Hello readers and welcome to the next chapter of my story. Now I did say that I was going to take out the message that was last chapter but after thinking about it for a while I have decided to not do so. You see I am still annoyed with HP. I message there customer service only to be completely ignored. Now I know that I was pushing it to expect something from them but I would assume they would at least reply. So, I hate to say it but currently I am beyond disappointed with them. To be completely honest I have no desire to use their products anymore…at least for a good while. Now I am not saying for you readers to do so as well but just make sure that you trust them enough to give you a product that meets your expectation. But I will leave this here seeing as I have no desire to make another chapter of just me ranting to you people who surely don't really care.

Chapter 72 (really 71 but for the sake of keeping with the proper chapter numbers just pretend the message chapter didn't exist)

~ Rain Village ~

After Pain made sure that Konan was stable, he fled back to the safety of his own village. After making it to the village he quickly dropped her off in the hospital that rushed to heal the 'paper angel' properly. He then looked over at one of his paths.

"Watch over her. No one is allowed in besides the medical team until she can take care of herself. Do not let anything happen to her." He told one of the paths before walking to his cave. Finally, he sat down in his throne and finally let himself get lost in his thoughts.

"All that time and planning lost. Not to mention most of the Akatsuki is dead…what is left?" He thought now that years of planning just went down the drain. He then looked out of the cave at the village that was doing its normal daily routine unaware of its leader's massive problem. "No, I can't give up! All of these people need their leader. They need their god! So, what those members died, I will just have to rebuild it yet again even stronger. Plus, I already have several of the biju. I can't just stop now!" Pein thinks while simply observing his village.

(Now I know that the mobile Pein is just another path but I REALLY don't want to think of a good way to move that weird contraption he is in.)

~Sound Base ~

"Kukukuku perfect." Orochimaru cackles happy that his plan worked. For while his teams suffered a large number of losses that meant nothing to him. What did was that the people that not only looked down on him but became a serious thorn in his side were finally gone. In fact, after the battle was finished; he had his group quickly collect what was left of the Akatsuki and seal it up. After all he could surely find some use for their bodies' secrets. He then rewarded each of the group's members that survived with a reward that kept them happy enough to not bother him or betray him.

*cough cough*

Orochimaru's happiness was interrupted with a coughing fit. After which he looked to his hand and saw blood caked on it.

"It seems that it is time for you to switch to a new body." Kabuto tells him after walking into the throne room. "Shall I go collect Sasuke-kun?" Kabuto asks calmly.

"No…with this body being this weak I doubt it would hold. After all I doubt Sasuke-kun will hold to his end of the deal." Orochimaru tells him honestly. "Prepare me one of the substitutes." Orochimaru orders him before the door to the throne room was slammed open. He then barely had time to look at who it was before having to dodge a bolt of lightning.

"How dare you!" Sasuke growls out glaring at Orochimaru.

+Fifteen minutes earlier+

After finishing his training session Sasuke calmly began the walk to his room to take a well-deserved shower.

"…ya I can't believe it either but we finally got rid of the Akatsuki. I knew those fools were all talk." Sasuke heard a random ninja say and he stopped in his tracks.

"They attacked the Akatsuki!?" He thought surprised seeing as he was well aware that Itachi was a member of them. He then quickly got in front of the group that was talking.

"What was that about the Akatsuki?" Sasuke asked them not allowing any of the men pass as he glared at them.

"W-well Lord Orochimaru recently had a few of us attack the Akatsuki and we finally succeeded in finishing them off." One of the ninjas tells Sasuke then began to shake as they felt his KI push down upon them.

"What!" Sasuke growled out before quickly turning around and rushing down the base's hall; completely ignoring the ninja who were now breathing a sigh of relief as they dodged his rage.

"That bastard better not have killed Itachi. I made it clear to him I that he is my prey and my prey alone. He will pay for this!" Sasuke thought preparing a chidori as he quickly neared the throne room's door.

+Present time+

"To what do I owe this please Sasuke-kun?" Orochimaru asks not bothered by the attack he just dodged.

"I heard that you took my prey." Sasuke growls out making Orochimaru smirk.

"Oh, I am sorry Sasuke-kun I must have completely forgot. If you wish I will let you 'kill' his body." Orochimaru told him with a smirk.

"Bastard!" Sasuke growled out quickly drawing his blade out and swinging at Orochimaru who quickly dodges each strike. Until finally Sasuke growls and throws his blade at Orochimaru only to watch it fly past him.

