A/N sorry for the delay I have just been lacking in motivation to write due to school exams and what not along with other fics I've had in my head I just want to get down even if I don't post them yet. But here you go a bit of a longer chapter for ya hope you enjoy and please review.
CHAPTER 27 The Sage
Naruto and Sakura stared at the large eight tailed red fox standing in front of them. It stood up to Naruto's shoulder.
"Ah Akuma good to see you again." Naruto said with a smirk
'Oh right this is probably one of his summons.' Sakura said to herself
"Ah Naruto kun who is this?" Sakura asked
"Right." Naruto said looking over at her. "This is Akuma leader of the fox summons. Like Gamabunta is for the toads, or Katsuyu is for the slugs." Naruto said
"So show some respect human." Akuma growled "Now the grand elder has summoned you to complete you sage training."
"Watch your tone with her she is my mate." Naruto growled back
"Really?" Akuma asked with a snicker "What makes her worthy of being a mate? She has no breasts to feed a kit, her hips are…" Akuam began but was cut off as she walked over to a large boulder and smashed it to bits with one hand leaving the giant fox quite for moment "Alright I'll admit she will at least be able to protect her kits."
"Yeah kinda hit a soft spot there." Naruto said to the fox as Sakura walked back over to him.
"Well any way you have to come back to the Kiminto forest." Akuma said
"Not without her." Naruto said as he put his arm around Sakura
"You know that is not allowed!" Akuma barked "Only humans allowed in the forest are the summoners, and you are the only one." He growled
"But she does have the fox seal." Naruto said turning Sakura around and lifting up her hair revealing the seal then doing the same with his own.
"But how?" Akuma demanded "Only fox's can get that seal."
"When I mated with her Kurama gave her some demonic chakra so the seal would form." Naruto explained.
"Well if Lord Kurama says so I can't argue." Akuma sighs "But it doesn't mean I have to like it."
"Good enough for me." Naruto said as he wrapped and arm around Sakura "Ready to go home little buddy?" he said looking down at Kuza
"Not so much." Kuza sighed in annoyance "I'll meet you there." He said as he walked into some shadows.
"So where are we going?" Sakura asked
"To the home of the fox summons." Naruto replied
"So how are we getting there?" Sakrua asked as Naruto smirked and Sakura just got a look of realization on her face. "NO!"
"Hang on." Naruto said with a smirk and they vanished
Naruto and Sakura found themselves in a dark lush forest. Sakura looked around and once she started looking closer she began to see holes in the ground, around trees under logs and all over. After a few minutes a few different foxes began to come out to see what was going on. That was when a grey fox about knee high with four tails came up to Naruto.
"Lord Naruto good to see you." The fox said
"You as well Tuma." Naruto said as he took a knee.
"But who is this human you bring with you?" Tuma asked suspicious of Sakura
"She is my mate so no need to worry about her." Naruto said with a smile as the fox perked up her head.
"Oh really?" Tuma said looking over at Sakura "she is a fine catch, I'm just happy you found someone."
"Yeah." Naruto said
"What is her name?" Tuma asked
"Oh right Tuma this is Sakura, Sakura this is Tuma." Naruto said "Tuma here is one of the elder foxes she generally looks after the kits when their parents are out hunter or doing whatever needs to be done."
"Well you're saying it like I'm just some old baby sitter." Tuma chuckled playfully as she looked back and a few baby fox heads popped up out of her hole. "Well come on it's only Naruto sama." She called as about five fox pups ran out of the hole and began running around the two of them jumping and yipping.
"Oh they are so adorable." Sakura said as she also took a knee "May I pet them?" She asked
"Of course, you are lord Naruto's mate if he trusts you so do I." Tuma said as Sakura began to pet one of the little foxes and play with them. She looked over to see Naruto playing with them as well.
"He is so good with kids." Inner cued
'Well these are foxes not kids.' Sakura corrected
"Hey he is part fox, to him they are the same." Inner replied
'He only has the fox's chakra he isn't one.' Sakura corrected
"Just let me have this one." Inner whined
"We should really get going." Naruto said standing up "Don't want to keep the old man."
"Naruto sama you shouldn't talk about the grand elder like that." Tuma said
"Ah he knows it's all in good fun." Naruto smirked as he began to walk away followed by Sakura.
Naruto and Sakura came to a massive old temple type building with two large brown six tailed foxes stood at each side of the door.
"Ah lord Naruto good to see you." the two guards said then glared at Sakura. "No humans allowed."
