Naruto: Trigger

Naruto ambled through the streets of Konohagakure, his nose buried in his fūinjutsu notes as he used his sensory abilities to keep himself from bumping into people. He was expecting a summons from the Konoha Council, who were overseeing the day-to-day business involved in the smooth running of the village while the Hokage was incapacitated. Naruto wanted to be able to succinctly and coherently explain the nature of the dormant Uzumaki seal matrix that was integrated in the village's outer wall and was hoping he'd be allowed to study it even if the Elders decided against activating any of the defensive measures.

The newly-promoted blond chūnin would have been working in his apartment or in the odd little tower set aside for members of the Kekkai-han, but Kakashi-sensei had invited him out for dango. Recognising that news of his adventures in sealing had finally reached the solver-haired jounin's ears, Naruto had accepted: it would be nice to have a sit-down chat with his genin-sensei even though he wouldn't be able to share some of his recent discoveries. Kakashi understood about clearance and secrecy, so he wouldn't push for information or take offense if Naruto avoided some of his questions. It would also give Naruto an opportunity to ask the jounin questions about what he'd been up to lately and find out a bit more about where the man had been. No mission details of course, but as much else as Kakashi was prepared to share.

The last week in the village had been pretty quiet really, other than the promotions getting out and a certain degree of outrage among the civilians at Sasuke not getting one. Sasuke hadn't minded though, simply shrugging and saying he hadn't expected to get one given how things had turned out. Naruto's brunet team-mate had then left the village with Jiraya, supposedly in search of Senju Tsunade whom the Hokage had selected as his successor. Naruto had wished him luck; the Slug Princess hadn't set foot in Konoha since before the Kyuubi attack.

Han had left for Sea Country less than a day later, which had been a shame as Naruto had enjoyed spending time with his fellow jinchuuriki, but the blond recognised the necessity of it and had persuaded the older man to write to him. Gaara hadn't left yet though, due to the situation with Suna still being unresolved so the late Kazekage's children were still guests of the village. Not that the three seemed to mind that much: Kankuro was making the most of his extended stay in a village where wood was cheap and plentiful to stock up on puppetry supplies while Temari had somehow managed to befried Sakura. The two kunoichi could often be found arguing passionately about one thing or the other in one of the village's tea shops. Naruto was happy that his pinkette team-mate had an older kunoichi friend to look up to, even though Temari was from Suna and technically lower in rank than Sakura at the moment. Ame-kaa-san wasn't a kunoichi despite her very ninja attitude to life and Naruto was pretty sure that the only other chūnin his female team-mate had met so far were all medics. Not that Naruto had done much better on the socialising front: the only new friends he'd made were all in the Barrier Team.

Naruto drifted to a halt outside the dango shop and looked up from his reading, grinning at the sight of Kakashi-sensei teasing Asuma and Kurenai about their not-relationship. Naruto didn't have a clue how serious said not-relationship was, but he'd been raised and trained to read subtle emotional cues and body language and the two jounin very definitely had something going on.

"Hullo, Kakashi-sensei," the blond said agreeably, drawing the adults' attention to himself as he slid his notes away into a storage seal in his sleeve. "It's very odd for you to have got here before me, you know?"

"Well, you know how it is," the silver-haired jounin drawled, visible eye glinting with cheerful mischief, "some occasions–" he broke off abruptly, all four ninja present turning to look inside the dango shop for the source of that brief –and to Naruto vaguely familiar– chakra spike.

The shop was empty. Completely empty of people other than the server behind the counter off to the far right, but there was a cup sitting on one of the tables, half-full and still steaming slightly. Naruto tried to recall who'd been sitting there when he walked up, but could only remember a kasa hat, a black cloak decorated with red clouds and two quiet voices engaged in what had the feel of a well-worn debate, if their tone was anything to go by. One of the voices had been ever-so-slightly familiar though, meshing with the chakra-scent of white clay, eagerness, teeth and the prickly feeing of an imminent explosion.

Naruto had met a lot of new people in the last month and hadn't quite got them all straight in his mind just yet.

"I thought Leader-sama wanted us to bring back the Gobi, un," said the familiar voice from behind Naruto and across the street.

"Perhaps, but it is not here and the Kyuubi is," said the other voice, this one a bland monotone and chakra that smelled like dry heat, grief, blood and the layered complexity of a wire-trap. Naruto turned to see two shinobi in concealing black coats decorated with red clouds, their features disguised by kasa hats. One was shorter, wider and hunched, smelling of seasoned wood, steel and at least six different poisons while the other revealed a brilliant blue eye between hat brim and raised collar, the other eye hidden by a lock of blond hair.

Something settled in Naruto's mind at the sight of that floppy bang.

"Deidara-kun?" Kakashi-sensei said, not sounding very surprised at all. "What brings you here?"

The blond bomber shrugged, one hand fiddling with a bit of clay. "A mission; what else, un?" His companion paused, briefly distracted by the calm civility of the exchange and Naruto seized the opportunity to shunshin away towards the river, somewhere a fight could break out without damaging infrastructure or civilians. The blond chūnin did not want to be held responsible for an influx of new construction missions when all the rubble from the invasion had finally been cleared up!

Kakashi, Asuma and Kurenai kept up with him effortlessly, as did Deidara and his odd companion. Was the other man a puppet, like Kankuro's Karasu, and if so where was the controller? How could a puppet have chakra?

"That was pathetic," the wooden man said gruffly, tilting his hat back and away from his face.

Naruto grinned cheesily, the expression an effective mask of his rather naughty glee. He'd just had a completely awesome idea…

"You guys said you wanted the Kyuubi, right?" he said brightly, all but bouncing on the spot with suppressed energy. "not me as the Sacrifice, but the fox itself?"

"That's right, un," Deidara said, grinning back as to Naruto's right the newly-promoted chūnin sensed rather than saw his sensei stiffen at the abrupt change in approach.

"Then I really should let you deal with him in person," Naruto babbled cheerfully, eyes now lit up with wicked mischief as his tenant perked up slightly at the opportunity presented, "it's only polite you know and manners are important!"

Ignoring the startled exclamations from Asuma and Kurenai, the short blond blanked his mind and slid into a meditative trance, allowing the demon fox to act through him as a seal-less Kotai Henge reshaped his body to Yoko's liking.

This was going to be so much fun!

A/N: It's been two years since I've updated this and I do apologize for the wait, but what Kishimoto's being doing with the plot of Naruto has been a bit... disappointing and I've had to give my muse time and space to decide what to do with it all. I've also had other stories on the brain of course, but this was my first fanfic and I'm not going to drop it even though looking back on it I can tell it was my first fanfic. I like this story, I like the points I've got plotted out and I intend to get it finished!