Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 20: "Spies"

(Year: X784)

An odd tension filled the restaurant. Everyone in the room felt it. Most of the customers were sweating up a storm. Four people at a single table were extremely calm, though. Four mages calmly ate their food. They didn't talk, not since the second group of two had arrived. For some reason, though, this only seemed to increase the tension in the air.

Once the meal was done, though, that's when things got interesting.

"Considering that you invited us…" Gaara wiped his mouth with a napkin, "You are paying right?"

"Jeeze, what a cheapskate," Gajeel sneered at the redhead, "What don't got any money, independent mage?"

"Now, Gajeel, it is only polite of us to pay. This was our idea after all," Arashi stared straight at Naruto, "That's why I thought it was only fitting to eat first. After all, this could very well be their last meal."

Naruto smirked, "Oh, already at the threats? You didn't even ask me for my answer."

Arashi shook his head, "I already know that you'd never join Phantom Lorde. I told Master Jose that the moment he brought this up."

Naruto gave Arashi a steady look, "Then why did you go through with this?"

"The same reason you did," Arashi raised his tea and took a light sip from the cup, "I wanted to meet my greatest enemy before the war started."

"You openly admit your guild's intentions?" Naruto let out an amused snort, "That's bold."

Arashi gave Naruto a hard look, "You already knew the truth. No point in pretending like we don't all know what's going to happen. Master Jose is determined to cut down Fairy Tail. While I think it is completely destructive, I can't criticize him. After all, I have a destructive goal in mind as well."

Naruto suddenly burst out laughing, "Hahaha…Openly admitting it. You really are different than I expected. Both in personality and appearance…"

"So you know what I am and who I came from," Arashi gripped his tea cup tightly, "Then you know why I'm angry."

"Of course. I even appreciate your anger," Naruto nodded, "I would be mad too, but I have goals of my own to fulfill. Two of which involves you, so I won't let my sympathy get the better of me."

"I see…" Arashi let out a sigh, "Part of me wished that you would convince me that my hatred was wrong. I had hoped that all the stories about you were true. I had hoped that I would feel guilty for being jealous of you. I was hoping that you would try to convince me to try to not kill you."

"I never claimed to be a good person," Naruto noted, "People can view me however they want. I don't care. But I do have to fight you. No matter what. Defeating you is the only way for me to progress. And it's the only way for me to fulfill Kaa-san's wishes."

"So…You call her Kaa-san," The cup in Arashi's hands shattered, "And she gave you orders to destroy me. I suppose she really did hate me…Thank you, Naruto Uzumaki. You just justified every petty and irrational emotion I ever felt for you and her."

"You're welcome," Naruto took a sip of his own drink. He didn't seem fazed the declaration at all.

Gajeel's eyes snapped over to Arashi, "Arashi…It's not smart to get pissed in public. If you do…"

"I'm well aware, Gajeel," Arashi slowly cleaned the mess he made with a napkin, "But I'm not angry. I'm relieved. We can move forward without any regrets. I will feel justified in my actions. I will kill you, Naruto Uzumaki. Not because of any personal reason. No…It's because I now know. Inside…in your soul…You…"

Magical energy burst off of Arashi. Outside the restaurant, giant black vines burst from the ground and waved around violently. Despite the entire building shaking, though, the real scary sight was Arashi. Black veins burst from his face as his eyes turned into deep pools of darkness. His teeth sharpened to nearly daggers.

"You're far more of a monster than everyone claimed I was."

Naruto still wasn't fazed. He just looked on calmly, "Indeed. You are a monster only in appearance. Me? I'm a monster at the core. And that will make all the difference in our fight."

Done being polite with the man he hated the most, Arashi stood. He looked Naruto in the eyes and growled, "For years, I wanted to be you. But now…I pity you. You know the exact time and place of your death. I hope the real you is hearing this, because I want him to sweat blood in fear of what is to come."

