Sakura sat in her office, looking over the documents she had received from ANBU in front of her. A frown marred her face, looking up at the shinobi before her.

"Hokage-sama could have been kind enough to at least declassify the document if he wants me to review the process."

"It is on a need-to-know basis Sakura Haruno. You are not need to know."

"And yet he requests my help in completing whatever project it is he wants done."

The ANBU tilted their head, staring down at her. She stared back, annoyance in her eyes. Still, there was no point in bickering with the ANBU. They were the direct branch of shinobi under the Hokage. If this came from Danzo, she had no choice but to obey, frustrating situation or not. A sigh escaped her lips, her eyes breaking contact with the sheet white mask to look at the documents in her hand once more.

"Look, I'll give you my notes before I leave to go on the mission with Konohamaru's squad. They won't be nearly as good as they could be considering half the information here isn't readable, but I'll do my best."

"Hokage-sama wants this within three days."

Sakura's eye twitched, looking back up at the ANBU.

"I have patients to take care of."

"And you have a Hokage to serve."

Sakura's eye twitched once more. Who the hell did this guy think he was?

"My job is to handle the hospital and train the future generation of iryonin in Konohagakure, not to be the Hokage's personal lapdog when his research assistant can't do their own damn job. I'll get back to you when I get back to you."

The ANBU stared at Sakura, seemingly unbothered by the harshness in her tone.

"You will do this Sakura Haruno. Your job is to serve Konohagakure, and that is done by serving the Hokage and all his wishes. Get the paperwork in on time, or else."

Sakura frowned.

"Is that a threat?"

"Shinobi villages are dictatorships," the ANBU stated. "You would do well to remember that."

With that the ANBU left. Sakura watched them leave, rage building in her chest. She wanted to punch the wall. Danzo didn't give a damn about serving Konoha, that much she was sure of. Tsunade had always warned her to be wary of the man. She hadn't liked any of his policies since he had been inaugurated as Hokage. Alas, she didn't have much of a choice but to go along with what he said. She didn't live in a democracy. The only person with more authority than a Kage was a Daimyo and even then...

Sakura grit her teeth, looking down at the document before her. Stubbornly she created a Kage Bunshin (Shadow Clone), handing it the documents. It began to read as she stood, leaving the room. She had a meeting to get to.

Naruto placed the bowl on the table, his eyes glowing with joy. A loud burp escaped his mouth, the man slumping into his chair as a large smile split his face. It was a completely uncommon visage on the blonde's face. The redheaded man across the table from him snorted at his actions.

"I should have brought a camera."

Naruto burped again, the pure bliss on his face radiating like a second sun. Ashino poked his father, pointing at Naruto.

"Did you know ojisan was always this weird?"

"I wish I did."

"It's just ramen."

"Just ramen," Naruto exclaimed as if the child had spoken blasphemy. He pointed at Ashino, his eyes narrowed and filled with intent. The child met his eyes, shock on his face. Naruto stared into him as if he was looking into his soul, completely unwilling to compromise on the issue.

"Ramen is the food of the gods. Don't you forget it."

"It's noodles."

"Noodles?"

The blonde recoiled as if he had been struck. He looked at Ashino as if he had grown a second head.

"It is far superior to mere noodles. It is the apex of cuisine itself!"

"Noodles."

Naruto glared at Nagato this time, a crazed look in his eye.

"You sure he's yours?"

"I'd certainly hope so."

"Get a blood test."

"Because he doesn't like ramen?"

"Do you like it?"

"It's alright."

"Alright?"

Naruto glared at the both of them, irritation on his face.

"Maybe I should be the one getting the blood test."

Nagato snorted, finishing his bowl before setting it down. "I assume this means the food is to your liking."

"It's the second-best ramen I've ever had."

"Second best," came the call from the chef not far away from them. He was a skinny man; his back was bent over the sink as he finished washing a pair of dishes. Rumei was the man's name. "Who the hell makes ramen better than me brat?"

"You've got a long way to go before you top Ichiraku Ramen in Konoha Rumei!"

"I'll make you eat those words!"

"I look forward to it!"

Naruto turned to look at his family. Nagato was smiling with amusement while Ashino coughed at the heat of the food.

"Wait till it cools Ashino."

"Yes tou-san."

"I got it," Naruto muttered, waving his hand at Ashino's food. A subtle application of Fūton (Wind Release) chakra was all it took for a gust of wind to cool off the food. Ashino's eyes widened as he ate a bit more, finding the temperature much more bearable.

"How did you do that?"

