Chapter 4

Naruto and Sakura

After the two had gotten new clothes, mostly for Sakura, they went on their way to exit the small town to reach a small waterfall within Ta no Kuni, where Naruto stopped. He bit his thumb and went through the needed hand seals to summon a small orange fox. Naruto leaned down, tying the scroll to the fox's neck.

"Take the scroll to Hajime-san and Roshi-dono." spoke Naruto to the fox.

"Will do, Naruto-sama." replied the fox as it darted off into the hills, running fairly quick.

Sakura arched an eyebrow, but would ask later about who those two people were. Naruto then turned to her, his unreadable eyes gazing at her for a moment, to which she blushed at, before he looked out to the high sun. The silence between the two was awkward, until Naruto started walking down the hill by the waterfall.

"Come, Sakura. We'll need to reach the rendezvous point before the fox reaches them." spoke Naruto.

"Where are we meeting them? Inquired Sakura.

Naruto came to a stop, glancing back to her, before moving forward. His lack of an answer ticked off Sakura, but she knew he had a reason, so she kept quiet about it. Slowly, Naruto began to speed up and Sakura gasped as she felt him grab her hand and throw her on his back.

"Faster this way. We need to reach Nami no Kuni." droned Naruto.

Sakura could only meep, as she held onto Naruto, blushing a bit at the fact he was carrying her. Naruto continued to surprise her as his speed increased beyond most shinobi's speed, as he jumped off a few trees to get air and more velocity. Sakura closed her eyes, snuggling into Naruto's back.

She did not get to see a small smile force its way onto Naruto's lips.

Meanwhile, in Otogakure

Orochimaru sat in his chair, scowling at a scroll's contents. His student had destroyed part of Oto no thanks to his ex-teammate's blasted shinobi. He stood up, leaving his room as he stormed down to Kabuto's lab. As he barged in, the silver haired subordinate looked up in confusion, only to sigh when Orochimaru stood behind him.

"The boy has grown stronger then I expected, Kabuto." growled Orochimaru.

"He was trained by you, Orochimaru-sama." piped Kabuto.

Orochimaru nodded at that as he paced a bit. He then had a ingenious idea, as a smirk crawled up his lips. The idea he had in mind was perfect, and Naruto would play his part all too well.

"Kabuto, I think its time we pay a few folks visits." sneered Orochimaru as he left the room, leaving Kabuto to chuckle, before going back to his work.

At the same time, in Tsuchi no Kuni...

On a high cliff, a red haired figure sat while a white haired figure laid down, snoring. The red haired figure sighed as he poked the white haired man in the side, causing him to jump with a yelp. The red haired man shook his head as the white haired man glared at him.

"Roshi-san, what the fuck was that for?" yelled the white-haired one.

"Simmer down, Hajime. We need to get moving." spoke Roshi, who stood up as he finished speaking.

Hajime groaned as he stood up, nodding lightly. The two men turned and began to walk away, both quiet on the walk that began. Hajime glanced around as he held his hand up, causing Roshi to stop. Roshi then narrowed his eyes as six Iwa nin landed around them. Hajime grinned at this, as he drew out a scroll, summoning a scythe from it, spinning it around as he got back to back with Roshi.

"Looks like we get to have fun!" yelled Hajime.

"Troublesome Iwagakure..." muttered Roshi.

As the six shinobi charged, Roshi's eyes flashed green as lava bubbled at his feet.

Three shinobi met their end at the fist of a ape made of lava.

Elsewhere, with Naruto and Sakura...

Naruto jumped out of a forest, landing on hard rock as he continued to run with Sakura on his back. He jumped onto a statue's head and jumped off it onto the one across from it. It was then that he realized he was in the Valley of the End. He sighed lightly as he continued to run, moving into the forest.

"Ne...Naruto-kun...who are the two men we are meeting?" inquired Sakura as she opened her eyes.

Naruto glanced back to the girl on his back and then looked ahead. He did not answer for a moment, wondering if he should tell her or not. However, in the end, he decided to let her in on a few more of his secrets.

"Sanzouba Hajime, a ex-Shinobigatana Nananin Shu and the one who taught me how to use Kenjutsu and Ninjutsu in the way that he does.. I met him during a mission, and well...he is an ally of mine now." spoke Naruto.

Sakura's eyes widened, hearing those words. So Naruto was going to meet a ex-Shinobigatana Nananin Shu, for one. Yet, from what he said, they were allies. Sakura mused over this, wondering just how much truly had changed about her crush over the three years.

