A Snake On The Move

It was already morning in Konoha and the sunlight started greeting the Hokage Monument to what could be better described as one of Konoha's postal cards. Normally, just by seeing what a beautiful day it would be, one couldn't help but push all bad thoughts aside and lose himself in the midst of the sight as the sunlight would dance with the trees and lakes of the village. However, there was only one person that didn't feel the need to smile despite the nice day and that was the village's very leader Senju Tsunade.

Reason? Well, despite having to wake up early for a meeting with the council of elders only for it to be cancelled because Homura became sick out of a sudden, that wasn't the reason why Tsunade was angry. In fact, in all her life, there were only a handful of problems that hadn't been caused by the very person in front of her now, to whom the woman blamed pretty much all her problems on (except for her fiancée and brother's death of course). A few minutes ago, her old teammate and one of the Sannin Jiraiya came in with the news of a new ally that would able to help him gather all relevant information about the trapping demon technique in exchange for one simple request. Normally, Tsunade would say yes, without a second thought; the possibility of avoiding the Kyuubi from being captured worth anything in her book. Of course, it would be unless the man that revealed the information wasn't Uchiha Itachi, member of the very organization who's after Naruto for what he carries inside him and of his request to fight Naruto or rather Black Wolf in a duel to see who the strongest shinobi is.

And the worst part of this was that her teammate was a joker at heart and she quite expected this to be just another one of his jokes, but his oddly serious face told her otherwise and she could very well envision herself rubbing her temples because of the future headache she would feel.

"So you're saying that Itachi came to you and bluntly agreed with telling you everything he knows about Akatsuki and he wishes, in exchange for the information, to fight against the Anbu who managed to defeat Hoshikage Kisame is that correct?" – Asked Tsunade, before seeing a nod from the one in front of her. "You can still start laughing at my face and say that you've caught me, I won't mind" – Snorted Tsunade, while already rubbing her temples.

"It isn't a joke Tsunade-hime. Itachi does not know about the Anbu's identity; from what I could tell, he just wants to test himself against skillful opponents. I've given him another condition which acts like a probation clause of sorts. Until either you or I are satisfied with the information he would give, we won't need to reach the end of our bargain, meaning that Naruto won't have to fight him. We have to think of the bigger picture here, Tsunade. I know that we might be handling Kyuubi on a silver platter to the Akatsuki, but that won't happen unless we have vital information to disrupt their organization at once" – Explained Jiraya until he saw Tsunade place both her hands below her chin in thought while absorbing every word of Jiraiya's explanation.

"What if your relation with him backfires and he's just doing this to lure his way into the village and manage to capture Naruto. What would you do then? Plus, we have one in our shinobi force who is dying to shove a Chidori up Itachi's ass a couple of times, what would happen if Sasuke had knowledge of this? He'll go ballistic, that's for sure" – Asked Tsunade to which Jiraiya frowned in dismay, from not counting the minor traitor into consideration. Jiraiya considered Sasuke to be a traitor, cause in his book, if it wasn't for Naruto beating him half to death and brought him by force, the Uchiha would still be serving under the big traitor Orochimaru.

"You could declare an S ranked secret only to be known by us and maybe Naruto, since in the end, he would be fighting Itachi and I guess he deserved to know the real reason, don't you think?" – Asked Jiraiya, earning a nod from Tsunade who in turn began to think. Surely, this opportunity was too much to pass by, since they wouldn't be getting information from suspicious sources, rather one of the organization's members himself. But the problem remained since if she agrees to this then Itachi would have his fight against Naruto, which remains to be her doubt in this manner.

"Jiraiya, would you grade him able to cope against someone as Itachi? I'm sure is Naruto has become a force to be reckoned with, but to face Itachi is a feat not even Kakashi managed and he has ten years more of experience?" – Asked Tsunade, before seeing Jiraiya frown at the question and cross his arms. True, the kid got enormous potential to top Itachi in skills, but indeed experience was something that prevented one from being killed and certainly Itachi has way more experience. Not to mention that Itachi holds a better Sharingan then Sasuke and should he use it on Naruto, the results could be catastrophic.

