Hey beloved readers! I hope you like this chapter! I'm in an excellent mood, my brother's partner gave birth around 12 hours ago to a healthy baby girl so I'm super happy right now and I love you guys!

Karin and Sasuke had returned just over an hour later with a tent and food supplies, which the four kids took the time to enjoy before the sky turned dark.

And once it was dark enough Operation Mordern Art was a go.

They had decided to treat it like a mission, sneaking out of the forest and onto the monument with no one catching them.

And then had come the hard part. Each of them had four cans of the special spray paint tucked into bags slung over their shoulders-Orange, pink, blue and red, and they were each assigned a Hokage.

Karin had the Shodaime, Sasuke had the Nidaime, Sakura the Sandaime, and of course Naruto had the Yondaime, her father.

Once they were up there they'd hammered four little pegs into the top of the heads, which they wrapped ropes around, and the ropes were then tied around each of their waists-sure they could probably do it without any risk of falling but it would be a long fall if one of them slipped, and safety was important.

Then of course they were free to get to work, with Karin also having the job of keeping an eye on their surroundings-so to speak, after all she'd be able to sense it if anyone came close enough to catch them.

It took them some time, but after a lot of work they all hauled themselves back up onto the top of the heads, where they removed the pegs before heading back to the forest.

It would certainly be interesting to see their handiwork in the morning-it was too dark to get a look at what their work of art looked like-though Naruto very loudly declared that she was sure it as perfect.

And that night the stayed up most of the night-roasting some marshmallows Sasuke had swiped from the house over a fire and laughing together.

And when the morning came they found a particularly large tree that gave them a decent view over the top of the forest-and Naruto downright cackled at the sight of the painted monument-there were an array of glasses, silly mustaches, beards, scars and swirls painted all over the faces of the four Kages-truly a beautiful sight-Naruto almost wished she could be there when the first people noticed what had been done, but alas her three allies had all agreed it was safest to lay low in the forest for a few hours.

Which was why they spent the best part of the day messing around-well, it was messing around yes but it was also training.

Naruto and Sasuke teamed up against Sakura and Karin in a game of what was basically capture the flag-or in this case capture the ramen pot-

Sasuke had snatched it from Naruto's pack-the last one! And had declared that it was what was on the line.

The plan was to have one game with their current teams, then switch it up so it was Sasuke and Sakura vs Naruto and Karin. There would be no third game because Karin and Sasuke got along even worse than Naruto and Sasuke had at first-the red haired girl was still very pissed off about the fact that he'd upset Naruto even if they had worked things out-it seemed she was rather protective of the people who she actually loved and Naruto was top of that list.

And it was actually fun to play the way they were-Naruto had certain rules imposed on her-no Hirashin or Fuinjutsu allowed, and Sasuke wasn't allowed to use his Sharingan.

He'd complained at that, but Rin had put a blanket rule on his Sharingan in any case when he'd admitted that he'd activated his Mangekyou-Sasuke didn't know how to use it properly yet and it was better to work on it with safety rules in place, which meant no Sharingan until he'd learned how to how to control it.

It turned out that Kakashi did have the Mangekyou-he'd achieved it the day Rin had Isobu sealed inside of her, but he'd never been able to bring himself to use it because it had reminded him of the fact that he'd killed her.

Rin had pointed out that Kakashi and Sasuke would have to figure it out together, saying that he was as new to it as Sasuke-a fact that had made Sasuke feel a lot better about things and he'd agreed to it readily, and Rin was certain Kakashi would agree because, well, she knew he'd been talking about how it was time to face using it since she was alive and well.

In any case it meant that the game was at least slightly less stacked in Naruto and Sasuke's shoulder-and in an unspoken agreement Naruto had stuck to taijutsu for the game.

Shockingly enough Sakura and Karin won, when Karin had grabbed the Ramen pot and held it directly above the campfire threatening to burn it.

Naruto had of course been horrified and dropped to her knees screaming that they surrendered as Sasuke had just groaned and held his head in his hands whilst whining about the fact that his teammate was a 'ridiculous dumbass'.

He was smiling after though so Naruto counted that at least as a win.

