Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. It belongs to Masashi Kishimoto and I am making no profit from this story, it is only for entertainment.

All the translations for the techniques in this chapter are at the end.

Chapter Summary: In which Naruto and Kazuya head to Suna and find a nasty surprise waiting for them


Chapter 21: You've Been Framed!

Naruto took a moment to gaze fondly at his kids as they slept.

Where had the years gone? It felt like it had only been a few months since he had dropped off a tiny, excitable Rio for his first day at the academy. He had blinked and suddenly Sasuke had joined their tight knit family, like he was meant to be there all along. Now three years later, they were about to start their final year at the academy; this time next year they would be genin. He was so proud of how far they had come.

"We're going to be late if you don't wake them up soon," Kazuya pointed out from the front door. "We get it, you're a proud Kaa-san."

"Fuck off," Naruto threw him a dirty look. "I'm a proud Nii-san."

Kazuya rolled his eyes fondly but his smile didn't reach his eyes. His eyes were still red from crying but Naruto was just trying to treat him like he always did. He didn't think his friend would appreciate being treated like glass right now. He had no idea what it was like to break up with someone but he imagined it hurt. Naruto didn't like people treating him differently when he was hurt, so he thought Kazuya would be the same.

Naruto flipped through the one-handed seals.

"Suiton: Shigure."

He kept the chakra input low and focused on control, splashing first Rio then Sasuke. He could have just flung water at them from a mug but why waste a chance to practice his suiton jutsu.

"Pfffttttt-what the-"

"FUCK OFF NII-SAN!"

Rio wriggled in his chair, pulling at the rope that bound his hands. Sasuke blinked beside him, taking a bit longer to wake up. The water rolled down their faces onto their pyjama shirts and Naruto grinned widely at the pair.

"Morning," He greeted them cheerily, ignoring Rio's roars of rage. "To commemorate your last first day of school, we have a new training exercise for you!"

Sasuke appeared to fully regain awareness as he sent his usual Uchiha death glare his way. After many early mornings of being subjected to it, Naruto shrugged it off.

"Class starts in an hour. You need to untie yourselves to make it to your first day without a tardy being put on your record." He glanced over at Rio. "Or should I say another one."

The blond's rage subsided slightly at that comment.

"We've hidden the clocks and breakfast is in the fridge. We'll be back in a month or so. Love you lots, don't burn the place to the ground and remember to feed Momo!"

He turned and swept out the door, grabbing his sandals and bag on the way out. He smiled as he closed the door, the sounds of indignation carrying through the wood.

"You'd think they'd be used to this by now," Kazuya mused beside him as they headed down the stairs. "We spring something on them every time we go away on a Hari mission."

"They'll forgive us," Naruto laughed, dodging around the villagers as they reached the street. "They know this is useful and this is still nowhere near as bad as the glitter incident."

"Rio was dumping that glitter into our clothes for weeks," Kazuya shuddered, his eyes haunted.

"Not like we could tell," Naruto shrugged. "It was fucking everywhere. Last time we used it in a training exercise."

They fell into a comfortable silence as they navigated the bustling streets of Konoha. Naruto almost spoke up a couple of times, but he stopped himself. Kazuya would talk about what happened with Tetsuya-san when he was ready. The older boy had only said enough to stop Naruto from hunting the man down for hurting his friend. They finally came to their destination and Naruto paused for a moment, checking the chakra signatures inside. He nodded to Kazuya and they slammed the door open.

"CONGRATULATIONS!"

Tenten turned to them and beamed.

"Naruto-nii! Kazuya-nii! I thought you were on a mission today."

"We're heading off right after this but did you really think we would leave without celebrating with our favourite weapons' mistress?" Kazuya grinned, hugging her tightly and swinging her around the shop.

"You're a genin!" Naruto laughed. "It feels like just yesterday you were staring up at me and telling me that I was too small to be in the academy. Now look at you; too big for the academy!"

He wiped a fake tear away as Tenten stared at him in embarrassment.

"Naruto-nii! I'm not a kid anymore!"

"You'll always be my little girl," Tenjirou teased, walking from the back of the shop with a familiar face.

"Ah, Naruto-nii, Kazuya-nii, this is my new teammate-" Tenten started, but she was cut off by the tall boy snapping into a deep bow.

"Naruto-sensei! I am eternally grateful for all your support and wisdom. I could not have earned this hitai-ate without your training and guidance. I will forever be your devoted pupil!"

Naruto sighed, a sweat-drop forming on his forehead.

"I keep telling you, Lee, you don't have to call me Sensei. I was just helping you out until you got a real teacher. You earned that hitai-ate all on your own; I just pushed you in the right direction. You did all the work."

"Wait, you two know each other?"

