"The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew." - Abraham Lincoln

Chapter 18: Steel Sharpens Steel, Man Sharpens Man

"You were not able to stop Orochimaru? That is unfortunate." Hiruzen said solemnly, breathing in the tobacco from his favorite pipe as a glanced at the infiltration squad in front of him, "Were you able to gather any vital information?"

Naruto stepped forward, "Yeah, you'd be surprised at how much a person will sing when the smallest chance of escape presents itself." Naruto spoke with a smirk, "First off, we found that Otogakure isn't a village at all. Instead, it was just a string of bases with one main base that seemed to be the headquarters. There were three in total, scattered throughout a forest with the largest one being just outside the forest." Naruto said, crossing his arms and continuing on with his mission summary.

"I came up with the plan to split up and take out the two smaller bases. From there, me and Kazumi would meet up at the largest base with Jiraiya since I figured that Orochimaru would be there." Naruto explained as he held Hiruzen's interrogative gaze with his blank stare, "Infiltrating the base was easy enough and killing the enemies was a breeze, so I kept a girl alive until I got some answers from her."

Hiruzen motioned for Naruto to continue, "Orochimaru is after immortality above all else. He's been using the shinobi that flocked to him as lab rats for experiments for that goal. He's planning an invasion on Konoha just as you feared, but there's something special and very specific that he's after. Whatever that is, the girl didn't know."

Hiruzen nodded in understanding. The mission was a success in the regard that he knew more than he did previously, though it wasn't much.

"This mission poses two important questions: Where is Orochimaru and what is that special thing he's after?" Jiraiya supplied, "It's likely Orochimaru simply moved on to another base that's located in an entirely different place, but is it ever that simple where Orochimaru is involved?" Jiraiya asked rhetorically.

Kazumi shook her head, "Wherever he is, he's doing something big. Orochimaru's a grand freak, but he's not stupid. The forces he had at those bases wouldn't even be enough to make it passed Konoha's front gates. If he's planning to invade us, I doubt he's just sitting in another of those stinky bases with his thumb up his butt."

"When we got to the main base, there was a fake Orochimaru that Jiraiya took care of. It's anyone's guess why the hell he left that body double there." Naruto concluded with a slight scowl.

'Slithering bastard probably did that just to piss us off.' Naruto thought with disdain.

Hiruzen sighed. "Well, your mission went as well as it could have been without Orochimaru actually being there. You three will receive payment for an S-rank mission."

When he saw Kazumi and Jiraiya start grinning like happy-go-lucky fools, Naruto wondered just how much he was being payed.

Naruto immediately sought out a weapons shop after he was given his payment. With the money currently loading his pockets, now was a great time to go about getting a replacement weapon. Kubikiribōchō would always be remembered, but a guy's got to move on.

Naruto threw open the flap of the weapons store, catching the attention of the girl sitting behind the counter with a bored look on her face as she twirled around a kunai. The kunai fell from her hand as she looked up to regard the new customer.

"Naruto? Hey, how's it going?" The bun-haired employee asked kindly.

Naruto growled internally. This was something Naruto always hated. In a battle, when his opponents knew his name but he doesn't know theirs, it's laughable. In everyday life, when a kind girl knows your name but you have no earthly idea what her name is, it's fucking pitiful.

Naruto was the kind of guy who would at least try to be civil as long as you didn't anger him, so he tried to the best of his ability to remember the bun-haired girl's name.

'She was at the Chunin Exams. She's throws weapons like confetti, but what the hell is her name?' Naruto asked himself, unconsciously staring at the now uncomfortable girl.

Tenten blushed in embarassment. The guy was staring at her like he was trying to mentally dissect her. Well, she certainly wasn't bored anymore if that counted for anything.

"What the hell is her name?" Naruto ground out, unknowingly saying his thought out loud.

Tenten let out a breath she didn't know she was holding when Naruto asked the question. "It's Tenten. Remember, from the Chunin Exams? You were really good by the way. Everyone was totally afraid of fighting you." Tenten said with a smile.

Naruto's shock wore off quickly. "Right. Do you remember the weapon I was using at the Chunin Exams?" Naruto questioned. Tenten nodded in response, so Naruto continued, "It got destroyed in my most recent mission, so I'm looking for a replacement."