The first game had lasted almost four hours-they were shinobi after all, a game of Capture the Ramen Pot had turned far more serious than it would for civilians.

They were about half way through the second game when Karin paused mid move-tilting her head slightly before speaking.

"Jiraiya-sama's returning. I can sense him with two others, moving very fast."

"Whoops, my stay of execution seems to be over." Naruto put a sombre expression on-making Sakura giggle, "It's time for Baa-chan to hunt me down and kill me."

"I'm sure we'll throw a wonderful funeral." Sakura nodded seriously, "With ramen and orange everywhere of course-"

"You know me so well."

"How long do you think it'll take for them to find us?"

"Probably not long." Sasuke grinned "They are the Sannin after all."

"Well," Naruto grinned, "I should at least go out with a bang I guess. Karin-chan were are they."

"They just passed the gates, Jiraiya-sama and one of them has stopped at the gates-the other one must have just barged inside-"

"That'll be Baa-chan." Naruto nodded sagely before grinning. "I think I'll go see Ero Sennin. Who else wants to come?"

"Count me out I don't wanna be on the receiving end of a pissed off Sannin's rage." Sasuke snorted, "No, you just considered letting one bite you-" that came from Sakura, and Sasuke threw the ramen pot at her head.

"Shut up. Naruto-chan and I have talked about it and it was a dumb moment of-"

"Moment?" Sakura raised an eyebrow and Karin snorted.

"You were being a dumb asshole for over a month." she gave him a dirty look, "You upset Naruto-chan over it."

"It's all over and done with now." Naruto's voice was placating, "Sasuke-kun won't be running off with the snake freak now will he?"

"Ugh, not even maybe." Sasuke shook his head, "Besides that whole thing with Itachi was... weird. I don't know. He helped save Naruto's life, we actually worked together-"

"Which was totally badass by the way." Naruto piped up, "Just sayin'."

"And that..." Sasuke shook his head, "I don't know what to think about any of what happened and if I still need to kill him or not." he groaned. "Kami I don't even know what to think about that mess right now."

"We'll talk about it all later if you want." Naruto offered, "After Baa-chan's gotten the rage out of her system."

Sasuke snorted, "Naruto-chan you're rage inducing in general so that'll be never."

"You love me really. Anyway, that's you out then-"

"And me." Karin piped up, "I think I'll just head home-I'm actually kinda tired."

"We were up late last night." Sakura giggled. "I'll come with you Naru-chan. I was part of the mission anyways so it makes sense for me to be there."

"I'll probably get dragged in later won't I?" Sasuke pulled a face, "They'll want you to report on what happened with that asshole Uchiha who said he was Madara-"

"He totally wasn't Madara, no way." Naruto declared firmly, "But asshole-yeah definitely an asshole, and probably."

"I've already been over it with the Hokage when I got back with Gai but he'll wanna hear it again." Sasuke groaned to himself, "I'll head home and
you can grab me when it's time. I have one of your kunai-"

"Sounds like a plan. Sakura-chan?"

Sakura grabbed Naruto's arm quickly, and a moment later Naruto was next to Jiraiya-and the gate guards let out loud yelps of surprise as Jiraiya groaned.

"Naruto-chan you do realize you're suppose to avoid using that jutsu where people who don't know can see you?"

"You do realize that I've reached the stage where I no longer care right?" Naruto raised an eyebrow, "The Akatsuki know. The bastard who... well he knows."

"Point taken." Jiraiya snorted, "Still." he gently smacked the back of her head, and Sakura grinned.

"Tsunade-sama's looking for Naruto-chan huh?"

"Yeah."

"She's been insisting we run all the way here." Shizune looked exhausted "She kept saying what she was going to do to you Naruto-san."

"Eh, a bit of terror's good for the character." Naruto declared breezily.

"Uh." Izumo's eyes were wide, "You-she-"

"Yeah yeah." Jiraiya sighed, "Just don't tell anyone."

"We won't." Kotetsu looked just as shocked, "Uh, you can go in Jiraiya-sama... all of you-uh-"

"Thank you." Naruto gave them a sunny grin, skipping through the gate-which made Jiraiya burst out laughing as he, Shizune and Sakura followed her.

