Helloooo.

Just like to say thanks to all you people who have followed, favourtited and reviewed this fic, it means a lot!

Here's chapter 4, hope you enjoy!

It had been a week since Naruto had his fateful encounter with Kurotsuchi. Since then, they'd met up at the same lake they'd first met each other every day at sunset. Naruto smiled fondly at the memories of their time together, which mostly involved him talked animatedly about his training with ero-sannin (which she'd been surprised to find out was actually Jiraiya of the sannin) and his pranks. He'd discovered Kurotsuchi was quite calm and laid back and didn't scold him so much if he did or said anything stupid, unlike Sakura, except one time. Only one time so far had he experienced her temper. They'd been sparring in the clearing, taijutsu only, and let's just say Naruto used a submission move which ended with them being in a very comprising position, with Naruto's hands, unintentionally, upon certain… 'assets'. Needless to say Naruto didn't want to experience her wrath again, it put Sakura's to shame.

Naruto was currently sat in the middle of the same clearing by the lake waiting for the kunoichi, his clothing slightly scuffed as he'd just come from another days work of conditioning training with ero-sensei which was gruelling to say the least.

"boo" a feminine voice whispered in Naruto's ear causing him to jump in the air and consequently let out a small, feminine squeal, a scared expression planted on his face. His shocked demeanour dropped however when he saw the face of the now laughing Kurotsuchi.

"Ahah that's the best thing…" She bent over clutching her sides laughing harder, causing Naruto's annoyance to grow, "I can't *wheeze* speak *wheeze*… you actually squealed!" She now had tears forming in her eyes.

"Alright I get it, you got me, great. Good for you!" Naruto muttered in irritation, however he couldn't help but let a small smile tug at his lips. That was another thing he liked about Kurotsuchi, she had a sense of humour, which included pranks.

"Oh my…" she said, wiping the tears from her eyes now standing up straight, "I haven't laughed that much in a while"

"Glad I could help." Naruto mumbled sarcastically.

"Now now whiskers-chan don't get stroppy, just cause I beat you at your own game."

"I'm not stroppy!" He retorted, followed by a pregnant pause, "Oi and don't call me that… bakatsuchi!" Naruto joked now laughing at the new nickname he'd assigned the girl, causing a small blush to form across her cheeks as she stared in shock at the blond. No one had ever insulted her name before.

"Wh-what don't call me that you gaki!"

"Ma, it's just a nickname, no need to get so angry… bakatsuchi"

"Y-yeah well two can play at that game er… temeruto!"

…

…

"That was awful, you know that right?"

"Yeah…" the kunoichi sighed, before shaking herself out of her slump and looking down at the blond, "Anyway Naruto there's something I need to tell you."

"What is it Kurotsuchi-chan?" Naruto said, his brow furrowed as he stood up to face the girl.

"Well you see my injuries are pretty much all healed up so me and my team are set to move out." She said averting her eyes.

"Oh… when do you leave?"

"Well, kinda around about now… "

"What? You're leaving now?" Naruto asked tilting his head in confusion, "god he looks cute when he does that puppy dog thing" Kurotsuchi thought to herself suddenly, managing to contain her blush.

"Yeah, I just told my team that I needed to bathe quickly then we'd leave."

"So you… "Naruto started before trailing off.

"Yeah. I came to say goodbye." Kurotsuchi confirmed with a small smile.

"Alright well I guess I'll see you around then Kurotsuchi-chan." Naruto said, a soft smile playing across his face.

"Yeah… don't forget to right to me though!" She replied jokingly.

"Huh? How am I supposed to do that, it would be pretty shady if a Konoha and an Iwa nin were exchanging letters."

Kurotsuchi shrugged, "I dunno, use your toads or something, your sensei would probably tell you how."

"That's a good idea Kurotsuchi-chan! I'll definitely send you some letters!" The blond replied enthusiastically, placing both hands behind his head, a wide grin on his face.

"Oh and one last thing," Kurotsuchi said, walking towards the teen until they were almost face to face, the girl craning her head to look up at the jinchuriki.

"Huh what is it Kurotsuchi-chan?" He managed, blushing slightly at their proximity. The kunoichi didn't reply however instead, reaching up with one hand she gently stroked his whiskered cheek before getting up on her tip-toes and placing a soft, lingering kiss on his lips.

