Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and any reference to any other thing owned by someone else.

Claimer: The OCs are mine. If any are sue-ish, well…they're still my sues.

Warning #1: Characters may sometimes be OOC. You have been warned.

Lost

Chapter 19

A large wooden gate, grown by the power of the Shodaime Hokage, loomed in the distance. It was a sight visible to the traveling group that consisted of Jiraiya and company. For one it meant salvation, a crue from the agony of forgetfulness, for another it was a foreboding symbol and sign for a horror that would come to pass. For others it was a sign of a brand new adventure.

The sight of the gate and its walls were normally a sight in themselves to behold, but to people who had lived a long life seeing even greater things it was the promise of a new experience that brought them excitement, and not the majesty of the walls that protected Konohagakure no Sato.

When the group was finally in range for the chuunin guards to see them, the group collectively pushed Jiraiya to the front. The chuunin guards were immediately able to recognize them.

The guards were given instructions as to inform the Hokage when Jiraiya would arrive, so one of the guards shunshin'd to report the arrival of Jiraiya.

When Jiraiya and company were signing in the log book of the gate, the Hokage had arrived at the gate with Shizune in tow.

Once Tsunade spotted Jiraiya among the crowd of people that he had brought with him, she walked up to him. Not seeing Naruto anywhere near him, she demanded to know where he was. Even the two gate guards wanted to know where he was, since they considered Naruto as one of their friends, the two guards being Izumo and Kotetsu.

Jiraiya stuttered out that he had absolutely no idea where the orange clad youth was.

Upon hearing the conversation Rosuto Naruto made his way over to the arguing couple.

"Excuse me," Naruto said.

Tsunade stopped her fist from impacting with Jiraiya's head so that she could pay attention to the new arrival.

"Yes?"

"My name is Rosuto Naruto of Rosuto no Kuni."

"Rosuto..Naruto?"

"Yes, ma'm."

"From Rosuto no kuni?"

"Yes, ma'm."

"Why are you here?"

"Otou-sama told us to come here and wait for him here."

"Your tou-san is...?"

"Rosuto Juushu, Daimyou of Rosuto no Kuni. Upon our arrival, the gates of Rosuto no Kuni have been opened to the world. We mean you no harm. Might we take our conversation to your office or to a meeting room?"

"Jiraiya? Is this true?" Tsunade asked the pervert she was holding onto.

"Ah..yeah..he really is from that country."

"How do you know?"
"I've been there..so can we take this conversation to your office or something."

"Yes Tsunade-san, we really should move our little conversation somewhere more private," Tsukiko said entering the conversation.

"Tsunade, we really should. She's the wife of the ruler of Rosuto no Kuni."

"Ok, fine."

Jiraiya and company followed Tsunade to the Hokage tower to one of the conference rooms that the tower had. There the members of the Rosuto contingent sat down on the available chairs. Tsunade sitting down as well, with Shizune standing behind her. Jiraiya opted to stand.

After the Rosuto group introduced themselves, Naruto spoke.

"Otou-sama, just told us to meet up with Ero-Sennin, and come here. He said that he would be meeting us here."

"You've already said that. Is there any other reason as to why you would chose to be in Konoha?" Tsunade asked.

"Probably to form a peace agreement or something...not like it would matter if we were ever to go to war with you...hehe...our hidden villages are more than enough to overpower this pathetic waste of space," Kira said, which wasn't like him.

"How can you say that Konoha is a waste of space, your first impression is starting to sour."

"Nevermind..it was not my place to have said such an insult, I apologize."

"Apolgy accepted. Now why would you approach Konoha first, before any of the other nations and hidden villages? Why Konoha specifically and not the capital of Hi no Kuni?"

"Because Konoha is the birthplace of the one of the heroes of Rosuto no Kuni," a new voice said.

The new voice came out of nowhere. There was no visible new person in the room. The voice sounded like three people speaking at the exact same time, the sound coming out of the same mouth. It was a combination of a child, a young man, and an old man.

"Show yourself!" Tsunade ordered.

After hearing such an order the nonexistent wind in the room blew here and there, the ANBU that were hidden in the corners of the room were forced to reveal themselves. Jiraiya and his group of adventurers were all too used to such things happening around them that they were not affected by such winds, the Rosuto group at some point in their lives had experienced something similar.

Outside the room, outside the tower, above the village dark clouds started to converge. Thunder and lightning filled the darkened sky. The clouds had covered the sun. Gale force winds moved through the air, they were so strong that the shinobi had to use chakra just to stay in place, the civilians had to hang on to grounded things to stop from being blown away.