"Kukuku, it seems you still have far to go before you are able to face me." Orochimaru tells him before noticing chakra behind him. Something that he noticed too late due to his decaying body. So, when the blade discharged its remaining lighting chakra back to Sasuke who was holding a kunai, punching a hole through one of Orochimaru's lungs as it traveled. After this happened Orochimaru quickly opens his mouth and let out a small white snake that quickly slithered away.

"Kabuto-kun, prepare one of my bodies. I will meet you in the chamber." The snake whispers to Kabuto.

"And what about Sasuke?" Kabuto asks calmly.

"Leave him be for now. Getting my new body set up is more important than a single child acting up." Orochimaru told him before slithering away from the room.

"Sasuke-kun I will let you feel proud of yourself for now…after all I will soon be able to have a never-ending supply of your perfect clan to choose from for hosts." Orochimaru thinks not bothered by the fact the fact his previous body was 'killed'. Meanwhile Kabuto just shrugged and left the throne room himself to follow his master's orders.

Though back with Sasuke he continued to glare at the remainder of Orochimaru's body. He then quickly kicked it as hard as he could making it hit the wall with enough force to crack said wall.

"Bastard. How dare he take the kill that should have belonged to me!...now what am I to do." Sasuke thought annoyed before glancing at the throne. "Heh, that is it..I may have killed this fool but that is not enough to satisfy the anger I feel at him. I will set up a team of my own and destroy all that the he spent his life building. Only then will my rage be satisfied." Sasuke thinks with a crazed look on his face as he calmly walks out of the room already creating plans in his head.

(AN: Now I know this seems a bit ridiculous but Sasuke is a bit of a loose cannon anyways. He is blinded by the rage of having his brother being killed so he misses the obvious fact that Orochimaru survived.)

~Konoha, Tea shop~

"My life is over" a woman complained placing her head on her arms which were on her table. This woman's name is Mikki. She is a beautiful woman with curves in all the right places. She also had flowing dark blond hair that reached half way down her back. Currently she is wearing an expensive looking red dress that reached a bit past her knees when standing.

"Its ok Mikki-chan. I bet it just broke on your way over here." The woman sitting next to her told her trying to be supportive. This woman's name is Aimi who's looks were rather average but her shy nature made her stand out. She had long brown hair that she tied up in a long pony tail. Currently she is wearing an orange shirt that had a black image of what seemed to be a sakura tree with petals floating in the wind. She also had on a simple pair of black pants.

"Ya, don't worry Mikki I am sure that if we all work together we can find it in no time." Sakari told her from the other side of Mikki she was currently wearing a green shirt that had a large Konoha symbol on them and a pair of black shorts.

"I just don't know how you managed to lose it. I mean you wear it basically all the time." Ayame says after drinking some of her tea.

*sigh* "Don't remind me Ayame-chan. I just got my necklace cleaned and had it in a case. The last time I saw it I placed it in my purse." Mikki says with a frown. "I just had to want to wait until I got home to put it on. I bet if I just put it on right away this wouldn't have happened." She said sadly rubbing her finger around the rim of her cup.

Ayame couldn't say anything to disagree with her and instead just looked around knowing her friend hated to be pitied. Due to this she saw a familiar blond and gains a small smile.

"Hey Naruto-kun!" Ayame called out getting his attention and he quickly walked over to her and gave her a hug with a smile on his face.

"Hello Ayame-chan. How have you been doing?" Naruto asked with his normal smile on his face.

"Well I have been doing good…my friend not so much." Ayame tells him turning his focus over to the three other girls. "Allow me to introduce you..you already should know Sakari-chan but the one with brown hair is Aimi and the blond is Mikki." Ayame tells Naruto.

"Hello" Naruto tell them all getting a nod from two of the girls.

"…hey" Mikki added not looking up from her cup with a frown on her face.

"What's wrong with her?" Naruto whispered to Ayame.

"She lost her necklace earlier today…it was a family heirloom and now we have no idea where it could be." Ayame explained making Naruto nod understanding the situation.

"I see; well then then why don't we retrace her steps and see if we can find it?" Naruto asks.

"Yes! That is perfect. Come on gals let's go!" Sakari calls out happily dragging Aimi and Mikki with her.

Soon enough their entire group now were slowly walking down a road in Konoha keeping their eyes peeled trying to find the box that Mikki described. Sadly, they were about half way through with her trip and didn't have any luck so far. Though while Naruto was glancing around, he noticed one man that for some reason seemed suspicious to his sense. So, he kept his focus on the man a bit more while still looking around. He then watched as the man calmly walked through their group only to be bumped into by Sakari.