"We reforge weapons here, you know? You could bring it in and-"

"There wasn't anything left to reforge." Naruto interrupted Tenten and left it at that.

"Well, I help you look for something." Tenten said, walking from behind the counter and leading Naruto to where the weapons were held. "How much money do you have on you?"

"Two-million ryo." Naruto answered.

Tenten mouthed the number before it actually registered in her mind. "Did you come to buy a weapon or the store itself?" Tenten joked, "Follow me."

"Back here we have our best weapons. Try'em out and see which one you like the most." Tenten encouraged as she stood back and watched Naruto do just that.

It took a while and plenty of tests, but Naruto eventually came to twin black scimitars, about two feet in length with a red and black hilt, in the far back of the store that caught Naruto's attention as soon as he and Tenten ventured back there.

"Those are made from a very powerful metal that is very conducive to chakra flow. It's incredibly durable, yet it's light and easy to wield." Tenten explained as she noticed Naruto gazing at the pair of weapons.

Naruto walked over and picked up the twin swords. He was an old hand when it came to wielding twin swords, so that was an instant plus. He spun them around and acquainted himself with the comfortable grip of the hilt. He channeled chakra into them and was pleasantly surprised by how much chakra the blades were capable of holding. It wasn't as much as Kubikiribōchō was able to hold, but it was definitely a considerable amount. The shape was something he would definitely need some practice to get used to, but overall, it was a great replacement.

"How much are these?" Naruto asked as he observed the twin scimitars.

"Five hundred fifty thousand ryo." Tenten replied. She got the sheaths and the straps ready because she knew Naruto would buy the weapons.

Naruto gave Tenten the money, sheathed his new swords, strapped them to his back so they crossed over each other, and muttered a thank you before walking out the shop.

Tenten waved goodbye as she walked back to her place behind the counter. Then, she sighed and a storm cloud appeared above her head. She awkwardly twirled a kunai around her finger and slouched forward with a rather gloomy expression on her face.

"That sword he had before was a really good one, too. I wouldn't have let it be destroyed." Tenten muttered to herself.

About one month passed since the infiltration mission and Naruto was feeling restless. He was currently on the training ground practicing with his twin scimitars. He had tested them numerous times and the results were predictable in that the swords were definitely powerful in their own rights, but they couldn't hold as much chakra as Kubikiribōchō without the threat of destroying the swords. On the plus side, the swords were much lighter, meaning his movements would be more precise, fluid, and swift.

Wielding the black weapons in his hand took him back to when he was nine years old and he purchased his first twin swords. The first thing he taught himself was that kenjutsu is all about staying loose in your movements and stance. Flowing into your movements was key, and speed is your backbone, so to speak. Having a light weapon was very advantageous in that regard.

Naruto was upset when he learned that he couldn't perform his favorite kenjutsu-based technique, the Wind Cutter Jutsu. So, to counter the loss, Naruto had asked Tenten to attach foot-long black chains to his scimitars. When he channeled wind chakra to the scimitars and expelled it while swinging them by the chains, it created a ferocious twister that violently sliced into everything in its wake. The Slicing Twister Jutsu took a few days to fully master and work out the kinks, but it rivaled the Wind Cutter Jutsu in raw cutting power.

Another focal point of Naruto's training was his Scorch Style. He worked at decreasing the time it took to ready the Scorch Bomb. Progress in that regard was painfully slow, bordering on non-existent. Charging up the Scorch Bomb still took a decent amount of time depending on the size. Smaller ones took about ten seconds while the larger ones would take almost double that time to prepare. Of course, that all depended on how much nature chakra Naruto had in him while preparing the jutsu. Naruto had just been lucky so far. Every time he needed to use Sage Mode, Naruto either had the drop on his opponent or they basically allowed him the ten seconds he needed to enter the enhanced state. If he was ever in a direct confrontation where his opponent happened upon him first, the Scorch Bomb would be entirely out of the question.

Curiosity got the best of Naruto when he decided to check up on his old team in secret several weeks ago. From what he heard, Sasuke and Sakura were still running missions together with Kakashi, but according to the jonin-sensei, it wouldn't be long until Sasuke and Sakura began taking missions independently and leading their own squads.

