21

Chapter 20: Follow the Breadcrumbs

"Well Naruto is this familiar or what?" Kakashi said as he gave the young blonde an eyesmile.

Naruto rolled his eyes, "Yeah Kakashi, real familiar, except we aren't going to Nami no Kuni this time, we're going to Mizu no Kuni. I still have no idea how the hell we're even pulling this one off. Isn't there a civil war going on right now?"

Kakashi nodded, "Well it's mostly over. The anti-bloodline forces were all but wiped out, now it's mostly just cleanup duty for the victorious side. We should be just fine. The new Mizukage sent out a message of goodwill to the other villages so nothing should go wrong."

Naruto sighed, "Kakashi what's my track record with you when it comes to easy detail missions?"

Kakashi raised a finger in dispute, "We've only had one true easy detail."

Naruto snapped his fingers, "There you go. One for one, that's one hundred percent on the bullshit ratio. That's why I brought a shitload of explosive notes." He then fished through his gear and pulled out a fat stack of explosive notes, flipping through them like paper money, "Oh yeah… fuuinjutsu is the greatest thing ever."

Kakashi sweatdropped, "And what pray tell are you going to do with-." Kakashi lifted his hitae-ate to use his Sharingan for a quick count, "-34 explosive notes?"

Naruto grinned at him as he put them where he got them from, "Any damn thing I want, I have 34 explosive notes!"

"Troublesome… Why am I here again?" Shikamaru stated as he caught up with Kakashi and Naruto, "You took me away from my team and sent me on a mission that has a high probability of the you-know-what hitting the fan. What did I do to you guys for this?"

Naruto glared lightly at the lazy chunin, "You made me do an entire day's worth of menial labor without the use of Kage Bunshin. I didn't forget that, but Kakashi was the one that requested you, so deal, or would you rather be on gate duty like Kotetsu and Izumo."

Shikamaru yawned, "Actually that sounds right up my alley. Doing nothing all day, sure beats traipsing off to Kami knows where with you."

Tayuya walked up and looked at Shikamaru with a scoff, "How the hell did your lazy ass get promoted to chunin?"

Naruto and Shikamaru looked at each other before Naruto pointed at Shikamaru lamely, "Uh, he's really, really smart?"

Tayuya frowned and looked Shikamaru over, "Can he beat you shithead?"

Naruto shrugged, "I don't know, the last time we were supposed to fight he just quit. I guess he was just too unmotivated to go up against me."

Shikamaru palmed his forehead, "Don't make me out to be like that Naruto. You broke my Kagemane no Jutsu (Shadow Possesion Jutsu) without even trying. Remember, I tried it the second the fight started."

Naruto scratched his nose and looked up at the sky, "Oh, so that's why it was so damn hard to move my arm… or anything in general… I swear, I had a crick in my neck that was totally stifling."

Shikamaru face-fell and jumped up with the quickness, "So you're telling me that you had no idea that you were caught in my jutsu?"

Naruto grinned, "Nope! I just thought you were being a lazy-ass and didn't want to fight. I didn't say anything because by the time you came out to fight I was sick and tired of beating up all the genin. You actually made my job easier."

Tayuya barked out a laugh, "Shithead bluffed you into quitting a fight without even knowing that he did it! That's great. So what are we doing anyway? I doubt we're going to Mizu no Kuni to see the sights after the civil war."

Naruto grimaced and thought about why they were heading out to 'Chigiri no Sato' in the first place.

(Flashback)

"You've actually got something on the Akatsuki? So I'm not going to get blindsided randomly out in the middle of nowhere?" Naruto asked as he stood with Kakashi in Tsunade's office.

Tsunade gave Naruto an apprehensive look as Shizune laughed nervously at her side, "We're not saying that Naruto. Jiraiya just said that he found some interesting information about Akatsuki, but he needs someone to go to Kirigakure to investigate."

Naruto filled in the blanks, "And by someone you mean me, right?"

"Me too." Kakashi chimed in with his ever present one-eyed smile.

"Me and Kakashi… Anyone else coming on our little getaway to a glorified warzone?" Naruto griped at the blonde woman.

Shizune cut in, "Um Naruto-kun, the civil war in Kiri has been over for upwards of a few months now. There's a new Mizukage and everything, it's not a warzone anymore."

Naruto chuckled slightly and looked at the black haired medic, "Shizune-neechan tell me, what happened to the old Mizukage, the one that was there while the war was going on?"

Shizune gave Naruto a sheepish look, "I don't know Naruto-kun, no one does."

Naruto nodded, "And that's the point. Until the leader can be accounted for, we all know that nothing is over. What is this ranked? If it's anything less than A-rank I'm calling your sanity into question baa-chan, I'll have to ask if you're going senile." A paperweight to the face was his response. Naruto spit some teeth on the floor and ignored the looks of shock he was getting from Kakashi and Shizune, "They'll come back in an hour from now."

Kakashi peeled his eyes away from the bloody mouthed chunin, "Right… Well then, we're to search as much of Mizu no Kuni as we are permitted to look at and come back with anything we can find on Akatsuki. Correct?"

Tsunade nodded, "Yes, Kakashi you have free reign to select two other chunin to assist you and Naruto on the mission. This will be run on your orders as you will be the ranking shinobi in charge. Take care and make sure you get everyone back alive."

(End Flashback)

"Naruto!" Naruto came back into focusing as Shikamaru shouted in his ear, "The troublesome red-head asked you a question. Why are we going to Mizu no Kuni anyway?"

Naruto scratched his cheek and looked away sheepishly, "Um… Cloud watching?" 'Yeah, red cloud watching…'

Kakashi looked at his young charges, "We're going on a reconnaissance run, to see what the landscape of Mizu no Kuni looks like. Also to see if we can set up some kind of rapport with the new Mizukage, seeing as how the old one was deposed."

