Chapter-17

- Flashback (When Naruto was travelling with Jiraiya.)

Naruto was sitting on the edge of the roof of the house that they were living in, his spiky hair, that he had dyed sky blue, was blowing madly because of the morning wind while he was watching the horizon. His jaw-length ear tails that closely resembled Jiraiya's and Minato's, were tied in the middle with orange bandages and his cerulean blue eyes looked distant. He had also covered up his whiskers with a partial henge to complete his disguise. He had woken up an hour earlier than usual and couldn't sleep again so he came up here to do some thinking.

"What are you thinking about?" Jiraiya said sitting down next to Naruto with one of his knees bent and the other leg dangling from the edge of the roof. He had not slept the whole night because he was filled with ideas for his latest book of the Icha-Icha series.

"Nothing much, sensei." he said, breathing out. "Just thinking if Sasuke was right." He said, still looking at the sky. Upon no reply from Jiraiya, he continued. "When he fought, he said that Konoha wasn't making him as strong as he could be. Konoha would never let him reach his true potential and I have realized that it is somewhat true. I mean, I became much stronger in the last one year than my whole lifetime in Konoha." He let out a sigh. Jiraiya could sense a 'but' coming. "But dad, Kakashi-sensei, Hashirama-jiji, Tobirama-jiji, Madara Uchiha, Shisui Uchiha, Itachi Uchiha, Sandime jiji, Baa-chan and even you became some of the most powerful and feared shinobi across all the shinobi nations, while being in Konoha. I just don't know what to believe anymore." He said shaking his head.

"Look, kid. All of the shinobi you just mentioned had become powerful because they had a goal which they focused on, something to protect. They wanted to achieve their goal no matter what which is what ignited the determination in them to work hard towards it. Take Minato for example. He always wanted to become Hokage, end the third great Ninja War and achieve peace. During the time I was training him, he worked twice as hard as other ninjas his age. He learnt Ninjutsu under me and Fuinjutsu under your mother, Kushina. In his spare time, he read the scrolls that interested him the most. He managed to complete two of his goals and also managed to maintain peace for a while." Jiraiya said proudly.

"Just like him, you too wanted peace, so you trained hard for the last year to try and achieve it. The problem with being in the village is that you get distracted easily and you have to follow certain rules. I am not saying that all the distractions are bad but there are some which waste your time. Then again another reason is the lack of books and scrolls in Konoha. While the Konoha library is massive, eighty percent of it is closed off by the civilian council and village elders, thinking that learning the jutsus would be dangerous after Orochimaru left the leaf. "

"Minato had to break a lot of seals including the Senju blood seal to gain access to all of the scrolls and immediately made copies of them. The library which is present in your house has most of the original scrolls and the rest are copies of the scrolls from Konoha's library. The library not only has all the scrolls from the Hidden Leaf Village but also important scrolls from different villages. Even if the C-Rank and B-Rank jutsu section had been kept open, Konoha would have much stronger shinobi. I realized this when I met Sarutobi-sensei's rival, Danzo. This is one of the main reasons that I travel and collect intel. I feel restricted in Konoha. What I want to say is that it doesn't matter whether you are in the village or not, as long as you have the determination and the will to complete your goals, you will become stronger." Jiraiya finished off. This was a side of Jiraiya that very few people had seen. Most people knew him for his aloof and perverted nature, but he was also a very wise man.

"Thanks sensei. It's all much clear to me now." Naruto said, a small smile had made its way across his face.

"No problem kid, now that you are already up we can start training early. That way we can visit the hot springs later and do some research." Jiraiya said, a faint blush was visible on his face from his perverted thoughts.

"Can't you stop being a pervert and focus on other thing? You really broke the student-sensei moment we were having." Naruto said, slightly irritated. 'If Ino-chan would've been here, she would have beaten me to death. It's strange how I always think of you, Ino-chan. Do you ever think of me or do you believe that I am actually dead?' He thought.

"Naruto, how dare you disrespect me by calling me a pervert? I have told you countless times that I am a Super-Pervert! " He exclaimed.

"As if that's something to be proud of." Naruto grumbled getting up and heading inside to change into his Ninja gear. "Anyway, let's get to training." He said, before disappearing from the roof.

Flashback end.

"So, what you're saying is that all the silencing seals that Danzo had put on his anbu are now removed?" Sasuke asked in disbelief. He had tried to get the information out of the captured root anbu but failed every time.

The two were currently in the living room of their house, sitting and talking after dinner as always. They did not have to worry about people finding about their identities as the house had various seals and traps that could alert the trio if anyone was within two hundred meters of the house. Aiko was currently clearing her level 6 of sealing in her study. Just like Naruto, even she could make seals easily. It was mostly due to both of them being Uzumakis, sealing came naturally to them.

"Yeah, according to the seals placed on Torune, those seals should have vanished the second Danzo died." Kitsune said. "I haven't unsealed him from the scroll because of his insects." He had hidden the scroll away as soon as he returned from that mission.

