Chapter 17

What is the most important thing in life? Naruto wondered for the hundredth time in his short life as he saw Kakashi staring at the grave with a defeated look on his face. It was not the first time Naruto was seeing the man who was like an elder brother to him. He knew Kakashi has lost some men in their last mission, the last mission of the fourth ninja war. The mission in which Sakura, Nawaki and Sasuke went to rescue them.

"Can I ask you a question? Kakashi?" The red head wasn't acknowledged. The man knew Naruto was there but didn't want to speak. The rain was pouring like they were taking showers. Naruto liked rain, bathing in it and feeling drops of water hitting your skin. Kakashi was standing there not caring about the weather.

"It's been years, I see you whenever you have free time you come here and look into your past mistakes. Everyone has to die Kakashi. No one is immortal and when we're going to die? Nobody knows. Rin and Obito died because their time in this world ended."

"You won't understand Naruto. Do you think you're the first one lecturing me about this? But I know what happened, I've seen in it with my own eyes and it is as fresh as it happened just yesterday." Naruto sighed and wiped his face with hands. He looked around. The trees were looking fresh and green as ever. They were dancing in the wind, full of life and carefree.

"Don't you have a mission to go to?" It was early in the morning. The mission to go after the Snake Sannin and retrieve whatever he was up to. The red head covered his head with his black hood attached with black cloak and turned to leave. Water splashing on his black boats.

"Naruto?" The Jounin called him and he stopped in his tracks but didn't turn.

"Be careful out there?"

"Why?" There was a pause as Kakashi thought to tell him or not.

"I think he knows that you're coming, I've a bad feeling about this." The red head resumed walking.

"You should search for Yugao; she was asking for you. You need someone in your life Kakashi." Naruto vanished without producing a noise. Kakashi was looking at Naruto's back when he vanished.

"His sunshine never ceased to amaze me. I think he is better at it then me." Shisui came out of hiding. He was holding an umbrella and was wearing a black cloak and you could see white bandages underneath it around his abdomen.

"So, Yugao huh." Shisui grinned.

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Shisui had nothing but to glare at one eyed man.

Uzumaki compounds

After coming back from Kakashi Naruto went to the Uzumaki compound where he knew Kana would be. He needed to buy some goods or say weapons before going for mission. But in reality he wanted to see her and talk to her. He doesn't know why but his heart wanted to talk to her for hours and hours.

Before he could even knock on the wooden door the girl of his thoughts appeared in front of him. She has her eyebrows raised and a questioning look on her face.

"What are you doing here?" Naruto looked behind her shoulder to see if Reo was in there or not.

"He is not here!" The girl came in front of him and locked her eyes with him. Seeing his confused and relieved look the came to realisation.

"Ooh? So you were hoping to meet me alone in my house? Do you really think I'll allow you to come into my house?"

"Well, I'm a guest and it's rude for a host to behave in such a way." Naruto said as politely as he could. The girl narrowed her blue eyes.

"I didn't ask you to be my guest. I didn't send you an invitation, did I? Now go, I'll meet you at the gates." Having said that the girl slammed the door on his face. Instead of feeling irritation or angry he felt a smile creeping out on his face.

"Well, one day." It was heard by the girl who was standing behind the closed doors to listen to what he has to say. Kana looked through the glass window and saw Naruto going. A smile appearing on her face at his antics. Regretting for a second why she didn't invite him in.

"Idiot!" Her smile vanished though when she saw his face. It was like someone has flipped the switched. His face was blank slate. An emotionless mask with a deadly look that could rival a beast. She felt his small amount of killing intent and shuddered.

Then she saw the person who was responsible for the switch. That elderly lady from the council was saying something to Naruto who was listening to her without uttering a word. Of course the lady didn't notice the switch.

Kana quickly formed a shadow clone who went and started packing her tools in her storage seals. She herself went and changed into her ninja attire. She quickly strapped her storage seals around her wrists before shunshined out of the house.

Naruto was about to blow the old had with a fireball when he felt hand on his wrist, blocking the flow of chakra. The elderly lady looked surprised and startled by the new appearance.

"What are you doing Naruto?" Kana said, glancing up at the fellow red head who was trying to release his hand from her grasp without making a scene. His eyes were on the old hag.

"I suggest you leave from my sight before I blow you up. I've enough of your ramblings." The chilling tone sent shivers. She felt Naruto releasing his killing intent more as the old hag gasped and turned around and left.

