YO, I'm back! It's been forever I know. Scold me later read the chapter now!

ENJOY!

The thudding of rapid footsteps echoed through the empty hallways, interrupted the peaceful silence that usually accompanied late hours of the night. A single floor at the top of the massive mountainside building was lit, all the shinobi on lower floors having long since returned to their homes for the evening. In the largest room, a massive white cloaked man stood staring out of the impressive wall spanning window. His sharp eyes gazed out into the darkness covering the village he had sworn to lead. The man took a deep breath and then in the blink of an eye was across the room letting loose a devastating combo of punches onto his specially made heavy duty training bag. The chain creaked and the bag shook under the heavy blows but the material did not give way. The warrior regarded the tool with a satisfied smile. It had taken over four-hundred attempts, but his R&D department had finally created a bag that could withstand his indomitable strength. When the footsteps finally reached his ears he straightened his heavy robes that marked him as a kage and returned to his desk. It was odd for anyone else to still be here at this late hour, which was why he usually reserved this time for his paperwork with small breaks for light cardio. He tended to perform both tasks better without the constant interruptions of his many subordinates, so he was mildly irritated that someone had still managed to break his flow. Lord Ay, the Fourth Raikage turned his attention towards the door as he heard the footsteps stop just outside before they were replaced with a frantic knocking.

"Enter." The command was as sharp and to the point of its speaker. Not a moment passed before the door swung open revealing a ragged looking kunoichi. Ay recognized his soldier as Em, one of his most skilled infiltrators, and the last member of one of the oldest clans in lightning country. She and two other black ops members had been dispatched on a recon mission into Fire Country the previous week and weren't due to return until the end of the month. She had obviously been in some kind of fight, if the scratches and torn clothing were any indication, and the lack of her two teammates left the muscular kage with a sense of foreboding. She stood there staring at him as if she didn't know where to begin her story. Ay hated when people hesitated.

"Report." This command, even sharper than the first, seemed to snap the exhausted kunoichi to attention as she immediately recounted the details of her failed mission. She spoke for nearly ten minutes straight without the Kage interrupting once. His only reaction was a tightening of the skin around his mouth when she got to the death of her squadmates. When Em had finished she dropped to one knee in a bow and anxiously waited for her leader's reaction to the bombshell that Konoha had brought its two loyal Sannin home.

"You said it was just the two sannin and an unidentified brunette woman, yes?" When she answered his question in the affirmative he continued. "The woman killed Aych with poisoned senbon, but what happened to Queue? You claimed he was dead, but you didn't say what happened."

At this point she looked down ashamed before speaking. "I felt his chakra signature abruptly disappear, and just after that I saw Eych struck down. My theory is that Jiraiya of the Sannin must have killed Que before he turned his attention to me." She paused and a few angry tears leaked out before she continued in an anguished voice. "I told them it was a bad idea, that we should stick to the mission and observe only, but they insisted that any dead leaf shinobi would be worth it." She was crying openly now despite herself. "I should have told them no, I should have made them stick to mission parameters, but I didn't and now they're dead and I ran like a coward."

By the end of her rant she was shaking with regret and trying to hold back the sob that was sure to open the floodgates completely. She began the mantra her mother had drilled into her as a child "There is no emotion, only peace, shinobi know only the mission" After several repetitions Em was surprised to feel the heavy calloused hand of the fourth raikage resting on her shoulder. She looked up and for the first time in her career as a shinobi she didn't see irritation on her kage's face. Instead what she found was understanding, and if she wasn't mistaken a bit of sorrow behind his deep brown eyes.

"You did the right thing. If you had stayed to fight you would have died, or worse, been captured and tortured for village secrets. If you had died with them then this valuable intel you gathered would have died with you. Only then would Aych and Que's sacrifice have been in vain. By surviving you make their deaths worth something, never forget that."

Em was so stunned at the passionate speech that all she could do was nod as she furiously tried to wipe away her traitorous tears. Ay removed his hand before turning around and walking to the window to once again gaze out at the land he loved above all else. "Take two weeks off and then I want you to report directly to me for your next mission."

