Sorry about not writing again for so long. Life's been hectic as usual, between college, girls, and my own affairs; I haven't had much time to myself, let alone to write.

This is turning out to be my longest chapter ever…I'm sorry if it's not well written, I haven't really written anything in a while so I may have lost what little writing mojo that I had.

Chapter 23: Land in Lightning

"How am I gonna be the first to die?" Kisame chuckled. Your team is already worthless. Kisame kicked Lee's unmoving body, "See?" Lee's body rolled a few feet and poofed away, it was a Kage Bunshin. "What?!" Kisame yelled in surprise.

"NOW!" Kakashi yelled.

"KONOHA SENPU!!" (Or however it's spelled!!) Yelled Lee as he released the third gate and flung his leg at Kisame. He managed to bring Samehada up in time to block the kick, but was sent flying back due to the sheer force, slamming him into a wall. Lee continued his assault with a second kick, which Kisame blocked again, but this time he was ready. He grabbed Lee's leg and threw him up into the ceiling. Lee, who did not foresee this turn of events, had no choice but to cough up blood and fall helplessly to the ground. Kisame jumped up and delivered a finishing kick to Lee's back, slamming him into the cave floor.

Before Kisame could land on the ground, Sakura appeared beneath him, and swung a devastating punch at the chest of the Fish-like man. Kisame managed to block with Samehada yet again, but the girl's blow sent him flying into the ceiling.

"RAAHH!!" Sakura screamed as she went to deliver the finishing blow to the Akatsuki member. (Wow, when I typed in Akatsuki, it wanted to change it to either Alaska or Kawasaki, just thought you'd want to know.) Her punch landed on his face, however to her dismay, it was only a water clone. The real Kisame appeared below her and swung his mighty sword at the helpless girl. Sakura pivoted and punched the sword with all her might, releasing all of her chakra into the blow. She flew back into the wall and made a small depression in it. Her body slumped over into unconsciousness.

A slicing gale headed towards Kisame's back. The fish man turned around and once again used Samehada as a shield. Behind this deadly wind was a girl named Temari who swung her heavy fan at Kisame's sword.

"That won't work girly!" Kisame yelled as he swung Samehada to meet the fan. Temari laughed. "What?!"

"Mission accomplished." She said as several of Ten-ten's kunai flew over her shoulder. Temari's fan hit the back of a single kunai, driving it deep into Samehada. The massive sword exploded into thousands of small glimmering shards, which peppered Temari like she was bland mashed potatoes. She got a large chunk of Samehada lodged in her stomach.

Ten-ten rushed to Temari.

"Are you okay?!" It was a ridiculous question, I mean seriously, the girl just got a huge chunk of shrapnel lodged in her stomach, wtf kind of question is that?

"I'm okay for now," Temari coughed, "Luckily, it missed my vitals, but I WILL bleed to death if we take too long."

"I'll just…" Ten-ten started to turn around only to be kicked in the face by an enraged Kisame, still brandishing what remained of his beloved sword.

"You stupid BITCHES!!" He yelled wildly, "You were aiming at Samehada the WHOLE time!! And what makes it worse is I FELL for it! I'll kill you!" He lifted up his foot to stomp down on the large piece of shrapnel jutting from Temari's stomach.

"I don't think so!" Kakashi yelled as he appeared between the two, raikiri charged. Kisame choked in surprise as Kakashi's hand went through his chest. "What did you forget about me?" Kisame smiled.

"You missed." He said as he slammed the remnants of Samehada down on Kakashi's left shoulder, breaking the collarbone and draining his chakra. Kakashi collapsed from exhaustion and the pain of having his chakra ripped from him.

Ten-ten hurried to the jounin.

"Kakashi-sensei!!"

"Damn…" Kakashi cursed as blood spilled from his open wound.

"What happened?! What did you miss?! I saw your hand go right through him!"

"His heart, and his spine." Kakashi coughed. "I was aiming for his heart, luckily, if he dodged that I would have split his spine. But he managed to dodge so perfectly that my attack went right in between them."

"Still….got…my…lung……" Kisame wheezed as he fell to the ground. "You….bitch….." Those were the words he chose to whisper with his final breath.

Itachi looked over while he parried one of Naruto's formless attacks.

"Mm…this is unexpected." The Uchiha sighed in contemplation as he dodged numerous attacks. "I suppose it would be wise to report back for new orders…"

"LIKE HELL YOU WILL ITACHI!" Sasuke yelled as he swung at his brother.