"You raised a valid point here Tsunade; were it another one of the Akatsuki, Naruto would be able to cope well against, but I'm more worried about his further developed Sharingan. Whereas Sasuke could anticipate the opponent's movements, Itachi could use his to damage one's mind and I don't know how Naruto would take being on the end of a Tsukiyomi. We could talk to Kakashi and see his stand point in this, after all not only he has a Sharingan, but he also spars with Naruto from time to time, he could grant us a better explanation of Naruto's skills so far and his position whether or not Naruto could beat Itachi in a fight" – Advised Jiraiya, before looking at the Hokage who in turn nodded her head in approval.

"I gave his team a day off after the last mission; I'll have to reach him back in his home. Shizune, call Kakashi for me, I need to talk to h…" – Said Tsunade, but was interrupted once she heard a third voice.

"You don't need to call me Tsunade-sama, I'm already here" – Said Kakashi as he was reading his favorite book while in his Jounin attire. "I happen to sometimes be on top of the Hokage's tower to be lazy…I mean to catch up on my reading. Also, I kind of overheard your discussion a bit. You wanted my opinion on Naruto's skills against Itachi, right?" – Asked Kakashi, before looking up for a while with a hand on his chin, not at all bothered to see that Tsunade wasn't so pleased to learn that he was hearing everything. Jiraiya for his part couldn't help but smile at how easily one could piss off his old teammate, until he saw the silver haired shinobi narrow his view towards the Hokage to answer.

"Naruto has exceeded every single expectations of my own to the point that I believe him to be on pair with an Akatsuki member. He managed to overcome every single flaw in his skills and even improved all of them. His Ninjutsu is off the charts, Tai- and Kenjutsu as well, and his Genjutsu aids him a lot. In fact, he even devised a new fighting style that relies heavily on illusions. However, against the Sharingan it wouldn't be effective. Regarding experience, Naruto is constantly testing himself whether on the mission whether inside his mind" – Said Kakashi, before seeing the doubted look on the Sannin's face.

"What do you mean inside his mind, Kakashi?" Asked Jiraiya.

"Kyuubi is a very creative demon, it appears. By using Naruto's memories, he can recreate past enemies and even allies to have a fight against Naruto. For instance, Naruto already fought against Momochi Zabuza and Yamato, for what I heard. The interesting thing is that the enemies each have one tail worth of Kyuubi's power and still Naruto was able to win, meaning he has gained much experience from these fights. I'm pretty sure he already fought against other enemies, but I never thought of asking. Naruto right now borders high A ranked in skills without even relying on Kyuubi's chakra and I'm sure he is S ranked with one tail's worth of the fox's chakra" – Said Kakashi, earning a surprised nod from those present, until he spoke once more. "Nevertheless, Naruto won't use the fox's chakra from fear of the beast escaping, so he's high 'A' ranked".

"Well, Naruto's chakra coils will be in constant expansion because of the Kyuubi inside of him, so if he can improve his skills for his fight against Itachi, then he could have a higher chance of success" – Said Tsunade, earning a nod from Jiraiya, until Kakashi choose to speak.

"Right now, the only aspect left he needs to work is his experience, Tsunade-sama. I doubt that there is much he needs to improve, rather than learning how to use his known techniques in battle with more efficiency. He trains constantly with me and the rest of the team, but that's not enough, he needs to train with tough shinobi constantly to expand his knowledge of fighting." – Said Kakashi with his arms still crossed. Tsunade and Jiraiya couldn't help but agree with him.

"Then, I'll agree with Itachi's request, Jiraiya. However I'm afraid Naruto will have to make a huge step in his training. There are a couple S ranked missions stacked; waiting to be assigned and I'll pick one suited for his skills in combat. You're dismissed Kakashi" – Said Tsunade, earning a nod from the Jounin, before he left via Shunshin.

