22
"I didn't want to involve you in any of this, Tazuna-san," Naruto said as he retreated to catch his breath from the man's tight hug. "But Sai insisted that you were probably going to come find me if I didn't go to you." Naruto smile widely.
"And he was right, Naruto." Tazuna returned. "I wouldn't pass up the chance to see two of the ninja who saved our village. I just wanted to tell you to your face that my family will help you as much as we can."
"We appreciate it, we really do."
The rogue ninja, all nine, stood outside Tazuna's home with the bridge builder, his daughter, and Inari. They'd met before dawn and it was still dark, with only the beginning rays of the sun starting to light the ends of the sky. Naruto had made several comments over how tall and grown up Inari had gotten and Inari had beamed at the praise from his childhood idol. Sasuke had since retreated back to his brother's side, having been hugged twice too many times for his liking. And Inari was now close to tears as Naruto bade him and his family goodbye.
"Will we see you again soon?" Inari asked.
"I'm not sure. We're gonna be traveling around for a bit, but I know we'll see each other again. If only when we're old geezers like gramps over there."
"Hey!" Tazuna mock-glared. Inari laughed.
Bidding there farewells, Naruto's group left the Village Hidden in the Mist.
xXx
"No, Naruto. Turn with your whole body."
"I know, I'm trying, Itachi." Naruto panted. He fell back into the stance he'd held so many times already that day, settling his right leg further forward into a wide stance and leaning all his weight on his left foot behind him.
Not giving him any warning, Itachi shot at him, his leg shooting towards Naruto's head. Naruto stiffened, pulled his left leg further back and to the side while turning his shoulders and head with it, causing Itachi's kick to pass no more than an inch away from his nose. In the same movement, he let his body's weight pull his right leg off the ground, causing it to follow the force of the turn and sending it flying at Itachi. The Uchiha blocked the kick with his right arm and jumped back.
"Better. Now, do it again." Itachi nodded even as he shot forward again, not giving Naruto even a moment of respite.
xXx
"Come on! That can't be all you've got!" Sasuke shouted.
Suigetsu and Juugo flew at him without replying. Suigetsu swung his sword low, forcing Sasuke to jump to avoid it even as Juugo ran to tackle him. Sasuke planted his hands on Juugo's broad shoulders and flipped over his head to land easily on the ground behind them both.
"No fair, Boss! Put away your Sharingan!" Suigetsu yelled.
"If you can learn to conceal your next moves against the Sharingan, then you can conceal them from almost anyone! If you can't do even that, how are you supposed to live up to the title of one of the Seven Legendary Swordsman?!"
Suigetsu growled and he and his sword dissolved into water. The next second, as Juugo charged Sasuke yet again, Suigetsu reappeared behind Sasuke and held him still with his sword at Sasuke's neck.
"How's that?" Suigetsu asked into the Uchiha's ear. Juugo reared back his fist and rammed it into Sasuke's stomach and…the raven disappeared in a puff of smoke.
"Better, but not good enough." Came the amusedly mocking voice from within the trees. "See if you can catch me." Suigetsu growled and Juugo laughed at his teammates' actions. They moved the mock battle into the trees.
xXx
Naruto's group walked at a moderate pace through the trees, trekking over roots and brush since they'd abandoned the path long ago to shake off any unwanted company.
"How long until we get there?!" Karin asked. "I'm gonna have to get some new clothes sometime soon. This training is wearing them out!"
"We should be there in a few days if we keep up this pace. But we have to be careful. Gaara has to be in the Wind Country before we can cross into Suna's territory, or else we'll be attacked by guards on the border. I doubt he'll be too happy if we kill any of his ninja. That's why we're moving so slowly as it is." Naruto answered.
"I can't imagine he'll be too happy with Tsunade's course of action against us, so he should already be back, and if not, then he will be soon. I think the only reason he agreed to the treaty between Konoha and Suna was because of you, Naruto." Sasuke said, pushing a tree limb out of his way and holding it until Konan had a hand on it so it wouldn't fly back into her face. She nodded in thanks and passed the branch back to the next person in the line.
Naruto rubbed his hand at the back of his neck with a grin on his face. "Actually, he told me it was. We made a promise not too long after the Chuunin exams that we'd make a treaty between Konoha and Suna. He told me later that if he waited for me…" Naruto paused for a moment. "He said if he waited till I was Hokage to make a treaty, then our villages would have already fought each other to extinction."
"Yeah, that could never happen after all this-" Suigetsu started, but cut himself off as Sasuke glared at him sharply. Looking back at Naruto, the water user noticed that the blond was not in the best of moods now. A complete turn-around from his mood only a few minutes ago. Then he realized why. Everyone in the group had been told at one time or another, by Sasuke or from Naruto himself, that being Hokage was Naruto's dream. Suigetsu nearly slapped himself on the head for his comment.
"But, I mean, we can probably create a treaty between our group and them after all this is over. The Kazekage might even agree to create one when we get there in a few days!"
Naruto smiled at the thought. "Yeah, probably."
Suigetsu grinned as his words succeeded in brightening Naruto's mood; it seemed that when the blond was in a bad mood, it was simply impossible for anyone else to be in a good one.
