Hyoton no Naruto

by sinisteruto

What if Haku bestowed his bloodline to the person he felt the closest connection to? What if the side effect of the transfer caused Haku to awaken inside Naruto's mindscape? How would the child of prophesy's destiny be affected by this turn of events. Pairings undecided, possible Naru/Shizune/Hana/Mei

3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any other series I might use for inspiration

The Return

"Danzo-sama. Urgent news from our contact in the barrier squad" Torune said as he ran into Danzo's office.

"You seem troubled Torune, what did the contact say?" Danzo asked curiously, without even meeting Torune eye to eye, content to just stay seated and continue with his paper work as he listened to what one of his most talented subordinates had to say.

"Sir, it is with regards to Uzumaki Naruto's possible whereabouts." Torune said, causing Danzo's attitude to take a whole one eighty degree turn, the old war hawk dropping everything else that held his attentions and focussing solely on what Torune had to say, and no one who knew the full story could blame him too, because Uzumaki Naruto was not only a serious threat to Danzo, but to everything Danzo had spent so many years and shed so much blood and tears to build.

It all happened roughly eighteen months ago. Danzo had used his prized asset, namely, Uchiha Shishui's mangyeko sharingan in order to take control of the kyubi. However, much to Danzo's surprise, Uzumaki Naruto had not only managed to do the impossible and break out of Shishui's unbreakable genjutsu, but had also managed to slice through Danzo's bandages and expose Danzo's secret, which meant that at some point between getting caught in the genjutsu and slicing the bandages, Naruto had been able to accurately deduce that Danzo was specifically using a sharingan genjutsu on him.

As if those two feats were not impressive enough, Naruto had gone on to effortessly do something that Danzo had failed to do his whole life as a wind style user, to conquer the skies as he made his escape from Danzo and his lackeys, who had attempted to subdue and/or silence the young jinchuuriki, for obvious reasons, leaving Danzo a frustrated and anxious wreck of a man. Follwing that incident, the old warhawk had been so afraid that Naruto would expose him that he'd even ordered all of his officials to lie dormant until further notice and he himself had gone into hiding.

However, months and months went by and Konoha made no efforts to search for him nor did they storm his headquarters as he had expected,and Uzumaki Redfox Naruto's reputation continued to grow as he completed more and more S ranked missions, which meant that, even though he didn't seem to have returned to the village since that mission, that he had been in contact with the Hokage, or at least with the ANBU captain, who just so hapened to be Tenzo, one of Danzo's former subordinates.

Consequently, Danzo had been forced to have Torune, Sai, and Fuu kidnap the ANBU captain and he himself had been forced to use Koto Amatsu Kami to make Tenzo talk. The genjutu was however not needed to make him keep their meeting a secret as Tenzo still had the, until proven otherwise, non-removable gag seal that Danzo used on almost all of his subordinates, or in this case, former subordinate. The interrogation had, needless to say, yielded a favourable result as it appeared that Naruto had yet to say anything about Danzo's little secret.

Danzo had come out of hiding and resumed his operations following the success of said interogation, but he'd been forced to constantly look over his shoulder as he didn't know what Naruto's intentions were. It wasn't possible that he'd told Tsunade anything, she wasn't the type to play mind games and she wasn't the type that would tolerate a long term plan, she would have acted within the same week of hearing the news, possibly within a few hours. However, if Naruto told Jiraiya, then Danzo wouldn't be quite sure what to expect from the toad sannin, he was too much of an enigma, an unpredictable variable.

If however Naruto didn't tell even Jiraiya, then Danzo was partially certain that he wouldn't in fact tell anyone. It was possible that Naruto wanted something in return for his silence, it was even possible, Danzo hoped, that the two of them could form some sort of alliance. Whichever the case may be, Danzo knew one thing, he needed to be the first person to speak with Uzumaki Naruto when he returned to the village, which was why he'd ordered his informant in the barrier squad to let him know as soon as Naruto put an inch of his body in Konoha.

"There was a relatively small spike of chakra detected in his apartment."Torune continued.

"And where is he now?"Danzo asked urgently.

"That is the problem, Danzo-sama. Fuu and Sai have watched over his apartment as you ordered. Fuu, just as the barrier did, also sensed Uzumaki Naruto's chakra in the apartment, but it was only briefly. And when they went inside to check if anyone was there, they found nothing, and his chakra had disappeared from both Fuu's and the barrier's radar."Torune explained.

"He must have used a space-time ninjutsu. Did you check for any reverse summoning seals inside his apartment?"Danzo asked with a contemplative expression.

"It was the first thing Fuu and Sai searched for, but they found nothing." Torune replied neutrally.

'How is that possible? Even if he had used a teleportation technique like the Fourth's, he'd have still had to mark the location. I find it unlikely that he even would have such a jutsu, much less one that wouldn't even need markings. But then again, he is the Fourth's child, he did break out of Koto Amatsu Kami and he can even fly. Perhaps it would be safer to overestimate him rather than to underestimate him.'Danzo thought with the wisdom of a true veteran.

"There's not much we can do about the situation right now. Just keep doing what you've been doing and let me know if there are any new developments." Danzo ordered authoratively.

"Hai, Danzo-sama."Torune saluted before vacating the office with a bug shunshin.

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'That was quite a close call. Good thing I built that secret escape compartment in my younger days, it was a good investment.'Naruto thought with relief.

"I think that the chakra cloaking seal deserves just as much credit. Fuu would have tracked you down regardless of your escape compartment if you hadn't completed that jutsu."Haku retorted.

"Geez Haku why do you have to be so mean to the younger me? Doesn't he get any credit at all?"Naruto replied with a bit of mirth.

"More importantly, there is a flaw in the chakra cloaking seal that has been revealed by this incident."

"I know..."Naruto trailed off with a dark undertone.

"You do?"

"Yes. The seal is useless if I'm going to use ninjutsu anyway. Fuu was able to sense the Demonic Ice Mirror Technique, most likely the barrier squad detected the same thing too. We didn't realise this before because I move too fast for the enemy to react anyway when I assassinate my tar...gets..." Naruto trailed off at the end, cut off by the tanto held at his throat and the stern voice of the woman holding said sword.

"Who are you and what are you doing on the Hokage Tower's roof top? Speak now or forever hold your peace." The cat masked woman, clearly an ANBU operative, ordered with a threatening undertone.

"If I meant to harm the Hokage, you'd be dead already, she'd probably be dead too..."

"Shut up! That's not what I asked you. I won't repeat myself, answer my question or die right where you stand." The ANBU operative commanded, her blade digging deeper into Redfox's neck but failing to penetrate as she intended, Redfox using that split second of surprise to turn the tables on her as he swivelled around and delivered a devastating punch right on her liver area, her tanto dropping on the roof top as she doubled over in pain.

"I apologise for the brutality Cat-san, but I got the feeling that you had no intention of listening to a single word I had to say." Redfox said earnestly.

"Y-you're the legendary Redfox aren't y-you?" Cat managed to breathe out through the pain.

"Indeed, though I had no idea that I had already garnered a 'legendary' status." Redfox replied.

"Y-you have my sincerest apologies sir, I only attacked because I couldn't see your mask from behind, and because well, you don't seem to have a chakra signature. I thought you might be an assassin after Lady Hokage's head." Cat apologised as she finally managed to get back to her feet, albeit groggily.

"It's quite alright Cat-san, one shouldn't have to apologise for doing their job properly, though I do have to ask, why the legendary status, and why call me 'sir'? I'm younger than you and I don't exactly have a higher ranking than you, you are after all one of Godaime-sama's elite guard." Naruto asked curiously.

"I ummm...I don't know. Maybe it's because of all your achievements as an ANBU operative, I mean, no one has seen that kind of performance since Uchiha Itachi. Plus...you sort of have this...this aura around you, it feels like you're someone that has to be respected." Cat explained as best she could, struggling to justify the phenomenon to even her own mind.

"I see..." Naruto trailed off with a smirk behind his mask, one that Cat obviously couldn't see.

'If this is the effect I have on my colleagues, then the Hokage position might not be as far away as I thought it was.' Naruto thought triumphantly

"Indeed. All that's left is to convince the civilian populace, though I fear that might be even harder than it was to get the respect of your shinobi comrades."Haku replied with a wary tone.

"Maybe Danzo's jutsu can come in handy for that. I wonder if there's a way to use it on multiple targets at the same time."Naruto thought.

"Do you really want to place your trust in that man of all people?"Haku asked warily.

"Trust Danzo? Hell no, but use him I might just do, he is my bitch now whether he knows it or not."Naruto said darkly.

"I very much doubt Hana-chan would appreciate that particular phrasing..."

"Then it's a good thing that I'll never use that line of phrasing in front of her." Naruto retorted calmly.

"..."

"In any case don't stress yourself about this Haku, I'll only use Danzo as a last resort. We still have a lot of time and I'm sure we'll get more than one opportunity to do everything by the book."Naruto said earnestly.

"I hope everything goes well, for both our sakes..."Haku trailed off as he faded away back into the depths of Naruto's mind.

"Ahem, so do you have business with Godaime-sama?" Cat asked curiously, effectively breaking Naruto out of his musings.

"Yes I do." Naruto replied simply.

"Then I guess the rumours are true, you really are Uzumaki Naruto aren't you?" Cat asked curiously, Naruto doing extremely well not to show any visible reaction to that question.

"Why would you say that, Cat-san?" Naruto asked neutrally.

"Because the whole of Uzumaki Naruto's graduation class and their teachers are inside Godaime-sama's office right now, and Kakashi-senpei along with Jiraiya-dono are camping outside of her office as we speak, no doubt perving over all of the kunoichi inside the office." Cat said with an equally neutral voice, although there was a hint of emotion dripping into her tone when she mentioned Jiraiya and Kakashi's less than tasteful vices.

"Why would all of these people meet Godaime-sama at the same time?" Naruto asked curiously.

"I don't know why exactly, but i do know this, those kids have been bugging Godaime-sama about Uzumaki Naruto's whereabouts for the last two months now. Recently they threatened to go searching for him in Demon Country, even if it meant disobeying Godaime-sama's direct orders." Cat explained, this time Uzumaki Redfox Naruto unable to hide his surprise at the information that Cat had just imparted to him.

"You can't be serious Cat-san, that's high treason, punishable by death." Redfox said disbelievingly.

"That's what Godaime-sama said, she even threatened to singlehandedly hunt them down and kill them with her bare hands if they went through with it."

"And then what happened, did they back down?" Naruto asked.

"No they didn't. Well, they were about to until..." Cat trailed off dramatically.

"Until what?" Naruto demanded.

"Until Neji spoke out. He threatened to kill Godaime-sama, not directly of course but anyone who can read between the lines got the message. The message was basically that she couldn't kill him even if she tried, and the others seem to believe that he could indeed defeat Godaime-sama."

'This sounds like the most ridiculous fairy tale I've ever heard, but her chakra is smooth flowing and unaffected, she's clearly telling the truth. Danzo better not have anything to do with this or i swear I'll feed his flesh to Hana-chan's ninken.'Naruto thought darkly.

"What did Hokage-sama do about this? I mean, I'm fairly confident that she isn't actually going to kill them. They are obviously using their clan heir status as leverage. Eight of them are clan heirs from some of Konoha's most prestigious clans and Sakura is Godaime's apprentice. Konoha would lose face if all of them went rogue and if she actually had them killed, then she would risk a full blown civil war between Konoha and its bloodline clans. It would be like The Bloody Mist in Konoha." Redfox explained perceptively.

'This is probably Shikamaru's plan, though someone else must have incited him into taking action, but who?'Naruto pondered.

"I recon it was probably Hyuga Hinata, she probably tried to escape and search for you on her own. Neji probably caught on to what she was doing and tried stop her. She would have refused, prompting Neji to seek out Shikamaru for help. From then on, Shikamaru probably came up with a plan to kill two birds with one stone, to help Hyuga Hinata and find out what happened to you, but to do that he would need the rest of your comrades to co-operate. Shino and Kiba were probably easy to convince, they care deeply for Hinata-san and know her better than most people. But to convince the rest, Shikamaru would have felt a Konoha 10 meeting was necessary, where he strategically proposed the plan and used Hinata for sympathetic points. Hinata-san being the root cause of these events is also the only logical explanation for Neji's radical behaviour, Danzo's doujutsu aside of course."Haku explained thoroughly.

