The Price to be Paid

by Adventreader221

Based off of Freowin A Price for Peace, Naru/Fem.Sasuke/Karin pairing

4. Chapter 4-Snow-Snow-Snow-BIG ASS CAT!

Alright not gonna waste your time with this, so here you go, chapter 4 of The Price to be Paid.

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(North of The Land of Earth)

With the three safely across the valley, they now stood in what remained of the last Iwa outpost. For awhile Naruto had wondered why they had stopped exploring and tunneling further north but he now had his answer. Deep shelves of ice made the terrain appeared like massive blade protruded into the sky. In contrast deep cuts in the earth from landslides and avalanches made the ground unstable.

"Wow" Karin gasped at the sight, she had seen mountain ranges before but nothing as imposing as this.

"Yeah, it's amazing." Kiyomi agreed with a shallow breath. By now the sun was getting low in the sky, and the temperature was dropping considerably.

"We should make camp here for the night? The cabin might be useless as shelter but at least we know the ground is stable." Karin suggested as she watched as Kiyomi shivered from the cold wind on her face.

Naruto hesitated, if he was being honest he wanted to move further north while they still had some light, 'I agree with her. Up here, the weather can change incredibly quickly. We also have no idea how long it will be before we can find another suitable place to make camp.' Kurama said, adding his thoughts on the matter.

"Yeah I guess you're right." Naruto said answering both his companions. Naruto took off his backpack and withdrew a sealing scroll and summoned up a pre made tent. The tent was quite large judging on camping standards, Naruto had made sure to get the largest one that he could so that he and Karin would have their own space. It also gave them an extra room so Karin could get dressed in private. "It's not much, but I guess this is home now." he sighed.

"I'm sure it's fine. It might be a little cramped, but it's big enough for the two of us." Karin said kindly.

"It's designed to keep heat in to survive in the coldest climates, but that doesn't mean that it's perfect. I have few heaters that run off chakra to keep us warm." Naruto said opening the front of a tent while summoning a small heater that he placed in the center of the room that held three futons, one on each side of the tent.

Karin shut the tent behind her as she let Kiyomi in before her. She then lay back on her bed to relax, it had been a long day and she was only now realizing just how exhausted she was. "Kami my legs are sore from all that damn walking and passing that damn valley." she sighed while stretching out on her futon.

"Yeah, unfortunately it's not going to get any easier on us. Still we can make it through this." Kiyomi replied.

"What do you think we will find on the other side of these mountains? I mean they can't stretch on forever." Karin asked rubbing her arms, 'I have been relaxing too much, a small thing like that shouldn't tire me out. Maybe the altitude up here is getting to me.'

(Iwa)

The sun had set a few hours ago, yet Kitsuchi was still in his new office he hadn't left it since he taken over as Tsuchikage. He had only had three hours sleep in the last two days and that was interrupted by his new assistant bringing in a new set of papers for him to sign.

Kitsuchi sighed in frustration, the elders had left him days of paperwork to catch up on. He was already regretting his decision to become Tsuchikage, 'So much damn work.' He grumbled signing another mission request form.

The door to his office opened and two shinobi walked in holding a piece of paper. Both wore white lab coats over their standard Iwa jounin outfits. Kitsuchi immediately groaned at the sight of the two. "Kitsuchi-sama, we found something." One of the shinobi said urgently.

"What is it?" Kitsuchi asked. The last thing he needed was some emergency to happen right now.

"Uh... Um, we're scientists working in the chakra sensing and development department. I am Inaka and this is my partner Kouta. A few days ago we picked up a massive spike in chakra up north. It was far to large for any normal shinobi. The only thing we have on record that came close have been the Bijuu." The scientist said the urgency was still in his voice.

"That's impossible, the Bijuu are gone the only one whose location is known would be the Hachibi, are you sure of this?" The new Tsuchikage asked.

"We can't be sure, the spike in chakra only lasted for a few seconds. We have been attempting to find a chakra signature that it would sync with, but nothing in our database comes close." The other scientist, Kouta explained.

"Where in the north was it?" Kitsuchi asked.

"We have been able to pin point it's origin to just outside of Iwame the north most village in the Land of Earth." Inaka said honestly.

Kitsuchi nodded, rubbing his chin. "Yes I know the place, when I was young we held survival exercises using Iwame as a base camp. And before my father became Tsuchikage it was a major outpost for our shinobi."

"Yes we are aware of this, that is why we would like to request two shinobi to form a team and accompany us to the site. We wish to test for any lingering traces of chakra so that if it should appear again it would be less of a surprise, and will give us our best chance at capturing the source. If it is the early signs of a Bijuu reforming after it's container has been killed then it is invaluable research material." Inaka said eagerly.

Kitsuchi was never really big on science. Like his father he was a fighter, but he knew when he had taken the job as Tsuchikage, that he would have to listen to requests that didn't necessarily interest him. "Very well, I will grant you permission to investigate the chakra spike. You have tomorrow to prepare and two weeks to complete your assessment. However if it does turn out to be a Bijuu, then you are to consider the information as classified and return here. Is that understood?" The new Tsuchikage ordered.

"Hai Tsuchikage-sama." Both scientists chorused with a small hint of fear in their voices.

Kitsuchi let out a satisfied grunt, this was the first time that he was able to give an order as a Kage and he had to admit that it felt rather good. "Good, you have your orders, when you find the two men you wish to accompany you on this mission." He said turning his attention back to the still staggeringly large pile of papers he needed to finish. A few moments later he realized that the two scientists were still standing in front of him. "You're dismissed." he said firmly. The pair of shinobi nodded feverishly before scampering out the door. 'Wow you sure had everyone frightened of you old man. I just hope I can do half a good a job in running this place as you did.'

(Joint Shinobi HQ)

The Konoha tracking team had spent the last few hours interviewing various guards from all the different villages. Most of them had attempted to be helpful but it was of little surprise that they had not seen anyone that matched the picture they had of Karin. The only piece of usable information they had received so far, from what the trackers could tell, had come an elderly jounin from Kiri. All he had said was "The members of that clan all look the same don't they. Used to be hundreds of them walking around, before their home was destroyed."

"What are you talking about, have you seen this girl or not!? Who cares about that other stuff." Kiba yelled angrily.

"Kiba be quiet. I am well aware of what this man is talking about. Time was that red hair was a common site in Konoha." Tsume said sternly.

"That it would be. Best of friends the Senju and Uzumaki clan." The Kiri guard said in an nonchalant manner.

All of the teens eyes widened at this piece of information, even Sai who had been taking down everything that had been said for reference paused with his quill for a split second. "She's an Uzumaki? She looks nothing like Naruto-kun." Hinata gasped.

"That's because Naruto-sama took his fathers traits, rather rare for any Uzumaki to not have red hair, was a symbol of their clan and because of the powerful life affirming chakra that gave them the title of the clan of longevity regardless of parentage ninety percent had red hair. The only ones that didn't were the children born from shinobi with equally powerful chakra, the children of the Shodai Hokage for one." the guard said, he seemed all to happy to keep talking about this subject.

"You know an awful lot about this stuff." Tsume said. She passed a accusatory eye over the man. Konoha and Kiri may be somewhat of allies at the moment but it was possible that he was once a spy.

"Oh I work in the bloodline research department in Kiri. As a non combatant all I am good for here is working at the gates. "Anyway part of my work is researching potential bloodlines by searching out particular ninja with sets of unique skills that may be passed down to the next generation. I haven't always been proud of my work, during the bloodline wars we were tasked with finding people in Kiri that contained bloodline carrying genes and, exposing them. But now I can make amends, by finding surviving clan members and brining them together again." The guard said.

"As fascinating, and horrifying as that is, we have a mission to continue on with here. Now if you don't mind answer our original question, have you seen the kunoichi in this photo." Neji said with a slight scowl.

The Kiri shinobi nodded and picked up the picture examining it closely. "I can't say that I have seen her, but those eyes. Scarlet red eyes, I did see them. The person was wearing a hood and walking from the center of the camp at the end of the war. I thought whoever it was just didn't want to see the bodies of Naruto-sama and the Uchiha they brought back with him."

"If you're right then that means she was here, so one of the guards would have had to see her face in order to let her into the camp. It seems you were of more help than we had expected." Neji declared.

"Oh it's no problem, the Uzumaki clan was one of the most unique clans to have existed so I was bound to know something." The elderly man said while beginning to stand.

"Um, if you don't mind what do you mean by that?" Hinata asked in a timid manner.

The guard smiled and sat back down. "Well for one every generation seemed to have a bunch of children with unique abilities, that while similar could not be considered a bloodline. Occasionally one of them would appear with abilities that made no sense at all. A famous case was Kushina Uzumaki, she had the ability to suppress Bijuu just like the Shodai Hokage, I never saw the technique but from our records she could summon chains that she would make from her chakra. Such an ability is unheard of, only Yin Yang release should be able to achieve something like that."

"Is it really that special?" Kiba asked skeptically.

"Of course it is." Tsume said whacking her son lightly across the back of his head to punish his stupidity. "Yin-Yang release is creating something from nothing, only the Rinnegan and to a lesser degree Sharingan have been known to have that power." Tsume only knew this from reading the well documented reports post war on the enemies abilities.

"Precisely. Although it could be said that the Shodai's Mokuton abilities were similar. However it was caused by an overwhelming amount of Yang chakra. The same overwhelming physical power that Naruto-sama exerted when he used the Kyuubi's chakra. The reported effect he had on the Zetsu clone army as well as other Mokuton jutsu proves that fact." The Kiri ninja said happily.

"So um, what happened to Kushina Uzumaki? If she was so amazing why weren't we told about her." Kiba asked.

Surprisingly it was Sai that answered this time. "She died. And you do not know of her, because they didn't want people to know about her."

"Sounds like Danzo was not to fussed about keeping secrets from his men." Tsume huffed in annoyance. As leader of the Inuzuka clan she was an extremely loyal shinobi, she had always seen Danzo and his Root ninja as unnecessary and sole power of the shinobi in Konoha should have gone to the Hokage.

"We were not permitted to give away secrets or talk about Danzo-sama thanks to the seal he placed on our tongues. It stands to reason he felt no misgivings in talking about village secrets." Sai replied with his fake smile firmly in place.

"Hey what village secret are you talking about?" Kiba asked.

Tsume sighed knowing that it would be easier to just tell them. "The law has been removed, so we can now talk about it now. But that does not mean that we will." she said harshly. Her features softened slightly at the downhearted look on her sons face. "Bijuu can't be killed, you know that right." she sighed.

"Yes, that is why Yondaime-sama sealed the Kyuubi into Naruto-kun." Hinata said.

Tsume nodded approvingly. "That's right, but that was only the final part of the story. Naruto was the third jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi in Konoha."

"You mean that there were two Kyuubi jinchuuriki before Naruto? I wonder who they were, if Naruto was anything to go on I bet the others were really amazing." Kiba said.

"They were, but that is enough for now, we may be an allied village but giving sensitive history away to shinobi from another nation could still be considered treason. Even if he does know most of it anyway." Tsume replied.

"I understand completely. I hope your search goes well, but don't get your hopes up. Fantastic sensing abilities the Uzumaki clan had, couldn't sneak up on a trained one if they were blind, death, and dumb." the Kiri ninja said as he left the Konoha comand tent.

"Obviously he never spent any time with Naruto then." Kiba chuckled once he was gone.

"Actually upon completing his senjutsu training Naruto became an incredibly skilled sensor ninja. Even my Kikai beetles couldn't get close without him detecting them." Shino said speaking for the first time.

Kiba shrugged passing the information off as nothing important. "Anyway now that he's gone tell us about the other Kyuubi jinchuuriki."

"Very well. I'll tell you. After you find someone with a solid lead on that target of yours. Don't get side tracked." Tsume said impatiently and walked outside to grab the next guard they had waiting for questioning.

(Four Days Later)

"So is there anyone else? We have been asking people questions for days now!" Kiba yelled in frustration. His patients had been wearing thin for awhile now, and like most adolescent Inuzuka clan members had a very hard time in situations where they had to be calm and wait.

"Don't be so impatient Kiba. This camp needed hundreds of guards because of how large it was. Or do you think that it's easy to secure and organise well over fifty thousand people?" Tsume replied scolding her son.

