Gravity

Standard Disclaimer stilly applies

Usagi-no-Kasai – Aww, trust me, there shall be more Ramen and some random funnies.

Tigerrelly – "Fixed?" god I hope you don't mean what I think you mean…

Thank you so much Dragonxpanda, for taking the time to comb through the chapter and fixing things! You get Kyuubi's button! (and a random plushi)

×—×—×—×—×—×—×—×—StoryGoesHere×—×—×—×—×—×—×—×—

They decided to take as short break before heading into the narrow pass through the mountains. Naruto took a sip of Rin's water (having drained his own) and yawned. He felt terrible for what he was about to do, but the "mission" came first. Although… this particular mission was-

"Oi! Time to move!" Arashi hollered at them, marching off and leaving the 4 children scrambling to gather their things. Obito groaned, as was typical of him now, and they set off again. Naruto was receiving two mental signals from his Remaining clones telling him that they're would be attackers had set the trap. Faking a yawn a second time, he purposefully hung back slightly as his continued up ahead.

"I'll be glad when we're back in town. I'm beat." Naruto heard Rin speak from somewhere in front of him, while receiving an urgent signal from a clone. He couldn't act yet; the timing had to be perfect… THERE! Stones, more like boulders came tumbling down into their path, fiercely intent on crushing them.

"LOOK OUT!" Naruto however, ignored his own advice, didn't look, and instead concentrated on a ball of Chakra in his hand. He blasted it outwards, more specifically, directly in front of him. Obito, Yondaime, Rin and Kakashi shot out of the pass like the cork from a wine bottle.

They rolled on the ground, bruising painfully on sharp jagged rocks that littered the ground, eventually they stopped moving from the force of the blast. Slowly they got up stiffly, and wincing as they discovered their bruises.

"What happened?" Obito.

"We were blasted out before we were crushed." Kakashi.

"oh…" Rin. Obito was swearing colourfully at his injuries while Yondaime was, up until this point, gravely silent. Rin had started to tend to Obito (as Kakashi was too cool to get injured) It was then, that she realized something was missing, but it was the cool Kakashi that voiced it.

"Where's Naruto?" He asked, his eyes frowning as his masked face searched the nearby grounds, as if hoping to see him pop out and tell them it was all a joke. Yondaime winced involuntarily.

"Under there…" he pointed to the mass of rocks they faced, the blocked pass they were jettisoned out of.

A pregnant silence followed his statement, as the young children stared horrified and helplessly at the mass. They had experienced death and killing before. It was nothing new to them. But Naruto was... too young… Almost invincible from the way he had taught them. No way had that pint sized shrimp bit the dust…

"We have to dig him out! He could still be alive!" Obito, the loud mouthed passionate ninja was reduced to an emotional pile of goo. He refused to believe it. He was shocked to tell the truth. Just no way-

"No." It came out harshly and cold with a slight waver, but none-the less Arashi's voice slapped them like whiplash.

"WHAT?" the Uchiha screamed, tormented by the thought of his Sensei turning his back.

"No, we continue on with the mission-" Yondaime watched as Obito shook with restraint. Kakashi and Rin we're silently watching. How had the mood turned so swiftly?

"True... orders are orders… and those that don't obey the rules are trash... BUT THOSE THAT DON'T TAKE CARE OF THEIR FRIENDS ARE WORSE THAN TRASH!" Yondaime paled, but remained firm under Obito's explosive temper.

"Obito…" Rin muttered softly, placing a restraining hand on the boy's shoulder. Even Kakashi was deeply impacted by the usually dumb idiot's insightful words.

"What use is taking care of your friends if their already dead? Learn from it Obito. A 6 year old body could not have withstood all that-" he gestured to the blocked pass. "Shinobi or not…" Obito did not say a word, and he doubted he would for a long time. Yondaime sighed, looking back at the pass with mixed expressions.