===With Naruto===

Because of his day off, Naruto was found spending time with the one that captured his heart. When Kurenai heard the news of Naruto's vacation, she was ecstatic to the point of planning a great number of activities to do together. She and Naruto already spent a wonderful time inside the shower and in the kitchen, which the woman still had the decency to blush while remembering how she loved feeling him all over the place twice. Now, they were having some lunch at a place that was famous in Konoha for its sushi. Actually, both Kurenai and Naruto decided to change their taste in food, since it was either ramen or dango and the fact that Naruto tasted sushi for the first time and loved it brought a smile on her face seeing as now the couple could choose other types of food.

"So Naruto-kun, tell me…you're about to tell your mission with Shikamaru and Shino, until the waiter interrupted, how was it?" – Asked Kurenai, while remembering the Genjutsu she put the man who didn't want to serve their table because of her boyfriend under. Naruto for his turn nodded.

"It wasn't so bad Kure-chan; it was actually the first mission I went as captain. Shikamaru and Shino are both smarter than me in so many ways that I thought they wouldn't agree with my plans, but to my surprise, they did and even Shikamaru call me taichou. The mission itself went smoothly as well, while Iwa shinobi lean more on numbers then skills, hence why we didn't have such a hard time defeating them. Also, this was the first mission I managed to use the foxes that Kyuubi provided me with" – Explained Naruto, earning a smile from his beloved, in return filling Naruto's heard with warmth as he found that he carved said reaction from the one he loves.

"Shino told me, though, you encountered one friend from your past, is that right? He said that you couldn't review your identity, so you couldn't greet him" Asked Kurenai, earning a sad nod from the blond.

"Yes, his name is Tazuna and now the Feudal Lord of Wave Country. He was part of my first C ranked mission that turned into an A ranked one, because of Zabuza's involvement. At the time, Tazuna hired us for his protection, since he was building a bridge that would link Wave Country with Fire Country, thus freeing his land from the power of a businessman called Gatou. Because of our team, Gatou was killed and Tazuna managed to finish the bridge and from the looks of it, the country is now flourishing with new deals and trades all over the elemental nations. I really wanted to visit his family one day, you know. I've also became good friends with his grandson Inari" – Said Naruto as he smiled upon seeing some memories flashing before his eyes.

"Well, maybe if the Hokage grants you another vacation, we can go there and make a visit. I'm sure that this Tazuna person will enjoy seeing you once more and Inari as well." – Said Kurenai as the waiter arrived not even bothering to look at Naruto before placing their dish with different types of sushi and sashimi. As they ate in comfortable silence while looking at each other, they didn't see a familiar couple arriving at the restaurant, before stopping right in front of their table.

"Naruto, Kurenai-sensei, how's going?" – Asked Shikamaru as he was holding hands with his girlfriend Ino.

"Hi there Shika, I see you got a day off as well, please join us for lunch" – Said Naruto to which the couple nodded and each took a chair, before each duo entered in a conversation. Ino and Kurenai began to talk about a new kimono that Shikamaru's mother gave to her as a present while Naruto and Shikamaru were engrossed in a shinobi type conversation regarding their last mission.

===At the Anbu HQ===

It was already late at night and Yamato was busy inside his office at the Anbu HQ handling with a couple of mission reports that needed to be signed. Of course, just like any bureaucratic assignments, he had to deal with a lot of subjects that weren't related to the shinobi way of life like their division's budget and some disciplinary complaints of two Anbu members that chose to fight over the last set of dango available at the restaurant. He now had a newfound respect for the Hokage since she must've faced worse situations to handle. Yamato could only shiver from the thought of dealing with every single ninja inside Konoha, ranging from Genin to Jounin.

The man was about to finish everything and go home for the day when a person he never thought to see outside the interrogation chambers, walked inside his office.

"Hello there Yamato-sama" – Said Ibiki while bowing in respect for his fellow Anbu commander.

