58

Chapter 57: Eyes Straight Ahead

It took another day after leaving the camp on the Konoha side of the Tenchi Bridge for Naruto to reach the other side, well within the country he planned on assisting the northwestern troops with getting through, Maki tagging along to make sure he didn't die namelessly somewhere along the line. The company was definitely nice though, and Maki kept up with him throughout the trip despite the murderous pace he was cutting to reach the fortress guarding the Kusa side of the bridge before the stalemate could be any further set.

"Naruto-senpai." Maki eventually said as they were traversing through the wild territory a few miles past the enemy side of the ever widening and deepening river that separated Konoha's line from the side held by Kusa and the other smaller villages of the region, "I was wondering if we could take a rest for a short bit?" She sounded quite a bit out of breath, but it was the afternoon and they had been running since she had revealed herself to him the previous night.

Naruto drew them to a stop in a decent little spot within the vast bamboo forest and allowed Maki to take a knee to catch her breath, "Yeah it's okay." He said, taking that moment to double-check his supplies as he heard her let out a sigh, "We should make it there before sunset anyway and we'll scope it out until dawn tomorrow."

That sounded right to her. The travel times that had been established to most places were set with a normal person's travelling pace in mind, not the pace of a jinchuuriki physically conditioned to never tire without even tapping into their demon's chakra. If Maki was visibly breathing hard that was the equivalent of a normal person huffing and puffing on ones hands and knees since she was never supposed to show a thing.

Sitting down next to her, Naruto put a hand on his formulative training partner's back in a soothing manner letting her know that he was aware of just how rough the entire trip from the three-way border had been on her. Turning her grey eyes towards him she saw Naruto give her a small smile that she couldn't help but return, 'Naruto-senpai would be a good leader.' He was able to convey thanks towards a subordinate's efforts without even saying a word. It was those eyes of his.

Naruto's eyes were the most expressive part of him. When he was ready to get down to business of the gravest of natures you could see it. It was like you were drowning in that stare, head held full-on under the water with no relief. When he was excited or happy… even if he was amused, if it didn't show on his face which he would still do often, those eyes still lit up. They always did, even back in the dimly lit training facilities that had populated their youth.

Ugh, why was she fangirling? She was past that years ago.

Then again that was when he wasn't around.

'Damn you Danzo-sama…' Maki thought to herself, quelling a blush back, 'You knew what you were doing this entire time.' It had to be inappropriate for her to feel that way about her captain, but it was hard to help. A children's crush she never quite grew out of, and also factoring into Danzo's plans was the fact that Naruto didn't seem to perceive it. Thank goodness for that. She would have died of embarrassment if it had come to that. Root kunoichi don't crush on anyone… even when they're supposed to.

At that moment, Naruto sneezed as if his body was aware that she was thinking intensely of him, but his mind didn't catch up to the instinct as he instead brought up the mission at hand, "Alright Maki-chan. Whenever you feel up to moving again we're going to go ahead and do this. We'll be attacking by tomorrow at sundown."

"You mean after sundown don't you?" Maki asked curiously, running a tired hand through her dark hair, "Yes, a full day to get down the nighttime guard rotational patterns. That sounds right."

Naruto looked befuddled at her question at first, "No. We're not attacking at night. We're doing this at sundown if even that late."

That sounded insane. Maki had never done any wetwork during the light hours. It was too risky for a Root operative to do so since discretion was the most important thing. Konoha couldn't be linked to the things that they were busy doing.

But then again, there was no reason for that kind of operating method here. War was already upon them, and of course Konoha would be the ones held responsible even if they had never been seen by a soul destroying the fortress on the C.N.F (Continental Ninja Federation) side of the line. No other power in the Grand Shinobi Alliance would be able to do so as Kiri had yet to make a landing to the mainland, Kumo was stuck up in the northeast trying to move down through the countries with multiple lesser villages littering the lands without incurring massive losses, and Suna was in no condition to wage any sort of offensive at all.

"Why attack in the light?" Maki asked him aloud, wondering what his reasoning was. Naruto wasn't the heroic, suicidal type, and even if he was, there was no personal reason to go out into the open and take on a stronghold, "Wouldn't attacking at night give us more maneuverability?"

"No matter what they're probably going to know we're coming anyway." Naruto said, checking the sharpness of his clan heirloom sword and frowning at it. He was going to cut through damn space and time somehow. It was just too much to let go. The applications to such a technique would be incredible. But right now was about the mission and nothing else, "Kusa traditionally has the most kickass sensors in the world. Otherwise someone else would have done this mission a long time ago. And I'm a walking throbbing beacon of chakra."

That and attacking at the end of a prescribed guard shift meant that they would get the worn-down, ragged end of one half of the ninja and the barely woken up, not ready for action half that were meant to take their places on the night shift.

That didn't sit well with Maki though. None of what was actually said aloud sounded positive whatsoever to her, "Then why did the division commander send you for this mission? You're Konoha's jinchuuriki. You're the village's trump."

"That's why Yamato asked for me and they sent me." Naruto said with a shrug, "I can get to the fortress itself and if I can't get rid of it without being discovered I can take the whole place down on the way out and fight my way back to Konoha's side of the bridge. If I knew I could get through that easily I would have just skywalked over the chasm instead of taking the two day way around."

But starting a whole big battle without even reaching the fortress would have been too much risk and too bull-headed. The mission was slated as a distance infiltration for a reason. The moment he used his special technique to cross the river he would have been felt by even the shittiest sensor shinobi and the entire force would have come right at him before he got even half a mile into their territory.

He needed to get close so that he didn't get bogged down fighting his way to the fortress to give them time to reinforce its defenses. This way all he really needed was to take the fortress in one fell swoop even if they did sense him when they got close. Better to be safe and sure than to be impulsive. It wasn't overthinking it either, it was just standard procedure.

"If you don't want to come with me you can go back home." Naruto told Maki, surprising her as he resheathed his sword, "When the fortress goes down they're going to be coming out of the woodwork to get us back for it. It's really going to go south quick." He had done something like that recently when he had been clearing out Orochimaru's bases almost a full year ago. Maki wasn't the clear-cutting type the way he was, "You came with me this far and I didn't ask you to so I can't have you finish the rest of my mission for me too."

Maki stood up and drew her tanto from her back before pointing it at Naruto, seemingly offended somewhat by his offer to cut and run, "Naruto-senpai I am not one of your regular friends. I'm Root, and a Root ninja doesn't cop out on their work… even if it's guaranteed to kill them. That's what we're supposed to be used for."

"Well you're still my junior Maki-chan." Naruto said, crossing his arms over his chest and facing her down not budging, "And you don't ever go on a mission thinking you'll die, that's stupid. Always believe you can make it back… it gives you another reason to try harder. I am not having any of my close people die in front of me when I could do something about it."

"It's not like it'll be any better if you get yourself killed trying to protect me or someone else because you think we can't do it." Maki replied, giving him pause and forcing him to take a moment to think, "What do you think I'd feel like if you went and sent me home and did this mission but somehow got killed? It's the same thing. So if you think you can send me home just remember that you suck at genjutsu and I've got a million of them."