Then came the rain, from a sunny sky, to rain that fell on the village like a waterfall. The floodgates of the heavens had seemingly opened up and let loose the torrents of water that had been kept bottled up in the skies for centuries.

Once the first droplet of water hit the ground, the residents and inhabitants of Konoha and a few miles away from the village felt the ground shake and quake. After the first movement of the ground, another followed, followed by another, and another and another.

Looking up into the sky, the people could see the horror that was descending on the village. Black dragons were breathing gouts of flame, along with these flying behemoths were giant birds of prey, screacing in sky filling the hearts of many with terror.

Some of the people, most notably the Nara clan, witnessed the shadows moving on their own in the direction of the Hokage tower.

The Inuzuka clan noticed that their partners were howling like hounds from hell after the appearance of the first dark cloud. Some of the members of the feral clan had joined in on the howling.

The Aburame clan's bugs were flying around out of control, they flew unhundered by the rain or by the winds. They were all speaking incoherently, so much so that the Aburame themselves found it hard to pick up anything.

The seeds of chaos that had long been kept within the village, were suddenly all at the same time growing. They had taken root a long time ago, but it was only now that their purpose was being revealed.

Chaos and disorder was upon the village hidden in the leaves.

Within the conference room, the winds and the shadows were converging, much like the clouds outside, so were these two elemental forces, within the winds and shadows thunder could be heard, lightning could be seen on the surface.

Then suddenly, there was a deafening howl, one which reverberated throughout the whole village. Beyond the walls of the village a giant nine-tailed fox could be seen. It was towering above the tops of the trees. It too was howling, or more like roaring, announcing its presence to the village.

At the sudden appearance of the horror that struck the village all those years ago, those whose hearts were already filled with terror nearly collapsed from possible cardiac arrest.

If the Kyuubi were to attack the village now, there would be very little that they could do, since this time around there was no Namikaze Minato to sacrifice life, and son, to getting rid or sealing the beast. Luckily this Kyuubi aparition as not going to attack the already plagued village.

With one loud clap of thunder, there was a deafening voice that filled the ears of all those that could hear.

In the room that Tsunade was in, the winds and shadows had formed a steadily solidifying form infront of the Kage. Once the winds within the room died down, the occupants of the room too heard the voice, and the words of doom spoken.

"Konoha! I'm Ba-ack!" were the words spoken by the voice, and sitting across Tsunade, in his battle gear, sitting beside his wife and son, was Rosuto Juushu.

Outside all evidence that something monumental had occurred had vanished, the clouds, the dragons, the Kyuubi, everything, all that remained was the forest, the village and the people. Although secretly the dragons, rocs, and their riders were hidden in the surrounding forest.

Back in the conference room, all Tsunade, Shizune, and Jiraiya could do was stare at the person sitting there, at Rosuto Juushu.

"So...Baa-chan, how ya been while I've been gone?"

Silence greeted him, well not complete silence, since Shizune, Tsunade, and Jiraiya had all fainted. The ANBU were tending to their unconscious forms.

"You think I went a bit too far?" Juushu asked his family.

"Not at all Tou-sama!" Naruto said.

"Maybe a little bit," Naruko said.

"They fainted, and you're asking if you went a bit too far?!" Tsukiko shouted in his ear, which caused the three unconscious people to return to the land of the living.

"Yo," Juushu said to the three other people he considered as members of his extended family.

"I've been through to much crap as it is, so I'll just sit down on the floor. Good to see you're okay Naruto..err Juushu."

"I was not expecting this to happen," Mikio said, as he spoke he drew attention to himself, which caused both Tsunade and Shizune to finally realize who he was, which made them faint, again.

"Did I say something wrong?" Mikio asked.

"Well, its like this Mikio, you look like this guy I once knew.." Jiraiya tried to explain, but was cut off by Mikio.

"I finally remember!" Mikio shouted as he jumped out of his seat, "I SHOULD BE DEAD! On a side note, Jiraiya remind me to kill the Voice next time we meet up with him or one of his friends or something."

"Heh, so...Miki-kun, who art thou then?" Haru asked.

Tsunade regained consciousness, but Shizune was quicker than her shishou. Shizune quickly made her way to Mikio, and pounced on him, hugging him tightly, as if expecting the man to suddenly vanish. He had told them that he had amnesia, but during the introductions the two women had not paid him much mind. But now, well, you get the picture.

