A/N: Hey guys. It's been a long ass time since I last updated, and about a year since I initially thought about getting back into writing this. I had a bit of a crisis since I don't remember anything about the Naruto world mechanics anymore. But I'm finally back.

I know most of you won't remember what's happened in the story, so here's a summary of the whole thing:

First arc (ch 1-7): Uzumaki Naruto was born with his mom's hair color, his dad's everything else. When the kid turned six, he lost control of the Nine-tails, and to control him, the Hokage had to put a Taboo seal on him that stops Naruto from ever suspecting he's a jinchūriki. He starts attending the Ninja academy, teaches himself a lot through sheer hard work and through texts. He gets put in Kakashi's team with two others, Rai and Mayu, who don't trust him. They go on a mission to Yugakure, where he first encounters Hidan. Through this experience, Mayu and Rai slowly begin to warm up to Naruto.

Second arc (ch 8-17): Chūnin exam in Sunagakure. Encounters with another jinchūriki, Fū, prompt Naruto to start fighting against the Taboo seal, an attempt that goes rather poorly as Naruto begins to experience increased headaches. During the third exam, Naruto passes out entirely, and Kakashi figures out that the seal is on the kid, before blocking it. Naruto faces off against Fū, and though he borrows some of the Kyūbi's chakra for the first time to use the Rasengan, he still narrowly loses. On the return journey home, Fū gets her tailed beast extracted by the Akatsuki. Naruto talks to the Hokage, gets some answers and the seal is permanently removed.

Third arc (ch 18~): Naruto leads a bodyguard mission to Wave country, meeting Sai for the first time, and being unknowingly trailed by Kakashi. Their client is attacked on the way there, and this eventually leads to an encounter with another Konoha team in Wave country: Team Shirakumo, with Sakura, Sasuke, and a boy named Menma. Naruto and Mayu argue for the first time, and a strange missive from the Hokage forces Naruto to make the decision to keep his team there. It turns out their client, Kaine, has been funding the bridge that Tazuna is building. She enlists the reluctant help of the Konoha ninjas in a plan to rescue the daimyō and his family from the hands of Gatō in order to further their cause. The plan has them pretend to initially leave the country to lower Gatō's guard (and also inadvertently? causing Kakashi to follow the wrong trail), before doubling back to carry out the plan. While doing this, Naruto and his team run into Hidan and his partner Kakuzu, but the two fugitives mysteriously decide to retreat.

Meanwhile, Jiraiya has been sniffing around, inquiring about the criminal organization Akatsuki, and he somehow ends up in the middle of Kaine and Naruto's plot to rescue the daimyō.

Tale of the Setting Sun

Chapter 23: "Raising the Curtain"

For what felt like the hundredth time that day, a distant explosion rocked the ground. The walls of the building shook, and dust from the ceiling trickled down around them. There was a dull clamor in the distance that could have been the sounds of screaming, but she tried not to think of it.

Princess Awano of the Land of Waves did not understand what was happening to them. Just that morning, she had finally been allowed to see her old nursemaid, and she had been dressed in fine silk robes that felt unbearably soft after months of wearing nothing but rough smocks.

The small man in black glasses had been there. He'd appeared in her doorway with the two bodyguards who never left his side. And then he'd promised her that if she or her little brother ever stopped smiling on that day's procession, he would rip off all of their fingernails.

Awano believed him: The last time the small man had made them a promise, her mother had disappeared.

And she'd tried her best. Every time Hakyū looked like he was about to cry, she'd squeezed his hand and stretched her own smile even wider.

But even though she'd never stopped smiling, their guards had all been killed in front of them, heads and bodies falling unnaturally away from each other.

Amidst explosions and shouting, they'd been dragged from their chairs and carried away. Now, they were hiding in an empty building by the waterside. Hakyū shook in her arms, and Awano drew him in closer to her thudding chest, but she dared not scream.

After all, the two who had kidnapped and brought them here were right in front of them.

