"Hurry up Oniisan, they're catching up!" Naruto just huffed as he continued to hop across the tree branches, ducking low to make sure he didn't clothesline Fuu on the lower ones.

"Of course they're catching up! He's just as fast as I am!" Fuu just lightly slapped him on the head, urging him on as he mentally shrugged and increased the pace slightly. He was thankful for his ungodly stamina at this point as without it he would never have made this kind of journey in a single day.

"Come on Oniisan! I think I can see the gate!" Naruto looked up and sure enough the very outline of the walls had come into view through the obscuring trees. It gave him a final spurt of energy to pick up the pace even more and barrel on through the trees. His breath was heavy and coming out in gasps now but he could nearly taste the sweet air at the end. Suddenly he felt a presence behind him as a red blur caught up to them; he tried to urge his muscles on even more but they were sluggish and unresponsive from exhaustion.

The red blur overtook them just as they all burst out of the tree line, Naruto falling to the floor as the other figure finally turned around smirking down at him and Fuu on his back. Naruto just groaned as he looked up, straight into his own smug whiskered face and Tayuya's above it.

"Sorry bud, but the original's always better than the clone." The clone that Fuu straddled just grumbled some more before bursting out of existence, giving Naruto a few odd thoughts as its memories were transferred. Tayuya just smiled victoriously, cheering with both hands clasped together as she shook them above her head. Fuu pouted from her position on the floor, having fallen over as the clone dispersed into smoke and landing on her ass.

"It's not fair, why does Tayuya get the real you Oniisan?" Naruto just shrugged while Tayuya continued to cheer to nobody in particular.

"Sorry imouto, I have to do what Tayuya says, it's part of being a boyfriend." Fuu pouted again, her irresistible eyes making Naruto want to go over and console her with a hug but Tayuya beat him to it. After hopping off his back and walking over to the younger girl she placed a firm arm around her shoulders and whispered something in her ear. If Naruto had tried he could have made it out but from the way it turned Fuu's face tomato red he was glad he didn't.

They walked toward the gates in silence, Fuu seemingly shocked by what she was told and Tayuya smiling innocently while Naruto buried his face in his palm. He slunk back with her, leaving Fuu to walk a few feet in front of them.

"I wish you wouldn't do that with her, she's only thirteen." Tayuya just looked at him with those same big innocent eyes that he swore she had stolen from Fuu in the last few days.

"Whatever are you talking about Naruto-kun?" He just sighed and smiled weakly, at least glad she had added the suffix if only in a mocking way.

"Nothing, come on Tayuya-chan." He walked a bit faster, catching up with Fuu as they reached the gates, pulling the two chuunin out of their semi-lucid state. They seemed familiar to him and he quickly realised that it was because they were the same two guards that had been at this post the last time he was here. He winced internally; he couldn't imagine being stuck in the same boring job for two years and wondered who they pissed off to get an assignment like that.

"Business in Konohagakure?" Kotetsu said in a bored tone, not really paying attention to the new visitors as Izumo scrutinised them more closely, trying to think where he had seen the blonde and redhead before. He seemed to draw a blank but continued to look at Naruto oddly before looking at the Hokage monument that was just in view from the gate. He shook his head before returning to the book he had been reading, mumbling something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like 'impossible'.

"Uhh, just visiting from Sunagakure to deliver a message from the Kazekage to the Hokage." Kotetsu just nodded languidly, there were so many messengers coming through the gates he barely even registered them anymore.

"Fine, fine, sign here then." Naruto did so; it wasn't like he was lying, Gaara really did have a message of some kind for Tsunade but he just left out that he was going to speak to her as well. They moved on, walking through the main street of the village that headed straight for the Hokage tower. Both he and Tayuya wanted to visit Hana and Anko but they figured it could wait until after their business was done.