"No but I thought we were almost done with that guy that told us Karin was a Uzumaki. That was a day ago, and since then we haven't discovered anything useful at all." The younger Inuzuka sighed, his head pounding against the table. "And you still haven't told us about the Uzumaki clan, or the other Kyuubi Jinchuuriki yet." he added, voice muffled by the wood under his face.

"A needless distraction, focus on the task at hand." Shino droned.

Neji and Sai nodded in agreement. "Our mission comes first, there is no telling how long we have left before Hokage-sama calls us back to the village." Sai said in agreement.

"Um, that is true, but it did seem really interesting. To know about Naruto-kun's family that is." Hinata said timidly. Despite how much the young Hyuuga heiress had grown as a kunoichi, she still struggled to speak her mind when opposed by her cousin especially when they were on a mission where he out ranked her.

"Then we best find the information we need." Neji replied before turning to Shino. "Can you send the next pair in?" he asked the stoic Aburame.

Shino answered wordlessly with a nod that was almost unnoticed while he wore his hood. Soundlessly he opened the door and in walked two people that the group were surprised that they hadn't seen earlier. Izumo and Kotetsu. Despite being highly skilled combat shinobi, the two best friends were almost always placed on guard duty in Konoha and it seemed that here was not all that different. "Wow, hey it's you guys. I thought you would all be back in Konoha by now." Izumo said happy to see a familiar face.

"When they told us they were questioning all the guards I thought something big must have gone down, I'm glad to see it's you guys and not some hard ass like Ibiki." Kotetsu added shivering from the thought of Konoha's top interrogation expert.

"So, what's up? Why did you guys come all the way out here?" Izumo asked taking a seat in front of the large desk, his partner following suit not long after.

"We're looking for someone, a criminal. We have reason to believe that they were here at the end of the war, disguised as a joint shinobi solider." Neji said assertively.

"That explains why your are talking to the guards, the end of the war was pandemonium, all the injured and weary entering from every entrance." Kotetsu sighed,

"we still checked everyone's face as they came in, as we were ordered, but that doesn't mean people couldn't slip thought the cracks." Izumo added trying to assure the tracking group that they had indeed done their jobs properly.

"That is good to know, in that case." Neji slid the picture of Karin across the table to the two shinobi. Have you seen her?" the Hyuuga Jounin asked calmly.

The two looked at the photo for a few seconds then to each other. "Uh yeah we saw her." The said together.

"What really!" Kiba said eagerly.

They both nodded their heads in response. "Yeah she came in with a group of soldiers from Iwa and Suna at the end of the war, she was giving some of the wounded men first aid." Kotetsu informed the group.

"Did you by chance see her leave? It would have been on the same day but after they brought Naruto's body back." Sai said calmly.

"Well we weren't exactly at our best after Naruto was brought back. Let me think for a minute." Kotetsu answered. He sat still for a few moments but eventually opened his mouth again to speak. "I believe so, I remember a girl around her age leaving, she definitely had the red hair, but I couldn't see her face to know for sure."

"Did you see where she went?" Kiba asked getting excited to be closing in on a fresh lead.

"Well I can't be sure but it looked like she was heading west, but that gives you most of the Elemental Nations to work with." Izumo sighed, rubbing the back of his neck in frustration.

"Yeah however you look at it, that seems like it would be a tough one to find now, the trail surely would have gone cold by now. So who is this girl? She doesn't look to be all that strong, and from what we saw she was more of a medic than a fighter." Kotetsu said looking down at the photo of the young kunoichi.

"An ally of Kiyomi Uchiha and one of the members of the Akatsuki responsible for attacking the new Raikage before the war." Sai said calmly.

"Wow, didn't think we would see someone like that left after the war. I hope you find her then." Kotetsu whistles somewhat impressed by Karin's notoriety

"It's not like she will have anywhere to go. Once we are ordered back to Konoha her face will be in every village from here to Suna." Sai said calmly.

"You're acting like we're not going to find her Sai, we're the best tracking team in Konoha finding one girl is going to be no problem." Kiba said as confident as ever.

"The chances of us finding her now are incredibly remote. Logically the trail would have run cold a long time ago. The best chance we would have at finding her would be as Sai said, to inform the general public and prevent her from seeking refuge in any village, especially the hidden villages, if they know that all five of the great shinobi village's are after her head then harbouring someone that dangerous would not be a option." Shino said.

"You're supposed to be on my side Shino, what type of teammate are you?" Kiba grumbled bitterly.

"Side's are irrelevant at times like this. It is also incorrect to say that we are the best tracking team in Konoha when the Anbu hunter ninja squads out rank us considerably, as well as having obtained Anbu training in the art of tracking missing ninja." Shino retorted.

"Maybe Shino is right, but... We should perhaps check out the scene of Naruto-kun's fight with Kiyomi, it's possible that she went there after she left the camp." Hinata suggested.

"I don't know why she would, if her goal was Naruto or Kiyomi, they were both here." Neji replied.

"Perhaps Hinata is right, I read in a book that often to cope with a loss, people seek answers and closure. It could be reasonable to think that our target wanted to know how Kiyomi died." Sai said with a small smile. The rest of the group were completely stunned, they may not have known Sai for all that long, but during the time that they had known him he had never once had an accurate reading on human emotions, yet this time what he was saying actually made some form of sense.

Surprisingly it was Kiba who recovered quickest. "I suppose it can't hurt, let's check it out." He said relieved to finally have a new goal in mind.

"It's too late to set out tonight, but tomorrow morning we will check out the battle sight. Oh and you can go now Izumo, Kotetsu." Neji said, giving the two elder shinobi a nod as thanks for their help.

(Konoha)

The village had been quiet for the past few days. Kakashi had almost finished the preparations for Naruto's funeral, they had returned to the sending shinobi out on missions outside of the village and the Land of Fire in general. All in all the Rokudaime Hokage had but one real problem on his mind, the currently still unconscious Godaime Hokage that was lying in a high security hospital room.

Kakashi was already fearing the worst for the Slug Sannin, she had been in her coma for months now and showed no signs of waking. That was until a few moments earlier. Tsunade's eyes fluttered open, not that she could see anything. The room she was in was pitch black, only a small light from a heart rate monitor blinked.

The elderly kunoichi tried to sit up but stopped when she felt the uncomfortable tubes she had sticking into her body. 'How long was I out, by the looks of things they have been feeding me through a damn tube, how embarrassing.' she thought slightly sickened by the sensation as she removed the tubes and wires knowing full well that it would send what ever poor sap they had working on her current floor running. "And let me guess, yep mostly naked as well... And worst of all, my Genjutsu broke." she said to herself gazing at her aged hand, she hated people to think that she was weak much less an old hag as Naruto would sometimes affectionately call her.

Stumbling out of bed the former Hokage shuffled to the edge of the room, her muscles were stiff from not having moved for weeks on end finding the far wall she began shuffling her hands across in either direction feeling her way across. It wasn't long before she found what she was looking for, a small indentation and loose fabric. She opened the window blinds of the window without delay and peered out releasing a sigh of relief when she realized that she was in Konoha, the sun was just setting and a dark red glow covered the Hokage monument.

Behind Tsunade the door burst open and in bundled not only Sakura but also Shizune. "Tsunade-sama!" They both yelled with unbridled joy.

Tsunade passed them both a semi irritated look. "This is a hospital, you have patients to think about. Now I'm exhausted, bring me some proper food, if you even think of giving me the stuff they give the patients at the hospital I will have you both on guard duty for the next year." she said sternly leaving no impression that she was joking.

"At once Tsunade-sama, after all that's happened I am just glad you're back with us." Sakura said, she had to wipe a tear from her eye as the reality of the fact Tsunade had awoken was just setting in.

Tsunade waited for Sakura to leave before turning to Shizune who she just realized was hugging the buxom Hokage like she would disappear if she ever let go. "It's nice to see you too Shizune, but I would like to go sit down and you are making that rather difficult."

Shizune paled before blushing a crimson color in embarrassment. "Sorry Tsunade-sama!" she panicked letting go of her best friend and master, backing away a few feet to give Tsunade some space. "So much has happened while you were unconscious, I don't know where to start." she said timidly knowing at some point she would have to tell the last Senju that her adoptive little brother had died.

Tsunade shrugged and took a seat on the end of her bed, now that some light could get in, she could easily navigate her room. "Well I am sure I can be caught up to speed. I take it we won the war seeing as nobody is in some vegetative state, paralyzed from that psychopaths Genjutsu."

"Hai, we won, but not without casualties." Shizune admitted slightly downhearted.

"That is the way with any war, but hopefully this one will be the last that I have to see, there has already been far too much killing for my liking." Tsunade sighed.

"Kakashi-sama has taken over as Hokage, we didn't know when or if you would ever wake up, so there was no choice." Shizune informed her master.

"Heh that's not so bad, Kakashi will be a fine Hokage, I'm just surprised that they didn't choose the damn brat. He's easily the strongest shinobi in the Elemental Nation. But he is still perhaps too young to run a village." Tsunade said suppressing a small snicker at the thought.

"That wouldn't be possible even if Kakashi-sama had refused to become Hokage." Shizune said apprehensively.

Tsunade could sense that there was something that she needed to know and her gaze immediately hardened. "What happened?" It was less of a question and more of an out right demand for answers.

Shizune flinched slightly knowing what was coming. "Um at the end of the war, Naruto-kun was able to sneak out of the camp and he went after Madara."

Tsunade's fists clenched, she was told by Kakashi about what Naruto said would happen if they ever fought each other. "He didn't make it back?" she asked, although she already knew the answer.

"No it appears that they killed each other." Shizune replied weakly.

Tsunade's voice held no emotion, it was a blank canvas, but her insides were in turmoil, she felt as if the world had begun to drown. "Where's his body?" she asked passively.

"It's in the Morgue, being preserved with seals. They're holding a funeral for him inviting people from all over the elemental nations, everyone is saying that it will lead to a new age of peace for the Elemental Nations." Shizune said. She knew that the small silver lining around the dark cloud that was Naruto's death would not be enough.

"I want to see the body." Tsunade said firmly. She would not believe that he was really gone until she examined his body herself, 'It would be just like him, if he thought he could save the world he wouldn't mind dying. But I can just feel that something is amiss, maybe I am kidding myself but until I am one hundred percent certain that Naruto is dead I won't simply give up, not like I did with Dan and Nawaki.'

"I can't let you do that right now, you are weak and need rest and plenty of food to help you recover your chakra. Stay in bed for a day or two, and talk to Kakashi-sama." Shizune pleaded trying to calm her master.

As impatient as Tsunade was, she knew when Shizune was right, "Very well, but I want to examine his body personally." She huffed in reluctant acceptance.

It was at that moment that Sakura returned, her arms filled with take away from what seemed like every restaurant in Konoha. "I didn't know what you wanted Tsunade-sama, so I brought a little of everything." she panted. Sakura had ran at full speed around Konoha not stopping for anything accept to pick up the many orders she had been placing.

(Joint Shinobi Task Force HQ)

The Tracking team sat around a large table in the dining hall reserved for Konoha shinobi after the war, it was not mostly empty, just a few essential shinobi that were left behind to keep relations with the other villages strong during their temporary break in talks surrounding the formation of a permanent alliance.

"This might be the last time we come here. Not that I mind, the food is terrible." Kiba sighed while taking a seat. The young Inuzuka was restless, it was rather tough being in a group with a bunch of people that rarely spoke.

"If the alliance talks go well than this place will become a major outpost, we may have to stay here for months on end." Sai replied flatly. The former Root ninja didn't care about the taste of the food, he had spent so long without any real emotions to dislike a place because you disliked the cuisine was pointless.

"It will also mean time spent in all the other villages. A principle part of the blue print for the alliance is having ambassador's, high ranking ninja go on long term exchanges to other villages. To build friendships and ease village tensions." Neji explained.

"How do you both know so much about this?" Kiba asked slightly annoyed he was being left out of the loop.

Sai stared blankly at the tall chunin. "I am an infiltration specialist in Anbu, there isn't much that I don't know."

"And I am the Jounin that is on the list to be given a six month transfer in Iwa." Neji added emotionlessly.

"Really do you know who else is being chosen?" Kiba asked with some excitement, he had always wanted to see some of the other major villages.

"I believe your sister is being sent to Kiri, a kunoichi named Yugao will be going to Suna, and once the post war promotions are given, Shikamaru will be heading to Kumo." Neji answered.

