himself afterwards.

Naruto probably couldn't face Itachi, not the way he was now. He was too weak and he needed more training. He had tons of chakra, good chakra control, and almost unbeatable stamina, but that meant nothing if his body could only sustain a small fraction of this power.

But the thing that won Itachi their fight the most was Naruto's lack of desire to kill him. It wasn't that Naruto was against killing Itachi. Naruto would have loved to kill Itachi again, to destroy the force that had turned Sasuke against Team Seven's path from the beginning. But the consequences from doing that were too high of a price to pay. Naruto would rather die than have Sasuke killed again.

Naruto took a deep breath and peeked around the trunk of the tree. While he had been thinking, Itachi had disappeared from sight. Great. He thought grimly. Now it will be impossible to find him.

He'll either find you or find your little friends. Kyuubi added in unhelpfully. Either way, I would imagine that the little weasel has you trapped pretty good, brat.

With a curse, he hurried back to the camp, startling the kage bunshin sentries. They shot him confused looks. "Itachi." he said simply. Their gazes hardening, the three blonds jumped up, forming a tighter circle around the oblivious and slumbering Team Eight.

Naruto glanced around, seeing nothing but knowing that Itachi was out there somewhere. When he had beaten and killed Itachi, he had completely ignored the fact that there was no way in hell he could have beaten him. All he had felt was a sort of glee that the man was no longer around to hurt his friends but even that had been chased out of his mind after Sasuke had shown up.

Itachi was an ANBU. Itachi had killed an entire clan in the span of a single night without attracting any attention from anyone else. Itachi had that cursed sharingan technique. So how was Naruto able to defeat him when he was fifteen and barely chuunin?

A sudden sick feeling in his stomach arose as he realized that he hadn't been stronger than Itachi at all. The bastard had let Naruto kill him! Naruto remembered the dead look in Itachi's eyes when he had goaded him into attacking so long ago in that nameless village. He knew that look all too well. He had seen it on Sasuke afterwards. It spelled out quite simply that they had given up on life. Both of them decided suicide by Naruto.

Naruto gritted in his teeth in frustration. One thing that he had always been able to say was that he had defeated Itachi in a fair fight and that always led him to feel confident against any Sound nin that Orochimaru could throw at him. Because he had defeated Itachi, Itachi no longer became a relevant problem in Naruto's eyes. It was Orochimaru that Naruto had focused on and he realized his mistake now that he had run into Itachi.

For a moment, Naruto considered fighting Itachi with his all. Not just unleashing all of his chakra from the seal but also allowing Kyuubi's youki to completely surge from his body and transform him for the first time in this body.

But what if he lost? Who would save Konoha from Orochimaru? Who would save Sasuke from himself? Naruto swallowed, feeling fear for the first time in a long while.

He stood there for a moment, trying to figure out what to do. He came up with a loose plan to get Itachi away from Konoha and Team Eight for the time being. If there was one good thing that Naruto could say about Itachi, it was that the missing nin was almost polite.

He had the tendency to act perfectly civil until he killed you. Or until you pissed him off. Itachi was smart and often backed out of pointless battles. According to Itachi, Naruto's resistance was futile so if he just stopped resisting, maybe the guy would go away? Naruto crossed his fingers, hoping he hadn't pissed the man off too much with his 'Itachi-chan' comment.

"Okay, Itachi." Naruto said, knowing that he was somewhere near. "I got your warning. Can you just go now?"

Leaning against a tree nearby, Itachi considered it. He had come to see the demon host out of a strong sense of curiosity, wondering what was it about the blond that made him capable of handling the mighty Kyuubi. The question hadn't been answered, not that he expected it to be in the first place, but Itachi found himself surprised by Naruto anyway.

He narrowed his eyes. He hadn't expected a fight at all. In fact, while warning Naruto, he had employed a mild genjutsu that had the vague effect of hypnosis. And what did the blond do? He threw it off in moments then blindly attacked him, and even managed to trick him with a kage bunshin. How rude.

Truly... you are very interesting, Naruto-kun. Itachi lingered for a little longer and then, deciding that his message had been passed on and there was nothing else that needed to be done, he left, leaving no clue of his presence.

Feeling the oppressive aura leave, Naruto sighed in relief, dropping to his knees. The clones disappeared in a burst of smoke. Naruto braced his hands on the ground, his breathing very shallow. He was in way over his head. Orochimaru was only a part of the problem, as Itachi had very neatly pointed out.

