"So let me get this straight. You two, ended up killing Hidan of the Akatsuki. An S class missing nin, and even managed to grab his head for us. That is still talking." Kurenai said, shaking her head in disbelief as she watched the gagged head squirm around in the large puppet's grasp. Kise and Narumi both just nodded their heads to the jounin. Both standing with a small amount of pride as they grinned. Most of their injuries had already healed, well for Narumi that was the case. A few bones were still broken for Kise but she had made an iron sand cast that was holding a few of her broken fingers together and keeping them in place.

"Yep."

Kurenai sweatdropped at Narumi's response. She was finding all of this a little hard to believe as she turned away from the two girls to look behind her. Rubbing her bandaged arm that was still soaked with a good amount of blood. Her battle dress was almost fully destroyed. It had been cut up from her legs up, showing much more skin that she usually did as her midriff was left exposed as a large vertical cut laid in the center. Her messy unkempt hair was even more tangled up as she looked at the carnage behind her. Most of the trees in the area were either destroyed or toppled over. Black thread like materials littered the ground as a single man stood in the center looking down at the heavily cut up and charred body beneath him.

"Hokage-sama, I assure you he's dead."

The now dubbed Minato turned his head to look at Kurenai with a embarrassed smile, reaching up to scratch his cheek with a chuckle. "Yes yes I know. Just checking over his body just in case. We can't be too certain with a talking head after all." He said, making Kurenai nod in agreement. He did have a point there. The talking head was definitely a surprise, an unwelcome one at that. It was disturbing to see the lone skull wither around as he tried to scream absurdities any chance he got, it was a tough sight to behold.

Kurenai was happy though to see that the girls were okay and only suffering from minor injuries and a few broken bones. She has been especially worried when they had gotten separated but thanks to Narumi she didn't have much to worry about. Before the Namikaze daughter went to reconvene with Kise she handed her one of Minato's famous three pronged kunai in case of an emergency. Watching Minato put Kakuzu's body in a preservation scroll, she was grateful for Yondaime's help. She trusted Narumi and Kise to be strong enough to at least hold off against hidan for the time being, and even after summoning Minato he didn't seem to worry about her. He had trained her well after all.

Minato walked over to the group, he looked perfectly normal and didn't even have a scratch on him. The only sign of battle that Mianto hinted at was the small layer of sweat that fell down his brow but it was barely noticeable. The blonde Kage smiled wide as he waved the scroll in his hand, "Two Akatsuki members down. Great work everyone. Great job giving the kuani to kurenai as well Narumi." Minato praised making the red-head just shrug her shoulders in response.

"You told me to use it if I ever came into contact with an Akatsuki member. I just did my job."

Minato nodded, chuckling awkwardly at his daughter's response before looking down at the much smaller girl standing next to Kurenai. He caught a glimpse of her before when he was fighting Kakuzu, but this was the first time he would speak to her. He had never seen this girl before in his life but she seemed acquainted enough with his daughter for some reason. He glanced over to his left, locking eyes with the deadpan stare of the floating puppet holding the head of Hidan for a moment. He was vastly curious about who the girl was, she seemed to be controlling the puppet but he hadn't even seen or sensed the use of chakra strings. He was fascinated by the idea but he didn't want to jump the gun and ask her outright, he hadn't even introduced herself to her yet. Deciding to do just that he bent down slightly to her level and offered his hand out to Kise.

"Good evening. My name is Minato Namikaze, Yondaime Hokage of Konoha. And who might you be?"

Kise looked at the lone man of the group, glancing between his eyes and the outstretched hand for a few moments. She was deciding on what she wanted to do at this very moment. He was the Hokage, meaning this was Naru-nii's father. It was a little strange to finally meet the man that Naruto never liked to talk about, just like the rest of his family. Minato gave an awkward laugh again as he crouched uncomfortable at the young girl's questionable gaze on him. He was about to pull his hand away when kise decided to reach out and took the handshake with a little hesitance.

"Kise. Good to finally meet you Hokage-sama."

Minato smiled at the girl, making the Kise even more confused as they pulled away from one another as Minato got back to his feet. "The feeling is mutual Kise-chan, how do you know Narumi and Kurenai?" he asked.

Kurenai spoke up this time butting into the conversation.

"Actually Hokage-sama, Kise here had been traveling with Naruto-kun for the past few years now. But he was dangerously injured a few months ago and accepted our offer to bring him back to Konoha for treatment."