Kiba's shoulders slumped in disappointment, while he knew being chosen was always going to be a long shot, finding out that so many people he knew were chosen was frustrating. "Ah man, why is Shikamaru going and not me?"

"I believe that would be because Gaara chose him as the second in command of their battalion during the war. That sort of thing does not go unnoticed by higher ups." Sai said with a fake smile that he had hoped was comforting... It was not.

"But that means that shinobi from the other villages will be coming to Konoha as well right?" Hinata asked, she had enjoyed talking to some of the shinobi from other villages, they always had fascinating stories about their homes and places they had seen.

"Yes, one shinobi from each village, I do not know who has been chosen." Neji answered.

"Jeez you brats are loud, it's a big hall and I can hear you lot from the kitchen." Tsume Inuzuka said while taking a seat at the far end of the table.

"Sorry, Kaa-san." Kiba mumbled.

Tsume kept a stern face for a few moments before breaking out in laughter. "Still as foolish as ever, Kiba-chan. There is nobody else here so there is no reason to be quiet."

"Jeez Kaa-san, can't you give it a rest, why are you here anyway?" Kiba huffed embarrassed from his mothers teasing.

"I thought you wanted to know about the first two Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi. They are both rather famous in their own right. But I guess that if you want me to leave then that's fine, I'll go." Tsume said nonchalantly.

As the Inuzuka clan head began to stand up Kiba began to panic. "Wait no I'm sorry. Please stay!" he begged, banging his head on the table as he bowed in apology.

Once more Tsume burst out in a fit of laughter but at the same time returned to her seat. "Ah just as easy as your father ever was, all men are the same, dangle something they want in front of their eyes and they are as easy to manipulate as chakra."

All the young ninja at the table looked on with a dead pan expression thinking the same thing. 'I'm not like that at all.'

Tsume ignored the looks of the young men and began her tale. "The story of the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki is almost as old as Konoha itself. You all know about the fight between Madara Uchiha and the Shodai Hokage at the valley of the end I trust?" In response everyone at the table nodded. Then you will know that Madara summoned many of the Bijuu in his fight and the last one he used was the Kyuubi. While Hashirama-sama had been able to contain and subdue the other Bijuu, that fox was far more difficult. In the end however Madara was defeated that day and the Kyuubi restrained, but what to do with the Bijuu? The Kyuubi would not be contained for long even with Shodai-sama's Mokuton abilities."

"So Shodai-sama created a Jinchuuriki?" Hinata asked timidly.

Tsume shook her head. "No Hashirama-sama did not have the required knowledge of sealing to do something like that at the time, nobody in Konoha did." She answered.

"Then how did we get the Jinchuuriki?" Kiba asked.

"The Senju clan had some distant relatives, cousins if you will that came from a different village. Due to their great friendship several members of that family were in Konoha during the time of the fight between Madara and Hashirama-sama. That was the Uzumaki clan. One member, a young woman was one of the finest Fuinjutsu masters in their village. When she came across the Kyuubi breaking free of it's restrains she acted, she sealed the Kyuubi into the only thing possible to contain it, her own body." Tsume paused knowing that there would be some questions.

"I thought it had to be a new born child, one without developed chakra coils." Shino said shocking the group hear the normally silent Aburame ask a question so bluntly.

Tsume nodded in agreement. "Normally that would be the case, the strain of a Bijuu's chakra entering a fully developed body would kill them. But like the guard from Kiri said, the Uzumaki clan always had a few odd balls, it also was next to impossible to kill one of them." she laughed at the end.

"Sounds about right, look at all the people who tried and failed to kill Naruto." Sai said calmly.

"The village that the Uzumaki clan came from was known as the village of longevity because they would live twice as long as most would consider normal. They also were blessed with large chakra capacities, ones capable of holding the Bijuu. But most note worth was their use of seals. Fuinjutsu was like second nature to them, once they picked up the art of sealing they would master it. Even the most useless students seemed to have no problem when it came to Fuinjutsu." The Inuzuka clan head explained.

"So who was the first Jinchuuriki?" Neji asked politely.

Tsume smiled, she had fond memories of the kindly old woman she had met a few times as a child. "Her name was Mito Uzumaki."

"I think I have heard that name somewhere before." Hinata said tapping her chin trying to remember where.

"That wouldn't surprise me, your father would have had you taught about the village history as the clan heir of the Hyuuga clan, of course he wouldn't mention that she was a Jinchuuriki and chances are he wouldn't have given you her clan name because Naruto was in your class. Mito Uzumaki became the wife of the Shodai." there was a small gasp from all those at the table save for Sai and Shino who were as expressionless as ever. "From that time the Kyuubi has been inside Konoha however only the clan heads and top ranking shinobi have ever known about it, that was until the night Naruto was born." Tsume said.

"But Mito-sama died long before we were born, so who was the second Jinchuuriki?" Hinata asked.

"That would be Naruto's mother, Kushina Uzumaki. One of the most terrifying women Konoha has ever had, apart from myself of course" Tsume joked.

"If she was Naruto-kun's mother than that means she was also married to a Hokage, Yondaime-sama." Hinata said enjoying the small amount of sentiment knowing how tough Jinchuuriki's lives could be from watching Naruto for so long. "But I was never taught about the Yondaime's wife when I received my history lessons from tutors." she added as an afterthought.

Tsume nodded and a slight scowl crossed her face. "No you wouldn't have. All records of Kushina were kept classified once she died. It's a shame the things we do to one of our own in the name of their protection. Because the village elders feared an attack after the Kyuubi incident, the fact that Naruto was Yondaime-sama's son was kept hidden, only those few that knew the couple personally were privy to that information. It was all done to stop shinobi from other villages killing Naruto because he was a Jinchuuriki and the son of the Yellow Flash." she spat bitterly.

As a Inuzuka Tsume was fiercely loyal to all the people of Konoha, it never sat right with her how Naruto was treated, even if she was somewhat wary of the boy herself at times, if only due to his tendency to prank most of the people of the village.

"So they stopped Naruto from knowing who his parents were, because they were afraid if he knew then he would be targeted by assassins." Neji summarized.

The older kunoichi nodded to affirm Neji's assessment. "That's about it. To be honest I know which I would prefer, to know my life was in constant danger, or to never know my family, I would choose to live knowing someone wanted me dead any day, family is more important than anything. In the end, thanks to the Akatsuki Naruto got to know both pains."

The table fell silent everyone silently thinking about what Tsume had said. The only one struggling with the concept seemed to be Sai, he never had a family and never knew who his real parents were either, yet he had a brother, so to speak, but if they never met then he wouldn't have had that either. After some consideration the former Root ninja decided that the thought of not knowing his brother made him uneasy, so his train of thought changed to deciding what the best nickname for Ino would be, as Beautiful and Ugly didn't seem to go down too well with Sakura.

"So three Jinchuuriki all Uzumaki's yet most of the people act like they never existed." Neji finally spoke, his voice was calm but he was rather upset by this fact.

Tsume agreed with the young Jounin's sentiment "Whether people know about it or not, we all wear their symbol, the spiral on the back of our vests is a whirlpool of Uzushiogakure, emblem of not only their village but also the whole Uzumaki clan. It's there as a mark of respect and friendship between our villages."

"So where is this village?" Kiba asked, he was already making plans to go check it out when he had some time off from missions.

"It was destroyed, many years ago. I am not sure by who, perhaps some of the higher ups know more. Even as a clan head I am not told everything." The kunoichi admitted.

"They must have been something special, I wonder why they were wiped out though." Hinata sighed.

"Old clans have old rivalries, the older they become the more unique it is that they are to be prosperous. Young and idealistic, it's not just what they say about the next generation, old wounds cut deep if they are not healed. Someone obviously held a grudge against the Uzumaki clan." Shino guessed.

"Well on this topic, your guess is as good as mine. If anyone would know, it would be Tsunade-sama. She would be one quarter Uzumaki from her grandmother, she was also Hokage, so there wouldn't be many village secrets that she doesn't know." Neji replied.

Those around the table nodded in agreement. "I still wouldn't rate your chance of getting the answers out of her high." Tsume sighed sympathetically.

"Well we won't know unless we try, then there is also Kakashi-sama, he was the Yondaime's student so he might know something as well." Kiba said confidently.

Tsume sighed and stood up from the table. "I guess you can try." she said before leaving the group to go about their discussion. 'You will never get anything out of Hatake-sama Kiba-chan, as long as his comrades are not in danger he follows his orders. Those who break the rules are trash after all.'

She was right, Kakashi had always given up what he wanted for his orders. Several times he had asked to be able to meet Naruto as a child, but each time he had been told that Naruto was to have a normal childhood. Although he never enjoyed seeing what that 'normal childhood' contained. He had hoped to train Naruto and Kiyomi together for the Chunin exams, that was until he received a small toad messenger right after the preliminary rounds. Jiraiya had come to take over his training, Kakashi knew that he would come eventually but so soon after becoming a team had been somewhat unexpected. Still Kakashi willingly gave up the role of sensei to the author of his favorite books, and he had quite the laugh about just how the first meeting between the pair played out.

(Northern Land of Earth)

A day had passed since Naruto and Karin had left the underground tunnel traveling north, and their pace had slowed dramatically, large cliffs of ice forced them to climb high up only to drop straight down at the other side, every so often there would be a minor avalanche that would force the pair to take cover until it passed. But possibly the worst of their situation was the cold, even with their thermal sub zero clothes it was freezing. On the plus side they had found a nice stable place to set up camp for the night, using one of the many steep cliff faces as a wind break.

"Can that heater be turned up anymore I'm still cold." Karin asked, her breath was visible from the cold, showing just how ineffective the heater was.

"No it's on full. I have more heaters but we don't know when we might need them later on, I would rather keep it down to one at a time to preserve the others. We're just going to have to wait for it to start to take effect, this tent is well insulated so hopefully it won't take too long." Naruto replied apologetically.

"You're probably right, damn it I hate being cold." she complained.

Naruto knew she was having a much harder time of it than he was, his skin might be cold but he had an internal super heater that wouldn't let the cold effect him. "Why don't you get into your sleeping bag, warm it up, I'll prepare something to eat." he suggested.

"What's on the menu? I don't mind Ramen but I don't think I could eat it every night like you." Kiyomi asked as she wrapped her blanket around her tighter.

"No I thought some soup, I've heard that's the best way to warm up, a hot bowl of soup. Unfortunately all I have is powdered stuff, we're running out of fresh ingredients." Naruto replied.

"That's fine, I kinda knew things would get worse before they got better when we left this morning, so anything that's hot would be amazing right now." she sighed.

A comfortable silence fell while Naruto cooked, and it spread during their meal with only a few words spoken between the pair. It wasn't until they were both settling in for the night that the tent was finally feeling warm. "The temperature must really drop at night. It's taken forever to warm this little area." Naruto said. He knew that tomorrow night would probably be worse and the night after that. These were not called the Insurmountable Peaks for nothing and Naruto was starting to see why.

"I know, I was thinking that a few hours ago." She replied while her mind was off elsewhere. "Hey Naruto?"

"Yeah."

"How long do you think we can keep this up? Our bodies will eventually freeze from the cold. We have a finite amount of time in those heaters you brought and it's only going to get harder and colder as we keep climbing. What are we going to do?" She asked, she hated to think about what was happening but she was scared.

"We'll get though, somehow. These mountains have to end sometime and I bet on the other side it will be nice and warm, just you wait." Naruto replied optimistically.

The girls both smiled, Kiyomi enjoyed the blonds positive outlook and she really hoped he was right this time.

(Konoha)

"It's good to see you are awake and well Tsunade-sama." Kakashi said honestly. Secretly the Copycat was hoping he could hand the title of Hokage back to the busty Senju.

Tsunade nodded from her bed in the hospital, Sakura and Shizune had decided that it was in her best interests to stay in the hospital until they could run some tests to be sure that the Godaime Hokage was indeed in full health. "Well it would be nice to leave soon, I have work that I need to do Kakashi... Or should I say Rokudaime-sama." Tsunade replied.

Kakashi eye smiled and rubbed the back of his head in mild embarrassment. "Ah you heard about that huh? To be honest I would be happy to retire and hand the hat back over to you. You're a better suited Hokage than I am."

