Naruto: Kung Fu Guardian

Chapter 18: He's Back

…o.0.O.0.o…

Disclaimer: I borrowed the characters and Narutoverse from Kishimoto. Everything else is mine.

Last Chapter: Kakashi and company were trapped by ROOT-nins in one of their old abandoned hideout while looking for clues to track down Sasuke. Kabuto escaped from his ANBU interrogation squad. Eight and a half weeks later, Naruto parted from Masters Wu and Wong and rushed through his journey back. Among the many things Wong had taught him, one of them was the art of levitation, which Naruto was trying to master through tree-top jumping exercises. The history of Qi and chakra and the origin of the Sage of the Six Paths became evident. Master Wu had taught Naruto Tai Chi, both the palm and sword arts, which he used to set up his security alarms at night after taking his first sleep in 3 nights. Naruto was only 2 weeks away from home.

…o.0.O.0.o…

After traveling two more weeks, the blond and former loudmouth knucklehead baka returned to Konoha from his six months training trip. The last three days had been all nighters again. He was truly exhausted, but not too overly so that he would forgo catching up with certain ones first.

Something had happened right before his departure from Masters Wong and Wu that had also made him anxious to check on the welfare of his friends. That day, there was a period of prolong void and immense sorrow followed by a complete cold darkness.

Master Wong had told him that it could be a premonition of some sort.

Having heard that, Naruto had bid his goodbyes and rushed back.

Even now he still couldn't shake off that ominous dread that the sufferings the chosen Guardian had to undergo had just began. He had known that he would have gotten here too late to prevent things from happening anyway, and he doubted he could have made a difference were he given the opportunity to.

In many ways he remained the same fun-loving, warm-hearted loyal friend, loving grandson, well-adjusted adoptee, and prankster extraordinaire he had always been.

In many ways he was a different person all together.

Gone were his shinobi slacks and vest his adopted father Asuma had gotten him when his orange jumpsuits were incinerated into the oblivion. He had tried his best to stretch more usage out of what remained of his shinobi identity, that and his hitai-ite, by sewing patches to mend the outfit he had outgrown during his stay away from the village or from any place that sold shinobi gears. Instead, what he had on now was a bluish gray Taoist robe with an Yin-Yang insignia on the back, the same replica that Master Wu wore. The same one that he had used to hate, but now was finding quite comfortable under.

Gone was most of the baby fat that had used to hug his face and waist. The training had only lasted six months, but they were six harsh, cold, and physically demanding months in the elevated peak of Mt. WuDang, obscured from the mundane by the clouds in high heavens. Eating only when and what the wilderness had offered trimmed most excess fat and unnecessary muscles into a lean and slender body.

His stature became taller now, a little over 5 feet, though he seemed taller with his sword Yuutou protruding like a limb from its sheath bound to his back.

Naruto stood a good walking distance away from Konoha's grand entrance taking in the visage that was his home. He closed his eyes and stretched out his Qi. The mental picture Qi painted was indeed something else. The ambiance of the surface of the world around him, combined with the soft glow of life and the surreal tangibility of objects animate and inanimate, created a truly unique perspective on the world around him.

Eye-closing wasn't necessary anymore for him to focus on Qi kinesthetics, but he wanted to "feel" his village for now, checking on his friends and giving everything an once-over. It was quicker this way, instead of wandering aimlessly into the village with chance as his guide. Plus, he was reserving the actual savoring of the visual imagery for later when he physically set foot in village.

He breathed a sigh of relief when his Qi sensed Jiji, Asuma, Anko, and Konohamaru, and by extension his greater family, Kakashi-sensei, Yuugao-sensei, and Iruka-sensei. A fond smile blossomed when he sensed another life force in Anko and made note to ask Anko later.

He then focused on locating his friends. Hinata-chan, Ino-chan, Tenten-chan, Shino, Shikamaru, Choji, ... one by one he found them training with their teams. He blushed and his concentration faded sightly when his gave Hinata and Tenten an once-over, from head to toes and everything in between, taking in the curves that he hadn't noticed or hadn't yet developed before he left them six months ago. Did they miss him, he wondered. He made a point to visit all his peers when they got done training.

He was about to explore that thought more, but that ominous dread was tugging at him. Something wasn't right here. A frown and a pair of scrounched eyebrows later, he realized that Sakura-chan, Sasuke and Kiba and their dogs were missing.

