CHAPTER FOUR

Missing-Nin Hunting A Missing-Nin!

XXX

Review Response: Thank you to everyone who's enjoying the story so far, and in response to Iwik's review. The story should be about thirty chapters long, and fortunately, I can guarantee there will be no bashing of Kakashi, Jiraiya, or any character close to Naruto in canon.

XXX

Naruto's cool blue cerulean eyes slowly crept open as the wave of exhaustion that'd been holding him down for the past two days receded into the darkness. As he lay there with rays of sunlight peeking through the unopen blinds, he couldn't help but sink under the weight of the emotional exhaustion that'd taken the physical exhaustion's place. He didn't know where it was coming from but an ever-present voice in the back of his head refused to let him live in peace.

"You're a missing-nin. Any moment now, Konoha shinobi could barge through those doors and have you arrested in seconds. What will you do if they send Kakashi-sensei, Sakura-chan, and Sasuke after you? Are you faster than Sasuke? No! Are you smarter than Sakura-chan? No! Are you stronger than Kakashi-sensei? No! Then what do you have now that could possibly make the situation that you're in worthwhile?"

Naruto's eyes lowered until he was staring into Hinata's calming face. The Hyuuga heiress had fallen asleep in the same outfit she'd been wearing since the day they left the village. A collared sky blue long-sleeve shirt worn with a pair of black 3/4 pants. That was probably the most revealing outfit Naruto had ever seen Hinata wear. He wondered why Hinata always hid so much of herself from the world. Was she afraid of something? Maybe it was just her personal insecurities? Or her personal choice in style? Whatever the reason, she was a cute girl regardless of what she wore… a little weird but cute. She'd probably make some lucky guy a very happy man one day.

"Huh?" Hinata's lavender eyes creaked open. Her pale complexion took on a shade of pink as she locked on to Naruto's black shirt. That shade of pink harshened a little as her eyes ran down his frame until she noticed his arm was on her hip and their legs were a tangled mess. That shade of pink darkened into a face of pure red as her eyes ran up his frame until they got to Naruto's eyes.

"Good morning," he smiled.

"Eh?" her eyes rolled into the back of her head.

Hinata collapsed.

"That's the third time so far," Fuu commented, sitting on the dressing table. "You'd think that at some point she'd stop fainting, but you'd be wrong."

Naruto disengaged from Hinata and rolled across the bed until his feet landed on the soft carpeting. "You've been watching us sleep?" Naruto asked throwing his jumpsuit jacket on.

"I've been watching her sleep… and wake up… and sleep… and wake up."

"Hinata's always been prone to fainting," Naruto explained, "… and having high fevers, I was a little worried at first that bringing her along could be damaging to her health."

"Aw, you were worried about her. How sweet," Fuu teased. Naruto stuck his tongue out at her, "Then why did you bring her along?"

"She's good at medical ninjutsu. My first thought at the time was that if Konoha or Suna attacked us before we got to Taki, we wouldn't be able to fight back considering how beat up we were, but if Hinata could heal us along the way then we'd at least be able to run."

"Sounds like a reasonable plan. Weren't you afraid of putting her in danger though?"

Naruto shook his head, "Nope. I made a promise to myself to protect her, no matter what happened… luckily she seems to be okay, aside from the fainting and all, dattebayo."

Fuu palmed her face, "Yeah, I'm sure her health is fine."

Naruto, finally grounding himself in the moment, scanned the cramped love hotel room before asking "Where's Gaara?"

"He's in the bath," she replied. "We were just having a nice little chat before you woke up. Did you know… about his mother… and his father?"

"About how his mother died during childbirth and his father ordered multiple attempts on his life? Yeah, of course, I knew. He told me about them during our battle in the Leaf. Hearing his story is what inspired me to start this journey to the east." Naruto explained.

"That's funny. Because he said, hearing how easily you were able to relate to what he was saying is what inspired him to join you on your journey," Fuu giggled, "He also said he wished he'd met you earlier in his life… and in a way, I get it. If only we could've all been born into the same village, maybe we wouldn't be where we are right now, maybe we would've had each other to cancel out the loneliness that comes with being a human sacrifice… but there's no use crying over what could've been now. What about you? What happened to your parents?" Fuu asked.

