Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, but the OC's and original material is mine. Ask before using please.


Naruto groaned tiredly. "Why the hell does it have to be so damn hot?"

Tayuya offered him a silent and judgmental glance of disregard as she walked beside him, unaffected by the heat. While the temperature was a little extreme, it wasn't enough to make her whinge about it. She had to show him up after all. Beating him physically wasn't in the cards for her anymore, but making him feel mentally incompetent compared to her own impressive fortitude was a game Tayuya was more than happy to play.

It had been a couple of hours since the two had left Gurētonyūto valley. The deserts of the Land of Wind were proving to be a horrible opposite to the damp and cool climate that the salamanders lived in. Tayuya, briefly, found herself longing to be back there. That was short lived however, mostly thanks to the constant groans of complaint from Naruto. Soon enough, Tayuya couldn't help but snap at the annoying sound.

"Argh! You dipshit! If you didn't want to deal with the heat for so long, you could have just reverse summoned us closer to the village," she said. "Now stop whinging and harden the fuck up."

Naruto pouted. "It's not my fault. I spent most of my life to the east. Nowhere that way gets this hot, and nowhere anywhere should. This is just…"

"Fucked?" Tayuya offered.

"Eh, sure. Let's go with that."

"Well, we can always turn back while we have the chance. There's literally fuck all in Suna anyway."

"Nope. I've made up my mind. We're going to Suna, no matter the lack of profit."

"Just how many more stupid level, crazy bullshit ideas can you have? What exactly is your plan for getting me into the village in the first place? You gunna just hand me over to them and hope that you can bullshit you're way into making them release me back to you in exchange for something?"

Naruto squinted at her suspiciously. "This psychic stuff is getting creepy."

Tayuya's eyes widened. She turned and glared at him, baring her teeth angrily. "You were going to hand me over to Suna?! You fucking cunt!"

"I wasn't going to," he retorted. "I was simply thinking about it, you know, as an option. The more options I have to play with, the better the outcome will probably be. Unless Suna has some kind of immediate execution thing. Not sure how that would turn out."

"How about you just cross that plan off the list. There is no way I'm letting you just hand me over to them. They'll interrogate me for all I know then they'll slit my throat and toss me out for the sand to consume."

Naruto chuckled. "Interesting theory. Quite the imagination too."

"It's not imagination, or a theory," Tayuya growled. "Orochimaru was in control of Sunagakure for a short time while posing as the Kazekage. I know damn well how they deal with their problems. Suna didn't become one of the great five hidden villages through puppetry alone you know. The assholes are good at torture and interrogation… and also survival, I guess. They do live out here in this shithole after all."

"Good point. Probably a bunch of loonies too. This heat can't be good for brain development," Naruto drawled. "Still, we need to go to Suna, and we're already on our way."

"You don't even know what you're doing in Suna. What if we get there and you realise they have literally nothing for you?" she asked.

Naruto shrugged. "I'll let you punch me in the face. Sound fair?" he offered.

The girl's eyes gleamed viciously. "Got yourself a deal, limp-dick." She said happily.

Naruto narrowed his eyes at her.

"Yeah, that's not the right one either," Tayuya said thoughtfully. "Finding the right nickname for you is going to be a real bitch."

"I already have a name, a perfectly good one at that. Stop trying to replace it."

Tayuya scoffed. "You're name is a food, and not even a cool sounding one. Be thankful I'm putting so much effort into making you sound better."

"You literally just called me limp-dick."

"I never said it was going to be pretty, only better."

"How is that better than Naruto?"

"Anything is better than Naruto."

Naruto pouted and walked past Tayuya hastily.

Tayuya merely grinned in response. "Sulking about it isn't going to change it," she called out to him, snickering quietly to herself. "Idiot."


Baki stood attentively behind the Kazekage's desk, his hands, and only visible eye, working patiently and efficiently at reducing the piles of paperwork placed upon said desk. After completing what he deemed to be a sufficient amount of it, he stepped away from the desk, sitting himself down in a chair positioned behind and just to the side of the one intended for the Kazekage.

As much as he would have liked to have been chosen as the successor to said title, it was little more than a dream. Not that he minded too much. The responsibility of being a Kage was too much stress for him anyway. He was much better off being a right hand man, which, thankfully, was exactly what he had been assigned to be for the new Kazekage in training. While he couldn't be Kazekage himself, it was still a great honour to be remembered as the man who personally tutored the next Kazekage in the ways of politics, and all the other brain-numbing things required to be a Kage.

