Yo!

Shout out to 'SaboteurSupreme': Thank you! I appreciate it

To 'ashenerden': I apologise for the misspelling. I blame myself for not looking up the spelling beforehand; this is Zabuza all over again.

To 'Alligator9': to be honest…I was crossing my fingers so no one would ask this. Now, I need to come up with a clever, ingenious way of saying I don't have any map reference…Oh, look a shoe! *dives into a bush*

I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it,

Don't forget to drop a review when you're done! Thank you.

Enjoy…

CHAPTER 22

Naruto looked at himself in the mirror and ran a hand through his uncontrollable pale blonde hair; his eyes trailed over the seal art inked over his body that wound down to his arms and ended on his fingers. He stifled a yawn and blindly took the black shirt with blue stripes winding down the arms of the woman in his room.

"Tsunami, I assure you Inari that would be perfectly safe with us." Naruto yawned again and scratched his cheek. He rolled his shoulders experimentally and put on the jounin vest. He looked into the mirror at the reflection of the distraught mother and strained for an understanding smile; the woman had arrived in his room an hour before dawn, as per the norm, with a batch of freshly laundered clothes for him to wear. She had used this chance to implore Naruto to drop Inari from the mission they were about to go on.

"You have to understand, Master Naruto, Inari…he's my child…my only son." Her face fell and she clasped her hands together.

Naruto furrowed his eyebrows. "He wouldn't be going alone." He strapped on his kunai and shuriken holsters and stepped into his shinobi sandals, strapping them on and making sure they were secure before he started making his bed.

"I can handle that…" Tsunami muttered as she made to drop the stack of clothes in her arms on the desk to make the bed, but Naruto stopped her.

Naruto slowly stood upright and cocked his head to the side, before he said, "Tsunami, please have a seat." He walked up to the woman and took the batch of laundry off her hands, placing them on his messy bed. The woman nodded stiffly and sat down on the edge of the bed, watching as Naruto looked through his wardrobe and pulled out a backpack that still had the purchase tag on it. He used his teeth to pull it off. He then began to idly organise the bag with what she could only guess were ninja necessities; spare clothes, two blankets, weapons, ration bars, scrolls, some notes and pencils, and some other stuff she couldn't keep track of. "Inari is a growing boy. He has so much potential as a shinobi and so far, his development is only limited by staying in Wave."

"But-but Master Naruto—"

"He once told me that one of his dreams was to make his father proud." Naruto stood up and dropped his bag on the bed while he went into his bathroom and returned with his toothbrush and three boxes of soap. "Tazuna told me that Kaiza fought for Wave and died for Wave. He is by all definitions a shinobi and a stellar one, despite the fact he didn't have any formal training. He was loyal to the cause to the bitter end and Inari wants to be like him." He then turned to the window and began unsealing his forearm and shin protectors from the storage seals on his forearms and shins, making it look like they melted out of his skin and out of his clothes. It was very impressive. "I never had any experience with reliable parental figures when I was growing up, so pardon me if I can't fully sympathise with you but I understand exactly where you're coming from."

"You do?" she asked.

He nodded and sat down beside her. "I have three students in Konoha. I've been their teacher long before I got my genin team in Wave. I truly care for them, much like I care for my Wave genin. That means that three people look up to me for proper guidance, and it is this guidance that they make use of on missions. Every time I see them off for a mission, or they tell me they're leaving for an assignment, I always worry that what I've taught them wasn't good enough to make a difference. I worry that they will die on a mission or get severely wounded just because I might have not instructed them properly. Even though I'm yet to hear that, I can't help but worry. Do you understand what I'm saying?" she looked into his deep eyes before she looked down at her hands and nodded. "Inari is an exceptional genin, even though his academy results don't show that; Jiraiya of the Sannin was a class clown but now look at him. He needs space to grow and you are doing a wonderful job raising him but he needs a little more breathing room to spread. He needs a little bit of freedom." He smiled lightly and patted her shoulder once as she nodded.

"I understand…just please, Master Naruto; I want my boy to come back alive."

"I promise. Besides, he'll be with me, my guards, Yumi and her guards as well as his team. That's nine highly ranked shinobi and two genin, plus Inari, making three."

Looking back on it now, it seemed more of an overkill for a simple diplomatic mission to Kumo but Yumi insisted that she wanted to travel to Hidden Lightning as well.

Naruto's guards consisted of the highest ranked in their generation of DARK shinobi; baboon, raven, eagle and leopard. Mole was the captain.

Baboon and leopard were short-range specialists who just so happened to be twins; one made use of a bow staff the other made use of trench knives. They were hand-to-hand specialists. Raven was a genjutsu master who was able to cast A rank genjutsu that was difficult to break; he was also the deputy captain. Eagle was a long-range fighter that specialised in reconnaissance; he was also a ninjutsu expert. This wasn't to say they didn't specialise in other fields; they were all masters of stealth, silence, assassination and espionage.

Naruto got up and shrugged on his backpack. "You can go and wave him off if you want."

"No, no, he'll think I'm embarrassing him."

Naruto laughed a little. "No, believe me when I say that you'll need it, and he needs it most especially." He gave her a knowing smile, his eyes showing the many memories of worry and apprehension sitting in his mind, from when he bade his Konoha students farewell as they proceeded towards their missions. In some similar way, Naruto knew sending them off herself would help give a little measure of assurance to the worrying mother. He nodded and she pursed her lips, nodding in return as he said, "Trust me, it helps."

"Yes, Master Naruto. Thank you."