He opened his eyes and walked toward the village as the wind blew against his sunkissed blond locks. After six months without access to a barber, he now had a longer spiky mane that patterned after the late Yondaime he had seen in picture archives. Mentally he mused how close his resemblance was to the village hero of the Third Ninja War; in fact, a close imitation, minus the Kyuubi whisker marks of course.

'If that's true, how am I supposed to react to the years of harsh treatment from the village that HE saved? Nah, like I could be son of the 4th,' he snickered at his own absurd thoughts. He'd just have to wait for Jiji to tell him about his parents after the Chuunin Exam.

He barely noticed the attending guards that greeted him and that he had absentmindedly allowed his feet to autopilot his body through the village entrance. He was also too preoccupied to notice their shock in seeing his new look, and it wasn't his foreign-looking Taoist robe that caused them to do a doubletake.

Naruto wanted to see Jiji first, but currently Jiji was in a room with 15 other people, presumably a meeting with the village council and clanheads. Asuma and Anko's bodies were intimate in proximity, and he feared his intrusion would be unwelcomed. Yuugao-sensei was somewhere in the ANBU headquarter, and Iruka-sensei was busy teaching a class, one with Konohamaru in it no less. That leaved Kakashi-sensei who was currently paying his respects to the Memorial Stone of Heroes.

Kakashi-sensei it was.

Naruto inverted his Taoist robe to hide the Yin-Yang symbol. Then, he flipped on his hood to conceal his hair and masked his face with a gray bandanna.

The adolescent smirked, satisfied with his appearance. He had a Genin test to make up.

…o.0.O.0.o…

A kunai laced with Qi wheezed through the air. Actually, there wasn't any "wheezing," at least not acoustically since the Qi coating silenced the sound ripples normally emitted by flying projectiles. But the kunai was moving very fast in the air toward its intended target. Undetectably even.

Kakashi barely felt it when it sliced off the knot tying his face mask, causing his outermost mask to drift away with the wind. He quickly produced a kunai in his hand and looked around cautiously. He had been careless, too engrossed in his thoughts like usual when staring at the Memorial Stone, that he had neglected to take note of his surroundings. Had he been in enemy territory, or had the perpetrator desired his death, Kakashi had no doubt that his momentary lapse would have led to his demise.

"Show yourself! Are you friend or foe?" Kakashi demanded while sweeping his glance from side to side and steadily rotating his body. Even though he knew it couldn't be a foe, especially since the kunai wasn't aimed to wound or kill him, his nerves couldn't help but throw out logic for now. After all, very few people could throw a kunai at him without his detection, no matter how distracted he'd happened to be.

The disguised Naruto stepped into view. That hue on his cloak was remotely familiar, but Kakashi couldn't place of what or whom it reminded him.

Before Kakashi was done formulating a first impression, another kunai sailed toward him, this time sans Qi as the former ANBU captain reflexively snatched it from trajectory, noticing the note attached to it.

It wasn't an explosive note, he observed. Again, if this was a foe, it could have been. After sending the kunai sailing back to its sender, Kakashi opened the note and read its content:

The objective is to remove my mask before I remove yours.

"Gai?" Kakashi inquired, quirking his lone visible eyebrow, only to have the opponent shaking his head. "Didn't think so. You're not tall enough and certainly not loud or annoying enough. Plus you have a better fashion sense."

The concealed Naruto sneakered at that remark, and when he came to, the masked Jounin was gone.

Three kunais sailed toward him from behind. Naruto jumped up to grab one, using it to deflect the rest. A shower of shurikens followed. The tale-tell presence of chakra screamed kage bunshin shurikens.

The disguised Genin drew out his sword and shot forth streams of Qi as Yuutou danced through one of the Nine Lonesome Stances: The Projectile Conquering Stance. Under normal circumstances, Naruto would have to wait until the shurikens reach within the range of his sword stabs, but his newly mastered ability to shoot off spurts of Qi allowed him to use this sword stance sooner and at a greater distance away.

The Qi streams that flew out of Yuutou's tips pierced into each of those hundreds of shuriken, halting them in midair. To Kakashi, it appeared that those shurinkens were impaled to remain where they happened to be, as if the air around the masked challenger was a big cork board and his sword was somehow shooting invisible pins that held his shuriken shadow clones onto it.