She started to protest the leave of absence, but was stopped cold by the Kage's next words. "That is standard bereavement for the loss of a spouse, not a punishment." Her eyes widened and Ay looked over his shoulder and chuckled lightly at her panicked expression. " There are no secrets from the Raikage in this village, I've known about you and Que's relationship since the day it started, despite your attempts to hide it. What kind of leader would I be if I didn't know the lives of my subordinates?"

She hesitated to respond, what she and Que had done was technically against the rules of the black ops division. They were supposed to have no emotional connections within the squad so that they wouldn't be put in the exact position that Em herself had just been in. The choice between love and loyalty. Em had chosen loyalty, and until the Raikage spoke with her she had hated herself for it.

Ay spoke again, saving her the trouble. "You are dismissed Em, go see about your wounds and get some rest. The Cloud will mourn her losses tomorrow." Unable to speak anymore, Em nodded to the older shinobi's back and quickly exited the room, readjusting the thin black mask covering the lower half of her face as she went.

The Kakusareta Clan, was said to be the greatest family of lightning users the world had ever known. Aye was glad that they still had one among his ranks, once she mastered all of her clan's secret techniques she would be quite the asset. The Raikage's mind then turned to other things. A flash of light and Ay was across the room landing a meteoric punch against his training bag instantly reducing it to scraps, sand, and bits of glass from where his chakra had crystallized the bag's insides. "Sarutobi you bastard, speaking peace from the front yet gathering your strongest weapons in the shadows." He would show them, if the Leaf wanted war then the Cloud would be ready to strike them down. This was exactly why he had started the infiltration missions in the first place. It seemed he needed to contact his mole sooner than normal this month, to ascertain the full meaning behind the sannin's return. He would also need to bring in Bee, his little brother was long overdue for an update of Yugito's progress controlling the Two Tails. The leaf needed to pay for their arrogance, and Ay would make sure that they did.

—-

Blistered hands held a katana completely still, not even a single muscle of the wielder twitched as they held the starting position of a long since memorized kata. Then without warning the person exploded into motion, intricately slicing imaginary opponents, while nimbly stepping through the soft grass. To the lone observer it looked as if the young blonde was dancing rather than practicing with an instrument of war, each sweep of the sword flowed seamlessly into the next giving off an air of deadly grace. After watching the boy falter as he stepped into his final position Jiraiya of the sannin decided to make his presence known.

"I think five hundred repetitions is more than enough for one day kid, why don't you call it for the night." His deep voice rumbled out as he stepped into the youngest Hatake's view. Naruto didn't so much as twitch before responding in a slightly challenging tone. "Five-hundred and fifty, I started before you decided to hide in the bushes and stare at a sweaty child."

Jiraiya's face instantly soured at the sarcasm "Don't say it like that brat, you know a lot of shinobi would kill to have me observe their training!" Without missing a beat the masked blonde perfectly mimicked his adoptive father's deadpan "Then go watch one of them you old perv." This was followed by Naruto stepping back into the starting position of his routine.

Jiraiya frowned as he contemplated how mad Kakashi would be if he fed his brat of a son to Gamabunta. He hated how little his godson seemed to want to interact with him. It was great at first. For the first few days after he woke up he had practically begged the Sage to teach him, and requested tips near constantly. But then Jiraiya had made one little mildly inappropriate comment about that physically blessed purple haired anbu and the little runt had been giving him the cold shoulder ever since.

"I mean honestly, how was I supposed to know she was the brat's kenjutsu instructor?"

Out loud the white haired sannin tried a different approach. "Well that's too bad, and here I was looking forward to teaching you a new jutsu." That seemed to get the blonde's attention as Jiraiya saw his sword hesitate just the slightest bit during a downward slash. Still with his back to him Naruto spoke.

"What kind of jutsu?"

Jiraiya smirked as he mentally fist pumped "Got him." He took his time walking around so he was once again in front of the sword wielding academy student before responding aloud with a wide smile on his face. "I thought you weren't interested in listening to an old perv?"

Naruto scowled at the old man through his mask knowing that he'd been tricked. "Apologize to Yugao sensei and promise to never talk about her parts again, and I'd be willing to learn a jutsu from you."

Jiraiya couldn't help but be amused at the kid's logic, "You know if I'm teaching you something then you don't really get to be making demands." Naruto resolutely shook his head before saying "That's the deal, take it or leave it."

