A Little Change Of Plans

After Naruto settled his way with Asuma, he was flying to the Anbu Hq in record time and Ace had just reached up to him. At the Uchiha compound, Sasuke was cursing his luck. It has been a year since Naruto almost killed him with his wind shuriken jutsu and he still had scars around his chest. Sasuke was pissed by the fact that Naruto beat him, even though he was on his curse seal level two, he was remembering that little chopper jutsu of Naruto's, dragging him to the center of the slicing tornado and he couldn't move, when Naruto landed the strike, he was cut so badly, he thought he was going to die, but something was not right with the Naruto he thought, he couldn't see the dead last, the always smiling person, it was like someone else.

One week after he was saved by Tsunade, Sakura wanted to punish Naruto for trying to kill her Sasuke-kun, and he was angry towards Sakura, because even though Sasuke saw Naruto as his rival, he also saw him as the only one who could understand his pain, he was the only one that could save him from the delusional power of Orochimaru. But Sasuke couldn't find the blonde, anywhere, it seemed like he vanished from Konoha. He went to talk to Tsunade about where was Naruto and all she said is that Naruto was no longer a part of Konoha's normal shinobi program.

Tsunade decided not to punish Sasuke in a severe way, even though he didn't come back by his own will. It was Naruto who nearly killed him and brought him back. Sasuke eventually changed to chunnin right after his return and now was listed with a new team of chunnins under the tutelage of a jounin named Yamashiro Aoba. Tsunade made Sasuke swear on the Uchiha's name that he would no longer run away and he said to her that since Naruto became so strong, he thought about it and realized that the village could be strong after all. When the answer came, Sasuke was taken aback. "Uchiha, sure the village raises damn strong shinobis, but Naruto trained on his own to get where he is now, after he discovered his affinities, all he did for a while was going to the library and to the training ground to train until exhaustion appeared."

After a while, Sasuke convinced Anko to help him control the curse seal up to the point that he with the help of a fuuinjutsu casted by Kakashi, the only thing he needed to do was keep his emotions in check, when in a mission. Nowadays, he was living a normal shinobi life in Konoha, doing some missions and training his raiton and katon affinity. Sakura couldn't leave him alone from more than ten minutes and this was starting to piss him off to no end. He never liked her; he still remembered team 7 and her asking him for a date countless times. Sure Sasuke intended to revive his clan at all costs, but he should as well find someone who liked him as well as he liked her. Also it had to be a strong kunoichi.

Right now, he was at the Uchiha main garden, just staring at the sky when his sharingan eyes caught two signatures coming his way really fast. When they passed flying through his yard, all that Sasuke could see was a Black Masked Anbu and a big wolf with a leaf hitai-ate. Even though the Anbu was blond, Sasuke dismissed the idea of Naruto entering Anbu, but then again what Tsunade told him, would have made sense, normal shinobi program would be genins, chunnins and jounins but Anbu were special, they were a part of military and….He couldn't believe that Naruto joined the Anbu, just how strong hid he became and how fast are he now. Sasuke somewhat couldn't figure out how Naruto improved in a short period of time, but little did he know that the Naruto he knew, would never appear again, since that one was an emotional mask, in order to call attention to him.

Sasuke, due to his pride, couldn't afford to lose to the once 'dead last' Naruto, but something was different between Anbu Naruto and his teammate back when they were Team 7. First, was the fact that his eyes never bothered to look down and notice Sasuke, which would normally enrage him, since he didn't like being ignored, second was that wolf next to him, Sasuke was wondering if the wolf was Naruto's summon or some sort of partner like Kiba's Akamaru.

"What happened to you, dobe? Just who are you and where is that idiot, who kept screwing everything up?" – All these thoughts kept circulating his mind like chakra inside of a Rasengan, worst was that Sasuke couldn't come up with an answer to these questions, he wanted them answered so to see how he became strong like he did. Sasuke was thinking about to whom he could ask about Naruto when suddenly he remembered about Team 7's sensei, Hatake Kakashi. Just when he was about to leave the compound, a pink haired chunnin appeared, being a pain in the ass (Sasuke's line of thinking).

"Hi, Sasuke-kun? Want to have lunch with me?" – Asked Sakura, genuinely oblivious to the fact that Sasuke preferred to be on the end of Itachi's mangenkyou tsukyomi than actually saying yes to a date with her. "No, Sakura, I'm busy at the moment." – Sasuke just didn't want to talk with her, he was two steps of putting some senses into her mind, in a way that she stopped talking to him like wanting to go out with him, he didn't like her. Although Sakura was a persistent woman. "Why don't you go out with me, Sasuke-kun, I'm buying?" – Pleaded Sakura, enraging Sasuke to his very soul, but since Anko and Kakashi practically drilled on his head to control his emotions, so he had to cut this short. "Sakura, I'm asking you, please, stop pursuing me all over the place, go find someone else, I can't stand you asking me again, would you?" – Asked Sasuke trying to sound as normal as he could, before seeing Sakura look towards the ground in shame and walk away.