The two continued to face off, but with Naruto's will to argue broken by Maki's point, that there was no reason others wouldn't feel the way he did after he died that he would if they died, he had no senseless fight left in him, "You've got a lot of bite in you. I'm really glad that Danzo-jiji let you keep that, because I always did like it."

Maki let him see a ghost of a smile as she sheathed her tanto before putting on a plain white Root mask and holding up another one for him, "Mask?"

"No thanks." Naruto said before pointing at the eye that didn't originally belong to him, concealed by the contact lens, "Last time I wore one of those things in a fight I kind of lost something important." He reached up and took the mask off of Maki's face, "I don't think you should wear one either."

"You don't want me to get hurt because of an equipment malfunction too?" That wasn't a useful concern though. Maki was a trained medic and could take care of herself if she needed to. How many times would she fight someone with precision explosives that could turn her mask into deadly shrapnel the way he did anyway?

"Well there's that." Naruto said with a shrug before choosing to hook the mask onto his belt just in case since she brought one for him anyway, "But I really just want something pretty to look at before all of this gets ugly." He then had to stop and think about what he had just said. That was so lame. Damn it, living with Jiraiya was messing with his daily banter. And now Maki's face was red. Great. She was going to hit him and the team dynamic was going to be screwed for the next hour or two.

Maki's face wasn't red out of anger though, more like embarrassment. But then she realized that there wasn't really anything to be embarrassed about. This was Naruto, the person that the cosmos apparently had slated her to find herself attracted to, and there was no one there but him. She'd be damned if she was going to be all tentative and hesitant about it. That was kid stuff.

The intensity she stared at him with kind of unnerved Naruto since he had never seen her look at him like that before. She usually tried to avoid direct eye-contact altogether, and it got him to back up until he hit a bamboo tree where she trapped him, "What's the matter Maki-chan?" He asked her, wondering if inheriting one part of the curse from Jiraiya also meant he could talk his way out of trouble.

"How much time do you think we can allot to taking a bit of a break?" Maki's voice was not giving him any tells as to just how upset she was, as was her intent. Her cloudy grey eyes were meant for bluffing, not like his bright blue ones.

"As long as we get there by nightfall to start checking things out it doesn't really matter I guess."

A nod came from the Root kunoichi who then let out a sigh of seeming relief, "That's good. This won't take nearly that long then." Maki said, confusing Naruto before she pressed her smaller body against his and kissed him.

Over ten years of pent up tension around Naruto melted away just like that for her. Maki tried to get up on her tiptoes just to get at him a little bit better as she threw her arms around his neck, and he more than let her do so, pulling her close to him and returning the kiss. Maki was a very pretty girl, and he knew her very well. It wasn't like this was illicit, though couldn't she have picked a more secure time for it?

Or somewhere indoors. This was rather new.

Lemon Start

Maki's heart thumped harshly in her chest as she eventually ended the kiss and pulled back from Naruto, taking his hands from around her to rest one on the zipper of her top that she had him zip down for her, "I'm sick of trying to act like I don't wish for this to happen." She tried to explain to him, "This is my best chance to get you alone, so if it doesn't bother you…" She trailed off, letting the top and her sheathed tanto fall to the ground to leave her in her mesh tanktop.

How would it have bothered him? Maki could have tried to jump him and it probably wouldn't have mattered one way or the other to him. She was still his original kouhai and she had grown up to be very beautiful. It was evident that she cared about him, and he cared for her too.

"Did you seriously think that I'd say no?" Naruto said as he made several Kage Bunshin that scattered off to watch the area for them, "Maki-chan I've got to say that your timing sucks. But it doesn't really matter right now." He kicked his own sandals off and to the side and took off his gloves, placing them in his pockets

That was a yes as Maki saw Naruto begin to take off his sleeveless Root-issue top and she quickly shimmied out of her pants as if she wasn't a hardened assassin of more than a decade. Before she could get too excited, Naruto kissed her again, this time guiding her to the ground, but instead of laying her on her back, Maki pushed him onto his.

There wasn't really any turning back for her now, so there was no reason to be all demure. She had started it and she was going to go all the way with it. It was what she wanted and it was going to be done her way. Her senpai's eyes were fully on her just like she always wished. And he seemed to be waiting on her too, sensing this as he had allowed her to guide his pants and boxers off.

Pinning him to the ground, Maki kissed him once again, putting her tongue into play this time as Naruto simultaneously slid her panties off and began to use his fingers to play with her pussy. She bucked towards the feeling slightly and let out a moan into his mouth. Maki grabbed the wrist of the hand that was pleasuring her and forced Naruto to extend another digit to fill her up further. Seeing no reason not to return the favor, Maki began to use her hand to work Naruto's shaft slowly, intent on trying to drive him crazy for her.

After a short while she could feel Naruto growl into the kiss at her slow and arduous teasing and to momentarily placate him she sped up a bit. By this time Maki was downright straddling Naruto's hand as he continued to piston it in and out of her and she found that her strategy to make him mad in lust was backfiring. She was the one all heated and bothered and wanting more from him and inexperience was her ultimate downfall. Unlike her, Naruto had had sex in the past, Maki had not. And so far she thoroughly loved what it was about; being as close as possible to the other person, her partner, her Naruto-senpai.

"Senpai this isn't enough…" Maki whined as Naruto's fingers continued stimulating her pussy. She didn't ask, she didn't simply flat out state it, she whined to Naruto over it. Did Maki really feel that much for him? It was very touching in more ways than one, "Can… can we go further? Please?"

Naruto gave her a nod and pulled his fingers from her now dripping wet slit. He idly sucked his own fingers clean of Maki's fluids and smirked when her cheeks turned red from embarrassment, "What? You taste good Maki-chan. It's alright. Here." He sat up and gave Maki a deep tongue kiss that almost made her collapse were she not already on her knees and he gave one of her breasts a good squeeze through her mesh shirt, running his thumb over her pink nipple, rubbing the skin of his finger and the fabric of the shirt against it to get it to perk up, "See?" He said as he broke the kiss, "You like it right?"

Maki couldn't help but nod with her eyes closed blissfully as Naruto guided her back on top of him, with her sitting on his pelvis right in front of his fully erect cock. She wondered at first why he didn't just place her on top, her impatience shining through until she realized that she was a virgin and he was either assuming this or was fully aware of this. How sweet. He didn't wish to introduce her to the shock of popping her cherry without preparing her first.

Before he could even say anything, Maki moved herself up and back, taking a short breath before getting the worst of it over with and setting herself down on top of his cock and relieving herself of her own virginity. Instead of letting out any sort of cry of pain of alarm, Maki just focused on breathing steadily while waiting for the discomfort to fade away.

Naruto watched her handle the process curiously with his hands on her hips waiting as she adjusted to the new sensation. Did she pick that up somewhere or did she just decide to do that all on her own? His tough little Maki-chan was trying not to make it seem like a big deal. She was really trying to impress him by showing that she was more than just a reliable kunoichi.

"I've been thinking…" Maki said as she felt the sharp pain slowly turn to a feeling of warm attachment as she slowly started rocking her hips experimentally, trying to find what she liked out of this position, "I think I should tell you what Sai and I have found out recently. Danzo-sama had positioned us as children for me to become your wife… or at least the directed kunoichi to bear your heir in the worst case."