"I'll see you around, don't go getting soft on me now, Naruto-kun." She said, before winking, a teasing grin gracing her features and turning around, walking towards the forestry, a seductive sway added to her hips which Naruto couldn't help but be entranced by.

Before long, Naruto was left standing alone in the clearing, a blush still dusting his cheeks. That had been his first kiss. Well, not counting the accidental kiss with the Sasuke-teme.

"Ahh young love… I've never been so proud of my dear little apprentice," Naruto was stunned out of his daze as he turned to face Jiraiya, weeping comical tears of joy.

"You saw that?" Naruto asked, his voice strangely monotone.

"Why of course! It was golden stuff gaki!" The sage shouted passionately before gazing off into the distance with stars in his eyes, "Ah I can just see it now… Two lovers from opposing villages, captured by a forbidden love…" He said melodramatically.

"ERO-JIJI!" Naruto raged.

"Oops…"

3 months later

"Alright gaki we're coming to the last month of you first years' worth of training so it's time to mix things up a little bit." Jiraiya said as they sat down in a clearing, in which a small stream ran through.

"Yosh, ero-sensei, what're we gonna be doing?" Naruto questioned excitedly.

"For the next month we're gonna see if you have those chakra chains that your mother and some of the Uzumakis had." He answered while searching through his travelling pack.

"Yes! This is gonna be so cool! I'm definitely gonna rock these chains!" The young blond exclaimed, ecstatic at the prospect of finally learning some Uzumaki techniques.

"Hmm don't get you hopes too high though kid, we don't even know if you've can do this yet… Now where did I put… Ah here it is." The sage mumbled to himself before pulling out a large scroll.

"Ne what's that ero-sensei?" Naruto asked, staring at the scroll inquisitively.

"This my boy, is how we're going to check whether you have the capability to pull of the level of chakra manipulation to create chakra chains." Jiraiya said, making Naruto go wide-eyed.

"wooww, how's it work huh sensei?"

"Alright gaki, all you gotta do is place both hands on the scroll here, channel some chakra and it should act as a catalyst causing the specialised chakra to appear." He said, before frowning placing one hand on his chin, "thing is though I'm not sure if this's gonna work since it's normally only used for kekkai genkais."

"Oh well, we might as well try it out." Naruto said rolling out the scroll, eliciting a shrug from the sage.

"Alright so how it should work is, if we're talking mokuton for example, if someone channelled their chakra into it plant life would grow, so for you chakra chains should appear?" The toad sage determined rhetorically. Nodding his head, Naruto placed both hands on the scroll and channelled chakra into it. Moments went by as nothing happened. Frowning, Naruto channelled more chakra into the scroll however still nothing happened.

"Ero-sensei! It's not working!" Naruto whined.

"Quit bitchin' gaki, you knew that there was a chance you wouldn't have the chains." Jiraiya replied sternly.

"I know… but still," the blond said dejectedly, "Guess I'll try again… just in case." He then, once again placed both his hands palms down upon the scroll.

Strengthening his resolve mentally, he pushed more chakra than he had done before causing a light blue glow to form around him. Suddenly, as if a dam bursting, Naruto felt a surge of chakra rush through him. Opening his eyes, his eyebrows shot up in wonder at the sight of dozens of dark orange chakra chains snaking their way through out the clearing, whipping about the air as if having lives on their own. Looking to the side with a wide grin on his face, he saw Jiraiya's stunned expression.

"Told you I'd rock it sensei." He remarked smugly, causing the sage to laugh heartily.

"You sure did kid, you sure did."

10 months later – Iron country

"Yo bro!" shouted a small toad as it popped into existence in a plume of smoke.

"Huh gamakichi? What's up?" Naruto questioned looking up from his notes. So far in his second year of training he'd made a lot of progress in kenjutsu, however in fuinjutsu he'd thrived going from a level 1 to 3 borderline 4 in just 9 months.

"I got some letter for you!" Gamakichi replied perkily, "and there all yours… as long as you give me candy." He finished causing Naruto to sigh dramatically, "common Naruto you know the deal; I'm your messenger and you give me candy."

"Fine fine here you go, now give me those letters" The boy conceded, handing the toad a small paper bag of sweets, "Who're they from?" He asked as the toad places the small bag into his messenger pack before rummaging for the letters.