"It's good to see you Ibiki-sama, what can I do for the Anbu Black Ops" – Asked Yamato as he knew of Ibiki's promotion to Commander of a different Anbu division, called the Anbu Black Ops. They were responsible for protecting Konoha from the shadows, with S ranked missions that only the Hokage herself knew and should any shinobi be captured, his or her body would burn because of a seal in order to erase any evidence of Konoha's involvement in the manner. Yamato himself worked a few times for said organization, before retiring from it. He could choose to be a full-fledged Jounin or return to the regular Anbu, so he chose the latter.

"Since my promotion to chief of the Black Ops, I failed to encounter competent shinobi to perform our missions, but I became rather intrigued about a team of yours and I was hoping to grant them the position" – Said Ibiki, though Yamato already suspected which team was the man referring to, but he chose to remain silent as Ibiki said it. "Anbu team 5 has an impressive record of successful missions on their hands and it's composed of highly experienced and skilled shinobi like Hatake Kakashi and the one that surprised me the most, Uzumaki Naruto. I know that they are amongst your division's finest shinobis, but they caught my interest, what you say?" – Asked Ibiki, before seeing Yamato think for a while.

"Black Ops mission are dangerous Ibiki-sama and risking someone as famous as Kakashi-sempai is not something the Hokage would wish for Konoha. Also, Naruto himself has created a name for himself. I have no problem with transferring this team to your division, but the Hokage must have the final word on this manner" – Said Yamato, pointing out his opinion to Ibiki, who in turn nodded and turned to leave, but not before saying goodbye to Yamato and scheduling a meeting with the Hokage in order to discuss this change.

===The next day at the Hokage's office===

After arriving at her office, Tsunade grabbed her stack of S ranked missions to be assigned to her shinobi staff. She was looking for something that could really test Naruto' skills, since he would need the experience for his battle against Itachi. Pausing for a while, she wondered whether or not her decision was the right one, considering the danger of the situation. Itachi is considered an S ranked shinobi for a very good reason and for all the experience Naruto has gathered, she doubted that the blond could win, if Itachi fought seriously.

Not even wanting to dwell on such a thought, she found one from the stack of missions that was suited for what she intended for Naruto. Apparently, a village located near the border between Wind and Fire Country is being terrorized by a Kumo A ranked missing-nin, although his name and abilities were unknown, since the village has no ninjas whatsoever. At first, she wondered if the information was accurate since no one would have knowledge of ninja ranks, but it's better to send someone and be wrong then send a team of Chuunin and then having to inform their families because of her bad judgment. The mayor of the village requested assistance of elite shinobi who could deal with the situation and save the village. Normally, she would've sent a couple of Jounins to deal with the missing-nin, but since this would be a test for Naruto, she will send him alone for the deed. However, she very well knew that sending an Anbu alone is suicide and terribly against the village's policy, no matter if this is a test or not. At the very least, she could send Kakashi in this mission to aid him if possible, but let him fight against the enemy.

Smirking at her ingenuity, Tsunade also created one primal objective and that would be capturing the missing-nin instead of killing him. The reason was that Kumo was getting restless ever since they placed Naruto in their bingo book and from some investigation reports, they've increased the training rhythm of their genins, meaning that they are expecting to building up a sizable army against Konoha. So, by sending one of their missing-nins for them to deal with will be served as an act of good faith by the Leaf Village, thus hoping to avoid a major conflict, or at least that's what she hoped. Kumo was and still remains a wild card that shouldn't be left out of sight…they happen to focus on a intermediate term between numbers like Iwa and abilities like Konoha. Pressing the communication button, she called for Shizune.

"Shizune, create a new S ranked mission for Anbu member Black Wolf and Anbu member Dog. The prospect is on my desk and also call them in here in fifteen minutes for debriefing" – Ordered Tsunade from the intercom, earning an 'okay' in acknowledgement from her assistant, before the Hokage returned to other mission reports that were stacked on the left side of her table. As he read through the reports, she found one from Sasuke's Chuunin team that entailed an infiltration mission next to Iwa territory. Their mission objective was to get in contact with Jiraya that was hiding there and retrieve some information he had about Iwa's activities. According to the report, the team encountered some jounin level shinobi but they were subdued easily and without leaving any traces for the rock village to follow towards Konoha.