She followed after him, making sure to close the bedroom door after herself, and both trudged down the stairs. Naruto began to tie his forehead protector on his right arm, nodding greetings to the servants who were throwing open the windows and dusting the chairs. He opened the door and they silently walked down the waking streets into Outer Wave; the gatekeepers at their stations snapped to attention and Naruto sent back a lax two-fingered salute as the invisible Fuin-genjutsu bubble allowed him and Tsunami to leave after recognising him by his tattoo and his chakra.

The walk to the seaport took about thirty minutes.

He could see his genin team sitting on a bench, watching the sailors scurry around to get the ship ready. He smiled at them.

"Morning, sensei!" they saluted, standing straight; their backpacks sat at their feet.

"Morning." He looked around. "Has Yumi arrived yet?"

"I'm right behind you, Naruto." He looked over his shoulder, freeing Tsunami to go and worry over her son while he exchanged pleasantries with the Hidden Chill leader.

She was in different clothing, probably her combat uniform. She wore a sleeveless white shirt that went down to her mid-thigh and deep blue shorts with white knee-high socks. On her arms were long fingerless gloves that stopped above her elbow, with a white scarf wrapped around her neck. Her heel-length blonde hair was in a loose bun held together by two chopsticks and her pale cheeks were rosy from the chilly morning wind blowing through Wave.

"How was your hotel room, Madam Yumi?" he asked.

"Excellent. Though just Yumi is fine. No need for formalities between us." A small smile twitched on Naruto's lips and he nodded, realising that she had just referred to him by his name. A small weight left his back that he didn't need to constantly have to remember to call her by her title. "Only between us."

"Likewise. It's never easy being constantly reminded that I'm accountable to thousands of lives."

The young woman chuckled, lilting on her heels and tucking her hands behind her back. She smirked and looked around at his backpack. "I see you decided not to seal your things."

"This is a learning mission for my students as much as it's a diplomatic mission for us." The captain of the ship marched up to him and offered to take his bag. "It's fine. I can carry it myself. After you, Yumi."

The ship they had entered was specially ordered to be constructed by Naruto to transport tourists to Wave, though now there were two more to serve that function so he was able to use the ship to expose his students to the wider world as well as transport them as close as Lightning country as possible, which was at the borders of Hidden Marsh, in Swamp country, where they would proceed by foot to their intended destination.

The ship was fairly large; it was able to easily contain and cater for fifty to eighty people, all with their rooms depending on whether they were a family or paid extra for individual rooms. There was a cafeteria, a wide deck with various binoculars for the passengers, and other conveniences. It wasn't the fanciest of boats but it could boast of hygiene and quality of service, with the dozens of servants rushing to cater for the needs of the passengers. Now though there were only half a dozen servants on board and a dozen sailors just to maintain the ship; Naruto had specifically told them to leave the bulk of the security to him and his comrades.

The young leader sighed quietly and closed his eyes, savouring the fresh breeze that blew on his face from the wide ocean as he leaned on the railing of the ship; Yumi looked at him curiously but allowed the boy to think.

Noriko and Kam were running around the ship, diving down the stairs and disappearing inside after DARK Operative Leopard motioned for them to follow him to find their rooms. Mole was busy with the other three, giving them their posts as well as trying to organise the night and day patrol rotation with the captain of the Chill ANBU operatives. Daku blurred onto the ship beside Naruto and Yumi only flinched slightly in surprise, but Naruto kept his eyes closed; the dark shadow fell on his right knee and waited for Naruto to acknowledge him, some of the other black ops operatives watched on as the DARK commander waited for the Wave leader to address him. Naruto pushed off the railing a little and stood up straight, his blue eyes looking down at his loyal servant.

"At ease, Daku." The seal creation snapped to his feet and nodded silently.

"Are you certain you do not want me to come as well, Master Naruto?" Daku asked.

"Wave still needs someone to protect it in my absence, someone that my shinobi can listen to in my place," the leader said simply. "Besides, we're protected enough." He smiled a bit and waved at the few Wave inhabitants who were awake and had found out that their leader was leaving on a trip. They were mostly chunin who had been put on border patrol for that week and fish sellers who almost always woke up early.

Daku hummed to himself and nodded. "As long as you're sure, Master Naruto." He was about to leap off the boat but Naruto quickly grabbed his left forearm and the dark shadow leaned in to listen to what the blonde wanted to say.

"I trust you not to let me down, Daku. I have a list of things I want done concerning the coming conflict. Make sure it gets done," he whispered this and from the way the boys' usually warm blue eyes steeled over Daku knew that whatever it was not to be taken lightly. He let go of the dark shadow arm and Daku flickered away to the leader's office, but not before he gave Naruto a confirming nod.

Naruto turned to Yumi and blinked in confusion when she openly stared at him, trying to decipher what had just happened. The blonde shook his head and led the woman downstairs to her designated room.

The DARK operatives and Chill ninjas exchanged questioning looks before Mole snapped her fingers and they marched to their posts. The Wave leader instructed the captain to set sail and they began their slow but careful journey to the land of swamps, where they would disembark and trek to the land of lightning.

After he had dropped his bag in his room, Naruto told his students to meet him at the deck immediately. The boy was sitting on the railing facing the general direction of where they were heading while his three students were sitting down in front of him with their legs crossed. They waited for him to begin their first lesson and he did.

"When you are travelling to a place you have only heard rumours and stories of you need to be well prepared to face the unexpected; this is what common sense would tell you. It is good to be knowledgeable of the place before you go there so that you can be even more ready to go there, from the customs to their beliefs, to even their slang, you must know as much as possible about where you are going before you get there, especially as a shinobi going on a mission to this place, joint mission or not. Or else you will either make a complete fool of, disgracing the name of your village or you will be taken advantage of and led into a trap, allied country or not."