The Toad Sage was going through an internal dilemma, on the one hand this brat of Kakashi's was seriously pissing him off, ("He had to have gotten this from Kakashi or Kushina because Minato was never this difficult.") But on the other hand the whole reason he was out here was because he wanted to get to know the insufferable brat. His admittedly short attention span where women weren't concerned chose for him.

"Deal, now put down the sword and listen up." As the blonde obeyed Jiraiya continued. "Kakashi told me you were competent with Earth release, and had made solid progress with the basic exercises for using fire release. Is that correct?"

As the masked boy nodded, Jiraiya once again had to respect Kakashi's training method. The kid was apparently a wind release, but instead of starting elemental manipulation with his affinity he had Naruto start early with its polar opposite, the Earth release. After gaining a competence over that, the cyclops moved his son onto fire and started over. He did this to allow the boy's chakra system to grow used to and hopefully be more receptive to elements that he's not a natural with. Even with shadow clones Earth release had apparently taken the boy several years to even be usable in battle. Technically it was possible for a shinobi to use every element, but he only knew Kakashi, his own Sensei, and a few Clan heads of the Uchiha that had the skill to do so. Kakashi and the Uchiha used their sharingan, and Sarutobi Sensei worked at it for years with a very similar method to what Naruto was doing now. Common shinobi lacked the chakra capacity and dedication to master more than two elements to a combat ready level, but it seemed Naruto Hatake was not a common shinobi.

Seeing the boy's expectant eyes the sannin continued. "What I'm going to teach you is a D-rank fire jutsu that could save your life one day." The loss of interest that accompanied the words "D-rank" was reversed by the sannin's lifesaving assertion. Enjoying the blonde's rapt attention, Jiraiya continued "It's called Fire Style: Candle Top Jutsu. After you master it you won't need hand signs, but for now you'll use rat, horse, and then finish on tiger." He performed the seals as he spoke them and once he was finished he scraped the edge of his thumbnail against the pad of his pointer finger as if he were flipping a Naruto's delight this resulted in a small flame erupting from the tip of the older man's thumb like some sort of human cigarette lighter.

Jiraiya's smile turned soft at the boy's amazement. His smile turned to laughter as the blonde immediately tried to perform the jutsu himself without producing so much as a spark for his efforts. Ten more attempts were made before the sannin intervened. "D-Rank or not,if you haven't mastered the elemental control exercises then this jutsu will be nearly impossible. You need to keep practicing burning leaves with your chakra, and once you've mastered that then you attempt the kindle jutsu. I'd suggest for the time being just designating a clone or two to practice the jutsu alongside the others during your elemental chakra control exercises."

The boy nodded, accepting the older man's advice as solid before offering gratitude. "Thanks, froggy perv, I guess you're not so bad after all." Jiraiya's irritated scowl returned before he ranted at the boy "I'm not just some old perv kid I'm a damn Sage and I deserve a bit more respect than that."

Naruto stared at the older man for a moment, his blue eyes seemed to be considering the large man before he spoke. "My apologies, it won't happen again Pervy Sage." Jiraiya stared for a moment before he shook his head, turned around, and walked out of the clearing mumbling about ungrateful brats, all while Naruto belted out laughter behind him.

—-

"He's out here for sure guys." Sakura's hopeful call fell on deaf ears as an out of breath Choji piped up in response. "That's what you said the last three places we checked."

Shikimaru winced for his friend as he prepared for Sakura's response. Experience had taught him that the pink haired girl could be every bit as loud as Ino when she got worked up, and the fact that they had been searching for Naruto for over two hours at this point had Sakura right up near the tipping point. Jiraiya of the Sannin, whom apparently Sakura was on a first name basis now,- "Because that's totally normal right?" had told them that he was practicing over on training ground eleven. Unfortunately by the time they had got there their blonde friend was nowhere to be found, this pattern continued at both his house and Ichiraku's leaving everyone a little frustrated.

"Maybe we should give Naruto some more time, he's been through a terrible tragedy so it's only natural that he would need some time to himself." The tinkling voice of the final member of their group, the white eyed heiress of the Hyuuga clan, Hinata, seemed unsure as if she didn't believe her own words.

