Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, but I do own my OC's and original jutsu and other such nonsense. Permission before use please, or at least a reference.


Jiraiya stared intently at the large wall before him. It was a truly impressive thing to see, no matter how many times he saw it. The valley formed by a combination of monstrous sized rocks and extremely high cliff faces in which the village of Suna rested was without a doubt a tactically advantageous position. Whether or not the valley was naturally formed or created through the Ninjutsu efforts of the first generation of Sunagakure settlers was something up for debate. The origins of such defences were a relatively sought after piece of information since Suna had yet to be effectively breached by an attacking force.

Personally, Jiraiya had his own theory about it, revolving around the first Kazekage managing to force the Ichibi into unearthing the massive stone structures for him to carve out into a valley for his village. A rather farfetched idea, but the Sannin still liked it; likely an unfortunate side effect of his writers imagination.

"Are we just going to stand here and stare at rocks all day?"

Jiraiya frowned and turned to stare disapprovingly at the small group of genin behind him. "I'm paying you. If I say we're going to stare at rocks, then I don't want to hear any complaints."

"Ugh, what a drag. And here I thought I'd be able to take my mind off of things with this mission," Shikamaru grumbled, "At least tell us what we're doing out here."

"Yeah, just what could be so important that you had to drag us to this horrible place? My skin is going to be ruined," a blonde girl whined, holding an umbrella over her head.

The toad sage groaned and turned the last of the trio. "Want to add your part too?"

The brown haired girl shrugged, twirling a kunai around her finger. "Not really. A mission is a mission. But now would be a good time to explain to us why we're in Suna," she said casually.

"Well, at least one of you acts somewhat like a shinobi," Jiraiya muttered. "As for why we're here, I'd like to keep it classified, so telling any of you would be a bad idea normally. But you won't be any use to me if you don't at least know the basics. In short, we are here looking for leads on the possible whereabouts of one Naruto Namikaze," he explained.

The blonde girl tilted her head curiously. "Namikaze? As in the Yondaime?"

"He's talking about the Yondaime's son, Ino," the brunette clarified.

"Is he cute?" Ino asked.

The girl sighed. "Not what we're here for, Ino."

Ino smirked. "So what? Aren't you curious to know if the guy we're hunting is cute?"

"Ino, stop pestering Tenten," Shikamaru said sternly, glaring at Jiraiya. "Tsunade said that no one was to go looking for Naruto. You hired us under false pretences, meaning we have the right to walk away from this mission."

"I hired you for a surveillance mission. That is all I need you three to do. I don't intend for any of you to get caught up in any of the problems that my end goal will bring, so don't worry about that," Jiraiya explained. "As for the surveillance itself, you won't be looking for Naruto himself, which thankfully gets us all off the hook from Tsunade's wrath."

"If we aren't searching for Naruto, then who are we searching for?" Tenten asked.

Jiraiya crossed his arms and took a deep breath. "We are looking for a girl named Tayuya," he said seriously, "One of the Otogakure shinobi that aided in Sasuke Uchiha's escape, and also the one responsible for the death of Chōji Akimichi, if the reports are accurate."

By this point, it was very obvious that the two girls on the team were out for blood, with Shikamaru still only glaring at Jiraiya.

"What is she still doing alive in the first place?" Ino hissed.

"She is being protected… by Naruto. Jiraiya is hoping to use our desire for justice and vengeance to track Tayuya down, and in turn, lead him to Naruto," Shikamaru surmised. "A clever plan. But also a stupid one. The issue with Tayuya was settled by Chōji's father. Even he said she was free to go. As if that was even the problem. There is no way that Naruto will let us take her alive. God help us if we kill her."

Ino rounded on Shikamaru in rage. "Are you saying we should just let her get away with it? Chōji was your best friend! How can you be so calm knowing that his murderer is still walking free?" she yelled.

"Shikamaru is right," Jiraiya interjected, earning Ino's and Tenten's attention. "Tayuya was indeed allowed to walk free by Chōji's father. However, she is still a wanted criminal for other reasons. She can still be captured and taken in. Anything that might help further my own personal goals would be a mere happy coincidence and not anything that Tsunade could hold against us."

"I'm in!" Ino exclaimed.

Tenten gripped her kunai tightly. "So am I."

Jiraiya smiled widely. "Brilliant! Head to the main gate and go in ahead of us. See what you can find out and report back to me later this afternoon. I need to have a chat with Shikamaru here."

The girls didn't argue, blinded by their momentary rage as they quickly made their way towards Suna's main gate. Jiraiya and Shikamaru took part in a short staring contest before the Sannin finally broke the tension.

"Look kid, it would be in everyone's best interest if you just went along with this. You're smart, so I know that you know those two won't have much self-control if we happen to find Tayuya. As you said, killing her would be a very bad decision, so I'm relying on you to hold those two in check if things get hairy," Jiraiya said. "Naruto will kill the three of you if you get involved."

The Nara narrowed his eyes. "Then why did you tell them who she was? Why rile them up, knowing that they would be after Tayuya's head?" he asked.

Jiraiya frowned. "If I hadn't, then the three of you would already be on your way back to Konoha. I saw it as soon as I mentioned Naruto. None of you were interested in hunting down an S-rank shinobi. It would be suicide, and also against Tsunade's wishes. But Tayuya is a different story. I'm surprised you of all people are so against it. Don't you at least want to see the girl tried and punished appropriately for what she did? Or are you content with letting your best friend's death being for nothing?"

Shikamaru clenched his fists and walked past Jiraiya. "If either of them dies, their blood is on your hands."

The Sannin nodded in acceptance and followed the boy towards the village. Unbeknownst to the two of them, a pair of bright amber eyes observed them as the half-formed torso of Konan floated up in the air, surrounded by a cloud of paper squares that were camouflaged to match the sky. The blue haired woman watched them walk off with some interest until they were out of sight. Allowing her body to collapse back into nothing but paper, she quickly flew over the impressive walls that surrounded the village.

It became embarrassingly apparent that Suna put minimal thought into being attacked from the sky as the large cloud of paper squares all flew down into an outskirt alleyway. The paper converged and the pieces all began layering themselves on top of each other until the full form of Konan stood in their place. Intending on keeping a low profile, the Angel of Ame had forgone her Akatsuki cloak, replacing it with a baggy brown one with a hood.

She calmly made her way towards the centre of the village, stopping a short while before reaching it and entering an unassuming apartment building. Knocking on one of the doors, it opened to reveal a blank faced shinobi whose appearance was best described as plain and dull. Overall, he was the perfect puppet spy. One of many that Sasori had planted throughout the elemental nations. It was a little barbaric to completely erase someone's personality and turn them into a hollow shell to be programmed for the puppet masters own purposes, but it was effective and unrivalled by anyone else's spy network.

The man was quick let her in upon realising who she was and locked the door behind her. Konan sat herself down in one of the chairs available in the small apartment, being joined by the man shortly after as he sat across from her.

"Where is the jinchuuriki being held?" she asked.

"The jinchuuriki is being held in one of the high security cells underground, based outside of the village walls," the man answered, his voice an emotionless and almost robotic drone.

"And his companion?"

"She is being held in the same cell. Her execution is still currently being decided," he replied. "The cell is only accessible from a single passageway leading straight from the Kazekage tower. You would need to get into there first. An alternative would be to break the cell from outside, leaving the jinchuuriki to escape of his own accord. A sufficient amount of high powered explosive tags set off above the cell should be enough to draw attention away from them and also jeopardise the cell itself."

Konan nodded. She wasn't even surprised at the knowledge this man possessed. Sasori didn't deal with those he couldn't use to his own benefit. Putting spies in key location of every kind was something the man was inherently skilled at, and the results of such actions were clearly to Akatsuki's benefit right now. However, even if she gave the jinchuuriki a distraction and ample opportunity to escape, there was no assurance that he would take it. On top of that, there was also now another unforeseen problem.

"Jiraiya of the Sannin has arrived in the village with a team of genin. Is there any chance that the Kazekage will allow him to visit the jinchuuriki?" she asked.