"But sensei," Noriko asked as he tentatively raised his hand, Naruto nodded for him to continue, "Won't it be counterproductive if an allied country leads us into a trap."

"It is, yes, but you need to keep in mind that every country, no matter how big or small, believes in strength. If they perceive that they can take our strength then they most likely will."

Kam raised her hand and spoke when Naruto prompted her to, "What if the allied villages have a mutual history and a strong connection?"

Naruto smiled and opened his arms. "Then there is nothing to fear. Take the Minor Six alliance; we all have a bad history and bad reputations in common, so we chose to ally because no one else wanted to see how we have changed. As long as we respect the sovereignty of each ally and provide what we stipulated in our alliance agreement then we have no problems. Why do you think we have so many allied ninjas and civilians in the country, or in any of the other villages for that matter?"

"Because we trust them, Naruto-sensei." Inari piped up before Kam could say anything.

"Exactly but also because we respect them as well. It all comes down to mutual benefit." The three nodded and Yumi, who was sitting on a deck chair a little bit away from them but was still facing them, also nodded in agreement. "Back to knowing your destination before you get there; I can't boast that I have been all over the continent but I can boast that I'm fairly well-travelled," despite my age, he added mentally. "With that said, I know a bit about a few places," an understatement, "so I want you all to find out as much about the Land of Lightning as possible from these books."

He unsealed three thick books from his shoulder and tossed each genin one.

The book was titled The History of the Elemental Nations: A Detailed Analysis of Human Life and the Evolution of Chakra by Shimura Danzo and Sarutobi Hiruzen.

He didn't bother suppressing the smile as the genin got swirly-eyed from looking at the title. "It's actually really interesting." Noriko was struggling to carry his book, how the heck was Naruto able to carry three at once?

"But sensei—" Inari groaned but a sharply raised eyebrow from his teacher silenced him into a petulant pout. "Fine…"

Naruto laughed. "Don't look so sad. Alright, how about this; if you read about Lightning Country, and only Lightning Country, I will teach you a trick to even out your chakra control." They groaned even louder but this didn't reduce the blonde boy's mood as he shooed them away.

As the genin scampered away to the available deck chairs, Yumi approached Naruto and leaned on the railing beside him. She said abruptly, "I don't envy them."

"What—"

"So, what will you be doing to entertain yourself?" she asked quickly and the boy furrowed his eyebrows at her before he shrugged.

"I was about to draw the horizon but…" he eyed her suspiciously. "I suspect you feel I should keep you entertained." She nodded when he said this, much to Naruto's open amusement. "You do know that I didn't ask you to come with us."

"I really just wanted to see how persuasive you are up close, seeing as you single-handedly got our Minor Country/Village Alliance allied with Konoha, Suna, Ame and Kiri by yourself."

Naruto turned around and set his forearms on the rails. She mirrored his posture. "Zabuza, Haku and Daku helped me get the last alliance," he muttered.

She nudged his shoulder with hers. "But you got the first three, right?"

He nodded. "Konoha was just a convenience so Fire country won't come after me, and Ame was because they have some of the strongest ninjas on the planet." A mental image of Nagato and Pein came to him. He had received reports that the village was still being rebuilt and that Nagato was recuperating slowly. The Rain ninjas were being rallied that their first ally in years, Wave, led by the blonde boy that had saved them from being crushed by rocks, needed their help in the oncoming battle. It was something they were looking forward to doing, mostly just to repay the favour.

"What about Suna?"

Naruto was silent for a few seconds before he replied, "At first it was because I rejected a marriage proposal so that resentment wouldn't fester between my country and Suna. Then it turned out that Suna is more reliable with Gaara as the leader."

"He's a nice kid." The thirteen-year-old agreed with her statement. "He doesn't need to say it but he idolises you." Naruto looked at her in surprise and she quickly nodded. "Yup. When he visits Wave, he is either with you or in his hotel room, probably sleeping. You can know a lot about a person by looking at his eyes." The boy looked back ahead at the sea. "The look in his eyes when he sees you is the same as the ones your students have. It's cute how he admires you."

"Gaara is a good leader, and a better person."

She pursed her lips and said, "And you mentioned something about a marriage proposal. Was it between you and…" he waited for her to continue and she did after a wide grin spread on her face, "him…?"

The boy choked and firmly grasped the railing before he could topple over into the water. "Excuse me?"

She quietly giggled into her hands, her pale cheeks tinged red and her eyes glazed with tears, saying in a singsong voice, "No need to be ashamed, Naruto~."

He managed to get himself back in order. "It wasn't with Gaara."

She didn't believe him, especially with the playful punch she gave his forearm. "Then who would be interested enough to give you a formal marriage proposal?"

He looked at her with molten fire boiling in his eyes but her smug expression didn't leave until he called the name of the person that had been proposed to marry him, which he shot down at that time. "Temari."

For the briefest of moments, a frown flickered on her face before it was replaced with a coy smirk. "Is that why she spends most of her time in your country?"

He shrugged. "Maybe. Her decision to be Suna's ambassador to Wave is a bit strange but the fact remains that she is a great company." He had unknowingly gone on a few dates with her, chalking it as friends eating together, and he found out that she had entertaining stories of past missions.

"So…are you going to marry her?" Yumi asked.