"Fūton is my elemental nature. Like I said kiddo, I'm the best Fūton user on the continent."

"Even better than dad?"

Naruto looked at the man, a frown on his face. If Nagato could control wind as easily as he had controlled the rainclouds above Ame when he arrived, then perhaps he had found someone who surpassed him in the use of his specialty. For a moment he felt unconfident. It was only a moment, as Nagato quickly nodded.

"Yes, I must admit I can't quite utilize wind to the same ability Naruto can. While I have control over all elemental natures, I spend the most time utilizing Suiton (Water Release)."

"Wait, you can use all five elements? Like the old man Sandaime?"

Nagato nodded. "Yes. It is one of the benefits of the Rinnegan, at least according to Jiraiya's theories and testing. My elemental nature is all five elemental natures. I simply prefer Suiton."

Naruto's eyes widened, the news completely groundbreaking to him. He had never heard of anyone having all elemental natures. Sure, one's individual elemental nature didn't box them into only using that nature. One could learn any nature outside of Kekkei Genkai exclusives with enough practice, skill, and talent. But the benefits of it being your nature. The ease of understanding the basic functions of the element, and the chakra benefit of using jutsu from it, that was something that couldn't be replicated even by the foremost masters of all five elements like Hiruzen. For Nagato to have that benefit...

"You're gonna have to tell me all of the abilities those eyes of yours give you."

"Tou-san can use gravity," Ashino commented casually. Naruto eyed Nagato, his eyebrow raising. Nagato sighed.

"It is true, I can manipulate gravity."

Naruto stared at him for a moment before he silently took out a small notebook. He opened it and began to write. Nagato raised an eyebrow.

"What is that?"

"It's my fuck Kekkei Genkai book."

"...Do I want to know?"

"No. And fuck you."

Tenten stared at the sight before her. The Kazekage, Rasa, and an entourage of shinobi stood in the desert, staring down the lone form of Gaara of the Sand. It had only been a week since her group had deduced the way to track Gaara and the Ichibi. It had taken them three tries, but they had eventually caught up to the Jinchuriki. They had to be careful when tailing him, as Gaara could detect movements in the sand, but they had followed him for over three nights. The Jinchuriki had destroyed every town he came across, each time leaving periodically more and more of the town remaining above the Land of Wind's dunes. His pattern was changing. Even the Ichibi itself seemed less enthused about the slaughter. But before they had time to deduce what the reason for it could be...the Kazekage arrived. It was a shock. They had heard nothing of his nearing approach since the first report of him descending from the Iwa front. One day he was there, and the next he was. Which led them to the sight before them.

Gaara of the Sand against Rasa the Golden. Jinchuriki against Kage. Son against father.

Tenten looked at her team, each of them hidden on a small rocky outcropping away from the battle.

"Remember, once the battle has been decided, then we move in to strike. If they get too crazy retreat to a safe distance. We cannot afford to be discovered or we'll all die here, clear?"

"Sir!"

Tenten looked back at the battle, watching as tendrils of sand began to rise up and wind blew hard. A speckle of gold could be seen coming from Rasa before the world exploded in a cacophony of color. The battle had begun.

Izumi smiled as she sat down at the table in front of her family. Mikoto and Sasuke were there, both with a plate of food in front of them. Fugaku was next to his wife, his body mostly covered in bandages. Still, he could move. He, along with Itachi who sat next to Izumi, had been released from the hospital only recently. They were still injured, but their injuries wouldn't grow worse through daily life. Of course, they were still not close to returning to active duty, but they were capable of living a somewhat reduced civilian life for the time. All three looked at Izumi and Itachi expectantly, the duo having asked to meet with them this night. They would have invited Izumi's family as well, but they had died two years ago of disease. The woman was alone.

"So why did you ask to meet with us," Mikoto questioned. She had asked the question on everyone's mind. Itachi glanced at his wife, a slight wince arching through his body at the sudden jerk and the flash of pain from his injuries. Izumi smiled, clasping his hand before she looked back at her mother-in-law. The smile on her face turned into a grin that threatened to split her cheeks from just how wide it was. She rubbed her stomach with her other hand, causing Mikoto's eyes to widen just before Izumi revealed the truth to the less astute men of the family.

"I'm pregnant."

For a brief moment you could hear a pin drop, everyone stunned silent at the news. Then, not two seconds later, Mikoto was up on her feet, the most brilliant grin on her face. The woman screamed with excitement, almost leaping over the table. She placed her hands on Izumi's stomach.

