Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of the associated characters, locations, jutsu, etc. The only thing I own is the plot of the story. If there is any plagiarism of any form it was completely unintentional.

Narration

"Normal Dialogue"

Thoughts

Grass Village

"Ahh! Why the hell are we taking the long way there? Even with this thing taking us it will take at least another 5 days." Naruto whined while letting himself drop back into the sand.

"For the last time, we cannot risk going through Fire Territory! If anyone there spots us we're done for." Sasuke yelled back at him.

"I know, but it's so boring!" Naruto said before closing his eyes with a loud sigh. But just when Sasuke and Gaara thought there would be some peace and quiet, Naruto jumped back to his feet and stretched out his arms and legs. "Well I don't know about you, but I'm going back down for some food."

"Naruto, there are supplies in your bag." Gaara said while motioning towards the small brown backpack behind Naruto.

"Screw that, I'm in the mood for ramen." And without another word he jumped out of the sand cloud.

"We should probably go after him." Gaara said calmly while he also stood up.

"Tch! Dobe..." And so there were now three figures free-falling towards the ground, quickly speeding towards what would surely be a deadly fall, but just before they hit the ground their descent was cushioned by a sand bedding.

"See guys, that wasn't so hard." Naruto said with a grin.

"Hnn. Should've just let you fall." Sasuke said as he started walking away.

"Let's just get this over with quickly, the more time we spend on the ground, the higher the risk that someone recognizes us." Gaara said as he followed Sasuke.

"I know, it'll only be a couple of minutes. I'll have a bowl or two of ramen and then we can be on our way again, deal?"

One hour later

A large pile of bowls was sitting high and mighty in a table in the middle of a room. Sitting right next to it was Naruto who was currently slurping down noodles as fast as he could, and all around him was a crowd of screaming people who were currently shouting their encouragements. In front of the table was a nervous looking man who was currently alternating between looking with horror at Naruto and staring nervously at stopwatch he held in his hand. And way back in the corner Sasuke and Gaara were sitting down staring with annoyance at their friend. It was most certainly their lucky day, it had not been even a minute since they set foot in the first town they could find and they ran into a restaurant that was holding a special offer: eat 100 ramen bowls in less than an hour and get the whole thing for free. The challenge was meant to be for a party of at least five people, but right in front of everyone was Naruto chowing them down as if he were breathing them in. The clock had just hit the half time mark when Naruto set down the last bowl with a large grin plastered on his face. All around him the crowd erupted into loud cheers while the owner just slumped down on his chair with tears on his eyes.

"Arigatōgozaimashi!* It was delicious!" Naruto said as he stood up with a huge grin on his face, he was about to walk off when the crowd suddenly picked him up and carried him away in celebration.

"Tch! He's gonna blow our cover!" Sasuke said while standing up, covering his head with the hood on his cloak. Gaara followed him as they both walked out following the crowd that was still holding Naruto up. They carried him to the middle of the town square, where they started to throw him high up in the air while they all cheered for him. Eventually he was let back down to the ground and the people all crowded around him, one man stepped forward and vigorously shook his hand.

"That was very impressive young man. No one has ever won that challenge in over two decades, even those who went in groups. If it's not too much to ask, may we know your name?"

"M-my name? Well, sure. I am-"

"Uzumaki Naruto." A woman with blonde hair and a stern look stood in front of the crowds, with two other shinobi standing at her sides, one was a man with a posture much like Shikamaru's and a lollipop in his mouth, and the other was a woman with vibrant red hair and a determined gaze. And they all had Kumogakure hitai-ate.

"Yeah, who are you?" He asked while he looked at hem curiously.

"We have come for Uchiha Sasuke, we know he is with you so hand him over willingly or else?"

"Or else what?" He asked while putting his arms behind his head with a nonchalant expression. All three of the Kumo shinobi unsheathed Tantō swords, the large crowd scurried off within seconds leaving only the three jinchuriki alone with them.

"Great, Bee's lapdogs are here." Sasuke said as he looked at the three shinobi with an annoyed expression. "Samui, Omoi, Karui, go back to Kumo. I have no intention of going with you..."

"Sasuke, you are coming with us wether you want it or not!"" Samui, the leader, said as she readied her battle stance.