He shrugged again. "I don't plan on marrying for a very long time, if ever, but she's the first to come to mind if I do decide on a long-term commitment." He looked at her from the corner of his eyes. "Why are you interested in my love life?"

"No reason," she chirped and bumped his shoulder with hers. After a short, easy pause, she scoffed and rolled her eyes, mimicking him, "Long-term commitment." Naruto snorted and bumped her shoulder with his. "You make everything sound so cold and official. It's cute."

Naruto didn't know how to respond, especially not with the prolonged stare he got from her, so he shrugged helplessly and faced away from her, trying not to look flustered. Yumi giggled at his reaction.

The two leaders settled back into a familiar silence, watching the open seas as they forged towards Kumo.

The next day Naruto assembled his students and quizzed them on what they had read. "What's the reason Kumo residents mostly have lightning affinity chakra?"

"Because the high altitude they live in evolved their chakra," Kam answered; it was the closest explanation the book could give, and she mentally celebrated as Naruto nodded. He kept asking them questions, with Kam answering the most and Inari answering the least, but enough to satisfy their teacher.

After a few rounds of questions, Naruto stopped to reward his students. "Think of your chakra as a river flowing down to a waterfall. This waterfall is how your chakra spreads around your body and the river is the source. Some books say that the size of the chakra depends on the amount of control a person has but that isn't always true; the Sandaime Hokage had perfect chakra control and he was unofficially ranked the third largest chakra well. The Shodaime Uzukage had three times as much chakra as me and he had perfect control of it." Mole, who was the one that was to stay around Naruto that day, gaped in shock; it was crazy to think that a man with a larger source of chakra had that much control, especially since Naruto had more chakra than everyone she knew. "There are a lot more people I can name; Hatake Sakumo, Uchiha Fugaku, Namikaze Minato, Senju Tsunade, among many others. Although the size of the chakra capacity gives a small clue on how well the person can control it, it shouldn't be the only determinant, especially when you visualise the flow of the river, the source of your chakra, flowing easier instead of through a pin-sized hole. The first thing to keep in mind is patience. It won't magically come to you but it will. And the last is practice."

Inari impatiently crossed his arms. "What's the trick sensei?"

Naruto ignored the boy's impatience and replied, "It depends on the affinity but seeing as you all are water affinity, with Kam being wind as well, we can all do it together." He snapped his fingers and Leopard flickered into reality behind them with a large bucket of water in his hands and he poured the water on the genin, soaking them to the bone. The three genin shrieked in shock. Naruto closed his eyes as he smiled widely. "The trick is called Urgency and you use your chakra to dry yourselves." He chuckled at their outraged yells. "The trick is to choose a path on your clothes to concentrate the flow of the water off your clothes." He looked at his wrist and said, "And be quick about it; the temperatures are dropping."

He reached to his right and a bucket of water was placed in his hand. He poured it over his head and the water soaked through his hair and clothes completely.

He silently raised a finger, indicating that they were watching, and their eyes widened as three miniature rivers of water crawled down his front and two down his back, the water slithered down his pants and pooled at his feet. This went on for thirty seconds before his clothes were completely dry.

He made to leave but he said a few more parting words. "No wringing your clothes and no leaving this spot. Good luck."

"Damn it, sensei," Noriko moaned as a chill passed through him.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Footsteps echoed through the empty passageway leading to one of the many hidden places in the leader's tower in Hidden Sound. The taller of the two, a pale, black-haired man looked ahead as he asked his question, "How has the project I assigned you come along, Kabuto?"

"Very well, Master Orochimaru."

"Details," the pale man simply said and Kabuto delved through the months of research he had solely done since the day the other two Sannin and Naruto had bested them. The old man nodded to everything his assistant said silently until he cut in, "And how many samples have you collected."

"It was very difficult—"

"I didn't ask about the difficulty, I asked you how many samples you've gotten," Orochimaru said this in a low, intimidating hiss. "Now, give me a number."

Kabuto gulped and muttered, "One hundred and seventy-two…Master Orochimaru." He waited for the reprimand with high shoulders and a lowered head but when he didn't receive any he looked up at his master and his eyes widened at the bright gleam he saw in the man's yellow, reptilian eyes.

"You have done well, Kabuto."

The bespectacled teen's lips wobbled slightly as he tried to control his stammer. "Th-Thank you, sir."

The Sannin ignored the boy's reply and continued as if he had not been interrupted, "How long before you acquire up to two hundred and fifty samples?"

"I have various sources and suppliers in many—"

"Kabuto…" the man hissed again and his eyes flared in restrained rage as he glared at the teen from the side of his eyes. "How. Long?"

"One more month."

"Perfect, just a month shy from the day." They kept silently walking down the long corridor, and it was the younger scientist who broke the silence.

"Uhm…sir?" The man hummed in reply and began to idly open and close the doors that started peppering the sides of the corridor, each one containing one of his many living experiments, keeping track of their vitals as they underwent various experiments. One of the experiments was a goliath of a man that was punching the wall furiously; the Sannin laughed quietly and closed the door. "How about Kimimaro? Will he be ready to kill Naruto?"

The Sannin paused to scratch his chin before he kept on walking. "Common sense says that an Uzumaki is never content staying in the same place, so I'm guessing that the boy is much stronger than the last time we met him. He might even have new seals and jutsu in his grasp and he might also now know how to properly fight." Heavens knew how many stories he had heard of Uzumaki being strong enough to destroy countries or subduing demons with their seals alone. "The truth is…I don't want Kimimaro to kill Naruto." He grinned evilly. "I want that honour of ending his life myself."