Everyone watching the exchange just smiled. Or, in the Uchihas' case, smirked.
xXx
Seven of the nine rogue ninja slowly making their way to Sunagakure, the Village Hidden in the Sand, sat in the shade and watched in amusement and amazement as their resident Jinchuuriki trained. Naruto must have had at least five hundred clones in the large clearing and the surrounding trees, if not more. He'd paired them all off to train on different things; his Rasengan, his Kekkei Genkai, Taijutsu, the list went on. Each pair gave the surrounding pairs enough room to work with, but there had to be at least two hundred pairs in plain sight.
Thankfully, for the onlookers' eyes' sake, Naruto had decided to forgo his orange outfit, instead wearing what were obviously clothes from Sasuke; a black shirt with the Uchiha symbol on the back and a pair of grey shorts. So they didn't have to squint at the large group of training clones to see past the orange color.
Naruto (the original as far as they could tell) and Sasuke were both standing, looking at a scroll in Naruto's hands, somehow managing to ignore the chaos all around them. A second later, when Naruto rolled the scroll back up, he pulled two three-pronged kunai from his weapons pouch and threw them across the field, over the head of a few training clone pairs. When he turned back to Sasuke, he said something and showed him three hand signs. Sasuke nodded and copied the hand signs. They were practicing the hand signs before they used them, apparently checking that they were the correct ones. After doing this, the two teens turned and walked a little distance away from each other. Sasuke said something and Naruto laughed, saying something in return that made Sasuke scowl.
Then, at the same time, they formed the hand signs they had shown each other only moments ago and, as the group in the shade watched on, they disappeared.
The ninja watching panicked for a moment, though no one stood.
"What happened, 'tachi?" Deidara asked, having noticed Itachi looked completely calm.
"'Dara, look at the kunai Naruto threw." The man said in a somewhat exasperated voice.
The others looked back to the clearing-turned training field and saw at once what had happened. Naruto and Sasuke each stood right next to one of the kunai, Sasuke with a surprised look and Naruto with a broad grin and a fist up in the air.
"They…" Suigetsu trailed off.
Karin finished for him with wide eyes. "They managed the jutsu on their first try."
"And that is why we're following them." Konan said with a smile.
They all flinched, in various degrees, as a humongous crash filled the air.
Their eyes were drawn to the scene of two of Naruto's clones giving each other high fives. Next to them was a crater almost thirty feet wide. From their position, they couldn't see the bottom of it.
"Konoha ninja are insane!" Suigetsu exclaimed, then he gulped. "Um…no offense Itachi… Sai."
The two silent men smirked in amusement.
xXx
Karin and Konan stood in the middle of the forest.
"Now, focus on Sai's chakra, even if you can't feel it right now. Remember what it felt like and try to grasp it, searching out in the forest with your senses. This type of Chakra sensory is different from what they teach you in the villages. They tell you to focus on your surrounding first, but really, that should be the last step. Until you can get a good grasp of sensing the different nature of human chakras, your senses will be distracted by the natural chakras around you."
"You're a good teacher, Karin-san. I was never any good at chakra sensory, but I understand the way you're explaining it." Konan mumbled while she closed her eyes, trying to do what Karin had said.
Karin laughed. "Thanks. Now, where do you think he is? What direction?"
Konan was quiet for a moment, concentrating on the feeling she remembered from feeling Sai's chakra, then searched the forest for it. Karin had told her to memorize it before she'd asked Sai to go and hide amongst the trees. Konan pulled in a breath three minutes later.
Raising a hand, she pointed a little off to her left. "He's that way."
Karin smiled. "Very good. Now can you pinpoint him?"
xXx
Naruto, Sasuke, Sai, Itachi, Deidara, Konan, Karin, Suigetsu, and Juugo all sat around the fire, recovering from another long day of traveling and training.
"We need a name don't we? For our new 'village', I mean." Suigetsu asked suddenly in the companionable silence. They only just finished eating and half of them were almost asleep.
"You're right…hmm, do you guys have any ideas?" Naruto asked the other eight of the group.
"Well, we are seeking peace, right? How about 'Heiwakokka'? A Peace-loving nation?" Said Karin.
"Maybe, but we're not really seeking peace right now, considering that trying to take down a government isn't really peaceful." Karin pouted when Konan shot down her suggestion.
"Hanto, then? We are rebelling, after all." Naruto suggested.
"That doesn't really sound like the name of an organization, though, Dobe." Sasuke said.
"And Team Hawk does, Teme?" Naruto replied, sticking his tongue out at the younger Uchiha of the group. Sasuke smirked, but didn't answer him.
"Nigasu?" Itachi said suddenly. Everyone looked at him, pondering the name.
"I like it." Deidara seconded, not moving his head from Itachi's lap, or the fingers running through his hair.
"'Choice'. It's fitting." Juugo added.
"So we're Nigasugakure? The Village Hidden in the Choice?" Naruto smiled at the name. It was fitting for what their group stood for. They would be the alternative choice for anyone who needed something to stand for, but who didn't agree with the already existing powers.
One by one, the ninja around the fire nodded. Most of them had never thought they would be more than missing-nin for the rest of their lives, but now they had something to live for. Something to believe in and fight for.
A choice.