Hanzou the Salamander was an old, old man now. He may have ruled the second part of Ame, but even he knew he would not live long enough to see the world finish.

"A messenger of Konoha has arrived, Hanzou-sama," a servant girl said.

"Allow him in," Hanzou said, setting his cup down.

The door opened, and there stood the one opponent Hanzou had never beaten - the opponent Hanzou had given a name to. The Sannin of the Toads. Jiraiya.

He looked a lot older than he had when Hanzou had seen him last. He supposed time made its mark on all ninja.

"Jiraiya, was it?" he asked.

Jiraiya looked solemn.

"We have a problem, Salamander."

Hanzou sighed. "I shouldn't have -"

"My students." Hanzou paused. "My students Nagato, Yahiko, and Konan. Tell me, Salamander - which one of them did you kill?"

Hanzou sighed again.

"None." Jiraiya glared at him. "I killed none of them," Hanzou repeated. "The orange-haired one died on his own. He pierced himself on a kunai - the kunai held in his best friend's hands." Hanzou chuckled. "Ironic, isn't it? Neither of them were willing to kill the other to save the blunette; but the orange-haired one killed himself to save her."

Jiraiya looked disgusted. He took a menacing step towards the old leader, to intimidate - only to pause.

"Doton: Mud wall!"

Paper pierced one wall. The maid was the only one spared the wrath of the blunette; Jiraiya's mud wall barely stopped the paper from slicing into them.

Jiraiya gave Hanzou one last look of loathing before sinking into the ground.

Hanzou didn't care any more, not even as the orange-haired man he'd thought died years before approached him, cold, purple, ringed eyes glaring at him.

~:~

Naruto grimaced as he kept his sword in his teeth, using it to make the guy he was fighting back up. But he'd come right back swinging, and it was getting quite annoying.

"Bakayarou, stop coming back!" he said in a muffled yell, swinging his sword and slicing his opponent's stomach and finally making the guy stumble back.

The wounded duo disappeared. Naruto's clones dispelled themselves, and Naruto had a sudden foreboding as he panted in sudden exhaustion, spitting out his blade and catching it. He put it back into its sheath, then formed a sand palanquin, making it to where he only had to spend only a little bit of chakra while he regained it.

"Come on," he said, frowning a little.

They all hopped on, and Naruto sat on the front. Omoi decided to join him, offering him a candy sucker.

Naruto accepted it with a smile, then started sucking on it while frowning and heading in the direction of the shrine.

~:~

Omoi glanced at the kid next to him. Neither eye was open, and he was breathing rather deeply, so it meant that he was asleep. Even as he slept, though, they sailed to the shrine, so the kid's inner bijuu must have been aiming the sand and keeping it afloat.

The kid was very interesting. C had his suspicions - that the strange boy had the exact same chakra signature as the girl who had attacked the Raikage, but his suspicion was pretty foundless as the boy was a boy.

Frowning, Omoi wondered if calling the girl who'd attacked the Raikage was really important; she'd used bijuu power to attack the Raikage, after all.

Natashi jerked, muttered something incomprehensible, then settled down.

Omoi blinked at the kid.

"Hey, is he asleep?" Karui popped up behind him. "Shion is."

"Yeah, he's asleep." Omoi looked up at her. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I'm just bored." Karui's gold eyes looked down at the kid. "That gaki is so damn naive."

"I don't think so," Omoi responded carelessly. "I think that no matter what he pretends, he's smart, dangerous, but he hurts in a way we'll never see. If it's what C expected, and this boy is the girl somehow, then I don't see any reason in telling Raikage-sama, if I'm honest."

Karui's eyes widened.

"I just think," Omoi continued, "that the boy has a reason for saying that the girl is dead."

"You trust the kid?" Karui asked, suspicion in her eyes.

"Yeah," Omoi smiled a little. "I suppose I do."

~:~

Naruto opened his eyes, feeling like he was well-rested. He was also laying on someone's shoulder, and sniffing, the scent was distinctly Darui's.

Face turning red, he sat up quickly, coughed, and announced, "It's been clear all night!"

"Yeah, we know," Omoi said, right above Naruto's head. "We traded shifts while you slept. How did you keep the sand moving?"

"It must've been Kyuubi..." Naruto sulked. "And here I was, planning on showing you all that I was a good shinobi, -ttebayo."

"Don't worry. You proved that earlier," Darui replied. "Now, we're heading into dangerous territory."

Naruto nodded, standing on his sand. "Alright. Spread out!"

Kage bunshin popped around them, standing on their own sand piles, spreading out.

"How'd you get through the self-preservation instincts of the Kage Bunshin?" Omoi wondered.

"Self-preservation instincts?" Naruto tilted his head, puzzled. "To, like, run away from death?"

Darui nodded.

"Oh, not sure I did," Naruto beamed. "But to protect those I love, I will die for them. In any and every way," he vowed.

One of his bunshin popped.

Naruto took a deep breath.

"Kyuubi. Let's do sync mode, and kick these guys' asses."

Hm!

Naruto exploded into golden chakra, and he knew where the enemies were. Darui's eyes were wide in shock, and Naruto grinned at him. Then he jumped on top of the sand palanquin, and summoned another bunshin... Which didn't need instructions as he started guiding the sand. Naruto jumped off, into the trees.