Although Kabuto nodded in agreement, he was a little bit sceptical of his master's plan.

Unlike the Sannin, who had been staying in Sound so he could focus on fortifying the defences and his other living experiments, including Kimimaro, he had been travelling all over the continent gathering DNA samples from dead shinobi and researching on the Impure World Resurrection jutsu. Mainly on the ways to make the jutsu better.

His ears had been on the ground as he moved about and the news he had been hearing wasn't too good for their plans; Naruto had allied with three major hidden villages and had revived the dying Wave country as well as allying with five other minor villages. Also adding in the villages allied to the other minor village alliance, Wave was almost too strong. But, Kabuto would applaud his master for seeing the slim chance that Naruto was quality reinforcements was the key to bulldozing Wave Country, using highly ranked reincarnated ninjas.

Kabuto had a hundred ninjas within the A-rank and a dozen in the S-rank, this alone should equal any odds Naruto raised.

Not only was he gathering samples for foot soldiers but he was also told to research ways to sustain the ninjas for as long as possible and make them have the power they had when they were still alive.

The last door the Sannin pushed open was the one he entered. They stopped and watched as Kimimaro, the red dots on his left shoulder glowing brighter than they were when he had received the Uchiha and Senju DNA, as the boy shot out two bone spikes from his palms at a dummy and on contact, the wooden creation was sucked into an invisible vortex.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Bells tinkered above Itachi's head as he walked into the pastry shop situated at the very edge of the red light district, barely even two more buildings before it was fully inside. The man, of course, couldn't walk about as freely as he used to when he was a through-and-through ninja of the leaf; only the ANBU and the jounin were aware of his presence in the village and they were incredibly suspicious of him, even after Tsunade had revealed the reason he had betrayed and killed his clan, and on whose orders he was following. He needed to place himself under a normal Henge and enhance it with his sharingan.

He also needed to get something over with and this was the place he had to do it.

The man was disguised under an illusion as a white-haired, red-eyed male in his late teens who had tanned skin and plain features. He was as plain as they get. He was in a long-sleeved black shirt and pants with blue boots.

He sighed tiredly and clenched his fists before he steeled his gaze and walked up to the counter of the pastry shop. It was a slow day because the shop was vacant. He sat down on a tall stool at the bar-style counter and not even a second later a black-haired female with bright red eyes swished out of the backroom door directly in front of him.

She was flawlessly beautiful, with gentle features and a bright smile that made Itachi's expression waver. The girl, clearly in her late teens as well, clasped her hands behind her back and brought out a paper pad and pencil, as well as dusted down her bright pink apron for the multi-coloured sprinkles there.

"Hello, shinobi. Welcome to Katz Pastry and Confectionery. My name is Mizumi. What can I get you?"

"I don't remember telling you I was a ninja," Itachi asked casually as he placed his forearms on the counter.

"You've got that…super ninja persona going on. Anyone else would have felt it," she said as she smiled brightly, her white teeth shining slightly.

"I'm not a ninja."

"Yeah, yeah, you can't lie to me." Strangely enough, her eyes were still closed but he had a feeling that she was still very aware of her environment. "Now what can I get you?"

Itachi remained silent for a few seconds and discreetly looked around to make sure that no one was around, even the store owner. "I need…" he leaned forward and she did so as well, "an Izumi special cupcake."

Her eyes snapped open and the three tomoe sharingan under her red contact lenses spun madly as she threw away her paper pad, grabbed Itachi by his neck and threw him through the backroom door behind her. He crashed through the sturdy wood and she carefully stepped through the wreckage as a water clone melted out of her side and locked the front door.

Itachi coughed and chuckled to himself as he turned onto his belly, seeing her black sandal in his lowered field of vision. His sharingan eyes, also covered by red contact lenses, slowly looked up, past the purple and white dress the beautiful teen was wearing, and straight into her own red eyes. She had her fists clenched and her face in a small snarl as she reached down and grabbed him by his shirt, hefting him up easily and raising her other fist to drive it into his face but stopping short as he started laughing.

"Who the fuck are you?"

Itachi slowly raised both of his arms in a placating motion and stopped laughing in favour of coughing gently into his fist. "You don't recognise me?"

"My sharingan can't see through your genjutsu." He laughed quietly and she shook him. "Now, who the hell are you?" This was when he allowed his illusion to ripple off to reveal his real face. She dropped him abruptly and he got his feet under him as she stumbled away in horror. "Itachi…"

The man was straightening out his shirt before he looked at her with slightly twitching lips. "Yes."

Her eyes were still wide in both shock and horror as her back touched the wall. "Wh-What are you doing here?" she asked quietly and managed to stand straight, her chin raised in defiance. "Come to finish the job?"

Itachi sighed. "Mizumi—"

"Just…just—"

"Or should I call you Izumi?"

"Izumi; it was my first name and it will be my last," she said and prepared her mind to fight her former teammate.

He began to slowly walk to her but stopped when she raised her fists as if to fight. "I'm not here to hurt you—"

"Well you did," she snapped. "You-You-You killed everyone. You killed my parents. My brother. Shisui. Everyone." She growled. "And you wanted to kill me."

"I didn't want to kill you." This time he was the one who snapped, the anger in his eyes shut her up. "I never wanted to kill anyone. Shisui…he died protecting the village from Danzo and I was framed for it." The fire in his eyes lessened and he shrugged his shoulders weakly. "But I won't deny killing the clan; I did that on the elders' order."

She frowned and her eyes watered. "Why did you obey? Why didn't you report it to Lord Third?"

