Conundrum

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Formats:

"...Speech..."

'...Thoughts..'

"…Disembodied Voices…"

Chapter 4: Clandestine

Still Two Years Ago

"ITAI! You're really enjoying this a little too much, aren't you?" For the millionth time Naruto was hit by a lightning jutsu in the rear for losing his temper. It's been months since he started training to control his excess chakra, at least it seems like months. He wasn't really sure how long has it been since he agreed to take on this training with his father. While they are doing the training he was supposed to keep his emotion in check and every time he blew the lid off he would receive a painful reminder of the spanking he was missing all his life. But he's getting better, at first it was almost every hour now he only got hit once every few weeks. 'Pfft, conditioning he said, what am I, a dog?'

"If you learn to stop blowing a fuse for such a trivial thing then I won't have to blast you in the rear. Remember what I said, while emotions can empower your actions, don't let them filter your judgement. Now continue with your training."

The training? It was chakra control exercise at its worst. Climbing forest trees was one thing, trying to climb a bamboo plant was a different matter altogether. Not only was it slippery as hell, he had to both try to stick on it and at the same time use his chakra to reinforce it so that it wouldn't get bent due to his weight. He almost destroyed the entire bamboo forest trying to get the hang of it if not for his father having complete control over the dreamscape and re-grow anything whenever he want to. When he had mastered that they started having spars on top of bamboo plants like some old kung-fu movies. It's a good thing that he seemed to never run out of chakra.

Water walking was fun though or he should have called it water surfing. He was taught how to skim on water by directing chakra not just downwards but also in any direction opposite to his intended destination. It was like being a water strider. Within a few weeks of practice they could spar on water while darting around on the surface of the water doing all sorts of moves that were impossible on land.

Next was walking on grass trying not to sink into it. It was like trying to walk on top of a bamboo plant, reinforcing it to hold his weight, but much harder because at any one time he is standing on several blades of grass at once. He had to accurately reinforce each one of them and careful not to destroy them as the grass are much more volatile than bamboo. This is probably one of the most difficult chakra control exercise. The fact that the grass always sway around dancing to the rhythm of the wind did not help much either. But he wouldn't just give up because it was tough. Maybe he would throw a few curses towards the unknown, but then he got up and does it again. He kept on until he found out not only he could stand on top of the grass but he can also sleep on it without trouble.

That was not all that he does. Arashi seems to have a knack at inventing new exercise techniques. He had Naruto doing all sorts of things to get his control over his chakra to an extreme level. Naruto was beginning to think that his father was trying to get back at him for defacing his face at the Hokage Monument.

All the while doing all of this, his father not only increased his weight by increasing his local gravity but also minutely fluctuate it almost constantly thus making chakra control even more difficult. It was this that frustrates Naruto the most as it made it harder to master the exercises he was supposed to do. More often than not he would quickly lose his temper only to receive a quick but painful jolt to the rear.

Nights were spent with the study of the mind, which Naruto vehemently protested at first saying that he would be better off learning more ass-kicking techniques. Arashi stressed that mind techniques are of the ass-kicking type, Naruto just never used it before, it's about time he start using his brains for once. They began with simulations of real-life situations, problem-solving games that force you to think strategically rather than charge into it blindly. As much as a game of Go or Shougi would do the same trick, they were limited by the rules that the games follows, and usually limited to just two party involvement. As time went on they started to use Kage Bunshin to role-play their simulation games, from all out war, to assassination mission and even some predator versus prey and rescue missions.

He quickly realizes that all these exercises truly done wonders for his jutsus, both in invocation and execution. He no longer needs a Kage Bunshin to use Rasengan as he can conjure it almost perfectly with one hand and uses it in many ways imaginable. Seeing Naruto's improvement with the Rasengan, Arashi then taught him the next three stages that he did not manage to teach Jiraiya. While the first three stages were the 'foundation' phase, the latter three are the 'enhancement' phase. This time however Naruto took more than one month to master each of the stage. Even then they were only preliminary mastery which means each stage can reach an extreme level of proficiency. In truth the 'enhancement' phase has no true limit to how far you can reach provided one has enough determination and patience. To further Naruto's proficiency with the Rasengan, Arashi had him making stone carvings using it. Unlike Kakashi's Chidori, the Rasengan can do more than just kill people. Making stone carvings will attempt to get Naruto to better control the Rasengan to meet his intentions. At first his attempts were met with total failure as the stones almost immediately exploded when came into contact with the Rasengan. After a while, Naruto were able to control it enough to make disfigured sculptures. It will take more practice for him to be able to produce a piece that doesn't look like someone was sculpting it using a jackhammer. Seeing as Naruto has not a single artistic bone in him, it would take a long time indeed.