Should he succeed in his new duty, and help guide the future Kazekage to greatness, then he knew his name would go down in history somewhere. Not to say he wasn't going to be remembered should he fail though. His accomplishments as a Suna shinobi assured that he would at least be remembered in some form. Baki, however, strived to be remembered for good deeds, not those that even he questioned himself on.

It was for this reason that he was dedicated to making sure the future Kazekage was going to be the best Kazekage possible.

A loud crashing sound incited a low grumble from the man as he turned his eye to the office door. In a matter of moments, the distant crashing turned to audibly heavy and angry footsteps before a mass of black burst through the door and held it open. The strange boy, garbed in a black full-body suit, complete with a cat-eared hood and 'war-paint', continued to stand at the door dutifully, waiting nervously.

Whom he was waiting for was revealed quickly as a highly irritated blonde girl stomped her way into the office after him. With an almost animalistic growl, and an angry slashing movement of her hand, she manipulated some wind to slam the door closed hard enough to crack the wood. Ignoring the 'eep' from her brother as he rushed over to Baki's side, the girl continued to stomp her way to the Kazekage's desk, sitting herself down with a loud and frustrated huff.

Baki frowned at the girl's behaviour. "What's the cause of your attitude this time, Temari?"

The blonde scowled. "Everything," she said. "This entire mess and all the crap that I have to deal with because of it."

"And by everything, you of course mean…"

"Gaara! Yes! I'm talking about Gaara!" Temari exclaimed. "They have no right to keep him locked up the way he is. Wasn't that seal they put on him enough?"

"To be fair, he did try to kill you in Konoha, Temari," her brother said nervously. "Maybe it really is the safest option, at least for moment."

The girl glared at him. "So what are you saying, Kankuro? You agree with it. You really think that it's alright to keep our own little brother locked away beneath this stupid village, to be isolated until we need to use him as a weapon?" she hissed venomously.

Kankuro took a cautious step back. "Of course I don't want him to be locked up. But what we want doesn't mean much when it concerns a literal psychopath." he said as calmly as he could.

Baki nodded. "Kankuro is right. Gaara is no longer the innocent little boy you wish him to be. That child is long since dead; consumed by the demon he houses. If it weren't for the drastic precautions we have been forced to take, then your brother would be claimed by Konoha for protection, as a best-case scenario. This is the only way that Gaara can remain in Suna without us resorting to killing him."

Temari growled. "You think I don't know that?" she spat. "It doesn't change the fact that my own brother is locked up like an animal. I'm being prepared to become the next Kazekage, and I will be expected to use Gaara in times of need. How the hell am I supposed to do that?"

"Through great effort and no small amount of emotional conditioning." Baki answered.

As a hardened shinobi of considerable age for the profession, Baki was one who could attest to the benefits of controlling one's own empathy and sympathy. That, however, was a skill honed over many years. He was not inclined to believe that Temari would simply shut out her concerns for her brother. In fact, he was glad she refused to. Compassion was a trait that the girl's father sorely lacked in any great quantity and it in turn lead to many problems with his rule as Kage.

Temari's compassion and loyalty towards the village and its people would hopefully be the very thing that would ensure a prosperous rule at her hands. A prior meeting with the senior council had already proved that the girl cared very little for extravagance or money, having outright refused to waste time and resources on a celebration of her being elected as the next Kazekage. The decision wasn't finalised quite yet, but her exceptional efforts in rekindling the alliance between Suna and Konoha left little room for argument over who could fill the spot.

The blonde sighed tiredly and slumped in her chair. "Whatever. I'll worry about this later, after I am actually the Kazekage and I can argue my ass off with minimal repercussions," she droned, turning her attention to the paperwork on the desk in front of her. "How are things going on in the village?" she asked.

"Still not great," Baki said. "Trading is finally starting to return to how it once was, thanks to the aid of Konoha. Not that they are giving as much help as they could. It is still better than nothing."

"It's the best we have right now. The alliance is being held together by threads right now. My friendship with Shikamaru being one of them."

Kankuro grinned. "Oh, so you're on first-name terms now, huh?" he asked.

The body suit clad teen was barely able to dodge the paperweight aimed for his head, which, to her credit, Temari was able to throw at him with admirable grace and accuracy despite her mood.

"Now is a bad time to test my patience, Kankuro," she warned. "But if you must know, yes, I feel that I know Shikamaru well enough to refer to him by his first name. Only as a friend though, so don't think too far into it."

"Only as a friend… for now." Kankuro said smugly.

The second paperweight didn't miss.

