Here's the next chapter. Hopefully y'all are enjoying my new version of the story so far. Happy reading!

Naruto doubled over in pain and groaned. He did not feel good. Not only had he just fought with Sasuke, but after he disappeared Sakura remembered her kunai was tipped with poison. Kakashi tried to help him up while Airi laughed her butt off behind a concerned Sakura. Sakura turned on the girl with fire in her eyes. "What is your problem?!" she yelled grabbing her by the collar. "Who are you anyway?!" Airi just kept laughing at her. "Relax pinkie, he'll heal up in no time with the Kyuubi's chakra. Also, didn't you look at my file…?" Before Sakura could answer Airi snapped to attention and pushed Sakura away from her. She cursed confusing Naruto until he saw Victoria ram the girl right in the stomach. Airi crashed into the stone wall of the bridge with a sickening thud.

Sakura reacted immediately aiming her kunai at the girl's face only to have Victoria grab it and end up in front of her. Sakura gasped as the girl landed a front kick right in her ribs. Naruto's eyes widened as Sakura was thrown several feet back. This was not happening. Not right now when he could barely stand! Kakashi helped Naruto up trying to support his weight so they could get away. Yamato released several roots from the ground trying to hit her. His eyes widened when the girl weaved through the branches like it was nothing and sliced him across the chest with her scythe. Naruto knew as she got closer to him and Kakashi that there was no escape this time. He was dead weight, and Kakashi had his hands full with him. As Victoria got ready to swing her scythe Naruto saw a silver kunai whiz past his head. The Kunai imbedded itself into Victoria's left shoulder making her drop the scythe.

Suddenly, the girl straight out of Naruto's memories was in front of Victoria delivering an upward kick to her chin and shoving her backwards. After a moment, Victoria righted herself. Lori stood there with two Sai in her hands string the girl down. "Sorry am I interrupting something?" She asked sarcastically. Victoria got an absolutely murderous look across her face and dove for the girl. Lori ducked down and threw her right sai at the girl as she passed over her. It whizzed past Victoria's cheek, and then she rolled and grabbed her scythe aiming it at Lori's head. Lori bent over backwards barely missing the blow. Victoria jumped up aiming the scythe down. Lori flipped over retrieving her sai and used them to deflect the blow and push the girl back. Naruto was surprised when another Kunai came from out of nowhere hitting the girl in the side making her jump back. Naruto realized Sakura had recovered and was trying to rush the girl again. Victoria glared at her. "You're annoying!" She yelled slamming the end of her scythe into the girl's side knocking her down.

Airi had come to, and realized what Victoria was going to do when she turned the scythe on Sakura. Airi struggled to her feet trying to make it in time. Kakashi dropped Naruto charging his Chidori and rushing towards the girl. Naruto tried to stand as Victoria aimed the scythe down above Sakura. Sakura was staring up at the girl with wide eyes trying to move out of the way. "That's enough!" Lori yelled suddenly. She made the same series of hand signs Naruto had seen Airi do earlier with the addition of five more. Lori thrust her hands out aiming the jutsu at Victoria. Victoria froze in mid swing her gaze fierce and intense. The same symbol as before appeared beneath her feet except this time ice snaked up from the symbol freezing the girl in place. Sakura stared in astonishment and fell back on her butt from shock. Kakashi was just as surprised as she was stopping and turning off his Chidori. Airi stopped and bent down breathing as sigh of relief. Naruto could only stare at the raven haired girl. Airi glared at her. "You couldn't have just done that in the first place?" Lori shrugged smiling. "Give me a break. You know it takes a minute to work up the chakra for that thing." She was suddenly aware of Naruto staring at her.

Naruto froze as she started walking towards him. Her face was completely unreadable, and he had no idea what to say. What was he supposed to say? Hey Lori I'm glad you're not dead. By the way I got my memories back. Sorry I forgot about you! Do you still like stories as much as you did when we were little? Somehow he didn't think that would go over very well at all. He tensed when he realized she was right in front of him. She bent down in front of him. Wait when had he ended up back on the ground? The last thing he remembered before he blacked out completely was her poking him right in the center of the head saying, "Give me back the piece you stole from Tia doofus."