"Let go of my hand." The girl seeing no harm in doing so did. Naruto walked few steps ahead of her before stopping.

"And never get in my way again." It was a warning to her. She was quickly reminded who she was dealing with. The ruthless Red Assassin. She stood there looking at his back until he was further away from her and looked back at her.

"If you've packed then let's go." The girl nodded and walked fast steps to catch up to him.

"I need to pick my sword from the Higurashi store and breakfast before we go. We still have an hour before departing." The rain stopped as they went into the markets of the village. It didn't take long to go to Higurashi store.

"Ah, Naruto. I thought I'd see you tomorrow." A bulky man with bald head behind the counter said with a cheerful smile.

"And who is this beautiful lady?" The man turned his eyes towards Kana who opened her mouth to respond.

"She is no one Higurashi-san. Can you please fetch it? I'm in a hurry, mission and all."

"Oh! Why not why not." Kana was about to give him a piece of her mind when a girl appeared from upstairs. She looked around until he eyes landed on Naruto.

"Ah, TenTen, it's good to see you." TenTen scoffed and landed on the floor with a jump, ignoring Kana completely.

"You're not even looking at me Naruto." She whined. Naruto turned around with a smile.

"It's good to see you, Naruto-kun." Kana raised her eyebrows at 'kun' suffix.

"How are Neji and Lee?"

"They are fine, Gai sensei is as terrible with his training as always." Naruto nodded his head and glanced at the silently fuming Kana as Higurashi came back with the sword. Everyone turned their attention to the sword. It was covered in black leather. The sheath was black in colour with a spiralling design on it.

Naruto took out the sword and held it in his right hand.

"I was able to repair with the best of my abilities. I still can't believe that how you were able to break it." The steel was shining and there was no sign that it was in two pieces before.

"I know you use sword very much…"

"I know Higurashi-san. When I'll have the time I'll ask them. Thanks. Bye TenTen." He quickly stored the sword and left the shop.

"Come back whenever you have free time Naruto. And Sakura misses you terribly. She said she can't sleep at night." Kana shook her head. Girls these days. saying such things loud and clear. Can't sleep at night?

"You've girlfriend as well? And what you did back in the store was idiotic and terribly ill-mannered. Didn't your parents taught you manners?" Naruto stopped and took a deep breath to control the anger.

"For your kind information I was an orphan, a demon brat who was beaten, starved and abandoned. To me, my parents were dead and they will remain dead, until the Hokage revealed my parentage to the villagers when I was in Kiri. And it was too late for them to teach me anything." The read head came closer and hissed.

"if you look closely around you, you could see they still stare at me like I'm an animal. What happened outside of the Uzumaki compound was just the tip of the iceberg. So before you say anything Miss pretty Uzumaki think." Naruto then realised what he'd done. In his anger he revealed so much about himself to her. She was looking at him with horror and sympathy. She looked around and saw them. They were not doing anything except looking. But the look was so hateful that she cringed.

"I'm sorry. I really sorry." She whispered, looking down and feeling so much stupid. There was silence between them, she waited for him to say anything.

"It's okay." Naruto whispered back, with his back turned to him. "And do you really think, in the environment that I grew up in, do you really think that someone would have fallen in love with me?" Naruto didn't say anything else.

Kana sighed and followed him to the ramen stand.

"Naruto-kun? Going for mission?" The teenage girl behind the stand said in all too familiar tone with happy smile on her face. But in the short amount of time that she'd spent with Naruto she knew that in this Naruto was loved by many. and most of them were shinobi.

"Yeah Ayame and as usual." The girl nodded her head and turned to her. Her eyes looking back and forth between Naruto and her. Kana didn't miss that look and new straight away she liked Naruto.

"I'll have vegetable ramen." She didn't bother to introduce herself. The girl nodded her head and went to prepare their order.

"I didn't know that you take ramen in a breakfast." She said it as it was the most ridiculous thing she'd ever seen.

"He always eat ramen before going for mission." Ayame said as she placed the bowl in front of Kana.

"Why is that?" Ayame and Kana turned to Naruto. Naruto looked at Ayame, waiting for her to tell Kana about that.

"Before going on a mission I eat ramen like it is my last chance at eating it because when you go out you've a very high chance of not coming back alive." Kana just shook her head and didn't say anything to her fellow redhead. He and his stupid logic.