With a shaking hand, Naruto covered his eyes. Well, he thought wryly. There's no way in hell I'm gonna go to sleep now.

---

At dawn, things moved rather rapidly. As Naruto predicted, Hinata was peeved that he didn't wake her up for her time to watch but didn't push the subject when Naruto didn't bother to explain himself. She could sense his bad mood from a mile away. It couldn't have been any clearer even if he had taken a marker and wrote 'I'm in a bad mood' on his forehead.

Jiraiya showed up about five minutes before they finished breakfast. They were surprised to see him so soon but they greeted him enthusiastically, pushing some food towards him. Jiraiya gratefully gobbled it down.

"So, what happened?" Kiba asked, crossing his arms over his chest. Akamaru was licking the last of his breakfast from his plate.

Jiraiya wiped his mouth and looked over his hand at Naruto. The blond narrowed his eyes at the look in his eyes. The hermit put down his plate then lifted the cup of tea to his lips. "Gatou's dead." he said quietly, taking a sip. There was a shocked response from Hinata and Kiba but when they pressed to know the exact details, Jiraiya shook his head.

A little disappointed, Kiba pulled back. "Well... good riddance." he said finally. "After all that guy did."

"You don't even know the half of it." Naruto said flatly. He stood quickly. "Come on, I want to get home before noon." Team Eight was confused but had learned over the last few days that no one (save for Hinata if she pushed hard enough) could make him talk if he didn't want to. And no one wanted to even attempt at it, not when he was in such a bad mood.

While they gathered up all of their belongings, Naruto slipped away to talk to Jiraiya. The old man was sitting on the ground, resting after his mad dash to catch up to Team Eight and Naruto. He looked up when Naruto's shadow was thrown over him.

"Okay old man…" Naruto said with a frown. "What the hell is wrong?"

Jiraiya managed an irritated smile. "I'm your sensei, show me some respect." When Naruto rolled his eyes, Jiraiya scowled. Naruto looked around to make sure that Team Eight wasn't around, then sat down in front of Jiraiya.

He leaned forward, bracing his hands against his knees. "Akatsuki killed Gatou, didn't they?" he asked. The half amused look on Jiraiya's face fell. He grimly nodded.

"Naruto." he said, all serious now. He had a concerned look on his face. "There are a few things I have to warn you about. You and Akatsuki, you see… you're connected. They-"

"Want Kyuubi." Naruto said flatly. "I know. You're a few hours too late to warn me about that." Or a decade really. He mused quietly. Depending on which way you looked at it. "Itachi came by."

Naruto almost felt sorry for Jiraiya. From the look on his face, he had to wonder if the old man could take so much shock in one day. "And what did he do?" Jiraiya growled. Naruto didn't look hurt or injured but his total change in demeanor was a clear sign that the visit had affected him.

Naruto gave him an annoyed look. "Oh, we sat down and had some tea, caught up with gossip. You know, the sort of thing the average person does when they see a mass murderer has come by for a friendly chat." His voice was thick was sarcasm.

"That's not funny." Jiraiya said, his frown deepening.

"I didn't mean it to be." Naruto said just as darkly. He stood up quickly.

"Naruto!" the blond's motion to leave was halted by the man's sharp command. He turned around, looking down at Jiraiya. The man had a very serious look on his face. Naruto had a bad feeling that he wasn't going to like what Jiraiya was about to say. "You will be watched over all times and supervised by ANBU forces or myself. You will not go outside of Konoha, nor will you have prolonged contact with foreign ninjas. Do I make myself clear?"

Naruto suppressed the first three negative responses that came to mind, knowing that Jiraiya would find them offensive. He pinched the bridge of his nose of a moment before he looked over at Jiraiya. "Screw you." he said flatly, giving up trying to be civil. "When you, or any ANBU of Konoha really, beats an Akatsuki member fair and square, come back and talk to me. Otherwise you're just wasting valuable resources."

"Naruto, I'm only trying to keep you safe!" Jiraiya said, quickly standing. Team Eight finally overheard their conversation and looked up. "If they get you-"

Naruto whipped around so fast that Jiraiya pulled back. "When are you lousy people gonna get it into your thick skulls that I don't give a rat's ass about-!" he bellowed, but then cut himself off with a rough shake of his head. "Look," he said in a much softer voice, "I worry more about Sasuke than myself right now so if you feel better posting the damn ANBU on me, fine, go ahead. I don't give a damn."