The man looked at her blankly for a moment. "It is a possibility. However, it is also unlikely. This particular cellblock is located near the cell used to hold the jinchuuriki of the Ichibi. The new Kazekage to be is the jinchuuriki's brother. As a renowned seal master, it is unlikely that the Sannin will be allowed near the Ichibi's container out of fear of him tampering with things. Many would fear the man holds a grudge over his sensei's death, in which Suna played a role."

"Is there anyone that would be able to sell that idea to the ones in charge? I will need a little time to set things up and I cannot afford Jiraiya getting involved."

"Master Sasori does have a member of the council under his command. I will contact him and inform him of your request," the man said, standing and bowing to her politely.

Konan watched him walk out of the apartment with an emotionless expression. Once the door closed, she let out a heavy sigh. This mission would not end well. With Jiraiya in the village no doubt seeking the Kyuubi jinchuuriki and with the only exit of the prison cells being the Kazekage tower, then a confrontation between the two was inevitable. She couldn't afford to wait it out and hope that Jiraiya would leave empty handed, time simply wasn't on her side for that and the Sannin wouldn't leave without the boy.

What was supposed to be a simple breakout was quickly turning into something a little more complicated. But that wouldn't deter her from her task. One way or another, Konan would ensure the safe escape of the Kyuubi jinchuuriki. Nagato was counting on her, their dream was counting on her. If she failed now, then Yahiko would have died for nothing, and if that wasn't reason enough to ensure her success, than she didn't know what was. The only question she had left was just how much her success was going to cost.

How much more of her humanity could she lock away for the sake of a dream?


Jiraiya glared at the young girl sitting in front of him, an annoyed but interested expression on her face as she observed both himself and Shikamaru. "Would you mind repeating that? I'm not sure if I heard you correctly."

Temari looked at him lazily. "Of course. I said that you aren't allowed to visit the prisoner. Naruto Namikaze attempted to infiltrate this village with what was perceived as ill intent, which gives us the right to keep him on complete lockdown until such a time that we deem he is not a threat. That includes refusing your request of visitation, despite being family, blood or otherwise," she said.

"If you find that reason to be unsatisfactory, then please, take your pick of any other you'd like. Your abrupt appearance in the village, without any warning whatsoever, with a suspicious level of intuition on the whereabouts of the aforementioned criminal, or perhaps your record of being arrogant and absorbed in your own self-righteous ways. You have a bad habit of ignoring everything in favour of doing what you feel is right. How do I know that your idea of 'right' won't involve any harm towards my village or its people?"

"We are talking about a time-bomb here!" Jiraiya exclaimed. "That seal's strength is proportional to Naruto's mental strength. Emotional distress will only weaken it further. If you don't let me see him… if I can't tighten the seal… then he could very well unleash hell upon this village."

Temari scoffed. "How stupid. The Yondaime Hokage would never be that careless with his own son, or the safety of innocents. And besides, Naruto tried to use the same bluff," she said, rolling her eyes. "If I thought there was any merit to it, I would have released him myself. But hearing the same useless bluff twice is annoying. If you want to see your godson, then you will wait patiently until our seal masters have studied the seal containing the Kyuubi."

"You have no right to that knowledge!" he yelled.

The blonde snapped her fingers. In the blink of an eye, Jiraiya was surrounded by four Suna ANBU, all with barely visible blades of wind extending from their fingers to the Sannin's throat. Temari stood up from her chair and walked up to Jiraiya, glaring up at him in contempt.

"For generations, Konoha has held the upper hand in sealing techniques. From the basics, all the way to sealing away the Bijuu. Since the days of the first Hokage, Konoha has always been the strongest. But I am not about to let that continue. Not when that knowledge could stop suffering among my own village," she said. "For years, my own brother has suffered at the hands of the obsolete sealing techniques that bind the Ichibi within him. My father was too proud to request help; he wouldn't let anyone else know of his weapon. I, however, did ask. I begged, pleaded for the Hokage to send you here to correct my brother seal, to ease his suffering. Do you know what the reply was?"

Jiraiya didn't say anything. He could already assume as to what Tsunade would have said to such a request. His silence didn't help stop the pang of guilt he felt.

"The Hokage said she wished she could help," Temari growled. "The only reason she couldn't, was because you, the only one with the skills to deal with jinchuuriki seals, were too busy chasing after your godson," she smirked. "I guess it's just a fortunate turn of events that I now have him locked away under the village. A most perfect bargaining chip if there ever was one, and one that I intend to use to the fullest of its potential."

The Sannin frowned. "You're playing a dangerous game, girl."

"Our occupation is a dangerous game at the best of times. While not to the same extent as you, I am quite acclimatised to it," she replied. "If you truly want to see Naruto again, then you would be wise to avoid trying anything stupid. And of course, helping to correct my brother's seal would go a long way in speeding up the process. Until then, you are free to stay in the village. Now get out."

Jiraiya was quick to leave the room, followed closely by the ANBU. Shikamaru stayed behind, both he and Temari waiting silently for the other to close the door behind them, leaving the two alone.

The blonde slumped in her seat. "Please tell me I'm not making a mistake with all of this," she said, looking almost hopefully towards the Nara.

Shikamaru smirked at her. "Jiraiya is stubborn and apparently stupid at times, if this quest of his is of any indication. But he isn't dumb enough to go against the orders of a future Kage," he said reassuringly. "With the other stuff though… I'd say you're making the right decision. Family is important, and the people of your village will back you further once they find out what you're doing for the sake of saving your brother. Love is a very human and easily relatable trait."

"I wasn't talking about how it was going to help me solidify my place as Kage. I was talking about everything else," Temari said softly. "Just tell me, friend to friend, what you think I should do with what I have at hand here."

"You seriously want someone from another village to tell you what to do?" he asked curiously.

"As a suggestion, Shikamaru, not an order. Don't get ahead of yourself. You have a long way to go before you can start telling me what to do."

Shikamaru hummed thoughtfully. "Honestly, if I was in your position, I'd let Naruto go."

Temari deadpanned at him. "Really?"

"Yes, really," he said.

"And what about the girl, Tayuya?"

He took a deep breath. "While I would like nothing more than to endorse your village's decision to execute her… I can't. Her release should be assured alongside Naruto's if you wish for any peaceful outcome."

Temari was understandably hard pressed to take the boy's words seriously. "Just let them go? Both of them? I hope you have a little more to say than just that."

"Naruto has already proven he is smarter than anyone has really given him credit for. He was able to hold Konoha's very existence in his hands as if it were nothing. Someone like that doesn't just get caught without having a plan in motion. He came here for something and he either already has it, or is going to get it whether we like it or not. Whatever it is, it's probably best to let him leave with it, find out what it was, and act accordingly. Overreacting to his presence now is the best way to miss something important, and it's probably what he was betting would happen when he came here."

"So you think we're playing into his hand," she said thoughtfully.

"It's possible," Shikamaru said. "Right now we're basing things off limited information. Naruto is too much of an unknown to accurately make guesses as to his intentions, or anything else for that matter. You said you talked to him, right. Did he say anything that might have hinted at what he might try?"

Temari grunted. "Not really. He made that same stupid bluff that Jiraiya did, and then he drabbled some crap about people being interested in his survival. A bit desperate for someone like him if you ask me."

Shikamaru froze, his thoughts going back to the day he was present at the council meeting with Naruto. "Temari… how many people know where Naruto is being held?"

"Um, a few, I guess. It's not really a secret where he keep the prisoners," she said. "Why?"

"You need to relocate them immediately," he said urgently.

"Woah, what's the problem now?" she asked. "It's not like anyone can get to him."

"Is the cell directly under the village?"

"Well, no. We're holding them outside the village walls for safety reasons. It's only accessible from a tunnel underneath this tower."

"But what about from above?"

Temari gave him a stupid look. "You would have to get through a lot of sand and solid stone to get down there. But they would still need to know the exact spot to dig," she said. "I really think you're overthinking this."

Shikamaru sighed. "Yeah, you're probably right," he mumbled. "Sorry, I just haven't been having the best time recently."

"Don't worry about it. I heard what happened to your friend. I'm amazed you're even out on the field so quickly afterwards. Although it isn't the first time you've surprised me."

"Chōji wouldn't want me to waste time mourning over his death."

"Either way, I would hope you use your time here to relax."

Shikamaru smirked at her. "I use my time everywhere to relax. I thought you would have figured that out by now," he said, walking to the door.