"N-naruto? W-where is he now?" Minato asked frantically, his pulse quickening as he took a large step forward in shock. Just hearing the name of his long lost son sent uneasiness into his veins as guilt once again played his mind. Kurenai had to take a step back from the Yondaime's closeness, slightly uncomfortable at the intense reaction, though she couldn't blame him since she had one pretty similar, if not more intense.

"Sai-kun had agreed to take Naruto-kun back to Konoha while we fought off the Akatsuki members. He should no doubt be back there now." she said, her voice going even as she spoke. "We should probably get back. We're finished here. Anyway."

"Ah good idea Kurenai. Everyone grab on." Minato agreed, nodding his head along with Kurenai.

They all seemed to agree as well for, save for Narumi. All nodding along with the village as Mianto put his arms around the three girls, already feeling the familiar pull from his hiraishin kunai back in Konoha. Narumi just narrowed her eyes at the red eyed beauty as they teleported away, back to Konoha.

"Finally, I can use my chakra without any pain."

Naruto thought as he just finished his stretches for the evening. Right after his brother Natsu left, he quickly got to training in fixing his body up to tip top shape. He no longer felt any pain in his arms or legs when he moved them around and was able to stay conscious and pain free long enough to get in a whole work out in the hospital room with no issues. Naruto was also able to start channeling more chakra into his body to heal more of the internal injuries from the large scar on his stomach and even minimize the amount of pain he would feel when he grazed the blemish. Coating it with an almost invisible layer of chakra letting his blood do the best it can to heal him and stop any throbbing.

But externally, he could already perform a small amount of water jutsu and even manipulate the blood he previously took out of his body in the bandages. He barely had any chakra thanks to his coma, and he was using the majority for his wounds but it was not completely painless. He can even activate his sharingan with little trouble and now could now sense more and more chakra signatures that were near him. After a few days of rest, one or two tops, he should be back into perfect fighting condition with almost zero problems. The only thing he was worried about now, was timing. He had no time to waste now since his plans had already been put into action once he unconsciously stepped foot back into Konoha for the first time in would be lying if he said he wasn't starting to feel a little nervous, his missing pisces to his plan were currently still missing and Natsu's presence was sending off warning sirens in his head.

His brother appeared to have undergone a drastic change of character over the years, he suddenly was nicer, more sincere and unbearably earnest.

It made Naruto sick.

No matter who believed Natsu's change, or why he was doing it or for what reason. Naruto wasn't buying it, he knew Natsu better than anyone,especially the darker side he always tried to hide away from their parents and sister. It was almost laughable to a certain extent that Naruto actually let out a loud laugh as soon as he left, unknowingly spooking several passing nurses who were unlucky enough to walk by his room during that time.

"You can't fool me Natsu. In fact you're more important to me than ever."

He thought, grinning to himself as he snickered alone in his room. Emitting more chakra from his pours as he twirled the blood around the room hastily. One, to help his control since he seemed to be even better than ever. And two, it was just fun to let his mind run wild.

"H..E….AW….AKE…!?"

Naruto's body tensed as a loud, and all too familiar voice reached his ears. Echoing in the hospital behind his room door and into the halls. He felt his grin widen as he stopped his blood manipulation, letting it all pool itself back into the damp bandages as he jumped back onto his bed. He could hear the sounds of approaching footsteps running in his direction as a nurse yelled at the person to stop and slow down. Feeling in the approaching chakra he got himself ready, flexing his muscles and putting on the weakest look he could muster as the door swung open.

"NARU-NII!"

A brown blur shot itself towards Naruto as he braced himself, letting out a whimpered gasp as two tiny arms wrapped around his neck tightly. He chose to ignore the rest of the footsteps coming his way as he weakly wrapped his arms around the brown blur, bringing her closer to him.

"H-hey K-kise-chan."

He muttered, his voice sounding so weak that the girl sobbed even louder into his neck. "I'm so happy you're awake Naru-nii. I was so-so worried."

"Don't worry, i'll never leave you."

"Miss you can't come running in here like that! Not only is our patient here incredibly injured it is rude to all other staff and patients here!"

A nurse scolded as she ran into the room just behind Kise and tried to peel the sobbing girl away from Naruto. Kise wasn't budging as she just gripped tighter around her nii-chan, she had gone months without him awake and she would be damned if she let go now. Naruto gave a small smile as he looked up towards the nurse, surprising her with an apologetic expression.

"S-sorry about this nurse-san, but it's okay you don't have to worry. I-i missed my sister just as-as much." Naruto stuttered, coughing a bit jolting Kise out from her short term happiness as she finally realized what she was doing. Jumping off of Naruto and bowing deeply to the appalled nurse, "I'm sorry nurse-san please forgive me!"

