Naruto: Mokuzaimusha

by JackOfBladesX

What if Naruto is an indirect relative of the first Hokage. What if his spirit broke a long time ago. What if he hated Konaha. What if he learned a move other than Kage Bunshin. I hope it's better than it sounds...Terminated and adopted.

19. Failed Swords

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Otherwise, you people would have to wait a hell of a lot longer for an update (on both manga and anime).

A/N: Long time coming. Hope you all enjoy this chapter. Keep in mind the simple fact that I planned this story out before a few things came to my attention…like the fact that three years training with Orochimaru would make Sasuke a freaking god. Other than that, enjoy.

---

Chapter 19: Failed Swords

The shark man could only watch in slight amusement as their leader was glaring bloody murder at the woman deemed, "God's angel."

All the figures were in a cave, though only one other, beside himself, was corporal. The other four were mere holograms, a form of communication for the nine ninja. The blue skinned-man truly did wish he had a snack right now. The leader had never so much as glared at the woman, now he looked about ready to kill the woman. Even though it wasn't her fault as she was just reporting a simple fact, though that didn't make this any less amusing for Kisame, since it appeared that Pein was about ready to shoot the messenger.

It appeared that two of there own, not coincidentally two of the three missing from their little meeting, had declared that they would seek out the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki. Though if that were simply it, the news would simply be infuriating. The major issue involved Kakuzu's last known transmission; a type of telepathic communication involving the Akatsuki rings. Kakuzu's, and by extension Hidan's, stated that they acknowledged the order to track down and capture the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki. Since there had never been such an order, it meant that someone had been able to hack the jutsu that connected all nine of the Akatsuki rings.

It didn't take a genius to figure out whom that person was, the simple fact was that there weren't nine rings, but ten. And what's worse was, that the rings worn by the missing two ninja seemed to be blocked somehow, as if the proverbial phone line was busy. So communication was cut off from those two.

And if that wasn't enough, their half flower teammate was also missing. Though what this meant was anybodies guess. Zetsu always reported in, religiously really. Pausing momentarily, Kisame grinned at his own unintentional pun. Zetsu's disappearance was perhaps another misfortune carried out by the holder of the void ring.

"Continue your missions. I'll end him, once and for all."

With that said, the leader disappeared. After that, the rest of the holograms did the same thing. Itachi himself, turned to walk out of the cave that they had been standing in, with a disappointed Kisame hot on his heels. 'Maybe we'll get some blood next time.'

---

She impatiently watched as the two people who raised her calmly sipped their tea, as if they didn't have a care in the world. They had been at this for all of yesterday and she simply took it with the poise and etiquette that she had been taught to take things.

"In the name of everything that is youthful in the world, why haven't either of you spoken with Naruto yet?" Yukina blinked a couple of times before she placed her head in her hands in sheer embarrassment. Stress, combined with teaming up with both Lee and Gai was definitely affecting her. At that thought, both of her eyes widened. 'What if Kiba's affecting me too?' Kiba had…a rather colorful language, which both Gai and his former sensei tended to scold him for. 'Ok, something that both Gai and Lee say often just slipped out of my mouth. If something that Kiba always says slips out in front of them…' she began to sweat slightly at the thought of it.

"What honey?" asked her grandmother in slight confusion.

"It must be some of that… 'slang'…that the young people in Konoha are using", her grandfather noticed with more than a bit dissatisfaction. He had his granddaughter schooled in proper dialect since she was two. To know that she was picking up a sloppy way of speaking was quite, disheartening. He had no idea what other meaning youthful stood for. 'Better not be street talk for some kind of new drug', the old man practically fumed.

Straightening up a bit, "I just don't-"

"Please refrain from using contractions dear, they are not proper for a young lady." Her grandfather schooled, getting more dissatisfied by the second. One of his biggest disappointments in the last three years, which didn't include his other grandchild, was the fact that he saw so little of Yukina. Unfortunately, this also included never meeting her Jounin-sensei, though he was assured that the man was most capable.

"I just do not", Yukina quickly corrected herself, "understand why you haven't…have not tried speaking with him yet."

The ruler of Hi no Kuni looked at his granddaughter with a little empathy. He understood perfectly well how it felt to have a relative that, through very questionable means, she never knew existed…for he was in the same boat, as they say. He did not, however, know how it felt to attack that relative in both ignorance and rage. "Honey, I'm completely at a lost when it comes to your brother. I am not quite sure how he feels about us or his life in general, however I am positive that he does not have a positive opinion about either. That is why we had planned to bide our time when approaching him. It is part of the reason that we asked for this extended mission."

The youngest of the trio leaned back, unintentionally tuning out her grandmother, another bad habit that would usually be punished. Patience wasn't one of her virtues.

---

'So fucking bored', thought the blonde in annoyance. It was the second day of the journey. A three weeklong journey that should only take a few days. Simply put they're going to Wave Country, for some kind of negotiation; he really didn't pay attention to why they were going there. The problem was that they were a. moving very slowly and b. taking a much longer way than team 7 went when they had gone to Wave.

"So…from what I hear on the grapevine, you somehow learned how to completely conceal your killer intent." It was worded as his statement, but Jiraiya worded it as if it was a question.

Lazily glancing over to the man, Naruto was surprised to see a bit of admiration in the man's eyes. He knew it wasn't the first time that he had surprised the old veteran, but until now the man had always hidden it.

"Killer intent?" That was obvious a question. They both looked over, well Naruto just shifted his eyes, to the young woman that had been walking next to Jiraiya. Well…actually Jiraiya came over and started walking right next to her, unfortunately for her, she wasn't allowed to break formation to get away from the man. At first glance, she looked like she wouldn't last thirty seconds in a real fight. However, if you were to look underneath the underneath, you'd understand that the captain of the Daiymo's guard wouldn't have someone who wasn't capable working on such an extended trip. Meaning? Like many Kunoichi, this woman was much more than she seemed.

Jiraiya smiled back at the girl. "I'm a bit surprised that you aren't familiar with the phrase, you must come from a very honorable upbringing…"

The blonde rolled his eyes. He never spent an extending period of time with Jiraiya though even with the miniscule amount of time they had spent together, he was familiar with the hidden meaning in his words. This one sounded sort of like, "You seem somewhat innocent and ignorant." Which probably wouldn't mean much if Jiraiya hadn't been hitting on her on and off for the last few hours.

"Yes, I'm a daughter of the Tora Clan. May I ask what is the meaning of 'Killer Intent'?" It's common for noble families around the Elemental Nations to have a clan named after animals, Tora meaning Tiger.

Ignoring her question, Jiraiya began, "Oh yes…centered around the city of Coral correct?"

The blonde mentally flinched at the question, remembering the village with the Flame of Justice Festival. The Festival that had to do with burning anything that had anything to do with the Kyuubi.

"I hear that it's a beautiful village, perhaps you can show me around."

The blonde scoffed, translation? "Do you have 'your' own place in the village, or am I going to have to sneak out in the middle of the night so none of your family finds me?"

"Hehehe. That's actually pretty funny, I think I'll give it a shot."

"I've heard that place is famous for it's sake."

"I'd like to get you drunk."

"Perhaps we can get to know each other better."

"I don't care that you were just born when I was thirty."

"Perhaps…" The girl said uncomfortably, obviously planning on ditching the old man the first chance she got. "So…could you answer my question."

To prevent Jiraiya from making an even bigger fool of himself, he was half tempted to answer the girl's question, though in the end Jiraiya surprised him again by actually answering her question. "You know it as kenki (offensive aura). That's what Samurai tend to refer to it as. Well…them and shinobi from Kiri and Iwa."

The girl's eyes widened slightly, "I had no idea that ninja learned about kenki."

"Yea, it's a very important skill for any fighter to use. In reality, everyone produces killer intent when they are about to kill or fight someone. Shinobi, like Samurai, are taught to sense that aura at a young age, to help them sense danger. However, some Shinobi learn to take it a step further. They can either learn to produce a more concentrated form of killer intent, which helps freeze their enemies. Some shinobi can even learn to hide their kenki to hide themselves and their intentions. However, it was considered impossible to block it completely. Really would like to know how Naruto pulled it off."

Expecting that to be a question directed at him, he opened his mouth to respond, but was cut off.

"Do you like to do it froggy style?"

The blonde rolled his eyes, at both his tenant and the older man who began asking a bunch of questions, some very inappropriate ones. While Jiraiya was wasting his time with the girl, whose name he, Jiraiya, probably never bothered to learn. His thoughts drifted back to the carriage, or to be more exact, the three people occupying the carriage.

On one hand, his grandparents didn't know that he existed, so they couldn't possibly have helped him when he was younger. They couldn't have protected him when he needed to be protected. On another hand, part of him wondered if they would have even bothered. Fifteen years, and supposedly twelve years, later they wanted to get to know him. But would they have still wanted to get to know him when he was but an infant, when his humanity was still being questioned by nearly the entire population of Konoha, 'instead of just a majority of drunken assholes that have nothing better to do', thought the icy-eyed boy. He had to wonder though if, during their own grief for the lost of their daughter and son-in-law, would they have treated him the same as everyone else.