"You think you can stop me as you are now?" Itachi asked quietly as he grabbed his younger brothers arm and proceeded to break it. Sasuke screamed in pain. "Keep this in mind brother, the reason I'm not killing you is not because I can't, but because I choose not to." Itachi disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

"SHIT!" Sasuke yelled as he punched the ground with his good arm.

Kaoshi looked back at the rest of his teammates.

"Ahhh hell…" He said when se saw the shape of his allies. "Okay everyone listen up! We've got five wounded! We're gonna need to work fast here! I can handle broken bones and minor cuts. Do any of you have any medical experience at all?"

"Sakura's our only med Nin…and she's kinda…not…conscious." Naruto said pointing at Sakura's limp body.

"Dammit Temari…" Shikamaru said looking at the blood-covered body of the sand ninja.

"Sorry Shika…" She said with a cough. "Looks like I got hit worse than I thought…"

"What am I gonna do with you?"

"Sell me to the highest bidder?" Shikamaru chuckled.

"Wouldn't get much for ya now, would I?"

"Probably not…" she said with a feigned smile. Shikamaru walked over to her and put his hand on her head.

"You did good."

"Thanks…" She said with a smile. "Hey…Shika…"

"Yeah?"

"If I don't make it…" She reached out a bloody hand and put it on his face. Shikamaru smiled and gently grasped her hand. Temari suddenly pulled Shikamaru's face towards hers and their lips met. After a second Temari pulled away and looked at Shikamaru with reddened cheeks. "…I just wanted you to know…and saying it just isn't my style…"

"I know," Shikamaru said as he pulled Temari's face towards his.

"Shika…" the blushing girl said as Shikamaru pulled away.

"I just thought you should know, and to say it would be troublesome."

"Thank you…" Temari said as she went unconscious. Shikamaru sat with Temari in his arms for a moment, thinking.

"Ahh shiz…" Kaoshi said. "We're still about an hour's walk from the Village…"

"How fast can you get there?" Shikamaru asked.

"Me?" Kaoshi thought for a second. "From here, about seven minutes."

"Here's the plan," Shikamaru said. "Take Temari. She's got a huge piece of shrapnel in her gut and is already unconscious from blood loss. If we don't act fast she'll die. The rest of us will carry the others as far as we can. You come back after dropping Temari off at the hospital, take Kakashi next, he's got minor blood loss, broken collarbone, exhaustion, and no chakra." Kaoshi smiled.

"Good plan," Kaoshi ran over to Temari and carefully picked her up. "Well, I'll be going."

"I'm counting on you." Shikamaru said. Kaoshi ran off into the shadows.

"Alright," Shikamaru continued. "Listen up." He pointed to Kakashi. "Our priority is Kakashi, he's in the worst shape out of the remaining four. Hinata, prepare a splint for Sasuke." She nodded and started working right away. "Next comes Lee. He suffered some head injuries; so if he wakes us, don't let him walk. Sakura probably has broken ribs and a broken hand and possible back injuries. If she wakes up and can walk, let her." He reached into his supply pouch. "Let's get to work."

Twenty minutes had passed. After bandaging up their comrades, they set out. In the meantime, Sakura had regained consciousness and was able to walk by herself, allowing Hinata and Ten-ten to care for Lee.

Kaoshi was nowhere in sight, but in his stead a group of several med ninjas from the Cloud Village arrived on the scene to relieve the party. After giving basic medical treatment to the wounded, they rushed to the hospital along with Ten-ten and Shikamaru.

"Ugh…" Naruto complained as he walked along the trail to the Village. They had exited the cave and were now in a dense forest covered in fog "That was sure troublesome…" He waved his arms around wildly as if trying to break of the fog. "And this fog sure as hell isn't helping…"

"You're starting to sound like Shikamaru-kun, Naruto-kun." Hinata said with a small laugh.

"Ehh?!" Naruto said with dismay. "Though I don't know whether to take that as a compliment or not…" they shared a short laugh. "Yeah Shikamaru is something though."

"Yes, he is."

"He can keep his cool even in situations like that." Naruto sighed. "If it was anyone else giving orders then, I'd be concerned that they were only to save the girl. But we all know he's not like that." Naruto sighed. "Sometimes I wish I could be more like him…"

"I don't think so…" Hinata said shyly. "I like you the way you are." After the sudden realization of what she just said she turned bright red. "I mean…uh…umm…" Naruto looked at her and smiled.

"Thanks Hina-chan." Hinata blushed even more. After a short awkward silence, she decided to try and change the topic.