"Y-yeah it's alright. Just don't do it again." the nurse replied awkwardly, not really sure how to take this strange encounter. She bowed respectfully, leaving the two kids to their own devices as she closed the door behind her.

As soon as the nurse left the room, it took everything in Kise's body to stop herself from jumping back onto Naruto. Her face was glowing with pure and utter happiness, turning her face she smiled so wide that it looked like it was going to cut her face in half. Ignoring the stream of tears leaking from her eyes as she looked at her brother's face. Naruto returned the smile as he wiped the pain look from his face and let it revert back to his normal expression. Reaching his hand out and letting his rough fingers comb themselves through her brown hair. Kise leaned into his touch, tilting her head to make it easier for him as she gulped her tears back not being able to fight it anymore. She leaped at Naruto, wrapping her arms around his neck again.

"Naru-nii, I'm so happy you're awake."

"I know Kise, i'm so happy to see that you're okay."

Her voice came out as a whimper, burying her face into the crook of his neck as she clung tighter onto him. Naruto's face softened for a moment, letting his arms wrap her even tighter around his side as she cried. He should have expected this, and if he was being honest he missed Kise just as much. When he was in his coma he really had no idea on what was happening or going on in the outside world. All he could see what darkness, it had felt like he was drowning in a deep black abyss for eternity. He couldn't even hear what was happening, he thought most people in comas stayed conscious, but sadly, or unlucky he didn't.

He glanced down at his sister, his stomach knotting together as he pulled her away from him. Kise let herself get pulled away with a little resistance. She looked up at Naruto, wiping her tears with her sleeved arm as she tilted her head to him in confusion. Naruto gave her an apologetic smile as he scooted over on the bed to give her just enough space for her to sit next to him as he reached around Kise and across to the side table next to his bed. Kise sniffled as she watched Naruto grab a lone piece of paper a nurse had left earlier, using his fingers he dipped the digits into his blood bandages. Making sure it was still wet enough he began to write on the paper, using his chakra to make the blood a little more dense and easier to write.

"Kise, I know that I just woke up. But I need you to do something very important." Naruto said as he finished whatever he was writing. Folding the paper in fourths before handing it to Kise. The young girl blinked in confusion, looking up at Naruto in shock as she hesitantly grabbed the folded paper gently.

"I don't understand Naru-nii-"

"Sshhh."

Naruto whispered, bringing his bloodied finger to his lips as his eyes flickered to the door, sensing a few chakra signatures behind the room, recognizing both of them immediately. Kise nodded in understanding as she leaned closer to him, thoroughly confused as Naruto used his free hand to gently cup Kise's cheek. He leaned in as well, whispering quietly so only Kise could hear what he had to say.

"I need you to leave Konoha and go to the location in this note. This is very important, Kise, more so than anything we have ever done before."

Kise let the surprise show in her face as she looked down to the note now held in her hand. She was a little caught off guard by her brother's serious expression and tone. It was very rare to see Naruto like this, and she preferred it that way. But this was random, more random than usual especially for Naruto.

"I don't understand Naru-nii."

"Everything will be explained once you get there, Kise, I promise." he said. Using the hand cupping Kise's cheek, he lifted her head up to meet her confused golden eyes. His face was deathly serious, lacking any sense of negotiation as his eyes pierced through Kise. Having activated his sharingan letting it twist into his mangekyou as it spun in his socket.

Kise shakily nodded her head, not out of fear, but out of concern. She wasn't afraid of Naruto's scary looks anymore, she was forced to grow out of it since she traveled alone with him in tow for the past few months. But she had never seen him act like this before, he was more serious then ever and he hadn't been awake for that long. Something must have happened to him in his last battle against that Akatsuki member, something far worse than she originally imagined. She just agreed with him, taking the note and stuffing it for safekeeping in the seal in her arm. Naruto sighed in relief, giving a sad smile to his younger sister as he gently kissed the top of her head.

"Thank you Kise-chan, you have no idea how much you've helped me."

Kise blushed a bit at the kiss, her biological brother had never done anything like that before and it was a nice change. She felt her worry melt away at the contact as she nodded to Naruto, a look of fierce determination forming on her face as she jumped off the bed and gave a thumbs up to Naruto.

"Don't worry Naru-nii, you can count on me."

And she meant it, her orionally plan was to help Naruto find Danzo, but Naruto seemed to care more about this than the old war hawk so she would help him in any way he needed. With one last goodbye she quickly left the room, disappearing behind the door and to her new mission. Kise should have no problem sneaking out of the village, she could easily pass by as an orphan or a merchant's daughter and just walk out of the gates if she chose to do so. Naruto doubted his dad would do anything about it, probably too occupied with his return than anything else right now.

