Chapter 6

Sasuke burst from beneath the water, taking in a huge gulp of air. He quickly calmed himself and took a few deep breaths. This new training was hard but he wasn't going to give up. He had been using the ryu no kokyu (dragon breathing) exercise for two weeks and while the results were small, there were results. If he continued on this path, it would increase the strength of his Katon (fire release). He only wished that he learned it sooner.

Sasuke looked at the setting sun and began to remember the days he spent training to use the Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu. He trained until the sun set and into the evening to get it right. He was so happy when he succeeded and the praise his father gave him. Those were some happy times for him. They were gone now, taken by him.

'He'll pay for that. I swear he will.' Sasuke thought to himself. Sasuke decided that he rested enough and got back to training.

XXX

Naruto entered the mission room. He was wearing a standard Konoha uniform with flak vest. He had a ninjato strapped to his waist. He took a quick look at the assigned people before focusing on the Hokage and elders. He did take the time to greet one of his teachers.

"Raido-sensei, it's been a while." Naruto greeted

"That it has Naruto. I've heard my training helped you during your time aboard." Raido said.

"Yeah it did. Saved my life and the life of those I was guarding." Naruto joked.

"You will have time to converse during the mission." the voice cut in between the two. Naruto just faced the group and gave them the stink eye.

"Sorry that greeting one of my sensei has interrupted the briefing elder Mitokado, elder Utatane. I will strive to be more mindful of where I am in the future." Naruto said, his tone a bit mocking. Both of the elders narrowed their eyes at the young blond for his tone. The son of the Yondaime was not a fan of theirs and vice versa. Neither of them hid their distain for each other.

"That will be enough." Hiruzen said calmly but sternly. It interrupted any argument that might happened. He faced the four shinobi in front of him. "You four have been called upon to back up a team that has run into a bit of trouble."

"Which team is that sir?" Raido asked.

"A team of medic was sent to a town that were having what should have been a small outbreak. However, we received an message for help from the lead medic. Your mission is to back-up the team and figure out what is going on. This mission is a high C- and may upgrade to a low B-rank. Do you accept?" Hiruzen demanded.

"Yes Hokage-sama." the four shinobi said.

"Dismissed." The four bowed and vanished from the room.

XXX

It didn't take the four long to arrive to the village. They walked up to the village entrance to see several kids playing with three large Huskies. Naruto immediately recognized the Huskies and it looked like the three recognized him when they looked at the four. The three wasted no time barking and charging at the young blond. They tackled him and began to lick him all over. Naruto gagged as he was assaulted by the dogs. His cries brought out a young woman who looked at the scene with some bewilderment.

"Mika, Toshi, Iba, stop what you are doing right now!" she shouted. The three Huskies did as they were told and got off Naruto. The blond sat up and the woman instantly recognized him. Seeing him try to wipe drool off himself, made her smile sinisterly. "Well, well, well, I've been thinking of a way to get you back for what you did to me two years ago. Looks like the triplets got my payback for me." She knelt down to her partners. "Good job. Good... job."

"Yeah, yeah," Naruto said as he wiped off the rest of the drool. "Laugh it up." That's when Naruto looked at her and suddenly was stunned at what he saw. While Naruto knew Hana had much softer features unlike her clansmen, those features were really pronounced as he looked at her now. Even in her chunin flak vest, blue shirt and black biker shorts, she was certainly growing into a woman. Hana looked at him as he was giving her a look.

"Why are you looking at me like that Namikaze?" Hana asked.

"You... you are Hana Inuzuka, right?" Naruto asked.

"Yes." Hana answered with curiosity.

"That can't be. You're... feminine. The Hana I knew was a tomboy and a tsundere. Sure, she had softer features but she definitely wasn't feminine." Naruto said. Hana was red in the face after that and glared at one of the triplets when she heard him belly laugh.

"At least I was taller at thirteen!" Hana shot back. This made Naruto frown and quickly stand up. Naruto was very insecure about his height as a kid. Before he left Konoha, he was only four feet, eight inches. He was now five feet, four inches but it still stung that she would bring that up. Naruto was about to fire back when Raido spoke.

"As entertaining as this is, we have a mission to complete." he said. The two decided to stop their fight but by their looks at each other, it was not over. "Hana, where is your leader?"

"He's inside the village leader's home. My other teammates are doing patrol." she explained.

"Patrol?" Raido asked.

"Hakui-sensei cam explain it better than I can." Hana said and led the four to the village leader's house.

XXX

"Bandits?" Raido asked. The shinobi were all in the leader's house with the village leader. Hakui was sitting with them as well.

"Yes, it was something that we discovered after we dealt with the supposed outbreak. It was all an elaborate plan by these bandits." Hakui explained.

"Start from the beginning Hakui" He said.

"When we arrived, we immediately got to work. We discovered that the sick were ingesting their sickness. We checked their crops and their water and found contaminates. We were just lucky that we arrived before there were any fatalities." she explained.

"Did you find out the source?" Naruto asked.

"Yes and it is why we asked for reinforcements. We went to check the crops and water supply when we found the village's cows and horses near the water supply. They were doing their 'business' there. It was why the water and the food made the people so sick. The villagers who showed us where their supply was so confused about how this could happen as their livestock is kept separate from their water. That's when we were attacked by four bandits. We easily defeated and captured them. We have them locked up in a cellar." Hakui said.

"Did you get any information out of them?" asked Raido.

"Some." answered Hana. "With the help of the Haimaru brothers, they gave up the size of their camp and the reason as to why they did what they did. Apparently, they are after so type of gold in a cave this town is built around."