"She is my mate, and has the fox seal." Naruto said getting a shocked look from two guards
"Who would be your mate?" One of them asked in shock
"Oh ha ha Zuma." Naruto laughed sarcastically as the two foxes snickered to each other.
"Even I was shocked." Came a new voice, causing everyone to look back and see Kuza walking out of Naruto's shadow. Once he made his entrance the two guards tensed up.
"You know you're not welcome here shade." The fox other than Zuma said with distaste
"Watch your tone Kuma." Naruto spat "He is my partner and you will drop that stupid discrimination shit." He said as he walked past the two guards and entered the temple and walked down a massive corridor
"Hold on I got some questions." Sakura pipped up as she followed him down the hall.
"And what's that?" Naruto asked
"What is all this about them calling you 'lord naruto'?" she asked exaggerating the lord. "And why where they acting that way to Kuza?"
"To the first question, since I hold the nine tails inside me they regard him as a master. So since I have him sealed in me they show me the same respect. As for the tension between Kuza and the other foxes that is a touchy subject, you see shadow foxes are rare it is very recessive and most that are born with it are either abandoned or treated as lower class." Naruto explained
"Why is that?" Sakura asked
"Because a long time ago shadow foxes tried a coup." Naruto explained "But it didn't go so well for them they were nearly wiped out and the distrust of them has remained ever since."
"It's not my fault yet they still treat me as if I was one of them that rose up." Kuza spat.
"So when I came across him and seeing how he had a similar background as me I knew he would be the perfect match as a partner." Naruto said
"And I'm forever grateful to him for it." Kuza added "Even if I do give him a hard time from time to time." He added as they came to a massive room with a giant white eight tailed fox that looked very old.
"Lord Musha." Naruto said with a bow and Sakura followed his lead as well as Kuza
"Ah little Naruto good to see you once again." Musha said "It has been too long."
"I am sorry elder but I've had business to take care of to prevent the other tailed beasts and Jinchurriki from falling into the hands of the Akatsuki." Naruto said
"I fully understand." The massive fox said "But you have a duty to finish your sage training as well."
"Yes elder and that is why I'm here." Naruto said
"Good from what I've been told you can do a complete sage form but can't not hold it while not meditating." Musha said "Not really practical if you can't use it in a fight."
"Very true." Naruto said "Now where will I be training?"
"In the western wood that is where the natural energy is the strongest." Musha replied "You will be accompanied by your partner of course as well as Shinjo."
"Yes we shall finally get this down." Came Shinjo's voice as they looked back to see the small elder fox standing on his hind legs wearing pants and a vest carrying a walking stick. He looked between Naruto and Sakura "So since she is here I can only assume she is your mate now?"
"That would be correct." Naruto replied
"Ah not my first choice but if your happy with it so be it." Shinjo sighed getting Sakura to grow red with anger. "I'll have to inform mama soon, even after she already had a few vixens lined up to meet you when we finish training tonight I guess we'll have to cancel." At this Sakura became even redder with jealousy "Oh well I guess we'll just have to find another person to work our match making skills on." He sighed with a shrug then looked over at Kuza "Hey Kuza my boy do you have a potential mate yet?" Shinjo asked getting a shocked and embarrassed look from the young fox.
"What no." Kuza stuttered "And I'm not playing any of your stupid match making games, so just drop it."
"Oh well those young vixens will be disappointed." Shinjo sighed again
"If that is all we should get going it's a bit of a hike to the western forest." Kuza said still irritated as Naruto and Shinjo snickered at his uncomfortableness.
"Oh don't forget about me." came a new female voice. The group looked up to see a white fox with five tails walking down the hall toward them. "You will need a medic there to watch over your training incase something goes wrong."
At seeing this young fox Sakura's jealousy broke and she spoke up "Oh you don't need to worry about that I'm here to patch him up no matter how bad he messes up."
"Oh and what kind of medical training do you have?" the fox asked "I've read every book about medicine the archive has and I guarantee they are more vast than some human archive."
"I've trained under the legendary Lady Tsunade." Sakura said getting a gasp from the fox.
"The slug princess Tsunade?" the fox asked
"The one and the same." Sakura replied
"A good portion of the books we have were written by her. I didn't know she took on students." The fox replied "Please teach me what you know." The fox begged
"Gezz haven't you buried your nose in enough knowledge Kira?" Kuza sighed "It's not like you'll ever use it, when was the last time you left the village?"
"Hey don't forget who has more tails." Kira spat
"Yeah me." Kuza shot back holding up his six black tails getting a shocked look from the white fox.
