*Chapter 33*: Chapter Twenty Nine: Rogue Fox

-AN: Provided for the edification of my loyal(?) fan following, as I received a review and a couple pm's about it, I give you the following definition.

Heroic peanut: Noun (he-ROW-ik' PEE-nuht). 1) A peanut that valiantly sacrifices itself to choke to death a nobleman, high ranking military officer, or powerful politician or business man. e.g. "You killed a senator with a PEANUT?" "It was a heroic peanut." 2) (as in "eat a heroic peanut") Indicative of an individual or collection of individuals that sacrifices him/her/theirself in the face of overwhelming odds for the purpose of serving a greater good, despite the fact that failure is almost a certainty. e.g. "So what do we do if we can't escape and we're that badly outnumbered?" "Then we eat a heroic peanut and go down fighting." Note on usage: In this second form, can be combined with a particular service or profession that prides itself on duty before life and limb, such as "Heroic Marine Peanut," "Heroic ANBU Peanut," or "Heroic SAS Peanut."

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Rogue Fox

Konoha takes care of its own.

Right now that message was doubly important- Temari, Gaara, Kankuro, and their Jounin sensei Baki had defected from Sunagakure in exchange for advance notice of the invasion. It was due to this fact and this fact alone that a terrible tragedy was averted; as it was, some stragglers from the Konoha academy were found after the battle, all of them dead by drowning. Without the advance notice to evacuate, all of the teachers, students, and staff of the academy likely would have been killed by Takigakure.

Even so, Konoha was not unscathed by the tragedy. Sarutobi Konohamaru was one of those stragglers. Taken together with the death of his grandfather- listed as a victim of a surprise attack by Orochimaru before the latter was killed by the self sacrificing actions of Maito Gai- there is now only one remaining Sarutobi left in Konoha.

To date, every clan that has held the office of Hokage has been whittled down to one remaining member. This has not gone unnoticed- and those who have noticed are resolved to ensure that in all possible cases, one does not become zero.

Because Konoha takes care of its own.

"This is new." Jiraiya said gruffly.

A trio of ANBU stood by, as Jiraiya examined Gaara's seal. A chakra suppression tag covered Gaara's forehead, one that had the interesting side effect of knocking Gaara into a solid, deep sleep. The chakra which made Gaara not dare to sleep was the very thing which permitted him to do without it. Cruel irony, that.

"Hokage sama?" Asked the cat masked ANBU. His neighbor, the senior of the three, nudged him none-too-gently with a sharp elbow.

"My apologies, Hokage sama." The owl masked woman voiced. "Neko is still new."

Jiraiya shook his head. "No apologies needed, Fukurou. I was thinking out loud. It's not as though we're in the field." After a moment, Jiraiya grunted, "And Tsunade hasn't given an answer yet, so I'm not the Hokage. Stop calling me that." Owl sniffed disdainfully, completely disregarding Jiraiya's request. "Still, it's poor tradecraft. Builds sloppy habits."

Jiraiya didn't answer that. Instead, he continued with his prior line of thought. "Whoever sealed the ichibii into this kid evidently didn't know how to craft an inhibitor seal. So they didn't even try." He looked over to Owl. "Fukurou, please send for Chouji."

"Yes, Hokage sama." Replied Owl, smirking slightly beneath her mask at his irritated growl. She opened the door and nodded to the third ANBU standing just outside it, who wore a pig mask. "Buta, bring him in please."

In seconds, Chouji was paying rapt attention as Jiraiya lectured. "Note that in absence of the inhibitor seal, the flow of chakra is not unrestricted. Instead they crafted a series of resistor seals that, when activated by an overflow or the host's will, turns the flow of chakra back on itself." Jiraiya looked over at Chouji expectantly, watching the genin's eyes. He saw genuine interest, eagerness, but no real comprehension.

The toad sennin sighed. Time to spell it out. "Do you see this series of jump sigils? As chakra follows this circuit, it blocks chakra from jumping across it in the paths that run past it in this perpendicular fashion. With the sheer number of them, each of them able to be turned on and off by the host, or automatically activating if the bijuu attempts to flood his system with too much chakra, functions as a variable form inhibitor seal would but with higher redundancy and fine control."

Chouji looked upwards, piecing it together for a couple of seconds. "But... what about the bijuu? Couldn't it still influence the host by harassing him constantly that way without a real inhibitor in place?"

Jiraiya nodded. Chouji might be a raw novice at seal work but he picked up the subtleties quickly- and once he learned it, he was pretty good at connecting the dots. "They probably thought that its ability to influence its surroundings being controlled by the host would keep it from wreaking too much havoc. They apparently didn't realize- or else didn't care- that a childhood of angry, bloodthirsty whispers and urgings would drive him batshit insane." Chouji thought more about this. "But then... what about Naruto?"

Jiraiya sighed. "Naruto seems to have done something no other host has ever done- somehow, he seems to be in complete control of his bijuu."

Chouji frowned deeper. "Even if he is in control of his demon, and not... um... batshit insane... still from what people say, isn't he a bit crazy too?"

"Maybe." Jiraiya replied. "But then, probably not much more so than any other shinobi. We all get that way, and even if his is more than that, well, sometimes you get the same symptoms from knowing things that nobody else knows."

"Like what?" Pressed Chouji.

The Sennin turned his stare back at the unconscious Gaara. "Who knows? That wasn't really why I called you in here anyways. I called you in to show you a solution to Gaara's problem. Here's what needs to be done..."

