Killer B blinked at him. "Uh-"

Naruto stopped slightly in front of him, still grinning. "Nice to meet'cha in person, Killer B!"

"Heh." Killer B recovered, giving a smile that showed his teeth. "Naruto, wasn't it?"

"What." The other blond haired Kumo Shinobi said.

"You remembered!" Naruto sounded so excited. "Awesome!"

Hiruzen let out a fond chuckle, before moving forward and taking a seat. The other Kage, everybody in the room, in fact, aside from Team Kakashi, were too busy staring at Naruto to comment on it.

"And Han!" Naruto zipped over to the other Jinchuuriki. "Man, you are huge." He had to crane his neck looking up. "How did you get so tall? What were they feeding you when you were younger?"

"What." The younger, dark-haired girl from Iwa said.

"Uzumaki Naruto." Han nodded at him. "Greetings."

"Ah, just Naruto is fine." Naruto shrugged. "I'm not a guy who's really into that whole politeness stuff."

Sasuke sighed.

"You... did not strike me as that type." Han offers, diplomatically.

"It's okay to call me rude, you know?" Naruto grinned. "I'm not gonna pretend I'm not."

"And who, exactly, are you?" Han was thankfully spared from answering when Onoki interrupted their conversation.

"Hmm?" Naruto turned around, looking at the Tsuchikage. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki!" He called, thumping his fist against his chest.

Sakura sighed. "Please forgive my teammate, Tsuchikage-sama. He has the personality of a flashbomb."

"Very bright, very light, outgoing and eager to introduce himself to everybody in auditory and visual range." Sasuke noted. "Honestly, Naruto, you can't just walk up between three Kage and introduce yourself like that."

"First off; you'll find that I can, and just did." Naruto looked over his shoulder at him. "And second off; until this meeting starts, there aren't actually rules or customs against doing it, so there."

"Really?" Sasuke blinked.

"That is true." Hiruzen answered him. "While the summit itself is a serious event with many customs, there are no such things surrounding the events leading up to, or following, the meeting. This was done on purpose; as it was meant to facilitate relationships between the various villages."

"Huh." Sasuke considered the Hokage's words. "Well. That's a thing."

"Mmmhmm." Naruto shot a gloating look at him, before turning back to Han. "No, seriously, what did they feed you?"

"I..." Han blinked. "Nothing... out of the ordinary?"

"Just a you-thing, huh?" Naruto 'hmm'ed to himself. "Oh well." He looked around, frowning after a moment, before zipping back over to Killer B's side. "Hey, did she come with you guys?"

"She?" Killer B asked, before realising who he was talking about. "Oh- no, she was injured. She couldn't make it."

"Akatsuki?" Naruto asked, though it was only barely a question. "Well, better an injury than death. Shame, though. I wanted to meet Yugito..." He sighed, effecting an air of despondency, before smiling widely. "Well! Always next time."

"What." The other Kumo blond says again.

"So, what do you do for fun?" Naruto asked Killer B. "We didn't really get the chance to give more than our names, before."

"Rappin' is always entrappin'." Killer B rhymed. "Enjoyin' flappin' ya gums, enjoyin'.. some..." Killer Be's Grin faltered, and the man frowned. "Damn. I was onto something there." He reached into his vest, pulling out a notebook and a pen. He quickly wrote it down.

"Do you like plums?" Naruto asked.

"No. Why?"

"Plums rhymes with gums." Naruto offered. "Could'a made something out of that?"

"No." A said the word so quietly that Hiruzen was fairly certain he hadn't intended it to speak at all. "No. Not two of them."

Hiruzen felt, perhaps inappropriately, no small amount of pleasure at seeing the despair on the face of one of his former enemies. But, he quietly kept that to himself

"Nah." Killer B shook his head. "Need something else."

Naruto crossed his arms over his chest, frowning as he thought. "Hmm... Maybe-"

A creak from the entrance of the room cut him off. Naruto -and everybody else in the room- looked over to the door as it opened.

It was a woman. A younger woman, in her thirties, at most. She was tall, slender, with ankle-length auburn hair flowing down her back, a bang of hair covering one eye, and two more crossing down in front of her neck. She wore a dark blue dress that left her shoulders exposed, which split open at the right waist, where she was wearing pants and mesh leggings. Armour plates covered everything below her knees, ending in a slight heel shoes. Purple lipstick and green eyes completed the look.

"Mei Terumi." Hiruzen dipped his head in recognition. "I do not believe we have met in person, Mizukage-dono."

Mei smiled, sketching a short bow back. "We have not, Hokage-sama." Her words were respectful, which... wasn't exactly a surprise. She was at least a decade younger than even A, and had been the Mizukage for far less time than any of them. "It is a pleasure to meet you." She blinked, slowly, and looked towards Onoki and A. "And much the same, Tsuchikage-sama, Raikage-sama."

"A pleasure." Onoki said, while A merely nodded, face carefully blank.

She entered the room, followed by two more men. One was fairly old, the other was young.

And neither, Naruto couldn't help but note, was Utakata. He frowned at that, as he'd been hoping to see him, too.

Then again, Utakata was a Kirigakure Missing Nin, so he probably should have expected it.

Oh well. Some other time, then.

Mei took her seat, looking throughout the room. Her gaze halted on Naruto and Killer B, looking briefly confused at the sight of a Konoha and Kumo ninja standing right next to each other, before she continued examining the others in the room. It didn't take her very long, and so, her eyes went back to her fellow Kage. "I was worried I would be holding up the meeting." She gave a slight laugh.

"In a blizzard like the one outside, one would be forgiven for not arriving early." Hiruzen noted. "Still, you are not actually late. There is another hour and a half before the Summit would officially start."

"Ah... That's a relief." Mei smiled. "Just waiting on one more, then."

"We will not be waiting long." Mifune noted.

Naruto's head cocked to the side.

And then he frowned, looking at the door that Mei had so recently entered through. "That can't be right."

"Naruto?" Hiruzen asked.

The door creaked, and slowly began to open.

The one who entered was not who any of them had been expecting.

Naruto stared straight at him. A moment later, he blurred over to him, examining him closely, his eyes yellow, his pupil a horizontal rectangle, and his eyelids orange.

The object of his scrutiny blinked at him, leaning back from Naruto's sudden presence.

"I thought..." Naruto began, still frowning. He reached out, and poked the other in the face. Then he grabbed a cheek, pulling at the skin.

"Didn't you die, Gaara?"