Naruto cocked his scarred eyebrow and let out a slight chuckle as Maki smiled slightly, "So that old man was going to make sure we hooked up when we were old enough and never let us know? Danzo-jiji's a dirty old bastard." Maki giggled slightly in apparent agreement, running her hands up and down Naruto's chest before placing them firmly in the middle to steady herself as she began to move up and down his full length. Naruto let out a grunt and started assisting her by lifting her up and down, "I wouldn't really have had a problem with that either."

'Neither would I.' Maki finally allowed herself to admit with a rather beautiful smile on her face. The prospect of having his autonomy taken from him to be arranged with her didn't bother him that much. They were close then and would have been even closer had he never been forced to leave Root, 'But I have you now senpai, and I'm going to enjoy you.' With the admittance that being Naruto's previously arranged wife was something she liked thinking about, Maki finally audibly began moaning as Naruto kept bouncing her on top of him. She let a smug smirk cross her face when she heard Naruto let out a moan beneath her.

Not missing out on a chance to tease him even while getting off, Maki slowly slid Naruto's cock out of her all the way to the tip and slowly lowered herself down, taking her time with each up and down motion. The slow process of finally reaching her feeling of being filled, while progressively blissful for her was probably tormenting Naruto. Well it served him right for getting her this way over him. She saw him glare up at her and started speeding up again before he decided to do something to punish her. She didn't want to know what kind of pace he would set to get her back.

Naruto sat up and placed his back against the nearby bamboo tree so that he could comfortably make out with Maki while she continued to vigorously ride him. One of Naruto's return thrusts forced her to arch her back in a soundless scream as it literally took her breath away. With his loss of Maki's lips to kiss, Naruto kissed his way down her neck and collarbone before rolling the bottom of her mesh shirt up and pulling it over her head to gain full access her bare breasts.

Maki cradled Naruto's head to her chest possessively the moment she felt his mouth latch on to one of her nipples as Naruto rolled the tip of his tongue over the nub teasingly, making audible sucking noises that got her to grind in Naruto's lap, eliciting a loud groan from the two of them, "…My Naruto-senpai… it took long enough."

Pulling his mouth away from Maki's bosom, Naruto smirked up at her, "Well let's make this worth your wait then." He said before moving forward to put Maki's back on the ground with him situated on top of her. Naruto placed Maki's ankles up on his shoulders and leaned on her, getting her to gasp at being completely filled to the brim with his dick.

The only thing that kept Maki from crying out at the top of her lungs in pleasure was the fact that they were not in friendly territory and a loud yell the way she felt like doing might get them discovered somehow even though they were nowhere near any encampments. The risks of an outdoor quickie apparently, and she really kind of liked it.

Naruto felt Maki's fingernails digging into his shoulders and picked up the tempo of his fucking her to the point where she was gripping tightly enough to draw blood from his arms. She was such a tight little virgin and feeling her soft breath pant in tempo on his ear as he mercilessly drilled the petite kunoichi for her previous agonizingly teasing pace was addictive. Maki's toes were curling in her sandals repeatedly with each and every pump he gave her.

Capturing Maki's lips again, Naruto pushed the cool metal of his hitae-ate against her forehead as her tongue beckoned for permission to play with his, permission that was granted. It was cute how little Maki knew about kissing, and apparently she was eager to learn as she tried to mimic the motions his tongue made. He found that she was lost when he stopped leading and sucked a gasp right out of her mouth when he renewed his efforts to drill her into the ground from above

A groan came from the blonde jinchuuriki as he felt Maki's pussy clamp down on manhood. Her entire body let off a powerful shudder that caused her to whimper and guided Naruto to his own orgasm, forcing him to shoot his seed inside of Maki with a low growl at the explosive feeling of release. Maki moaned softly as she felt Naruto fill her up and held him close to her when he set her legs back down around his waist where she wrapped them around his body to keep him close. She didn't want him to pull out yet. Not quite yet.

"So…" Naruto said, still hovering over her and trying to figure out something meaningful to say while they were coming down from their emotional and physical high, "…Were you really supposed to hook up with me if I stayed in Root?"

Maki chuckled a bit and ran a hand over Naruto's whisker-marked cheek fondly, "A Hokage needs a spouse for credibility purposes later down the line. It just helps with the overall image to be in a stable relationship. Being married makes you seem more trustworthy to the masses."

"Would you have been okay with that?"

"What did we just get through doing in C.N.F held territory? Does that tell you what you need to know?"

Nodding in understanding, Naruto grinned down at her as she continued to stroke his cheek softly, "You know we'd have been the coolest looking kage couple ever. I'm not really sure what my mom looked like, but I think we'd have had her and dad beat."

"You think you're more handsome than the Yondaime Hokage Naruto-senpai?"

"Not really handsome... I think I'm more rugged. Now that I've seen him in person, dad honestly looked kind of girly. Too much of a pretty boy." He should have told him that when he came face to face with his old man's soul imprint inside of his seal, but the deathmatch three-way slaughterfest against the Uchiha brothers kind of held precedence to any kind of witty remark that he happened to miss out on at the time. Damn. The only chance he had at getting that rip off at Minato now would be using the Shiki Fuujin. But he had to learn it first, and then there was the whole thing about getting trapped inside of the Shinigami's stomach.

The Kyuubi within Naruto which had respectfully been silent and kept to itself while Naruto and Maki had their moment couldn't help but snicker at hearing Naruto call the blasted man that had sealed him into his current container girly.

Despite her best effort to hold it back to keep her stoic Root kunoichi composure, Maki's melodic laughter eventually slipped out and filled the forest as she had just heard her Naruto-senpai call the most gifted Hokage on record 'girly-looking' out loud. Only him…

End Lemon

XxX

(Sunagakure no Sato – Far West Front)

Everyone that could be up and about in Suna happened to be out trying to reconstruct the village, as the vast majority of the shinobi populace were down to assist, all the way up to many of the jounin that were left after Pein's attack.

To help with picking up the slack left by Suna's losses during the grand-scale Shinra Tensei, Konoha had left a division in Kaze no Kuni inside of Sunagakure to take over the village's duties of watching its own perimeter just in case of attack from an opportunistic enemy. The large amount of medically trained ninja from Konoha that had been working around the clock to fix up the injured desert dwelling citizens were by this point utterly exhausted, but were safe to rest by this time with the knowledge of a job well done.

Other than routine check-ins by those more gravely wounded initially than others there were really no more victims that needed healing. That was good because from that point the focus could be placed on rebuilding. There was a lot of work to do if Suna wished to bring itself back from the sand dunes it had almost been returned to permanently.

"All of this hard work and camaraderie…" Maito Gai said with a shaking fist and manly tears spilling down his face, "It's got my flames of youth burning brightly!" Gai shouted at the top of his lungs, actually startling some of the Suna genin that were bringing large loads of building supplies into the village through the front opening in the dome that surrounded the valley village, "Lee! We must take it upon ourselves to assist our Sunagakure allies in their spirited endeavor to rebuild their home!"