Itachi shrugged again. "Lord Third knew about Danzo's plans and supported them. Our clan was planning a coup for his seat and Shisui wanted to hypnotise everyone in the clan with his kotoamatsukami but Danzo found out somehow and stole one of his eyes. He kidnapped you and ordered me to eradicate our clan; if I went against the order they would have killed you and tortured my brother to death." He told her everything as more tears fell from her eyes. He told her of his counterplan to protect the village from the Akatsuki and how he had been defeated by Wave country. "Do you understand, Izumi? I would never want to hurt you or Shisui."

On the day he had been ordered to kill his clan, Mizumi, then called Izumi, had been ganged up by several faceless ninjas as she was sick with severe food poisoning. She wasn't aware that Yamanaka had altered her memory for her to think that it was Itachi who had attacked her and attempted to kill her.

Izumi Uchiha was one of the best ninjas to ever come out of the Uchiha clan, along with her teammates Itachi and Shisui. They had even created a four-part jutsu together to show their bond as a team and their overall skill.

She was the team's spymaster, with the best illusionary disguise and chakra control over her male counterparts; she was fully capable of sneaking in and out of the T&I with no one the wiser.

After she had been 'betrayed' by Itachi, she retreated to the shadows for several years.

Her resolve to be a ninja was broken and her heart was in pieces.

It was only recently she had gotten control of her emotions enough to find a sustainable job as a baker, which wasn't unpredictable as her second passion was baking.

During her days of silence and hiding she had changed her name over thirty-seven times and her face, not using an illusionary disguise anymore but at the same time never turning her doujutsu off unless she was sleeping. This was possibly the first time she had been found out; not even the many ROOT ninjas sent out after her could get a definite scent of her.

Izumi breathed in deeply, her hands shaking. 'I should have known Itachi wouldn't harm me.' She closed her eyes tightly. "How did you find me?"

This time he smiled at her a little and took a step forward. "Tracking seal on your scalp." She wanted to facepalm at letting this fly over her head; the scalp was one of the most typical places to hide a tracking seal, as strange as that sounded.

She laughed a little. "Idiot." Even though she had been in the shadows, watching as events unravelled in Konoha, from the Konoha exams to the execution of the elders, to Orochimaru stealing Danzo away and hearing reports of Danzo's real corpse being located, to even the day the Kyuubi jinchuriki revealed his position as leader of Wave, she had never once been found out.

"I wanted to get this off my chest and clear things up." She looked away with a small frown. "And…I need your help. Konoha needs your help, Izumi."

She walked to one of her three ovens and slipped on a pair of oven mitts, opening the oven door and pulling out a tray of shortcakes. "My ninja days are over, Itachi. I'm…happy with this life."

The male nodded slowly and walked to her. She tensed, placing the cakes on a table to cool off while she began gently spreading icing on a cooler cake. She relaxed when she noticed he was just watching her apply icing to the top of the cake like he and Shisui always did when they were younger.

It was a pleasant blast from the past and she smiled slightly.

"Have you heard what is going to happen soon?" she nodded. "Then you know the world needs your skills one more time. Then we can both retire." She froze briefly, her eyes widening briefly as she turned to Itachi and he looked back at her with his equally activated sharingan to confirm that he was going to retire soon. She quickly turned back to what she was doing. "Tsunade says my health is getting worse, and the world still hates me but I want to make a final statement before I leave active duty. That I will always be with the light, protecting it from the dark." She didn't answer him, just lowered her head slightly. "I want to end my career protecting what I love."

He waited for her to speak and she opened her mouth to do so. "I don't love Konoha anymore. I don't love anyone anymore. Everyone I loved died years ago."

Itachi felt his heart break as he heard this and closed his eyes with a sigh before he opened them and placed a hand on her shoulder. "You and I know that's a lie."

"Itachi…please, just-just stop—"

"You've always liked lying, Izumi." He felt her shoulders shake as he slowly placed his other hand on her hands.

"P-p-please…" She closed her eyes tightly as she allowed herself to be turned so she would face him.

"I want you to tell me the truth," Itachi said as he gently placed the strands of her hair between her eyes over her left ear.

"I-I-I do-do-don't—" the words stuck in her throat as she looked straight into his eyes, the way he placed both of his hands on her hands, almost shyly, and held them between them, "I-Itachi…please…" the feelings she had been suppressing for years, the one she had been killing since the day she had been kidnapped came pouring back. Her face heated up and her tongue-tied as she tried to make coherent thoughts.

"I haven't lied to myself since we were kids; I love you, Izumi." It felt like a bolt of lightning had been stabbed into her heart as her breath hitched.

He stepped forward and she instinctively bent her head so he could gently place his lips on her forehead. Tears poured from her eyes as more and more memories flashed through her mind, tearing apart the heart she had so painstakingly fixed. He brought her into a strong hug as sobs wracked through her but she shook her head and gently pushed him away with her mitten-protected hands. "P-Please, Itachi, j-just…go." He was about to say something else but she cut him off. "Please…I need time."

The male teen couldn't help but allow the sadness he felt to enter his eyes briefly before he quickly replaced it with a small smile. "Take all the time you need." His shoulder wafted passed hers as he walked past her and she didn't turn to see him off.

The bell rang as he left the shop.

Losing one's emotions was the first thing that their broken team had been told as they entered the ANBU black ops. That these emotions would be their death if they allowed them to control them, even for the shortest of moments.

There were days Izumi cried at having her heart destroyed by the one and the only person she ever felt anything for.

Now, she realised that her experiences before he defected were altered memories.

