AN: Sorry for the long wait folks, work and life have me in a headlock. However, the holidays are coming up which means no work and no headlocks (hopefully) so I'll be able to update a few times over the next month or so!

"Is that it?" Jiraiya asked in a taunting tone as Naruto struggled to get up. He was covered in bruises and cuts all over his body, his partner, Ameya, was in a similar state next to him whilst glaring daggers at the toad sage.

Throughout the trip, Naruto and Jiraiya would spar and train pretty much every day once they made enough progress in their travels. It was currently the third day of their travel and they were going to arrive in the town where Tsunade was spotted tomorrow. After they set up camp, they instantly got into a fighting stance and continued their training.

"No, not yet. One mor-" he was cut off by his stomach growling incredibly loud, causing for Jiraiya to laugh loudly.

"Okay okay, that's enough. Let's eat, we can train more if Tsunade isn't in the town." Jiraiya smiled whilst preparing dinner. Watching his student get up with Ameya he couldn't help but feel proud of him, especially over the last few days.

Naruto had taken the scrolls his parents had left him with them on the trip and in the first night he read both to the point where he memorised each word and letter. His father's letter was just an explanation of why he did what he did and how sorry he was. There were also details on the Kyuubi's second half which he would need in the future, his inheritance and jutsus such as Rasengan with its notes, some sealing jutsus and of course the notes on the Flying Thunder God Technique. The contents had Jiraiya and Naruto's eyes widen with the implications. The Rasengan was actually incomplete, and the scroll had the notes on the next stages regarding adding nature manipulation and for the Flying Raijin technique all that was given to him was his father's ideas for how he came up with the jutsu as well where he could find the beginning stages for its development in the compound. Minato wanted to make sure that if the scroll ever reached the wrong hands, no one would be able to replicate the jutsu quite so easily without access to the compound and the scroll itself.

Kushina's scroll was a bit more emotional for Naruto. The letter had more stories of what she was hoping to do with Naruto, pictures of his parents and how much they loved him. It took Naruto several minutes before he was able to continue reading the letter. Similar to his father, his mum left him a few jutsus she enjoyed using – both elemental but also in fuinjutsu and also had the notes on his Uzumaki chakra chains. What else caught their attention were the details on the Uzumaki's original home – Uzushio.

Following the two letters, Naruto and Jiraiya had a discussion regarding his own training progression and how to proceed. It was decided that Jiraiya would take Naruto on a training trip around the elemental nations and to his homeland. However, he was also told the other purpose of the training trip along with the information regarding the Akatsuki and the other jinchuriki which was another reason for wanting to explore the nations – to stay on the move and to warn the other jinchuriki. However instead of waiting for the training trip to start, Jiraiya decided to take every opportunity to begin Naruto's training which is what they had been doing over the last 3 days. It was very basic and just a bunch of sparring to increase Naruto's battle IQ. He's fine against most people his age or even slightly lesser experienced shinobi however he was once again shown how weak he was against the masked shinobi and even Yagura – he was too predictable at times and they always caught him out. So Jiraiya began working on Naruto's battle awareness and strategy.

Even though Naruto would get his ass kicked every time, Jiraiya was proud of his student. There was small progress every time and although Naruto couldn't see it yet, Jiraiya could.

(The Next Day)

"Stupid ero-sennin and his perverseness" Naruto grumbled out as he continued unpacking in the hotel room that he ended up paying for after his mentor decided to abandon him for some woman.

His thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door of his room, however he was still unpacking so simply made a shadow clone to go check it. "Who is it?" the clone asked as he tried to look through the eye hole but was met with darkness.

"Room service for an Uzumaki Naruto" a rough male voice called out from behind the door, making Naruto tense as he hadn't ordered any room service.

"I didn't order any room service" the shadow clone called out as the original began sinking into the shadows of the room.

"Jiraiya-san ordered it for you" a second calmer voice called out which Naruto thought sounded quite familiar but remained on edge.

"Ahh okay thank you!" Naruto said as he opened the door and came face to face with the disturbers. "Oh…well that's just disappointing. I knew the Akatsuki were criminals, but liars too? That's just not a good look on your organisation. How are we jinchuriki supposed to trust you guys if you're just going to be lying to us, hmm?" Naruto asked as he leaned against the door frame and crossed his arms.

"Heh, that's the kid you trained for a while Itachi? I like him, but since he's a student of yours, I'm guessing he won't be too easy to capture…Should I chop off his legs?" Kisame grinned and lowered his sword, Samehada. Itachi, however, simply ignored him and stared at Naruto.

"Oi Itachi, common man. You know better than that. If you're going to use genjutsu, it'll have to be a much higher level then this" Naruto said with a grin on his face, however it was quickly wiped off his face when Itachi's eyes started bleeding.