Naruto had been awake for all of five minutes before his day began going downhill. As he clambored out from underneath his bed, he heard a noise come from the door to the outside hall.

A paper had been slid under the door onto the wood panels of his front entryway.

Naruto frowned, puzzled. He doubted it was from anyone on Team Akachi; they had their own methods of clandestine communication, and none of them were so blase or pedestrian as passing notes.

Naruto took a few short steps to the door, before hesitantly bending down and picking the page up. His expression grew grimmer as he read two circled words about mid page, until he got to the bottom of the page and saw the three names written there. Then his mouth fell open, his eyes went wide, and he stood frozen in disbelieving shock.

That shock lasted barely two seconds, then Naruto growled out, "Oh, HELL no."

Kakashi looked over the results of the chuunin exam for team Akachi in disgust. Are they insane? He asked himself. What kind of justification is this? "As Uzumaki Naruto's match regrettably never occured within the boundaries of the chuunin exam proper, as in-as-much as the majority of those who would be voting on his qualification to the post, title, priveleges, and duties of chuunin were incapactitated during the time in which he battled, and considering that it was found necessary for him to be restrained to prevent him from killing a defector to the village, it is regrettably our decision that Uzumaki Naruto has not sufficiently displayed qualities necessary for promotion. Therefore, this application to the rank of chuunin has been rejected. We wish the applicant luck in a subsequent application in the future. This decision may be over-ridden by the Hokage in attendance to the exam; to petition please seek out form 122k in the Hokage's office for more detailed information on this procedure."

"I know what it says; I was a little appalled by it myself." Jiraiya answered, sitting behind the desk with his fingers laced together in a semi relaxed fashion across the hardwood surface. "And the hell of it is that it probably wasn't even necessary." He shrugged unhappily. "The Sandaime stopped communicating back to me what was going on with Naruto months ago. And in the past, whenever a jinchuuriki manifested one or more tails, they were so lost in bloodlust and rage that attempting to speak with them would be tantamount to suicide. To honor the terms of the Suna team's defection to Konoha, we had to capture and treat Gaara's affliction by the Ichibii, do anything in our power to help him. Konoha cares for its own, and as soon as that deal was struck they were our own. I couldn't take the risk that Naruto might not listen to me."

Kakashi was struck suddenly by comprehension. "And without the communique's from the Sandaime, you literally had no idea that he was turning out to be anything other than a typical jinchuuriki-"

"-Because the last report I received from him was in the middle of the mission to Uchiumi no Kame." Jiraiya finished for him.

Uchiumi no Kame was the mission that had come in two days after the return from the mission to the bandit camp. As Naruto's team had made quick work of the bandits, the Sandaime had assigned this to them. Another fairly quick, easy mission, search and destroy in the middle of a small town of a genin ranked nuke-nin that had been causing a fair bit of disturbance. A former Iwagakure infiltration specialist with a kekkei genkai, he'd been doing a number of breaking and entering jobs, petty thefts that had grown in daring and magnitude over the course of several weeks. Iwa's reward for him was negligible as he was merely a genin with as yet incomplete mastery over his bloodline. Since examples of it had been captured during the preceding shinobi war and most villages considered the bloodline more trouble than it was worth to attempt to replicate it, especially as the Byakugan was a perfect counter for its espionage based abilities, there was not even a request to hand in the body undefiled.

He'd finally attracted enough notice to warrant a professional exterminator when in the course of an escape from some local guards, he severely wounded one, costing the man an eye. The Sandaime had seen an opportunity to start opening at least slightly more cordial relations with a passively hostile hidden village (a work he apparently decided to leave to his successor to continue as he'd gone rogue the day following the assignment) and so ordered that team Seven be dispatched to deal with it. A high "C" ranked assignment, supervisory member tokabetsu jounin Mitarashi Anko. It was considered to be good training for the three of them to hunt down a low ranked nuke nin.

Except, as in the mission to Nami no Kuni, Something Went Wrong.

The roots of this nuke nin infestation went deeper than expected. A small cel of nuke nin had formed in Uchiumi no Kame, and was being run by a minor shinobi clan that had no village affiliation. The clan- Jagakemuri- had a deadman switch on the town connected directly to the lives of the four members of the cel. Should one of them be killed by a jutsu or even a weapon bearing traces of shaped chakra, the hideouts- and the majority of the town- would go up in flames to ensure that no trace of their operations would be found.

When Kubikiri Houcho's edge ended the life of the nuke nin Kurita Hohiro, the dead man switch went off, and Uchiumi no Kame burned.

The initial report sent back to Konoha was that Naruto had somehow destroyed Uchiumi no Kame accidentally, and that the team was investigating to try and find some remaining evidence of the cel. Most likely this was what had spurred the Sandaime into action and sent him rogue; the knowledge that this disaster likely gave Danzou the leverage he needed to begin his political coup in earnest. When the second report came in less than eighteen hours later, Sarutobi Hiruzen had already begun his last mission, and the acting Hokage- at the time, Kakashi himself- had no idea of the covert communication between the Gama sennin and the Sandaime. And so he hadn't continued it.

"And until you were nominated officially to the office after the battle, you had no access to Uzumaki's records." Kakashi said irritably. "Meaning you had no way of knowing that it was really clan Jagakemuri that destroyed Uchiumi no Kame because of Kurita Hohiro."

