The Retrieval

"What do you mean he was kidnapped! How did that even happened? Don't we have ninja protecting the village at night so stuff like this never happens!" yelled Naruto as Tsunade leveled a hard glare at Naruto.

"These ninja were able to ambush two teams and decimate them. It was already too late for anyone to do anything, by the time they escaped the village Brat!" she yelled in fury as the other occupants in the room looked on with concern and confusion.

"Why are you sending a team of only two chuunin and three gennin then? This mission is important enough to send a higher level team!" argued Naruto as Tsunade sighed.

"Brat…I wish that were true, but Sound has launched an offensive on any town or village along the border. We have had to direct almost all of our forces to ensure that Sound is dealt with! Trust me if there was another way I would've found it by now." Stated Tsunade with a sigh as Naruto looked down in shame.

Naruto looked back up at Tsunade and gave her a small smile. "Don't worry Baa-chan! My team and I will get Konohamaru back in the village before nightfall…Believe it!" declared Naruto as his he rose his fist in the air.

"Don't worry Lady Hokage. I will ensure that we are successful…besides with Naruto here anything is really possible." Stated Shikamaru as Naruto gave him small smile.

"YEAH! Akamaru and I will not stop until that kid is back in the village safe from that Snake Perv!" yelled Kiba as his dog gave a bark in agreement as Tsunade smiled at the group.

'Maybe they will succeed…afterall I have never seen a generation of brighter ninja. This generation will put all the past generations to shame one day.' Thought Tsunade as she looked at the group before her.

Naruto stood at the front wearing forest green ANBU pants with a tight black vest and a fishnet shirt underneath. Over top everything he wore a loose black cloak that he could use to cover his entire body if needed. Beside him stood Shikamaru looking bored, yet determined with his usual choice of clothing.

Behind them stood the other three members of team all looking determined. The first was Chouji Akimichi looking a little apprehensive, but serious none the less. The boy wasn't even eating from a bag of chips, making the appearance seem a little weird. Next to him stood perhaps one of the more stoic boys of their generation…Neji Hyuga. Despite being stoic, the boy had actually gotten much better since his fight with Naruto and he even looked to Naruto as a very valuable comrade for showing him the light. The last of the group was the brash Kiba Inuzuka, who was wearing a very cocky looking grin as he cracked his knuckles in anticipation.

"You will all have 10 minutes before you leave…get going!" yelled Tsunade as they all disappeared from the room as Tsunade leaned back in her chair.

"Why didn't we just send all the rookies?" asked Shizune as Tsunade sighed.

"Sending a larger team will just result in confusion and will only slow them down. I will send a back up team, but they will wait a little while before heading out so they don't slow the main group." Stated Tsunade as Shizune nodded in understanding.

"I hope they all come back unharmed." Added Shizune as Tsunade sighed.

"They better finish the mission successfully." Stated Tsunade. "Although I have complete faith in them to finish this mission. Naruto may be a bit of a knucklehead, but I have never seen a stronger ninja at his age in my life. He will complete the mission…and he will make it seem easy I bet."

"That's what scares me…you usually lose bets." Retorted Shizune as she ducked under a thrown eraser.

"Don't piss me off Shizune!" roared Tsunade as Shizune giggled at Tsunade's unlucky gambling habits.

X

X

X

X

"Kiba do you know which gate we need to head to?" asked Naruto as Kiba nodded.

"The East Gate is the one we are to head to. That's where the last team to be attacked was ambushed by the enemy. Akamaru and I will get that scent easily enough." Answered Kiba as Naruto nodded with a smile.

"I will not stand for Konohamaru to be experimented on by that monster. He has hurt too many people and this is the final straw. One day I will personally see to that monsters end myself." Stated Naruto with a hint of anger.

"Hopefully I will be there helping you Naruto." Added Neji as Naruto gave him a small smile.

"So when did they do it Neji?" asked Naruto as the others looked at him in confusion.

"What do you mean by that?" asked Neji as the others nodded their heads in agreement.

Naruto smiled widely as he answered. "I mean when did they take you to the doctors to have that pole removed from your behind?" asked Naruto as Kiba started laughing at the joke and Neji blushed in embarrassment.

"Shut up!" yelled Neji as Chouji finally started laughing and Shikamaru chuckled.