"Hmm, true. I don't think I've seen you stress about anything," Temari said with her own smirk. "And who knows, maybe while you're stuck here you'll drop 'round and interrupt my working hours."

The Nara shrugged. "I wouldn't worry. I won't distract you."

He closed the door behind him before Temari could say anything else, leaving the blonde to hang her head in despair. "It was a request, you ass," she said, staring at the paperwork on her desk, each printed word being but another splinter of the wood that would make up the coffin for her mind.

With a loud groan, she let her head fall hard to the desk. "I already hate this job."


Tayuya looked up when she heard the cell door being opened. Three men entered, one of them closing the door behind them before each of them simply stared at her with blatantly unfriendly intentions. The sadistic grins on their faces only insinuated the two probable outcomes of torture, or rape. Considering there was three of them, Tayuya doubted that either outcome would be a separate act.

One of the men, obviously the group leader, laughed at her. "You're one of the ones that helped kill our Kazekage? What a joke. You're just a little brat," he said.

"That doesn't change anything," one of the others said sternly, glaring at the redhead.

"You're right, it doesn't change anything," the leader said with a sadistic glimmer in his eye. "Or rather, it won't change what we're going to do; only how much I'm going to enjoy it. The young ones always do scream the loudest."

Tayuya snarled at him. "Try your best, you fucker. A piece of shit like you couldn't make me scream. But if it makes you any happier, I did almost vomit looking at your disgusting mug."

The third man was the first to react, walking to her and reaching down with the intent of gripping her throat. Tayuya grabbed his hand and twisted it with practiced ease, his wrist snapping audibly before she unleashed a vicious kick to the man's more sensitive parts. As he fell to his knees, Tayuya got to her feet. Wrapping her arm under his chin, she grabbed a fistful of his hair as she used her arm and body to single handedly jerk his head sharply, breaking his neck.

The leader was at her side quickly, aiming a sloppy punch for her face. She ducked under it, delivering a punch of her own to his pride and joy. Tayuya did momentarily consider the moral ramifications of dishing out two nut shots in such a short time period, but since her chakra was sealed, and she was down an arm, she didn't really have many more options at her disposal. That didn't stop her from hooking her thumb into the man's eye as he lurched over in pain, his screams of agony echoing through the tunnels of the prison cells.

The last of the three finally made himself useful, grabbing Tayuya by the throat and wrist and pinning her to the wall while his friend recovered from his rather sudden eye check. It was this exact moment that Tayuya realised just how much of a drastic disadvantage she was at without her left arm, the remaining stump of said limb doing sweet fuck all as she pathetically bashed at the man's arm with it.

"You little cunt!" the leader screamed, cupping his bleeding eye with one hand while cradling his balls with his other. "We were just going to have some fun with you before killing you, but now I'm going to make sure you die in agony. Fuck letting you get off easy. Tie her up and knock her out, we're taking her with us. We can just leave him here and say she escaped," he said to his friend, gesturing to their dead comrade. Glaring at Tayuya, he forced a crazed grin. "I'm gunna drag it out for as long as I can, you bitch. By the time I'm done, you'll wish you never even lived in the first place. A fair punishment for killing our Kage, and taking my fucking eye!" he screamed, throwing a punch at her.

Blood splattered across Tayuya's face, a wet thud following the surprise shower. The man stared at her in shock, his wide eye slowly inching their way down to where his arm had been viciously ripped from his shoulder. His screams become gurgled cries before they could truly form, blood pooling rapidly at his feet as two bright red eyes peered over his shoulder.

Naruto tossed the man to the side, a sickening squelch following the removing of his hand from the man's back. Red chakra cloaked him like a second skin, only bulging from his body to form the single swishing tail behind him and the long ears atop his head. If not for those two new extremities, he would have simply appeared to be glowing red. Unfortunately, such a perfectly refined chakra cloak was only possible while using a single tail of his Bijuu's chakra.

Speaking of tails, Naruto absentmindedly took control of his own fast enough to have it whip around and cleave the remaining man's head off before he could snap out of shock and no doubt do something to Tayuya in retaliation. His body hit the floor with another wet thud, leaving a shocked and blood covered Tayuya to lean against the wall for support.

Pushing herself off the wall, Tayuya walked up to Naruto and poked him. "You…"

"Yeah, I know. I saved you're life. Not important right now. We need to get out of here before something really bad goes down."

"You…" Tayuya mumbled, her shocked expression immediately morphing into one of rage. "You fucking bastard!" she yelled, driving her fist into his gut.

"What the hell!"

"You could still use chakra? This whole fucking time?" she screamed furiously. "Why the fuck didn't you do anything sooner? Those creepy fucks were going to rape me!"

Naruto pointed to the man she had killed. "You seem to be capable of taking care of yourself. Besides, doing this takes time and concentration, more so since my chakra was sealed."

The girl wiped the blood off her face and glared at him. "Fine. I'll accept that," she said, before punching him in the face. "But that still doesn't change the fact that it was your stupidity that got us stuck here in the first place! I fucking told you what would happen if we came here! And now what? We're just going to break out. Brilliant fucking plan! Between these dead cunts, and everything else, we'll be wanted by Suna for years!"

"Possibly. But I'm kinda hoping that things from this point play out to our benefit," he said.

Tayuya growled at him. "Stop being delusional!" she yelled. "Fuck it! You do whatever you fucking want. I'm outa here. Fuck you, and fuck everyone else. I'll go to the land of iron and forget all of you bastards even exist."

Naruto ignored her. "Uh-huh, sounds like a good plan," he said, sticking a piece of blue coloured paper to the wall.

"What the…? Where'd you get that?"

"If I said that it fell into my lap, would you believe me?"

"No."

"Well, it flew into the cell last night. This was stuck to it," he said, handing her a smaller piece of plain paper with a message neatly written on it.

Snatching the paper from his hand, Tayuya read it out loud. "Place blue paper on wall before leaving. Distraction will occur shortly afterwards. Do not be in tunnels during distraction," she read. "Yeah, because you know, that doesn't sound like a trap at all."

Naruto shrugged, his cloak of red chakra receding back into him. "No, you're right about that. It's definitely a trap. I'm just not sure what kind of trap it's going to be. Considering that it requires us to be broken out of prison, I'd like to say it's going to be an interesting kind of trap."

"And we're walking into it, why?"

"Because we aren't going to get another chance to just walk out of this prison, and I'm not comfortable with just waiting for them to drag you off to be executed. As good of a distraction that might be for my own escape, I'm standing by my promise to keep you safe," Naruto said. Placing his hands over the chakra restricting seals on her wrists, Naruto quickly removed them. "There, now let's get moving before we miss the distraction."

With that said, he casually walked over to the cell door. In an impressive display of physical strength, he ripped the door off its hinges and tossed it aside. Without looking back at Tayuya, Naruto walked off into the tunnels, quickly disappearing from the girl's sight. Tayuya didn't move to follow after him, choosing to instead stare into the distance. Her thoughts were muddled and unsettled by something she hadn't felt in years. A combination of hope and fear filled her as she pinpointed the exact event that had invoked the feeling before.

The day Orochimaru had saved her and promised to take care of her.

While it did dig up some old and uncomfortable memories and emotions from her early life spent with the snake Sannin, Tayuya couldn't deny that Naruto's own promise of keeping her safe didn't help to ease her mind. Being older, and arguably wiser than she had been when Orochimaru had made a similar promise, Tayuya was confident in her ability to deduce any vile or underhanded intentions hidden within such things. Naruto's promise, while rather sudden and childish with all things considered, was as pure hearted a promise as Tayuya had ever heard… and it annoyed the ever-living shit out of her.

How someone so powerful could ever reach his age and still be stupid and naïve enough to not only trust someone like her, but to even promise to protect them, was beyond her. It was an infuriating trait that seemed to follow strong shinobi born in Konoha and Tayuya hated it. Still, her hatred of it couldn't completely burn away the nagging in the back of her mind. The stupid little voice yelling at her to follow him, to hold on to possibly the only person that had ever shown her kindness with no agenda or expectations of repayment.

