Aah... some unexpected stuff this time round. It's been a while since I pulled out one this big, and to think I was rushing to meet the minimum. Anyway, here it is.

Disclaimer: ... That's a toad not a frog.


He who would have been

Unfortunately for Naruto, Gaara was on form the next day when he sent Utakata and Fuu to collect supplies. He had given Naruto a task that would require his full attention, not giving the blonde a moment to run off and hoard ramen.

Naruto and Gaara both stood in one of the storerooms of the base, the blond standing behind the red haired boy who knelt on the ground. Gaara had his sleeves rolled back and was looking down through a hole he had created by removing a floorboard. Naruto wore a dissatisfied look as he switched his balance from foot to foot, Gaara's gourd filling his hands.

"Remind me why I have to do this again?" he asked, expending little effort in holding the gourd, but was allowed no room to put it down without alerting Gaara, "Can't you just sit it down beside you or something?"

Gaara picked up the flashlight that was lying beside him, shining it down in the darkness below. Though he didn't particularly enjoy getting himself covered in dust over menial tasks, it was the only way he could think of to keep Naruto in check. He ignored his friend's question as he studied the gap between the floor and ceiling below, before lifting himself back up onto one knee.

"We don't know what Zabuza may have done with this place while he was the owner, we need to make sure there aren't any traps or the likes." he said, brushing dust off his clothes as he rose to his feet. He looked at Naruto, who seemed annoyed about the evaded question. He knew that this slacker would disappear first opportunity he got, and so decided to use his winning argument, "You want ramen, you learn how to make it from scratch."

Naruto suddenly wore the look of someone who was caught in the act, grinning nervously as he tried to appease the situation. Though Gaara's words held less weight now that they had a real kitchen, he had tried cooking himself once, and had woken up in a pool of second hand ramen a few hours later. Needless to say Kisame and Gaara camped to a distance from him at that time.

"Anyway, supplies are only one of our priorities." Gaara continued, kicking the loose floorboard back into place and pressing it down with his foot, "There are four bedrooms and five of us, and there could be more coming in time."

"I'm fine crashing on the couch, but I know what you mean." Naruto replied, placing the gourd on the ground and holding it steady with one hand, "Guess we'll need to empty out some of the storerooms or something."

Gaara nodded in agreement, taking his gourd and slinging it over his shoulder. He and Naruto left the storeroom, making their way down the spiralling path towards the lounge on the lower level. Gaara set his gourd down next to the sofa there, before stepping over to the bar and taking one of the sheets of paper.

"What we need is more bases." he said, showing Naruto the piece of paper. Naruto accepted it and looked it over, it seemed to be file on large bandit hideouts situated all over the place, "It would be a problem if we had to travel across the five nations just to get to and from missions."

"Yeah…" Naruto agreed, looking at the bases at the top. Some of them came from fairly obscure places, while others seemed to disguise themselves as entire villages. He was surprised at just how much banditry seemed to thrive in the world, was it really such an easy option?

"We aren't ready for that just yet though." Gaara continued, as Naruto returned the file to him, "We still need money to get by, never mind to move on with our goal."

"That's no problem, right?" Naruto asked, with a raised brow. Gaara frowned at him, would even Naruto misinterpret this situation? "Just use some of mine for now."

Gaara blinked, staring at Naruto incredulously. Use some of his? He didn't think Naruto had any money at all. After he had bought those ridiculously expensive clothes he now wore, Gaara had assumed that Naruto had continued to buy frivolous things, or just spent it on ramen.

"How much do you have?" he asked, crossing his arms with a sceptical look. Naruto raised his eyes to the ceiling as he though it over, folding his own arms and raising a hand to his chin as he thought about it.

"Let's see… what I started with… what Kisame-sensei put in each month… end of the year… interest rates…" he muttered, bowing his head as his brow furrowed and his eyes narrowed. Gaara could almost see the calculations leaking out of Naruto's head, and he knew well enough that the idiot had probably already made a mistake.