"Argh! What the hell, Temari! You almost broke my nose!"

Temari smirked. "Good. Maybe now you'll think twice before sticking it into business that isn't your own."

Baki grunted. "You'd have to cut it off to get that effect."

Temari snorted in amusement. "Write that down somewhere. It'll be my first order as Kage."

Kankuro pouted at them. "You guys suck."

The trio's moment of amusement was cut short as the office door was thrown open abruptly, a shinobi walking in with an unsure expression on his face.

"Ugh, what's the matter now?" Temari asked. "And please keep it brief. I still have to deal with the headache this paperwork is going to give me at some point."

"Uh, lady Temari, there is someone at the main gate." The shinobi explained.

The blonde quirked an eyebrow. "And? A lot of people arrive at the main gate."

"This one is… different. Our sensors have all tagged him as the source of the suspicious chakra we have been picking up on over the last several hours." The shinobi explained.

The peaked everyone's interest.

"Is it a Kage from one of the other villages?" Kankuro asked.

"Or a jinchuuriki?" Baki asked.

They all went silent at that question. After everything that happened with the failed invasion of Konoha, Suna was left in a vulnerable state. If there were ever a time for another village to attack them, now would be it. A jinchuuriki was without a doubt the best way to do it too.

"He isn't a Kage. In fact, he wears no symbol of any village. We are still unsure about whether he is a jinchuuriki or not. His chakra capacity would indicate that he is, but our sensors say they are only sensing his own chakra, which means…"

"Which means, that even if this person is a jinchuuriki, his own chakra reserves are great enough to make him a village wide threat." Baki interrupted.

The shinobi nodded. "That is the shared thought at the moment," he said. "But it is actually his companion that is of the most interest."

"I said be brief, not vague," Temari said irritably.

"Forgive me. It appears that his companion is a confirmed subordinate of Orochimaru, one of his personal guard at that. Our men are certain that she aided him in his assassination of the Hokage during the invasion."

Temari clenched her hands. "What the hell is one of them doing here?"

"We aren't sure. All that we know is that she is traveling with this young man, and he has made it very apparent that she is under his protection. Those that have tried to take the girl into custody have all been deterred from doing so by him," the shinobi explained.

"Baki," Temari said, earning the man's complete attention. "Go to the main gate. Find out who this guy is and take Orochimaru's subordinate into custody by any means necessary save for actually killing her. We need whatever information she has. If need be, you have my permission to take the one accompanying her into custody as well."

Baki nodded in understanding and quickly left the office with the other shinobi, leaving only Temari and Kankuro in the room.

"You know, despite my initial apprehension at you being the Kazekage, you sure know how to command people when you need to," Kankuro said in amusement.

"Shut up, Kankuro."

"Yes ma'am."


"Are you fucking shitting me!" Tayuya hissed hatefully at Naruto. "This was your plan? Of all the stupid idea's you could have gone with, you chose this one?"

Naruto glanced sideways at her. "Okay, first of all, I stopped trying to come up with a plan hours before we even got here. Nothing would have worked. This is me trying to wing it. Hopefully things go half alright and we get out of here in one piece."

Tayuya stared at the three unconscious shinobi to the side of them, all of whom had tried to capture her almost as soon as she was identified. While she was glad to see Naruto upholding his word on keeping her safe, it didn't help that the more shinobi he incapacitated, the more showed up as backup. As it was, they were now surrounded by no less than twenty angry Suna shinobi, all looking for an excuse to kill them.

"That would have been easier before you knocked these idiots out," she muttered. "Now we just have to hope that some important prick tries to strike a deal with us. Might want to kill a few of them, speed up the process a little."

The two redheads quickly went silent and focused on the new arrival to the group of shinobi. He was a tall man with a strange headpiece that covered half of his face and judging by how all the others reacted to his presence, he held some sort of authority in the village.

"Who the fuck are you?" Tayuya asked rudely.

"I am Baki," he answered calmly. "Who are you?" he asked back.

"None of your business."

Naruto shook his head. "Manners Tayuya, manners," he chided, smiling at Baki. "Sorry about that. She's not very good at being polite… yet"

"The hell d'ya mean by…" Tayuya tried to say, only to have Naruto clasp a hand over her mouth.

"I'm Naruto. I've actually come here in hopes of meeting the future Kazekage," he explained.

Baki frowned and stared pointedly at Tayuya. "Who is she to you?" he asked.

Naruto's smile fell, his free hand falling gently onto the hilt of his sword as he pulled Tayuya slightly closer to him. "Who is she to you?"

