Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto nor do I gain money from writing stories about them.

A/N: I know it's taking a good bit but since I've been working it will probably take even less since I've been working whenever I have time on the story. I'm just wondering what the hell to do and why these people believe that I won't do what I say. I've already gotten a job so that should tell them that I'm serious about this. Anyway, just read and you will enjoy it, hopefully.

Thanks to:

Melyway: Well, here is the new chapter, I hope you love it and are enjoying the Holidays.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Sakura and Naruto were sitting on the stacks of timber that the carpenters were using to rebuild the village. "There's so much I want to tell Tsunade," Naruto tells her as she looks down while tugging lightly on one of her pig tails.

"Don't worry; I'm sure she'll wake up soon! She's the Hokage; after all, she's a strong woman! She'll be fine!" She tells her before she looks down showing her sad eyes. 'Why am I trying to cheer her up? I'm the one who needs cheering up, Naruto.'

"Long time no see, Naruto! Sakura!" A loud voice says, drawing their heads up in shock. There stood Tazuna and Inari, who is rubbing a towel over his face. "I never thought I'd see you heroes again, Naruto!"

"Are you?" Sakura stares at the two, confused at who they were. Naruto's eyes widen when her memory pops up both of them from when she was younger.

"Inari and Tazuna!" She shouts and stands up with a huge grin on her face. "Inari, you're all grown up! And you look even older, gramps."

"Give me a break," Tazuna sighs even though he has a grin on his face.

"I'm a carpenter now. We're here to help rebuild Konoha, and I thought I'd come and say hi to you guys while I'm here," Inari tells her. "You look so pretty, Sakura."

"Oh, really?" Sakura says as she blushes while pushing her hair back from her face.

"I'm sorry about what happened with Gato, but thanks to you, the land of waves is a prosperous nation now," Tazuna tells them.

"So now it's our turn to help you out!" Inari says as he smiles back at the two.

"Inari, thanks," Naruto says as she grins while rubbing the back of her head.

"Huh!? Oh, you're here already?" Kakashi says as he approaches the small group.

"Hey, Kakashi! We came as soon as we heard Konoha was in trouble!" Tazuna shouts at him.

"I see," he says as he walks closer.

"Huh?" He cocked his head to the side.

"What is it? If there's anything you need, just let me know," Kakashi tells them.

"Where's Sasuke?" He asks the younger man. "I wanted to talk to him, too."

"Oh," Kakashi says as he looked at the blond out from the corner of his eyes, him doing this made the two males confused. "Uh, the thing is…Sasuke's, uh."

"Sasuke and I had a fight, so he left the village for a while, but…I'll bring him back soon! You can say hi when he gets back," she tells them as she laughs fakely. "I'm sure Sasuke'd love to see you again.

"Y-yeah," Sakura stutters out.

"What was the trouble, some sort of love triangle?" He asked her as he remembers the fights they had when they were at his village helping him build the bridge.

"Of course not!" Naruto says with more force than needed.

'Heh, she really won't even let me talk about Sasuke anymore. I guess there will never be any hope for me,' Sakura thought as she stared at the girl with a wry smirk on her face.

'Sasuke, where are you?' Naruto thought as she slowly lowers her hand from waving goodbye to the two. Memories of her and Sasuke's fight flew through her brain. "I understand now how Sasuke felt," she said, drawing the other two's attention to her. Kakashi stared at her with a confused eye, not sure what she was getting at. "I know what revenge is," she said as she thought of what the last Pain told her and her eyes narrowed. "I thought I understood him, but really I didn't. NO wonder nothing I said to him got through."

"Naruto," Sakura says before the girl turns and smiles at the two.

"If I can't understand his pain, I can't laugh with him. No wonder he wouldn't even fight with me. It might hurt a lot, but I want to fight with him for real this time, 'cause I want team 7 to laugh together again, Sasuke included!" She says as she grins and puts her arms behind her head, making the other two smiles at her. Suddenly, they could hear what sounds like a running animal behind them; they turn and see Kiba sliding towards them on top of Akamaru.