Naruto looked over at Tayuya, "So Tayuya-chan, ever been in Mizu no Kuni before. You were Orochimaru's bodyguard right? You've probably been all over the place."

Tayuya chuckled, "You would think so wouldn't you shithead, but that fucker never let us go anywhere. He just kept us cooped up in that stupid little underground rat's nest of his. He only let us out to go on missions that kept us in Ta no Kuni, so no, I'm not as worldly traveled as you think I fucking should be."

Naruto held up his hands in defense, "Damn, it was just a question. No need to bite my head off." He turned to Shikamaru, "I think you might be on to something with the whole 'women are troublesome' thing. I would say that out loud, but as often as you say it, it might make people wrongly think that you're gay."

Shikamaru gave Naruto an irritated glare, but let it pass as he figured it was too much hassle to stay mad about something like that. Tayuya had another question however, "So why exactly do we need to go for reconnaissance in Mizu no Kuni?"

Kakashi answered her, "Well it's been about ten years since any reliable information came out of that place, what with all of the on again off again fighting that was always taking place, so we're heading in to get good scope of what Kiri has as far as military, or anything really."

XxX

(The Next Night)

By nightfall of the previous day they had made it to the shores of Hi no Kuni and had boarded a ship heading out towards the island nation of Mizu no Kuni. In order to barter passage aboard for the entire squad, Naruto had to enlist the services of his Kage Bunshin as deckhands. This led to Naruto being cursed out every single time he came on deck by his clones turned sailors.

As the rest of the team were below deck, Shikamaru was doing absolutely nothing, while Tayuya was practicing with her flute, Naruto was up above, ignoring his belligerent clones bumping into him and giving half-assed apologies.

"Hey Naruto, what are you doing out here?" Kakashi came up above and found the real blonde amid the batch of fakes that were hard at work.

Naruto dispelled one of his more rowdy clones with a punch after it elbowed him in the ribs, "Not much, just thinking. Hey Kakashi, when you make Kage Bunshin do they ever try to mess with you, or is it just me?"

Kakashi chuckled as he looked over the side of the ship alongside his one-time student, "It's just you Naruto. Only you could have disgruntled copies of yourself."

Naruto let out a small laugh, "I'm not sure if that compliment was backhanded or not. Hey, you were on my dad's team back in the day right?" Kakashi looked around for eavesdroppers, "It's okay. Ever since I made clones to work through the night the regular sailors took this as their cue to slack, they're all down below getting sloshed right now, we're alone up here. Yep, all 45 of us. Right boys?" He yelled over his shoulder.

"Fuck you boss!" Was the response from one of his clones.

Naruto gestured to the clones moving about the ship, "See how much respect I command? So you knew my dad right?"

Kakashi nodded, "Yes I did, he was a great man. You lo-."

Naruto rolled his eyes, "Yeah, yeah, I look just like him, I know. I know tons of stuff about him from ero-sennin, what I want to know about is my mom. Did you know her? Because I can't get anything on her. Come on Kakashi, you've got to give me something here."

Kakashi stroked his chin and made exaggerated thinking sounds, "Hmm… Well I guess it couldn't hurt." He then turned to Naruto with an eye-smile, "Call me Kakashi-sensei and I'll think about it."

Naruto gave Kakashi a dry look, "Kakashi…" He growled out.

Kakashi wagged his finger chidingly, "Ah, ah, ah. Kakashi-sensei."

Naruto leaned on the railing, "Well if you teach me something I'll call you Kakashi-sensei. Otherwise you're not getting that one out of me."

Kakashi shrugged, "Alright fair enough. Do you know how to make your own jutsu?"

Naruto shook his head in the negative. He knew that the ninja that were able to did so, but he had never been taught how exactly to go about doing that for himself. In truth, his one original move was more of a kick-ass henge that no one else could do as complete as he could, so knowing how to come up with a way to actually utilize all of the crazy little things that he had swimming through his head at all times of the day and night was damnably useful.

Naruto looked up at Kakashi and smiled, "Deal. Kakashi-sensei." Kakashi smiled and ruffled Naruto's hair, "Okay, now you're pushing it."

Kakashi removed his hand from Naruto's head, "Okay, so you know the two forms of chakra manipulation right? Shape transformation and nature transformation. Well from what I've heard you've already mastered both, what with you learning the Rasengan, the pinnacle of shape transformation in ninjutsu, and with you mastering your elemental affinity over wind. That means that there's only one thing left for you to be able to do."

Naruto waited for the rest of his speech, "And that is?"

Kakashi stalled for dramatic effect, and apparently it was working too because all of Naruto's topside Kage Bunshin were waiting nearby with their attention set on listening, "Nothing, you should be able to make your own jutsu now. Are you sure that you're just not imaginative enough for it?"

44 face-faults were his response. The Kage Bunshin all hit the deck so hard they dispelled. The original hopped up and glared at Kakashi with a twitching eye, "Kakashi I'm going to-."

Kakashi waved him off, "Maa, maa, Naruto. Calm down, I was kidding, but I was mostly serious though, you already have all you need to start making your own jutsu. Just experiment with things that you think could work, you can pretty much do anything you want with the level of skill that you possess in the necessary areas. Maybe you can even succeed where I failed."

Naruto raised a scarred eyebrow, "What do you mean Kaka-sensei?" Kakashi extended his right hand as a spinning blue ball of chakra that was quite familiar to Naruto took form. Naruto stood gaping at the Rasengan in Kakashi's hand, "You know how to do the Rasengan?"