The one with a scar on his face silently paced back and forth, gripping what looked like a knife in each hand. In sharp contrast, the other, with bright red hair—the one who had taken Awano—was pressed up against the wall by the door, stock still.

They had been hiding in the masses of children that had swarmed her sedan chair, but they must have been working for the man in black glasses. And now, they were just waiting for the signal to kill.

Awano looked down at her brother, and smiled at him. Maybe she just hadn't been smiling enough. Maybe if she kept smiling, she thought, the small man in black glasses would change his mind.

Suddenly, the boy who had been pacing stopped, and at the same time, Awano thought her heart would burst.

"Someone's coming."

As far as Naruto was aware, everything had gone pretty much according to plan—except for the final and most important part: That everyone re-group at the safe house Kaine had managed to procure. Well, he and Rai were there with the prince and princess, but the absence of the others who should have been back by now was painfully apparent.

If the plan hadn't stressed the importance of sticking to their individual parts, Naruto would have already left by now in search of his remaining teammates. As it was, he had to force himself still, and lacking the means of any meaningful communication, the most he could do was to keep his senses sharp for the slightest sound of approach.

Thankfully, he wasn't kept waiting for too long. The first to arrive was Kaine. She came alone, shivering from either cold or adrenaline.

As soon as the door opened, the merchant woman froze and stared at Naruto. She looked lost, as though she hadn't been the one to outline the entire plan in the first place, before a look of relief filled her face. Stepping into the building, however, some of the relief began to visibly fade.

"Where is everyone else?"

Naruto cleared his throat. "You're the first one to make it back." And hopefully, he added to himself, she wouldn't be the last.

"You didn't see the others? Did you see Mayu?" Rai prompted, his tone worried.

Kaine shook her head. "It's chaos out there. We all got separated... I barely got away myself. I'll get into the details once the others get here."

His jaw setting, Rai didn't respond. Instead, with an extra crease lining his furrowed brow, he resumed his pacing. Meanwhile, Naruto returned to his position by the doorway, his head spinning with possibilities.

It had always been a risk of the plan that some of them wouldn't make it back to the safe house. In fact, it was a risk that had always been there from the start; it was an integral part of their job description. Naruto was well aware, and had assumed the responsibility that came with it as soon as he'd accepted the mission.

And yet, there was something very wrong with their current situation. Something had felt off from the moment his team had arrived in Wave country. Had it been mere coincidence that he had met Hidan again? That Hidan had been with someone who knew about jinchūriki?

And who in the world was that white-haired man he'd met at the bathhouse and again at the procession?

It was as though he held several puzzle pieces in his hand, with no idea of where the rest of the puzzle was, or whether they all even belonged to the same puzzle. A frustrating thought—understanding how little he knew, yet lacking the capability to learn more.

It was then, with his thoughts being thrown about like leaves in the wind, that Naruto caught sight of the princess' face, and it gave him pause.

Was it because Kaine was an adult, unlike he and Rai? With every step Kaine took towards the two children, Naruto thought he could see the color drain from the princess' face. The princess' mouth opened, and he thought she would speak –

Suddenly, his attention snapped up towards the ceiling. There was an open crack there that led to the outside, and something had just slipped inside—a bird.

For an instant, hope welled up in his chest, but it was quashed just as quickly: It was a small bird made of ink, not a bluebird, and it flew down straight into his hands.

"It's from Sai," Naruto announced, reading the contents off a scroll. "He and two others are on their way."

As if right on cue, the door slammed open, and Sakura and Menma staggered inside. Looking slightly less bedraggled, Sai followed them. As the three collected their breaths, there was a pregnant pause. And then –

"Where's Mayu?" Rai blurted out.

"I'm fine, thanks," said Sai, but for once, the smile was gone from his face. He looked around at the building's occupants, and his gaze fixed on Kaine. Something there hardened.

Before anyone else could say anything, Sai made his move. And somehow, Naruto knew what he was going to do.