"Um… you got one from Sakura, and one from the old lady." Gamakichi replied, smirking at the slight tinge of sadness that crept its way across Naruto's face, "Oh and one from your Iwa girl"

"What? From Kurotsuchi-chan?" The teen replied, perking up instantly.

"Yep!"

"Alright! Gimme gimme."

"Here you go. Summon me when you want some return, but don't forget the candy." The toad warned as it puffed out of sight, leaving Naruto to read the letters.

"Hmm I suppose I'll start with Sakura-chan's" he said to himself before opening the scroll.

"Dear Naruto…"

"Oi Ero-sensei!" Naruto called out, catching the attention of the man in question as he sat at on a bar stool in a bar enjoying some sake.

"What's up brat?" He said before, adopting a hissing whisper, "Can't you see I'm working on my game here?" He nodded his head over to the corner of the bar where two, incredibly attractive, girls sat. Naruto just rolled his eyes at the man's before, completely used to it by now.

"Baa-chan sent me this letter today and it had a scroll attached to it about a mission; she said you should have a look at it too." Naruto said, handing the sage the scroll.

"So Gamakichi delivered you a batch of letters today huh?" He asked the blond.

"Yeah…"

"Any from your Iwa girl?" The perv questioned with a lopsided grin and a wiggle of his eyebrows.

"Just read the damn scroll." Naruto huffed, crossing his arms over his chest and looking off to the side. The tell-tale blush on his cheeks told wonders however.

Jiraiya grinned at the boy's actions before turning his gaze to the scroll in hand, "hmm let's see here…" he mumbled reading over the contents, "So looks like we got a group of missing-nin… lead by Shinga… taking captives from Tsukigakure… Looks like you've got a tricky one there kid." The sage said before handing Naruto back the scroll.

"What? You're not gonna help me?"

"Hmm nah, I think you can handle it."

"That Shinga guy's a jounin though isn't he?" Naruto asked, still sceptical.

"Yeah… it'll be a good test of your skills. Remember to read up on his abilities as well; you don't wanna go into the battle unprepared." The sage advised.

"Where even is Tsukigakure?" Naruto questioned, re-examining the scroll.

"Don't worry about that gaki, I'll taking you there. But you'll still have to do the mission by yourself."

"Cool! When do we leave sensei?"

"First thing in the morning. Now go get your shit together, it's a long way." Jiraiya said, prompting the blond to run back out of the bar with a shit-eating grin on his face allowing the old man to enjoy is sake… and the ladies.

"Alright kid this is where we part ways." Jiraiya said as he stopped on a tree branch near Tsukigakure.

"What? You're not coming in ero-sensei?" Naruto asked innocently.

"Nope! From here on you're on your own. Now the scroll states you're to meet the daughter of the leader of Tsukigakure at the Tsukikage tower, one Tsukino I believe, she'll brief you on the finer details."

"Hai!" Naruto shouted, saluting jokingly, "I'll see you later sensei!" He said before dashing off in the general direction of the hidden village.

"Dumb brat didn't even ask me where the bloody village is…" Jiraiya laughed to himself, shaking his head.

It was 3 hours later when Naruto finally arrived in Tsukigakure. Naruto had, inevitably, gotten lost causing a mere 30 minute walk to turn into the 180 minute trek. Walking through the village, Naruto realized it was a lot like Konoha however smaller, with regards to the atmosphere, and especially so since it was now 9pm and street lamps lit the streets, but people were still coming to and fro. What shocked the young jinchuriki the most however were the stares he was getting. Being the host for the Kyuubi, Naruto had become accustom to harsh glares and being treated as if he didn't exist but this was something else entirely. People were smiling! Smiling at him! They were smiling and waving at him and wishing him a good evening! He couldn't believe it! It was almost as if he'd fallen into a dream where he'd finally won the respect of the Konoha citizens and they'd learnt to love him. It was everything he'd ever dreamt of.

Returning the kind gestures with vigour, Naruto continued his way through the low-lit streets until he reached a large building, his mood heightened by the towns-folk dramatically. Noticing the crest of the moon carved onto the front of the structure, Naruto entered and walked into what seemed like a lobby.

"Um excuse me miss, my name's Naruto Uzumaki and I've been called here to speak with Tsukino-er-sama?" Naruto asked the receptionist at the lobby desk, remembering his honorifics, causing her to look up from her book.