Kakashi immediately lifted his hitai-ite and opened his Sharingan to get a better look. The soft energy glow piercing each of his motionless shuriken clones confirmed his hypothesis. This energy was not chakra, at least Kakashi didn't believe it to be.

The boy then settled into his Tai Chi sword dance. Tai Chi was a style that Kakashi recognized. He had seen Gai doing Tai Chi on some mornings as warm up; however, the masked Jounin had considered that form of slow-motion martial arts as more of an exercise yoga than an actual combat-worthy taijutsu. This would be the first time he had seen Tai Chi implemented with a sword.

But, then again, this would also be the first time he saw a soft glow of energy, which was only visible because of his uncovered Sharingan, being part of Tai Chi. He certainly didn't remember Gai having done or being capable of this when he'd watched.

Kakashi then saw his masked attacker command the shurikens in circular motion, choreographing them through the labyrinth of soft glow of energy waves, and sending them soaring toward Kakashi's hidden location.

With a miniscule flicker of chakra, Kakashi dismissed the bunshin shurikens, resulting in hundreds of smoky poofs. And, so was Kakashi.

The hooded boy halted his dance when he could no longer sense Kakashi. Naruto remained calm, not even the slightest hint of surprise or panic. He stretched out his Qi-dar a bit more, scrutinizing the subtleties of everything around him. Still, nothing out of the ordinary, yet.

It was too late when Naruto felt a pair of hands erupting from the ground, grabbing on to his ankles. He cursed himself for not having paid attention to what was below him as he was pulled under, leaving only his head above ground and his sword impaled on the ground next to him.

From a nearby tree, Kakashi jumped and landed in front of his masked attacker, going for that mask and the win. His hitai-ite now covered his transplant to conserve chakra. Very few people had ever escaped this Doton jutsu, at least not when he was the one who had cast it, and he doubt the masked youngster had the skills to do so.

But victory was not Hatake's to take, not if Naruto had any say on the matter. And, despite being immobilized, Naruto still had plenty to say.

Just when Kakashi was reaching his hand for the mask, a pulse of energy erupted and blasted away dirt and rocks that had entombed the masked youngster a yard in radius around.

The youngster grabbed Kakashi's approaching arm with his left hand and pulled himself out of the now enlarged hole while reaching for Kakashi's mask with his right, which he easily removed. Too easy.

Suddenly the 'Kakashi' before him poofed into a replacement log. Kawarimi no jutsu, an elementary but effective must-know of every ninja.

Just then, Naruto felt the approaching searing heat of a Katon Goukakyuu no Jutsu behind him. The masked boy gently pulsed Qi to his right palm, calling forth his sword. The energy yanked Yuutou out of the soil and pulled it into Naruto's hand. He let the rest of his generated Qi infuse his sword as he twisted 180 degrees and sliced downward, toward the fireball. The resulting invisible Qi blade parted the enormous ball of inferno into polar directions so that he stood there unharmed.

What had started as a funny way to surprise and greet his sensei after being away for six months had somehow turned into something more serious, Naruto concluded.

When his fiery breath ran out, Kakashi stood 10 feet in front of his mystery challenger. After what seemed like a few minutes of staring, Kakashi feigned an attempt for his opponent's mask and, instead, rotated for a swipe-kick on the head, sending the smaller figure tumbling sideways, nearly having knocked off the bluish-gray hood that was hiding his blond locks.

Naruto had sensed that kick coming but was too slow reacting. He rolled with the tumble, lamenting his loss of chakra usage, knowing full well that a Kawarimi here or a Kage Bunshin there would have done wonders in this fight against the legendary Copy-nin. Then, he reminded himself that he was the chosen and confirmed Guardian of the Two Nines. He had a name and an honor to keep, and the resurfacing self-doubt was hampering him.

True, in some ways, he still wished he had access to his chakra. Wishing for chakra, in itself, wasn't wrong, or else either Master Wong or Wu certainly would have chastised him for it in their presence. But, doing so while engaging in combat, even though this was supposed to be a friendly spar, was distracting, to say the least.

Making a firm resolve and renewing his confidence in Qi, the masked Naruto stood up using speed Kakashi hadn't seen from him and launched himself over the Jounin's silver spikes before landing 20 feet away behind the masked Jounin.