Huh, leave it to Jiraiya to use his toads to vanish with the bodies. Well, at least I don't have to hear the old geezer of a Tsuchikage demanding some form of retribution for the whole thing. Also, the information is not of great importance, apparently, a new Tsuchikage will be nominated in a couple of months and there are two worthy candidates. One from the report has the support of the Jounin, bur the other has the council's back, aka a political asshole in my opinion. I don't believe that either one would want to harm us, but it's nice to keep in touch with these sorts of things – thought Tsunade, until she heard the noise of her intercom buzzing.

"Tsunade-sama, I've already sent the message to Black Wolf and Dog, they are sure to appear any time now" – Said Shizune, but before Tsunade pressed the button to respond, she saw two different Shunshin techniques in front of her, before Naruto and Kakashi appeared in front of her, however she had the decency to sigh in dismay upon seeing the Dog Masked Anbu reading that pervert's book.

"Kakashi, seriously I thought you'd drop this book once and for all?" – Asked Tsunade, before seeing Kakashi taking his face or rather his mask off the book and close it before placing it inside his kunai pouch.

"My apologies Hokage-sama, I just needed to do some catching up that's all" – Said Kakashi, though Naruto sighing in dismay at his sensei's answer spoke for her as well, so she dismissed and began the briefing.

===In Amegakure===

Sitting on top of the highest building in Amegakure, Pein was downright furious at his predicament. It began with the Sanbi's escape from the Statue and then Zetsu's disappearance. The organization leader tried using the astral-projection technique to call for Zetsu wherever the man was, but for some reason, Pein couldn't feel his presence and he now wondered if the man found the three tailed demon. There is a possibility that Sanbi managed to defeat Zetsu before he had the opportunity to track the monster or a third party came in and defeated him, which to Pein, was highly unlikely.

Zetsu was more of a tracker, then a fighter but even so, he was considered an S ranked missing-nin from Kusa and as such, he wouldn't be finished by just any one without even communicating with his leader. Now, with Zetsu gone, Pein could only count with Itachi and Tobi (Madara in disguise). Itachi was sent to retrieve the Hachibi, but so far, the man didn't send him any information about his whereabouts, which also infuriated Pein to his very core. The technique responsible for capturing the last tailed demons required at least two new sources of chakra aside from the still alive members, meaning that he would have to recruit once more. Also, there is the fact of capturing the tailed demons, since both the Hachibi and the Kyuubi are nowhere in sight. He then concluded in reaching Itachi to see about his whereabouts, so he focused on the ram seal for the inner projection technique and reach Itachi.

However, after consecutive tries, he had nothing just like Zetsu.

Pein was beginning to be suspicious about everything; both Zetsu and Itachi vanished from out of nowhere. Snarling, Pein got up from the statue and set out for a new objective. He would investigate the reasons for Itachi's disappearance and get to the bottom of this mess.

===With Orochimaru===

Looking at Kabuto's corpse, Orochimaru couldn't help but laugh in excitement because of his final achievement. Since Kabuto was dead, Orochimaru didn't need to worry about the after effects of the cursed seal level three. After bringing Kabuto back from the dead with his Edo Tensei jutsu, Orochimaru activated his new cursed seal on his body in order to see the results of the experiment. To his surprise and delight, Kabuto managed to use the third level of the cursed seal perfectly. Whether or not it worked because of his regenerative abilities, the snake Sannin didn't know, but the fact remained that Orochimaru did succeed to create the perfect soldier to do his deeds and for the final kidnapping of Sasuke Uchiha, so that Orochimaru could finally get the Sharingan.

As he looked, he noticed that Kabuto was just opening his eyes and facing his master with that creepy smile on his face.

"Orochimaru-sama, how may I assist you?" – Asked the four eyes zombie, earning a snicker from Orochimaru.