"No one ever bothered to tell me who they really were… all I know is that my dad died fighting the Nine-Tailed Fox when it was unleashed on the village and my mother, just like Gaara's, died during childbirth."

"Damn," Fuu chuckled, "I guess the story remains the same for all of us. My mom died in childbirth too, and my dad fled the village when he found out his first and only child was not only going to be a girl, but a jinchuuriki."

"Why? What's wrong with being a girl jinchuuriki?"

"Well, there's a reason there's only two of us. Being a jinchuuriki as a girl comes with a lot of complications," she said pulling her knees closer to her chest and wrapping her arms around her shins, "Namely childbirth takes ten months instead of nine, and when you give birth, your body becomes so weak that it creates an ideal time for your tailed beast to escape… so if you don't repair the seal in time, you could die, but if you're too quick on the trigger and seal it before the baby is delivered, you could lose the baby."

Naruto chuckled, "Those are all pretty much related to childbirth, dattebayo. You're such a dude that if it weren't for your voice, I would've thought you were a boy." An offended Fuu placed one hand on her flat chest. "I doubt you'd want to have children anytime soon."

"Not soon obviously, but you never know with these things… I mean I trust Choumei enough to not try and leave me if I ever do give birth, but at the same time, I've told myself that for the sake of the people around me, it's probably best that I don't… just don't romance."

Naruto placed one hand on Fuu's shoulder, "It sounds like you're placing the needs of the people around you before your own needs. I did the same for years and it left me running around in circles hoping that if I became the Hokage, people would finally respect me. Look at me now, I'm putting my own happiness above the happiness of others, and I feel great doing it."

Fuu grimaced before replying, "You kinda look like shit though. You're starting to get bigger bags than Gaara," she giggled.

Naruto covered the upper half of his face before saying, "You got my point, dattebayo. So, what do you want?"

"What do I want? I've been running away from the concept of putting myself before others for so long that I don't even know what I want anymore… I'm just here…" she shook herself back to reality, "Let's change the subject… please."

"Sure."

"How's your tailed beast doing?"

"The Nine-Tails? He doesn't talk to me," Naruto said.

"You've got to talk to it," Fuu sat up, "Initiate a conversation, and if it doesn't respond try again the next day. Your goal is to create an army of jinchuuriki so powerful that the five shinobi villages don't mess with us, right? Well, there's no point in being a jinchuuriki if you don't even speak to your tailed beast."

"Talking to the Nine-Tailed Fox is hard, dattebayo," Naruto complained.

"No one said leaving the village system would be easy," Fuu replied.

"You're starting to sound more like Gaara."

Speak of the devil. The redhead exited the bathroom already dressed in the grey jumpsuit Hisen had given him. He pointed to an imaginary watch on his wrist, "We've got just under two hours left until we have to leave and meet the Five-Tails at the village gates."

"Wake Hinata up. She can take a bath before me," Naruto said.

"She's already up," Fuu informed him. He turned to catch the Hyuuga heiress mid-stretch. "Are you going in for a bath?" the green-haired jinchuuriki asked her. Hinata blinked. She ran her hands up her face and through her hair before nodding timidly. Fuu unfurled a bit of her scroll until she got to a section labelled 'toiletries'. She released a towel, toothpaste and three toothbrushes. "I forgot to pack soap, so we'll have to buy some before we leave the village."

"Does that say microwave? You've got a whole house sealed in there or something?" Naruto asked. Hinata quietly grabbed the towel, the toothpaste and one of the three toothbrushes before shuffling into the bathroom.

"I'm amazing at fuuinjutsu," she smirked.

"Fuu the fuuinjutsu expert?" Naruto chuckled.

"Exactly, ssu! Seeing as my name basically meant 'seal' anyway, I decided why not to brush up on my knowledge of seals. You could almost say it was meant to be," she giggled. "Plus, I've been stuck in my village all my life. I was never allowed to go on missions or even train in the academy."

"Really? So, you don't know any ninjutsu?" Naruto asked.

"I know the basics of chakra control, as well as a few fuuinjutsu, but as far as ninjutsu… no, not really."

Naruto struck a pose, "Then I'm about to show you the best ninjutsu known to man."