"I take it you're the Ninja Konoha sent us?" She asked, eyeing Naruto from top to bottom.

"Hai"

"Hmm you sure?" She questioned the blond again sceptically.

"Yes why?"

"You don't look like much," She said bluntly causing Naruto to sigh and lower his head as an aura of gloom settled around him, "Ma whatever, you can go on up. Tsukino-sama was expecting you a while ago." After asking where she could be found and trudging off, Naruto followed the directions the receptionist gave him until he reached a set of large wooden double doors.

He knocked hesitantly on the door, not quite sure what to do, "Ano… hello? It's the ninja from Konohagakure!" The blond called just loud enough for the person on the other side to hear. The sound of someone mumbling to themselves and shuffling came from beyond the door before a soft voice called for him to enter. Naruto slowly opened the door and stepped inside the room, closing it behind him. He stole a quick glance around the room and noticed it simply looked like a smaller version of the Hokage's office, minus the view.

Drawing his eyes away from the interior design, Naruto met the gaze of the person behind the desk, only for his breath to catch in his throat. Sat behind the desk was one of the most beautiful women Naruto had ever seen, despite her only being a year or two older than him. She had long white hair tied up in a high ponytail using a clip shaped like two crescent moons, tanned skin slightly darker than his own, a pair of stunning emerald eyes and a yellow jewel on her forehead that reminded him of his baa-chan. She wore a light turquoise battle kimono with a black chest plate strapped over, two yellow crescent moons displayed on the front and an orange sash around her waist.

"Tsukino… sama?" Naruto managed, after regaining his composure.

"Er hai. You're the shinobi Konoha sent?" She questioned, not looking up from the paperwork on the desk.

"Hai, Uzumaki Naruto at your service." The blond replied enthusiastically causing the young heiress to look up at him.

"Excellent, um… oh yes! I need to brief you on your mission." She said, looking slightly flustered. Naruto could've sworn he saw the tiniest of blushes form across her tanned cheeks however it was gone almost as soon as it came.

The girl then began rummaging through the stacked paperwork piled up on her desk, inadvertently spilling pieces as she searched. On the outside, Naruto merely raised an eyebrow at the girl's behaviour, on the inside however he was giggling to himself "hehe she looks cute all flustered like that."

"Ah here it is!" She exclaimed, holding up a piece of paperwork triumphantly, "So I assume you've been informed of the basics?"

"Hai."

"Good, now for the details. Around 2 months ago ninja from my village started going missing, at first we thought they'd simply been killed in action or had defected, however after the 11th ninja went missing 2 weeks ago we started to investigate. It turns out that a ninja by the name of Shinga originally from Konoha, has been abducting our nin using some form of unknown genjutsu. We don't know how he's controlling them or what his plans are but we have reports stating that those very same ninja that went missing have been seen in numerous surrounding towns and villages committing all sorts of heinous crimes. To put it simply, I want him stopped and we don't have the manpower to handle such a task right now. So that's where you come into play." She said in a diplomatic tone, contrasting her previous flustered self. Naruto couldn't help but be impressed at the business-like approach she was adopting as she was around the same age as him. Although, his curiosity was raised however by her use of 'my' when referencing the village… It was if she owned it or something.

"Hmm, well to start with, the genjutsu you mentioned that Shinga used, it is actually the result of a forbidden dojutsu called the Jibakugan (self-bondage eye). The genjutsu can be initiated via eye contact and allows the caster to manipulate the target by bringing out and playing on their subconscious negative and hateful emotions." Naruto remarked, also adopting a business-like tone.

"You sure know your stuff." Tsukino said with a smirk.

"I do my homework." The blond replied with a smirk of his own.

"Anyway, I've assigned you a room at a local hotel so you can stay the night there. I'll meet you at the village gates tomorrow at 8am." She said with a small grin.

"Thanks, I'll take my leave then Tsukino-sama," Naruto said with a slight bow of the head.

"Tsukino is fine Naruto-san, I've never been one for formalities," The white-haired girl said with a bright smile.

"That's good because neither have I," Naruto responded merrily with a smile of his own, walking towards the door before stopping, "I'll see you tomorrow morning then, Tsukino-chan." The blond said with a wink, before exiting the room, not noticing the blush that glazed the young heiresses face.