Sakura frowned for a moment considering the other girl's words before shaking her head with a resolute look on her face. "Normally I'd agree with Hinata, but Kakashi Sensei specifically asked us to look for him. I don't think his dad would have asked us to find him if it wasn't important."

"What exactly did his dad ask us to do once we found him?" Shikamaru's question brought the green eyed kunoichi in training back to her early morning conversation with her one eyed sometimes sensei.

She had barely gotten out of her room that morning when there had been a sudden knock on her family's front door. She heard her mother answer it before the elder Haruno woman called up to her. "Sakura dear, Kakashi Sensei is here to speak with you." The pink haired child was so excited to hear any news about her injured friend she ran down instantly completely disregarding the fact that she was in her pjs. The silver haired jounin greeted her with his usual eye smile before speaking.

"I know it's early so I'll cut to the chase. I was wondering if you could do me a favor today?"

Sakura didn't even hesitate, "Yes Sensei!" Kakashi chuckled and gave a grin from beneath his mask. "I didn't even say what it was yet, but I do appreciate the enthusiasm." The kunoichi in training blushed at the teasing, before questioning further. "What do you need from me Sensei?"

The Hatake patriarch suddenly seemed unsure of how to word his next statement so Sakura pressed again. "Is Naruto okay?" Her worry must have bled into her question because the jounin was suddenly reassuring her of the blonde's safety. "Naruto is fine, but my request does concern him." He paused again, still considering his words. At this point Sakura had gotten too anxious to deal with the man's waffling.

"Sensei, I thought you were gonna cut to the chase."

The chastisement seemed to get the man back on track as he finally continued. "I was wondering if you could grab a couple of Naruto's other friends and find him today and hang out for a bit?"

Sakura frowned, not at the request, but instead it was due to her having been unable to do exactly that task for the last several days. She and Ino had gone out looking for him to play at the park just yesterday, but the masked blonde was nowhere to be found. It was as if he was hiding from them. Every time the girls had arrived somewhere they were told they had just missed him. The day before that she had done the same with Shikamaru and Choji, meeting much the same results. When she voiced this the jounin closed his visible eye and let out a tired sigh.

"I had suspected as much. Listen Sakura, Naruto just basically lost two months worth of time. To him the attack was just last week, so it's taking some time for him to readjust. I know I'm probably overstepping, but I really believe that it's you and his other friends that will be able to help him get back to the present."

Sakura's thoughts called up the image of a massive orange fox with nine thrashing tails. If her friend had been attacked by that monster then it's no wonder that he's not adjusting well. She had done some research after that night apparently the nine tails was the strongest of a group of chakra monsters called Tailed Beasts. The fox stood at the top of the food chain boasting the most power which coincided with its number of tails, numbering one through nine. That was basically as far as she had gotten besides the story from class where the Fourth Hokage had killed it eight years ago, sacrificing his life in the process. She now knew that story wasn't exactly right since the fox had somehow managed to attack Naruto and kill Sasuke's family.*

She was unsure of how it was able to accomplish all this without being seen with its huge size, but she just assumed it came with the territory of being an ancient demon.

She quickly realized she needed to actually respond so she flashed her sensei a smile and accepted. "You can count on us, Sensei!"

—-

Back in the present Sakura finished recounting the morning visit, of course leaving out her thoughts on why a dead monster is alive again. She looked around and saw a range of emotions flash across the faces of her companions. A delicate sadness settled over Hinata while Shikamaru's mouth drew into a thin line, his features a mask of resolve. Choji at the back of the group had a flash of guilt stemming from his earlier complaints, before he himself gained a look of determination.

"Alright then, if we're gonna do this then lets try to do it in a less troublesome way."

The interjection came from Shikamaru whose usual lazy drawl was gone, replaced with a seriousness he usually only reserved for Shogi or sparring with Naruto when the blonde pushed the usually enigmatic boy too far. The other three shinobi in training listened with rapt attention as the Nara heir continued.

"We'll split up, each of us will cover a section of the village," as he spoke he picked up a stick and began drawing up a crude outline of the village. "Sakura you and Hinata go here and here-" he gestured to the market district and the clan/residential district respectively, "While choji and I go here and there." He directed Choji over to the administration district near the hokage tower while designating himself the remaining and largest section, the rest of the training fields and the red light district.