"There you are!" He shouts out at the three.

"Kiba! What is it?" Sakura asks.

"Listen, just calm down and listen! Tsunade's been dismissed as Hokage!" He shouts at them.

"What!?" Naruto asks as her eyes widen.

"Huh?" Sakura says as she is shocked as well.

"The 6th Hokage is some guy named Danzo! I don't know him, but apparently he's pretty shady!" Kiba says still shouting.

"Danzo!" Sakura says as she had a bad feeling about this.

'Danzo! Oh this isn't going to be good…' Naruto thought.

'No shit, kit. How much you want to bet the next thing will be our Ninja's hunting down Sasuke?'The nine-tails said from inside of her, a growl sounding out inside of her chest.

"I have a bad feeling about this," Kakashi says.

"That's not the only thing! The new Hokage has given permission to dispose of Sasuke as a missing-nin," Kiba gasps out.

"What the hell do you mean!?" Naruto asks with a trembling voice and her eyes tearing up a little.

"I don't know myself!" Kiba tells her, feeling bad to be the one to bring tears to her eyes.

"They're not willing to wait for Tsunade to recover, it's not surprising," Kakashi tells her, "and its true Sasuke is a missing-nin. The usual punishment for that is death. It's only because Tsunade was so lenient that he hasn't been killed yet."

"I'm…going to see Danzo!" Sakura tells her team leader.

"Wait, Sakura! Storming in there and yelling at him won't solve anything," Kakashi tells her as he holds her back.

"But Tsunade hasn't even woken up, it's not fair! And then there's Sasuke! I can't stand by and let this happen!" She shouts at the man.

"I'm going too," Naruto says as she spins around to leave.

"Calm down, both of you. You have to stay cool-headed or it'll just make things worse," he tells them as he wants to grab the girl and pin her down along side Sakura.

"How can I be calm!? I won't let him lay a finger on Sasuke! You know what Danzo is like if he gets his way, Kakashi-sensei!" She shouts at him as she tries to ward him off.

"I said wait!" He yells and grabs her arm. "Danzo knows you'd react like this, what are you going to do when you see him?"

"I won't attack him! I'm just going to ask him to change his mind about Sasuke!" She shouts at him as she knows that if she doesn't Sasuke is as good as dead.

"I know you can't just leave it at that when it comes to Sasuke! Mostly because you have the twins in mind, but the Jonins may not have voted yet, but Danzo is still Hokage for the time being. One wrong move and you could get thrown in jail," he tells her as worry fills him.

"I don't care! I'm going!" Naruto shouts back at him and yanks her arm from his grasp.

"Me, too!" Sakura shouts.

"H-hey, guys…" Kiba mutters, trying to get their attention.

"Naruto, you have the nine-tailed beast within you, that's why Danzo wants to keep you in the village. You'll be playing right into his hands, not counting he isn't really informed on who the twins are since we have been keeping it hush hush about them. If you don't calm down then you won't be able to look for Sasuke, stay calm," he tells her as he looks into her blue orbs.

~3~

Naruto and Sakura were walking around the ridges where Sai was waiting. 'Should I really…relax?' He thought and his eyes flashed up to where he saw his two team members approaching.

"Sai, we were just looking for you!" Sakura says as they run up to him when they first set their eyes on him.

"I wanted to ask you something," Naruto tells him as she stops in front of him.

"What?" Sai asks.

"Tell us more about Danzo," Sakura tells him.

"I can't," he says, drawing surprise to his teammates.

"Why not!?" Naruto shouts.

"Are you taking his side!?" Sakura shouts right besides Naruto.

"No, that's not it. I literally can't talk about him, because of this," he says and opens his mouth showing a seal on the back of his tongue.

"No fucking way, dammit," Naruto grits as she glares down at the ground. "A silence seal."