Jiraiya grunted. "Worst part is I can't even override the chunin exam decision. Being that there WASN'T a Hokage in attendance, the ruling can't be appealed through official channels. But I have an out for him."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "And what would that be?"

Jiraiya smiled craftily. "Well, I can't speak for Tsunade, but should they manage to pin the Hokage badge on me for good, I intend to field promote him to make up for it." "Generous of you." Kakashi replied drily.

"Not really. His record rates it." Jiraiya said, blithely ignoring Kakashi's sarcasm. "And frankly, I heard from a few of the jounin on the scene- proctors, primarily- that in training ground forty four he managed to severely wound Orochimaruenough so to cause him to shed his body."

"I was there as well- I saw the remains." Kakashi acknowledged. "I might not have seen the technique in twenty years, but I remember-"

There was a knock on the door. Kakashi felt a foreboding sense of Deja-vu. I do not believe in precognition, I do not... oh who the fuck am I kidding.

"Enter." Jiraiya said.

The door opened, and Asuma stood there with an uncertain look on his face. "Ah... Hokage-sama-"

"Acting Hokage." Jiraiya said tiredly, rubbing his hand across his forehead. "And drop the sama, for Kami's sake."

"... As you say, Jiraiya-sama. But has there been a procedural change for announcing the promotions from the exam?" He continued after a second.

Jiraiya frowned. "I hadn't made any that I know of."

Asuma's encertainty congealed into a look of profound unhappiness. He popped a cigarette into his mouth and lit it, clearly trying to organize his next words carefully."Then... Someone has... exceeded the boundaries of their authority."

In moments, Kakashi and Jiraiya were both introduced to the source of Asuma's discomfort: Someone had posted the results of the chunin exam in multiple locations all over town, and on each notice, next to Team Akachi: Uzumaki Naruto, were circled the words: "Promotion denied."

Four hours later:

No sooner had the councilors left the office, than Naruto walked in. Jiraiya's eyes took in his appearance, then the older man set aside the papers he was working on and leaned back in his chair, folding his hands on the desk. "Hello, Uzumaki-san. My secretary said that you had something on your mind?"

"Hokage sama, may I ask why the three nin from Suna received promotions." Naruto's voice was flat and emotionless.

"They received their promotions for conduct deemed worthy of chunin- and they are no longer Suna, they're Konoha shinobi now." Jiraiya answered, seeming a little on the defensive but not particularly uncomfortable.

"I feel the need to point out, Hokage-sama, that Kankuro was eliminated in the preliminaries." Naruto responded.

Ah. THERE came the discomfort. "I am not at liberty to discuss- or indeed aware of the particulars- why those who voted on chunin selection deemed Kankuro fit to pass- but I suspect that it may have been their defection to Konoha, bringing vital information regarding the incoming invasion. Point of fact, without their defection and subsequent assistance, Konoha might not be here today."

For one long, agonizing second, Naruto was tempted to ask where Konoha would have been had he not tied up a rampaging Bijuu's attention for the better part of an hour, but the moment passed, and Naruto swallowed the bitter lump in his throat. "I see."

Jiraiya's eyes softened a moment. "I was not given the privelege of voting on chunin selection- but the possibility exists of promotion outside sanctioned exams, should your performance in future missions make it worthwhile."

Naruto's emotions churned suddenly, the likes of which Naruto hadn't felt in over a month. Had this man even looked at his record? Naruto didn't show any of his thoughts on his face, but instead straightened up slightly. "Acknowledged, sir.

Permission to leave?"

Jiraiya looked at him for a few more seconds before he nodded. "Granted. You are dismissed, Uzumaki-san."

Naruto turned and walked to the door, opened it, and left.

Jiraiya reached for the papers again, but stopped as there was a knock on the door. Kami, what now? Jiraiya grumbled irritably. For a moment he considered creating a Kage Bunshin to do the paperwork while he dealt with his visitors, but dismissed the idea out of hand. It would look rather rude to be sitting there doing work while his clone sat right by listening to whatever the visitor had to say- or whatever.

If it was those councilors again, he'd do it.

"Enter."

The door opened, and Tsunade stood there.

"So." Said Jiraiya.

"So." Acknowledged Tsunade.

They looked at one another across the Hokage's desk, before Jiraiya motioned for her to sit down. There was a pregnant pause, one ended by the Hokage. "This should have been your job, Tsunade. I'm not cut out for- not even fit for- the duty of Hokage."

"You'd rather have an alcoholic gambling addict?" Asked Tsunade with a wry smile.

Jiraiya snorted. "Better than a geriatric lech." He replied. "I'm a spymaster, not a leader."

"You're strong enough to do the job. And if you can manage a continent wide network of spies, most of whom you have to work constantly to ensure their loyalty and honesty, then it should be a comfortable change to managing a single village of people whose loyalty is to the village."

Jiraiya gave a pained, silent chuckle. "And that's the biggest problem. It's why you never stopped hurting and never got over Dan's death, why you retired, and ultimately I suppose even why you refused the position of Hokage. You were always so naive and innocent." Jiraiya stood up from the desk and walked over to the window, looking out at the Hokage monument. The clear air made the monument look close and small; for a moment he wanted to reach out the window and touch the face of Sarutobi-sensei. It had never looked so small and close when he'd been a simple spy master- the Hokage's were always enormous, out of reach. Now, though, they looked like ordinary men, fallible and human and even a little lost, but trying to fill the shoes of the perfect leader. Or was he simply projecting his own doubts and fears onto their faces? Jiraiya didn't know, and wasn't really sure it even mattered. He was on his own, now.