After that, Sasuke went to search Kakashi. He went to his home, but couldn't find him. He went to the book store where his old sensei's perverted mind would normally lead him to, but nothing. After quitting the search, Sasuke caught a glimpse of his old sensei just passing by with Sasuke's new sensei Aoba and they were gossiping a little bit, remembering old times. Out of the blur, Sasuke in a chunnin outfit, appeared, starting a conversation with the two jounins.

"Kakashi, I need to ask you about Naruto." – Asked Sasuke, making the lazy jounin divert his look and gauge Sasuke's intention for wanting to hear about Naruto. "Ahh, Sasuke, what do you want to know about Naruto?" – Kakashi answered, already suspicious of his old student's intentions. Aoba for his part was pondering on who the hell was this guy Sasuke was talking about. "Naruto? Tell me, Sasuke, who is this Naruto?"

"Uzumaki Naruto, Aoba-sensei." – Answered Sasuke, shifting his eyes towards his new sensei and then shifted back to his old sensei in search for answers. "Why you want to know Sasuke, oh and most important. Why now?" – Asked Kakashi while trying to see his old student's intentions. "I think I saw him flying by my house today with a wolf on his side and he was wearing an Anbu uniform, tell me what happened to him?" – Asked Sasuke, not telling the entire truth, since he didn't know that it was Naruto or not.

"Humpf, okay, then, I'll tell about Naruto for the two of you, but Sasuke I assure you that the Naruto you meet, wasn't the real one. You see, before he left Konoha in order to train with Jiraya-sama, his face and attitudes were what you can call an emotional mask, a cover-up of himself. Naruto was alone his entire life and wanted to call some attention to himself. Seeing that no one gave him what he looked for, his mask was taken off and the true one appeared. Now, determined as he is, he vowed to train to exhaustion, in order to grow in the paths of a shinobi and be of service to Konoha and his precious people, I can tell you guys that he is already jounin level according to a friend of mine in Anbu and I can very well guarantee that his techniques improved to a whole new level. The reason why he joined Anbu, well, no one can answer him other than himself, I'm afraid." – Said Kakashi, just waiting for them to sink the new information.

Sasuke for his part smirked knowing that he knew about Naruto's mask but he paid no attention to it, since he wasn't fund of the idea of hiding his abilities. But now that Sasuke was back in Konoha, he would find his way just like the 'dobe' did. He was thinking among the lines of a hunter-nin, since he would have the freedom and be able to revive his clan when the time was right. But he thought now that he knew next to nothing about this new Naruto, since he already knew him with the mask on. "So, if you could point some characteristics similar between the old and the new Naruto, what would that be?" – Asked Sasuke, though Kakashi already tried to ask that question himself but to no avail. "I can't do that, since I can't think of any, now excuse me, guys, but I have some things to take care of." With that said, Kakashi vanished with that smile of his, leaving Aoba and Sasuke, wondering about Naruto's little history.

-At team 8's training ground-

Kurenai was jumping from rooftops to rooftops, hoping to arrive not so late, but her thoughts were directed to her beloved blond. She couldn't stop thinking about the way he looked at her eyes, like he owned everything. In fact, that look of his was what turned her on the most. Kurenai was the submissive kind of woman, so her ideal men would be a dominant type and so far Naruto's look was enough for her to literally melt on his couch. Kurenai described it as a mix of deep blue with feral yellow eyes, something she never saw before and it was so damn hot. She was wondering how he could show such purity in his deep blue eyes and then display such feral yellow eyes, just like a night wolf. She felt slight pity for his enemies, but she never felt his killing intent before, not that she wanted to any time soon. Just by remembering his look, made her crumble inside, but she shook it off, in order to arrive at the training ground. She was just hoping to see it again on their date tonight. 'Oh my god, I hope neither of us has any missions, I'd really like to go out with him again'.

After 20 minutes late, she arrived at Team 8's training ground, only to see Kiba and Shino doing some spar and Hinata watching the two of them. "Gomenasai (sorry) everyone, I see you guys are already training a little bit." – Said Kurenai, smiling while scratching her head hoping for an excuse to appear. "Kurenai-sensei, you're late, you're never late" – Asked Kiba, smelling something wrong in the air, which if he were somewhat older or at least had found a girl to be with, couldn't know that Kurenai was in fact releasing some pheromones in anticipation to her date with Naruto. "Oh, I met an acquaintance of mine and I lost track of time a little bit, don't worry about it." – Said Kurenai, hoping to full her students a little bit, she didn't want them to know that she was slightly aroused at her night with the blonde Anbu. "Oh, okay, come on Shino, let's continue." – Said Kiba, receiving a nod from Shino who by the way knew about Kurenai's pheromones from his kikai bugs.