In a flash of movement, there was a screeching sound as Sai's kunai met Naruto's, an inch from Kaine's exposed neck.

"Some other time you say...that'll be difficult, seeing as how you'll be dead." Even before the last few words had left his lips, Jiraiya began to move, joining his hands together in the snake seal: "Ranjishigami no Jutsu (Wild Lion's Mane Technique)!"

His chakra coursing through his hair, it burst out into what looked like gigantic white ropes that surged through the air, flying straight towards his opponents.

In an impressive range of diversity, the men immediately splintered into three different responses: With the two bodies still in his hold, Kakuzu deftly leaped into the air, evading his attack. Zabuza on the other hand released the man he had been holding and stood his ground, countering his technique with an oversized sword. Meanwhile, with seemingly little regard for his own demise, the other member of Akatsuki shot straight towards Jiraiya, a maniacal expression stretched across his face and a flashy scythe in hand.

Scooping Zabuza's cargo—a man who could only have been the country's daimyō—out of harm's way with one rope of his hair, Jiraiya felt his lungs swelling up with chakra and reared back. "Katon: Ryūka no Jutsu (Fire Style: Dragon Flame Jutsu)!"

Sheer heat searing his face, he blew out a stream of fire that roared along the ropes of his hair toward his opponents. In an instant, the one who had been making a beeline for Jiraiya was consumed in the fire, and the smell of burning flesh filled his nostrils.

On the other side of the battlefield, Zabuza raised his sword and sliced the air with a gigantic swing, countering the stream of fire headed in his direction. However, it was all he could do to raise it just in time to parry another sword—this time, from Shirakumo.

Jiraiya returned his attention towards the man who was now a burning inferno before him. It was curious; by all standards, he should have been reduced to nothing but melted flesh and charred bone by now, but even as he could begin to make out hints of pure white bone in the man's face, the man kept walking toward him. His lips had burned off, but the bared teeth made it look as though he was grinning. No—the madman was actually laughing, the sound raising goosebumps along Jiraiya's arms. In a single creaking motion, the burning skeletal frame raised its scythe –

Since evading Jiraiya's first attack, Kakuzu had made no move from the peripheries to help his allies, but he spoke now, in guttural tones: "Zabuza!"

It must have been a warning—thrusting his sword forward to force Shirakumo back, the missing-nin held up his free hand in a tell-tale sign. Thick, immovable mist converged on the grounds, fogging his senses.

"I will claim the bounty on your head, eventually." Kakuzu's disembodied voice rang out harshly. "But for now, you are not our target."

And then they were gone.

For a moment, Jiraiya debated the merits of entering Sage mode—as distasteful as its appearance was—and giving chase, but dismissed it. There was a storm brewing in the horizon, and he had not survived on his own after all these years by remaining his younger, brash self. What he needed at this juncture was patience...and more information on who exactly he was facing.

A body soon approached Jiraiya: It was Shirakumo. Drawing closer, he saw that the jōnin was supporting on each arm the body of the daimyō and another boy. One of his students, perhaps.

Shirakumo's voice was heavy. "Jiraiya-sama... They've taken two of ours."

Jiraiya solemnly surveyed what he could of their surroundings. Most of the civilians in the vicinity had managed to escape before the confrontation, but there were casualties scattered here and there, hidden in the fog.

While the intel he had received from Hirumo had led him here, he'd found no answers, only more questions. Such as, why were two members of Akatsuki here? Having tracked their movements over the years, Jiraiya had found that they tended to work in pairs when hunting down particularly strong bounties or important targets. What was of such importance here in Wave country that warranted the presence of not only two Akatsuki members, but an S-rank missing-nin such as Zabuza?

It was a gut feeling, but Jiraiya suspected that there was something more at stake here than Gatō's tyranny of a small island nation.

In a flash, he made up his mind. "Take me to the others you were with. You owe me an explanation or two."

The sun was up, the ship had docked in Fire country, and the remaining passengers were disembarking. The million-ryō question for Kakashi was: Where was his team, plus one?