It also didn't help that his brutal killing of her attackers had kind of turned her on. Her urges of survival and desire for acceptance were joined by the urge and desire for something that left her fighting back a blush. Cursing her stupid urges, Tayuya regained control of her thoughts and stormed towards the tunnels Naruto had walked into.

'It's for my survival. That's it. Nothing else.' she assured herself. 'I will not be distracted by something as pathetic as bodily urges. I'm better than that god dammit!'

"Argh! How fast are you walking, you fucker!" she yelled, running after him.


Some distance from the walls of Sunagakure, Konan waited patiently. With the calm gentleness that helped earn her title of angle of Ame, she slowly weaved through a long string of hand seals. A tiny pulse beneath her feet indicated that the jinchuuriki had followed her instructions, the piece of paper she had sent to him letting her know the exact location of the prison cell under the ground.

Without breaking concentration on her hand seals, Konan walked until she was positioned directly above the cell. Completing them, she fixed her hands into the final seal, her chakra moulding rapidly as hundreds of paper squares flew out of her cloak and the several pouches strapped to her waist. The paper swarmed around her in a frenzy, each folding to the required shape until all finally connected into a giant seal floating just above the sand.

The seal pulsed a bright blue before Konan was engulfed in a sea of exploding tags. In a seemingly endless stream, the tags continued to flow from the seal, building up into a giant cloud of paper and death. In an instant, the flow stopped, every single piece of paper freezing in place in the air as Konan gently grabbed one between her fingers. Igniting it, she placed it on the ground before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

She reappeared back in the dull apartment of Sasori's personal spy, mere moments passing before the whole village began to shake, and the ground rumbled loudly. Several seconds later found the village being shook violently as the sounds of several buildings and streets collapsing into the tunnels below roared through the valley. Explosions erupted up from the newly formed cracks strewn throughout the village, inciting chaos and destruction everywhere.

Konan pulled her hood over her head and walked out into the chaos of the streets. The screams of the villagers soon serving to drown out the dwindling sounds of the sinking village. She had played her part as best she could. Now it was up to the jinchuuriki to get out while he was able to. There wouldn't be a better opportunity than right now, with the whole village currently distracted. If he waisted this chance, then things would only get more complicated.


Temari grunted in discomfort. A dull pain throbbing through her head as she stumbled back to her feet. The Kazekage tower had fallen, literally. The ground had given way to the tunnels beneath the village, and from the sounds of things outside, it was not an isolated incident. The office was a mess, the desk, bookshelves, and the rest of the furniture having been thrown around upon the building's shift. Losing her balance, she fell over, one of her personal ANBU guard catching her as she did so while the others gathered around her.

"Lady Temari, what are your orders?" the ANBU asked.

"What's the situation? How far spread is this?" the blonde asked.

"We are not sure. It seems that the tunnels underneath the village have been sabotaged from within. It appears to have been focussed on the tunnel leading to the high security prison wings. The damage is severe, but manageable."

"Dammit!" Temari snarled. "Begin immediate rescue operations. Locate and assess the condition of the council, secure their safety at all costs. Prioritise the forces to making sure the village is stable structurally. We cannot have any more damage risking the lives of the villagers."

The ANBU all scattered, leaving only the blonde and the single ANBU that was holding her up. "Are you alright to stand?" the ANBU asked.

Temari stepped away from him and nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little shaken," she said, chuckling nervously at her own stupid pun.

Her amusement was short lived, however, as blood sprayed over her, the ANBU standing next to her being ripped open by the very air around him and thrown across the room in a bloody mangled heap. Temari refrained from reacting, the chill of cold steel at her throat shuddering down her spine as she slowly turned to stare into the now blood red eyes of Naruto. Tayuya stood beside him with an odd look of surprise and unsureness, her expression doing nothing to hint at what the two were there for.

"Now then, since we finally have another chance, why don't you and I continue that conversation we were having down in the prison," Naruto said casually, removing his sword from her throat.

"You nearly destroy my village, you slaughter one of my men right in front of me… and you want to talk?" Temari asked, baring her teeth at the redheads and doing her best to stop herself from going red with rage.

Naruto pursed his lips. "I didn't do the destruction. That was just someone who wanted me to escape, which, if I might add, I did warn you about," he said. "But I did kill your man in front of you, which was uncalled for. I'm not apologising though. If you wanted to forgo any deaths, then you should have listened to me the first time and let us go."

"What the fuck are we doing here?" Tayuya hissed. "The whole village is in turmoil. Now is literally our best chance of getting out of here with a huge head start. We are wasting our fucking time!"

"Tayuya… shut up," Naruto said sternly, sheathing his sword and pushing it into her hand before rounding back to Temari. "I came here for a reason, and I don't plan on leaving until I've gotten what I want. So, you can either cooperate and help us stick around with minimal trouble, or I can knock you out and just rummage through this village until I find someone who can do the next best thing. So, which will it be?"

Temari looked at him weirdly. "You want to stick around?" she asked. "What could possibly be important enough for you to want to stay in the village? You just had to break out of prison for crying out loud."

Naruto shrugged. "I've stayed in villages that have done far worse to me. I mean, I stayed in Ame for a couple of years, and a few people there got really close to killing me."

"But… what for?" Temari asked.

"The climate, mostly," he replied.

"No, you dick head. She's asking what you're staying here for," Tayuya said.

"Ugh, I know that, Tayuya. Just please let the adults talk."

"Fuck you."

"You wish you could."

Tayuya blushed.

"Hah! I win!" Naruto cheered.

Temari cleared her throat loudly. "If you two would stop having a lovers spat, I'd like to get to the point of all this and deal with everything before it goes even more to hell," she said irritably. "I'm not sure if you've noticed, but half of my village just sunk into the freaking ground. There is going to be more crap for me to deal with than I need and you two are not helping my situation!"

"Shove it up your ass, you fucking blonde bitch! And don't ever call us lovers again! I would not be regarded as this idiots girlfriend even if my life depended on it!" Tayuya exclaimed, her face turning a darker shade of red. Whether it was out of embarrassment or anger, Temari and Naruto weren't sure, and to be fair, neither was Tayuya.

Naruto rolled his eyes. "This is not going to work," he grumbled. "Look, I don't want to cause any trouble, well, any more trouble. I have my reasons to stick around here, and if you help me stay then I promise to help you fix the destruction that I inadvertently caused. But, you have to ensure both my own and Tayuya's safety."

"And why should I do anything of the sort?" she asked. "That's assuming that I can even manage such a thing. I haven't even been completely established as the Kazekage yet. The council can still overrule me with things that they deem important to the safety and wellbeing of the village. You two, by default, are easily classified as a safety hazard to the whole village. My power over you is next to non-existent."

"Fucking perfect. Then let's gets out of here. I'm not getting locked up again just for some more stupid pricks to try have their way with me," Tayuya said.

"Wait… what? What are you talking about?" Temari asked.

Tayuya sneered. "Three of your fucking villagers came into our cell earlier. Said they were going to have some fun with me as payback for your father's death."

"Villagers? How'd they even get down there? The high security prison wing is only accessible to shinobi with authorisation. Your cell in particular was only accessible through a tunnel from this tower, which means someone here would have had to let them through and given them directions." Temari said unsurely. "Are you positive they were villagers?"

"Well, if they were shinobi, then they were the most piss-weak shinobi I've ever met. I killed one of them with no chakra and one arm, so I doubt they had any training. Lucky for me I guess."

Temari scowled and turned to Naruto. "I want to make a deal," she proposed, earning his immediate attention. "You want to stay in the village for something, and I have some very… particular favours that you might be able to assist me with. I'll help you and your girlfriend sick around if you promise to help me with whatever I need whilst you're here."

"Intriguing. And just what kind of favours are we talking about here?" Naruto asked curiously. "I just don't want to agree to this deal and get used as a glorified mercenary. I need to be sure that I'm not going to be a partner in your gaining an iron fist rule over this village."

"You're saying you'd rather try your luck with someone else becoming Kazekage? It'll be hard to find anyone else who sympathises with your circumstances and won't just see you as a weapon to be tamed," Temari countered. "I'm your best bet of getting anything out of this sandpit, and if you don't help me, then I'll just go back to what I was doing before you showed up, only with the subtle addition of condemning you two to death for nearly destroying my home."