Lori sighed as Naruto blacked out. One problem down, four more to go. One of those problems was currently aiming a very dangerous looking green fist at her. She dodged the girl jumping back a few feet, and sweat dropped at Sakura's murderous glare that was currently aimed at her. "You!" she yelled at Lori enraged. Lori tried to calm the girl down. "Hey can we just talk this out for a minute…" she started only to barely dodge the fist aimed at her face. Tallah chuckled in her head. "You deserved that." She said. Lori snorted. "Shut up." Sakura was slightly terrifying on full rage. "You electrocuted me!" Lori sidestepped the punch to her side. "You chained me up with that jutsu!" She jumped over the kick aimed at her leg. "You threatened my friends!" She sidestepped the punch to her other side. "And you suppressed my memories! That hurt!" She ducked under the punch aimed at her head and caught the girl's arm standing up. She glared at the pink haired girl. "Ok I get that I was pretty much an ass, but would it really be too much to ask you to hear me out for the next 5 minutes at least? I promise I'll make it short." Sakura glared at her and was about to retort back when Kakashi grabbed her shoulder. "Sakura she did just save your life, and Airi saved Naruto's life only a few hours ago. The least we can do is listen. Besides," he said looking over her head. "We seem to have more company."

Lori followed Sakura's now cautious gaze to where Riyu was now standing with the others. He stood in front with his dagger tail in hand while Ryu hung sideways on a wall to the left with his weapon scroll at the ready. Tia stood behind them on the right with her fans out and a maniacal grin on her face. Al was behind Ryu on the left with a bomb in his hand. With the exception of Tia they were all glaring. She glanced at Riyu fighting the relieved smile that was trying to come across her face. "Thought you were out as soon as we were done here?" She said. Riyu hit her gaze evenly. "We got caught." Lori blinked in surprise. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Airi's gaze go towards the bridge. She followed her gaze and tensed. On top of the bridge glaring at the group was the Kazekage, and he didn't look happy. "I saw the end of your fight." He said in monotone surprising her. Gaara glanced at the rest of her group studying each one of them. "Shizune recovered some interesting information in Naruto and Sakura's absence." Lori met his gaze curiously not sure what to expect. Gaara looked at her his eyes seeming to stare into her soul. "Uchiha Lorienn," he said catching everyone off guard. "Rine Airi, Elric Alphonse, Atomashi Riyu, Atomashi Ryu, and Amakashi Tia. We need to talk." Riyu's eyes widened, and Airi looked just as surprised as she did. Even Tallah was silent within her mind. Being the naturally childish person she was Lori held her arms upright out in front of her. "You caught me."

"Naruto." Naruto groaned in his sleep. Geez his whole body hurt. He didn't want to get up yet. The bed felt nice. "Naruto." Whose voice was that? "Naruto!" the voice demanded a little louder. Naruto groaned again. "5 more minutes." He muttered. "YOU GOOD FOR NOTHING EXCUSE FOR A VESSEL! I GET SEALED BY THAT ****ING DRAGON FOR WEEKS, AND YOU HAVE THE NERVE TO TELL ME FIVE MORE MINUTES!? WAKE YOUR IDIOTIC *** UP SO I CAN SKIN HER ALIVE!" Naruto screeched and bolted up with a jolt. "What the heck?!" he yelled. "FOOL!" yelled the Kyuubi. "Did you really forget about me that easily you worthless sack of flesh?!" Naruto groaned. He forgot the Kyuubi had been released when he got his memories back. "If I find Tallah for anything, it'll be to put you back to sleep." He said annoyed. "How dare you! I'll skin you first you little whelp!"

It was then that Shizune came into the tent. "Oh, Naruto you're awake!" Naruto grinned. "Remind me not to get hit by one of Sakura's kunai ever again please." Shizune laughed. Naruto laughed with her then remembered exactly what had gone on at the summit. "Shizune!" he yelled grabbing the poor woman's wrist and practically scarring her to death. "What happened after I blacked out?" Shizune frowned and pried his hand off her wrist. "Before I tell you anything else, you should know that Gaara chose to approach the thieves on somewhat peaceful grounds despite the urging of the council to have them arrested. He managed to convince the council to give him access to the 3rd Kazekage's restricted documents, and for whatever reason is allowing them to have the green gem you took from Tia as well as the one they stole from the Land of Iron. He then insisted that they come here and formally request the Hokage to give them ours. Apparently, all the hidden villages have one in their Archives." Naruto blinked in surprise. "They're here in the Village?" Shizune nodded "Sakura retrieved the memories Lori suppressed and explained the situation to Tsunade-sama after she woke up." Naruto grinned. "Obaa-chan woke up!? That's great!" Shizune nodded. "She's pulled out our own restricted files and is currently dealing with the thieves at this moment. She'll have to decide what to do and take it up with the rest of the Kages."