"Yes Gai-sensei! It is the affable thing to do!" Lee agreed also spilling rivers of tears from his eyes, "You are so sensitive to the plight of our friends!"

"It doesn't make you less of a man to be emotive Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

The two met in a hug as a blazing sunset appeared over the horizon of the cliffs of Suna, getting the attention of one of the contracted foremen who were rebuilding the once great village, "What the hell's with this sunset? We've got five hours until the sun should be going down, we're not losing light today!"

Tenten walked over and punched the two taijutsu-specializing men in their heads to get them to break apart lest they offset more people than just the young genin and small children of Suna that they were scarring for life with their overeager actions, "In case you two forgot we're supposed to be heading to the top of the outside walls to keep watch." She said, pointing to the designated area where Neji already was as both Gai and Lee got up off of the round, "Not moving supplies in and out of the village."

Up on the wall in question, Sakura was sitting and looking down, shaking her head at the antics of the namesake of Team Gai. She then turned her attention to the nearby Kakashi who was with Neji, "Kakashi-sensei, Gai-sensei kind of has a point. Why aren't they letting us help them rebuild their village? We're here to help and wouldn't a Suna ninja know better how to keep watch over things?"

"Well we do have genin doing that." Kakashi said to Sakura in explanation as he walked over to his pink-haired student, "And do you think you're going to be any help in rebuilding? You're not exactly spry and ready for full physical labor." He took note of the bags underneath Sakura's eyes and that she was slightly pale. Symptoms of chakra exhaustion and over-usage of military rations pills, "So first and foremost you need to rest."

Choosing to interject, Neji nodded within sight of Sakura, "Everything is handled here. Luckily I'm something of a scouting specialist. If anything comes from the side of the wall I'm on I'll see it before it ever reaches the village." This was why Neji and the other eleven Hyuuga Clan members dispatched to Suna operated in each cardinal direction on the wall in three separate shifts with the teams they usually worked with.

Kakashi nodded in Neji's direction and turned back to Sakura, his eye shutting to reveal that he was smiling, "You see? So you can let yourself get a bit of sleep. You look like you need it more than anyone here." Despite that, Sakura still looked apprehensive to doing nothing, "…If you don't get some sleep I'll put you to sleep with a genjutsu. Don't lie to me and tell me you have the energy to fight one off right now. This is a direct order from a jounin."

"Two of them." Neji added, his Byakugan eyes scanning the sea of sand before him.

"Alright, alright." Sakura said, standing up to walk herself away from the top of the wall, swaying slightly on her feet and giving more credence to Kakashi's point, "I'm going back to the barracks. But the second I wake back up I'm coming out here again." She finished as she walked away, trying to make it seem as if she had some kind of autonomy over the whole situation.

As they watched Sakura walk away, Kakashi commented to Neji with a sigh, "Maa… Not even my student anymore and she's still giving me headaches, just like the other one. Apparently Tsunade-sama passes down being stubborn to her apprentices as well. Hmm, but that would mean that Jiraiya-sama passes down…" He let out a small giggle but shook it off, saving such a thought for later when he had free time to read.

Neji's eyes seemed to squint as he picked up something on the horizon, "I believe two Sunagakure shinobi are on their way back from a patrol."

Two Suna shinobi? That wasn't right. At the time, every outgoing squad sent to do anything C-rank or over would have two Konoha ninja with them to supplement the force that was lost due to injuries, death, and rebuilding purposes of the village, "There's no one from Konoha with them?"

"No." Neji said, feeling the same sinking feeling in his gut that he assumed Kakashi felt as well, "And they seem to be very injured. We should summon some medics to meet them at the entrance." There was a terrible sense of foreboding setting in his heart as Kakashi summoned Pakkun to inform the other shinobi on watch of the incoming wounded.

XxX

(Yu no Kuni – Past the Northeast Border of Hi no Kuni – Northeast Division Front)

"We're glad you're here Jiraiya-sama." Genma Shiranui said as he accompanied Jiraiya through the buzzing battalion camp. Konoha ninja were all over, many of them dirty and a few coming into the camp were covered in dirt and grime and blood. Signs of battle, "The dozens of hidden villages in this region had working relationships to keep from stepping on one another's toes for business before the war broke out."

A nod came from the grim-faced Jiraiya, "I'm aware of that. I've been reporting that for years." It was relevant information, but it had never really applied to Konoha, as the village that these villages had the main problem with was Kumo, whose military might raised tensions in the area due to their never having demilitarized like many others, "And that's the major problem here isn't it?"

Genma rolled the senbon around in his mouth as something of a nervous tic and took a map from the other shinobi escorting the VIP, the scar-faced Raidou Namiashi. He pointed out the stretch of smaller countries between Hi no Kuni and Kaminari no Kuni, "The entire region is choked with enemies. This entire battle that we're in as we speak… we're only fighting one village right now."

Jiraiya's face twisted in a frown. It was a basic geographical advantage, pure and simple. Once one travelled northeast enough and tried to venture towards Kumo, the amount of land wound up bottlenecking, making passing through more difficult for an army. It was a basic stalling tactic; to use the landscape to keep Konoha from moving north, defending with one smaller portion of their force while the main bulk of the army dealt with the isolated Kumo further north.

It was the best choice this portion of the C.N.F, could make while surrounded and Konoha wouldn't distribute its full force to this front since it held no major threat towards them. The enemy wasn't invading Hi no Kuni, they were dug in well within their own territory so not only did they have strong defenses right in front of Konoha, the invaders from the south were already in turf that they didn't know as well as the invaded did.

For all they knew, there were tons of enemies within the territory that they held in order to sabotage them behind the front line.

Raidou sighed and ran a grimy hand through his hair in exasperation, "Fuck, I wish Kiri would make a landing already. We're stretched thin enough as it is and we could use the extra firepower. What's taking them so long?" The first landings should have occurred two weeks ago, but nothing was happening from the coast. Logistics across the ocean were a pain in the ass.

"We can't worry about that right now." Jiraiya said, leaning against the outside of a medic tent, "All we can worry about until we're told to do otherwise is our own situation here. Trust our allies to come through, and be prepared, because if something is wrong trust me we'll know soon enough. Now tell me what's happening elsewhere other than at the frontline. It's pretty self-explanatory there."

Genma nodded and pointed back somewhat towards the west, "The back of the line is getting pestered. Supply routes being jumped with some ninja being captured or killed. Guerilla ambush style. We thought it was maybe Taki, Kusa, or even Hoshi, but in one raid they were able to procure a body before the enemy could retrieve it and retreat or just destroy it on the spot. It's Oto sir."

An explosion rocked the ground but no one really paid it any mind. Blasts from a ways out were routine signs that the battle was still raging. Shimogakure and Yumegakure were holding that line fiercely, and invading the latter village was going to be a pain and a half.

But Oto? Orochimaru was dead and there wasn't a real hierarchy of command established past him. That was something that was well noted by Jiraiya and the strike force that had taken down so many bases in search of Orochimaru himself. There were no strong enough leader personalities to take control of the cluster of rats' nest bases the snake-man liked to refer to as villages. The best that could have occurred were several ninja stepping up and calling themselves leader, leading to infighting between the different factions. Either that or Otogakure would simply be scattered to the winds.

