Hey everyone! Stalk here(duh) I know this chapter is early but I had time to kill so here I am. Anyways after a while of thinking, I decided to give naruto a weapon(won't tell until he gets it) and I decided on most of his new powerset already. He will be a brawler for the most part. Anyways thanks for the reviews on the last chapter. I really appreciate them. They always make my day.

Now I'm going, to be honest, most of this chapter won't be naruto centric entirely just like the last one . Just him doing small things. But the plot I've set up in the previous chapter will begin to grow.

How? Well, let's find out!

Chapter 3: Retrieval Begin!

Edit: 2 fucking words

Naruto pov

*Knock, Knock, Knock*

"Oh come on!" Naruto muttered from under his breath. He just began running the hot water in his bath for kami's sake!

Naruto walked to the door. Gripping the handle and turning it...

"You forgot your free spare key sir"

"Oh..."

Jiraya's group pov

"Okay, we need to spread out and find a blond boy in a dirty white tank top got it, '' Jiraiya ordered. He was taking this seriously, he couldn't risk losing his student's son again. He needed to be there for him. This was his chance to make up for the lost time.

"YES JIRAIYA SAMA" the anbu assigned to him shouted back. He had tora, cat, inu, and crow. Some of anbu's best

"Inu as happy as I am that you are reading my masterpiece. This mission is serious, you can't be reading,"Jiraya said, grabbing Inu's book and shutting it. It hurt him a little doing that but he had to ruin someone's precious reading time. For once something more important has come up

"Sorry..." Inu's voice sounded broken. Like someone ready to kill himself. But he had hope on this mission. You see, Inu was actually Kakashi Hatake. The copy nin. And Naruto was his sensei's son. He was supposed to be there to at least make sure Naruto was happy. But the neat part was that he wasn't. He was supposed to be guarding Naruto on the day he went missing. But things didn't work out how they should have and he had to go help one of his drunk colleagues who had the day off get home(he just read smut). So he feels like naruto disappearing was his fault.

Truth be told it was but that didn't matter now.

"Look I know you regret not being there I do too but you can't let yourself get like that. How can you help make up for the time lost if you're like that?" Jiraya asked. Truth be told he was depressed too until he got word of naruto showing up in tanzaku. But that also didn't matter now there were other things that needed to be addressed like the blimp crash found with a ton of shredded shinobi from the daimyos court. He wondered if Naruto caused that. But that also doesn't matter now. the most important thing to do was retrieve naruto... and then find out who killed all the daimyo's personal shinobi except for the 12 ninja guardians

"You don't understand. If I was just there that day he wouldn't have been able to leave. If I actually was in naruto's life he wouldn't have felt the need to lea-" Kakashi was slapped by jiraiya. The other anbu just watched and were whispering to themselves

"Pull it together Kakashi! Don't think about the what-ifs, think about the future and think about better times. Do you think it's just you that has regrets?" Jiraya said. He had tears in his eyes.

Tora the tiger masked anbu stepped up. "Uh I'm sorry to interrupt but we have a mission and we do not know when naruto will leave tanzaku town," Tora said, breaking Kakashi and Jiraiya out of their sadness for now.

"Uh yeah, you're right! Okay search around and ask if anyone saw where a blond kid with blue eyes went and when. Knock on people's doors if you so desire. Just make sure we find Naruto. Are my orders clear?" Jiraya finished. The retrieve the fox mission was ready to go

"YES SIR"

"GOOD NOW GO!"

The fox hunt has begun

Root team pov

"Target was last seen at 8 o'clock 300 yards that way," A woman with a blank mask said. This was a member of root. They were currently hiding in a tree looking at a specific area of Tanzaku town. They had found their target and they were ready to attack.

The person she was talking to nodded

"Your orders?" the same root agent as before said. Her leader looked at her than the other 2 members of the team.

"The target is most likely hiding for a reason. Not very good but still. This will be like an assassination mission but except no killing." the person on the far right put down their blow gun. "We will go in through windows until we find the target then we will knock the target out and deliver him to Danzo-sama. Are my orders clear?" The root operative asked

Everyone nodded.