"That...that makes way too much sense, are you sure you're not the one pulling the strings behind the scenes?"Naruto retorted.

"Ha ha ha very funny Naruto-kun."Haku replied with a roll of the eyes.

"Godaime tried to get their jonin teachers involved, but even they couldn't convince them otherwise. That's why I asked if you're Uzumaki Naruto, because it seems too much of a coincidence that you would have a meeting with Godaime-sama at this particular time, and of course there's the rumours going around in the ANBU gazette." Cat explained patiently.

"ANBU gazette? How come I've never heard of that?"

"It was just an expression Redfox-san, or should I say, Uzumaki-san?" Cat replied playfully.

"Naruto or Naruto-kun would be better, is it okay if i call you Yugao-chan?" Naruto replied with a knowing smile, causing Yugao's eyes to widen briefly before settling on a small smile.

"Yes you can, but only off duty alright."

"Same to you." Naruto replied, a comfortable silence settling between the two ANBU operatives.

"By the way tell me, why is Hana-ch...Hana-san also in the office?" Naruto asked curiously, cursing himself for that momentary slip of the toungue.

"I wasn't aware you and Hana-chan were so well acquinted Naruto-kun, oops, that was a lie. I knew she was close friends with Redfox, in fact, I suspected they were lovers, that's part of the reason I doubted the rumours that Uzumaki Naruto and Redfox were one and the same. But to answer more directly, Hana has been coming to see Godaime-sama about Redfox quite often in the past couple of weeks, I'm to believe she wanted to make a mission request for you, she even offered to pay full price for the mission. Of course, given that her mission request specified that you two meet alone at a certain Burning Leaf Resort for the mission debriefing, Godaime was able to see right through her plan and refused her, that is of course, assuming her plan was to seduce the legendary Redfox." Cat said with a mischievious tone.

"You don't have to pretend with me Yugao-chan, I took the liberty of thoroughly investigating Hana-chan's background when she and I ummm...got closer, so I know the two of you are really close friends, best friends even. I know she told you everything despite my best wishes, probably with the exception of my true identity, though she may have given you a hint somehow unintentionally." Naruto said.

"Hn, good luck trying to get me to confess to anything." Cat retorted cheekily.

"You should try a more direct approach sometimes, if you're worried about me hurting Hana-chan's feelings, then you should prepare your shoulder for her to cry on." Naruto said with a dark undertone.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Yugao asked frostily.

"You're a member of Godaime-sama's elite guard, there's no way you don't know about Akatsuki and their plans for me. You're also an experienced shinobi, just what do you think Akatsuki will do if I prove to be too difficult target to capture?" Naruto asked rhetorically, causing Yugao's eyes to widen in sudden realisation.

"So you're going to hurt her in order to protect her?" Yugao asked with a heartbroken tone.

"She's not the only one that's going to be hurt by my actions, hurting her will probably hurt me just as much as it will her, maybe even moreso..." Naruto trailed off as he turned his back on Cat masked ANBU, a not so subtle gesture on his part, signalling the end of the conversation.

"Hold on! I still have one more question for you." Yugao said hastily.

"Which is?" Naruto asked without bothering to turn around and face her.

"Why was my blade unable to pierce your skin earlier on?" Yugao asked suspiciously.

"Ice Release: Crystal Armour." was all Naruto said as he ran to the edge of the roof and jumped off, leaving a disbelievingly stunned Uzuki Yugao behind.

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"You're late! This isn't like you Redfox, in fact, as I recall, you have never been late for a meeting before since you joined the ANBU ranks. Should I be concerned?" Tsunade asked with a healthy dose of venom in her tongue.

"Forgive me Godaime-sama, I was held up at the rooftop by your elite guard, and if I may say, you did well handpicking them, they don't mess around." Redfox replied, one knee touching down on the surface with his head bowed down submissively, or respectfully depending on one's own preconceptions.

"Hn, fine, but use the door next time around, don't be like your perveted teachers. Do you understand?"

"H-hai Godaime-sama." Redfox replied hesitantly, totally unhappy about the blatant hint that she had just given out about his identity, after all, he was pretty sure that his teachers were the only ones who used the windows to enter the Hokage's office, and definitely the only ones who displayed their perverse nature open enough for even Godaime's eyes to find it impossible to miss. However, if Tsunade noticed or cared at all about his grievances regarding the matter, then she certainly did well not to show it at all.

"Good, now do you know why you have been called here?"Tsunade asked with a no nonsense tone.

"I have a good idea, and before anything else is said and done, I'd like to point out that I still have two whole weeks on my contract, and secondly, I would like to negotiatiate a contract renewal if possible..."

"Not possible! By the powers vested in me as Godaime Hokage, I am cancelling your current ANBU contract with immediate effect and you are to return to your original team, formerly team 7, and now codenamed Team Kakashi. This decision is not negotiable." Tsunade declared forcefully, almost daring Redfox to mount a challenge against her on this one. She was so sick and tired of her authority being challenged by snot nosed brats that she honestly felt like she would explode if anyone even uttered a single syllable against her.

Meanwhile, a collection of gasps resounded around the office, of course, those who had known beforehand without a shadow of doubt, such as Shizune, Hana, Jiraiya and Kakashi, showed no visible reaction to the news, those who already had their suspissions due to having friends in the ANBU, such as Yuuhi Kurenai, Sarutobi Asuma, and Might Gai only showed a mildly surprised reaction. The rest, mainly the students of the aforementioned trio along with Sakura were left completely flabbergasted by the news, but none of them could bring themselves to master any kind of protest as the tension in the room was at boiling point, Redfox clearly displeased with everything that was going on.

"This is a difficult position you're in Naruto-kun, and I don't see any way out of it. She made it clear that there is no room for negotiation and you're an ANBU elite, you guys are supposed to uphold the highest standard of professionalism and obedience. It would be disgraceful to the whole organisation if you did otherwise. Besides, this is the seat you want to hold one day, I'm sure you would be displeased if your subordinates challenged your every decision. We have to let this one go Naruto-kun."Haku suggested carefully, Naruto sending back a mental nod of the head in reply.

"Fair enough, your word is my command. May I however enquire as to the reason behind your haste and vigour in making this ruling?" Naruto asked diplomatically, now using his normal voice, a voice that while a lot deeper and less noisy than it was in the past, was still recognisable as Uzumaki Naruto's voice.

"Why don't you ask your rebellious classmates!" Tsunade bit out furiously.

"Naruto going to Demon Country was a complete lie wasn't it? He was in the ANBU the whole time." Shikamaru drawled out rhetorically.

"Thank you for pointing that out captain obvious." Tsunade retorted frostily.

"But why? Why lie about something like that? It doesn't make sense." Ino asked with a confused expression.

"It was in order for me to hide from Akatsuki while I honed my skill and gained serious battle and mission experience in the process. It was also to protect the village from an Akatsuki onslaught. If they thought I was in Demon Country, then they would go and look for me there instead of coming to the village again. And if they captured and interrogated a Konoha shinobi, and he or she broke during the interrogation, he or she would still give out the wrong information because they would believe what they are saying to be true. Last but not least, the ANBU possess an individual who could help me master my demonic powers, so in essence, my stay in the ANBU was also for the sake of Konoha's military strength." Naruto explained clearly and concisely.

"Oh!" was all Ino could master, a dumbfounded expression etched onto her facial features, unable to believe how stupid their actions looked in light of this new information.

"Now you know just how silly your rebellion was. Let this be an unforgettable lesson to you, those who attain a position of leadership are put there for a reason. Do not presume to know better unless you actually know better." Tsunade said triumphantly, unable to resist the urge to throw that backhanded shot at them after all the stress that they had put her through, everyone of the Konoha eleven hanging their heads in shame with the exception of Sakura, who was glaring daggers at the masked and cloaked Uzumaki.

"You may remove your mask and cloak now Naruto, you're no longer an ANBU operative." Tsunade ordered.

"Hai, Godaime-sama." Naruto replied as he adopted a singlehanded ram hand seal, a puff of smoke surrounding him with the resounding poofing sound reminiscent of the summoning technique, the smoke clearing up in a few seconds to reveal Uzumaki Naruto standing in place of Redfox, complete with the standard jonin uniform along with metal plated fingerless gloves and a gigantic sword on his back wrapped around with a sealing bandage, which is actually just a normal bandage with a sealing jutsu applied on it.

It was shocking for everyone who didn't already know to see him in a jonin outfit, just as it was to see the gigantic sword on his back. However, what was most shocking, and confusing to everyone was the inverted, dark blue triangle tattoo on his forhead, something that eerily reminded everyone of Tsunade's diamond tattoe, which happened to be the sealing jutsu for her yin seal. Nobody knew whether this was something similar or not, or if it was just something that was put there just for show, after all, as far as most were aware, this was the most notorious prank star and attention seeking brat in the entire village.

"So it really is you?" Neji said with a neutral tone.

"You still had your doubts huh? Let me guess, the lack of chakra signature?" Naruto asked rhetorically.

"Yes, and let me guess, the cloak you were wearing?" Neji replied perceptively.

"Hn, you really live up to your genius status Neji. I'd love to have a rematch with you, though I must warn you, you might find that you're the underdog next time around." Naruto taunted.

"Then I don't have to remind you of the result the last time an underdog faced up against a so called elite." Neji retorted with a small smirk.

"Hehehe! Hahahaha! You haven't changed at all have you? Still as confident and self assured as ever." Naruto said with a nostalgic expression.

"Hn, I could say the same about you..."

"Alright alright that's enough, you two love birds can catch up later, save the rest for the bedroom." Tsunade said with a serious face, causing Jiraiya, Kakashi, Hana, Kiba, and Tenten to chuckle at the two young genius's expense.

"Naruto, I'd like to welcome you back into the mainstream and I for one am relieved that you have returned to us safely. Under normal circumstances I would have organised for some kind of test to measure and verify the level of your growth in wisdom and skill as as a shinobi, however, I find myself in a situation where such a thing seems like a waste of time at this point in time. Sakura is my apprentice, so i know practically everything there is to know about her, and you are a jonin and ANBU Captain who's record is second to none..." Tsunade said, a collection of gasps and murmours causing her to pause momentarily before deciding to bulldoze through the interruption.

"There is no need to test you. However, Kakashi, should you decide to test them anyway, do make sure to give me an invitation to the spectacle, I won't forgive you if you fail to meet this requirement." Tsunade said with a threatening undertone.

"Hai, Godaime-sama." Kakashi replied with a respectful bow of the head.

"Alright, the paper work for Naruto's transfer to the mainstream has already been completed, and all information on Naruto's whereabouts in the last two and a half years has been disclosed. So unless any of you have anything to add, you may all be dism...oh wait just a minute, Hana..."

"Hai, Hokage-sama?"Hana replied submissively.

"Am I correct in assuming that you and I no longer have anything to discuss regarding that other matter in light of the current situation?" Tsunade asked rhetorically.

"Hai, it would be appropriate to pretend that I never said anything at all. I think I can take it from here." Hana replied, a surge of killing intent washing over her as she said those words, Shizune staring murderously at the Inuzuka heiress.

'What a dangerous woman. How can someone be so good at erasing her presence that she can release so much killing intent in a room full of shinobi without anyone else but her target being the wiser. Will she ever allow me to stop looking over my shoulder? Will she ever allow me peace of mind? Or is this the price i have to pay for falling in love with Naruto-kun?"Hana pondered, just before reaffirming to herself that she would fight tooth and nail if she had to, that she wouldn't allow anyone to steal her happiness away from her.

"Okay then, everyone with the exception of Hana and Shizune...get the hell out of my office!" Tsunade exclaimed furiously, everyone quickly scurrying out of the office with haste, not wanting to incur the wrath of the volatile Senju princess.

"Please wait outside for me Naruto-kun, you and I have some serious business to discuss." Hana said with an angelic smile.

"Of course, I was going to wait for you anyway." Naruto replied with a nice guy pose, Hana not knowing whether she felt flustered or tickled by that ridiculous pose, but an unmistakenly warm and fuzzy feeling prevailing inside of her heart and soul.