"Oh, sorry sir." Sakari quickly tells the man after they both were pushed a bit back.

"Heh, not a problem miss it happens." The man tells her simply and begins to walk away before feeling a hand suddenly grip his shoulder. "Can I help you sir?" the man asked Naruto confused.

"Yes…you can return whatever you took." Naruto told him seriously.

"Hehe, whatever do you mean sir?" the man asks before trying to get out from Naruto's hold. Sadly for him Naruto quickly strengthened his grip to a point where he could feel the man's bones begin to creak.

"You know exactly what I mean. Now do you want to do what I ask or do we have to do this the hard way?" Naruto tells the man.

"H-hey Naruto-san why are you being so mean to this man? I though Ayame-chan said you were nice." Aimi asked making Naruto narrow his eyes at the man a bit more.

"Sakari-san do me a favor and check your front left pocket." Naruto told the girl who nodded and quickly did so.

"What! Where is my wallet?" Sakari asks with wide eyes.

"Ok…now sir would you be kind enough to return said wallet?" Naruto told the man with a cold smile.

"Oh, t-this wallet? I am sorry I don't know how this got into my clothes." The man told them scared now that he was completely caught.

"Huh, well I guess that happens sometimes. Thank you for returning it. So sorry for thinking that you were a thief." Naruto told the man and gave him a gentle pat on the back.

"Huh!? O-oh yea I-it's ok." The man said before walking away from them with a quick pace.

"Wait! I remember him now! He bumped into me earlier when I had my necklace!" Mikki says surprised.

"What!? Come on then let's catch that bastard!" Sakari calls out quickly turning around only to be stopped by Naruto. "What the hell? We need to catch him and make him tell us where he put it." Sakari tells Naruto with a glare.

*sigh* "Calm down Sakari that fool doesn't have it. In fact I sincerely doubt he has anything of real value with him." Naruto tells them.

"What? How do you know that?" Ayame asks surprised.

"Well you see while I was with Ero-sennin he taught me much more than just how to become stronger. He taught me loads of things about the world and how things work as well." Naruto tells them quickly summoning a clone that quickly disappeared. "That man was probably at most was a trainee. Thus, meaning that he won't be allowed in the base the rest of them set up. Not to mention anything of real value he gets will be taken by his tutor as payment." Naruto explained.

"But how do you know that?" Mikki asks skeptically. To answer her Naruto just points at his headband.

"He is new because only a fool would target someone around a ninja that is clearly alert." Naruto explained pointing at his headband.

"Ok…so say that you are right…now what?" Sakari asks.

"Well currently my clone is following that guy so now that you girls now are up to date we can catch up." Naruto tells them with a smirk.

"Well then what are you waiting for let's go!" Sakari orders making Naruto chuckle and make three clones. Said clones quickly picked up each of the girls in a princess carry causing them to have various reactions.

"H-how dare you!" Mikki stutters out glaring at Naruto while unable to keep the red off her cheeks as she felt his hard muscle underneath his clothes.

"Heh, well if you want to catch up with my clone, we have to go at ninja speed." Naruto tells them making all but Ayame give him various degrees of levels of glares.

"…fine. Just hurry up and catch that bastard then…and if you cope a feel I swear to kami." Sakari tells Naruto leaking a bit of ki. After which Naruto quickly ran towards where his clone was and found the pickpocket currently walking through various side streets until he finally found an alley where a hooded man was calmly smoking.

"So, what did you get this time?"

"Haa, haa…nothing…this bastard caught me collect some chick's wallet and had a grip like steel." The pickpocket tells the man after catching his breath.

"…tell me did this bastard have a headband?" the man asks after dropping the remainder of his cigarette.

"Huh, yea he did…why?" the man asks only to be hit in the face by the man. "What the hell!"

"I specifically told you to NOT go after ninjas. You aren't at a level where you can determine if a ninja will be paying attention enough to catch you or not. Just be thankful that they didn't kill you." The man tells the downed pickpocket.

"…I wouldn't be so sure about that." Naruto tells them as he quickly appears behind the man that was smoking.

"Shit!" the man calls out and quickly pulls out a knife only to have Naruto easily dodge the strike and slam his fist into the man's face. Meanwhile the original pickpocket tried to get away only for the clones that were carrying the girls get in front of him.