His smile, the mask he put up in front of others, the same one he had one right now, was not just something he used to conceal his emotions. It was also his barrier. A symbolic yard stick that he kept in his hand, come to close and you'd get poked…and it wouldn't be in the arm or torso or some other place that may be considered mildly appropriate. Grin like a sociopath all the time, and the majority of the people around you would stay away from you…constant sarcasm and conjuring weapons literally the size of a redwood didn't hurt either.

Unfortunately, that didn't stop assholes like Kakashi and Jiraiya from hanging around. Though to be honest, he didn't care too much about them. If he had to be honest…he actually enjoyed Kakashi's company and he found Jiraiya's antics to be amusing. Sakura was…well…she had gotten a lot better after the Chunin exams and especially after Sasuke left. She'd become somewhat easier to be around, though he wouldn't be surprised if she was secretly planning on making a necklace out of Sasuke's junk. Girl didn't look like she took rejection easily…or legally. From what he could gather, the few times that someone mentioned the Uchiha's name around her, she seemed to be taking his leaving like an ex-girlfriend who was just cheated on. He wouldn't count the aged Kage, Iruka, or his friend Rei into the same category as the former three, since they were all friends before his…personality adjustment. Though he supposed that Haku could be added to that list, though her pleasant aura prevented him from coming up with a derogatory name for her. Like calling Sakura a bitch, or calling Kakashi an asshole, or calling Jiraiya a disgusting, drunken, smelly, womanizing, perverted, butt-ugly, etc., etc.

Point being she, the ice-user, fit into a whole different category. In one respect he felt somewhat guilty, he was on the team responsible for taking her father figure's life. A man he secretly respected. He could imagine it took a lot for someone to get hit by something like the Raikiri, get up and slay over ten people. Other emotions hit the youth like a ton of bricks, though he could barely come up for a decent name for those.

Naruto closed his eyes, 'Kakashi…Sakura…Jiraiya…Haku. Four people who truly wanted to be close to me, despite me constantly putting them off. Maybe it's a sign that I should lower my defense and let other people get close.' As if to test this theory out, he momentarily stopped smiling, pulling his face into a neutral expression and quashing the smile that was on his face nearly perpetually. Almost immediately after, he began smiling again.

There was of course, one problem with wanting to give his grandparents a shot. His sister.

Not completely unlike Haku, a torrent of emotions engulfed the boy when he thought of the girl. In one respect, he was heavily jealous of the girl. He was condemned to become a prison and in many ways lived in a prison. Another barrier, fabricated from the emotions of the people around him, which prevented him from growing up to become an entirely different, and probably much happier, person. She was treated like royalty, and grew up with constant love and adoration from those around her. In her home, she was a princess. In his home, he was a demon.

He couldn't help his feelings, though at the same time he realized how hypocritical he was being. If his upbringing taught him anything, it was not to blame someone for something that they had no control over. She had no control over her upbringing, much like he had no control over his. They were each playing with the cards that they had been dealt, and it wasn't like they could get a redraw. The ones to blame for everything were the two that brought them into this world. He had come to that conclusion three years ago, sometime around the time that Sakura began annoying him to go see her, when she just arrived in the village. He thought that maybe the two of them could talk…but then his feelings changed. She attacked him. She was given infinitely more than he had ever asked for…and she attacked him. Perhaps that's where his feelings for her went down south. When he actually began to hate her. His feelings festered when he tried to put her on the ass end of an ass kicking, and two of the aforementioned assholes backed her up. What's worse was, that seemingly immediately afterwards, she did a complete 180. She actually had the gall to refer to him as her brother mere weeks after she tried to brain him with that thrice damn staff. He left the village hating her.

However, as he traveled, he learned to systematically let go of his hatred; it being one of the first steps to erasing his killer intent. He truly could say that he didn't really hate her anymore, though he didn't really care to be in her presence. The girl in question truly did seem remorseful for her actions, though some part of him truly didn't care. Perhaps he never let go of those emotions after all, and just buried them deep. He wondered if she truly believed that they could form a brother/sister bond after everything that's happened. Fat chance…even if he did forgive her.

Naruto's eyes widened at a thought. Then he grinned…er…continued grinning. This would only work if that woman Jiraiya was trying to violate knew nothing about him…well here's hoping.

"s'cuse me…umm…miss?" He never did bother to learn any names.

The samurai sighed in relief at the interruption as she immediately looked towards Naruto's direction. Surprisingly, Jiraiya didn't seem all that upset.

"Are you familiar with the Flame of Justice Festival?"

The woman could only nod. To her, the question seemed rather silly, considering that her clan lorded over that village, and many others.

"I've heard of that. It's suppose to be a very popular festival in your village, right?" Jiraiya beamed, hoping to once again regain the woman's attentions.

Once again, the woman merely nodded, choosing not to voice out her words.

The blonde grinned and quickly, before Jiraiya could continue speaking, asked in an overly loud voice, "So has Yukina ever taken part in that festival."

boom

The loud bang noise that came from the carriage probably made his day. As if someone was so surprised that they, she, immediately stood up and knocked themselves, herself, on the head.

The woman nodded, seemingly not hearing the sound from the carriage. "Oh yes, Yukina-hime has come to the festival every year since she was five-"

boom

His smile nearly split his face.

"-years old."

"Oh yea, I remember her always trying to get me to go to that thing." Jiraiya thought while rubbing in his chin. "Never was able to indulge her on her wish though." The older man was oblivious. Probably figured since Yukina was allowed to go, it had nothing to do with any of his four favorite vices: women, sex, drinking, and women having sex while drinking. "However, I clearly remember how she always looked forward to it, throughout the whole year. Practically the girl's Christmas."

boom

That sound was, probably, Yukina letting her head fall against the inside of the carriage.

"Since she's been so busy, she probably hasn't gotten a chance to celebrate it in such a long time." He then turned to the woman that he had been trying to hit on, "Didn't she say that after becoming a ninja and taking care of certain business that she would bring…something for some sort of ritual or what not. Something that she would obtain at Konohagakure."

Boom…boom…boom…boom…boom…boom…boom…boom…boom…boom.

Scratch the last comment; this moment would probably keep Naruto happy for a whole week. After all, if he was being forced to go on a journey that he didn't want to go on, he may as well think up ways to have someone give themselves brain damage. After all, Naruto never did say that he himself wasn't an asshole.

-Konoha-

Tsunade looked at the file in her hand. Two whole squads of chunin, massacred by just three missing-nin. They wouldn't have even known about it, if one of the men hadn't had the foresight to send out a messenger hawk during the battle. Jiraiya's spy network was compromised. It was as simple as that.

They, Jiraiya and a few of his spies, had received word that Akatsuki would back off for a while to reorganize, especially after losing a whole one tenth of their attack force. Figures they would leak this information out just to take them off their guard. They should have known this…

They were ninja for kami's sake. Not just ninja, but war veterans.

Looking up from the files, she looked at the four people, and one dog, in front of her. "You have your orders, go now!" With that said, all of them disappeared.

Their leader on this mission would be Shizune. No one in the village was a better medical-specialist than Shizune, except Tsunade and perhaps Sakura. Unfortunately, Tsunade couldn't leave on this mission, now matter how much she truly wanted to, and Sakura lacked the near two decades of experience that Shizune could boast. The second person Haku. She truly would have preferred to give the girl a break, after her grueling encounter with the beast known as Kisame, but the limited amount of forces they could spare wouldn't allow it. She supposed that she could have sent another ninja in her place, and left her on guard duty. Though Haku had a delicacy needed for this mission, and she seemed more loyal, nearly to a fault, than most people within her own village. Kakashi mentioned something like that, perhaps she should set the girl up for an exam with a psychologist? The third person was Rock Lee. His dreams and desire for training may put him on the Fire Lord's good side…though his personality was just as likely to do the exact opposite. The final ones were the pair of Kiba and Akamaru, completing the team that Yukina has learned to work with over the last two and a half years. She would have loved to add Gai to their ranks, but she really needed her elite ninja in other positions.

She then began scanning a different set of files. Dread filled her as her eyes scanned words written by leaf spies in a certain country. She clenched her eyes shut. "If I'm reading into this correctly, then…"

---

Jiraiya looked onto the makeshift battling ring from his position just outside the ring. In reality, it was just formed from the spectators who had been watching the two samurai battle it out. Jiriaya, Naruto, Takeru, and the remaining members of the Fire Lord's Samurai formed the ring. Izumi, Takeru's wife, was sitting near the side of the wagon with Yukina, both of whom were drinking tea.