"So why am I so naive and innocent?" Tsunade asked sullenly, her arms crossed in from of her- Focus, Jiraiya. More important things to discuss right now than (Jugs) her physical (creamy white look so soft and touchable) DAMMIT!

"Eh, probably your innate prudishness." Jiraiya said with a grin, as much to tear his mind away from its previous path as anything else.

"Dammit Jiriaya!" Tsunade yelled, but Jiraiya raised a hand.

"I know what you meant, Tsunade." He answered, sighing. "Trouble is, the game I have to play as a spymaster is the same as for the Hokage. Except I'm now on constant duty. With spies, there's no pretense. They're quite open about the fact that they're in it for themselves and their own interests. But the clan heads and civilean leaders hide it behind a facade of pretended patriotism, and can't be bought off or bribed ot intimidated into falling into line. And the stakes are so much higher. Failing to maintain a proper hold over a single spy can have bad consequences, but spies are cheap. A spy that betrays the organization is expendable, and any decent spy master sets up his network to be compartmentalized to minimize damage. The clans, the civilian leaders, all of them are as charming as kittens, cunning as foxes, and deadly as vipers. And none of them are expendable. I"m juggling bags of caltrops wrapped in explosive notes while walking a tightrope a hundred feet up, and there's no safety net. The stakes are too high for a nobody like me. I don't belong here. The village needs a respected ninja from a powerful family to become Hokage. Someone from the Hyuuga. Or better yet, the Senju."

"The Hyuuga are too proud, too arrogant, to make Hokage. And the Senju clan is dead. After I'm gone, we exist only in the history books." Tsunade said. "You weren't given your strength, you earned it. You weren't raised to be an elite ninja, you clawed your way through the ranks, paying for everything you would ever have or learn with your determination and blood."

Jiraiya snorted. "Aren't you afraid I'll try to pass some law permitting voyeurism?"

Tsunade's eyes narrowed, before she chuckled. "I'm expecting you won't have any time." Jiraiya sighed dismally. "You're probably right. So much for being a world famous author."

"I've been saying that since your first book." Tsunade laughed.

Jiraiya's unfriendly look went completely ignored. He shook his head. "But that time factor is a very serious issue, hime." He went on. "Konoha has a very vital need for the information we get from the network, especially now. Part of the means by which I maintained reliability of my contacts was through my mobility, the fact that I could pop in on them at any time. As Hokage I have no freedom of momvement to speak of. I have maybe a week before my counterparts in the other elemental nations realize our vulnerability and compromise my network beyond salvageability. I need a successor and I need him NOW."

Tsunade looked thoughtful. "And you want names from me? I've been out of circulation for twelve years; what makes you think I can do this?"

"You've always been the smartest of our little group, hime." Jiraiya answered. "And you've always kept your ear to the ground. I know you kept dossiers on everyone in the village long after you left. I'm just asking you to consult those dossiers and find me a couple of candidates."

Tsunade sat back in her chair, a distant look in her eyes as she considered this. "I can think of a couple likely candidates off the top of my head."

Jiraiya motioned for her to continue.

She did so. "First would be councilor Danzou, but for... obvious reasons, that is not possible. My next choice would be Yamanaka Inoichi."

Jiraiya grunted. "That would leave Ibiki shorthanded at T&I. Not to mention I'm not keen on the idea of sending Yamanaka out on extended mission; he's married, he has family. Separation from his family could have bad effects on his performance. Any other ideas?"

Tsunade shrugged. "Then Nara Shikaku is out. He's even more married than Inoichi."

"You mean henpecked." Jiraiya said with a smirk.

"Jiraiya..." Tsunade growled.

"So I assume you aren't going to say Chouza next." Jiraiya said, ignoring the note of warning in her voice. "He's too gentle- and too conspicuous."

"Actually," Tsunade said, "I have one other person in mind, who might be a better choice than either of them. Trouble is, he's only a chunin."

Jiraiya grunted again. "Not necessarily a handicap. I'd prefer a jounin, but a chunin with enough smarts might be able to hack the job."

"I don't think smarts are an issue." Tsunade replied glibly. "This chunin is one of our best and brightest. Nara Shikamaru."

"Him?" Jiraiya asked, startled. "He's only just been promoted!" He's not ready for something like this. End of subject.

Anyone else?"

Jiraiya wasn't the only one who could ignore hints- "He's one of the three most talented shinobi of his generation- and of those three, he's the single most intelligent. He's a fast learner, he's trustworthy, and he's innovative. He can do the job at least as well as you have, and if you take the time to look at the matter objectively, you already know that as well as I do."

"He's not experienced enough." Jiraiya argued. "He's been a full fledged ninja for a little under five and a half months. He's never been a part of an infiltration unit and he's never been a spy. He doesn't have the background. I don't care how smart he is, he's NOT qualified."

"Then teach him." Tsunade countered. "Like I said, he's a fast leaner. He'll do fine."

Naruto stopped, listening. Someone was following him.

Knowing he had been spotted, Haku stepped out of cover. "Where are you going, Naruto sama?"

Naruto shrugged. "Away from here. I'm done."

Haku's eyes were bright. "Take me with you."

Naruto sighed. "No."

"Why not?" Haku demanded.