"That's brilliant! Now, I can force the information out of them on Danzo and other people he had help of over the years which will give us a lot of blackmail material." He said, getting up. "I'll alert the cats that I will be visiting them for a few days to get information out of those root Anbu."

"Yeah, you do that. Anyway, what should we do about the Jugo guy?" Naruto asked. Suigetsu had been sent back to the Hidden Mist after a bit of interrogation as he was innocent. The Mizukage immediately took him in and thanked Team Uzu. Apparently, he was the brother of one of the late ninja swordsmen of the mist, Mangetsu Hōzuki, and was kidnapped. He was now being trained to wield the Kubikiribōchō or The Executioner's Blade, which was previously wielded by Zabuza Momochi.

The redheaded girl, Karin Uzumaki was sent back to The Hidden Grass village. As soon as Aiko found out that she was an Uzumaki, she was worried that Naruto would make her his sister too and would forget about her because she had abandonment issues. She was proved wrong when he sent her back to The Hidden Grass as the redhead wanted to go there to honor her late mother, who was killed by Orochimaru, by helping the small village out. This helped strengthen the relationship of the two villages with Team Uzu.

"I don't know. According to my cats, he is a pretty chill guy. He has spent most of his time in Sora-ku mediating and being with animals. I am thinking of letting him stay in Sora-Ku until he has a place to go to." Sasuke says. "Anyway, I think I should go to sleep. I have a pretty long day ahead of me tomorrow." After getting a nod from Naruto, he left the living room.

"I should probably check if anyone has sent any messenger birds." Naruto muttered, slipping on his mask and heading out to the bird house that was built a bit farther away because of security reasons.

As soon as he reached the bird house, he saw a pigeon with a metal bracelet on his right leg that had the symbol of The Hidden Star Village. The village was asking help for protecting their chakra-emitting star that had landed on Earth two hundred years ago, and catch a few thieves who were spotted trying to steal the star. Normally, he would politely decline missions like these as these were just C-rank or B-rank and he rarely accepted anything below an A-rank but decided to accept the mission he had wanted to see the star for himself and this could also be an opportunity of gaining a new ally. Like Sasuke, he decided to leave for the mission tomorrow along with Aiko and notified her accordingly before going to sleep.

-Konoha

"Danzo is dead." Tsunade said from atop the Hokage tower. Her two students, Shizune and Ino were present on either side of her. A bunch of gasps could be heard from the crowd. He might not be that popular among the young shinobi, but all the old ones definitely knew who he was. He was one of the leaders during the third great shinobi war. "Despite his efforts to make Konoha better, we cannot ignore his wrong-doings. He was one of Konoha's best shinobi. May he rest in peace." Tsunade finished off. No matter how sad her speech was, she was actually really happy from within.

"We also cannot overlook the crimes done by the Village-Elders and the Civilian Council, so they will be sent to Hōzuki Castle for the rest of their lives." The criminals were then brought out and all of them had a defeated expression on their face. They had tried to bribe Tsunade out of this but she was having none of it. Plus the all of them had chakra suppression seals, restricting them to use any chakra.

One of them was the leader of the Civilian Council, Mebuki Haruno. As soon as her daughter, Sakura Haruno saw this she was filled with pure rage. Without thinking twice, she ran towards Tsunade with the intention of punching her with a chakra enhanced punch. Before the punch could even touch Tsunade, Ino appeared in front of her sensei and expertly slid her hand under Sakura to capture her wrist. She then broke her wrist to stop the pink-head from causing a scene.

"Sakura, you must think before you act. You could be sent to prison for attacking the Hokage but just because I pity you, you will be under house-arrest for two weeks and will not be allowed to accept any missions for the next two months." Tsunade said, without even hesitating.

"Bu-But sensei -" She was cut off by Tsunade before she could even continue.

"Do not call me sensei. I thought that maybe if I took you under me, you might stop being a weak fan-girl and become a proper ninja. But for the past three years, never have I once seen you improve. Ino also started training the day you started but unlike you, she put in the time and effort into training. Now, Ino is one of the best Earth Style users to have ever lived and even an expert in the Yamanaka clan jutsus. She's a Jonin and you are still a genin. She has worked hard to earn the title of being called 'Tsunade's apprentice' so don't you dare call me sensei." As soon as Tsunade finished, two anbu guards appeared and dragged the pink trash away.

"Anyway, our new Civilian council leader will be Daichi Hiroyama." Tsunade says, pointing to a brown-haired man who was in his mid twenties with black eyes. He was probably the best match because, despite being young, he already knew a lot about the workings of the shinobi world. He also agreed that the civilian council should not interfere with shinobi matters that do not concern them as that was the whole point of the Shinobi Council. Then Tsunade started reading out the names of the newly appointed members of the Civilian Council and answered all the questions. By the end of the event, she was exhausted.

-The Land of Bears

"Ha, you can't possibly beat me with that speed, Anija!" The brown haired girl mocked. She was actually Suzume but had a seal on herself that could change her appearance and could not be removed by anyone except her.