"Morning, Tsukino-chan!" Naruto greeted cheerily as he approached the girl at the village gates.

"Ah good morning Naruto-san, you're right on time." She replied with a wide smile, causing Naruto to frown.

"You can't tell me to be formal then add '–san' to me name Tsukino-chan, that's not fair." The blond remarked with a mocking pout.

"Oh um sorry," She said lowering her head, "… Naruto-kun." Naruto offered a goofy grin and walked up next to the young teen.

"So you here to see me off?" He asked innocently.

"What? No I'm coming with you." Tsukino replied as if the answer was obvious.

"I can't let you come with me, you're the daughter of the leader of this village! If you get hurt I'm done for!" The Uzumaki exclaimed dramatically.

"Firstly, I'll have you know that I am the leader of this village ever since my father passed away a year ago and secondly those are my ninja out there so I'm going to bringing them back." She responded with an angry pout, puffing her cheeks out slightly. Naruto would have thought she looked cute when angry if he wasn't riddled with guilt.

"Oh… I'm sorry, I didn't know…" He managed lamely, glancing at his feet.

"It's okay I suppose..." Tsukino said, her anger lessening slightly, followed by an abrupt silence.

"So um, I take it you're trained in ninja arts?"

"Of course I am!"

"Just checking, just checking… jeez." Another awkward silence ensued as both teens stood tensely at the village gates not quite knowing what to do or say next.

"So we should probably get going…" Naruto began.

"Yes, I suppose we should." The newly acclaimed village leader said before abruptly leaping off into the nearby trees, surprising the young blond who immediately followed.

After 5 minutes of silent tree hopping Naruto finally decided to speak up, "So where're we heading?" he asked.

"To Shinga's camp, it's meant to be situated south of Tsukigakure and it should take a couple of hours to get there." The Tsukino said without looking at the teen.

"You know, I really am sorry about your father; I didn't mean to bring up bad memories." Naruto spoke sincerely, once again penetrating the silence.

"I forgive you Naruto-kun, I shouldn't have snapped at you, it's just I've been tense around Tsuki with the whole Shinga business and I'm not entirely over my father's passing." She replied in a quiet voice, strained by the sound of the wind rushing by the, offering the blond a small smile.

"What was he like?" Naruto asked suddenly.

Tsukino gave a wistful sigh which made the jinchuriki worry that he may have upset her before she spoke, "He was a great man… I loved him with every inch of my heart." She said, "He didn't act like the leader of the village most of the time though; he was almost like a big kid. I remember when I as a child we would play hide and seek together, and he would always let me win." Naruto felt a pang in his heart as he heard the young girl speak however quickly dismissed it, he didn't want to burden the girl with his worries.

"What about your mother?" He questioned, a little more hesitantly.

"My mother died giving birth to me, so I never met her. Father would always say how alike we were though…" She responded solemnly, noticing Naruto cringe she quickly added, "Don't feel about asking, it's fine, really! It's actually quite nice to talk about these things, lately I've been feeling kind of…"

"Lonely?" Naruto suggested, his voice soft.

"Yeah…"

"I understand." He replied simply, earning a curious glance from the white-haired girl. While the statement itself seemed like a mere heartfelt sentiment, the flash of… something that crossed the blond's face seemed to say otherwise. However she couldn't quite figure out quite what.

"It gets better you know." Naruto said out of the blue, snapping the girl out of her thoughts.

"What does?" She inquired.

"The pain." He replied shortly, his voice quiet and sombre. He looked up at Tsukino making eye-contact for a second, his deep cerulean eyes meeting her glistening emerald causing her to gasp slightly, "Don't give in to it Tsukino-chan. Someone so beautiful doesn't belong in the darkness." He then increased his speed, leaping ahead of the shocked girl. And that was when it hit her. She knew what he meant when he made that simple remark just moments ago. He knew the pain. He knew loneliness.

The duo travelled in silence for the rest of the journey, Tsukino not quite knowing what to say to the enigmatic blond.

Eventually, the teen village head realised they were approaching Shinga's camp, "Um Naruto-kun we should stop here, we're near the camp." She said, unsure of how to communicate with the boy. Naruto made no visual or verbal response that he had heard Tsukino however stopped and dropped down from the clearing nonetheless.