But this didn't seem to be the case. And whatever this turned out to be did not look to be very promising for Konoha's northeastern front. Not only did they need to deal with the sniping shots coming at the division's infrastructure from Oto, they would need to break this line to get north and assist Kumo, or vice-versa to get assistance from Kumo, "*sigh* I'm getting too old for this crap." Jiraiya said, using his one available arm to rub his temple.

He'd much rather be a few miles behind the lines, back in the tourist village Yugakure, soaking in a nice hot spring being attended to by a bevy of beautiful ladies, but here he was leading this division, currently the most embattled one out of all of Konoha's fronts. Damn him and his sense of patriotism…

XxX

(With Naruto and Maki – One Day Later – Late Afternoon – Northwest Front – Behind Kusagakure's Main Line)

Naruto and Maki couldn't safely get any closer to the fortress without possibly alerting any attentive ninja with sensing ability. They had to take their chances staying in the booby trap laden woods surrounding the stronghold, out of view of any sentries until it was time to launch the attack.

They had to make it count too, as there were sounds of battle coming from the east. It sounded like there was a full-scale battle taking place across the river. So did that mean that Taki had sent reinforcements to flank Konoha from the north the way Yamato had said it had been anticipated to be? The cost of getting bogged down; you're left a sitting duck for counterattack. And it was too valuable a position to just move and give up to the enemy.

Domination of that river meant domination of the northwestern front. With a hold on that river and with a strong foothold into Kusagakure held lands Konoha could funnel feeler forces south into land held by the ringleader village to all of the chaos, Amegakure, and they could continue advancing west towards Kusa to knock them out of the war. That all wouldn't happen if the back of the northwestern division was broken in this battle and they were forced to fall back into Hi no Kuni. That was too much open land to give to the C.N.F. who would just spread out across country and attack deeper into the country from different angles.

So far the only two of the four members of the G.S.A. that seemed to be fighting the bulk of the war seemed to be Konoha and Kumo who both seemed to be fending off the barbarians from the gates.

Well it was time for a little change as far as that went. The fronts were established. It was clear who Konoha would be fighting and where the battles would occur. It was time they stopped playing rope-a-dope and started hammering away and letting these bastards know just who they were messing with in case they forgot over the last seventeen years.

To say the least, it was time to scare the hell out of these clowns. People used to be afraid of Konoha. No one set foot over Hi no Kuni's borders without looking over their shoulder every seven seconds. Because Konoha had people that you were legitimately afraid of. Tsunade, Jiraiya, Orochimaru, Sakumo Hatake, Danzo Shimura, Itachi Uchiha and the entire damn Uchiha Clan that everyone seemed wary of to say the least abroad, not even counting the might that the respective Hokages all had to their names. And Kumo had terrifying legends of their own.

But in times of peace people thought that Konoha was soft. Untrue. There were just as many twisted bastards in Konoha in peacetime as there were in times of war, there was just no need for them. War actually made other countries aware of these particular psychopaths.

Well by the time the sun set on this day Naruto would be one of these psychopaths. An outright devil among the living to his enemy… a hero to his homeland; that was what a Hokage boiled down to being.

"So how are we doing this Naruto-senpai?" Maki asked Naruto as they sat in the branches of a normal tree half a mile away from the fortress, "Your small toad summons brought us the intel on enemy movements during shifts and we've got the battle on the Konoha held side of the river to keep full attention away from keeping watch over the fortress."

"It won't matter. We aren't sneaking in without a fight." Naruto said, hand to his chin as he weighed their options. They could try sneaking onto the premises, but the second they crossed the fence line all bets would be off. It didn't take much to fix a proximity barrier the way Konoha had around it, so there would be no sneaking in either above or beneath ground.

So a preemptive strike from the outside was a decent bet. Do something else that was bigger than the Takigakure-centric battle across the river to draw attention away from two simple ninja that you may or may not be seeing trying to use that as an excuse to sneak into your fortress. It had to be something that one simply could not ignore as well or else it wouldn't work.

"I've got an idea…" Naruto said aloud to Maki, "We need a massive distraction. Something that'll make these guys panic. So all I've got to do is choose a move to make… because I've got like five different things I can do right now to do that."

"No Rasenshuriken." Maki told him with a stern finger, "…Maybe Rasenriseki though. I need your arms intact."

"I fixed the Rasenshuriken thing the last time I trained with Ero-kyofu." Naruto responded, rolling his eyes. But he wasn't about to launch a gamebreaker kinjutsu. He needed something that could and would let them know just how screwed they were. With one of his Rasengan improvements they'd barely have time to register what happened. No he needed something more than just a flash of violence. He needed something PTSD inducing.

And just what could cause more mental trauma and night terrors than a toad the size of a biju terrorizing and attacking you and your comrades full-tilt?

Naruto stood up from where they were sitting and motioned for Maki to follow him as they got a bit closer. Close enough to get full sight of the fortress. It was a large stone structure surrounded by tents that were probably supply facilities. People were bustling around well within sight of the two Konoha ninja while Maki brushed Naruto's elbow to get his attention, "What is our plan for getting in going to be?"

"Make them shit their pants after they see this." Naruto said, biting his thumb and rolling through the hand-seals for a summoning, "You'd better stay close to me and hold on Maki-chan." Naruto advised her, giving her time to grab a hold of him before he slammed his hand onto the ground, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Jutsu)!"

From a massive puff of smoke, out stepped a massive magenta horned toad in a black kimono with a sasumata in its hand and a large shield on its back. Both Naruto and Maki were on top of his head, though Naruto stood next to a larger than him Gamakichi and Maki was sitting on Gamakichi's back.

"Naruto-nii what's up?" Gamakichi asked Naruto, glad to see his familiar before noticing that he was standing on Gamaken's head… and there was a human woman on his head… and underneath Gamaken there were tons of shinobi freaking out at the sight of him, "…What did you just summon us into?"

"A fight." Naruto said, patting the orange toad on the side of the head, "Are you and Gamaken ready to get down to business? I'm counting on you guys."

Gamaken heard Naruto's voice and addressed the newest master of Sage Mode, "Naruto-san. You require our assistance?" He asked the young blonde man.

"Yeah." Naruto said, pointing down at the fortress and everything surrounding it, "We're destroying that, then we're heading east… and we've got to raise hell the entire way. You're up for that right?"

Gamaken nodded and readied his weapon and his shield, prepared for battle and focused on the coming combat. Meanwhile Gamakichi's eye was twitching, "So you want me to go down there and fight all of those ninja right now? You'd better treat me to one hell of a drink after this is over."

"Just pretend that it's like the Forest of Death and the spiders." Naruto told him before pointing to Maki who was peeking over the top of Gamakichi's head, "And Maki-chan's a genjutsu user so she can confuse the hell out of them while we're cutting them down."

"…I hate fighting those stupid spiders…" Gamakichi grumbled in return as from inside of his vest he pulled out a tanto, resigning himself to helping Naruto out with his battle. He didn't want to grow all apathetic and grouchy like Gamabunta did every time he was summoned. He then noticed the girl sitting on him and noticed that she smelled faintly like Naruto, putting a smirk on the toad's face, "Go aniki."