They all exited the Eastern Gate and found the location of the ambush quickly enough. Immediately Kiba and Akamaru went about getting the scent of the enemy to track them down. Neji also activated his Byakugan and scanned for any signs that showed what they enemy did during the attack.

"What can you tell me Neji?" asked Naruto.

Neji walked over to a tree and grabbed what looked like netting, but it was sticky and stretched easily. "One of them can create…spider web and another uses Earth Jutsu very well. That is all I can tell from this battle right now." Stated Neji as Kiba came up.

"Yeah…one of them smells like a spider. The others all have weird smells on them, but it appears that there are only four enemies at the moment and Konohamaru is with them." Said Kiba as Akamaru barked in agreement as Naruto nodded.

"Okay Kiba you are at the front track them down with that nose of yours, I will be behind you then, Neji will be behind me to scout for ambushes, Shikamaru you are behind me, and Chouji you will be bringing up the rear. Now let's get going and save that kid!" yelled Naruto as the group smiled and took off into the forest.

X

X

X

X

"Lady Hokage? What did you need Naruto for earlier?" asked Hinata as the other members of their team walked into the office.

"I sent him on a mission to retrieve Konohamaru from a group of enemy ninja with a few others." Stated Tsunade as the others looked confused.

"Why didn't we all go then?" asked Sasuke, who was a little ticked that he didn't get to go on the mission himself.

"There were already enough people on the team. Any more and the team wouldn't have been able to move quickly enough. You all will be going as back up to help them." Stated Tsunade as they nodded in understanding.

"Then we shall go with them." Came a emotionless voice from the doorway.

Immediately they all turned to see Gaara of the Sand standing there with his two siblings at his side. They were all surprised to see that Gaara no longer had that murderous aura that followed him around only a few months ago before the chuunin exams.

"Why would you want to help us?" asked Sasuke.

"They are here to finalize a peace treaty between our two villages for the next five years. If you wish to help then you can assist a few of the Shinobi here to go help rescue Konohamaru Sarutobi." Said Tsunade.

"The kid that ran into me?" asked Kankuro as Temari face palmed.

"Figures you would remember that." She sighed. The Konoha gennins all looked reluctant to trust them…especially Lee.

Seeing Lee, Gaara decided to do something that surprised all in the room. Gaara walked up to Lee, causing him to tense a bit, before falling to his knees. "Please forgive me for my actions from before. I was lost in darkness and only now have I began to find myself." Asked Gaara as the whole room looked shocked by his actions.

"What? Why are you apologizing to me?" asked Lee…a little shocked that this kid who had tried to kill him before was now apologizing to him.

Gaara sighed as he closed his eyes. "Someone showed me that I was on the wrong path…so I am trying to make amends and prove to everyone that I have changed." Stated Gaara. So I humbly ask for you forgiveness." Finished Gaara.

Lee did nothing for a minute as he contemplated this new development when suddenly his face broke out in a wide grin. "YOSH! YOUR FLAMES OF YOUTH BURN BRIGHTLY WITH SINCERITY! I ACCEPT YOUR APOLOGY MY FRIEND!" yelled Lee with a gusto as most of the room held their ears in pain, but Gaara just smiled at Lee and nodded.

"Thank you…I do wish to tell you that you are one of the most powerful shinobi I have ever met before. It was an honor of mine to have fought you." Said Gaara as Lee smiled.

"It was an honor to have fought you Gaara! Let's have a rematch some time!" yelled Lee as Gaara smiled and nodded. The others in the room had a small smile on their faces at the display before them.

"Gaara…we do not have time for this. If you are going to help on the mission then you should know that they left only 30 minutes ago." Said Tsunade as Gaara nodded and motioned to this siblings to follow him out of the room.

"Gaara!" cried Hinata as Gaara reached the doorway. He turned around to stare at the girl. "Please make sure Naruto is alright?" asked Hinata hopefully.

Gaara stared at her for a second before a small smile broke out on his face. "It would be my honor." He said before he exited the room with his shocked siblings.

"He really has changed…" said Sasuke Uchiha as the others looked at him strangely.

Sasuke looked at all their confused faces in surprise. "What?" he asked abruptly.

"Nothing…" they all responded a little too quickly for his liking.

"How hard did you say he got hit again during the last mission?" asked Tsunade as Hinata giggled.

"Really hard…Lady Hokage." She answered as the others in the room laughed at Sasuke's expense.