Naruto felt himself grin deeply as Kise left, a pulse of adrenaline pumping through his body making him out his fist in his mouth to stop himself from laughing.

"Step one, complete."

Naruto almost felt giddy for the first time in years. For once since meeting Kise, he felt like he was truly doing something with his life. Like he was doing what he truly was meant to do. The grin did not disappear as he felt an all to reconziable chakra signature make his way closer to his room. It was the signature he was looking forward to the most right after Kise, and he was glad it was happening so fast.

Even though his grin didn't vanish, he did feel a bubble of anxiety pop in his stomach. The familiar butterflies appeared with a vengeance as they fluttered around. What could he say? How should he act? They hadn't seen each other in years, how could you tell someone that they've been on your mind almost constantly every single day without it coming off as creepy?

He didn't have any more time to think as the door creaked itself open again, allowing the bright room to accentuate the dark raven locks that became visible as deep crimson eyes locked onto his almost instantly as they took the first step into the room. Time seemed to freeze for a moment as both parties stared at one another. Naruto heart rate substantially quickened in its pace as he looked at the woman in front of him, she was wearing a matching expression of joy and awkwardness as they unmoving at one another. Naruto felt his cheeks heat up significantly as he noticed her attire, she appeared to have not bothered to change since her mission and was revealing a lot more skin than she usually did, more so in the midriff area. He forced his eyes away from her belly button and back to the crimson orbs, scratching the back of his head awkwardly making the woman smile.

"H-hey, Kurenai-chan."

"Hello, Naruto-kun."

Kurenai responded, smiling as she hugged the boy, overcome with her strong feelings as she brought him close to her and momentarily forgetting that he was mortally injured. Luckily for Kurenai, Naruto didn't seem to mind and just let himself be swept away into the embrace, closing his eyes wistfully as he breathed in her familiar scent.

"She still uses that vanilla and strawberry shampoo." he thought to himself, letting his tenseness be stolen away from the raven haired beauty.

Kurani on the other hand was going through a magnitude of different emotions, and for many different reasons. One of them was how his body felt against hers, he had certainly grown from the small genin that she was used to. He was tall, most likely taller than her and could feel his well defined body under her own. He looked different too, he had lost a good amount of his baby fat around his cheeks and his hair seemed to grow just a bit longer, not long enough to fall into his eyes, but long enough to cover his eyebrows if he chose to. Pulling away a bit she locked eyes with the blonde, both wearing matching blushes as Kurenai reached out like she had done many times before, taking his cheek into her hand as she rubbed the button of his scar. Naruto leaned deeply into her touch, missing it more than anything. It was the one thing that reminded him of a better time; and a similar life.

And she looked incredibly attractive from this distance.

"I wish I could marvel in this reunion, but you really tied my hands here."

Naruto frowned, his mouth falling lower than ever as a pang of guilt rang through his body. He looked away from Kurenai, not able to look at her half annoyed and half angry expression any longer. He truly did feel bad for what he had to do.

"I know. And i'm sorry, sorry for everything. But this was something that I had to do."

Naruto said, not feeling an ounce of regret for his actions, just feeling bad for the shitty situation he put Kurenai in. "I would understand if you wanted to cut all ties with me after this. Being this friendly with a criminal, and even worse of what you're doing."

Kurenai felt herself frowning along with him. Her heart pumping unknown feelings into her as she sighed deeply. Removing her hand from Naruto's cheek with a thoughtful expression. "Look, it's not like I wouldn't have done this for you. I care about you, you know." she said bashfully, rubbing her arm as Naruto just blushed under her, their bodies still incredibly close that he could feel the amount of heat they were both emitting. With her ears pink, Kurenai sighed again before reaching into her pouch to reveal a small black scroll and thrusted it towards Naruto.

"Here, this is what he gave me."

Naruto smiled before taking the scroll from her hands, his fingers brushing against hers making both of their blushes expand over their faces. Both feeling a spark go through their systems at the contact. He nodded his thanks, placing the scroll next to him on the table as he scooted on the bed to get a little closer to the woman.

"Look Kurenai I-"

"I don't really wanna hear it Naruto-kun."

Kurenai cut him off rudely, taking a step back to further the distance between them making Naruto's heart break at the notion. He looked down, not wanting Kurenai to see the hurt look that flashed across his face as he scratched the back of his head. He felt almost sick to his stomach at the thought of repelling Kurenai away. All the giddiness he was previously feeling vanished in his body and was replaced with deep regret that he managed to drive Kurenai away. But he was in too deep, too deep to do anything about it.