"A seal?" Sakura asked as she was confused.

"Yeah, Danzo put it on me. If I try to talk about him, my whole body will be paralyzed and I'll be unable to talk or move, all the foundation members have it," he says and cocks an eye at Naruto. "How do you know of this seal, Naruto?"

"Because it's one of the seals that were stolen from my clan," she growls out and punches the rock wall besides her. "I wasn't even old enough to protect our family seal scrolls and it became a lost cause on who stole it but it winds out that Danzo isn't just a creep but a thief as well."

"He's really cautious," Sakura says as she turns to Sai.

"Damn, so they weren't the ones who developed it after all…" He sighs and looks at Naruto then at Sakura. "Danzo and the foundation are top secret. We've done a lot of dirty deeds to protect the village, so he has to make sure no info can get out. Even if we're captured, no one can make us talk."

"But, I don't get how he could do that to his own men!" Sakura protests.

"That's how he's protected Konoha. You may not approve of his methods, but he cares about the village," Sai tells them.

"Then why did he go back on Tsunade's promise about Sasuke!? He's planning to kill Sasuke!" Sakura shouts.

"R-really? I haven't heard anything about that," Sai says and his eyes widen when a tan woman with dark hair pulls out her sword and point it at Sakura, making Naruto go on defense.

"Tell me everything you know about Sasuke! Since he seems to be a friend of yours!" She demands. Sai winces as Naruto takes his sword and deflects the sword the woman was holding away from pointing it at Sakura. She throws her elbow towards the woman but before she could connect, the white haired man that was with the woman stops it with the end of the hilt of his sword.

'Kagebunshin no Jutsu!' Naruto thought as soon as she formed the seals even while holding Sai's short sword. The woman swings her body around about to retaliate.

"Don't cut them!" The man tells her.

"I know!" She shouts at him and swings her sword around so the blunt side would be what she attacks with. When Naruto's shadow clone appears she uses both hands and grasps the blade of the woman's sword. "Whoa!"

"Take this!" Sakura shouts as she boosts Chakra into her fists, while Sai swung his foot around, missing the male who ends up kicking his foot into Sakura's abdomen causing her to fly from the kick that draws a cry from her lips.

"Sakura!" Naruto shouts as she rushes to her teammate's side but before she could reach her the woman swings around and brings an elbow to the side of Naruto's clones head, making it disappear. "What're you doing!?" Naruto shouts at them as she helps Sakura sit up, Sai quickly going to their side.

"Kumogakure Ninjas? What're you doing here!?" Sakura wonders.

"You were talking about Sasuke! Tell us about him!" The male demands.

"What does it have to do with you!?" Sakura grits out as her eyebrows narrow.

"Everything! Uchiha Sasuke attacked our village!" He shouts as he points at her, making the trios eyes widen in shock.

"That missing-Nin Uchiha took our Master! We don't even know if our Master is dead or alive!" The woman shouts.

"N-no way, why would Sasuke…do that!?" Sakura squeaks out.

"How should I know what Akatsuki wants!?" The male shouts.

"What do you mean Akatsuki!?" Naruto asks as her eyes widened. Unknowingly, two pairs of eyes peek over the cliff and watched on to the confrontation.

"Huh!? Are you kidding!? Sasuke is a member of Akatsuki!" When she shouts this everyone was shocked.

"Raikage sent us here because you let that missing-Nin run free! We have permission from the Hokage to kill him now!" The man shouts at them as he glares at them.

'Sasuke, attacked their master?' Naruto pales.

"We will have our revenge!" The man tells them.

"We'll destroy Uchiha!" The woman tells them.

'Sasuke, what happened to you!?' Naruto wonders as tears fill her eyes. The woman pointed her sword at them again.

"Tell us everything you know about Sasuke, including his style and techniques. We need everything you've learned about Akatsuki and Sasuke's allies," she demanded.

"Y-you've gotta be kidding! How could Sasuke be a member of Akatsuki!?" Sakura asks.

