Pursuit

(3 years later)

Over his long ANBU career, Same had learned the virtue of patience. That crawling waiting feeling, looking at the same house for hours on end, just in case something unexpected happens, the fearful moments of waiting for a patrol to pass overhead when you are nursing a wounded ally in the thin cover of mud and leaves. He understood the point of waiting, of not surrendering yourself to frustration.

Yet every step of this mission had strained it. Everywhere the target went, there were more questions. When he crossed a border, they had to ask if they could cross it with him, when a path diverged they had to ask which one he picked, and when they caught him, they had to ask wherever it was a clone or not.

He knew uzumaki Naruto was, as always, a troublemaker. Three years had passed and his squad leader, Inu, was furious. Not the open kind, smashing chairs and casting jutsus like he had heard with tales of the fury of Uchiha Madara or worse, Orochimaru, but a cold seering hate, anger running through every inch of him. Same wondered if when you touched his bare skin, even for a second, you would feel a minute portion of that emotion.

It was with these thoughts the masked man entered the tent, trepidation running all throughout. He had been patient enough.

"Same. Do you have anything to report?"

"No sir. The same intel as before, traps everywhere but no sig-"

"Then leave. I need to be alone with my thoughts."

There it was again. The refusal, the needing to think of his massive plan to catch the boy when he didn't know a single thing. Same couldn't take it anymore.

"Enough! I know you hate the boy, I know you think you can destroy him all by yourself, but you are being a bad leader. We need command, someone to tell us where to go and how to do it, and I am just not good enough to do it by myself. We need someone with your expertise, your experience."

Inu simply turned. Same knew who he really was, everyone in ANBU did, when you saw the eye at least. Hatake Kakashi, a legend, but one with his own problems, his own closet full of demons.

"I took this mission, Same, because I wanted to own up to my mistake. I clearly cannot lead a squad, gods know my last one was a mistake. Perhaps It would be better if we found a replacement."

"No sir! We respect you, and you're one of the best ninja we have ever had, never failing a mission in ANBU. I know you can lead us, you just need to try. You can't let your previous team ruin-"

He seemed to fly across the floor, right next to Same, moving without making a sound. He didn't lay a finger on him, but the killing intent radiating was enough to make the man freeze.

"Hm. Maybe you are right, Same. I can lead you. What I have always failed with, is considering people to be on the same level as me. It makes me miss things, ignore things others would spot. I need you all to be to my standards, so if you can do that, do what I say, then soon we will find the jinjuriki."

The use of that euphemism for his former student did not go unnoticed by the shark masked ANBU.

"We'll do anything, sir."

"Good. First things first, stop tracking the boy."

"What?"

"They are all clones. He is too good at subterfuge to be spotted roaming randomly. Go to the towns, in disguises, and try to check with the locals. Ask them who has been doing odd jobs, about stolen goods and new arrivals and when they left."

"How will that let us find him? How are you sure that's where he went?"

Then Inu looked right at him, sharingan red and spinning almost answering itself.

"Because it is what I would have done."

A bar at night seemed to take to ninjas like flies to a corpse. There were many ninja without a village, bandits who figured out chakra, parts of clans that were exiled or left, or even the infamous missing nin, and all coalesced into these small, boisterous, noisy placed, filled with drink and drunkards, so packed you'd find it hard to get around sober, let alone smashed so hard you'd have forgotten your own name.

There were many reasons a ninja might come here, drink, sex, information. Most came for all 3, but Uzumaki Naruto was here for a girl who caught his eye. Not in that way mind you, no. He recognized her. Her garb, her face.

He dyed his hair every week or so. Not only did the roots fall away but he wanted to leave a different impression everywhere he went. His hair was longer now, he hoped making him less recognizable. To add to that, he wore a red scarf most places, to cover his whiskers when he didn't trust a henge to not get detected. It had ended up fooling a lot of the hunter-nin sent after his retreating self, so it must have some effect. His clone still looked like his 15-year-old self, just aged a bit, still 2 inches shorter, blond and short haired. Every time he looked at the clone, at the black and white photo he got taken with Temari as a memento, he wondered how one could change so much in just 3 years. In both ways, from 12 years old to 15, and from 15 to 18.

To keep up to date he found a bingo book every month, seeing his own younger face in there, as well as the celebrities of every major country. Since he was in Lightning country, it was no wonder he managed to spot her. She was disguised of course, but he had gotten better at sensing, and could feel the pit of flame, licking and biting from her lungs. Yugito Nii, the second tailed beast's jinjuriki.

He didn't know as much about sealing as Jiraya would have wanted him to, but that placement didn't track for him. His was on his stomach, next to his chakra source. It made sense to have it there, made it easier for the entire lot of chakra to enter his system. Putting it under the lungs meant not only would it be harder to heal the lungs were they ever damaged, it would be harder to use the beasts power without finding it hard to breath. Her lungs would contract from the foreign chakra, and she would be in a lot of pain, and have a time limit. He assumed Lightning country sealmasters were just idiots, like most people.

He would have left her alone a week ago when he spotted her, but despite her 3 henge changes, she didn't do anything, didn't move to another location or meet with an informant, or wipe out a camp or anything. It looked like she had left for no reason. She wasn't a missing nin, that much was clear. The town they were in was fairly close to Cloud, so it wasn't as if she was running away, but she wasn't going back either.