"When did you get more than me?" Kira asked in shock
"Oh while I was doing that little thing called getting life experience." Kuza smirked at her "Training and burying your nose in books only get you so far."
"Well I…" Kira began before she was cut off
"Stop it the both of you." Musha cut in "Both of you will accompany Naruto with his training, as well as his mate."
"Great now I have to listen to these two have their lovers bickering while trying to train." Naruto sighed sarcastically.
"Oh like I would ever consider him a mate candidate." Kira spat with disgust.
"And like I would ever think twice about this prudish book worm." Kuza shot back
"So you've thought about her at least once then?" Naruto shot back getting Kuza to recoil a bit.
"Whose side are you on?" Kuza asked
"My own." Naruto said "And turn around is a bitch isn't it?" he smiled getting Kuza to mumble curses at him.
"See even your partner is sick of you this is why he should of picked me over you as his partner." Kira said with a high and mighty tone.
"And that attitude is one of the reasons we could never work as a team." Naruto shot at her. "Me and him may give each other a hard time from time to time."
"All the time." Kuza corrected
"But we have a similar back ground and as he said you're a book worm, and when I started out I needed someone with street smarts not book smarts and you normally have one or the other." Naruto explained
"Oh fine." Kira shot back with a bit of anger
"Alright let's head over to the western woods." Naruto said as he turned around and began walking down the hall followed by Kuza and Shinjo.
"I can't believe he is our summoner." Kira sighed "Or why he choose 'him' as his partner."
"He isn't that bad." Sakura replied "But he picked his partner when he was young right?"
"Yes back when he first got here almost ten years ago." Kira replied
"And you know what happened while he was in the village?" Sakura asked
"I got some of it, of how he was run out of his village for having lord Kurama sealed in him." Kira explained "He never talked about it much."
"Well he was beaten and treated like trash his entire time there." Sakura explained
"How could someone do that to a child for something he couldn't control?" Kira asked
"Same way someone would treat a child for something their ancestors did and he had no part of. So it would make sense he would pick someone to be his partner that knew his pain." Sakura said as she began to walk after Naruto, getting Kira to look down in thought then follow after her.
It took the small group two days of solid running to reach the western forest. Once they got there they found a small cave that seemed to have a cabin built into it.
"Finally." Kira sighed as she collapsed as they came through the door.
"Oh the great Kira is tired?" Kuza mocked "Naw couldn't be."
"Shut it." Kira snapped
"Not my fault you spent your entire time with your nose in books and not outside training building some endurance." Kuza shot back with a smile
"Both of you stop it." Naruto said as he walked in
"I just don't see why she needs to be here." Kuza sighed
"Because Lord Musha said so that is why." Naruto said "Now who wants to start dinner while I go get some fire wood?"
"I guess I could get it started." Sakura replied
"Alright follow me I'll show you where the food supplies are." Shinjo said as he led her to the cellar.
"What about me?" Kuza asked
"You and Kira prep the sleeping area." Naruto replied "And try to hold back from making out." He smirked
"Oh I would never…" Kira began.
"Just shut it." Kuza shot at her making her send him a glare. "He is just messing with us. If you keep reacting like that it only encourages him." He explained
"And why would he do that?" Kira asked in an annoyed tone.
"Because I did the same thing to him before he got with Sakura." Kuza replied as he began to walk to the sleeping area.
"What?" Kira asked in confusion
"It's no my place to tell you details but let's just say Naruto couldn't stand Sakura before they became mates." Kuza said
"Why?" Kira asked in confusion
"Like I said not my place to say." Kuza replied as he pulled out the sleeping mates and began laying them around "If you want to know ask them about it."
After about an hour Naruto returned with some fire wood and got a fire going while Sakura walked out with a pot of stew.
"Alright I'm starving." Naruto said as the he sat down with the foxes and Sakura set the pot down and opened it. What they saw was a thick black liquid. "Um ah… let's dig in." Naruto said reluctantly as it was ladled into his bowl. Everyone but Sakura who was just sitting down, took a reluctant bite at the same time, and they all froze up and a sickening look shot across all their faces as they began to heave.
"Oh god what did you do?" Kuza cried
"It's bitter and salty and I don't even know what to call the other tastes." Shinjo cried
"I don't even know if I can purge this from your system." Came Kurama's voice in Naruto's head
"Oh stop crying it's not that bad." Sakura defended with her arms crossed "It has a days' worth of nutritional value in a single meal. So I don't want to hear you whine about the taste." She said as she took a spoon full as Naruto weakly reached for her to stop. The moment she closed her mouth around the spoon he face went sick and she hunched over and began to heave as well.