"Good. Also, try not to injure it too much"

They all nodded again

"Spread out and search. NOW"

Naruto pov

Naruto put a towel over his hair. He just dyed it black and just got done drying it. He now just planned on relaxing before leaving tanzaku for greener pastures. He just needed to find a way to escape the hotel without being seen. He really didn't want to actually pay for the night. He only got it for the day and he would have to pay if he wanted to sleep there.

"I should go to the library!" Naruto said aloud. He needed to learn anyway. Why not get a head start?

Naruto left his room. And began his trek to Tanzaku town's library.

People were out but not really. There weren't a lot of people out at the moment. Most likely inside eating. It was almost dinnertime

'Maybe I should go get more ramen?' Naruto thought. That thought was enticing but ultimately he had things he needed to do. He needed to make up for time lost in his studies. He loved reading and ramen equally but today reading won out. Naruto needed to learn more about the world he lived in. The era he was in now. If the things he knew from konoha were valid. And fuinjutsu.

Naruto always assumed the mark jigen put onto him was a seal or a juinjutsu. He figured trial and error would be dangerous so he assumed fuinjutsu would work if he was good enough but first he actually needed to learn.

There were a few other things he would learn so he could fight of course. But fuinjutsu was a huge priority for him.

Plus the sealing arts would be useful to him in general. He may even learn how to wake that stupid fox up with a seal! So learning fuinjutsu was on the top of his list for power.

Naruto looked around and he was almost at the library. The city was awesome so far. There were no glares or looks of hatred like in Konoha. But he didn't want to stay here for long. Konoha nin might come and some could recognize him from his whisker marks and eyes. Actually, he should have hidden that beforehand. Too late now but hey hopefully the hair and clothes were enough.

Naruto wanted to work on chakra control, fuinjutsu, ninjutsu, and whatever else interests him. He would read everything he could just so he could be strong.

"Hey kid, have you seen a blond kid, blue eyes, and whiskers?" Asked a man from behind him. The voice was loud and boisterous

Naruto slowly turned around. He saw a tall man with long spiky white hair, red lines going down his face from his eyes, a green short shirt kimono, and matching pants, under which he wore mesh armor that is visible at his wrists and ankles. He also wore hand guards, a black belt, wooden sandals, and a red haori with two yellow circles on each side. He also carried a large scroll on his back and he had a headband with the kanji for oil on it.

Naruto knew who this was right away. This was jiraiya if the sannin and he absolutely couldn't do shit to even touch him now. He just hoped his lying skills were good enough to carry his ass to safety. Also this meant people knew he was here now and jigen would soon. He needed to gtfo as soon as possible

"Uh no, I did hear about a kid who had that description eating a large amount of ramen though. He might be at the ramen shop" Naruto technically told the truth. He has heard people whisper about his ramen exploits but he just was talking about himself in the third person point of view. It looked like it worked

Jiraya narrowed his eyes but didn't say anything. "Alright thanks, kid! good luck with finding anything in that old dump!" Jiraya said as he sped off in the direction of the ramen shop. It looked like his disguise worked awfully well on one of the sannin

'That was close. Now time to enter' Naruto thought as a sigh of relief escaped his mouth. He really needed to leave soon... just as soon as he stole some books...

Jiraiya pov

'That kid looked a lot like naruto' Jiraya thought as he looked around the ramen stand's vicinity. He wasn't getting any luck

"Whiskers, blue eyes, but black hair. But he did have the facial structure of Kushina as Naruto did, but he was wearing different clothes than what I was told... Maybe they were related somehow?' Jiraya thought. There were other possibilities of who the kid was but most were dumb. The most logical one was that Naruto dyed his hair black and changed clothes... "Ah fuck he lied to me!"

Root Pov

"Okay, I couldn't find anything. How about the rest of you?" The leader of squad 3 said. She wasn't having luck. All she saw was Jiraiya talking to a kid and then racing to a ramen stand. She followed him but didn't get a good look at the kid

"I have nothing"

"Me either"

"I saw a kid that looked like the target. He had different clothes and hair from what was described but he could have used dye." The last root anbu said.