Naruto looked over at Kazuya, the older boy's face twisted in confusion. He hadn't told Kazuya about Lee; he had just been so busy and he hadn't really been home and it hadn't seemed important at the time. Naruto had agreed to help Lee; it had nothing to do with Kazuya.

"I've just been helping him out with his taijutsu and weapon handling," he shrugged, silently willing Lee to keep his mouth shut for once.

"Naruto-sensei is the reason I stand before you today as a genin of Konoha!"

He should have known better.

"So you're both on the same genin team then?" He swiftly moved the conversation along. "What number? Who's your sensei?"

While it was the Desk who dealt with the genin team assignments, Naruto wasn't the chunin in charge of them this year. He knew the Hokage had a hand in them and that was as good a reason as any to stay far away from that particular task.

"Team Nine with Gai-sensei!"

Kazuya choked beside him.

"That's...that's great?" Naruto tried to remain casual but too many alarm bells were ringing in his head. "He's a respected jounin and a hard worker."

He heard Kazuya muttering under his breath 'he's going to kill them'.

"He says that we're in the Springtime of Youth!" Lee replied excitedly and Naruto could feel his soul leave his body.

"He's a bit weird but really strong," Tenten commented from beside the boy. "He beat us all in a sparring match, three to one."

Naruto shared a look with Tenjirou but the man had the audacity to just look amused, completely underestimating the gravity of the situation. Maito Gai, run a thousand times around Konoha on his hands for fun Gai, had been assigned three fresh, impressionable genin. Genin, if they were told to climb a cliff one-handed with no chakra, would have no choice but to climb that cliff one-handed with no chakra. Did Gai remember what it was like to be a genin with little genin bodies that had limits?

Naruto respected the hell out of the man but his training regime would scar Naruto for life. It had been bad enough following the jounin's watered down regime.

"Don't you two have to head off soon?" Tenjirou was struggling to contain his chuckles at their horrified faces.

"Yes, we do." Naruto sighed dramatically. "Alright, hug time."

He brought Lee in first and wheezed as the taller boy squeezed tightly. He tapped his shoulder weakly and the genin let go.

"I'm really proud of you, Lee," He couldn't help but speak up. "You've come so far in a year. I can't wait to see how far you go with a real teacher."

Lee's big round eyes welled up and Naruto patted his head gently. He hugged Tenten next and he felt the same well of pride.

"Make sure to keep them all in line, okay?" He said somewhat seriously. "You're the sensible one of the bunch and I don't even know your third teammate. You got to make sure they look after themselves."

"Was that what you did?" Tenten asked quietly.

Naruto snorted loudly.

"Hell no, that was all Kazuya," he chuckled.

He hesitated before he spoke up again.

"I promised I'd help you with your sealing techniques when you graduated. When I come back from this mission, we can see where your calligraphy is at, okay?"

Tenten's face lit up and Naruto smiled gently. He'd known her since she was four; he'd watched her grow up into the kunoichi she was today. He had been there when she had lost her first tooth by banging her face into the counter; he had been her training dummy when she had been learning to style hair; he had gotten her first bowl of ramen; he'd watched her when her mother was out of the village and Tenjirou was overwhelmed with work.

"You're the best, Naruto-nii!"

He grinned back at her.

"Keep it our secret, huh?" He winked exaggeratedly. "Can't have the whole village knowing that."


Kazuya scanned the horizon; it hadn't changed for two days. Sand. Nothing but sand. He had no idea how the Suna nin lived like this. He had managed to avoid the desert until now and he would strive to avoid it after this. Sand just got everywhere. He was so glad his grandfather had moved to Konoha.

He glanced over to Naruto.

His friend was running along at a steady pace, hair tied tightly in a high bun and a black scarf covering his mouth and nose against the sand blowing into their faces. He was in his regular black mission gear although he had opted for a sleeveless shirt, same as Kazuya, for the heat of the desert. His brace was firmly in place but he had an armguard covering his right forearm. It was a small difference, but it somehow aged him.

Kazuya knew he hadn't been around much over the past year. Between the shifts at the hospital, the extra training with the poisons department, and Tetsuya, he had barely slept in his own bed.

A sharp pang shot through his heart at the thought of his ex-boyfriend. Ten months and it was all over. It had been so amazing; Tetsuya had been so amazing. There had been so much he shared with him, so much that he got to do for the first time. It had been affirming and flattering to know that there was someone who wanted to spend time with him, who sought his company, who wanted only him in every sense of the word.

They had just been arguing so much over the last month. Tetsuya was frustrated that he kept being passed over for promotion while Kazuya kept rising in the department. He wasn't about to sacrifice his career so Kazuya decided it was best to just break it off. Tetsuya hadn't exactly fought to keep him either.