"Nonsense, I just got free of the damn thing, although you are not the person that I expected to be wearing the hat after the war. Even if Naruto was only a Genin, there was not a person in the Elemental Nations that could lay a finger on him, he proved that when A-dono tried to prevent him joining the war, and he more than proved himself on the battlefield." Tsunade said.

The newly elected Hokage nodded in agreement. "Yes he certainly was the catalyst behind winning the war, and you are right, he would be standing where I am now as Hokage if he had survived the fight with Madara." He admitted bitterly. Once more failing to protect someone he cared about was like adding another dagger into a heart that had long since stopped beating.

"I don't believe it." Tsunade spoke calmly.

"Don't believe what?"

"I don't believe that he is dead, I can't explain it but I just have this feeling that he is still out there somewhere." She answered calmly.

"I know what you mean, even though I have seen the body and it has been examined, something just doesn't feel right. But if he was alive, then why would he leave?" Kakashi questioned. It had been a thought that had ran through the Copycat's mind at least once a day ever since they had found Naruto and Madara's bodies. He let out a sigh and walked over to the window to gaze out over the village.

Everything the Hokage could see was new, all the buildings that now rose high around him inside a large crater that had been created less than a year ago when the man known as Pein had crushed the previous Konoha with a single jutsu. "I want to assess Naruto's body for myself. Then I might be able to answer your question." Tsunade said from her bed.

"I'll grant you access first thing in the morning. Or should I say, the moment you are released from your apprentices care." Kakashi said without looking back at the large chested Senju princess.

"Has there been anything else odd that has happened since Naruto was supposedly killed?" Tsunade asked.

Kakashi thought about it for a moment then he remembered something. "Now that you mention it yes, all the Toads have vanished from Konoha, perhaps Katsuyu might know something, but we haven't found any toads, summonable or otherwise." The Rokudaime replied.

"Why would they disappear, when Jiraiya was killed there were toads everywhere. This is just getting more and more suspicious as far as I'm concerned." Tsunade said and quickly slammed her hand onto her bedside table, a puff of smoke followed and when it cleared a small pale slug appeared.

"Tsunade-hime, it is good to see you have recovered. I was very worried this time." the slug said with a distinctly feminine voice.

"Good to see you as well Katsuyu, sorry I had to summon you in your small form." Tsunade replied.

"Think nothing of it Hime, was there something that you needed?" The slug asked curiously.

"I was wondering if you had any idea why the toads have withdrawn from the forests around Konoha?" Tsunade questioned.

"I have not heard from the toads in several months now, they are being very secretive, from what I would guess, if they are not around Konoha, then they must have all retreated back to Myobokuzan." Katsuyu answered calmly.

"Something is certainly not right. Things will become more clear when I can examine the body." Tsunade mused.

"Even if you are right and Naruto is alive, he would have had a reason for going into hiding. Maybe it would be best to leave him be, he has earned that right after all he has done for us." Kakashi reasoned.

"No way, he deserves one hell of an ass kicking for lying to everyone." Tsunade said half seriously.

Kakashi laughed knowing that Tsunade wasn't serious. "Well I really hope you are right. With how strong Naruto was, it just doesn't seem possible that he could have lost." The silver haired Copycat sighed.

"Well I was unconscious for most of the war after the fight with Madara, but I did see Naruto easily avoid having his clone dispelled by the Madara's Susanoo, there is no way Madara could have become stronger than what he was in such a short time." Tsunade stated.

"I agree it does seem highly unlikely. But it is what the great Toad sage saw happening." Kakashi said with a hint of reservation, he knew it wasn't a good idea to get his hopes up.

"The old toad can be misinterpreted, it was only after Naruto's fight with Pein that he realized that it was both Naruto and Nagato were the children supposed to lead this world to peace. Not until Nagato gave up his life and supported Naruto did he truly become their destined child. It is possible that what the toad sage saw was Naruto's choice." Tsunade said firmly.

"It makes sense I suppose, but it still doesn't explain the body we have in the morgue waiting for the funeral." Kakashi sighed.

Tsunade nodded solemnly and let her head rest back on the pillows of her hospital. "Maybe not, and I know it's a long shot. But my gut tells me Naruto is still alive somewhere. He wouldn't give up if it was one of us, so I won't give up on him." she declared.

"You're right, he wouldn't. I'll make sure you have access to Naruto's body by tomorrow morning." Kakashi said and the next moment he was gone, jumping out of the window.

(The Next Day)

Naruto and the girls had woken late, the morning had been so cold that neither wanted to move. But eventually, thanks to Kurama's pestering the blond had stirred and the smell of an impending breakfast had finally persuaded Karin to get out of bed and join him.

"It's freezing, I swear it's even colder than it was last night." Karin said shivering slightly as she took a seat next to Naruto in the tent as he heated some powdered soup in a saucepan over a small camping stove, while several pieces of what would be the last of their fresh bread were toasting in a separate pan with some eggs.

The small source of heat from the flames was a welcome feeling even though it barely helped the pair. "I thought soup might be nice to warm us up a bit, we probably won't get far today because we slept in, but staying put because it's cold will be counter productive. Chances are it won't be getting much warmer than this for awhile so we should just do our best and push on while we can." The blond said as enthusiastically as he could manage.

"I don't know why, but I guess I thought things would be a little easier than this." Kiyomi admitted.

"Yeah I know what you mean. I guess I should have known better considering that they are called the Insurmountable Peaks, but I never thought it would be this difficult." Naruto agreed with a sympathetic smile.

"Maybe we should head for the lower ground? It will take us longer to reach our destination, but the terrain should be easier to deal with, it should also be easier to find a place to set up camp if we are at a lower altitude on the mountains." The red haired scientist theorized.

"That might be a good idea, I was never one for that type of thing, I just push through with whatever I needed to do head on." The blond replied.

"Sounds a little bit like Kiyomi, she seemed to think she was invincible as well, you need to think things through more." Karin lectured.

"I'm right here you know?" Kiyomi said with a blank stare at the redhead who giggled.

"Ah you sound just like Kakashi-sensei, I suck at making plans, I prefer to just think up a plan as I fight." Naruto chuckled, while the fond memory of him being manhandled by Kakashi during his Genin exam ran though his head courtesy of Kurama who had decided to show what can happen if you run into a situation unprepared. "Maybe I could do with being a bit more level headed though, maybe you can help me with that, I mean you must be really smart if Orochimaru-teme used you as a scientist."

Karin blushed slightly from the praise, she was so unused to being treated as an equal that she found even this small amount of support to be somewhat embarrassing. "I uh, I guess I'm sort of intelligent but I don't really know what I could teach you, I was never much of a fighter."

"That doesn't matter, in fact it's even better." Kiyomi said drawing her attention, "When Orochimaru marked with the curse mark, I was infected with a overwhelming desire for power when I never wanted such strength solely for myself. It broke the bonds I had and destroyed mine and Naruto's relationship when it became to much and I left to train under the snake." she stated

Naruto nodded in agreement, "I agree." he said, "All I know how to do is fight, I was born to be a shinobi, all jinchuuriki are. But you have the chance for a better life, away from simply being muscle for hire. I bet when we get over these mountains there will be tons of things you can do, all I will be good for is maybe a hunter." Naruto replied.

Once more Karin blushed. "You are over selling my talents. But thank you." she said with a small genuine smile.

'She's cute when she smiles.' Naruto thought. He ignored Kurama's derisive grunt as the steam coming from his soup indicated that their breakfast was ready. "Alright, eat up we're going to need our energy." He said while serving up three servings and handing the slightly larger portion to the two kunoichi.

"Soup isn't really a breakfast food, but I have to say it is doing it's job warming me up." Karin said slightly surprised.

If it was cold in the tent, then outside was absolutely freezing. When the trio of teens finally exited their small refuge from the weather they were met with winds that flung the snow off the ground and stung their faces, it felt like hundreds of small blades were digging into the skin. Naruto did his best to ignore the pain and packed up the tent while Karin produced a thick scarf from her back pack and wrapped it around her neck and face to dull the force of the wind.

"This wind is so powerful, it's almost like a Fuuton jutsu." Naruto complained once he had the tent packed away. Karin attempted to reply but her voice was muffled by the thick fabric she was using as a mask, much to the amusement of the ebony haired Uchiha.

Kiyomi pointed at the bundled up redhead, "I don't know what's funnier, the way you look or the way you sound." she said muffling a laugh.

Not wanting to speak again, knowing the others wouldn't understand her anyway the Red headed teen responded by grabbing a fist full of snow and sending it slamming right into the Uchiha's face. It was then her turn to break out in laughter, even if it was barely audible.

"Enough! If we don't get moving we'll be stuck here for another night." Naruto replied with some mild annoyance.

Karin just continued laughing as she ran past the others as with a skip to her step. "Hey get back here!" Kiyomi called out chasing after the redheaded kunoichi.

Naruto groaned to himself. This day's travel was proving to be every bit as as treacherous as the day before, the three soon realized they had to have chakra channeling to their feet almost constantly, because at any moment the ground would give way, and they would need something firm to kick off from back to safe firm land.

They had crossed several large gully's and it wasn't even mid afternoon. On the plus side they had started to pick up the pace. Working together as a team, the natural obstacle course that the mountains would throw up became little more than minor inconveniences. "At this rate we will end up covering more ground today than we did in the past few combined." Naruto said happily as he helped Karin over a large ice wall.

What he hadn't expected was for another voice to respond, "Is that so young one?"

Kiyomi and Karin both spun around and came face to face with a giant snow leopard, not as large as one of the Bijuu or even Gamabunta but perhaps half the size of the boss toad. "Wow you're huge!" Naruto said in awe, he wasn't all that surprised to see such a large animal, but he thought maybe if he could get on it's good side they might help them travel through the mountains, Gamabunta, and all of the toads for that matter were no good in these mountains because they were cold blooded.

"Congratulations you have a firm grasp of the obvious, Baka." the large feline scoffed.

"Hey I'm not a Baka... Neko-teme." Naruto replied angrily.

"Don't insult it, it's ten times our size!" Karin yelled freeing her mouth from the scarf.

"You should listen to the red female, you'll live longer." it agreed

"Yeah she's really smart, but you shouldn't be so full of yourself either." Naruto retorted.

Kiyomi cringed at her lover's words. "Now why did you have to say that? All you are going to do is make him mad... I'm sorry about him, he's a little slow."

"Are you seriously telling me you are okay with him referring to either of you as 'the female'? Besides, he's going to attack us anyway, he's leaking out enough killing intent to take out a Jonin." Naruto retorted.

"I'm not feeling an... You're blocking it with your chakra." Karin gasped.

"The red female appears to be slower than I first thought. Still none of that matters now." the large snow leopard sighed. The cat took a large yet very brisk swipe at the group. Naruto was more than ready however and jumped back grabbing Karin on his way as Kiyomi swapped places with a small rock behind her.

"Damn I was hoping to keep it talking for a few more seconds, I'm still short of chakra for sage mode." he sighed while creating a five clones. Two of them moved into a meditative seated position while Naruto took the small lapse to form a rasengan. Wordlessly he ordered the three unoccupied clones to rush in at the leopard one at a time. The first clone was cleaned up by a massive paw, something that the second easily avoided.

However it was not able to avoid a massive spike of ice, similar to the ones he and the girls had been navigating, that the feline shot from it's mouth. "This is a pointless game, stop sending these stupid clones at me and fight for yourself."

'Hyoton, just like Haku used. What is this thing? Oh well it doesn't really matter I suppose, I just need it out of the way or we're toast.' Naruto thought while his third clone made it's move and he used the distraction to sneak around behind it.

His clone easily slipped under the giant paw, then spun out of the way of the Hyoton jutsu. It reached the giant cat's front paws before the creature's fur stuck up and shot out in a hail of senbon like spikes. The memory had stunned Naruto for a few seconds, he had seen someone use a technique that was so similar it was scary. Jiraiya's Needle Jizo with his hair manipulation techniques was almost exactly the same. But for that reason Naruto knew the weakness. From behind Naruto jumped high up in the air, careful to avoid making a sound the rasengan in his hand still spinning. His decent started over the back of the large creature, his target was the back of the neck.

"Nice try human." the Leopard laughed before it's tail slapped the blond away.

Naruto created a few clones in mid air to steady him and cushion his fall. "Dammit why do I always forget about tails."

'It may be... and this is just a theory, because you are an idiot?' Kurama suggested.

"Very funny. Now do you have any suggestions on defeating this guy?" he asked.

