Kiba yawned loudly, breaking Naruto's concentration. He had a perfect view of Ino's behind as she walked away, with all of its swaying, swinging allure. His thoughts also snapped back into focus as he realized he would have first watch. 'Damn, not only am I out a couple thousand ryo, but I have first watch.' A slight scowl settled over his face, as he considered what he would need for the watch.

"Well, I'm going to bed Naruto, wake me for the second shift, k?" Kiba turned and walked out of the room, Akamaru close behind. Naruto mumbled a response before heading for his room on the left of the cabin. Opening the door, he looked over his dingy sleeping quarters. 'A simple cot, some drawers, and a roof so low I have to stoop…some reward for defeating Akatsuki'. Naruto bowed into the lesser abode, quickly going through his stash of clothes before finding a jerkin and some boots. A puff of smoke later and a simple sailor girl stood looking over her gear. "Let's see, got my weather gear, some ninja supplies, and a couple of basic weapons and such. Alright, we should be good to go!" The blonde quickly exited the room, his false female body moving smoothly across the rocking boat.

Entering the commons he turned to his right before stopping at the gangway. Looking across the way, he saw Ino's room with the door closed, thoughts racing through his mind. 'It's been only a few weeks since the two of us went out drinking, but I still can't shake the image of her from my head.' Naruto forcefully pushed himself up the stairs, breaking his reverie. He saw the nightguard on watch and moved forward to remove the old man. The grizzled sailor nodded to the ninja, aware only that the female was one of the main ninja on the mission.

'I've had to hide my identity since the defeat of Akatsuki whenever I do any dangerous mission outside of Konoha recently. Seems that even the lack of my presence makes other countries anxious.' Naruto chuckled to himself at this, thinking back to when he was called dead last. That sadly brought him to a rather dark place. 'Sasuke. How long has it been since I killed you, and even now I can't rid you from my mind…' The rain started falling, piteously hiding the young warrior's tears.

The wind was blowing hard on that day, lighting flashing across the sky as the two warriors faced each other at the valley of the end. Madara Uchiha had been placed under a powerful seal by the five kages, leaving Naruto and Killer Bee to face off against Sasuke and Kisame. Kisame was taken out early in the fight, Naruto deciding to go all out in the fight from the beginning. The fight with Sasuke took much longer. The power of Tsusano was devastating; had it not been for the combined power of their tailed beasts, Sasuke would not have fallen. Still, the fight ended with Killer Bee greatly wounded and Sasuke and Naruto on the brink of life. When the team was discovered by Kakashi, Sakura and Sai, Sakura immediately ran and began to heal Naruto. In the end, she used the resurrection jutsu that she had seen Grandma Chio use on Gaara. Naruto awoke to her dead weight on his chest, Sasuke passed beside them. It had taken everything in Naruto not to break down as the rain began to fall.

'It was months after when Killer Bee and I tracked down Madara…the battle that ensued took the lives of Killer Bee and three of the five kages' Naruto's thoughts were very depressed now, his hands gripping tightly to the railing of the ship as the waves swelled and tossed the vessel. Naruto noticed the flapping sail and quickly jumped into the mizzen mast. The cords had gotten lose in the storm, causing the ship to luff in the chilling tempest. Naruto leaped up into the rigging, catching the rope as it went whipping past. When he paused to look at it, the chill of the rain became a secondary concern. 'This ropes been cut. That means we have a saboteur around here somewhere'.

Quickly retying the line, Naruto jumped to the crow's nest. Calling on both his sage powers and his demon powers, Naruto pushed his senses to the maximum. 'I still can't tell if they're nearby…hell, I'm not even sure if they are still here.' Naruto craned his neck from left to right, checking over all the other riggings. Everything seemed in place as he looked across the spar to the right, but he still felt a chill run down his spine. 'There is definitely something foul here'.

A flash of lightning struck through the sky, and a faint outline could be seen charging in the rain. Naruto's senses went into overdrive, quickly discerning the shape of an enemy ninja, well cloaked in the Invisibility Technique. Ripping a kunai from his pouch, Naruto brought the short blade up to block the opponents attack. The foe slammed into the attack, stopped quickly by Naruto's savage strength. Naruto formed a rasengan in his free hand, but his foe had already jumped away, slipping into the falling rain. The lack of light beyond the ship lanterns had Naruto panicked to find his foe. His keen senses picked up the sound of the kunai about to strike, allowing Naruto enough time to shift and dodge the attack. While the blow wouldn't have hurt him, it did no good to alert his enemy to that. The faintest sound of a body striking water alerted Naruto to the departure of his enemy.

'They must have a ship nearby. Figures they'd attack under the confusion of the storm.' Naruto dispersed several clones, two to wake the captain and two to get Kiba and Ino. Naruto grabbed the kunai stuck in the wood, before quickly descending to the bottom of the ship. It was then that he noticed a rushing noise.

Turning behind him, he saw nothing but a solid wall of water, ready to crash down upon the ship. In front of him was a normal, pithy set of storm waves. 'That one behind us is not natural. Well, guess it's time I earned my pay. Hope these sails can take the damage.' Naruto focused a great deal of wind chakra, quickly gathering it while also summoning several more shadow clones. He rushed through the gathering of the wind chakra, focusing more on drawing in large amounts as the wave pulled the ship inexorably up it's climb.

'Damnit, that wave's got to be at least forty feet high. Oh well, here goes nothing. If this doesn't work, the rest of the trip's going to get real interesting.' At first there was nothing as the wind energy burst forth. Then, a great gale picked up, pushing the ship faster, ahead of the wave, past the wave, and even out of the tempest the ship had sailed into. The mast creaked under the strain, the sails pulled tight, rattling from the strain. As the wind ceased, Naruto looked far into the distance. 'I think that's land up there…holy shit, did I just cover a days worth of sailing! Nice!' Smiling to himself at the lucky escape, he was scared witless when a very drowsy Kiba placed an arm around his shoulders.

"Mind warning a guy when you're planning on jumping to hurricane speed, eh?" Kiba whispered into his ear, pulling the female Naruto over to the group. "What happened when you were up there?" Kiba asked, quickly noting the faint smell coming from the foreign kunai.

"I thought we had a mole onboard. Turns out we just got ambushed during the storm. I don't even think that was a real storm, just a powerful ninjutsu."

The blonde had his face scrunched up in concentration, focused on the remaining member of Akatsuki.

"Some power to create a storm like that for such a long time. I guess you would know though, being our resident powerhouse." Kiba paused, taking the proffered kunai from Naruto. Akamaru sniffed the weapon in Kiba's hand before moving off to the side. "Ino went and secured the captain with your shadow clones. She said to have you report to her in the morning, for now we're on a double watch with no sleep."

"Wonderful. This night just gets better and better." Naruto grumbled before turning to the crow's nest. "I'm going to go up there and keep watch for the next little while. "Let me know when we're supposed to get some sleep, k?" Naruto made the leap in one move, the removal of the storm greatly aiding his acrobatics. Turning to face behind the ship, he saw the storm clouds flickering lightning. 'Even with that gale force wind pushing us, the storm is still right behind us. That definitely is a technique of some kind. This is going to prove troublesome.' Naruto chuckled lightly to himself. 'I think I'm spending too much time with Shikamaru at the Barbeque shop.'