"Oh? Uh… sure. I mean that's a bold claim to make, ssu! Let's see if this ninjutsu lives up to its name." Fuu threw one leg over the other in anticipation. Gaara wondered what ninjutsu the Uzumaki was willing to dub the best ninjutsu known to man, so he cracked open a window and sat in front of it.

Naruto clapped his hands together, "It only requires one hand sign," he said forming a cross with his fingers, "Shadow Clone Jutsu."

A build-up of chakra. A puff of smoke. Suddenly, two Narutos were standing in front of Fuu. Neither jinchuuriki was impressed, but for two different reasons. Gaara, because he'd already seen and felt the technique's full power when Naruto unleashed his Naruto 2K Uzumaki Barrage. Fuu, because Clone Jutsu was one of the most basic forms of ninjutsu. All she had to do was swing at the clone to prove it was just a mirage. The second Naruto grabbed her foot mid-kick. Her eyes widened.

"No way! It's a tangible clone?" she asked, stars in her eyes. "You have to teach me this technique, ssu! How does it even work? How many clones can you create? How realistic are they? If you get hurt, will they also get hurt? Vice-versa?" Fuu needed to know.

Naruto smirked, putting his hands up "All these questions and more will be answered in due time. All I'll say for now is that the best part about this jutsu is that it doesn't need any chakra control like a normal Clone Jutsu. The more chakra you put into it, the better."

"Really? Then how durable are the clones?" Fuu wondered.

"That's kinda the downside. They're not very durable. A powerful enough hit should take them out" the Uzumaki scratched the back of his head.

Upon hearing that, Fuu needed to prove it for herself. She pivoted on her hips to nail the clone on the side of its head with a swift kick. The injured doppelganger dispelled the moment he hit the ground. His physical body turning to a puff of smoke on the floor. She landed on her feet. "That's impressive… the fact that it cannot only take a hit but deal one back already makes it better than a standard Clone Jutsu anyway," she said.

"That's exactly the reaction I was looking for, I'll teach you when we're out of the village," the Uzumaki said. He turned to Gaara to flash him a cheeky grin, "I can teach you too, if you want."

"Don't bother," the redhead replied before releasing sand from his gourd to form an identical clone of himself made entirely of sand.

"But that wouldn't fool anyone."

"I don't need to fool my enemies. I just need to kill them."

Valid.

After a few minutes, Hinata finished taking her bath, so Naruto went in after her. The Uzumaki used the refreshing alone time to try and speak to the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox that lived rent-free within his stomach, to no avail, but as Fuu said, if he failed today, he was going to try again the next day and the next day.

XXX

"We're approaching the gate, everybody keep your guard up," Gaara warned as they reached the narrow aperture in Iwa's jagged mountain range. The village's border gate was lightly guarded with only two older shinobi seated in the booths with their feet up and hats over their faces. Between the two booths stood a six-foot-tall behemoth of a man in bright red armour with a heavy furnace on his back.

"Is that…" Naruto began.

"The Five-Tails? Yep," Fuu replied.

"You weren't joking when you said he was huge."

Han looked at all four kids individually, "You two must be the One-Tails and the Nine-Tails," he said mislabelling the boys.

"I'm the Nine-Tails and he's the One-Tails, dattebayo!" Naruto corrected him.

"I really don't ca-," he stopped himself mid-sentence. His demeanour shifted from unbothered to slightly more welcoming, "My bad. What are your names?"

"Naruto Uzumaki, dattebayo!"

After a moment of hesitation, Gaara introduced himself as, "Gaara of the Desert."

"And you two? I don't think I got your names."

"Hyuuga. Hinata Hyuuga."

"Oi, I thought you said we weren't supposed to speak about the fact that we're jinchuuriki around the other shinobi," Fuu eyed the two border guards lounging on either side of them.

"That was a precaution for last night. The reason I suggested we leave in the morning was that the Tsuchikage sent most of the higher-ranking shinobi out to Konoha," Han explained, "If Kurotsuchi, Kitsuchi, or Akatsuchi found out I was leaving the village, we would've had a massive battle on our hands. Everyone else is probably glad to see me leave."

"Why… why are they going to Konoha?" Hinata wondered.

"Suna and Oto failed in their attempt to invade the village, so the Tsuchikage was planning to take advantage of the village's weakened state."

"No way! We have to do something!" Naruto said.

