Introducing Naruto the leader!

Naruto had bid her mother an emotional goodbye before she returned to reality, Kurama's approval warm and comforting as she made her way down from the stone monuments.

She could of course just Hirashin where she wanted to go, but she needed to think through her plan and a walk would help finish clearing her head.

It didn't take her long to reach the Uzumaki compound, and when she did, letting herself in her friends and family were gathered-and there was a large banner hung in the hall with the word congratulations in bright orange on it.

If things had been different Naruto was fairly sure that they'd all be yelling the word too, but instead everyone was gathered in the kitchen around the table looking worried.

Rin was at the head of the table with Kakashi sat on one side and Jiraiya on the other, next to Kakashi was Sai, then Sakura, then Karin and Sasuke, and Itachi sat between his brother and Jiraiya.

Rin stood up when Naruto made her way into the kitchen, her brows furrowed, "Naruto-chan what happened? Itachi-san said someone called using your Kunai and Karin-chan said your chakra felt dangerous when it reappeared."

"They did call me for help, it was Gaara-kun." Naruto looked around quickly, "I'll explain later, Kakashi-sensei, Sakura-chan, Sasuke-kun I need you guys to come with me."

"Is everything okay?" Itachi's voice was soft, "Naruto-san-"

"It will be. And I will explain later but I don't have any time to waste." Naruto turned her gaze to Jiraiya, "I need you to tell Baa-chan I'll be in to see her as soon as I get back. There have been developments. Big ones."

"What kind?"

"Bad." Naruto let out a breath, "But right now we need to be moving."

"What do you want us to do?" that was Rin, who had a determined if incredibly worried look on her face.

"I want you at the hospital mom. Things might go bad, I want a medic with me but I want you home here ready just incase."

"Of course." Rin nodded, a worried look on her face, "How bad-"

"I don't know, hopefully you won't be needed but I won't take any risks, I need you there ready." her gaze turned to Karin, "I want you and Sai-san on standby ready for any attacks and Itachi-san I want you with mom at all times."

"You're worried of an attack?"

"I don't know Sai-san." Naruto let out a breath, "But I know that two Jinchuriki have been attacked today."

"Oh Kami." Rin's hand flew to her mouth, a horrified look on her face, "Gaara-kun is okay?"

"I stopped the attempted abduction." Naruto swallowed hard, "But Fu-chan has been taken."

"Where are you going?" Itachi's voice was soft, his eyes boring into the blonde.

"There was a note telling me she'd be at the Valley of the End. Now I know that's a blatantly obvious trap-"

"But if you have backup it's less of one." Sasuke spoke up, on his feet and moving towards her instantly as Kakashi stood too. "Which is why you want team Seven. Because it's Obito. You want me because you know I'm strong, and Sakura too, you know the three of use work damn well together."

"And I'm a medic." Sakura added, "If Fu-san is hurt.."

"Then I might need you to save her life." Naruto agreed, "And I want Kakashi-sensei."

"For my Kamui. You want me for Obito's eye."

"Think you can handle it?" Naruto met Kakashi's gaze and he nodded, his lone eye filled with determination.

"I won't freeze up this time. And I may not be as skilled as Obito is but I have been training."

"Then let's go."

"Naruto-chan-" Rin's voice was tight, pained, "You promise me you'll be careful... Kakashi-kun"

"I am being careful." Naruto let out a breath, "I'm getting my backup I'm not being reckless."

"And I'll be with her Rin-chan I promise." Kakashi's voice was soft as he joined Naruto and Sasuke, laying a hand on the blonde's shoulder.

"I trust your judgement." Naruto could feel the worry pouring off of her mother, hot and thick, but she knew her mom did have faith.

"You too Sasuke-kun, and you Sakura-chan." there was a gleam of pride in Itachi's eyes despite his own worry. "And you make sure our Rokudaime comes back safely too."

"Of course." Sasuke nodded. "We'll be back soon."

"Let's go then." Naruto let out a breath, "We have no time to waste." with that she was turning and rushing out quickly, and she could feel Sasuke, Sakura and Kakashi right behind her, their presences warm and familiar. They were silently comforting and she was painfully glad they were with her.
No one tried to stop them as they rushed out of the gates of the village, Sasuke, Sakura and Kakashi surging forward slightly, Sasuke on her right with Sakura on his other side and Kakashi on her left as they moved onwards, side by side.

"What's the plan Naruto-chan?" Kakashi's voice was tight and worried. "What do we do when we arrive?"

Naruto quickly summoned up four clones, which rushed off back towards Konoha quickly, "We don't rush straight in, I'll use Sage mode to sense out the place, see if anyone is there first. If Obito is there we need to go in full power."

"Magekyou." Kakashi's voice was tight.

"This should be interesting." Sasuke's expression was grim as he reached out and squeezed the blondes shoulder. "If we can help this Fu-san we will."

"I know." Naruto nodded, gaze flicking towards Sakura, "You might need to fight and you might not, I don't know yet, but if Fu's there and she's hurt your priority is to get to her and heal her while us three hold Obito off. Because if she's there then he will be too."

"I'll be able to use my Magekyou better than you Kakashi-sensei."

"If I over use it I'll go blind in that eye but if I can stop him using my Kamui then that's a small price to pay."

"Right." Naruto let out a breath. "I wish I had a Hirashin kunai there." Naruto pulled a face, shaking her head. "If I did we'd be there now."

"Where were you?"

"Takigakure."

"Then he knows you can't just show up he'll have taken that into account he'll be expecting there to be a delay in your arrival."