After the bout, which involved one of the rookies and was mostly one-sided, the two samurai bowed to each other before walking towards the outside of the circle. "Ryuho-kun" when Takeru called the man's name, immediately a rather large samurai stepped forth. Jiraiya recognized the man immediately. He was still very young and very brash, though he's said to be a prodigy. "And how about Naruto-kun?" The toad sage was surprised to hear Takeru call out his grandson's name.

He was even more surprised when Naruto calmly walked into the training field. His eyes widened, 'Wait…what the fuck?', he nearly cursed out loud as he suddenly realized how wrong this situation was. He absentmindedly wondered if the blonde was finally going to attempt to make some peace with his estranged family.

Takeru didn't seem to notice any of Jiraiya's concerns. "As with the earlier spar, this match only has two rules. You are not allowed to leave the ring and you are especially not allowed to mortally wound your opponent. You may both start when you feel ready."

Getting into his fighting stance, with his sansetsukon held high, he began easing his way slowly towards Naruto. Even the brash fighter knew better than to charge straight at a ninja…that spoke volumes for the kind of training these men and women go through to become part of Takeru's guards. Turning towards Naruto, Jiraiya could see that the boy was just standing there, with his eyes closed. Jiraiya's admiration for the boy, the samurai not Naruto, went up somewhat. What Naruto was doing was highly disrespectful towards an opponent. For the Samurai to calmly continue easing towards Naruto instead of attacking him head on, showed quite a bit of restraint.

A few moments later, when the Samurai was close to striking distance, Naruto opened his eyes and did a quick series of hand seals. "Mokuton: Moku Bunshin no Jutsu." Chakra began seeping out of the boy as two perfect clones were formed almost immediately, on either side of the blonde. This didn't deter the man as he continued easing into striking distance. One more foot…

Ryuho immediately raised his staff to attack the blonde, when his two doppelgangers each did a single hand seal, and two puffs of smoke exploded from their positions…concealing all three blondes. He immediately jumped back and placed his staff in front of him, easing into a defensive stance.

From his position, Jiraiya stood eagerly off to the side, waiting for the smoke to clear. And when the smoke did clear it revealed…Tsunade? Two Tsunades? Two Naked Tsunades? Two Naked Tsunades embracing themselves in a very erotic position.

From Ryuho's position he could only see a pair of busty thirty-year-old twins in a position that would remain scarred in his head for the remainder of his life. And then blackness, as someone did a simple chop to the back of his neck.

From his position, Jiraiya could only shake his head as he watched the blonde smirk, as his little ploy went off without a hitch. He then quickly turned towards the Samurai. The majority of the male half was in the same position as the Jinchuuriki's opponent. The female half, plus the rest of the males, were just stupefied. He then turned towards both Izumi and Yukina, both looked horrified…

Takeru? Looked horrified as well…before it was completely filled with barely suppressed rage.

The toad sage turned to the side just as four figures jumped into the clearing, Shizune being at the head of the pack. Shizune was one of the village's elites, plus a very capable medic. If Tsunade sent her…the man immediately felt a migraine come along. He turned towards the group he was with. Naruto, Takeru, Izumi, and the commander of the Samurai – a man named Daisuke, were the only ones who seemed to notice. Everyone else was still in a state of shock…he'd have to commend Naruto later for that one. He then turned towards back to Shizune, as she came closer. "Password", he said with a smile. It was a little thing the Sannin had been able to instate within Konoha, whenever there were high profile missions like this one. He told Tsunade what the password would be for this mission and specifically ordered that it be a young female that gave it.

Shizune, on the other hand, as she did a simple henge into Tsunade, "Jiraiya, if you actually think I'm gonna have one of my kunoichi say something like that your fucking stupid. And if you give the people I send any trouble, this time I'll follow through on that castration threat." With that the girl dropped the henge, returning to her normal form.

The old man nodded, 'Close enough I suppose.'

Shizune then peaked over Jiraiya's shoulder, at the faces most of the rest of the group was making. "Is this a bad time?"

---

"Well shit…" cursed the toad sage. Shizune, Takeru, Daisuke, and himself were a little bit away from the rest of the group.

The medic-nin could only nod solemnly, "Tsunade believes that one of your contacts could have been compromised."

The very thought of it upset Jiraiya. It wasn't the first time such a thing would happen though. Orochimaru had infiltrated his spy network on more than one occasion. It was to be expected when you dealt with people with no loyalty except to your wallet. He'd have to cut those three, the people who fed him the Akatsuki info, off…after he interrogated them.

"My lord-" Dasuke chimed in, causing everyone to turn in his direction, "-if this bad of ninjas is truly coming after the boy, then I believe it would be best to separate ourselves from him."

"No…" said the man without a thought. He would not abandon the boy a second time, he'd be damned if he did that. Closing his eyes briefly, the Daiymo took a long look at the man in front of him. "Until I know exactly how to deal with this whole situation…this remains between us." He didn't even wait to receive and affirmation from Daisuke. He was both an old friend and loyal to a fault. "Naruto, the boy, is my grandson."

At that, the man's eyes widened immediately.

"If these shinobi are after him", Jiraiya turned towards Takeru, "then you'll need to do something about them."

"Yea…" With that, he turned and began walking towards the rest of the group.

Shizune excused herself with a polite bow before walking behind Jiraiya.

"Never was fond of that man." He didn't like the man's attitude or his…hobbies. Daisuke turned towards his Ruler, "Do you think he'll follow orders?"

Takeru nodded. "I think he would have protected Naruto, even if I ordered him to abandon him." Unlike his current companion, the Daiymo did at least respect Jiraiya for both his strength and his loyalty towards his own home, even if he didn't show as much respect for him as his, Jiraiya's, peers did. He then sent the sage a glare… 'I will have to speak to that man for his obvious influence over Naruto.' He was still quite annoyed with that little stunt the boy pulled during what should have been an honorable sparring match.

---

A couple of days passed for the group, now walking with four extra ninja. The blonde continued walking, glad that they had finally reached Wave Country. Well actually, they just reached the bridge. Once they crossed it they would be in the Land of Wave. Unfortunately, during the last two days, the trip had turned from boring…to boring and annoying. Now he had to deal with Kiba's constant bragging. Of course, Lee joined in as well, though frankly the boy didn't have an arrogant bone in his body. He wasn't bragging…which some how made the entire situation even more annoying. And to add icing on the metaphoric cake, Yukina was there teammate, so he had to spend kami knows how many hours hearing about her. He raised an eyebrow at Kiba…what was he talking about now some type of Snow Princess?

"So we got Yukie out of Snow Country again and managed to bring her back to the village. I hear they're going to place her somewhere safe until they can decide what to do with the princess' current situation."

The blonde rolled his eyes. He kept talking about a bunch of missions that they succeeded, but they usually ended up running away at the end. Their charges were always alive, but they usually got beaten into the ground.

Speaking of being beaten into the ground, Naruto took a quick look at the Daiymo. Ever since the four ninjas arrived, the Daiymo has been throwing dirty looks at Lee behind the boys back. After a chance glance, the boy saw that the man seemed to gain a twitch in his eyes anytime Lee spoke the word, 'youthful', which was often. While he was walking with Jiraiya, he even heard Takeru ask Jiraiya if youthful was slang for drugs. Giving the Daiymo an odd look, before turning to glance at Lee. This was the first time he has met Lee, though he has heard of the boy before. He began hearing a lot more when Yukina joined his team. He has met Gai before though. 'Hmmm…does Gai do drugs?' The boy obviously imitated his sensei. 'Never heard youthful used as slang before.' The toad sage shrugged, "Not quite sure…" It was obviously not the answer that Takeru wanted, as he moved backwards to speak with his wife; all the while shooting dirty looks at Lee.

"So Naruto…"

The blonde carefully rolled his eyes towards Kiba's direction.

"You've been on any exciting missions?"

'Hmmm…' out of the corner of his eye, Naruto could see that they were coming upon a large, square stone on the side of the bridge. Thinking nothing of it he decided to turn back to Kiba. It was obvious that the boy was still trying to brag, this time by asking Naruto if he's ever had a mission as exciting. He half wanted to tell him about the mission to Wave, 'though that probably wouldn't be a good idea with Haku so close by…' After racking his mind for a while longer, he remembered that he didn't really care what Kiba thought.

When the dog training ninja heard nothing but silence from the blonde, he took it as a sign that he never went on anything even remotely exciting, causing him to smirk.

"Hey look at this!" The entire group, responding to Lee's annoyingly loud scream, turned towards the young boy who was now standing in front of the stone. "It says the bridge is called, The Great Naruto Bridge."

Everyone, even the Daiymo and his wife who had been walking along the wagon, turned towards Naruto curiously. Actually, Haku had a sad smile on her face. In response to this, the boy could only shrug, "So, some idiot decided to name the bridge after a ramen topping."

"It goes on to say…" Lee continued, "In honor of Uzumaki Naruto,"

The boy shrugged again, "I'm sure there are a bunch of ninjas named Uzumaki Naruto."

"And the Genin team consisting of Hatake Kakashi, Harono Sakura, and Uchiha Sasuke."