Tayuya turned to Naruto with a sly grin. "Well, looks like you've been bested by the bitch. What's your big game plan now, dick head?"

"I wouldn't be so rude to him if I were you. If he doesn't accept the deal, you'll both be pitted together in the ramifications. You'll be executed immediately," the blonde said.

"What the shit?! That's not fair!"

Naruto deadpanned at the girl. "What part of anything has been fair for you these past couple of weeks, Tayuya?"

"Just shut up and make a decision. I don't have all day here. The village is falling to shit and I need to be out there helping."

"Alright, alright, jeez. Don't get your panties in a bunch. I'll help you out with these favours for our staying here. You happy?" Naruto said.

Temari rolled her eyes. "Not really. My village is still fucked because of you, I just found out that someone with high authorisation has no respect for my orders, and now I have to make up some excuse for how my ANBU died."

"He tripped," Tayuya offered, getting an annoyed stare from the blonde. "…into a shark."

"For the duration of your stay here, it might be best if you just remain silent."

"Seconded," Naruto agreed. "Now just tell us where we are supposed to hide out while things calm down. I'd suggest we go back to our cell, but I think that entire wing is buried by now."

Temari paled drastically. "Gaara."

Without another word, the blonde dashed across the room and out the door. Naruto followed her to the doorway, only to watch the girl run full pelt down the hall and disappear with more haste than he was comfortable seeing someone exert. The jinchuuriki tried to make sense of what just happened, only to come to a conclusion that left him frowning.

"Tayuya, stay here. Don't go anywhere unless it's for your own safety."

The girl tsk'd. "What the hell is wrong now?"

Naruto walked over to her and grabbed his sword, a sealing scroll warping into his hand from one of his own seals as he did so. "Things might be much worse than I thought they were. Barricade the room as best you can. Everything you need will be in here," he said, handing her the scroll.

"And where the hell are you going?"

He smiled at her. "No idea. But if that girl dies, then we lose any chance of staying here and then I lose any chance of getting what I want."

Tayuya gnashed her teeth angrily. "You haven't even told me what the fuck we're here for! How about you let me in on what's so bloody important that we have to risk our lives for it!"

"Well, Suna is known for its puppet mastery, and you aren't much use to me with only one arm. I thought I'd get one made for you. At least then you'd stop whinging about how I cut yours off… hopefully," he said, ignoring the girl's wide-eyed expression of shock. "That and I heard that the hot springs here are to die for, along with the girls. Apparently, Suna breeds 'em special, and I'm curious to see what that entails."

Tayuya continued to stare at him dumbfounded. "…an arm?" she whispered disbelievingly.

Naruto patted her on the head. "Yeah, an arm. But it's only worth it if you survive. So do me a favour and don't die. I'm gunna go keep what's-her-face alive. Be a good girl. I'll be back soon."

Before Tayuya could say anything, Naruto was gone, chasing after Temari and leaving the redhead standing awkwardly in the middle of the Kazekage office. She looked down at the scroll in her hand curiously before staring unsurely at the stump that remained of her left arm. The conflicting emotions she had felt earlier regarding Naruto welled up inside her again. A part of her, buried deep down under all the hatred and coarseness that made up her loveable personality, wanted to trust him, to take some kind of comfort in the kindness he had been showing her. But the rest of her wasn't so quick to let her fall into that sense of security again.

Far too many scars littered her body to allow her to forget the times where she had trusted too quickly. Even more so with her mind. And yet, in spite of all her past experiences, Tayuya couldn't force back the nagging in her mind that urged her to trust Naruto. Any of the other annoying urges that plagued her mind about the jinchuuriki were easier to push to the back of her thoughts, but much like before, it all added up to a point where none of it could be completely ignored.

Taking a deep breath, the redhead recomposed herself, mentally assuring herself that she would delve into the inner turmoil of her emotions at a later date. Sadly, in her moment of distraction, Tayuya failed to stay aware of her surroundings, a mistake that was made immediately clear to her as she realised that she couldn't move her body anymore.

"What the fuck?!"

As if on cue, black tendrils crawled up her legs from her own shadow, extending and wrapping themselves around her until each of her limbs were covered in them. They constricted around her tightly, pulling and pushing in such a way as to force her body to turn around. As she did so, Tayuya became aware of the group standing behind her, consisting most notably of Jiraiya of the Sannin, and one of the kids that had been sent to rescue the Uchiha, the latter of whom seemed to be responsible for her shadow bindings.

"I would apologise for the discomfort, I haven't had much practice with this particular technique, but I don't really consider you worth my sympathy," Shikamaru droned emotionlessly.

"Tenten, bind her properly," Jiraiya ordered.

The bun haired girl practically skipped towards the redhead, happy to comply without any complaints. The shadow tendrils once again constricted and forced Tayuya to put her arm uncomfortably behind her back. Tenten wasted on time in unsealing a peculiar object, consisting of a single solid steal shackle connected to a length of chain, all of which was heavily inscribed with seals. Clamping the shackle tightly onto the girl's wrist, she wrapped the chain across her chest in a way to pull her arm up her back painfully. Locking the chain in place, the seals all glowed briefly before Tayuya dropped to her knees, the tendrils of shadow retracting back into her own as Shikamaru released his technique.

"Tenten, why do you even have a single shackle chain?" Ino asked curiously.

The brunette blushed and crossed her arms with a huff. "What I keep in my collection is none of your business, as are my reasons for owning such things. It came in handy for this situation, and that is all you need to worry about."

"If you twits are going to keep babbling about stupid shit, then just kill me now and spare me the suffering of having to hear it," Tayuya said, grunting in pain as she tried to lift herself up. "And while you're at it, you can take these chains off."

"We aren't going to kill you, as much as you might deserve it. You are coming back to Konoha with us to stand trial and be appropriately charged for your crimes," Jiraiya explained. "But until then, you are going to tell me where Naruto is."

"Ugh, if that's your plan, you might as well kill me here. Your stupid tree hugger village will definitely execute me, just like this shithole of a litterbox village was going to do. And I don't even know where that idiot went. He ran off after the blonde bitch. So, now that you know I'm useless to you, how about you get these stupid fucking chains off of me, and then piss off after Naruto!"

Jiraiya grumbled. "Dammit. He could be anywhere in the village by now. We don't have time to waste tracking him down. Ino, check to see if she's telling the truth. If she is, then we'll just have to take her with us anyway and figure something out."

"You want me to look into her mind? Eeeeww! No way! Who knows what kind of disgusting stuff she's done. I don't want to see any of that!" the blonde exclaimed.

"You're a Yamanaka, Ino. This is what you're expected to do. Besides, she isn't much older than us; what's the worst that she could have done," Tenten said. "If you're that scared about seeing something bad, then just look at really recent memories and stuff. You can do that, right?"

Ino pursed her lips in annoyance. "Of course I can. It's easy. But that still means I have to look at her recent memories. That could be anything. I don't want to risk seeing whatever morbid or perverted thoughts she might have had. And she's supposed to be the one who killed Chōji. What if I see that?"

"Then you can be a key component to making sure she is charged for the crime," Shikamaru said.

The Yamanaka shuddered. Holding back her urge to snarl, she knelt down in front of Tayuya. After going through some hand seals, she placed her thumbs on the girl's forehead and two fingers of each hand on her temples. Ino closed her eyes and concentrated, Tayuya's own eyes rolling back as her consciousness was forced back into her mind. After a couple of minutes, Ino released the technique and stood up silently.

Tenten quirked an eyebrow "Well?"

"She's definitely the one who killed Chōji," Ino replied emotionlessly.

"And Naruto?" Jiraiya asked.

Ino blushed slightly. "Is definitely hot, but also not here. She was telling the truth about not knowing where he ran off to. He chased after Temari when she said something about Gaara and took off out the door."

"Is that all you found out?"

"Well, no, but it's not easy with her. All of her recent memories are blotchy. She's been in a coma, knocked out a few times, and has been in pain for the past couple of weeks," Ino explained. "It's a real mess inside that head. The only thing I could see in perfect clarity was a small conversation they had a few days ago. They were talking about someone named Hanzō."

Jiraiya's blood went cold. "Hanzō of the salamander?"

Ino nodded. "Yeah, him. Naruto was saying something about being trained by him for a while. Makes sense, I guess. They did have the conversation in the land of the salamanders, or so he said. He told her that he stole the summoning contract from Hanzō's grave."