With that said, Arashi extended both of his arm. Dark wood formed around his arms and blasted out to Naruto and Gaara. As sharp thorns jumped from the wood, Arashi clamped the wooding hands down on the two independent mages, "Nature God's Grasp!"

Both mages were instantly crushed. Naruto burst into a puff of smoke while Gaara dissolved into a puddle of sand. With the clones now down, Arashi stopped releasing his magical power. The restaurant stopped its shaking as the vines retreated back beneath the ground. The black veins faded away with the darkness in his eyes. Taking a deep breath, the fake human quickly slicked back his messy hair once more.

"Subtle, Arashi," Gajeel snorted, "Real subtle."

"Yes, perhaps I got caught up in the moment," Arashi admitted, "But it doesn't matter. They got the message."

"How did you know that they were clones?" Gajeel questioned, "They smelled normal to me."

"I knew because they were using a different type of energy. It's a power we share because our ancestors come from the same land," Arashi pulled a book out of his Requip space. On the title, it read 'Life/Nature God Slayer Magic', "I learned about the power from this book. Originally, it belonged to an ancestor of mine. He wrote in it about a special power we share. A Kekkei Genkai. It is quite similar to the Nature God Slayer Magic."

Gajeel blinked, "First I've heard about it."

"Of course, I've kept it secret my entire life," Arashi smiled, "You see, I've learned everything about Naruto Uzumaki. I know every bit of power he has. I am the worst possible enemy he could ever have. For the Nature God always beats the Sky God, and the Senju always beat the Biju."


Gaara opened his eyes as he took his focus off the sand clone, "Well, that was informative."

Naruto nodded as the memories of the clone came rushing back to him, "It was. He seems like a good person at heart. That's good. Kaa-san would be happy."

Gaara frowned, "And we're still going through this?"

"Everything is already in motion," Naruto stated, "We no longer have a choice in the matter. Phantom Lorde will attack Fairy Tail. Arashi will be there. I need to be there to fight him. If I'm not there, the entire battle might turn in Phantom's favor. Besides, you won't let Fu go to war without helping her."

Gaara sighed, "True enough. Although, I think you're underestimating Fairy Tail. Laxus, Fu, and Erza are all strong enough to fight Arashi."

"I have the feeling he won't go for a fair fight with them. Something about him is off," Naruto noted, "He wants me, and only me. And I'm going to give it to him."

"Alright," Gaara nodded, "Then I suppose we should head back to Fairy Tail then?"

Naruto looked up towards the sky, "No, not yet. I want to head back home for a bit. There's something I need to do."

"Don't you want to properly prepare the guild?" Gaara questioned.

"Master Dreyar and Fu are already doing that," Naruto noted, "Our presence will only give them a false sense of security. Besides…I need to cleanse my soul."

"Cleanse your soul?" Gaara gained an amused look, "What does that mean?"

Naruto looked across the trees that surrounded them. He gained a large frown, "Yeah…I've just got…a bad feeling."


Dark figures watched as the Sword and the Shield walked into the small village. They had been following the two independent mages for a few days now. Neither of their targets seemed interested in moving quickly. The two spies were surprised by how naturally their targets interacted with people. Hell, the people of the small town…Trafalgar…greeted them with open arms.

It was strange. They had never expected two of them to be traveling together, despite the information they gathered. Perhaps the two weapons had changed during all these years. This changed things.

Yet they could not just leave. The Sword and the Shield were hard to track down. There was little way to know where they would go next. Not even their info source could feed them that reliable of direction. So, they would just stay back and watch. That was the best they could do right now.

Considering how little they really knew about their targets right, it might even work better this way. Surprises were bad, and those two were full of surprises.

Hopefully, they would be contacted soon. Then, they could call for backup. That way, they could crush the Sword and Shield before they even knew what hit them.


"How long are you staying this time, Naruto-niisan?" A now sixteen year old Sora notes as she strode next to the blonde as he headed through the village. Now well into her stages of growing maturity, Sora was already a beauty. Her dark hair was pulled back into a pony tail. She wore a yellow sundress with black tights underneath. Naruto had to admit that her clothes looked very nice on her.