'I don't see what the big deal is, you were able to defeat me and this creature is nothing compared to me.' The fox replied casually.

"This is a little different, I knew what to expect from you, this thing is far calmer than you were at the time. I doubt it will lose it's temper so easily." Naruto said with a sigh.

'Then make it lose it's temper, you should be able to defeat it easily with that sage mode of yours. And we should be fart enough away from civilization that using my chakra won't be sensed anymore if you get into a tough situation.' The Kyuubi answered calmly.

"I know but I don't really want to rely on either you or Sage Mode for my strength. I need to be strong in my own right as well." Naruto said.

'Well that's something to work towards when you are not facing a twenty five foot long deranged cat that would like nothing better than to rip you limb from limb.' Kurama scoffed.

"He reminds me of you." Naruto joked but he had made up his mind and agreed with the fox. He would become strong without his Sage Mode and Bijuu cloak but first he needed to survive this encounter. His clone dispelled at the same moment that the snow leopard found him.

It's paw came down and snow was flown everywhere. Karin almost had a heart attack as she thought Naruto had been crushed. 'No, you can't be gone like that. Don't leave me as well I need you.' she thought desperately. Her thoughts were forgotten a second later however as Naruto appeared off to the side of the large cat, his eyes changes to gold with bar like pupils and dark markings formed around his eyes.

"Senjutsu... you know sage arts!" the Leopard gasped in shock.

"Damn right I do." Naruto said boldly creating a swarm of clones. Each pair creating a rasengan. "Now eat this!" he yelled as all his clones rushed forward, the rasengan in each clones hand swelling in size. "Never ending Oodama Rasengan Barrage!" he yelled as clone after clone flew at the beast.

The swarm of clones were dispelled in large groups, not able to avoid the large leopards many defenses but several still broke through. Finally when he came close enough the the felines hairs once more shot out trying to turn the clones into pin cushions. Unfortunately Naruto had seen that Jiraiya's hair jutsu so many times in the past his remaining clones all knew how to avoid them.

Thrusting their arms forward they used the giant rasengan each held as a shield. The hair needles crashed against the jutsu and were thrown elsewhere. The cat could only watch with a shocked expression as the few surviving clones each hit the target with their rasengan.

The leopard was thrown away with the force, crashing into a gully. Kiyomi wasn't surprised, but the redhead on the other had was stunned, this was the first time she had seen Naruto fight seriously and she was starting to understand just how he was able to defeat Madara. He had just defeated that giant creature with only two jutsu, he barely lifted a finger himself, he hadn't even broken a sweat. Although she wondered if that was just because of how cold it was, his sweat would simply freeze. "That was amazing Naruto! But if you didn't antagonise him in the first place this wouldn't have happened." her mood swinging from joyful to angry in a matter of seconds.

"No this isn't over yet. If it was I doubt the others would be just sitting there." Naruto said flatly.

"Others you mean there are more of them?"

Kiyomi nodded at the blonde's answer. "See for yourself, two up on each ridge that are about the same size, and a fifth one heading this way. So worst case scenario we're facing six, but the others seems to be just watching for now." she said said as the large leopard Naruto had struck with his jutsu began to stir.

Karin closed her eyes and focused on searching for the other creatures that Naruto had mentioned. He was right on each side of the shallow valley they had been using for shelter and an easy path there were two more snow leopards. 'This isn't good, I can't fight against something like that, this is just like when that rapping Hachibi jinchuuriki transformed we were all helpless.' she thought desperately, 'But Naruto is standing there waiting for anything that they throw at him amazing... Man what an idiot, he should be trying to run, or negotiate.'

"Lucky hit Gaki, but you haven't won yet." the Injured leopard spat angrily. Small patches of burnt skin shone through his white fur and Naruto could tell he was walking with a limp.

"You should give up before things get anymore serious, I don't want to hurt you. That goes for the other watching the fight as well!" Naruto yelled making sure he was loud enough for the others to hear him.

"Heh looks like we've been found out. I guess that's to be expected from a sage. Even if it is a goofy looking one." a foreign voice replied and an instant later four large snow leopards each landed beside the injured one.

"The kids tough, but I think he might be a little over confident don't you think?" another said in a feminine voice.

"Yeah let's show this punk why we don't allow anyone to trespass on our mountain." The first to talk said.

Naruto stood still, waiting patiently while he topped up his nature chakra he only had one more clone to de spell to enter sage mode once this ran out so he needed to be efficient. He still had his ace in the hole but he thought that it may be a little excessive, even if he was facing five giant cats.

In one movement all five of the leopards moved, two spread out wide in hopes of getting behind the blond while two others shot forward looking like they would run straight through Naruto then keep going. Meanwhile the injured leopard was moving up to higher ground.

Naruto created several clones that he sent to deal with three of the four giant cats. Meanwhile he moved to intercept one of the two that was charging at him. A paw came down to crush him as it came within range but he rolled out of the way. A quick burst of chakra to his feet and he was behind the snow cat in an instant, with a firm grip of it's tail. With his Senjutsu enhanced strength he stopped the feline's movements before tossing the creature over his shoulder. The beast let out a terrifying screech that sounded like a rusty kunai scraping against the chalkboard of the academy, only ten times as loud. "So it turns out you don't like having your tails pulled. Still you're less of a hassle than another cat I could mention." Naruto said, thinking about Tora the bane of Konoha Genin.

Unfortunately Kiyomi had managed to read his lips with her Sharingan, "We agreed to never mention that little rat!"

Naruto shivered at her tone, "I know, and I'm sorry, it just came out." he responded.

From where they fought, Naruto's clones were not having as easy a time as he had but were still coping with their targets. From her hiding place Karin could hardly believe her eyes. Naruto was in complete control, and he hadn't even used his Bijuu cloak yet.

The truth was after sparring with Kurama for so long, he was used to fighting over sized animals that could crush him with a single hit. Naruto watched as his clones successfully subdued their targets. Then his attention turned to the last leopard. It had climbed a fair way up the mountainside, it was faster than he had thought even while injured. Once it saw that the others had been defeated it turned to face Naruto. Opening it's mouth it shot forth a massive series of ice pillars that expanded as they fell towards him.

'I can't escape that like this, even if I could, something that large would crush the girls as well.' he realized while creating two clones. Acting as quickly as he could, Naruto began channeling chakra into his palm while one clone handled the rotation and the other handled elemental manipulation, "Fuuton: Rasenshuriken!" The blond yelled as he tossed the disk like projectile.

"He can throw something like that!?" Karin gasped in surprise.

The Rasenshuriken struck the giant slabs of ice and exploded, ripping the leopards jutsu to shreds, "I can't let him use that jutsu again, I guess I have no choice." Naruto said as his Sage Mode faded. A massive burst of chakra followed and when the dust from the explosion of ice and wind passed the blond stood with his body coated in bright yellow flame-like chakra and black seal markings that spread across his body.

"What is that?!" The Leopard asked in awe.

Before he could blink Naruto was behind him. "You don't need to know." Naruto said before kicking the giant cat down into the gully to join it's brothers. Naruto landed on the ground in the middle of where each leopard was trying to stand before he wrapped each of the up in his chakra arms, pinning them to the ground. "Now do you want to tell me why you attacked us?" he asked.

"We're just doing our duty, these mountains are sacred, nobody is allowed to pass this point." One of the leopards said as it attempted to stand under the crushing pressure of Naruto's chakra arms.

"So you're a summon clan. You protect your lands from outsiders, just like the toads and Myobokuzan. You can't reach there unless you are a summoner, even if you know the way you would meet several of the battle toads to deny entrance." Naruto said calmly.

"Very astute of you young sage." a new voice said calmly. Turning to the source Naruto saw a new snow leopard almost twice the size of the others, rivaling Gamabunta in height, only slightly smaller than Kurama. Unlike the others this new arrival showed no hostility towards the blond. "We have been expecting you. Our elder has foreseen your coming, they will not attempt to harm you anymore." she added in a commanding tone.

Naruto smirked and released his Bijuu cloak. "You say your elder saw me coming. What did they see exactly?"

"The elder saw the arrival of a man who would bring balance, and correct our mistakes of the past. The arrival of a woman who would help change the fate of a whole family. And a young woman who would be the first to take up our contract. Nobody has made it this far north in almost one hundred years, the last man to pass our test was not worthy of signing the contract. Your companion however is, as you cannot. You have the smell of toads, we do not share summoners and I am sure the Toad clan has similar feelings." The large leopard explained.

"Huh, you have one hell of a test. And the Toads aren't my only summons, my other contract just doesn't like me calling on them for mundane tasks." Naruto sighed looking at the five other summons.

Karin picked this moment to come out of hiding. "Uh does that mean you are willing to help us get through these mountains?" she asked hopefully.

"No, if you desire to go to the northern lands, then that is a test you must pass on your own. But we will take you in and give you shelter until you decide to venture forth. Now child of destiny, the elder of the Leopard clan wishes to speak to you."

"I sure hope they are more right in the head than the Great Toad Sage. If not this meeting could take forever." Naruto mumbled lightly so that only Kiyomi or Karin could hear.

Or so he thought. "I assure you that the elder is very capable. On another note, you red haired girl, what is your name?"

"Karin." The red head answered quickly.

"Very well Karin, I am Yuneko, the Matriarch of the Snow Leopard clan. I look forward to working with you in the future if you agree to sign our summoning contract... Now both of you get on, there is still a fair way to travel before we get to our ancestral home." The newly named Yuneko said leaning down to let the trio of teens hop onto her back.

They breezed passed mountain tops like they were not even there. What would have taken days, possibly weeks to travel only took a few hours on the back of the giant feline. Yet despite this the mountains continued to appear in the distance, "Man imagine how easy this would be if we just had the big boss cat take us to the other side of the mountains." Kiyomi sighed.

"True, but you heard what she said, it's a path we must travel alone. Just enjoy the small shortcut while you can." Naruto said.

All too soon the giant cat stopped coming to a halt in front of the largest cave Naruto had ever seen. The ground outside the entrance was flat and Naruto guessed it was about the size of Konoha. "Inside you will find warmth and shelter for a few nights. Let's not keep the elder waiting, he is anxious to meet all of you." Yuneko said calmly before moving towards the cave entrance.

Naruto looked around in awe as Yuneko, the Matriarch of the Snow Leopard summon clan took them deeper into the mountain cave. Regardless of how deep they were underground, strangely there was still light, almost like the ice walls were glowing to greet the leopards home. Another rather obvious thing Naruto was noticing, was that the temperature was increasing rapidly. Naruto was already feeling stuffy in his large thermal jacket and pants.

"We are almost to the village, be ready because the temperature is quite drastically different to what you have experienced outside. We Snow Leopards may be in our element in the cold and snow, but we love nothing more than a warm place to sleep." Yuneko said as the path took a steep decline.

They came out in a large stone cave, a massive open area that rose high up with what looked like smaller caves that had been turned into homes scattered around the edges. The sizes would descend, with the largest Leopards living on the bottom level and growing smaller as they go up until there were small holes only big enough for a cub right at the top. A large river of steaming water traveled through the middle of the giant cave, lit by crystals that bathed the giant open area in a bright blue glow. Snow leopards of every size lay around from place to place, a few sending the trio of shinobi lazy stares. 'There is so many of them, certainly more than the toad clan.' Naruto thought in wonderment.

"Kami it's hot in here." Karin complained gripping the neck of her jacket trying let more air in. Naruto simply unzipped his jacket and stored it away in his back pack. Karin eventually deciding to do the same.

"Yes the our underground village is heated by hot springs, each individual leopards cave has their own hot spring for warmth and a bath to suit the leopards size. We will prepare a cave for your stay once we meet with the elder." The giant snow leopard explained. It said a lot about the sheer size of the place that Yuneko was barely tall enough to reach a quarter of the way to the top if she was standing on her hind legs.

"So where does this elder live?" Kiyomi asked in a brash manner.

"The elder has a private chamber at the far end of this hall, we will be there momentarily." The large leopard answered. When they arrived at the far end of the hall two large passageways curled in either direction, leading up to the caves that littered the walls. In between them, a larger path led down further underground, where a dull red glow could be seen and the heat radiating from below was intense. "The elder lives down here." Yuneko stated as they crossed into the new cave leading down.