"Quieten down, kid. We don't have to do anything. They'll probably get steamrolled anyway. Even at half-strength, Konoha's military is still ten times stronger than Iwa. Everyone knows that, aside from the Tsuchikage, it seems. Plus, you're a missing-nin now, what happens to Konoha doesn't affect you anymore," Han explained.

Naruto's face sunk into depression, "Oh yeah… you're right."

One of the border guards tilted his hat slightly to see who was talking, "Oh, Han. You're finally leaving? It's about time…"

"I'm a little upset, Kawatsuchi, I expected some sort of sending-off party or something."

He shrugged, "As soon as I tell the rest of the village you're gone, they'll probably celebrate until the Sage of Six Paths returns," the older man laughed before dropping the hat back over his face. "Now, get out of here. Your deep-ass voice is disturbing my nap!"

"I don't like him," Gaara commented, "People like him annoy me."

Han began walking away from his village, "Join the club. Anyway, let's get going." The team followed him down the arid slope as they approached the forest surrounding the Hidden Stone.

Gaara stopped for a moment to look back at the village. "Get crushed," he whispered as sand rose from beneath the booth to cover the man's nose and mouth, before erupting through the metallic box to drag him down to hell. The redhead, arms folded, followed behind the rest of his team as they left Iwagakure and disappeared into the dense shrubbery surrounding the shinobi village.

"Where are we going now?" Naruto wondered.

"We're going to the Four-Tails."

Fuu asked, "Do you know where the Four-Tails is?"

"No. The Four-Tails moves from spot to spot to avoid Iwa finding him, just as you four moving from village to village as you try to escape the village system."

"I thought Iwa didn't care about their jinchuuriki," Fuu replied.

"They don't. At least they don't anymore, but he still prefers to remain lowkey."

"Then how are we going to find him?" Naruto asked.

"There's a small fishing village situated on a lake nearby. He buys things like food, tea and ninja scrolls from there, so if anyone knows where he is, it'll be them."

"You seem to know a lot about this Four-Tails jinchuuriki," Gaara began, "What's your relationship with him?"

"In a way, he's my sensei. Before he left the village for good to get a better understanding of the tailed beast that lay within him, he taught me how to hold my own, how to become a perfect jinchuuriki."

Fuu skipped around the muscular man, "So, you're just like me. I have perfect control of Choumei too."

"Do you? Well, you know the beast's name, so perhaps you know more than you let on, but still, the Four-Tails will be the judge of that."

"The… the people of Iwa… how did they treat you?" Hinata asked.

Han's face softened whenever he heard her voice. "I hated their guts and they hated mine. The Tsuchikage imposed laws that made it a fineable offence to harass me, but other than the three closest shinobi to Lord Third, no one ever enforced that rule. I lived a pretty shitty life, but at least when I hit puberty, I grew to nearly the size I am right now, so I was able to hold my own after that."

"Didn't you have any parents… or friends… or a wife?" she continued.

"I don't know who my father is but my mother died giving birth to me," Gaara, Naruto and Fuu had heard that story before, "I had no friends since the villagers refused to let their children play with me, and by the time they reached adulthood and were able to make decisions for themselves, they'd already been poisoned by the venom their parents had spat at them their whole lives…" finally, Han waved his left hand in the air to indicate, "and I'm not married either. What woman would want to marry a jinchuuriki and what father would be dumb enough to bless such a marriage?"

Hinata looked at Fuu, then at Gaara, then finally at Naruto. All of them, who were usually so animated and excited had suddenly sobered up. Han was holding up a mirror that just reflected what their lives would have been like in ten years had they stayed obedient to the village system. She could tell that it pained them to see that it never got any better. It all made sense now. Missing-nin, those who abandoned their villages, were classified as criminals, with orders to arrest or kill them on sight given to shinobi of their respective villages. Hearing Han's story, it began to make sense why Naruto and Gaara were willing to risk death to escape the village system forever. To them, they were already if they stayed trapped within those village walls. Out here, they were marked for death, but at least that death came with a hint of freedom.

"Don't your village see you as a weapon to prevent invasions?" Gaara asked.

"Prevent invasions? Me? The mountains that surround Iwagakure make that village an impenetrable fort. Only three shinobi have ever successfully invaded the Hidden Stone Village. The First Hokage, the Second Mizukage, and the Fourth Hokage, and no jinchuuriki could be used as a weapon against them, so no, my village doesn't need me to prevent anything."