"Tsukuyomi"

(Inside Tsukuyomi)

"You're right, I know what is needed to capture you in a genjutsu Naruto-kun" Itachi said from all around him before appearing behind Naruto with a kunai in his hand trying to stab him. Only for Naruto to duck at the last second before jumping away.

"Oi what the hell?! Don't tell me you've actually turned into a bad guy? Remember, I was there that night! I might have only caught the end of it but I heard enough to know you're not what you're portrayed as. That being said, if you keep trying to attack me, I will unleash the Kyuubi on your ass!" Naruto said with red slitted eyes from his 'safe' distance from the Uchiha.

"Hmmm, I guess there is no need to keep up the façade. Fine, you're right. I am not what the village has painted me as but it is who I am now whether we choose to accept that or not." Itachi explained but seeing Naruto's confused and impatient expression let him know he was going to have to say more. "The coup Naruto-kun. The Uchiha were ready to go through with it and were planning on capturing you for their plan. I took the burden upon myself, with Shisui to wipe the clan out to keep the village safe in exchange for sparing my little brother-"

Binds all of a sudden began enveloping Naruto, more specifically his mouth as he opened it to interrupt.

"Please, don't interrupt. None of what I am telling you is up for discussion or debate; it is simply what it is and it doesn't matter whether you agree or not. Anyways, as a result I had to leave the village and joined the Akatsuki. I can't do much right now but keep them off your trail for as long as possible. Initially they weren't meant to make a move for another 3 years but the involvement of Yagura in the invasion opened up an opportunity they couldn't miss" Itachi stopped for a second before continuing, "seems like Kisame is growing restless, it hasn't even been 2 seconds. Anyways, Naruto-kun, there are approximately 10 of us right now, all of us on the level of the Sannin and at least S-ranked. You've met me and Kisame, I heard the true leader made an appearance too and even Orochimaru was part of the organisation once. You need to become a lot stronger to have a chance of survival".

(Back To Reality)

"Kisame, we have to go, he managed to break through my genjutsu with the Kyuubi" Itachi lied as he held his bleeding eyes, causing Kisame to turn to his partner in concern.

That moment of lapse in concentration was all it took for the original Naruto, who had been waiting in the shadows, to slice Kisame's Achilles heels and for the clone to finally be able to explode sending the two Akatsuki members flying. Naruto meanwhile instantly flared his chakra, hoping Jiraiya got the hint and waited patiently, watching the hole in the wall that Itachi and Kisame were sent flying through.

"Itachi, you can rest if you want. I'm going to grab myself a piece of the kid" Kisame said as the two members made themselves visible again, no sort of damage on them other than their slightly singed cloaks. Even Kisame's torn Achilles seemed completely fine. However instead of being afraid, Naruto ended up grinning at the concept of fighting a S-ranked opponent.

"I don't know why you're grinning…you have not had a good experience against S-ranked opponent. You got your ass beat by Orochimaru and Yagura and Jiraiya during all of your spars. It wasn't even close during any of those fights. What makes you think you've got it now?"the Kyuubi asked in a bored manner although it was ready for Naruto to draw on its power.

'Oi none of that negativity! Plus I'm not fighting to win only buying time for Jir-'

His thought were interrupted as he had to pull out two kunai to block the sword strike aimed for his legs, he was quickly shocked though as the sword simply broke the kunai and struck his right leg.

"Pay attention brat. My sword doesn't cut, it shaves!" Kisame grinned out and pulled his sword back at the same time as Samehada's scales poked out to cause more damage to Naruto's leg.

Firing a quick fireball at Kisame's face, Naruto retreated backwards into what remained from his room and began feeling his leg already being healed by the Kyuubi. Kisame in the meantime had also retreated backwards and once again walked out of the smoke with no injury on him.

"Oh you've got to be shitting me! Not even a slight singe?! Is this guy made out of water?!" Naruto asked himself in exasperation.

Kisame merely grinned but wasn't able to respond as the damaged hallway all of a sudden turned pink and squidgy. Looking towards Itachi, both Akatsuki members nodded before running off to escape as seconds later the form of Jiraiya appeared in the hallway on top of a toad. "Oh shit! You're still alive? Well done brat, you managed to once again get your ass beat and survive! This must be some sort of record!" Jiraiya grinned as an explosion was heard throughout the hotel, but that would be dealt with later.

"Yeah yeah yeah whatever. Guessing since Itachi was involved, the woman was under a genjutsu of sorts and didn't want to catch whatever sexual disease you no doubt have accumulated" Naruto rolled his eyes as he made his way to the source of explosion. Jiraiya meanwhile mumbled something under his breath and followed Naruto to see the black flames burning around the hole caused by the Akatsuki, however he didn't have much time to dwell on it as Naruto sealed it away.

