Ghost and Micheru came to stumbling halt in the middle of the forest, both trying to remain upright.

"My god, Ghost! that trick of yours is incredibly uncomfortable." Micheru muttered as she rubbed her chest absently, where the attack had hit her.

Ghost groaned and steadied himself. "Yeah...That is the downside, but you get used to it eventually."

Micheru looked back to where she presumably thought the direction of the village was. "That was one heck of a fight."

Ghost grinned at her but quickly turned into a grimace. "Yeah, it was a good one, alright."

The blonde turned back to her partner. "Let me take a look at your dressing." she lifted his shirt and noticed it was dark red. "You really need to slow it down, Ghost. Sit down, let me take a look at it."

Ghost merely nodded. Exhaustion started to creep in. Not only physically, but mentally as well. The reunion with his old friends had been nothing, if not taxing. Despite the fact that they were a severe nuisance, he kept his focus on the task at hand and had completed it, even if he needed help in the end. 'Two Unknowns, with one being merged as well...We got lucky.'

He watched silently as Micheru slowly pulled off his bandages and replaced it with new ones. He glanced down at his wound before letting out a grimace. "I can't believe he threw my own blade at me..."

Micheru chuckled. "Well in all fairness, you did throw it first. You realize you got kunai and shuriken for that right?"

Ghost shrugged which resulted in a hiss. "It worked, so I guess I can't complain."

Micheru tied the dressing off and lowered his shirt, her eyes wandered to the rest of his chest, which had a small amount of scars blemishing his otherwise smooth and toned upper body. With a shake of her head she slowly stood up and held out her hand, to help him up.

Ghost hesitated but decided he could do it himself and stood up. "Alright, let's get going. I don't have the energy for another flashstep, so we have to do it the old fashion way."

"I think I prefer that, so a win win for me," She raised an eyebrow, having trouble understanding why he behaved as he did. "You don't have to everything by yourself, you know that right?"

Ghost purposefully avoided her gaze and instead looked at their route ahead. "I don't need any help."

"Everyone needs help from time to time, Ghost. There's nothing wrong with that."

"Needing help is a weakness I don't need. Let's go." And with that he had ended the conversation. He hopped onto the nearest branch and started picking up speed.

She looked at his retreating back, unsure what had caused his lone-wolf attitude.

They traversed through Hi no Kuni at a relative comfortable pace, lacking a reason to make haste.

for the most part they kept to themselves with Ghost letting his mind wander to the events that had taken last couple of days. Considering all that had happened, he had to say that it could've ended a lot worse. 'I didn't kill any of them Konoha dogs...I guess that's a win?'

The downside was that it had been messing with his head. Because despite all that they had done to him, they used to be his friends at one point. It wasn't easy to downplay that. Not that it was that hard either. 'Fuck them. I did what Mayu wanted to do and I can finally close that chapter.

He looked at the setting sun and looked at Micheru. "Want to call it a day and set up camp?"

Micheru snapped out of her thoughts. "Yeah, I'm getting hungry.

Ghost hopped down and landed in a small clearing. He reached for the scroll containing a reserve sleeping bag along with some spare food, an extra set of clothing and a spare backpack. "I guess it's a good thing we decided on bringing extras."

Micheru grinned at him. "Well, I kind of expected we would be leaving Konoha with them snapping their teeth at us."

Ghost nodded. "I never really thought to bring our backpacks with us into the arena. But then again, that could've raised some serious questions."

Micheru started preparing some food while Ghost scouted around, making sure they weren't followed.

She had to admit that she was happy with her first fight against an Uknown. Sure Sia had been weakened beforehand, but she hadn't been dead weight. 'I honestly didn't expect Konoha to listen to me. I thought they would jump after Ghost.'

She heard footsteps approaching and saw Ghost approaching, still wearing his ragged outfit. "How about you, eat some food and change into some new clothes?"

Ghost looked down at his outfit and chuckled. "Yeah I should definitely clean up. Let me do that first, keep the food hot okay?"

He then tore off his damaged outfit and threw it on a pile on the ground.

Micheru focused her attention on the food and gave her teammate some privacy.

"Micheru! wake up." Ghost hissed as he shook her.

"Huh? whats going on?" She sleepily mumbled, rubbing her eyes trying to wake up.

"Hunter-nin are closing in and fast." Ghost said causing the blonde to instantly snap awake.

"How long until they get here?" She whispered, stuffing everything into her backpack.

"Give or take a minute. I had set up flares on the outer perimeter. But they'll be alerted as well."