She fell on her knees as more and more tears fell from her eyes. She hugged herself and sobbed heavily, crying for all the days she cursed her crush for destroying her life and killing their clan.

When they were still kids they would sometimes escape the clan compounds just to buy cupcakes from an Akimichi store. They would buy many of these cakes and climb the Hokage monument to watch the sunset. Shisui would stand on the Nidaime's head and proclaim his goal of becoming the next Hokage, while Itachi and she would watch him; their support was inaudible but still there. She and Itachi would be holding hands, unknowingly, and it was when they were seven and had become a genin team did he kiss her forehead for the first time.

Before then, she always knew Itachi was alive and she hated him for it. But, the first love is always the strongest.

She never realised when she lurched onto her feet and shot out of the shop after him.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"Sensei?" a hum answered the meek voice of Noriko. "How old are you?"

Naruto looked at the boy from the corner of his eyes with an amusedly raised eyebrow before he looked forward again. "That, Noriko, is a secret."

The team, with his DARK guards and the ninjas from Chill, were surfing on the mucky, marshy water on a special kind of speedboat created by Smoke engineers. It was similar to speedboats but it had three propellers that shot them forward with their blades lying horizontally instead of vertically, the front was pointed with reinforced steel and plastic to cut through the marsh and there were flexible glass shields around to ward off the spray of mud on them, this mud didn't stick on and leave a mark. It was a Marsh team that had come to pick them up and transport them to the village, which was one of their checkpoints before Lightning country. There were two speedboats, one for the Wave ninjas and the other for the Chill ninjas.

Inari huffed and crossed his arms as he looked at his teacher with stubborn eyes. "Why can't we know your age, Naruto-sensei?"

"Why do you want to know?" was the sharp question shot back to Inari but Naruto was looking at Kamlyn, whose lips were pursed tightly so she wouldn't join in and ask for her leader's age.

She tried her best to keep her mouth shut but it inevitably opened. "Because you look so young and you're already S-rank."

"Is that all?" the blonde asked as he looked forward again, he suppressed the amused smirk as he felt Kam struggle to let out more of her thoughts to him, as well as the fact that the Marsh ninjas were trying to listen in over the loud hum of the boat.

It was Noriko, surprisingly, who spoke first, "It's also because we did some digging…"

"Oh?"

He nodded. "Yes. We did some digging and found out that since you have the Kyuubi and the Kyuubi attacked Konoha thirteen years ago on your birthday. Using that logic, you're thirteen seeing as you have the Kyuubi."

"Ok, assuming I'm really thirteen, would that cause any problems?"

"No," Inari interjected before Kam could speak. "You'll still be our leader and you'll still be our sensei. We just want to know if it's true." The leader waited until the boat hit a small bump, increasing the noise from the engine as it put more effort and the Marsh ninjas focused on pushing forward before he replied with a single finger to his lips.

People didn't care about his age, choosing just to focus on what value he could provide, especially for them. He wanted to keep his age secret because so far people had taken him seriously. If they found out that a thirteen-year-old boy was a level nine and a half fuinjutsu master and the leader of a steadily developing country. They didn't need to know.

By his silent command, his students chose to be silent for the rest of the journey. They stopped on the docks of the hidden marsh. Naruto walked up to the Marsh leader and firmly shook her hand with a smile on both of their faces.

"Lord Naruto, how have you been?"

"I'm well. I hope our visit hasn't inconvenienced you."

She shook her head and released his hand in favour of shaking Yumi's hand. She motioned for them to walk beside her. "No, no, I'm glad you two could visit. I understand this is your first time here, Naruto." He nodded. "Then, if you don't mind, allow me to give you a guide of my village. I'll have to rush it a bit, seeing as you plan on continuing your journey soon but your genin team can wait at our east gate."

"That would be very much appreciated, Lady Rinsuki. Thank you."

"I need to relieve myself…somewhere…" Yumi said with a bashful smile.

Rinsuki giggled and waved for a passing female ninja to come. "Please, take her to a restroom to freshen up." The girl bowed to them and led the way to a restroom for the urgent Chill leader. "Now, if you don't mind."

"By all means," Naruto said.

The first place the woman had shown the blonde was their hospital, where they trained their medics as well as the medics of the other five villages/country.

Hidden Marsh might have been a slightly unknown village but their medical expertise was what made them known at all. That and their famous, and titular, marshes.

Only the members of the alliance had the privilege of being trained in Marsh to be medics, though they weren't told all of their secrets.

Naruto pursed his lips as the woman guided him through the multi-story hospital, showing him the various sections from the children's section to the elderly section. She went ahead to show him the room where the alliance ninjas were being taught and he saw a few Wave ninjas in the crowd that waved at him.

From there she showed him their school and proudly displayed the records of the students that passed through. Next was their training grounds, each one marshier than the next until the very last simply a brown bog of thin water. It was almost too hard for Naruto to water walk on it but very easy for the leader of the village to do so. She chose to show him her office, just in case he wanted to personally visit on his own and talk to her.

Rinsuki was genuinely a nice person to talk to throughout the tour. She might have been a little rough and her language could get crass if something went amiss in front of him, but she was a nice person.

She had even allowed him in on a small secret; that she was incredibly suspicious of him the very first day they met. She had gone so far as to ask a few of her ninjas to watch him when they were in his country. Not her smartest move, but she had survived that long because of her suspicions.