"Well Lady Hokage it's time that I excuse myself from the room! I must go on a very long run to get back in the old routine! YOSH!" yelled Lee as he jumped out the window and started heading towards the wall.

"That kid never slows down…." Stated Sakura as the others nodded…completely unaware of the fact that Lee had already passed the Sand trio on his way to assist Naruto's team.

X

X

XX

X

"How many are down there Neji?" asked Naruto as his team quickly approached the group of ninja that were currently resting at a small campfire.

Neji activated his Byakugan and quickly told him that there were only four opponents that seemed to be around Chuunin level in chakra strength and that there was a fifth opponent a while out with mid jounin level reserves.

"Okay lets ambush the first group and move out before they have a chance to react. I personally don't feel like dealing with a jounin level ninja right now. I will send a team of clones henged as us to see if the enemy has set up any traps." Said Naruto as the rest nodded. "Let's go then."

Two minutes later the entire team had surrounded the camp and watched how a team of clones henged to look like them attacked the group of sound ninja. It was a good thing too since the clones were caught in a giant earth dome that was created by the largest enemy.

The real Naruto immediately fired a large ball of air straight into the center of the enemies group forcing them to all scatter less they get injured by the explosion that came when the ball of air hit the ground.

That was signal as they all rushed in. Kiba and Akamaru flew forward in twin Gatsuga's; and Chouji rolled in using his main rolling technique rushing towards the large man who had used the earth Jutsu to trap the clones.

Neji himself went after one that jumped high into the trees trying to escape quickly, but he was thrown back into the clearing by a few well-placed Juken strikes from Neji. The girl had reached for a flute of some sort, but she stopped short due to a shadow at her feet that led to a bored looking Nara.

Chouji smashed into the large man sending him to the ground. This gave Chouji just enough time to use his expansion jutsu to pin the man down. "Get the hell off me!" cried out the man.

Akamaru and Kiba had already decimated their opponent with a powerful two way Gatsuga. The man was too slow to react and when the attacks connected everyone learned that he was actually two men that were fused together. Neji finished his opponent in record time with his most powerful techniques.

"Well that was easy…" deadpanned Naruto as he walked into the clearing ignoring the shouts coming from his downed opponents.

"You think this crap will stop us you piece of shit!" yelled the Red headed girl.

Naruto stopped to look at her before laughing a bit. "You aren't escaping from that shadow any time soon." 'Unless she has some sort of power-up…but what are the chances of…da fuck?' thought Naruto as he watched the girl smirk before her body began to get black markings all over her body.

The same was happening with the other shinobi in the clearing. Chouji had easily been thrown off of the larger enemy and Kiba had been decked by the two headed guy thing…? Neji's opponent had been able to get to his feet and evade another attack from Neji. The red headed female was the last to escape and soon they all stood apart from each other with the container holding Konohamaru in the center between them all.

"Looks like we got ourselves a Mexican stand off." Declared Naruto as every shinobi looked at him in confusion. "Are you telling me I am the only person who has ever heard of that?" asked Naruto as his team nodded.

"Damn! Screw this I am giving you all one chance to retreat before we attack. Trust me…you don't want to screw with us!" challenged Naruto as their opponents snarled at his team.

"Screw you, you dickless pansy! We are Lord Orochimaru's elites guards! You don't scare us at all!" yelled the Red haired girl. She was obviously the leader of the group of enemies.

"You are that snake fags personal guards? That's a surprise…everyone choose an opponent. I will head off and prevent that other ninja from reaching us." Said Naruto as his team nodded.

"Got it Naruto!" stated Chouji as he popped a pill into his mouth and his chakra spiked causing all the team, but Shikamaru to look at him in surprise.

"Akimichi food pills…gives us a boost of chakra!" said Chouji with a smirk as the others nodded.

"Okay everyone…pick an opponent and let's take them out." Said Shikamaru as they all nodded. No one noticed the container holding Konohamaru disappear into the ground. "We can't afford to let these men live…it will deal a devastating blow to Sound." Stated Shikamaru.

"Hai!" shouted his team.

"Nothing but a bunch of kids. This won't take long at all." Stated the four armed man that Neji had attacked.

"Don't underestimate them. They were able to ambush us and actually do some damage to us." Stated the man that Kiba had attacked.

"Wait! Where's the container with the brat in it!" yelled the Red head as she looked around for the container, but found nothing.