Micheru understood what he meant. flares worked both ways. Neither of them were sensory types so they had to use with the means available to them.

"We're probably screwed either way, but let's hide and hope for the best." Ghost quickly led her to a bush that had a fallen tree trunk beside it. Shortly after they had concealed themselves, a small group of three hunter-nin landed in the clearing.

Ghost glanced at Micheru whom in return looked anxiously at her teammate as well.

"You can stand up now. We know you're hiding behind the tree trunk." a monotone voice spoke.

"Crap..." Ghost muttered and stood up. He looked at the Hunter-nin and walked over, Micheru close behind.

"You're wanted by Konohagakure for crimes committed. We are ordered to apprehend and take you back to the village. Do you comply?"

Ghost rubbed his face in frustration. "Are we seriously going to do this? We just saved your fucking village."

Another Hunter-nin stepped forward, this time a female. "You mutilated one of our own! Be happy we even take this approach in the first place!"

Ghost rolled his shoulder, to see if his wound would hold together if it came to a fight. The stabbing pain was the answer to his question. "They're still alive, aren't they? they should've stayed out."

"Please decline our offer so I can tear you apart!" She growled.

'She must be an Inuzuka, she's too emotional.' He turned his focus to the hunter-nin whom had spoken first. "How did you know we were behind the tree?"

The man held out his hand and a lone bug flew out from underneath sleeve.

"Ah someone from the Aburame clan. How, convenient for you." Ghost drawled before slipping his hand into his pouch.

"I take it, you're refusing our offer?"

"Obviously. Your other friends can come out now."

"Can't we come to an agreement?" Micheru interrupted as she stepped between Ghost and the group.

Three more hunter-nin dropped from the trees. "Last warning. We are ordered to take you alive if possible. But I honestly don't care if you don't surrender." A newcomer added in.

Ghost got into an aggressive stance and Micheru followed suit. "Micheru, you take the two on the left, I'll take the rest."

She nodded and struck first. Planting her left feet against the skull of her first target, snapping him away and through a tree.

Ghost dashed forward, throwing a kunai at their feet, an exploding tag attached to it. He used the chaos of the explosion to appear behind the Inuzuka and grabbed her by the back of her head, slamming it into a boulder to her left and finished with burst of chakra erupting from his hand that hit her point blank range, crashing her into a teammate.

Ghost was forced to dodge when a large beast came barging and tried to rip his leg off. 'How could I forget about the Inuzuka's mongrel!' He used the same attack again. "Chakra push!" the dog got blasted after its owner.

He noticed the Aburame and he wasn't too worried about him. He knew that his attacks were chakra based, and while his chakra reserves had severely diminished due the events that had happened years ago, it had still left him with bigger than large reserves.

He looked at Micheru's fight and she was doing alright on her own. He knew she was a Jonin ranked shinobi in her own right. But she excelled at medical ninjutsu for the most part. She had an adequate amount of chakra reserves herself and she often combined that with her chakra based attacks that originated from her home country, Mirarca.

The young Hunter snapped his attention back to his opponents and noticed that three out of the four hunters had grouped up and were using a tight packed tactic. 'Perfect...' His hands flurried about, creating a short string of handseals. "Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu!" a volley of medium sized fireballs were soaring towards the hunter-nin.

The back of his mind screamed for him to jump out of the way and he abruptly jerked to the side, letting his attacker fly past, but not before slashing his kunai towards his exposed side. Ghost grimaced in pain, before flickering towards the hunter-nin whom had created some more distance. "Oh you'll be wishing you hadn't done that."

Ghost's hands flew upwards and his fingers intertwined behind the head of the Konoha shinobi. He pulled the man down and kneed him in the face. The mask of the hunter-nin got destroyed in one blow, revealing the face of Shino Aburame. The once wild haired youngster, had opted for a hairstyle that was much shorter. He lacked any sunglasses, but that was likely due to his affiliation to the hunter-nin corps.

But Ghost didn't care if it was Shino or not. once more clasping a hand behind the back of the hunter's head he pulled him close, and with his other hand he rammed the kunai into the stomach of the Aburame with a sneer adorning his face, watching his former friend drop to the ground.

Looking up he noticed that two of his opponents were grouping up against Micheru. He also saw the Inuzuka girl once more charging at him with complete disregard of her unguarded posture. The dog was lagging behind and he decided he would strike first.

He used flashstep and grabbed her by the throat, using his armored hand. His claws digging into her skin before returning to his old spot, using the same technique. 'This is over.'