At one time Naruto were fortunate enough to witness the jutsu that gave birth to the nickname 'Konoha's Yellow Flash' and begged Arashi to teach him that jutsu. Arashi were a little reluctant to teach that particular jutsu as he did not want Naruto to be just another copy of him. After much begging, pleading and offers to teach Arashi Sexy no Jutsu plus the ultimate Harem no Jutsu, Arashi relented and agreed to teach Naruto his speed jutsus. Not without first letting lose a barrage of ass-kicking on Naruto for insinuating that he would ever want to learn any of his perverted jutsus.

All in all they did not spend too much time on jutsus other than the Rasengan. Mostly they concentrated on Naruto's chakra and emotional control, and some studies into the mechanics of his seal in the third stage to help him further control the excess chakra he would eventually have to deal with. Then again Rasengan itself is an application of chakra control; the more he perfected it the more control he has over his chakra. Without noticing it they had spent more than a year and a half within the dreamscape which translated to not more than a week in the real world.

xxxxxXXXXxxxxx

"You said you were going to tell me more about mom." Asked Naruto while they were taking a break from all the training to clear the mind a bit. Not that this was the first time he asked and not the first time Arashi had told him about her. He had come to know Arashi very well while they were training and often wondered what it would be like if Arashi was alive all those years he had to endure alone. The one thing he just couldn't get enough was hearing about his mother. No matter how much he tried to imagine how she looked like, it just flows away like trying to grasp water with your bare hands.

"Hhmm, what haven't I told you yet. Oh, did I tell you that you mother had a bloodline limit?" Said Arashi offhandedly.

Naruto jumped at the prospect of having a cool abilities inherited from his mother. "What? You could have told me that earlier. What kind of limit is it?"

"Keep your shirt on. Unfortunately, for few generations now your mother's family bloodline has been dormant. I don't really know much about it. Your mother was a bit touchy about it, so I didn't ask too much. From what I know the manifestation of the limit became rarer with every passing generation and comes to a point where it stops altogether. It was much like the Uchiha clan except that with the Uchihas the selective potential was there from the beginning. They don't know if it was because of contamination in the gene pool due to marriage outside the family or some other obscure reasons, but from research it showed that the potential is there but it lays dormant somehow."

"So that means mine is dormant too? That sucks! What does it do anyway?"

"Heh, I told you that you mother were a bit touchy about the subject, I didn't get to pry that much without earning myself a glare or two. Basically it has something to do with your mind and how it interprets your senses. It's like this, there is nothing different between your nose and the Inuzukas', but Inuzukas have a way to interpret even the weakest scent; it is not their nose that is sensitive but actually their minds' ability to pick up and differentiate any specific scent from all others. You could say that their mind have extra sensitivity towards their sense of smell. Your dormant limit however can deeply interpret all five of your senses. Your mother also hinted there was more to it than that but I have no clue what it was. If left to my own imagination trying to analyze it, I'd say it was a very powerful bloodline if trained properly."

"There's not much hope for it to surface, is it? Great, I finally could have a bloodline to call my own, it decided to go on a vacation for a few generations. How convenient is that?"

"Maybe if you have the time you could go and find your mother's family, who knows they might already figure out a way to activate it. Sorry to get your hopes up, but even though dormant, it is one of the things you inherited from your mother."

"Yeah. Truth is I would gladly trade all of it for you two to be there with me as I grow up."

"I know, I wish we were there too. But you must realize, fate is a fickle thing, as much as we want to believe that we control our own destiny, sometimes it pulls the rug from under us. Who could tell what would happen if both your mother and I survived the Kyuubi incident; it could be good or it could get even worst than they are now. All I can say is, be thankful for everything you're gifted with, do your utmost in everything and all will be fine in the end."

"I know, I know, it's no use dwelling on the 'what ifs'. You can't really blame me wanting for more, heck everyone does. I wish fate would just quit kicking me in the gut every time I found something good in life. I guess that's why I keep fighting it so much."

xxxxxXXXXxxxxx

It's been a week since the incident that landed most of the impromptu team to retrieve Sasuke in hospital. As much as they understand the need for recuperation they were getting a bit restless with the inactivity. The genin teams are all grounded as all of them have one or more members taken out of active duty, so in most days they all convened at the hospital to keep the injured company.