It was only when Tetsuya was absent from his life that Kazuya realised how much time he had dedicated to the man. Three days after they broke up, he'd had a day off and as Kazuya sat alone in his kitchen, he'd realised he had no idea what everyone was up to. He couldn't even remember the last time he had hung out with Hana or Genma-sensei; he had kept cancelling on their team dinners the last five months to meet up with Tetsuya. He knew Rio and Sasuke had the academy but he had lost track of their progress.

Naruto was probably the biggest mystery. He hadn't even noticed that his best friend had taken on an academy student. Even as the redhead ran, he looked older; how had Kazuya missed it? He had shot up at least a couple inches. What else had he missed?

Now he'd had time to process the break-up itself, Kazuya couldn't quite believe how wrapped up in the man he had become. He had completely pushed aside all his friends to spend as much time with him as possible. He had never thought he would be that type of guy. He was a terrible friend; it was a miracle they were all still talking to him.

"You're being dumb."

Kazuya's head snapped over so he could stare at the redhead. Blue eyes gazed back impassively.

"What're talking about, Aka-chan?" He demanded. "I didn't say anything."

Naruto rolled his eyes.

"Kaz, I've known you for almost ten years. I know when you're being a dick to yourself."

Kazuya opened his mouth but closed it, grateful for the scarf covering his own face. He had no argument for that.

"I just... I'm sorry," he finally admitted. "I know I haven't been around lately and I know that had to put more pressure on you. Things with Tetsuya just got intense and I-I couldn't balance anything."

Naruto's face was unreadable.

"Kazuya, you know you shouldn't feel guilty about living your own life right?"

"Wait, what?" he frowned. "Naruto, you guys are a huge part of my life. I know I haven't been around much lately but you are very much a huge, very permanent part of my life. I'm not really living it without you guys there."

"Kaz." Naruto hunched his shoulders and Kazuya narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "I'm not going to be here for most of your life. I'm destined to die young, y'know? Rio and Sasuke are gonna grow up and live lives of their own. You have to find something for yourself."

Something cold and heavy dropped to the pit of Kazuya's stomach.

"Naruto, that's not for another decade at least! You're not showing any signs of ill health outside of the odd cold here and there. Rio and Sasuke will still need us even when they're all grown up. You don't grow out of family."

Naruto just stared at him for a long moment.

"Yeah, I know," he scratched the back of his head, his eyes wrinkled in the corners in an approximation of a smile. "I just worry about you."

"Aka-chan, I'm supposed to worry about you," Kazuya grinned back.

Naruto was about to reply when he cocked his head. He knew that look.

"What're you sensing?"

"Suna, we're less than an hour out."

"Thank fuck, I hate the desert."

Naruto laughed.

"C'mon, this mission isn't that bad," he chuckled. "Really this should have been classified as a C-rank but it got bumped up to a B-rank due to the value of the package. Usually there's a threat of enemy nin on B-ranks but there wasn't for this mission; just a straightforward transport and delivery."

Kazuya shot his friend a dirty look.

"Now you've jinxed it."

"I have not!"


Naruto weaved his way through the streets of Suna, Kazuya close on his heels. They had to drop off the package at the administrative offices near the Kazekage offices. He wasn't sure how his team had avoided being sent to Suna in the seven years since graduation but as he listened to Kazuya swear, maybe it was a good thing. His friend really did hate sand.

He wasn't sure how to process his words yet. While he really did want Kazuya to find something for himself outside of their family, a small selfish part of him was happy that he broke up with Tetsuya-san. He had just felt like their friendship didn't hold the same value as Kazuya's romantic relationship, despite lasting almost a decade longer. Like the moment romance came into the picture, friendship suddenly didn't matter as much. He just didn't get why things had to be that way; he didn't get why friends were less important than romantic partners.

Maybe he would understand if he dated someone but he couldn't see that for himself. He had Kazuya, Rio, Sasuke, Genma-sensei, Hana, Hijiri, Raidō; the list was almost endless nowadays. He didn't need anything more. His family and friends would always be enough for him.

"That has to be the place."

Naruto followed Kazuya's pointed finger to the large building up ahead. All the buildings in Suna tended to look the same, the tall clay buildings almost appearing to have been moulded from pure sand. This monochrome effect made it difficult to differentiate one structure from another as there were no distinguishing signs or colours to say what they were; even the windows blended into the walls of the buildings. Naruto could imagine that in a sandstorm Suna would totally fade into the background.

The building in question sat in the dead centre of the village, shaped like an orb with a large kanji in the centre. He nodded.

"Looks important enough."

They made their way forward, kicking up sand which swirled around them in the slight breeze. They could barely even see the sky; it was just tan and beige as far as the eye could see. Tactically it was an incredible advantage for Suna nin but Naruto had no idea how they didn't just go nuts at the never-ending monotone of it all.