Over the past 3 years, hiding, thinking, pondering, drinking, he had thought on going back. To fighting against those that wronged him, that insulted him. To go back to Temari. He missed her, missed her touch. Most of all though, he lacked a purpose. So, to defeat that lack of purpose, he let his inhibitions go, searched for power and meals, and sometimes lust.

And now, he was curious. Why send a heavy hitter like her to here? Was it a trap, a test?

Then, almost like a switch had been flipped, Two distinct chakra signatures popped into his senses.

One was dark, ambient, as if the person had died and been filled from the inside out with a huge pit of nothing The other felt like 5 different persons in one, different chakra natures all. An amalgamation.

Two abominations then.

He brought out his book, flipped to the S rank section, and checked the tab marked missing nin. The monsters in his book were Sasori of the red sands, Kisame the shark, and Kakuzu, who Naruto nicknamed the bastard. Nobody else, who could have that large a chakra signature stood out. Well that, and some random named Hidan who seemed to have been given the S rank recently because of some bullshit rumour he was immortal. Naruto dismissed a claim like that. Only gods and demons held that power.

Naruto knew one was Kakuzu, but the other wasn't obvious. Sasori seemed to fit, but he didn't have anything unique about his chakra.

He was deep in his thoughts, but he still noticed the kunoichi being handed a letter. She got up quickly, rushing out the front. Naruto would have pursued, but decided to nurse his sake a little longer. His senses expanded far, far enough for her to be in his range all the way until she impacted them.

He felt calm. The calmest he had ever been in his life. Akatsuki was right next to him, and all he had to do was attack, and he knew they would be dead.

He rose out of his seat, left a tip with a flick of a coin, and ran out the same door Yugito left through, his cloak flying with the wind as he sprinted off, the rush of compressed air passing his ears like a swarm of birds. The town was small, mainly wooden shacks balanced off the side of a great big rock shard, mountain tilted and erupting from the endless green and brown valleys of the land below. The assumed Akatsuki members were travelling up the winding path, up the shard spiralling round and round.

He decided to cut his time in half, leaping off the first edge he could find, falling down like a missile, flinging his black cloak off his body to lose drag. When he got closer to that sinister beacon, right as the 2 tails jinjuriki's chakra flared, the battle starting, he slowed his decent with a blanket of wind chakra, pulling his body up, slowing it down more and more until he was falling like a feather.

He could see them now, the little specks, one with an esoteric scythe, the other, tendrils flowing from his body, fighting a blue flame. The blond turned brunet charged up chakra in his hand, the energy flowing in a spiral, rushing wind through it too, more and more power concentrating before he launched it down, the rasenshuriken plummeting, hitting Kakuzu with a massive blast!

Naruto touched down safely, the waning blue blast leaving a crater filled with smoke, the whisps crawling up the leg of the missing nin's grey haired companion, and being displaced as Yugito escaped from view. He looked at the 18-year-old with fury.

"Hey, what gives ya asshole! What right do you have to come in and ruin our battle?"

Naruto rose to his full height, facing the deranged cultist.

"What's your name?"

The immortal squinted his eyes, sceptical. Regardless, he answered.

"Hidan."

"Ah, not Sasori then. Guess I was wrong."

Frustration reaching its peak Hidan sprinted at him, swinging his scythe right at the jinjuriki. All he would need was a single strike, and he would win.

Naruto rose his arm, Hidan's blade hit it, and broke. The end rotated in the air twice before landing, sticking into the ground.

The Jinjuriki opened his eyes, and they were bluer, more focused. Around them were markings, red, powerful.

"What the fuck?" The immortal asked, before having his face picked up, then slammed into the ground with an insane strength, his skull crunching, spilling his brain matter into the rock behind, spiderweb fractures pouring out metres away from the impact.

Uzumaki Naruto was a sage. And he could feel everything

A/N: Not a cliffhanger, just splitting this chapter into two parts, the other uploading probably tomorrow. In case you didn't get what happened, 3 years have passed since Naruto left Suna. In that time, he avoided the hunter nin sent after him using several stratagems in order to fool them, feeding them false intel in order to fool them, and make it so he is far likely to not get spotted by them. Also in that time, Naruto mastered sage mode. This was foreshadowed in his meditation scenes, his response to the outside world and himself changing bit by bit to be more in tune with nature. There is another reveal, but that is next chapter.

If you have any questions (like if Garaa got attacked or not and why) be rest assured they will be answered soon. Note that Naruto has only been able to avoid the hunter nin for so long because of his head start and that he basically did nothing but train and avoid them. Now, when he decides to bite back at Akatsuki, it will take a lot more.

Also, Kakashi is pissed. I wanted to get that across.

Cya, Thanks for reading, remember to review.

Also, remembered to do review responses.

Mr. Nobody: I forgot Naruto's birthday so I assumed it was the 3rd, which was when naruto's first issue was made. I apologise.

Suna is weak as shit though. Was weak before the crush, and hella weak after. Tsunade would have to go to war with Suna if they kept Naruto, because if they didnt they would look even weaker, and get invaded and then die. Also she wanted Naruto. If she let him go, she loses a lot of threat. They not only lose their jinjuriki, they also just let them leave.

In response to the people saying Naruto is an edgy kid: That is the point. I could make Naruto a faultless and perfect person, but not only am I not a perfect person and hence it would be harder to make them perfect too, but it would be boring. I want the character to change, to get better, to change so they get more virtuous over time.

Also, report the racist guy in my reviews please, moderation wont let me remove them.