AN: I'm not dead. Sorry for the slow update I've been pretty busy as of late. Real life happened and my muse has been doing a very good impression of a rock. Thanks for being patient. Here's Chapter 4.

"Speech"

"Thoughts"

"Speech through voice filter"

Chapter 4: Pursuit

Naruto was really annoyed. Not only had L been more distant lately, but Kira was also experimenting on his victims. And to top it all off, for the past three days he was being followed. No doubt L called in a few favors and was having everyone on the task force investigated. While Naruto was annoyed that he was being followed, what really bugged him was that the guy tailing him was really bad at his job. Seriously, who wears shoes with soles that hard? The guy was making all sorts of noise and the shinobi in Naruto was appalled that the man was considered a professional. The rising urge to prank the guy was hard to suppress. Finally he gave in, he couldn't take it anymore, this guy was getting pranked.

Naruto slipped into an alley and quickly used Kamui to teleport right behind the FBI agent using some bushes as cover. He slipped quietly up behind the FBI agent and prepared to scare the guys pants off. The guy looked down the alley and got a confused look on his face before muttering, "Where the hell did he go?"

Naruto took his cue and leaned up to the guy, "You lookin' for me?" he asked with a cheeky grin. The man spun around and his hand went to his chest. His eyes were wide with terror and after clutching his chest and crying out, he crumpled to the ground dead.

Naruto blinked... and he blinked again... a third time. "I didn't do that did I?" Naruto just stared at the corpse for a few more seconds before frowning and squatting down and checking the guy's pulse. "Yep, just like I thought. Dead as a door nail." He pulled out his phone before dialing 110. After informing the dispatcher of the situation he called task force headquarters and informed Chief Yagami. He hung up the phone and settled in to wait. He had to preserve the integrity of the crime scene after all.

-Break-

"Well it looks like the shit finally hit the fan." Thought one blonde Uzumaki as the chief yelled at L through the laptop he used to communicate with the police force.

"Are we now suspects in our own investigation?!" The chief continued yelling at the screen.

Naruto just sat there rubbing his temples while trying to ignore all the negative emotions filling the room. Anger, hate, betrayal, and fear. It was all getting really annoying these people were up and down all the time constantly shifting emotions at the drop of a hat. Their lack of emotional control and willpower was... unnerving. Then there was that unsettling message Kira sent L through those criminals. "'L, did you know? Gods of Death, love apples.' How absurd there's no way that Kira made a deal with the Shinigami for power is there? That would require chakra, and a decent amount of it too. Then there is the whole matter of Kira still being alive. Any deal with the Shinigami uses the summoners soul as part of the bargain. Still it isn't something I can write off. Undoubtedly L has already dismissed it as nothing more than a little joke from Kira. It won't hurt to keep an open mind."

Naruto's thoughts came to an end as the chief sat down heavily in his chair at the front of the room. He could feel the resolve and nervousness rolling off the chief. He was a man Naruto could respect, he stuck to his beliefs to the end. Men like him were becoming rarer these days. After a few minutes of quiet chattering and fearful speculation among the other cops the chief spoke up.

"Everyone go home for the day. Speak with your families and decide whether or not you want to continue on in this investigation. We will meet again at 9:00 AM." The Chief gathered his things and made hs way to the door pausing only to grab his coat before exiting. The rest of the room began chattering as they gathered their things and prepared to leave. Naruto just sat there taking in the emotions of the people in the room. The investigation would be lucky if even half a dozen people stay on.

"Even so, I need to stay. The opportunity to work with L isn't something I can pass up. Kira is getting bolder every day." A heavy sigh escaped his lips as he stood up and began packing his things. He glanced to the back of the room and Watari was already gone.

He exited the station and ducked into an alley. Checking carefully to make sure there were no witnesses he vanished quietly in a swirl of Kamui.

-Break-

The land was shaking with such force one would think that an angry bijuu was rampaging outside the village. People were panicking as the Shinobi tried to direct the civilians to safety.

Naruto stood dumbstruck as he watched a wall of water rolling in from the distance.

This was it. After everything this is the way it ends for his people. The shinobi that lived would be scattered across the world and bloodlines weakened until no on who could use chakra is left. He could almost see the future in that moment.

He quickly went through several hand signs and wood began sprouting from the earth forming a massive seaworthy vessel. "Inu! Direct all evacuations to the ship and have any shinobi not directing the evacuation effort gather fresh water and food! Go!"

The Anbu saluted and quickly left to follow orders and people began filling the ship. Naruto was filled with sadness as he used Kamui to travel quickly to his home. His great grand-children were moving about the compound gathering the last of the useful supplies and sealing them into scrolls. He looked upon his remaining family with love as they helped each other. His own children, Himawari and Nagato had passed last year having outlived their own spouses by three decades. The ground shook again and he left his musing behind, now wasn't the time for that.

"Alright everyone get to the ship now! We've got minutes left at best! GO!" The ones close enough to hear spread the word and within two minutes had managed to get to the ship. There was a constant rumbling in the ground now and the wall of water was visible to even the civilians. He looked around the ship quickly and frowned as he saw families huddled together, clutching each other tight. The fear in the air was palpable. He started to go through more hand signs and the boat was lifted high into the air by a massive pillar of wood. Everything was running smoothly. Naruto watched with a sad gaze as the Hokage monument was split in half by a tremor.