"Kiba-kun, you shouldn't move around too much. You're not healed properly yet." Said Hinata timidly while trying to gently push Kiba back into his bed.

"I'm fine, Hinata. Geez, I just need something to do, all this lying around is driving me insane." Kiba protested. For the whole morning nurses had to keep sending him back to his bed whenever he tried to creep out of his room to get some fresh air.

"I know how you feel Kiba-san. I too have suffered the same treatment from the nurses when I was in here." Said Lee.

"Anyone saw Naruto yet?" asked Neji. Among the injured only Kiba has healed enough to be able to move and sneak around. Chouji although have no serious injuries, were too weak to move other than to stuff himself with food. Neji's injuries were severe and although it was mostly healed by the medic-nins he was advised not to move around too much as it would only agitate his wounds.

"No. The Hokage didn't allow any visitation except for Sakura, Kakashi, Iruka-sensei and Jiraiya-sama." Answered Ino while trying to get Chouji share some of his chips.

"How come they were allowed? And for that matter why didn't they put him here with the rest?" asked Tenten who sits beside Neji's bed holding a plate of apples for him. She knew though that the nurse had told her not to give any solid food to Neji but it was more for her than it was for Neji as she absentmindedly took every single piece that Neji picked up and plopped it into her own mouth.

"Cause the Hokage knows that Lee and Kiba would make enough noise that Naruto would keel over and die." Said Ino which quickly (and loudly) followed by protests from the two aforementioned nins.

"Obviously his injuries were more serious than ours. I'm still amazed that he managed to drag himself all the way here, not to mention carrying Kiba with him." Said Neji.

"Yeah, the guy had a hole in his chest the size of my fist, I can literally see behind him through the hole. Well … not really, but I swear I could see the insides of his lung" Kiba loudly hollered. Everyone already knew that bit of information, and that Sasuke was the one that gave Naruto the near fatal injury. They know it was a sore subject with some people but Kiba just doesn't seem to get it.

Shikamaru cringed at Kiba's words. "Kiba, we really don't need to imagine that. Some of us are eating. Anyway even if we did get to visit him, there's not much we can do. He's in a coma. And from what Sakura heard from Hokage-sama, he won't wake up any time soon"

"Speaking of Sakura-san, where is she? I haven't seen her in a while." Asked Lee.

"She's been spending most of the day either with Naruto or training with Hokage-sama. Actually she came in here almost every morning when you guys are still sleeping to change the flowers and then went straight to Naruto's room. Who do you think they're from anyway." Said Ino. The only reason she knew was because Sakura would come to her family's shop early in the morning when she was opening it for business. She was a bit peeved that Sakura somehow managed to convince the Hokage to train her but another part of her was also happy for the girl.

xxxxxXXXXxxxxx

"This is the last leg of your training, son. It was time well-spent; you have gained much control over both your emotions and your chakra."

"But I still haven't completely mastered your speed jutsus. You said it yourself."

"True, but those jutsus need more than just knowing how to invoke them, you need experience on how to use it effectively in battle. In any case, I've told you before, our priority is with your chakra control not jutsus."

"But we could spend some more time here, it's likely been only a week and a half in the real world."

"A week in the real world should have been your limit. This jutsu redirect large percentage of your chakra to power it, leaving only bare minimum to help you heal your injuries. You already know the principles behind the jutsus so you can develop them at your own pace."

"Yeah, yeah, I think I'm just trying to delay the inevitable. I dread going back to those glares again. Now that the mission failed it will be much worse, I'm sure I'll get blamed for what happened like I always did."

"Don't let that get you down. I really don't have any right to tell you what to do with your life. I may be your father but my absence from your life nullifies that right. Even then I can't say I'm not proud of how you've turned out. I'm sure your mother would have said the same. But I can give you one piece of advice: no matter what people say or do to you, no matter how much they think they know and accuse you of, in the end the one who knows you best is you. No matter what you do from this point on, as long as you do it for what you believe in, I will always be proud of you."

"Thanks Otousan. Did you know, even when I didn't know of our relation, you have always been my idol, of what I strive to become and hope that somehow someday I will make you proud." Both father and son stood there grinning like idiots beaming at each other.

xxxxxXXXXxxxxx

He slowly woke up to the beeping noises resounding in his hospital room. Though his ears worked perfectly, his eyes are doing its best to make him fall asleep again. Blinking away his grogginess, he shifted his eyes around him and notices that he's in a hospital room. At a closer inspection he could see a dash of pink on his left, he immediately know who it is. He let out a hoarse whisper. "Sakura-chan?"