That day, Kakashi had noticed that Naruto was watching them, and after he was finished aiding his team in their training, he met up with Naruto. Kakashi had said that Sasuke and Sakura would be happy to see him, and he encouraged Naruto to visit them. Naruto had eyed Kakashi for a moment before he scoffed and replied indifferently, "I doubt that." Naruto hadn't bothered to visit his old teammates like Kakashi had suggested. There wasn't much of a point. Sasuke and Sakura were doing fine without him, and they weren't exactly close even when they were working together.

Naruto's ears twitched as he heard the someone approaching. He tensed up slightly, before relaxing as the familiar scent reached his sensitive nose.

"Hey, Kazumi. Did we finally get a mission?" Naruto questioned as he turned around to face his partner.

"Nope, I was just seeing what you were up to. Wanna get something to eat?" Kazumi asked, looking around at the clear signs of a Naruto training day. Diced trees, steaming craters in the ground, mutilated trees, even larger steaming craters in the ground. Yeah, just another day in the life.

Naruto was about to answer when his stomach made a pronounced interference. Kazumi giggled and ran up to Naruto. She grabbed his hand and led him away. Naruto didn't even protest in the slightest. It wasn't the first time Kazumi had done something like this. The first time this happened was a week after the infiltration mission. He was training hard to readjust to wielding his new weapons, and Kazumi had come over and invited him out to eat. When he refused, Kazumi pouted and left. Thinking she was gone for good, Naruto simply resumed training. About half an hour later, she came back with a basket full of food. Naruto had just watched her in a strange sort of awe as she laid out a blanket and placed the food neatly on top. She sat down and patted the space next to her. Wordlessly, but entirely gratefully, he sat down, and the two had eaten together in peace.

Since that day, whenever Kazumi came to check up on him, he would accept her invitation as a show of gratitude for just looking out for him. That was just more of his style since Naruto wasn't a very eloquent person.

After forcefully dragging Kazumi away from the candy store, Naruto and Kazumi sat down at a local ramen shop that Naruto recently started frequenting.

'Not really sure if she's a ramen type of girl, but it looks like I'll be finding out pretty damn soon.' Naruto thought as he threw open the flap.

Immediately, he was greeted by the good-natured, father and daughter behind the counter. Naruto gave a slight wave to the owners before taking a seat on a stool and pulling one out for Kazumi. He watched her as she looked around the ramen shop with interest.

"I take it you never had ramen before." Naruto stated more than questioned. Kazumi turned her gaze on Naruto and nodded. "Well, I can guarantee you'll like it here." Teuchi and Ayame Ichiraku smiled gratefully at the complement.

Kazumi hummed to herself as she thought about her options. "Do you have anything sweet?" She asked.

'Nothing more...nothing less.' Naruto thought to himself.

"We have a sweet & sour ramen recipe. Not many people order that, though." Ayame answered kindly.

"Oh! I'll order that then." Kazumi said, grinning with barely contained excitement.

"...Just give me the miso ramen." Naruto told the shop owners as he shook his head. Teuchi and Ayame were trying their hardest not to laugh as they went into the back to prepare the food and gossip about Naruto's new lady friend.

"We really need to get you a cool nickname." Kazumi said suddenly as the two walked together outside the ramen shop.

Naruto opened his mouth, then closed it when he couldn't form a single word.

'Where the hell did that come from?' Naruto thought to himself. Instead of speaking, he simply glanced at Kazumi and rose his eyebrows in an attempt to convey his confusion. She seemed to get the message.

"It's just that all the toughest shinobi have a cool nickname behind them. The hokage is called the God of Shinobi, Kakashi is called the Copy Ninja, and yours truly is called The Bunny. You're a pretty strong guy, so we gotta get you a cool nickname." Kazumi stated with a thoughtful look.

"What goes on in that head of yours?" Naruto mumbled. Then, he thought back to his time on Team Seven. Kakashi had mentioned shortly after the mission to Nami no Kuni something about calling him The Elemental Swordsman. At the time, Naruto just scoffed at the name and ignored everything about it. Honestly, he had completely forgotten about the stupid little nickname until now.

"Huh? Did you say something?" Kazumi asked, breaking out of her deep thought-induced trance.

Naruto glanced at his companion, before shaking his head slowly. "No."