Kakashi had a pleased look on his masked face, "Yep. Minato-sensei taught it to me in the hopes that I could take it to the final stage of the jutsu's development. Uh, is there something wrong Naruto?"

Naruto simply stared at Kakashi with a tick mark on his head, "Yeah Kakashi I think there might be. Now when you went off for a month before the chunin exam finals with Sasuke to teach him your shocky, stabby Chidori why oh why did you not leave me the instructions to the Rasengan? That would have been so much more helpful than getting THROWN OFF A CLIFF BY A PERVERT! Especially seeing as how it was my old man's jutsu anyway and you knew I was his son. What the fuck?" Naruto's eyes flashed red for a moment.

Kakashi rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "Would it help if I said that it slipped my mind? What with all of the Orochimaru putting the cursed seal on Sasuke and telling me that he was seeking to take him away and whatnot."

Naruto sighed and shrugged, dismissing his ire for the moment, "Nevermind, it's cool. So wait, you're saying that you were going to add something to the Rasengan? What? Your elemental chakra?"

Kakashi nodded, "Exactly, it's how I ended up making the Chidori in the first place. It was an accident when I was trying to combine Rasengan with my lightning element. I failed, but ended up getting my own jutsu out of it. If I were you I would start by trying to combine your own element to the Rasengan, maybe you can make it work where I failed."

Naruto formed his own Rasengan and smiled before looking up at Kakashi, "Thanks Kakashi-sensei, I know what my next major projects are going to be now. So, did you know my mother at all? If you didn't that's okay, I can't seem to find anyone that would tell me anything so I thought I would come to you."

Kakashi looked at the hopeful look on Naruto's face and paused, "Your mother's name was Kushina Uzumaki. You got most of your looks from Minato, and when you were on my squad I could swear you got your personality from her. I think you've still got some of it actually. She was something of a hot-head, a trait I see in you quite often these days whether you try hiding it or not." Naruto smirked and shrugged, getting a chuckle out of the masked jounin.

Kakashi looked up at the moon, "Your parents were wonderful people Naruto. They were both excited to meet you, I have no doubts in my mind they would have given anything in the world to see how you turned out, I think they would be awfully proud of you. I know I am."

Naruto looked away bashfully before turning back to Kakashi, "So if you were my dad's student doesn't that make you like my godbrother or something?"

Kakashi looked up curiously, "Huh? Well when you put it that way…"

Naruto's eyes widened, "Oh no… I've got a pervert as a godfather and as a godbrother and both of them are my senseis. I never had a chance did I?" Naruto's eyes shrank back to normal size and he let out a dismissive noise, "Whatever. No use fighting the flow, I might as well enjoy the fruits of my affliction... though I could do without taking ero-kyofu's ass beatings, you guys are crazy to flaunt it in public the way you do. Hey by the way Kaka-sensei, do you like being insane?"

Kakashi gave Naruto a thumbs up, "I enjoy every waking second of it. It definitely makes things a hell of a lot more interesting I'll tell you that."

XxX

(Two Days Later)

"Sweet fucking land!" Tayuya ran off of the ship as it docked in Mizu no Kuni so fast she left a scorch mark where she had been standing on deck. Being seasick for the duration of the trip wasn't fun for Tayuya, which meant it wasn't fun for anyone on her squad as she invented new ways to curse someone out even when hanging off the side of the ship for most of the journey.

Shikamaru yawned and rubbed his eyes as he stepped off of the ship and got an eyeful of the port town they had docked at, "I was rather enjoying just doing nothing on that ship the whole time. Maybe I should be a sailor when I retire?" He shook that notion from his head and watched Kakashi and Naruto get off of the boat.

"You're welcome on our ship anytime boy!"

"Come back soon kid!"

"Did you ever think of being a sailor… On this ship?"

Naruto turned around and growled at the sailors bidding him farewell, "Fuck you, you lazy bastards! My ass I'm getting back on this ship, shit you should be paying me!" Naruto grumbled down the boardwalk as he sat on a bench next to Shikamaru who was staring at clouds and Tayuya who was sucking in wind to kick the seasickness out of her system.

The red-head with a colorful vocabulary turned to Naruto with a questioning look, "What pissed you off so damn badly shithead?"

Naruto glared at the ship of still waving sailors, "Well if you weren't upchucking overboard for three days you would know that I pretty much made up all of the physical labor of the ship. How else do you think we all got on? I think I can captain my own ship now with as much practice doing everything as I've got now."

Kakashi walked up with an eye-smile, "Alright team, let's get moving. We can get a good start towards Mizu no Kuni now if we leave immediately."

All three kids groaned as they stood up, getting a raised eyebrow from the scarecrow, "What's wrong with all of you?"

Tayuya rubbed her stomach, "I saw everything I ate for the past three days twice and now we're probably going to be running…"

Shikamaru rubbed the back of his neck, "This mission is going to get troublesome and you seem way too eager to get started with it."

Naruto glared back at the ship they had all disembarked from, "I just did the equivalent of an entire ship's work without pay for the past three days and as you can see I'm absolutely ecstatic about that."

Kakashi eye-smiled, "You know what can fix all of that? Getting a move on! Come on kids, let's go!" Kakashi marched off with the three chunin following behind.

XxX

"So Kakashi-sensei, we're here to basically commence with espionage on Kiri, more or less right?"

Kakashi's eyes were on his orange book while he traversed the misty roads of the country, leading his team, "Yes Shikamaru. Why do you ask?"

Naruto sighed as he kept his eyes peeled for trouble along with Shikamaru and Tayuya, "I don't know Kaka-sensei, maybe he was compelled to ask due to the fact that we're out in the open for all to see." Naruto gestured widely around himself, "This is what I was talking about before my chunin test. Aren't we supposed to be ninja? Why the fuck are we out in the open in what could be a hostile environment?"

