Naruto ran, he ran far and he ran fast. He didn't even know where he was going, just the he had to get away. What was it worth anymore? He was a failure. He couldn't tell when he was being manipulated. He chose to break his word. He couldn't beat Sasuke. He had gotten Haku killed. He had hurt Hinata, and may have just destroyed her dream. The village was no closer to acknowledging him. What was it all for anymore? Where was the part where he did something right? He couldn't take this anymore.

Then don't... Release me, I'll take away all the pain... You remember the village in wave? Wouldn't it be nice to go back there again? No one will accept you here, you will only continue to cause pain and death to those you love most. It would be over so quickly for you, all you have to do is come into your mind, and break the seal. Such a simple action and it could be over for you. You'll never find happiness here... Never.

Naruto tried to silence the voice, but it was gaining strength, it was blocking all of his thoughts, all he could hear was the voice of the Kyuubi, constantly reminding him of his failures, and how he was doomed to forever be lonely. That even those who did accept him would only get pain in return. Naruto kept running, he didn't even notice he had fallen to all fours and had long ago left the village. He just kept going and going. He stopped short, his mind picking up a familiar scent. Something he wanted to wipe off the planet entirely.

"What do you know, he came to us Itachi." Naruto could feel the power seep into him, and he lost himself in it. He had something he could take out his anger on now.

"Careful Kisame, this isn't the same game as last time."

"Yea, Yea. Let's just get him already." Naruto shot forward and slammed his fist into the big fish, and though his hand hurt like hell, Kisame still disappeared into the undergrowth, leaving furrows of ground where his heels had been.

"Uzumaki, surrender or I will resort to... a different tactic." In response Naruto simply closed his eyes and gathered chakra to his ears and nose, he then darted forward ready to destroy the only man Naruto had ever truly hated. Sasuke would have to get over it.

Naruto met something hard blocking his way. It was sucking the chakra from him. "Now now, play nice."

Naruto tried to shove past whatever it was that was blocking him, but it stood firm. "That won't happen again little fox." Naruto drew more deeply on the power in his stomach, two tails went around what was blocking him, flanking the man, trying to pierce the arrogant bastard.

His tails pierced through it, but instead of flesh and blood, they hit water. Freed to advance, Naruto burst forward. Naruto once again slammed into the same barricade that had stopped him before, quick as lightning his tails flashed forward, once again they hit water. Naruto charged forward but when he hit the barrier the third time he simply vaulted right over it. He hit the ground as his tails hit the unprotected back of the clone. He zigzaged towards Itachi, who stayed just one jump ahead of him, Naruto felt bite after bite upon his chakra, but since it was simply a flea bite he kept on ignoring it.

Naruto roared and increased his speed finally his teeth hit something solid. "I've had enough of this game." Naruto tried to bite through the sword only to feel a hundred thousand volts course through his body. Screeching in pain Naruto jumped backwards, and this time he could tell he was being chased. Naruto avoided the sword as it stabbed towards him quickly. Naruto's back hit something that didn't budge. His tails tried to hit the clone, only to find they disappeared before hitting the target. As the sword plunged into Naruto's side, he could only roar in agony. A roar that quickly changed into a raw ball of power. Looking towards Itachi, he swallowed the ball. As the chakra signals fleed away from him, Naruto unleashed the bomb and vaporized the entire landscape of their general direction. The chakra signatures were wiped out, completely destroyed beyond all human comprehension. Naruto roared in triumph. A sword emerged through his chest as he roared in pain again.

"Nice timing on that Itachi, if that had been aimed at us, I'm not sure Samheada could have offered any protection.

Naruto felt something tugging in the back of his mind, without thinking he pulled back. Naruto felt himself disappear, much like one of his shadow clones did.


Naruto lay on something soft. He didn't know where he was, but it was warm. Cold wet stuff fell on his face, which made him second guess that. Opening his eyes, Naruto found himself laying in a fur coat on a bank of snow. A film crew stood next to him, eyes blinking in surprise. Naruto quickly and discretely checked himself for weapons and found nothing. He was also tied up, with chakra wire. This was not a good situation. Naruto supposed it was to late to feign sleep. "Can I ask why I'm tied up? And why for that matter we are on what appears to be an iceberg?"

A slight crunching of snow was all that alerted him of a ninja landing just out of his sight. "Only if I can ask why you were unconscious and almost completely buried in the snow. If you hadn't had almost the biggest reserves I have ever sensed, you'd be dead."