"I hear that Kakashi guy never passed a single team in all his time as a Jounin, the Sakura I know is named Haruno Sakura, and as far as I know there isn't a single ninja in Konoha named Uchiha Sasuke."

"The smiling ninja and his team brought hope to Wave."

"Ok, do I seriously look like the type of guy who would bring hope to anybody?"

"Wave will always remember the teenage ninja and his friends…"

"Well, there you go. When I was last down here I was twelve years old, I don't think that qualifies as a teenager."

After a very awkward silence, both Takeru and Izumi gave a rather large laugh before the old man clapped his hand on Naruto's shoulder. He then began walking again ushering the group forward until finally they reached the end of the bridge. After finally touching land once again, it didn't take the group much longer before they made it to town and unfortunately, or at least in Naruto's opinion, to the large group of people that was waiting the for the Daiymo's appearance. The blonde blinked in surprise the moment he saw the person heading the group. If he didn't know better, he'd say the man at the front was Gatou. Feeling a small spike of killer intent, he could see that Haku obviously felt the same way, though she seemed to have her feelings under control.

"Oi Naruto, did you feel everything get colder all of a sudden?" Asked the lone Inuzuka of the group.

Giving a small shrug, the boy turned back to the conversation that the Daiymo and the Gatou-look alike were having. "That is very kind of you Sentaru-san" began Takeru, "But we are all exhausted from our long journey and would much rather just retire to our rooms for the night." The group would be staying at a large inn, which was completely cleared of all other guests, just for this occasion.

The man named Sentaru, giving a polite nod, replied, "Of course, Takeru-sama, please allow me to lead the way." The blonde began moving, following the rest of the group, when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

It was Jiraiya, "I'm gonna be leaving a few toads and Shizune is gonna be leaving a few of her nin-dogs-"

'Shizune began training nin-dogs?'

"-to help guard the Daiymo. I more or less know Shizune's, Yukina's, and your abilities…but I want to know all the others."

Giving a small nod, the blonde continued walking towards the inn where there group would be residing for the remainder of the trip..

---

On one side of the field stood Naruto and on the other side stood Haku. Jiraiya, Shizune, Kiba, along with Akamaru, and Lee were both off on the side observing. Too be honest, the blonde didn't even want to be fighting at this time of night. It was a night of the full moon, something that he recently began enjoying during his time away. Shikamaru had his clouds…he had the moon. He could only hope this match would end quickly enough, so he could enjoy the rest of the night.

"FIGHT!!!" Lee called out.

They immediately charged at each other, an unspoken agreement that the two of them would begin with a simple warm up. Using his momentum, Naruto leapt into the air and aimed a simple kick at the girls mid-section. Using her own momentum, the girl began to twirl on one foot, dodged and grabbed Naruto's outstretched leg and threw him over her shoulder. Right before the boy hit the ground, he outstretched his hands and flipped himself to his feet. He quickly turned back towards the ice using kunoichi, just in time to dodge a knife hand strike. Skipping to the girl's side, he sent a punch straight at her head. Using her superior speed, she once again grabbed onto the offending appendage, and pulled the boy behind her. Naruto's eyes widened in from his vulnerable position right as he felt a strike connect with the back of his neck.

Haku watched as the boy slumped to the ground, knocked out from her strike. Or so she believed, before the boy poofed out of existence and was replaced with a log. She immediately turned around and saw the boy standing a few meters away, with that strange bamboo sword of his. He can't compete with her in straight out taijutsu, so he was hoping the sword would allow him to overpower her. Haku did a quick one-handed seal and whispered something to herself. Water began to gather around her fingers, seemingly out of thin air. Then, without hand seals, the water began to spiral around and the ends of her fingers, extending about an inch outwards. Then the water crystallized. She smiled as the blonde's eyes widened. 'He was obviously expecting me to use senbon needles.' And then she charged.

From his position, Jiraiya could only look on with amusement. Watching two people, both with an elemental fusion, spar like this was highly entertaining. It was obvious that Haku held the current advantage, in terms of Taijutsu at least. He watched as Naruto aimed another horizontal slash, just as his bamboo sword began to transform into what looks like a giant purple thorn. The kunoichi ducked under Naruto's sword and countered with a slash that the blonde barely avoided, getting away with a small scratch on the side of his neck. Seeing that she had drawn blood must have scared the girl, since she seemed to hesitate for a moment. Jiraiya had heard that she would go out of her way to avoid hurting her comrades during any sparring match.

Naruto didn't seem to notice as he aimed to stab the girl. Haku quickly sidestepped the attack and, getting over her earlier reservations, scratch the side of Naruto's wrist. Unfortunately for the blonde, this action caused him to drop his sword. He immediately jumped a couple of meters backwards, keeping his gaze upon the girl, continuously moving backwards away from the girl. Seeing the boy's retreat, the girl momentarily relaxed, thinking that the boy was about to surrender. Naruto grinned and winked at the girl before starting a small chain of seals. Haku began her own hand seals, believing it would be a good idea to conceal herself from the blonde.

"Mokuton Hijutsu: Jukai Kotan no Jutsu!"

"Suiton: Kirigakure no Jutsu!"

It took Naruto five seconds to create a tree, very similar to the ones that surrounded the clearing that they were in; the boy was hidden in the canopy. In those same five seconds, the girl was covered in a thick mist, which only got up to her chest before the girl stopped pumping chakra into her technique. She had been waiting for an offensive move and he chose to conceal himself? But that was the point when her blood ran cold.

"Mokuton Hijutsu: Konoha Shurikan no Jutsu!" The leaves in the tree, a group at a time, shined for a brief second.

Dispelling her icy claws from her fingers, she began a series of one-handed seals. It was a nameless attack that she invented back with Zabuza, whenever she needed some extra senbon needles. She supposed a good name for it would be, following Naruto's example. "Hyoton Hijutsu: Koori Senbon no Jutsu! (Ice Release: Ice Senbon Technique)." The mist began to take shape around her hands and a little of it crystallized in her hands into multiple needles. She began throwing the needles in her hands, quickly moving them back down to the mist to conjure up more senbon.

Jiraiya watched in even more amusement as blades of leaf and ice struck each other.

"Wow…" He momentarily turned towards Lee's direction, seeing the boy with more than a little admiration in his eyes. "If Tenten-chan could do that…she'd be sooo happy." The white haired man raised an eyebrow at that. He didn't recognize the name Tenten, but she was probably the type that loved pointy things, if Lee's statement was any indication. The exchange lasted another twenty seconds, when Naruto finally ran out of leaves. Luckily for Haku, she was armed with the moisture in the air. The moisture in the air of an island nation… And she looked more than a little pissed off at Naruto's tactics. The blonde chuckled momentarily before jumping to another tree.

Jiraiya watched the girl go into a defensive stance seemingly taking a few seconds to catch her breath. Using that much chakra, that fast wasn't a good idea. Women already tended to have a smaller chakra supply. Her mistake was going into a stamina battle against Naruto, seemingly forgetting that his reserves were probably twenty times whatever hers were; and that's if he didn't summon the fox's chakra. Even if the girl wasted half the chakra that he did, which she actually did, the numbers were still in his favor. It was a simple, yet smart tactic on his part. She'd need to finish this quickly, before exhaustion gets the better of her.

"Makai Oni: Moku Bunshin!" Three of his demonic fox clones jumped out of the tree, looking ready to tear the girl apart.

"Hyoton-" Jiraiya immediately turned towards the girl. "Haryu Moko!" Water swirled around the girl before taking the form of a water dragon, and then crystallizing into ice. The ice dragon immediately shot towards the three fox demons, easily dispatching the fox clones.

At that point, her shinobi instincts immediately sped up as she turned behind her. She didn't have a chance as she felt the edge of a blade press against the side of her neck. Then, in a slightly arrogant tone, "You should probably give up…unless you think you can survive without a throat."

The girl could only see Naruto out of the corner of her eyes, but gave him a small glare, "Can you survive without lung."

In confusion, the blonde looked down and was shocked to see the girl holding a longer than normal senbon needle, aimed directly at his lung. The boy could just shrug, "I've actually survived a stab to the lung before…regeneration and what not" the boy said with a grin. In reality, he was praying that the girl would take his bluff and not attack him. While he actually has survived taking a stab to the lung before, it just really hurt like hell.

They just stood there, staring at each other in the moon lit night.

"Damn…if you two were samurai this would make a kick ass scene", commented the Toad Sage as he walked to them, suspiciously jotting something down on a notebook. Shizune, Lee, Kiba, and Akamaru were flanking them.

Both teens blinked, clearly confused by Jiraiya's statement.

After putting away his notebook, the sage elaborated, "You always see an epic moonlit battle in those samurai novels. By the way, fights over."

Giving each other one last glance, before lowering their weapons. "Your sparring match displayed the epitome of youthfulness. Your spring time of youth burned brighter than it has ever burned before."