"It's fine, we can find out later." he said, as a vein started to pop in Naruto's temple. Naruto looked at Gaara in surprise, though he was relieved he hadn't needed to work that out there and then, "But in any case we'll still need to bring in some income, so we'll need to look for missions soon."

Gaara looked past Naruto, who turned his head back as they heard footsteps. Yagura stepped into the room, wiping sweat from his dust covered brow, "I've set up a weak barrier Jutsu all around, anyone who isn't one of us comes in, we'll know."

"That's good." Gaara replied, taking the files and returning them to their folder. Once he had done that he turned back to the two boys, who were looking at him expectantly, "It's better to start scouting for missions now than later. Yagura-san, do you think you can do that?"

Yagura gave a single nod, it sounded easy enough. He turned around and left, heading for the room he was using as his own for now. That meant Naruto and Gaara were alone again, with the blonde left wanting for something to do. Gaara thought it over quickly, he was still working out what it was they needed in the first place.

"Unfortunately Zabuza only left a small amount of the money he probably possessed, but we can't afford to just leave it lying around like he did." he said, when he finally came up with something, "You take it and go with Yagura-san. When you get to the village, there should be a banker that has ties to Akatsuki, and by extension us. Take the money and put it in a separate account. Move the money from our accounts into there too."

"Sure thing." Naruto replied, turning around and leaving to get the money. Gaara watched as he disappeared, before closing the file and taking it into the room with all of Zabuza's bounty details. There were some things there he wanted to check out too.

* * * * *

Utakata and Fuu both took a walk around Nami no Kuni, searching for the supplies Gaara had instructed them to gather. They had taken some of the money that had belonged to Zabuza and left early in the morning. The list was extensive, but fortunately Naruto had sent one of his dogs to help them with carrying the load. Shinmaru was currently out of sight, but had he been present he would have greatly resembled a pack mule.

"This place is pretty strange." Fuu muttered, looking around with a raised brow. She glanced at the people moving from stall to stall, from shop to shop, going about their business without giving her the slightest bit of notice.

"It feels good not to have people shooting you dirty looks, huh?" Utakata asked, with the relaxed expression he often wore. He and Fuu had recently left a café; both of them were holding onto a stick of dango and eating as they walked. Fuu however cocked her head peculiarly at Utakata, an innocent look on her face.

"What do you mean?" she asked, blinking at him questioningly.

"Ah, nothing." Utakata replied, waving his words away. Yagura had already told him about Fuu's peculiar behaviour, and by now he could certainly see it himself. Like Yagura he had concluded that it would be better not to trouble her about it, and so he dismissed his statement, "So what's next on the list?"

"Uh, let me check." Fuu replied, taking the folded piece of paper from her pocket and taking it apart while she gripped her dango stick between her teeth, "Um… we got the candles and the gas cylinders. Next is… twenty cups of inst-"

Fuu didn't finish her statement, instead she crushed the piece of paper in her hands with an annoyed expression. Utakata looked at her in alarm, what brought on the change in attitude?

"The idiot got his hands on the list." Fuu muttered, tossing the list in a passing bin. She slid all three of the dango pieces into her mouth, discarding that too, "We goh evythin."

"I guess we'll head back then." Utakata replied, with a small grin on his face. He had been wondering why Naruto had been sneaking around while Gaara wrote the list, that boy could really be stealthy when he felt like it.

Suddenly Utakata tensed up, his eyes locking on something at the end of the street. Fuu noticed his strange action and looked ahead, almost choking on her dango in the process. About twenty yards ahead, walking towards them, there were two Shinobi. Utakata instantly recognised their forehead protectors, these guys were from Konohagakure. Quickly tapping Fuu on the arm, the two of them quickly sidled from view into a side alley. They pressed their backs against the wall, waiting in the shadows for the two Shinobi to pass.