Sakura was spending her time reading one of the scrolls Tsunade had assign for her to study while taking watch over Naruto. She was scheduled to have a session with Tsunade this evening so she might as well be ready if suddenly the Hokage came up with the urge to do a pop quiz. When she heard someone call her name, she turns to the door expecting to see someone. Seeing that no one was there, she quickly turns towards the bed to see Naruto looking at her with his eyes barely open. "Naruto … you're awake. Don't try to get up, you're still not completely healed. I'll call Tsunade-sama."

"Sorry, Sakura-chan, I couldn't get Sasuke back. I couldn't convince him to come home." He whispered a little louder this time.

"Don't worry about it. I'm sure you did your best. I may be a bit sad but I will be sadder still if both of you were gone. Now relax, I'm going to get Tsunade-sama so she can check you up."

Naruto relax a bit as Sakura hurried out of the room. He was awake now so that mean his seal has gone into third stage. As it was he could feel Kyuubi's chakra attempting to leak into his chakra stream but he found that he has no trouble holding it back and suppressing it. However it still left him feeling weird as this is not something he can pass as second nature, he's holding the chakra deliberately and it will be awhile before he can get his mind off it but still remain in control of the chakra. He was tempted to use the emergency sealing technique that his father taught him but he knew the more he try to control it the better his control over it becomes. It was like his father told him, the feeling of malice and malevolence the chakra used to have is gone, now it feels neutral as there is no intent behind it other than his own. He could feel the immenseness of the chakra pool within him, he could do jutsus all day and he'll barely put a dent in the reserve. The self-regeneration nature of the chakra will mean that he'll never run out of it and if he ever loses control over it, it will likely kill him before it will ever run out.

Moving his body a bit, he noticed that the hole in his shoulder has not healed properly yet, so he divert a minuscule amount of Kyuubi's chakra to slowly heal it. While he knows that his chakra control have been a lot better than it used to be, he doesn't think that his body can take the strain of rapid healing in his weakened state. When he first able to extract Kyuubi's chakra by demanding it from Kyuubi, he noticed that there's a distinct difference between his and its chakra. Kyuubi's seemed more concentrated, more potent would be the right word, maybe that's why the chakra can heal him very rapidly. A normal person's chakra would have to be employed by using medical jutsus to produce similar effect.

He sighs, how is he going to explain this to Tsunade? No doubt she would be happy to know that Kyuubi is gone, but she will be worried as to what he would do with the new found power at his disposal. And will it be alright to tell her that he met his father and that he has been training with him in his dream world. As much as he trusts Tsunade, that experience was kind of personal to him. But she is the Hokage and one of the people that he knows truly cared for him.

After a while, Tsunade entered the room with Jiraiya and Kakashi trailing behind her. She has a bright smile on her face, clearly happy to him awake at last. As they approach the bed Naruto tried to smile and uttered few words that if not for his current injuries it would have meant his ultimate doom. "Hey Tsunade-baba, I'm really messed up, aren't I?"

Tsunade's eyebrows twitch at his words, but her smile never left her face. "Even with your injuries, you're still treading so close to dangerous territory. So how are you feeling?"

"Sore. I'm still healing my shoulder, should be fine by tonight. Still, controlling Kyuubi's chakra makes me a bit uneasy." Tsunade arched an eyebrow at his words. She knew Naruto would have control over Kyuubi's chakra once he woke up but the level of control for him to heal himself must be tremendous. She didn't even sense any chakra emanating from him. How can he just wake up and suddenly have that kind of control that he never had before.

"So you know about the seal and that the Kyuubi is gone?" Jiraiya piped up curious as to how Naruto knew about it.

"Yeah, I'm awake so that means the seal is in its third stage and gave me full access to Kyuubi's chakra." Answered Naruto relieved to see that Jiraiya at least have an inkling to what had happened.

"Do you need me to put a seal on you to dampen it until you can control it better?" Jiraiya was thinking along the lines of putting the same seal Orochimaru put on him during the Chuunin Exam.

"No, any seal you put on me now won't affect it anymore. The third stage is different than the other two, its main purpose is to serve as a container for the chakra and rejects other seals placed on it by anyone else but me. It's not even visible anymore. Besides I'll get used to it faster if I try to endure it."