"We'll have a look into that later, for now let's go. My contacts let me know that Tsunade is in the neighbouring town, so if you're ready let's head" Jiraiya said and waited for Naruto's confirmation before both left.

(The Next Day)

"Sensei, how far did you get with the Rasengan?" Naruto asked as they entered the town where Tsunade was seen.

"Hmm, I don't really know. I know Minato never completed it but since then I've had the different variations like the Odama Rasengan. Why you asking?" Jiraiya side-eyed his student as they kept walking through the town.

"No real reason, I think I'm close to completing it based on the notes in dad's scroll, but its causing a lot of damage to my clones and I won't be able to finish it until I make use of the waterfalls the village has." Naruto casually replied.

"You've been using your clones this whole time? I'd reprimand you for wasting chakra but that's not really possible with you huh? Anyways, for future reference, don't do something like that again, we don't need you in the middle of a fight to freeze up just because a clone has dispelled and you're sorting through the memories" Jiraiya explained as they entered the nearest bar.

"Hai Hai ero-sensei, apologies" Naruto joked but realised Jiraiya wasn't with him anymore but instead was heading towards one of the booths where, what he recognised was Tsunade Senju was sitting and clearly drunk.

"-Nope, I don't care what he did, I do care about sensei but not enough to come back to that shit hole" Tsunade finished off her argument with Jiraiya. She allowed a quick glance towards Naruto but nothing more as she went back to drinking, the other woman in the booth decided to take this moment to exit the booth and speak to the two Konoha ninjas privately.

"Jiraiya-sama, she's just a bit drunk right now, maybe if we tried tomorrow it would be for the best?" she asked in a hushed tone, hoping for Tsunade not to hear.

"That's not it Shizune-chan, since the incidents, this has always been her mindset. She doesn't want anything to do with Konoha anymore." Jiraiya replied in a solemn tone whilst looking at Tsunade's back. However, what shocked him was Naruto sitting down in front of Tsunade and slapping the table hard, to get her attention.

"Tsunade Senju. You have been ordered by interim Hokage, Danzo Shimura to return to the village at once. If you choose to resist, we are allowed to use force to bring you back and should we struggle, the Hokage has said he would revoke your status of being allowed to travel freely, you'd become a missing nin and be hunted day and night" Naruto said blankly whilst staring directly at Tsunade.

Tsunade meanwhile was grinding her teeth and staring murder at Naruto whilst gripping the table harder and harder before it ended up shattering in pieces. "You think you or that old Warhawk can threaten me?! Send them all! I am Tsunade Senju, some hunter nin won't be enough to bring me down and I'll make sure they're all returned with more than a few broken bones!" She hissed as she grabbed Naruto by his collar.

"That's cute. And Shizune-san? How is she going to feel being on the run constantly? Not being able to sleep or rest or settle down? All because her mentor is being a stubborn old hag?" Naruto replied and allowed a smirk to show on his face as Tsunade grew more enraged by his last remark.

Throwing Naruto out the window, Tsunade quickly leapt after him whilst Jiraiya advised Shizune not to get involved and instead paid for the damages. Naruto meanwhile landed on his feet with no sort of damage and simply waited for Tsunade to stumbled slightly, clearly still drunk to some degree. "I don't care about Konoha but I do care about Shizune, she's like my daughter. But let's make this more interesting, if I go back, I want to do it on my terms not because some old bat tried to command me to come back. You had a lot of balls approaching me like that, I was going to go all out but instead I'll take it a bit easy on your little Genin ass. One hand is all I'll need to beat you down, and when I do, you'll give me all your money and I won't be the new Hokage, Jiraiya will, but I will come back. If and this is a heavy if, I can't defeat you with one hand, I'll come back and be whatever the village wants me to be. I'll even allow you the first hit, so go ahead" Tsunade replied in a smug tone whilst folding her arms under her considerably large chest and waited for Naruto.

Naruto meanwhile chose not to say anything and simply started walking towards Tsunade and started loading up a Rasengan in one hand whilst a clone formed beside him and started adding wind nature to the ball which in turn began losing stability although a quiet screeching could be heard. Naruto, however, was expecting that and started running towards Tsunade even as his hand began shedding some skin due to the damage. Tsunade's eyes meanwhile grew large and proceeded to punch the ground in order to disrupt the jutsu and make Naruto lose his balance. What she wasn't ready for though, was for the Naruto holding the Rasengan to burst into smoke when the jutsu exploded.

All of a sudden the streets lights all shattered and the area around Tsunade turned a bit darker before whispers were being heard all around the district they were standing in.