He gave a sharp whistle causing all the shinobi in the clearing to give him their full attention. "Glad you're paying attention!" He shouted, squeezing harder, having noticed the dog inching closer to his blindside, the beast backed off. "This is your only warning. Leave now. I could've killed your team leader here, but I stayed my hand."

The Hunter-nin glanced at one another and hesitated causing the former blonde to lose is patience. "I won't tell you again!" He shouted in anger.

They reluctantly agreed. "Please let us take our comrades home, so we can give them medical attention.

Ghost stepped away from Shino and lowered the Inuzuka back to the ground, releasing the hold he had on her.

"The moment Shino is home, I'm going to hunt you down!" She snarled at him, her beast mimicking his owner.

Ghost smiled at her, placing a hand on her shoulder. "No, you won't." He then slammed his feet into her lower leg, snapping the bone inside. The Inuzuka howled as she fell to the ground. Her beast instantly charged him and he slammed the dog into the ground.

The remaining hunter-nin remained passive and obliged to Ghost's 'request'. "We'll remember this, Orodochi Ghost."

Ghost turned his smile into a smirk. "You're pathetic," He turned to Micheru and beckoned. "Let's go. They won't bother us anymore."

Micheru walked over and looked down at the woman twitching in pain on the ground. "I'd listen to my teammate, if I were you."

Ghost nodded at her and dashed away, with Micheru following in his footsteps.

Micheru turned to Ghost. "Was that really necessary?"

"Of course it was. You were being surrounded by four of them. The alternative was me killing them both and then turning my focus on your opponents."

"Still...You were ruthless." she softly spoke.

"We are shinobi, it's our job to be ruthless." Ghost harshly answered.

"I'm not a shinobi. I'm a centurion." she corrected. "Centurions are protectors off all innocents." She recited from an old book she had been given by Rome.

"Wake up. There aren't any Centurions left! you and a couple of other Hunters are the only ones remaining. Mirarca is gone," He sighed and looked away, softening slightly. "Look, this isn't your homeland. This is an entirely different world and you need to adjust to it."

Micheru looked away. "You shinobi need to show more compassion."

"Most of us do, they only forget what they are supposed to be."

"Maybe you should too," She said as she hopped on to a higher branch. "When I met you, you weren't like this."

"We all have to grow up at some point." Ghost responded, glancing down at his gauntlet.

They continued their trek towards Kawa nu Kuni. They were almost crossing the border and that would mean that 'officially' they would no longer be hunted by Konoha's hunter division.

Not that it mattered all that much. He could handle them without too much trouble.

"Do you think the others won their fights?"

Ghost seemed to mull that over. "It all depends. We fought two of them, I don't think they did that with all the other villages. I think that our two opponents were in sync with one another and that that's the reason why. Our opponent also got merged, the others might have had more luck with that."

"Yeah, you're right. They should be all right."

Ghost nodded before pointing ahead. "There's the border. Let's use flashstep so we don't run into any more trouble."

Micheru looked apprehensive. "Are you sure you can handle that?"

Ghost grinned. "You just dont want to use flashstep!"

Micheru merely pouted but stopped alongside Ghost and grabbed his arm. "Fine! but if you start bleeding again, you can do it yourself."

Before the two could prepare their method of travel Ghost and Micheru both tensed up and instantly lowered themselves into a defensive stance.

Moments later two figure landed in the clearing, in front of the Hunters. Orodochi eased slightly as he recognized the newcomers.

"Itachi Uchiha..." Ghost softly spoke, nodding at the man before turning to his partner.

"Hey brat! covering up the grey hair already?" The second man spoke. He had blue skin and a fish like face. His teeth were sharpened, ready to bite. He had a humongous blade wrapped in bandages strapped to his back."

"Kisame Hoshigake..." Ghost said neutrally, giving the man a nod as well. "What are you two doing here?"

"We heard of Hunter's striking inside the major villages. We went to investigate." Itachi answered, his eyes darting to Micheru.

"It were two Unknowns. One merged with a demon," Ghost answered before glancing over their shoulders. "We should probably head out. I'm not in the mood for prying third parties."

"We need you to come with us." Itachi interjected, turning sideways.

Ghost quirked an eyebrow. "I'm definitely not interested."

"It wasn't a request, brat. Things have changed. we need to talk."

Itachi's piercing eyes locked with Ghost's. "Leader-sama wants to meet you."

Ghost narrowed his eyes. "If your leader is still in search for the Bijuu, he's going to be very disappointed."

"Our search for the Bijuu has...halted for now. We know of your situation." Itachi glanced down to Ghost's gauntlet.

The Hunter looked at his partner. "Micheru, you need to head back to Tuva on your own, can you manage that?"