"Only a day," Naruto admitted as he carried a basket of groceries, "Fairy Tail will need my help soon."

"Really?" Suddenly, Sora lifted off of the ground. She floated in front of Naruto as he made his way up the hill to his home, "Then maybe I should come too. To join the guild. I've been training really hard and with Obaa-san gone…"

Naruto remembered that day. He had actually been visiting during that time. It was the day he learned that not even Sky magic could heal old age. It seemed that time won that battle, "I thought you promised your Obaa-san that you'd wait until you were seventeen?"

"Yeah…But it's boring here…" Sora turned upside down. Her tights hid her modesty, "I've been following your training regime, but I want to go out and see the world! I want to have adventures! I want to test my magic against real challenges and make a name for myself!"

"Well, I can't stop you," Naruto shrugged, "But I'd wait a month or so. Not a good time to join Fairy Tail."

"Really? What's the big trouble?"

"Just something involving another guild. You'll see it in the paper sooner rather than later."

"Oh…" Sora flipped back over and got close to Naruto's face, "Then maybe I should just follow you and Gaara? That way, I wouldn't technically be breaking my promise."

Naruto reached up and used a finger to push her face away, "Now that is a bad idea."

"Why? Fu does it," Sora landed and leaned into the taller mage halting his progress.

"You know that's different," Naruto argued.

"I know. I know. I've seen her and Gaara together…" Sora gave him a sly grin, "I know how to fix the problem then. Let's go on a date."

Naruto burst out laughing, "Hahahaha! Where did that come from?"

Sora shook her head, "Fu told me that there are women interested you. I can't really compete with the Titiana or the Water Saint on many levels, but I can be the first to act."

Naruto felt respect well up at her boldness, but… "No, I don't think that's a good idea. I don't think I'd be good in that role. I'm a pretty flaky guy, you know."

Sora quickly whirled around, "True, but I've loved you since I was a little girl. Can't change that."

"Love, eh?" Naruto raised his headband to reveal his demonic eyes, "Even after what you've seen me do?"

Sora looked over her shoulder and met his eyes unflinchingly, "Don't think that I'm still a little kid, Naruto. I've seen you kill those men hundreds of time in my head. I've come to terms with it. You don't kill for no reason. You do it when it's necessary."

Naruto felt even more impressed, "What? No 'Naruto-nii'?"

Sora's grin was borderline wicked, "Why? Do you like that kink?"

Naruto laughed once more, "When did you become so good with comebacks?"

"I've been talking with you for years, Naruto-nii," Sora made sure to emphasis the last part, "What did you expect."

"I really am a bad influence," Naruto shook his head, "Here, take these groceries inside. I'll be in a minute to cook. I'm going to visit Kaa-san some more."

Sora took the bag, "Aren't you going to make a clone to do it?"

"Nope," Naruto began his trek around the house, "I'm saving my energy for later."

As he walked around the house, he looked up to see Gaara looking out to the horizon. More specifically, he was looking towards the forest. The two of them nodded at each other before the both went on their way. Naruto quickly made his way back to his adopted mother's grave and bowed his head.

Gaara didn't pay attention to that, though. His eyes were still focused on the horizon. His ears, though, were had the attention of the communication lacrima. He held his hands over his mouth to hide his lips and spoke softly, "Sorry, but Naruto's busy. What do you need?"

Makarov looked up to the redhead, "Natsu, Lucy, and Happy left on an S-class mission without my permission. Gray followed after them, but he hasn't come back either. Could you and Naruto meet up with Erza to make sure everything's all right."

"No, I don't think that's a good idea," Gaara made sure to never look in one direction for too long. Especially the spot with the thickest amount of trees, "We're kind of dealing with something important right now."

"Damn it."