"How do you know about all this anyway? Even I don't know that much. And how come you not screaming like you used to, you're so out of character." Jiraiya is beginning to get worried. He knew there's no way that the Kyuubi could take over Naruto but the seal may have done something to Naruto's personality. He hoped not though, the thought of his pupil turning into a cold bastard like the Uchiha send shivers through his spine.

"Heh, I had an interesting meeting with your former student. And wait till I can move so I can beat you up for not telling me who he really is." Naruto raised his left fist threateningly toward Jiraiya and Kakashi. Both of them knew at that instant that the boy now knows of his heritage.

"Jiraiya's former student was the Fourth. I thought you already knew that." Said Tsunade clearly confused.

"He's also my father. Sarutobi-Ojiisan, Ero-sennin and I guess Kakashi-sensei must have known but didn't tell me. I know that he told you to keep it a secret but it could have at least saved me a lot of grief not knowing who my parents were."

"You're his son? I didn't even know that he's married. Although, now that I think about it, you do look a lot like him. Who was your mother then?" Tsunade sigh mentally, how come she is always the one out of the loop. She is supposed to be the Hokage, and as Hokage she needs to know information like this.

"Naruto's mother was Uzumaki Azusa, I don't think you knew her. She came to Konoha after you left. They didn't get the chance to get married. Everything was all messed up due to the Kyuubi's attack."

"That explains that, but it still doesn't explain how you met Arashi. What happened while you were asleep?"

Naruto, despite feeling a little weak having just woke up from his coma, went into a full-blown explanation of his time within his dream world. While he withheld some of the stuff like learning jutsus and stuff, he decided to trust them with the chakra control training he had done. They were skeptical at first but Jiraiya confirmed that it could be done and the dream world jutsu really was from Azusa's jutsu library (he should know, seeing as how he tried to bribe his way into learning it so he can have many naughty dreams).

After being satisfied with the explanation Tsunade proceeded to give Naruto a full check-up to make sure he is healing well. As he said, his wounds are healing steadily and would be healed by the end of the day.

"You'll be fine in two or three days. I'll check up on you then to see if you're ready to leave the hospital. But strictly no training for few weeks." Tsunade ruffled his hair affectionately and turn to leave with Jiraiya. As they leave Sakura was allowed back inside and came to sit beside his bed.

What was left of Team 7 stayed in the room trying to find solace in each others company. After a while, Naruto complained that it was too quiet and it's getting quite boring. Kakashi quickly offers to read Icha Icha Paradise out loud but quickly backed down under the glare he received from both his students. Sakura couldn't stay for very long, so after a while she had to leave for her lesson with Tsunade. With Sakura gone Naruto was left alone with the giggling Kakashi immersed in his perverted book. Frustrated, Naruto flung his pillow at the offending jounin, while promising Jiraiya will receive extreme pain and humiliation for writing that accursed book.

xxxxxXXXXxxxxx

The next morning Naruto pestered the nurse to let him visit his friends even if he was confined to a wheelchair. The nurse not only concerned about Naruto's health but also her own if Tsunade ever found out about this but in the end relented and gave Naruto permission. Sakura came by just as he about to go outside of his room and quickly offered to wheel him over.

By the time both of them entered the room where the others were, Naruto had his head slumped down drooling with a couple of bumps on his head. The others were about to greet him when they saw his condition, which they all came to the same conclusion, Naruto have much poorer control over his mouth than his chakra.

They all spent almost the whole day exchanging stories of their exploits on their mission. Naruto and Kiba though were being more than a bit boastful recounting their fight against the weird sound twin. Naturally they were reined in by their respective teammates. At the end of the day, Naruto cringed at the sight of an angry Iruka barging into the room demanding to know what he was doing out of bed. A bonk on the head later he was wheeled back to his room to retire for the night. Naruto cringed for the second time that day when he arrived at his room to find an annoyed looking Shizune tapping her foot impatiently. He knew he is going to get a round of lecture on how important it is to stay in bed when you're recovering from a near fatal injury.

A few days later, Naruto was allowed to go home with a promise not to start training anytime soon. Jiraiya had told him, in light of his new found 'abilities' he would be given rigorous training to make full use of it, so he might want to take it easy while he still can. Without having anything to do at the moment, he quickly decides to get something to eat since he haven't eat anything other than hospital food which he barely touched, mostly because of too many green things he can't identify.