"The invasion is in two weeks! You can't leave now!" She exclaimed, worried he would abandon their cause.

"Don't worry, I'll be back long before that. Didn't I tell you to trust me?"

She hesitated and glanced down at his arm. "I do trust you, despite...that." pointing at his lower arm.

Ghost raised his arm that was encased by the gauntlet. "This...When I come back I'll tell you all about it. I'm not one of them, it's a rather unique story."

She remained unsure but nodded regardless. "Well, alright. But you have to answer my questions when you get back, mister!"

Her teammate smiled at her and nodded. "I'll tell the others as well. But for now, keep it to yourself okay?

"

"Are you two lovebirds done, we've got other shit to do."

"You're still as annoying as ever." Ghost said, trying to ignore Micheru's slightly flustered face.

Itachi turned to the blonde girl. "I've put a high genjutsu over the border patrol. You'll be able to cross without any trouble."

"How far is it to your base?" Asked Ghost as he reached for his backback and started rummaging through it.

"Less than a day."

Ghost grabbed his remaining water and food rations and handed it to Micheru. "I'll have no use for it. Take it at a comfortable pace okay? You've got plenty of time."

She nodded. "Thank you, Orodochi-kun" she joked, adding in a wink for good measure.

Ghost raised an eyebrow. "I guess it fits huh?"

She stuffed the packages in her backpack. "I'll see you soon, okay?"

Ghost turned to the Akatsuki agents. "Alright, let's get this going."

The three dashed off, towards the northern part of Hi no Kuni.

Tsunade walked out the door headed to her home. In her mind she was mulling over the events of the past days. She had yet to approve of Sasuke's admission into Anbu but she had little reason not to. She may have hated the Uchiha in the past, but he had proven his worth a dozen times over. It seemed that the boy had learned from his past mistakes.

Whether it was true what the Uchiha had said back then still remained a mystery.

Flashback, years earlier.

Tsunade sat behind her desk, her finger interlocked and used as support for her head to rest on. "Sasuke Uchiha, what do you have to say about your actions of the past two weeks,"

The Sharingan user stood silently, not moving an inch. To his left stood Kakashi Hatake. "I needed to get stronger. Konoha doesn't care anymore that Itachi murdered my entire clan!"

"Are you that naive, brat? We've just suffered massive casualties to our experienced Jonin. Priorities have to be made. Itachi isn't on that list. He hasn't been a threat ever since he left. Once our ranks are filled up again will we resume our hunt for the traitor."

"And what of Naruto?"

Tsunade narrowed her eyes. She hadn't forgotten how much influence the boy had in regards to Naruto's punishment that ultimately led to his betrayal. "That's none of your concern."

"Why did he betray the village?" Sasuke continued, ignoring the Hokage's words.

"He betrayed the village because they were going to put a chakra seal on him, Sasuke." Kakashi answered softly.

"Did he leave because of me?" Sasuke looked up at Kakashi, a mixture of emotions visible on his face.

"You were a part of it, but this was a long time coming." Kakashi muttered, locking eyes with Tsunade who merely nodded. She hadn't been there when Naruto received the majority of the hate. But it had lingered on the boy and being a ninja meant everything to the brat.

"This is not the reason you're here. You were betraying the village. Give me one reason why I shouldn't lock you up for the rest of your life."

"I was abandoning the village. But it was merely one step of my plan. I was going to use Orochimaru to gain the strength I need-."

"That snake was planning on taking your body! You were nothing to him."

"And you don't think I wasn't aware of that?" Sasuke snapped. "I was going to use him. after he had served his purpose I would've ended him."

"And you think you would be a match for a sannin? The arrogance." Tsunade snapped right back.

"It's arrogance to think you can't be defeated. I'm not talking about mere months...I'm talking about years."

Tsunade glared at the boy before turning her attention to Kakashi. "You think he can still be of worth to Konoha?"

Kakashi in turn looked at his student. "Hmmm, I think he will be. He'll have to lose that Uchiha superiority. But I have some ways to fix that."

Sasuke wanted to open his mouth in protest but refrained once he saw his sensei look at him.

"Listen to me very carefully, Uchiha. If you ever betray this village again, I'll go after you myself. I'll break every bone in your body until you're forced to live out the remainder of your days in a chair. Understood?"

Sasuke looked at her with something akin to fear and nodded.

"Glad we've come to this understanding."

Sasuke turned to leave but was forced back by Kakashi just as fast. "You didn't really think we'd let you get off that easily right?" the Jonin asked, smiling at the boy.