"You bastards! Do you have any idea what he will do to us if he finds out that we lost that container!" yelled the larger man as Naruto's team smirked in response, now knowing that Konohamaru was safe.

"Screw this! Kill them quickly so that we can find that other brat!" yelled the red head as all the sound shinobi began to use the chakra of their curse seal.

X

X

X

X

Naruto had sensed his enemy long ago right after Neji had first pointed him out to the team. He could tell it was powerful and probably would be able to take his team out.

That was why he left his team to go after this man. He no longer had to worry about holding back or did he have to worry about his team. They were all strong enough to handle those four back there. He was sure of it!

Naruto blinked away and appeared in the middle of clearing as soon as his opponent arrived in the clearing himself. "What is this? Where are the Sound 4?" asked the man as he eyed Naruto.

"They ran into a little trouble. Don't worry though…my team has them taken care of at the moment." Said Naruto with a smirk at the white haired man before him frowned…showing just a little emotion.

"That is no surprise to me…they were nothing more than trash to me." Said the enemy as Naruto nodded.

"So that's the type of person you are? Arrogant in every way and when you meet someone weaker than you…you just call them trash." Said Naruto as he scowled at the man. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze….you opponent will be me today."

"This won't take long…my name is Kimimaro Kaguya." Stated the ninja as he pulled a large bone out of his elbow. The bone was in the shape of a sword and it instantly put Naruto on edge.

'Zeratul! Any chance I still have those Trench Knives? I know you said they would eventually disappear, but I'm pretty sure it would work well against this guy.' Thought Naruto.

'I am not sure if they are still the trench knives, but there is something here. Be careful young one…he seems to be able to manipulate his bones.'Said Zeratul as Naruto nodded and proceeded to try and unseal his knives.

What came out was something totally unexpected, but awesome in Naruto's opinion. Because there sitting on his hand was a gauntlet that he had seen Zeratul wield on many occasions.

'Zeratul…is this what I think it is?' though Naruto in awe as he stared at the gauntlet.

"Indeed it is! A Warp Blade of the Dark Templar! A blade that draws off the very essence of the void to cut down our enemies. Channel your energies into the gauntlet and it will do the rest!' exclaimed Zeratul as Naruto smiled with glee.

'What is that on his wrist?' asked Kimmimaro to himself.

"It's time I showed this world the true power of a Dark Templar!" exclaimed Naruto as he activated his blade. Out came a beam of green energy that formed into the shape of a short blade.

"Strange weapon…but it will do you no good if you cannot match my level of skill." Stated Kimimaro as he charged towards a smirking Naruto.

"That's if I engage you directly." Whispered Naruto as he pulled his cloak over him and he exploded in a burst of shadows.

Kimmimaro stopped in his tracks and looked around for his enemy. "Where did he go?" he asked himself as he observed his surroundings.

A slight sound behind him alerted him of Naruto's presence as he brought his bone sword up to block the attack. However Kimimaro was surprised to see the glowing green blade cut right through his bone like a knife through hot butter.

Naruto quickly disappeared just in time to avoid a spike shooting out of Kimimaro. 'Shit! I haven't practiced the silent killing technique enough yet.' Thought Naruto as he made another attempt to kill his opponent.

"Do not believe that you will be able to win this fight thought cheap tricks. I can hear and smell you and soon I will have killed you." Declared Kimimaro.

"Really! Shadow Spears!" yelled Naruto as a large amount of spikes shot out of the ground heading at Kimimaro. Right before the he jumped back to avoid every single one of them, but that is exactly what Naruto wanted.

Two shadows jumped from the spears and started to run through seals as Kimimaro's eyes widened in surprise. "Futon: Drilling Air Bombs!" yelled the shadows as they shot to large balls of air at the exposed Kimimaro.

Kimimaro crossed his arms over his chest right as the balls connected and exploded in a large shower of fire and wind. Naruto landed on the ground and turned to face the dust cloud that was slowly dissipating, when suddenly a hail of bone spikes shot through the air at the surprised Naruto.

"Shit!" yelled Naruto as he rolled away to avoid the deadly projectiles. As he was rolling he glanced at the cloud and saw that his opponent was still relatively unhurt. 'How? Those were direct hits?'