"That girl is one of the personal guards of Orochimaru. She aided him in the assassination of the Sandaime Hokage." Baki said.

"Former personal guard," Naruto said. "I purchased her, so her ties to Orochimaru have been cut. She's my retainer now."

At that comment, all of the shinobi seemed to be even angrier at the two of them.

"Be that as it may, she is still a wanted criminal. Her actions cannot be forgiven or forgotten. She will be taken into custody, whether you like it or not." Baki said sternly.

"Uh, excuse me sir," one of the shinobi said, tapping Baki on the shoulder.

"What is it?"

The man handed Baki a small bundle of papers. "These arrived yesterday. It's the updates Konoha has made to their bingo book. They've sent them to all of the villages."

Baki narrowed his eye at Naruto, the teen eyeing him back in what appeared to be preparation for the worst. Looking down at the papers, he saw that the boys own entry was on top of the pile. To say that Baki wasn't surprised would be lie. Not to say he was shocked by what he was seeing, but he definitely couldn't say he wasn't at least mildly surprised by the boy standing in front of him.

"Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze. Son of the Yondaime Hokage and jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi. Unregistered shinobi, S-rank threat level. Stated to have single handedly held the entirety of Konoha hostage during an unfortunate visit, with your past accomplishments remaining mostly the same," the jonin listed off calmly, gauging Naruto's reaction. It came as little surprise as the shinobi surrounding them became notably nervous. "Interesting information, but it doesn't answer the question of what you're doing here, or why you chose to apparently purchase one of Orochimaru's subordinates."

"If I said it was a long story, would you let me explain it to the future Kazekage in person," Naruto asked.

"Surrender the girl, and we might be able to arrange something."

Naruto pursed his lips in disappointment. "Such a shame," he muttered, making a single hand seal.

In an instant, the main gate of Sunagakure was flooded with a cloud of smoke. It faded quickly to reveal hundreds of shadow clones, half of which had transformed themselves into perfect copies of Tayuya. Without a second thought, each clone of Naruto picked up a disguised Tayuya clone and took off into the village.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" Tayuya yelled, grabbing a fistful of Naruto's hair and turning his head painfully to scream in his ear. "I thought the plan was not to give them reason to kill us outright, you fucking moron!"

"Ow, ow, ow. Dammit Tayuya, let go of my hair."

"No! If you really want me dead that badly, then do it your-fucking-self. Stop dragging me into stupid things that only make my life more difficult!"

Naruto groaned and ducked into an alleyway. Dropping Tayuya to the ground, he pulled out a slip of paper and looked questioningly at her. "Are you going to help me out, or am I going to have to put this seal back on you, tie you up, and leave you somewhere for your own safety?"

Tayuya glowered at him, swatted away the sealing paper, and stood up. "How about telling me just what the fuck you're trying to do first? Drawing this much attention, and acting the way you have, it isn't the best start to any plan that ends with you being seen favourably by Suna."

"Yeah, I know. I messed up on that plan, but I promised that I wouldn't let them touch you. It might take some drastic measures, but I'm sure I can figure this out somehow. My first priority is keeping you safe though, so if need be, we'll just have to skip this village," Naruto said offhandedly, most of his attention being focussed on the immediate hustle and bustle of shinobi and kunoichi that followed his shadow clone antics.

Ignoring the stunned expression on Tayuya's, Naruto went about hastily planning his next step carefully. He begrudgingly admitted to himself that such plans should have been made beforehand. The long journey he and Tayuya had just completed to get here in the first place offered more than enough time for even an idiot to come up with several backup plans to fall back on. Unfortunately, in his childishness, Naruto had forgone forethought, opting instead to devote the entirety of his planning on his surprise gift for Tayuya.

He wasn't sure if the master puppet crafters of Suna were capable combining all of his ideas so far into a single arm for the girl, but he'd try his best to make sure she got some cool upgrades. A paint bomb launcher would have to wait until after he was sure she could be trusted with it though. But even then, he still anticipated some form of revenge from her.

Of course, he would need to get them out of this in a peaceful manner before such things were even a conceivable outcome of reality.

As it was now, every shinobi Suna had to spare was busy hunting down and slaughtering each one of his shadow clones. The memory feedback was a bit of a shocking revelation to deal with in such a situation, but it wasn't mentally debilitating. The warning in the scroll of seals could have still done with a bit of an update. Being the first time Naruto had used the technique on such a massive scale also didn't help him out.