"I've never seen you here before. Where are you from?" The girl went back to prepare another order.

"I'm new here. I'm from Uzushiogakure but now I'm living here permanently." The girl nodded her head.

"And you know Naruto?"

"Yeah. I'm an Uzumaki just like him. And we were assigned a mission together so we are teammates as well."

"Uzumaki huh! I should have known. You Uzumaki always have red hair." She stared at her for a few seconds. Like she was giving her some kind of warning. Kana felt a bit awkward, seeing a girl staring at her like that.

"Take care of yourself Naruto-kun, I don't want to see you harmed." Ayame cooed at Naruto. Kana huffed in irritation. They quickly finished their number of bowls before heading towards the gates.

"Why is that wherever we go there is some girl ready to claim you?"

"I don't know? Do you know why they do that?" Kana looked at Naruto like he was bluffing but seeing his serious and somewhat confused expression she sighed. She can't blame him for his ignorance.

That TenTen girl and that ramen stand girl both seemed interested in him. Kana doesn't know much about Naruto but the information that Reo told her about the Uzumakis living in Konoha told her that he was considered as one of the best prodigy of Konoha. Kiri call him their hero. The boy who did everything to give them their freedom and their village.

''This is our first mission which means it'd would be difficult for us to sync our moves in a fight. So I'd suggest we just concentrate on our own battles for now until we get time for a sparring match." Kana came out of her thoughts as they left the village and jumped on trees and Naruto spoke. He was leading them. She was close enough to hear him completely.

"Yes. But don't you think we should tell each other what are our specialities. What we can do and what we can't?" Naruto didn't want to do that. Nobody, not even Jiraiya knew what he can do. But it seems Kana was ready to tell him about her specialities, and the day he'd seen her for the first time he wanted to know about her abilities.

"Do you trust me not to reveal your abilities to someone else?"

"And who would you tell? You are son of a Hokage, you will not betray me. And besides we are from the same clan."

"My mother is from the same clan but I don't trust her." Naruto said in very casual manner.

"But I trust you. I know I barely know you but I trust you to look after my back. You look very strong at such a young age which means that you have worked hard to earn the strength that you have now. So I don't think you would dishonour someone else power like this." She didn't hear his answer nor he would like to give one.

"You're saying this as if you're a ninty year old retired grandma." Kana glared at Naruto. She knew he was joking.

"Where are we going?" She changed the subject, the boy glanced at her direction with a blank look on his face. She knew he was looking at her but she didn't look back. It was her answer to his question. She wouldn't show her skills unless he would be willing to show his as well.

"To Otogakure. Orochimaru founded the village there. According to Jiraiya, the man has many hideouts scattered in the region. But he gave the map of this one in which he is currently residing in." Naruto handed her the map.

The Unknown location

"The chance to take down the leader of one of the villages has come. The old fool Onoki has contacted us for our help. There is Kage summit going to happen tomorrow in the land of Iron. They have asked us to take care of Samurais and other unwanted parties that could put harm to their plan." The leader of the Akatsuki said. The Hologram figures of the members of the Akatsuki were present there to listen to their next orders.

"Hidan and Kakuzu. You will go to the Land of Iron and aid the Tsuchikage. In the meanwhile, Kisame and Danzo you will stand by and wait. You mission is to capture one of the jinchuuriki of the earth village. Do not interfere in anything else and take out whoever comes in your way." The members of the Akatsuki disappeared except Tobi, Zetsu and the Pein.

"Its has been confirmed. Two new members have joined the Uzumaki clan. One of them is on her way to Otogakure with Uzumaki Naruto."

"Do they possess any threat to our plans?"

"No, But I don't think we should keep them alive…"

"We don't have time and men to waste on minor threats. Keep looking for the Jinchuurikis and inform the members according to their respective target."

"I thought you wanted to take out the Uchiha clan. They are not a minor threat. The Hokage is not in the village and those who can harm us are not in any condition to fight. Fugaku Uchiha will be going with the Hokage. It's a very good chance to destroy the hidden village." Tobi stated and encouraged Pein to attack Konoha. The only ones who has the Mangekyou sharingan are Shisui and Itachi and they both were injured in their last mission severely. The Rinnegan eyes narrowed at the masked man. But it didn't bother the man in the slightest.