Naruto nodded and tried to get out of bed. Shizune stopped him. "Where do you think you're going?" Naruto sighed. Shouldn't she know him by now? "I'm going to talk to them." He was specifically going to talk to Lori, but she didn't need to know that. Shizune grabbed his arm and forced him back onto the bed. "Really Naruto you need to rest. Besides there's something you should know before you talk to Lori." Naruto debated arguing with the medic-nin, but decided against it. Shizune's face smoothed out in relief. "After you and Sakura left Gaara had Kankuro go through the employment records and found Lori's profile. The name on there, Rin Fae, was a fake of course. He sent me a copy of her profile. Iruka came by my tent saying her was concerned over something you had talked about with him, and he recognized her picture." Naruto's eyes widened in surprise.

Shizune continued. "I searched through the Uchiha clan's records, but I couldn't find her file. Gaara also sent a copy of the sketch drawn of Riyu to an ally in Iwagakure. The people placed in the Shimari refugee camp recognized him, and said he and his twin had disappeared as children. There were also no records of them. So, I bypassed security and went through some of the files the third Hokage had entrusted to Tsunade-sama. I found out that when he destroyed one of Orochimaru's hideouts about three years ago the Anbu discovered some files he had along with his research. Do you remember Gato?" Naruto scowled. "Yeah. I remember the weasel. What's that got to do with the files?" Shizune continued. "Orochimaru apparently struck a deal with Gato. He would let him be free to rule the Land of Waves only if he could establish a camp in Gato's territory." Naruto suddenly remembered the comment Truth had made at the Bridge. "Yore, the Keeper of the Gate of Light for your world, died three years ago in one of Orochimaru's underground slave camps. Coincidentally, it was one that Gato supplied children for so Orochimaru wouldn't take over his areas of business." Shizune continued. "Most of the people taken were orphaned children and kids off the street. Kids no one would miss. As far as we know he did experiments on several of them and tortured them as punishment for disobedience."

Naruto shuddered. Shizune nodded in agreement. "The files of the children kidnapped were taken away so no one would become suspicious. I found files on Lori, Airi, and the twin boys in the materials from the raid along with several hundred more." Naruto clenched his fist in the sheets. Kyuubi was, for once, silent. Shizune looked sad. "In light of what Madara informed you about the Uchiha Coup-de-tat, I think it's safe to say many of the council hoped she was dead after they didn't find her body in the compound." Naruto had no words as he looked down at his sheets glaring. Before Naruto could think about what to do next Sakura had barged her way into the tent and banged him on the head. "OW!" Naruto yelled at her. "What was that for!?" He shrunk back a little when he realized Sakura was seething.

"YOU IDIOT!" she yelled at him. "How many times have I told you not to keep important things like this from me?!"

Naruto rubbed his head momentarily confused. "What things?"

Sakura practically growled at him. "I know about the Bijuu invading your mind Naruto. Lori told Tsunade-sama everything!"

It was then Tsunade chose to enter the tent. "Calm down Sakura it's probably better that he didn't tell us. We would've only made things more complicated for them." Sakura sulked. "I still don't like her or the rest those thieves." Tsunade glanced at her pupil and smiled. "You don't have to like them. You just have to trust their actions will be justified and monitored from now on. As for you," she said glaring at Naruto. "How many times do I have to treat you baka?" Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Sorry Baa-chan." Tsunade rolled her eyes. "More got knocked loose in your head than I thought if you're actually apologizing." Naruto sweat dropped. Obviously the old hag was the same as always despite being in a coma for several weeks. "I did actually come here for a reason Naruto." She said catching everyone in the room's attention. "After talking to the thieves, the other Kages and myself have decided to let them have the remaining shards of the gem as long as they repair and pay back all the damages they caused in the villages. We've agreed to send you with Uchiha Lori and Rine Airi in three days to send Victoria back to wherever the hell she came from and fix this whole mess. I swear I hate the Guardians. They have a habit of turning all logic upside down."