Kakashi sighed and shut his book, "Naruto, Kirigakure is home to some of the best sensor ninja in the Elemental Nations. If we tried that and were caught it could cause a war between our villages. And with both of our countries being weakened by war so recently it would leave us open to attack from one of the more opportunistic villages elsewhere. Basically, blatant, flat-out espionage like what you're suggesting would start the next great war."

Naruto sweatdropped and looked away, "Point taken. So why are we going to Kiri again?"

Kakashi eye-smiled at Naruto, "Well the new Mizukage is instituting something of an open-door policy to the village until everything is back on the up and up. Mostly so that immigrants and others that Kiri will need to help rebuild and regain some stability can enter the area easily. It's a pretty double-edged sword."

Tayuya chuckled, "Orochi-teme didn't have that kind of thing going for Oto, that's for damn sure. Not particularly the most pleasant place ever fucking devised."

Naruto smirked, 'Oh I know.' Naruto met Tayuya's eyes as the two of them shared a silent laugh with one another.

Shikamaru rolled his shoulder with one arm, "So what exactly are we looking for? I think Naruto is kind of right. If we get caught looking around where we shouldn't we can get busted, and I don't think chunin level ninja get diplomatic immunity. You might Kakashi-sensei because you're a jounin, but the rest of us are screwed if this goes south."

Kakashi nodded, "True, which is why we are really trolling for secrets or anything. Just a basic layout of the land. Like I said, any reliable information on Kiri at all, even if it's just an estimation of how big the village is, would be useful."

Shikamaru sighed in realization, "So you're basically saying that we're supposed to be tourists?"

Kakashi chided Shikamaru's dismissal of his role, "Ah, ah, ah. The word you want to use is 'diplomats' Shikamaru."

Shikamaru rolled his eyes, "Fine, we're here to be 'diplomats' then?"

Naruto laughed at Shikamaru's expression, 'Yeah, you guys are meant to be tourists. I'm here for the real deal. Ero-sennin said that Kirigakure was the birthplace of Akatsuki. How else would I be able to find out anything about them? I'll be damned if just sit pretty and wait for them to come to me.'

"Alright everyone, ship up, we'll be at Kiri within the hour." Kakashi snapped his book shut, "All of you, these people are going to be on edge. Shikamaru, keep an eye on everything. You're the smartest of the three of you and being able to piece together anything that seems off will be paramount. Tayuya, do not antagonize these people, they just spent the last several years fighting a war with their own people, a fresh foreign chunin would just piss them off. Naruto… make yourself scarce."

Naruto saluted Kakashi and shunshined out of the lineup. Tayuya and Shikamaru both had their jaws dropped as Kakashi walked along like nothing had happened at all.

Tayuya pointed at the spot where Naruto had stood just a moment ago, leaves signifying his past presence, "Wait. What the fuck just happened here?"

Shikamaru mumbled and followed after Kakashi, "Troublesome…"

XxX

(Six Hours Later – Kirigakure Hotel Room)

"Alright Kakashi, where the fuck did shithead go?" Tayuya hadn't calmed down since she walked into the village. Shikamaru had made sure to keep a body between himself and her at all times… Namely Kakashi's body, for self-preservation purposes, "Why did you split him off, it doesn't make any sense."

Shikamaru was standing by the door, "She's right. Why did he come all this way to Kiri just to bug out right before we got here? And why didn't you tell us?"

Kakashi was laying on the bed, little orange book in hand, '*sigh* My cute little chunin certainly don't like to leave things as they are do they?' Kakashi flipped a page and acted aloof as usual, "Naruto has an alternate objective from us that in truth really has absolutely nothing to do with Kiri at all. As long as I state that we have another coming in a few days we should be seeing him very soon. And if we don't, well I'm sure he'll reach us somehow."

Tayuya felt like grinding her teeth together, "But where did he go? He just up and left the moment you gave him the cue to go."

Shikamaru now had something else to think about, 'The way he up and left without a trace was way too smooth for a chunin, let alone a rookie chunin in his second year as a ninja. And secondary objectives? What kind of things are you into Naruto?'

Kakashi sighed as he saw the look of pondering on Shikamaru's face and decided to run damage control, "Fine. Naruto is on his way to Nami no Kuni (Land of Waves) as we speak." Kakashi clenched his teeth under his mask waiting for the outburst.

"WHAT?" Tayuya felt like strangling Kakashi now, "Why the fuck would you let him go off by himself to a whole nother country? Why the fuck is he even there in the first place?"

Kakashi lowered his book and met Tayuya's gaze with one eye, locked on her seriously, "That is Naruto's business. If you need to know or if he wants you to know he'll tell you when we meet up again. Until then drop it and get ready to record what you see tomorrow."

"But-."

Kakashi's eye narrowed, "He'll be back before you know it. If anything happens to him I'll know."

XxX

(Two Days Later – Shores of Nami no Kuni)

"-and then they made me their king." Naruto finished to a group of sailors huddled around him. The grizzled seahands sat silently as the boy finished up his story, "It seems that all of the other animals in the Forest of Death really don't like those bastard spiders I told you about either. Those stupid things are actually the reason why everything in there is so damn vicious and oversized, they needed to be just to survive. They were absolutely delighted when they found out I'd been killing them for sport for months."

Naruto was starting to get unnerved by the stares from the bigger men, "Okay… well, I've got to go. Places to see and people to do, you know."

Naruto sighed under his breath as he left the ship, "Kami, sailors are weird…"

They all stared after him before one turned to the rest of them, "That was the kid that saved this place wasn't it?"