"Do you really think I should leave the village behind unprotected while spies like Jiraiya are trying to sneak in? The time will come and I'll do what is necessary to bring peace in this world." The Kage summit wasn't the part of the original plans but it seems that even he can't have large number of people under his genjutsu. The Raikage was under his genjutsu but seeing the current actions taken by the Raikage he concluded that his genjutsu has vanished. Tobi didn't let that little bit of problem bother him.

Right now his current goal was to weaken Konoha, for the revival of Madara the Uchiha must be massacred. He doesn't want anyone to bring trouble when the Moon eye plan begin.

Three hours past since they left the village. Two ninjas jumping from one tree to another without making any sort of conversation. Naruto preferred silence though, he'd already revealed so much to the girl. He was already feeling frustrated and irritated, seeing her accompanying him. Ever since he started his career as a ninja, he was doing mission alone. Than those kids came along in which he had to treat Gaara.

"We are about to reach the borders of Konoha." Kana's voice reached his ears. He glanced at the girl who was already looking at him, waiting for him to say something. He stared at her, expecting sweat and exhaustion on her face but find her completely relaxed. He knew he was travelling faster than it was necessary but he wanted to see if she would be able to hold on her own or not. Because she had refused to say anything about her skills. Well it didn't bother him. He will push her into fights to see her skills.

Naruto sighed when he sensed unknown and hostile chakra signatures heading their way. He glanced again at the girl and sighed again when she spoke.

"Four hostile chakra signatures are coming." He wished for a fight and it came.

"I should have wished for something else." He muttered to himself.

"I'm one of the best sensors in the village, to think that you were able to sense at the same time as me tells me that you are a great sensor." Naruto and Kana slowed down, waiting for them to come.

They landed in a clearing, surrounded by trees. The sun was shining now and the killing intent of their enemies surrounding them. Making their intentions clear as the day. Not a moment later, four ninjas appeared in front of them. Looking high and mighty.

"Sound ninjas!" Kana spoke. "Their chakras? It's so dark and impure." Naruto narrowed his eyes at what she said. She felt something that he wasn't able to. Maybe it's her ability.

"Two Konoha ninja. What are you doing so far away from your home kids?" A fair skin with straight dark blue hair man said. It was their first mistake to underestimate them.

"I don't think we should underestimate them Sakon. The Hokage must have sent them here for a reason, and sending only two means he had put his trust in them to complete their mission." A fat member of the group said. Although he was fat but his brain wasn't.

"Shut your mouth like you always do Jirobo. They are just kids, toys to play with and than to be disposed." A sadist smile appeared on the man with four arms. Maybe it was some kind of jutsu or technique that allowed him to have four arms.

"You are nothing but cowards, you are nothing but pathetic piece of ninjas who don't have the guts to take out kids. I'll handle them alone." A red haired woman shouted. Her teammates listened like it was a usual thing.

While they were talking to each other or arguing. Naruto and Kana were thinking how to take them out.

"Who asked you to speak Tayuya?" Sakon spoke, his eyes never leaving Naruto and Kana.

"I'll repeat again, why are you here?"

"You're saying as if this is your territory. We are Konoha ninjas and we are in our territory. We should be the one to ask you, why are you here?" Kana spoke for the first time while Naruto was busy figuring out how to deal with the situation.

"It doesn't matter. It will only take us five minutes to kill you." The four of them readied themselves for fight.

"Kana, you will take that red hair girl and that fat guy while I'll take the other two. Try to capture them alive otherwise kill them." Before they have anything else to say a spider like web shot at Naruto whilst the ground around them started shaking. Naruto and kana separated to face their opponents.

"You've made a very big mistake by standing against us. We are Otogakure's elite shinobi. Don't' think for a second you will survive our encounter." Naruto preferred to stay silent. He took out his sword and cut the spider like web into two. His violet eyes turning emotionless as he released his killing intent.

The leader snarled and rushed towards Naruto. Naruto sheathed his sword as he realized that it was a taijutsu attack. Kidomaru disappeared and appeared several feet behind Naruto.

Naruto realized quickly as he blocked the punches of Sakon. The man was using some kind of technique to make his punches faster? He narrowed his eyes as a punch connected to his gut. That was one hell of a punch, and it was making difficult for him to stand straight. Another punch connected with his face sending him far away from Sakon. His back connected with tree.

Kidomaru was in front of him in an instant and shot several spiders like a web at him.

"Good job Kidomaru." Sakon said as he walked towards Naruto.