Naruto looked up at the village gates. The moon was barely above the mountains, only a few scant hours away from dawn; he'd almost made it out unseen. "Because I'm not coming back. They'll kill me before I let them bring me back. You have a life here, now, a future." Naruto blurred out of sight; Haku tried to follow but Naruto was too fast for him. A hand reached out and Haku felt his chakra desert him; exhausted, suddenly, he collapsed to the ground. The last words he heard were, "I won't let you throw that away." "Naruto!" Shouted Sasuke.

The blonde haired shinobi paused at the based of a tree, as Sasuke raced ahead to meet him. Sasuke's paced slowed as he drew near, Naruto waiting.

A jog.

A trot.

A tentative walk.

Sasuke stopped as well, only a few short steps behind Naruto. The jinchuriki made no motion.

Finally, Sasuke asked, "Why."

Naruto shook his head. "Walk with me, for a minute."

Naruto began to walk, and Sasuke followed. Neither one spoke.

The quiet of the forest was giving way now to a growing rushing of water; if Sasuke had to guess, he'd say there was a waterfall up ahead. Within several more minutes he was proven correct. The details which surprised him were the two colossal stone ninja statues to either side of the basin. Naruto turned back to face him.

"Sasuke." Naruto said. "I'm not going back."

Sasuke scowled. "You never answered my question."

"Konoha never wanted me. And now, they don't need me, either." The blonde replied. "They have lots of protectors, now. You, Shikamaru, lots of people- They even have a new Jinchuuriki."

Sasuke gaped at him. "You're jealous. Now that there's another jinchuuriki like you, you're not special anymore."

Naruto's eyes went cold. "'Special', Teme? Is that what you think this is about, being special?" Naruto was suddenly in Sasuke's space, violence held carefully in check. "You self centered son of a bitch, you think this is about my fucking

EGO?"

"Of course it is!" Sasuke yelled right back, the two of them almost nose to nose. "As long as you're the only one like you in the village, then you're free to crucify yourself and bleed in your self righteous msrtyrdom while people hate you, because you can convince yourself that it's because you've got that thing sealed inside of you. But if there's another one around, you don't have a choice but to admit to yourself that maybe it's not the demon, it's YOU!"

Naruto clenched a fist and lashed out, a wild, angry swing that Sasuke ducked easily. Sasuke countered with an elbow aimed for just under Naruto's collarbone a bare inch from his right shoulder, but by this time Naruto had regained his wits, and his recklessness was reigned in almost immediately. Sasuke's elbow was deflected by Naruto's forearm.

For about thirty seconds there were no words, only muited grunts and impacts of fists barely audible over the sounds of the pounding waterfall. Then, both of them flew backwards as they landed blows on one another simultaneously, Naruto carroming wildly off of a tree while Sasuke flew into the water. Sasuke rolled on the water, regaining his feet. Naruto brushed off leaves and twigs while levelling a glare at the Uchiha that was almost hate. "You bastard, that's the fucking POINT! All I've done, all I've EVER done as a shinobi, is do my best to finish the mission and protect my comrades. And the village welcomes into their midst a fucking mass murdering madman who is ALSO a jinchuuriki, and they pity him for his past- but they still fucking hate ME?" Naruto's eyes were filling with tears and Sasuke was stunned; Naruto hadn't shown emotion like this since the second exam. Sasuke had honestly thought Naruto no longer had the capacity.

Naruto went on. "I tried for years, Sasuke. At first, I thought I was bad. At least, that's what parents kept telling their kids so they'd stay away from me, whether I was out of earshot or not. I thought it was maybe because I didn't have any parents. When I was good people ignored me so I started to BE bad, anything to get people to look at me. I almost didn't come back after I left the first time, but I was scared, and I didn't know anything but Konoha. So I came back. But nothing really changed. Iruka sensei told me that I passed when I came back. And he started hanging out with me, spending time with me. And then... just when I thought he was my friend, thought I could trust him above anyone in the village, he was sent to try and kill me. Betrayal, Sasuke. That's what trust gets you. Betrayal and pain. The only thing I can trust is myself and my instincts, and right now my instincts tell me that there's nothing left here for me. I was willing to give my life during the invasion to protect all or even any one of them, and they all but spit in my face for it. And it taught me something. It taught me that if I ever want to live a life of my own, I need to be far, far away from Konoha. I need to leave and never come back." Naruto turned away on the water and began walking, but Sasuke's voice stopped him.

"People care." Sasuke protested. "You have friends. Civilians and ninja alike."

"Bullshit." Naruto replied, but didn't start walking.

"Kakashi-sensei. Shikamaru. Lee. Anko-sensei. They all like you They don't want you to leave." Sasuke paused. "I... don't want you to leave."

"Five names." Naruto said. "Sasuke, how many people live in Konoha, do you know?"

"Haku!" Sasuke continued desperately. "Hinata, even that girl Temari!"

"Thousands, Sasuke! Even if I were to believe that list of people, there's too much hate!" Naruto yelled.

"God dammit, Naruto!" Sasuke shouted back. "Everyone I've ever believed in, trusted, anyone I've ever called family has left me behind! Not you too! I can't have you leave me too! I won't let you!"

Naruto laughed harshly, and turned back to face him fully. "'Let?' You won't 'Let' me?" Naruto spit sideways into the water. "Newsflash, teme. I've already left. There's no 'Let' involved. I'm going, I'm outside Konoha. I'm not stoppingfor you or anyone else."