The path curled around, the walls seemed to reflect even the dullest light to illuminate their path. It opened out into a thin hall of jet black stone, the glowed with a red tint that came from a thin creek of lava. The room felt like a sauna, steam was rising from small cracks in the floor. At the far end of the hall Naruto was surprised to see a large stone house with intricately carved statues of large leopards lining the pathway. The entrance was of course large enough for even the biggest of the leopards to enter.

As they approached a regular sized leopard came out to greet them. "You brought them Yuneko-sama?" the new feline asked in a deep masculine voice, despite not having the commanding power of the massive leopard before him it held a sense of authority.

"Of course I did, Namayu. Is he ready to see them?" Yuneko asked.

The now named Namayu nodded once. "He is, but he desires to speak with them one at a time. He has things to discuss in private, and a summoning contract to hand out to the red girl. Please send in the young sage."

Naruto, knowing that he meant him, jumped off Yuneko's back landing in front of the much smaller cat. "You mean me right?" he asked.

"This is the boy? He doesn't look like much. Maybe Elder-sama is getting a little too old I see nothing special about him." Namayu said dispassionately.

A tick mark formed upon Naruto's head, being looked down upon was always a pet peeve of the blond. Yuneko laughed but soon became serious. "He defeated the mountain guardians at the eastern pass, with ease I might add. Nobody has done that since-"

"Hm very well, you may enter boy." Namayu interrupted the larger feline much to her annoyance, yet she let it go for now.

Naruto just shrugged and walked past the smaller leopard while mumbling something about being talked down to by a fur ball. 'You act as if that doesn't happen all the time.' Kurama taunted picking up on the blonds annoyance. The inside of the house was another large hall, however this was very poorly lit, giving Naruto very little to see in front of his face.

'It's different if it's you Kurama, he was judging me without even knowing me.' Naruto answered.

'So you're saying that I can talk down to you more often than I do already, oh what fun.' The large fox guffawed.

'Yeah but no matter how much you do, you still have to live with the fact I beat you in a fight and stole your chakra.' Naruto replied jokingly.

Kurama scoffed at Naruto's response. 'Whatever, don't get too confident, I could always stop helping you. Anyway look sharp, you're being watched.'

'Yeah I know, I can feel it, something moving in the shadows, the stealth is amazing to not make a single sound despite where we are.' Naruto agreed. A few steps later and a large empty cushioned pedestal appeared, light shone down on it from above and illuminated the hall.

Naruto spun around to catch his stalker who had chosen that moment to move. He was surprised however to see an elderly leopard, thin and battle scarred, "You knew I was following you?" the leopard asked in a croaky voice.

"Well, you could say I am a bit of a sensor, although the truth is I have nothing on Karin." Naruto admitted.

"You are the child I have been waiting for, I knew from the moment you stepped into my hall." the elder cat said with a victorious smirk before leaping gracefully over Naruto and onto the large cushion in the center of the hall.

"Why have you been waiting for me?" Naruto asked curiously.

"You boy are fated for great things. The savior of a world must die in one only to be reborn in another." the elder said matter of factly.

Naruto was completely lost, "What are you talking about? Are you planning on trying to kill me, because I am not going down without a fight!" Naruto declared his eyes taking on a tint of red as Kurama was ready to jump in and defend Naruto if need be.

The elder leopard laughed loudly, although not in a threatening way "You miss understand me boy. You died, did you not? Faked your death and ran away? You leave one world behind to travel to another. You are the child of destiny chosen by fate."

"Fate huh, I am not a big believer in that, the last time I listened to a prophecy it told me I would die. Yet here I am, alive and well. The only fate that is definite is death, and it's one we all share." Naruto replied.

"But I just told you, you did die. To the people of your world, their savior died." The leopard retorted.

"Because I wanted to bring peace, the prophecy of the Toad Sage said that my death fighting Madara would be the catalyst for a great era of peace. I made a promise that I would bring peace to the world. I promised my sensei, and my fellow disciple that I wouldn't give up until I did. I never go back on my word." Naruto said in a huff, he gave up his dreams of being Hokage, a future in Konoha for them to have peace.

"Yes and that is what brought you here, you... the one who brings balance. The Toad clan are not the only ones with a seer, and the future that any seer sees can be misinterpreted. Visions in the end are just that, visions. They give you a glimpse, but not the full story." The elder said happily.

Naruto didn't exactly follow him but decided the discussion was pointless. "What do you want with me then?" he asked.

"To tell you that your trials are not over, in the future you will encounter a situation where you will make a choice, and your answer will decide the fate of millions." the elder decreed.

Naruto was filled with anger, that wasn't directed at anyone. "Why! I don't want this anymore. Haven't I sacrificed enough? I am sick of having fate and destiny forced upon me. I will live my life the way I see fit, I am not looking to be a hero anymore." he said, his voice cracking slightly at the end.

"If when the time comes and that is your answer, then so be it. I have no more to say, but before you go think on this. War is a horrible thing, but no wars are fought over nothing. In a world where people with equal wills have conflicting views on the world, there will be no answer but force." The elder paused for a moment letting his words sink in. "Please send the ebony haired girl in, Namayu will show you to your bedchamber."

Outside the giant stone house Karin was waiting by the entrance, Yuneko had since left and now she stood waiting with the much smaller Namayu. "They're taking forever." Karin complained rubbing her hair in frustration. Truth was she was feeling anxious. She had never really spent much time around summon creatures before, so realizing that she was expected to become a summoner to this clan made her nervous, she wanted to make a good impression.

Fortunately she didn't have to wait any longer, Naruto appeared from the entrance, looking rather thoughtful, he certainly wasn't his usual bubbly self. "Kiyomi, he wants to see you. Looks like it's your turn, good luck." he said halfheartedly.

Kiyomi looked to Karin before she looked to the Namayu for confirmation. "Yes you may enter now." The cat said ushering her inside. He reappeared a few moments later and walked over to Naruto. "I trust your talk was enlightening?"

Naruto shrugged in response. "It was something, hard to know what to make of it for sure though."

"Is that so? Well follow me, I have been entrusted with the task of showing you to where you will be staying. That girl will be awhile, she needs to sign the Leopard contract as well." Namayu said candidly and just stalked off expecting the blond to follow.

Meanwhile Karin huffed as she leaned against the wall to apparently wait her turn. Why was it that she had to go last?

Kiyomi's Sharingan was fully activated as she trode forward with no fear towards the large feline lying down on a large pillow, "I take it you're this oh so great elder?" she questioned.

"Kiyomi Uchiha, daughter of Mikoto Uchiha and Fugaku Uchiha, younger sister to Itachi Uchiha the scion of the Uchiha." the elder said peacefully despite the Uchiha woman going on guard for the cats seemingly accurate knowledge only getting a laugh, "Relax child, you are as hotblooded as that sage that just left." he said.

"Well, call me cautious." Kiyomi responded, "You said through Naruto that you wanted to talk, well here I am. Talk." she commanded.

"If that is what you wish then very well." the elder sighed out, "While the sage's destiny is written out, your's is clouded in a sea of grey, the one thing I can confirm, is that your trial begins the moment you cross over the mountains, and the events that lead to these trials begins when you pass the final mountain. Just know, that when the two arrive, the sage's decision will be made final and his real journey shall begin." the old feline said to her.

Kiyomi gave the cat a extremely confused look, "Ok, I would like to think I'm smart, but you got to break that down idiot style for me."she said shaking her head.

Rather than explain what he meant the old cat gave her a smile, "Don't worry, you shall understand what my words me to the letter when you leave. That is all I needed to say, you may send in the prospective summoner now heir of Indra." the cat said causing her to stiffen before she nodded stiffly before she exited the cave.

Outside she nodded to Karin before exhaling deeply, "He's ready for you. Just, don't try to make sense of his words, they confused even me alright." she said before walking away.

With no other choice, Karin entered the lions den.

Inside, Karin was approaching the large pedestal where the snow leopard elder was lounging. "Uh um hello." She said tentatively.

"Ah young lady, at last we meet. Come closer so I can get a good look at you." The old leopard said in his croaky voice.

Karin complied somewhat hesitantly. "Were you expecting me?" she asked slightly confused.

"Oh of course child. We of the Snow Leopard clan have never had a summoner before, the last person capable... Did not have the required personal traits that we look for." The elder said with a minor reflective scowl, as if he was thinking of a bad memory.

"But I have these traits you desire?" Karin asked skeptical that she had anything special.

"Yes, you're determined and loyal, yet you crave independence." The old feline said confidently.

"That doesn't really sound all that much like me, Naruto maybe, but not me." She replied honestly.

"It's true, that young man has such qualities in spades. But he has a powerful summoning contract already, and we Snow Leopards are a possessive type, we do not like to share. Perhaps these qualities we seek are a trait of your family." The elder mused.

"Family? What are you talking about, we're not related. We came from completely different parts of the Elemental Nations." She said with some finality.

"You are not directly related no, but your chakra share traits of a clan, I am sure distantly you came from the same group of humans." The leopard replied.

Karin didn't like the idea that she might be related to Naruto, although she had no idea why. The thought just seemed wrong to her. "You're mistaken, there is nothing similar about our chakra. His is bright and powerful like the sun, nothing like my own."

"So you have learned to see, but not to feel. The way you see his chakra is a personal reference to the type of man he is, not where he came from. The feel of chakra determines family bonds, and to the highly trained can give a look into someones past. The feel of your chakra and the young sage is similar, you are from the same clan of that I am sure. That is why you, who have been abandoned many times before feel drawn to him." The elder said lazily.

Karin still couldn't accept this, they were so different, besides she was an orphan from Kusa, Naruto was the son of the Yondaime Hokage and a prominent member of the Uzumaki clan. 'That had many branch families that have scattered all over the Elemental Nations, even before the destruction of Uzu.' A small voice spoke in the back of her head, that she tried her best to ignore.

"Could it be that you are worried about your compatibility with that boy?" The leopard asked, the smallest glint in his eyes appearing.

Karin's face burned red. "Of course not, he may be kind, and he has saved my life... What I mean is, he's an idiot! Like I would fall for someone like him." She said, flatly denying his accusation.

"I see, regardless the truth is you are no closer related to him by blood than a man from a different clan. After all a clan is a group of families that share traits and experiences. That's why clan members mate with other clan members all the time." The old leopard replied with a smirk.

'He's right, during the clan wars most marriages were solely within clans, it was how they kept their bloodlines strong and if any family did marry out of it the new extended family would become part of the clan. Even today some clans mostly marry between branch families to protect Kekkei Genkai, like those Hyuuga from Konoha.' She realized. Without even catching onto the fact that she was feeling a whole lot better. "I told you I don't like him, so why are you telling me this?" she asked half angrily. Her angered expression softened however to an almost sad one. "Besides, he wouldn't see anything in me anyway, I just get in the way and slow him down."

The old leopards eyes narrowed in thought. 'That is not true, he is strong that one. But even the strongest people need someone to confide in. He needs you, more than you know. Just like Kiyomi needs the both of you to keep sight on her own goals.' "The young sage is important to this world, but not even that young man can do everything on his own, remember that."

"I'll do my best." Karin replied.

"Now that the pleasantries are out of the way, it's time to ask, are you prepared to sign the Snow Leopard contract?"

"I do, it's really an honor. I can't thank you enough for the opportunity."

The snow leopard elder smiled, quickly pressing his paws together before placing them on the ground summoning a giant scroll. The scroll opened up in front of Karin enough to see the first part of the scroll was blank. "You need to mark your fingertips, and write your name in blood." he instructed. Karin slowly did as she was told, lightly cutting her thumb and dipping each finger in the blood before placing them atop the exposed section of scroll. "Good now write your full name in blood underneath."

"Full name, but I don't have a family name." Karin replied.

"I already told you that you do, you have to accept that fate. Now write your name, and become our first summoner." The elder spoke firmly.

Karin wrote the first part of her name then hesitated. She sent a questioning gaze to the old feline but he was just intently watching the scroll. Letting out a loud sigh she slowly wrote down Uzumaki. "There that's it right?" she asked calmly.

"Yes congratulations, you will still need to learn how to perform a summoning, but that can be learned in time. I am sure that the young sage can teach you the process required." The elder leopard said somewhat disinterested all of a sudden.

"Is there anything else you need me to do?" Karin asked.