They reached the front doors and he stepped through, failing to hide a sigh of relief at the sudden change in temperature. Konoha may have been in the Land of Fire but it had nothing on Suna. He felt his clothes sticking to him uncomfortably and mentally groaned. They still had the trip back. Kazuya was right; the desert sucked. The inside of the building was much cooler although he would still compare it to a warm day back home. He approached the large desk, two Suna nin eyeing him warily.

"Hi, I'm Uzumaki Naruto from Konoha and this is Arai Kazuya," he grinned, although it was hidden by his scarf. "We're here to drop off a package on behalf of Takeyama-san. I need you to sign for it and we'll be on our way."

"And why are shinobi from Konoha delivering packages to Suna?" The one on the right asked snidely, crossing his arms.

"Not my job to ask," Naruto shrugged, reaching into his pocket to grab the storage scroll. "We were just assigned the mission and we came."

"Of course," the woman glared. "Why ask why you're taking missions away from your supposed ally?"

"Look, take it up with Takeyama-san," Kazuya spoke up from behind him. "We don't have anything to do with this political bullshit."

The female Suna nin threw a filthy look towards his friend but she snatched the delivery paperwork out of his hands regardless. Naruto unsealed the box from the scroll and dumped it in front of the sour looking male nin. The woman violently scribbled something on the page and Kazuya swiped it back.

"As lovely as it has been catching up with our allied village…" Kazuya drawled and Naruto held back a snort at the brunet's badly concealed sarcasm.

Naruto waved to the Suna pair and his grin widened as their glares deepened. Although Suna was supposed to be their ally, their current relations were a bit tenuous at the moment. Suna's relationship with its Daimyo was strained at best which meant that members of the court, who would have before gone to Suna for missions, were now branching out to Konoha and Taki. This led to Suna's current financial troubles as their reputation was slowly chipped away, which meant even less missions and money coming in.

They left the building and Naruto frowned at the wall of hot air that hit him. What he wouldn't give right now for a cold shower.

They had made it to the end of the street when the sound of an explosive tag rang through the village, blowing a cloud of sand into their backs. Naruto pulled out a kunai instinctively and whipped around, falling into his taijutsu stance. He didn't have to look over at Kazuya to know he had done the same. Naruto had had enough experience modifying explosive tags to know how big the detonation had to be to reach that volume.

When no enemy approached them, Naruto shoved his kunai back into his pouch and ran back to the administrative offices. They hit a cloud of smoke and the sand swirled aggressively, having been displaced by the explosion. He followed the chakra signatures until he reached what was supposed to be the front door of the building.

It had been blown away, leaving a massive hole. A crater sat where the desk had been and Naruto swallowed as he realised there was no way for the two Suna nin to survive, not at that range. Debris was strewn across the floor and several Suna nin were investigating the scene. Naruto looked around in horror; the windows had been blown out and the ceiling was barely intact, dropping dust onto the shinobi.

As they approached, one woman turned towards them. She was dressed in the regular Suna uniform, half of her face covered.

"That's them!"

Naruto took a step back in confusion.

"They dropped that package off!" She screamed. "I saw them outside; they were the ones who set it off! They made the hand seals just before the bomb went off! It was Konoha!"

Wait, what? They had dropped something off but they hadn't made any hand signs; they had been walking away, not hanging around the building.

"Hang on, we didn't do this!" Kazuya yelled back.

"Arrest them!" A man in a jounin uniform ordered.

Naruto reached over and grabbed Kazuya, rattling through the hand signs. Just before they disappeared, the woman who had yelled smiled and Naruto narrowed his eyes, trying to memorise her chakra. They shunshined and ended up in an alley, narrowly avoiding the shuriken thrown their way. Kazuya shook off Naruto's grip and began to pace, his knuckles white as they gripped his hair.

"Why did you do that?" He demanded. "Running is just going to make us look guiltier!"

"Staying wouldn't have made things any better, Kazuya!" Naruto retorted, trying to get control of his breathing. "We've been set up!"

"Of course we've been fucking set up!" Kazuya exploded. "That was our package that blew up! Why didn't you know there were explosive seals in it?"

"I'm not fucking psychic!" Naruto screamed back, tears beginning to well in his eyes. "Protocol is we don't open the package, Kazuya, you know that! I can't sense seals unless they're active! That package didn't have an ounce of chakra for me to sense!"

They both glared at each other, breathing heavily.

"What are we going to do?" Kazuya's eyes filled with horror, his voice quiet. "If Suna thinks Konoha was responsible, this could mean war."

"We just have to find the real culprits," Naruto answered just as quietly.

"Oh like that's going to be so easy," Kazuya rolled his eyes. "Takeyama is in the Land of Fire somewhere and Suna is going into lockdown as we speak."

"That woman said she saw someone set it off," Naruto pointed out. "So that means that someone is still in Suna. We just need to find them."

"But you have no idea who that was."

"We start with her," Naruto insisted. "She smiled at me just before we left. No one would smile so soon after their own was murdered, especially at the scene of the crime. I got her signature."