"Now how about we have a long talk." Naruto tells both of them with a sinister smile. He then glances over at the girls and frowns for a moment. "Now girls if you excuse me, I need to do my job…and trust me you won't want to see this." Naruto tells them kindly before grabbing both of the men and jumping onto the roof out of their sight. He then placed some seals on the ground before smiling at the men. "Don't worry thanks to those seals anything you say wont' be heard by anyone else…and the only people that can see us are other ninja…now let's get started, shall we?" Naruto asks leaking a bit of ki out while pulling out a kunai. For while he was not a fan of this; he also knew it was part of the job. Course before he stated an ANBU quickly appeared in front of him.

"Naruto-san what are you doing with these civilians?" the anbu asks calmly.

*sigh* "This is quickly becoming more trouble that its worth…anbu-san these two are members of an apparently newer pickpocketing group. A group that has taken something important from one of my friends. So, if I take care of them will you let me be the one to worry about…'talking' to them?" Naruto asks the Anbu who's eyes moved from Naruto to the men and then down to the girls that were in the alley.

"B-but we aren't. I mean we were just…um friends meeting. Ya that's it." The pick pocketer tells the anbu making the other man shake his head.

"Great I am dead because of this damn fool." The man said simply knowing that his 'friends' attempt at a lie took whatever small chance they had.

"…just be fast Naruto-san…and if you don't purge the group please let us know so we can hunt them down." The anbu tells Naruto who nodded.

*sigh* "great now I have to take over the anbu's job of keeping the peace as well." Naruto thinks partially annoyed but quickly focused on the men.

"Well then you heard the man. Let's get this started, shall we?" Naruto told them with a vicious smile that struck fear into both of the civilians.

+Twenty minutes later+

"Ah, that could have gone so much smoother if you guys didn't have to try to act so tough." Naruto told the two corpses that now laid on the roof with a smile that didn't reach his eyes. "Just breath Naruto…you may not have wanted to kill them in cold blood but this is what you sign up for when you wear the village's symbol." Naruto thinks to himself before shaking his head to clear his thoughts. He then seals the bodies into a scroll that a simple fire jutsu quickly turned into ash. Finally, he cleans the roof off with a simple water jutsu with just enough power to clean the blood but to not actually push it off the roof. "Well I guess I should meet back with the girls." Naruto mutters and jumps off the roof to see them all sitting on boxes looking bored.

"Finally!" Sakari tells him only to be elbowed in the ribs by Ayame. "oof, fine I am sorry…"

"So, did you find out where the necklace went?" Aimi asks.

"Ya, I did. Apparently, he handed it over to their leader just a little while ago. So, if we get lucky I should be able to collect it off of him before it goes anywhere else. So, how about you girls go back to the tea shop and I'll come back and come back as soon as I can." Naruto tells them and begins to walk away from them.

"What? You are going to do it by yourself?" Ayame asks making Naruto turn around and look at their group again.

"Yea, it's part of my job to protect the village and I don't really need to get another ninja involved to handle a few thugs." Naruto tells her simply before giving her a quick hug. "Don't worry I promise I will be safe." He tells her then kisses her on the cheek. He then began walking away yet again only for Ayame to grab his hand.

"No that's not what I meant! I meant we want to come with you." Ayame tells Naruto making him turn around and look at her surprised.

"You want to fight?" Naruto asked shocked.

"Heh, we will show you that us civilians are more than capable to hold our own in a fight." Sakari added wrapping her arms around Aimi and Mikki.
"Ya I will show those low lives what happens when you steal from a noble lady like me." Mikki adds with fire in her eyes. Meanwhile Naruto just looked at the three determined ladies with a sweat drop on the back of his head.

"Ayame I love you but you and your friends sure are making an already annoying 'mission' even worse." Naruto thinks before looking at their determination. *sigh* "But I guess if it makes her happy I will be ok with it…I mean with my clones around they shouldn't be in too much danger."

"Fine…but if there are any ninja there, you girls have to promise to flee and let me take care of it." Naruto finally agreed making all the girls smile

"Yay. Come on girls let's go get our weapons. We will meet back up at the tea shop in fifteen minutes." Ayame tells the group and all of the girls quickly go their separate ways leaving a stunned Naruto by himself.

*sigh* "I just had to want to make her happy" Naruto muttered to himself and slowly walked back to the shop to get some tea seeing as unlike the girls he always had equipment on him.

+15 minutes later+

Right after the fifteen minutes had past each one of the girls made it to the tea shop just as they said. Sakari and Aimi brought two kunai that each one of them stuck into their purses, Mikki brought a short sword that she had attached to a belt that she now had on her waist, and finally Ayame had an actual katana attached to her hip.

"Well are you girls finally ready?" Naruto asked.

"Yes, thank you for waiting Naru-kun." Ayame tells him giving him a quick kiss on the lips. She then turned around and saw her friends glaring at her a bit.