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"Hey Naruto, what's the big idea with that sword, I mean, I can see the value it has in showing off points, but there's no way that you can maximise efficiency with such as skyscraper." Shikamaru drawled out, the rest of his friends also thinking the same thing as they surrounded him.

"It's much lighter than it looks, in fact, pretty much anyone could lift it up, even a strong civilian." Naruto replied casually, looking like a man on holiday against the tree that he was leaning on, such was the calm and carefree aura that was surrounding him.

"Yeah I'm sure." Shikamaru replied sceptically.

"Um Naruto-kun..."

"Yes? What is it Tenten-chan?" Naruto asked curiously.

"That's a sealing jutsu on that bandage isn't it? Does that mean that the sw...wait a minute, I've seen that handle before. N-no way! That's the Nidaime Hokage's Raijin no Ken isn't it?" Tenten exclaimed with stars in her eyes.

"Nope, it's Uzumaki Redfox Naruto's Hiraishin no Ken now, because it no longer belongs to Nidaime-sama and it doesn't even work the same way anymore. It's much stronger and much more versatile now thanks to the modifications I made on it." Naruto said with a triumphant smirk.

"S-sugoi! You gotta let me try it out some time! You just have to!" Tenten practically drooled.

"I'm sorry but i can't do that, though...I could use a kenjutsu sparring partner if you'd be interested, you might get to see it in action that way. Is that okay with you Tenten-chan?" Naruto asked.

"Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!" Tenten exclaimed in quick succession as she jumped the blonde Uzumaki, showing a side of her that Naruto had never seen or imagined even in his dreams. He always knew she had it hard for weapons, but he never knew she was such a weapons fan girl. It was a genuine surprise for him to see her like that, though he had to admit, she was way better than Sasuke's fan girls because at least her object of affection was something useful for her shinobi career.

"Hehehe! Okay okay Tenten-chan, we can't spar if you crush my ribcage you know." Naruto taunted, causing Tenten to spring away from him in an instant, muttering a series of apologies as she checked him for any injuries, breathing a sigh of relief when she realised that there were none.

"Ahem! Naruto, might I have a word with you in private." Kiba said with an uncharacteristically formal and serious tone, Naruto immediately realising the dangerous territory that he was about to be sucked into and taking swift action in an attempt to avoid it completely.

"I know what you want to talk about Kiba, but do not worry, nothing obscene has occurred, your sister and I are close friends." Naruto replied in what he thought to be a respectful and peaceful approach, everyone else once again stunned by the new revelation about what was turning out to be a very enigmatic Naruto.

"Wait what? When did you and Hana-san become all buddy buddy? I can't see how you could have befriended such a classy woman." Ino said disbelievingly.

"On the contrary, Naruto seems to have always had a way with women of high social standing. Take for instance Toki-hime of Bird Country, Koyuki-hime of Spring Country, and our very own Lady Tsunade and her apprentice and assistant, Shizune-san. I therefore don't believe that this is anything out of the ordinary, though I am curious as to how it actually came to be, and also just how close the two of them are." Neji said diplomatically, Neji effectively taking Naruto out of the oven only to throw him back into the frying pan.

"I'm sorry guys I don't mean to be rude but...when did my personal life become an obligation of disclosure?" Naruto asked rhetorically.

"When you decided to get close to my sister." Kiba said with a venomous tone, causing Naruto to sigh in exasperation.

"Okay I'll tell you a little about it. First of all, let me say this, I am honoured and proud to have your sister as a comrade in arms and fellow Konoha shinobi. Your sister is extremely talented Kiba, not many shinobi or kunoichi can singlehandedly stalemate a member of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of The Mist..." Naruto trailed off, taking in the fish eyed expressions that were on the facial expression of his friends, Kiba's in particular.

"T-that's impossible!" Kiba argued vehemently.

"You shouldn't be jealous of your sister Kiba, particularly because she would have been six feet under now, that or she would be a traumatised rape victim had she not been as great a kunoichi as she is." Naruto added, a look of regret , self loathing, and anger morphing into Kiba's face, regret and self-loathing for envying his own sister and anger at the man that tried to hurt her.

"Who is this swordsman and where is he now?" Kiba asked furiously.

"His name was Kurotsuki Raiga, but do not worry about him, I took care of him. He won't ever hurt anyone ever again." Naruto said with a tone that sent chills down everyone's spines.

"What did you do to him?" Shikamaru asked curiously, though he himself was not too sure whether he really wanted to know or not.

"I tortured him for information that I needed and then killed him, after which I completed my mission, which was basically to kill Raiga, save Hana-chan, and bring her safely back to the village. That's also the time period that she and I became good friends." Naruto explained.

"I thought you said Hana was able to stalemate him, why were you the one that got to kill him then?" Kiba asked suspiciously.

"Their final attacks caused a simultaneous implosion and explosion that would have killed both of them had I not arrived in time. That's what I meant by stalemating each other. They were one hundred percent equal to each other, or close enough to that percentage at least." Naruto replied neutrally.

"But if that was the case, then it means that you didn't only save Hana when you arrived, but also Raiga, otherwise you would not have been able to interrogate him because he would have been dead. What I want to know is, what information was so important that you would actively save the enemy's life just to get it?" Shikamaru asked with the intellect and perceptive mind that would be expected of the Nara heir.

"That information is to be disclosed on a need to know basis. It's none of your concern and it isn't even the subject of the topic at hand. I only told the story to you, particularly Kiba, so that he may understand the source and nature of my relationship with his sister. Having said that however, do not expect me to answer to you Kiba, anything else you want to know you will ask your sister. You will not confront me on this issue again." Naruto said with a no nonsense tone.

"You've changed Naruto, you're almost completely unrecognisable from the old dobe that you used to be." Kiba said with what sounded like a humbled tone.

"I'll take that as a compliment, thanks KIba." Naruto replied simply.

"No, thank you, for saving my sister." Kiba replied, his right hand extended as a truce gesture.

"My pleasure." Naruto replied, a mutual respect and appreciation growing between the two as they shook hands.

"Okay well anyway, I think Sakura has something she wants to say to you Naruto." Ino cut in strategically.

Ino and Sakura may have been rivals, but they were actually also best friends in their own unique way, that's perhaps why Ino had been instantly able to notice how quiet Sakura had been since Naruto's return and of course how could she of all people miss the menacing stare that Sakura had directed at Naruto the whole time. From this little information, it was easy for Ino to tell that Sakura was extremely displeased about something regarding Naruto and that the pink haired medic was waiting for everyone to leave so that she can get a one on one with Naruto.

However, Ino didn't appreciate receiving delicious gossip nearly as much as being the original source of it, in other words, she loved spreading gossip even more than receiving it. That's why there was no way she was going to miss this, she wanted to see it first hand and be the one to tell her brothers and sisters in the gossip channels of Konoha, hence why she had decided to give Sakura a nudge in the right direction, knowing how easy the volatile kunoichi was to manipulate when she was this emotional.

"What is it Sakura?" Naruto asked curiously, causing Sakura to have to hold back an involuntary flinch at the lack of affection in the blonde Uzumaki's tone, not to mention the lack of the affectionate 'chan' suffix. However, any shock or hesitation was quickly pushed to the side as Sakura remembered the subject of her ire, which she thought was more important right now than Naruto seemingly distancing himself from her, or at least just as important.

"In Tsunade-shishio's office, correct me if I'm wrong but I'm pretty sure I heard you say that you wanted to extend your ANBU contract...?" Sakura trailed off with a questioning tone.

"Yes I did." Naruto replied simply, causing Sakura to almost snarl at the casual manner at which Naruto replied, almost as if this was nothing of consequence.

"Really now? And what happened to the promise you made to me? Or have you forgotten about that?" Sakura asked menacingly, a dark aura eminating from her as her anger heightened with every word that came out of her mouth.

"To find Sasuke and bring him back to the village huh? I guess it always comes down to him at the end of all things doesn't it."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sakura shot back furiously.

"Nothing, but to answer your question, no I haven't forgotten about Sasuke. In fact, I always make it a point to search for him in between my missions. That's part of the reason I haven't been inside the village for over a year now." Naruto explained much to Sakura's surprise, who didn't know how to feel now for falsely accusing the blonde Uzumaki, though she was quickly broken out of her musings as Naruto continued from where he left off.

"It is however not very easy to track Orochimaru down, he's made it a point not to stay in one place for too long. He is constantly on the move in order to lose both Konoha's and Akatsuki's tail, and he takes Sasuke with him wherever he goes. It's not a simple matter of going to the Sound Village to find him, oh and by the way, there is no actual Sound Village to be found anyway." Naruto said neutrally.

"W-what do you mean? Was it destroyed? And why would Orochimaru run from Akatsuki?" Sakura stuttered.

"The Sound Village is made up of a series of hidden bases from all over the Sound Nation. It is not designed in the same manner as Konoha. As for your other question. I'm genuinely surprised you don't know this, but Orochimaru is a former Akatsuki member, it is believed that he defected around eight years ago, the same time that Uchiha Itachi joined the organisation. My guess is that he tried to take Itachi's body and failed, which would explain why he defected and also why he went after Sasuke." Naruto explained patiently.

"I see." Was all Sakura could muster, feeling a tad bit self conscious now about her lack of intel and somewhat jealous of the blonde Uzumaki, wondering at the back of her mind if this knowledge was an ANBU priviledge or whether the blonde Uzumaki was actually that much better than he at collecting intel.

"..."

"So ummm...you really haven't forgotten Sasuke have you?" Sakura asked, which was more of a hybrid between a question and a statement to be honest.

"Well I did make a promise didn't I? Besides, Orochimaru getting his hands on an Uchiha's body and eyes wouldn't bode well for Konoha, especially if he managed to unlock the mangyeko sharingan." Naruto replied with a grave undertone.

"Mangyeko Sharingan? What the hell is that?" Ino asked incredulously.

"It's an advanced sharingan, usually displayed by the three tamoe on a sharingan connecting together to form some kind of symbol, or at least, that's what I've been able to discern from that one encounter I had with Uchiha Itachi." Naruto replied.

"I've never heard of or seen anything like that before." Neji said with a thoughtful expression.

'I'll have to have a word with Hiashi-sama. Perhaps he could shed some light on this matter.' Neji thought to himself.

"Wait so you're telling me that there is some kind of super sharingan beyond the three troublesome tamoe? Does that mean that Sasuke will have this troublesome jutsu the next time we encounter him? And just what kind of abilities does one get with this super sharingan?" Shikamaru asked in exasperation.

"I don't know if all Uchiha who awaken this level of doujutsu gain the same exact powers or not, nor will I pretend to know all of Itachi's doujutsu related abilities. But this is what I know, Itachi's left eye possesses a powerful genjutsu known simply as Tsukiyomi. This genjutsu is practically unbreakable and not only that, but it seems like Itachi can manipulate space and time in this genjutsu." Naruto explained.

"Just what do you mean exactly when you say he can manipulate space and time in a genjutsu? I've never heard of a space-time genjutsu before and I certainly don't understand what you mean when you say that this genjutsu can't be broken, it's not like you've conducted any experiments with it or anything like that, like say, test it against a master byakugan user." Neji said dispondently.

"You might remember me telling you before I joined the ANBU about how Itachi pit both Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei in a coma. Well, Both Sasuke and Kakashi possess the sharingan and even they couldn't break out of this genjutsu. Nevertheless, I believe that you do have a point, I shouldn't pass off the jutsu as being impossible to break when it hasn't been fully tested, especially against your all seeing eyes, but at the same time, I hope the warning has been received. This is a very dangerous technique, and it might help to watch out particularly for the left eye as it is believed that that is the eye that he uses to cast this jutsu." Naruto said with a grave undertone.

"As for manipulating space and time, well, based on statements from both Kakashi and Sasuke, Itachi tortured them for 72 hours inside his genjutsu, but only a single second had passed in real world time. That is the time aspect that he manipulates. As for space, both victims said that they felt as if they had been taken to another plane, another world so to speak. This is a world that Itachi has complete control over. This is all I know about the jutsu." Naruto explained clearly and concisely, unintentionally striking the fear of God into all of his comrades, except for one of them apparently.