"You won't go to that bridge, Uzumaki. I won't let you go to Orochimaru." Sasuke said. As Naruto's eyes narrowed, Sasuke smirked. "Hinata can read lips too."

"And so even she talks about me behind my back." Naruto said, fists clenching again. "She says she loves me and she'll still betray me, because I wanted to save her the pain of what would happen to any kids we had together."

"She didn't betray you, she tried to save you! She told us so we could stop you before Orochimaru took you and used you for his plans!" Sasuke pleaded. "Wake up! Orochimaru will destroy you! He'll use you until there's nothing left then he'll throw you away!"

"Not your concern, teme." Naruto answered. "I'm not your teammate anymore."

"I'll beat you senseless and drag you back myself!" Sasuke threatened.

Naruto snorted. "You can't beat me. You're not fast enough, strong enough, or tough enough to take me."

"We'll just have to see about that, won't we?" Sasuke said, dropping into a ready stance.

Their eyes locked for a long moment, as the waterfall pounded behind them.

Sasuke chuckled suddenly. "Remember the academy?"

Naruto nodded. "You were the top of the class. Everyone admired you. Me especially."

Sasuke frowned. "What happened?"

Naruto set himself into his own fighting stance. "That was just school. A thin mock up, a pretense, just a training camp.

Then we got into the real world."

"You were so far behind me." Sasuke said. "How did you become my equal?"

"Equals?" Naruto remarked with incredulous scorn. "We;ve never been equals. In the academy, you were what I wanted to be, and here in the real world, our positions are reversed."

"I AM your equal, Naruto."

"Then don't hold back."

Water fountained skyward and dirt showered the trees as the two of them met at the bank of the water. Sasuke tried to slip outside the punch while driving a knee into Naruto's stomach, but at the last second Naruto gave a short forward hop and tumbled over it.

The blonde caught his forward motion in a short handstand and transferred his motion into a split legged kick that dropped a blow like a tumbling boulder onto Sasuke's shoulder, but even as the kick landed the Uchiha delivered a mule kick the was perfectly chambered from his knee strike. This time it was Naruto who went into the water, curled over his solar plexus, tumbling across the water almost like a skipping stone before slowing enough to fall under the surface of the river.

Sasuke took the momentary reprieve to jerk his dislocated shoulder back into place with a stifled scream. His relief was shortlived as he felt a mammoth impact in the center of his back. "Sloppy, teme." Naruto's voice said, as Sasuke felt his face pressed into the muddy river Sasuke vanished in a puff of smoke as hands burst through the mud at Naruto's feet. "Doton: Shinju Zanshu no Jutsu!"Naruto was yanked neck deep into the muck; Sasuke burst from the ground, already prepared to deliver the knockout punch, when a dome of earth arose around them, it's inner layer turning to glass.

Naruto's eyes were regretful. "I warned you not to hold back, Teme."

Outside the dome, standing on the water, Naruto stood on the surface of the river, ignoring the throbbing of his bruised stomach as the glass exploded inwards. Naruto raised his left hand in the seal of the Tiger. "Katsu."

There was a low "Krump" as the clone in the dome detonated, and the earthen hemisphere was scattered across the landscape. Naruto watched the dirt and rocks land, pattering and thumping on the shore while splasshing and rippling the water. After a moment, he began speaking. "You don't get it, do you, Sasuke?"

"You could have killed me with that." Sasuke said, disbelieving, as lightning still sparked off the hand he'd punched through the side of the dome. He'd not escaped unscathed, and stipples of blood were welling up on his exposed skin and on the back of his shirt. "You TRIED to kill me."

"This isn't a game anymore. That kid who juggled clones on the mission to Nami no Kuni, the one who played around with Kabuto's dossier cards? He's gone. The trees took him and didn't give him back. I'm Naruto, the one who can't pretend and fake cheerfulness, the one who doesn't feel guilty. The one who won't live in a place where they hate him."

Sasuke glared at him. "You still cared. Back at the end of the second exam. What happened?"

Naruto laughed bitterly. It was an even uglier and more hateful sound than the last one. "What can you think of a village whose Kage goes Nuke-nin?"

Sasuke's eyes widened. "What?" His voise was incredulous, disbelieving.

Naruto smiled. "Yes. You heard me. The Sandaime Hokage went Nuke-nin. They found him dead, over the body of one of the village council."

"You're lying."

"You wish." Naruto said coldly.

"You're trying to throw me off. Trying to get... get me off balance." Sasuke protested weakly.

"I don't need you off balance, teme. That a little thing like this can throw you off is another proof that we're on totally different levels, you and I. And you can't make me stay here."

"So you're really willing to kill me, then?" Sasuke asked. "You're willing to end my life to keep me from taking you home?"

"Konoha has NEVER been my home!" Naruto roared, and the water at his feet echoed his rage as it churned and roiled with the force of his emotion, as red chakra began to leak out of his skin. He forced it back with an effort of will. "A home is a place where you are welcome... a place where you are safe... a place where you will fight to protect! I've never HAD the first two, and I no longer have even the third! You've had a home, Sasuke, you and all the others. I've merely had a bed, the sort others would throw away if it was in their house. That's how I got it. I've had a roof that was given to me by the Sandaime Hokage. I've had food that other people wouldn't touch, or the kind of food that nobody takes seriously. Do you know why I liked ramen?Because Teuchi san sold it to me as a customer. Because for a few minutes, behind that curtain on the bar stool, I could pretend I was just another normal person, instead of someone that everyone hated and avoided. But that pretense, that fantasy, it's gone now."