"Tsunade, save us!"

"Please, I don't want to die!"

"My son! Someone save my son"

She was hearing voices all around her and having flashbacks from the war, of the countless times people have lost their lives on her watch. She might be known as the most renowned and best medic in the elemental nations but this was also based on a foundation of all the times people lost their lives and she had to learn the hard way in order to save the next life. This continued for a few seconds before she steeled herself and expelled her chakra with such a force, the surrounding buildings sported cracks and windows began shattering, effectively dispelling the illusion.

Tsunade didn't have much time to focus though as a giant fireball headed towards her forcing her to roll to the side just to come face to face with Naruto. Although still slightly drunk, Tsunade managed to dodge Naruto's Rasengan and punch him straight into his chest. However, instead of being sent flying with his chest caved in, Naruto simply smirked before exploding and sending Tsunade crashing back down into the ground in a heap.

Slowly pulling herself up, Tsunade grew enraged at the situation she found herself in which would ultimately be her downfall as Naruto once again appeared right behind her, ready to strike her only for Tsunade to duck underneath Naruto's swing and kick him in his chest, "ENOUGH!" she screamed as Naruto was hit with enough force to send him crashing through two buildings as everything went dark for Naruto.

(The Next Day)

"Euuugh, why do I always wake up in pain man?" Naruto asked groggily as he stared at the clear sky above him.

"Shut it brat, I didn't even hit you that hard" the voice of Tsunade rang out in front of him, causing Naruto to actually sit up from the toad's head he was laying on to see the rest of the group on the same toad's head, heading towards Konoha. As soon as Naruto was awake, Shizune, in her medic mode, was running diagnostics to make sure he was actually fine.

"Hime, you sent him through two buildings and weren't going to stop there had I not stepped in" Jiraiya sweat dropped but instantly shut his mouth when Tsunade levelled a glare in his direction.

"Oh yeah! The old bat lost! One fist only, that was the rule! Guess I should be more respectful of the new Godaime eh? Old bat Godaime-sama? Nah that's too lengthy, surely there is a quicker way to incorporate this" Naruto was mumbling to himself, completely unaware of Jiraiya struggling to hold back Tsunade from wanting to kill Naruto.

(A Few Hours Later)

The group continued talking, getting to know each other in Shizune and Naruto's case or arguing in Tsunade and Naruto's case until the gates of Konoha became visible where they decided it was best to continue walking so as to not cause a massive scene with the village.

However, as soon as they got to the village gates, they realised something was wrong, the village was on high alert, shinobi were all over the streets and rooftops and barely any civilians were out in the open. Before they even had a chance to greet Izumo or Kotetsu, an ANBU member appeared at the gate in front of them.

"You've been asked to appear before the Hokage immediately upon your return, village security is at risk" the ANBU explained and left without waiting for a response, knowing the orders would be carried out.

"Guess Danzo really managed to turn this village into his little military base" Tsunade growled out before all four of them shunshined away.

(At The Hokage's Office)

"Come in" was heard as Jiraiya finished knocking, the group of four had steeled themselves for what Danzo would order them to do. What they weren't ready for though, was for the figure of Shikaku Nara to be sitting in the Hokage seat, hands folded in front of his face and working through some plans on the desk.

"Just listen please" Shikaku began, stopping the questions which were about to be asked, "firstly, welcome back Tsunade-sama, its good to have you back in the village. It's a shame it can't be under better circumstances. Sasuke Uchiha, who was being reconditioned by Danzo's ROOT programme, was broken free in the early hours of the morning" Shikaku paused to allow the initial point to settle in, "we know it was Orochimaru as it was his four bodyguards from the invasion which broke him out, however – "

"You're telling me they managed to sneak into the village, find the ROOT hideout and break Sasuke out without anyone noticing? And this still doesn't explain the absence of Danzo, what is going on Shikaku?" Jiraiya questioned in a serious manner.

"I was trying to find the right words for this but its too troublesome. The Sound Four, as they're called, obviously raised the village alarms and engaged the ROOT base, however they had back up. They managed to completely destroy the base and the ROOT members before escaping. A team has been sent out to deal with the Sound Four, however Danzo and even Hiruzen-sama have joined to deal with the back-up" Shikaku paused for a second here to let the information settle in and to allow the group to ready themselves a little.

"The back-up were the reanimated first and second Hokage, your family Tsunade-sama. Tobirama-sama and Hashirama-sama."

AN: Slightly shorter chapter just because I didn't want to delay this any longer! Once again apologies for the wait, work and life is crazy right now. However, Christmas break is coming up, so I should be able to post another chapter or two before New Year hopefully!

Next arc is the 'Sasuke Retrieval'. Let me know what you guys think of everything so far etc.