Another sailor pointed, "Okay, after hearing that shit I have to say. The thought of the kid saving the country from one fat bald midget with a superiority complex doesn't seem too farfetched anymore."

Naruto quickly made his way to the outskirts of the port town while his ever-present companion sounded off, "You're really reaching for a way to control me aren't you kit? Do you think going to this place is going to give you any advantages when the time comes?"

Naruto frowned, "It doesn't matter whether it does or not. I have to try. Unless you feel like being generous and fighting me blind and with your back paws bound then I'm not going to win. If you weren't full strength anyway I don't think I would want the victory."

Naruto bared his teeth, "And besides, either way I get to find out something about myself so who cares? I still can't believe I convinced Kakashi to let me go."

Kyuubi scoffed in his head, "Oh please kit. That man is a sentimental sucker when it comes to anything regarding your parents. All you had to do was what you did and seem curious about your origins."

Naruto smirked but put a serious look back on his face, 'Do you think Kakashi can dig anything up about Akatsuki before I get there?'

Kyuubi rumbled lowly from inside his head, "Kit I don't think either of you could dig anything up. If your pervert of a godfather couldn't come up with any kind of info what makes you think you and the Cyclops can? Face it, you're stuck waiting until you get attacked. That will be your only chance."

Naruto shook his head, 'I can't believe that, I won't. I'm not going to sit and wait around for the best Shinobi from every corner of the world to come knocking at the front gate asking for me. We know what they want, we know what it takes for them to get it, and we know how many of them there are. All we don't know is how to find these fuckers. They've done a very good job of keeping that a secret.'

"It's never that simple kit. I'm telling you, going out of your way to find them all will mean nothing if you're too weak to take them down. Take the time that you have and improve. I will not be captured by anyone ever again, I'll devour you when you challenge me for control and until that day you and I will be with our backs against the wall so to speak. So I'll say this; after we're done here you need to get your shit together ningen. Fight for me, fight for yourself, fight for your mission, get strength for these reasons, and for all of the people that have put their necks on the line to keep you alive and gotten you this far."

Naruto sighed and spoke out loud seeing as he was alone and running across the countryside, "Let's just find this place before nightfall. We only have a small window of time to get what I need and get back to Kiri to link back up with the team."

XxX

(Kirigakure – With Kakashi and company)

Kakashi walked out of the main building where the Mizukage's office was situated with a dumbfounded look evident in his one visible eye, "That was the Mizukage? Oh sweet Kami she's perfect… and I could swear she was hitting on me." Kakashi put his features back to normal and started to think, "Though that kid with the sword kept glaring at me like I stole something. Weird. There's probably a story there or something."

Shikamaru and Tayuya met up with Kakashi outside where he left them for his meeting, "So Kakashi-sensei, why were you looking all gobsmacked just now coming out of the building?"

Tayuya followed up, "Yeah, are we getting kicked out of Kiri or what?" Shikamaru shook his head at the negative mindset of the girl.

Kakashi smiled and waved it off, "Oh nothing at all, just some elite, high ranking ninja stuff. Nothing you all need to concern yourselves with." Kakashi took the lead, orange pervert book out in front of his face for the world to see, and planned to lead the team around the village when Tayuya saw something hanging from his back pocket.

Moving with the quickness, Tayuya snatched a piece of paper from the pocket of Kakashi, "What the hell is this?" Shikamaru peered over her shoulder to see just what had caught his former enemy's interest.

Shikamaru's eyes widened as he read over what Tayuya had taken, "No way, is that?"

Tayuya looked up at Kakashi with wide eyes, "This is the Mizukage's personal information; address, full name, and-. Are those her measurements?" Shikamaru had a small nosebleed after reading that part, "How the fuck did you get this shit?"

Kakashi turned around to his young charges and returned the paper to his pocket with what they had to believe was a stupid grin under his mask, "Huh, she must have slipped it in my pocket when I left. I knew that wasn't some kind of traditional Kirigakure farewell." He scratched the back of his head sheepishly before shrugging, "I'm Kakashi Hatake, and that's all you need to know about that." Turning back around he motioned for the two to follow him, "Come on, this is a rare opportunity for kids like you. We have a foreign village to see."

Shikamaru shook his head, "Why is everyone on Team 7 so confusing? First Sasuke goes clinically insane and goes to Orochimaru, then Naruto runs through our entire graduating class like a hot knife through butter, and now Kakashi is getting hook-ups in. That whole team is a big pain in the ass."

XxX

(With Naruto – Unknown area in Nami no Kuni)

Naruto kept a frantic pace as he tried to arrive at his destination before midnight, 'Man, I feel like a real heel for not going to see Inari, Tsunami, and Tazuna, but this is for business not pleasure. I'll try and catch up with them soon. I wonder what they'll say when they see me?'

Naruto was broken from his musing when a flock of bats swarmed in his face. No matter how he tried to shoo them away they stayed in his personal space until he had to stop entirely, "Fuck off!" Naruto grabbed one of the bats only to be surprised when it melted into ink. Finally taking notice of the situation, Naruto saw that the bats were black and white.

'What the fuck?' Naruto thought to himself as He began pummeling the bats and reducing them to ink, "Ink?"

A roar drew Naruto's attention to see two black and white lions bearing down on him. Naruto drew his sword and ran at them. The first one tried a direct pounce that Naruto avoided by sliding under on his knees. The second lion rushed Naruto in his moment of recoil from the slide before he could make it to his feet. Naruto ended up driving the blade right into the lion's maw, turning it to a puddle of ink.

The first lion slashed at Naruto's back with its claws only to be blocked by Naruto's ninjato, however the lion's raw power against Naruto who was off-balance and defending from his back, sent him flying across the area.