As they walked all three began to notice that Naruto was getting incredulous and curious looks from a lot of the villagers they walked past, especially the older ones. It began to seriously unnerve Naruto as he saw them begin to mutter under their breaths to one another, just out of his earshot although he could catch the occasional word like 'Hokage' or 'Fourth'. Tayuya was also looking around, worrying that the people might recognise Naruto and lynch him or something. Fuu seemed mainly oblivious but she was trying to ignore the people anyway, not particularly fond of lots of people she didn't know. There was a mutual sigh of relief between them as they reached the tower, closing the door on the suspicious and whispering crowds outside.

"Well that was fucking weird, what was their problem?" Neither Fuu nor Naruto could answer her so they moved up their stairs in silence, pondering what this meant for Naruto now he was back in the village. It took a few minutes to verify the authenticity of the letter from Gaara before they were let in so they had to sit on a couch outside the Hokage's office.

"Do you think they recognise me?" Tayuya shook her head slowly, thinking about the question herself.

"It can't be. You've been gone for ten years, there's no way they would remember you. They barely even noticed you the last time we were here." Naruto nodded in agreement, his presence during the Chuunin Exams was kept to a minimum; Sarutobi saw to that. He went back to thinking about it before the secretary motioned them all into the office. Naruto put the thoughts out of his mind for now, put a smile on his face and stepped into the office.

He sweatdropped when he noticed that Tsunade was asleep at her desk, drooling over some documents like he hadn't been gone for two years at all. He coughed loudly; getting no response he tried it again, even louder this time. Tsunade stirred but didn't wake up.

"HEY TSUNADE!" The woman jerked up in her chair sending a few sheets of paper flying around the room like snow from the sky. She had a line of drool coming from the corner of her mouth and she looked particularly tired. 'Well, she didn't work out the shadow clone technique to paperwork, that's for sure.' He waited for a moment as Tsunade got her bearings and Fuu giggled quietly to herself. She found that this Kage didn't intimidate her in the slightest, she was far too funny. Tsunade peered around the room groggily until her eyes rested on Naruto, opening wide in shock.

"Minat-?" She peered even closer as if she could pierce the veil of her drunken stupor just by willing it away. "Naruto?" Said blonde just nodded happily, grinning at the young-looking woman. "What are you doing here, and when did you grow up so much?" Naruto continued his smile, he enjoyed the shocked reactions people gave to his change, the Raikage's still his favourite. Tayuya took that moment to practically drape herself around Naruto's neck from behind.

"I know, gorgeous isn't he?" She said it an obviously provocative manner, earning a raised eyebrow from Tsunade and a sigh of annoyance from Fuu. The younger girl had grown to become irritated every time Tayuya would make a lewd or suggestive comment about Naruto around her. Of course the redhead was doing it purely for her own amusement to get reactions out of people, just like now as Tsunade stared across at them from behind her paperwork-ridden desk.

"Yes well, age changes us all doesn't it?" Naruto smirked in amusement at that, it seemed rather ironic coming from the fifty-something year old woman who didn't look a day over twenty currently. "Now I assume you're here for more than just a visit, I'm sure Gaara's a busy Kazekage and can't keep sending his shinobi off on errant errands." Naruto just nodded and tossed her the scroll; he didn't know what was on it but he didn't really care all that much, probably some boring economical thing he wouldn't care about anyway.

"Really, just a scroll? You been demoted or something?" Naruto grinned sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head.

"Nah, Gaara couldn't take away my rank if he tried." He chuckled, knowing that Gaara would never do that to him; threaten him with it maybe but never actually go through with it. "We were coming this way anyway so he thought we might as well, I can move faster than most." Tsunade raised a brow, her lips tugging into a tight smirk.

"Yes, I heard you can even give the Raikage a run for his money in the speed department." Naruto just shrugged, not wanting to tell her that he was now even faster than A, having beaten his highest speeds a few months ago. "So where were you heading that made you so ideal a messenger?" Naruto smiled sheepishly, he had hoped she wouldn't ask that.