Naruto blinked in surprise. "Tsunade Baa-chan did you already know about the gem and the guardians?" Tsunade crossed her arms. "As a child I remember my grandfather telling me stories about them. I actually met one of them during the War. Her name was Kayuki Mura if I remember correctly. She was the Keeper of the Gate of Light at the time. She was a little younger than me, but I remember watching her fight. It was one of the most spectacular and terrifying things I've ever seen." Naruto processed the information. He hadn't really thought about what the previous guardians had been like until Airi had mentioned the Sage's wife, Zena. He wondered exactly how many there had been since then.

Tsunade waved her hand getting his attention. "Either way they're staying here for now. So, if you want more information on your mission I suggest you ask one of them when you're able." Naruto nodded appreciatively, and sweat dropped as Tsunade declared loudly that she was going to celebrate her revival with a few drinks and some gambling. Shizune followed her out the door trying to persuade her otherwise. Sakura still sat down across from him looking unsettled. "I don't trust her." She said. Naruto didn't have to ask who she meant. "You don't have too. I do." Sakura gazed at him evenly. "I know. That's what worries me." Naruto frowned at his friend a bit irritated. "I can take care of myself Sakura. Besides she was my best friend…" "Was your best friend." Sakura bit back. "What is she now? She was willing to rob several villages and destroy their archives. She suppressed my memory to keep everyone off her trail. Look at her family's track record. Itachi murdered his entire clan for power. Sasuke killed Orochimaru, Itachi, Danzou, and was willing to kill Karin to get what he wanted. He almost killed me. What makes you think she's any different?" Naruto's mind went blank. Sakura waited for his answer. She left an hour later without one because, honestly, he didn't have one to give.

Lori pulled at the contraption hooked around her neck. The Hokage, Tsunade, had gotten the other Kages to forgive their "misguided" thefts and let them pursue Victoria on one condition. Until they completely reimbursed and repaired all the damages they had caused to the villages they had to wear these stupid collars so the Kages could make sure they wouldn't run away. Not exactly the turning point of the story she had been hoping for, but she wasn't in jail. She scowled at the thing though. It reminded her a little too much of the chains Orochimaru had made them wear around their wrists and ankles underground.

Airi glanced over at her from her bed on the other side of the room. Tsunade had given them rooms in an apartment downtown where they could stay until they were ready to pursue Victoria. The time had been extended to a week instead of three days after the slug-sanin had looked at some of their injuries more closely. Tia was stretched out on the floor looking up at the ceiling. Airi gestured toward her collar. "Doesn't give a very pleasant feeling." She commented trying to lighten the mood. Lori looked at her friend pouting. "I feel like a dog chained up for being bad." She complained. Airi frowned. "Compared to what the punishment could've been I'd say we got off easy." She reprimanded. Lori was silent. "Ya know," Tia piped up from the floor. "We could've just asked the stupid Kage's permission in the first place. Sure it would've been hard to convince them that an assassin, a refugee, and four people who don't exist needed a gem shard hidden in their archives, but it would've been honest and a lot less hassle."

Lori rolled over and faced the wall. "Since when does an assassin care about being honest?" She had barely enough time to dodge the kunai embedded where her head had been two seconds ago. Tia walked over and pulled her kunai from Lori's headboard. "Look I know you're still hiding something from us." She looked back as she opened the door to leave. "You need to figure out exactly how far you're willing to go here, because if you keep going like this I can promise you you're gonna have a hell of a time crawling back out of that hole you've dug for yourself." She left the two girls in silence. Airi chuckled humorlessly. "Kind of hard to argue with that logic isn't it?" Lori just nodded. She had never answered Tallah when she asked her if she was happy. She didn't feel like she'd been happy in a long time. She had spent so long preparing to die that she didn't know what to do now that she had to fight to live. After sitting for a few more minutes, she stood up and made for the door. "You know you're going to eventually have to tell them what you were planning to do if Naruto didn't get the memories back." Airi said making Lori pause. "I know." She said. "And I will." She smiled sadly at her friend. "First, there's something I have to do. Don't wait up for me." She could still feel her friend's eyes on her back as she slipped out the door. She didn't follow Tia. She had another destination in mind. A place she'd been avoiding for far too long.