"You could have both done a lot better", commented Jiraiya. Both Naruto and Haku turned towards Jiraiya.

Glancing over the girl, he raised an eyebrow at the girl. The girl still seemed to have some respect for Jiraiya something evident from the way she was staring at him, obviously expecting him to give her pointers. The boy shrugged, he supposed when your one of the best you can be a total pervert and still attain the respect of everyone around you. Or maybe the girl was ignorant to the fact that this was the same man who wrote Icha Icha Paradise. The blonde scowled as a thought came to his head, 'And if she's been in Konoha for a little over three years…I wonder how many times Jiraiya has peak in on her bathing at the hotsprings?'

Akamaru whined a bit as he took a few steps back to hide behind Kiba, something which was actually quite comical considering the size of the dog. Shizune and Haku gave the blonde a sideways glance before turning back to Jiraiya. The old man completely ignored Naruto, looking straight at Haku. "You tried to fight Naruto in a stamina battle." She raised an eyebrow at the comment. "In the small duel when you kept creating ice needles and he kept turning those leaves into shurikan. I promise you that no matter how much you train, you will never have the chakra reserves and stamina that he possesses now. Hell, I have a fraction of Naruto's chakra reserves." He then turned towards Naruto, "Naruto, she was making you her bitch in the close range fight you had and you decide to try to end it by putting a blade to her neck?"

Kiba had started snickering at the bitch comment.

The toad sage turned to Shizune, "I don't think these guys" gesturing towards Kiba and Lee, "have ever fought someone who fights primarily with medic jutsu. Do you mind?"

The black haired woman blinked, before giving a nod.

He then turned back towards the group, "Inuzuka, you can fight." He then took a moment to look at Akamaru, "Fight without the dog." Lee visibly grimaced. It was obvious that the boy was anxious for a fight as well.

Shizune on the other hand, didn't want to spar at all. Feeling that she should be fresh for the Akatsuki, she preferred to not waste energy on a practice battle. A look of determination came over Shizune's face, 'I don't believe that a few last minute spars will help anybody, but if Jiraiya-sama insists…'

"Fight!"

As expected, Kiba began the fight by charging straight a Shizune.

"Naruto…" The blonde turned towards Jiraiya, "There's something I need to talk to you about in private, do you mind going back to the hotel?"

The fifteen-year-old Sennin just nodded before heading back into town.

---

The male blonde sat on the roof of the hotel, lying on the ground with his legs hanging over the railing. His right hand was supporting his head, whilst his left was holding a sword transformed from a bamboo flower. If anyone were to walk up to him now, they'd assume that he was staring at the sword in his hand, but in reality he was staring at the night sky. Caught in deep thought, he didn't even hear Jiraiya walking up on him.

"Ryou for your thoughts?" He asked, but before the blonde could reply, he added, "10,000 ryou if you use that transformation again?"

In reply, the blonde placed his sword on the ground and raised his left fist, the back of it being towards Jiraiya. He then raised his right hand to it and began to move it in a circular motion, as if he was working a crank. As he did this, little by little, the middle finger in his left hand, raised inch by inch, until it was fully extended.

The old man sweat dropped at the act, 'what a needlessly complicated way to flip someone the bird.' Thought the self proclaimed Super Pervert. "So…you're really going out of your way to avoid everyone." And by everyone, he didn't actually mean everyone.

The blonde shrugged as he reclaimed his sword. "To be honest, I'm just thinking, I'm not trying to avoid them…well not right now at least."

"So, what the hell are you thinking about?"

"Are you still trying to play teacher?"

Jiraiya just stared at the boy in boredom. This tired old routine had to be put to an end now. "Listen kid, I can understand that you don't want to end up like your father." Naruto cringed somewhat at that. "And your probably the only one in the whole damn…well…world who would probably think that's a bad thing, and that includes your father's enemies in Hidden Stone. But I'll tell you one thing…your father wouldn't have to be protected from punks like the Aktasuki." At that comment Naruto sent an icy glare at the older man. Before the boy could comment, Jiraiya continued, "And before you make some dumb ass comment like, 'I don't need to be protected,' SAVE IT. The one you killed was easily one of the weakest, and he'd already wasted most of his chakra on trying to extract the demon. If you had fought him at full power, you wouldn't have gotten off as easy as you did."

"If-"

"If you had been stronger, you could have done a lot more. With Itachi and Kisame there, it was unlikely that either of your allies would have lasted much longer. A few more minutes and they would have killed the people who went to rescue you and then they would have teamed up and recaptured you. The only reason you 'won' that battle was because you managed to kill the 'weakened' Deidara before, they managed to kill your friends."

"I can beat them…"

"You're a lot of things Naruto, arrogant isn't one of those things. Do you truly believe without a doubt that you can defeat them all? What if more than one were to come after you? Can you defeat two at the same time? Three? Four?"

"…"

"Ninja don't play fair, you should know that right now? What if they take a hostage, would you abandon one of the people who care about you?"

"…" There were a total of seven people that he cared about. He didn't know what he'd do if faced with such a situation. Kakashi had brought up that point the first time when team 7 was just formed. Though at that point he didn't understand those feelings.

"Or are you hoping that they make a mistake, and take a certain somebody that you don't care about."

"…" Yukina?

"Most ninja have this talk with one of their senseis, I can see that you've missed out on it." Jiraiya clenched his eyes shut. "What do you want Naruto. What is it that you truly want?"

"Freedom…" Naruto looked at the black sky, lit up by the stars and a crescent moon. He silently wondered how a man that could act like such a fool one moment, could act so wise the next. 'Though I guess he's a sage for a reason.'

"You want what was promised to you by Sarutobi-sensei. You want to be able to wander around the world without being hunted by anyone." It made sense. Naruto was denied many things in his life. He was denied a normal childhood. He was denied the ability to choose his future; it was always planned that Kakashi would train both Naruto and the last Uchiha. Even if he failed the latest exam, it was always planned to give him a make-up exam…though thanks to that Mizuki brat, that wasn't necessary. He's been bound by chains since the moment the Kyuubi was sealed inside of him…well actually since his mother refused to take him back to the capital. Freedom would be the thing that a boy like Naruto would want. "If you leave Konoha, you will be hunted by Akatsuki, you do understand that right?"

The blonde gave a small nod, "They'll be the first ones I take out."

"Your powerful for you age. You have the potential to become so much more powerful. That alone will make you Orochimaru's enemy…you'll hear from him eventually."

"Go ahead and place him with the members of dawn."

"Then, if you care to stop slitting your wrists for a few minutes, I might be able to help you."

Naruto raised an eyebrow, "Did you just refer to me as emo?"

Choosing to ignore the ridiculous comment, "If you're to truly become strong, then you need to stop worrying about becoming similar to another man. You need to just let yourself grow up into the man your going to become. If it helps…" Jiraiya looked disappointed for a moment, "the Rasengan is really the only thing you have left that connects you to my old student." That was a fact really. Not even his hair was the same anymore. When he was younger, Naruto's hair easily seemed to defy the laws of gravity like his father's. Now his hair came down around his head, though it was still wild and spiky. Their eyes were different as well. In Arashi's eyes you saw either hope or death, depending on whether you were friend or foe. Naruto's eyes…they didn't exactly look dead, like most Jinchuuriki's were. They were deeper than that. Three years ago they held a spark of insanity. Now they were completely empty. The blonde Jinchuuriki has finally created a perfect mask. It was at that point that he noticed that Naruto was smiling slightly. "Something amusing?"

"Then I'll refrain from using the Rasengan, until I finally become strong enough to stop using it completely."

Jiraiya mentally sighed. 'Not quite the lesson I wanted you to learn, but-' "-It's a start. And that sounds like a challenge." He momentarily moved to sit next to Naruto, though the boy made no move to change his position. "The first step to getting stronger, is learning what your weaknesses are? So what do you think they are?"

Never having trained, actively training, with anyone other than Kakashi, had Naruto feeling a bit weird about Jiraiya's approach. "Taijutsu, Genjutsu…" He looked at the sword in his hand, "…and I need to get a lot better with this thing."

"What Taijutsu style are you using?"

"Whatever the hell the academy style is called."

Jiraiya sighed, "How the hell are you still alive? Academy style is a few steps above street fighting."

The blonde shrugged, "I stick to Ninjutsu most of the time."

"Mokuton…" the man said with a silent nod. "What sword style are you using?"

"The style that my friend, Rei, taught me."

"The style of the Hayate clan isn't bad, but unless you learn the dances, the special sword techniques that are a part of that style, you'll never get anywhere. And you'll never get those, unless you are actually a part of the Hayate clan, so ya wanna marry your friend Rei?"

Naruto didn't even react, as if he was completely ignoring the comment of the older man.

"Of course not, your more into pretty little brunettes." To Jiraiya's amusement, that got a reaction out of Naruto. "Anyway, there really aren't to many great sword styles in Konoha. With the exception of the Hayate clan, most sword masters usually come up with there own style."