"D-Dan? H-how?" Was Tsunade's stuttered question.

"I'll answer that one," Juushu said, "Kyonshi-sensei has a really different sense of humor, so does Hyakume aka the Voice as you lot have dubbed him."

"The Hell?! Juushu-sama, you're the reason Mikio knew that Jiraiya was missing a student and kept calling him Ero-Sennin?!" Haru asked incredulously.

"I thought that you'd be used to things like this by now, I mean after the produce incident, I'd have thought you'd have been used to it by now."

"You know about that?!" Haru, Jiraiya, and Mikio shouted at the same time.

"Yeah..hello! Prankster!"

"Definitely where I got my skills!" Naruto said.

After a few minutes of story telling, and explaining, the non-Rosuto people understood the story, in summary well, it really couldn't be summarized. But in the end the non-Rosuto people just accepted the bizzare tale as truth.

"Oh yeah, Ero-sennin, you might want to rush over to the hospital and look for your wife, its nearly time," Juushu told his other teacher.

After hearing those words Jiraiya left a cloud that was shaped as himself in his place as he rushed towards the hospital. Ikkaku and Chang'e following him to serve as his suppport crew. Mikio left the room with a dazed Tsunade and Shizune to catch up with the two women. The ANBU were ordered to remove Juushu from the shinobi roster, as well as all records of his ever being a shinobi of he leaf, since it had been proven in the past that the leaf did not deserve to be affiliate with such a person.

Juushu tried to protest the removal of his achievements, but even someone like him could not persuade Tsunade, when she was in one of her moods, even a slightly dazed one.

The Rosuto contingent were told that they could either stay in a hotel or where they had arranged to stay if they had made prior arrangements, which they did. Juushu, through Rosuto Younen, had bought his apartment complex, and had all the hateful residents removed from it, aka evicted.

The complex would serve as the living quarters of the Rosuto contingent until they left the village for home.

After dropping off their things in the building, in vairous rooms, and after Juushu revitalized his plants, the group went their separate ways around the village. If there was one thing they all enjoyed, it was going exploring, each day being a new adventure in itself, it was good to add a few twists and turns in such a daily routine.

The people of Konoha somehow quickly forgot the specacular events that had just transpired, they would only remember such things once the whole village was informed about the recently revealed Rosuto no Kuni.

Haru and Juushu had decided to roam the village, Juushu in search of people he knew, and Haru since he thought that it was cool that he and Juushu looked somewhat alike, the difference being their skin color, and clothes. The two men decided that instead of walking they would zip through the village, at speeds that only the two of them could travel at and not get tired. It was a nice day to give several shinobi and kunoichi the shocks of their lives at the sight of two yellow streaks make their way around the village. Juushu's search for friends had mutated into a race between two speed demons, a little while later they were joined by an open gates Maito Gai and Rock Lee. All four men were screaming about the power of youth, the green pair doing it since it was what they did, Haru since it seemed like fun, and Juushu just cause it was fun, even though the hugging that the two green men did was still a bit unnerving.

Tsukiko, Yoshiko, Emiko and Naruko had decided to visit the local hotsprings and soak a little. Relaxation was a good thing every now and then. Their onsen time was going to be pervert free thanks ot Naruto who had decided to go to the onsen as well, and with his keen senses make sure that no one peeked on his wife, sister, stepmother, and stepsister. Even while relaxing his sadistic prankster side was still at the surface of his being. He had pranking tools sealed in his arms at all times, in preparation for any event that would call for their use or need.

While in the male side of the onsen, Naruto was accompanied by Hatake Kakashi, Umino Iruka, and Sarutobi Asuma. The three men did not pay Naruto any mind, until they witnessed the man vanish before their very eyes, a second later they saw another man flying above their heads in the direction of the Hokage Mountain, afterwhich Naruto returned to his place in the water, as if he had not momentarily vanished, and beaten the living out of someone.

The two jounin and one chuunin were speechless, so they opted to just stare at him, it was an eerie experience to one who usually made others feel unease.

"Could you stop staring, if I'd have known that Konoha had so many gay perverts I'd have just waited outside for my wife to be done with the hotsprings," Naruto told the three men.

The three men quickly diverted their eyes and sputtered incoherenetly but at the same time understandably that they were not gay, or perverts, and that they had a healthy interest in the opposite sex.

Kakashi's orange book being present, even while he was in the water, didn't help his case.