Naruto frowned and spoke without thinking. "Might have been better that way." Where'd that come from?

"Why do you say that?" Naruto grasped at the memory, but it faded away, eluding him, just out of grasp. That was a first.

"Um. I'm not sure."

"Alright... Yea, that works for me. Now tell me, which one do you carry?"

"What?" Naruto waited to long too respond, and the voice suddenly became more gleeful and... feminine? A face popped into view, a very confident and majestic face.

"Leaf... Your the Kyuubi aren't you?" A young woman with a Kumo headband looked him in the eyes.

"NO! NO MORE THAN YOUR THE... THE WHATEVER YOU CARRY!"

"Observant bugger aren't you, figured that out pretty quickly."

"Well I try."

"CUT! THAT'S A WRAP!" Both froze and looked towards cameras that had mysteriously pointed towards them. "Excellent, raw emotion, write them into the script and find them a reason to do this."

"YOU BASTARDS! ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME?" They both turned towards each other in shock.

"STOP SAYING WHAT I'M SAYING!"

"NO YOU STOP!"

"STOP THAT!"

The kumo ninja got right up in Naruto's personal space as that argument happened, Naruto would have returned the favor, except he was still tied up to the point he could only slightly move his head.

"CUT! EXCELLENT! WORK IT IN!" Naruto came way to close to putting a resengan into his side in an attempt to destroy the wire holding him. The Kumo nin didn't have that problem. She disappeared and reappeared next to the camera ready to destroy it. But looking into the camera she suddenly stopped, she grinned and smoothed her hair. Naruto would have sworn she looked like a cat getting the..

"YOUR NIBI!"

"Don't start that again."

Naruto rolled over and started worming away from the camp. A kunai thudded in front of him. "And where do you think your going?"

"Home, Hinata-Chan needs me." A flash of pain shot through his mind and Naruto could swear he was forgetting something.

"Who's this Hinata-Chan, your girl friend?"

Once again Naruto spoke without thinking. "No." And suddenly it burst out, that whole night he had tried to block away. It hurt. It hurt so much.

An explosion showered ice down towards the crew. Naruto payed no attention as a huge wall of snow rushed down the mountain. A wall of blue fire rose to meet it.

YOU BELIEVE HIM OVER ME. No, no he couldn't have. Naruto closed his eyes tightly

The screech of metal on metal clanged through the air.

IF YOU WOULD JUST LISTEN TO ME. He would, he would always listen to her. Why hadn't he? Naruto grabbed at his hair, pulling at it.

A wave of heat and cold battered the air around him.

BECAUSE I'M RIGHT! When had he become so arrogant? So absolutely sure in himself. Hadn't Haku taught him anything?

A crunching of snow and the sound of something whistling through the air.

If you can't trust me, or have faith in me Naruto, than I will not marry you, and I won't let you force me. Something smashed into Naruto and disintegrated against the full fury of the Kyuubi's cloak.

"HINATA!" It came out more of a roar than anything else. Now he had three perfect targets, they had attacked first, and so all moral responsibility went right out the window. Why should he hold back?

The big guy went down first. He was still sitting there looking at the remains of his arm when Naruto grabbed what was left of the wire. He twirled the wire and the guy immediately was yanked off his feet. Two spins later and he impacted the peak of the Iceberg. Naruto felt a moment of pity for the one with pink hair. He considered going for gray first, but when those sharp needles of snow pressed their tips into his cloak all mercy went away. Naruto pounced at her, only her wings snapping out as she flew into the air kept her from succumbing to his claws. Naruto howled and the wind around his battered her into the sky, sending her spiraling through the air and away. Now gray was left, turning to him, all he saw was a giant white whale falling from the sky. Naruto's three tails rushed to catch it as two more joined them. The five tails smashed right through the whale carving it into separate pieces.

The parts shattered the Iceberg, but spared the ship and crew. Gray was gone, and all that was two opposing flames, one of blue and the one of red.

Naruto looked towards the Cat, who's flames slowly dwindled and disappeared. Robbed of justification, Naruto slowly released his own.

"I suppose this means I can trust you." A single Kunai was given to him, it was of a design Naruto had never seen.

"Whats this?"

"Its the only thing you had on you, besides the horribly destroyed tux."