"I just thought you'd want to know." said one of the Shinobi, a man wearing a green flak vest with a thick navy jacket and matching slacks. The lower half of his face was covered in a blue mask, while his headband covered his left eye, and held his tall, spiky grey hair in place.

"Isn't that…?" Utakata thought, remembering something from Kiri's bingo books. His eyes narrowed suspiciously, what was a person like him doing here?

"Yeah… thanks…" said the other Shinobi, a man wearing a tight green jumpsuit beneath his own flak vest. He wore his headband ties around his waist, leaving his thick black brows and bowl cut hair intact, "I didn't expect to hear it… Orochimaru is dead?"

Utakata took in a sharp breath, earning a worried look from Fuu. He stared at the two Shinobi as they disappeared down the other side of the alley. What was that?!

"Utakata-san?" Fuu asked, looking up at him nervously. But Utakata didn't hear her at all, he was fixed and intent on hearing more. He slipped out of the alley and found the two Shinobi again; entering the café he and Fuu had only just left a minute ago.

"Come on." he said, as Fuu followed him into the street. The two of them made their way back towards the café, being as discreet as they could as they stepped back in. They could see the two Shinobi sitting in the corner of the not-so-busy shop, they themselves taking a seat at the table nearest the door. While not looking directly at them, Utakata listened carefully to their conversation from a distance.

"Is it really ok to be here?" asked the grey haired Shinobi, slouching forward with his hands held before his face. He watched his companion carefully, reading the troubled expression and recognising it well.

"You know Kakashi, here is where we took one of our last missions." he said, gazing out the window with sombre eyes. He took a deep breath, letting it out in a long sigh, "I remember how Tenten was struggling to fight her opponent, and Neji jumped in to save her at the last second. I always thought that was him helping out his team mate, but…"

He fell silent, bowing his head and staring into his hands. The person across from him, Kakashi, waited patiently as his friend became lost in his thoughts, "What is it?"

"The enemy was too fast for even him, he had a strange kekkei genkai." the black haired man explained, his eyes as distant as the subject of which he spoke, "It took both him and Lee together to hold off the enemy. I think Neji was angry about that."

"It's not uncommon to want to be the only person in the spotlight." Kakashi replied, as helpfully as he could, "It doesn't have to mean-"

"Oh, you two again!"

Utakata froze in shock as the old waitress who had served them before reappeared at their table. Kakashi cut off from what he was saying, he and his comrade watching Utakata and Fuu from the corner of their eyes.

"Shit!" Utakata thought, trying his best to keep from paling. He had been so caught up in what those two were saying, he hadn't even thought to use a Henge to disguise himself, "Now what?!"

"That dango was great, we thought we would get some more to share with our friends!" Fuu said, in a bright and chipper tone. Utakata glanced at Fuu in surprise, she had recovered at an incredible speed, "Is that ok?"

"Of course it is!" the plump old lady replied, beaming down at the girl, "I'll whip some more up and bring them to you in a jiffy!"

Fuu smiled as the waitress turned around and headed towards the kitchen. Utakata kept his eyes on Fuu, but his attention had returned to the Shinobi to his right. They watched Utakata and Fuu for a moment more, before returning to their conversation.

"Anyway, there's no sense talking about it." the thick browed man said, before breaking out into a broad grin, "Living in the past isn't youthful at all!"

"Well, you are the one who brought it up." Kakashi muttered, with a weak smile. The man before him didn't seem to hear however, as he returned to a serious look.

"So what did Hokage-sama say?" he asked, his momentary eccentricity disappearing as quickly as it had arrived. Kakashi turned his eyes out to the street, looking rather melancholy.

"There's no way of knowing what Neji will do." he said, in a pensive, "But it's likely that Sasuke will now put all his efforts into finding Uchiha Itachi."