"S-So Naruto…" the blushing girl said shyly, "Why didn't you go on ahead with the others?"

"Meh, I wasn't really in the mood for running…" Naruto said lazily. "The med team arrived and they said everything would be fine. I figure that there's nothing I can do to help so I figure I'd just get in the way." Hinata smiled.

"He's matured…" she thought to herself.

"How about you Hinata?" Naruto asked. "Why didn't you go on ahead?"

"W-well…" she said with a blush. "When the med team arrived, I was so relieved that I just fell over… And the med ninja said I shouldn't run for a while…just to be safe."

"Well I guess it's good I decided not to go on ahead." Naruto said with a smile.

"W-why?" Hinata said with a blush.

"Cause I like hanging out with you Hina-chan." Hinata's face turned bright red. "Besides, it wouldn't be very manly of me to let a pretty girl like you walk around by yourself in an unfamiliar place."

"EH?!" Hinata's reddened even more. "I-I-I d-d-don't kn-know about p-p-p-pretty…" she said stuttering over every word.

"Sure you are!" Naruto pronounced very loudly. "At least I think so."

"B-b-but s-s-surely y-you think that T-Temari-san, T-T-Ten-ten-san, and S-Sakura-san are more attractive."

"Mm," Naruto thought for a minute. "Temari's too scary to be attractive…Ten-ten's cute, but not really my type…"

"What about Sakura…" Hinata said suddenly depressed, "You like her right…?"

"Mm…" Naruto put his finger on his chin in contemplation. "I haven't really thought about that in a while." He sighed. "I mean Sakura's nice…but she's also a very angry person. Not to mention she's Sasuke-crazed. Even if she wasn't, I'd have to say I want a more subtle girl. One who doesn't jump all over you when you're around. Someone…cute, who will listen to every word I have to say, no matter how silly, who will blush when I put my arm around her…" He looked over at Hinata, whose face was bright red as she intently listened to what he was saying. Something clicked inside Naruto.

Hinata's the girl for me. With this sudden realization he stopped walking. After a second of mustering up his courage he decided that he was going to do it. He was going to ask Hinata to go out with him.

"Hey, Hina-chan…" He said with a serious face. Hinata looked at him puzzled. "Would you like to…" He was stopped short by a girl's scream. (Lol, aren't I so evil? Don't worry; it's to make the love plot more interesting)

"HEELLLPP!!!" Naruto instinctively lost his train of thought.

"What the…?" Another scream came shortly after.

"PLEASE HELLPP!!"

"Hina-chan," Naruto looked at her with a serious face.

"Go." She said with a smile. "I'll be fine." Naruto flashed her his cheek-to-cheek smile.

"I'll be back." He ran off. "Meet you there!"

"I'll be waiting." She whispered. With that he disappeared into the fog.

Naruto rushed towards the source of the scream. He jumped from tree to tree hoping for another hint. He noticed a small clearing and stopped on a tree branch to check it out. What he saw didn't surprise him much; there was a group of about ten thugs surrounding a single girl. It was a classic scenario; so classic it almost made Naruto sick. The blonde sighed and put on his hero face.

"Well then," One thug said to another, "Shall we?"

"Let's"

"Not so fast!" Naruto said, appearing in the center of the circle.

"What are you DOING?!" Yelled on of the thugs.

"What does it look like, idiot…?" Naruto said puffing out his chest. "I'm saving this girl." The girl looked up at Naruto with wide eyes. He judged that she was close to his age, maybe a little younger. She had strawberry blonde hair that came down just past her neck and green eyes. "Don't you worry miss, I'll protect you." Naruto said with a smile.

"Don't underestimate us you bastard!" One said as he charged Naruto, brandishing a dull katana. The slash cut right through Naruto's head, causing the shadow clone to poof away. "W-What are you?!"

"What…can't you tell?" Naruto asked. He then realized that his headband was not on. "Ohh, right. Hold on a second." He reached into his pouch and put on his forehead protector. "I'm a ninja!"

"You may be a ninja…" One said. "BUT THERES STILL 10 of us!"

"TAJUU KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!" The clearing filled up with 100 Naruto's. The real Naruto pointed and said, "Go to town boys." After about four seconds the last thug lost consciousness. Naruto looked at the girl. "There ya go miss." Naruto started to walk off.

"Wait…!" The girl said as she reached out to Naruto. "Is there anything I can do…"

"Nah." Naruto said putting on his smile. "I'm a ninja, I'm just doing what I was born to do."

"Can I at least get your name…?" Naruto thought for a second.

