Kitsune Here with the NEXT CHAPTER OF AWESOMENESS. I have totally been on a writing kick the last few days...which leads me to asking...Anyone read the book series Dark Hunters AND watch the anime Hitman Reborn (or read the manga)? If there's a YES to both of them...I'm looking for a beta reader for a project that will involve multi-one-shots and one mid-to-long story. Semi-crack, semi-serious. I don't wanna go hunting in the forums if I don't have to...For those it's a NO for...HEY! you just got a preview of what I'm working on next.

"Thanks and Thanks again!" to all my readers, reviewers, favers, alerters, and C2rs. Love you all. Next chapter is well planned out, and the one after it is tentitive. We should (note I said should) be winding down. Eventually. I hope.

Question of the chapter: "Favorite anime villain?" For me, it's got to be that guy, Gyumaoh from Saiyuki (because he's never actually IN the show,) and Knives from Trigun. Badguys should STAY BAD. Unless they're anti-heros, like Dark Snider (BASTARD!). Then they're cool.

_*&*&*_POV ROY_*&*&*_

Roy sighed as the hot water cascaded down his back. Experimentally he sniffed...Yep...Still stink. "Pass me the bloody Mary paste."

"Here you go Mustang." Alex tossed a squeeze bottle of the hasty made concoction over the curtain. For a while the only sounds to be heard were slight gagging noises as the men attempted to scrub themselves free of the smell. Even Armstrong and Bee, who had arrived much later and not approached the room to closely reeked. "What exactly is in this smell to make it so...Pervasive I wonder." Mused the strongman.

"We're not exactly sure." Kakashi almost laughed from his stall, the lower half of his face blocked by the curtain, "It's gotten worse, or better if your Naruto. First time he stink-goo-ed someone the theory went he cleaned out his fridge and mixed it all together." His head disappeared as he lathered again, "personally I think he got into T&I's stash of supplies and after some trial and error came up with this stuff. Incidentally, Ibiki uses it sometimes."

Armstrong hummed, "T&I? That wouldn't happen to stand for Torture and Interrogation, would it?" To the other's affirmative grunt he huffed, "Such a world you live in, and yet a young boy was able to infiltrate such a place?"

"It's Naruto." As if that explained everything. Then again, after seeing that room, it kind of did. "Anyway, Bee-San, I need to ask you something. As I told you last night, Madara is setting up to wage war with the untied shinobi nations. The Kages' are going to need all the help they can get when we get back, and you're the only Jinchuriki in full control of your Biju. You need to train Naruto..."

Roy was surprised when the darker shinobi cut him off, "No."

"He's a fast study."

Killer Bee stepped out of his shower, wrapping a towel casually around himself, "The answer's still no, man. If we were back home, maybe, yeah. He's seems like a good kid, for the fox's brat. But we don't have the right type of training areas here. We need somewhere were we can really go wild, in case something goes wrong and he loses control."

Roy turned off his shower, "What do you mean, 'loses control?' You mean turn into the fox? He's done that."

"Ah yes, a magnificent beast..."

"No, trust me, he hasn't. Not really. If he had, he's STILL BE the Kyuubi. We need a place where if that happens we can lock him up."

The men were silent. Wait a minute, Roy smirked, "Is that all? I've got the perfect place then."

"Oh?" Bee raised an eyebrow.

"Truth's room. He brought you guys here after all. He can help then."

Kakashi smiled at him, "So, you'll train Naruto then, Bee?"

"Not fast, Kakashi. Still need an alternative to the waterfall. Won't do any good to train him if he can't get over his own anger. Kyuubi's will just eat him right up, ya know?"

Alex cocked his head to the side, "His own anger?"

"Yeah," Bee waved the bottle of tomato-paste sake at the man, "pranks like this, you think it's just pay back? Open your eyes man. Jinchuriki's got it tough, baggage is a must. You don't suddenly become a deadly-good pranker over-night, right? Yeah, The blond-brat's kinda mild compared to some of the others, but you don't forget all that hate people heap on you. Take it from me, it festers." The man shrugged, "Even if I wasn't gonna train him, I'd say he'd have to deal with it before he went bat-shit."

"So we need a waterfall?" Roy asked, filing away the information for later. "I assume for meditation?"

"Something' like that."

"Why not use alchemy to make what we need?"

_*&*&*_POV NARUTO_*&*&*_

Naruto looked up for scrubbing the last of the purple goo off the floor when he heard people heading down the hall. With a grin, he tossed the brush into his bucket and poked his head out the door, "Yo!" he grinned at the group. Kakashi waved as he, Bee, Armstrong and Mustang approached.

"How'd you get rid of the smell so fast?" Roy asked, obviously shocked. Naruto was pleased to note he still smelled slightly of rotten eggs.