"I don't see why you're so worried. Despite how I feel about his personality, Natsu is strong. And Lucy is there to act as the brains," Gaara noted, "She might keep him in line like Lisanna did…Sorry. That was insensitive."

"No, no, two years is enough time. And you're not wrong," Makarov sighed, "I suppose I shouldn't be too worried about them. Natsu and Gray are strong enough, and I feel that Lucy has more than a few tricks up her sleeve. Maybe I do worry too much, but I still need to punish them…"

"I was never arguing against that," Gaara gave a small smile, "But do keep Phantom Lorde in mind when dealing out punishments. They are going to make a move really soon."

"Noted. Give Naruto my best."

"As long as you do the same for Fu. Tell her that I love her. A lot."

"Oh~ Should I dress up as cupid and pass on the love?"

"Sure. Just make sure she knows how much I care about her."

Makarov blinked, "Gaara…What's happening?"

"Nothing. I have to go," Gaara shut the crystal off and placed it to the side, 'Shukaku, are they still in the same place?'

'Yep. The dumbasses don't know that we're onto them either. I can't wait to see you crush their sorry asses! Hahahahaha!'

'We definitely won't hold back for them,' Gaara admitted, 'Kurama, will you tell Naruto when he's done? I don't want to do anything to give away that we know about them. If I go whispering to them, they might get jumpy.'

'Yeah, I got it. I wouldn't worry too much. The power they possess isn't that great.'

'It's not about power. We have no idea what their abilities are. That's the dangerous thing.'


The red haired one stayed on the roof throughout the night. That was expected. He had an eagle eye, though, and they couldn't see what the blonde was doing. Maybe they didn't want to considering that the girl was in there too.

"I doubt that the relationship is sexual."

"Yeah, I read 'Nii-san' on her lips when they were walking. She cares about him. The question is…how much does he care about her?"

"He looked at her with more respect than he gave anyone else besides the other target."

"But if we threaten her…would he care enough to sacrifice himself for her?"

"Maybe. Maybe not. I wouldn't risk trying it. Failure would risk exposure and investigation."

"Uh…What about that Fairy Tail? He mentioned that guild."

"Now that one might be worth looking into."


"I wish you would stay longer," Sora noted as she stood at the edge of the town, "I want to hear more about the Lullaby story that's all over the news. I know there's no way it happened the way the Magic Council spinned it."

"That's something to look forward too then," Naruto noted, "Next time, I'll make sure to stay longer. I'm sure I'll have a lot more stories to tell."

"Make sure to bring Fu," Sora smiled at Gaara, "It's the only thing that gets you inside for more than a bathroom break."

"I'm sure she'd love to," Gaara gave a short huff of a laugh, "As long as you can put up with the two of us. She can be kind of…touchy."

"I think it's sweet," Sora giggled.

"And I think it's tolerable," Naruto shook his head, "Well, we have to head out."

"Okay. Bye Gaara! Bye, Naruto-nii!" Sora waved as they turned to walk away. She blinked when Naruto paused though. Without turning, Naruto spoke again.

"Hey, Sora…"

"Yeah?"

"About that date thing…How about you and I go out when I get back. Just the two of us."

Sora's eyes widened, "Are you for real?"

"Yeah. It will be fun. Besides, I like people who go after what they want," With that Naruto began to walk away again, "Just something to look forward too. Now head back like I told you too, okay?"

Sora's face was completely flushed, "O-Okay…"

As they were walking away, Gaara glanced over to the other jinchūriki, "Why did you do that?"

Naruto looked up a bit, "Well, our spies couldn't see our lips from that angle or hear me from the distance they're at, so I figured…Why the hell not? I like her work ethic and her boldness. Kami knows that Erza and Marrisa never outright asked me out before. Besides…Why not give her a little hope and kindness to hold onto in case we don't come back."

Gaara frowned, "You think that we're going to die?"

"You never know, Gaara," Naruto shrugged, "You never know. Considering the nature of our spies, we have to prepare for the worst, though."