"Okay good, we have a lead. We need to rendezvous with squad 4. Then we will go check out your lead. It sounds like it will bear fruit. Squad three's leader said

Naruto pov

"Well, that blows... not much there," Naruto said. He really couldn't find much other than chakra control there. And that was useful but he really could only find stuff he knew. There were books detailing where he could find experts in each art.

Ninjutsu: every hidden village

Shurikenjutsu: every hidden village

Fuinjutsu: Suna and konoha

Taijutsu: konoha, kumo, and iwa

Genjutsu: kiri and konoha

kenjutsu: kiri, kumo, and suna

Iryojutsu: taki and konoha

Puppetry: Suna

Juinjutsu: N/a there wasn't much juinjutsu in history so nobody really could gather info

Barrier jutsu: Konoha, iwa

Kinjutsu: iwa, konoha

Space-time jutsu: konoha

Konoha clearly had itself in every field they could put themselves in. But they weren't the best at everything. 'So guess I have to travel far and wide huh' Naruto thought. He had to go to taki, suna, kumo or iwa, and kiri. Every village except for konoha was accounted for. He had to do a lot of walking though... He even had to look for taki... the most hidden village in the world

"Might as well get that one out of the way then" Naruto made his way back to his hotel and grabbed the bag full of his belongings and he made to jump out of his window

*knock, knock*

"Oh not this shit again" naruto felt bad for the poor clerk, he really did but what did he want at this hour? Naruto made his way to open the door. Hand gripping the handle tightly and he turned it.

"Naruto Uzumaki, You are to come back to Konoha with us" a tiger-masked anbu said. His voice was blank, no emotion could be heard at all. This scared Naruto briefly. it reminded him of...

Flashback no jutsu

"Wrong, you do not move like that. You move like this, ``Jigen told young naruto in his blank monotone voice. He was teaching him a taijutsu style to defend himself. He was teaching him a style that was unheard of. Nobody has seen it and nobody will hopefully.

"B-but I'm tired, " naruto whined. Everything in his body was sore.

"Continue anyway," Jigen ordered. He brought out a metal rod

"O-O-Okay" Naruto kept cycling through the kata. It hurt a lot but it hurt less then what jigen would do

Flashback no jutsu end

Naruto shut the door in the Anbu's face and grabbed his bag. An anbu with a blank mask showed up and tried to grab him.

"POCKET SAND" Naruto yelled, grabbing the inside of his pocket. He threw the nothing at his attacker who expected sand

"What the-" The root anbu was bamboozled. Nobody would expect this

Naruto then grabbed the desk side lamp and threw it at the window, breaking both. He then shunshined out of the window into someone. It was jiraiya.

'Gotcha' kid, good lie but really need to change your appearance better,' ' Jiraya said, holding onto Naruto making sure he couldn't do any hand signs. "But it's over, you're heading back to konoha with us" Jiraya finished. But Naruto smirked.

Naruto substituted with the glass shards. "NEVER UNDERESTIMATE NARUTO UZUMAKI," naruto shouted. As bad as his situation was, he still was having fun.

"Noted," a new voice said next to him. It sounded lazy. He looked over to see an anbu in a dog mask with silver gravity-defying hair and him reading a book. That confused Naruto long enough for him to feel something wrap around him. It was siphoning away his chakra.

"Never let your guard down," Inu said as he closed his book. For some reason, Naruto felt like the man was smiling at him for some reason. Naruto felt scared. "Good job with the wood trap by the way tora," Inu said. Naruto looked down and he was entangled with mokuton. The first Hokage's kekkei genkai.

"Praise the holy log" Naruto kawarimied away confidence still there in his voice

"Finally someone who understands," Inu said before attempting to punch him. Naruto noticed it was slower than it should have been. He dodged anyway and felt something try to trap him.

He kawarimied again with a log. before looking around and realizing how badly outmatched he was 'No not like this' Naruto thought. He wasn't going back without a fight. He then channeled as much of the Kyuubi's chakra as he could muster at once. He needed to get away. But before he did he had a message to deliver.

Naruto's nails elongated into claws, His hair grew wilder, his whisker marks thickened, and his teeth elongated. By now he has stopped having fun. He needed to go now before they knocked him out

"Hohoho, You're using that furball's power already huh? Jiraya said. He was grinning. 'i wonder if he can use more of its power' Jiraya thought actually. If naruto could then he would be a pest to take down but so far this many anbu was overkill. He was crafty though and he would give him that.