"Trade secret," He smirked, "The real hard part is getting rid of the goo, but I'm done here. So, what you guys up to? Heading to the meeting?"

"Not exactly." Kakashi smiled, "Why don't you guys get started. I'll explain the situation to Naruto here." Why did Naruto get the feeling that he wasn't necessarily going to like this? Particularly the way Mustang was looking at him. He knew that look, that was the look Captain Yamato gave him right before assigning him some insane training regimen. Crap, he thought as the group continued their stroll down the hall, apparently debating whether or not to tell Olivier or let her find out on her own, things were going to be interesting to say the least.

He turned to Kakashi, his usual grin plastered on his face, "What's up, Kakashi-sensei?"

"Naruto..." Kakashi paused, apparently thinking about the best way to tell the teen something. "Nagato wasn't the real threat. Apparently Madara Uchiha's been alive all this time and is planning on destroying all the shinobi villages, starting with Konoha. He needs you and Bee to compete his plan, so he'll be targeting you the moment we return." Well, tactless was the best. Naruto stared at him flabbergasted, "Bee's agreed to train you until we return."

"Wait...WHAT? WHY would I wanna learn ANYTHING from that old fart?"

"That old fart, as you put it, is the last Jinchuriki, not to mention he is in compete control over the eight-tails." Kakashi raised and eyebrow, "Can you say the same?"

"He's able to control it? Really?"

"Really."

"Really, seriously? And he's going to teach me?"

"Well..." The silver haired man shrugged, "He's agreed to try. He's not so sure how well it will work with the new location. That's where the others are heading now, by the way. To set up the first phase of your training. He also said he wasn't sure if you'd be able to figure it out." Kakashi smiled, "Let's prove him wrong, shall we?"

Ed still had purple tinted hair. Usually, Naruto used orange in the off chance he himself got caught in some goo setting up. Orange faded really easily into his blond, but apparently purple did not. He felt vaguely guilty about that, and the smell of rotten cabbages coming from the slightly older teen. Mostly, he still thought it was funny. He guessed laughing wasn't the nicest thing he could do, though. Bee waved him over, "Yo, I'd rather be hangin, but Kakashi here's got me doing your trainin'. Set one ain't no fun. Meditate before you leave this place."

"Meditate? But I already know how to do that!" Naruto huffed, "It's a little thing called sage mode!"

"Well then, it's not so out of the blue, show me what you can do."

Naruto plopped down where he stood and sought that precious balance between himself and the rest of world. He vaguely heard Al mutter "Oh, that's how he does it! Fascinating..." But blocked it out. In moments he had reached that spot and opened his now orange eyes before smirking up at the rapping older ninja, springing to his feet. "Sage Mode!" He couldn't help pointing out.

Killer Bee looked honestly impressed. He calmly walked around Naruto, looking into his eyes a bit too intently, making the youth nervous before shaking his head. "What a treat, what you just did is no small feat." He held up a hand, "But to reach your true self you get no help."

Naruto just blinked, letting sage mode fade as he thought about it, "...Huh?" he looked at the others to see if anyone else got it.

"I'm with Naruto on this one," Ed put in, "If that was so impressive, why are we here again?"

Killer Bee explained, "Sage mode is about balancing the external forces of nature, channeling them...I've heard of it, got to say it's one hella an impressive technique for a Genin to master. BUT. For mastering a Biju, you need to turn your inner eye on yourself."

Ed nodded, "Oh."

"I still don't get it. And where the hell do you get off calling me a Genin?" Naruto pointed at the older ninja "HEY! YOU DIDN'T RAP!"

Bee rolled his eyes, "This time you meditate to get in touch with all that hate." The man shooed everyone out of the room

"Why didn't you just say so to begin with?" Naruto grumbled as everyone else walked out, leaving him alone with Bee and Ed and Al.

"Quit your bitching." Ed put in, "At least your not purple."

"Yeah, sorry about that."

"Why don't I believe you? Oh, yeah, it could be that GRIN on your face!"

"Brother..." Al sighed, "Bee-San, what can I do to help?"

The man grinned, making Naruto nervous, "A Waterfall, or we lose it all."

"Right!" Alphonse nodded, clapping his hands together in a way Naruto had become familiar with recently. His older brother stopped him however and whispered into his ear with a slightly less-then-evil grin. The younger brother nodded, clapping his hands together again and slapping the floor.

Blue sparks danced around and around the room, rebuilding it to the teens' specifications. The floor dropped and sloped, creating an empty pool that took up the majority of the room, a small raised area remained that lead directly in front of the shower-heads, which had now merged. Naruto wasn't exactly sure what to call it...If Ed's head had been turned into a cartoon, and then the cartoon turned into a dragon, it might look a bit like what Al had created. The Thing rose up a few more feet before settling against the ceiling, it's mouth opening, and tongue lulling out. It kinda looked like it was really sick, an image made worse when water started gushing out.