"God, you're so annoying! What's Sasuke to you anyway!?" She growls out to the pink haired girl.

"I…I…" Sakura says as she started tearing up, making Naruto growl out as she starts crying.

"Nothing, Sasuke doesn't like her, and that is all you're going to get from me," Naruto says as she blinks away her tears. "Are you sure!?"

"Yeah! We saw the Uchiha crest! The description matches up, too," she tells the blond as Sakura continues to cry and move away from Naruto. "What're you crying for!? I'm the one who wants to cry! Your crying won't bring Killerbee or Yugito back! If you've got time to cry, then tell me what you know about Sasuke!"

"Wait a minute," Sai says.

"Huh!?" The woman says.

"Now that the order's been sent out to kill Sasuke, I'm sure the village will provide you with all the information you need," Sai tells her. "You don't need to pressure these guys for it."

"Yeah, they will! Our team leader's being briefed right now! We just thought we'd see if we could find out any more info!" She shouts again.

"We can't just sit around! Not when we don't know what happened to our master!" The guy shouts. "You guys can't understand how that feels!" When he says this, Naruto thought of Jiraiya and the fact that he was her master and killed making her want to avenge him.

"Is your master a host?" She asks them.

"How did you know!?" The guy asks.

"I'm a host, too. Akatsuki is going after all of us; this is my fight, too. Akatsuki wants the hosts alive, so your master may still be alive yet," she tells them.

"What!?" The guy says as his jaw drops, barely holding his sucker inside of his mouth.

"Really!?" The woman says as her eyes widen.

"You should try to rescue him before going after Sasuke!" Naruto tells them.

"Are you sure? Are you really, really sure!?" The guy asks, desperately.

"I told you he wouldn't go down that easily!" The woman says with a smile on her lips.

"I'll help you guys find him, I'll tell you everything I know about Akatsuki," she says.

"You're smarter than you look, Blondie! Tell us about Sasuke, too!" The woman says as she swings her sword so it's pointing away from them.

"Naruto!" Sakura tries to protest but the blond closes her eyes in annoyance.

"Leave this to me, Sakura," she tells her and stands up.

"What's your name?" The woman asks.

~3~

"This is good enough, isn't it?" The woman says as she pushes the girl up against the side of one of the newly built houses. "Ok, tell us about Sasuke." She demands and Naruto stares at her without even uttering a peep. "Tell us everything you know, everything about him." She closes her eyes, seeing Sasuke's smirking face in her memories. "What's the matter? Come on, tell us!"

"I can't do it, I can't betray him," she tells the woman as she looks down with tears shining in her eyes, making the woman's eyes widen.

"You've gotta be kidding! You bitch, how can you say that now!?" She demands from the blond, pushing her arm into Naruto's throat now. "What's going on!? Say something!"

"I know it's selfish, but I can't sell him out," Naruto tells her, not giving her the reason.

"Bitch!" The woman shouts as she presses her arm more into Naruto's throat.

"I understand you wanting revenge, but if you let hatred have control and kill Sasuke, my friends might not let that go!" Naruto squeaks out as the woman is constricting her throat. "They'll get their own revenge and it'll just keep going! Friends we're supposed to protect will end up killing each other!"

"Your friend Sasuke's the one who started all this! I don't care about anyone else! I'm gonna kill him!" She shouts in her face.

"So, what should we do with our hatred? How are you going to make it up to us!?" The man asks as he stares at her through confused eyes as the young woman stares down at nothing.

"Hit me as much as you want, that's all I can…" As soon as Naruto says this, the woman sends a punch to her cheek, making Naruto's head snap to the side and her whole body loses balance to hit the floor with a cry.