Naruto was mysterious, and Yondaime couldn't find it himself to trust him. Had he planned this when he saw the chance to escape? Naruto had displayed early signs of wanted to run from Konoha, such as the hospital incident. Who was Naruto? Was Arashi just being overly suspicious of a kid who miraculously survived having his throat slit not long ago? Or has his suspicions sent a 6 year old to a stony death?

There was no use in pondering it now, what was done was done. Their attackers might still be nearby. They had to move fast, find their client, and see who they were up against and…

"Obito-Kun... we stick to the mission. Sacrifices are a part of being a shinobi, you chose this life." Yondaime didn't want to say it, he didn't want to remind them, and he didn't want to be cruel. But it was the truth, not a sugar coated version that would lead them on false hopes for their 'friends'

They left, begrudgingly, but they left, casting mixed glances at their friends unfortunate grave. Kakashi told Obito they could come back and find the body and give a proper burial to the blond kid. Rin was lost in through, snatching a look towards their sensei. He had given up on Naruto too easily, shinobi or not…Was there something else that he was hiding from them?

Yondaime too was lost in thought. There was something similar to that blast of chakra. Almost… like… a spiral of energy coming from the boy's palm. Almost like… the Rasengan…

×—×—×—×—×—×—×—×—PerspectiveSwitch×—×—×—×—×—×—×—×—

"Well?" Asked an angry female voice.

"They must have sensed us…" One began.

"4 escaped." Another told.

"Got the little one though… a shame… I wanted to play with him…" said the last.

"You can play with the others Saki." Promised one.

"Oh? The blond isn't dead yet... I would know… I've fought him before." Bodies whipped around to face an intruder to their hideout. A Man with red hair, his face etched with shadows and blurring any noticeable features; except for that hair, that unnatural red hair.

"Who are you!" they armed themselves, but the tall man merely chuckled.

"I have a proposition for you. The blond isn't dead; he will meet up with his team soon. I will pay you handsomely to distract his team…"

"How much?"

"Bunta!" the female gasped, not relenting in the grip of her weapons as she stared shell-shocked at her 'comrade' as the promises of money won over common sense. How could they not feel this man approach?

"Enough…" to demonstrate, a large sack overflowing with gold coins dropped from the man's hand to their feet.

"Deal." Two others nodded. The female, and probably the only smart one, was outvoted… again. She sighed.

"What is your name?" one asked, lowering his weapons and returning them to their holsters.

"Oh me?" though they would not see his face, the feeling of utmost ill and unease filled the room; they shivered as a tendril of this man's madness touched them.

"Just call me… Akira."

×—×—×—×—×—×—×—×—PerspectiveSwitch×—×—×—×—×—×—×—×—

Naruto took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He shifted on the rock he was sitting on and watched from his hideout. Unfortunately, the Nins that had attacked were smart enough to move base. He could not find them, today at least.

Flashback

"LOOK OUT!" Naruto however, ignored his own advice, didn't look, and instead concentrated on a ball of Chakra in his hand. He blasted it outwards, more specifically, directly in front of him. Obito, Yondaime, Rin and Kakashi shot out of the pass like the cork from a wine bottle.

He allowed himself the luxury of watching as they all, one by one, were in the safe zone. He was aware of the boulders falling around him, but he made no move to defend himself. His senses ticked off, a boulder was making a beeline to his head. Enough to crush him utterly. He cowered.

But made no move to defend himself. Instead he brought his hand up to his chest and formed the tiger seal.

"Henge." He muttered softly.

"Kawarimi no jutsu." A crow on top of the cliff face to Naruto's left had spontaneously turned into a Bunshin, and from there switched places with the original.

Once again, there was a crow on top of the cliff face. The action had been two swift, the clone had been undercover and hidden from the eyes of the lingering attackers. And thus, the action was not noticed.

For all intents and purposes, little Naruto looked like he had indeed, been crushed.