"We'll head straight to the tower." Jiraiya spoke up, shaking his head, "Tsunade-hime will meet us there eventually."

"Y'know, when she's gotten tired of trying to hunt me down." Naruto's voice was almost singsong as they made their way through the streets of the village. "By the way Ero Sennin. As far as people need to know I totally didn't Hirashin home-"

"What wh-" Jiraiya's eyes narrowed, and his gaze was drawn to the Hokage monument.

There was a long moment of silence, and he stood still before he burst out laughing, clutching his stomach and shaking his head as he bent double,

"You're a terror Naruto-chan. Kushina-chan would be so proud of you right now."

"I like to think so."

"Did you help Sakura-chan?" Jiraiya raised an eyebrow and Sakura gave her most innocent look, "Why absolutely not Jiraiya-sama. I had no idea at all what Naruto-chan planned on doing. I certainly didn't go with her and paint Sandaime-sama's face."

"I think the bright pink moustache suits him." Jiraiya remarked after a moment of staring, "Very stylish. And the orange swirls on his cheeks too-"

"I would say they were added to honor Naruto-chan's Uzumaki heritage." Sakura stated innocently. "I did consider giving the Yondaime whisker marks on his cheeks but that felt too on the nose." Naruto remarked lightly, "What can I say-"

"That would definitely have been too on the nose." Jiraiya laughed, shaking his head as he planted a hand on top of Naruto's head and ruffled her hair. "C'mon, let's get to the Tower before Tsunade finds us-I have no doubt that it'll take an extra hour to get there if she finds us before we're there-she'll be chasing you all around Konoha."

"Should I go and find her?" Shizune spoke up, "Tell her that you have Naruto-chan and you're with the Hokage." she was smiling slightly, clearly amused, and Jiraiya nodded, "Go on, find her then-try to stop her from breaking anything on her way to meet us."

"She'll be too determined to get to Naruto-san to break too much." Shizune shook her head, "Baa-chan... you have no self preservation instincts."

"I blame it on my healing." Naruto remarked casually, "I heal so fast that I've never needed self preservation instincts thank you very much."

Shizune left after that, and Naruto, Jiraiya and Sakura made their way to the Tower-they were sent straight up to the old mans office, and the door was opened as soon as they arrived-once they were in the room Hiruzen nodded at the Anbu guard who was by the door and waved a hand, "You're dismissed Raven. There's no danger to me here."

"Yes Hokage-sama." the door shut behind the man and he left quickly, and Hiruzen smiled warmly as his gaze swung to the trio stood by the door.

"Was your mission a success? I notice that Naruto-chan is wearing Tsunade-chan's necklace."

"It was." Jiraiya snorted, "Admittedly there were a few... hitches-"

"I heard about the Akatsuki attack from Sasuke-kun, though I'll want more details regarding that of course-"

"Of course Hokage-sama." Jiraiya nodded.

"For now though-where is Tsunade?"

"Currently..." Jiraiya looked sheepish but Naruto just grinned.

"She's hunting me down-I kept calling her Baa-chan."

"I see." Hiruzen looked amused, "And why-"

"Well, she was trying to tease me saying she hadn't decided if she'd come back yet." Naruto smirked, "So I imply provoked her so that she'd chase me all the way back here."

"We didn't sleep." Jiraiya grumbled, "Tsunade refused to stop."

That made Hiruzen laugh, shaking his head, "I don't even know why I'm surprised-" he paused, "How long have you been home."

"Not too long."

"Hm." the look Hiruzen gave her was rather suspicious. "So you had nothing at all to do with our newly painted monument."

"I'm offended you'd even suggest that I'd do such a heinous thing-offended-"

"Alright alright." the old man held up a hand, chuckling, "I won't ask any further-" he was interrupted by an almost deafening yell.

"NARUTO!"

"And I'm dead." Naruto leapt over the Hokage's desk and tucked herself behind the man as he let out a loud laugh and the door was kicked open, and there was Tsunade, eyes glinting as they landed on Naruto.

"I'll give you Baa-chan you little shit-"

"Tsunade-chan please." Hiruzen was laughing, "You can hunt down Naruto-chan later-"

"Hey!"

"For now... welcome home."