Hinata for her part smirked knowing about Kurenai and the black masked Anbu, deciding to tease her sensei while also hoping on some story as well. "So, Kurenai-sensei, tell me how was it?" – Asked Hinata, seeing some blush appearing on her face. "W-What do you mean, Hinata?" – Asked Kurenai, though she couldn't keep off the blushing any longer. Quite the contrary, as she was relieving the images, she had to cast a quick genjutsu to hide her blood blushed face from everyone who could conclude easily what happened. "Kurenai-sensei, I may be young but I know that face expression anywhere." – Said Hinata, earning a sigh from her sensei. "Is it that obvious?"

"You don't need to hide, Kurenai-sensei, it's all right, he grew so much these days that none of us would be able to recognize him anymore. In fact, I believe no one ever knew him, if what you said about his emotional mask the entire time. I bet not even Iruka-sensei and his old teammates knew him" – Said Hinata, receiving nods from her sensei, who was thinking among the same lines and also thinking about who would know the real him, other than her. Well, Jiraya-sama got to see the real him on their training trip, Kakashi seem to know him quite well and his Anbu team seem to like him as well. According to Yuugao-chan, her Anbu captain had taken a liking to Naruto, even up to Hawk as they call him, make a rivalry of Naruto. "That's for sure, okay, enough talk Hinata, let's begin practice.

-At Anbu Headquarters-

After the completion of Squad three's mission, they returned to the Anbu Hq, and Naruto received a communication saying that Tsunade-sama knew about the little explosion on the haunted mansion and wanted him to fulfill another mission.

Now thinking about it, Tsunade-sama never called him like that before, whenever she wanted a mission of his squad, the Anbu chief would call them all together. Maybe it was a solo mission or a co-op mission with a jounin or a chunnin group. Naruto dismissed his thoughts, so not to get disappointed of what Tsunade wanted to say to him, but deep inside he wanted to spend some time with Kurenai, since they were going on a date tonight.

-At Tsunade's office-

Tsunade was discussing some important aspects with the Anbu chief, when black wolf shunshined to her office, with some breeze to alert them of his presence. Needless to say that the 'low' breeze ended up blowing all the paperwork scattered to the ground, earning grumbles from Tsunade who had Shizune helping her to gather the paperwork and now they had to do it again. The Anbu chief sweat dropped at seeing a vein pop out of Tsunade's face, showing some clear bottled up anger. "Was that necessary, Black Wolf?" – Asked the Anbu chief, watching Tsunade's eyes twitch of slight anger. "My apologies, Tsunade-sama, Tenzou-sama (He became the Anbu chief after some time), I just did that so you can be aware of my presence."

"Forget about it Black Wolf, we have a mission of great importance you'll be performing along with an elite jounin. In fact, she was just contacted twenty minutes ago, so she should be arriving soon. This will be an A ranked mission. You along with your co-partner will retrieve an S ranked document made by Jiraya, the toad sannin, this document is a reconnaissance and gathering information on Iwa and its meetings with Kumo. According to his message, he suspects an alliance between these two villages and since we had some mishaps with Kumo the next few days, it's safe to say that this document is of high importance. Now the reason you were called, actually it was two. First, Jiraya requested your presence and second is there is a high possibility that enemy ninjas would try to put their hands on the document. Any questions?"

"Actually, I have two. Why Yamato is here and what are my partner's abilities?" – Naruto was never known for extreme formalities and he was not so thrilled to know that he wouldn't be able to go on a date with Kurenai, but mission is a mission, so she would understand, but there wasn't reason for him not to curse his luck at this situation. But before they could answer Black Wolf's question, his partner showed up, reporting for duty.

Kurenai was cursing her luck as well as Naruto for having to go on this mission, but little did she know that their date would have to be somewhere else. Actually, Kurenai was to be Black Wolf's partner on this mission and Tsunade was smiling inside. "Before we ask these questions, Black Wolf, I like to introduce your partner on this mission; she is an elite jounin, expert in genjutsu and high level reconnaissance and information gathering missions, Yuhhi Kurenai." – Actually Tsunade knew they got back together, so she planned this from the beginning, not Jiraya wanting Naruto to be on this mission part, but his partner she could fix it.