"Duely noted. However, this begs another question. If his left eye possesses such a powerful genjutsu, does that mean that his right eye also has an individual power of it's own? Is it another powerful genjutsu? Or perhaps a ninjutsu?" Neji asked curiously, the silence in the group deafening as everyone waited with baited breathe for what other horrific ability Sasuke's brother might possess.

"Unfortunately, yes. There is another ability that Itachi has, and it is a ninjutsu. No one has yet to see him in the process of executing the jutsu as he was out of site at the time that he did, so we can't be sure if it was from the same eye or a different eye. We can't even be sure if it was an ocular jutsu to begin with. But the assumption I have made is that yes, it was probably from his right eye." Naruto said.

"W-what kind of j-jutsu is t-this N-Naruto-kun?" Hinata stuttered, eyes wider than Naruto had ever seen on her before, the Hyuga heiress clearely rattled to the core by Itachi's shinobi prowess.

"It's a type of fire technique, but nothing like anything I have ever seen or heard of before." Naruto said with a grave undertone.

"What! Just a fire technique? Tche! I can't believe I almost fell for your nonsense!" Sakura exclaimed irritably, Ino sighing in agreement with her arms folded over her supple bossom.

"Like I said, this isn't like any fire technique you've ever heard of before. First of all, these flames completely incinerated Jiraiya-sensei's toad stomach summonning technique. You might want to know that this is the stomach of a fire breathing toad, in other words, that summoning technique is supposed to be totally impervious to katon jutsu." Naruto explained, now getting the full attention of the two aforementioned kunoichi again.

"What kind of flame is this? And how are you even sure that a flame was used? It could have been lightning or even acid for all you know? You did after all say that this jutsu was executed out of your line of site." Shikamaru inquired.

"Because theses flames - based on tests that Jiraiya-sensei conducted after sealing them away - do not burn out for seven days and seven nights no matter what you do. Whether you starve them of oxygen of spray them with water, or poor sand over them, they will not burn out. These flames burn and snuff out even katon and natural fire itself, or anything really. Yes, they literally burn through everything and anything...oh and by the way the flames are pitch black in colour." Naruto added at the end, displaying an unreal calmness and composure in the face of everyones incredulity and astonishment, maybe even a bit of fear.

"This literally sounds like something straight out of a fairy tale. Why? Because if Itachi is really capable of everything that you just told us, then I doubt even Hokage-sama would stand a chance against such a man, and I seriously doubt you'd have been able to avoid capture three years ago, protection of a sannin or not." Shino said matter of factly.

"I agree to a certain extent. At the very least, if Akatsuki were serious about capturing you, someone, or a number of people should have died in the struggle, especially if Itachi's partner is anywhere near Itachi's level." Shikamaru voiced in agreement.

"I too agree with the two of them, however, I also think that it might be possible that Akatsuki didn't neccessarily intend to capture you at the time. It's possible that they only wished to evaluate Konoha's strength and response time, the security level around you, and maybe even your own shinobi prowess and level of control over your...special talents." Neji deduced intellectually.

"I also don't know why they didn't go all out to capture me. At the time I got the impression that they were perhaps afraid of Jiraiya-sensei. However, if the sannin are said to possess around about the same level of shinobi prowess, then it wouldn't make sense for them to be afraid of a member of the sannin when Orochimaru is so terrified of them, even moreso when you consider how much Orochimaru is terrified of Itachi in particular. Nevertheless, I'm not particularly interested in the answers to these questions. If I can kill every single Akatsuki member then I'll be satisfied." Naruto concluded.

"I suppose in the end that is all that really matters. As troublesome as what I will hear might be, I'd still appreciate it if you let us in on what you know about Itachi's partner." Shikamaru asked, Naruto going on a long and detailed explanation of what he'd gathered during his encounter with the swordmen and what he'd then gone on to find out afterwards, before going back to Itachi as he felt that they needed to consider his theory that there was possibly a third eternal sharingan ability as in general, human eyes were meant to work simulataneously as a pair - the blonde Uzumaki thereby concluding that there was possibly a third power that required both eyes.

"Kuso! So even with so much that we know we're still practically going to be going in blind sided. There could be any number of ridiculous abilities that these guys have, and Itachi's third power, if he has it, might be even more troublesome than the ones we know about. This is so troublesome." Shikamaru wined in exasperation.

'Shikamaru's concerns regarding Itachi are not in anyway misplaced, however, I feel like Kisame poses far more of a threat to me in particular. If he has the abitlity to absorb chakra at that speed and magnitude, then it means neither ninjutsu or my jyuken will be of any use against him. Most likely I'd need Lee's and Tenten's expertise in order to defeat him' Neji thought irritably, not by any means enthusiastic about the prospect of relying on his comrades despite all the improvements he had made over the last two and a half years.

"Don't worry. I am a former ANBU captain remember. I'm going to use my ANBU contacts to find out who Itachi's teammates and subordinates were in the ANBU. There's also an elder that might know a thing or two about Itachi's abilities. He owes me a favor so he should be forthcoming with the information that I require. We'll know practically everything there is to know about Itachi by the time any of us have an encounter with him." Naruto replied confidently.

"You seem to be a whole lot more interested in Itachi than you are in Sasuke-kun and Orochimaru." Sakura said heatedly, completely shocking everyone with her one track mindedness and even more apauling, her selfishness. Even her best friend Ino unable to belief what she'd just heard in light of everything.

"When hunting, you have to be able to discern what your target wants and what their next move is going to be..."

"What does hunting have to do with any of this?" Sakura snapped, cutting the blonde off mid sentence, Naruto remaining completely calm despite everything.

"Sasuke's target is Itachi, because he wants revenge against his brother more than anything in the world. In other words, we have a very high chance of catching up to Sasuke by going after Itachi. At the very least, we can bait him into coming to us instead of us looking for him by capturing Itachi, if it is possible to take him alive that is. This is what they call killing two birds with one stone I believe." Naruto explained, once again making Sakura feel more than a little embarrassed. She was quite intellegent in general everyone had to admit, but her inability to control her emotions, coupled with her obsession with Sasuke tended to completely undermine that fact, which was something even she was beginning to learn the hard way right now.

"I...I see..." Sakura stuttered, thanking the heavens for Sabaku no Temari as she gate crashed the serious meeting with a wind shunshin, everyone's attentions immediately diverted away from her and to the beautiful yet tomboyish sand princess.

"Temari-chan! Wow you sure have grown up! It's so good to see you again." Naruto said with a happy go lucky smile, a complete contrast to his demeanor only a few seconds ago, the blonde Uzumaki extending his right hand in anticipation of a warm handshake, only, to his surprise, to receive a warm and tight hug instead.

"T-Temari-chan...?" Naruto stuttered, wondering why the sand kunoichi was acting so emotional, despite the fact that he'd acted emotional as well upon seeing her.

"Do you have any idea how much my brother was worried about you? How much all of us were worried about you? Do you even know how many shinobi he sent to look for you in Demon Country? How many times I went to Demon Country?" Temari asked in quick succession.

"Yes, I'm aware of everything. I'm sorry but I wasn't allowed to say anything, or to make contact with you. I do however want to apologise for worrying you all, and please, tell your brother that I'm really happy for him for becoming Kazekage, and I take pride in his achievement as a friend and fellow jinchuuriki, and inspiration as a person with similar aspirations." Naruto replied as he returned the hug with matching passion.

'What's going on here? Since when did those two become so close? What exactly is the nature of their relationship?' Shikamaru thought, feeling a strange tug at his chest area as his eyes feasted on the public affection on display beween the two blonde teenagers.

"Ahem, when did you two become such...close friends?" Sakura asked with a suspiscious glare, feeling a constriction of the veins and arteries around her chest area.

"Naruto and my brother have a brotherly bond, that technically makes him and I pseudo siblings too. I'd do anything for him, and I'm eternally greatful to him for pulling my brother out of the darkness." Temari replied, finally untangling herself from Naruto's embrace as she turned around to face Sakura, her eyes moving along until they reached a certain member of the Nara clan.

"In any case Shikamaru, I just came from Hokage-dono's office. I've already checked out on her register. As my guide, you have to walk me out of the gates to confirm my departure. I've been away from home for too long so I'd suggest you move your ass before I lose my patience." Temari practically ordered.

"You're leaving already?" Naruto asked with a somewhat disappointed tone.

"Yes I...I can't shake this bad feeling that I have, like something terrible is going to happen if I don't hurry back home. I know it doesn't make sense but..." Temari trailled off, unsure about how to go about explaining this phenomenon.

"You need not say any further. It's important both as a person and a kunoichi for you to trust and rely on your instincts. They're there for a reason." Naruto said with a pat on the shoulder.

"Yeah, thanks Naruto-kun." Temari replied with a warm smile, which kinda looked more like a bit of a smirk.

"What?" Naruto asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Nothing, just...you've matured a lot over the last two years or so. More than I could have ever imagined given how much of a snot nosed brat you were last time I saw you." Temari said with a taunting smirk.

"Hehehehe! I don't know whether that's a compliment or an insult." Naruto said with a sheepish smile.

"Neither do I." Temari replied as she started walking away in the direction of the main gate.

"I hope to see you soon Naruto-kun, pay us a visit sometime will ya." Temari said as she walked away.

"That sounds like a good idea." Naruto said with a nostalgic expression, Temari stopping momentarily on her way, shoulders a little tense as she did so.

"Hey Shikamaru! Do I have to drag you by the skin of your throat?" Temari asked irritably.

"Troublesome. I don't even know what I did to make her so cross with me." Shikamaru said as he lazily followed behind the Suna princess.

'Those two seem to be getting along, kinda makes me wonder what exactly is the status of their relationship.' Naruto wondered.

"Do you not approve of Shikamaru?" Haku asked curiously, unable to help but wonder what the nature of Naruto's feelings for Temari were exactly, whether he really thought of her as a pseudo sister or if it was something more.

"Whether I approve or not is not a matter of concern. It's whether her biological brothers approve or not, Kazekage-sama in particular. After all, he does have a long history of...violence and psychopathy." Naruto replied with a grave undertone.

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"A fight with Sakura huh? What do you think? Is there reason for concern?" Haku asked curiously.

Naruto had just dismissed all of his friends not more than sixty seconds ago, mainly because he'd sensed Hana's chakra closing in on their direction and wanted to have some alone time her. Kiba had seemed hesitant to leave, which left Naruto under no illusions about the what Kiba would be doing during his and Hana's quality time, namely, spying on them. However, Naruto acted swiftly to defuse any such notion, letting Kiba know a little about the extent of his chakra sensing capabiltites.

Kiba had tried to refute such claims, but Naruto had then asked him how he thought that Naruto had known that Hana was on her way. Eventually, Kiba had relented, thanks in part to Akamaru's persuasiveness, but not without leaving a scathing warning to the blonde Uzumaki, one that Naruto had easily brushed off of his shoulder.

Kiba's disapproval and protectiveness over his sister were however long term issues that Naruto would have to deal with in comparison to the news that Kakashi had delivered upon gate crashing the Konoha 11 reunion. Apparently, Naruto and Sakura were supposed to meet up at training ground 7 at 05:00.a.m. tommorrow morning for a skills evaluation, and more importantly, the evaluation was a straight up, chuunin exam rules fight between the two of them.

"She's the student of a sannin, so I won't take her lightly. I'll fight in the same manner as I would if I were fighting an elite criminal, except without the killing intent." Naruto replied in a casual manner, almost as if without a care in the world.

"I suppose I shouldn't be worried if that's the case, besides, you haven't been defeated since your clash with Uchiha Sasuke at the valley. I just don't see you losing to her unless you're really underestimating her." Haku replied, more than confident in Naruto's ability to beat the sole kunoichi in team 7, in fact, it could even be said that Naruto had reached a point where Haku couldn't even imagine Naruto losing to anyone, especially with him helping out with strategy and genjutsu.

"Here comes Hana-chan. We'll talk more about this later okay, Haku." Naruto said with brotherly affection, one typical of the way a younger brother would speak to an older brother.

"Of course. Good luck Naruto-kun." Haku said with a heavy heart, definitely not wanting to be there, as Naruto suspected, to see the devastated look on Hana's face when Naruto rejected her feelings as was his, in Haku's opinion, absolutely absurd plan.