End

He sighed. He knew, just knew things were going to get real bad. First, there was his blatant 'betrayal' or… seeming betrayal at least. Then there was the Akira factor. Naruto could have sworn he felt the bastard nearby.

The mere thought that a battle with him could occur made Naruto tremble in fear. He was when fighting seriously, on par with his father, and fighting with everything he had, surpassed his father. Sasuke and Sakura as well were about the same levels.

And triple teaming Akira got them… where? Oh right, a week in a hospital back in time. He shook. Bad, bad, bad terribly bad. He prayed to whatever god there was out there that such a confrontation could be avoided. He didn't want to end Yondaime, Rin, Obito and Kakashi's life prematurely.

He wanted to be born.

And the fact that the possibility of not was lingering in the air that Naruto was most afraid of.

'Then you would have never had to becoming my container and live a horrible first 13 years!'

­-Contrary to what you may think, I'm glad for it. If anything, the experience has made me stronger.-

'Despite the overwhelming possibilities that you could have ended up as Gaara before he found true purpose…'

-But I didn't… Hey... did you just use big complicate words? Wow! I'm proud of you! You get a button...-

'GAKI!'

×—×—×—×—×—×—×—×—PerspectiveSwitch×—×—×—×—×—×—×—×—

"Arigato, Hiruma-sama." Arashi muttered, politely leaving the Daimyou of Rice country and returning to the guest quarters where his team was waiting. He was seething. Rin's eyes were wide as she caught sight of him, Obito ignored him, and Kakashi shifted uneasily.

"It would seem…" he started off drying, trying to remain calm. "That our esteemed contractor…" now he was being deliberate in his sarcasm. "…had neglected to inform us of a multiple threat."

"NANI?" On one hand, the shouting was unnecessary, on the other, Yondaime was glad Obito had said something to him. It proved he was listening at least. He sighed.

"Aa. The first threat lies with the Fuuma Clan who are rebelling against the Daimyou and are stopping all trade imports and exports, trying to offset him from his title and put someone better in charge, we were hired to either a) eliminate them or b) settle a peace treaty with them so the Daimyou can get his goods back."

"What's the second threat, Sensei?" the Dark strawberry blond haired young girl asked, biting her lip as her mind started to unravel many different possibilities.

"The daimyou has been trying to send out an important diplomatic letter to Cloud. But Mist shinobi keep interfering, killing off the messengers for unknown reasons. Hiruma-sama does not wish to reveal what is in the letter, which is one of the reasons I'm so pissed off."

"You think it would bring Cloud and Water to war, with Rice country as a harbour base for Cloud?"

"It's possible…" he was also thinking about the friendly terms cloud and stone were on. Naruto's previous conviction of stone's intent of war on konoha was indeed accurate as it was confirmed only a day after he had made the claim… what if the letter was being passed onto stone? He usually had very good and accurate suspicions when it came to these types of things.

"So what are we going to do?"

"Start with the Fumma clan, get a treaty signed between them and the Daimyou that's fair, and then move on to the mist shinobi…" Yondaime looked at the silent Obito. 'And then bury Naruto… I suppose' Obito was never one to be silent, and it unnerved him greatly.

×—×—×—×—×—×—×—×—PerspectiveSwitch×—×—×—×—×—×—×—×—

Naruto yawned and sat up, stretching from his wonderful nap. Actually, it had been about 9 hours since they had all separated and it was morning. At least, for him it was as such.

He yawned again and stretched some more, pulling out kinks and cracking his back a bit. He stopped and paused to listen to the wildlife around him, finding nothing out of the ordinary; he began to walk towards the city.

He hadn't gotten two steps when arms snaked around him and pinned his small childlike body to a larger imposing figure. He froze.

"Hello… Naruto-kun. Did you miss me?" Naruto started to shake.

"A… Aki… Akira………."

×—×—×—×—×—×—×—×—EndOfChapter×—×—×—×—×—×—×—×—