Naruto inside his mask exchanged looks with his lover for a minute, before showing a small grin behind his mask. It seemed that it wouldn't be like he thought it would be and their date was going to happen after all, but it would have to be outside of Konoha's borders and in the middle of a mission. Kurenai was thinking the exact same thing, she was at first cursing Tsunade for ruining her date with Naruto, but now that she was on a mission with him, things would be much better. Now, since Naruto didn't want to show that she was his girlfriend, he decided to introduce himself in a polite and emotionless manner, hoping that she would see the underneath of his tone.

"Pleasure to meet you, Yuhhi-san, we will be teamed on this mission, Tsunade-sama was just briefing me on it." – Greeted Naruto, receiving a nod from the jounin. "The pleasure is all mine, Anbu-san." – Kurenai wasn't jounin for nothing and she was able to see what Naruto intended when he approached to her in a formal manner.

"As I was saying to Black Wolf here, your mission is to retrieve an S ranked document from Jiraya, this map here will pinpoint his location and the rendezvous point, any communications with you and him will be through Black Wolf here, since he and Jiraya worked together once and established a secure line of communication with each other. You are to leave in four hours from now and are scheduled to arrive at the location at noon tomorrow."

"As to your questions, Black Wolf, the reason I'm here is to discuss with Tsunade-sama about your jounin test that you'll be qualified to take, after the completion of this mission and your partner's abilities, well, Tsunade-sama has already briefed you when she arrived." – Said Tenzou, perching Naruto and Kurenai's interest because of their conversation the previous day. "Ok, then." – Said Naruto as he and Kurenai vanished and appeared on top of the Hokage's tower. "It seems that our luck improved, Naru-kun, I was just about to curse the whole world, because of our date, but now I'm going on a mission with the legendary 'Black Wolf of Konoha' and my boyfriend." – Said Kurenai, smiling towards the blonde who said among the same lines regarding Kurenai and her 'genjutsu mistress' title.

Then Naruto and Kurenai went each for their apartments for packing. Naruto being an Anbu was kind of ready for any type of mission as he packed his stuff inside a storage scroll. Kurenai for her part needed to pack, since she still had a team, even though they were all chunnin level ninja. Three hours later, both of them met at the dango shop for a light lunch and then head up for their mission together.

-At the Dango restaurant-

As they entered the restaurant, both of them got to see Anko eating dangos like crazy and pouring sake like a maniac. Upon seeing that, both of them sighed. Kurenai since she very well knew that Anko could be like that and Naruto for his part was confirm his suspicions about the snake mistress. "Hello, Anko-chan, what're you up to?" – Asked Kurenai, earning the woman's attention and devious smirking. "Hello, Kurenai-ch.., who is your Anbu friend?" – Said Anko as she was checking the man out head to toe, much to Kurenai's displeasure. "Oh, this is Black Wolf, we are going on a mission together." – Kurenai winked to Anko, letting her know just who Black Wolf was, much to Naruto's dismay, he appreciated his identity hidden and he saw that Kurenai's friend Anko was a former Anbu black ops of assassination squad, therefore her reputation was well-known throughout Anbu Hq. Suddenly Naruto's prank side got the best of him and used a seal-less henge, changing his face appearance to test these two.

"It is nice seeing you again, Anko-san, how have you been?" – Asked Naruto, keeping as stoic as before. "Ok, black wolf, let's go to the table on the back, so you can take away your mask and eat with us. – Said Anko to which Kurenai was worried for her boyfriend's identity. "Anko-chan, I don't think that is wise idea, I…" – Began to open her mouth but was stopped by Naruto. "Do not worry about my identity, Kurenai-san, let's go."

When they arrived at their table, Anko was eager to see Naruto's face, since she wanted to see her friend's lover. When Black wolf took away his mask, Anko was confused at first. On Kurenai's part, she was studying her lover's complex henge for a bit as well as giving some time for Anko to recognize it. "Honey, please drop the henge, I don't think that Anko can see through that double-layered henge." – Kurenai said, much to the surprise of her friend. She didn't think Naruto would be so proficient at illusion techniques.

"Hehehe. Kurenai-chan, I should've figured you wouldn't fall for the henge, since you already knew it was me but I managed to work your knowledge a little bit, didn't I?" – Said Naruto dropping the henge and showing his face to Anko. Anko was blushing at his looks like she wasn't in a long time, she haven't seen him in a long time and his face resembled the face of a man and a very handsome one, she wondered. From inside, she was cursing Kurenai with all her might, because of the fact that she took him all for herself. Sure he was only 16 but when Anko saw his eyes, she immediately raised his age to at least 25-28. Until now, Anko had been skeptical when Kurenai told her about how his eyes gave him more experience than his actual age, but now she could see why he was known as Konoha's black wolf, those eyes, even though the yellow feral grin wasn't easily noticeable, it was there and she could see it.