Naruto recovered and rolled to his feet, glaring at the artificial beast, 'Alright. Time to slay this overgrown kitty and find the asshole pulling the strings out here.' Naruto made a stutter-step motion to feint the lion into attacking and cut the lion in half with his sword, smearing ink all over it.

Now alone in the area, he turned his senses abroad to search for any sign of exactly who was after him. A rustle of the breeze caught Naruto's attention as he rushed off in a seemingly random direction. He eventually came upon the form of Sai sitting in a tree with his scroll sitting in his lap and a brush in his hand.

Naruto narrowed his eyes at the Root agent and cleared his throat, "Sai… I wish I could say it was nice to see you, but it would be a bald-faced lie. Especially after just getting attacked. Those animals were yours I assume?"

Sai smiled a smile that Naruto obviously knew was fake. Jumping down from his branch, he landed in front of Naruto and rolled his scroll back up, "Yes Naruto. I had to make sure you weren't getting rusty and I've honestly wanted to fight you for quite a while now."

Naruto looked Sai over, "Hey, you're my age. Why don't I remember ever seeing you around?"

Sai's face returned to its dull, normal, emotionally devoid look, "You never worked on a team. Danzo-sama always had you work solo, and besides, no one in Root knew each other that weren't regular partners. I had my own. Other than that I did not appear until I was nine, right before your ill-fated mission to Otogakure."

Naruto nodded, it sounded about right, "Okay, now why are you here? Did you just want to drop in and see your old buddy Naruto?" Naruto finished with a grin. Sai simply stared at him, blinking. Naruto dropped the grin from his face, "Okay, whatever. Seriously Sai, what do you want?"

Sai's fake smile surfaced once again, "You should know the answer to that Naruto. After all, I'm the main reason you're even here in the first place."

(Flashback – The night after Naruto's return from Tsuki no Kuni)

Naruto sat meditating in the Forest of Death. Slowly dragging the Kyuubi's chakra out of the seal, 'Goddamn it… This seal isn't meant for me to use Kyuubi's chakra the way I want to, at least not as it is. It's like I'm missing something… Ero-sennin's holding something out on me... again. Well after our first little smattering about seals he shouldn't try any mischief with them, especially now that I'm learning about them.'

Naruto heard rustling in the trees moving towards him rapidly. Naruto sighed and drew his sword from his back as he stood up and cracked his neck, "Come on down…"

On cue a blur burst into his vicinity, followed by two other, significantly larger, blurs. Naruto moved into the path of the first blur as it jumped over him and channeled wind chakra to his blade to slash twice at the attacking blurs moving right for him. A splattering of guts let Naruto know that he had just killed two more spiders.

"You have the same elemental affinity as Danzo-sama I see." Naruto recognized the voice as Sai, the boy he had met while he had been training with Jiraiya. Sai had his tanto drawn but upon seeing Naruto deal with his assailants he placed it back into its sheath.

Turning around he swung his sword to clear the guts from the blade before setting the dull side on his shouder, "Hi there Sai. Did you have fun tracking me down?"

Sai let out a sigh to let him know just how tired he was, "It wasn't the tracking you part that was difficult. However fighting through all of those spiders was a tiring endeavor."

Naruto grinned and nodded, "Never been in the Forest of Death before? Welcome to my world. Now I hope you didn't brave the treacherous nightlife of our little slice of hell on Earth just because you missed me Sai."

Sai blinked dully, "Humorous. Now I actually have come with something that may interest you. Danzo-sama is aware of your issue with utilizing the Kyuubi's chakra."

Naruto cut him off right there with a serious expression, "Wait, how does Danzo-jiji know about that?" Naruto thought about it and palmed his face and raised his hand before Sai could speak, "Actually you know what, nevermind. I know how he knows… Kami if you guys weren't on my side…"

Sai's fake smile surfaced again, "We have information on a place you might be interested in knowing about. A lost village that went by the name of Uzushiogakure no Sato (Village Hidden in the Whirling Tides)"

Naruto's raised eyebrow signified his interest, "Go on…"

Sai did as asked, "This village was well known for its proficiency in fuuinjutsu, one clan above the rest in particular."

Naruto rolled his eyes, "I can tell Danzo-jiji had an active hand in training you. You both have that annoying penchant for halfway explaining things for kicks. Get to the point already, the corpses of these stupid things are going to draw more of them any minute."

Any annoyance at being cut off by his blonde predecessor was not evident on Sai's face, "It was your clan, the Uzumaki clan of which I speak. The entire village was so feared for its skill in the difficult art they were wiped from the map in war. The lost country it was situated in was known as Uzu no Kuni (Land of Whirlpools). As it turns out, your surname used to be synonymous in the shinobi world with seals."

Naruto frowned, "So this place is lost? I've never even seen that place on a map…"

Sai shook his head, "Yes you have. In fact you've been there yourself in the past, whether you knew it or not. Upon the fall of Uzu no Kuni it was renamed. You now know of this land as Nami no Kuni."

Naruto stood in contemplative silence for a moment as he mulled around what he had just learned in his head. As per the course, Naruto took up the topic with his unwilling life partner, 'You fucking knew this already didn't you!'

Kyuubi simply awoke for a moment and yawned, "Nope. Not I."

Naruto scoffed out loud, 'Bullshit. You pretty much waved it in my face all the time. So what do you have to say for yourself Kyuubi?'

"…"

'Kyuubi?'

"… Zzzzzzz"

'Damn you Kyuubi! You miserable big fuzzy asshole! Wake your ass up so I can rant at you!'