"Kumogakure." Tsunade let out a small huff of a laugh in bemusement.

"Hardly 'on the way' don't you think?" Naruto shrugged but Tsunade's eyes became a bit more serious as they took in his tense posture. "Naruto, why are you really here?" Naruto seemed to tense even more before his whole body seemed to slump in defeat; he hadn't been sure how to broach the topic anyway and this was better than nothing.

"I want to see Sasuke Uchiha." Tsunade went back to having one eyebrow raised in curiosity while her eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"And why would you be looking to speak to one of our prisoners?" Naruto's eyes widened slightly, he hadn't expected them to imprison Sasuke, at least not for this long anyway.

"Actually, I was hoping to examine his curse mark. There are a few tests I want to run on it, see if I can come up with a counter seal or even a way of removing it entirely." Tsunade scrutinized him, looking for any deception in his voice of face but found none. Naruto wasn't a very good liar, or at least most believed that was true, in actuality he was so good at lying that people believed that he couldn't tell a lie to save his life.

"I'm sorry, I can't help you." Naruto's face twisted into a small frown, he hadn't expected her to deny him; it wasn't like he was going to hurt the Uchiha, much.

"If it's about-" Tsunade raised a hand to quiet him before continuing.

"I can't help you because Sasuke is no longer in Konoha." Naruto closed his mouth, looking at the Hokage curiously. "About a month after he was placed in the ANBU jail a squad of Oto-nin led by Kabuto Yakushi infiltrated the village and took off with him. At the time he was undergoing a lot of mental and psychological evaluation with the Yamanaka clan so he was declared a bit unstable. After that Orochimaru essentially went into hiding, we've heard barely anything from him in the past two years." Naruto cursed in his head, this set his plans back a lot, now he would have to take a lot more time examining Tayuya's mark, time he didn't have if Akatsuki had their way.

"Are you sure-?" Tsunade raised a hand for him to quieten down again.

"Listen Naruto, if you are really set on going after Sasuke your best bet is to find Orochimaru. If I'm right then the snake bastard's plans revolve a lot around the young Uchiha. You aren't one of my ninja, but Suna and Konoha are allies and thanks to your friend the Kazekage and all his treaties with the other nations Konoha has never been in a bigger financial boom. That means I am allowed to let slip information every now and then, to repay the favour if you will. Rumours have it that the snake will be moving on the Sanbi. After the Mizukage and previous jinchuuriki Yagura was overthrown it was let loose, and he is presumed dead." She leaned back from her position on the desk, her conspiratorial whisper returning to her usual voice.

"But aside from all that it really is good to see you Naruto. If you plan on staying around the village then we should catch up." She smiled warmly and Naruto returned it while inside he was running through the information she had given him. He smirked internally. 'Looks like we're going back to Kirigakure.' He nodded in Tsunade's direction and she nodded back, letting them know they could leave now.

Outside it didn't take long for Tayuya and Naruto to look at each other and nod with a smile before setting off at a fast pace towards Anko's apartment building. They jumped across the rooftops this time to avoid the odd and penetrating looks of the villagers. This actually improved their travelling speed and they made it across the village in only a few minutes, having to slow down a bit to let Fuu catch up. She might have had stamina nearly comparable to Naruto and Bee but she lacked the speed that kept them out of her league.

When they arrived at the familiar green door that marked Anko's apartment and knocked, they received no reply. Tayuya knocked even harder but again they got no reply, she just turned to Naruto and shrugged.

"Maybe she's on a mission." Naruto was a little down heartened; he had been looking forward to seeing Anko again, and beating her in a spar. Just as they were about to turn away the heard the sound of the lock clicking on the other side of the door and it opened with a slow creak.

"Yeag, what id it?" Anko poked her head around the door, the top of a blanket evident around the bottom of her neck. She didn't look particularly healthy, her skin was a little pale and there were large bags under her eyes. From the way she spoke she had a blocked nose and looked at any moment like she was going to be sick. Her blurry vision took a moment to focus on the new arrivals and wondered if she had begun hallucinating if the Fourth Hokage was standing at her doorstep.

