Chapter 76

Last Night:

She happily waved to the small speck in the sky, truly happy for the man who helped her and her country.

Now:

~ With Naruto, Darui, and the Girls ~

Naruto and Darui were talking amongst themselves as Samui and Yugito looked over the edge of Eptesicus' back. "Now, after the lightning chakra is channeled to the hands, my kekkei Genkai makes the lightning more powerful and more malleable. Because of that, I can make it a pinpoint jutsu, allowing me to hit various targets at the same time while avoiding obstacles, such as rocks, living people, or anything I don't intend to hit." Darui said as he finished explaining his "Lightning Circus" jutsu to Naruto. Naruto nodded as he took down a few more notes. "Alright, and what is your Kekkei Genkai?" Naruto asked, curious.

"Lightning Release, a mix of water and lightning jutsu." Darui responded, knowing that because it was a hereditary Kekkei Genkai, there was no way of it being replicated. "Interesting…" Naruto muttered as he took down a few more notes. "Boys and their jutsu.." Samui said as she got up and approached them. "Oh come on, I'm just curious." Naruto shot back, making her smirk. "Curiosity killed the cat.." Yugito replied to him as she got up, making him smirk. "You aren't really one to talk about cats, are you, Yugi-chan?" Naruto asked. 'Especially the way he dominated you..' The cat demoness inside of Yugito's head chipped in, making the Kunoichi blush.

'Where the hell have you been, Nibi?" Yugito demanded, wondering why the demon cat had been so quiet these last few days. 'Just watching some.. Home movies.' Nibi shot back, making Yugito blush. 'Are you serious Nibi?! Those are personal memories!' Yugito told the demon cat. 'Ah, but I am a part of you. And if they are your personal memories, then via logic, they are mine too.' Nibi shot back. "Now she decides to use logic.." Yugito muttered under her breath. "Kumogakure No Sato, straight up ahead." The voice of Eptesicus said, making everyone present get up from their positions.

Eptesicus slowly approached the Raikage tower and landed on the rooftop. "Thanks for the ride!" Naruto said as he jumped off, followed by Samui and Yugito. "Sorry for the bother, Eptesicus-san. I appreciate the ride." Darui said as he jumped off the bat summon and landed in front of him. "Think nothing of it, Darui-san." Eptesicus replied as he dispelled. Before anything else could happen, A got to the rooftop. "You guys have got to stop arriving to the village like that. You always cause a panic!" A said, making Naruto rub the back of his head. "Sorry." He replied.

A nodded and motioned to them to follow him. "We need to get you guys debriefed as soon as possible." A said, then continued to his office followed by Naruto and the rest of the ninja.

~ Raikage Office ~

A walked in and took a seat behind his desk, then turned to the others. Naruto had taken his usual seat at the sofa with his legs propped up while Darui, Yugito, and Samui kneeled. 'Damn it, will he never show me some respect?' A wondered. "Report." He said out loud. Before Naruto could begin, Darui began with his part of the story and went on through the whole report. He told the Raikage of Naruto's 'lack of discipline' and his 'reckless endangerment' of his team mates and the mission. "Naruto-san, is this true?" A asked, wondering what would posses Naruto to defy a Jounin and go on with the mission, despite the fact it was well above his pay grade.

"Yes sir. I defied the Jounin assigned to the mission and took it upon myself to finish the mission." Naruto said, slightly pissed at Darui. "Naruto-san, you better have a damn good excuse for why you did what you did." A said, knowing the penalty for defying orders from a higher ranking ninja was a demotion in rank, a major pay drop, house arrest, and confinement to D-rank missions. "Simple. They needed help, and I was in the neighborhood." Naruto replied, shaking it off like it was nothing. "Explain." A said, hoping there was more to this than what he had told. Naruto replied by unsealing his shield and showing it to the Raikage.

"The man who held this shield.. Well, a shield like this, anyway, before me was a soldier. He didn't fight for money, prowess, or even to be thanked. He fought so that no one had to. He laid his life on the line so that other people could live theirs. He fought in a war against a tyrant so that people would stop suffering. So that they would stop dying for a lone man's idioticy. I hold those same morals, just as I hold the shield myself. He started out as a normal man and became extraordinary because of his will, as did I." Naruto said, looking at the shield.

" He never gave up and fought for what was right, even to his last breath. He and his team fought for justice. And he never backed down. While Darui may have been fine with turning away, I was not. I understand that Darui feels I was endangering the lives of genin, but you have to admit we are so much more. We have taken down opponents who were supposedly leagues above us in terms of power. So yea, I decided to defy him and go on with the mission. And look what came of it, we overthrew a tyrant, freed a land, and have good standing with the new Daimyo of the land." Naruto replied.