"Ero-Sennen is going to kill me."

"You've met the Gallant Jiraya?"

"The Gallant Jiraya?"

"Kid, you have no idea do you. His reputation is just that. Even the most hardened and paranoid Ninja know that if Jiraya gives you his word, the sun would sooner set in the east than it be broken. A favor owed by Jiraya is enough Capital to buy a city. I think the city of New Hope came into being that way."

"Really?"

"No I'm just joking with you, he's really the old pervert you think he is. OF COURSE REALLY DUMB ASS!"

"FUCK YOU! I BECAME A NINJA TEN MONTHS AGO! I HAVN'T HAD TIME TO LEARN ALL THIS SHIT!"

"You're still a genin!" Her laughter was seriously starting to hate her.

"BY A TECHNICALITY!"

"CUT! THIS IS GOLD! TELL ME WE GOT ALL OF THAT!"

Two heads swiveled towards the ship and both quickly headed towards it. Something they should have started doing once the Iceberg started ripping apart. The ship slowly left the iceberg behind. Naruto stood near the edge of the ship watching it sink into the distance.

"Now seriously, where the hell am I? And who the hell are you?"

"My name is Ni Yugito, Ninja of Kumogakure. I'm on an escort mission protecting this film crew as they film their newest movie. We are currently off the coast of the land of snow. Now same to you."

"Uzumaki Naruto, no idea how I got here, might possibly be considered a missing nin."

"That could be a problem, I can't have a missing-nin from Konoha tagging along on a official mission from Kumo. It's bad for business... Wait, did you say Uzumaki?"

"Yea."

"I don't believe it, one of the descendants of Uzu. No wonder you are the host... Are you considering leaving Konoha?"

"Never, I'm the next Hokage."

"Well damn, the Raikage would have loved you."

"Can we go back to the part about me being a descendant of Uzu?"

"Oh, I forgot about how other nations treat their sacrifices. Your family were probably survivors of whatever happened to Uzu during the Third War."

"What happened to Uzu?"

"I don't know how to tell you kid, one day it was there, the next it wasn't. They didn't even have time to call for help, or if they did, it didn't make it past whatever destroyed them."

That was a mystery Naruto would have to leave behind. "Can I get a ship to Konoha from wherever we land?"

"Unlikely, from what I understand, they're going to be filming in some of the more rural areas. I'm not even sure we're going to be stopping at a port."

Naruto thought about that for a few minutes, it would take him forever to find his way back to civilization. What he couldn't understand is why those two would kidnap him, only to leave him on that iceberg. Or how they knocked him out in the first place, besides that one genjutsu Itachi had managed to use to make him miss them, he had been pretty sure he had successfully warded off the ones that Itachi had cast. Maybe he had been in the genjutsu the whole time, that might explain why he didn't have two holes in his chest. How much time had passed?

"Do you have what the date is?"

"LAND HO!" Yugito walked away, towards the captain, all conversation forgotten. Naruto decided he would head below decks and catch some sleep. He picked a room at random and just walked in, after all, everyone should be top side right? There was a naked woman, one of his favorite actresses, sitting on the bed staring at a open wardrobe. She looked to be staring blankly at it, but had broken out of her thoughts when she heard the door opening. A book slamming into the side of Naruto's head and much screaming of insults, made him remember it was impolite to stare. He hurriedly closed the door and marched away, happy that the walls of the ship were so thick. He really didn't need that kinda drama right now. The next room he tried, he knocked first. When he got no response, he opened the door. Finding a group of bunkbeds, Naruto chose one and quickly hopped into it.. He was gonna need that energy for his journey home.

When he did get home, Hiashi would suffer. Naruto was done being a little boy in a adults world. When he got home, he was going to war, and no one was going to keep him from his Hinata-chan. If she was ok with it, that is.

The lines were drawn, the tactics well sound. Naruto would have victory. For now, he would sleep, and when he awoke, it would be the first time the new him would open his eyes.


Because all indications show the leaf heading to war, the director chose Kumo instead of Konoha to film part of his movie, this lead to a different escort. Kumo doesn't let anyone lie to them, they have many agreements with the manager about certain concessions and trade agreements that shall be made upon the new Snow government. That is the only reason they lent one of their greatest weapons for a "escort mission"

Yes, Naruto hirishined out of there. He's not aware of this. He probably won't figure it out for awhile yet.