I do hope you guys enjoy this chapter! It's leading to some stuff that I think people will like, including Naruto interacting with certain characters that I know people want to see.
Thank you to the people who have reviews, and please please do leave reviews! It always makes me happy to see that people are reviewing my story and saying what they think and what they like about it so it does mean a lot to me.
To the reviewer who was saying about Sage mode; Kurama's Chakra doesn't mean she can't have sage mode it just means she can't fuse with the toads, and honestly Kurama's never had a Jinchuriki he's been helpful to before, he's never worked with one before so I figure he might not have realized at this stage.
After figuring out a way to make Sage mode work for her Naruto stayed at Mount Mobyoku for another two months-using that time to master Kurama's chakra as well, the two of them had extended the time she could hold it for to twenty minutes-which would be more than enough to take on most opponents, and while Naruto trained with Kurama's power Jiraiya was strong armed into doing more Sage training himself, though he hadn't quite perfected it by the time they decided to leave.
After that came some traveling, since Jiraiya insisted that she should see the world.
So she did, other than Iwa, they often traveled under disguise, and months turned into years, birthdays passed, Naruto turned thirteen with a private little party for just her and Jiraiya-though Gamakichi showed up with presents from the toads. And then she turned fourteen, and she was growing stronger all the time. She'd even managed to beat him in a few of their spars-and it wasn't as if Jiraiya went easy on her anymore. They both used
Sage mode every time-once or twice she'd used Kurama's chakra cloak in their spars, those times were the times they both went all out, and Naruto seemed to win every time when she had that boost in power.
It was as the two year mark drew to a close that Jiraiya left her on her own-he was confident that now she'd be able to handle any attackers on her own well enough and he had to meet up with some informants.
And so Naruto headed off on her own, she'd have to return home soon, but that would be easy enough, she could Hirashin there from wherever she was, and Jiraiya had told her he didn't mind her traveling.
She was in the middle of exploring a town near the border of the land of Lightning when she saw him out of the corner of her eye.
She wasn't quite sure what drew her gaze to him, but when she focused on him after a brief glance a moment before she realized who he was and she stood up, tossing some coins on the counter of the Dango stall she'd been eating at.
Then she took off, ducking and weaving through the crowds, following the familiar figure.
She saw him glancing backwards towards her and he slipped into an alley. She followed quickly, raising an eyebrow when she saw that he'd stopped and he was leaning against a wall, dark eyes focusing on her.
"I didn't expect to run into you Nohara-san."
"And I didn't expect to run into you Itachi-san. It's been a while."
"It has. Are you here on a mission." Naruto could sense the nerves rolling off of him and she sighed. "If you're wondering if Sasuke-kun is here then the answer is no."
There was a hint of sadness at that and Naruto tilted her head as Itachi looked away. "I'm surprised. You seemed like a tight knit team, I didn't think you would go on missions separately."
"Well this isn't really a mission." Naruto admitted, "I'm on a training trip with Ero Sennin-that's Jiraiya."
"I see." Itachi nodded, "And Sasuke?"
"As far as I know he's still at home, I've received a couple of letters but I haven't been home since the trip started. You know if you wanted to see him you could just go home."
"Not yet. I need to deal with Orochimaru and Obito first."
"If you say so." Naruto tilted her head, a thoughtful look on her face, "What are you doing here Itachi-san? This village doesn't seem like anything special really."
"I'm passing through." Itachi paused, "It's difficult to track either of them down. I know where the figurehead of the Akatsuki lives, but I don't dare go after him myself to draw out Obito so I've been keeping an eye out for any signs of the Akatsuki. I have reason to believe that they're after the
Jinchuriki of the Nanabi, a girl named Fu from Takigakure."
"Ah." Naruto pulled a face, "That doesn't sound good." she hesitated for just a moment, mentally nudging Kurama awake.
"Stop being lazy Kurama. We have a situation."
"What is it brat?"
"According to Uchiha Itachi the Akatsuki are going after the Nanabi's Jinchuriki."
"Chomei. It's name is Chomei. You want to help them I assume?"