"Shut up." Naruto said, shutting his eyes to look inward so to speak, 'We've got to make this one fast Kyuubi. Do you have my back for this one or am I on my own?'

"Yes, yes, I'm on it you hairless monkey." Kyuubi growled, channeling nature chakra in Naruto's stead to transfer it to him, "Make it quick so I can go back to sleep."

'Trust me, I don't want to be here any longer than I have to either.' Naruto thought to himself as his eyes took on Sage Mode traits and he allowed his Sharingan eye to come into use from behind the contact lens, "Maki-chan, stay on 'Kichi and do your genjutsu thing to screw these guys up. We're going to be clear-cutting. Gamaken, just flat-out raise hell and stay with us."

"Got it. You can count on me!" Gamaken said, driving his shield into the ground to smash the enemies below and stir up trouble, "Go now Naruto-san!"

His body reinforced by Sage Mode, Naruto jumped directly down from the top of Gamaken's head, not even using Haretsu Seigan to slow or stop his fall, but instead forming a massive Rasengan in his right hand, "Senpou: Odama Rasengan (Sage Art: Great Ball Rasengan)!"

Landing right in the middle of fleeing and retreating ninja trying to scramble back to the fortress, Naruto pulverized them and the ground around them with his greatly enhanced Rasengan. The smoke cleared but before it ever even could, he was already out faster than they could keep up with, cutting them down with the Sen'nenki no Ken.

From up on Gamaken's head, Gamakichi and Maki looked down at Naruto cutting a path of wanton carnage through the hapless Kusa ninja who were finally reacting to the smaller ninja's presence instead of just Gamaken's, not knowing which was the bigger threat but still assuming it was Gamaken, "So you and Naruto-nii huh?" Gamakichi said teasingly.

Maki just placed her white porcelain mask over her face so that the toad didn't see her reaction to him bringing such a topic up, "Let's go already. Naruto-senpai could use the help to make sure he doesn't get blindsided." A poor excuse. With his awareness and reflexes in Sage Mode combined with the perception of the Sharingan eye she really doubted there was anyone here that could catch him off guard without using a genjutsu, and even then with the eye active he could see through it.

She had to save face with Naruto's favorite summon though.

"Okay. Hold on tight then." Gamakichi warned her as he jumped off of Gamaken's head to follow in Naruto's wake as he continued to bulldoze his way through the Kusa shinobi with practiced ease. Just like fighting the spiders only people were smarter, "Why aren't you using your Kage Bunshin Naruto-nii?" Gamakichi asked as he cleaved through three Kusa shinobi upon landing safely on the ground with his powerful legs.

"I can only make five when I'm in Sage Mode." Naruto said as the fight continued, "If I try to overload what Kyuubi can handle he could lose full control and I'd still turn to stone. Five isn't enough to make much more of a difference in this case anyway."

"Oh. Well do that move of yours that messed that mountaintop up."

"Shut up! I'm gonna, just give me a second!"

"You shut up! Hey, girl on my back, tell Naruto-nii to shut up and fight!"

"Both of you shut up and fight…" Maki said, still sitting on Gamakichi's back as the toad continued to fight. Focusing on her own contribution to the battle, Maki made two hand-seals and held the bird seal, "Suiyou no Aichou (Mournful Melody of the Weeping Willow)."

As Gamakichi and Naruto eventually stood back to back and started fighting off enemy after enemy as Gamaken advanced on the fortress itself, the dozens of Kusa shinobi in the vicinity found themselves bound by what appeared to be weeds appearing from the ground until large trees started growing up to reveal that they were the leaf branchlets of weeping willow trees. While some were merely caught around the ankles and held in place by both arms, some were held around one single wrist and could merely 'cut' themselves free. Others were wrapped up entirely around the body and some around the neck where they were choked lifeless and some dropped to the ground as if a noose had been tightened around their necks.

Man that was a nasty genjutsu.

"'Kichi let's mop these clowns up before too many people break it." Naruto said, placing a hand on Gamakichi to channel wind chakra through his partner, "Let's not have Maki-chan hold these guys here for nothing."

Gamakichi nodded and his cheeks puffed out while Naruto momentarily unsealed the Amaterasu flames in his left arm. The deadly black flames were released in time with Gamakichi releasing a steady jet of toad oil from his mouth that Naruto dropped a spark of the Amaterasu flames onto, "Senpou: Yami Gamayu Endan (Sage Art: Dark Toad Oil Flame Bullet)!"

The jet of oil from Gamakichi's mouth, fueled to spray with more force and speed by way of the wind chakra Naruto had been channeling through him, ignited with the otherworldly black fire that took the oil like the accelerant it was, dousing the enemy in a powerful dark blaze that Gamakichi guided in a complete circle around himself, Naruto, and Maki.

The cries of those caught in the flame were those that had been freed from Maki's genjutsu… too bad there was an even greater pain for them right behind it. At least there was no pain after that point, because their suffering gave way to their deaths.

"But Naruto-senpai, we're trapped now." Naruto just smirked at Maki and she remembered what he did with the black flames upon seeing her. He could reseal them back into his arm no matter how much he managed to manifest and how much came from the spread of the fire, which he did right in front of her at that moment, "Okay... but now what?"

Naruto looked forward at the fortress and the setting sun in front of them and then behind them towards the east, "Gamaken! Go east and cross the bridge! I want you to help out the Konoha shinobi that are in battle right now!"

Gamaken stopped his unbeatable rampage on the Kusa shinobi who were trying to dredge up some kind of way to bring the big toad down as even their powerful ninjutsu would just end up being stopped by his shield, "Are you certain?" Naruto's response was the formation of two Kage Bunshin at his side as he held his right hand above his head, this got Gamaken's jaw to drop for a moment before he nodded, "Very well. I'll do my best Naruto-san!" And with a great jump he started heading east as directed.

As Maki saw Naruto's clones begin to form a wind shell around the Rasengan core in his right hand she let out a gasp before fully preparing to turn on the medic-nin in her to scold him, "Naruto-senpai, what did I tell you about using that jutsu? You'll tear your arm up for life!"

"I told you I fixed it already Maki-chan, it's cool!" Naruto shouted back at her just as the wind shuriken coated Rasengan began letting off its high-pitched whine that showed that it was ready. But he didn't charge forward with it to ram anything the way he did when he fought Itachi and Sasuke. Instead his clones dispelled with their jobs complete and Naruto actually threw it, "Fuuton: Rasenshuriken (Wind Release: Rasenshuriken)!"

It flew through the air smoother and straighter than an actual metal shuriken would have, the wind chakra comprised blade spinning all the way at a speed no lesser shinobi could have dodged. And when it touched the wall of the fortress it cut right into it before expanding into its destructive wind sphere, disintegrating the lesser materials of the stronghold and bringing what was left of it down around the foundations.

Maki stared in awe at the destruction wrought by a perfected Rasengan variation. And just like Naruto said, there was no damage done to his arm whatsoever. But what was left of the Kusa forces grew a backbone once Gamaken left, and seeing Naruto take down their fortress with one jutsu only made them desire his head as compensation.