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'Just what on earth is this?' Naruto pondered, more than a little intrigued by the new tattoe on his left shoulder. It was five in the morning and the blonde Uzumaki had just taken a nice, long, and warm shower, now staring at himself in the mirror, wearing only his shinobi sandals and pants and nothing more.

The tattoo was that of a wolf biting it's own tail, forming a circular design with an animalistic eye, presumably the wolf's eye, in the centre of the circle. This however wasn't just a mere tattoo, it was a fuinjutsu that Hana had placed on him with a bite on the shoulder last night. However, this had been a far more pleasant and far less creepy incident compared to the time that Orochimaru bit into Sasuke's neck as far as the blonde Uzumaki was concerned, unless Sasuke actually enjoyed that moment.

'I really don't want to know the answer to that now that I think about it.' Naruto thought with sudden realization, just the mere thought of Orochimaru creeping the hell out of him, and this is someone who had seen his fare share of horrors in his time in the ANBU.

"And here I was hoping to wake up in the arms of my samurai in shining armour. Imagine my disappointment to wake up all cold and alone." Hana taunted as she walked up to the blonde Uzumaki, only stopping when she was almost lip to lip with the young jinchuuriki, who had turned around as soon as he heard her voice, the two sharing the deepest and most intimate and passionate of kisses one would never see even in the most well rehearsed of soup opera, the bond between the two of them so strong that one could almost reach out and touch it.

"I feel like I could almost forsake every other obligation and just go back to bed with you, and keep you in my arms forever. I've never felt like this before." Naruto said with a combination of sincerity and confusion. Of course, he knew that part of the reason he wanted to go back to bed with her was the towel she had wrapped around her body, a towel that looked a few sizes too small for her, leaving just enough covered for the imagination to run wild. However, there was something else, the feeling that he didn't want to be away from her for even a split second, and the fact that it seemed as though he could, chakra sensing a side, literally feel her, almost like he was sensing her very soul itself, and he had to say that she felt absolutely wonderful, intoxicating even.

"Well, if you really want to know why you feel like that, it's because of the gigantic wood between your legs..." Hana trailed off with a small smirk, one that broke out into a giggle at the blonde Uzumaki's slightly shocked and slightly embarrassed expression.

"But...it's also because you love me, and because of the mating ritual that we completed last night." Hana said with a warm and loving smile, her whole being glowing so bright that the blonde Uzumaki almost had to look away, not really sure if someone as shrouded in darkness as he was was deserving of someone like her.

"So that's what it was, a mating ritual huh." Naruto thought out loud.

"Yes. Basically this is the equivalent to us being married. Being my mate makes you my husband and I your wife. Usually, you'd have to propose marriage to me before I am allowed to activate this jutsu. However, I didn't feel it was neccessary. I already know that you love me, and I love you more than anything." Hana said with a soft and gentle tone, squizzing herself into the blonde Uzumaki's arms, her head on his chest as she listened to his strong and steady heartbeat.

"I see..." Naruto trailed off, squizing his big and strong arms around the Inuzuka heiress almost protectively, making her feel like his arms were the safest place in the entire universe.

"That's it? You...you don't have any questions? You're not angry? I mean, I just married you behind your back Naruto-kun. There's also what I told you yesterday, about what I did, doesn't that...doesn't that piss you off?" Hana asked nervously.

"What you told me yesterday? I'll admit I was shocked, but no, I wasn't angry nor am I angry about it. Actually, I was impressed. I didn't know that shinobi intelligence could be used in matters of love. You taught me a good lesson." Naruto said with a small chuckle.

Naruto was still honestly quite a bit shocked about what happened yesterday. It seemed that Hana had somehow anticipated or at least entertained the thought of him rejecting her love on the grounds of protecting her from Akatsuki and therefore taken pre-emptive measures to ensure that Naruto didn't have that option. She'd done this by spreading a rumour amongst the female population, more especially the civilian population, a rumour that she and the Blonde Uzumaki were an item. She'd also declared that she would re-enforce this rumour by having a henged shadow clone pose as Naruto while she would make sure that she and the clone are seen arm in arm or caught making out together all around the village.

Naruto was quickly able to deduce the end game of this plan. Hana was creating a situation where she would be in danger of becoming an Akatsuki target based on her relationship with him. It was a situation where it didn't matter if Naruto rejected her or not because as far as the village was concerned, and by extention, Akatsuki would be concerned when they undoubtedly find out, Hana would be Naruto's girlfriend and therefore a potential target. In the end, Naruto had no choice but to accept Hana's advances, after all, it wasn't like his heart didn't yearn for it.

"You have a weird way of looking at things." Hana said with a happy smile.

"I think I sort of understand where you are coming from. You're willing to go to great extremes to get what you want, and you'd rather be happy while at risk of an early death than to live a long and miserable life. I respect that drive and determination that you have. As for marrying me behind my back, well, having you as my wife is the greatest thing that has ever, and probably will ever happen in my life. I think I'm the luckiest man in the world honestly. Though I'd like you to tell me more about the mating seal, how does it work exactly?" Naruto asked curiously.

"You're such a charmer Naruto-kun. Keep talking like that and I really won't be able to let you leave the bedroom today." Hana said with a mischievious smirk.

"Haha! You know, you're totally different from the usual Hana-chan in the bedroom." Naruto said with a small chuckle.

"W-what do you mean?" Hana stuttered.

"Well, you're usually calm, kind, caring, loving, and sort conservative. But in the bedroom, damn woman you're a freak, and I mean that in a totally positive light." Naruto teased, causing a cute blush to appear on Hana's angelic face as she lightly punched him on the shoulder.

"You're also a freak, you even had the kyubi's eyes at one point. I was totally scared, but also incredibly turned on by that." Hana replied, snuggling into Naruto's chest again, this time to hide the embarrassment on her face.

"Hn, I guess we're both freaks then." Naruto replied simply, a comfortable silence settling between the two shinobi, now husband and wife.

"So, you were going to tell me more about that mating seal..." Naruto trailed off.

"Oh ya. Well ummm...I activated it before we made love, when I went to the bathroom to freshen up. But what you probably really want to know is why or how you knew that you had to channel chakra to your teeth and bite my shoulder at the same time that I did. To answer that question, well, the truth is I have absolutely no idea. I think the jutsu sort of puts you in a genjutsu that suggests the action, it might even be a mind control jutsu like that of the Yamanaka clan. I truly have no idea how that part of the seal truly works though." Hana replied hesitantly, wondering if her mate would be pissed off at her for using a jutsu even she didn't understand on him.

"Carry on. I'm still listening." Naruto urged on.

"Ummm...well, one of the effects of the jutsu is that mates can track each other down from basically anywhere in the world. You're probably feeling my presence and emotional state right now correct?" Hana asked rhetorically.

"Yeah, totally." Naruto replied.

"Same with me. I figured this aspect of us being mates would help alleviate your anxiety about me getting captured by Akatsuki, since you'd be able to track me down from anywhere that they take me, and you'd even know if I was in distress even before I'm captured and maybe come to the rescue." Hana explained carefully.

"You've really thought this out carefully haven't you Hana-chan. You...you really are the most incredible woman in the world. And I repeat, I'm the luckiest man in the world to have you by my side. I love you. Inuzuka Hana." Naruto said, squizzing ever so hard on the Inuzuka heiress, not enough to hurt her of course, but enough for her to know how he trully felt.

"I love you too Naruto-kun." Hana replied joyfully, unable to imagine a better life then she had with her Naruto-kun right now.

'I can't wait to tell Okaa-sama, and I especially can't wait to see the look on Kiba's face when he finds out.' Hana thought with a mischievious smirk.

'Hana-chan's plan is good, but I'll have to find a way to add to the safety precautions she already has in place.' Naruto thought to himself, although of course, there was always someone listening inside his head, someone who had queries and opinions on some matters.

"Do you have some sort of plan in mind Naruto-kun?" Haku asked curiously.

"I think I do. Though I won't be able to implement it until I get the key ingredient that I need. That might take a little while though." Naruto replied, only to be broken from his internal conversation when Hana gently broke out of his embrace to look him straight in the eye, a familia expression that Naruto had only gotten to know recently etched on her facial features.

"Where are you off to in a rush to anyway? What's so important that you had to leave your newly wedded wife all alone in bed?" Hana asked with a sultry tone, gently running her fingers up and down and all over the blonde Uzumaki's chest, causing him to release an audible gulp, the young jinchuuriki unable to help but marvel at just how beautiful and sexy she looked right now.

"Ahem...I umm, I'm supposed to meet up with Sakura and Kakashi-sensei at training ground seven. I'm supposed to go to battle against Sakura in a chuunin exam rules bout as a test to determine our current level of strength and skill. I was supposed to be there at 05:00 am sharp." Naruto replied ernestly.

"But it's five thirty already. You're like never late for a meeting. What's going Naruto-koi?" Hana asked with a concerned expression, one that very quickly turned into a mischievious smirk.

"Did I wear you out that much last night? Struggling to keep up are we Naruto-koi?" Hana taunted with a dazzling smile, Naruto having to do everything in his power to stop himself from jumping her right there and then.

"You did well to keep up with a jinchuuriki like me the way you did last night, but I believe I still have something left in the gas tank." Naruto replied with a smirk of his own.

"Too bad you have a team meeting to get to. Maybe next time my love." Hana replied as she turned around, walking towards the bed with an extra swerve of the hips as she cast a glance at the blonde Uzumaki over her shoulder, only, to her surprise, to find herself a metre high in the air, the blonde Uzumaki having sneaked up behind her and picked her up bridal style.

"Kakashi-sensei is always two to three hours late for meetings. So I believe we still have at the very least an hour before I have to go." Naruto said with a truimphant smirk.

"Then what the hell are you waiting for?" Hana asked cheekily.

0000000000000000

"That troublesome Naruto, where the hell could he be? We've been waiting for two hours now." Shikamaru whined, leaning against the fence just outside training ground seven, along with the rest of the former Rookie 11 except for the aforementioned blonde Uzumaki.

"Why the hell are you complaining? Last time I checked nobody invited you guys to come here." Sakura replied with a mental roll of the eyes.

"To be fair, nobody uninvited us either. Everybody wants to see what Naruto is capable of, especially after everything we'd heard about his time in the ANBU. Frankly, I can't believe even 30 percent of what I've been told. There's no way I'm missing a chance to see it for myself." Ino retorted.

"Hmmm...yeah well whatever, he's not the only one who has received training from a sannin. I'll show him that I'm not someone to be underestimated!" Sakura declared with a determined expression.

"Aren't you concerned about his abilities though? I mean, do you have any way of neutralizing him if he uses his demon powers? We don't even know what he can do with those powers." Tenten asked with a worried expression.

"She has a good point you know. Part of the reason I'm here is to evaluate how much of a threat the kyubi is to our wellbeing. We need to at least entertain the possibility that the kyubi might break free or take control of Naruto one of these days, and we need to be prepared to deal with it when the time comes." Shikamaru replied.

"Kakashi-sensei has forbidden him from using that power against comrades. So we won't have to worry about that. Nevertheless, Tsunade-shishio told me that Jiraiya-sama has been working on a sealing tag that neutralises a jinchuuriki's powers for a period of time. They intend to make copies of this tag available to the people who work closely with Naruto. Of course, you have to be able to get close enough to tag him without dying or getting severely hurt in the process." Sakura explained with a grave undertone.

"I can't believe Naruto was always this dangerous of a person. How did we spend six years in the same class as him without knowing this?" Ino thought out loud.

"Save it for yourself Ino. My destruction bugs always knew Naruto was a dangerous person. That's why I mostly kept my distance." Shino said emotionlessly.

"What about you Kiba? Didn't you sense anything?" Neji asked curiously.

"Aaaah, well yeah, but Akamaru always said he was okay so I didn't think much of it." Kiba replied with far less enthusiasm and energy then everyone was used to.

"I see." Was all Neji said in response.

"You seem troubled Kiba. Is there any thing you want to tell us? Why? Because you and I are comrades in arms and I would like to help where I can when it comes to my friends." Shino asked with concern that he was trying his hardest to downplay even though it was so blatantly obvious.

"Well, if you must know, I'm worried about my sister. She didn't come home last night and the last time I saw her she was with Naruto. I want to ask him if he knows where she..."