Fuu's face lit up again, "My village has never been successfully invaded since its conception," she proudly flaunted. That was the same fact Hisen was so eager to share with them over breakfast. No one could blame them either for constantly sharing that fact though. After all, only two villages could flaunt such a fact, Konoha and Taki.

"Really? You're from the Hidden Waterfall Village, aren't you?" Han asked to which Fuu nodded. She reached into her back pocket to pull out her forehead protector. The green-haired kunoichi wrapped the cloth around her right arm while walking. "Tell me, what's it like being a jinchuuriki in a village that isn't part of the five great shinobi nations?"

"It sucks. As I said we're great at stopping people from entering the village, but we're crap at protecting people once they're outside of the village, meaning our village leader never wanted to take the risk of letting me leave the village. That's why I'm technically still just a genin, my team was never allowed to leave for the Chunin Exams, and since we're such a small village, the Chunin Exams never came to us."

"And you, One-Tails? How did the people of Suna treat you?"

"I killed my own mother in childbirth and my father, the Kazekage, wanted me dead for it."

"That's some heavy stuff… what about you, blondie? You're from Konoha, right."

Naruto looked up at the Five-Tails jinchuuriki. He shrugged before replying, "Yeah, but I was hated by my whole village because of my status as a jinchuuriki. They ignored me, shunned me, and wished death upon me, without even telling me what it was I did wrong. Old Man Third tried to help me out when he could, but he was always so busy with his Hokage business that sometimes he just never delivered things like my food for the week… I remember for two whole weeks, I was so hungry because the old man went out for a Kage Summit that I had to go from dumpster to dumpster to eat the scraps that restaurants would throw out at the end of the day… then when those bastards realised that I was eating their food, they stopped leaving it out and sent it straight to the waste disposal sites. Those last few days, I saw my life flash before my eyes every night, my ribs were sticking out, my cheeks were nothing but flesh and bone, I didn't want to do anything but sleep all day and all night. Sleep became my dinner for the night, my best friend, and that was the problem… nights like those you don't know whether you want to sleep because you're tired or whether you want to sleep because your body's cold and wants to just sleep forever… days like those make you realise how long every hour, minute, and second of every day is. After a while, you stop worrying about how hungry you are and start worrying about how much of a nuisance the constant sound of your stomach growling is. Feeling like you're about to die… that cold feeling of helplessness… it hurts… and that's why I'm doing this… I spoke to the Shinigami before, and I'm here to tell the story… others might not be so lucky… I don't want anyone else to experience that same pain I felt in those last few days, dattebayo." Han, Gaara, Hinata, Fuu, all four of them were stunned silent. Naruto's story came with its only deathly blanket of concern. The team walked in cold silence for a few more minutes, carrying around that eerie veil of silence for a while until Naruto himself pierced through it, "But now I'm well-fed and on the journey to becoming the greatest shinobi there ever was, dattebayo, so you don't need to worry about me… Hinata?" the Hyuuga heiress had stopped walking with the crew a while back. She stood there with hands on her knees, shoulders shaking. Fuu rushed to her aid, offering to check up on the team's sole human member.

"Are you okay?" Fuu whispered.

Hinata gnashed her teeth and tightened her fists, "I… I didn't know…" she whispered from her hunched position. Fuu looked up at the male jinchuuriki before waving them off, instructing them to carry on without them. "I've… I've never gone to sleep with an empty stomach… I can't even imagine going through all the things he went through… I… I've spent so much time wanting to stand by him so much… but I wasn't even there when he needed me."

Fuu dropped into a squat next to the Hyuuga whilst stroking her back, "Hey, hey, you said it yourself. You didn't know. You can't hold yourself accountable for something you couldn't do anything to stop."

"But I could've… I don't know… I could've given him food… I could've invited him to my compound… I could've… all I did for him, all these years, was watch him from the shadows. He was moments from death… Naruto-kun could not be here today and it would've been my fault."