Kakashi quickly turned around, shocked to find that he was now staring at the mysterious person with BOTH of his eyes and noticed that his hitai-ite was now in the challenger's hands. 'How?' or 'Why didn't he just remove his mask while at it?' Kakashi would liked to have asked but was too shocked to.

"I want to make it fair since I'll be taking this seriously now, Hatake-san," the young boy answered one of his unasked questions. Fighting with honor was one of the codes of WuXia that Master Wong had drilled into him, and it just didn't seem right to simply take off that mask when Kakashi had that headband handicapping his Sharingan.

'He sounds so young. 14? 15? Why is his voice so familiar?' Kakashi was having a hard time figuring out this boy's identity even though he believed he should have all the necessary clues. 'Have I missed any details?' His eyes subconsciously dotted over to the masked youngster's own only to abandon them in search for other details.

Kakashi hadn't really been himself since Sakura's death, and especially since the Sasuke incident. Most nights he spent basking in the mirth of brothels and drowning in the intoxicating nectar of fermented rice. During the day, he spent his wasted waking hours staring at the accursed Memorial Stone. Time went by unaccounted for the past few weeks.

'Full level,' the former ANBU captain certainly was not, but he was certainly at least an average Jounin level.

"All right. You'll have it," Kakashi retorted briskly while his hands sped through some hand seals, only to find them involuntarily slowing down after the masked youngster interrupted him with a concentrated blanket of that mysterious energy.

"Jutsus are a waste of time, Hatake-san. I'll use my sword against whatever you dish out to me anyway," Naruto bluffed behind his mask as he sheathed his sword. Naruto was willing to fight honorably, but that didn't mean he was above making his opponent overestimate his abilities, not when it would result in his advantage. Besides, it wasn't a lie. He would use his sword to counter Kakashi's jutsus. Whether or not he would succeed was another matter.

He certainly was sure he could split or deflect some jutsus, but he was not stupid enough to believe that he could do that to all jutsus, especially in his current condition. Splitting that Katon had already taken a lot out of him. Taijutsu was about all he could handle right now from Kakashi.

"Just so you know," Kakashi retorted, "I've never lost in taijutsu when using both eyes. Furthermore my reach is longer than yours. You stand no chance against me."

The masked youngster then dropped into a Tai Chi open stance and taunted Kakashi to attack, "Just attack already, or is the legendary Sharingan Kakashi scared?"

"You almost got me to believe you were above ninjutsu until that taunt. It seems like you are at your limit," Kakashi stoically stated. His Sharingan didn't lie.

"Nothing a few minutes of breathing exercise couldn't restore," the masked youngster rebuffed.

"Hm, even if that's true," Kakashi doubted that, "you are assuming that I'll be foolish enough to let you have a breather. Still, I'll indulge your request for a taijutsu spar. That Tai Chi stance of yours... Gai, a taijutsu specialist favors, Goken over Tai Chi because Goken is more fluid and has less wasted movements. And, I've beaten both of his Goken and Tai Chi."

"Gai wasn't taught by a person who inherited Tai Chi from its inventor. And, there's no need for you to gloat. I'm aware of what's written in your file"-which was only a brief description from the Sandaime about his sensei, but the way he sounded made it seemed more-"This won't take long, I promise."

This had the desired effect of pissing Kakashi off. He charged with a speed that rivaled his former ANBU self.

A forward jab with all his power landed squarely on the masked youngster's face. His infallable Sharingan confirmed as much.

But somehow, it didn't feel like a hit, at least not a hit against anything solid. For one, he didn't feel its sting on his fist. And second, the masked challenger was still standing there. In fact, his fist was still connected to the other's face, only pushed back by the long reach of Kakashi's punching arm.

For the record, the hit did land. But Kakashi was correct: It wasn't against anything solid. Instead, it felt like he had landed a hit against a piece of cloth, much like punching a hung curtain.

The Sharingan next caught the masked challenger kicking left leg upward, which his chin barely dodged. The glancing blow told Kakashi that the boy must have converted all of the punch received to his face into that kick, and perhaps even amplified some more by the boy's own strength.

Kakashi swiftly grabbed the offending leg, but the masked boy easily escaped with a simple twisting and circling of the leg around the hold. The Jounin's Sharingan revealed that a coating of that mysterious energy around the captured leg made possible for the slip-away from the veteran shinobi's grip.