"Your first order Kabuto, will be to eliminate the Kyuubi brat once and for all. If I want Sasuke here, that brat will have to be dealt with at once" – Ordered Orochimaru, earning a nod from Kabuto as he adjusted his glasses, before he heard Orochimaru speak again. "The only problem is that not one of my sources can locate him inside Konoha, which means that you'll have to find him yourself".

"I won't return until I find him and kill him" – Said Kabuto before he left the premises, towards finding his target, while listening to Orochimaru's never ending evil laughter echoing through the hallway.

===With Naruto and Kakashi===

After a day of traveling, Naruto and Kakashi were now hidden behind the dense woodland that happened to protect the very village they were going to. Their mission was simple, yet not at the same time. Kakashi explained to Naruto the difference between subduing an enemy and killing an enemy and to tell the truth, Naruto didn't like it one bit. Subduing the enemy meant that he would have to hold back on his techniques so that he doesn't kill him, but the enemy won't have any problem to go all out on Naruto, which meant the blond was in heavy disadvantage.

Not to mention that Tsunade explained that Kakashi was only here for precautions and that only he would engage the enemy in combat. When being asked if there was a problem, he said nothing. But the fact remained that this was the first time he'd have to hold back against an enemy and any mistake could prove to be fatal.

"This is bullshit" – Snarled Naruto for no one to hear, but apparently, Kakashi sighed in dismay before turning to his now impetuous student.

"Calm down Naruto, this isn't the first time that a ninja is ordered to subdue an enemy. They are times when killing an enemy can lead to dangerous consequences, so it's in our best interest to avoid it. Now, can you sense some heavy chakra on this whereabouts?" – Asked Kakashi, earning a nod from Naruto.

"Yes, I can. It's weak, but he's probably far from us right now, considering that the request was legit" – Explained Naruto to which Kakashi nodded and focused on his senses for a while, before drawing the same conclusion as his student.

"Be careful, though. We don't know about his chakra control, he could be disguising it well" – Advised Kakashi, before the two Anbus proceeded with care throughout the foliage. Actually, Kakashi already knew that the guy was waiting for them, while crouched behind a big rock, but he would let Naruto acknowledge the man's presence and engage him in battle.

Naruto for his turn was going straight for the rock basing purely on his instinct. Suddenly, he felt a rise in temperature, before his instincts told him to jump to which he obeyed. He realized, after one second, that his instincts proved to be correct seeing as a huge fireball smashed the rock into tiny pieces and would have hit him head on, if he remained in the same direction.

After the smoke subsided, a sudden shape appeared before his appearance could be seen one hundred percent. The Kumo slashed insignia was evident on the man's forehead and his really spiked blond hair added by the mad smile on his face, gave every indication of a total lunatic, just wanting to torch everything. Still, seeing a Kumo shinobi with the ability of using Katon Ninjutsu like this was new, which proved to be quite troublesome to Naruto since he didn't exactly use his second affinity much, rather adapting his fighting style to Fuuton and Raiton techniques.

"So, it appears that the people of this pitiful village managed to reach Konoha's ears. I'm flattered that those dogs would send a couple of their puppy Anbus after me. Let's make this quick, I have the whole village to burn" – Said the man, before falling on a fighting stance. Naruto followed suit, though he realized that his opponent not once tried to shorten the distance between them, meaning that he plans to attack him with long range attacks.

"I hate to be a spoilsport on your hobby of burning villages, but I'm afraid you must come with us, willingly or unwillingly, it's your choice" – Said Naruto, before focusing chakra to his feet and charging his opponent, who in turn did some hand seals and exhaled a number of medium sized fireballs in hopes of hitting the black masked Anbu, but Naruto saw those and dodged them easily, while shortening the distance between one another. However, as soon as he was inches away from the opponent, he saw the man doing another set of hand seals, before slamming his hands on the ground for Doton Doryuu Jouheki (Earth Release: Earth Rampart Jutsu). Just as Naruto did a back flip, the earth in front of him started to lift, thus protecting the missing-nin, surprising Naruto.

