After a few hours of walking the group stopped to rest, sitting on a trunk of a fallen tree. They ate in silence. The thought that they could be attacked any minute was keeping the genin on their feet and the family on high alert. Amai chewed his onigiri very slowly with not much appetite. He was scared. His mom rubbed his back comfortingly.

Sasuke looked around to see if everyone was done eating and then called for all of them to pack up as it was time to keep going. The quietness of the woods was unbearable. With every bird chirp and with every buzz of an insect Sasuke's hand jerked for his kunai. Hinata kept checking the surroundings for enemies but no matter how many times she assured the others that there was no one else around, the tension between them remained high.

Once they were on their way again, Korashi pointed at a hill in front of them once they finally got into the sparse end of the forest.

"That is the Hinode Hill. Our home is right behind it."

"Finally…" Yuna said sharply.

"Yeah, this mission will soon be over." Naruto smiled at her and she just looked away and walked in front of everyone again. Once she was far in front Naruto caught up to her. "Hey, what's up with you? What are you suddenly mad at me?"

She stopped in her tracks and turned around. "Why didn't you tell me you had a girlfriend?" She asked angrily.

Naruto raised a brow in confusion. "Why would I? It's none of your business anyway."

She looked at him in slight shock.

"You didn't tell me if you have a boyfriend either. Not that I would even ever ask because it's not my business."

She just crossed her arms and looked away from him.

"So you're angry because I didn't tell you something that you have no business of knowing? That's stupid and unreasonable." He calmly told her. "Once this mission is over I doubt we'll ever see each other again so don't waste your time being angry with me for no reason and be my friend while you still can. If you don't want to, that's fine, but being mad at me won't do any good either."

She just stayed quiet.

"Why did you need to know about my girlfriend anyway?"

She looked at him and blushed. "He doesn't even know that I…"

Naruto's eyes widened as a sudden realization hit him once he saw the blush on her face. "You didn't think I was flirting with you or something, did you? I'd never do that."

She was so embarrassed at that point. Just then the others caught up to them. They had slowed down because they knew that the two needed to talk.

"That's an ever dumber reason to be mad at me, ya know." Naruto continued.

Yuna looked at her mom's sad expression and turned away and started walking. "Let's just get home already."

Hinata looked at Naruto who just looked back at her and sighed with a shrug.

They continued on until they reached a wide road which went towards the base of the hill. Korashi's eyes narrowed as he spotted something in the distance. "What is that?" He kept walking for a few more meters before stopping. "Oh no, what happened?!"

The other's looked at the base of the hill where a large pile of rocks and debris was blocking the road. The only other thing besides the road was a deep cliff next to it so there was no way around it.

"There must have been a rockslide." Sakura concluded. "We can't climb over it, it's unstable."

"We can clear the rocks out of the way and cross, no worries." Naruto said to the worried Korashi.

"You can?" The man asked.

"Yeah, I have this awesome jutsu that can-"

"Idiot." Sasuke interrupted his teammate. "You can't use your wind style on a fragile hill. You'll just cause another rockslide."

"Right…" Naruto rubbed the back of his neck. "I can't use the rasengan either…" He thought. "Well, a lot of clones will have to do the job then." He ran up to the rocks and cracked his knuckles in preparation to begin but once he looked at the rock for a few seconds he was puzzled at its appearance. "Uh… hey guys? You mind coming over here for a second?" He called out.

Sasuke motioned for Hinata and Sakura to stay with the family while he went up to Naruto. "What is it?"

"Do these rocks look kinda weird to you?" Naruto asked

Sasuke inspected them for a few seconds before his eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Hack marks…"

"Hack marks?" Naruto repeated confused.

"This wasn't a rockslide, someone did this on purpose."

Suddenly, a rumbling sound shook the ground and Sasuke yelled out. "Naruto, look out!"

Naruto looked up to see a large boulder rolling in full speed towards him. He jumped quickly and dodged it. A deep raspy laugh followed the sound of the boulder crashing at the bottom of the cliff. They looked up and saw a large man standing on the hill. He was completely dressed in black with the exception of his red hair, a red belt and a huge axe resting on his shoulder. Next to him were Tozoku on his left and Sukoshi on his right. "Well, well, looks like the two of you were right. Those indeed are the Nagais."

Naruto frowned at them and gritted his teeth.

"Naruto." Sasuke called out to him and motioned for them to get back to the others. Naruto nodded and they were both by Hinata's and Sakura's side in seconds. The three men slid down the hill and landed on the road in front of the pile of rocks. The leader took his axe in his hands and ran his finger over the blade. "You saw what this baby did to these rocks… imagine what it will do to you." He threatened.

"What do you want from us?! We didn't do you any harm, now leave us alone!" Korashi yelled out.

The large man chuckled. "If you saw a piggy bank in the middle of nowhere you can't tell me you wouldn't take it."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Naruto pulled out a kunai.

Korashi sighed in desperation. "For Heaven's sake, I told you already, we do not have any money on us!"

"Tsk, don't make me laugh." The man responded.

"Do I look like a comedian to you?" Korashi asked angrily.