The Jounin attempted several more Goken-like punches, this time packed with even more chakra. The masked teenager's left arm parried the first one and circled around Kakashi's arm to diffuse its power.

The masked boy countered the next raining punches the same way and left a trace of Qi around Kakashi's punching and kicking limbs every time he circled around them. And with each succession, Kakashi felt his movements slowing; his arms and legs, heavier.

'He left a trace of that mysterious energy behind his Tai Chi circling. Does Gai know this, too? Probably not, since he considered these Tai Chi moves unnecessary and inferior to the Goken.'

Finally, after Kakashi's movements had slowed down quite considerably, the masked boy attacked. Using two fingers, his index and middle stiffen adjacently, ....

'Wait, where have I seen this move before?' Kakashi searched his memory while staring right into the masked boy's cerulean blue eyes, noticing the blond locks not completely hiddened by the hood. 'And those eyes.... Wait! Blond hair!?'

... the boy aimed them at what Kakashi recognized from his former ANBU training as pressure points for disabling someone. His Sharingan predicted where the boy was aiming for and shifted his body ever slightly a nanosecond before each contact.

At the end of the disabling sequence, Kakashi's eyes widened in shock before fallen unconscious.

The masked Naruto let out a sigh of relief that the intense fight was finally over. He was at his limit. Activating Qi breathing, he could feel his power easily restored to 70 percent. Qi, although potent and invigorating, could not replenish what he had lost from the lack of sleep. He would need at least a day of rest and sleep to be 100 percent again, definitely more than "a few minutes of breathing exercises" that he had boasted to Kakashi.

Bending down to look at Kakashi's masked face, he reached down to remove that damnable mask and claim his victory.

Just then, he felt Kakashi's arm grabbed hold of his.

"What the..."

And before Naruto registered what had happened, he saw Kakashi spinning them both, pinning his body down while removing his bandanna.

"I won, Naruto."

Kakashi smiled at Naruto, but couldn't understand why the boy was looking at him dumbfoundedly until his hand found its way to his unmasked face.

At that inopportune time, Kakashi heard one voice he had hoped never to, especially now.

"Yosh! What's my Eternal Rival doing saddling his student like that?!"

Kakashi and Naruto turned their heads toward that voice and found an appalled Gai pointing his finger at them. Those two quickly pushed off each other with Naruto handing back Kakashi's mask and hitai-ite.

"Oh, hi, Gai. Did you say something?" Kakashi asked after he secured his signature face enhancement.

"Yosh! It's just like you to say something hip like that to get out of a sticky situation." the green-clad Jounin boisterously declared. "I'll learn how to be secure with my masculinity and take showing my students affection to a whole new level!"

"That's right, Gai-sensei!" the mini-Gai shouted while pumping his fists. "I want you to show me that kind of affection! I will not lose to Naruto."

"That's right, Lee!" Gai said as he gave his protege a thumbs up and a blinding smile. "We will win because the power of youth shines brightly in us!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

The remaining two from Team 10 and Kakashi instinctively looked away as the spandex duo activated their deadly genjutsu with a hug. Neji actually took a few steps away from them and ready himself to perform a Kaiton should they get any closer to him.

Not needing to be anymore messed up than he already had been, Kakashi shinshunned away from there in a jiffy. He NEEDED to think about women, to look at someone that would remind him why he was happy to be a male. Since he had become too broke from frequenting brothels and bars, he decided to visit Kurenai who was still on the training grounds with her team. Perhaps he could observe her, talk to her, or do something to get her to call him a pervert. He would take anything at this point. Maybe if he was brave enough, he'd ask her out for lunch. Kami knew how much he needed to talk to someone about Sakura's death and Sasuke's betrayal, and no doubt Kurenai needed the same regarding Kiba.

Naruto, on the other hand, was not aware of the dangers until he was caught in their sunset genjutsu.

"Naruto?" asked their female teammate as she stood in front of the boy and gently shook him out of his stupor. All the while, Tenten was telling herself not to blush from looking over how Naruto had matured from his six-month absentee. Despite her internal protest, or because of it, she felt her cheeks rose in temperature.

A recovered Naruto smiled and said, "Hi, Tenten-chan. Thanks." He then scrawled his brows. "What was that, a genjutsu?"

