Okay, I finally feel it would be a good idea to update. Or rather, my computer thought was a good idea to update.

Right now, I'm using tm, but my favorite writing program is Microsoft Office. And I've been using a trial version, and when it expired, I just didn't feel like writing. Now I do. I know this is a very crappy excuse, but hey, it's the truth.

Anyways, onward to the story my faithful keyboard!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Peroid. It's right there you know. That small little dot that comes after the sentence. There it is again! Phew, it finally went away... Ah! There's a whole group of them now!

Run away!

Nara Shikaku, Yamanaka Inoichi, and Hyuuga Ko stood in a grassy knoll, a clearing filled with chakra residue from a powerful jutsu, evidence being the large black scar in the middle of the land, and the very uneasy feeling they had obtained upon arrival. The only thing else they had was Ko's eyes, and his word.

Before anyone could come to any assumptions Ko started explaining what he saw, saying," That large scar in the land was caused by a powerful jutsu-" he was interrupted by Inoichi.

"I can see that!" he said in anger. Ko merely stared at him with his white eyes, his veins bulging out as he once again activated his Byakugan.

"The jutsu was caused by a space time jutsu, an insanely concentrated chakra discharge or a combination of the two," he looked to Inoichi, and only receiving a blank stare, but remnants of his rage still on his face, he continued, "There were three people here. One stood along, facing the other two, who are standing close together. He had an insanely high chakra level, even higher than normal Jinchuuriki of his type. I'm guessing this is Naruto, as you can see. The two standing next another were very different in chakra level, but still both S-Class. The larger one is Pein, most likely, and the one standing next to him is... all I can discern is that it's a female." He looked up from his examination, and seeing Inoichi and Shikaku (sort of) watching in rapt attention, he continued.

"Right before the blast happened, there was a brief chakra flare. It died down quickly enough," he said, while starting to move from where Naruto was, to Pein's position, "Naruto has started walking, not running, toward Pein. Neither Pein or the female have made a move. About thee feet away from Pein, Naruto jumped, very casually, onto a platform that was right in front of Pein. And from the remnants of this blood stain here, I'm going to guess he stabbed him," he said, pointing to the dried blood," and also, from it's trajectory and point of landing, Naruto most likely stabbed him in the heart or lungs. Seconds before the blast occurred, the female jumped away from the clearing. And then the blast happened," he finished.

He looked at Inoichi and Shikaku, and when he received a stare and the,"go on," hand gesture, he said," That's all I can make out from this. There's nothing else. Not even Hiashi himself could make out anymore."

Both Inoichi and Ko looked toward Shikaku, as if asking the silent question...

… What do we do?

Shikaku sighed, pinched the bridge of his nose, and muttered, "Troublesome."

He sighed again, and then decided to speak, "Alright, here we go. Logically," He spoke in a much louder, but still drawling voice," Naruto is most likely dead. He's nowhere to be seen, and there's a huge black scar in the ground where he was standing. Even somebody as strong as him couldn't survive such a powerful and close range explosion. But what I want to believe, and right now, I do believe, is that he's still alive. Start the search parties, and get all the evidence you can from this site. We're going to find Naruto."

Ko and Inoichi looked at each other, nodded, and Inoichi jumped off into the trees in the direction of Konoha, with Shikaku following, with Ko staying behind, proceeding to gather evidence.

Yahiko and Konan strode into the village of Hanfull, carefully examining its occupants.

Hanfull was a small town, barely a few shops and a market, but it seemed to be in a very high condition. It's run by a Konoha ninja police force, the KNPF. Instead of taxing it's villages, Konoha sends genin and chuunin to protect it for a small, recurring mission fee. In times of war, the fee increases, as Konoha sends more ninja to each village. There were a few stores for requisition of weapons and tools, and a headquarters for the KNPF, so it was perfect for Yahiko to get started on his ninja career.

After stating their position of being 'wanderers', Yahiko and Konan went to the headquarters first.

As soon as they were at the front door of the building, a ninja, genin seeing he had no vest, stopped Yahiko and Konan and asked them," Stop. State your business."

They regarded his monotone voice, and replied in a voice a bit higher than her usual alto, making it soprano," We're here to get a... umm..." she looked at Yahiko with a questioning face.