"Tried doing that, but nothing seemed to fit…to be honest I've almost given up on this thing."

"Don't blame you, it's a lot easier to learn a few styles and use your current abilities to create your own style that way. A lot easier than creating something out of scratch." Jiraiya rubbed his chin for a moment. "If I were you I would learn one style, either Taijutsu or a weapon style, and then make a variation based on that to fit it into your abilities…in your case, mokuton. Essentially, you're going to make a style your own by complimenting it with your own movements and your own techniques."

Naruto shrugged, "Can't you teach me the style you use?"

"Regrettably, no." Jiraiya had his eyes closed in deep thought. "My taijutsu style is heavily involved in summoning toads and using toad style jutsu. All of those things you can only learn by signing the toad contract, which I'm not allowed to let anyone else do."

Naruto immediately read the subtext of Jiraiya's words, "Yukina?"

"Your not the only child I wanted to train. Anyway, even if you're both the children of Arashi, the Toad Boss won't allow a second ninja trainee to sign the contract…not until the first one has finished their training at least. Trust me, I already tried talking to him about it."

"Since I don't have time to wait for Yukina to become a master, looks like I got to find something else."

"You could learn a couple of soft styles, in Taijutsu or with some weapon, and then work from there. I got a couple of ideas that you could compliment with your Moku Bunshins." Looking thoughtfully, the man asked, "Which brings up the next subject, how's your Genjutsu?"

Naruto's smile dropped.

"We can work on that later." To become an elite, you had to truly master all three styles of shinobi arts. That's the difference between a specialist like Deidara and a reaper like Itachi. "Anyway, since you seem to prefer weapons, you can use that instead of Taijutsu."

"You just said that it wouldn't be a good idea for me to use a sword."

Jiraiya shook his head, "No, but there are plenty of other styles and plenty of other weapons. You want something that you can use with or without your jutsus." Jiraiya then rubbed his chin again, "Since your ancestors, on your mother's side, preferred to use pole-arms, why don't we start there?"

Naruto blinked, "So a staff or a spear?"

"Or a three piece staff."

A thought occurred to Naruto. "Didn't the old man use a staff?"

Jiraiya smiled at the memory. "Sarutobi-sensei was a surgeon with the staff. I once saw him completely undress his wife with a staff, without ripping or ruining any of her clothing."

The blonde child cringed. Never knowing the old man as a young man or ever meeting his wife, he simply saw Sarutobi as the aged grandfather figure. The thought of someone, even a big as pervert as Jiraiya, watching the old man in a position like that was…icky. Pushing the bad…very bad thoughts aside, he asked, "Was his style a clan style?"

"No…and the style is exactly what'd we need. The problem was that sensei used a special staff. With his staff he was able to block a lot less and basically stay on the offensive. I suppose you could become adept with the style, even without a staff like senseis, with your demonic regeneration. However, if I were you I would ask to learn the style of the Ryuu clan and learn to use a three-piece staff."

That's when something hit Naruto, something that he didn't think about for close to a year. It would probably meet the requirements that Jiraiya spoke of, about having a special staff. Besides, if he was going to learn someone else's style, he wanted to learn his style. After all, there was only one God of Shinobi. "Can I ask you for a favor?"

Jiraiya snapped his head in Naruto's direction, visibly shocked at the request. "What did you have in mind?"

"The paper used to test element affinities…is created from a special tree right?"

Jiraiya's eyes widened. The paper is a made from a tree that is fed chakra over the course of its life. Special tree equals special wood. Add that to Naruto's affinity for Mokuton and… Jiraiya sent Naruto a grin "You just may become a sage as well…"

------

"AAAHHHHHHH!" was the last thing that left the man's lips before he was smashed into the wall, breaking most of the bones in his body.

A lone man stood behind a wall, looking down on the battlefield under him. A straight wall of flames extended from one side of the field, to the other. On one side of the crimson wall stood his comrades, well over twenty of them, all wearing the hitai-ate that labeled them oto-nin. On the other side, stood six cloaked figures, faces concealed in darkness.

One of the oto-nin, his commanding officer Taichi, took a few steps forward and began rallying his comrades, "Come on! There's just six of them, let's show this scum what happens when these bastards screw with the Sound!" And then a Salamander the size of a house landed on him, smashing him into the ground.

That's when the shit hit the fan. All the others died soon afterwards. The lone ninja just sat there behind the wall, praying that those monsters wouldn't find him. To not have to feel the pain that his former comrades were forced to go through. After a few moments, he no longer could feel their overwhelming presence. He slowly peeked over the side of the wall and let out a breath when he saw they were gone, most likely inside the base. Letting out a breath that he hadn't realized he had been holding, he quickly turned around and prepared to run.

The moment he turned around his eyes widened.

He didn't even have a chance to scream…

-----

Jiraiya immediately stood up from his position. The older ninja had been going over the basics of genjutsu with the boy. He looked directly at the boy, "I think it's about time you learned the real reason why Tsunade sent Shizune and the others."

The blonde gave a small nod. He knew that they weren't simply there for extra security. But he figured it was one of those, 'need to know situations'. And frankly, if he didn't need to know, he was a lot happier. "The most obvious answer would be a possible attack from another village, though I suppose if you're talking to me alone…Akatsuki?"

"Good guess. Tsunade learned that a couple of members of the Akatsuki are heading in our direction."

The blonde raised an eyebrow at that, "I thought…"

"Our spy network was compromised. Hell, the only reason we know what we know now is because a few of our Chunin happened to run into them by some crappy luck."

"How long until they get here."

"I'd say estimate about two days, but we're going to assume they'll arrive in one day."

"Which is why they sent Shizune and the others. They're here to guard the old people, while we fight the Akatsuki." The thought of dealing with those men again so soon both scared and excited him. 'We got our asses handed to use last time, what say we give them hell this time.'

Buring into the back of his mind was the image of the Kyuubi, grinning through its cage.

Jiraiya nodded, "I figured we may be able to borrow one or two of them, since they still have the samurai with them. Though frankly, I doubt that Yukina or the Inuzuka would do much good against a member of the Akatsuki. Gai's apprentice might be able to put up a fight against these particular members. Both Shizune and Haku should be of some use, though we'll be leaving Shizune on guard duty."

The blonde nodded. "Ok…so let's assume that it's the two of us plus Haku and Lee. So what's the plan? Who are we fighting anyway?"

The older ninja began rubbing his chin. "I want you to find the Uchiha and find out what he's doing."

Raising an eyebrow in inquiry, the blonde asked. "That Itachi guy?

Jiraiya shook his head immediately, "The younger one, he's in the area?"

That comment made the blonde's eyes widened in utter shock. "Sasuke? How the hell do you know that he's even here?"

"Toad scouts, idiot didn't think to conceal himself from such a small target."

"Ok…so why do you want me to go after him? Don't we have more important things to worry about? I mean…is going after Sasuke really that important at the moment."

"It's not. I'm just not quite sure how to deal with these three ninjas. I'm sure I can handle one or two myself."

"Okay…so why the hell do you have me on Uchiha duty."

"Two thing you should know. First is that the Uchiha is no longer a part of Oto." Naruto actually looked taken back by the proclamation. "The second is that some of my spies have told me of an Oto base in this area, though I never got a chance to confirm whether it was true or just bad intel on their part. I figured if the Uchiha is close by, then he may know where that base is or may in fact be going there himself. I just want you to try and find out." With that said, Jiraiya began walking to the stairs that would lead him down. "According to my guy, who's actually a little toad, the Uchiha is in the forest. He's actually directly North from this hotel. Seems to be heading towards some really big sword."

"But shouldn't we be more worried about the three s-class missing nin instead of Sasuke?"

He just called back, "I need some time to think of a plan, this is just so I don't feel like we're sitting on our asses doing nothing." And with that he disappeared down the stairs.

Immediately realizing that patience wasn't one of Jiraiya's virtues, he just turned in North. 'Really big sword in the middle of the forest. Must be heading towards Zabuza's grave.' It would make sense. The demon of Mist was buried in a grave with his sword acting as the head stone.

---

It took him almost no time at all to reach the northern forest. The moment he reached the edge of the forest, he was immediately met with a small toad, whom led the blonde the rest of the way. The moment the wood-user reached the clearing he spotted his former teammate. As he casually strolled to center, where Zabuza's grave was, a short surge of memories coming into his mind. This was, after all, the grave of his first real enemy, the demon of the hidden mist. Immediately spotting the Uchiha in front of the grave, he slowly began trotting over to him.

"What the hell are you doing here?" he asked without even turning to look at the blonde.

In a face of pure boredom the blonde pulled out a piece of paper. "Before any pleasantries, I better say this before I forget. I'm sure there'll be at least one dumbass interrogating me on whether or not I tried to get you to come back to the village." Naruto looked down at the piece of paper in his hand. "Oh Sasuke! Why, oh why did you leave us? Don't you know that Orochimaru simply wants to make you his sex slave…" A brief flash of confusion came over Sasuke's face, before it turned into a loathing annoyance. After a moment Naruto quickly looked back at the piece of paper before he began chuckling to himself. "Sorry…got the wrong speech", he said as he put the paper back in his pocket. "This is the speech I prepared if you ever happened to hook up with Sakura."

