In Which:

Naruto nicknames the jonins- Orochimaru and Naruto discuss Sound- Sakura gets moving.

Naruto peered around his honor guard (four of the jonins from the gate) to examine his surroundings. The five of them were striding steadily through the streets of the village, making their way towards a large circular building directly in the centre.

Sound was built with an eye to security. The central building way surrounded by eight feet of grass, with no shrubs, trees, or flowers. The first floor of the building was slightly raised; so all the windows had a good view of the bare strip while being high enough to make for an awkward jump. In a wide circle around the building were the training grounds. Around this was a wall. Then there were the administrative buildings: the ninja academy, the supply stockpiles, all the various offices, and several ninja outposts throughout. Around that was another wall, and outside it were the shops and stores, along with the homes of genin to high chunin ranked nins, and more outposts. Then another wall separated that section from the last: all the residents of normal civilians and workers.

All the walls were patrolled at all times.

The result was a well-organized village with good defenses. He was impressed, not that Naruto would ever admit it. They were now passing the last wall, heading towards one of two entrances to the round building. Naruto stopped trying to take in everything at once, and instead turned to one of the jonins. This one, he noted, had small green clips on the edge of each sleeve, and was barely discernable as female under the baggy uniform.

"Hey, Green-chan! Is Orochimaru's office or throne room or whatever underground? 'Cause there's no way all the clerks and people could all fit into only one floor."

Snickering quietly at his partner's nickname, the jonin to Naruto's left answered. "No, it's on the main floor in the very middle. Most of the clerks and people, as you put it, are in different buildings. Only the people who are directly under Orochimaru-sama are in this building."

Taking note of the white hair visible on this jonin, and the obviously male build, Naruto responded, "Neat! Think Orochimaru did it that way so he could watch those really whiny clerks huff and puff all the way here, Ghost?"

The jonin spluttered. "Ghost? Why ghost?!"

"Well, Green-chan because she's a she and had green bits on her uniform, Ghost 'cause I can see some of your hair and it's white, he-" Naruto pointed at the jonin directly in front of him, "is Edgy 'cause he twitches every time I say one of your nicknames, and the person behind me is just a bushin so I won't bother naming him." Naruto grinned at them.

The jonins stared at him. In his heart, the newly named Ghost knew that shock was going to be a common state now that the blond had arrived. Not once did any of them consider the possibility that Naruto would be refused.

It would take a stronger person than their leader to resist the force of nature Naruto had become.

Orochimaru stared pensively at the door, waiting. Should he allow Naruto-kun to stay? Was their any benefit in turning him away? How would the blond's presence affect Sound?

"Orochimaru-sama, stop brooding. You know as well as I do that a choice can't be made until he says his piece. You're just making yourself tense." The snake summoner turned towards his second in command.

"You sound as though you're already supporting his staying, Kabuto." The other man ducked his slightly, but smiled.

"Let me just say that life will be much more interesting with him around. You've had limited contact, Orochimaru-sama, but once you talk to him, you'll understand. He's…different. Interesting."

Hearing the quiet knock on his door, he sighed. "Well, we'll see, won't we? " Louder, he called to the group in the hall, "Come in."

Before the jonins could restrain him, Naruto opened the door and bounded cheerfully into the room.

"Yo! Thanks for at least hearing me out, Orochimaru. Hi, Kabuto! Haven't seen you for a while." The blond flopped down in the chair opposite Orochimaru's desk. He grinned at them. " Your jonin are really nice, although I wish Ghost would stop snickering at me. Green-chan and Edgy are nice. So, I'd best get explaining, hey? What do you want to know?"

Orochimaru blinked. Had the boy breathed once in that whole monologue? Then his words registered. Green-chan? Edgy? Ghost? The boy was giving three of his most powerful jonins ridiculous nicknames and they didn't mind?! He shook his head. He'd figure that out later. Right now he had a mystery to solve.

He leaned forward slightly. " I think, Naruto-kun, it would be best if you simply started at the beginning and explained everything. Otherwise, I expect we would be here until dawn tomorrow." He glanced at the jonins. "Are you comfortable with telling your tale with these three in the room?"

Naruto shrugged casually. "Eh, why not? They already know about the fuzzball, and I'm pretty sure I can trust them. Besides, it's not like anything I'm going to tell you is particularly sensitive."

The jonins took up posts around the room, and the soundnins as a whole settled in to listen.

Naruto told them everything. He told them of his and Sakura's loyalty to Sasuke, of conceiving his plan, of buying information from the underground. He told them about deciding to "fight" with Sakura to throw suspicion off of her and give her time to escape when he disappeared, of the documents that made their leaving the village completely legal so they would not be named missing-nins. He told them of slipping bast Konoha's patrols and out a hidden door into the forest, gathering his supplies, and finally arriving at the gates of their village. Orochimaru nearly choked on his own tounge when Naruto told him of playing Xs and Os with "Green-chan".

When he finally ran out of things to say, he sat back. The blond watched Orochimaru's face as he processed what Naruto had done, the fact he and Sakura had completely cut ties with their village to follow a friend.