Stopping abruptly in the midst of his frustrated pacing, Naruto gained an expression that straddled the line between a grimace and a cocky smirk. Fishing into one of his pockets, he pulled out the ring he had gotten from Orochimaru. Staring at it oddly for a moment, he sighed and swallowed it; only his will stopped him from vomiting immediately, along with the assurance that he would bash the memory of swallowing a ring worn by Orochimaru out of his head with a brick wall if necessary.

"Fucking gross! You're sick in the head," Tayuya spat, backing away from him in disgust. "I thought you were supposed to be thinking of a plan to get us out of this shit, not swallowing rings that belonged to a paedophile."

Naruto gagged. "Ugh, shut up. I don't need any more reason to feel sick right now."

Tayuya tsk'd. Looking around, she was surprised to see as several shinobi raced past the alleyway they were in, seemingly passing over and beside them as if the alleyway didn't exist at all. A little extra probing led her to a rather unsettling discovery. Everything, absolutely everything, for as far as she could sense, was covered in Naruto's chakra. It was to such an extent that she doubted anyone would be able to pick it up without standing right next to Naruto himself; the difference between the surrounding chakra and his own being so minimal that she could barely register it while standing within four feet of him.

"A Genjutsu?" she mumbled to herself.

"Yep, a Genjutsu," Naruto confirmed. "It's the only reason they haven't found us yet."

"I get that, but why the hell is it so expansive? You're just wasting chakra making a Genjutsu this big."

"Jeez, sorry. Didn't realise you were an expert on Genjutsu. Now why don't you do me a favour and list off the number of jinchuuriki who can even use Genjutsu. While you're at it, explain to me how this is a bad way of doing it since no one but you and me can even sense my chakra as different from everything else in this village. Besides, I can't actually make small Genjutsu. It's go big or go home for me on that one unfortunately."

Tayuya gave him an annoyed and perplexed look. "You used one to knock me out. Doesn't that classify as small?"

Naruto grinned sheepishly. "I used one to knock out everyone in that town. Well, the non-shinobi ones anyway. Most of it was directed at you, so I assume that everyone with a working understanding of Genjutsu was able to break it easily enough. The civilians though, well; they got a little extra sleep."

"You are without a doubt, the most impractically powerful shinobi I have ever met," she droned, deadpanning at him. "And don't even think about taking that as a compliment," she added quickly, cutting off his inevitable snarky remark.

"Anyway, the point is that it is going to require a lot of tedious effort on Suna's part to find us so long as I keep the Genjutsu active," he explained calmly.

Tayuya's eye twitched. "I swear… before I die… I'm going to kick you so hard in the dick that every perverted thought you have for the rest of your life will be haunted by the pain."

Naruto winced. "A little harsh, don't you think?"

"Not really," she growled, glancing frustratedly at the numerous shinobi now surrounding them.

"Oh yeah, did I mention that we're surrendering?"

"Haunted by it… I promise."


When Temari had heard of the attempted infiltration of Suna, she had thought it humorous. The whole story made her want to burst into a fit of giggles; mostly due to the absolute stupidity of the attempt, but also somewhat due to the fact it was done by an S-rank shinobi of some notable reputation. It was only the thought of her actually giggling for once in her life that stopped her from doing so. But that didn't mean she wasn't going to wear a stupid grin for the rest of the day.

Said stupid grin, by some miraculous coincidence, was actually working in her favour for the moment, as she walked through the underground passageways that led to the high security prison cells of the village. Every guard that saw her wearing the stupid grin was quick to avoid eye contact, with some of the more pathetic ones even giving her mildly horrified looks. It was as if the stupid expression made them think she was on her way to happily sentence some criminals to death or torture.

Not to say she didn't want to do exactly that, it just wasn't a viable card to play at the moment.

Baki followed her closely from behind as her personal protection. While the prisoners had been stripped of any and all weapons, as well as being fitted with chakra restricting binds, the man simply refused to trust the safety of it all. Temari could recall him saying something about S-ranks never being safe, and something else about a suspicious surrender. Sometimes she was sure that Baki was a little too paranoid about everything.

The two of them continued down through the passageways for quite a while. The distance travelled had Temari assuming that the new prisoners were being kept really far outside of the village walls for the sake of security. They had tried to infiltrate the village, so in a way it made sense to keep them locked up away from their goal. Temari still thought it would have been nice for the prisoners to be escorted to a meeting with her, opposed to her having to walk so far just to see them. It was impractical and frankly quite annoying.