"It's not your fault. The fact that you feel bad even though you knew nothing about it, proves that it's not your fault. It's the village's fault for creating an atmosphere where people who knew about his pain could do nothing about it. C'mon, chin up. You can't affect what has happened in the past. Naruto could've died, but he didn't, he's right there in front of you. All you can do now is help the Naruto that exists in the present and will exist in the future. This journey is a clean slate for all of us, ssu."

Hinata slowly propped herself up. She stared at the back of the Uzumaki's head through bloodshot eyes before wiping the tears from her face. "You're right, I guess… there's no use crying over what could've happened. I'll prove my love for Naruto-kun by helping him achieve his current goal to free all the jinchuuriki from the village system."

"That's the spirit, ssu! Now let's catch up to the guys before we lose them." Hinata nodded.

XXX

"Obaa-san, I'm home," Han announced, drawing open a sliding paper door, removing his shoes and entering a small wooden cottage situated near the lakeside. The entire fishing village was nothing more than fifteen or so homes built around a tiny market with stalls that sold different kinds of fish all day. Naruto entered the cosy cabin after the large man and took a second to get a good look at Han's 'home'. It had a cute, homely vibe to it and was filled with everything you'd expect from one of these tiny traditional homes. Tatami mat flooring, wooden columns lining every room, lanterns as light sources, and the faint smell of burning incense.

"Han-san, you've grown so big since I last saw you," a tiny old lady appeared from out of nowhere to grab Han's rosy cheeks. The Five-Tails jinchuuriki took off his hat and lowered his mask to reveal his spiky, dark brown hair and calming face.

"I haven't grown an inch since I was eighteen," he assured her. The old lady's attention quickly shifted from her grandchild to the four kids travelling with him. She covered her mouth in shock.

"Are these my great-grandchildren? Did you finally marry that sweet, young lady from the Stone?"

Han was quick to shake his head. "No, no, these are just some jinchuuriki I'm travelling with. Introduce yourselves," he demanded.

"I'm Fuu, ssu! Jinchuuriki of the Seven-Tailed Bug, Choumei!"

"Nice and loud, she's perfect for me with my ears halfway to deaf and everything. And who are you, missy?"

"Hello. My name is Hinata Hyuuga. Douzo yoroshiku onegaishimasu," Hinata formally greeted before bowing.

"Oh, she's so polite and so cute… you're so precious," she said, grabbing a handful of the Hyuuga's soft cheeks.

"She is, probably because she's the only one here who's not a jinchuuriki," Han explained, "She's the princess of the Hyuuga clan."

"Well, aren't you just a cute little bean," the old lady smirked, finally letting go of the Hyuuga's cheeks, which for once were red not from embarrassment, but the old lady's gorilla-grip strength, "What about you?"

"My name is Gaara of the Desert. One-Tails."

"How concise and to the point. You must be the strong and silent type," she managed to learn more about Gaara in nine words than Naruto did in a whole day. "And finally… you?"

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki, jinchuuriki of the Nine-Tailed Fox, and my goal is to put an end to the era of suffering of all jinchuuriki, dattebayo!"

"Ah… an Uzumaki. You know, I haven't met an Uzumaki in years. They always made amazing jinchuuriki, you know. I remember the tales of Mito Uzumaki, the first Nine-Tails jinchuuriki… obviously, the prime of her life was before my time, but apparently, she was such a warm and caring girl under that mask of seriousness she always had to wear as the Nine-Tails jinchuuriki and first wife of the First Hokage. Who came after Mito again?"

"I don't know, obaa-san, but that's not why we're here…" Han began but the old lady cut her off. Returning her attention to Naruto.

She poked his nose before stating, "Kushina Uzumaki!" and bursting out laughing, "Oi, you look just like her. You've even got her fiery personality. The Red-Hot Habanero of the Hidden Eddies Village. Another sweet, young woman caught up in a war she had nothing to do with. I believe she was sold off to Konoha at a young age to become its second jinchuuriki. No, that stupid village never liked her… but one man really did. What was his name again… Minato Namikaze? Yes, the Fourth Hokage… no one knows what he saw in her, but that young lady had a chokehold on that man's heart. You radiate her energy, always excited, loud and proud of her clan's name. You might not have the red hair, but you're definitely one of them."

Naruto could stand there listening to the old lady for hours, "How do you know so much about my clan?" he asked.