"Not sure," she replied as she directed Naruto toward another direction lest he get caught staring at the disturbing image again. "So, you just got back?"

"Yeah. I want to catch up with you and all, but I have a few questions that I had hoped Kakashi would answer for me," Naruto hated that he had to rush, "but since he's not here, and now that Jiji, I mean, Hokage-sama is free, I should probably go meet him first."- after that brief Qi breathing, Naruto had spread out his kinesthetics again, which had noticed that those flickers of life force had departed from the Sandaime.

"Yeah," the brunette sighed dejectedly, "maybe later."

"Hey, how about meeting me at Ichiruka's in an hour?" the blond suggested. "It's been a while since I had ramen, and we can catch up as well."

"Yeah, that sounds nice," the girl said with an upbeat voice.

"Yeah, it's a date then," Naruto blurted out without thinking. He then launched himself toward the Hokage tower employing the art of levitation, and in one leap he landed on the window of his destination before either of them really registered what he had said. Well, in Naruto's case, it never registered.

…o.0.O.0.o…

"... so that was pretty much my training," Naruto said.

Instead of playing the role of Hokage, Hiruzen the Jiji smiled fondly at his grandson and said, "I'm proud of you, Naruto, and am glad to have you home, Naruto. Make sure to check in with you dad, too. He and Konohamaru have been looking forward to your return."

Naruto's right hand reached for the back of his head sheepishly. "Of course." - 'After Anko's done with him.'

"If you don't have anything else, you're dismissed to catch up with your friends until tomorrow morning at 8," Hiruzen ordered as a puff of smoke escaped his mouth.

"Actually, Old Man, can you tell me what happened to Sasuke, Kiba, and Sakura? I can't sense them at all. Are they away on a mission?" Naruto hoped that was the case, albeit very unlikely that Kiba had been assigned to a mission with his teammates, and especially since Kakashi was in town.

On hearing their names, Hiruzen's features aged considerably. Drawing out a lengthy smoke, he said, "I was hoping not have to discuss matters of this nature until tomorrow. I wanted you to have at least one good night's rest, but since you've asked, ...."

Hiruzen asked Naruto not to interrupt and then told the boy about Sakura's death on the mission to the Waves, the village's naming the bridge in the girl's honor, Kiba's mysterious death, and Sasuke's departure. As soon as he was done, ....

"So, Kakashi's team never found out what happened to Kiba or if Sasuke was involved?" asked an emotional, but controlled Naruto.

"Yes. Here's the mission report. Normally I don't share this, but there's nothing in there you weren't already aware of, plus it might give you some insight on Danzou and ROOT," Hiruzen said as he tossed a scroll at Naruto.

- Report Narrative -

(10 and a half weeks earlier. Konoha. With Kakashi and company trapped in ROOT's old abandoned hideout)

The four ANBU masks stared at each other. The knew that technically they were no longer in ANBU anymore, all save one, Ibiki; but the masks were something they had kept from their former days of glory.

Kakashi knew his team had the tactical disadvantage. There were four of them facing an unknown number of opponents. It was possible that their enemies had received intel on them, despite having had a privacy seal activated during the mission discussion with the Hokage. Along with their identities went their publically known abilities and attack patterns, which meant that they had lost most of the predominate deciding factor in ninja battles: the surprise element. On the other hand, very little was known of ROOT, and even much less on its members.

One word came to mind: Shit!

Currently the four Konoha loyalists were assuming one-kneed squads, which had transitioned from staying low sneaking around this abandoned ROOT hideout.

The one with an ANBU boar mask tapped his other three teammates on the shoulders and signed, 'Any ideas?'

Anko smirked at Inoichi - though her face was hidden under her vipor ANBU mask - and signed, 'Let's show them why leaves are way above the roots.' She meant that literally and metamorphically.

The one squatting next to her, Ibiki, signed in agreement, 'I think we should be able to capture at least one of them for interrogation.' In the back of his mind, he was lamenting that he couldn't do that at this moment to Kabuto, whom he had last left in the interrogation cell.

Kakashi, the dog-masked nin, really would have preferred a tactical retreat, but he was iching to vent out some frustration at the whole situation, with his student Sasuke being missing and possibly being the one responsible for Kiba's kidnapping, which was the only thing he would accept at this moment regarding his charge until given prove otherwise, even though he understood the chance of Kiba being dead was very real.