Kazuya pushed the heels of his hands into his eyes, groaning.

"Okay, fine, we start with her; but for the record after we clear our names I am never coming to Suna again."

Naruto rolled his eyes.


Genma stole a piece of chicken from Raidō's takeout box, grinning at his unimpressed stare.

"You shouldn't have saved it all for last."

"You shouldn't have eaten all of yours first."

Raidō waved away Genma's lingering chopsticks. He chuckled as he pulled them back. Raidō may complain but he knew better; the older man always left Genma's favourite bits until the end and Genma always stole them. They'd been this way since they were chunin.

"Should have known I'd find you two here."

Asuma dropped himself into the seat opposite them. The jounin standby station was pretty busy at this time of day, most taking a break for lunch. Kurenai took a seat next to him and Genma raised an eyebrow. Those two had been closer than usual since Asuma had come back to Konoha.

"Where else would we be?" Genma smirked, stabbing his chopsticks into what was left of his noodles. "Where have you guys been? We missed you at the bar last weekend."

"Some of us have missions, you know," Asuma smirked back, nodding a greeting to Raidō. "Since your team graduated, you've become way too relaxed."

"I resent that," Genma popped his senbon back in his mouth. "They still give me way too much to do."

"They're working full-time though," Kurenai frowned. "You don't have missions with them, do you?"

"Nope," Genma popped the 'p'. "A genin team is a lifelong thing. I'll be responsible for those kids even if they make jounin."

"He can't say no if they ask him for stuff," Raidō added, dodging Genma's elbow.

"You make it sound like I'm whipped!"

"You are."

"I am not!"

"You kind of are," Asuma interjected and Genma glared at him.

"Why's Genma whipped? Sounds kinky; was it Raidō?"

Kakashi appeared next to them, nose deep in an orange book.

"Kakashi!" Kurenai gasped. "You can't read that in public!"

Kakashi waved a dismissive hand at her. Genma grinned nervously as Raidō turned to look at him. He had bought that book for Kakashi for the guy's twenty-first birthday; mostly as a joke but also because he thought the jounin needed to relax, maybe help him get laid. He hadn't expected the younger man to flaunt it around the village.

"His genin team," Raidō answered, moving his gaze to Kakashi.

Kakashi nodded, eyes not leaving the pages.

"Still got those monthly dinners?"

"Yep," Genma nodded before his smile dropped. "Although Kazuya hasn't been turning up lately; he's too busy with that Tetsuya guy at the hospital."

"I heard they broke up," Kurenai spoke up. "Anko was talking about it with the gate chunin."

Genma turned to stare at her. How had he not heard about this?

"It's true," Kakashi added. "When I was round a couple of weeks ago picking up Rio, Kazuya was moping around. Naruto confirmed it when I saw him at the Desk."

"Damn, I'm going to have to drag him to the next dinner," Genma bit down on his senbon. "The first break-up is the worst."

"How's the Uzumaki doing though?" Asuma leaned forward.

"Taking on too much, as usual," Genma sighed. "It's like he doesn't know the meaning of 'taking it easy'. Every time I see him he's added something to his to-do list. I've had to physically haul him to dinner more than once because he hadn't eaten all day. I'm worried about him"

"But he's achieved so much," Kurenai frowned. "He's pretty high up at the desk now and pretty much every department is after him for his seals. That's an incredible achievement for someone his age; he's only fourteen!"

"But he's also raising two kids," Genma pointed out. "It's too much for an adult, never mind a kid."

"Naruto has never thought of himself as a kid," Kakashi interjected.

"And that's a part of the problem!"

Genma heaved a sigh.

"At least Hana doesn't cause me undue stress," he grinned slightly, although it rang hollow. "That girl's got a good head on his shoulders."

"And her clan is looking after her," Kakashi added.

"Where are those two anyway?" Asuma asked. "I haven't seen either of them around the village."

Genma leaned back into the sofa, resting his shoulder against Raidō's.

"Naruto mentioned that they both had a mission to Suna. They're probably still away; it was just a package delivery so they'll be back in a few days."

"If they don't run into bandits or something."

Genma dismissed Asuma's words.

"Those two have a hundred percent mission success rate. They're not ones we have to worry about getting the job done; just when it comes to them taking care of themselves. They're probably sightseeing or something like that."


Naruto dived out of view as he felt more ANBU shoot past them on the rooftops above. He remained frozen until he felt them leave the area. He already hated being a fugitive and it had only been an hour.

"Are they gone?"

He turned to Kazuya, still trying to adjust to the other's new appearance.

"Yeah, for now."

They had stolen some black sludge that was working well as hair dye. Naruto was over Kazuya's complaints that it would be impossible to wash out; they had bigger problems. His friend had managed to steal some plain beige shirt and pants, and had wrapped his head like the Suna civilians did. Naruto was using his Seikentan seal, his long red hair now black with dye and a long, beige dress fitted to his form. Their black mission gear would stand out too much against the beige background. They passed as civilians but Naruto didn't want to push it.