Naruto started blocking projectile weapons with his ninjato after hearing them whistle through the air and Maki jumped back onto Gamakichi as the toad hopped away from some weapons thrown his own way, "Tenchi Bridge?" Maki asked, her tanto drawn just in case it was necessary.

"Bridge/Bridge." Naruto and Gamakichi replied, as the blonde made five Kage Bunshin to surround Gamakichi's backside to make sure he was safe for their retreat back across the bridge, "Come on 'Kichi! The clones and Maki-chan'll have your back. You're with me because we're cutting our way out of here!" He barked with authority as he rushed headlong into the enemy barring their path from the east, Gamakichi right on his heels, both human and toad cutting the enemy down before they could even reach any sort of apex with their weapon swings or finish any hand-seals for their jutsu.

That was going to be one long two mile run.

XxX

(Hi no Kuni side of Tenchi Bridge)

The bridge was in full sight for the currently embattled platoon as not only were they being attacked by Takigakure ninja, they were taking it from across the bridge from Kusagakure as well.

Tayuya's flute was working overtime as her steady stream of notes gave wordless directions to her three large summoned demons who were moving about the forest, assisting the other Konoha ninja in her combat group as best she could, 'Fucking Yamato-taichou was right. Even setting up measures to stop it didn't do that much, they pushed through our original defensive position north and drove us back.'

The battle had turned into a team deathmatch in the forest around Tenchi Bridge and on the same bridge, as they were fighting to keep Kusa from destroying the bridge so that they could eventually advance over it after it became known that Naruto had destroyed the fortress on the other side and had crippled Kusa's defensive efforts.

In another place, Anko was trying to pick off enemies throughout the forest with weaponry, riding on a large boa constrictor that devoured and smashed anyone that got in its way. Crazy bitch could really fight. And being stuck in a glorified staring contest with the Kusa force across the river for at least the last week or so had her chomping at the bit for some old school bloodshed.

Meanwhile Tayuya smirked as she saw a Nara Clan member capture several Takigakure shinobi with their shadow technique, allowing her to take advantage and use her Doki that possessed the club to deliver sweeping smash that ended their lives in one swing. From behind she heard the sound of metal clanging and turned to see that both Kotetsu and Izumo had her back with their dual kunai blades that were connected by a chain for teamwork fighting.

She gave them a nod of acknowledgment that they both returned with smirks as she continued playing her flute and they all carried on with the fighting.

As the battle continued, the ground shook with a thunderous crash. The northern portion of the battlefield forest where Taki reinforcements were slated to continue appearing from wound up being cleared from the earth with a swing of a massive sasumata that ripped up lots of the actual topsoil to boot. Over the top of the treeline, it was seen that a large magenta toad was there with a vengeance as it was helping them destroy enemy troops with a vengeance like it had something to prove.

'Only two fuckers I know summon toads.' Tayuya thought to herself as the Takigakure ninja started freely retreating back north and the Kusa ninja started falling back to the Tenchi Bridge to escape to the fortress across the river, 'And I don't hear any loud-ass, annoying yelling about how great the awesome toad sage is. So that means that it's the other one.' She thought to herself with a smile as she chose to join in with many of the others set on chasing the Kusa attackers back to the bridge, set on turning their retreat into a full-on rout.

Upon reaching the bridge and seeing the shinobi that were running away, Tayuya smirked at seeing a larger than human orange toad fighting off the head of the retreating Kusa force.

XxX

(With Naruto)

Naruto and his five clones were busy fighting off a wave of Kusa troops that had come storming across the bridge as if the devil himself were chasing them. Able to see Gamaken terrorizing the enemy a little bit north in the woods, they could tell why they'd be scared with reinforcement like that from Konoha. It wasn't as if either village had a jinchuuriki or a grand summoning contract that could go toe-to-toe with a boss-level summon.

"Why did your cute partner run away when we got to the bridge Naruto-nii?" Gamakichi asked as he swung his blade with a practiced deadly precision. He'd be better at kenjutsu than Gamabunta once he got as big as his dad at that rate, "Your comrades are right over there. I can see them."

"Maki-chan isn't supposed to be here 'Kichi." Naruto explained, jumping on top of his toad brother's head to throw some shuriken into the sky and form some hand-seals to rain down some hell, "Raiton: Kaminari Shuriken (Lightning Release: Lightning Shuriken)!"

Jolts of lightning fell sporadically from the sky, striking at the enemy just as the Konoha contingent reached them and a pincer attack was waged to eradicate the remainder of the unfortunate enemy ninja. The ones that didn't fall by the hand, blade, or jutsu of Konoha's vicious counterattack took their chances with spilling over the side of the bridge to fall all the way to the rapidly moving river below.

It took less than five minutes to finish them. Kusa didn't allow a single one of themselves to be taken prisoner to their credit, and that meant that no one walked away on the C.N.F. side of the defeat. The wood of the bridge was red and utterly slick with blood by the end as the last dregs of sunlight seemed to be fading towards the west.

The other portion of the battle had ended as Konoha had allowed Takigakure to retreat in exchange for rushing full-tilt across the bridge and clearing out the forests of that side to assert a solid foothold on Kusa's landholdings. Gamaken had dispelled in a massive puff of smoke that could be seen for miles.

From that point, Gamakichi and Naruto just watched as the division seemingly picked up and moved a significant portion of their operation right across the bridge like clockwork, barely an hour after the bulk of the battle ended. Not a moment was wasted, not a single beat was missed. Effiecient as all hell. Danzo would have been smirking at that sight if he were still alive. He knew for certain that the Kyuubi within him approved of the domination shown by its jinchuuriki.

"Smells like blood, death, and defeat Naruto-nii." Gamakichi commented as he and Naruto started walking past the other ninja heading across the river to advance to the new base point to the command post back on the original Konoha side for some rest.

"Right… smells like victory." Naruto said, Sage Mode long since faded away due to having no further need for it as he rubbed away a stray bloodstain on his cheek and noted that his clothes were more or less coated in it. He seriously needed a shower and a change of clothes like nobody's business, "I've still got an adrenaline rush, but I'm going to crash like a Nara when this fades." He gave the toad a pat on the back as they kept walking, "Now let's go get you that drink buddy."

"Don't touch me with those hands until you wash 'em." Gamakichi said, faking disgust as he himself had just as much blood on him that he was going to wash off first thing after taking himself home, "Do you know how many people we killed today? It had to be more than 200."

"If your and Gamaken's kills count as my kills since I summoned you both, I think I killed like 500." Naruto said, remembering the conversation he had with Jiraiya a long time ago about the bodycounts of the most powerful shinobi of their time, "I'm not counting taking down the fortress. I have no idea how many people were in there."

Gamakichi let out a low whistle and tried to estimate just what his contribution to the battle had been, "I got more than you."

"My ass you did." A playing punch to Gamakichi came from Naruto as the two shared a smirk, "I saw everything I did in slow motion, remember?" Naruto said, pointing at his replacement Sharingan eye before he allowed the contact lens over it to hide it again before it started significantly draining him, not that it would occur anytime soon. Gamakichi rolled his eyes as the two continued on across the bridge.

At the end of the bridge, leaning against one of the main massive beams that held the absurdly large rope suspension bridge up was a battle-weary Tayuya who had apparently been waiting on Naruto to come back that way.