The walk back to Konoha was very tense. Jiraiya was careful to walk twenty feet ahead of the small clump of genins, as if he expected Naruto to give him a firm kick in the rear. Even Akamaru kept quiet, sensing everyone else's bad moods. Team Eight was very confused about the conversation they had overheard.

Actually, to be more accurate, only Kiba was confused, having no idea how Kyuubi, Naruto, and the Akatsuki all fit in together. Shino knew about the Kyuubi and put two and two together to figure out that Akatsuki wanted Naruto for him, though the reason why anyone would want a demon escaped his understanding.

Hinata had guessed at the presence of Kyuubi in Naruto before and that, coupled with the mention of the infamous Akatsuki, was enough to make her worry about Naruto and agree that Naruto needed some bodyguards. Hinata, naturally, since she had agreed with Jiraiya on that aspect, now felt lousy because Naruto apparently didn't want anyone protecting him. She felt like she had betrayed him by wanting him to be safe.

They were about thirty minutes away from Konoha when Naruto fell into step with her. He nudged her shoulder with his and shot her a smile. Hinata blinked and watched as the blond stuck his tongue out childishly at Jiraiya's back. Hinata smothered a giggle.

Sensing that the tension had eased a bit, Kiba squeezed in between Naruto and Hinata, wrapping an arm around both of their shoulders. He had an evil look on his face. "So…" he drawled, smirking at Hinata, then at Naruto. "How do you feel about the first upcoming match of the Chuunin Final Exam?" Hinata turned a bright red.

"Kiba-kun!" she whispered, looking extremely embarrassed. Naruto only blinked in confusion.

"I suppose it will be... interesting?" he said, looking over at Hinata to see if she thought that his wording was okay. The girl wouldn't meet his eyes.

"Idiot." Shino said quietly. He walked on Naruto's right, his hands shoved in his pockets. "He doesn't know."

Naruto started to react to the word 'idiot' before he realized that Shino was talking to Kiba, not him. "I don't know what?" he asked instead. Kiba and Hinata gave him a look.

"You seriously don't know?" they both said at the same time, Hinata being considerably more horrified than Kiba. Naruto started to get annoyed.

"Hence the reason why I asked." he said dryly. Kiba started to laugh uproariously while Hinata only stuttered incoherently. Whatever confidence she had gained in the last few weeks since the preliminaries seemed to have been completely shattered. Naruto glared at Kiba before he shrugged it off. It probably wasn't that important.

Kiba jumped in front of him, that annoyingly superior grin on his face growing as Naruto was forced to stop. He poked his finger into Naruto's chest. "I'll tell you what it is…" he said in a singsong voice. "If you do me a favor."

"Psh." Naruto sidestepped him. "I ain't doing you any damn favors, mutt boy." Kiba scowled at him then ran after to catch up.

"Fine then!" Kiba said, ignoring the desperate way that Hinata elbowed him to stop. It was too damn funny to pass up. "It'll serve you right to be standing there all confused when the time comes!" Naruto considered the possibility that the final exam had changed from a one on one battle to something else and considered it slim to none. A lot of things had changed because of his meddling but he seriously doubted that the exam had changed much in its application.

"Well.. whatever floats your boat." he replied dispassionately.

"Buoyancy." Shino automatically replied. Kiba and Naruto shot him a confused look.

"What?" Kiba asked, looking at his teammate like he had grown another head. Shino coughed into his hand.

"Buoyancy floats your boat." he said blandly. An oddly tense silence followed after Shino's statement. Then Naruto started to laugh, quickly accompanied by Kiba.

"Man, you are such a dork!" Kiba said, shaking his head. Even Hinata giggled and Shino smiled briefly, although he wasn't sure why they thought what he said was funny. But the slightly annoyed feeling of being laughed at faded when Naruto grinned at him.

"Shino, don't ever change." he said with that bright smile. Shino tilted his head, understanding that it was a compliment of some kind. He knew it was impossible not to change (after all, they were in the middle of a period of growth in their young lives), but he found himself nodding anyway.

"Look!" Hinata suddenly said, pointing at a set of large gates in the distance. "Home!"

Kiba whooped and started running towards Konoha, Akamaru chasing his heels. After a quiet laugh, Hinata followed him. Shino only picked up his speed slightly, muttering something about Kiba's sprint 'defeating the purpose of their rest'.