"Hey! I think I got one!" Kazumi exclaimed before pointing at Naruto, "Shadow Fox! That's a cool name, right?"

Naruto shook his head.

"How bout Scorching Fox?"

"No."

"Foxtrot?"

Naruto just glanced at her that time.

"Uhh...Fox... in the Box?"

"What the hell kind of name is that? These nicknames of yours are getting progressively worse." Naruto said, suppressing a growl at the last two names, "And for your information, I'm not a fucking fox!"

Kazumi's eyes travelled up to Naruto's ears.

"Don't." Naruto commanded as he noticed where Kazumi's gaze landed.

Kazumi stopped to think. Then, she started analyzing the details of Naruto.

'He's always wearing that black cloak, he's got black weapons, he's really fast. The shadow part is totally staying in there. Oh, but there needs to be something else to maximize the awesomeness!'

Naruto stopped walking when he noticed Kazumi staring at him intently. "Problem?" He asked gruffly.

"The Flying Shadow! Yeah, that's a good one. You can't possibly deny how awesome that name is." Kazumi exclaimed proudly.

"At least it doesn't have 'fox' in it." Naruto muttered, "Call me whatever you want. I really don't care as long as it doesn't have the word 'fox' in it in some way."

And, thus, The Flying Shadow was born. Sort of.

"About fucking time." Naruto grumbled as he walked into the Hokage's office, "Finally got a mission for me, old man?"

It hadn't been long after Naruto and Kazumi left the ramen shop that they were approached by Anbu and told to report to the Hokage's office. The only logical reason for him calling them both was a new mission to add to Naruto's testing.

"Yes. We have received a request for aid from Takigakure. Shibuki, the son of the previous leader of Taki, has heavy suspicion of an attack from foreign powers that are after a special item called the Hero's Water." Hiruzen spoke out Kazumi and Naruto as he read from a letter. He glanced up to the occupants of the office and continued, "You two will go down there and defend Takigakure from any foreign threat. It is always in our best interest to make an ally, no matter how small, and this may be a great opportunity to do so."

"Sounds like a plan. You can count on us!" Kazumi assured, fastening her Anbu mask and giving a chessy thumbs up. Naruto made an almost inaudible grunt in response. He immediately raised his hand up and caught a scroll that Hiruzen tossed to him. Naruto unrolled it and noted that it was a map.

'That's a relief. I didn't have a fucking clue where Taki was.'

In a small clearing in a lush green forest just outside Takigakure, there were four shinobi standing in front of nine bowing, similarly dressed, shinobi. There was a woman, named Hisame, with brown hair wearing blue earrings, red lipstick, and a white hairband donning her head. She wore a pink tube with an open, light green shirt, and blue pants. A confident smirk graced her features as she faced her superior.

Across from her stood a face mask wearing shinobi, named Kirisame. He had a rather lazy look, going by the only visible portions on his face, but he was laughing to himself in excitement.

On the other side of Hisame, was a gray-haired man, named Murasame. He wore brown arm warmers, a black muscle shirt, and gray pants. He had an impatient look on his face as he turned to face his superior.

"Can we really make it through a place like this?" Murasame questioned his leader.

The head honcho, Suien, glanced up to his gray-haired follower, "Trust me. I was a former jonin of Takigakure, after all." The missing-ninja responded. He turned his head when the laughter of his masked follower reached his ears.

"Come on, let's just go already." Kirisame spoke out. He was the most sadistic member of the group. Kirisame relished in the pain of his enemies.

"Kirisame, don't kill indescriminately. Keep it to a minimum." Suien replied from his crouched position.

The masked man scoffed, but calmed down nonetheless.

"The one who knows the whereabouts of the Hero's Water is Shibuki, the village's leader." Suien said. Before he finish the rest of his explanation, Hisame cut in.

"You want to take the village hostage to make him talk, right?" Hisame questioned with a slight grin on her face as she had most likely guessed Suien's plan.

Suien smirked as Hisame's intelligence shone through. His smirk faded as Kirisame's impatience shone through as well.

Being two rather swift shinobi, Naruto and Kazumi dashed through the trees and the plains and quickly made their way to Takigakure's secret waterfall entrace. The scroll they were given not only provided directions to Taki, it also gave some pretty valuable information regarding Takigakure's landscape.