At Kakashi's signal, Anko and Ibiki activated several smoke bombs around them. Their enemies definitely knew about their presence, and they hoped the smoke screen would level the playing field somewhat.

"That won't work against us," snickered a female ROOT-nin.

Ignoring her comment, Kakashi mechanically drew some blood with a kunai, and his hands quickly blurred through half-a-dozen hand seals before slamming his palm down to summon four nin-dogs. His team could use their superior senses of detection to balance out some of the disadvantages.

"Hm, we'll show you now why Danzou-sama chose us for this," the same female voice mocked their pathetic attempts.

"Yeah, let's humble these arrogant Hokage loyalists who dare to stand in defiance to Danzou-sama," her male partner chimed in, followed by a distinct chakra flare.

Immediately everyone felt a coldness hovering over them. Moisture gathered around the overhead chill and condensed into rain drops.

"Who do you think we are? Like a little rain will do anything agaist us," Anko taunted, finally tired of her team not getting in a verbal jab.

"Not just any rain," the female ROOT-nin snickered. "Acid rain."

It was then that team Kakashi noticed how the water droplets were slowly eating away the hooded cloaks they had on as part of their identity consealment.

"Besides, it's what accompanies the rain that you should be worried about," the male ROOT accomplice added.

"Shit, dispurse!" Kakashi ordered. Each took a nin-dog and scattered in four directions.

"Thunder attack, now!" the female ordered her male teammate when she sensed his uncharacteristic hesitation.

He quickly finished the hand seals and stretched out his right hand toward the condensation of water vapor above.

A loud rumble and flashes of light roamed throughout the artificial rain cloud hugging the high ceiling of the hideout. Lightning sparks slowly leaked in random pattern all over the cave before making a concentrated push that blew open the top of the hideout, letting sun grace the damnable excavation for the first time.

"Was this supposed to happen, Rona?" asked another ROOT-nin as he and the others dodged the hailing rock debris. He'd been on missions with them two before and had always seen their enemies being the sole target of the thunder or its aftereffects. Never had he had the need to dodge like he did now.

"No, Ikazu was supposed to direct the lightning at the ground frying the leaf-nin," Rona replied.

The unnamed ROOT-nin nodded as he mentally thanked kami that he'd remembered to put on his rubber coat and boots for this mission.

"At least we got two names out of this exchange," Ibiki whispered to himself as he finished his hand seals for a Doton jutsu. Before unleashing his widearea attack, he asked the nin-dog summon Kakashi assigned to him, "Is everyone safe?"

Taking a sniff, it replied, "Inoichi is still sitting where we scattered off. His breathing is very shallow. He probably hasn't moved since we got here."

Ibiki enhanced his vision with some chakra - not a doujutsu - and barely made out the faint outline of his comrade through the smoke screen that was starting to thin out. "What da hell?"

It was then that he saw that ROOT-nin named Ikazu jumped down to grab Inoichi before speeding away with him.

"Kuzo!"

Ibiki and his companion nin-dog abandoned their hidden location and sped toward his slumped comrade, through the freshly-made gaping hole above. Kakashi, Anko, and the other two nin-dogs quickly followed.

"Er, Rona, what is Ikazu doing?"

"Dammit! After them!" Rona and two unnamed ROOT-nins also entered the chase.

When she caught up with her targets, Rona turned to find the other two ROOT nins who had been flanking her, missing. This meant she stood severely outnumbered, and she was already too close to her enemies to divide her attention worrying what she had no control over at the moment.

"It has been an honor to have seen the master mindwalker in action." Rona nodded at Inoichi. "You may foolishly think that your superior number gives you an advantage, but you'd be wrong. We ROOT-nins are loyal to the T and willing to forsake our lives to finish the mission" The sole functioning ROOT-nin pointed her finger at Ikazu's fallen body. "The minute I'm within 20 feet of my brother's body is the when this is over for all of us."

"Now, now," a new voice interrupted, using the same voice confusion jutsu to mask where the voice originate, "you talk too much for your own good. But thanks to that, I'm able to make it in time."

That voice sounded familiar to Ibiki, but he couldn't quite place where he'd heard it, so he quickly looked . He wasn't given much time to ponder as a dialogue unfolded before them.