"No, for now you must continue your journey. I do hope you enjoy the rest of your stay here. Namayu will be waiting outside to escort you to your accommodation... Before you go remember, you are now an ambassador of our clan, your actions will reflect on us, keep that in mind" The elder said firmly.

"I will. Thank you again Elder-sama." Karin said with a bow before turning to leave.

"Farewell Karin Uzumaki, I am sure we will meet again." The old leopard said under his breath not even loud enough for the kunoichi to hear.

(Konoha)

Tsunade stood in the center of a cold sterile room, on either side of her were two bodies that lay perfectly still, they were so tranquil that at first glance it appeared that they were only sleeping. Tsunade had a clipboard in her hand and an angry scowl on her face. The report she had read on the two fallen shinobi was by her standards sub par. While all the standard tests were done, blood and chakra type, they were less thorough than she, Shizune, or even Sakura could perform. She had been in that morgue for hours redoing so many of the tests that should have been done the first time.

"This is making no sense at all, I need something that will give me a proper answer, there are too many conflicts, one report test says it is Naruto but much of the physical evidence is inconclusive. Also there is not even a single trace of the seal, or the Kyuubi's chakra. That leads me to believe that this can't be Naruto. Also this wound, it's all wrong. Judging by Madara's body shape and height he did not cause this injury."

"Then who did?" Tsunade spun around to see Kakashi standing there in full Hokage robes including the hat.

"Based on the facts and evidence, then I believe that it was Naruto." Tsunade replied.

"He committed Seppuku? I refuse to believe that. He would never do something like that." Kakashi said with complete certainty.

"I agree, but the injury caused by a chokuto blade that conducts chakra which was coated in Fuuton chakra of high potency, like Naruto's. Also the height and strength requirements suggest it had to have come from Naruto." Tsunade replied.

"How can you tell, if he killed himself most of his strength wouldn't show, it's not possible to strike yourself with all of your strength." Kakashi reasoned.

"Which is why I don't think this is Naruto at all. The only way for this death to be possible, was if Naruto had killed himself using a clone. That is physically impossible. All clones dispel regardless of their type if the main body comes under intense stress. I don't know what this thing is, but it's not Naruto." The Godaime declared.

"Do you remember during the war when the Zetsu clones attempted to assassinate the medical teams. They were able to clone someone so perfectly that everything matched right down to the tiniest degree. This could be nothing but a Zetsu clone, I have had this thought for some time. The question is, how did Naruto get his hands on one? Not to mention get Zetsu to listen to his orders." Kakashi replied.

"I read the reports of what happened in the war after I lost consciousness. Once Obito was defeated all the remaining Zetsu clones lost all consciousness and were eliminated. Perhaps they were willing to react to Naruto but nobody else?" Tsunade theorized.

"It is possible, but how could we know for sure. It's also possible that both Madara and Naruto were able to fake their deaths in this way if they decided to do this together." Kakashi mused.

"That may be the case, but I don't think so. If Madara was working with Naruto he would have been the one to strike the blow, it would make no sense for him to kill himself if Madara was there to make it look more believable." Tsunade reasoned.

"Unless of course Madara was in such a state that it was impossible for him to do the job. We saw the place where they had been fighting, it was a barren wasteland after they were finished." Kakashi proposed.

"Well then I guess there is only one way to find out." Tsunade said and quickly removed a small piece of muscle tissue from each of the bodies.

"What are you doing?" Kakashi asked.

"I am going to check for my Grandfathers DNA, or traces of his chakra, as opposed to trying to prove that it's Naruto. That's all the Zetsu clones were, constructs of my fathers genetic structure. Even if they copy Naruto perfectly, underneath everything if you look deep enough, a fake will show it's true colors." Tsunade spoke as she began running various tests with the tissue samples she had removed. "Now all we have to do is wait." She said. Now that she had something specific to look for she was so confident that she could prove that the blond laying on the operating table wasn't Naruto.

"How long will it take?" Kakashi asked.

"Only a few minutes, you may want to stick around, this is it, I can feel it." Tsunade answered with a confident smirk.

The minutes passed away in silence as both ninja waited with baited breath. Suddenly a sheet of paper appeared, printing out the results of the tests through the use of seals. Tsunade slowly approached the sheet and began reading. About half way through her expression fell. "No luck?" Kakashi guessed feeling slightly gutted.

Tsunade scrunched up the paper, her monstrous strength grinding it into a pulp in her grip as her face turned to one of anger. "That little bastard, when I get my hands on him he is going to wish he really was dead." she said her face transforming once more into a triumphant smirk. "He's alive!" she declared.

Kakashi let out one of his famous eye smiles. "Thank goodness, I'm so glad that my beloved student is still alive." he said with a smile.

"But I am afraid to say, that this is indeed the body of Madara Uchiha, Kakashi." Tsunade said with some respect in her voice. The fact Naruto brought down the only Uchiha to match her grandfather-the very same man she nearly died against-spoke volumes of how powerful Naruto had become.

"Well, I guess that elevates my spirits somewhat. I wouldn't know what to do if Madara were in fact alive. What a scary concept." Kakashi sighed.

"So what are your orders Hokage-sama, what do we do with this information?" Tsunade asked.

"We do nothing. Naruto had his reasons for leaving, of that I am certain. I need to believe in his choice, so we will hide this information as an S class secret." Kakashi answered calmly.

"Are you sure? He's out there all alone, everyone in the elemental Nations have heard of his name by now, most of them will know his face, he can't even henge those whisker marks of his. Let me go find him, at least so he knows that he will always have a home here in Konoha." Tsunade said with a steel determination.

"As far as I am concerned I have no right to order you to stay, you are my superior as Godaime Hokage. I will accept your request, but I must ask that you stay until after we hold a funeral for this Naruto. I believe he will return one day, but until that day comes we have to keep this secret from everyone, nobody else can know that he is still alive. After the funeral I will come up with a mission that you can undertake, that will have no set amount of time to complete. Actually I already have the perfect one. All I have to do is call a team back from the field and give you their mission." Kakashi said quickly coming up with a plan.

"It means Naruto will have a few more days to get away from me, but I accept. Call the team in field back, they will need to give me a proper report if I am believably going to take their mission from them." Tsunade suggested.

Kakashi nodded and made for the exit to the morgue before pausing. "I will go to my office at once and send out the messenger hawk. Remember to tell Naruto I will be waiting for his return, I'll even save an Anbu mask for him if he want's to keep his identity hidden. What do you think he would prefer, Gama or Kitsune?"

"Maybe you should hold onto both and let him decide. If it was me I would give him a parasite mask as punishment for leaving." Tsunade replied with a short laugh.

"Just be sure to find him then. Oh and do try to at least act sad during the funeral." Kakashi said, and with that he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

'A shadow clone?' "Dammit Kakashi if you let me catch you using clones to talk to me again, I will kill you!" She yelled loudly enough that the whole village could hear.

Kakashi sat in his office and a sweat drop formed as he had taken out a form to have the group sent after Karin returned, 'Maybe I should have waited until I was out of the room to do that.' he thought with a little worry.

(Underground Cave; while Karin was speaking to the Elder Summon)

Kiyomi entered the cave she was led to by the leopard and spoke her gratitude, if not a bit arrogantly. She stopped as she heard a cough from the right, "I thought this was supposed to be my room." she sighed out, "Why are you here Naruto?" she demanded.

Naruto's nervous chuckle filled the air as she turned to see him holding a large jug of sake she knew he didn't have before hand, "I was given this room by the snow leopards, I didn't know they would send you here either. Hell you caught me about to drink some aged Myoboku Sake to honor the pervy sage, something he gave me for my birthday before we returned to the village." he said before shrugging, "Want some?" he asked her.

Kiyomi snorted, "You sure about this?" she asked in response, "You remember what happened the last time the two of us got drunk right?"

"I think that was the time we had a threesome with Anko." Naruto said scratching his head trying to remember.

"It was Yugao, and the three of us were hammered from a Uchiha vintage that was over two centuries old." she responded as she crossed her arms under her chest.

Naruto blew her words off, "Oh come on, this stuff isn't nowhere as potent as that sake you brought out that time. What's the big deal, we share a couple shots, eat some food and go to bed, it's not like we'll end up doing anything."he stated.

Kiyomi snorted, "You're right, it' not as potent as the stuff I shared, this stuff is easily twice as strong, I mean do you smell it?" she asked him incredulously.

Naruto snorted, "Of course I can smell it." he responded as he held it out to her, "Come on, share a drink. It's been a few years since we had a couple swigs of the good stuff." he said to her.

Kiyomi narrowed her eyes, "If anything happens cuz of this, I'll finish what Madara wasn't able to." she said.

-30 minutes later-

Kiyomi and Naruto both knew they messed up. The sake was a lot more potent than the two of them realized, and the speed at which they had drunken it was enough to make even a seasoned drinker like Tsunade blackout drunk (for herself if she drank as quick as the two of them did on her own) from a few sips. Kiyomi was giggling, a very unusual thing seeing as Uchiha do not laugh, "Y-You remember that time w-we tried to-to peek under Kakashi's mask and failed so horribly?" Kiyomi laughed out.

Naruto was laughing just as hard, "How could I forget, we tried almost a thousand times to rip that thing off only for there to be a second one underneath his original mask." Naruto said jovially.

Kiyomi's cheeks were stained red as she looked to her lover, "Hey, Naruto, can I ask something?" she asked him.

Naruto shrugged, "I-I don't see why not, I mean you'd do it regardless if I said no or not." he told her, which was true.

Kiyomi nodded, "Ok, true. But I have to ask, if we hadn't broken up, would you have married me like you said you would back when we was kids?" she asked him.

Naruto snorted, "Kiyomi, if we had married, there wouldn't be a moment that you wouldn't be popping out a baby. You once told me you wanted a dozen kids, i was so ready to give them to you, but then that shit with Orochi-pedo happened and everything went to shit." he growled.

Kiyomi smirked, her hormones sending her arousal into overdrive, "Then why wait, let's try that number at least once." she said as she leaned in, only to stop as Naruto placed a finger on her forehead, "What?" she asked drunkenly.

"We're drunk, and you wanna fuck? What about when Karin comes in?" he asked her.

Kiyomi snorted, "I don't care, she's a closet perv anyways, I say we give her a show." she whispered as she brushed the blonde's finger away and leaned into the crook of his neck to nibble on his shoulder, "Come on, I know you wanna do it. To fill me with your seed and watch it flow out of my wet pussy, to see me swell with your brat. Don't deny it, I can feel your erection through your pants." she said to him.

Naruto growled as he felt Kiyomi beginning to grind against him, small whimpers escaping her as she did so,"We can't do this, we don't even know when Karin is supposed to come back." Naruto groaned.

Kiyomi snorted as she pulled back and placed her arms around Naruto's shoulder's, "Naruto, stop thinking and just do. Isn't that usually what you told me when we were under Kakashi's leadership?" she asked before leaning in and stealing a kiss from him, "Besides, do you really think you can rid yourself of the potential blue-balls you'd have if you stopped this? We both know the answer to that." she smirked as she rubbed their noses together as she raised her arms for him to take her shirt off, "You sure know how to sweet talk a girl who is more ambitious than yourself." she said as she felt her hair cascade down her naked back, "You are so good to everyone, it's why I fell in love with you as a girl." she shivered when he popped a hook from her bra, "You are honest." Another hook, "You go out of your way to help those who need it, and you sacrifice everything for the greater good." she felt the last hook give way and the band around her chest loosen, "You are so good this world Naruto."

Her nipples hardened from the cool air hitting them before he cupped her cheek and brought their lips together in a kiss that left her breathless. Moving his hand from her hip to her breast, she moaned when he squeezed her tit and pinched her nipple between his fingers as her mouth opened for his tongue. In small rolls, she rubbed his bulge between her legs and moaned when his erection applied pressure to her clearly wet cunt.

"I'm sorry for not being there for you when you needed me most." he said before sucking on her bottom lip and releasing it slowly just to watch her smile.

"It's alright, you've more than made up for it. And, if it's any consolation, I'm sorry for always overreacting in the past over the smallest of things." she said as she pushed his shirt off his shoulders, exposing his scar covered chest and stomach. "God you are fine with these scars, I know it sounds weird, but they make you so much more attractive." she leaned back in to capture his lips once more, her hips rolling more into him until Naruto picked her up and laid her on the bedding. "Fuck." She hissed out but Naruto shut her up my forcing his tongue into her mouth. "Ple—please, I-I want you to touch me." her chest arched into him and he laid his hands over her breast to squeeze them both, loving the thickness of them.