The girl followed hastily and watched as the Uzumaki sat against the base of a tree and took a long drink from his water canteen. Sighing, the girl did the same, and perched herself against a tree opposite the blond.

"Tuskino-chan?" Naruto started, breaking the girl from her musings to see the boy fidgeting with his hands and looked rather uncomfortable, "I um, I'm sorry about earlier. I don't know what came over me." He mumbled sheepishly.

"It's okay Naruto-kun… Are you sure you're alright?" She asked offering the blond a small smile.

"Yeah don't worry about it Tsukino-chan… I think I just didn't get enough sleep last night!" He replied with a wide grin that stretched his whiskers and a hearty laugh. The girl look at him sceptically, but relented nonetheless, begrudgingly satisfied with his answer.

"So what's the plan?" Naruto asked.

"Well first how about you tell me what you can do so I can come up with a strategy?" Tsukino replied with smile.

"Oh okay!" The blond began enthusiastically, "Well, my favourite jutsu is the kage bunshin and I'm capable of produced large numbers of them, I know 3 elemental jutsu, 2 being offensive wind types and the other a defensive earth type. I'm… reasonable at kenjutsu, have a pretty good understanding of fuinjutsu and also have a special form of chakra manipulation which is… a secret." Naruto finished before waving his arms about theatrically, "Oh oh forgot! I can also summon toads and can perform the rasengan, an A-rank jutsu invented by the fourth himself, me and my sensei are the only ones that know it."

"Those are some pretty import things to forget…" The girl thought dryly as she watched Naruto nod to himself smugly.

"What can you do Tsukino-chan?" The blond asked, with a slight tilt to his head.

"Hmm let's see… I'm proficient at genjutsu and in fuinjutsu and also have quite a good knowledge of medicinal herbs." She said tapping her chin with thought.

"That's perfect!" Naruto exclaimed, shocking the white haired girl.

"What do you mean?"

"It's obvious! You can be the support and I'll be the muscle!" He said, seemingly proud of himself.

"Naruto-kun that's obvious, but what we need is…"

"Wait wait I'm not done!" He interrupted before continuing, "I've got it all figured out! This's what we'll do…"

The man yawned as he sat perched on a branch. He was wearing standard shinobi gear with a forehead protector with a moon engraved upon the front. His facial features were ordinary except the strange, dark red markings underneath his eyes. Today had been pretty boring. But then again what did he expect? Guard duty was always the same. Nothing ever happened. I mean, who would be stupid enough to cross Shinga-sama anyway?

As that thought crossed his mind a flash of yellow in his left peripheral vision made him snap his eyes in the direction only to meet a pair of bright blue eyes.

"Yo!" They said.

"Huh?" Was the only response he managed before his world went dark.

"That was easy." Naruto commented blandly, as he stared up at the form of Tsukino behind the unconscious man.

"Hmm I believe this is Sawasaki-san, he's a low-level chunin I think." The girl in question said looking down at the man before running through a series of hand seals and slamming her hand down onto the man.

"Sealing art: chakra sealing technique!" She shouted as a seal spread briefly over his prone form before fading into nothing.

"Did you get your clones in place?" Tsukino asked.

"Hai."

"Good, let's get moving." As she said this, the same thing happened to approximately four more of Shinga's captives who were also on guard duty, by the hands of Naruto's clones.

Slowly the couple approached a clearing which housed around 10 tents, on the opposite side of said clearing was a small cliff face which housed a cave. Naruto assumed that was where Shinga would be. They both crouched on branches and watched as a few of the other captives went about their business as if they were at home. Suddenly, the outline of a figure began to form in the entrance of the cave, and from it came a tall man with a mane of white hair, placed into two ponytails either side of his head that fell passed his shoulders and onto his chest. He also wore a strange black mask that covered all of his face except his mouth and had red markings on. Naruto recognised him immediately.

"Shit." He cursed.

"What is it?" Tsukino whispered, a worried expression on her face.

"That guy there, like Shinga, is an ex-konoha shinobi. I think he was an ANBU even. His name is Hakui. He's at least chunin level." Naruto explained in a low tone before another figure emerged from the cave. He strolled with his hands behind his back and wore a similar mask to the first. He wore an elaborate green sleeveless one-piece suit with matching arm guards, cloak and a green sombrero? No that couldn't have been a sombrero right? No shinobi wore sombreros, except… shit. Once again cursing his luck Naruto turned his head back to Tsukino.