Right behind the waterfall was a passage way. Naruto and Kazumi dove through the waterfall and entered the cavern.

"It's kind of ironic how the Hero's Water is supposed to be Taki's ace, but it's also what attracts invaders to them." Kazumi remarked as she looked around the cavern, taking in the sight of the numerous ponds littering the entire cavern.

Naruto had to agree. From the information they were given, the Hero's Water was a powerful tool, but if word of it got out to the wrong group of people, it was sure to cause a conflict.

Naruto scoffed at the apparent irony, "They should just get rid of it and focus on staying under the radar. The more obscure, the better." Naruto added. He glanced at the scroll in his hands, studying it for a few seconds before glancing back up and staring at a pond in front of him. "That one."

He and Kazumi dove into the deceptively deep body of water and swam until they found a prominent light. They followed the source until they surfaced in Takigakure itself. The children that happened to be playing near the water at that moment were pretty damn frightened when two people, one with the features of a fox and one wearing a rather odd mask, slowly emerged from their main water source. It was like the attack of the fucking loch ness monsters, minus the aquatic dinosaur-like appearance.

Of course Kazumi was the one to break the ice with a wave and a loud greeting. She and Naruto swam to land and faced the shellshocked children.

"Any of you brats want to show us where Shibuki is?" Naruto asked tactlessly. He flared out a bit of his chakra just in case any of the kids felt like getting mouthy. Naruto watched with satisfaction as the kids started sweating profusely and running off muttering about Shibuki whereabouts.

Kazumi glanced over to Naruto after he stopped flaring his chakra. "So, is scaring children a hobby of yours?" Kazumi asked half-jokingly as she watched the frightened kids trip over themselves while stumbling to their destination.

"It gets the job done." Naruto replied, crossing his arms and maintaining a look of indifference.

Not too long after, a young man walked to them, being led by the children from earlier. He was sweating as much as the kids had been previously. Naruto shook his head after getting a good look at the man.

"Don't tell me you're Shibuki." Naruto questioned in utter disbelief. The guy certainly didn't look strong by any stretch of the word, and the way he was twitching and sweating bullets was very unbecoming of a village leader.

'I haven't even done anything and the guy is scared shitless of me.' Naruto thought to himself, rolling his eyes when he saw the man actively trying to avoid making eye contact with him.

"I-I'll have you k-know that I am Shibuki." Shibuki confirmed his identity. Kazumi's eyes widened comically at the revelation.

'Wow...just wow.' Kazumi thought as she tried her best not to laugh at the guy.

"We're from Konoha. You requested help, right, to stop an invasion?" Kazumi asked Shibuki to which he nodded in response, "Any idea who might be at the head of this invasion?"

"A jonin missing-nin, Suien. He was my sensei before he went rogue. I have no doubt in my mind that he's after the Hero's Water." Shibuki bitterly informed the Konoha shinobi.

Kazumi turned to Naruto and pulled out her pad and a pen. "So, what's the plan, testee?" Kazumi asked, staring at the pad with her pen at the ready

Naruto paused for a second, eyeing the pad in Kazumi's hands before sighing. "Off the top of my head, the best thing I can think of is setting up a clone in some out-of-the-way location and have it gather nature chakra. Then, we'll transform into Shibuki and a few of the kids, and confront whoever our enemy is." Naruto explained with a slight scowl, "If the guy is any sort of jonin, he'll see through the transformations, but not before we lure him to us. From there, it should be simple."

"Not bad for a plan you just pulled out of your ass." Kazumi mumbled as she wrote in her pad. She smiled at what she wrote before stuffing the pad away.

Naruto turned to Shibuki who still looked to be deathly afraid of him. Naruto concealed a smirk of satisfaction. "Tell me. Where do you keep the Hero's Water?"

With the real Shibuki well hidden and Kazumi and several of his Shadow Clones transformed to appear as a few of the village children, Naruto sat in a cave-like structure, transformed as Shibuki with the Hero's Water beside him. His clone was set up just outside of the village to gather nature chakra.

Naruto glanced at the Hero's Water as he juggled the idea of using an object and transforming it into the Hero's Water, but he immediately rejected the thought. Just standing next to the special water, Naruto could feel a powerful aura emanating from it. If Suien was previously a jonin from Taki, he would easily pick up on the fake.