"The Uzumaki clan? Everyone around my age knows about them. A clan so renowned for their fuuinjutsu that it cost them their lives and their village… this world can be so cruel sometimes with the fighting and the politics. It's good to see that members of their clan still exist today."

"Obaa-san," Han requested the old lady's attention. "We're not here for pleasure, unfortunately. I was hoping you knew where we can find Roshi. We're on a tight schedule."

"Oh, Roshi! Of course. What are the odds? He was here a few days ago, he's grown so much too since I last saw him… we had a little chat over some tea. He even mentioned you. He told me he was moving back to Kage's Rock… said he'd be waiting for you up there. All of you."

"Kage's Rock? It'll take us all day to get up there," Han sighed. "But I guess there's no better place to learn how to become a perfect jinchuuriki."

Naruto's eyes widened, "You're gonna teach us how to become perfect jinchuuriki?"

"Roshi's gonna teach you how to become perfect jinchuuriki," Han corrected the Uzumaki before shepherding the group out into the seaside village. "I'd love to stay for tea, obaa-san, but you know how far Kage's Rock is."

"I understand, Han-san, but don't be afraid to check up on me every once in a while, okay?"

"I definitely will," he bowed before following the team down the stairs and heading in the direction of Kage's Rock.

"Is that your grandma?" Fuu asked, "She seems nice!"

"No. She's a jinchuuriki enthusiast from the Stone Village."

"A jinchuuriki enthusiast?" Gaara had never heard that term before.

"Yeah, it's a catch-all term for someone who has an irrational interest in jinchuuriki. She could probably tell you what I had for breakfast if you give her enough time to research it. She's a crazy old bat, but she's the only person who used to treat me and Roshi with some form of respect."

"Then why are we walking away?" Naruto wondered, "If she really knows everything about jinchuuriki, then why can't we go back and ask her a few questions? Like, doesn't she know where the Kiri jinchuuriki are?"

"Kiri? There's no way she'd know such a thing. Kirigakure is such a mess right now that I don't even think their jinchuuriki know where their jinchuuriki are, let alone an old lady who's an expert on Iwa jinchuuriki only."

"Well, she knows what happened to my clan? She's met members of my clan, former jinchuuriki no less. I've never met someone who's met other members of my clan."

"Focus on the task at hand," Han demanded.

"It would only take a few hours," Naruto replied, "and it would stop us from running into Kiri blind when we get there."

"We don't have a few hours," Han explained. "Naruto… we're four jinchuuriki and a princess who abandoned three of the most powerful villages in the world. The only reason we're not being hunted down right now is that his village is too weak to do anything, your village is still recovering from an invasion, and my village is too preoccupied with planning an invasion. The next two villages after here are Kumo, who are probably preparing to ambush us the moment we step into their village, and Kiri, who have hunter-nin that are specifically trained in hunting down missing-nin. We have a very small window of opportunity, in which every second matters, where we can prepare for when Konoha, Suna, and Iwa are back to full strength and are ready to hunt us all down too! Going back and talking to an old lady won't help us with anything, so I'm going to need you to face forward and just keep facing forward until we reach this jinchuuriki paradise… okay?"

Naruto's face sunk into a sulk, "Okay…"

Hinata placed a hand on the older shinobi's shoulder to comfort him. His mood remained unchanged. Han sighed softly, "When all of this is over… we'll find out what happened to your clan," he promised.

"I know."

XXX

Kage's Rock was a tall plateau that looked over the Land of Earth's grasslands. Once Naruto scaled the landform's sheer vertical edge and reached its flat summit, he could see the ocean spread out for miles in front of him. He looked back at the plains they'd just spent the whole day traversing. Seeing how far he'd spent all day walking made his throat dry up. He needed some water. Gaara told him to drink the ocean water. Jokingly, but Naruto didn't know that. He stared back at the vast body of saltwater in front of him. Between him and the ocean, was a cliff and tiny straw cabin sitting under a large palm tree.

"We're here," Han said.

"Where's here again?" Fuu wondered.

A figure sauntered out of the cabin dressed in a magenta kimono shirt and pants. An old man with bright red hair, a moustache, and a beard tapered off to a point walked out of the tiny home until he could see all five visitors. He analysed them with his beady onyx eyes before getting a reading of their chakra.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, Iwa's first perfect jinchuuriki… Roshi of the Lava Style."