"Hinata! Hinata are you okay?" Kiba exclaimed as he stooped low to check on the passed out Hyuga heiress, who was fainting for the second time now today, first, when she'd been asked if she found Naruto after she went checking on him and now again, one hour later.

"G-gomenassai K-Kiba-kun." Hinata stuttered as she came too, a heavy blush plastered all over her facial features.

"Oh thank God! You really have to stop doing that Hinata-chan! Why did you faint this time anyway?" Kiba asked with concern.

"I...ah...I..."

"You didn't eat your breakfast again did you Hinata-sama?" Neji chastised with a stern expression.

"N-no I..."

"If you do it again I will tell Hiashi-sama, alright?"

"B-but I..."

"End of discussion!" Neji said with finality, Hinata's eyes widening slightly when she finally realised that Neji was actually bailing her out of an awkward situation, after all, why else would he lie so blatantly about her not eating her breakfast when they sat at the table together this morning.

"Hey don't talk to Hinata like that you jerk!" Kiba barked furiously, even Akamaru at this point shaking his head at Kiba's naivety. It was obvious to anyone who didn't have a bird sized brain what had really happened. Between Hinata going to check on Naruto and passing out when asked about his whereabouts, to her passing out again when Kiba mentioned his missing sister who didn't come home last night, and the fact that Naruto was the last person she was seen with and how heavily a romantic relationship between them was implied yesterday, honestly no one at this point could understand how Kiba was unable to put two and two together.

However, Ino thought that there was the possibility that he had in fact put two and two together but had maybe subjected himself to a voluntary state of denial. After all, it couldn't be easy to find out that one of your friends was banging your older sister, especially when said friend was, well, literally a demon. Hell everyone was finding it hard to even imagine how Naruto and Hana could have become so close and intimate. If anyone had told them this would happen three or four years ago they would all have probably puked their guts out from laughter.

'I couldn't get any decent material from Sakura yesterday, but Hana and Naruto? Damn that's way better than anything I could have hoped for.' Ino thought with an almost deranged looking smirk.

Ino's best friend Sakura on the other hand looked almost like a deer caught in the middle of a shinobi battle, confused, terrified, and lonely. She was confused by the mixed feelings that were overwhelming her. She knew she loved Sasuke, or thought she did, yet this begged the question of why she felt so jealous and envious of Naruto's relationship with Hana, why she felt so betrayed even. She was terrified of what this actually meant, of how this made her feel. Sasuke didn't seem to want anything to do with her, and now Naruto it seemed was no longer interested in her. This brought about feelings of insecurity within her, she was starting to question whether or not she was even desirable as a woman anymore.

And then there was the loneliness. Sasuke was gone and Naruto had been gone for almost just as long. Kakashi was always aloof and hard to find, not that they had had much time to spend together anyway between her tutelage under Tsunade and all the time Kakashi spent away on missions. Besides, she doubted she and Kakashi could hang out anyway given the number of barriers between them, such as the age gap, the porn addiction, and the amount of time he spent at the cemetary and war memorial. She just wished things could just go back to the way they used to be.

'At least I still have Tsunade-shishio and Shizune-san.' Sakura thought in an attempt to console herself, which helped a little, though not that much.

"Speak of the devil, or demon, or whatever." Shikamaru drawled out as he spotted the blonde Uzumaki coming over from a distance, still unable to get used to seeing Naruto dressed so formerly in a jonin outfit of all things, not to mention that gigantic sword on his back.

"That's not funny Shikamaru!" Ino chastised, punching Shikamaru hard on the shoulder on top of that.

"Ouch! What's wrong with you, troublesome woman!" Shikamaru complained half heartedly.

"You shouldn't say stuff like that! What if he goes all...beserk on us or something." Ino stuttered.

"It's not like he could hear me from all the way over there. I wasn't exactly shouting it out to the world." Shikamaru replied nonchalantly, seemingly brushing away Ino's concerns with ease.

"Yeah and who said that he doesn't have some sort of super demonic hearing or something." Ino retorted.

"We'd probably know if he did though." Chouji interceded.

"Yeah, like we knew he was a demon all this time huh." Ino retorted, rolling her eyes incredulously at her two comrades.

"He's not a demon. He's a demon container." Neji tried to reason.

"Yeah because that will make such a big difference when he goes berserk..."

"If he goes berserk. There's no guarantee that will happen." Neji said firmly.

"Well there's no guarantee it won't either..."

"Shhhh! Here he comes!" Tenten whispered with a harsh tone.

"Hey guys. What are you all doing here?" Naruto asked curiously.

"We're fine thank you for asking, and how are you doing today?" Ino retorted with a voice dripping with sarcasm. If Naruto noticed the sarcasm, then he did very well to pretend that he didn't as he simply continued with the conversation as if nothing happened.

"You guys are here to watch my battle with Sakura huh?"

"Our battle! It's not your battle with me, it's our battle! Stop making everything about you!" Sakura snapped with a tone that was more than a little bitter.

"Yeah that's what I said, our battle..."

"No you didn't! You said..."

"It's what I meant though." Naruto cut in swiftly.

"...It's not what you meant." Sakura said with a venomous tone, the tention between the two teammates reaching all time feverish high.

"Okay. Anyway just so you know Ino, I'm not going to go berserk. What do you think I've been doing for the last two and half years?" Naruto asked rhetorically.

"Y-you heard us?" Ino stuttered, spotting a wide eyed expression on her facial features.

"It's just as you suspected. I do have demonically strong senses. You were right Ino. Good analysis from your part." Naruto praised sincerely, unaware of just how terrifying his words and the nonchalant tone with which they were said made him look, and sound.

"..."

"Naruto...where's my sister?" Kiba asked with a venomous tone.

"I don't kn..."

"I can smell her all over you! What did you...did you rape my sister?"

"K-Kiba-kun!" A distraugh Hinata exclaimed.

"I can smell her scent all of over him! And the scent of fornication! Except I know that she would never stoop that low!" Kiba exclaimed as he subconsciously entered his four legged technique form, his fangs elongating and his claws growing longer, even his body shape as he crouched lower, almost to the point of his hands touching the ground, like he was preparing to pounce at any given moment's notice.

'I should have taken another shower.' Naruto thought, mentally smacking his hand against his forehead at his stupidity.

"Listen Kiba, Hana-chan is fine, in fact, she is more than fine. She is happy. She and I are mates now. In other words, I'm your brother in law..."

"Liar!" Kiba exclaimed, finally getting into that four legged stance, propelling himself forward with both his legs and his arms, with every intention of killing the the so called demon that has seduced his beloved and innocent sister. One can however imagine Kiba's surprise when he found himself unable to move even an inch of his body, almost as if...

"What the fuck Shikamaru!" Kiba exclaimed in frustration.

"I'm trying to stop of you from making a big mistake. Killing a fellow shinobi is a crime punishable by death. Then there's also the fact that I'm not sure you even have what it takes to kill him. He's a jonin and a former ANBU captain, and if we are to believe what Godaime said, then he is also one of the best our ANBU has ever had. You on the other hand are just a chuunin. Just think about it for a moment." Shikamaru said, trying his best to talk some sense into his impulsive and obnoxious friend, which funnily enough is a description that would have fit Naruto perfectly not so long ago.

"Rank doesn't mean anything at all. You of all people should know that better than most Shikamaru, after all, weren't we, as wet behind the ear genin, able to give Orochimaru's elite a run for their money, some of us actually winning even." Kiba countered with a surprisingly logical argument given his known character and especially under the current circumstances.

"Yes but Naruto has demonic powers..."

"So did the sound five!" Kiba snapped furiously.

"And most of us still had to be saved in the end by the Kazekage and his siblings. Those who actually won sustained fatal injuries and would have surely died were it not for Godaime and Shizune-san." Shikamaru countered.

"Last time I checked Godaime and Shizune-san are still in the village so what's the problem? If they could heal us then then they can heal me now." Kiba argued.

"Indeed they can Kiba, but I wonder how much motivation they would have to heal someone who killed their surrogate son and brother respectively. That is of course, assuming you could actually kill him." Neji countered with an amused smile.

"I'm willing to die to defend my sister's honour."

"Except there is no honour to defend Kiba. It's like I said earlier, your sister and I are mates."

"Liar! I'll never believe that!" Kiba retorted with an extremely venomous bite to his tongue.

"What is this mates business anyway? What does that even mean?" Ino asked with a totally confused expression, honestly, they way Naruto was going on about this mates thing made him sound more and more like a psychopathic rapist to her more than anything. Mates? Seriously.

"It means that Hana-chan and I are now officially husband and wife." Naruto replied as if it was the most normal thing in the world, which it was, for man and woman to get married. Naruto just didn't realise that from another person's perspective, it wasn't normal for him specifically, and especially at that age, to be married period, much less to such a beautiful, exotic, and well respected princess.

"You expect anyone to believe that nonsense? Yesterday you said that there was nothing going on between you two. Less than twenty four hours later and you guys are married?" Sakura asked irritably.

"I had not so much as kissed Hana-chan before yesterday. We've been communicating through letters since I saved her from Raiga. I fell in love with her and she fell in love with me. But I didn't lie to you, our relationship status was not defined and we hadn't made any physical contact. I just knew that I love her and she knew that she loves me."

"In fact, I intented to break her heart yesterday in order to protect her from my enemies, namely, Akatsuki. However, she anticipated my actions and took counter measures beforehand. Last night, we become one, as husband and wife by completing the Inuzuka mating ritual. Hana-chan assures me that she has had her mothers blessing for a long time now, and I don't have parents so I needed only my own blessing." Naruto continued, taking a small breathe before continuing from where he left off.

"Kiba, I understand your position, and I don't blame you for wanting nothing to do with me. However, if you truly love Hana-chan, you should value her happiness above anything else..."

"Did you think about her happiness before you decided to put her life in danger from an organisation of psychopathic S ranked shinobi or even worse, a potential demon breakout?" Kiba retorted spitefully.

"As a matter of fact Kiba, I did." Naruto replied simply.

"Are you mocking me?" Kiba spat out with a disgusted snarl on his facial features.

"No. Everything Hana-chan said and did lead me to one conclusion, a conclusion that she later confirmed."

"And what would that be?" Sakura asked with disgust almost equal to Kiba's.

"That she would rather live a short but happy and fulfilled life, as opposed to a long, miserable, and lonely life. Having said that however, I have no intention of letting it be a short and happy life, nor do I intend for it to be a long and miserable one. I will do everything in my power to make it a long and happy one. And as for the demon breakout...yeah, that's not gonna happen. The kyubi is my b...my pet. He aint getting out any time soon." Naruto said matter of factly, mental sighing in relief at that close call, having to remind himself that the 'bitch' term has a drastically different meaning to an Inuzuka.

It went back and forth like this for quite a few minutes, all of Naruto's friends asking a number of complicated questions, more especially Kiba and Sakura, the two of them clearly refusing to approve or even accept what was happening between Naruto and Hana. For them to stop, it took Naruto reminding Kiba that he did not have to explain himself to him as he was neither his or Hana's parent, that both he and Hana were consenting adults, and that Hana's mother had in fact approved of he and Hana's relationship even before it happened. He also had to remind Sakura that she was also not his girlfriend, not his mother, and not even his sister, which of course infuriated her to no end, to the point that she expressed her desire for Kakashi to arrive as soon as possible so that she could put him in his place, Naruto unable to help but to wonder what exactly she thought his place was.

'You mustn't allianate yourself too much from your comrades Naruto-kun. It will put your Hokage prospects in jeapardy. Sakura is Godaime's apprentice, possibly even pseudo daughter at this point, and all your friends are clan heirs. Their opinion of you will have a big impression on Tsunade-sama's final decision.' Haku said with a concerned tone of voice.

'I get where you're coming from. However, a Hokage is supposed to be a powerful authorative figure who's mere presence alone commands respect from his peers. If I allow my friends to walk all over me, then I will become a mere figurehead and not a true leader.' Naruto retorted with wisdom that Haku thought was far beyond his years, more than a little impressed by how much Naruto had grown in such a short time span under his tutelage.

'I guess you have...point.' Haku trailed off, broken mid-sentence by the Hatake Kakashi's sudden arrival, complete with a flashy puff of smoke that was symbolic of a summoning jutsu, in the case however caused by a standard shunshin no jutsu.