"What were you saying? You will face the both of us at the same time? You are thousand years behind us kid. And now I'll show you the true power of Sakon and Ukon." A black ink in a pattern started to appear on his body.

"This is the power, the curse seal that Orochimaru-sama gave us. With it we are unstoppable." Another man started to emerge out of Sakon's body.

"Ukon! My brother come out, so that we both can have fun with this arrogant brat." Naruto raised his eyebrow.

"Oh! So that's how you were able to make your punches stronger and faster. You were taking help from your partner. Is it your bloodline?" A calm Naruto said that made the twins more frustrated.

"You're in no condition to question us brat." The both of them started punching Naruto. Kidomaru was standing behind Sakon when he spoke.

"Boss? Let me have some fun as well." Sakon looked behind to see Kidomaru have his golden arrow readied. Sakon stepped aside and the arrow instantly shot at Naruto that pierced his stomach and broke the tree in half.

Naruto fell on the ground coughing blood.

"To think you're still alive after being pierced by one of my arrows." The both of them looking at him with arrogant smirks that were replaced with frowns.

"Any last wish brat?" Sakon said but he frowned when Naruto chuckled. The scene around them started changing.

"I don't think you still have realise that you're in my genjutsu." Naruto stood up as if nothing happened to him. Everything returned to normal, it was as if someone has pushed them into a flashback. The genjutsu disappeared and they found themselves into their previous positions where Sakon was fighting Naruto and Kidomaru was standing behind Naruto.

The only difference that Sakon spotted was Naruto's eyes. Blood red eyes with three tomoes.

"You were in my genjutsu from the start. It was my first move, to make sure I won't meet with unexpected surprises and besides it reveals opponent abilities. Like in your case and the guy behind you." Sakon was sent flying when Naruto's foot connected with his stomach. He quickly turned around and ducked the incoming arrow from the four arm guy.

"Your arrows are useless in front of my eyes, I can predict their movements and move accordingly. You should make an unpredictable move in order to take me down." The taunting voice of Naruto made the guy angrier than before as he started shooting arrows like a mad man.

Sakon stood up from the ground and wiped the blood from his face.

"I underestimated that guy. He is not an ordinary brat." Quickly making hand signs he activated level three curse seal. Sakon and Ukon separated as their bodies turned red in colour with black armour growing on their bodies with a horn on opposite side of the brothers.

Kidomaru seeing Sakon entering into the final stage of the curse seal did the same. His body turned red just like Sakon with two horns on forehead and a third eye on forehead.

"Now you will see the power of my arrows." Kidomaru launched an arrow at Naruto from his blind spot who was not expecting much from it. But the arrow was so fast that he barely saw it coming even with his sharingan. The arrow missed its target but not completely. A large gash appeared on his left arm.

"Don't ask me to heal you, human. It was very foolish of you to underestimate him."

"You will die if I die and you don't want that. Just heal me." He quickly ducked the punch from Sakon that was lethal enough to break his bones. His left arm was useless in the battle for now.

A clone appeared appeared behind Sakon who grabbed his arm and threw him in the opposite direction as Ukon was about to stuck him from up. Naruto quickly did hand signs with his one hand.

"Futon: Kamikaze (Wind style: Divine Wind)." A small tornadoes of wind formed and Naruto's clone used a simple fire jutsu that mixed with it. Ukon quickly engulfed in fire and Naruto felt Kyuubi's chakra entering into his system and heard the hissing noise of closing wound. He quickly disappeared into the shadows to catch breath.

But he forgot about Kidomaru who was in his third stage of curse seal as well. In his third seal he has the ability to shoot arrows from a distance where his enemies couldn't even sense him, and disappeared from the battlefield. He waited for the right time to shoot arrow at Naruto.

"Bye bye Kid. This arrow will cut you into two pieces." The arrow left the bow and was about to struck Naruto when Ukon jumped at Naruto to catch him and Naruto jumped back to avoid him. Kidomaru can't help but look as the arrow missed his target. He was glad that the arrow didn't stuck Ukon though.

Naruto quickly turned his eyes towards the direction where the arrow came from but found his path blocked by an enraged Sakon.

"You're not going anywhere." Ukon and Sakon merged and Ukon arms emerged from Sakon's body that was covered with the armour. The speed and the strength doubled as Naruto found it hard to block them. He quickly ducked under right punch while he grabbed his left punch. He put his right foot between his legs and kicked his back. Naruto quickly rotated Sakon's hands whilst he jumped in the air and kicked him on his chin.