For Kurenai it came to a surprise that Anko would drool like that for Naruto, but then again he was handsome as hell. She was actually worried that he could get a fan-girl club in Konoha and she would receive death glares from them, since she was his girlfriend and everything. Now come to think about it, she was glad that Naruto was an Anbu, since they would wear a mask hiding his face from everyone. Now back to seeing her friend drooling over her boyfriend, a little piece of jealousy rushed her mind and decided to poke her friend a little bit.

"Anko-chan, would you please stop drooling over my boyfriend, I'm right here, you know?"

"'What, oh I'm sorry Kurenai-chan, it's just that I didn't expect him to grow this much, that's all." – Said Anko, lying out on the open to both of them, she was sizing him up and just appreciating the view of such a man. "It's ok, Anko-san, I didn't expect to change this much as well, you see when I decided to change, I would figure that being an Anbu, I would see many bad things, as I heard from Kakashi-sensei, but eventually I realized that in order to become stronger and more experienced in the battle field, the mission and my teammates was all that mattered, so I acquired a great deal of experience being an Anbu and talking to Ace." – Said Naruto, noticing that Anko didn't stop drooling over him, much to Kurenai's dismay and Naruto was beginning to think about doing something to prevent an eventual catfight between the two of them.

"Ah! Naruto, who is Ace, you've never mentioned him to me, who is he?" – Kurenai actually had a feeling she knew who Ace was, but she wanted to be sure of it. "Ace is my personal summon and partner on missions, well, he is a scarred black wolf who came from the mountains of Wind Country." – Said Naruto, earning some more questions. "Oh I see so only you can summon him, then, but why do I usually see your partner along with you even inside the village?" – Actually Kurenai wanted to ask just what she and Hinata were chatting before, was he is a summon or a partner like Akamaru, but Naruto already knew he would have to introduce Ace to Kurenai, but thought about how tough would be for him to get acquainted with anyone other than him and that only happened since Naruto knew better than anyone, Ace's situation, since he is a lone wolf, even though he now has Kurenai.

"To answer your question Kurenai-chan, he is a summon but he stays by my side like Akamaru does with Kiba, since he doesn't have anywhere to be, so he stays with me and the reason I summon him inside the village is the fact that he is the only one who understand my 'lonely situation' – Said Naruto, now showing his deep cerulean eyes that showed them just how much he suffered through his life, since he didn't have much people who liked him or wanted to be with him, except for Kurenai and Kakashi. "What do you mean 'lonely situation'?" – Asked Anko, beating Kurenai since she was about to ask that as well, but she only sighed and looked at her boyfriend with explanations. She was intrigued by the way Naruto said, showing such sadness in his eyes.

"Oh, don't get me wrong, Kurenai-chan, Anko-san, I love Kurenai-chan so much and I couldn't be happier just to be with her, but both of you know that because of my 'burden', I pretty much have to fight it all by myself. As you both know, never in my life I was wanted or liked by anyone, other than you Kurenai-chan, the third Hokage, Kakashi-sensei, Jiraya-sensei and the Godaime. Ace came to me once, while I was on a mission and he saw in my eyes the ferocity as well as the loneliness that he as well had. So we bounded easily and he agreed to stay with me." – Said Naruto with a small grin on his face at seeing the eyes of the two girls wide with little tears (Kurenai more than Anko, since Anko's situation was similar but not to that length and Kurenai being his boyfriend). He wasn't sad by any of it, since he long ago surpassed it, but scars remains on the soul, even though that damage was entirely healed. Kurenai and Anko could see it. They now knew just how since he was born, he was controlling the one who most likely destroyed half of Konoha inside of him and keeping it from getting out.

"N-Naruto, I'm sorry, I didn't know you were like this growing up, I can't begin to imagine what it must have been to you. And from the events that came before your entrance to Anbu, now it's no surprise as to why you changed so much, you had every right to just abandon everything." – Said Kurenai, now understanding her boyfriend's painful life and the fact he came all this way, it was astonishing to watch.

"It's okay, Kurenai-chan, I surpassed it, but you know, scars do not only stay on your skin but on your soul as well, but as every pain, mine will vanish within time, I have no regrets of my decisions so far and I have true companions in my life and that's more than I can ask for. You see one of the reasons I joined Anbu and I think that no one knows about it, but Ace, is that I wanted to leave whatever bad happened to me behind and being Anbu was indeed helpful for it. With missions after missions, I was beginning to let go of that past of mine and focus on the present."