"That's a little too convenient! You think that'll really make us feel better!? Well, let's give it a try, then! Come on!" The woman shouts as she straddles the blond and sends another punch to her the same cheek, drawing a cry of pain along with a splatter of blood. Sai watches from behind a tree, trying to figure out why Naruto is letting her do this. After beating on her for a while, the woman is panting for breath and Naruto staggers as she gets up onto her feet again, her face worse for wear along with her scuffed up clothes. The man stares at her, speechless that she is able to even stand on her feet. "I'm telling you, no amount of hitting you will make me feel better! I'll keep this up until you tell me about Sasuke!" She shouts as Sai gets a dark look on his face, hating that his friend is having to go through this. She growls out and raises her fist to punch her yet again, but Sai steps in and catches her fist, surprising the woman. "Don't interfere, this is what she wants." Sai's grip on the woman's hand tightens, showing the fury that he couldn't show on his face.

"Sai, stay out of this," Naruto tells him.

"Naruto, there's no need for you to get beat up for Sasuke's sake," he says as his brows furrow for the first time, showing he is pissed off.

"Shut up, it's…my decision," she says.

"Sasuke has done nothing but hurt you. If it were me…" Sai stops.

"Fine, if you're gonna interfere; I'll just hit you, too!" She raises her other fist but before she could hit him with it her companion catches her by her wrist.

"Give it a rest, Karui! Beating these two up won't get us anywhere. You know that, don't you!?" He tells her as he didn't want the two kids who just appeared to witness unneeded violence. She jerks her arm from his grasp with a humpf. Just as soon as the girl of the bunch comes up and pops her in her tit, drawing a cry from her lips.

"Leave my mommy alone," Shina growls out with red eyes as she lands on her feet from jumping just to land her hit. The two had wide eyes when they saw the toddler standing in front of Naruto and Sai, while the other one sat on a huge fox in as it slides in to protect its master.

"Little brat," she grits out as she rubs her boob. "Who are these kids," she wonders and turns her eyes to stare at her companion whose eyes are widened from shock, staring at the twins.

"She's your mom?" He asks the two, who nod.

"Why does that boy look so familiar?" The woman wonders and then saw the blond strands of his hair and her eyes widen. "No way, she's actually their birth mom." She grits her teeth and stands up straight. "Forget this, they promised they'd help us find Killerbee. What? You're not doubting their promise? That's not like you!"

"Naruto," Sai says as he holds her up, drawing the twins to stare at their mom.

"Even after all that, she wouldn't sell out her friend. She may be the enemy, but I like her. No one should be hasty with their words," he says as he stared at the woman's damaged face as he watched Sai help her sit. "No matter what you do, she's not gonna sell out Sasuke. She's not the type to go back on her word."

"Omoi, Karui, have you found out anything?" A blond woman asks as she runs up to them.

"Oh! Captain Samui," Omoi says and turns to stare at the woman, making Karui as well.

"You're not causing trouble, are you?" Samui asks as she saw the beaten girl leaning against the fence with two toddlers holding tears in their eyes as they stare at their mom.

"More importantly, we found out Killerbee might still be alive! We've gotta rescue him! First we've gotta find out where Akatsuki's hideout is!" Omui shouts out as Karui holds a guilty look on her face.

"Then what? What can we do against people who were able to capture Killerbee? Besides, what are we supposed to do, search their hideouts one by one? First we have to find out more information! We don't want a repeat of what happened with Yugito. We'll take our info to Raikage directly! There's too much to sort through ourselves," she tells the two.

"T-take me…with…you…I…want to help your host out," Naruto says as the twins glared back at the trio.

"Naruto," Sai says sternly.

"Besides, I want to talk…to Raikage…" She tells the woman.

"Talk to Raikage? You've gotta be kidding!" Karui shouts at her.

"Karui…" the woman holds a stern tone while holding her arm up to stop the young woman from going to hit the girl again. 'This kid is Naruto, the Uzumaki Naruto the whole village is talking about,' she thought as she hated the fact that two children had to watch this happen to the girl. "We don't know anything about you; I can't let you meet Raikage now when he won't have a full guard." Naruto stares down after she says this, depressed. "Come on, Karui, Omoi, let's go! We have permission to access all their info on Sasuke and Akatsuki. It'll take time to copy everything, so I'll need your help." The trio rushes off, jumping on construction sites.