The kick was strong enough to send the man flying several yards away from him. Naruto didn't let Sakon attack him again. He quickly created the clone that casted the jutsu while he went after Sakon.

"Katon: Hibashiri (Fire style: Running fire)" The clone shot a stream of fire that took the shape of a ring around Naruto and Sakon.

"Now you won't be able to take a shot at me Kidomaru." The fire was as tall as the nearby trees.

"Stay alert. I'll be focusing on him from now on." He told his clone as he ran towards Sakon while forming hand seals on the way.

"Katon: Goka Mekkyaku (Fire style: Great fire Annihilation)" A sea of flames roared as it sped towards Sakon like a hungry dog. Naruto saw Sakon quickly biting his thumb and he knew straight away that he was going to use a summoning technique.

"Kuchiyose: Rashomon (Summoning: Rashomon)." A gate of steel appeared in front of Sakon that blocked the fire. Naruto quickly vanished and appeared behind Sakon. Sakon was breathing heavily as the third level of cursed seal was taking a toll on his body. Naruto took out his sword and held it in front of him in a vertical position.

"I guess It was not enough for you to die by my favourite jutsu. But no matter, would you like to die by my blade?" Sakon and Ukon both in the same body turned around with a surprised look on their faces.

"W-who are you?" The fear was evident in his voice as he saw the glaring red eyes that were rotating lazily staring at him. His red hair flowing in the wind.

"Uzumaki Naruto…The Red Assassin." That was the last thing that Sakon heard before he found Naruto in front of with the sword piercing his heart. Sakon saw nothing. He didn't saw Naruto move; he didn't saw him plunging the sword into his chest. His speed was astonishing and than he realized.

"Y-you…you were toying with me from the start, w-weren't you?" He coughed blood and looked into the red eyes.

"I wanted to play with you." He chuckled when he heard the emotionless cold tone and than his head dangled low like he was bowing.

Naruto took out the sword from his heart and with one swift strike he separated the head from the body. His clone was there to seal the head inside the scroll. Naruto sheathed the sword and cast the water jutsu to dispel the fire. He could hear the sound of the battle between Kana and other two shinobi. He had very little time to react as a large golden arrow came out of nowhere and pierced Naruto's back.

"That's what you get when you let your guard down for a second. I was waiting for this moment, waiting for you to let your guard down. That's why I didn't help Sakon, I knew I'd have to let him die if I want to finish you." The four arm man rambled as he walked towards Naruto with victorious grin.

"Do not think for a second that you've won." Naruto said. He was standing calm, his shirt tattered and soaked with blood. But there was not a single grunt of pain or anxiousness.

"It's seems you haven't learned your lesson." The Naruto in front of Kidomaru puffed revealing a clone and real Naruto came out from the shadows with the sword drawn aimed to cut his head. But Kidomaru escaped.

"Your arrows are very fast and destructive but in front of these eyes they are nothing." The sharingan glowed in the dark. Kidomaru quickly sent barrage of golden kunais towards Naruto who sighed.

"I told you before, numbers will not work against me." Not even a single kunai hit Naruto but that's not what Kidomaru wanted. He escaped again from Naruto's senses and quickly took out the largest and the most destructive arrow out of his mouth.

"Kumo Senkyu: Suzaku (Spider Bow: Fierce Rip)." It was his most destructive jutsu, as it travelled it ripped and shred, leaving a destructive path behind. The jutsu of that size was impossible to get unnoticed as Naruto quickly did the hand signs for a jutsu.

"Kuchiyose: Rashomon (Summoning: Rashomon)." The arrow stopped after it pierced the second gate. A large crater formed.

"I can't let him use that jutsu again." But Kidomaru was out of Naruto's range, out of senses. He saw the arrow and saw the strings attached to it, that went deep into the forest. Naruto quickly gripped the strings and sent the chakra into it. It took only few seconds for him to pinpoint his location that wasn't went unnoticed by Kidomaru. He was about to run to change his location when Naruto appeared again in front of him.

"I'm an assassin Kidomaru. There are two things in which I'm very good at. One is killing my targets and other is escaping. To escape you need speed otherwise you won't be able to escape from your enemy. My body was build just for speed from a young age." His red eyes glowed, a cold tone sending shivers and producing sweat. Having said that Naruto disappeared and reappeared behind him. Blood was dripping from his sword. Kidomaru's head fell on the ground with a thud.