Breaking from her mouth, Naruto kissed down to her chest and pushed her breasts together to tease both of her nipples at once. He grinned at her moans and the tugs on his hair when he nibbled on her nipples, giving them a small tug that followed with slurping noises from his mouth. Pulling away from her, he watched her chest rise and fall in hard pants before he grabbed the waist band of her pants and pulled them off, not caring where they landed behind him as well as unbuttoning his own and pushing them down to his ankles.

"Naruto." She gasped out when he pulled her to the edge of the bed and placed her legs over his shoulders before teasing her wet entrance. Her back arched off the bed at the first thrust deep inside her—her cry of ecstasy coiling around him perfectly and his member throbbed inside her. "O—oh fuck that's so fucking good!" she gripped the edge of the furs waiting for him to pick up his pace. "Ahn! Fuck!"

Through his powerful thrusts, Naruto realized this was what sex was what he had missed-not that the romp back in Iwame wasn't nice-but this was what he always imagined what making true inexplicable love with his lover was supposed to feel like. The fiery touches of her fingertips leaving deep scratched along his forearms from her grip as he pounded into her. Her loud moans rang through the small cavern and the furs started to bunch up under them as she begged for him to go harder, and by then she had climaxed three times and aiming for a fourth time while he was working on his second release inside her.

Falling onto the side of the bed, Kiyomi moaned out when Naruto gripped the back of her neck and her hands reaching out to grab at the rumbled bedding. Drool soaked into the sheets below her as he rammed into her from behind, the echo of their flesh connecting every few seconds and Naruto's grunts rose. Looking at him from over her shoulder, she smiled at how his hair fell from the pony tail he had it in and framed his dazed face. She knew his eyes were locked on his cock sliding in and out of her tight pussy and she clenched around him just to see his expression change.

"Fu—fuck! Naru!" Kiyomi panted out when his thrusts became harder against her and he pulled her up from the furs by her arms.

"Y-you are so se—sexy from behind." he locked both of her arms with one of his own before reaching around and gently grasping her breast, his hips never stopping. Putting a small amount of pressure on her teat, Naruto grinned when she climaxed unexpectedly in a loud moan that had her entire body shaking and her hands gripped at her ass that she would reach. The pulsating wave of her insides absorbed into his cock and he thrusted all the way inside her before emptying himself within her. "Fu—fuck!" he growled into her ear.

"Oh—oh Naruto." she gripped the part of his hip she could touch, her entire body buzzing before she collapsed on the pile of furs.

Smacking her on the ass, Naruto gently pulled from her and moved back just to watch his load flood out from her pussy. Streams of white leaked down between her legs when she leaned up off the bed and let gravity take its course. She did give a small chuckle at his expression seeing as it was the same expression from the first time.

"That is still sexy no matter how many times I watch it." he chuckled and wiggled her butt cheek he was still holding.

"You are such a pervert." she said and turned around to lay back on the bed to cool down.

"Well, I was trained by the man who called himself a Super-Pervert. Besides, " Naruto responded as he laid down, the bed dipping down from his weight and they both stared up at the ceiling, "We both have our kinks Kiyomi." He stated, "I remember that you like being choked and I like watching my cum leak from you. It's a win—win."

Kiyomi rolled her eyes but smiled when he laid his hand on her thigh, "With all these kinks I know you have I'm surprised you haven't asked to put it in my ass yet."

Removing his hand from her thigh Naruto got real quiet and remained staring at the ceiling. It's not he hadn't thought about it, he was just working up to actually asking her and had he known she would just call him out on it like this he didn't know what to say. Did he want to fuck her in the ass—yes…yes he did but after what she had told him when he asked after they first got together intimately, he didn't think the subject would be brought up again since she had already said told him no.

"Naruto…" she turned over to glare at him.

"Yea?" he moved his head to look at her.

"Why did you clam up?" she knitted her brows and touched his chest.

"Well, I um—I would uh never ask you again to—to put it in your ass. If memory serves me right, you stated very clearly that it was going to be a no." he stuttered nervously and tried to avoid eye contact with her but when she pinned him to the bed by straddling his stomach and locked his face in her hands, he had nowhere to look but up. Her dual colored eyes peered into Naruto's as he gripped her thighs.

"Oh really?" she arched a perfect brow. "You would never—ever think to ask me again if you could put your thick cock into my tight little asshole?" she leaned down and kissed his lips when he shivered, "You would never want to stretch me out?"

"Kiyomi…" He gave a warning. "I did ask you if I could put it in your butt when we first got together, remember, and you told me no."

"I did?" she played innocent as she sucked on his bottom lip.

"Y-yes you did." he moaned out and slid his hands to her waist, knowing she was prolonging this conversation.

"Well d—do you wanna know a secret I've been keeping from you?" she turned his head to the side and scooted down enough for her to cover his groin knowing the heat from between her legs would awaken his softened member. Hearing him give short gasps when she nibbled on his earlobe, Kiyomi kissed the shell of his ear before dipping her tongue inside, "After our first time, I've always wondered what it would feel like to have a clone of you with its cock deep inside my ass while you fucked my pussy with your fat cock." she gave his ear another kiss and rolled her hips against his. Her wet pussy gliding over his shaft slowly.

"H—how about…" he moved his head to look into her face before moving his hand to her mouth, a silent signal for her to open, "…when we get settled across the mountains," he moaned out when she took his fingers into her mouth and sucked on the digits, "Make them really wet Kiwi." he ordered.

"Hmm." she closed her eyes, all her focus put into making his two fingers as wet as she would make them. Pulling back a moment she chuckled as she heard the name, "You haven't called me that since we were four." she said before returning to her sucking of his digits.

"Well, you did look a bit round in the face as a kid." Naruto said as he took his wet fingers out of her mouth, "Spread your cheeks for me." he whispered as he kissed her lightly on the side of her mouth waiting for her to obey and when she did, his hand disappeared as they kissed more but that didn't stop her from moaning when his wet finger teased her hole.

"Oh go—god…" she moaned out and dropped her head into his neck when his finger dipped barely inside.

"When we are really settled, we talk, cuz this is the second time we have done this without thinking, and you haven't exactly been honest on your intentions. You sure you aren't trying to get back with me?" he asked teasingly as he lavished her neck with kisses while he gently thrust his finger in and out, his member becoming hard with her heat and moans.

Moaning she tried to answer and had to shake her head a couple times to clear it of the haze of lust for even a moment, "I-I don't know, j-just don't stop!" she pleaded before Naruto bit her neck as her head shot up, the sound from her throat ringing his ear as his lap became extremely wet, "Do it." she panted out, "Fuck me hard from behind."

"Oh fuck…" Naruto agreed in a husky voice and maneuvered her to her knees and poked his finger in her ass before proceeding to pound into her from behind like she wanted, "Fuck me Uzumaki." she demanded and he pulled out of her and rolled her over to pick her up and position her to where she was looking at him with her legs over his elbows—his cock finding her entrance and he shoved himself deep inside until he felt her cervix, "You—you're so d—deep." she moaned out when Naruto pushed her into the wall, "Fu—fuck!"

Naruto kissed her roughly and began thrusting deep, her cunt stretching through each push and shrinking with each pull. With her legs over his arms he was able to grip her ass roughly and leave small red marks on either cheek. Within a few deeper strokes Kiyomi was convulsing against his body in her quick climax and holding onto him tightly while they kissed but he didn't let up. He fucked her harder and she was glad the wall was behind her giving her something to claw at.

"Oh fuck! Ahh—Fuck! " She dug her nails into his shoulders as he continued with the rough poundings deep inside her pussy, "Shit! Keep going! Oh fuck! Naruto!" She pressed her forehead to his own, "I'm-I'm gonna cum again…ah fuck!" her eyes watching his cock ram into her repeatedly until she came once more and she didn't understand why her body was so sensitive or why she wanted to him to fuck her harder, "Your—your cock looks so—so sexy ramming in—into my pussy." she moaned as she looked up at him, her dirty talk radiating through his body. "You lo—love seeing my pussy take your pun—punishment don't you?"

"Yo—you're going to ma—make me cum inside when you say stuff li—like th—that…" he stopped moving her for a moment to steady himself but instead Kiyomi wiggled her hips, taking him further inside her before he began pounding into her vigorously a few times, "Fuck! Fuck! I'm cumming!" he warned her as he put her on the stone floor. Kneeling down, Kiyomi smirked as she took his cock into her mouth, she relaxed her jaw and let him fuck her mouth like he had been fucking her pussy—she looked up at him when he grabbed her face knowing what he was about to do and she snuck her hand between her legs to rub clit in time with his rams.

Her moans vibrated through his shaft and she breathed through her nosed as he shoved his cock down her throat far enough the base widened her mouth after four strokes. Her body jerked at her third release when Naruto moaned during his climax and she felt his cum slide down her throat into her stomach, the hot sensation warming her insides. Gripping his hip, Kiyomi pushed him back until his cock fell from her mouth and she was taking a deep breath to refill her lungs, "Oh fuck…" she panted as he pulled her to her feet and pressed her back to the wall.

She closed her eyes when his lips found her own in a string of passionate kisses while her wet hair clung to her shoulders and her face through their make out session. Pulling back, Kiyomi broke through the haze to smile at him.

(With Karin)

"Hear we are, your quarters for your time here in our village." Namayu said with a slight bow. They were about half way up the side of the massive hall containing the homes of the leopard clan. It was approaching dusk and the felines were becoming more active as the night approached. Several cubs were mock fighting down below and several of the larger summons were heading outside to keep watch over the mountains during the night.

"Thank you Namayu, I am sure it will be wonderful. It can't be any worse than our cold tent." Karin replied.

"I hope you are satisfied. Elder-sama has also told me to inform you that your accommodation has a private hot spring for you to bath at your convenience." The leopard spoke with a bow.

Karin nodded, bid farewell to the summons and turned to face her temporary lodgings. There was no door, but a thick curtain with a slit in the middle gave privacy from those outside. She wondered for a moment whether or not she could trust the Snow Leopards to grant her that privacy, but in the end she decided that they wouldn't do anything to upset their new summoner.

Pushing through the folds in the curtain she came into a lovely room, while it still looked like a cave, it had certain homely touches that couldn't be ignored, like a raging fire pit ready to cook her food, and best of all in Karin's opinion was a large double bed with luxurious looking blankets and soft pillows, 'It's been such a long day I am going to go have a bath and jump right into that bed, dinner can wait, Naruto has all the food anyway. And who know's where Kiyomi is right now. Oh well, it's not like she can't handle herself, she's plenty powerful.' she thought blissfully. Her thoughts lingered on Naruto as she got undressed.

"Kami what am I supposed to tell him. 'Guess what I found out we are from the same clan? Impossible.' oh please, like that would go over well." she grumbled, 'Well he's from the main house of the Uzumaki clan that were cousins to the Senju clan, he's more closely related to Tsunade of the Sannin than he is to me, even if we do share a last name.' That thought made her smile a bit, truth was she liked the fact she had a connection with Naruto. She sighed happily, "Still I wonder where he's staying?" she asked herself as she pushed passed another curtain and into the bathroom wrapped up in her towel quickly dropped it to the floor before stepping into the water to take a bath and hopefully relax a small amount before the journey continued.

---

Alright, that took me forever to get it how I liked it, good lord I thought I'd never get it done. Anyways, as you can see; Kiyomi's future is bleak/mysterious (no spoils unless you can actually guess what I put on her) for the time being, and as you can also see, Karin has her own room. Now, I won't be going into the full training session nor the near death chapters as those were literally filler type chapters to try and make up a word count (to me at least, but i will use a small portion of it to get the plot out sadly)

And yes, there is also the lemon in this chapter, now I will put this out that I used a pre-written lemon as the original one I had was deleted by a accidental refreshing of the page and I simply grabbed this one and placed it in. It comes from the story Gorgeous Nightmare (Chapter 14, though it has some differences to it and is missing about half the original dialogue to it as i only used about 2/3's of it) from Archive of Our Own.

Anyways that is going to be it for this chapter; please LIKE/FAVORITE/FOLLOW to show the story some love and don't forget to leave me a nice lengthy COMMENT/REVIEW so I can know what you thought of this update, thank you for reading and I'll see you for a future update.