"Uchiha Itachi…" Utakata thought, his brow furrowing at the familiar name, "That's Kisame-san's partner… Orochimaru…"

"Here you go dears." the old waitress said, placing a warm paper bag on the table before them, "There are eight sticks in there, will that be enough?"

"Yes, thank you very much!" Fuu replied, placing some money on the table and rising to her feet. She took the bag in one hand and Utakata's arm in the other, directing that it was time to leave. Utakata didn't resist, and the two of them left without another word.

"I gotta pass this on to the others." Utakata thought, casting a glance over his shoulder to the pair in the shop. In that moment, he prayed that he just imagined their looking straight back at him.

* * * * *

"You're certain of this?" Gaara asked, his eyes fixed on Utakata's. He sat on the sofa of the lounge, his elbows resting on his knees as he stared at the elder Jinchuriki, who stood with Fuu in the open doorway.

"Believe me, I wouldn't make a mistake on this." Utakata confidently replied. Fuu nodded in time with his words, little though she may have known about the situation, she had listened intently anyway, "I know the guys from the bingo book, they were Hatake Kakashi and Maito Gai."

Gaara let himself fall back into the sofa, his hand rising to his face as he wore a troubled look. He had not that long ago sent Naruto and Yagura in that same direction; it appeared only a lack of luck had kept Utakata and Fuu from crossing their paths. As it was, he couldn't help but wonder how Naruto would deal with the situation, should any problems arise.

"Uchiha Sasuke and Hyuuga Neji…" he muttered, his concerned expression deepening considerably, "If Uchiha Sasuke's goal really is Itachi-san, then that means…"

"Do you know these guys?" Fuu asked, leaning in and cocking her head. As far as she knew, neither her nor Utakata had offered nor heard any surname to the two people Hatake Kakashi and Maito Gai had been referring to. Yet somehow Gaara knew their full names, and seemed to understand more than they did.

"Of course." Gaara replied, as he recalled a time long ago, "You could say that it is because of Hyuuga Neji that Naruto is so determined to improve himself."

"Is that a good thing, or a bad thing?" Utakata asked, crossing his arms as he leant on the doorframe. Gaara's eyes narrowed slightly, his own nature forbidding him to smile.

"Who knows?" he speculated, before placing his hands on his knees and rising to his feet. He headed over to the window at the left of the room, leaning on the sill and looking outside.

"Ahh… how cryptic." Utakata muttered, his own eyes narrowing to a squint. Fuu just looked between the two boys, completely clueless as to what was going on. She could sense the seriousness, but no reason behind it.

"Should we try and warn them?" she asked, slipping her hands behind her back and looking up at Utakata. The brown haired boy shrugged though, Gaara's words were beginning to make him wonder.

"Naruto knows how important it is that we remain anonymous." Gaara said, speaking up from his distant position. He idly looked at the concealed seal tag Yagura had placed on the wall, and was reminded that everyone understood the situation, "He won't confront them without good reason."

"You're sure about that?" Utakata asked, uncertainly, "I know it's been a long time, but are you certain he doesn't have any ties to that place anymore?"

"A civilian left that village years ago." Gaara replied, looking over his shoulder to Utakata, "That civilian was the Jinchuriki of the Kyubi no Yoko. If Konoha comes for Naruto, he won't be confused about the reason."

Utakata and Fuu both fell silent, even the short girl could tell they had stepped into territory that was none of their business. Gaara resumed his gaze through the window, and they took that as their mark to leave.

They ascended the pathway to the floors above, both walking in relative silence. They had dropped the supplies off as ordered, and planned on bringing the heavy things up later. As it was though, they were tired from their hurried journey and sought some rest.

"Man… I don't know anything about the situation!" Fuu quietly complained, pouting to herself as they reached the second floor. Utakata smiled sympathetically at her, he couldn't blame her frustration. But he could at least ease it a little.

"Right now Yoinokuchi's goal is to gather the nine Jinchuriki." he explained, fingering the medallion around his neck, "I don't know what comes after that either, but I've got some ideas."