"We just got more trouble; that guy in green is also an-ex ANBU Konoha missing-nin. His name's Doshin I think." The blond commented, furthering the girls worry.

"What do you know of their abilities?" She asked shakily.

"Hakui uses some form of technique similar to opening the eight gates however from what I've heard it doesn't last long, and Doshin uses some kind of earth jutsu to transform himself increasing power, but again this has drawbacks for the user." Naruto recited, silently thanking ero-sannin for making him revise the bingo books, especially the Konoha missing-nins.

"What do we do?" The village leader asked.

"Nothing."

"Wh-what?"

"We do nothing; we follow the plan. All it means is that it'll be a bit harder to execute." He stated his voice firm. So the two waited. They watched as the two missing-nin sat by the fire, the Doshin character looking suspiciously lax while Hakui looked tensed and coiled as if ready to strike at any moment.

Suddenly, or at least for the missing-nin anyway, feathers began falling from the sky. While the majority of the ninja noticed the genjutsu some of the less aware and or weaker foes didn't and were put to sleep. Targeting those that had fallen asleep, a dozen Naruto clones then jumped out of the surrounding forestry, and bashed them over the head, ensuring that they couldn't be released from the genjutsu and re-join the fight.

Naruto and Tsukino watched as the remaining 4 captive nin and 2 ex-ANBU engaged the clones. Despite outnumbering them, the clones slowly began being dispersed by the rouge shinobi causing Naruto to frown from his crouched spot.

"I'm going to join in, stay here and provide support." Naruto said sternly, before he could go however Tsukino gripped his shirt arm.

"Stay safe Naruto-kun." She whispered, causing the young blond to give her a bright smile.

"Don't worry Tsukino-chan, I'm gonna be Hokage, I won't die here." He said before dashing off.

Joining the fight, Naruto managed to take one of the remaining captive nin by surprise reducing the number to 3. Bringing his hands up into his favourite seal he created another two dozen clones to engage the three Tsuki shinobi while he stared down the Konoha-nin.

"Ooo looky here Hakui-kun! We got ourselves a little Konoha brat! Aren't we lucky?" The one called Doshin exclaimed gaily.

"You know I don't believe in luck Doshin-san, and even if I did begin to conform to such a ridiculous concept, I don't see how this situation would be deemed 'lucky'." Hakui stated blandly causing Naruto to sweapdrop "He's like Shino but worse."

"Mou your no fun Hakui-kun!" Doshin whined before moving his head slightly as a kunai whizzed past, "Hmm eager to begin aye? Well don't expect me to hold back because I plan on going all out from the start! Hakui, stay out of this, the kids mine!" He shouted before running through a sequence of hand seals, "Kinjutsu: Mud golem!" With that mud and earth began to lift off the ground and attach itself to man until his 5'8" frame became 6'9" and took the form of a sorta weird, well golem thing.

The man wasted no time before shooting off towards the blond jinchuriki and throwing a punch which Naruto dodged by rolling away. Turning his head he blanched at the sight of a small crater that had formed where the man's punch had hit. "Shit he's almost as bad as baa-chan." Naruto thought worriedly before eyeing up the man golem thing. "My ninjutsu won't work… I'm not entirely confident that I can cut through that amour, I could use a rasengan but it would need to be an Odama version and I'm not sure this guy will give me enough time to form one…"

Thinking quickly Naruto ran through some hand seals while jumping backwards to avoid another of Doshin's punches before slamming his hands on the ground.

"Summoning jutsu!" He shouted, causing an eruption of smoke to cover him and the immediate area.

As the smoke cleared, Naruto could be seen standing upon a large toad that was orange with blue markings all over. It also wore battle armour that covered its chest, back, shoulders and forearms.

"Yo Gama! I'm gonna need your help to stop this rock guy." Naruto shouted down to the toad.

"Very well Naruto-kun; I will do my best." It replied in a calm tone, to which the blond grinned wildly.

"Ooooh look at this! The kid can summon toads! My my my, this just keeps getting better!" Doshin shouted excitedly in a strange deep guttural voice. He then leapt into the air, bringing both hands clasped together behind his head and brought them down onto the blond.

Unflinching, the blond made no attempt to move as Gama brought his armoured arms up into a cross, blocking the rouge-nins attack. Naruto did notice however that the toad buckled slightly under the force.