Jiraiya was understandably distressed. "Alright, change of plans. You three take the girl and hide somewhere. Ino, if you can, extract any more information about her. Naruto wants her alive for something and I want to know what it is. No matter what, do not let Naruto see you taking her."

"Where should we go?" Shikamaru asked.

"Anywhere away from the fighting. Leave the village if you have to. I'll catch up later."

"You mean I don't even get to fight? What kind of lame mission is this?" Tenten whined. "I even brought my best weapon sets."

"There, there, Tenten. Your time will come," Ino assured her, patting the downhearted girl on the back. "But for now, you need to pick her up and follow me and Shikamaru out of here."

Tenten's narrowed her eyes at the blonde. "Why do I have to carry her?"

"Because she disgusts me, I need to conserve my energy for reading her mind, and Shikamaru is a lazy bum."

"Just go!" Jiraiya ordered, running out of the room as he desperately began searching for Naruto.

"…"

"…We should probably go," Shikamaru said.

Ino tsk'd. "I don't see what the big deal is. From what I saw, Naruto doesn't look like he's that strong. Let's just hide somewhere comfortable, like in the famous hot springs of Suna," she said, directing her best puppy-dog-eyes at Shikamaru.

"The village just nearly got destroyed, Ino. I think Jiraiya is right in sending us away. We are way out of our league here," Shikamaru said sternly. "Now let's get out of here before things get worse, or, even worse than that, Naruto figures out that we have his friend."

The village shook again. Unlike the time before, it wasn't a gradual build-up of explosive force, but instead a low grumbling that flowed through the whole village with no real epicentre. Sand poured up out of the fissures and cracks in the ground as if acting of its own accord, crawling up walls and ensnaring anyone and everyone unfortunate to be caught it its reach. Entire parts of the village were hoisted into the air by the sand as it grew in mass, blocking Suna off from the outside world as it swallowed up the passageways leading out.

Shikamaru, Tenten, and Ino all watched the events take place with varying displays of shock. Their focus only breaking as Ino tapped Shikamaru on the shoulder.

"Alright, I get it now. Let's get out of here," she said worriedly.

The Nara groaned. 'Jiraiya better be able to sort this mess out. Tsunade will not be happy about it if he was here and let things go to hell just because he's after Naruto.'


Naruto grabbed Temari by the collar of her blouse, yanking her off her feet and throwing her harshly into a nearby open cell. Before she could protest, Naruto dived in after her, pinning her down as the tunnel rumbled loudly, a sea of sand violently filling the tunnel in the moments following, cracking the stone around it and bashing against the cells gate hard enough to mangle it, ripping it from the stone and dropping it down on top of them.

"I just want you to know right here and now that this was not intentional, and I surely hope that it doesn't affect our agreement," Naruto said, an unusually cheeky smirk on his face as he gestured down at their current position with his eyes.

Temari looked at him questioningly before taking notice of their rather compromised position, what with him lying on top of her, the weight of the iron bars pushing him down to the point of too much bodily contact to be appropriate. In spite of herself, Temari blushed ever so slightly, making sure to disguise her mild embarrassment with anger as she glared daggers directly into Naruto's eyes, which, by some miracle of divine nature, were sparkling with nothing but pure innocents.

With a grunt, the blonde pushed Naruto and the iron bars up off of her, offering him a sadistically sweet smile. "I'll trust you on the unintentional part, but the agreement will have to be mended to account for this," she said before grabbing a fistful of his hair and snarling at him. "Now stop wasting time and get the hell off of me! Help me save my brother, and I might still be willing to go along with what I proposed!"

Naruto stood up quickly, pushing the gate off of himself and into the still flowing torrent of sand to be consumed. He helped Temari up to her feet before directing his attention to his senses.

"This sand is everywhere."

"No duh, you moron. We are in a desert," Temari snapped irritably.

"No, I mean, this sand. As in the sand that is coated and being controlled by some malevolent chakra, most likely your brother. It's expanding well beyond the boundaries of the village," he clarified.

Temari's eyes widened. "That far? But… Gaara's never gone to such extremes before. He doesn't have enough control for it."

Naruto hummed thoughtfully. "Then it isn't him," he muttered. "After the incident in Konoha, what did you do? What was done to make sure that he wouldn't lose it again? Did you tamper with his seal at all?"

"Of course not! Suna doesn't have anywhere near the expertise and knowledge to mess with a seal holding a Bijuu, especially one that holds back the one that could wipe us completely off the map!" Temari exclaimed before looking down ashamedly. "That being said though, we did take necessary precautions. A command seal was placed on him, to ensure that his loyalty wouldn't break, to make certain that he could be reeled in if he lost control again."

"And who is it linked to?" he asked.

"A handful of people, myself included"

Naruto took a deep calming breath. "After this crap is over, me and your village are going to have a really long talk about the wrongs of turning a kid into a slave. Then I'm going to murder everyone here that claims to know anything about Fūinjutsu, because clearly you people have more sand in your heads than this whole bloody desert does!" he yelled. "You do not add seals to things that already have seals without being absolutely sure it won't interfere with what's already there!"

Temari went to retort, only to have the Uzumaki put his hand up to silence her. "I know, it's not your fault, I'm not blaming you. Sorry for yelling. But I will need to kill someone once this is over, even if it's myself for my own sanities sake," he said, rolling up his sleeve and absentmindedly tracing one of the seals on his arm. "I'll help you sort this out, and then I'm giving you all that you need to learn what is required to ensure that such a fuck up doesn't occur again. The terms of that will be worked out later though. Right now, we need to find your brother and hope that my hunch isn't correct."

"Hunch? What hunch? What do you think has happened to him?"

"Well, if that command seal interfered too harshly on an already fragile seal holding back a Bijuu, then it could have all broken, unleashing the Ichibi and killing your brother instantly. We could very well be dealing with an actual Bijuu right now. Hopefully though, my hunch is correct and his seal hasn't broken, simply degraded to an extremely unsafe point. But it's at this point you have to decide if saving him is worth it."

"Of course it's worth it! Why would you even assume it wouldn't be?!"

Naruto ignored her, placing his palm over the now glowing seal. His chakra expanded rapidly as the air around him crackled loudly in a flashy show of lightning chakra manipulation. Bringing his now released chakra nature under control, he gave Temari an emotionless look. "If his seal has only degraded, I can save him, reseal the Bijuu within him, and secure it… but it would be more merciful to just kill him and find a new host. He has already suffered by the sounds of it, and the Bijuu is probably tearing him apart from the inside out right now. Putting it back will destroy him physically, and after that… well, not many have the fortitude for that kind of trauma. He'll probably become nothing more than a blank slate."

"But that is for later. Right now, you need to help me stop this thing," he said, pulling out a three-pronged kunai and tossing it into the torrent of sand.

Temari gawked at him. "Was that what I think it was?"

Naruto grinned sheepishly. "Yeah, I don't like using it much, so please keep quiet about it. It's so overpowered it makes me feel like a prick. But a Bijuu is a special occasion."

The blonde took an uneasy step back from him. 'The Hiraishin. He knows the freaking Hiraishin!' she thought to herself in horror. The reality of what she had thought to be an idle threat finally hit her like a brick. With such a technique at his disposal, he could have decimated Suna. It also explained Jiraiya's disturbing obsession with catching the teen. The Hiraishin was the masterpiece of the Sannin's apprentice, and so, it would only make sense that Jiraiya wanted to ensure the security of the jutsu. But it also made her position on the matter much more complicated.

As an ally to Konoha, Suna would be expected to help them in such a situation. The botched invasion attempt, along with the now half-destroyed state of the village, meant that Suna also now relied far too heavily on Konoha's support to do anything against them. Temari's offer to help Naruto could very well hold drastic ramifications if she followed through with it.

"Okay, that's long enough," Naruto said, grabbing Temari's hand tightly. "We're either going to die a horrible death by sand, or we'll be fine. Hope for the best."

Before Temari could react, the world warped around her, her stomach churning uncomfortable as she felt herself getting dragged through space and time, the whole process being accompanied by a strange tingling sensation that left her body feeling numb. In an instant, the world around them flashed into existence, revealing their new location high up in the air above the village, right next to a giant tower of sand. The sand exploded towards them, lashing out in the form of a giant clawed hand and crushing them in its grip.