His arrival at Ichiraku Ramen was met with much enthusiasm from the owner and his daughter. Without delay he inhaled five bowls of ramen before stopping to catch his breath and noticed that he was joined by Ino and Shikamaru who was having their lunch there for a change. In truth they were hired by Iruka and Sakura to keep Naruto from going off to train as they're both busy with their work and training respectively. They were both reluctant at first but they can't ignore the fact that the blond intrigue them a little from how they see him act few days before. Even when he was boasting with Kiba of his exploits they noticed that he seems calmer, more composed and somewhat mature for the lack of better words. What has brought this change in him so quickly after waking up from his coma? If Shikamaru had to guess it may be because of the life threatening experience but Naruto and his teammates had faced a lot of those before, what makes this one so special? Is it because of Sasuke or something else?

When it was time to leave, they both offered to walk him home, but Naruto refused saying that he can manage, he may be a little tired but he can still find his way home fine. After giving reassurance that he definitely going straight to his apartment, Shikamaru and Ino went off on their way. They didn't manage to get to the road leading to Ino's shop when the girl from Ichiraku Ramen, Ayame came running calling for them.

"You two…(pant)…you two were with Naruto-kun just now…(pant)." That came more as a statement rather than a question.

"Yes we were. Wait, don't tell me Naruto forgot to pay up." Said Ino getting annoyed if this was the reason the girl was chasing them. She should be chasing after Naruto not her.

"No. Something happened to Naruto-kun. After you two left, a couple of ANBUs came out of nowhere and knocked him out. They took him away towards the western gate. I don't know what's going on." The frantic girl explained.

To say that bit of information shocked them was an understatement. What business does ANBU have with Naruto? If this was official it's doubtful that they would have to knock him out and then take him out of the village. Being so soon after their mission it could be retaliation from the Sound. Shikamaru quickly asked Ino to find the Hokage and inform her of the situation if she didn't know already while he would go find one of their jounin sensei. Ino agreeing with Shikamaru, dashed towards the hospital where she knew Sakura was having a training session with the Hokage.

xxxxxXXXXxxxxx

Tsunade was supervising Sakura's training in one of the hospital's archive rooms when a knock came from the door. After giving permission to enter, she turned to see Hyuuga Hiashi walking in with his usual dignified manner.

"Ahh, Hiashi-sama what can I do for you today."

"May I speak with you in private please?"

"Of course. Sakura will you please excuse us for a moment." Sakura left. "Now what troubles you, Hiashi-sama."

"I thought you should know that there was a Council meeting yesterday."

"What? I wasn't informed of any meeting at least not until next week."

"I know that, in fact I was surprised yesterday when I attended only to be informed that the meeting would be kept secret from you. You are not going to like this but the topic of discussion was about Naruto."

"I should have known this would happen. Can you tell me the details?"

"In light of the recent mission the genins were involved and ended up in failure, they wanted to shift the blame entirely onto Naruto. They plan to strip him of his shinobi status and citizenship, exiling him from Konoha. They were hoping to gain unanimous support from the Council as they cannot force you to accept their judgement without it. Fortunately I'm not the only one who has high hopes for the young boy as many other clan leaders voiced their disapproval of the ruling."

"I'm not sure they would give up so easily. The only reason they didn't push for execution was because in any situation involving shinobis, the Hokage is the only one who can approve such punishment." Tsunade shudder at the thought of her surrogate brother being executed.

"That may be but I suspect that they hoped that while in exile one of their agents could find him and carry out the execution. With their initial plot failed they may try to force Naruto to flee the village marking him a missing nin thus would allow them to execute him anyway."

"I hope you're wrong about th-"

Before Tsunade could finish the door swung open and Sakura along with a panting Ino burst into the room. "Hokage-sama!"

xxxxxXXXXxxxxx

Kakashi sped through the forest following Pakkun, his dog summon on the trail of Naruto's scent. He along with Asuma and Genma were returning from a short reconnaissance mission when they were intercepted by Shikamaru. They quickly began a search in the surrounding area. A while later Jiraiya joined them just before a huge chakra surge hit them. They quickly rushed in the direction of the surge, dreading what they would find will not be pleasant.

Author's Notes:

I know that I promised to end the back story in this chapter, but the conclusion of it is too long for me to put it in here. While I like the epic chapter length some authors did with their fic, I like mine to be moderate in length.

As always criticism are welcome. Encouragements are even more so. More than that I would love to have some idea on how you would like me to proceed.

Sorry for the late update as there are some unavoidable circumstances. I'm still not satisfied with this chapter. I may update it again soon with some changes. Probably when the next chapter is finished (which is almost done by the way).