"Hi Anko-sensei." Naruto gave a cheery wave at the sickly-looking woman as she peered at him closer, obviously struggling with keeping her vision straight.

"N-Narudo?" He smiled and nodded, the action seemingly making the purple-haired woman a bit queasy as she turned a pale shade of green. "Whaddar you guys doing ghere" She sniffed loudly, sucking back a large piece of phlegm that made all three teens cringe a little, nobody liked being sick. Anko looked around the hallway, barely even noticing Fuu as she scanned their surroundings. "Well you mighd as well come in." She sneezed onto her blanket before moving aside to let them in.

Naruto and Tayuya were immediately hit by a wave of nostalgia from the time they spent here during their stint in Konoha, Everything was where they remembered but there were a few more knickknacks lying about on the shelves and sofa. Anko enjoyed taking mementos from her various missions and displaying them around her apartment like little trophies. She shuffled in after them, securely wrapped up in a blanket that forced her to take small measured steps to get around. They all sat down on the couch with Anko flopping down next to them closest to the box of tissues.

"So Anko, what happened to you?" The woman chuckled but the action sent her into a fit of violent coughs that made Naruto shy away from her slightly.

"Turns oud thad Hayate wasn't faking id for once, basdard sneezed on me during a mizzan a few days ago." Naruto and Fuu couldn't really sympathise with her, being physically incapable of getting ill but Tayuya managed to send a small comforting pat Anko's way, she hated being sick more than most, especially because Naruto couldn't. Anko just screwed up her eyes for a moment before letting out a large sneeze as she melted back into the couch, really becoming bothered with the illness.

"So whad are you guys duing back here?" Naruto turned on the couch, carefully staying a little distance away from Anko.

"We were passing through and thought it would be a good idea to come and see you." Anko smiled in the way only somebody sick could do and captured Naruto in a very weak hug,

"Aww, well isn'd thad sweed." She let him go, looking over him appraisingly, some of the old glint coming back into her eye. "You know Narudo, you god preddy hod." She smiled seductively but it didn't quite come out that way with her pallid complexion and slightly bloodshot eyes. "If Tayuya becomes doo droublesome then I'm always around." She smiled again but had to break away to blow her nose loudly. Tayuya found the scene so hilarious she couldn't even berate Anko for what she said while Naruto just laughed nervously.

"Thanks Anko, I'll keep that in mind." He looked over at Tayuya apologetically while she just shrugged, looking rather indifferent to the whole thing. "So how have you been?" Anko finished blowing her nose, taking a peek inside the tissue which once again made everybody cringe before she threw it in the bin with the rest of its kind.

"Bid of this, bid of thad, made Jounin. By the way if you're going do see Hana, don'd bother, she's on a mission." Naruto nodded with a smile, he was glad she was promoted, he felt as though she deserved it. She seemed to be nodding off as she spoke, her eyelids drooping as her words became slower and more drawn out. Eventually she could barely keep them open before she dropped onto the couch while the other three just looked at her dozing form incredulously.

"Well that wasn't how I fucking expected it to go." Naruto could only nod in agreement. "Now what?" Naruto shrugged before looking back at Anko's sleeping form. He sighed and hefted her into a bridal carrying position, getting a huff from Tayuya as he carried the sleeping Jounin across the apartment to her bedroom. The gentle swaying motions he made with his arms seemed to momentarily wake her up and she opened her eyes slowly, noticing she as now in her room, being carried.

"My, my Narudo, gedding a bid forward aren'd we?" Naruto just blushed but kept moving forward, hoping Anko would fall back to sleep so she wouldn't keep embarrassing him. Sure enough her eyelids started to droop again and she looked ready to fall back into slumber as he placed her gently underneath her purple bed sheets. "Id was good seeing you Narudo; if you see Orochimaru again, kick him in the nuds for me." With that she promptly passed out, snoring softly into the pillow as a small trail of drool edged its way out of the corner of her mouth.