Finally reaching the cellblock that held the new prisoners, Temari turned to follow Baki's lead as he led her straight to the cell that housed the ones she had come to visit. At first, the blonde was less than impressed with what she saw. Two redheads, a younger looking girl, and an older looking boy, with the former clearly keeping her distance from the latter. The fact that they were locked in a single cell together was also a point of interest.

"Why are they locked in together?" Temari asked. "I thought we were strict about keeping men and women separate in confinement?"

Baki grunted. "That is normally the case. But the girl was extremely adamant on being separated from the boy, which made us think they had a plan for such a situation. Keeping them locked in together is the safest way of keeping an eye on both of them, and also disposing of them should they try anything," he explained.

"You know we can hear you fuckers, right?" Tayuya said. "How about actually introducing yourself before being a complete bitch, blondie."

Temari smirked. "I'm Temari. Daughter of the late Kazekage, and the new Kazekage in training," she answered smugly.

Tayuya looked up at the girl in boredom. "In training? What a joke. You're as worthless as a standard kunoichi."

"Don't antagonise her, Tayuya," Naruto said sternly.

Standing up from his spot opposite Tayuya, Naruto walked up to the bars of the cell. Looking down at Temari curiously, he offered her a smile.

"If you don't mind my asking, as the Kazekage to be, do you hold any particular power within this village yet? Like, let's say the power to release me and my retainer here, while also allowing us into Suna?" he asked politely.

"Unfortunately, such powers are not yet mine," Temari replied. "Even if they were, why would I release either of you? She is a known subordinate of Orochimaru, and one of the select few who no doubt aided in the assassination of my father. You are an unknown threat, who not only is protecting her, but also is apparently capable of holding entire village's hostage on a whim. Merely having you two try to break into the village is grounds enough to have the both of you executed on sight. You should be glad that you're even alive."

"And why the fuck are we alive?" Tayuya asked. "You gunna sell us off to get our bounties?"

Baki hummed. "Wouldn't be a bad idea. Suna isn't exactly in the best condition financially. The girl wouldn't fetch much in the big picture of it all, but the boy has an exceptional bounty. Certain parties in Konoha have already voiced their desire for the boy's safe capture. We could bargain his safe transfer for more aid from them," he suggested to Temari.

Temari stayed silent as she thought it over. As she did so, she stared intently into Naruto's eyes, immediately picking up on the playful intelligence in them. She had heard about him many times before. The son of the Yondaime Hokage; cursed and abandoned by his parents in an act of desperation, to save the very village that went on to scorn and neglect him. His reputation since leaving Konoha had been slow growing, but notably linear in regards to his actions. Her father had voiced his wish to hire the rogue jinchuuriki. The boy's apparent knack for irregular mercenary work being of some interest to many high up individuals.

He was, for the most part, a mystery to everyone. No one knew where he was going, what he wanted, what his goals were, or even how to contact him. All of his assignments having been obtained by mere chance of meeting between himself and a client. He was erratic and dangerous in the most unnerving way.

At least, he was, until he disappeared.

For just over two years, he was simply gone. Then he returned, out of the blue. His assignments from then on were far more organised. He had a sense of direction and order to his actions. Rumours went around about his newfound allegiance to one of the village's. His services now purchasable through a long and complex system that no one was able to trace. For a while, he was easy to ignore.

That all changed just under a year ago. He disappeared again in what now seemed to be an on and off situation. He would show up in random places, and then disappear just as quickly. And now, his most recent show was in Konoha, where he held the whole village hostage, resulting in his rank rising to that of S. It was the kind of blatant display of power and disregard for life that got many men and women killed immediately for insanity.

Looking at him now, Temari was more than aware that Naruto wasn't insane. She had seen insanity first hand and he wasn't even close. But he was still powerful, reckless, and held very little concern for the lives and wellbeing of others. In fact, his protectiveness of the girl he was with was the first time she had ever heard of him showing any direct interest in anyone other than his targets. Such an obvious stray from his normal ways was something worth looking into.

"Baki, go and check on Gaara," Temari said calmly, not breaking eye contact with Naruto.

The jonin frowned. "You expect me to leave you here with them, alone?" he asked.

Temari smirked. "Yes, I do. Now go. The quicker you check on Gaara, the sooner you'll be back here to watch over me."

The man didn't put up much of an argument, briskly walking off deeper into the tunnels. His absence left only silence as Temari and Naruto continued with their staring contest, something that had Tayuya rolling her eyes in annoyance.

"You have something to say?" Temari asked curiously.