"Told you." Shinjo said weakly
"Ok I'll admit it may not taste the best but…" Sakura says as she goes to take another bite but her hand is stopped as she looks down and sees Naruto on the ground holding her wrist
"No I'm not going to lose you." Naruto said weakly. At this she set the spoon down in defeat.
"I don't see what you see in her." Shinjo sighed as he was able to stand up again "Everything I've said before and on top of that can't even cook." He shrugged with a sigh getting Sakura to begin to fume.
"Well aren't mates supposed to complete each other?" Naruto asked as he weakly stood up and wiped his mouth. "You know do what we can't?"
"Well I suppose." Shinjo replied as Naruto headed into the kitchen with the pot of stew, leaving the rest of them there alone.
After about a half hour of silence Shinjo spoke up "I just want to know how you have such a hold of him."
"What?" Sakura asked
"I want to know why he picked you as a mate." Shinjo replied "I have been unimpressed by everything I have seen. But then again it could be what I haven't seen is why he choose you." He says with a sly smile.
"What do you mean what you haven't seen?" Sakura asks a bit confused and angry at the same time.
"Oh just how you are in the den." Shinjo asked still with a that sly grin of his leaving Sakura still confused
"He means in bed." Kuza sighs getting Sakura to go beat red.
"Right." Shinjo said "That is the only reason I can see to why he would keep you as a mate."
At this Sakura began to fume over and was about to launch herself at the older fox when Naruto walked in "I keep her because like I said we are supposed to complete each other, I don't need her to cook cause I can do that myself." He says as he sets down a new pot and opens it up letting the aroma escape making everybody's mouths water as he ladled them each a bowl.
"Holy shit that smells good." Inner says as her mouth began to drool
'Yeah I know.' Sakura replies as she takes a bite. 'oh my god this is delicious.'
"Strong, hot, and can cook we hit the jackpot." Inner celebrated.
"See don't need someone to cook for me I can do it myself." Naruto said as he began to eat as well.
"How are you able to cook like this?" Sakura asked "I know you cooked breakfast that one time but this is more than just bacon and eggs."
"I've been on my own for a while if I didn't learn to cook how could I survive?" Naruto asked "Eat nothing but ramen?"
"You would of too." Kurama chuckled as Naruto ignored him and began to eat. Once they were done eating they started a fire and went to sleep.
It was late at night and the young white fox sat next to the fire staring into its flames while wrapped in her blanket and then realized someone was next to her.
"Can't sleep?" Kuza asked
"What?" Kira asked in surprise "I just don't feel like it." She replied defensively but then shivered.
"Don't need to act all hard right now." Kuza said as he pulled a blanket up over her shoulders with his tail.
"I don't need your pity." Kira shot at him about to shrug off the extra blanket but then begins to shiver and pulled it tighter around herself.
"Even though we have walls and a roof it can still be drafty and chilly if you're not used to it." Kuza replies "I just find it a little ironic that a wind fox gets chilly."
"Damn't don't make fun of me." Kira shot at him
"Just making an observation." Kuza sighed as he walked back over to the mat on the far side of the room.
"How are the rest of you not cold?" Kira asked
"Well they have each other." Kuza replied gesturing toward Naruto and Sakura who were cuddled up together under their blanket. "And well he is just a drunk and can't feel anything." He added gesturing toward Shinjo who was sprawled out on his mat with a bottle of sake in his hand.
"What about you?" Kira asked
"Me? I'm just used to the cold." Kuza replied as he curled up on his mat
"Is that because of your time with Naruto sama?" Kira asked
"I got used to it long before I teamed up with him." Kuza said as he turned away from her and went to sleep and she curled up on her own mat and went to sleep as well.
Unknown to them Naruto and Sakura closed their eyes and smiled to themselves
"Oh I'm going to have fun with this." Naruto whispered to Sakura
"They do make a cute couple." Sakura whispered back
The next day Naruto was meditating in a small clearing in the woods while Sakura and Kira sat watching and Kuza was curled up into a ball taking a nap next to them.
"So now that we have some time can you show me some medical treatments?" Kira asked looking up at Sakura
"Oh ah yeah sure I can show you some basics." Sakura said with a smile.
"I have a bit of understanding from the archives." Kira began
"But hands on verse reading about it are two different things." Sakura said with a smile.