"So Kurenai-chan, you got yourself one hell of a guy, I have to say though, I didn't expect you to be like this at all, Naruto-kun. When I saw you at the Chunnin exams that time, you're very much an annoying brat who keep saying meaningless things like wanting to become Hokage and everything, but by taking a look at you, I now see you've grown exponentially." – Saying Anko, earning a proud smile from Kurenai and a strange foxy grin from Naruto, which worried her a little bit.

"Oh, that wasn't me Anko-san, you see back there, I was like that only to drive attention for myself, so as trying to compensate for the fact that I didn't have any of that back then. That's why I presume is very difficult to try and compare me now with the one back then, but believe you me when I say that the hokage position isn't my dream, which in fact it never was." - Said Naruto to which Anko nodded. Anko indeed was trying to compare, but like Naruto said, she was having difficulties, apart from the yellow hair and the whisker marks, he was completely different. Even his eyes were now different, which according to Anko, wouldn't ever change, but it did. His blue eyes now resembled a dark blue, instead of the clear blue ones he had as a child and his eyes every now and again would change to pure yellow feral grin, when he displayed his killing intent technique. "Kurenai-chan, we should be going, it's almost time."

"Right, we are going, Anko-chan see you around and take care. As she said goodbye to the couple, Anko remained inside the restaurant lost in wonders, wonders about the couple that was in front of her. She was remembering how down Kurenai was before and now she seemed happier than ever, as if they went back together. As to Naruto, she didn't know what to think of him, she didn't know that a person could change so much and yet in front of her was the blond who a few years back, was a pain in the ass, now is an Anbu and quite a good one, from what she heard of the Black Wolf of Konoha through Yuugao. Add the fact that he melted the heart of the Ice queen of Konoha, which no one could do before.

-Outside Konoha's walls-

Right now, Kurenai and Black Wolf were jumping from tree logs, like they were on the ground. They were heading for the rendezvous point where they would meet with the toad sannin near the border between the Fire Country and Rice country. Naruto now with his mask on was travelling along with his girlfriend Kurenai, who by the way was looking intently at her now masked boyfriend. She was remembering the first time she saw him wearing the mask when he rescued Team 8 along with Yuugao.

They were travelling for a good three hours, before the full moon appeared, showing some stars on the sky. Seeing this, Naruto AKA Black Wolf made a sign for her to go down to the ground and rest until tomorrow. Once they stopped, Naruto's kage bunshins prepared the location, making the tent and starting some fire for them to stay. Once that done, the kage bunshin went to different directions along the jungle for guard duty, since they could warn Naruto of possible threats, covering more ground than if one ninja would keep watch. When they entered the tent, Kurenai saw Naruto take off his mask and didn't lose the opportunity.

She kissed him, throwing him to the ground while landing on top of him. A few minutes later, they broke the kiss only for a quick break, then after some time, they started all over again, being certain that each of them was moaning sounds of pleasure through their mouths. "So do you think your kage bunshins will protect us, Naruto-kun, this area can be quite dangerous, and possibly packed with enemies." – Asked Kurenai, just waiting for a clear signal for her to launch in his neck and start licking it.

"Do not worry, Kurenai-hime, I've already performed co-op strategies with the kage bunshins, so they should be all right, after all when one is dispelled, his memory comes to me, so I can figure out that an enemy is close." – Answered Naruto, taking off his Anbu vest and his mask as well as putting them near, so that he can be comfortable alongside his lover. "Oh, in that case, I wouldn't mind falling asleep on your chest, Naru-kun" – Whispered Kurenai, passing her fingers throughout his chest.

-A few miles away, close to the rendezvous point-

A few miles away from Naruto and Kurenai's tent, eight kumo jounins were waiting for Konoha's Anbu Black Wolf to come and meet Jiraya, and fall for the ambush they prepared. It was a work of right by one of the kumo shinobis and they fooled Konoha, by falsifying the Sannin's signature, informing them to send Anbu Black Wolf here to meet the Toad Sannin. They would just surround the black masked Anbu, since according to their intel, he came pretty much alone, which meant that the odds would be against the black masked Anbu.

Kumo already placed the Black Wolf Konoha ANBU as a B-rank shinobi on their bingo book and that represented order to kill on sight. Seeing that Kumo had already lost 20 high-ranked shinobis to the masked Anbu, he sent a small army of mid-level jounin so to deal with the new threat, by killing him and sending his head to Konoha sending a clear message to not mess with Kumo. Yeah, Naruto was quite famous around Kumo's shinobi, since everyone from rank chunnin or above, was aware of Black Wolf's ability in taijutsu, ninjutsu, genjutsu and kenjutsu and frankly no one wanted to take him alone, well, most chunnin and low-level jounin. The rest were too stubborn to realize that they weren't strong enough to deal with him.