The man frowned and turned towards Tozoku. "Do you two have any proof that he was lying before these kids beat the crap out of you?"

A bead of sweat slid down Tozoku's cheek. "Well… uh… Ikaku, you see…"

"So that's your name… Ikaku." Sasuke concluded.

Ikaku sighed and grabbed Tozoku's throat and lifted him up. "Listen you…" He glared at Tozoku who was struggling to breathe. "I didn't spare your lives so you could waste my time on some lie… If I don't end up finding any money on their corpses I will kill you two just like I did to the rest of your pathetic posse." He released his grip and Tozoku fell on the ground choking and glared at Tozoku who was struggling to breathe

"So he was the one who killed the others." Hinata frowned.

"Yeah." Sakura added." But still, we did the hard part of restraining them so they were easily killed so we don't know how strong that guy really is."

"That axe sure is strong though." Naruto added.

"Just be prepared for anything." Sasuke took his stance. "He's after the Nagais, not us, so he'll do anything to get past us. We need to focus on protecting them."

"Is he going to kill us?" Yuna stammered in nervously.

"Never." Naruto replied instantly. "We gave our word to protect all of you and I never go back on my word!"

"Just stay together and don't get close to any of them." Sasuke said.

Umi nodded hugging her shaking son.

"AHAHAHAHAHA! Do you seriously think I'm going to get beaten by a couple of snotty kids?!" Ikaku swung his axe off of his shoulder and effortlessly slammed in into the ground. The earth under the blade exploded into pieces and sent debris flying in all directions.

"We have to separate him from that axe." Sasuke whispered.

"Yeah." Naruto whispered back.

Ikaku laughed again. "What? Are you not going to make the first move? Are you scared?" He shook his head. "Tsk… fighting little brats, I never thought I would hit that low… but I'm gonna have to because you squirts aren't tall enough for me to hit high! AHAHAHAHA!" Tozoku and Sukoshi laughed with him. He whipped his head around and glared at them. "Are you two idiots going to keep laughing? Go and get me their cash! NOW!"

"Yes boss!" Both of them yelled in unison and drew their swords and charged the genin.

"Just like last time, Naruto and I will take them and you two protect the family." Sasuke said. "Ikaku might have a chance to get past us and get to you so be careful."

Once their kunais clashed against their swords the two bandits started sweating and struggled to keep pushing their swords towards their opponents. When Sasuke and Naruto pushed their swords away the two men took a few steps back and started panting.

Sakura looked at them with confusion. "Why do they seem weaker?"

Hinata activated her byakugan and smiled slightly. "I shut off their chakra remember? It hasn't completely returned yet. The chakra flow in their bodies is very sparse."

Sakura smiled back at her.

"Did you hear that Naruto?" Sasuke smirked.

"Yeah." Naruto grinned. "Let's finish off these suckers. Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"

Tozoku and Sukoshi looked up just before a large blast of wind hit them and sent them flying right back under Ikaku's feet. They coughed and groaned trying to get back up.

Ikaku growled in anger. "Are you kidding me?! You two are wasting my time! I'll get the money myself!" He started walking towards them. The power of his steps made a loud crash every time his foot made contact with the ground.

"Watch out, we don't know what he's got up his sleeve." Sasuke warned Naruto.

Naruto just took a deep breath. "Use you fire jutsu."

"Hm?"

"I have a plan, just follow me." Naruto replied. "Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"

He blew the powerful gust of wind at Ikaku and Sasuke realized what his plan was. He quickly did some hand signs and yelled. "Fire Style: Fireball jutsu!" He blew his fire jutsu onto Naruto's wind jutsu which made the fireball spread wildly and blow towards Ikaku way quicker and sharper. Ikaku immediately lifted up his axe in front of him and all of the wind and fire ricocheted against the blade of the axe not even touching Ikaku. His blade reddened as it was heated by the fire but cooled down quickly back to its original smooth metallic finish.

"What the…?!" Naruto said surprised.

"We really need to get rid of that axe." Sasuke frowned and angrily did a few hand signs before putting his hand down and supporting it with his other hand. Naruto watched in amazement as a ball of electric chakra spiraled in Sasuke's hand. The bolts of electricity hit the ground leaving wide cracks in it before he pulled up his hand and charged after Ikaku. "Chidori!" His hand met the axe and Ikaku struggled to hold it in front of him as Sasuke's chidori blazed in front of his face. Finally, Ikaku growled and, with a strong push, blew Sasuke away from him. Sasuke landed on his feet near Naruto. "Damn it!" He panted as he glared at his enemy when suddenly something caught his eye. He quickly ran back to Naruto.

"You ok?" Naruto asked. "What was that jutsu you just did, that was awesome!"

"Not now." Sasuke replied quickly. "I made a crack in the blade. We need to do something to break it."

"I got it." Naruto said creating a few clones. "Cover me."

"What are you doing?" Sasuke asked.

"Not now." Naruto smirked.

"Hn."

"Alright guys, you know what to do." Said Naruto, addressing his clones which nodded in confirmation.