Strangely enough, what had thrown her suspicions away was when he had personally given her a scroll of the same barrier seals around his island to protect her village; this barrier had kept out more trouble from marsh creatures. It was a seemingly normal gesture Naruto made to his close allies in the minor alliance. He didn't think twice about it, so he didn't catch the wide-eyed stare he received from the Marsh leader as he handed her the scroll in his office; he had moved ahead and was explaining to her how to apply the seals and where to apply them, even though there was an instruction manual in it.

The seals didn't expose a secret backdoor, if any, to her on how to sneak into any other village, if she wanted to, but the fact that Naruto had given her the best all-elemental village encompassing defence without batting his eyes jarred something in her.

The Marsh leadership was hereditary.

According to the document that formed the village, only the descendants of the first Daimyo's younger brother could be the leader. Rinsuki wasn't related to the royal family; she was the protégé of the last leader, the one before her, and she had been made an honorary member as the rest of the family killed each other for the position. A terrible, bloody war within a family.

The amount of trust her sensei had put in her to give him his last name as his adopted child, his only child, shook her to the bone. The man was more focused on leading Marsh than having children, so he adopted the weakest person from the academy and trained her to take charge of the village.

She didn't know his plan until he called her to his side one day as they were on a mission to Earth country, and named her as his successor. He loved his family but at the same time, he hated their greed and plotting. That was why he didn't step in to break up the fights or investigate poisonings. She had inherited her teacher's lack of trust for those around her and she had incorrectly judged Naruto on the tailed beast inside him, and she profusely apologised to him because of it in the privacy of her office.

The boy surprised her yet again by easily forgiving her and letting her know that at least he got to know his ally better.

The tour took them two hours and Rinsuki brought Naruto in for a tight, friendly hug before she waved them away, but not before assigning three teams to escort them to Lightning Country. She had even taken the liberty of sending a messenger hawk to the Raikage that his guests were soon arriving. If they chose the north gate, they would have been on their way to Fang, then a country later they would reach Smoke and further up north, the furthest possible, was Chill.

"Well, that was awfully chummy of her," Yumi casually said as she ran beside Naruto.

"She got something off her mind."

"Mind I ask what…?"

"It's something private," he simply said. Yumi controlled her frown as they kept running through the empty path through a forest. there was silence as they ran over Lightning country's border until Mole, who was the one running behind Naruto, piped up.

"Sir, someone's coming." As if on cue, a blonde woman in a jounin vest and a tanto sheathed on her back ran towards them. She skidded to a stop and bowed curtly to Naruto and Yumi.

"Lord Naruto, Lady Yumi, my name is Yugito Nii and I have been sent by Raikage to escort you to Kumo."

"Just you?" Yumi asked sceptically.

Yugito nodded and bowed deeply in apology. "He sends his sincerest apologies; you were scheduled to meet him in a week and when he received your message, he had only a few available ninjas available to send as escorts."

Naruto made a flippant hand gesture and walked past the other blonde. "It's fine. We were even going to stop to set up camp here." He pointed at Mole and she and her team began preparing their camp. The Chill ninjas too were helping as well.

"Oh, well that's good," Yugito replied as she stayed bowed until Yumi motioned for her to be at ease.

"You're free to stay if you want." Yumi sharply looked at Naruto and asked him, remembering that he was taking point on the mission, "If you don't mind."

"She can stay if she wants. I even brought a spare blanket." He unsealed a wooden chair from his elbow and sat on it with his backpack placed on the ground. He rummaged through it and brought out a thick but soft, bright orange blanket. "I hope you don't mind the colour." He tossed Yugito the blanket and brought out two more chairs for Yumi and Yugito to sit down as well; his students were following the Chill and Wave guards to make a camp, taking mental notes of what they were doing so they didn't notice the other ninjas sitting down.

Yugito bowed again as she accepted his blanket. "Thank you, Lord Naruto." She just thought that they were up for running the few miles left to Kumo and sleeping there. Maybe the trip had taken a bigger toll on them than she realised. Naruto waved nonchalantly as he rummaged through his bag for his sketchpad and a pencil before he sat back and looked around for inspiration. "If you don't mind me asking, Lord Naruto," he nodded as his bright blue eyes kept searching for what to draw among the trees that surrounded them, "do you have full control of your tailed beast?"

"Kyuubi and I have been friends since I was just a year old. We have mutual respect. I'm able to handle more tails than I'm supposed to, especially because Kyuubi helps me control the chakra. So, no, I can't control all of his tails." Yugito nodded slowly and ran her hands over his blanket. "I'm assuming you can control your tailed beast's chakra."

"Yes, Lord Naruto," she replied.

She expected more from the feared and respected leader of Wave Country; with the way the Kumo delegation to Wave had spoken about him, she expected to see the power rolling off him in waves. The only indication he was even the tiniest bit of strength was with the flawless way he unsealed three chairs from his elbow, which he had now rolled down but from the small glimpse she saw that his arm was covered in seal tattoos. Seal tattoos were a show of fuinjutsu knowledge for exclusively Uzumaki seal masters. Of course, she had heard other stories of his exploits, like being able to defeat two S-ranks, Gaara of the Sand, revealing Danzo Shimura's real colours and even creating an S-rank attack from scratch.

The fact remained that he was her superior in rank, tailed beast and possibly even skill, so it was best to keep her opinions to herself until she was proven without a shadow of a doubt that he was as strong and as skilled as the stories make him out to be.

That night, just like every other night, as everyone besides the guards and Yugito slept, Naruto sat in his tent with his legs crossed in meditation.

Authors note

Please drop a review on what you think. Also! Try reading my other stories. If you liked this you might like my other stories, I assure you.

See you when I see you.

Foy.