Fuu blinked blankly at the boy beside her, before reaching into her pouch. She pulled out the medallion that Zetsu had given her before they parted ways, raising it so that the moon symbol was eye level to her. She didn't really like necklaces, hence the reason she hadn't put this on like the others had.

"It's because of this that Yagura-niisan managed to finally escape Kiri, and by extension both of us too."

Fuu glanced at Utakata in surprise; she hadn't known that his means of leaving the village had also been Yagura. She returned her eyes to the moon emblem hanging in front of her; did this little thing really mean that much?

She stared at it for several moments, while Utakata watched her with a slight glint to his eye. He could see what was going on in her head, and what it was she was thinking of doing. His thoughts were confirmed as Fuu finally smiled to herself, before slipping the medallion around her neck. She looked down at it for a few seconds, before realising Utakata was watching her.

"What?" she asked, cocking her head curiously. Utakata's smile spread into a grin, and he patted Fuu on the back.

"Congratulations!" he announced, raising his hands in the air indicatively, "You're now a part of the group!"

"Huh- HUH?!" Fuu exclaimed, staring at Utakata in shock. She gripped the medallion in her hand and leaned towards the dark haired boy, an almost pleading look on her face, "You mean I wasn't before?!"

"Eh, call that a trial period." Utakata replied, shrugging as he continued towards his room. Fuu however wasn't satisfied with that, as she continued to follow him even though her room was on the next floor up.

"Hey, wait a minute!" she complained, as he closed the door on her, "HEY!"

* * * * *

The midday sun shone down as the door to a basement opened up. Naruto appeared from the shadows within, missing the bag he had been carrying before. He shut the door to the unofficial bank and ascended the stone steps to reach street level, looking around the village he had visited only a few weeks before.

"Guess we'll hang around for Yagura." Naruto said, glancing over his shoulder. His brow twitched embarrassedly as he remembered that he hadn't brought Eko with him for this, he would only have been annoyed at the boring task he would have had to endure.

Naruto looked around, the streets were as busy as ever and no one seemed to notice him in the slightest. He couldn't help but grin, he didn't have anything to do and so was left with a few interesting options. He considered doing the same as Yagura and looking out for some missions, but he knew and agreed with the reason Yagura had been chosen over him. Someone with proper ninja training would be better suited for this, Naruto didn't really have that.

"Man, I hope there's a ramen bar somewhere around." He thought, as he began to walk through the crowded streets.

The hustle and bustle of daily life passed him by, he never felt more detached than when he saw other people hurrying to someplace while he himself was just wandering aimlessly. He slipped his hands into his pockets, bowing his head slightly as he let his mind wander off into whatever direction it took him.

"Anyway, I have to report back to Tsunade-sama." He overheard a passer-by say, "I'll see you later Gai."

"Later Kakashi." Came another voice, though Naruto had already stopped listening. Instead he turned into a side street on his left, heading away from the thick crowds to less busy roads. He had already walked that main street before, and knew there was nothing of interest there anyway.

"So boring…" he thought, his expression turning tired as he steadily grew discontented with the situation.

"Hey, Naruto!"

Naruto looked up in surprise, glancing around for whoever called out to him. His eyes settled on an alleyway to his left, where he saw Yagura standing with a large man. Yagura jerked his head, signalling Naruto to come over. Glad of something interesting happening, Naruto walked over towards them. It looked like they were standing outside the back of a bar or restaurant, judging by the steam rising from the doorway that the man occupied.

"This is an associate of mine." Yagura said, gesturing towards Naruto as he arrived. Naruto looked up at the man Yagura was meeting with; he had a fairly intimidating appearance with his dark blue happi and navy slacks that weren't dissimilar to Naruto's, "Just so you know I'm not jerking you around."