Naruto grinned. "You've already surmised that selling me off to Konoha would be a bad idea. They might pay you, but that's as far as it would go. The whole village is probably well aware of my being a jinchuuriki, so I doubt that too many people would see the money as a fair trade for such a powerful weapon."

Temari snarled at him. "Don't refer to jinchuuriki as weapons!" she spat. "Even if you are one, I won't let you just disregard their humanity!"

"Interesting," he said in pleasant surprise. "You said you were the previous Kazekage's daughter, which I guess means that your brother is the jinchuuriki of the Ichibi. Last I heard the boy was insane. Tore Konoha up pretty badly before he was stopped. Doesn't sound like the most stable shinobi to be housing a Bijuu of all things, even if it is only the weakest one."

"My brother's state of mind is not his fault," Temari growled.

Naruto shrugged. "Didn't say it was," he said. "But before we delve too deep into things, I just want you to know that I like you. Not too often I find people who are completely humane towards those like me. I can tell from the way you look at me. Even now, you aren't thinking about my condition. You're still only judging me as an ordinary person."

Temari rolled her eyes. "And why did you need to tell me that?"

"Because," Naruto said, his face falling into a far more serious expression. "If your village makes the mistake of not letting me and Tayuya go, or if they decide to be complete idiots and kill either one of us… well, I just wanted to say that I will not be held responsible for what comes as a result."

Tayuya looked up at the two in curiosity, finally intrigued by what was being said.

Temari matched Naruto's serious stare. "And what, exactly, could possibly happen as a result? You and her are both useless in this state. Neither one of you will be causing any problems for the village. Konoha might be upset if we kill you, but what can they really do? They let you walk out of their control. You are labelled as a rogue ninja. We are well within our rights to kill you, and no one can say anything about it."

"It's not the villages you'll have to worry about. It's the ones that actually want me alive," he said coldly. "Being one of the few people physically capable of containing the Kyuubi, as well as my rather impressive lineage, makes me a highly valuable person to several powerful people. People that would have very little care about this village's survival on their inevitable quest to destroy everyone involved in my death. Hell, they might not even get a chance. I could break my own seal in an instant. The Kyuubi itself could be this village's undoing if you aren't careful."

"You really think I'm going to believe any of that. Even if there were people who wanted you alive, they couldn't possibly be capable of taking on an entire village for your sake alone. As for your seal, which was constructed by arguably the most proficient seal master of our time, I really doubt that you could simply break it and unleash the Kyuubi into the village," Temari said irritably. "Just drop the act while you still have your dignity. Bluffing won't work for you."

Naruto shook his head and sighed. "I'm warning you. Let Tayuya and me go, or else. You think Suna is in a bad state now. Just wait until it's nothing but rubble in the sand, swept away by the desert. Money and pride mean nothing in death, so I suggest you think about what you're going to do."

Temari would love to say that she was unfazed by his words of warning. She would love to saunter off without a care in the world. But she couldn't. A threat of such proportions was simple insanity coming from most people. A desperate bluff in their fading hope of escape. But an S-rank jinchuuriki wasn't most people. His threat, no matter how farfetched, could hold too much merit to disregard. That alone made her uneasy about the whole thing. Just what kind of people really did want him alive, and just how powerful were they.

"Temari," Baki said from behind her, drawing her out of her deep thought. "Gaara is… the same as usual."

She nodded in understanding and turned to look sternly at Naruto. "You will be kept alive. We will study your seal to the best of our ability for our own benefit in the art of Fūinjutsu," she said with finality.

Naruto narrowed his eyes. "And Tayuya?"

"I never cared much for my father. He was a cruel and power hungry moron. But he was still the Kazekage. Her role in his assassination, along with the deception of our village into attacking our own ally, doesn't leave much leeway. She will executed at a time decided upon by the council as a whole, or perhaps even sold off to Konoha. Either way, you had best say your goodbyes tonight. Suna is not known for its slothfulness in executions."

Temari and Baki quickly walked away, leaving Naruto and Tayuya to their own silence.

Tayuya snorted. "I fucking told you this would happen. But no, you couldn't listen to me. That'd be stupid, wouldn't it? Now you're going to be a nice little lab rat, and I'm going to be killed. Fan-fucking-tastic."

Naruto sighed. Walking back over to his spot of the cell, he sat back down and smiled at Tayuya. "Don't worry. You won't die."

"Don't be a fuckwit. We've been caught. Neither one of us can do anything. I'm going to die, and it's all your stupid fucking fault," she said angrily. "Why the hell couldn't you have just killed me when you fucking found me?"

He continued to smile at her. "I'll show you once we get out of here."