-The next day-

On the next day, Black Wolf and Kurenai were travelling faster now in order to reach the rendezvous point, but Naruto was worried, since normally either Gamakichi or Gamatatsu would appear and say that Jiraya would be meeting with them. Now thinking, Naruto was expecting one toad summon quite a while ago and the latter hadn't come yet, worrying him to any sort of traps being planned by enemy shinobi. Even if Konoha had a bullet proof document analysis system, if the enemy were to possess knowledge in fuuinjutsu, Konoha would be easily fooled and send him in a suicide mission by mistake. Knowing that was better not to gamble the mission, one for Konoha and two for Kurenai, he immediately summoned two kage bunshins and henged them into Kurenai and himself. The reason was to send the kage bunshins, not only fooling the enemy, but also learning their position and where to strike.

Kurenai, upon seeing the technique, were interested as to what Naruto was thinking. "Nar..Black Wolf, why the kage bunshins were henged into us?" – Asked Kurenai, seeing the serious face on his boyfriend's face expression. "Something's off, Kurenai-hime, if Jiraya were to wait for us, by now, he should have sent a toad summon to locate us and brief his precise location…I don't know something is not right…These two will scout the area out for us, we are approximately ten miles near the supposed rendezvous point, if my guess is correct, my henged kage bunshins are going to be surrounded by enemy ninjas." – Explained Naruto, worrying his girlfriend.

"Are you sure, Black Wolf? I mean if what you're saying is true, then the letter sent by Jiraya was…"

"False? Yeah, even though Konoha's system is almost 100 effective, a fuuinjutsu seal could alter the letter content, making it look like it was from an important person."

"What shall we do, then, shall we contact Konoha?"

"Yes, Ace?

"You called, Black Wolf?

"Yes, go to Tsunade-sama's office, tell her that we believe that the letter was false and that we suspect of an ambush, please transmit that message for me?" – Asked Naruto, while writing it all down on a scroll. "I'll be right back, Black Wolf, wait right here."

"Right"

-At Tsunade's office-

Then, Ace poofed away and appeared at Tsunade's office, catching her sleeping, almost drooling on the paperwork. Seeing that, Ace sighed, seeing the resemblance that ran in the family of the Senju Clan and the goofing off at the Hokage's room. Not having time to waist, Ace barked with all his might, scaring the shit out of Tsunade, making her jump out of the chair. "Tsunade-sama, glad you're awake, Black Wolf told me to deliver this message to you, he is waiting a reply". – Said Ace, earning Tsunade's attention, making her forget to send the wolf back to where he came from. "What…a message from Naruto, give me."

Tsunade-sama,I have reasons to suspect that enemy ninjas copied Jiraya's signature and sent the letter seeking me to meet him, since so far my way of contact with Jiraya-sama, either Gamakichi or Gamatatsu, haven't shown up yet, me and Kurenai-san are hiding 10 miles near the meeting point. Being that, I request that a test be made on the document to check of a fuuinjutsu seal that altered the letter. Awaiting instructions on the manner.

"This is bad, Ace, if Naruto's right, the enemy wants him dead. Shizune, bring me Jiraya's letter now, Ace take this to Naruto." – Ordered Tsunade. "Right away, Tsunade-sama."

-Back at the forest-

Naruto and Kurenai were hiding behind the bushes, waiting for the kage bunshin's memory to come to Naruto, while Ace delivered the message to Tsunade-sama. Suddenly, Ace appeared out of nowhere, handing the message to Naruto.

Black Wolf, This is serious, if it's another village, it can be dangerous in a political way. Do not go to the rendezvous point, you have a new mission, it's an investigation mission, try to investigate who's the enemy that is supposed to wait for you to arrive but do not engage the enemy, the evidence, if you're correct, will be revealed by the paper, I already sent a message to Jiraya, I haven't receive any response yet. Be careful.Godaime.

"What did Tsunade-sama say?" – Kurenai asked, unable to see the message. "She changed the mission to an investigation one, we have to see who's about to ambush us, hehehe." – Laughed Naruto, since he was about to do that with his kage bunshins any way. "Why are you laughing, investigation mission are tough, we have to do it, and not get caught…" – Said Kurenai scowling her lover for his supposedly lack of maturity when handling such a mission. "Oh sorry, it's just that my kage bunshins are already heading for the ambush, the minute the kage bunshins take a look at the enemy's hitai-ate he will be dispelled and transfer all the information we need to cover. Wait…they dispelled…Kumo trapped us, hurry Kurenai we have to go, focus chakra on your feet, we are in for quite a run". – Said Naruto as he ran and Kurenai followed just behind them, quite enjoying the way the mission turned out to be.

fter five hours of travel, Kurenai showed to Naruto that she couldn't take anymore, but Naruto knew better than to stay and rest since the enemy might be coming to get them. Not seeing other alternative, Naruto turned to Kurenai, saying her to get on top of his shoulders so as to carry her at least until they were near Konoha.