With Kana

The redhead girl saw her partner disappear with the other two. She sighed and turned her attention to her opponents. It's good that Naruto was fighting away from her. She would be able to fight without worrying that he'd see her abilities. It's silly she knew that but she was known for being stubborn. She wanted Naruto to show her his skills first.

"A little girl was left alone. Her knight in shining armour abandoned her?" That fat face spoke and she wanted to laugh. She? A little girl and princess? To her that's what he was portraying. To some extent it was true but her life was nothing like a princess's life.

"Well guess what. We will make it easy. We will fight one on one. It will be easy for you to kill us." She wanted to laugh at his words. But from what she'd seen he was the most calm headed with a serious demeanour.

"I'll be going first." He sent a glare at his partner and turned his attention to her. Kana took out her sword. It was a black sword that was curved at the end. The handle was covered with red cloth with Uzumaki insignia on it in black colour. From the look of it, it was not an ordinary sword.

Kana waited for the fat guy to make his move and he did.

"Doton Kekkai: Doro Domu (Earth Release Barrier: Earth Prison of Magnificent Nothingness)."

A large dome of earth surrounded Kana from all directions and trapped her inside it. She quickly realized what the technique was doing to her. It was absorbing her chakra.

"What a low level trick."

"You won't be able to get out of here little girl. I can sense that you have huge chakra reserves which will be a problem for me if you know some techniques which I doubt you know." She didn't want to reveal anything so soon in the battle but his remarks were making her frustrated.

"To hell with all!" Her body glowed slightly with yellowish chakra and than chakra chains erupted from her back. With a boom the dome shattered and her chakra chains disappeared. Without wasting any time, she quickly took a stance and attacked the shocked Jirobo.

"Doton: Doroku Gaeshi (Earth Style: Terra Shield)." Just in time an earth wall erupted from the ground and Jirobo was sure that it would stop the incoming attack but Kana didn't stop she quickly channelled chakra in her left fist and a yellowish glove made of metal appeared around her hand and stuck the wall. The wall crumbled as it was nothing but a paper.

"Hello there!" She smirked at the shocked man. She disappeared and reappeared behind him, a large gash appeared on his front and back with blood pouring out of it.

"I hope this will make you understand that you are no match for me. I don't want to kill you but if you force me, I'll put you down permanently." She turned her head back to look at him. Her dark blue eyes looking at him without any emotion.

Naruto appeared right at that point and listened to what she said. To him, she was a completely different person. Her aura and chakra was different. It was her physical appearance that made him realise that it was Kana.

Jirobo didn't say anything. His skin glowed and cursed seal marks appeared around his body. He turned and attacked her. Naruto saw Kana sighed and turned towards him. Jirobo attacked her with his fist and she blocked it with her sword like it was nothing.

"You need to do better than that if you want to kill me." Naruto was impressed and could easily say that she was at high Jounin level. Jirobo snarled and went into third stage of cursed seal. His body grew and turned red.

While they were fighting Naruto spotted the last member of their team, Tayuya.

"Hello!" He greeted after he appeared behind her. The girl flinched and turned abruptly to face him.

"Your teammates are dead. And by the looks of it he will die as well. Do you want to run?" The girl was short tempered and took out her flute while going into her third level of cursed seal. She sure was not underestimating him.

"They were nothing but trash. I'll show you the power of my flute." By blowing her flute and producing the sound waves she started to cast a genjutsu on Naruto while at the same time she summoned her demons.

"Genjutsu won't work on me." Naruto didn't want to waste his time further and wanted to end the battle as soon as he could. He took out his sword and attacked the red haired girl. without her demons she was miserable even in her third stage of cursed seal. The flute broke into two pieces as a large slash appeared on her chest.

"It seems you didn't listen to my warning!" With another strike he separated the head from the body and sealed it into the scroll. He went to where he saw kana and Jirobo fighting and along the way he saw the large craters thanks to the punches of Jirobo.

"You shouldn't have killed her. She was my opponent." Kana took out the sword from her opponent's gut and turned to Naruto.

"I wanted us to save time and energy and return to village as soon as possible."

"Make sure you don't do that again.'' She glared at him.

"Calm down alright. Where's that lovely girl that I'm used to seeing?" Naruto's comments brought a blush on her face as she threw her sword at him. Naruto avoided it and was about say something when another voice spoke behind Naruto.