"How long have you known? Is it a boy or girl? Or my gosh I'm gonna have grandbabies! How many times did you try? I know you and Itachi really like to-"

"Kaa-chan!" Itachi yelled.

Mikoto stared at him, tilting her head as if she didn't understand what she did wrong.

"Privacy."

"Oh come now, we're all adults here. I'll have you know Fugaku and I were very-"

A cough interrupted her, courtesy of Fugaku who was...blushing? The man looked up at his son and daughter-in-law.

"Congratulations son. Izumi."

"Thank you."

Itachi turned to look at his little brother, their eyes locking. Briefly the two stayed like that, before a small smile emerged on Sasuke's face.

"I finally get to be the cool uncle huh?"

"I don't know about cool Sasuke-kun."

"Be nice Itachi-kun," Izumi chided, patting him on the shoulder. Sasuke snorted.

"It's fine Izumi, he's just worried cause now that he's having a kid, he's officially an old man."

"Oh? And what does that make me huh," she stated, her eyes looking at him dangerously. Sasuke wisely decided to shut up.

Izumi smiled, before she placed her hands on her stomach again.

"We don't know if it's a boy or a girl, but I'm two months along!"

"I just found out a little while ago. She's been keeping it a secret ever since I went on deployment."

"I was here," Mikoto said, pouting. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I wanted Itachi to be the first to hear the news Mikoto-san. Please forgive me."

Mikoto frowned but nodded. That wasn't something she could argue with.

"Ah, my grandbaby is gonna be just the best I know it! Ah, I'm so excited. I'm gonna spoil him rotten."

The woman's head snapped to her son.

"And you. You better take care of this woman right here! She is the mother of your child! You better pamper her with everything throughout this pregnancy! I'll have you know I almost tore your father a new one for not getting me the exact food I wanted during one of my cravings."

"That doesn't sound healthy mother."

"Are you talking back to me?"

Itachi let out a small squeal as Mikoto stared him down, causing Izumi to laugh. The family stayed like that for a while, talking and laughing with one another as they prepared themselves to meet the newest member of the family.

Neji grit his teeth as he collapsed onto the ground. The dummy in front of him was in tatters, shattered from the force of chakra against its body. The man looked at his hands, blood trailing from his fingertips. He grit his teeth, wincing as pain flared through his body once more. That shouldn't happen. The Juken was a better fighting style than that. The chakra was meant to protect him from the force of his blows, but it had failed.

"When you're distracted the Juken doesn't work. You know this better than anyone."

Neji turned, shock on his face as he saw the young woman approaching him. Quickly he rolled over, bowing his head to the ground in front of her presence. The woman sighed, walking by his side by not looking at him.

"You're better than this Neji."

"Forgive me Hanabi-sama."

"I refuse," Hanabi stated, walking over to a nearby tree stump and sitting on it. "Do it again."

Neji slowly stood, blood dripping from his hands down onto the ground.

"Hanabi-sama with my hands-"

"Again."

Neji slowly nodded, shakily raising his hands towards the last remaining dummy in the training area. He took a breath before he shot forwards, his hands lashing out in a traditional kata of Juken. His blows hammered home, the ground shaking at the force as loud crashes rang out. The blows rained down like a torrent, the wood that constituted the puppet slowly but surely being blown off its body. By the time he finished there was nothing but a mangled pile of charred wood. Neji panted, his arms sagging at his sides as blood trailed down his fingers in a heavy flow. He turned, looking at Hanabi who seemed disappointed.

"I suppose my presence only contributed to your distraction. You were unable to form the shield of chakra around your fingertips."

Hanabi stood, frowning as she looked at her cousin.

"But perhaps there's something else you need to address before you can fully go back to active duty."

"What do you mean Hanabi-sama?"

Hanabi frowned, looking at Neji. "You know as well as I do Neji. You stagnated ever since Hinata died. You're no different than the man you claim to hate."

Neji's eyes narrowed but he wisely held his tongue at Hanabi's harsh words. The young woman approached him, a frown on her face. Her cold, dispassionate eyes bored directly into Neji's eyes, no, his soul. He winced underneath the pressure in those eyes.

"It was your fault. But that is war. Instead of lamenting the past move forwards into the future."

Neji winced at her words, opening his mouth to say something in response, only for her to turn around. He thought better of the action as she did so.

"I won't use the seal on you, you're well aware of that. You need not hold your tongue."

Neji frowned, looking at the ground to think of a rebuttal. For a long time, there was silence, causing Hanabi to turn her head to look back at him.

"Hm? Nothing? That's what I thought."