"Man, Katon and Doton, wonder if he has also Raiton attacks up his sleeve" – Snorted Naruto while focusing on hidden attacks out of nowhere. He was not disappointed, as a great number of shurikens were sent flying from different directions straight at him. Naruto snorted, because the man didn't pinpoint his location from the attack, but Naruto dodged the incoming shuriken, before jumping up the new terrain that was created, before he saw a stream of fire coming straight at him, before he realized what happened. Doing a sequence of hand seals for Suiton Suijinheki (Water Release: Water Barrier Jutsu), Naruto jumped backwards as a water stream protected him, while he verified the man's position, but so far nothing.

Far from the fight, Kakashi was seeing everything with his Sharingan and noticed the position of the enemy, but he knew why Naruto was having a difficult time. From what he could tell, after using a technique, the missing-nin would change his position, while Naruto is defending from his attacks. Right now, he saw Naruto's water barrier protecting him, before the blond fell behind the landscape created by the enemy.

Smart move Naruto, now let's see if you can use it to your advantage - Thought Kakashi as he saw Naruto hiding behind it to assess his situation.

Back to Naruto, he assessed the situation and came up with a plan to at least pinpoint the man's location. Moving his hands to form a familiar position and immediately four Narutos appeared to his side. Suddenly, all four of them but the original one vanished, as they moved to attack the enemy. Almost two minutes later, Naruto received memories of the enemy a couple of meters to his right. The third memory showed him the same distance but to the north direction. The last one showed the enemy on the left direction, so if the pardon stays the same than the next attack will be…

Fuuton Daitoppa (Wind Release: Great Breakthrough Jutsu) – Said Naruto as he aimed his attack to the direction where the missing-nin was and smirked when he heard a couple of screams, before the man was propelled a couple of meters away, before adjusting his body so as fall on his feet, nevertheless, the innumerous number of cuts on his body proved that he shouldn't take this Anbu too lightly. However, he didn't count for the Anbu to appear right in front of him.

"You do have a lot of chakra to do a lot of techniques, but I'm not going to lose you out of my sight" – Said Naruto, before he charged straight at the enemy aiming for a punch at the man's jaw, only for it to be dodged, before Naruto saw him disappear inside the ground.

So, that's how he managed to switch position so quick - Thought Naruto as he focused chakra to his feet and increased his speed to impossible heights as he focused on the chakra usage to pinpoint his location. The enemy appeared behind a little tree, but not able to escape Naruto's grasp as he appeared with sparkling hands before landing it on the man's chest, thus sending thousand bolts of lightning into the man's core. The man couldn't even scream from the amount of pain, before he passed out. Seconds later, Kakashi appeared and placed two fingers on his neck to check a pulse and he managed to find one.

"Well Naruto, it appears you made it. Although sending a high charge of electricity is heavily unadvisable. I'm guessing that since he came from Kumo that he was used to being shocked. Now seal the man's body into one of the body storage seals and then we will leave" – Said Kakashi before Naruto nodded and sealed the man, before getting up and looking at Kakashi.

"Sensei, I was wondering about the reason behind this mission" – Said Naruto to which Kakashi nodded, though if the mask wasn't there, he would've smiled at his student. Indeed, Naruto should've realized that he was being tested, but for what reason still remained unidentified. "Why would the Hokage send us here and only place me as the one fighting the enemy? What was your purpose on this mission?" – Asked Naruto. Kakashi for instance, smiled once more, but he could not answer Naruto's question, at least not right now.

"I was sent here as a backup Naruto just in case you couldn't manage to subdue the guy without killing him, now let's go back to the village" – Said Kakashi to which Naruto nodded, before he followed Kakashi towards the village.

Just as the two left a couple of trees, the pair moved fast to evade a great number of incoming shurikens that would impale every inch of their skin. After they landed on the ground, in front of them was the enemy. With the Sharingan, Kakashi was assessing the stranger who attacked them, before he grow paled.

No way, I killed him personally, how can he be alive? – Thought Kakashi

"Good to see you Kakashi, It's been a long time since you used that eye on me, hasn't it?" – Asked Kabuto as he showed his face, earning gasps from both Naruto and Kakashi.