"We meet at Ichiraku Ramen at noon whether we find him or not. Does this work for you guys?" His question was met with three nods of determination and without another word the four split off in search of their illusive blonde friend leaving the little clearing they had once occupied peaceful once again.

—-

Elsewhere in the village a short blonde boy sneezed and rubbed his itchy nose through his mask. "Must be allergies." Naruto Hatake was stealthily making his way across the rooftops of Konoha's residential district taking great care to not be seen. The long shadows of the apartment buildings along with the loud cacophony of voices from the crowded street below greatly aided him in his venture.

It wasn't that the blonde didn't wish he was surrounded by his friends, no his isolation came not from a desire for solitude, but from a fear of rejection.

"It's not like they need to be hanging out with a monster anyway." He flinched as if struck as the memories of his first night after waking up rose once again to the surface. The night that his father sat him down along with the Third hokage and explained that He Naruto Hatake was the vessel for The Nine tailed Demon Fox that had killed the Fourth Hokage. His dad told him with tears in his eyes that Lord Fourth had sacrificed his life to seal the beast into him as a baby. The blonde was in disbelief it was as if "Hey son if being asleep for two months wasn't already enough you've got this massive fox in your gut that wants to kill you and everyone you love."

As the scornful thought entered his mind he felt instant guilt. It wasn't his dad's fault. The man hadn't wanted to tell him, but Naruto had insisted, demanded even, that he be given the truth. It took Gramps, the Hokage himself, to voice his approval before he would even consider it. In the end Naruto had gotten what he'd asked for, but it wasn't at all what he wanted.

The blonde tried to deny it at first, but then he remembered the burning and the sadistic laughter. That hadn't been the voice of the masked man, the voice was far too was an ancient and powerful quality that mortals just couldn't replicate. That voice was power, and the searing warmth that accompanied it was a feeling unlike any other. It was both excruciating and addicting. His every nerve had been alight with pain, but his muscles begged for more. They had soaked up the tainted power and used it with reckless abandon. The blonde could only remember the night in snippets at that point but through the haze he could easily recall the dark euphoria, and terrible rage he felt as he lashed out with immeasurable power at his fingertips.

"Why are you on my roof?"

The sudden question came from directly behind the blonde, and once again instinctually the blonde went on the attack. Instantly the jinchuriki spun around with a swinging back fist in the voices direction, however unlike years ago when this had happened with Sakura the Blonde was surprised to feel his strike parried. He was even more surprised when he had to block a front kick to the chest as he opened his mouth to apologize. His vision went to the face of his opponent and blue met black as Naruto locked eyes with Sasuke Uchiha. Both boys paused for a moment and then almost as if they were communicating telepathically both shinobi in training launched themselves at each other. Naruto was a hair faster causing Sasuke to bring up his guard to block a jab at his collarbone. The blonde stayed on the offensive launching strike after strike but the raven haired boy managed to block or parry everyone until in his reckless barrage Sasuke slipped under a poorly timed haymaker and brought his knee up into the bottom of Naruto's chin. The blonde was stunned and could taste blood in his mouth, but still managed to jump back and create some distance before pulling a smoke pellet from his pouch and dropping it to the floor.

Hidden by the smoke Naruto took a moment to gather himself. He needed to calm down, he was allowing his personal frustrations to override his training. He wasn't fighting as his father taught him he was lashing out wildly just hoping to hit something. "Like a monster"

The traitorous thought distracted the boy just enough to where he was unable to avoid the leg sweep that suddenly knocked him to the floor. As Sasuke moved to capitalize on his attack he brought his fist down onto the prone boy's chest attempting to knock the wind out of him, but instead bloodied his knuckles on the surface of the roof as "Naruto" dissipated into a puff of smoke revealing itself to be a clone. Sasuke was so shocked that his classmate was able to create a solid clone, that he was unprepared for the retaliatory legsweep that knocked him onto his butt.