"So...um you knew here? I'm Umino Iruka by the way," Iruka tried to start a conversation with Naruto.

"Relatively new, my family is just visiting for the time being," Naruto said.

"Well, I'm Hatake Kakashi, just in case you didn't know, sorry about the staring, its just that it was such a surprising action."

"S'alright, my tou-san used to beat the blood out of me whenever I went peeking, I only realized why such an action was intolerable after my wife told me that there was someone who managed to peek on her."

"I'm Sarutobi Asuma, I guess I can sympathize with you, not that I'm married. But I do have a girlfriend."

"Well, since the three of you have introduced yourselves, I guess I should too," Naruto said, "I'm Rosuto Naruto."

At the mention of his name, the three men were shocked to find someone else with such a name, they totally disregarded the fact that he was a Rosuto, which was an obvious indication that he was someone of importance from the rumored Rosuto no Kuni.

"Who'd have thought that someone else would name a kid 'Naruto'," Asuma said.

"I'd never have believed it had I not heard it myself," Iruka said.

"Yeah.." Kakashi agreed.

"What's wrong with my name? You got a problem with it? I'll have you know that my tou-san gave me his old name. So if you got a problem with the name say so now, or I'll throw you three over the wall," Naruto said.

"There's no need for such actions, its just that someone we know is named Naruto, that's all. We have nothing against you, your family, or your name," Kakashi said.

"Alright then," Naruto said as he returned to looking out for perverts that would dare peek on his family, as well as half relaxing in the water.

On the otherside of the wall the Rosuto women were accompanied by Mitarashi Anko, Yuuhi Kurenai, Ichiraku Ayame, and Hyuuga Hinata.

Tsukiko was busy with making sure that her daughter was comfortable in the waters, acting just like a mother was, but a bit over the top in her actions. Naruko was trying to peek on the men's side, with Anko trying to help her. Emiko was just lounging around, sipping some sake that she had smuggled into the onsen. Emiko was also trying to get the young Hyuuga to have some of the bubbly. Kurenai and Ayame were talking about ramen for some reason.

While her mother was fussing over her like she wasn't a grown woman herself, she listened to the conversations of the other women around her. Emiko had managed to get the Hyuuga partially out of her shell after meeting a new person who. The Hyuuga had opened up and acted rather shocked or surprised to learn that Emiko was married to a man named Naruto. The young Hyuuga must have been thinking of a certain ex-Uzumaki, which was true. The young Hyuuga thought that she had missed her chance with her long time not exactly secret crush, when Emiko described her husband the young woman looked relieved. Boy was she in for a shocker to know that the man named Naruto was the son of the married man that the young Hyuuga was longing for.

A few minutes later, Emiko and Hinata were dragged into the conversation that Kurenai and Ayame were having, their conversation wasn't merely about ramen, but about the best ways to get a man. Supposedly the best way into a man's heart was through his stomach or something like that. Emiko said that in some cases with her husband it was true, the man would act like the obedient puppy at the mere mention of ramen, miso specifically. Once again that made Hinata get that longing look on her face for one reason or another. Ayame noted that her boyfriend was not exactly like that, he loved her cooking, especially her miso ramen, but for different reasons. Kurenai was trying to think of a way to get Asuma to pop the question, with Ayame giving suggestions by using ramen flavors as tools to explain or as metaphors.

Emiko's suggestion was for the woman to just do the job herself, though a bit unorthodox, it would or should get the desired results.

By the wall of the onsen, Anko and Naruko were still at it, they were still mashing their bodies together in an attempt to act like the men that they were attempting to peek on. For some reason the defenses of the men's side were more formidable than those of the women's side of the baths. Naruko hadn't realized that it was due to her brother being on the otherside of the wall that gave the men's side such a defense against peeking. The presence of Kakashi also added to the strengthened defenses of the men's side. But Anko and Naruko were determined not to loose to a few tricks employed by men.

Yahiko and Ryuu found themselves in one of Konoha's many bars, the two men wanted to see if they could get themselves wasted or plastered, in the fasted time possible. Little did they know that Morino Ibiki was also in the same bar as they were. Once the two men got drunk, fist and feet started flying everywhere, the two men had turned into berserkers bent on total desctruction of one another, it was worse than Rock Lee when he went into Drunken Fist mode. Ibiki had to call in some back up just to take the two men into custody and brought to the interrogation detention center, where the master of interrogation would make them spill their life stories.