Somehow managing to play the part, Yahiko replied in a deep bass voice," It's called bingo book, sister."

The genin looked at them closely and asked suspiciously, "Sister? You two look nothing alike."

Yahiko quickly covered his blunder, and replied, "She's a nun, from the temple of Inari. The head monk there has asked for a bingo book, and this is the only place we can find that has one. This is a ninja headquarters, right?"

Luckily, Konan had gotten rid of her Akatsuki cloak, and was now wearing a plain white dress, clothes that could easily pass as a traveling nun's clothes. Seeing were this was going, she made minor genjutsu, so that the genin wouldn't notice, to show a necklace with the charm of Inari around her neck.

Still suspicious, he asked, "Why are you with her then?"

Puffing his chest out slightly, Yahiko replied, "I'm a mercenary, hired to help her get the bingo book,"

Even though he was still a tad suspicious, the guard said, "Okay, but make it quick. I don't want any trouble because of you."

With an expedient thank you, Yahiko and Konan quickly made it around the guard, and took in their surroundings.

On the outside, the building was simply a white dome, but on the inside, the structure was painted a dark blue, with gold trimmings. Other than the paint job, the place was fairly spartan. What Yahiko guessed was a quarter way through the dome, there was a wall, most likely where the sleeping quarters were. It was divided into three sections, genin, the largest section, was on the right side, and then there was a chuunin section on the left, slightly smaller than the genin side and in between the two was a small section labeled, "Captain's Quarters," which was most likely occupied by a jonin or a powerful chuunin, though most likely the latter. In the middle of the space between the door and the wall, was another, much shorter wall, occupied by three receptionists. All of them wore a Konoha hitai-ite.

Nobody else was occupying the room, other than Yahiko, Konan, and the three receptionists.

Yahiko and Konan walked forward at a moderate pace, making sure to seem as non-threatening as possible. When they got their destination, Yahiko quickly asked, almost too quickly, "Hello, we're here to buy a bingo book."

The rush went unnoticed by the receptionist, and answered in a cheery tone, "Oh, you don't have to buy them, they're free," she ended with an obviously fake smile, almost blinding them with her pure white teeth.

Before Yahiko could answer, she had bent down, and grabbed a bingo book.

She told him, "Oh, and what luck! The newest issue just came in today! Here you go," and handed Yahiko the book.

Yahiko took the book, almost too quick again, but he wasn't spotted.

Just as Yahiko and Konan were about to walk away from the receptionist's desk, a man sprinting as fast as he could rushed into the building, and ran to the receptionist's desk on the left.

The man wore a Konoha hitai-ite and flak jacket, signifying as a Chuunin. His face was totally unremarkable, as it had brown hair and brown eyes, no scars, nothing except for the panicked look on his face.

As soon as he got to the receptionist's desk, he screamed into her face, "We're under attack!! The A-rank missing ninja Tenma Shouten, from Iwa, is here with a force of forty-nine genin level ninja and fifty-one chuunin level ninja!! There is even the possibility of a small contingency of B-ranks!! What do we do!!!"

From her posture, before, it was obvious she would of wiped the spittle of her face, and told him to harshly calm down. However, now she was panicked. Apparently an A-class ninja with an army like that is nothing to fool around with. Without saying a word, she formed a handseal and disappeared in a cloud of smoke. She reappeared with a jounin by the looks of it, as he had a thicker vest with more pockets.

Looking at the chuunin, he barked out, "Report."

Saluting the higher officer, he began his report, "Sir, missing nin Tenma Shouten has come into our village with hostile intentions. He has one hundred ninjas, half of them chuunin, half genin. Our scouts have also spotted others in the camp, who have high chakra levels, enough to be B-ranked ninja. But sir, the odd thing is, is that he's just waiting at the gate, as he wants us to strike first."

The jounin replied, "How do you know he's hostile?"

Acknowledging the jounin, the man replied, "Tawakemono Manuke , a one year chuunin, decided to see what the situation was, as he recognized the man from the bingo book. But when he got within three feet of Shouten, the missing nin lashed out, broke his neck, and sent him tumbling into me. I think I broke a rib," looking down and grimacing, he continued, "After that he just sat down, and pulled out a clay jar of sake. I was horrified by the way he killed Manuke."