"Sure, why not. I'm Naruto."

"I'm Kanako." She stood up and bowed. "Nice to meet you Naruto-sama."

"Uh, yeah." He said scratching his head. "Nice to meet you." Naruto awkwardly bowed. "Sorry, but there's someone waiting for me."

"Goodbye then." She said with a smile.

"Bye." Naruto poofed away in a cloud of smoke. "What an odd girl…didn't seem to be bothered at all that she was in that situation…" He shrugged it off and continued towards the village.

After running for about 10 minutes Naruto realized he was being followed. His pursuer wasn't gaining on him or falling behind. Naruto, being the smart guy he was, stopped and a few seconds later, a ninja appeared before him.

"Naruto-sama…?" The ninja asked.

"What do you want with me?" Naruto asked, crossing his arms.

"I've been sent to bring you to your comrades."

"Well that certainly makes things easier…" Naruto said scratching his head. "To be honest I was completely lost."

"I noticed…" the ninja said as a bead of sweat rolled down his face. "You were running around me in a complete circle…"

"Oh…" Naruto said embarrassed. "Uhh. Then…lead me…?"

"Right…"

After an awkwardly silent run to the village, Naruto met up with Hinata, Ten-ten, and Sasuke in the lounge of the ambassador's quarters. The Ambassador's Quarters were basically an upscale apartment building with ten rooms surrounding a massive lounge area. Each room was equipped with everything one could need from a bathroom to a weight room.

"So, how's everyone doing?" Naruto asked.

"Not great." Ten-ten said. "They managed to save Temari, but right now she's asleep and in critical condition. Kakashi-sensei is in a similar state, critical condition and asleep. Lee had a major concussion and is also asleep. Sakura has three broken ribs, most of the bones in her hand are shattered, and she bruised her spine. She's conscious right now, but no visitors are allowed." Ten-ten sighed. "We'd done so well up until this point too…"

"Well we can't let that stop us." Naruto said smiling. "No matter what gets in your way, you just gotta keep pushing forward. That's all we can do, right?"

"You're damn right!" Kaoshi said as he strolled into the room. "Well put Naruto. Especially cause I just heard from the doctors that everyone should make a full recovery."

"That's great!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Now comes the hard part." Kaoshi sighed. "It's hard cause it doesn't involve fighting which has a clear outcome. Stupid negotiations…"

"Ahh but these negotiations are what bring peace Kaoshi-kun."

"Yondaime Raikage-sama…" Kaoshi said looking at the middle-aged man standing at the entrance.

"I'm glad to see you're back from your mission, Kaoshi." He said with a chuckle. "I heard you were successful, though there were some bad injuries. Am I correct?"

"Yes Raikage-sama." Kaoshi said standing at attention.

"This is indeed unfortunate, but we are doing all that we can to help those who were injured." He looked towards the four Konoha ninja. "I'm glad to have all of you here. Welcome to the Village Hidden in the Clouds. I hope you enjoy your stay."

"Hey! Ojii-chan!" Naruto yelled.

"Naruto!" Ten-ten yelled as she hit him on the head. "Show some respect!" The Raikage laughed.

"Naruto is it?"

"That's right!" Naruto said proudly. "Uzumaki Naruto! I'm gonna be the Rokudaime Hokage!"

"Really now?" The Raikage laughed again. "You remind me of Kaoshi when he was young." He scratched his head. "But if what you say is true, I'm glad to have met you. I hope I make a good impression." He said with a smile.

"Anyways, Ojii-chan." Naruto said. "Are there any good ramen stands around here?" Naruto's stomach grumbled. "I haven't had any real ramen in weeks!"

"Not that I know of Rokudaime-sama." He thought for a second. "Perhaps my daughter would know better." He turned around and called out, "Kanako-chan! Could you please come inside?"

"Kana…ko?" Naruto said puzzled. A few seconds later, a young girl walked in. She had strawberry blonde hair and green eyes.

"Naruto-sama!!" she yelled excitedly as she rushed over and grabbed his arm. "You're one of the diplomats from Konoha?! That's so cool!"

"Oh my…" The Raikage said. "You two know each other?"

"Yes!" Kanako said happily. "He's the one I told you about! The one who rescued me!"

"Really now?" The Raikage said slightly amused.

"Yeah…I saved her from some thugs just before I came here." Naruto said awkwardly.

"Yup, and I've decided."

"On what?" The Raikage and Naruto asked at the same time.

"I'm gonna marry you!"

"…Excuse me?" Naruto said as Hinata feinted.