'In hindsight, I should've made Kazumi pose as Shibuki. Acting like a stuttering coward is going to make me retch, and if that doesn't give me away, then this Suien guy is a fucking moron.' Naruto thought to himself with a scowl. 'Well, deception is the name of the game. Just got to ante up and play to win.'

When Naruto's nature chakra gathering clone dispelled, Naruto dismissed his previous thoughts as a brand new torrent of thoughts of varying disturbance crossed his mind from the clone's knowledge.

Someone was quickly approaching the transformed Kazumi and his disguised clones, but that was the least of his worries. The chakra his clone, and himself by default, felt with the sensing capabilities of Sage Mode was that of a jinchuuriki's.

The thought was an absolute mindfuck.

'Seriously? There's a jinchuuriki in this village? How the-' Naruto shook his head to rid himself of the troubling thoughts. 'I'll deal with that later. Right now, I got work to do.'

Naruto knew his plan would go well up to the point where he had to act like Shibuki. Kazumi could hold up her part well enough. She's Anbu after all, but Naruto had very little experience with shit like this. The only experience that came to mind that was remotely similar was when he transformed himself and a clone into Gato's men and fucked shit up.

This was an entirely different beast all together, though. This was going to involve actual speech.

Naruto chuckled lightly to himself. 'Worst comes to worst, I'll just stab him, wordlessly.' Now, that was a plan he could get down with.

Naruto's call to action came when one of his disguised clones ran up to him. Naruto focused his gaze on his clone, silently questioning him.

"So far, they don't seem to suspect a thing." The clone explained, "There's thirteen of them in total, nothing really special about any of them. This should be easy enough."

Naruto nodded. "You know what? Fuck the disguises. Let's go loud." Naruto's clone grinned. Apparently, that's what he wanted to hear. "If they really are as clueless as you say, let's just jump them and get this over with. There's something else I'd rather be focusing on, anyway."

The clone nodded his understanding. "Kazumi seemed to be having fun pretending to be a child." Naruto's clone stated offhandedly before dispelling, transferring the knowledge of this conversation to the other clones.

Naruto smirked as he let his disguise fall and brandished his twin scimitars. "Of course she was."

"What's taking that coward so damn long?" Suien muttered as he held a kunai to one of the 'children.' Suddenly, that child, along with the other children turned into sword bearing, fox-eared shinobi. Any of the clones that were being held quickly overpowered their captors.

Kazumi got the message quickly enough, though she was confused by the sudden unannounced change of plan, and let her disguise fall.

"What the hell?" Kirisame questioned as he dodged various sword strikes from Naruto's clones. He flashed through hand signs and formed a whip made of water from his hands. The water whip latched around his attackers and he flung them at another one of Naruto's clones. That clone jumped out of the way and swung one of his scimitars by the chain.

"Wind Style: Slicing Twister." The ferocious twister quickly made its way toward Kirisame who, while holding on to the other Naruto-clones, was too slow to dodge it. The twister sliced Kirisame apart, killing him swiftly.

Kazumi was having a rather easy time batting her opponents around after she quickly cast a genjutsu on them. It didn't matter if they broke it a second after it was placed on them. A second was all that was necessary to find a vital opening and strike it.

Suien realized his subordinates were quickly falling around him, and he wasn't doing so well either. The clones took a few good shots at him before he was able to destroy them with his Watercutting Sword, and now Suien was seriously considering retreating for now.

Ultimately, he decided retreat was the best option, but as he turned to escape, he was forced to block the fox-eared shinobi's sword strike. He quickly noticed that this one was packing more power than the others, so he deduced that the one before him was the original.

Suien jumped back to put some distance between himself and Naruto. He quickly formed a second Watercutting Sword in his other hand and met Naruto's swift, dual sword strikes with his own, but he realized he was at a clear disadvantage. His opponent was physically stronger and faster than he was.

"Who the hell are you?" Suien managed to shout out as he struggled against the raw power behind Naruto's strikes.

Naruto considered just staying quiet. There was nothing more badass than an anonymous badass, but with a smirk and a quick glance in Kazumi's direction, he found a suitable answer. "The Flying Shadow."