"This blows," Kazuya threw his hands up. "All we've gotten in the past hour is that people wearing our faces blew up the offices. There are ANBU everywhere looking for us, we can't get back to Konoha and we can't find that woman."

"We're getting close," Naruto snapped back.

Kazuya sighed heavily.

"I know. It's just stressful, y'know?" He dragged a hand down his face. "This is big; like if we fuck this up things are going to go so badly."

"We've covered a good part of Suna and there's no sign of her," Naruto narrowed his eyes. "I think we need to go back to the offices. That's where she was last seen and they didn't succeed in their attack against the Kazekage. I think they're going to try again."

"So you want us to go back to the scene of the crime," Kazuya frowned. "Like every criminal who gets caught does."

"They're not going to recognise us." Naruto dragged him towards the street. "We aren't using a detectable henge, we're dressed as civilians and they're looking for two guys. We'll be fine."

He ignored Kazuya's stressed grumbling as they walked down the street, blending in with the foot traffic. The civilians knew there'd been an attack but most of the information had been kept from the public. Naruto was pretty sure Suna didn't have a sensor like him otherwise they would have been found by now.

They finally came up to the remains of the admin office, the structure now reinforced by doton jutsu. Naruto leaned against a wall further down the street, closing his eyes. He searched through the surrounding signatures, dismissing the small civilian one. The woman hadn't felt like the rest of the Suna nin did; the desert nin felt like a breath of fresh air but she'd felt nothing like that.

If there was anything he could compare it to, it was probably like a lesser version of the Aburame clan without the warmth that he associated with Konoha nin.

He snapped his eyes open.

"There!"

"Where?"

"Come on!"

Naruto ran off, following the signature before he lost it. He could feel Kazuya close behind him and as ran up a wall and landed on the roof, he wasn't far behind. The woman from earlier whirled around.

"What are you doing? The fugitives were confirmed to have fled the area. You're wasting your time here."

"I don't think we're wasting our time," Naruto growled.

Her eyes narrowed before it clicked.

"You-"

Kazuya darted forward before she could finish her sentence. She just barely dodged his fist. Naruto hung back, letting Kazuya handle her but ready to jump in if needed.

Kazuya ducked beneath her leg and reached up to grab it, shoving it skyward with a grunt. She yelped as her back landed on the roof, Kazuya still gripping her leg. Her henge dropped revealing her black hair and purple shirt. She wore a black bandana around her head and a belt styled to look like a tail.

She swiped at him with a kunai and Kazuya was forced to let go as she drew blood. She flipped back up and started to form hand seals. Naruto clicked his tongue in annoyance and shunshined, appearing behind her and bashing the back of her head. She dropped like a stone as Kazuya pouted at him.

"I had her."

"You also almost had every ANBU in the area come down on us. We didn't have time for a real fight."

"She's a tough one," Kazuya shrugged. "One-on-one she might have had me going."

"Yeah, yeah, just grab her before anyone sees."

Kazuya hauled the woman onto his shoulders and they fled from the rooftop, Naruto leading them to a quiet area of the village. Kazuya dumped her against the wall, wrinkling his nose at the smell. Naruto shrugged; the people of Suna avoided this area precisely for that reason. They tied her up, Naruto slapping some anti-chakra seals on her, before sitting back to keep watch.

"Come on, he didn't hit you that hard." He could hear Kazuya muttering beneath his breath as he tried to wake her up. "Don't make me get my salts out."

Naruto kept track of the signatures in the distance. None of them were coming close so they had some time. He finally heard the woman stir a few minutes later.

"W-what the...fuck," she groaned.

"Hey, come on, focus," Kazuya snapped his finger in his face.

Her eyes came into focus and Naruto watched her struggle in her bonds.

"Hey, what did you do to me?" Her voice started to rise in her panic. "I can't feel my chakra!"

"Calm down, we just blocked it so you couldn't try anything." Kazuya stood and folded his arms. "We just want to know why you blew up the offices and more importantly, why you framed us for it."

"I'm not telling you fuck all." She spat at his feet. "You'll just have to kill me."

Kazuya rolled his eyes, turning to look at Naruto.

"Well, medical jutsu, poisons or seals?"

"You're the one with the plans," Naruto shrugged.

Kazuya turned back to look down on her.

"Well, we don't really need her to talk," he thought out loud. "We just need proof that it wasn't us that blew it up. We can hand her over to the Suna nin once we track down her friends. They'll probably do a much better job with their T&I department. We just need a way of finding the others."

"Okay, is there anything on her?" Naruto nodded in agreement. "I'll be able to sense similar signatures so as long we're in the same area we got that covered. It's just finding the area."