"Of course I do. This Fu girl is in a similar boat to me, Kami only knows I'll feel guilty if they catch her."
"That would be stupid brat. Whatever happens to my siblings isn't your fault."
"If I can help them I have to. You know that Kurama."
"You're too good for your own good. You plan on working with the Uchiha?"
"I think so, if he's willing to work with me that is. We know he's not a bad person, he's made mistakes but I mean, he was younger than I am now
and I've done dumb shit before. For example that time-"
"Let's not discus that."
Kurama huffed, "I don't need the reminder, you should have never suggested it to the pervert."
"But it was funny-"
"You are a literal child."
"I was thirteen! It was funny!"
"Yes yes, well go propose your offer to the Uchiha I'm sure he'll be most grateful for your aid."
"That sounded far too sarcastic for my taste-and don't roll your eyes I sense you rolling your eyes!"
The blonde rolled her own eyes, focusing on Itachi fully once more, running her fingers through her hair and tilting her head as she looked at Itachi.
"Well Itachi-san. How long will it take us to get there?"
"Us?" Itachi frowned, brows furrowing "Nohara-san."
"This Fu-san is a Jinchuriki like me." Naruto said firmly, crossing her arms over her chest, "I have nothing better to do so I'm going to come and help you deal with the threat."
Itachi stared at her for a long moment, a puzzled look on his face before he looked away, "That would depend on how fast you can run. At my fastest I'd say it'll be perhaps two days, maybe a bit less."
"I can keep up." Naruto paused before smirking, "And even if I couldn't-" the blonde quickly bit her thumb and pressed it over the seal on her wrist, tugging out a Hirashin tag and jumping up, slapping it onto the back of Itachi's neck before he could stop her. "I can get to you in a blink now."
"You-" Itachi blinked at her before shaking his head, the hint of a smile playing across his lips before he managed to reign it in. "How does my brother handle you?"
"Hah." Naruto grinned, "He's resigned himself to my insanity. I think he enjoyed watching the chaos when it wasn't directed towards him."
"I see."
"Now, what way do we go to Takigakure?"
"It's a smaller village, it borders with Iwa. Are you sure you wish to come."
Naruto blinked, hesitating for a long moment before shrugging, "As long as we don't go to Iwa I won't be breaking the promise I made to Ero Sennin."
"We will need to pass through Oto."
"Ah." Naruto bit her lip, "That... could be interesting."
"I have tried to get to Orochimaru but his defenses are extreme."
"Right." Naruto nodded, "So we should try and travel along the outskirts yeah?"
"Yes, it would certainly be the safest way."
"Then that's what we'll do." Naruto declared, "Shall we head off now."
"I suppose so." Itachi's lips twitched slightly, a shadow of a smile on his lips again-that was a victory as far as Naruto was concerned, she could still feel the cloud of grief and pain and guilt and hate all directed inwards, and no one should ever feel like that. If she managed to make him even smile slightly it was better than nothing. So that was what she'd do, she'd try and make him smile, and try to convince him to go home for Sasuke sake.
"Then let's go." Naruto grinned and took off, running up the wall of the alley and onto the roofs, sprinting along the rooftops and leaping from building to building until she was outside of the town.
She took a break, running her fingers through her hair as she turned to watch Itachi following her to the edge of the village, leaping down from the nearest building before he slowed and walked towards her.
"Nohara-san?" Itachi's voice was amused-and there was almost a twinkle in his eyes, though this time Naruto wasn't quite sure why.
"Yes Itachi-san?" Naruto asked curiously, tilting her head as she rocked on the balls of her feet, "Why do you look amused."
"Because, you're going in the wrong direction."
Naruto blinked slowly, her cheeks turning red. "I-" she glanced around quickly, "Uh.." he was smirking and her eyes narrowed and she pointed dramatically, "You shut up right now! And we never ever ever tell Sasuke about this do you hear me?"
"I swear on my life." Itachi was clearly trying not to laugh. "I won't tell my little brother about this."
"Damn straight." Naruto nodded seriously, "So uh... shall we go the right way now?"
"Perhaps I should lead the way?" Itachi raised an eyebrow, and Naruto nodded.