"Is that why you filled the house to the brim with your clones?" Gaara questioned.

Naruto nodded, "In case the spies try something."

"So you really do care about that town. If only a little bit," Gaara smirked at that, "All these years, you made me think that it was only a safe house to go to in case shit hit the fan…or if we have spies tailing us and you don't want to endanger Wendy."

"Wendy is more important," Naruto stated with complete certainty in his voice, "But this place…I do enjoy being here. It's calming. It would be troubling to lose it."

Gaara laughed, "Well that's a roundabout way to put it. Can't you just say, 'I'd miss this place if it was suddenly blown up'?"

"You know I can't."


Their targets didn't stay long. It appeared that this town was just a safe house for them, and the girl was the building's caretaker. Of course, there could be more too it, but that would require further investigation. With the targets moving, they didn't have time for that, but they would remember this place.

For a while there, they were blind and deaf to their conversations. When they got a better angle, it seemed that the duo were talking about an upcoming battle with Phantom Lorde. They and Fairy Tail were on the brink of war it seemed. Interesting. They could use that. Attacking them after a tiring battle was the ideal way to go about their mission.

Based on the map that they held, it seemed that the targets were heading to Magnolia. From what their info said, that was the home of Fairy Tail. Excellent. Perhaps they could finish this quickly without having to report in back at base.

"Should I have left bombs back at the town?"

"That would have been a waste of resources. And we'd be out of range by the time we could use them anyway."

"Fair enough…What about in Magnolia? They seem to care about that city."

"Hmm…I'll think about it."


Naruto and Gaara sat in a small grove. As they reclined on the ground, they silently ate their lunch. To anyone on the outside, it would seem like they were completely unaware to the spies not far away. In their minds, though, things were working at a rapid pace.

'How long is this going to take, Shukaku?' Kurama huffed.

'We're trying to be subtle about it, fox face,' Shukaku snapped, 'Something you know nothing about.'

"Really? You're going to preach to me about subtlety?' Kurama laughed, 'Please! You're always proclaiming how badly you're going to kill people when you fight. You're not sneaky at all. If anything, you're the worst tanuki to ever exist.'

'Kiss my ass, Kurama. Like you're one to talk about not being like the animal you resemble. When have you ever convinced any of your three hosts to actually let you go? Zero? Oh, what great wordplay you must have, oh cunning fox,' Shukaku snickered.

'Hey! You try getting to do an Uzumaki what you want! You wouldn't last five minutes with the hosts I've had! After all, you're eight less than I am.'

'Damn it! Why do you always have to go for the tails! Put me in a desert and I'd crush you!'

'And put me anywhere else, and I'd rip off your tail and beat you with it. Just like when we were young. Remember that, little brother? 'Why are you hitting yourself? Why are you hitting yourself?' It was goddamn hilarious!'

'You promised never to speak of that again!'

'If you don't want to get burned, then you shouldn't insult my foxiness!'

'Yeah, well—"

'Would you two shut up!?' Both Gaara and Naruto shouted mentally.

'But I just ready for my comeback!' Shukaku wined.

'I don't care, we're trying to prep ourselves mentally, and you're kill us here,' Gaara hissed, 'These two have been following us for days and are dangerous. We need to be ready when we move.'

'So you're ready? Good,' Kurama addressed his host, 'Hey, Naruto, they're ready.'

'Good. I know the signal. When Gaara gives it, we move.'


For a while, it just seemed like they were eating lunch. Nothing out of the usual happened, but for some reason, the older of the two spies felt that something was wrong.

"These two had shinobi training, right? Why haven't they even been a little bit suspicious? They act…too naïve."

"They haven't been training as shinobi for years, though. Yeah?"

"But they move too much like us. It's too suspicious. I think we should pull back."

"And what do you want us to tell Pain-sama? Hey, great leader, we bailed on our targets…yes more than one, we actually found two of them…just because they were acting too normally. Even though we had the perfect opportunity to capture the two of them when they were exhausted. That's going to go over perfectly, ugh."