"Yes." Kira said as Sakura pulled out some scrolls
It had been a couple hours and Naruto was now able to move freely without losing his sage form he had elongated fangs and claws as well as demonic slit eyes and his whisker marks were now more defined, and he had tuffs of red fur on his shoulders going down his arms onto the back of his hands.
"Alright at least I no longer have the ears." Naruto said as he walked over a small pond and looked at his reflection.
"Yes you have finally perfected sage form." Shinjo said
"Alright." Naruto said with excitement but the form faded away. "What happened?"
"Oh you just need to practice holding the form." Shinjo replied "Now get back in sage form and we will work on you being able to hold the form.
"Alright." Naruto said as he sat back down in a meditative state and regained the sage form.
While Naruto was working on that Sakura had a dead fish on a scroll showing Kira how to properly resuscitate it.
"Now you just focus your chakra on the damaged cells repair them then move…" Sakura trailed off as she looked over at Naruto who had his shirt off and had fur growing down his shoulders.
"Sakura?" Kira said breaking her out of her trance.
"What oh sorry." Sakura said
"It's alright, you seeing your mate like that and your mind begins to… wonder." Kira said with a sultry smile getting the pinkette to blush.
"Well if you two are going to start this up I'm going to go help Naruot spar." Kuza said with a yawn and trotted off to Naruto. "And once you're done with that fish let's eat it, but let Naruto cook it will ya?" he called back in a teasing tone.
"This is a training fish not an eating one." Sakura called back an annoyance at his shot at her cooking.
"I'm sorry but fish is one of fox's favorite meals." Kira said as she stared at the fish. "I was even thinking about taking a taste"
"Well I guess we can take a break." Sakura said as she sealed up the fish before Kira could sink her teeth into it.
"Ah yes and you can watch Naruto train." Kira said in a teasing tone
"And you can watch Kuza train with him." Sakura shot back with a grin getting a shocked look from the white fox.
"What are you talking about?" Kira asked
"Oh it just seems like you have gotten pretty close to him lately." Sakura teased
"I have no idea what you're talking about." Kira scoffed "Besides he is a shade, and I am a wind and the daughter of the head of the village and granddaughter of the grand elder."
"There is that word again." Sakura said "Naruto talked about it a little bit but what is this whole shade thing?"
"Shade is short for shadow or shadow fox." Kira explained "There were seven fox clans, first are fire red fox, then earth types brown foxes, lightning grey, water blue, and wind are white like me, those are the most common. But there are two other kinds as well."
"Shadows like Kuza." Sakura said filling in the blank.
"Yes and the other was the light foxes who were also white." Kira explained. "Both of these were very few, but held the most power. The light foxes where the leaders of the village till the shades decided they wanted power for themselves and tried to over throw the light foxes, and a war broke out. The two sides nearly wiped each other out, and drug the remaining clans into it, and our numbers began to dwindle down to nearly nothing where all the clans joined together to save our race. The shades pretty much disappeared but it is a recessive gene as well as the light foxes, the last known light is my grandfather the Grand Elder Lord Musha."
"So the shade is a slur for what they did?" Sakura asked
"Yes for what they did is unforgivable." Kira said
"When was this war?" Sakura asked
"One hundred and fifty years." Kira replied
"And how old do you foxes live?" Sakura asked
"Fifty to hundred years." Kira replied "my grandfather is one hundred and twenty five."
"So you hold it against Kuza?" Sakura replied
"He is a shade." Kira replied
"But he had nothing to do with that war, did he?" Sakura asked "He just gets the hatred for something he had no control over, all because he was born that way?"
"Well he…" Kira replied but was cut off
"You said earlier you couldn't understand why Naruto kun choose Kuza as his partner?" Sakura asked getting a nod from Kira "Well like is said before they had a similar background, both where hated by their home for something they had no control over."
"You mean lord Kurama?" Kira asked
"Yes sixteen years ago the nine tailed fox attacked the village and killed many people, and then Naruto had the fox sealed inside him while he was just a baby, and the villagers treated him as if he was the demon himself." Sakura replied
"That is…" Kira began but stopped and lowered her head in thought
"Even though he was treated like that he was still such a nice boy." Sakura said as she got a distant look on her face.
"But Kuza said you two didn't like each other before?" Kira asked
"Well that was because of…" Sakura began with a pause "When we were young during a festival I got separated from my parents. An old man offered to help me but tried to molest me. He brought me to an abandoned alley but Naruto was there and got me away from him."