"Wait, they aren't talking about Tenshi-daimyo's gold?" Naruto asked. The shinobi looked confused while the village leader nodded in the positive. "Wow, I can't believe that rumor still exists. Tenshi-daimyo was a greedy leader that stole from his other lords when he was the daimyo of Hi no Kuni(Land of Fire). It's a rumor that he had cache's all over the country. This was during the Warring Clans Era. Still, they really believe that the gold is here?"

"We understand what you mean shinobi-san but there is no gold. We know of the rumors as well and we searched every inch of that cave. We found no gold." the villager leader said.

"Well, I would think so. All that gold was found years ago. This isn't even close to any of the caches." Naruto said. This surprised everyone in the room.

"How do you know about that?" the village leader asked.

"Toshiyuki-sama's daughter loves history. It took us about a week to locate where those caches were. Kid's pretty smart. When we persented it to the daimyo he had a great laugh and told her that it was already recovered. He was impressed though, gave a bit more projects to her just for fun." Naruto explained.

"If all of the gold has been found, why are they trying to drive the villagers out?" Hana asked.

"Because that daimyo wasn't stupid. This area is on a map that he created, leading to false areas to the caches. Those bandits must have a copy of it." Naruto answered.

"If that's the case, they're not going to stop until they check that cave. We're going to have to hit them first. Hakui, does any other member of your team besides Hana have any combat training?" Raido asked.

"Other than Hana, Iō is our only other fighter." Hakui said.

"Alright then, myself and Riichi will scout the camp. Hana, I need you to lead us there." Raido said. Hana nodded and the three headed out to do some recon.

XXX

Sasuke was making his way home after a hard day of training. His progress with the ryu no kokyu was coming along as he was able to increase the output of his Katon jutsu. Sasuke was pleased and felt himself getting stronger. As he made his way through the streets, he was suddenly face to face with Naruko. The blond was surprised to see him but it quickly changed in annoyance. Sasuke was also annoyed with the blond as she had become even more of a pain as usual.

"Well, look who has decided to grace the masses with his presence." Naruko said mockingly.

"I don't have time for this." Sasuke said and was about to move on when someone stepped out of the shadows. Sasuke was a bit surprised that he did not notice the person. The man looked at him with his lone eye as if he was studying him. Sasuke didn't like the look he was getting and narrowed his eyes at him. The old man noticed the small gleam in his eyes and was a bit concerned. He decided to turn his attention to Naruko.

"Naruko, let us depart. You have yet to master that jutsu." he said.

"Fine Danzo-oji." Naruko said. Sasuke watched as the two walked away. Sasuke watched them and couldn't help but wonder what was that about. It was as if that old man was studying him. He didn't know why but it was upsetting. He never heard the name Danzo before but he promised himself that he would keep his guard up should he come across him again. He continued on his way home. Meanwhile, Danzo was leading Naruko to the training grounds. However, he was curious about what he saw.

'That gleam in his eye? Was he about to activate his Sharingan? It couldn't be.' He thought. He noticed the tell-tale signs of training but what was he training in was a mystery. He would have to double his efforts to make sure that Naruko was ready. While Hiruzen may have faith in that boy, he did not. He knew that Sasuke would one day become an enemy of Konoha. His sword would need to be sharpened should that day come.

XXX

Naruto had all his weapon laid out in front of him. He had a few shuriken and kunai. His ninjato he inspected to make sure that it would do the job that he was going to do tonight. Raido, Hana and Riichi returned with the numbers of the camp and it was about twenty strong. They were led by an old samurai who was getting desperate. It looked like they were gearing up for an morning attack on the town. Too bad they wouldn't get the chance.

His attention was taken away when he heard the feet of three K-9's. The Three Haimaru Brother entered the hut and walked up to him this time. Naruto smiled at the three and began to scratch behind their ears, which they all enjoyed.

"If you three are here, then your owner isn't far behind." Naruto said.

"You guessed right." Hana said and entered the room. She leaned on the doorway and looked on as Naruto acted with her partners. "You know, I really get annoyed that they are receptive of you."

"What can I say, I'm loveable to all creatures." Naruto mocked, making Hana roll her eyes. Back in the academy, the two were considered rivals. Many thought that it would be him and Itachi but neither one of them were trying to outdo the other. It was her than Naruto seem to take joy in tormenting. She gave him as much as he gave her. Still, she knew that Naruto was stronger. With the pedigree of his dad, his mom and his godfather, it was no wonder he turned out to be as strong as he was.

"You're insufferable, that's what you are." Hana said.

"Just like old times." Naruto joked. "So, you chose the medical field? I thought for sure you would have joined the tracking teams or something."

"I considered it but I got into taking care of the clan's hounds and I was good at it. It went through the medical course and aced it."

"Well, I glad you found your calling."

"What about you? Are you going to join the ANBU or are you going to run the Keimu Butai? I heard that you've spearhead the revival of that."

"Neither one. The ANBU might have been an option but after what I did those two years, I've kind of wanted to just do regular shinobi missions." Hana straighten up and gave Naruto a look. The blond just chuckled at her. "Don't worry, I'm all up there. I'm not about to pull an Itachi." Hana was about to say something but was interrupted by Raido.

"Guys, we're getting ready to move out. Get you gear ready." He ordered. Naruto quickly put his gear into his pouches and sheath his ninjato. He stood up and made his way to meet up with the others. As he walked pass Hana, the Inuzuka could only worry about the blond. She wondered what he went through the two years in the capitol. She had heard stories about his victories and the moniker than they gave him but it seem that something else happened. She would have to put it on hold for now. They had a mission to complete.

XXXXX

Authors' Notes

Sorry for the long wait. Here's the newest chapter. It would have been a longer chapter but it would have dragged on. Either way, enjoy the new chapter.