Hanabi walked away, seemingly disappointed with the way the one-sided conversation had gone.

"The old you would never have sat there and taken that type of abuse. It's a shame what you've become. Tortured by your own guilt and fathers misguided hatred of you."

Hanabi left the clearing, three words echoing throughout the air as she did so.

"You disgust me."

Neji let those words rattle around in his head for a long while. It was night before he left the training area, his eyes filled with nothing but self-pity.

Konohamaru sat down in a room, watching the sun slowly rise above the horizon. He was still injured, only recently having been released from the hospital, but he needed to have this talk with his team sooner rather than later. He saw his team walk in and a small smile appeared on his face. Good. It was time to strategize.

The group sat down in front of him. Sakura, Sasuke, Sai, Shikamaru, and Tsume. All elite shinobi in their own right, but individually none of them could stack up to the blonde alone. Together? They had a shot.

"I'm sure you all know why you're here. I won't waste time explaining. We should focus on strategizing how to defeat Naruto Uzumaki."

Konohamaru looked at Sakura, nodding at her. "You told me you could defeat him in taijustu so long as he was not shrouded in that wind armor of his?"

"I'm better than him in taijutsu. I could beat him. But I have no way of ripping that wind armor off of him. His control over his element is too strong. I can't rip it off of him."

"That isn't the only difficulty," Shikamaru stated plainly. "Simply put, not even the most elite fire jutsu can cause him to lose control of the tornado. It snuffs out any fire."

"What if we reinforced it with Fūton," Tsume called. "A collaborative jutsu probably could do the trick."

"It's a good idea, but we still lack any great users of Fūton in this group," Shikamaru stated. "It's likely the ANBU have someone, if not a group of people, who are capable Fūton users. Let's bring it up to them. Still, if we mixed it with another element, it may be worth trying. Konohamaru you're a Katon (Fire Release) expert, right? What if you and Sasuke mixed Katon and Raiton (Lightning Release)? I know it lacks the elemental advantage, but it's probably the strongest collaborative jutsu we'll be able to consistently create. He'll slaughter most of the ANBU before they can unleash any more than two collaborative attacks."

"It's definitely something worth practicing eh, Uchiha?"

Sasuke made a slight grunt of agreement. "It's worth a shot. I have a jutsu that put him in trouble during our last confrontation, but it takes too long and is too easy to see setting up. If we combine that with a Katon jutsu and can keep him from noticing..."

"My genjutsu comes into place there," Sakura stated.

"I am sure I will be able to provide aerial coverage as well to stop his flight, at least temporarily," Sai contributed.

"Good," Konohamaru stated. "You can fly?"

Sai nodded.

A faint smile crossed Konohamaru's face.

"Good. Tsume you should take the lead for close quarters engagement."

"I thought you just said Sakura could beat him in taijutsu," Sasuke questioned.

"She is also the only iryonin we have on the squad. And the rules of iryonin will never allow her to go into close quarters combat."

"Tch," Shikamaru stated. "I get that, but Sakura is the best taijutsu expert here. It doesn't make much sense to not utilize her abilities."

"She's not the best taijutsu expert here," Tsume stated. "I am."

Sakura looked at her fellow kunoichi, raising an eyebrow at her statement. Tsume stared back, a grin on her face. Both of their pride had clearly been flared at the statement. Before the two could continue Konohamaru interjected.

"Sakura will stay in the reserves and only engage in taijutsu as a last resort. I'll assist Tsume as well when not working on the collaborative jutsu. Shikamaru, you help Sakura with restraining him. If he breaks that genjutsu you restrain him with your shadow. Even if he breaks out of it in a second, that second could be the difference between winning and losing. He won't give us another shot at using it."

The group nodded.

"Do we have any reports of where he is? He dropped off the map ever since the incident in the Land of Earth," Sakura called.

"No, although there were reports of a massive battle going on near Hacho Village. Massive torrents of water, destruction of the forest, key indicators of high-level shinobi. That's our best bet to start looking. Plus, it matches his typical M.O. of being an area-class fighter," Konohamaru mentioned. "I'm sure we can glean for any information in the surrounding area."

"Isn't that where the Hole is," Sasuke questioned.

"Yeah, it's in the area, but it's destroyed now."

"Even so," Sasuke continued. "The superweapon there had a lot of chakra within if reports are to be believed. So much so that there's still remnants of the weapon's chakra in the area. It would make a good hiding spot for powerful shinobi."