"I'll give it to ya kid, you were good for a brat like you... But one can never match the might of Jiraiya the gallant toad sage" Jiraya started his kabuki dance.

"Grr..." Naruto was now like a scared animal. It was fight or flight now. He tried to shunshin away but he was stopped when he saw a sword pointed at him and he stopped. He was kicked back to Tora who restrained him again.

"Bad fox" crow said disdain wasn't in his voice. It was more playful than anything.

"Okay we have him, let's go back now I'm tired," cat said.

Naruto was hyperventilating at this point. 'I-I can't go back,' Naruto thought. The wood around him kept him from shaking too much.

"What's wrong kid?" Jiraya asked

'I won't give up... I CAN'T GO BACK' Naruto thought his palm tingled a little bit. He repressed the feeling though

"You death? what's wrong" Jiraya said clapping in front of naruto

"I won't go back," Naruto said. Kawariming with jiraiya. Confusion struck them all for a brief second when they realized. He used kawarimi again.

"How the hell does he keep doing that?" Truth be told, Inu was surprised. Sealless kawarimi was hard but on people, nonetheless whilst sealess was very hard. Yet a twelve-year-old did it

"He did say never to underestimate him, " Jiraya said. "He also sounded scared, scared of going to Konoha again"

"After him!" Crow shouted!" He wanted to catch Naruto before he escaped. Everyone else followed behind

Naruto had reactivated the Kyuubi chakra and he was shunshining to use maximum speed. He was hoping to get away.

"Got ya this time," Said a blank-masked anbu who appeared in front of him.

"NO" naruto swiped one of his claws out but the anbu blocked. their arm was scratched though.

"Ooh, fox got fight," the root anbu said. Naruto growled in response

"Enough, stop antagonizing the target," another root anbu said. It sounded like he was their leader. Root was now officially in the party. ``I'm screwed ain't I?" Naruto thought. truth be told the odds weren't looking great for him but he could make due.

Luck came to him in the form of crow, cat, tora, inu, and jiraiya.

"Root anbu?" crow said dumbfounded. Then he realized something.

"You're after him aren't you?" cat said pointing to naruto

Whilst the root anbu and the regular anbu were staring each other down. Naruto took this moment to shunshin away. This was literally perfect for him to escape. He just needed to not be followed...

Naruto quickly shunshined east. He just hoped he was going in the right direction to taki

Kara HQ

"And I understand the blimp crash was an accident right? Jigen said. This wouldn't throw his plans off too much. Besides this gave naruto time to grow into a better vessel. He would step in and look for Naruto if required though. He also would make things tougher for young naruto as well

"Yes, there was a malfunctioning motor in the blimp, and because of that, it crashed. We do not know where Naruto is and where he will appear next." Amado said pushing up his glasses

"I see..." Jigen was skeptical but he would let it slide... for now. "Get me, victor. Send Kashin koji after him" jigen ordered

"Right away"

Chapter end

Holy shit this was longer than expected. Only 3.5 k words total but still, that's long to my standards this is including a/ns btw. Anyways, did you enjoy it? I loved writing this chapter. Personally, I think this was the best chapter so far. I hope my naruto v 5 people was good even though it wasn't a real fight and just naruto using kawarimi all the time.

I hope I didn't make anyone over or under powered. Is everyone's personality like canon? Also crow is an oc like the root anbu I enjoyed writing the little part with the 'crazy one'

Anyways I have a plan for the next few chapters. Naruto will be traveling the world, He may gather people to join him, Or just allies. I hope the flashback was good too!

Overall I hope this chapter was as good as possible. This will be the longest chapter for a long time as i kinda just got carried away with it... hehehe

Anyways question of the chapter time!

For readers: What is your favorite thing to read in general?

For writers: What is your favorite thing to write in general?

Also i have decided on what weapon to give naruto. I will announce it in chapter 7 or 12. Depends on how long I want the first arc to be. This was a very mini arc chapter. Next chapter will be the transitioning one

Anyways before this gets too long stalk out!