Tayuya growled at him. "Did you not fucking hear that bitch? We are both screwed. I'm being executed. Stop saying we're getting out of this. You're fucked, and I'm dead. That's it. There are no ifs or buts about it."

"You aren't going to die, Tayuya."

"And how the fuck are you so sure of that?"

Naruto grinned stupidly at her. "Because I promised you that I wouldn't let them kill you, and I never break my promises," he said.

Tayuya tsk'd and looked away.

'I never break my promises' he assured himself. His eyes taking on a distinct red tint as the chakra binding seals placed on him began to burn away. 'Not anymore'


"Is something bothering you?" a woman asked softly, her amber eyes glancing sideways towards the large open window.

The rain that usually blanketed the village was much heavier than it normally was. To most, it was merely a turn in the weather, but to her, it was a sign that her friend was troubled by something. Turning her attention to the man resting his chin on his hands, she could tell that he was thinking too hard about something. While not exactly unusual for him, this seemed to be a little out of place in the scheme of things.

"Nagato?"

The man sighed deeply. "An unforeseen complication has developed in Suna. It seems that the Kyuubi jinchuuriki has resurfaced once again. He is drawing more unnecessary attention to himself than we expected him to," he said.

"Is it a problem?" she asked.

"For the moment, no," he replied. "He has been captured and is being held underneath the village. Sasori's contacts say that he should be relatively safe, but there are other things at play that have me concerned. Apparently, he now has a companion. A young girl. For whatever reason, he is protecting her. Suna plans on executing her for her crimes."

The woman quirked an eyebrow. "Is she valuable to us?" she inquired. "I can understand potentially using her to gain possession of the jinchuuriki, but otherwise her life is of no concern to us."

"She is not valuable to us alive, but she is a great hindrance to us if they kill her," Nagato explained. "Should the jinchuuriki react badly to her execution, I can only imagine that he will erupt in an effort to save her. Such an act will result in one of two things; the Kyuubi jinchuuriki will be destroyed, and with him, our hopes of obtaining the ninth Bijuu. Or, Suna will be obliterated from existence, and with it the Ichibi and its own jinchuuriki. Neither outcome is to our liking. The setback alone will be… annoying."

"What should we do then?"

"We have no teams close enough to launch an attack and break them out, and it is too early for me to reveal myself to the world in such a way. I need someone who can be discreet and free the jinchuuriki without any traces or repercussions on our end," he said, looking up at her. "We need them free before anything drastic takes place. If Suna messes around with the boy's seal, we could lose the Kyuubi completely."

She nodded in understanding. "I'll leave immediately. The sooner I get there, the less people will get in my way," she said, turning to walk away.

"Konan," Nagato said, stopping her at the door. "Be careful."

Konan only nodded in response before leaving. She continued on her way down several halls, her thoughts focussed on the boy who she was going to rescue. Just what kind of person was he? Did he have friends? Was the girl he was with his friend? Just who was it that they were going to be sentencing to death for their own gain? What dreams were they destroying with him? Just how many lives would they need to destroy to finally make the world see peace?

It was always something she had a personal problem with regarding Nagato's plan. She never liked the idea of killing those who had already been dealt such a harsh life, but it was simply something she and the others had to deal with. Not as if any of the others were bothered by it to the same extent as she was. The shinobi they allowed into their ranks were not what anyone would call humane. So few of the stronger shinobi ever were. At least for now, Konan could comfort herself with the knowledge that she was saving one of the jinchuuriki instead of condemning them.

It was just unfortunate that this would likely be the only time she could do so.


A/N:

So this chapter took a much longer time to get finished than I originally planned. Sadly, a lot of shit happened and I just didn't have the time to sit down and get it done. Luckily, thanks to all the minor flooding happening down here in Australia, I have been stuck inside, with nothing left to do but write. Thank god for that one or else this would have taken a while longer. Overall, this probably isn't my best writing. It's really more of a setting the scene chapter anyway, so I'm not too worried. Next chapter is where shit really gets serious. Also, I feel that Konan was one of the most underused characters of the show and manga, so I'm gunna try make her more important. I have the outline for a plan regarding how I'm going to go about that, and hopefully you guys like it.

In other news, the review count reached over a hundred. Didn't expect it to reach that until at least chapter twelve, so I'm absolutely ecstatic. Keep 'em coming guys, they mean a lot. Idea's and suggestions are also still welcome.

I make no promises on the date of the next chapter, but hopefully it wont take as long as this one did.

Till next time guys.

Soul out!