Naruto had to give it up to Suien. The missing-ninja was a lot more talented than Naruto had originally thought, but Naruto was getting tired of the monotonous clashes, so he recalled on something he had learned during his Sage training. When he clashed with Suien once more, he used the nature chakra surrounding him as a weapon.

To Suien, it was like a high speed brick straight to the temple. As he skid across the floor, entirely disoriented, Suien couldn't make out the quick moving fox-eared shinobi before it was too late. The Slicing Twister that impacted him harshly finished the job efficiently enough.

"Shibuki's cleaning up the mess. That isn't part of our job." Naruto quickly mentioned as he turned to witness Kazumi finishing the last of their opponents.

"How bout giving me a warning before you jump out like a bat out of hell?" Kazumi commented sourly.

"Couldn't afford to. Can you finish up around here? There's something I need to take care of." Naruto said before vanishing in a black blur.

Kazumi blinked as she watched Naruto leave. She turned when she heard a stuttering mess of words, and saw Shibuki, blue in the face, pointing at the numerous bodies.

"Naruto said you're cleaning this up. Bye-bye!" Kazumi stated as she dashed out of the area and dove into the water leaving a fainting Shibuki behind.

Naruto's senses led him to a run down hut in the outermost part of the village. The jinchuuriki was in there, and Naruto didn't really know if they were like Gaara or what. Even if the jinchuuriki in this hut was like him, Naruto would have trouble avoiding a dangerous conflict.

Throwing open the flap of the hut, Naruto peered inside, quickly scanning the interior. His eyes landed on a green-haired girl with a tan complexion who seemed to be somewhere between his and Kazumi's age. She was playing a card game by herself in the middle of the room. She glanced up with curious and startled orange eyes.

For what seemed like an eternity, the two simply stared at each other, analyzing each other. Through that prolonged eye contact, they both seemed to understand without any words being spoken.

"So, you're-" The girl started.

Naruto nodded before she could even finish her sentence. "Naruto Uzumaki of Konoha, Kyuubi jinchuuriki."

The girl seemed to fully relax with the knowledge being explicitly stated. "Hi Naruto, I'm Fū, Chōmei jinchuuriki. Nice to meet you."

"Chōmei?" Naruto questioned with an eyebrow raise.

Fū blinked before realizing, "That's the Nanabi's name."

Naruto thought about that for a moment. 'Yo, Kyuubi, you got a name, too?' A few seconds later, and he didn't get an answer. 'Fuck you, too, nameless asshole.'

Fū's eyes brightened considerably as something seemed to cross her mind. "Wanna play cards with me?" She asked with a glimmer of hope evident in her eyes.

Naruto gazed at her for a moment before shrugging and plopping down in front of her. A game of cards might make what he needed to say a little more bearable. His eyebrows shot up when Fū began shuffling the cards like a seasoned champion.

A short time later, and Fū seemed to be enjoying herself. Naruto suspected she didn't have many, if any, friends in the village, so for someone to stop by and spend some time with her must have been a wonderful blessing.

"Look, the reason I stopped by was to tell you about a dangerous, powerful group of shinobi that call themselves the Akatsuki. They're hunting the jinchuuriki." Naruto explained, immediately catching Fū's attention, "This means they're going to come after you eventually, and these guys are ridiculously strong. I had a pretty good look around Taki, and there isn't any shinobi here that could stand up to the Akatsuki at all."

"What are you saying, Naruto?" Fū asked. Nervousness was beginning to creep into her voice.

"If you stay here, it'll only be a matter of time before the Akatsuki track you down, Fū, and they'll probably just stroll into this village with ease." Naruto responded, "If there's anything I can do for you, it'd be to advise you to get the hell out of here. Go into hiding or train like a maniac."

"Wow. That's a lot for a girl to take in all in one sitting. You sound like you've fought these guys before. You have, haven't you?" Fū deduced, "What were they like?"

"They're fucking monsters, and at that time, I was only fighting two of them. My sensei told me there's much more than that, too." Naruto answered, scowling as he recalled the memory of him being batted around by Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki.

"And you really think leaving would be the best choice?" The green-haired jinchuuriki asked. Her reluctance was quite clear.

Naruto thought for a second. "What attachment do you have to this village?" He questioned, taking a different approach.