Finally, the man nodded. "Very well, I believe that answers all my questions but one. " Orochimaru laced his fingers. "What can you offer to Sound, Naruto-kun? And what do you want in return?"

Naruto smiled genuinely at him. "What can I offer you? Other than the fact I am a powerful ninja? Well…first, I can train your ninjas in the best stealth techniques that I've ever seen. The ones that let me get within a foot of the first wall completely undetected. And even then, they only saw me when I wanted them to. I can offer you a way to fix the Konoha mess. I can guarantee you open trading with Suna, if not completely tax-free. Oh, and with me you get a really good medic-nin and genjutsu specialist, free of charge!"

The blond imitated Orochimaru's posture and position perfectly, but ruined it by grinned impishly. "Interested?"

The soundnins stared. Then, slowly, Kabuto began to laugh. " I apologize, Orochimaru-sama, but I told you so! Thing really are going to be interesting around here from now on."

One of the jonins, Green-chan, snickered. Orochimaru sighed. "Alright, Naruto-kun, point made. Welcome to Sound. You are ranked chunin presently, although you can take the jonin test whenever you feel ready. We will speak of trade with Suna and your solution the Konoha mess, as you put it, tomorrow. I'll have a forehead protector and a uniform for you by then. Himoto will show you around, and you will sleep at her apartment tonight." Green-chan, now known as Himoto, nodded.

"Take him shopping for clothing, as well. No orange. Or any other eye watering shades either, Naruto-kun. The clothes you are wearing now are good for missions, but you will have to spend some time in the Village." Naruto looked down at his no-colour cloths, and grinned again. "We'll find you an apartment near Sasuke-kun's soon. Now go, get something to eat. It's past eight pm."

Naruto jumped up, chattering about ramen and new flavors, and his new watcher shuffled resignedly after him, the other jonins watching in amusement. Stretching, Kabuto nodded to the two jonins, and they left. He turned to face Orochimaru. " Interesting, isn't he? Tomorrow will be exciting."

Orochimaru sighed, faced with a sudden vision of life with Naruto in the village. Exciting was an understatement.

Back in Konoha, Sakura was doing a very good job of keeping her act up.

"He's gone?! As in, left the village permanently? But…" Her voice and face abruptly modulated from surprised to resigned. "I suppose I should have expected this, but I thought he'd wait at least a year…"

Both Tsunade and Shikamaru frowned sharply, but it was Neji who asked, "And why should his disappearance have been expected, Sakura?"

All the Rookies and their senseis were gathered in the Hokage's office, along with Jiraiya. The white-haired pervert had gone to Naruto's apartment to coerce the boy into accompanying him to the hot springs, and had found the apartment bare of all essentials and anything of sentimental value to Naruto. On his desk sat his Konoha headband, Tsunade's necklace, and a note that simply read:

Sorry, obaa-chan. I have something more important than a dream to take care of.

–Naruto, ex-Rokudaime-To-Be

Sakura sighed. "A few days ago, I encountered Naruto just after breakfast. We…well, neither of us were in the mood to apologize, to say the least. He let slip that he was going to leave the village. I thought he meant monthes or years from now, not days. I guess I didn't really think. I was kind of distracted for the rest of the day."

"Hey! I remember! You were all crumple and sloppy-looking…" Sakura sent Ino a sour look.

"Trust you to notice my appearance and not my mood, Ino-pig…"

"Hey!"

Asuma let out an exasperated sigh. "Quiet, you two. Sakura, did anything you said have particular impact? According to Jiraiya-sama, it had been abandoned for days. He must have left immeadiately."

On queue, Sakura made her face pale a bit, and allowed her shoulders to slump. "I…yes, probably. He got me really angry." The guilt in her voice was clear. Asuma winced, realizing just how insensitive he had been to the girl.

Sakura stood abruptly, and faced Tsunade. "I'm going to train in the forest for a few days. I…need to think. I'll be back within four days, okay?" Tsunade studied her for a moment, and then nodded reluctantly.

"Just don't overdo it, Sakura. No new jutsus without supervision. You can't heal like Naruto can."

Sakura nodded, and left. Ten minutes later, she went to the lake where Naruto had trained so ofter, and sat beside the water, just staring over its surface. It took an hour and a half before her watchers finally left, and she waited an extra hour after that, just in case.

Then she stood, fished her travel pack out of a hollow in the roots of a tree, and followed much the same path Naruto had days before.

Just wait, she thought. Naruto isn't the only one with hidden strength. I said I'd do anything for my team, and I will.

It would take the Konoha Rookies six days to realize that she hadn't lost track of time, and had disappeared. A day after that, they would find all of the documents Sakura and Naruto had left to make their stunt legal. And not an hour after they found those, they would find the letter Naruto had left on the Hokage monument, explaining everything.

There it is. Chapter the fifth. Aren't you proud of me? I even posted it before I said I would! And next chapter, Sasuke is going to find his teammates on his doorstep. I had intended to have Sasuke in this chapter, but it just wouldn't happen. Oh, well…

-Heliotropic