The hunched over figure of Sasori glared over at Deidara. His cloak, hat, and mask hid everything on his massive body, "Better that than dead or captured."

The blonde haired main next to Sasori rolled his eyes, "You think way too highly of them."

"And you're not cautious enough," Sasori argued, "We have no idea what their abilities are. All this is a big mystery, and my instincts are saying that we need to leave. We have enough information to go on to trap them. We should report back."

"Fine fine, you're in charge, I guess," Deidara grumbled, "Let's just—"

It was at that moment that the entire area exploded in a giant wave of sand. It wasn't just right below the two shinobi. Dirt and sand exploded upward all around the forest. In an instant, they were surrounded by a desert. To fight against it, Deidara quickly formed a bird made of clay to fly them above the area.

To their relief, the sand didn't chase them. The hope was quickly crushed when a large black tornado formed around them. The bird didn't even stand a chance. It was quickly torn to shreds. They were forced to abandoned the clay. That was when the sand grabbed them and pulled them down.

Sasori looked over to Deidara, "Told you."

"Shut up, yeah!"


Naruto stood in front of the strange new figures, "Black cloaks with red clouds…Never saw that before. What about you, Gaara?"

"Nope," Gaara glared as Sasori. His sand covered the entire body, including the mouth to prevent and smoke bombs from coming out. It seems like the outer shell was made of wood and steel. He remembered such things from his time in Suna, "This guy's a puppet, but the charka source is on the inside. I remember my brother talking about someone that could do something like that. Sasori of the Red Sand."

Naruto peered at the other blonde, "And this guy…Danzo made me memorize this guy's face. He always thought that Iwa was the most likely to attack us, and he thought Deidara would lead the charge. You're pretty well known for you explosions."

Deidara smiled, "Art is a bang, yeah?"

Naruto nodded, "If you say so, nutjob. Now, would one of you kindly tell me…Why are two S-class criminals from the Elemental Nations doing so far away from their home world spying on us? Not only that, why do I get the feeling that those cloaks mean something more than just you two teaming up?"

Deidara sneered, "You really think we'll tell you, ugh?"

"Not really. Not without," Naruto shrugged and stepped away, "But that's what torture is for."

"This guy will be fun," Gaara noted as his sand moved around the Iwa criminal, "He's got mouths on his hands, and one on his chest. That's 96 extra teeth to pull out without hurting his ability to speak."

Naruto looked to Sasori, "And him?"

"The real one is inside, and that puppet is sealed so tight that my sand can't find an opening," Gaara explained, "The real Sasori must have an extra supply of oxygen in there. Maybe food and water too. This guy's a veteran after all. I could try to crush the puppet, but who knows what tricks he has up his sleeves if that happens."

"Hmm…Well if he wants to stay in there, let him," Naruto noted, "Bury him. Deep. We'll only need one of them to get the information we need."

Nodding, Gaara commanded the sand to drag Sasori downward. The puppet quickly disappeared from view. It was dragged downward far below the surface. By the time Sasori got to the bottom of the sand, he was a full kilometer underground. There was no way out of that. Any normal person would be trapped and slowly die of either dehydration or hunger.

Naruto got right in front of Deidara, "Now, here's the deal. From what Gaara told me, you have 96 six extra teeth. Then, there's the twenty fingers and twenty toes. And I could break your arms and legs in dozens of different places. All that without getting anywhere near you vitals and head. That's when things will get fun. But I'm going to give you a chance to avoid all of that. Tell me everything about you, how you got here, and what you want, and I'll give you a quick painless death. Hell, I'll even let you pick your death. I bet you'd like to go out with a bang, wouldn't' you?"

Deidara snickered, "You know I would."

"Then just talk," Naruto stated, "Save us some time, and yourself some pain."

"Hmm…" Deidara tilted his head in though, "Alright then. As you know, I'm Deidara, and I'm part of Akatsuki."