Cursing himself for getting cocky he jumped off the toad, ordering it to engage the missing-nin before making a dozen shadow clones to help.

Naruto then gripped his right wrist with his left hand and watched as the tell-tale swirl of chakra began to form in the palm of his right hand.

The clones were quickly being dispelled by the earth golem and Gama was only just holding his own, only managing to get a few hits in however they didn't seem to do much. Noticing this one of the remaining clones formed a plan.

"Oi gama you think you can give us some oil?" It said before it, and 2 other clones seemingly understanding the others thought process, jumped onto Gama's head.

"I certainly can." The toad replied as it inhaled before spitting out a large stream of oil. Reacting quickly, the clones threw kunai with explosive notes attached into the stream before igniting them, causing a large fireball to barrel its way to the earthen shinobi.

Not having the capacity due to the extra weight to move, the nin placed both arms in front of him protectively before he was engulfed by the inferno.

Naruto watched on from a distance with a smile on his face before looking to his hand and noting that the once small swirl of chakra had finally reached a large enough size to get through Doshin's armour.

Dashing forward, the blond sped towards the golem as the fire cleared, revealing the ex-ANBU to be frozen almost due to the hardened mud. Before he could reach the shinobi however, Hakui appeared in front of golem with an unhappy look on his face. Naruto slowed slightly however his brow etched itself into a frown as the white-haired man's eyes seemed to glaze over as if he was spacing out.

Grinning, he realised Tsukino must have placed a genjutsu on the nin. Not wanting to waste the opportunity, Naruto increased his speed, sidestepping the dazed shinobi and thrusted the spiralling sphere of chakra into Doshin's stomach.

A throaty roar came from both the missing-nin and Naruto in pain and exertion as the ball of chakra grinded its way through the hardened mud and into the man's flesh before the young Uzumaki released the ball sending Doshin flying back crashing through multiple trees.

Naruto sighed as he jumped back next to Gama as the toad dispersed in a plume of smoke, cautious to get some distance between him and the now angry Hakui.

"You will pay for this." He said his voice cold and uncaring.

"Hmm… I'm not sure I will?" Naruto replied cheekily, trying to shake the sick feeling that settled in his stomach.

"Prepare yourself, for you shall die for crossing…" Hakui was interrupted then by a feminine shout.

"Naruto-kun! Look out!" Cried the frantic voice of Tsukino, before a sharp pain spawned from his lower back causing him to cry out, stumbling a couple of steps forward. He reached with his hand to touch the affected area and saw it was covered in blood. His blood.

Cursing to himself, Naruto leapt clumsily to the side on reflex, turning his gaze from Hakui to see a tall man with dark grey hair which spiked out in every direction, even more so than Naruto's and wore a black cloak. Under his eyes and between his eyebrows on his forehead were strange dark red markings that seemed to writhe occasionally.

But what made Naruto gasp, was the sight of Tsukino. Or what he thought was Tsukino anyway. The girl was wearing the exact same thing and had the same hair, however a strange, pitch black mask covered her face only revealing her lips and her eyes shone like two white bulbs. In her hands, she clutched a bloody tanto.

"T-tsukino-chan?" The blond managed.

"Naruto-kun! I can't control myself its Shinga" The girl cried in defence.

"Looks like you got quite a lot on your hands, shinobi-kun." Said Shinga, a sneer plastered on his face, "Now, how about you and Tsukino-chan here have a dance hmm?" He then raised his hands into the tiger seal causing the markings on his face writhe furiously.

Naruto watched in horror as Tsukino's form then began to twitch and move, almost robotically, as she raised the tanto in front of her into a stance.

"Please, Naruto-kun… help me." She whimpered slightly.

The blond surveyed the clearing, taking in the tensed and battle ready form of Hakui, the smirking form of Shinga and the crying Tsukino. Only one thought went through his mind.

"Shit."

Feel a bit cruel for leaving this on a cliffhanger but I wanted to get the chapter out so sorry about that.

The way i see it Naruto should be about 15 and a half ish by the end of this chapter? Maybe more like 1/3 but anyway its around the time he goes back to Konoha in canon.

Oh and i'll try to get the next chapter up within a week but i've got exams going on so i'm not sure how long it'll take.

Thanks for reading and peace.