Too bad Ibiki had never in his life encountered men who had worked for years for and with two Rosuto's that were more than clinically insane. Juushu and his son were more than enough to make any sane man immune to the tricks of the most experienced interrogation specialist.

At the end of the session it was Ibiki who was lying on the chairs while the two other men, who were just tipsy, were listening to the man's woes, life, story, problems, as if they were professional therapists, which only Ryuu was. Yahiko was the Rosuto Spy Master as well as Torture and Interrogation Master.

The ANBU that had gone in to check on Ibiki's progress were astonished and astounded to find the Tokubetsu Jounin being the one interrogated. The ANBU that opted to stay out of the single cell grew weary, their number kept decreasing and decreasing. Every ANBU that had gone into the room, had yet to leave it.

While Haru and Juushu were racing around the village, the women were in in the hotsprings, Ryuu and Yahiko were doing their thing in the ANBU HQ, Tsuneo had decided to do as the artist in him did best. He showcased his art to the youth of the village.

He went to a park that was filled with children, then he set up his mini stage, then brought out his puppets. He managed to entrance the children into watching his puppet show which showed the adventures that Juushu had gone through, as well as the adventures that Jiraiya and his gang had faced. Throughout the whole day, that is what Tsuneo did.

Secretly he had made other puppets, those life sized ones to walk into the park sometime after his presentation began. If people knew who his master was they still would have been surprised at what they would have found. The sheer number of puppets that were moving around would have made Akasuna no Sasori green with jealousy. But of course not everyone was able to spot the puppets for what they were. Not even Tsuneo's wife was able to do such a thing. Only his children and grandchildren, and all those that learned the art from him and his master knew how to spot them, but those students and other masters were still unable to spot them all. One of the reason why Tsuneo's clan was so large was because more than half of the members of the clan were actually just puppets.

Temari was one of the people who were watching the puppet show, alongside her was Shikamaru. The two of them saw witnessed the puppet show that was orchestrated by one man, and the two of them agreed that they would speak to him after his puppet show production.

Sometime during the afternoon one of the ongoing puppet shows had featured the story of how Monzaemon had destroyed a fortress with only ten puppets. That part was the one part of the whole production that caught Temari's eye. The story of Chikamatsu Monzaemon was one story that was rarely mentioned of told outside of Suna. This one puppeteer seemed to posess intimate knowledge about the legendary puppet master.

When the show produced miniature versions of the Chikamatsu puppets Temari didn't know what to think of the puppeteer anymore. With puppets so similar to the puppets of Suna's puppet mistress, Temari really wanted to know or just talk to the puppeteer.

Shikamaru didn't notice that something was odd about a third of the adults in the audience. On the outside they seemed like real people, but the mere presence of the puppet master controlling more than two hundred little puppets all at the same time, made the Chuunin feel uneasy.

It seemed that Tsuneo had noticed the curiosity of the Jounin and the Chuunin pair when he decided to bring out a puppet that looked exactly like him, he visibly gave the puppet the strings to the others and went to the pair to who's curiosity he had peaked.

"So..is there something about my collection that you want to know about?" Tsuneo asked the pair.

"Who are you?" Temari asked.

"What are your intentions towards the village?" Shikamaru asked.

"I?" Tsuneo pointed to himself, "I am Hyakume Tsuneo, Puppet Master at your sevice," he gave the two a bow, "As to why I am here? Well, I'm here on the orders of my Lord, Rosuto Juushu. He'll be staying in the village for a while."

"You haven't answered my question," Shikamaru stated.

"Oh, but I have. I am here on the order my Lord. That is all the purpose I need. My intentions towards they village? The same as those of my Lord's, whatever they may be. Worry not, your Kage has already met with us."

"You could be lying," Shikamaru said.

"Why would I lie? Why would I need to, when I, like my master before me, has the power and ability to bring down this village with but a mere, flick of my finger."

"Who is your master then?" Temari asked.

"Would you believe, Chikamatsu Monzaemon?"

"I'd like to, but, that would be impossible. That man lived more than a hundred years ago," Temari said.

"Alas, tis not true, my master still live this day. He lives in the province of Sakura in my homeland of Rosuto no Kuni. I'm sure you've at least heard of it."

"There have been rumors flying around the continent these past two weeks. How are we to believe that you are who you claim to be? Do you have some form of proof?" Shikamaru asked.

"Why, yes I do," Tsuneo said in a laughing manner, "My clan specializes in the art of puppetry, unknown to most of my clan, more than half of my clansmen are actually puppets. Proof of my mastery can be seen even here. As I am sure you, young Nara, have more or less guessed."