Tsunade smirked evilly at Sasuke and nodded at Kakashi. "I think this punishment is appropriate for you."

Kakashi reached for Sasuke's headband and tore it off, laying it on the desk of Tsunade. "You're being sent back to the academy. A 6 month remedial education should go a long way."

"You can't be serious?!" Sasuke shouted indignantly.

"We're deadly serious. You're alternative is execution or a chakra seal, choose your pick, brat."

A disgruntled Sasuke looked at his headband in anger and dissapointment but deflated in defeat. "Alright..."

"Get out of my sight," Tsunade turned to Kakashi. "You, stay."

Sasuke silently left. Leaving Kakashi and Tsunade alone in her room.

"Kakashi...Did you find the kid?" Tsunade asked him, turning her back to the man.

"Kakashi looked away in shame. "No."

Tsunade's shoulders visibly slumped. With a quivering sigh she turned around. "I want all the squads to hold their positions and wait for new assignments."

"The rookies won't like that." Kakashi softly spoke. Nor did he. It felt like he had failed the blonde, that all of this was his fault.

Tsunade walked past him towards the door. the copy-nin could easily see the heavy emotions that lay just below the surface. " I don't care! We've wasted enough time and resources on this. We need to show that we haven't grown weak. I want all Jonin to pick up the slack until we've increased the number of Jonin and Chunin."

"Of course Hokage-sama." With a bow Kakashi disappeared in a puff of smoke.

End flashback.

She opened the door and entered her house, closing it slowly behind her. She lobbed the keys on the small table that stood in the hall and walked into her living room. It had been seven years since she'd last seen Naruto. There had been sightings of him near Kumogakure but he had dropped off the grid after that.

Walking through the cabinet she poured herself a drink and slid down on the couch. Throughout the years there had been whispers, of which Kakashi had always been eagerly interested in pursuing. But it never worked. Despite it all, she still firmly believed the boy was still alive and hoped that one day he would return.

Perhaps it was time to send Jiraiya back out, see what he could find out about the kid. 'You got to come back to us, Naruto...'

Sasuke leaned over the ledge of the bridge as he peered down at the water. The fight that had happened in the arena and the following news that had reached their ears had certainly put things in perspective.

"I mean, six of our best hunter-nin against two of them, and they come back looking like that...damn." Choji said as he had his back against the side of the bridge, chatting with Shikamaru.

"That girl was holding her own against two of them. Orodochi took four on and beat them with ease." Sasuke muttered as he listened to the conversation with one ear.

"When I get my hands on the guy! I'll rip him apart." A bandaged Kiba growled.

"Troublesome Inuzuka. That's how your sister ended up in the first place. she wanted to pay him back for what he did to you."

"Hows Shino?" a soft voice asked.

Sasuke turned around and saw Hinata Hyuga approaching. She had grown from a shy timid girl to a confident and gorgeous kunoichi. She was a vocal supporter of the branch family and often spoke against her father. Despite this she had garnered a lot of respect from the main family, save the elders.

She wore a light purple form fitting dress that went to just below her waist, splitting apart at her thighs. From there she wore tight fitting black shorts that stopped just above her knees. She didn't have anything covering her arms, except for the headband strapped around the upper side of her left arm.

"He's stable, but still in critical condition. He lost a lot of blood. If they hadn't brought him back when they did, he most likely would've died." Sakura said as she joined in the conversation, placing herself next to Sasuke.

"I'm glad to hear that. I guess it's the only positive thing to come out of the whole situation." She answered before turning to Kiba. "Kiba-kun, how are you doing?"

"I'm fine I'm fine! Geez! people need to stop fretting so much!"

"Well, don't get beat up then!" Ridou barked out, grinning at him, which earned him a punch on the shoulder.

"I honestly don't even understand what happened at the arena. It was incredibly weird. I think they were just bluffing to keep us out of the way." Ino said, steering the conversation to event that happened at the Jonin exams.

"Somehow I doubt this is the last time we'll be hearing of these Hunters...Troublesome bunch"

"Well the other villages had similar occurrences. Two strange travelers entering the village, closely followed by Hunters. A fight breaks out, but nobody knows why." Sasuke added in, allowing Sakura to let her head rest on his shoulder.

"It's strange," Ino whispered, locking eyes with Shikamaru before straightening herself. "I'm going to get some food, who's joining?"

Choji being the fiercest supporter of her idea instantly grabbed her arm and started dragging her away. "Let's get going!"

Shikamaru couldn't help but let out a chuckle as he followed his teammates towards a foodstand, closely followed by the others.