"What a progress you have made Naruto-kun. A week ago you met this girl and now you're making her blush. I'm impressed. It seems you have other skills as well aside from killing people." He turned around and saw Orochimaru was standing with his right hand man Kabuto.

"I never thought I'd see you here Orochimaru." Naruto flared his chakra, prepare to fight with Orochimaru and take his head back to Konoha.

Naruto didn't wait and attacked him. Orochimaru held his right palm up with a smirk on his face. But his smirk soon vanished when Naruto's punch hit his palm. The force sent the man flying back deep into the forest. Kabuto disappeared and Naruto didn't bother to look for him.

"You really want to fight don't you Naruto-Kun? Than let me show you the power that you can't have." The snake sannin flared his chakra and for a second Naruto thought that he won't be able to kill him. The amount of chakra was enough to rival his.

'I must take this fight seriously otherwise it will cost me my life.' In an instant Orochimaru was in front of him with his fist drawn. Nation blocked the fist but the force sent him flying. Orochimaru chased and appeared behind him and kicked him in his back. The snake sannin again appeared behind him but this time Naruto was prepared and blocked his leg and grabbed it. He pulled the man to him and buried his fist in his gut. Orochimaru coughed and gritted his teeth when pain hit his nerves.

"If I were you I'd look behind." Naruto jumped just in time to avoid the slash from the famous blade, Kusanagi. He rolled in the air and place his feet behind Orochimaru who was wielding the blade. The other one crumbled revealing an earth clone.

"This sword is dipped with poison, one cut and you are done." The snake sannin said as he saw a cut on Naruto's right arm.

"But you're forgetting one thing as well. I'm a Jinchuriki." Kyuubi's chakra entered his system and burned the poison before it took effect. Orochimaru frowned and sent snake at him. Naruto cut them into pieces in no time. Orochimaru was already behind him with his sword readied to be buried in his back. Naruto turned around and deflect it to the right while stepping in and burying his sword in Orochimaru. And once again Orochimaru crumbled into dirt.

"Are you going to play seriously or not?" Naruto was getting annoyed. Orochimaru was about to speak when Kabuto appeared.

"Orochimaru-sama!"

"I must say I'm impressed by your skills. But I'm afraid I'm not going to give you what you want right now Naruto-kun. I've urgent work in Sunagakure. I'll see you soon." Having said that Orochimaru's snake leapt at Naruto. While the snake sannin grinned as he and Kabuto disappeared through reverse summoning.

"One of them was hiding not far from here. He was stronger than those four who we've fought with." Kana appeared not too long after. Naruto just nodded his head, not sure what to say. How Orochimaru knew of their location? Was it just a coincident that they met Oto ninja here and than Orochimaru himself. What were they doing in fire territory?

"They used a reverse summoning. We won't be able to track them down." Kana said. She was watching him carefully. The reaction that he displayed when saw Orochimaru was astounding.

"You have some personal grudge with Orochimaru!" When he didn't respond she knew she had confirmed her thoughts.

Naruto was stiff as rock. Struggling to suppress his anger and frustration. It was the second time that Orochimaru was able to sneak upon him and gathered data on him. The snake sannin would be the most difficult one to take down.

Unknown location, outside of Konoha

"What took you so long? You know that I need to get to my duty as soon as possible. I think Itachi suspects me." An Uchiha with chin length grey hair spoke.

"Calm down, no one going to suspect anything." A masked man revealing only one sharingan eye said calmly.

"Did you talk to the elders?"

"Yes I did they said they already have lost too many Uchiha in the war. They think that Itachi will be the next Hokage. Hokage-sama trusts him." Tobi didn't say anything for a while.

"How many have agreed to our plan?"

"No more than fifty."

"That's fine. We have Danzo with us and three tails jinchuuriki. Danzo will provide good amount of soldiers as well." The grey haired sharingan user grinned.

"That's great. We won't have another chance like this. The Hokage, Fugkau and even the jinchuriki is out of the village."

"Yes. Make preparations, we will launch attack tomorrow night." The masked man disappeared using a swirling vortex. Unknown to them a man from the same clan heard everything and it was none other than Shisui Uchiha.

…./

Many of you have asked me to update more quickly and I try my best. Thanks for reading and reviewing. Reviews always let me know what you think about chapters and story as a whole. So plz review so that you can let me know how I'm doing and how's the story progressing. THANKS.