"Sai," Naruto grits out, in pain.

"What?" He asks his friend as the twins stare at her.

"Take…me…to Kakashi and Yamato," she demands.

~3~

Inside one of the tents, we find Naruto who is being bandaged up by little Shina who seems to be used to this. Futarou is standing with a fox holding a sheet, glaring at the two. "No staring at ladies." He grumbles and stares at Sai who sighs and shakes his head at the boy.

"Maybe Sakura should take a look at you," Sai tells her.

"I don't want to have to explain this. Besides, I heal quickly, so it's ok," Naruto says with a smirk.

"I can wrap mommy's wounds pretty good, since I'm used to it. She never has to wear them for long though," she says as she kisses her mom's arm. "There, a kiss to make it heal faster." Yamato and Kakashi watched, grinning at Naruto's little nurse.

"Sai, I'm sorry and thanks," she stares at him with one eye as Shina makes Futarou drop the sheet since Naruto is all bandaged up.

"No problem," he says with a smile on his lips.

"They really did a number on you," Kakashi tells her and she giggles.

"Ow!" Naruto grits out as Sai checked the bandages that little Shina has done.

"S-sorry," Sai says and flinches when the toddler smacks him aside the head.

"Don't mess up my handy work!" She says sternly.

"You'd better rest for a while," Kakashi tells her.

"I have to go see the Raikage!" Naruto demands, making the two older males eyes widen in shock.

"What'll you do when you see him?" Kakashi asks.

"They'll be holding the conference soon! Every village has placed restrictions on missions and on leaving the village!" Yamato crabs at her.

"I'm gonna convince him to forgive Sasuke!" She smirks up at the two.

"You don't even have your seal anymore! As the host, you shouldn't be allowed to leave the village! Besides, in the last battle, you got all the way up to eight tails! You're lucky the seal worked and held back the fox, but what about next time?" He shouts at her. "And I have to help rebuild the village; I can't be with you all the time!"

"I met the 4th," she tells them and their eyes widen. "He's the one who stopped me from becoming the nine-tailed beast."

"Wh-what do you mean? The 4th is…" Yamato pauses.

"Not much is known about the Shiki Fujin technique. He must have put some of his energy inside Naruto at the end," Kakashi tells him.

"He told me, the guy with the mask from Akatsuki was behind the fox attack 16 years ago! And he was so strong not even the 4th could do anything against him! He said that guy's behind everything! He was just using Pain. If Sasuke's joined Akatsuki, then he's probably using Sasuke, too." Naruto tells them.

"It's just as Jiraiya feared. That's…who was behind the attack 16 years ago. He had the Sharingan. Madara is the only Uchiha missing-nin who hated Konoha that much and had the power to control the fox," Kakashi says as the room filled to the brim with tense air.

"When it comes to Madara, I could believe just about anything. Even that he was still alive," Yamato tells them.

'Madara,' Naruto remembers the conversation that he, Sasuke and Kyuubi had in his inner sanctum. "Who's Madara?"

"The former leader of the Uchiha clan, who's said to have been defeated by the first Hokage. We have to tell the elders, Sai!" Kakashi stares at the young man.

"Yes?" He stares back.

"You tell the Hokage," he says.

"Oh, ok," he replies, confused.

"Naruto! What did the 4th tell you?" He asks her.

"Huh?" She mumbles.

"Fathers usually have things to say to their children," he tells her as he remembers what his father said to him when he was in the death realm. Naruto smiles and grips the blanket in her hands.

"He said he has faith in me!" She grins widely even though it hurt.

"Great! You go after Raikage! Well, Yamato and I will go with you!" Kakashi flashes her a thumbs up before he pounds on Yamato's back.

"What!?" Yamato grits out not believing his ears.