"You mean to tell me that I'm right. That a number of the adults in the audience of your little production are in all actuality puppets? Constructs of your imagination?" Shikamaru asked.

"Indeed I do. I would also have you believe that I am more than a thousand years old."

"Preposterous! No one can live that long!" Shikamaru exclaimed.

"You sound not like the Nara my Lord described to me," Tsuneo said.

"Shika-kun, he's kind of right in a sense, you aren't acting like yourself."

"You are acting like a young Nara I once had under my care," Tsuneo admitted, "But she left Rosuto no Kuni and my care some years ago, last I heard she had married and had a son. Perchance, would your mother's name be Yoshino?"

Shikamaru kind of fainted after hearing that question. Temari, tried and failed to revive him.

"I guess it must be true then, so young lady, do you perchance know the way to his home? I'd like to see how my one time student has been doing all these years."

"He doesn't live with his mother anymore, you know."

"Thats fine, if you can't wake him his mother should know how to."

"So is it okay to just leave your puppets alone?"

"Its fine, in a sense they have a life of their own, they'll make their way home, when the show is over."

"If you say so."

"I do."

Temari and Tsuneo brought Shikamaru to the home of his parents and not his apartment. The person that answered the door was not Yoshino, but Shikaku, the Nara patriarch. He bid them enter and bring his son in.

The two people brought the unconscious young Nara in the house and dumped him on the couch. Shikaku then led them to the kitchen where Yoshino was preparing dinner.

Upon seeing the women that his one time student had become, one who had yet to acknowlege his presence. He made his presence known.

"So, Yoshino-chan, what ever happened to marrying some crazy and active that would make you scream behind closed doors and blush at the mention of the 'act'?" Tsuneo asked loud enough for her not to be able to not hear him.

She immediately whirled around and saw Tsuneo, and did the first thing that came to mind. She blushed. A sight that immediately freaked out Shikaku since he had never expected his wife to act in such a way.

"S-sensei, what are you doing here?" she asked.

"Juushu-sama let opened the gates and let us lost people out to be found! Haha! Its good to see you again. Your kid definitely takes after you."

"T-thank you. Uh..I dunno what happened hehe."

"I bet you do. Its the quiet ones, right?"

"Most definitely, and the lazy ones too."

"Well, it was nice seeing you again," he made to leave but was stopped when Shikaku grabbed him and forced him to sit, which took a bit of chakra to power his arms to do so.

"You know my wife, you've obviously not seen her in quite awhile, so why don't you stay for dinner," he then faced Temari, "You too Temari."

While Tsuneo was doing his thing in the park, which eventually led him to meeting his one time pupil again, Yuji was busy making arguing with Inuzuka Tsume about whose battle partner was better. Yuji verbally fought hard for his dragon, while Tsume argued that her dog was superior to Yuji's little lizard. She presumed that it was little due to its lack of being there.

"Why don't I show you my dragon you bitch!"

"Bring it on lizard boy!"

So Yuji led the way to one of the training grounds that he had encountered before meeting the bitch that had rubbed him the wrong way.

Once there he belted out an actual primal roar, which was answered by several others from within the forest beyond the training ground. To Tsume's immense surprise out of the forest walked a sleek black dragon. He was definitely not the dragon she was expecting.

"He's a bit smaller than his father, since I didn't think we'd be dealing with anything or anyone that could really do much damage to him. So, who's partner is better? My dragon or your dog?"

"I'll still say, my Kuromaru is still better than your dragon."

"Well I guess we'll have to settle things the old fashioned way, wont we?"

"What do you have in mind?"

"Why, a spar of course!"

"Bring it on then lizard boy!"

"Kyuuzaki," Yuji shouted, then pointing at Kuromaru, "Roast that canine!"

A jet of flame in the direction of the dog was all that Yuji needed in order for him to know that the dragon had understood his command.

Kuromaru's honed reflexes were what saved her from being turned into a god BBQ.

Tsume and Kuromaru retaliated with their own attack, which unsurprisingly missed its mark due to Yuji jumping on the dragon's back and the two taking to the air. Which technically speaking was unfair.

The draconic pair would dive bomb the the two bitches, who would then try their luck at even just scratching the diving duo.

After a while Yuji grew bored of showing off the superiority of Kyuuzaki, he told the dragon to land.

Yuji then did a seal sequence and slammed his palms on the ground. Out of three bursts of smoke, the more dragons made their presences known.