"Well I would think that would bring you closer together." Kira replied
"Well that wasn't the only thing that happened." Sakura said with a sigh "Once he saved me I ran to get help but when I brought help, Naruto had killed the old man and the villagers thought the demon in him had gotten out, and nearly killed him that was when he ran away from the village, and it was the last time I saw him until seven years later. He blamed me for betraying him and bringing that mob on to him after he saved me. He did forgive me because I didn't know they would do that to him and I was trying to help. It was after that, that we started to get to know each other and fall for each other."
"Even if it took you another three to finally figure it out." Inner sighed
"But from what I can tell Naruto choose Kuza because of that background, and from what I saw last night they both have a good and caring side." Sakura said getting a shocked look from the white fox.
"I have no idea what you're talking about." Kira said shifting he view away from Sakura who was just smiling.
"Sure you don't." Sakura said with a knowing grin as Naruto, Kuza, and Shinjo walked up to them.
"Well that is enough for today." Naruto said as he wiped the sweat off his face. "And Kuza said you had some fish I can fry up."
"No that was a practice fish for medical training." Sakura said getting irritated looking at the shadow fox
"Sorry my bad, I just like fish." Kuza said with a sly grin.
"Oh don't worry I talked to mama and she is bringing some food to the cave." Shinjo said
"Alright." Naruto said as they all began to head back to the cave where a female fox standing on her hind legs like Shinjo wearing a kimono was waiting for them.
"Ah Mama." Shinjo called out as they walked up
"Ah papa just in time we are just finishing up dinner." Mama said with a wave.
"Wait what do you mean we?" Kuza asked suspiciously as they walked through the door and a three tailed brown fox walked out of the kitchen.
"Ah good I just finished cooking dinner." The brown fox said with a smile as they all walked over to the table and sat down, while Mama and the new fox laid out the meal.
"Let me introduce this fine young vixen." Mama said as the brown fox sat down next to Kuza who was sitting next to Naruto. "This is Zula, and she is single." She said as she past Kuza getting the Zula to giggle like a school girl getting Kuza to roll his eyes.
"And you're just loving this?" Kuza groaned to Naruto who just had a huge grin
"Oh yeah" Naruto said with a grin, just then he felt something began to wiggle between him and Sakura
"So this is your mate." Came Mama's voice asshe looked Sakura up and down.
"Alright before you say anything I know I don't have the looks or cooking ability that you expecting of his mate." Sakura began
"Oh that doesn't matter do you make each other happy?" Mama asked with a chuckle getting Sakura to give her a look of confusion.
"But your husband said." Sakura began but was cut off.
"Oh he is just an old perv." Mama said with a wave "All that matters is if you truly care about each other." She said as she walked away from them and back over to her husband.
"But it helps having a good body, and cook to live with the rest of your life." Shinjo said with a grin when Mama smacked him in the back of the head. "And I picked the perfect one." He said with a grin and putting his arm around her.
"Now any way Zula why don't you tell Kuza about yourself?" Mama said as Zula began talking with Kuza
"Geez always knew Earth's were sluts." Kira mumbled under her breath but just loud enough for Sakura to hear.
"Oh getting a little jelouse?" Sakura asked with a grin under her breath.
"What no never." Kira said turning her nose up and away getting Sakrua to giggle
The rest of the meal was uneventful and Mama and Zula left, while Kuza and Shinjo watched them leave.
"Nice meeting you, good bye." Kuza called as he watched them walk away.
"So what did you think of her?" Shinjo asked wiggeling his eyebrows.
"You pull that shit again I will drag you into the darkest of shadows and leave you there." Kuza said in a stern tone, and walked back into the cave.
"Ah ha that's a good one." Shinjo gave a light hearted chuckle as Kuza didn't respond and just continued into the cave. "Good one right? Right?" Shinjo asked again a little scared.
The next few days went by with little excitement, Naruto had gotten to where he could hold his sage form for thirty minutes without losing it.
"Alright gonna be another good day of training." Naruto said as they walked up to the training area.
"Yeah you have greatly advanced in your training." Shinjo said "Lord Musha will be greatly impressed. But your training won't be complete until you can hold the form for a full hour."
"Well what are we waiting for?" Naruto said as he started to take of his shirt but a poof of smoke appeared at his feet and a small red two tailed fox appeared. "Oh Unla what's up?"
"Naruto sama the one called Pain who you told me to keep an eye on has attacked the leaf village." Unla said getting a shocked look from Naruto and a gasp from Sakura.
END CHAPTER 27