Naruto tore off his hitai ate, the same one that Iruka had given after his return, that he'd carefully reshaped after Gaara smashed it, that he'd worn with pride and dignity, and scored across the Konoha leaf with the same technique he used to scar himself with. "I am no longer a shinobi of Konohagakure!"

Sasuke closed his eyes and growled. "You betray the memories of every shinobi who died in the invasion. You betray the memory of the Hokages. And you betray me. Me and all of team Akachi." Sasuke spit, eyes still closed. "You're no better than Itachi."

"And you stand no more chance of beating me than you ever did of beating him." Naruto said coldly. "So here's the deal, teme. You beat me, now or ever, you may have what it takes to beat him. But there's a time limit. Because if you can't find and beat me within three years, I'll do it for you."

Sasuke growled. "I always figured you'd be helping me when the time came. Not like this."

Naruto shrugged. "Everyone has their limits. Even me."

Sasuke's eyes opened, and trebled black tomoe whirled around red irises.

Naruto laughed loud, a deep belly laugh that held a dark humor. "Oh, bastard, you should have stayed smart and left dojutsus out of it."

"You can't see chakra." Sasuke said, preparing himself.

"No... not directly, it's true... but..." Naruto's eyes blinked, and faded into the jet black of Kamigan. "I studied a little bit under Tsunade of the Sannin. The knowledge at her disposal is amazing, and she taught me something I've been practicing for a couple weeks. You see, I no longer NEED to see chakra. My eyes have refined themselves to the point that I can see its shape through the effects on your flesh. I can see shape... location... keirakukei..." Naruto lunged forward, driving a hand wreathed in chaotic chakra, "and even tenketsu."

Sasuke parried the blow desperately, instinctively; Naruto's aim changed slightly, and where Sasuke blocked his arm went numb down to the fingertips. Where it affected his sensation, his arms spasmed wildly, the muscles and tendons twitching and clenching uncontrollably. Sasuke staggered backwards, offbalance. He ducked a kick that would have taken his head off, and rolled backwards as Naruto continued the motion, throwing a series of kunai whose purpose was simply to keep him on the defensive and moving backwards. Sasukes functioning hand snapped up a kunai and slit a hole in a bag on his belt; his tumble scattered the caltrops inside right into Naruto's path.

Naruto's advance was relentless as a Kage Bunshin appeared in the midst of the caltrops, boosting Narutohigh into the air without breaking a step. Naruto's clone vanished the moment he was in the air, while his hands flashed independantly of one another. The left hand continued forming signs while the right hand finished the seals for Taiju kage Bunshin- and Sasuke found himself looking at an encircling globe of Kage bunshin facing inwards, each in the finishing stages of Shuriken Kage Bunshin. Sasuke forced his numb hand into the seals for Kawarimi and found almost no resistance; the more complex the jutsu, the worse the interference from whatever Naruto had done to his arm.

As Sasuke landed from his jutsu a hand seized him by the throat; the only object close enough to use for kawarimi was the heavy log upon which the cloud of shuriken was converging. Then all thought was driven from his mind as Naruto headbutted him brutally. The world spun crazily before the ground rose up to slam him in the back, knocking the air out of him. He felt a moment of weightlessness and then it happened again, again, and a fourth time. He couldn't get air, and blackness was creeping in around the edges as his Sharingan released.

Sasuke has a momentary, blurry double vision of Naruto's foot coming down in his facfe, then everything went black. It was his own breathing that alerted him that he hadn't been knocked out; after a second, he realized that the darkness in his vision was simply the lack of light.

"I see you finally chose sides, Shikamaru."

Sasuke rolled sideways from under the wave of darkness to see both Naruto and Shikamaru standing motionless, facing one another, the shield of darkness connecting the two of them narrowing down to a thin line. "Naruto, give up, or we're knocking you out and dragging you back home." Shikamaru said.

"Shikamaru, I'll tell you the same thing I told Sasuke. Konoha isn't my home, and I'm not going back." Naruto replied. "And there isn't a whole lot you can do to stop me."

"I can hold you still long enough for Sasuke to deal with you."

"You're only holding me still because I'm letting you. But then... you don't really understand how your jutsu works, do you?" The blonde asked, and Shikamaru's eyes narrowed.

"Of course I do." Shikamaru said, but a tinge of doubt was creeping into his voice.

"You know how to make it work, of course... But you don't know why it works. Of course, if I told you, you'd know what your were doing wrong, and would be able to fix it, probably. So I think I'll just let you sweat." And Naruto folded his arms, proving it was no bluff.

The key, of course, was the function of Kagemane. By focusing the chakra to reshape the shadow, it allowed the Nara to treat that shadow as an extension of their own keirakukei network, as well as any network of keirakukei that they came in contact with. In a lot of ways, Kagemane was very similar to genjutsu. By infiltrating the target's chakra pathways, they could force the other body to maove in the same fashion as their own, slaving the other's tenketsu, and therefore their muscles, tendons, even chakra flow, to imitate the user. But a person with multiple Keirakukei- like Naruto's triply redundant system- could not be controlled this way, because the user didn't have enough tenketsu and pathways to control all of those possessed by their host. To do so would require an equal number of keirakukei, or else the technique would simply be a waste of chakra.

Could Shikamaru compensate by using two Kage Bunshin to take up the slack? Naruto wouldn't test it out. He woudn't bet against it, either.