"Surrender Tsume! I've got you out partnered!"

"Never!" facing Kuromaru she ordered the dog to perform the drill attack.

"Fine! Kyuuzaki, I choose you!" Yuji shouted, Kyuuzaki moved forward away from his three brothers, and awaited further orders.

"Kyuuzaki use Harden!" the dragon responded by curling, and covering his body with his wings, his black scales momentarily gaining a shining sheen to them, as it they had somehow hardened, which resulted in Kuromaru's drill attack doing nothing.

"Kuromaru! Use chakra and tackle it, you never know, that thing may actually be light since it can fly!"

Kuromaru being a nin-ken used some chakra and ran up to the dragon and attempted to tackle him.

"Kyuuzaki! Use scratch attack! Bat away that little thing!"

Kuromaru's attack was thwarted when she was swatted away by a dragon claw.

"Kyuuzaki! Now that the bitch is down use thunder breath! Fry that little bitch bad!"

Kyuuzaku breathed in, and was about to let out a blast of lightning at the dog but was interupted, when Kuromaru pissed on the dragon's eyes.

"Good job Kuromaru, another acid attack ought to do the trick!"

"Kyuuzaku! Get a grip! Its only acid! You sleep in a freaking volcano most of the time!"

"Kuromaru use acid spray again!"

"Kyuuzaki! Use Kage Bushin no Jutsu!"

"RAOR!" before the acid spray could hit the dragon, the dragon's bushin was the one to get hit in its stead.

"If your dog can use chakra and jutsu, my dragon can do too!"

"How do you know about Kage Bushin?"

"Juushu-sama taught us! Kyuuzaki finish it off with tail whip!"

In the end Kuromaru and Tsume were knocked unconscious, the other three dragons flew off to join the rest of the flight hiding somewhere else in the forest.

At the end of the battle, Yuji and Kyuuzaki posed rediculously, complete with cap, and Kyuuzaki looked like a draconic version of a certain yellow mouse. After which Yuji bid Kyuuzaki farewell as the dragon reentered the forest to return to the rest of the flight. Yuji then created a Kage Bushin to help him carry the two bitches back to their clan compound.

Toru and Tama both accompanied each other as they went to the market district in search of some food, the apartment needed a lot of supplies in order to feed the Rosuto residents, as well as those konoha citizens that still lived there due to them being employees of Rosuto Younen. Toru and Tama had volunteered to be the ones to do all the shopping.

Along the way, they met Yamanaka Ino and Haruno Sakura who had both volunteered to show the two men the way, since they started to get lost. The two young women were in it for the information gathering that they would be able to do. What they didn't know was that the two men were already aware of their intentions, and were also previously briefed about the two women. The two men were more than prepared for the not so subtle, to them anyway, manipulations that the women were going to try to employ.

Ino and Sakura were having a hard time in trying to milk the two military leaders of any of the information that they were worth. The two men were not letting anything slip, it was infuriating. The only things that the two men spoke about were the foods that they needed to buy.

Such a shopping experience was very taxing on the two women's nerves. They just couldn't get anything out of the two men, if only they knew that the two men were speaking in code, they were mocking the two women, but were telling the two women random things about their country, the only problem was that they were speaking in code.

Chouji or Ayama would have probably been able to decode the code, but the two women that were with the two men were not culinary experts, their limited knowledge of food was their information gathering downfall.

As they were nearing the apartment complex that the two men were staying in, Toru decided to give the two girls a bit of a break.

"You know girls, if you wanted information, you could have just outright asked. We would have told you, at a price," Toru said, he smile a little perverted grin.

"What?! No way!" Ino screamed.

"Pervert!" Sakura shouted and would have hit Toru if it weren't for the man's speed.

"Ah ah ah," Toru said as he waved his finger, "No hitting guests, wouldn't want to start a war now would we?" Toru asked rhetorically.

"Well then, ladies, if you wont oblidge us, we thank you for your assistance, you may now go on your way," Tama said, then handed the two women some silver coins, and shooed them away.

As the two men entered the complex, Toru decided to voice his thoughts.

"Tama, don't you think that last bit made them look like two hookers to the people around us?"

"Not at all, I was just giving them a tip after all."

"Yeah, I guess you are right, its not like those two girls look anywhere remotely near those kinds of girls, personally I'd prefer a Geisha."

"Toru, your wife used to be a geisha."

"I know that Tama, I know, but still, those two really didn't have all that class and sophistication."