His gaze quickly moved to Inu who kneeled respectfuly in front of him with one fist on the ground. "Naruto-sama the tremors are getting more violent and we've just lost contact with the Daimyo."

"Thank you Inu. I'm going to take some extra precautions then just in case. I want you to-" Naruto was cut off as the ground underneath the ship bowed upwards and Naruto's eyes widened in horror as he saw everything happen in slow motion. The Rinne-sharingan forced him to see every detail of the earth below exploding with all the force of a bijuudama. The scalding gases and pyroclastic flow hit first. He heard the screams of everyone unfortunate enough to not die instantly at the same time that he watched Inu turn to ash in an instant. Then the pain hit His flesh was stripped away by the heat before quickly regenerating. He though it would never end. He could have shifted into the monstrous form of the juubi. But his people, his family, were dead. His heart was torn apart by his grief, and screams of anguish and sorrow ripped from his throat.

His home was destroyed. His family was wiped out. His people were dead. Shinobi were wiped from the world, scattered or destroyed by this calamity. He felt himself hit the surface of the water below him and the physical pain ceased after his regeneration kicked in. He didn't move. He didn't want to. So, he was carried on the current of the ocean for an undetermined mount of time. His lungs burned but his body quickly healed itself. He was surrounded by darkness. He couldn't tell up from down nor did he care to. He floated aimlessly.

With a sob and a jolt Naruto jolted from sleep. He hated reliving that day. It was as painful to him as the day his wife died. He let his tears flow freely, unashamed of his pain as he calmed down. "What a wonderful start to what I already knew was going to be a shitty day." Naruto thought to himself as he rolled out of bed.

-Break-

Naruto paid little attention as Chief Yagami delivered his speech to the task force, as he offered them a chance to leave. He paid no attention as the people began to leave. He was too lost in thought. It didn't happen as often anymore but when he dreamed of that awful day he was always in a funk for the rest of the day. He took a deep breath and pushed his past out of his mind, it wouldn't do to dwell on things that happened millenia ago.

"=well seven including myself." Chief Yagami was saying. "Still I'm grateful to there are still as many as six of you will to risk your lives to face evil." Naruto mentally snorted. "If only." He thought to himself.

L spoke then,"The fact that you've chosen to stay means that you have a strong sense of justice. I trust all of you." Naruto started a little at this. "Since when does L trust anyone?" Naruto listened as everyone complained about wanting to meet with L and followed with the rest of the group when the went downstairs to make their final decision at the request of L.

Hideki Ide began speak first when the doors closed behind them. "Why is he seeking help now?

There's only six of us. He solved all these difficult cases by himself in the past, so what makes this one so different? The way L's been conducting things so far, odds are he's gonna send a stand-in or a proxy of some kind to meet us instead of coming himself. It's not like we'd ever know." Naruto silently agreed with the man but said nothing yet as he continued to listen to the debate.

Aizawa sounded contemplative as he spoke. "A proxy, huh? Well, that is possible."

Matsuda followed Aizawa's comment with one of his own. "I believe L. I think we can trust him.

And besides, I don't really see how we can solve this case without his help." Mogi stated his agreement with Matsuda before Chief Yagami began to talk.

"From the beginning he's been very upfront about the fact that he would need the help of the police on this case. Perhaps we should think of it like... he's been waiting for this to happen all along." So the chief figured it out on his own then. He'd have to be more careful around him then. L wasn't the only threat here even if he was the biggest one. It was easy to forget that the chief was very observant and had a keen mind too. He was the lead investigator for a reason after all.

Matsuda interrupted his thoughts however. "Why would he do something like that?"

Naruto payed close attention as the chief began to speak again. "There were number of people on the task force who distrusted L before this investigation began and once we got started, we had detectives resigning left and right. Following that, classified information was leaked.

So I'm not surprised that he didn't trust us."

Matsuda interjected. "In other words he was waiting for the task force to get narrowed down to only those investigators he could trust. And to do that, he needed to weed out anyone who wasn't totally committed"

Chief Yagami gave a thoughtful hum before Ide spoke up. "If we're working with that guy, I'm leaving the task force. You don't have to worry. I won't try to follow you. I'm not interested in finding L." As Ide walked away the others made their decision to stay.

Chief Yagami turned to Naruto before asking, "Naruto. You've been very quiet over there. What are your thoughts?"

Naruto thought for a moment before answering,"To be honest I don't see any fault with L's tactics regarding the investigation force. He was just being careful and minimizing unnecessary risk. I don't blame him for taking precautions against Kira. After all, he has the best chance of solving the case and catching Kira and we know it. I'm sure he knows it too. I wouldn't call it arrogance but his track record speaks for itself. He's earned his self confidence."

Chief Yagami looked at him with approval before they made their way back to L. L gave them instructions to meet at the Teito Hotel and Naruto couldn't help the sense of anticipation in his stomach. He was finally going to meet L.

AN: Sorry for the long wait! Please don't murder me! I'll try to get some more updates in but my life is a bit unstable right now. Obviously my original schedule for updates has been annihilated. I'll try to make an update at least once a month. Obviously the fic has been following the original story pretty closely so far but from here on out things will start changing. I'm not going to make Kira's life any easier and I'm hoping I'll do a good job. Thanks for reading and being so patient. Please rate and review. Constructive criticism is welcome and flames will be thoroughly ignored. Until next time!

P.S. I've put a poll up on my profile for this story's pairings. I don't know who to put Naruto with, if I even put him with someone. I would love your input. Thanks.