"Sure thing Anko." He smiled at her; it would have been adorable to see the usually frightening woman so peaceful if he couldn't see the slight glint of the kunai under her pillow. He moved back out into the apartment, gently closing the door behind him. Tayuya had her arms folded across her chest, obviously annoyed at the way Naruto was with Anko. He sighed, knowing he was going to receive some form of punishment later but didn't say anything.

"Okay guys, we can stay here for a while or we can head out early for the Land of Water." Tayuya thought about it for a moment before looking out the window on the other side of the room.

"We might as well just go, I don't really want to keep seeing people give you those strange looks and we should catch up to the Sanbi before Orochi-pedo gets his hands on it somehow." Naruto nodded, acknowledging her points before turning to Fuu expectantly. She seemed to want to look around the village some more but she looked across at Tayuya who seemed impatient to leave and just nodded. Naruto smiled at his girls, not that he would ever call them that out loud, and nodded with enthusiasm.

"Okay then, if we leave now we should be able to get to Wave by nightfall." He looked across at Fuu sheepishly who just looked down embarrassedly. "And hopefully this time we can actually go where we intended to go." Fuu blushed and started for the door, quickly followed by Tayuya who just wanted to go. Finally Naruto gave one last look around the apartment before smiling and gently shutting the door behind him.


Naruto had wanted to show Fuu the view of Konoha from the Hokage monument but he thought that leaving quickly would probably be for the best. As they walked down the streets they continued to get glares of mistrust and suspicion that were beginning to drive Naruto crazy. He was tempted to turn to them and demand to know what it was they kept whispering about but he knew that would be a mistake. He needed to keep as low a profile as he could; there was no use in drawing attention to himself.

Unconsciously the trio quickened their pace to the gates, mindful to stay to more out of the way routes through less crowded alleyways. They reached the gates slower than they would have liked, knowing that roof hopping would have also garnered the attention of the local ANBU. He let out a small sigh of relief as he finally stepped outsides the gates and what felt like the oppressive confines of Konohagakure.

There wasn't much to say between the three of them as they moved through the forest, all of them too lost in their own thoughts from their brief experience in Konoha. Tayuya was staring at the back of Naruto's head, watching his spiky hair bob up and down as he leapt from tree to tree. Out of nowhere a kunai lodged itself directly in Naruto's torso, followed by a multitude of others that all made a sickening thud when they landed. Tayuya nearly cried out in shock but was smart enough to duck out of the way of the ten or so Kunai aimed in her direction.

She managed a small sigh of relief as Naruto's seemingly lifeless body burst into a log, embedded with all the kunai. She ducked into a nearby clearing, what appeared to be an old abandoned training ground, overgrown with weeds and the encroaching flora of the forest. Her eyes darted around as Fuu landed next to her, worrying about her big brother even though she had seen him get away with a quick substitution jutsu.

Suddenly a man flew out of the tree line, or more accurately he was thrown out, and landed painfully at the centre, his leg obviously injured. He tried to hobble away while Tayuya and Fuu watched in morbid fascination; he was quickly halted as a very recognisable kunai shot from the direction he had been thrown from and pinned the man by his cloak to a nearby tree. Naruto jumped into view, not a scratch on his person and looking extremely angry; he had seen the kunai aimed for Tayuya and had quickly caught this man, not even bothering to play with him first.

"Who are you and why did you attack us?" His voice was even but you could definitely hear the strain that had to use to keep the anger from infecting his words. Now that he was out of the forest he could see the man better, not that there was much to see. He wore a shapeless black cloak which covered most of his form, only leaving his sandal-clad feet on display. His face was hidden by a pristine porcelain mask which was inscribed to look like some demonised animal, almost like an ANBU operative but not quite.