"Toru, sophistication and class or not, I bet you'd have tapped their ass if they had given you the go signal."

"Maybe, the blondie maybe, pinky, no way reminds me too much of someone we both know."

"Yeah, prolly not pinky."

"Wonder if Juushu-sama'll let us go snake hunting tomorrow.."

"Doubt it."

"Life sucks.."

"Only sometimes.."

"I thought you were going to say something like only my life sucks."

"I was but it sounded so corny in my head that I changed what I was going to say."

While the other girls were enjoying themselves in the hotsprings and wherever they went after their little soak, Megumi walked around the village in search of something that she could so. Which resulted in her stumbling on Ebisu training the Konohamaru corps.

She watched the teens run up and down their designated trees. The tree climbing exercise. She was intimately faimiliar with it and its applications, and uses.

It was around twenty minutes of watching later that Ebisu finally acknowledged her presence.

"Miss, what are you doing here? This is a ninja only training ground," Ebisu asked.

"Oh, I'm not a civilian, and I'm just watching you four train."

"You don't look like a ninja to me, add the fact that you do not appear to have a hitai-ate."

"Well, my name is Asahi Megumi, and where I live I don't need some Hiatai-ate that gives away where my loyalties lie."

"Meaning that you are spying on our training since you are clearly not a Konoha-nin."

"I'm not spying, I've been out here in the open for the past twenty minutes, or are you such a pathetic jounin that you couldn't sense my presence and can't tell that I am the only one aside from the two ANBU that have been keeping watch over me who has been watching you train those three twerps."

"Are you mocking my status as a Jounin? I am an elite jounin instructor of Konohagakure no Sato!"

"Sure you are, so tell me why that saru-gaki idolizes someone who is not you?"

"How do you know about that?" Konohamaru walked up to the pair and asked.

"Oh, hello there Konohamaru-kun. As I told your closet pervert sensei, my name is Asahi Megumi, as to how I know well, lets just say that one of my relatives knows your idol."

"Really?! So do you know where Naruto-nii is?"

"Right now? Well, I think he's been zipping through and around the village, so I don't know his exact location."

"Oh, but you know him?"

"Yes, he's not a friend of mine, but of my relative, who is also in the village."

"Oh cool! I wonder when I'll get to show him my technique!"

"Well, he'll be staying in his old apartment complex, as will I, how bout you guys finish training and I'll wait for you, then bring you over there when your all done?"

"Ok Asahi-san."

"Just call me Megumi, drop the -san."

"Hai, Megumi," Konohamaru then faced his sensei, "Hey Ebisu-hentai stop stripping her with your eyes and teach us a jutsu!"

Kazuo and Tamotsu did not encounter anyone that knew Juushu, but in their exploring, they met a bunch of other jounin, chuunin, and a few gennin. They had managed to make their way to the red light district that not only had a bunch of fun houses, but a few gambling dens as well.

The two men were very experienced when dealing with the denizens of such places. Tamotsu even more so than Kazuo. Tamotsu's old profession used to make him go to such places and deal with such people. So it didn't surprise him when people tried to con the two of them into doing some things, which the two men wisely did not do.

Their goal was the gambling den that was run by one of the local yakuza groups, which was luckily about to lose its grip on Konoha due to the machinations of Rosuto Younen, which had a hand in the undreground and underworld. All that was needed was for the house to lose to two of the big player of Rosuto Younen, namely a Genri and a Giman.

Once the two men sat at separate tables to play, the yakuza locals zeroed in on them. They were watched like hawks, the two men would not be able to cheat in anyway. Not that the two men needed to cheat at all. They had magic at their disposal, technically with Poker, anything goes.

By nightfall the duo, had won more than they had originally planned on winning. The two men just hoped that Juushu would be happy about their achievements.

Noufu Kira's wife opted not live a longer than long life, and had died at a relatively early age, in comparison to her husband. The couple had loved each other dearly, but not enough for them not to have a side order of flesh or two.

Noufu Kira made his way to the red light district, not so that he could gamble but so that he could enjoy himself, out of the nine generals he was the second to the youngest of them all. But that was a good thing, since he intended to make the writer of Icha Icha proud.

At the end of the day, all members of the Rosuto contingent made found themselves in Juushu's apartment having dinner, and sharing it with a few guests. The only people that weren't there were Mikio, Jiraiya, Kiyomi, Ikkaku, Chang'e, and Tsuneo.

To be continued...