"I'll make you eat those words!" The blue haired ninja, who was Kitsune, shot back from behind. He was left behind as he had to make a small trip to Takumi Village to buy new weapons as it consisted of the most skilled artisans and he also had to give an order of custom kunai. He also met up with Jiraiya there.

Suzume came to a stop as soon as she came across a canyon. She was walking towards the canyon but suddenly five arrows were shot inches away from the front of her feet. She did a back flip while taking out a kunai. A boy with a gas-mask on appeared in front of her.

"Ninja Art: Kunai Shadow Clone Jutsu!" She said, launching her kunai at the masked stranger. Suddenly a hundred kunai appeared out of thin air and were making their way towards the boy.

"Ninja Art: Kujaku: Protection!" A purple chakra surrounded the boy in the shape of a peacock's tail. The pure purple chakra deflected all of the kunai, not even leaving a scratch on the boy. Suzume was shocked but didn't show it. 'It's just like Anija's tailed beast chakra. Could he be another jinchuriki? No, the chakra is too weak as compared to a tailed beast chakra.' She began analyzing her options and took out her blade.

"Suzume wait. He is not our enemy." Kitsune said, jumping in between the two. As soon as he appeared, the purple chakra surrounding the masked boy vanished.

"Oh, you must be Kitsune and Suzume. I thought that you might have your masks on." He said, removing his gas mask revealing a boy with wavy black hair and chocolaty brown eyes. He looked the same age as Kitsune. "I'm Sumaru, I was sent to pick both of you up. Forgive me, I thought that you were one of those thieves." he said turning to Suzume.

" It's no problem at all. We were going to have our masks on, but then again your village leader doesn't like masked people and that would lead to him not trusting us. Don't worry though, these aren't our real faces." Kitsune said with a smile.

"Okay, follow me." The boy said, shooting an arrow through a tree on the other side making a rope-bridge. The three crossed it and then Sumaru cut the rope. The three then made their way to the Hoshikage-tower. Once they had reached there, one of the Hoshikage's men told them to go to the office as he was waiting for them there. The sat down across from a man with dull purple hair and grayish blue eyes.

"I am Akahoshi and-" Before the man could continue, Kitsune cut him off. His sixth sense was telling him to be careful and that something was not right about Akahoshi.

"You are the deputy Hoshikage. You were appointed due to the sudden death of the third Hoshikage, four years ago." Kitsune said finishing off his sentence. He had used this method of cutting people off, mid-sentence to intimidate them a bit."I have a question though. Only the leaders of the five great nations along with the leader of Uzushio can be named Kage. So then how can you be named a Kage?"

"Yes, as you correctly pointed out, the shinobi of our land are not qualified to even have a Kage. However, we possess a star that the Kages of the Five Great Hidden Villages don't. Someday, we will be able to harness the full power of the star and will be able to sit as the sixth Kage." He said, without any emotion. He was actually impressed that Kitsune knew who he was but didn't show it. He also knew not to go against Kitsune as despite his age, he had the power to bring down their whole village.

"So your enemies have been trying to get that star, haven't they?" Kitsune questioned though he knew the answer to the question.

"That's right. Our scouting team managed to get some useful intelligence-" He was only able to say the following words before the door to his office slammed open.

"Lord-Hoshikage, we have an emergency!" The bald man said between pants.

"What is it?"

"The star. The. Star. Was. Stolen." The bald guy managed to say before he fainted. As soon as the Hoshikage heard this, his eves went wide. Kitsune and Suzume stood up quickly and Akahoshi and Sumaru followed. They split up in various directions to find the thief while Sumaru checked on the genin who were practicing their star training.

Suzume took off towards the cliff as she sensed a chakra moving away. As soon as she caught sight of the thief, she saw a person with the same mask that Sumaru had. A gas mask. She started chasing her to the cliff.

"Kujaku: Wings!" The thief said, she knew that she couldn't win against Suzume. She had heard about Suzume and how she was possibly one of the strongest young shinobi. Even if she did manage to win, that would use up way too much chakra and then fail. Wings made up of chakra sprouted out of her back and she flew across the cliff to the other side avoiding all of the poison.

"Shit! The thief got away." She said, reaching the edge of the cliff. Sumaru was just behind. Even he saw the thief get away, but the fact that the thief used a technique that was only taught to the shinobi of the hidden star was what surprised him the worst.

A/N:

Another chapter down! Honestly, The Star Guard Arc was one of the only filler arcs that I liked. Also, I didn't just throw team Uzu back into Konoha as I didn't want to rush things.

Anyways, here are a few questions that I would like you to answer:

1) What do you think about The Star Guard Arc? Are there any specific filler arcs that you want me to write between the main storyline?

2) What do you think about the romance between NaruIno and SasuAiko? Does it feel forced?

-If any of you have an idea for Naruto's return to Konoha, pm/dm me immediately.

Peace!