"I think that would be a good idea."
And with that the two shinobi took off, running side by side, though Itachi was definitely leading the way.
Naruto was fairly sure he'd been expecting her to fall behind, given the fact that he kept glancing at her, and she gave a small grin. "Oh ye of little
faith, I've been training my ass off Itachi-san. You won't be that much faster than me."
As usual his face stayed fairly stoic for a long moment before he gave a small nod and sped up.
Of course Naruto's eyes widened at that and she let out a laugh, "Oh it is so on!" she sped up, pushing herself.
And that was what they did the entire time that they ran, Naruto tossing Itachi some ration bars and a bottle of water after about two hours.
In return the Uchiha gave her a slightly bigger smile than usual.
They ran for several hours without stopping, eating the ration bars while they ran.
When the sun started to go down they took a break, setting up a small camp just outside of the borders of Oto, just inside of the land of Fire's
borders.
Naruto gathered the wood, and Itachi started the fire-neither of them were too worried about stealth, they were in the land of Fire after all, they had every right to be there.
Once the fire was raging and their meal-some rabbit meat that they had cooked in a little pot that Naruto had supplied, along with a few carrots and some broth thrown in, was all cooked and ready they ate in a fairly comfortable silence, sitting opposite one another on different sides of the fire, the blondes eyes taking in Itachi as he ate his meal.
It was ridiculously clear that he was a member of a noble clan, he was elegant in every way-Sasuke wasn't quite as polished as that-but then Sasuke had been a child when their family had been killed, he hadn't been taught as much as Itachi had undoubtedly been-and Itachi would have been the heir. She wondered how it had felt, that much pressure.
It had certainly taken it's toll on him. His skin was pale-Sasuke was pale too yes, but it felt like more than that really, Itachi's paleness looked almost sickly in the fire light, and there were bags under his eyes.
He looked exhausted-and she noticed that the headband he'd been wearing when she'd last seen him was missing.
Of course Naruto was technically the head of the Uzumaki-clan, if only because Tsunade was a Senju more than an Uzumaki and Karin was definitely not going to declare herself to be the head of their two person clan, but... well she'd never felt any real pressure over it-her mom hadn't been from a clan, so she hadn't really even thought of it, and Naruto hadn't really stepped up as the head of the Uzumaki clan since the truth had come out about her identity-she was still a Nohara as much as she was an Uzumaki. It was her name and she was proud of it, but it meant that she didn't have to deal with that pressure.
And then there had been the pressure of spying on his own family, the pressure of the guilt.
Was it any wonder the man struggled to smile?
Was it any wonder that he always felt so shrouded by grief and pain. She felt so sorry for him.
He must have felt her eyes on him because Itachi raised an eyebrow, pausing with his food half way to his mouth. "Do I have something on my face Nohara-san?"
"No, no." Naruto shook her head, "I was just... thinking about everything."
"About what I did?"
"Kinda." Naruto shrugged, "I'm nosy I know."
"We've already established that you don't like me. No need to dwell on it."
"It's not that-though I do think you handled the Sasuke situation terribly. In the end you were a kid and you did the best you could."
"I tortured him." Itachi pointed out, "I pushed him so hard that he considered joining Orochimaru. I couldn't have done much worse than I did-"
"But lucky for you he met me." Naruto gave a grin, jamming her thumb against her chest, "So forget about that. I know for a fact that he's already forgiven you." she paused, "You both deserve to have a family again."
"Stop trying to convince me to go home."
"Never." Naruto grinned, flicking a bit of carrot towards him-which he dodged with ease, giving her a disbelieving look.
"Did you just throw your food at me."
"Yep." Naruto grinned unashamedly. "Cheer up Itachi-san." she shifted, finishing her food before sleeping again, and peering at Itachi's bowl-it was empty. "Shall we get some sleep? We can take it in turns to stay up on watch, y'know, just in case."
"... I can take first watch." Itachi decided, "You get some sleep Nohara-san."
"Sir yes sir." Naruto saluted playfully as she set her bowl down beside her and made herself comfortable, using her coat as a blanket and closing her eyes, looking forward to a good night sleep.