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" yelled Naruto as ten clones popped into existence. "Open him up boys!" yelled Naruto as his clones began to attack Kimimaro in all sorts of ways.

Kimimaro dodged the surprisingly well coordinated attacks with difficulty as the clones used anything they could from kunai, wind, and shadows to make him move around the clearing.

Meanwhile Naruto was preparing his next move wondering why his attack earlier had done no damage to his opponent. 'He can create weapons from his bones so does that mean he can harden his body too? If that is the case then I need to get in real close to him with the warp blades…but he is a better sword fighter than me. Whatever…I am just going to wing it!' thought Naruto as he activated his warp blade.

"Void: Shadow Shards!" yelled a clone as a hail of shadow darts shot at Kimimaro. The sound jounin easily jumped away, but could do nothing to dodge the kick that was awaiting from above.

Kimimaro rolled onto his feet and stared at the smirking clones in annoyance. "This is far from over trash. You have yet to do anything that has done any real damage to me." Said Kimimaro as the clones smiled at him.

"Yeah…your right, but you have yet to do anything to even push us on the defensive." Said the lead clone.

"Is that so?" taunted Kimimaro.

"Duh! What battle have you been fighting?" asked a clone on the end. This caused Kimimaro to smirk in response.

"Release Curse Seal Level 1!" yelled Kimimaro as his entire body was engulfed by black evil chakra.

"Level what?" asked all the clones at once before five of them were immediately destroyed by a transformed Kimimaro.

Naruto quickly blinked away to avoid Kimimaro who had moved past the clones and tried to take Naruto out before he could react. 'Damn! How can he receive such a boost of power!' thought Naruto as dodged a sword swipe from the faster Kimimaro.

Naruto tried to use the void to turn invisible, but Kimimaro easily sensed him and had nearly killed him so he resolved not to use that attack. The Rinnegan was out of the question on the chance that Orochimaru might come after him if he had learned about it so he was using wind jutsu, shadow manipulation, and his warp blade to turn the tide of the battle.

Naruto lashed out with his warp blade and cut through two of the spikes protecting Kimimaro's major organs, but he was unable to close in and finish the attack due to Kimimaro quickly counterattacking and re-growing the cut bones.

"Is this all you have?" questioned Kimimaro as he started to stab at Naruto in a rapid pace.

"Not even close!" growled Naruto as two clones burst from a shadow and fired two spears of air at Kimimaro.

Kimimaro took both the attacks head on and was launched across the clearing with two small holes in his abdomen. Naruto landed at his feet and began to run through a series of seals. "Futon: Bringer of Storms!" yelled Naruto as a large twister formed in front of him.

If one had the Sharingan they would be able to see that the twister was a series of large wind blades circling around each other at around 150 mph. Any normal human would be ripped to shreds if they were to enter the twister.

"This is the end!" yelled Naruto as the twister flew across the clearing at the astonished Kimimaro as he had no where to go since the twister was sucking everything in…including the ground that he was standing on.

Kimimaro pulled two longer blades from his arm and stabbed them into the ground as deeply as he could to try and stay in position…however the plan didn't work. Slowly, but surely Kimimaro was pulled away from his position until the ground completely gave in.

Kimimaro flew towards the cloud at break neck speeds and disappeared into the vortex and what followed was a large grinding noise as Kimimaro's bones tried to stop the blades of wind.

Naruto dropped to his knee panting as the jutsu continued to destroy everything around it. 'Damn! It takes so much energy just to concentrate on that jutsu, but it should've ripped through him.' Thought Naruto as he slowly watched the twister disappear only for Kimimaro to be nowhere in sight.

"Cra…" shouted Naruto as he was suddenly impaled by a large bone spear. It extended all the way from 10 feet away where a transformed Kimimaro was sticking out of the ground. His skin had darkened and large bone spikes were perturbing out of his back like some sort of dinosaur and he had a long tail.

Kimimaro pulled the spear out and started to slowly approach the bleeding Naruto. "This is the end of you trash." Stated Kimimaro in a deep voice as he raised the spear above his head.

'Damn! It can't end this way! Kurama I need chakra! Kurama are you there?' asked Naruto in his mind, but he couldn't reach either Kurama or Zeratul.

"Finish it…but I hope you know that my friends will finish this fight." Said Naruto as Kimimaro smirked at Naruto.

"Doubt it." Stated Kimimaro as he drove the spear at Naruto…..