Killer Bee started to laugh. "That's pretty smart, a real work of art." He slapped Naruto on the back, "We'll be on stand-by, don't worry, time will fly."

"Screw you." Grumbled the blond, eyeing the whole thing in annoyed disgust. Finally with a huff he settled himself on the raised bit of cement in front of the makeshift waterfall and closed his eyes.

"I can't believe you let someone from another village boss you around like that" A voice mocked from the other side of the water almost instantly.

Naruto opened his eyes, looking in shock as Naruto came out from the fall, "What the hell?"

"Then again, you let that bastard live after torturing you, so I shouldn't be surprised. No wonder the Kyuubi think's your hopeless."

"Well, ok, you might have a point there...No. Wait." Naruto paused, completely confused as he stood, ready to fight this strange clone which he knew he didn't create, "Seriously, Who the hell are you?"

"I'm you, idiot. Or, I'm the real you, the better you."

"Fuck that!" The blond raced forward, only to have all his attacks mirrored by the clone. As the battle dragged on he did his best to drown out all the hateful words the other flung at him. He wasn't really like that was he? He didn't really hate his village, right? Roy might have been a prick, but he didn't really want to kill him. Not really...

"Too bad about Ed, though. He's such a little busy-body. Would have served him right if he'd gotten a little banged up." The Doppelganger grinned, "Maybe then he'd appreciate us. Maybe they all would. Too bad."

Naruto blinked, barely dodging a kunai. He wasn't disappointed Ed wasn't hurt in his prank! He was relieved, really really relieved! But part of me...Part of me would have been really happy if Roy had been...This guy...He IS me. Or part of me. Killer Bee said something about hate, right? Gah...What did Ero-sennin say about that...Oh yeah! Instead of dodging the next attack, or meeting it head on, instead he took it, hugging his other self close "You're right. I am under-appreciated, back home, and here too. But I'm working on it. We're all working on it, I think. You know if I'm not willing to let others try, I'll never grow."

"What of me then?" The other rumbled, no longer fighting, "Will you just leave me behind?"

"Well, you are me, right? So how could I leave you? Come with me..." He said as the other faded away.

"So how long did you say this was going to take again?" Ed's voice echoed behind Naruto, sounding bored. He realized he'd never left the room, and probably had been sitting still the whole time, however long that was. Silently, he vowed to tell no one about what had happened. It was just too sappy for words.

"It's not up to me, we'll have to wait and see."

"You rap just to piss people off, don't you? Maybe I could go draw on him or something..."

Naruto growled, "Do it and I'll cut your hair."

"Oh good, you're back. How'd it go?" Ed grinned, helping Naruto up.

"Eh, you know, piece of cake."

"Really? Because, you were gone for hours. What did you see?" The shinobi just shook his head.

He looked over to Killer Bee, who actually grinned at him and offered his fist. Naruto stared at it for a moment before raising his own, a look of confusion on his face. He was sure Bee was rolling his eyes when he lightly tapped his fist against the blue-eyed blond's. "Good job, for a SOB."

"Er...Thanks? Anyway, what's next?"

"It took a while to get over all that hate, I've got to say it's a bit too late. We'll start part two tomorrow, got to warn ya, it'll be more then just me and you." Naruto found for the first time he could understand what Bee meant. He wondered if it had anything to do with the fist-bump but dismissed the idea as dumb, even for him.

"Really? But I wanted to keep going!" he called at the other's retreating back.

"Get some rest, it's for the best." Bee shouted from the hall.

"He's right. It's late, and I'm bushed." Alphonse said, "I think you're supposed to bed down with us. Something about Olivier not trusting you on your own anymore..." He trailed off sheepishly.

"I understand...Hey, Al, can you give us a sec?" Naruto waited until it was just him and Edward alone in the room. He had no doubt that Al was eavesdropping. "Listen, Ed...I'm sorry."

"Yeah, right."

"No, really. The prank was meant for Roy, and I guess I went a little overboard with it. If you had been hurt...Hell if that guy had been hurt even...Anyway. I Am sorry." He reached into his pouch and pulled out a small spray canister, "Listen, it won't do anything for the colour, but this'll get rid of the smell."

Ed eyed the canister, obviously intrigued, "completely?"

"Yep."

"How? Is it a chemical reaction, or does it do something to seal it away? Is that even possible, to seal a smell away?"

Naruto grinned, glad their friendship was apparently patched up, "I can't tell you how it works really, since I'm not sure how I made it myself, I was seven at the time...And then the old man and Ibiki made me swear to never ever tell anyone how to make either the goo or the stink-be-gone...Anyway, I can tell you it works on everything from goo-bombs to drunken masters."

"Cool. Thanks, man." Ed slapped him on the back, "Let's get going before Al think's I drown you or something."

"HA! As if you could."