"Roshi is a man like me." spoke Naruto, grabbing Sakura's attention with his words.

"What do you mean, Naruto-kun?" inquired Sakura.

"He holds power beyond the comprehension of normal shinobi. He can combine Katon and Doton into something shinobi know as Youton." answered Naruto.

"W-What!" spoke a surprised Sakura.

"Roshi is the one who taught me a few close secrets of mine and trained me when I was out on missions for Orochimaru." spoke Naruto.

Sakura nodded to herself as Naruto continued on, taking a different road to get to Nami no Kuni. Both were silent, for the time being. Naruto sighed as he glanced to the sky, praying that the message got to Roshi and Hajime safely. Naruto knew he would need their help for what he had been planning for two years, or just close to that.

Moments later, in Kaze no Kuni

As a sandstorm began to move through Kaze no Kuni, two cloaked figures moved across the sand, that indicated they were close to Sunagakure by some means. The two figures wore bamboo hat, with white strings that hung from the hat. One was a blonde haired man, the other was a masked, short and hunched over man. The blonde haired man had long hair, covering one of his eyes, while his other eye remained visible, for the most part.

As the walls of Sunagakure came into sight, the cloaks became more visible. With red lining, the black cloaks were fairly plain except for red clouds all around the cloak. These cloaks covered the men and their bodies, hiding their full identity for the most part. As they noticed the walls, they came to a stop.

"Hn, I'll let you handle it from her, Sasori-dono." spoke the blonde haired man.

"Hmph. I hate waiting. I hope he makes it quick." spoke the other man.

They stood there, waiting for some sort of signal. The blonde haired man smirked, seeing some sort of carnage going on in the distance.

"Lets go, Deidara." spoke Sasori.

"Hn." replied Deidara.

The two continued their way to the 'gates' of Sunagakure, to notice one single man and a valley of dead bodies. The man went to his knees before the two men, bowing in all respects. Sasori glanced down to the man, not surprised that this was all done by him. Deidara only sighed lightly, sad that he didn't get to show his art. But he knew this was a better way for the entire task.

"I have done as requested, Sasori-sama." spoke the kneeling man.

"Good. Now, head to the cave." demanded Sasori.

"As you wish, my master." spoke the man, who then stood up and began to walk away.

"Hn. Shall I handle the rest, Sasori-dono?" inquired Deidara.

"Just don't make me wait, Deidara." spoke Sasori.

The blonde haired man reached into a pouch at his side as he walked forward, grinning.

Roshi and Hajime...

Lava slowly flowed off the cliff edges as Hajime cleaned his scythe, laughing lightly. He glanced to Roshi, who was brushing off his hands. The two had just slaughtered six Iwa shinobi who were after Roshi. They had made quick work of the six, due to the skill level of the two compared to the six shinobi.

"Hah, that was some good fun." spoke Hajime.

"I hate when I have to kill people just being used." grumbled Roshi.

Hajime chuckled as he sealed his scythe back into the scythe, the two men starting to walk away again. Hajime then glanced to the right, then the left. Finally, he just looked up to the sky while they were walking. The two men then glanced at each other, nodding at each other. With no further warning, they sped up into running. They jumped from rock to rock as they traveled through Tsuchi no Kuni, slowly heading to the border.

"I wonder how Naruto-san is doing." piped Hajime.

"Who knows. The kid sure was unpredictable in whatever he did." mused Roshi.

Those words elicited a chuckle from both men as they continued on their way. They had both seen Naruto's true unpredictable side and what intelligence laid underneath the masks he had put up. They had both shattered Naruto's masks and made a promise to help Naruto with whatever he needed help with. Roshi and Naruto had bonded like family, in some sense, while Hajime had become a part of that 'family' after meeting Roshi. The two were like older brothers that Naruto never had, and they liked it that way. They hated to admit it, but the kid left good impressions on them.

Which didn't help when a fox's belly smacked right into Roshi's face.

"...Haha!" yelled Hajime.

"NAAARUUUTOOOOOO!"

Author's Note:

Haha, ended with a funny (hopefully) ending to a chapter. Well folks, time to go into overdrive with the next few chapters. Mischief is one of those 'quick' arcs that gets the ball rolling. While I still have a while to go before Mischief is over, I will be pushing on 2 k to 2.5k words per chapter for the next arc, maybe up to 3.5 if I'm lucky xD.

Later in the story, I will delve into a brief profile on Hajime. He is an interesting character, if I might say so myself.

Enjoy and review!