"You're late!" Sakura exclaimed angrily, pointing an accusing finger in the direction of the masked jonin.

'She's still doing that?' Naruto thought with a dumbfounded expression.

"Naruto, Sakura! Go home and prepare yourselves for a medium-term mission. Meet me at the Hokage's office in 45 minutes. Hurry!" Kakashi ordered with a harsh and dead serious expression, everyone confused by, well, everything that was going on.

"Is this supposed to be part of the test? I thought I was just supposed to fight Naruto-baka." Sakura said with a heavy dose of spite in her tone, causing Naruto to sigh in a combination of dismay and exasperation.

"This is not a test. Godaime Kazekage Sabaku no Gaara has been taken by Akatsuki. I would think you of all people would understand the severity of the situation...Naruto." Kakashi said with a grave undertone, slightly confused by lack of reaction from Naruto.

He'd expected some kind of outburst from the blonde Uzumaki, followed by a long rant and maybe even a few tears. The last thing he expected was the completely stoic facial expression that was etched on the blonde Uzumaki. He knew that the horrors of the ANBU could do something like this to a person, but this was Naruto, the blonde haired, loud mouthed, heart on his sleeve Uzumaki Naruto, and Gaara was supposed to be his closest friend next to Sasuke.

"Make it thirty minutes." Naruto said simply, although there was an edge of steel in his voice if one listened carefully.

"Excuse me?" Kakashi asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Fourty five minutes is too long. We'll meet you at the Hokage's office in thirty minutes." Naruto replied authoratively, almost as if he was the jonin...oh wait, he was a jonin wasn't he, but still, Kakashi was still supposed to be the leader.

'I guess he does care after all, just isn't as expressive as he was about it. I must really be getting old if Naruto has already grown so much.' Kakashi thought warily.

"Okay. Scatter!" Kakashi ordered as he and his students went their separate ways with a puff of smoke, Kakashi not wanting to give the rest of the Konoha eleven a chance to ask any questions as that would just waste the precious little time that they already had.

30 minutes later: Somewhere in the desserts of Sunagakure no Sato

"Are you sure about this Naruto? Kakashi might see through the shadow clone that you left behind, and besides, leaving your teammates behind like that, won't it create some trust issues between the three of you?" Haku asked as Naruto stepped out of a demon ice crystal mirror, taking his first step in Sunagakure territory in over a year now.

"Kakashi won't see through the clone unless he activates his sharingan, which he probably won't do unless they run into trouble along the way. And even then, there's no guarantee he'd see through the clone anyway. As for the trust issues, well, right now Kazekage-sama's life is more important than any issues of trust me and my teammates might have." Naruto replied simply, the blonde immediately running towards the gates of Suna as soon as he stepped out of the teleportation mirror, said mirror evapourating immediately after the fact.

"Is keeping your secret about your ice release more important than Gaara-san's life then? Because I'm quite certain that three against two is better than one againt two, especially where Akatsuki is involved. Besides, you told Yugao-san and Hana-chan about it, why not your teammates." Haku retorted testily.

"Hana-chan and Yugao don't know about you, but Sakura and Kakashi do. They might become suspicious about the origins of my kekkei genkei, even more so if they see me using your jutsu." Naruto tried to explain.

'...'

"You can't hide your jutsu forever you know. In any case I'm sorry Naruto-kun. I didn't know that I would end up causing you to become astranged with your comrades. I...I didn't mean to become such a burden...ouch!" Haku cried out as Naruto delivered a devastating back handed mental smack on Haku's delicate facialfeatures.

"What was that for?" Haku asked with a despondent tone.

"Just trying to cheer you up." Naruto replied as he willed a mental smirk to Haku, causing Haku to smile softly at Naruto's antics.

"You're the best thing that ever happened to me, well, you and Hana-chan anyway. Don't ever think for one second that you're burden. In fact, I'm glad things worked out the way they did...except for the lack of privacy part of course, but I've gotten used to it now." Naruto said with a small smile, Haku chuckling in return as Naruto successfully managed to cheer him up.

"They'll probably have a lot of questions when they arrive. What will you tell em? I'm quite sure that they'll want to know how you got here so fast" Haku asked curiously.

"I'll tell them I had a toad stationed in Suna just in case. That it was under orders to reverse summon me as soon as it thought that Suna or specifically Gaara needed my help. That should by us a little time at least." Naruto replied casually, as if he didn't care one way or another.

"What if Hana tells them what you did? She didn't seem happy at all about you going out to face Akatsuki on your own." Haku prompred, trying to make sure that they didn't get caught off guard by any possible scenario.

"I hope she doesn't do that. I don't want to have to keep secrets from her in the future." Naruto replied with a small dose of sadness in his voice.

"So you're saying you'll punish her for a caring too much to let you do something so reckless?" Haku bit out distastefully.

"Don't be so sensitive Haku. That's not what I'm saying at all. And I'm not being reckless, I actually have a plan you know." An exasperated Naruto replied.

"A plan that you still haven't shared with me. Makes me wonder if there's actually a plan to begin w..."

"Shhh! We have company." Naruto said as he came to an abrupt halt, standing deadly still as he sensed three strong chakra signatures coming his way from the direction of Suna, not having to wait long as the three people comfronted him only a few seconds later, the trio standing at a distance not too far and yet not to close to him. A perfect distance to size up an enemy, which gave Naruto the impression that these three definitely had the quality of skill to match their chakra reserves.

"The guy in the middle seems to be the leader, but the two girls look just as strong and skilled as he does, or at least close enough. Be careful Naruto-kun" Haku said with concern.

"I didn't expect a Konoha shinobi for at least two and a half days. I know we have an alliance but your presence here is suspiscious. Give me a good reason to let you pass or turn around and go back to where you came from." The young man, probably a year or two older than Naruto, ordered, seemingly not one to beat about the bush or to mince his words, the type that Naruto prefered to deal with in all honesty.

He is a fairly tall man with a rather fit physique. He has light skin, and spiky taupe grey hair, combed backwards except for two bangs. He has a number of scars on both body and face (for which he may seem look older), including one running vertically across his throat, and he also have what appears to be a tattoo of a blue coloured dragon on his right shoulder. His attire consists of a long sleeveless, dark green shirt which he ties with a light green sash, grey pants and black arm braces. His forehead protector is attached to the bottom of his shirt and he wears bandages on his right biceps. He also sports a small amber magatama necklace.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto, I'm a close friend to Kazekage-dono and I, like him, am a jinchuuriki." Naruto replied, causing the trios eyes to widen in surprise and realisation.

"So that's why your chakra felt similar to Gaara-sama..." The shottest member of the group replied, the one standing on the guy's right hand side.

She has brown hair tied in two ponytails that curl the further it reaches the ends. Like most shinobi, she wears her forehead protector around her forehead. She has two blushes on each side of her face and orange eyes with black pupils. She wears sleeveless mesh armour under a tan overall top with grey elbow protectors. She also wears light blue shorts with purple leg warmers and black shinobi sandals.

"Because he's just like Gaara-sama." The taller girl finish off, stating the now obvious but maybe just confirming it to herself more than anyone else

Sen has brown eyes with black pupils and sandy-brown hair tied in a ponytail with two strands of hair positioned on each side of her face and two braided strands. Like most shinobi, she wears her forehead protector across her head. She wears a mesh armour body suit under a red tube dress with a blue purple belt, fingerless gloves, shin guards, and black shinobi sandals. She also carries two small white fans with fur on them.

"Regardless of who you are or what your relation with Gaara-sama supposedly is, you still have yet to answer the most important question. How is it that you are here less than an hour after our fastest messenger bird should have arrived in Konoha?" Shira asked suspisciously.

"I had one of my toad summons stationed on the outskirts of your village in case something like this happened. He reverse summoned me as close to Suna as he could without causing alarm." Naruto lied through his teeth.

"Y-you're a toad summoner? Like Jiraiya of the Sannin?" Sen stuttered, eyes slightly widened in both surprise and wonder.

"I am his sole apprentice since the Fourth Hokage." Naruto replied, not shy at all to use his sensei's good name whenever it could give him an edge in any battle, whether is be a physical one or a battle of words.

"Then you must undoubtedly be the Fourth Hokage's son." Shira deduced perceptively, much to the surprise, once again, of his comrades. However, if Naruto was in any way alarmed by this deduction then he did very well to conceal his emotions regarding the matter.

"Why would you say that ummm...?"

"Shira. My name is Shira. The girl on my left is Sen and on my right hand side is Yome. Together we are team Shira, the most powerful team in Sunagakure no Sato since Gaara-sama became Kazekage. And as for your question, is that a rhetorical question?" Shira asked as if his intelligence were just insulted.

"I'm not sure I follow?" Naruto said with a dumfounded expression.

"Your uncanny resemblance aside, there's also the fact that the Fourth is the one who took out the kyubi, which just so happens to have mysteriously re-appeared inside of you, and the fact that you're also a toad summoner under Jiraiya's tutelage as was the Fourth Hokage. I'd have Yome and Sen kill me if I was useless enough as their leader as to not be able to figure out such a non-riddle." Shira continued with a poker face, although the irritation dripping from his voice was so intense that it was almost tangible.

"Okay fair enough. Now that we have established my identity, could we move this along. What is the status in Sunagakure no Sato, and what do you intend to do about retrieving the Kazekage?" Naruto inquired.

"Summon a toad."

"What?" Naruto asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I want you to summon a toad, right in front of us. To prove that you really are who you say you are." Shira commanded.

"I thought we had already established my identity. I could show you my shinobi registration license if you want." Naruto countered.

"No, I want you to summon a toad instead. Any one, well, not anyone but I'd like to think that it is possible for a skilled shinobi spy to fake a registration license. You can't fake a toad summon." Shira retorted.

"You really are a difficult person aren't you?"

"I prefer the term vigilant." Shira countered.

"Fair enough." Naruto said as he bit into his thumb before clamping his hands together, not even bothering to go through the customary hand seals.

"Summoning Technique: Gamakichi." Naruto whispered, causing a relatively large puff of smoke to appear right behind him, the smoke quickly clearing to reveal a rather large red toad, but of course still very small compared to the boss of the toads.

"What are you doing fighting against Suna shinobi Naruto? Wasn't there supposed to be some sort of alliance between the two villages?" Gamakichi asked curiously.

"There is an alliance. But my comrades here have some trust issues." Naruto replied casually.

"Hn, I can't blame them. Shinobi have betrayed each other for generations, and the shinobi code itself doesn't make things any easier. Samurai are far more reliable individuals." Gamakichi replied pompously.

"There's a lot of truth and wisdom in your words Kichi. You've matured." Naruto complimented.

"You sound like you expected the contrary." Gamakichi retorted with a tick mark on the forehead, clearly irritated by the blonde's words.

"I meant that as a compliment Kichi. I didn't mean to insult you." Naruto said apologetically.

"Hn, whatever. You've grown up too I guess...just a little." Kichi complimented very reluctantly Naruto noticed, not that he minded in the least bit, after all, Kichi and Tatsu were his personal summons, they understood each other better than most individuals did, to the point that Naruto considered the two of them to be more like siblings than just tools as some did with their summons.

"Thanks Kichi. Anyway, the scary guy in front of us is Shira, on his right hand side is Yome and on his left is Sen. They are allegedly the strongest team in Sunagakure no Sato. And to the three of you, this is Gamakichi, he is one of two of my personally assigned summons, though I can summon others as well should I need to. I also consider him to be a dear friend, a brother even." Naruto with a calm and sincere tone.

"Aah..yeah, hello Kichi-chan." Sen greeted, waving awkwardly at the gigantic toad, which honestly looked very intimidating to her, having never seen a toad this big before in her life.

"That's Gamakichi-san to you." The toad replied irritably.

"Aah yeah, Gamakichi-san." Sen stuttered slightly.

'Geez I never knew that toads had such large sticks lodged up their arses.' Sen thought with a mental roll of the eyes.

"You'll have to excuse Kichi, he takes after his father." Naruto retorted.

"What! No way! Thhat is true. Take that back Naruto!" Gamakichi yelled furiously.

'He doesn't even realise that his reaction just proved my point.' Naruto thought in dismay.