Seeing her in the growing early darkness of the evening, Naruto gave Gamakichi a pat on his vest-covered back, "Hey, go on ahead and get yourself your sake. If they don't already get it for you when you ask just say that you're with me. I'll catch up in a minute."

Not really making Tayuya out at that point from that distance away with all of the ninja coming their way to cross the bridge and the fact that he'd seen so many humans with flak jackets on that day that they started blending together for the orange toad, he nodded and hopped off ahead of Naruto as he started lagging a bit behind.

Eventually coming to a stop in front of Tayuya, the two gave each other a once over, frowning at what they both saw of the other's haggard-looking appearance and speaking simultaneously, "You look like hell/shit." They said at the exact same time, blinking at one another for the comments in stereo.

Naruto let out a chuckle and held up one of his black gloved hands to scratch at his blonde hair that also had blood in it in flecks, "Wow, I try to be nice and just say hell and you go right for the throat and say I look like shit. Thanks. I needed that." He finished sarcastically, getting a knock to the shoulder for his trouble.

"I was being nice. I could have said you look like something worse than shit, believe it or not." Tayuya said with a toothy grin despite how exhausted she looked otherwise.

He honestly had no other choice but to believe her. He had legitimately heard Tayuya angry at someone before instead of just how she normally spoke, and her cursing got far more liberal and creative when she found someone to hone in on like a pit bull, "I guess. So was this fast enough for you? Three days instead of four like you thought. That's what I call results."

"I guess so…" Tayuya replied in a voice of false pondering, "Still kind of slow though. You really made us work for that one Uzumaki, but at least you showed up for the party altogether. I knew you wouldn't get your ass killed while you were over there."

Naruto was able to see that Tayuya's body was rather weakened by her lack of useful energy at this point and put her on his back piggyback-style as he started walking back to the command post, "Oh, you figured I'd be back because nobody's stopping me until I become Hokage like I said right?"

Instead of fighting it and telling him she wasn't some fragile bimbo that needed to be carried, Tayuya just let it happen and decided that there were worse ways to be treated by someone like Naruto, going along with the ride and wrapping her arms around his neck to hold on, "No that's not it. It's because I thought you'd have made this whole fucking thing work out somehow, even if you had to find a way to tame the goddamn plant life over there to help you out. You're a fucking nutcase, you know that?"

Naruto just shrugged as if to say 'so what?' as he was already aware of that to a certain extent. Tayuya just settled into keeping her hold on him as he walked her back to the base to get some rest, 'Man where did Maki-chan go? Did she really just cut out and go home? The mission was done I guess… and she can't really be caught away from Konoha like this so I guess it fits.' He then turned to the side and had to do a double-take as he saw Maki walking next to him, 'Damn… well there goes that theory.'

"I am not Maki Naruto-senpai. She locked you in a genjutsu so she could say this to you without anyone seeing her. Please don't speak out loud or someone will think you're crazy or they're under attack."

Whoa. She got him with the Sharingan off, 'Damn. Did you know she did that to me?' Naruto asked the Kyuubi in his head.

"Yes, I did. Now shut up and listen to the girl already so I can go back to sleep. All of that hapless slaughter makes me sleepy…"

Not waiting for a response as she wasn't programmed to respond to remarks, genjutsu-Maki spoke her predetermined words, "Root is about to begin their own black-ops behind the scenes of this war and it was made easier for us to begin because of this mission. We'll still be helping you when we think it's prudent and we might be able to do it freely as well because for the moment we have Hokage-sama's silent blessing to go ahead with our operations at least until the end of the wartime conditions."

Naruto's eyes widened, but he nodded to himself almost imperceivably, 'Good old Tsunade-baachan. Yeah, give 'em a chance.' That was good. That was very good.

"So until we can meet again Naruto-senpai… I have one more message to give you." Genjutsu-Maki said before turning to glare at Tayuya on his back and smiling sweetly at him himself, "Don't get yourself killed being stupid, and don't you forget about us either." The message was her 'subtle' way of saying, 'Don't forget about me.' No problems there.

And just like that, the genjutsu ended with Naruto still walking through the forest as if the illusion had never settled over him. Tayuya didn't notice and apparently neither did any of the other ninja walking through the woods towards the bridge and also heading back to the command post. He let himself smile a bit with a short chuckle that got Tayuya to stir a bit on his back, wondering what was so funny.

XxX

(Sunagakure no Sato – Temporary Command Area)

Gaara sat at a table inside of a large tent that had been set up for the Kazekage's day-to-day business until the Kazekage Mansion could be rebuilt, but that wasn't as important to Gaara as the rest of the village, thus these conditions were fine for the moment. Instead, the news he was hearing from two of his shinobi that had been met at the outskirts of the village were the pressing issue as far as matters of importance went, "And you're telling me this for certain?"

"Yes…" One of the two turban wearing Suna chunin said. Their injuries were light, but their news was very, very grave, "Ishigakure, Tanigakure, and Amegakure forces are being led through the desert towards our location at this moment."

The other Suna chunin looked extremely shaken not just by what they had learned but what it had taken to get back, "Those Konoha ninja… when we were discovered by the enemy and were pursued they held them back for us while we ran here to give you this information."

Also in attendance to hear of this news, Kankuro and Temari showed a bit of surprise at this news, "And you just let them without a fuss?" Kankuro said with some discontent.

The first of the two chunin rapidly shook his head, "No… we said that they should be the ones to rush to the village since we knew the terrain better than they did and might have been able to fight better even against the numbers. But they said that this was why they should stay behind, because we knew the terrain better and would have made it back here faster. I lost count of how many days we ran for."

"They said that Suna had lost enough for the time being…" The more visibly affected of the two said, "And it was three days. We had run for three days before coming back here. They're coming from the northeast. Ame's direction."

"This is not good." Temari said, shaking her head and adjusting her war fan on her back uncomfortably, "Gaara. What are we going to do?"

Instead of giving his older sister a definite answer, Gaara sat in his desk, his hands clasped underneath his chin with his seafoam green eyes hardened in thought, "What else do we do?" Gaara asked rhetorically, "We stop them. This is when we show the world that even weakened as we are, one does not merely invade Sunagakure." He stood up from his seat and for the first time in years, everyone in the tent felt a measure of fear when looking at the jinchuuriki of the Ichibi no Shukaku, "Send a messenger hawk towards Konoha, but do not prepare as if reinforcements are a definite possibility."

For some reason this time though, the fear they felt when looking at Gaara made them all feel good. Maybe it was because this time it wasn't a crazed demon container that despised life? This time it was because it was the Kazekage talking.

…And he just so happened to be that same demon container.

The more things change…

Jutsu List

Suiyou no Aichou (Mournful Melody of the Weeping Willow. A-ranked genjutsu. Supplementary, offensive, close-to-mid range. The jutsu creates the illusion of a killer weeping willow tree that will ensnare an enemy. The severity of the ensnarement depends on the susceptibility of the foe to genjutsu. The weaker against it they are the tighter they will be initially caught. Can range from having an ankle or an arm stuck to having one's throat constricted to the point of strangulation and death.