When the boy downed Uchiha scrambled to his feet he saw the blonde laughing at him from across the roof. "You should've seen your face man! Hahaha"

Sasuke scowled as he began the hand seals for the only offensive jutsu he knew. "FIRE STYLE: GRAND FIREBALL JUTSU!" A massive ball of flame shot towards the blonde and to Sasuke's horror and instant regret completely engulfed the other boy in flames. "What have I done-"

The thought was stopped by the cold feeling of steel against his neck. "Gotcha again." Came the smug voice of Naruto Hatake easily replacing Sasuke's guilt with irritation. The blonde's next sentence managed to curb it albeit slightly. "That was awesome! That fireball was HUGE Sasuke, I'm actually impressed."

The raven haired boy smirked "As if I care what somebody who randomly attacks people thinks moron"

The londe scratched the back of his head and smiled sheepishly. "Haha, yeah sorry about that. I had a lot on my mind and you startled me." His smile then turned accusatory "BUT HEY, if I recall it was you who charged at me ready to fight while I was trying to apologize."

"Says the moron who charged first."

Naruto's smile turned teasing again. "No no no, you charged first, I just got the first hit off because I'm faster than you."

This of course caused the Uchiha orphan to deny his claim which spiraled the two of them into an hour long debate over who truly started it and why Shadow Clones were way better than fireballs. Eventually the two just ended up laying on the roof looking at clouds in comfortable silence. Naruto was marveling over how his jaw had already completely healed, (the one good side effect of being a monster) when Sasuke broke the silence.

"I've actually wanted to talk to you since you woke up." When Naruto didn't respond, the other boy continued. "They told me that you got hurt trying to save one of my clansmen, so for that I wanted to say thank you." Sasuke's voice was neither even nor shaky, but an odd combination of barely controlled rage and anguish.

Silence returned for a moment before the blonde could no longer hold his tongue. "I failed so I don't know why you're thanking me. I lost and she still…That bastard still killed her right in front of me just to prove I was weak." He held in a shudder "Damn it Hatake, keep it together you're not a baby."

Unbeknownst to Naruto, Sasuke was warring with himself internally after the blonde's admission. He still remembered the cold voice of Itachi in his ear.

"Until next time little brother"

That steeled his resolve, in a small voice more timid than Naruto had ever heard the other boy speak, he began "My brother was the other assassin, he murdered our parents in cold blood and then-" His voice broke just for a moment before he crushed his weakness and continued "-then he taunted me, he said was going to show me exactly what he'd done with genjutsu, he said I'd experience it over and over again for three days, but-" he sat up and made eye contact with the blonde. "-just before he cast the technique there was a massive burst of chakra from across the compound. He decided it was more important than torturing me so he knocked me out and I woke up in the hospital. The Hokage told me that the chakra we felt was from your fight with the masked attacker."

At this point Naruto was hanging on every word waiting for what the Uchiha boy would say next, praying that it wouldn't be what he feared.

"If you hadn't fought hard enough to make the enemy use such powerful chakra I would've suffered a far worse fate, so thank you."

Naruto did his best to hide his relief at Sasuke's misunderstanding about the chakra. He had no idea that Sasuke's brother had been the other attacker, just that there had been a second one working alongside the masked man. He couldn't imagine what the other boy must have been feeling in the past two months. Then as Sasuke's gratitude truly hit him he felt happy with himself for the first time since he'd woken up. His curse had actually saved someone.

The blonde stood to his feet, before standing up and reaching out a hand to the still seated Sasuke.

"Buy me ramen for life and we'll call it even."

Instantly the heavy aura was gone as both boys resumed their usual roles. "There's no way I'm taking that deal moron." The words were accompanied by a smirk as Sasuke accepted the hand to pull him up.

Naruto waved the reply off dismissively. "Fine then you can just buy mine today since I kicked your butt all over that rooftop." He then jumped onto the next roof headed towards his favorite Ramen stand with Sasuke in tow, yelling about cheating.

DID YOU LIKE IT? If so let me know comment or PM.

NOTES

Some more slight changes, we will experience a slightly less emo Sasuke since he didn't have to watch his parent's die for 3 days. He'll still be an angsty but you wont want to smother him with a pillow everytime he talks about revenge. We also are diving a bit more into the political intrigue. Gotta love it when a plan comes together, am I right?

Y'all rock, and I promise I'm gonna work on updating faster.