"You fuckers will never find anything!" The woman spat.

Kazuya stared at her, unimpressed.

"You aren't fooling anyone," he said with an eyebrow raised. "You're alone, unarmed and immobilised around two enemy nin who you happened to frame for an international incident. I'd keep your mouth shut unless you have something useful to say."

"You need me alive," she hissed gleefully.

"But not in one piece."

She opened her mouth to say something else but Naruto had had enough. He rose to his feet, slapping a seal on her. She froze in position, her breathing halted. He then tagged her with another seal and she vanished from view. She could just stay in the storage seal until it came time to hand her over to the authorities.

"Why the other seal before the storage one?" Kazuya asked curiously.

"She would have died if I sent her straight into the storage seal," Naruto pointed out. "There's no oxygen in a storage seal; the stasis seal will keep her as she was until we need her again. Now what's the plan?"

"We know that they're after something and I don't think this is going to end with just the offices. Otherwise she wouldn't have been here; she would have run the minute it was all over. We just need to wait until they try again."

Naruto was about to reply when a signature appeared on his periphery.

"Shit, we need to move!"

They lunged down the alleyway, just barely avoiding the large gust of wind hitting the ground where they had been. He looked up, spotting a girl in the near distance flying towards them on a large fan. They needed to leave before she got any closer. They walked calmly out into the street, merging with the traffic flow and blending in with the villagers.


Naruto rested his head against the wall behind him. It was now early evening, the heat finally starting to die down and the sun casting a warm orange glow over the village streets. It had been roughly eight or nine hours since the office incident and he was so tired.

So far the enemies that were framing them had also blown up part of the hospital, the academy and even the jounin standby station. Most of the attacks had been avoided by the local shinobi but he had heard there had been casualties at the hospital and academy bombings. These people were good whoever they were; not many shinobi could sneak up on the jounin station.

These people had also worn his and Kazuya's faces throughout the ordeal. They didn't stick around long but it was always enough time for some of the Suna nin to identify their faces and headbands. Their own civilian disguises were still holding up but the Suna shinobi were getting more aggressive and closer each time; they had already had to avoid the fan girl and some puppet boy several times today.

The increased frequency of bombings had helped them figure out what the goal was. The places that were attacked were tactically important to the shinobi of Suna and as a result, were all the more painful when hit. Not only that, but they fact they were disguised as Konoha shinobi added an extra layer of hurt. Naruto had been listening to the growing anger and resentment towards Konoha for most of the day. Kazuya had pointed out that was probably the goal; to disrupt the peace treaty with Konoha and potentially trigger a war. They probably hadn't even cared which Konoha shinobi they used; he and Kazuya had just been the unlucky ones assigned the mission.

Kazuya sat beside him, white cloth covering most of his face while he kept an eye on the large dome housing the Kazekage office. He had figured out that the only place left of tactically significance was the Kazekage; if Konoha shinobi attacked the leader of Suna, there would be no going back. Suna would never forgive that. So here they sat, in an alleyway in the line of sight of the office, waiting for the enemy to make their next move.

"Kazuya."

Naruto surged to his feet as he felt that strange chakra incoming above them. He channelled chakra to his legs and feet, racing towards the Kazekage office. His friend followed closely behind him as he raced up the side of one of the buildings.

As he leapt into the air, falling towards the roof, he spotted a copy of himself launching projectiles towards the large dome. Cursing, he pulled out his own kunai and flung them; he almost sighed in relief as his kunai hit the enemies, deflecting them away from their target. The explosive kunai hit some of the neighbouring buildings but Naruto couldn't focus on that.

"Fūton: Reppūshō!"

He clapped his hands together and a burst of wind flew towards the enemies. The pair dug their feet in, holding up their arms as they avoided being blown over. Kazuya flung several senbon in the wake of the gale and as they landed it was enough to disrupt their henge.

Naruto grinned viciously as it revealed two men dressed similarly to the woman. Black bandanas with a belt styled like a tail, although these guys were in blue and green. He didn't see them for long as they threw down smoke bombs, obscuring them from view. He could since feel their signatures on the roof so they weren't running; they were up to something. He recalled his chunin exam and grabbed Kazuya.

"Fūton: Gōfū Bōheki!"

He flung out his arms, releasing the wind around them to form a wall around them. He pushed it out as he felt something hit the wall; the whole thing ignited as he shoved it as far from them as possible. It dissipated and he quickly followed it up.

"Fūton: Daitoppa!"

He blew away the smoke to reveal the two enemies once again. Both were sweating profusely, one sunk to their knees.

"Looks like the poison is doing its job," Kazuya muttered beside him.

Naruto geared up to finish this when he felt two other signatures below, climbing towards them.

"There's more!"

"Shit," Kazuya cursed as he whipped through hand seals. "Get behind me. Katon: Kyuuka no Jutsu!"