Naruto unleashed a wave of lightning into the sand, turning it into glass and shattered it before charging his Hiraishin kunai with wind chakra and throwing it to the other side of the village. In a flash, they escaped yet another hand of sand, reappearing well out of reach and landing in a tumbling heap of entangled limbs.

Temari pushed Naruto off of her with an annoyed sneer. "At least try to stop landing on me."

"Hehe, sorry."

The two looked back to the tower of sand protruding from the ground. It was quickly growing in size and height, drawing from the sand both within and outside of the village, and further proving Naruto's analysis that the Bijuu had control of far more chakra-laced sand than was necessary. The now colossal mountain of sand quickly gained form, clawed hands, a spiked tail, and a maw of stupendous size. Bluish black markings becoming clear on the creature as its true tanuki-like form became complete.

"So, how are we going to stop him?" Temari asked.

"We? There is no we. You're going to sit here and behave yourself while I deal with the mess your idiot father and the rest of this stupid village created," he said.

Unsheathing his sword, he sealed away the sheath before unsealing a large sickle. Naruto paused momentarily to look down at the weapon, a thick concoction of toxins dripping from its edge and a ring at the end of the handle for a chain to attach. It was one of the few things Hanzō had gifted him apart from training and skills. Despite having originally thought of the kusarigama as a stupid and weird kind of weapon, he was quick to see the greatness of it… after some forcefulness on Hanzō's part.

He only kept it sealed away so as to give most people a fighting chance. As a ranged and rather unpredictable weapon, it was hard to find people that were able to stand a chance against the kusarigama. In some cases, it was no better than cutting down people like paper. Luckily, he could unleash his full force of abilities with it against a Bijuu and not feel guilty at all, even more so since said Bijuu was made from sand. Honestly, what real damage could he do with bladed weaponry against that kind of creature? Didn't mean he wasn't going to have fun with it though.

Stabbing the sickle into the ground, he placed his open palm against the chain ring, a short length of steel chain extending out of one of his seals and linking to the weapon, before pulling his hand away. As his hand moved away, the chain extended out from his arm at an impressive rate, forming such a length that it coiled around Naruto's waist before wrapping around his forearm. Grabbing the chain, he pulled on it and tore the sickle from the ground, spinning it around idly as he attached a sealing tag to the pommel of his sword.

"Okay, you're going to want to tell your people to back off and find cover. That thing is huge and I'm going to have to throw out some big techniques to keep its attention on me. More people will just get in my way and die. You do your best to gather the ones that have a connection to the command seal on your brother. If you all activate it together, there might still be enough of a connection to cause some delay in its actions," Naruto said calmly, pulling out another three-pronged kunai and charging it with wind chakra before lopping it in the Bijuu's direction.

"You plan on fighting that thing alone?" Temari asked in disbelief. "Are you completely insane?"

Naruto smiled at her. "Who ever said I'd do it alone."

In a flash, he was gone. He reappeared in the air, right above the raging Bijuu. Swinging his sickle around with perfect accuracy, he caught his kunai by the finger ring with the blade, pulling it back to him and kicking it even higher into the air. A cloud of smoke filled the sky before a hail of shadow cloned kunai rained down from the sky, turning the Ichibi into the largest pincushion ever to live. The Bijuu roared in rage, its eyes turning upward and locking into the falling teen. Naruto smirked as it swung its clawed hand at him in an attempt to swat him away, only to spin himself around, the chain attached to his sickled extending as required for him to swing it around in a large circular slash charged with wind chakra.

The Ichibi's arm exploded as the wind-powered kusarigama tore through it, causing the severed limb to collapse into sand. Naruto let go of the chain and cut his thumb as he neared the Bijuu, disappearing in yet another cloud of smoke. The Ichibi went to lash out with its other arm, only for Naruto to flash to a kunai on said limb and plunge his lighting charged sword into it. The sand crystallised and shattered, leaving the Bijuu wide open as what appeared to be a meteorite crashed down from the smoke cloud into the sand demon, knocking it down onto its back.

A screech rung out through the village as the meteorite sprouted legs, a tail, and a head, all of which were covered in a mixture of burning flames and molten magma. The Ichibi roared again as the salamander spewed copious amounts of magma and fire onto it, melting the sand into a useless and uncontrollable clump of glass and crystal. Reforming its arms, the Bijuu tried to push the salamander off, only to find its efforts useless, the fiery form of the summons being almost impossible for it to grab a hold of. Eventually, the Ichibi gave up on trying to grab it, opting to instead move its mass around it, reforming its whole body behind it, and bringing its fist down on top of the salamander.

The summons dispelled, leaving the Bijuu to try and grind down the now vitrified sand left in the wake of the salamander. Its efforts were cut short as Naruto reappeared in front of it, swinging his sickle into the Bijuu's eye. The colossal tanuki threw its head back in retaliation, whipping Naruto far up into the air above it. Naruto locked eyes with the Bijuu momentarily, the crazed glimmer in the creature's eye giving him a horrible sense of foreboding as it opened its mouth as wide as it possibly could.

A sphere of red chakra began forming above its mouth, growing continuously and rapidly as the Bijuu pulled on all the excess chakra from the sand around it. The sphere expanded until it was nearly half the size of the Ichibi itself before collapsing down into a tiny pitch-black ball no larger than a person's head. The blood drained from Naruto's face as it dawned on him just what was about to happen. With speed that would have made his father proud, he dropped his sword and sickle and threw two kunai, one further up into the air, and another straight at the ball of chakra.

The Bijuu's jaws snapped shut over the ball, missing Naruto's kunai by inches. The kunai embedded itself into the ball of chakra before Naruto flashed to it, both him and the ball disappearing the next instant. The Ichibi momentarily lost control of its form with the sudden loss of the gravity around the ball, only to quickly reform and looked around in shock. As if done with the intention of shocking the Bijuu further, a large eruption of chakra flared up above the village causing everyone to stare up at the arguably terrifying sight.

High above the village, Naruto floated in the air, the earth crushingly heavy ball of chakra still gripped in his hands. Without much thought, Naruto did the only thing he could think of and began absorbing the chakra directly into his own reserves. That proved to be a bad idea as his hand began to burn, the skin peeling off of him as the chakra worked its way up his arms. In spite of the pain, he held on, determined to at least reduce the potential catastrophe that he was holding. In a perfect situation, he would have simply thrown another kunai to a safe location and dropped the Bijuu bomb somewhere that it couldn't do anything bad, but now that he had already started to absorb it, he couldn't stop. The risk of it recoiling at the action was too high, and he would be damned if he was going to die in such a way.

As he continued to fall, the chakra continued to work its way through him, burning his chakra network like lava. Had he been anything but the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi, Naruto was sure that he'd already be dead, but luckily, he was, as Tayuya would have put it, a very special kind of idiot. A fact that helped to explain the coming up with an absolutely stupid plan, if he did say so himself. Now all he needed to do was pull it off and brag his ass off afterwards… if he didn't blow his ass up in the process of course.

Falling faster and faster down towards the Ichibi, Naruto began to feel the Bijuu's chakra flowing through him with less resistance, his body finally reacting to it as if it were that of the nine tails. Still, he had barely absorbed anywhere near a notable chunk of the chakra bomb, leaving him with precious little time to figure out how he was going to pull off his plan. He needed to assimilate the chakra into his own reserves, or at least take the brunt of the power it contained, but to do so he needed to first contain himself.

He wasn't sure, but Naruto had the feeling that injecting this much potent chakra into his system would spark a rather destructive side effect. It usually happened whenever he used stupid amounts of the Kyuubi's chakra, so it stood to reason that it would happen with another Bijuu's chakra as well. Luckily, his eyes locked onto the sight of the hundreds of kunai he had dropped on the Ichibi, most of them still being embedded in the creature. Looking down at the one still stuck in the ball, Naruto grinned.

Sometimes it really helped to have such a stupidly overpowered technique.