Once Team Eight had passed Jiraiya, Naruto swallowed and fell into step with his sensei. For a moment, they simply walked, watching the retreating backs of Team Eight. "Sorry." Naruto mumbled.

Jiraiya was quiet but he looked over at Naruto, a fond look on his face. He placed a hand on the blond's wild hair. Naruto looked up at the touch. "Nah, no need to. I understand. I'd be pissed off too, if I was in your position." he said. "I'm just glad that nothing bad happened when I was gone."

"But…" Naruto trailed off, looking again. "You're still gonna follow through, eh?"

"Yup." Jiraiya said quietly. "Sorry kid."

Naruto was silent up until they were almost to the gates. "Can I... have a request though?" he asked almost uncertainly. Jiraiya nodded, his eyes narrowing. "Can you... um... tell me who the ANBU are when they have to baby-sit me?"

Jiraiya was surprised by the request. He had almost expected something juvenile or silly. "Why?" he asked, highly suspicious.

Naruto froze. Think Naruto! What would be a good excuse for why I want to know who the ANBU are? The real reason was to make sure he wasn't hooked up with someone who was sympathetic to Orochimaru's cause, if one could really word it like that, or someone who eventually turned over to Orochimaru's side. What a pain in the ass that would be if an ANBU or two suddenly and mysteriously died while they're supposed to be with me.

Naruto had little to no tolerance for the Sound nins. He almost ripped off Kabuto's face the first time he had seen him. It was truly a pity that he hadn't run into the traitor in the forest of death. He would have gladly traded the life that he had taken of that lower leveled and poor disguised Sound nin (who tried to pretend to be a rain nin) for his.

But he couldn't tell Jiraiya that! If he even hinted at the sort of trouble that Naruto fully expected to be in with the Sound in just a few days time, Jiraiya would probably pull him from the exam. And toss him into a sealed room with no exits. Guarded by the very traitorous ANBU that Naruto was worried about at the moment. And Orochimaru will come in and we'd have a cup of tea and we'd talk about his lack of a love life... Naruto thought darkly. Come on, what would be a good excuse?

I'm rather fond of the 'oh, look at me, I'm the poor abused Kyuubi child and I'm oh so afraid that someone will try and hurt me because of it.' Kyuubi remarked. Naruto snapped his fingers. That was perfect!

Kyuubi, you are a genius! He praised.

Kyuubi flicked one of his tails rather smugly. I know.

---

TBC..

Preview of the next chapter:

Without even giving him a proper greeting, Sakura yanked him off his stool and pulled him outside, ignoring his protests. Iruka, when Naruto pleaded for assistance, only saluted him with his chopsticks and a smile.
The flaps on the stand fell and Naruto was suddenly jerked to the side. "Say something to him!" Sakura growled in his ear. It took a moment for Naruto to realize that 'him', the owner of the muted chakra that had been accompanying Sakura outside of the stand, was Sasuke. Naruto blinked owlishly at the expressionless boy. "He's been a pain in the ass the whole time you were gone!" With that, she shoved him forward.
Sasuke looked him up and down, his face carefully indifferent. Naruto wondered why he hadn't recognized his chakra and promptly realized that it was because he had been expecting to feel the evil taint of Orochimaru's chakra. He couldn't help but feel a little smug about that, since it had been because of his actions that Sasuke's chakra remained pure, but under that unreadable gaze, even that small sense of pride wilted.
"Uh.." Naruto looked at Sakura. She made encouraging sounds, gesturing for him to say something. Naruto, scratching the back of his head, looked back at Sasuke. "I'm back from my mission." he stated the obvious, clueless as to what he was supposed to say.
"Oh.." Sasuke said softly. There was a pause in which Sasuke looked at him with that same annoyingly emotionless face. "..You were gone?" To Naruto's surprise and his growing annoyance, Sasuke looked away, a bored expression passing over his face. The next sentence set Naruto's temper off like nothing else could. "I didn't even notice."
Sakura had to physically haul Naruto back when the blond started to lunge at Sasuke. "You prick!" he yelled, shaking his fist at the now smirking boy.
"Really, Sasuke-kun.." Sakura said, surprised at how much force it took to hold Naruto back. She would have figured that her training with Tsunade would have at least made her a little stronger but it seemed like she still wasn't stronger than Naruto. "That's.. not exactly how friends are supposed to act.."
"Yeah!" Naruto said loudly, stomping his foot for emphasis. "What she said!"