Sai simply waited patiently while Naruto dealt out his inner monologue. Naruto eventually gave up and focused on the pale boy in front of him, "Alright, so I actually do have a clan, we had a different village, and then it got wasted by people that were afraid of our sealing skills. Well that settles it, I'm going to Nami no Kuni the first chance I get. There's too much I can get out of heading down there to just let this slip my mind."

(End Flashback)

Naruto stroked his chin, "This is true." Naruto pointed at the pale teen with a deadpan expression, "Don't smile like that, you look like you're about to start some international bullshit when you give me that look. Who the fuck are trying to fool with that shit anyway?"

Sai dropped the smile, "I am trying to learn about emotions so that I may be more useful on the outside much like yourself. So that I may support you in your endeavor to become Hokage when the time comes."

Naruto sighed and placed a hand on Sai's shoulder, "Wow, Danzo really broke you like the rest of them didn't he? I see you and I have a lot to work on. But that's okay, Naruto-senpai has got your back." He looked around, "And now I'm lost. I presume you're here to tag along with me for whatever reason, correct?"

Sai nodded, Naruto looked around, "Okay. It couldn't hurt I guess. Well, since you were waiting for me I assume you know the rest of the way."

Sai turned around and started walking off, "That is right Naruto-senpai. I have coordinates of the former location of Uzushiogakure."

Naruto gave him an amused look, "Really? Did you really just call me Naruto-sempai? Seriously?"

Sai stopped walking and turned around, "Yes I did. I realized that you are technically correct. You are my sempai in truth. You have more experience than me, not just in Root, but as a ninja overall. So it is only appropriate that I refer to you as my sempai."

Naruto wiped a fake tear from his eye and wrapped an arm around Sai's shoulder, "That was beautiful Sai-kouhai… I think this will be the beginning of a beautiful friendship." Naruto looked around before sweatdropping, "So where do we go now?"

Sai pulled himself from Naruto's grip and turned around to walk in the other direction, "We're heading the wrong way Naruto-sempai, follow me."

Naruto frowned and slunk behind, "You know what kouhai, I don't like your attitude."

XxX

( A hidden location in the vicinity of Amegakure)

A figure standing in the dark of a cave looked out amid the rainy plains of the country he sought to gain control over, "This is too good of an opportunity to pass up. Konoha's jinchuuriki will undoubtedly be the most well guarded of the nine. Rumors have him placed on the island nation of Nami no Kuni, too far for any assistance from his allies in Konoha. I have Zetsu following up on this lead. Upon confirmation of his location I will dispatch agents to capture him while the chance is opportune."

The sound of a woman's voice sounded in the chamber, "Yes Pein-sama. As you wish."

A pair of legendary eyes shone through the darkness of the cave, "It is only a matter of time until my will shall be carried out. The world will know the true meaning of pain, and I will be known as the God that will lead this world to peace, one way or another."

Omake

Kyuubi's Top Twenty List of People/Things That Just Need to Die By Its Hand

#20. Minato Namikaze: The bastard had a giant slimy toad try to hold me down and then he had the gall to seal me into his fucking son. Other than that his hair is too bright and with his special move, the Hiraishin, he was a pain in my ass. He's also such a good target to heap hate onto, the look on his face at all times just makes me want to eat him, no joke.

#19. Mito Uzumaki: My first jinchuuriki, the one that started the chain of me looking at the inside of people's heads instead of the outside world. She sealed me in herself, herself! She sealed me in herself and didn't do a half-bad job of it whatsoever. The kit knows nothing about her because I'm not his damned storybook, but if he did he would be more inspired to learn that fuuinjutsu shit. The worst part is that she never tried to even utilize any of my power, I was bored as hell in there.

#18. Glitter Cannons: These horrible contraptions are too evil, even to me. Cruel and unusual… and obnoxious.

#17. Kisame Hoshigaki: Apparently he has enough chakra to earn the nickname biju without a tail. I'll wait and see him fight my container before I believe a word of that shit. That creepy-ass sword of his eats chakra does it? Well I would love for it to eat a concentrated blast of my chakra and see how much it likes snacking on that.

#16. Soy substitutes for meat: If it looks like beef, cooks like beef, sizzles like beef, but fucking tastes like asparagus then there's a fucking problem. If I want that then I'll tell the ningen I'm sealed in to eat the leaves off of a tree. The hands down worst food that the kit has ever picked up and tried at the behest of that black-haired medic woman. Disgusting.

#15. Maito Gai: I would have him higher, but he freaks me right the fuck out and he'd probably enjoy that. There comes a time in every man's life where he has to put up the form fitting green leotard for good. That time came for Gai about seven years ago. He makes me regret making my deal with the kit, because seeing him in that shitty green suit and listening to him scream like an epileptic cheerleader about 'the power of youth' makes me want to eat him, it's an insult to the senses. The only reason I would back off from doing that if I had the chance is because I'm not entirely sure that whatever is afflicting him can be passed over to biju. I already know it's contagious, his little mini-me that he totes around is proof enough of that. With that knowledge I don't feel like risking it.

#14. Jiraiya: He's slowly getting off my shit list, but he's on here for more than a few reasons. Now the kit I'm sealed in is a pervert, I'll admit that, and I doubt he would deny it himself if you prodded him on it, but this man is one of the highest degree, so much so that it is creepy. When he met Naruto before the chunin exam he wanted him to stay in Oiroke no Jutsu form, even though he knew damn well that the kit was a boy. What the fuck?

Other than that he trained the bastard that sealed me away again, without him I wouldn't even be here right now, and he was a lesser reason that the kit had to go through four years of life as an utter moron. He's slowly dropping down the list, I did have him higher, but I am a benevolent being, therefore he's working his way off the list, but he won't be off of it anytime soon.