"Gomen, Sasuke, but we have to take you back." Omoi said.

"Baka! Don't apologize to him, can't you see that he is technically a missing-nin? We have to capture him at any cost!" Karui barked at him as she wacked him in the head.

"We cannot hurt any of them. If we do there could be serious consequences, I suggest we just leave." Gaara said as he used his sand to get him and the other jinchuriki away from the Kumogakure shinobi.

"Omoi!" Samui yelled.

"Raiton: Sandāboruto!*" Omoi's hands started to spark and were soon covered by large amounts of lighting, which he then released towards the retreating trio.

"Watch out!"

Land of Fire

"Just hold on a little while longer Kakashi. We've already crossed the border, there should be a town within the next two miles or so." Sakura said while she was slowly walking along the dirt road, Kakashi still hanging on to her, and Hinata following a couple of steps behind.

"W-wait! I sense some approaching." Hinata said while carefully searching through the woods that surrounded the road. A rustle in one of the bushes drew their attention, and made Sakura draw a kunai from her pouch. And as they expected a person jumped out of the bushes in their direction, but instead of attacking them it seemed to want to run away.

"You three again?"

"You! You are that shinobi from Suna! Why are you following us?" Sakura asked while holding the kunai up.

"Help me!" Hiroaki asked in a hushed tone.

"What?"

"They're coming for me, if they catch me they'll-" He stopped himself mid sentence with a painful scream as both of his hands rushed to clutch his head. He dropped to the ground and started to roll around in pain while Sakura and Hinata watched in horror.

"W-what's going on?" Hinata asked while slowly approaching him.

"That's as close as you want to get, miss Hyuuga." Three figures jumped down from the forest and landed right between Hinata and Hiroaki. One of them raised his hands in a tiger seal, which immediately caused Hiroaki to faint.

"I appreciate you stalling this criminal long enough for us to catch him, but now we will take care of him. So go on, resume whatever it is you were doing." The man in the middle said while motioning for them to leave with his free hand, since the other one was wrapped in a sling.

"Danzo-sama, the prisoner is secured." One of the other shinobi said.

"Good, now make sure he does not escape again." He said with a stern look as he dismissed the other shinobi, who disappeared along with Hiroaki.

"Danzo, what are you doing here?" Sakura asked with slight venom in her voice.

"Catching a dangerous criminal of course, something you seem to be unable to do even after having numerous attempts." He answered with a smug grin.

"W-was it really necessary to c-cause him such pain?" Hinata asked/

"It was very much necessary, otherwise we risked loosing him. Unlike you we do not accept failure."

"A little barbaric for someone who claims to act in justice and honor." Sakura said with the faintest of grins.

"If I were you, I would show more respect. I would have thought Tsunade would have taught you some manners along with her pitiful ideals. Stay out of what doesn't concern you, less you wish to pay for it." And without waiting for her to answer Danzo turned around and started to walk in the direction his subordinates disappeared to.

"Argh! That fucking asshole, I swear to god!" Sakura said while stomping away through the dirt path.

"S-Sakura?" Hinata called to her without moving from her original position.

"What?" Sakura responded while stopping and looking back at her.

"D-doesn't it seem weird that Danzo-sama c-captured that shinobi so quickly?"

"The man has a personal army at his disposal, and they are all highly trained assassins. Of course he would capture him so fast."

"We a-are one whole day away from Konoha. D-Danzo couldn't have come so quickly e-even if he wanted to. The only way he c-could have arrive on time is-"

"Is if he knew that Hiroaki was going to be here. But we just fought him yesterday, a messenger hawk takes at least that much time to go from Suna to Konoha. To be able to get here so fast, Danzo must have known about Hiroaki even before we did. Something seems off."

"It seems they are getting close to figuring something out my lord, should we do something?"

"Whatever it is, i-it can wait until I get a proper treatment."

"Kakashi-sensei! Gomen, I completely forgot about you!"

"Don't bother. For now let them believe what they want. It is all going according to plan. So I'll deal with them later."

*Arigatōgozaimashi: Thank you very much.

*Raiton: Sandāboruto: Lightning Style: Thunderbolt