"I suppose you're at least partially right, Naruto." Shikamaru said, drawing his shadow back from the Uzumaki boy, encircling himself and Sasuke in a ring of shadow, wary to guard against Naruto crossing the thin line. "But the shadow guides the chakra even as the chakra shapes the shadow, giving it form and substance. It's a foundation art meant to give Nara clan nin a stepping stone to our most advanced techniques." Shikamaru formed the tiger seal himself. "Katsu!"

An exploding tag in the dirt under Naruto's feet detonated, tossing the blonde into the air, where a thine net waited in the low lying branches of the sheltering tree. Naruto's limbs tangled; he landed hard on his side before he could fight his way free. Shikamaru's shield of shadow sprang forward, dividing into dark bands that rapidly bound themselves around Naruto. Between the net and the bands of shadow, his struggles were ineffectual.

Shikamaru scowled. "He got away."

Naruto stopped struggling. "How'd you guess?"

"Because if you were the real Naruto, you wouldn't have stuck around for that tag to go off under your feet." Shikamaru said. "You saw me place it with my shadow, because you had your kamigan engaged. Admit it- you were toying with us, weren't you?"

Naruto shook his head- or rather, the clone did. "Actually, I needed to cover my escape. I know better than to try and take you both on at the same time." The clone paused, and its expression softened. "Be well, Sasuke, Shikamaru."

The clone vanished in a puff of smoke. Sasuke cursed sulfurously. "Dammit- we've lost time. We can still catch him short of the bridge if we-"

"Sasuke. It's over." Shikamaru's voice was laced with fatigue. "He's gone."

Sasuke turned to leave. "Bullshit."

Shikamaru grabbed his shoulder and spun him around, forcing himself not to hesitate at Sasuke's pained wince at the rough treatment of the abused joint. "He's not gonna listen to us. The information we have now points out two important factors: One, Naruto is faster than either of us in open terrain, and has far more endurance than either of only caught up to him because he was taking it easy, thinking nobody would bother to follow him. But then, we already knew he doesn't trust anyone to care enough about him to do so."

Sasuke grimaced angrily. He knew Shikamaru was correct. "And number two?"

"Number two: the two of us aren't strong enough to stop him if he doesn't want to be stopped... but we ARE strong enough that he'd likely have to kill or cripple us to get away. I waited as long as I did to see how serious he was about leaving; My conclusion is that he'd kill or die to do so. Whatever he feels about us, it isn't as strong as his desire to leave." Shikamaru gave a grimace of his own. "We can't do this with just the two of us."

"You mean the three of us-" Sasuke said, then cut himself off thoughtfully.

"Yes." Shikamaru agreed. "You understand now why I opted to leave Haku behind."

"We still should have brought Kakashi sensei, or Anko with us." Sasuke pondered. He knew there was nothing that could be done about it now, but part of him wanted to lash out, find someone or something to lay the blame on.

"If we'd brought them, they would have had no choice but to tell the Hokage in an official fashion. And that would have been the end of Naruto's career, his freedom, and probably his life."Sasuke stared at Shikamaru in shock. "You knew. You KNEW we couldn't take him back." Shikamaru said nothing, and Sasuke continued. "You only brought me because you DO care about him."

Shikamaru sighed, and for a moment he suddenly looked ten years older. "I hoped that him seeing us coming after him might change his mind. And if it didn't, I'd rather see him a fugitive, and know he's free, then see him at home, a prisoner, or worse, dead because of us. Even if he's alive, and still a prisoner, he wouldn't be Naruto anymore. It'd be like killing him, and I don't... I don't want that."

Sasukelooked over at the waterfall. Looking at it made him feel powerless- like staring into Naruto's eyes as he walked away. The Uchiha stuffed his hands into his pockets and looked up at the sky. "Mendokuse."

"True that." Shikamaru replied.

For a few minutes they looked up at the clouds, before they set off back to Konoha.

They said nothing more on their way back.

End Chapter Twenty Nine

-AN: I know last time I said this would be the last chapter before the timeskip, but I hadn't realized quite how much material I had to cover. When you spread out a chapter over five working notebooks and have six to eight pages a piece, you suddenly end up with something like this. And much as I know I should have found a way to break this in two, I found I couldn't. It all NEEDED to be the same chapter, because this- as I have presented it- is what it was.

A little more and I'll be back to working hand to mouth- or rather, pen to keyboard, I guess- unless I somehow finish chapter Thirty One before I finish refining Chapter Thirty for posting.

And I have a litte bit of fun for everyone involved, which states in no uncertain terms how I feel about a certain piece of fannon that I utterly detest.

Omake

Homura read over the proposalwith a dispassionate eye. After a few minutes, he looked up at the rest of the room, the irritable expression on his face mirrored by every other member of the council.

"Are we all in agreement, then?" Homura asked.

The chorus on nods and murmurs indicated that, although there had been no discussion of the proposal, neither had one been needed.

Fourteen wadded up pieces of paper flew across the room to pelt the Godaime Hokage. "The council unanimously rejects your proposal for this 'Clan Restoration Act'." Homura announced.

"Pervert." Added Koharu. Linali and a few other women growled agreement.

"Meh." Said Jiraiya with a grin. "Was worth a shot."

End Omake.

P.S. Kudos to Battletech fans who can pick out the reference. Getting it in its entirety is worth a bag of Heroic Peanuts.

Ja mata.

-AXENOME