"Kurenai-hime, get on top of me, we have to continue, the enemy might come to us, please?" – Said Naruto, almost as an order. "You're not tired, we have been running for five hours and you suggest you carry me until Konoha, this is insane."

After some time, Naruto convinced Kurenai by saying that he would take a soldier pill in the middle of the way and they both went towards Konoha's direction with Kurenai enjoying every minute of the ride with her boyfriend, seeing his hair flying with the wind, in a rather smooth way. Just how can Naruto land so smooth on a tree, like that? Wait, he's not only focusing chakra on his feet, he is creating a barrier around his boots so as to not only land without making any noise or sudden movements as well as not leaving any footmarks on the tree. Anbu can teach all sorts of things, can't they? – Thought Kurenai, as she was enjoying her ride more and more.

"Naruto-kun, this is wonderful, we should do this again, some time?" – Said Kurenai, never remembering a day that she had this much fun. "I'm glad you like it, Kurenai-hime, on the things that Anbu's chakra control program teaches you is to travel fast by not leaving any footmarks on the trees or any solid." – Said Naruto, grinning at his girlfriend's happiness with the ride.

After two hours more, Naruto zipped a soldier pill and the couple arrived at Tsunade's office three hours later. Upon arrival, Naruto and Kurenai entered Tsunade's office, well more like Kurenai dragging her boyfriend and putting him on a chair to gather his breath a little bit. Tsunade upon seeing this decided to grin a little bit, since she thought Naruto would be never be tired. "So, Black Wolf I thought I would die first than see you ever become tired" – Said Tsunade, smiling a little bit at her surrogate son and subordinate Anbu, much to Naruto's dismay since he travelled twice, since he had to carry Kurenai as well.

"Tsunade-sama, you'd be just as tired travelling for five hours pumping chakra through your feet to go faster and I didn't say I was exhausted, I just needed to catch my breath a little bit, thank you Kurenai-chan. I fell better now." – Said Naruto, rising from the couch. "If you were travelling for five hours, than why isn't Kurenai tired as well?" – Said Tsunade, seeing Kurenai looking around and became suspicious. "Actually, Tsunade-sama, after the first travel, I was really tired, so Naruto-kun I mean Black Wolf carried me here on his shoulders, not that I complained though, it was one hell of a ride." – Said Kurenai, earning a sigh from Tsunade and Shizune that upon hearing Kurenai, they turned to look at the infamous black wolf and wondered where the hell he got such energy from.

"Oh…so Black Wolf, it seemed you're right, Kumo did set you up, we analyzed the document and it was fake just like you suspected. Also Jiraya sent me a letter explaining about your suspicion a little time ago, explaining that his contacts in Kumo warned him about it. Also, it seems that you are quite famous in kumo, you're in their bingo book, listed as an B ranked shinobi, with the order to kill on sight. Congratulations, it seemed you got the attention you deserved, so to speak. Now we have to give you a nickname that can serve your reputation and scatter the information to the shinobi countries, any ideas?" – Said Tsunade to which Naruto scowled, since he got into Anbu since they got to be behind the curtains, not have names on the bingo book. "I don't care what the enemy name me, put whatever you want" – Said Naruto harshly, earning some glares from the girls present in the room.

"Naruto-kun, don't underestimate such names, take Kakashi for example, Sharingan no Kakashi, his name is feared worldwide, just like you are in Kumo. – Said Kurenai and Tsunade decided to add her side of the story. "And do not think that the names are only for yourself, because it's not. It's for the village. Once your name got spread through the shinobi nations, the enemy would think twice before attacking, not counting the fact that we will have more clients hiring us for missions". – Said Tsunade before managing to hear a sigh from the black masked Anbu, knowing that he couldn't go against three women when they are settled. "OK, then, but I'm only doing it for the village, not for myself, because that would be a total waste of time. So my nickname will be shippuu ookami (Hurricane wolf)" – Said Naruto, though again he couldn't care less about his fame along the shinobi countries.

"Konoha's shippuu ookami, sounds deadly and it matches to you quite nicely, Naruto. Having a natural affinity for wind as well as some wolf qualities yourself, okay I'll spread the word. Shizune, be sure to take care of this oh and also send Kumo our regards from trying to deceive Konoha" – Said Tsunade, managing to hear a devious grin coming from behind the Anbu's mask. Like father, like son. Your father was feared in Iwa, you will be feared in Kumo.