"Enough of your lovey dovey bullshit let's get going." Sakari

"hehehe, jealous girls." Ayame asks holding onto Naruto making them grumble while Naruto just sweat drop at their antics.

*cough* "Anyways let's head out." Naruto tells them simply. They then walk briskly through the village over to a smaller road towards the edge of Konoha. He then quickly created several clones that used Jiraiya's invisibility jutsu to be able to walk carefully behind the girls.

"Okay so everyone get prepared. As soon as we enter this building expect everyone to be our enemy. Now leave most of the enemies including the boss to me, ok?' Naruto asked getting nods from the girls who pull out all their weapons. "Then let's go" Naruto tells them then quickly kicks the door in surprising the dozen or so men that were in the room.

"Oy how dare you fuckers mess with the black fang gang." One of the men yells at them.

"Great so these guys are idiots as well…it is amazing that they weren't caught sooner." Naruto thinks as he rushes at the group. What happened then was a few minutes of a beat down between most of the group and Naruto. Though the rest of the girls on his 'team' did manage to take down two or three of them even with their inexperience. Though due to the girls being there Naruto refrained from killing any of the group.
"Hurray we did it!" the girls said happily making Naruto smile as well.

"Yes we did. Now if you girls don't mind leaving the building for a moment I will 'ask' these guys where your necklace is." Naruto tells them making the girls go a bit green and quickly agree with his idea. And as soon as they left Naruto shut what was left of the door and then set up a simple silencing barrier around the building.

*sigh* "Now let's get started" Naruto mutters pulling out a kunai. He then stabs each of the criminals in the heart ending their lives until he finally reached the boss. When he did he simply stood in front of the downed man for a second. "…I know that you finally woke back up. Stop trying to hide it." Naruto tells the man who quickly sits up.

"O-okay I'm up just please don't kill me! I'll do anything." The man tells Naruto clearly terrified.

"So much for a tough and fearless mob boss." Naruto thinks with a sweat drop as the man clearly was already more than willing to do anything to save his own life. Still, he wasn't complaining that his job was made much easier.

"Well then I am gonna give you two options. One you force me through the trouble of getting the information from you slowly and then I will kill you or you can simply agree to tell me the things I want to know right away and I will instead bring you to the court system and let them take care of you." Naruto explains.

"W-what do you want to know?"

"Well you see one of the girls that were with me happened to lose a valuable necklace to one of your guys a while ago. Now if you want to follow our deal you will tell me what happen to it." Naruto tells the man.

"A necklace….um ya I think we did get something like that…but I already sold it." The man told Naruto.

"Oh, and who happened to buy it?" Naruto asked spinning the kunai on his finger.

"U-umm I sold it to the jewelry merchant that was part of the group that are visiting Konoha. But that's all I remember I swear!" The man tells Naruto.

"Hmm…ok then." Naruto tells the man putting the kunai back into his pouch after wiping off the gore with one of the dead men's shirt. He then pulled out a roll of ninja wire and tied the man's wrists together. "Thank you for understanding now I will drop you off with the civilian police on our way to the market. BUT I will be taking the money you got from the necklace" Naruto tells the man calmly.

"Oh, thank you. Thank you for your mercy." The man tells Naruto who ignores him after getting the money from the man's pocket and instead creates a clone that simply nods to Naruto after grabbing a scroll from the original. They both then left and met back up with the girls. The entire group then walked the man over to the civilian police that were thankful to them as they accepted the man from their custody. They then walked over to where the traveling merchants were set up only to see no one but the normal stands open. So, instead Naruto walked over to one of the stands that were open and handed them a bit of money.

"Hello miss do you happen to know what happened to the traveling merchants that were set up?" Naruto asked her kindly.

"Oh, well I am sorry to disappoint you but yesterday was the last day that they were really open. They only had a few merchants open while the rest of them finished packing up. They finally left just a few hours ago." The woman told Naruto.

"….just lovely." Naruto mutters.

_Sasuke; one of Orochimaru's labs_

"Finally, I have found you. My first minion." Sasuke says with a smirk as he looked at a large tube. In said tube was a sleeping man that was completely surrounded by a blue fluid.

And that is where I am going to end this chapter. Now I know that something like this never happened in Naruto itself but I wanted to get something like a side story that brings some more attention to Ayame. Course she didn't do much in this one but it is much easier for me to create 'screen' time with her while doing this. Though I am still able to bring her into the normal story line as well it is just that with all the fighting that will be possibly going on soon most of the chapters will be ninja related rather than civilian. But for now Ja Ne.