A sheer, red sphere surrounded them, much like his wind barrier just moments ago. Kazuya kept it up as Naruto sensed the two new signatures join up with the other two. More smoke filled the roof and Naruto heard the same sound of something hitting the barrier as earlier. Was this a regular technique for them? Lay down a smokescreen and send something unseen to attack?

Unlike before, the thing latched on and Naruto could feel the chakra leech from the shield to inside whatever this thing was.

"Kazuya," he warned.

"I know! I can feel it draining the technique!"

The thing suddenly spiked with energy and Naruto snatched his water bottles, dumping them out.

"Suiton: Mizu no Yoroi!"

He made sure to cover every inch of himself and Kazuya with the liquid as the thing exploded. He had to close his eyes briefly against the flash and felt some of his water armour evaporated from the intense heat. It was over quickly and he opened his eyes, his exposed skin feeling like it was sunburnt.

He glared over at the two still standing, Kazuya's poison having taken out the other two. They were on the brink of unconsciousness and he could feel their chakra flickering weakly. He hoped his friend had used the coma poison and not the death poison; they still needed these guys to prove Konoha's innocence.

"How is your henge still intact?" the large man in red watched them warily.

"You're supposed to be just chunin," the one in yellow yelled indignantly. "There's no way you should be able to take us down; we're jounin! We're the Nokizaru! We will not be taken down by two teenage chunin!"

"I hate to point this out to you but you're down to two members out of five," Kazuya said, not sorry at all.

"Plus the Suna shinobi are here," Naruto pointed out gleefully.

"Wha-"

The man was cut off by a massive fan swinging into the back of his head as the girl flew down from above. The other was tied up in chakra strings as the boy held the man in place, the girl coming over to incapacitate him. She pointed the fan at them and Naruto immediately raised his hands in surrender.

"You are not civilians," she said with her eyes narrowed. "Drop the disguise."

"Okay, but when we do you have to know that we aren't the enemy," Kazuya quickly replied. "Konoha has not attacked you; the peace treaty still stands."

Naruto pulled out the storage stroll and pushed some chakra into it, releasing the body of the woman.

"She's still alive," he said, laying her body down in front of them. "That seal on her arm is a stasis seal; just take it off and she'll wake up."

Kazuya had unwrapped the cloth from his head by this point and Naruto could feel the ANBU around him build up their chakra.

"We didn't do any of this!" He shouted, hands back in the air. "These guys called themselves the Nokizaru, they are the ones blowing up all these buildings. We think they did it to destabilise Suna and Konoha's relationship. We just happened to be the scapegoats."

The girl was silent for a moment, taking in the five unconscious bodies.

"We stopped them from attacking the Kazekage," Kazuya added.

"Temari, they might be telling the truth," the boy spoke up, his face almost unreadable beneath all the purple make-up. "We know the Nokizaru are mercenaries and these guys match the description. Konoha don't have a reason to attack Suna."

She looked over to the boy and nodded.

"You two aren't going anywhere until we figure this out," she finally relented.

"We will cooperate however you need us to," Kazuya replied, the relief audible. "We want to get to the bottom of this as much as you do. Whoever did this also made an enemy of Konoha today."

Naruto peeled the seal off his arm from beneath his sleeve and felt the henge fall, revealing his male form. He was still in the beige dress but the black dye had mostly faded from his hair, washed out by the water armour. Kazuya was looking at him, amused.

"You know, not as much as you think changes with that seal."

Naruto was about to reply when a massive signature appeared within his range. He barely had time to warn the others when a wall of sand swept in from their right. The Suna nin managed to jump out of the way but they only managed to grab two of the enemy nin. The other two nin were dragged over to the edge of the roof, where a boy Rio's age stood on top of a cloud of sand.

Naruto's eyes widened, his grip on the woman almost slipping as he properly took in the boy's chakra. He raised the two Nokizaru nin into the air, their faces slowly being covered by sand. His outstretched hand clenched into a fist.

"Sabaku Sōsō."

Blood spurted out the tiny cracks in the sand coffin and Naruto swallowed as he felt their chakra abruptly vanish. He stared into the murderous green gaze of the Jinchūriki; finding nothing but anger and pain and bloodlust.

"Your deaths will prove my existence."


Seikentan - Gender Switch
Henge - Transformation Technique
Suiton: Shigure - Water Release: Drizzle
Fūton: Reppūshō – Wind Release: Gale Palm
Fūton: Gōfū Bōheki – Wind Release: Great Wind Protective Wall
Fūton: Daitoppa – Wind Release: Great Breakthrough
Katon: Kyuuka no Jutsu – Fire Release: Flame Sphere Technique
Suiton: Mizu no Yoroi – Water Release: Water Armour
Sabaku Sōsō – Sand Waterfall Funeral

Thanks for reading!