"This guy hardly bolsters my confidence." the man replied, in a gruff but observant tone. He stepped down out of the doorway, standing just a few feet in front of Naruto. He raised his hands to the reflective sunglasses he wore, looking down at Naruto with a sceptical expression augmented by his pencil thin moustache and black flat top style hair into something quite thuggish, "He looks like a runt too."

Yagura's eyes flickered to Naruto, shooting a warning look. Naruto seemed no to notice however, or else he just ignored the gaze completely. A smirk played across his face as he looked down and let out an inward chuckle, he was just in the mood for a situation like this.

"That how you treat the guy you want for your mission?" he asked, slipping his hand out of his pocket casually.

"Naruto…" Yagura muttered warningly. Once more he was ignored however as Naruto held his hand out, a challenging look on his face. The man didn't seem to respond well to this however, his lip curled as he looked at Naruto like he was a pest.

"Little punk." he muttered, before accepting the challenge. He took Naruto's hand and gripped it tight, squeezing with all his might. Naruto didn't take his eyes off the big guy for a second, his smirk unwavering and in fact seeming to grow.

He gave it a couple of moments, before he took his turn. He tightened his grip on the thug's hand, still failing to show any signs of effort. The thug however contrasted this, as his jaw began to tighten and his arm shook from the pressure. After just a few seconds of this, he quickly broke away, grabbing his hand tight and staring at the red marks upon it. If Naruto had gripped any tighter, the thug would have needed medical treatment.

"How in the hell?" the thug murmured, looking over at Naruto again. The boy's hand hung limply by his side, his triumphant look mixing with his own arrogance into something that made the thug feel even worse for letting go.

"My sword's bigger than yours." he said, in a cool tone. Yagura was feeling immense regret in his decision to call Naruto over, and was just about ready to try and repair the situation when the thug started sniggering.

"Heh heh- HA HA HA!" the thug laughed, his voice booming through the alleyway. He looked down at Naruto with a broad grin, crossing his arms over and looking impressed, "You've got balls kid, that's just what I need!"

Yagura stared at the thug with a look of disbelief; he couldn't fathom how Naruto had managed to get such a reaction from nearly crippling this guy's hand. Yet there it was before him, the man giving an approving look that had only moments ago been unconvinced.

"Alright, listen up!" the thug said, leaning against the wall behind him and looking between the two boys with a grin, "Normally I wouldn't be askin' for outsider help, we got plenty of boys of our own. Problem is, the pansies are too afraid to go escort one of our boss' men cos the route goes through some allegedly "cursed" place. I'll pay twenty thousand for each guy you send, but I'm only lookin' for some personal guards for this guy, not an entire platoon, got it?"

"Twenty thousand's kinda-" Naruto began, but this time Yagura made sure he was noticed by putting his hand between Naruto and the thug.

"Twenty thousand is fine." he said, as Naruto gave him a frown, "Just give us a time, place and destination."

"Alright then, looks like we got a deal." said the thug, with a definitive tone. He straightened up off the wall, and stepped into the door of the kitchen he had occupied tomorrow, "We move out in three days, leaving at noon. Be at Shiyabuka around ten so the guy you're escorting can get familiar with you. You'll be guiding him to Zeppeki Drop and back, paid upon return."

Yagura nodded in agreement, before tapping Naruto on the arm and heading out of the alley. Naruto followed, giving a two fingered salute to the thug first. Soon he and Yagura were back in the street, making their way towards the Great Lee Bridge.

"You sure about that?" Naruto asked, as they walked into the main street he had only a minute ago left. Yagura gave an assertive nod, he was fairly sure.

"We're not looking to make money right now, we're looking for business." he said, as the crowds thickened and he needed to keep behind Naruto to avoid being bumped, "If we keep getting missions like this, then in the end what we gain will be worthwhile."

"Yeah, but boring as hell." Naruto replied, with an expression that matched his words. But he got what Yagura was saying, and was kind of annoyed about it, "Well, it sounds like a load of crap, you take it if you want."

"Thanks."