"What actually happened?" Sasuke's voice was concerned, "You didn't give a clear explanation."

"He set it up, sent two of his Akatsuki after Gaara, ordered them to let Gaara get the kunai out first, not that they understood what he was actually doing. And then he grabbed Fu, I assume he used Kamui so that the timing would be right-he let her call through the kunai I gave her but I was focused on Gaara, didn't realize until after that Gaara hadn't just sent the signal twice. By the time I Hirashined to the kunai I left with Fu she was gone and all that was left was a note." Naruto clenched her fists, forcing down the waves of rage as she thought about the note.

"Which told you to come to the Valley of the End." Sakura finished, "Definitely a trap then."

"If it wasn't for Kurama I'd have ran straight into it." Naruto admitted, "I was so angry."

"That explains why Karin said your chakra felt like it was boiling." Sasuke shook his head, "She was scared for a minute there."

"Thank Kami for the fact that Kurama stopped you." Kakashi shook his head.

"I was a complete asshole to him." Naruto admitted, and she felt the reassuring push of warmth in her mind telling her to stop worrying about that.

"Well either way whatever happens next you won't be going in alone." Kakashi's voice was firm, "We'll follow your lead but you won't be alone Naruto-chan I promise you."

"I know." Naruto let out a breath, pushing herself slightly harder, slightly faster-she was distantly proud to see that her teammates were keeping up with her fairly well-they weren't going full speed but it was close.

Naruto could remember the days she'd had to hold back when training them, the days when she could have taken them both on without breaking a sweat, when she'd been so much faster that she could have ran rings around them without needing any extra power ups.

Now though things were different, now when she wasn't using Sage mode or Kurama's Chakra they were able to keep up with her.

The thought was comforting, she could rely on them in a fight at the level they were now.

They'd all come so far that it was hard to believe.

Naruto shook her head very slightly, dismissing those thoughts. Focus. She needed to focus for Fu's sake. The best case scenario was that Obito would be there with Fu ready for a fight, worst case was that Obito was there with some of the other Akatsuki members.

Naruto distantly wondered about them. From what she'd been told there were usually ten of them, but she wasn't sure if there were ten now, or more or less.

After all they were technically five members down now, Itachi had betrayed them, Hidan and Kakuzu were both long dead, and Sasori and Deidara would undoubtedly follow them when Suna were through with them-after all they'd attempted to abduct and essentially murder the Kazekage.

The only ones Naruto knew about for sure were Obito, Kisame and Pain, and that could have changed of course. It was infuriating, the uncertainty of it all.

It especially didn't help that she knew next to nothing about Pain, who from what she knew from what Kabuto had said and things Itachi had mentioned, could be a real threat to her.

She resisted the urge to groan out loud, forcing down her uncertainty.

Whatever happened she had her team with her and she trusted them all with her life. They had to at least try and save Fu, even if they failed.

It was a long run, even at the pace that the four shinobi were moving at-which was intense no matter what way you looked at it. They'd probably outpace the majority of Jounin, but then again all three of them weren't really normal when it came to their skill levels were they?

Of course they did reach the Valley after perhaps five hours of running-though Naruto couldn't help but notice that the sky was turning darker at this point as night approached, that would be a pain; darkness could help of course, for stealth purposes, but it did tend to make it harder to see your enemies while it also helped hide you.

Naruto shook her head as they came to a halt a short distance from the valley itself-it wasn't dark enough for that to be a problem yet at least.
Naruto glanced at her teammates and all three of them nodded, as she mentally dispelled one of the clones she'd made earlier and slipped into Sage mode, all of her senses flaring up at once, heightened as they always were.

She reached out mentally, feeling for chakra.

She could feel her teams, Sakura's tightly controlled, larger than most, but controlled so very firmly, but despite the tight grip she could feel the gentle warmth that she'd come to associate with healers.

And of course there was Kakashi's, bigger than Sakura's, crackling like his lightning, like his chidori, tight and coiled, ready to strike, with a part of it somehow different, hotter, more burning than crackling, and Sasuke's was huge, though not as large as her own it was much bigger than either of their other teammates, fierce and hot like a fire.

She wondered if this was how Karin felt all of the time. If so it was impressive that she handled it so well, it could easily be overwhelming.

Of course now wasn't the time to dwell on such things and Naruto cast her senses out to envelope the Valley.

There were no chakra signatures, not of anyone living, though there was one fading, it was familiar. It was the same as the secondary chakra signature that she felt in Kakashi.

"He was here." she spoke after a long moment. "Obito was here but he's gone now." she had half expected it, but that didn't make it any less disappointing, any less infuriating. She'd been so hopeful that she'd be able to rescue Fu, but then that was what Obito must have wanted. He wanted to hurt her, to make it clear that she couldn't stop him.

It made her hate him even more, more than she'd ever hated anyone before.

"We need to be careful." Kakashi's voice pulled her out of her anger. "We need to scan the area for traps. He could have easily have left a message so we can't just leave, but we need to be on the look out for traps."

"Of course sensei." Sakura nodded, laying a hand on Naruto's shoulder. "Shall we move in Naruto-chan?"

Naruto nodded, letting out a breath. "Yes. Yes I think we should. Let's see why he wanted me here. There has to be a reason."

"Other than him being an evil psycho?" Sasuke pointed out wryly in a way that made Naruto snort and Sakura giggle, and Kakashi rolled his eyes.

"Point taken." Naruto's voice was dry and she shook her head, "Like Kakashi-sense said, we move slowly and we stick together, keep a very very close eye all around for traps.

With that said Team Seven moved towards the valley itself.