"Akatsuki?" Gaara's eyes narrowed, "Never heard of that."

"You jinchūriki have been gone a good long while, yeah?" Deidara smirked, "The organization has been around a while, but it only began to recruit missing shinobi from different villages around the time you lot disappeared. As you can probably guess, our goal is to track down all nine of the jinchūriki, drag you back home, and extract your demons to use as our own so we can stop the Fourth Great Shinobi War."

"Interesting…" Naruto nodded slowly, "But that's not the big question I want answered. How. Did. You. Get. Here. There's no way across the barrier without divine intervention. What deal did you make? Who did you make the deal with?"

"Now that…That's some important information right there, ugh," Deidara snickered, "I can't tell you that."

Naruto shrugged and stepped away from Deidara, "Then we start pulling teeth. Gaa—AH!"

What appeared to be black sand burst out of the ground. It grabbed onto the blonde jinchūriki and began to pull him away from the other shinobi. Gaara quickly moved to stop it, but he paused when a signal from his sand noted that one of Deidara's hand mouths open to reveal clay spider bombs. The explosion that followed knocked Gaara back and freed the Iwa native. Though his sand armor protected him, Gaara was still unable to recover fast enough to stop Deidara from creating a dragon made of clay and fly above him away from the sand.

"Alright then," Deidara smirked down at the jinchūriki, "You and me, pal. Let's see what's stronger. My bombs or your sand."

Looking up, Gaara frowned. He couldn't pull his attention away from such a dangerous enemy to help Naruto. He would just have to hope that the God Slayer could handle Sasori on his own.

That was something Naruto realized as the black sand dragged him to the edge of the regular sand that Gaara had created and threw him away from the golden grains. The blonde quickly righted himself and stood in a battle stance. He moved as the strange black sand erupted from below him and then used his sky magic to propel himself into the air. Constant swirling energy from his palms allowed him to hover high above the ground, "Sky God's Jets."

"Sky God, eh?" A red haired figure rose from the hole. Black sand carried him up as he controlled a strange black haired puppet behind him, "That's something the reports left out. I don't like it."

Naruto quickly landed away from the shinobi, "You…You're Sasori of the Red Sand? I thought that he was around forty years old? You look younger than I do."

The red haired black cloaked figure nodded, "Indeed. I have found a way to keep myself preserved forever. True art is meant to last forever."

"Hmm…You must have interesting conversations with that partner of yours," Naruto noted.

"You have no idea," Sasori noted, "I expected something…different from you. Perhaps some more emotion. After all, you just learned that there's an organization out for you. An organization that is filled with dangerous criminals."

"This is definitely unexpected," Naruto admitted, "After all, it's been a decade since I saw any shinobi other than the jinchūriki. But I won't take your tracking me down personally. I'd hunt me down too, if I were you. I imagine that we left a pretty chaotic world behind."

"You have absolutely no idea."

"Alright then," Naruto popped his knuckles, "This is going to be interesting. A fight between shinobi where neither of us will be going for the kill. You need me alive for Kurama, and I need you alive for information."

"You named your demon?"

"You name your puppets. Or at the very least, you make humans into puppets. Isn't that the third Kazekage?"

"…Fair enough," Sasori smiled, "You are right. This will definitely be a very interesting battle."


First off, I would like to make a formal apology about the April Fools update if you caught it before I took it down. I'm very sorry about tricking you (no I'm not, it was funny). But I hope this makes up for it. I bet no one saw this chapter coming.

Oh, and before people ask, no this won't be a Naruto/OC pairing. Also, I didn't pull the Senju thing out of nowhere. Go back and read chapter 5 and you'll notice that Bluenote called April 'Senju.' That was planned from the start. In fact, all of this was planned from the start. I always have a reason for everything. Omakes, small bits of conversation, random facts…It all plays up to the overall story. Everything has a purpose in my stories, you just don't know what it is yet.

Thank you for reading and please remember to…

REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW