Chapter 69

'Last Time:

'Perfect. Now what am I supposed to do?' A mused as he thought to the three year absence Naruto had just requested.

Now:

~ With Naruto and the Girls – Boat off the coast of the land of Snow ~

Naruto looked off the front of the boat to the approaching land mass. "Naruto-kun, I'm freezing!" A voice behind him complained. He turned to see Yugito and Samui hugging each other and a perverted grin spread across his face. "Hey, don't get any ideas! We're just doing this to conserve body heat!" Samui said with a blush spread across her cheeks. 'Would it really be so bad, kitten? It does get the blood pumping.' A voice in Yugito's head commented out of nowhere, making Yugito blush. 'Nibi, where the hell have you been?' Yugito demanded of the perverted demon cat.

'Kitten, I just took a small cat nap..' The Nibi said as she stretched out in the seal. 'You've been gone for months!' Yugito yelled back. "Alright girls, we've crossed into the borders of the land of Snow. Let's go get ready!" Naruto said as he headed to their room in the ship. 'A month, you say? Looks like I have some catching up to do..' Nibi mused, making Yugito blush. 'Don't go into my personal memories!' Yugito quickly shouted, then gasped. 'Oh, did something good happen while I was sleeping?' Nibi inquired in her teasing tone. 'It's just that..well, that..' Yugito began, but stuttered.

'Oh, if it's got you this concerned, it's bound to be good.' Nibi mused as she left Yugito to her thoughts. 'Nibi, get back here!' She yelled at the perverted demoness, but she was gone. "Yugito, come on!" A voice called out to her, making her snap back into reality and go get dressed for the weather. ' I get the feeling I'm never going to hear the end of this..' She mused as she stepped into the cabin. As soon as she did, Naruto was already unsealing various outfits made for the cold weather with a tundra camouflage design, making the girls raise eyebrows. "Why do you have these in women sizes, Naruto-kun?" Samui asked as she lifted the jacket meant to be hers and checked if the chest area was big enough.

Oddly enough, it was her exact size. Yugito's outfits were in the same form. "And how the hell do you know our measurements?" Yugito demanded. "Natalya gave me a pretty good idea of them. Then I just went to the storage room and checked if we had anything in the size." Naruto admitted as he stripped and put on his camouflaged pants. Yugito and Samui quickly followed suit, enjoying the fact the fabric gave them some level of protection from the weather. "This is perfect.." Yugito mused as she felt the warm feeling of the clothes. Samui nodded and put her jacket on over her usual top.

Naruto put on his jacket and his gloves when a loud banging noise on the door caught their attention. Everyone turned and carefully studied the door. "Yes?" Naruto asked out loud. "Naruto-san. There's a large ship on a nearby iceberg! Do you think that might be who yer looking fer?!" The rough voice of the captain asked, letting everyone relax slightly. Naruto pulled up the hood on his jacket and grabbed his bow. "Let's go check it out." Naruto said as he got up and walked out.

~ Outside ~

Naruto looked through a pair of binoculars to the large iceberg. "See anything, Naruto-kun?" Samui asked. "Nothing yet.." Naruto mused as he scanned the area and continued to search. Suddenly, off the face of a small ice cliff, what seemed to be an avalanche of ice wolves came charging towards where the ship was docked. "I think this is us.. Captain!" Naruto yelled as he turned to the old sailor. "What the matter, me lad?" The old man asked. "Bring her around and be ready to get the hell out of there." Naruto said as he swiped some blood on his summoning tattoo and slammed his hands down.

Before them, a cloud of smoke engulfed the ship until it was revealed to be Eptesicus standing there. "Yes, Naruto?" The old bat asked out loud as he stretched his wings. "We need to get to that iceberg as soon as possible. One of our friends is there and he needs our help!" Naruto said. "Hop on!" Eptesicus yelled as he laid down and let them jump aboard. After making sure everyone was well seated, he took off. "Well, I'll be damned.." The captain muttered as he turned the ship towards the iceberg.

~ With Darui and the Clients ~

Darui ducked under a large swing from a ninja on a snowboard and jumped away as a girl in flying armor began raining down Kunai on him. 'Shit, this can't get any worse..' Darui thought until a large amount of snow began to tumble towards them, then turned into a large avalanche of wolves. 'Damn my luck!' He complained as he flipped back to get all four of them into view. "Are you ok, shinobi-san?" The manager, Sandayu, asked. "Not very well.." Darui muttered as he saw the incoming wolves charge at him. He quickly put his hands into the ram hand seal and began pumping chakra into it.

A large amount of lightning began to charge in front of him, turning black. "Lightning Style: Black Panther!" He yelled as the chakra took the shape of a large black panther and charged towards the oncoming wolves. Darui watched as the black electricity melted the snow making up the wolves, then sighed in relief. "Don't think you're out of the woods just yet.." A voice in front of him said. He looked to see a man with light purple hair, a woman with pink hair, and one last man with deep purple hair standing before him, all wearing a strange kind of armor. "What do you want?!" Darui demanded, trying to calculate if he had enough chakra to pull a "Laser Circus" jutsu.

"We just want the princess. Tell you what, you give her to us, and we might let you leave." The man with the light purple hair replied, a sick smirk on his face. 'The princess? Who's he talking about?' Darui internally wondered as he turned to the rest of the people still on the iceberg. "When I say go, take everyone and run back to the ship. Take off, I'll hold them off." Darui said in a serious tone. Sandayu nodded and grabbed Yukie by the hand. "Well?" The man asked. "What's your name, tough guy?" Darui asked, trying to stall for time. "The name is Nadare. Nadare Roga."

"Well, I'm sorry Nadare-san. But I must decline your offer!" Darui yelled as he quickly went through four hand seals and extended his hands. A small halo glowed in his hands as he yelled out "Go! Storm release! Laser Circus!"Large beams of lightning came out of his hands and charged towards the three present ninja. Sandayu grabbed the princess as she zoned out and carried her to the boat. Unfortunately, the attack seemed to have no effect on Nadare and his men. "Let's try that again, shall we?" Nadare asked as he stepped towards Darui. However, he was stopped as an arrow buried itself at his feet. He looked up to see a large summon charging at him, with full intent to end his life. As soon as it was near the surface, it dispelled, dropping the team safely in place.

Nadare jumped away only to see three barely distinguishable figures helping Darui up. "Sorry pal, but this is as far as you go." The figure holding the bow called out. "Oh yea, and who the hell are you?" Nadare demanded as he motioned Fubuki to circle around. "You don't need to know that just yet.." Naruto called back. Nadare grew a tick mark and began to go through a series of hand seals. "Then let's see you die!" Nadare yelled as he finished his chain. "Ice Release! One Horned White whale!" He yelled. From underneath the surface of the ice, a large whale broke through, intent on slamming down on Naruto, his team, and the rest of the people.

Naruto quickly fired off two arrows to the surface of the whale. "That's not going to do shit!" Nadare yelled at Naruto, until the arrows went off. The explosions rocked the area and cracked the whale. "What the hell!" Nadare yelled. Naruto quickly shot one last arrow and had it detonate in front of the whale, completely smashing it to various large pieces of ice. "Quickly, head to the ship!" Naruto yelled as he picked up Darui and jumped to the ship. Nadare was about to pursue until a large chunk of sharp ice fell a few feet from him. "Shit, retreat!" He yelled to his remaining men as he fell back.

Nadare watched as the ship set sail and Naruto saluted him, making the man fume. "Fubuki!" He yelled as he fell back. "Sir, they're too far gone. The chunks of ice made large waves that helped carry them away." The winged kunoichi reported. Nadare spat at the ground and saw both ships retreating. "we'll get them later.." He said as he told the rest of his team to retreat to the capital.

~ With Naruto and the rest of the team ~

Naruto looked back to the iceberg to see if they had anyone following them, but had no one. "Samui-chan, Yugi-chan, get him inside. I'll go settle up with the old man." Naruto said as he motioned to the boat going alongside theirs. He took a running start and jumped to the next boat. "Naruto, my boy! That was a hell of a show you and your friends put on!" The old boat's captain said. Naruto smirked and turned to the old man. "How much do I owe ya?" He asked. "Well, Naruto-san, I usually charge 10 percent of any income that can come from a voyage." The man began.

"I'm afraid there won't be much profit from this voyage." Naruto mused as he took out his walled from his jacket. He opened it and pulled out various Ryo notes. "Then I'm afraid it will be 10,000 ryo." The old man said. Naruto gave him 15,000. "Think of it as a bonus, and a reason for you to keep a permanent reservation for me." Naruto finished as he handed the man the money. "Thank you Naruto-san. There'll always be place for you and yer team on this boat." The old man assured. "Thanks." Naruto replied and jumped from the ship's deck.

~ Back on the Ship with the Rest of the Team and Yukie ~

Naruto looked around, but saw no one. "Hello?" He called out, only for Yugito's voice to call out for him from an open cabin door. He went inside to see Darui laying in his bed and Samui feeding him some chakra pellets. "He has chakra exhaustion. He's still awake, but he should be taking it easy." Samui said. "Maybe he can tell me about that jutsu of his, the lightning circus.." Naruto said with a smile as he patted Darui's shoulder. "Anytime, Naruto-san." Darui confirmed, making Naruto raise an eyebrow.

"We told him who we are and why we're here." Samui responded, answering his unspoken question. Naruto nodded and took off his jacket, revealing his standard Kevlar vest and black t-shirt. Samui followed suit along with Yugito. "Now, tell us how this happened. From the beginning.." Naruto started as he pulled up a chair and got comfortable. Darui sighed, but turned to Samui. "Samui-san, could you call Sandayu-san in? I have a few questions I need to ask him." Darui asked. Samui nodded and left to get the manager.

Darui looked to the ceiling and sighed. "Well, it all began when I met up with Yukie and the rest of her entourage, along with the film director.."

~ One LONG Explanation Later ~

"And we were going to shoot a part on the iceberg when the frosty mutt popped out of nowhere along with its owner and his goons." Darui said. Naruto nodded and turned to Sandayu. "Tell me, Manager-san, Why is it that those ninjas seemed to know Yukie? And more importantly, why did they call her princess?" Naruto demanded, making the man sweat. Sandayu sighed and looked down. "If I am to be honest with you, then you must really know who she and I are.." he said as he took off his hat.

~ Another Longer explanation later ~

"So that's the lost princess of the land of Snow.." Samui mused as she digested the tale. "Exactly. After she left, I went with her and helped her achieve her dream of being an actress. But now, her land needs her. That is why I decided to bring her here and demanded that the film be finished here." Sandayu admitted. "So you want us to help put the princess back on top and help her take down her tyrant uncle?" Naruto asked, slightly perplexed by the situation. "Exactly. Her country needs her now!" Sandayu said. Naruto sighed and looked at the small cup of coffee Yugito had brought him.

"Sandayu-san, I'm afraid this is above our pay grade. We will have to turn back.." Darui began, but was cut off as Naruto got up. "Alright, we're in. " Naruto said as he got up. "Wait, what?" Darui demanded as he looked to Naruto. "I said we're in." Naruto said as he got up. "Now get some sleep. I doubt those nins are going down without a fight." Naruto said as he left with Yugito and Samui to their cabin on the ship. Darui was about to argue , but saw Naruto gone. 'Do I have some choice words for you tomorrow, Naruto-san.' Darui thought as he laid down, slightly peeved that Naruto took charge in his mission.

A/N: Perfect, now we see things change in the Naruto universe. Please, like you didn't see me doing a few Canon missions with this Naruto?