The man looked up at him without uttering a word, or at least his mask tilted up, the eye holes were darkened to the point that Naruto couldn't tell where his eyes were looking. Naruto knew what was about to happen as he felt the man's smirk from behind the mask but couldn't react to stop it. Everybody heard a subtle crunch before the man convulsed violently, ending up limp on the floor. Naruto sighed, knowing this was an effective strategy for withholding information but he didn't know that many people who would actually be willing to go through with it.

Sure enough when he removed the mask to reveal an ordinary, but very pale face he saw the hints of foam at the corners of his mouth. He cursed while looking over the mask, it was definitely ANBU-issue but the animal was all wrong, they weren't supposed to look intimidating, just help with knowing who was who considering their identities were classified. He hated poison; it made everything so inconvenient for him, now he wouldn't know why this man had even attacked them.

He threw the mask down at the man in disgust, the simple porcelain object hitting the man in the face enough to make it loll to the side and his mouth to open. Naruto was about to turn around before he noticed the most peculiar thing about his tongue; it seemed to have a tattoo on it. Tayuya looked at him oddly as he bent down and steadied the man's face with his hand before opening his mouth. He grimaced as he reached in and pulled out the tongue, reaffirming his earlier observation of the black markings adorning the man's tongue.

Now that he could look closer though it was apparent it was in fact a seal, a very high quality one too. He could see the workings of a silencing array built in to be set off at a certain trigger word which he couldn't discern. He also saw a kill-switch worked in there, well hidden beneath other such suppression and information-blocking seals. In all it was like a slave collar, just without the actual collar itself and it made Naruto wonder just what type of person would allow a seal like this to be placed on their body.

Pulling out a scroll that he liked to jot down notes on he copied out the seal, taking extra care to make sure everything was perfectly in place; he could examine it more later. Finally he stood up, just as Tayuya walked over, carefully examining the man for herself to make sure there weren't any hidden surprises for them. A ninja willing to commit suicide to save information might also carry explosive tags as a back-up measure.

"What are you doing?" Naruto just pointed down to the man where the seal was still visible on his lolling tongue. "A seal? What does it do?" She waited for a few more moments as Naruto finished copying out the seal in exquisite detail, using practised and perfected brush strokes to recreate it down to the last detail.

"Basically it's a kill-switch and a preventive measure to stop this man from speaking about certain things. From what I can tell it's directly connected to certain nerve in his brain and would probably completely paralyse him, preventing him from talking about specific things." Tayuya winced, also wondering why anybody would have their body imprinted with such a seal, unconsciously moving her own hand to rub the one adorning her neck. Naruto caught the subtle action, pre-empting her thoughts before she could voice them.

"No, I don't think it was forced on him. This would have prevented anybody from speaking about what it was their master wanted hidden but I could have removed it given time. No, he killed himself to protect the information, that shows loyalty to whatever the cause is..." he looked down at the body again "...or was. Whoever sent him knew I know fuinjutsu. This time it wasn't a threat, this guy was probably a chuunin but they could send out more." He sighed to himself, now they had this to worry about on top of everything else.

"Come on, if we wait around here to long we won't get to wave before nightfall." Tayuya looked at him, then back at the man on the floor before looking back to Naruto and walking past him. He gave a comforting smile to Fuu whose eyes were rooted on the dead man on the floor. He walked over and placed an arm around her shoulders, bending down slightly so he was on her level. "Come on Fuu, we have to go now." She seemed startled, coming out of her haze and looking at him questioningly making him sigh. He hated to take away her innocence like this but if it meant she was alive and safe then it was a sacrifice he was willing to make.

"Come on, let's go." With a smile he picked her up with one arm and slung her onto his back, grinning up at her as she settled into a more comfortable position. "If we hurry then you can go see your friend Chojuro in another day." Fuu smiled and gripped Naruto's shoulders a little harder, giving him the go ahead to start running, something he gladly did.