"Kakashi, she's no longer a threat to you anymore," the surrounding voice continued. "The solution I've injected her desolved the spinal cord that links the brain to the rest of body. She's alive, technically, but she'll remain vegetated for the rest of her life."

"Who are you?" Ibiki asked.

"I'm Kabuto, your former captive," the voice replied.

After a long pause, Ibiki stated, "If you tell me who you're working for and what he wants, I'll guarantee your freedom and safety as long as you remain in Konoha."

"Fu fu, you're a funny man Ibiki," Kabuto's voice laughed, "Since I've easily escaped, I have no reason to believe in your guarantee. But I do have a favor to ask in return for my services." - pointing to the ROOT siblings - "I want Naruto-kun to participate in the Chuunin Exam." Those were the last words they heard from the voice.

- End Report Narrative -

"So, he specifically asked for me? Why?" Naruto pondered out loud.

"I'm not sure." Hiruzen replied worrily. "Actually, I'm not sure if it's a good idea for you to participate in this year's Chuunin Exam. Kabuto is obviously a spy and must have escape the village after that incident. His being a medic-nin that rivals Tsunade's genius and havng evident seasoned combat skills and easily Jounin level make him very dangerous. Whatever the reason he wanted you to participate can't be good. But I'll leave the decision to you."

With no hesitancy, the thirteen-year-old boldly declared, "I'm not going to miss all the fun, so I'm in."

"Good, it starts next week. You'll meet me here tomorrow morning with Team 8. You'll enlist on that team to satisfy the three-Genin requirement."

"Wait, what happened to my team? Team 7?" Naruto absentmindedly asked.

"You mean Sakura and Sasuke?" - Hiruzen gave it a pause until a look of understanding appeared on Naruto's face - "Placing you where Kiba used to be, with Shino and Hinata, makes the most sense. I'm sure you'll adjust to Kurenai as a sensei rather easily."

Naruto pondered over it and asked, "What exactly happened to Sasuke?"

"I'm not sure. All I know is that Danzou told me he left the village."

"Don't tell me you actually believe that he didn't have a part in it!"

"Naruto," Hiruzen sighed, "I have my reasons."

- Flashback -

It was early evening. Danzou barged into Sarutobi's office before he left to meet Tsume to give her update on what Inoichi found out during his mind invasion on those two captured ROOT-nins.

"Sasuke killed Kiba and has now deserted Konoha," the warhawk revealed.

"How can I trust that you didn't have anything to do with Kiba's death or that you didn't send your 'weapon' to get training outside the village?" Sarutobi fumed.

"I wouldn't risk coming to you about this if that was true." Danzou then detailed how the rogue Uchiha attacked him the day before he killed Kiba.

Of course, Sarutobi didnt believe any of it. "Danzou, give me one reason why I shouldn't have you arrested for treason and insubordination, disobeying me and the Advisers' decision to disband your ROOT!"

"Naruto."

"My grandson?"

"I know what happened at the waterfall six months ago and how he nearly unleashed Kyuubi on the village few days later."

"That wasn't Kyuubi."

"Does it matter?"

- End Flashback -

"If you say so, Jiji." Naruto sensed that there was more to this but dropped the matter as he didn't see it going anywhere.

"Cheer up," Hiruzen chirped. "Don't you have places to be, people to see, things to do? Like ramen, or visiting your friends?"

"Oh yeah, I gotta meet Tenten at Ichiraku's." It was a wonder how Naruto's mood quickly improved. "Later, Jiji."

…o.0.O.0.o…

A/N: It took longer than expected, but it's done. My beta is busy with real life, so I'm afraid that this is unbeta'ed again.

The Naruto x Hinata pairing will happen since he'll be in Team 8, but I can't ignore the obvious signs for Naruto x Tenten. It won't be a harem, at least it's now how I plan it. It'll start as romantic triangle, and later, who knows?

RANT on Chapter 469: Is it me, or is Sakura more hate-able? Even without Naruto calling out her bull, I knew she was full of it right away. Damn that Kishimoto for making Sakura more despicable than she already was, lying and manipulating Naruto's feelings just to get what she wanted, even if it was for the noble cause of getting Naruto to finally abandon Sasuke. Wouldn't it be better if she just told him straight out, instead of layering it under a cake of dung? It was so obvious that even the clueless Naruto picked it up.

Review please!