Temari was busy running around the village, warning all she could find not to interfere in the colossal battle commencing above them. While they weren't overly pleased, no one was game enough to argue with her. In fact, many of them were grateful to have an excuse to not attack, their sense of duty being the only thing really holding them back from running. To be honest, she couldn't blame them at this point. Before, their efforts would have been helpful, aiding to distract the Bijuu while her father used his gold dust to subdue it. But now, with her father dead, there wasn't anyone capable of simply stopping the monster. If they fought, they would only die, offering no form of help as they went.

As she continued, the battle continued. Whatever doubts she might have formed in her mind about Naruto were officially shattered with each attack he unleashed on the Ichibi. He had yet to even throw out an actual jutsu yet, and still had the beast completely focused on him. It was terrifying to think that someone could go against a Bijuu with only a sword and sickle and still hold their own, but in this instance, Temari only viewed it as a godsend. With the beasts attention focused on him, the shinobi of Suna were able to safely free those caught in the sand, evacuating them out of the perceived danger zone.

Climbing to the top of a building, Temari tried to scope out just how far the situation had escalated. What she saw was anything but comforting, what with the Ichibi forming a Bijuu bomb in the middle of the village. Based on what information she had gathered about the chakra manifestations, she knew that such a technique would destroy most of what left of Suna. Whatever was left after that would be lucky to get recognition as anything more than a speck in the deserts of wind country.

As the Ichibi swallowed the condensed sphere of chakra, the blonde couldn't help but hold her breath in anticipation of the devastation to follow, only for the Bijuu to unexpectedly collapse. The almost comical scene evoked a confused "Huh?" from Temari before a flare of chakra drew her attention up to the sky. She watched, stunned in rapt silence, as Naruto plummeted down towards the Bijuu, the ball of chakra in his hands. The Ichibi responded by opening its mouth again, intending to allow the boy to simply fall into its jaws, and much to Temari's surprise, it seemed that Naruto intended to do just that.

Just before the Bijuu was about to swallow him, there was a flash. The hundreds of Hiraishin kunai littering the sand that made up the beast flashing out of existence, large chunks of sand being warped out of reality with them. Before the Ichibi could even react to the loss of much of its body, it was privileged to a front row seat view of a literal mountain of sand flashing into the world up behind Naruto, both he and the sand colliding into the beast with enough force to shake the village.

The physical shockwave was followed by the immediate sense of dread blanketing the village, an invisible pressure weighing heavily on everyone it effected. Those who were old enough, or had enough encounters with the Ichibi, knew the sensation well, but none had felt it on such a massive scale. Temari, however, was completely aware of what was happening, and who was behind it. She had thought it was bad enough with the Ichibi raging inside the village, but fear truly gripped her heart at the thought of the Kyuubi doing the same.

As quickly as it had appeared, the pressure was gone. Everyone waited for the Ichibi to reform and continue its rampage, but it never did. Silence engulfed the village as the dust settled. It took a few moments, but eventually the people realised it was over and began moving to find anyone hurt or trapped by the destruction. Temari headed straight for where she had seen Naruto collide with the Ichibi, several ANBU quickly joining her on her way.

As they arrived, the group was met with the sight of a large crater that had been scorched into the ground. Sitting in the centre of the crater was none other than Naruto, albeit in far than good condition. Much of his skin was burnt, his hands being the worst, looking like he had submerged them in the coals of a fire. Blood oozed out of his wounds with each laboured breath as he waited for his body to start regenerating itself. With the Ichibi's chakra still flowing through him, and the shear amount of chakra he had used for the Hiraishin, he doubted he would be completely healed anytime soon.

Naruto looked up to see Temari walking up to him, worry written on her face. He wasn't sure if it was for him or her brother, but it was nice to live in the fantasy for a moment. Trying to chuckle, he coughed up a bit of blood. "Before you ask, this hurts way worse than it looks."

"Where's Gaara?" Temari demanded.

"Damn, and here I thought you'd show some sympathy," Naruto grumbled, hanging his head in mock sadness.

Temari snapped at him. "Where the hell's my brother?"

"Over there," he said, pointing to the edge of the crater, an action that left him wincing in pain.

Temari was gone as soon as she heard the words, completely ignoring Naruto as her ANBU surrounded him. She ran to the edge of the crater, quickly finding the defeated form of her brother laying lifelessly face down on the ground. Racing to his side, she rolled him over, her eyes widening in shock as she quietly gasped. While her brother had never shown any real emotion for many years, with only the occasional glint of a psychopath in his eyes being an indicator to there being a person inside him at all, it still didn't mean she was prepared to see him like this.

Gaara was, for all intents and purposes, dead to the world. A large hole was burnt into the front of his shirt revealing the rather large and complex seal now printed on his chest. Temari ignored the impressive markings, choosing to focus her attention on carefully lifting the boys head up, cradling it in her lap as she stared down at him sadly. A mere glance was all she needed to realise that her brother was gone. The innocent child he had once been, to the monster he had been forced to become, all of it was gone.

His eyes said it all. No longer did they hold their impassiveness or even a trace of crazed bloodthirst that he was known for; instead, they were soulless, empty, and unreactive to the world that Temari doubted even cared about his death in all but body. Tears welled in her eyes as she choked back the urge to bawl like a child. With the gentleness that she had longed for him to one day be accustomed to, she brushed his unruly hair from his face, lingering momentarily on the kanji for "love" on his forehead.

A sad smile tugged at her lips as she closed her brother's eyes. "Don't worry, Gaara," she said softly, "Now you can sleep… just like you always wanted to."

Naruto watched her from a distance, a little moved by the affection she showed for the acclaimed "Monster of Suna" that had just nearly aided in the villages destruction. Sibling or not, it was a rare sight to see someone who cared so much for a jinchuuriki. What was even more surprising was the audience's reactions. No one dared to make a noise, to say anything possibly bad about Temari seemingly caring more for her murderous brother than the innocent villagers that had lost their lives or homes in the ensuing chaos.

He idly wondered if she even realised how touching her current actions were to those that could see her. Her position as Kazekage was without a doubt ensured by now. Regrettably, his part in that particular matter was over for the moment. With his healing factor finally kicking in, he was able to finally reach out with his senses and get a read on things, only to find that Tayuya was definitely outside of the village walls. His eyes went cold as he stared up to the roof of one of the few surrounding buildings that weren't toppled. He remained emotionless as Jiraiya stared back at him with a smug smirk.

The Sannin vanished in a whirl of sand, leaving Naruto to contemplate his next move carefully. He was already too far lost in thought when his exhaustion finally caught up to him. It wasn't until he finally hit the ground that he took notice of his dizziness and light-headedness, his vision blurring before everything started going dark.

'Damn! I knew I should have prepared more for something like this. I used the Hiraishin way too much,' he thought, cursing himself for being so careless.

As his tiredness took hold, Naruto could only hope that Tayuya was able to hold out for a while, or rather, he hoped that whoever had her could hold out for a while without wanting to kill her.

'And to think… all I wanted was to buy her an arm,' he muttered to himself mentally.

'I knew I had a good reason for not being so nice more often.'

With that, he finally passed out, leaving himself to the mercy of Temari, hoping that she stood by their deal.


A/N:

Probably not the best place to end a chapter, but oh well. As you can see, I have tried to offer some action parts, not that I consider them to be great by any means. The Ichibi fight was short lived, and so was Gaara... hopefully that decision on my part doesn't make too many of you hate me. Other than that though, there will finally be a meeting between Naruto and Jiraiya, which is a little overdue. Not quite sure just yet what will be happening with everything else in this story though, same with the scheduling unfortunately. I feel inclined to go and continue the other fanfic that I abruptly dropped for this one, so the next update might have to wait until after I've revived that. Sorry for the potential delay if that is in fact the case.

In response to a couple of reviews, I regret to inform that I have no intentions of writing any actual sex scenes in this story. This is not set in stone however, but as it is now, I do not have the confidence that I would be able to write anything of that sort very well. Fight scenes are something I am going to have to write anyway, unless I want this to become nothing more than a sappy love story, but I don't promise good ones (take the one in this chapter as example). With that said, please don't anyone complain about the lack of sex and fight scenes in this story. If that is what you are after, then there are stories devoted to exactly that.

Other than the handful of negatives, reviews are going good. Keep them up. Don't forget to leave one on this chapter.

Till next time guys.

Soul out!