"Can I at least explain myself? So I can tell you why?" Naruto whispered, peaking his eyes through his golden locks as he pleaded breathlessly.

Kurenai frowned deeper as Naruto spoke, she knew better than to let him explain. She was already in too deep and could simply be called an accomplice to him now. But the look he was giving her was hard to turn down, he looked so incredibly cute and small that it was a hard decision for her.

Naruto stared at Kurenai as she stood silent for a long few minutes. It had felt like his heart had gotten ripped from his chest and stomped on repeatedly. Sure he had done something stupid and rash, and it might have been an impulse decision, but if he could explain himself to her then maybe she could understand. Feeling a little courage returned to him as he watched the woman's face soften he scooted over onto his bed again, leaving half of it free as he patted next to him softly.

Sighing, Kurenai nodded before taking the offered seat directly next to him, both sitting up straight as she turned to look at him.

"Five minutes."

Naruto nodded thankfully, his smile spreading across his face as he rubbed his hands together. He let his thoughts reverberate in his mind as he tried to gather his thoughts together. It was all a jumbled mess and he would sometimes lose focus as he shoulder brushed against his.

"It's just- i'm sorry. I really fucked up doing this to you but I really had no other choice. Things snowballed faster than I thought they would and you were the only person I trusted with this."

"Why? Why was I the only one you trusted?" Kurenai bit back, scowling as she narrowed her eyes towards the blonde boy.

Naruto bowed his head down low and sighed deeply, he should have known this was going to happen. Him and his stupid impulse decisions.

"You're the only person that I truly care about in this village. Sure I care about my old team, and Sasuke and Shikamaru to a certain extent. But you." he said, feeling his face ignite in a blush as she willed all the courage in himself to look deep into Kurenai's waiting eyes. He gulped loudly before continuing. "you remind me of a time where I was genuinely happy. Back when Shisui-niisan was still alive, back when I was still training to be a shinobi. You were there, you may say you didn't do a lot for me, but what you did left more of an impact on me that never disappeared." he said, smiling softly making Kurenai's heart rate speed up tremendously as the tips of her ears became scorching hot. Naruto chuckled, looking down again as he scratched the back of his head.

"That time, and those memories mean so much to me. I never forgot them, and I never forget about you." he finished, placing his hand over hers gently. Kurenai wanted to pull away, especially at the loud spark she felt course through her body. But she couldn't find it in herself to pull away, and she didn't know if she even wanted too.

Without thinking she interlocked their fingers together, leaning her head forward until it laid in the crook of his neck. Hiding her blush from Naruto's field of vision as she stared at their hands joined together. Her heart rate quicked at the sight, finding it almost insane at the position she found herself in.

"So what are you trying to say? Is this your way of trying to seduce me onto your side?" she asked, roaming her thumbs across his knuckles slowly. Making sure to go by each one slowly, enjoying the rough feel of his hands as she subconsciencly made herself more comfortable on his shoulder.

"Depends, is it working?"

"Hmmm, a bit. Not nearly enough though."

Naruto chuckled at her response, sneaking a glance to Kurenai before giving off another small frown. "I know what I'm asking is still a lot. And I meant what i said, that i would understand if you wanted nothing to do with me-"

"I never said I didn't. But you have to tell me what you plan to do."

Naruto blinked in surprise, he was fully prepared for him and Kurenai to walk separate ways after this little moment of thiers. Looking down at his old genjutsu sensei, or friend? He didn't even know right now, but looking at her now he weighed his options out fully. She could help if she knew all of it, but even Kise didn't know what he was doing and he had already sent her away. It was a gamble, but having more people help him out could prove to work in his favor, especially one he was close to.

Resting his head against hers he shut his eyes, getting a good whiff of her scented shampoo as he spoke into her hair, his words coming out muffled, "It's kind of a long story."

Kurenai huffed exasperatedly, pointing a thumb to the dark skies she pulled away from him. Keeping their fingers interlocked as she shifted to get a better look at Naruto. Smiling slightly as his eyes flashed with a mixture of amusement and curiosity. Using her free hand she ran her fingers through his golden locks, making sure to keep eye contact as she did so. Kurenai felt Naruto melt into her touch as she spoke, making sure to keep her voice even and stoic. She was still on edge a little due to what had happened earlier, but her curiosity was incredibly piqued, and she was heavily enjoying the closeness she was feeling from the blonde.

"We've got all night. So you better start talking."