The Uchiha scowled at the blonde, "All these years and your still a fool."

"It's only been about three years, I don't think the statement, 'All these years…' really fits in this case."

"I'll ask again, what the hell are you doing here?"

"A little toad saw you were in the area so he reported it back to a big toad who sent me to find you." His tone was back to sounding bored, though his mask was back on his face. "You don't seem like the type to be coming around to relive some old memories, so care to explain why you decided to visit his grave?"

"I'm taking Zabuza's sword."

The blonde raised an eyebrow at that statement before glancing at the Uchiha's own sword, sheathed at the back of his waist. "You…don't feel you're over compensating enough as it is?" He briefly moved his head to the right, easily avoiding a shurikan from the annoyed Uchiha. "I'll take that as a, my current sword overcompensates me enough."

Ignoring the second insult, the Uchiha took the hilt of Zabuza's sword, lifted it off the ground, and heaved it over his shoulder.

"You're an idiot you know."

That got the Uchiha's attention, as he turned to look at the blonde, Sharingan eye blazing. "Someone who could barely pass something as ridiculous as the Konoha ninja academy is calling me an idiot?"

Grinning at the Uchiha, the blonde said, "Look I get it, nearly everyone in that village is annoying as hell and I could only assume that Oto was the same way. But you're never gonna get anywhere if you're by yourself."

"Everyone else will just get in my way."

"He's afraid."

'Afraid? He sounds as arrogant as always, how can you tell that he's afraid?'

"I can smell it, even if it is through your damn nose." The demon made a few loud sniffing sounds. "There's something he's terrified of. Probably whatever forced him to leave his new master."

'Something he's afraid of? His brother maybe.' He mentally shook his head, 'He'd be embracing another confrontation with Itachi. He can't just be afraid of a few hunter-nin. Hmmm…I don't get it! The only people that this jackass might be afraid of is Itachi or…' The blonde rolled his eyes, turning his back to the Uchiha at the same time. "Orochimaru." The lack of a facial expression made him believe that he could be on the wrong track, until…

"That's it. His heart started racing."

He took a moment to glance over Zabuza's sword. "Chunin Exams are over, so I really don't have to care about what happens to your dumb ass. Though one piece of advice, that sword couldn't save Zabuza and it won't save you from whatever the hell you're running from." With that the blonde began to walk away.

But before he could get more than a few steps, "I don't need this damn thing for more than a few seconds." Seeing the blonde's silent question, he decided to elaborate, "There's a barrier I have to destroy. It can literally burn anything that touches it, everything that is, except a certain type of metal." He gestured over to Zabuza's sword, "The swords of the Seven Swordsman of Mist are all made with this metal."

"Hmmm…"

Without another word, Naruto watched Sasuke walk away with Zabuza's sword over his back. He momentarily wondered if he should attempt to stop the Uchiha. This stopped being about returning Sasuke back to the village and had more to do about the Mist Demon's sword. While he only had a passing respect for the demon of the Mist, his feelings revolved more around the Haku. He knew that she would be upset if someone desecrated her father's tomb, even if they were just taking the headstone.

"AAAHHHHH!"

Naruto cursed himself for not being more attentive, as he turned back towards Sasuke, to see him hunch over in pain, Zabuza's sword on the ground next to him. The cause…

"Pervert?"

Jiraiya glared at the boy for that comment. "Don't call me…oh screw." Jiraiya then fix Naruto a look, not even paying attention to the fact that Sasuke was currently writhing on the ground. "Thanks to the Uchiha, I think I've got a plan to deal with the members of Akatsuki that are coming after you. But the three of us will have to work together."

"Is that fool serious? Even I can see that this won't end well."

The blonde could only nod. 'Bold statement', Naruto looked over at Sasuke as the Uchiha began rising from the ground, 'Seems he's thinking the same thing.'

"You son of a-" The red-eyed ninja began as he began to un-sheath his sword.

"Uchiha, listen I know that we've never gotten along, and me smashing you in the stomach probably didn't help, but we need to work together if we're going to confront the threat of the Akatsuki", Jiraiya said, in a matter-of-fact voice, with a shit eating grin splitting his face.

For his part, Naruto was amused. Sasuke was going to murder Jiraiya the first chance he got, but he was still amused.

"I'll…kill…you…" with that, said Sasuke charged, his Sharingan blazing. The insanity of this man, to think that he would help this old toad. Especially after said man slammed him in the stomach.

Sasuke threw a punch aimed at Jiraiya's head. The old man quickly smacked the Uchiha's hand to the side, before smacking him in the side of the head with his other hand. Flying to the side several feet, Sasuke was able to land with the grace of a cat before starting a chain of hand seals. "Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu!" Sasuke breathed out three fireballs and threw a dozen shurikan, three of which were hidden in the flames. Jiraiya just stood there as both flames and kunai struck him simultaneously.

Before 'Jiraiya' could even transform into a log, Sasuke was already turning around, unsheathing his sword. Jiraiya blocked the sword strike, with his left hand. Sasuke's eyes widened when he saw his blade go deep into Jiraiya's hand, something that the man didn't seem to acknowledge. He wasn't even bleeding.

"Doton: Yomi Numa."

The first thing Sasuke noticed was the horrible smelled, and the second was that the ground seemed to be trying to swallow him whole. By the time he realized Jiraiya's ruse, the Uchiha was stuck to far under to try and escape. Sasuke was up to his neck in muck before he finally stopped sinking, most likely Jiraiya not wanting him dead. And why the hell was he having trouble using the Kawarimi? He then turned his attention the man he had been fighting, sending him a death glare as that same man dissolved into mud.

"Damn kids…always thinking they're hot shit."

The tomoe in Sasuke's eyes began spinning wildly as he glared at Jiraiya, as the man appeared out of the forest. "I'm going to fucking kill you!"

Jiraiya rolled his eyes, "Lets assume that you could kill me, which you can't by the way, but let's assume that were possible. You'd never be able to kill me before I could activate the seal I placed on your stomach"

With that Sasuke froze in place, staring at the man in shocked, "Seal…"

"Why the hell do you think your chakra control was so screwed up? Like with that Fire Jutsu for example, it's a nice combo to hide shurikan inside of the fireballs that you breath out, but you threw nine shurikan too many." Jiraiya paused for a moment so that he could move over and lean against a tree. The sage did see Sasuke grind his teeth, obviously he had fully intended to breath out nine more fireballs too cover the shurikan. "Let me explain how this seal works, because it's actually quite impressive." Jiraiya's self-boasting made Sasuke grind his teeth with renewed vigor. "It's actually a seal, within a seal, within another one. The outer one is a containment seal, just like the name implies, it contains any seal that it has within it and doesn't allow them to function correctly. The middle one is a destruction seal-" seeing Sasuke flinch made Jiraiya grin. "-it's purpose is to destroy any seal that is within it. Now the inner seal doesn't really have a name, but it's actually a passive seal that will siphon a little of your chakra and turn you into a beacon." Seeing the boys', both Naruto and Sasuke, confusion, Jiraiya decided to elaborate before either voiced their question, "In short, if you had this seal on you, a child a mile away would be able to sense you…even if he didn't understand what he was feeling. Try to imagine what that would mean for a skilled ninja like, for the sake of argument, Itachi."

He didn't need to be told to imagine what would happen. It was quite obvious that he'd have hunter-nin coming after him left and right. Some would be after the bounty that Konoha had placed on his head; the rest would be after his eyes. And if Itachi could sense him also it would make sneaking up on him or even trying to hide from his impossible, yet Itachi wouldn't have a problem with either…

"You have two options, since I was the one who placed the seal on you. I can destroy the containment seal, which would in turn, also destroy the destruction seal and allow the third seal to work without problem, completely fucking up all your plans. Or I could activate the destruction seal, which would destroy the third seal, making that containment seal useless." Jiraiya then began rubbing his chin in deep thought, absentmindedly watched as a small bird flew and landed on top of Sasuke's head. He grinned as he could see the boy, arms deep in the muck, unable to do anything about such a minor annoyance. Even more amusing was that the bird seemed completely immune to Sasuke's killer intent. "Or you could also try to kill me, I'll activate the seal before you can do so, and then you can try finding another seal master to deactivate the seal." At that point Jiraiya's grin took on a more evil gleam, "May I recommend my old teammate? Orochimaru always did have a thing for seals." Sasuke flinched at the man's name.

'Hook…line…and sinker.' "Now before you jump to conclusions, this isn't some sad attempt to try to get you to return to the village."

Utter shock washed over Sasuke. The only thing he could say in response was a childish, "It's not?", he said as if he were trying to avoid punishment from an adult, which he kinda was.