He spotted a straggler getting off the ship, swaying side to side down the ramp—it was the cabin boy he'd seen earlier, who'd been sacrificing the contents of his stomach all night.

"Excuse me," Kakashi called out cheerily. "I've been expecting the arrival of four chūnin today from Wave country. Three males and one female, on the young side. Do you know where they are?"

To his surprise, the cabin boy scowled. "Those thieves were ninja? Never got back on board, did they?"

Kakashi blinked. "Excuse me?"

They remained locked in their positions, their blades grinding into the other's in a slow fall towards an impending assault.

Sai's eyes had never looked so cold. "Do get out of my way, before I kill the both of you."

Naruto could tell it wasn't an idle threat, but he didn't move. "Explain yourself."

Meanwhile, with a hand reaching into his shuriken holster, Rai turned furiously towards Sai. "What're you doing?! Get away from them!"

Sai's gaze flickered to his teammate, and Naruto could see the calculations going through his mind. He tensed, readying himself for battle—but after a long, drawn out moment, Sai lowered his blade.

"How do you think she got away from that battle?"

The question hung in the air, and Naruto turned to Kaine. Despite the near attempt on her life, she was oddly composed. There was a resigned, almost relieved, look on her face, and with a lurching realization, it told him everything he needed to know.

"How did you figure it out?" said the woman.

"I'd had my suspicions: Your choice of cargo. The attack in the boat. The way your plans separated us. And they were all confirmed the moment I saw Zabuza let you go."

In two rigid motions, Kaine bobbed her head in acknowledgment. "You weren't supposed to see that. I don't think you were supposed to survive."

A slow, creeping sensation began to rise up in Naruto's chest.

"Wait...what's going on?" said Rai, wearing an expression as though he had just been clubbed. "What're you talking about?"

"It doesn't matter anymore," Kaine shrugged with the weariness of defeat, and raised her bare hands in surrender. "Do what you will with me."

Sai cocked his head, raising an eyebrow at Naruto in a silent question.

Naruto could have asked many questions of the woman standing before him, but only one rose unbidden to his lips: "Who are you really working for?"

Her lips drew back in bitter relish, as though she had been waiting to hear that question her whole life. "Akatsuki."

When Mayu came to her senses, she was no longer fighting for her life in the iron grasp of the cloaked missing-nin. Instead, judging from the stiff material binding her arms to her sides and the stale feeling of air on her face, she was tied up on the ground somewhere indoors. Despite the rising sensation of panic in her stomach and the heat of bile in her throat, she forced herself to continue breathing at a slow, even pace. Next, taking great care, millimeter by millimeter, she opened her eyes a slit.

Almost immediately, she wished she hadn't, for she was alone in a dimly-lit cave. The foreboding sensation of being enclosed enveloped her, and the unease permeating her body intensified.

"Will he come for you, I wonder?" A high voice rang out.

A spike of chill ran down her spine, and Mayu's eyes flew all the way open. She struggled to flip onto her feet, but an inexplicable and absolute force kept her immobile in place, and the only thing she could do in that moment was to take in the sight which, contrary to her thoughts, stood before her: She was not alone. There was a man standing at the entrance of the cave. He wore the same black cloak the other missing-nin had been wearing, and an swirling orange mask hid his features from her.

"The Nine-tails jinchūriki, Uzumaki Naruto. What do you think about him?"

A/N: This chapter is essentially me dipping my toes back into the pool, AKA a warm-up before I really get this going. It's been a while since I last wrote, but I tried my best; in the writing of this chapter, I had about twenty different Narutopedia tabs open and Swagkage playing in the background.

I've already plotted out the general direction I want to take this, but am still working kinks out of the story. I am attempting to incorporate canon Naruto lore/plot points while throwing my own shit into it, hopefully it'll get better here on out. If there are any holes in the ongoing theory/plot, any suggestions of any sort (esp. in regards to Naruto's skillset), feel free to let me know in the comments. Thank.