Two clones ran towards Ikaku while one stayed behind with the original. Naruto reached out his hand and his clone started gathering chakra in his palm. Sasuke looked on silently as a smooth ball of compact chakra formed bigger and bigger onto Naruto's palm. "What the hell is that?" The Uchiha blinked trying to figure out what was going on.

Sakura stared at Naruto's hand in amazement. "Woah… he's gathering chakra into a sphere in his hand."

"Mhm." Hinata nodded wearing a proud smile on her rosy face.

Meanwhile, the two clones who charged Ikaku got right in front of him but just as Ikaku was about to strike, one of the clones climbed onto the other and they both dispersed themselves creating a smoke screen. "Hm? His clones are so weak they disperse before they can even attack, eh?"

"Guess again!" A familiar voice was heard behind the smoke screen.

"What the…?" Ikaku said in surprise as the smoke screen disappeared and he saw the orange ninja right in front of him with a ball of bright blue spinning chakra in his hand. He groaned as he swiftly lifted up his axe to protect his face before Naruto rammed his jutsu into the blade of the axe.

"RASENGAN!" He yelled out as the chakra spun wildly against the blade and Ikaku struggled to try and push it away just like he did to Sasuke's chidori, however, instead the rasengan pushed him towards the edge of the cliff causing his heavy black boots to make deep drag marks in the ground. Suddenly, to his shock, the blade of his precious axe snapped in half and he had two seconds to stare at the pieces in shock before the rasengan met his chest. He screamed as the powerful chakra ripped a hole through all of the layers of his clothing and burned his skin. Overwhelmed by the power, his feet gave out and he went flying over the cliff and into the trees below.

Sasuke stared mouth agape as Naruto took the remnants of the axe and threw them off the cliff and wiped the dust off his hands.

Tozoku and Sukoshi paled as they got onto their feet. "No way…" Tozoku stammered. "Boss…" Sukoshi swallowed.

Hearing their barely audible voices, Naruto turned to them and gave them a piercing glare. The two thugs, startled by the blonde's glare, quickly picked up their damaged swords and ran into the woods behind them.

Naruto grinned smugly and walked back to the others. The Nagais cheered which made him blush. Hinata smiled and walked up to him. "That was incredible, Naruto."

He smiled. "Well, I couldn't look bad in front of you."

She giggled and pecked him on the cheek.

"That was so awesome!" Amai exclaimed. "You both have cool chakra ball jutsus!"

"That was pretty cool." Yuna commented.

Naruto chuckled rubbing the back of his head while Sasuke showed a tinge of a smile.

"Ok, let's get those rocks out of the way so we can get you home." Naruto suggested.

"Yeah!" Amai raised his fists happily while Umi and Yuna sighed in relief.

"I'll help." Sasuke said and the both walked off towards the rocks and began moving them along with several of Naruto's clones.

Lifting a rock Sasuke turned to Naruto. "What was that jutsu?"

"I asked you first." Naruto smiled.

"Hn." Sasuke threw the rock off the cliff. "It's called the Chidori."

"When did you learn it?"

"Kakashi taught it to me while you were away looking for Lady Tsunade." Sasuke replied throwing away a few more rocks.

"Well, that's when I learned the Rasengan." Naruto replied watching as one of his clones stumbled with a pile of rocks up to his nose.

"So that's what it is." Sasuke added. "Wasn't that the Fourth Hokage's jutsu?"

"Yup." Naruto replied lifting up a rock. "It took him three years to create it. And it took Pervy Sage years to master it."

"How long did it take you?"

"Two weeks."

"…"

"What?"

Naruto just shrugged.

Sasuke blinked a few times before he wordlessly went back to the task of moving rocks.

After a while they moved enough to clear the way and waved over the others and helped them cross to the other side of the hill. Amai laughed happily pointing at his house in the distance. Once they reached the end of the hill they walked up to a paved road and made their way into town. After about ten minutes they arrived in front of the family's residence.

"Finally." Yuna sighed.

"Thank you so much. You brought my family home safely."Korashi bowed to them.

"Oh, no need for that!" Naruto waved his hands. "That was our job."

"Are you leaving right away?" Umi asked.

"Unfortunately, we have to." Sasuke replied. "We need to get back to the village in the expected time, otherwise the Hokage might by alarmed by our overdue absence."

"Well, it was a pleasure meeting all of you."Umi smiled. "I hope we get to see you again someday."

"You bet!" Naruto said before Amai hugged his legs. "Thanks, Naruto. That was a fun trip! And we didn't die!"

Everyone laughed at the young boy's comment.

Naruto kneeled down and ruffled his hair. "Next time we see each other, you'll be all better and we'll go for a run, I promise."

"Yeah." Amai grinned.

"Well, we need to get going." Sakura said.

They all said their goodbyes and the genin started walking back to the hill.

Sakura sighed. "It's finally over."

"Can we eat something first? I'm starving." Naruto asked.

"For once, I don't mind you asking about food." Sasuke agreed.

Hinata giggled at his reply and pointed at a small sushi place in front of them. They went in and regained their energy before they started their long journey back to the Leaf Village.