#13. Rock Lee: You need to be part of the solution kid, not part of the problem. Hell, even if I'd never seen or heard the kid he'd still be on the list for drinking the kool-aid that Gai heaped into his bushy-browed little head. Why not become my mini-me? I'm at least ten times better than Maito Gai!

#12. Fangirls: Enough said.

#11. Alcohol-free beer: The kit hates this stuff too. It utterly defeats the purpose of drinking in the first place, if you're not drinking to get drunk then you should just go ahead and mix yourself some lemonade and sit in a corner. 'The only thing worse than drinking a warm Schlitz tall boy is drinking a warm Schlitz tall boy and realizing that you did it for absolutely no good reason.' The kit's words, not mine.

#10. Gamabunta: This ugly warted son of a bitch held me down and stabbed me with that goddamned tanto of his long enough for the bastard Yondaime to seal me in his son. I gave the toad a nice little gift to remember me by though. He he he… How he was able to look at the kit the first time he saw him use my power and not shit himself on the spot I'll never know.

#9. Orochimaru: Just rubs me the wrong way. It's not the need to destroy Konoha, fuck that place. It's not the jumping bodies thing either since I technically did that myself, though not by choice. It's not even his *ahem* life choices… It's basically his entire personality. Orochimaru is capable of doing anything he wants and he chooses the most impossible life goal in existence, to learn every jutsu in the world. The only way that would ever work is if he could kill every single person in the world and get their bloodlines and list of jutsu before he tried it, and that would be redundant because who would he brag to about it? What a stupid goal, and he was supposed to be a genius.

#8. The guy that introduced ramen to Konohagakure no Sato: I curse this person every day of my existence. If I never hear the word ramen again I would be just okay with that. I would curse that family of ramen chefs, but that wouldn't be the root of the problem, if they weren't in Konoha any longer my container would somehow find some other way to get his fix, so I'm cursing the source of my flavored noodle misery.

#7. Sasuke Uchiha: First of all, the kit doesn't like him. The kit is usually a good judge of character and if he doesn't like you then there's a damn good reason behind it. I personally don't like the brat because of that damned pink-eye of his that he calls a doujutsu, but that's more personal than objective. He reminds me of Madara, he's also laughably easy to manipulate, it's ridiculous. Genius my ass.

He has an attitude problem and no amount of adjustments, i.e. asskickings, will ever get through to his thick skull. Whoever said that children are the future never got a look at this punk's psyche, or else they would have had him committed to a mental facility. Mark my words, that Uchiha runt is going to bring about the ninja apocalypse if no one stops him before he gets too big for his britches, and he'll probably laugh while he watches the world burn.

#6. Kirabi: Do I really need to go through the reason that I want to eat this guy? Try and have an hour long conversation with the man and see if you can keep your temper and sanity in check.

#5. Kabuto Yakushi: He's like a cochroach. He'll live through the worst of the fallout and pop his head out to sift through the remains. The boy has no redeeming qualities as far as I can see. He smells of snakes and oiled wood. Those two things just do not go together, and that makes me mistrust him even more than I already should. He's troublesome, and whenever he shows his face he never sticks around long enough to take too much of a beating. At least Orochimaru is man enough to go toe to toe with someone when the need arises.

#4. Hiruzen Sarutobi: He really thought that the people of this village would see my container as a person, shouldn't a ninja of legendary stature have a better understanding of human nature? Now other than creating and *ahem* enforcing the rule that had adults inspiring their kids to try and bully him and keep him away at all times he really didn't do that much and this is not the reason that he's up this high, but I am insulted that he didn't think my jinchuuriki had what it took to be a ninja. He was my prison, of course he had what it took when he was young!

This actually led to the best thing that had ever happened to the boy, getting actual training and being able to prove to the world my superiority, as my container was a force to be reckoned with at a young age, until the old monkey got paranoid and sealed away years of hard work. I may be petty, but I'm immortal and a being more ancient and powerful than any on the planet, I can afford to be petty.

#3. The first guy that called for Naruto's death when he was revealed as the Kyuubi's container: The two jinchuuriki I had before him barely had to deal with the crap that this kid had to put up with, hell Mito didn't have to deal with anything adverse at all. Well with an angry crowd all it ever takes is one dumbass to open the floodgates and let the ire of the masses come out. After my 'attack', emotions were high, and everyone was low on logic and understanding, therefore loud and opinionated idiots like this held sway, as in most near anarchy situations. Whoever this guy was I hope that Sarutobi's Anbu axed his ass on the spot, he made Naruto's life, and by proxy my life, much harder than it already was going to be.

#2. Hashirama Senju: The son of a bitch held me down with his stupid Mokuton and let his wife seal me inside of herself. Almost one hundred years of consecutive life sentences inside of passed down hosts with supposedly ridiculously long natural life spans for humans. All because some guy could grow a tree around me and hold me in place. If Madara is the reason I'm sealed then this ass is the trigger.

#1. Madara Uchiha: Where do I start? Well how about the fact that the sadistic piece of shit freaks me the fuck out sometimes… me! Me of all people! This ass is the reason I was sealed the first time and the third time. I must have his head. I will hound the kit until the day I feel Madara's blood run across his fingertips. Fuck Madara Uchiha and his hijacked eyes, the next time we meet I'll show him who's in control.

He has a damn god complex and enough arrogance to just come out and make puppets and tools of forces that should not be trifled with, myself included. He's manipulative, sneaky, and conniving, even to the extent where I find it overbearing. Yes, a world without Madara Uchiha in it would seem like utopia to me. He keeps his eyes on the times and picks the most opportune moments to risk his neck by coming out into the open, and that makes him all the more dangerous since he has always ended up on top, or at least in control of the situation.