The Chuunin shuddered, and looked at the jounin expectantly.

The man sighed, paced back and forth for around three seconds, and then sighed again. He looked at Yahiko, and said, "You. You're a mercenary aren't you?" With a nod he continued, "Do you have any training in chakra?" Another nod, "Alright, now instead of forty ninja, we have forty-one. We might actually win now," he finished.

It was a poor attempt at a joke. But however poor it was, it lifted their spirits. He turned around, looked at the chuunin and the secretaries, and motioned with his head to, "Get out there."

He looked back at Yahiko, and said, "What's your name?"

Yahiko replied, "Who's askin'?"

This raised a smirk, and he replied, "Genma. Shiranui Genma."

Yahiko held out his hand and said, "Yahiko. Just Yahiko."

Smiling, they shook hands, Genma's senbon out on the corner of his mouth. Looking towards the door, Genma said," Let's go, Yahiko."

"Danzo."

'What!'

"Danzo will be the acting Hokage, and if Tsunade does not wake in five days, he will be the Rokudaime," Said the Daimyo.

"But sir he-!" Yelled Shikaku, but was cut off.

"Silence. I am the acting Hokage, I implore you respect my rule, or I will be forced to use... drastic measures," Danzo said, glancing at Shikaku.

'This is bad,' Shikaku thought, 'Danzo... he may have good intentions for the village, but the road to hell is paved in good intentions. He wanted Konoha to prosper, and he would do anything for that to happen. Even sacrifice his own ninja, which he has done in the past. But the word of the Daimyo is absolute. He is second only to the Kage when commandeering the village. Which means I can't do anything against the order without staging a coup d'etat, which would not be wise. I have no options. Tsunade will most definitely not wake up in five days, if Danzo doesn't kill her just in case. God dammit,' Shikaku then looked at Danzo and shook his head. Hopefully Konoha wouldn't fall too far if at all. He just had to hope Danzo really knew what was best for the village.

For now, all he could do is wait.

Tenma Shouten was simply sitting upon the ground right in front of Yahiko and forty other ninjas, looking at a glass of sake. He looked up, and noticed the group. Quickly he stood up, his legs purely carrying him up from his cross legged position.

He then talked, just loud enough to her, in a raspy tenor, "Is this it? All of your ninjas? Cause they look kind of funny to me," He then disappeared, and instantly reappeared behind a male genin, with black hair and green eyes. His face was marred with a large scar that ran from his left forehead, down to his right cheek.

He then continued, "I mean just look at this one. His face is so uuuuugly. Hey, didn't your mother ever tell you take a shower? You stink!"

All of the forty one ninjas stared at the man. He was so utterly ridiculous. They couldn't even see his face...

The genin turned around and then looked into the man's hood, gasped, and stated, " Wait you're not-"

He fell down the ground dead, a puncture wound in his head. The onlookers could not even see the weapon that caused the damage.

"Hey now, that's what you get for trying a tell a secret. That why they're called secrets!" The masked man said, bending down and wagging his finger at the genin, as if chastising the man.

He then, for no reason, laughed maniacally.

He then turned and looked at the ninjas, but seemed to be focused on Yahiko, and said, between chuckles, "But I suppose some of you may have figured it out now. This is why you can never trust anyone!"

He then turned back to his own ninjas, and then back to the Konoha ninjas and said, "But for those of you who have not figured it out, you'll just have to wait!!!" He started cackling, which then turned into full blown laughter, and he rolled upon the ground, laughing and some kind of sick inside joke.

He then stood up, and said, "But enough of the fun and games! Let the fun and games begin!!"

Even though I haven't updated in a while, this is a short chapter. I am sorry, it just seemed like a good place to end it.

There were a few things I didn't like about this chapter, but hey, it may just be me.

Also, I would like a beta. It may sound slightly pleading but...

PLEASE, MY GRAMMAR AND SPELLING IS HORRENDOUS. I HAD TO USE SPELL CHECK ON THAT LAST WORD!!! PLEEEEEeeeease?

A-hem. Sorry about my outburst. Which is rather odd to say, since I could just delete the previous statement. Oh well. I'll let you wonder about crap like that.

Bye!