Konohamaru nodded. "Hacho Village is even more likely to be a spot he was at then. Good note Sasuke. We can't afford to to wait two years to find him again like last time."

"How is your brother doing by the way," Tsume questioned. "I heard he got banged up pretty bad."

"He'll get through it," Sasuke stated curtly. "You're not interested in my father."

"Never liked him."

Sasuke snorted but did not respond to her statement. He could understand why the impatient Inuzuka Clan Head and the Uchiha Patriarch did not get along.

"Back on topic, Sakura you're second in command for this mission. You, other than myself, know Naruto better than everyone here except Sasuke. And you're the strongest."

"I must interject," Sai stated. "Given her...personal relationship with the subject of this mission, her decision making could be flawed during the process of the mission. It would put all of our lives at risk if she made the wrong call."

Konohamaru's eyes narrowed at the blank slate that was the man's face. "Does that not apply to me as well? I grew up with him in my house."

"It does, however Hokage-sama made that decision so I will not argue with it."

"And I, by proxy of the authority placed in me by the Hokage, have made this decision. You will live with it, understood?"

Before Sai could response Sakura interjected.

"No, I think he raises a fair point." The group looked to her, stunned at the response. Sakura turned to look at Sai, his face still completely neutral. She matched his expression.

"I understand your uncertainty. I would be too. However, my duty and feelings as both a kunoichi of Konoha and an iryonin take priority over any conflicted feelings I may have for my former teammate. My responsibility first and foremost is to ensure every single person on this mission, ANBU included, get back to Konoha alive."

"I find that doubtful. If that were really the case you would be the one engaging Naruto Uzumaki in taijutsu, not the Inuzuka. If rumors are to be believed you are in a class with only Might Gai and Rock Lee as the foremost expert in taijutsu in Konoha."

Sakura frowned. "I have rules I have to follow as an iryonin-"

"You are the student of Tsunade Senju. She herself did not follow those rules because she had ascended past them. Have you failed to do so?"

The room got ice cold at Sai's words. It was well-known that her mentor was a sore topic for the Haruno. Sakura's eyes pierced into Sai's like ice. Sai stared back, completely ignoring the social ques he had broken.

"Would you require a...demonstration...of my skills?"

Sai looked to speak but Konohamaru quickly got in between the two, looking at Sai with a heated glare.

"Enough. Sakura is my second in command. If you don't like it, deal with it. I outrank you, clear? I trust her the most to handle the mission should anything happen to me. You may not trust her or my decision making, but trust that the Hokage put the right person in charge of the squad."

Sai looked at Konohamaru and relented, bowing his head.

"Forgive me, I was only joking. I wished to see the legendary Mad Titan in action."

Sakura frowned at her title, leaning back into her chair. Konohamaru moved to sit back in his seat, although he was well aware of Sakura eyeing Sai. That was something that would be a problem. He would have to keep those two separated as best as possible. Still, outside of them the plan wasn't looking half bad. It would certainly not be enough, but it was a good start. That was good.

Naruto Uzumaki was coming home, one way or another.

Tenten stared in horror as she saw the mighty Bijuu continue on. It didn't make sense. The Kazekage lay on the sand...dead. His entire entourage was dead as well. The Konoha forces had been forced to hide away the entire fight, only watching in horror as the Bijuu had slaughtered the man, entirely one-sidedly. But it didn't make any sense! The Kazekage had been reported to be able to defeat the Bijuu in single combat before due to his special ninjutsu that allowed him to dominate the battlefield against the Bijuu. But...Shukaku, and she knew it was Shukaku, had won. No, the beast continued to move to the north, headed towards the Land of Earth. How had Shukaku won the battle?

The kunoichi and her group stood there as the beast left, lucky to not have been noticed in its outrageous slaughter. The Suna shinobi's death was the only reason they were still alive. Tenten looked back at the battlefield, horror as she saw the trail left by the beast. Even the blood had been devoured by the sand. The Kazekage's body gone, enveloped underneath the rolling dunes. For a brief moment she could have sworn she saw two figures spiral into existence. One turned to stare at her, its lone eye glowing a brilliant red, but she blinked and it was gone. She frowned.

Was she hallucinating? Dehydration? She needed to get back to base.

Asuma would want to know about this.

Hey y'all. I'm learning I really enjoy writing scenes with Nagato and Naruto. They have very good chemistry with each other. Their personalities blend better than I thought they would. Yahiko and Naruto also have chemistry, but in a more antagonistic sort of way. They're probably my favorite combination to write. In contrast, Itachi is actually my least favorite despite how much I like him as a character.