"I hate this place, and I hate the people here." Fū responded bitterly, "But if I leave, I'd by all alone and wouldn't the Akatsuki get to me easier?"

"It wouldn't get any easier than invading a village whose leader isn't even a jonin-level ninja." Naruto countered as he stood up and prepared to depart.

"Hey...Naruto?" Fū called out quietly, halting Naruto's departure, "Why are you trying to help me? I know that nothing forced you to come here, and play games with me, and try to save my life, so why?" Fū asked with uncertainty evident in her voice.

As Naruto turned to face Fū, he saw such a familiar expression on her face. "As far as I know, you and I are in the same shitty situation, and that bugs the hell out of me. Just knowing that there are others out there who've had it just as bad or even worse than I had it really troubles me." Naruto replied solemnly.

Naruto would have done the same for Gaara, but with the red-haired jinchuuriki actively trying to kill him, Naruto just happened to forget.

"I see. Thank you so much! I promise I'll seriously consider your advice." Fū spoke her gratitude with a small smile and a wave.

Naruto lifted his hand in a lazy wave before vanishing in a black blur.

Kazumi lazily balanced a kunai on her finger as she tossed three gumdrops in the air and caught each of them in her mouth.

"And the crowd goes wild! The judges give her a perfect ten! I'll be here all day, my adoring fans!" Kazumi dramatically exclaimed as she took a full waist bow. When she rose back up, Naruto was directly in front of her.

"I'd ask, but I'd just end up hating myself for it." Naruto said as he walked past her and began the walk back to Konoha.

"It's your fault! You were gone for so long, and I got bored. Sue me." Kazumi quipped as she playfully punched Naruto on the shoulder, "What were doing anyway?"

"Don't worry about it." Naruto responded vaguely.

"'Don't worry about it.' He says." Kazumi poorly imitated her fox-eared partner as she walked by his side, "Always trying to be the cool guy."

*Three Months Later*

Hiruzen flipped through Kazumi's evaluation notepad, ignoring the poorly drawn pictures in the corners of the pages. According to the evaluation, on each of the five missions, Naruto was able to quickly form a plan of some sort that proved to be, for the most part, successful. If his plans hit a snag, he wouldn't lose his head, he would simply adapt and work around it. In addition to his plans, was his formidable strength that gave him the ability to carry out his plans. Going by Kazumi's evaluation, Naruto clearly had the capability to work together with someone.

Hiruzen, after taking one final glance at one of the more interesting drawings that seemed to depict Naruto doing the wave, snapped the pad shut.

"So, what's the final word, old man?" Naruto questioned. After the fifth testing mission, Hiruzen personally called him out for final evaluation.

"I think it's fairly obvious. There was no doubt in anyone's mind that you would be promoted." Hiruzen stated with a proud smile. He held out an Anbu mask and uniform.

Naruto smirked as he accepted both. He was pleasantly surprised that the mask wasn't fox-related, meaning Kazumi didn't get to request anything regarding it. In fact, Naruto couldn't tell what the fuck kind of animal the mask was supposed to represent, but it was fine regardless. It was his fucking mask, and he was going to wear it with pride because it symbolized his accomplishments.

Orochimaru smiled wickedly as he reviewed all the information he had recently received. The infiltrators had failed to eliminate all of his forces. He had foreseen something like this, so he acted accordingly, but subtlely placing some of his shinobi throughout the neighboring towns.

Naruto Uzumaki, the Kyuubi jinchuuriki, container of such potent chakra, wielder of the Scorch Style, and a genius in his own right. 'What an incredible specimen. Quite worthy of being my next host. A few readjustments and he'll be perfect.' Orochimaru thought to himself as he licked his lips at the idea.

Orochimaru glanced at his most recent research. His maniacal smile grew as he related it to his new target. He chuckled softly when he realized that all the pieces were coming together like a beautifully dastardly puzzle.

'How undeniably perfect.'

I got this one done sooner than I thought I would. I apologize if I butchered the details of the Takigakure OVA, but I haven't watched that shit in years, and I really didn't feel like watching it again.

Anyway, if anyone really, and I mean really, TRULY, wants to see what I originally planned to write for the other three testing missions, I might write a little somethin' somethin' at the end of the next few chapters, but if not, I don't blame ya. I took them out for a reason.

Hope you guys enjoyed this one.