"Okay Kichi, I take it back. You can go home now if you want though. I only summoned you to prove that I am who I say I am. Your mere presence was all that was required. But we can hang out when I complete my mission if you'd like." Naruto replied with a friendly tone.

"Yeah how about you give me some good action next time. I haven't been in a serious battle with you since...since the time you fought Shukaku! And I didn't even get to fight back then. This seriously blows Naruto!" Kichi ranted just before he dispelled himself, making sure he gave the blonde Uzumaki a piece of his mind and then not giving him a chance to respond.

"I'm going to go on a limb here and say that he must have woken up on the wrong side of the bed." Sen thought out loud.

"Do toads sleep?" Yome asked with a genuinely curious expression.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Well?" Yome asked, actually, more like demanded impatiently.

"Oh, ummm...I have no idea. Don't all living beings need to sleep?" Naruto asked with raised eyebrow.

"You're the toad summoner here!" Yome yelled with an accusing finger.

"Yeah, well, whatever. Look, we're wasting too much time here. Tell me everything that's going on so that I can hurry up and save the Kazekage." Naruto demanded.

"Okay fine. I've come to a conclusion, that is, that you can be partially trusted. So I'll tell you everything." Shira said as he went into a detailed explanation of recent events, not missing out even a single detail, even some that might seem irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.

"I see..." Naruto trailed off thoughtfully.

"So, what do you intend to do with this information?" Shira asked curiously.

"The plan is simple. You guys are going to head back to the village along with one of my shadow clones, and I'm going to go after Akatsuki." Naruto ordered with a non-negotiable tone.

"What! That's your plan? Baka baka baka baka baka! There's no way you're going to beat Akatsuki on your own. One of them defeated Kazekage-sama on his own and you think a lame ass like you is going to take out two of them?"

"I'm sorry but I have to agree with Yome. If Gaara-sama couldn't win alone, then there is certainly no way that you could even against one of them much less two of them. Unless you actually believe that you're stronger than Gaara-sama, a thought which is just plain ridiculous." Sen added with intensity, almost as if insulted by the mere thought of the blonde Uzumaki pretending to be a shinobi of the same calibre as her Kazekage.

"I can't say if I'm stronger than Kazekage-dono. We only fought once and that was three years ago. Back then, we fought to a stalemate." Naruto said much to the surprise of team Shira, even the stoic Shira unable to mask his surprise at that revelation.

"I-Impossible!" Yome exclaimed indignantly.

"Relax, it was three years ago alright. And it is..." Naruto said only to be cut off mid-sentence by something he honestly, from the bottom of his soul did not expect, a blitzing attack from Yome coming out of nowhere, almost literally out of nowhere given how fast she had just closed the distance between them. However, it was over in an instant as Naruto caught her jab an inch away from his face whilst simultaneously delivering a swift and powerful upper cut to the liver, sending Yome crashing to her knees, gasping and heaving as she struggled to get oxygen into her lungs.

'What the hell was that just now?' Naruto thought in surprise.

"Be careful Naruto-kun. That was no ordinary shunshin technique. No, rather, it wasn't a body flicker at all." Haku replied with a warning tone.

'I know. I sensed some yin-yang release in that jutsu. It must be some kind of bloodline limit.' Naruto thought warily.

"Y-Yome! You bastard! You'll pay for this!" Sen exclaimed, her whole body, much to Naruto's increasing surprise, set ablaze by bright and scorching fire, Sen, with immediate effect, at a speed even faster than Yome, attacking Naruto with a devastating straight right, forcing Naruto to block her attack with a cross arm guard.

However, of all the things Naruto expected, getting pushed back was the last thing that he expected, largely because not only was he himself physical specimen, but also because his crystal ice armour technique increased his physical prowess tenfold. So for Sen to push him back like that, even with her ridiculous speed and momentum advantage, was something that Naruto couldn't possibly afford not to take note of. The other thing that caught Naruto by surprise was the melting of crystal ice armour around his forearms. He knew too well that normal fire couldn't possibly melt his crystal ice armour technique, and therefore, just as his chakra sensing abilities told him, this had to be another bloodline limit technique.

"Shira! Control your subordinates!" Naruto exclaimed as he jumped away from the Suna Kunoichi lest his arms completely melt off, water from the melted ice armour visibly leaking from his forearms, something that both Sen and Shira did not fail to take note of.

"I think I understand now Naruto-kun. Considering that these are ninja from the Wind Nation, then these two bloodline limits have to without a shadow of doubt be the swift release and scorch release bloodline limits." Haku explained.

"Oh I see now. Then Sen must be a relative of the Suna's Pakura of the Scorch Release. Makes sense I suppose. That's why I couldn't identify her jutsu as a fire style." Naruto said with realisation.

"Yes. Combining two elements creates a whole new element entirely. At this point it is no longer a katon or fuuton ninjutsu. You couldn't have identified it even with your superior sensing skills unless you had encountered it before. As for the swift release, that's a combination of wind and lightning I believe. So expect a lightning jutsu to come flying at you at some point during the battle." Haku said with a warning undertone, Naruto only sending a mental nod of approval in return.

"Shira! Help me destroy this fool. He's faster than I thought." Sen retorted.

"He's using a body flicker technique. But it isn't a normal body flicker. He's enhancing it somehow." Yome said as she got back to her feat.

"I can tell that the two of you have relied too much on your boodline limits. You took for granted that the enhanced physical prowess that your swift release and scorch release grants you would be enough to carry you through. But that's not all there is to a shinobi. You can have as many bloodline limits as you want but if you don't develop your basic talents, you'll lose out against the elite." Naruto said neutrally.

"Are you lecturing us?" Sen asked with a quirked eyebrow.

"Yes." Naruto replied simply.

"Why?" Yome asked with a confused expression.

"You're Gaara's friends right?"

"So?" Yome deadpanned.

"Any friend of Gaara's is my friend too." Naruto replied as if it was the most basic and simple thing in the world.

"..."

"..."

"Listen, Yome, Sen. Your mastery over your bloodline limits in second to none. Trust me, I can tell. But you guys have skipped to the last hurdle and missed the earlier steps. You have to master yourselves first before you can truly become a legendary shinobi." Naruto added.

"You're speaking in riddles." Sen deadpanned, causing Naruto to take a deep breather before attempting to explain in simpler terms.

"Okay. Sen, your scorch release armour or whatever..."

"Cloak!" Sen cut in.

"What?" Naruto inquired with a raised eyebrow.

"It's called scorch release: blazing cloak technique. And I invented it." Sen said with a poud smirk.

"Oh, yeah thanks. Now as I was saying, your blazing cloak gives you let's say, a one hundred percent strength and speed boost right?"

"Yes, and?" Sen asked with a bored tone.

"If we were to assign a number to your strength and speed without your cloak, lets say we gave it 30. What would your speed and strength be with the cloak?" Naruto asked rhetorically.

"Sixty obviously. Where is this going?" Sen asked with an even more bored tone if that was even possible.

"Okay then. But what if you trained your body hard. I mean very hard, and increased your strength and speed without the cloak to 50. What would your speed with the cloak be then?" Naruto asked rhetorcially.

"It would be one hundre...I see!" Sen exclaimed with sudden realisation.

"What? I don't get it!" Yome yelled in frustration.

"He's saying that the two of you are not maximising your talents. Basically, he is presenting a theory that your swift release doesn't have a specified maximum of speed. That the quicker you become without your swift release, the quicker you will be with its usage. Up until now we have assumed that your jutsu takes you to a certain level of speed and that's it, end of story. But he is saying that you can alter that limit by developing your raw physical talents alongside your jutsu. Do you get it now." Shira explained thoroughly.

"Oh I see now! Wow, I feel so stupid right now. Why didn't I think of that." Yome said with a child-like wonder.

"Don't beat yourself up about it. Things are always like that in hindsight." Naruto said with a comforting tone.

"Tche! I guess you're okay after all." Sen said, deactivating her blazing cloak technique in the process.

"But if you hurt Yome again, you'll pay with your life..." Sen said with a threatening under tone.

"Got it. But I'm not finished lecturing you." Naruto said, causing a tick mark to pop out on Sen's forehead.

'He's getting really cocky now!' Sen thought irritably.

"What is it now Brainiac?" Yome asked with a mocking tone.

"You have to learn emotional control, and to use your brain in battle. Power and speed alone is not enough. Trust me. But I'm going to teach you that today." Naruto said with a small smirk.

"You're not seriously going to give my teammates a lesson now of all possible times are you? What happened to your main objective being the retrieval of Gaara-sama?" Shira asked suspisciously.

"That is still my objective. Inititially I intended to use stealth and trickery to retrieve him without going into battle with Akatsuki. But after what you told me, and after seeing what your surbordinates are capable of, I've decided to take it further and eliminate the two rogues as well as retrieve Gaara. I'm going to tell you my plan now, and if we execute it thoroughly, you guys will have learned how to use your brains in battle and not just your powers. But I'll have to tell you the plan on the way to Suna. I'd like to heal Kankarou before he gets worse, or dies." Naruto said with concern.

"What makes you think you can cure him of the poison when not even Yome or Chiyo-baasama were able to accomplish it?" Shira asked skeptically.

"I'd rather show you why, because that will save us time, time that we have already wasted so much of." Naruto retorted.

"Okay fine. But if you try anything..."

"Yes yes I get it. Can we go now?" Naruto practically pleaded.

"Okay let's go." Shira ordered, the quadruple heading in the direction of Suna at a very fast pace, Naruto requesting that they tell him all about their abilities so that he could formulate a more detailed strategy for taking out the Akatsuki, the trio reluctantly sharing their secrets as they felt they didn't have much of a choice right now.

"Did you notice how Sen's technique seems to fit the theory that you prescribed to Terumi Mei perfectly?" Haku asked.

"Yes I did actually. And I'm glad because this proof that my theory is legit. I'm sure Mei has figured it out by now." Naruto replied contently.

"Yes, this makes me happy too..." Haku trailed off thoughtfully.

"But?" Naruto asked curiously, sensing that there was a but coming his way.

"Nothing. Just that, this girl, Sen. She figured it out all on her own. She must be some kind of genius." Haku shared his thoughts.

"I agree. She's definitely a genius. In fact, from what they've just told me about their abilities, they will be getting a double page in the MDN (most dangerous ninja) section of my personal bingo book as soon as I get a chance to write update it. Of course, provided that we actually survive our pending encounter with Akatsuki..."

Chapter End

AUTHOR NOTES:

Hey guys I apologise for the long absence. Real life issues you know.

Not much action in this chapter, I guess this story is having a longer build up then I anticipated, but I'd rather take my time then rush things.

Sen, Yome, and Shira are not OC's by the way, for those of you that don't watch anime fillers, Shira's team faced up against Neji's team at the chuunin exams in Suna.

Hana and Naruto tied the knot, or bit the shoulder, lol. I know that some of you will feel aggrieved by that, and feel that it was a too rushed. But remember this is a world where you're considered an adult when you become a shinobi at age 12. You're expected to kill people at that age, and you get a paid salary for it. The risk of death is high too, so you can expect that people to wait around until they are 16/18 to break their virginity.

Irrespective of all that though, I wanted to paint Hana as a self assured and confident person (she's confident about herself as being the right mate for Naruto and feels secure in his love for her and her worth as his wife).

I also wanted to paint her as a go getter. If she wants something, she goes after it and will either bull doze or scheme her way through whatever obstacle she needs to get out of the way to get what she wants.

She's also smart, calculating and perceptive in that she can easily detect threats around her and neutralize them with immediate effect.

I didn't show much of her in this chapter, but I tried to show these characteristics of hers even with the short screen time she got. I hope I succeeded.

Naruto on the other hand is a very logical guy. He tries to use logic even when it comes to matters of emotion and love. And he appreciates others who share this point of view, like he did when he realised that Hana was using shinobi principles to gain success in her love life. So his reactions may seem unbelievable or even crazy to a normal person but to him they make perfect sense.

There's also the fact that Naruto has not experienced love as a child but actually had to deal with the opposite for most of his life. So to him, for someone to go so far just to be with him is not something that he takes for granted. Hana's actions mean the world probably to him, no matter how sneaky or manipulative they might seem to someone with a different upbringing.

So yeah, that's about it I guess. Thanks for reading guys, enjoy.