Even Naruto was shocked by Jiraiya's statement. He would have thought that the soul purpose of this was to return Sasuke to the village, which is what all the adults seemed to want to do.

"Well, ten minutes ago it might have been. But there are more important things than trying to get your ass back to Konoha and to stay there. Now if you can stop powdering your face and putting on your black eye-liner for a moment, maybe we can talk."

Sasuke growled at that comment. Naruto would have found it amusing, but Jiraiya had accused the boy of being emo a few hours ago as well.

Jiraiya turned towards Naruto, "Simply put, I have a plan to kill three members of that Akatsuki. Two of these guys are basically immortal and one of them that is too elusive to finish off. Which is why I'm concocting this plan to get rid of them." Jiraiya turned towards Sasuke this time, "This would also benefit you. If you were to just go after Itachi, there's always a chance that one of the others would try to get in your way. Killing a few of them off will probably help you achieve your goals in the future. Think about it for a second."

Sasuke did think about it. If the Akatsuki had two immortal members, something he truly doubted, and Jiraiya had a plan to kill them then it probably wouldn't be a bad idea to assist the pervert. Problem was the seal that was now on his naval, how the hell would he fight with this thing screwing up his chakra control?

"By the way, a seal that is placed on your body only affects your control for a few minutes so it, your chakra control that is, probably back to normal. Might want to get out of that mud, it's really embarrassing."

Sasuke blinked a few times, wondering if the pervert could read minds. Forcing his hand to move through the mud, which seemed to have become easier all of a sudden, probably due to Jiraiya, he managed to move them into a hand seal. He then performed the Replacement technique, leaving a log to float in the mud; his control was back to normal. Scanning himself over, he noticed that his clothing was now stained in the brown foul smelling muck. He was grateful to see that his sheath was still strapped to his back and that he managed to bring his sword with him, which had been in his hand the whole time. In annoyance, he watched the bird, which originally was on his head, now was just on the top of the log. Missing the warmth Sasuke's hair provided, it flew off of the log. Obviously, it was smart enough not to attempt the same trick, now that Sasuke's sword hand seemed to be twitching. It didn't help his pride that Naruto was chuckling to himself.

"You decided yet?"

Grinding his teeth, he would have preferred not to be blackmailed into this deal; he gave the man a nod.

Jiraiya grinned, before tossing a kunai towards Naruto. "I assume that the barrier is hiding one of Orochimaru's bases."

The Uchiha could only nod.

The sage waited a few seconds while Naruto scanned the kunai he had given the younger ninja…a three-pronged kunai "Good, that Kunai I gave Naruto will have the same effect as that big as sword; save you the trouble of having to lug that huge chunk of metal around." For once taking in a serious expression, " Now here's my plan."

---

Crimson splotches covered the normally gray walls. Rivers of blood pooled all across the floor, the origin being the corpses of over ten oto ninja.

Six figures continued walking down the hallway, paying the people whom they had just massacred little heed. The fools should have known better than to attack a GOD. 'Is this what Orochimaru has been doing for the last decade? This foolishness and his infuriating meddling ends NOW!'

The figure in front held his arm out in front of a large iron door, and almost immediately the door imploded inwards, and into the other room.

The six ninja walked into the room. The significantly better light finally illuminated their forms. They all wore matching black cloaks, red clouds all over them. Large straw hats hid the majority of their faces, the top of the cloak hiding most of the rest. The only thing visible within all the figures was their eyes, all of which were completely identical. Light purple, with multiple rings surrounding their irises.

They were now in a much larger room, which looked like some kind of throne room. A long red carpet, starting from the door they were at, and ran all the way down to a large golden throne. A pair of ancient Samurai armor, one on each side of the carpet, was set up every two meters along the carpet. The serpent himself was sitting in the chair, with the same twisted smile that he gave everyone. The man in front nodded, "Orochimaru…"

Orochimaru returned the nod, "Leader, to what do I owe the pleasure?"

The one in front raised his hand towards Orochimaru. "This has been an amusing game Orochimaru, but it's about time that this little game of cat and mouse ends."

"Isn't it beautiful Leader?" At this point Orochimaru stood up, held his arms out, and did a slow spin around.

Not showing any sort of emotion, or any other response, the leader could only think about how Orochimaru was always considered the odd man in the group. And being considered odd amongst a group of consisting of: a masochist, a man with mouths on his palms, a man who steals and uses the hearts of others, and a man who was also plants and had dual personalities was…quite a thing to say.

"This body…it possesses many unique qualities. It even grants me the eternal life that I've always wanted. I was a fool for not realizing it before. I have done so many experiments on this body for the better part of a decade, yet never thought to use it for what it was truly meant to be used."

The key phrase in Orochimaru's rant was, eternal life. The fool had been seeking eternal life for years. That and the ability to learn every single jutsu on the planet. The man grinned at such a foolish thought. He wanted the eyes of the Uchiha clan to gain every single jutsu on the planet…foolish. To gain them all, he would need to obtain his eyes, not Itachi's.

"And it's all thanks to you. The science that I learned under you is what made all of this possible. Who would have thought that I would learn under one that used to apprentice under my foolish teammate?"

"And you will be killed by that same apprentice of your teammate."

Orochimaru grinned, "And how do you plan to perform such an act?"

In an ear piercing sound, one of the six fired his very own arm at the pale ninja, the projectile aimed to rip the man's head off from the neck. Unusually enough, it seemed that Orochimaru had no intention of dodging the attack. And finally, they discovered why. A second before the arm would have killed the man; a brown blur deflected the arm, leaving it to clatter against the side of the room.

The new figure stood in the middle of the room, between the six figures and the pale snake-nin, and appeared to look nothing like an ordinary human. Its skin was a sickly brown, with long white hair. A long reptilian tail extended from its tailbone, bony spines extended from it. The same bony spines extended from his backbone. Lastly there was a red dot over the inner edge of each of his eyes.

The leader regarded him with the same apathy he regarded everything else. "Another one of your experiments, Orochimaru? Hmmm, why must you continue to delay the inevitable is beyond reason Orochimaru. Do you really think you can defeat me…a God?"

Orochimaru grinned, "Quite simply leader, for I have tasted the fruit of knowledge. Now let me show you what it has taught me?" At that point the Snake Sannin raised his hand.

Pein hadn't seen the snake-nin cut his hand, making him silently wonder when the man had started bleeding. He watched the man begin a series of hand seals, curiosity getting the better of him. After the long chain of seals, four red boxes erupted from the ground, destroying the wooden floors they came out of. They looked like coffins, a single kanji on them, from left to right reading…

"One…two…three…four…"

The pale man chuckled, "I'm not sure if I should compliment you for reading or for counting."

"Your infamous necromancy. To take my divine ability and twist it into such a perverse form?" he asked, ignoring Orochimaru's insult. The man would be killed soon enough. At that point, something caught his eye.

A thin mat sat in front of each of the coffins. On the first mat was what looked like…seeds maybe or perhaps some kind of pellets. On the second mat was what looked like the hilt of a sword, though strangely enough it lacked a blade. The third mat contained a long silver staff, it actually going over the edge of the mat. The final mat had on pouches, with what looked like kunai sticking out of them.

"I can't help but wonder who would be stronger. The Six paths of Pein? Or the four men who were named the strongest in Leaf?"

With that, the coffins opened, revealing a body in each one. They were all young men, probably in there twenties or early thirties. The first man had long black hair, similar eyes, and tanned skin. He wore what looked like a black body suit, with a large red chest plate on top.

The second man had much paler skin and gray hair, misleadingly making him looking somewhat older than the first. He had three red markings on his face, matching his crimson eyes. Like the first, he to wore a black body suit and a chest plate, though his armor was blue.

The third man had short black hair, hidden underneath a black samurai-like helmet. Unlike the other two, he also sported a small black beard. This man wore thin chain linked armor, underneath his black body suit.

The final man had blonde hair and sky blue eyes, something that seemed strange for a ninja. Unlike the other three, he simply wore the outfit that most Jounin from Konohagakure no Sato wore.

All four of them wore a white cape/cloak, with red flames licking the bottom.

The first thing they all did was walk towards the mats and grabbed the items that were on them. Orochimaru immediately summoned his Kusanagi, the infamous Grass Cutter, and went to stand a few steps in front of the four Kages. "One year ago, summoning all four of these men together would have been a fatal mistake. My former method of having to manually put even two of these men under my control was close to suicidal. As you can see" Orochimaru then waved his hand. "My ability has evolved."

A lesser man would have cringed in fear. Pein looked on with the same apathy that he looked at everything with. He wouldn't run away. He was a god. He would crush this snake and anyone or anything that would stand against him.

Both Pein and Orochimaru smirked.

The time for reckoning had arrived….

---

A/N: I would love to say something like, I hope this chapter was worth the wait…unfortunately I doubt waiting a year for a freaking update is worth anything I could have posted.

Either way, I hope ya'll enjoyed it.