A sighed as he looked to the team. "Alright, we still haven't discussed how you managed to get Koyuki Kazahana from her prison. Do tell. Then I want to hear how Samui and Yugito managed to get rid of their opponents." A finished. Naruto nodded and told him of how he disguised himself as a ninja from the land of snow, how he managed to get to Koyuki and how he freed her. "Alright, and you two?" A asked, still having a hard time believing a trained ninja could fall for such a simple trick. Yugito told of her fight with Fubuki and Samui told of her fight against Mizore.

A rubbed his temples, trying to take in all of the information. "I swear, if I submitted all of your mission details to a publishing company, they'd end up as books and eventually movies!" He complained. Naruto grinned and rubbed the back of his head. "Actually, they're going to be using a lot of the fight scenes in the new Princess Yukie movie." Naruto replied, making A sweat drop. "No matter, you will still have to take disciplinary actions." A said to Naruto. "Then you're going to have to put the same restrictions on all of us.." Yugito said as she stood up, followed by Samui.

"Why should I?" A asked. "We are all Genin, and we chose to follow Naruto, despite the fact Darui was of higher rank." Yugito said, making A sigh. 'Damn it, this is bad. I can't have my best team under restrictions, not after all of the missions that have come in from their exploits in the Chunnin exams. Think, how can I use this to my advantage?' A thought for a moment, then a grin spread across his face. "Well then, I know what I can do to punish the whole lot of you." A said as he got up and went to a nearby shelf. "Naruto-san, your house is built. The day after tomorrow, the gas lines will be set and you can move in." A said.

"However, until you learn to corral your anger and emotions, your leave of absence will be denied." A said, finishing his sentence. Naruto glared at the man. "This is bullshit. You just want me her so I can take more missions and so that I can make Kumo look even better." Naruto shouted to the man. A looked down at the floor, knowing he had been caught trying to manipulate him. "A, I told you once you and I would be fine as long as you didn't try to use me as a pawn. I have the backing of Konoha, the Bat clan, the Land of Snow, and the Land of Waves. I will not hesitate to use them." Naruto said to the muscle bound man.

A got up and approached Naruto. "Is that a threat, Genin?" A demanded. "That's a promise. I won't be used by anyone." Naruto replied, making the Raikage raise an eyebrow. If he had approached anyone like this, they would have folded like a deck of cards. Yet here stood the lone Genin, staring him down. A sighed and looked at him. "As Raikage, you must understand that I cannot show favoritism to any of my Shinobi. While I do admit that my punishment was aimed at keeping you in Kumo, I will offer you the alternative. That is, a major pay drop, house arrest, and confinement to D-rank missions. Is that what you want?" A asked.

"I'll gladly take any punishment, because I know what I did was right!" Naruto replied to the Raikage, making the man sigh. " Tomorrow, I and Mabui will come to your house and enact the house arrest seal. Your funds will be frozen and only one quarter of payment for this mission will be deposited to your account. You are confined to D-rank missions for three months. Is that understood?" A asked. "Crystal clear." Naruto replied through gritted teeth. "Dismissed!" A said, and watched everyone leave the room. After the girls had left, Naruto slammed the door behind him.

"Naruto-kun, are you okay?" Yugito asked, concerned for the man. He had never seen him this shook up. "No, but I will be soon." Naruto replied as he headed to the elevator. "Where are you going?" Samui asked as she and Yugito followed after him. "To call up an old favor." Naruto replied and hit the button to the morgue.

~ Back with A ~

A sighed as he called Mabui in to bring him some tea. "What's wrong, Raikage-sama?" Mabui asked. He sighed and rubbed his temples, trying to somehow make the oncoming headache go away. "thing with Naruto-san didn't quite go as expected." A replied to her. "I told you not to try to control him or to trick him. He was already working loyally for Kumo. The last thing he needed was incentive to stay, especially thanks to Samui and Yugito." Mabui said in a matter-of-fact tone, making A sigh. "I know, but things have been going so well since he joined Kumo." A replied. "How about you tell me how things happened, and I'll see if I can help you patch things back up." Mabui said in a cheerful tone.

A nodded and told her of what had happened during the meeting. Through it all, she showed no sign of judgment towards him, and he liked it. Someone to talk to without feeling.. judged. As A finished his recounting, Mabui looked at him and spoke. "Now, let's see what you did. You tried to manipulate Naruto out of his requested leave of absence, you tried to make it so he had to keep working for Kumo, and you tried to twist a punishment that was made law years ago to do it. Did I miss anything?" Mabui asked. A sighed and looked down. "No." He replied, feeling like a child scolded by his mother.

"Now, while the punishment you told him about is what the law mandates, why did you try to twist it? He's already loyal to Kumo, with Samui and Yugito he's happy. Now, if you could do it again, would you do it differently?" Mabui asked, getting a short nod. "Then you know what you have to do." Mabui said as she took a sip of tea. "Yea, I'll sort it out with him tomorrow. I told him you and I would be going to his new home to enact the house arrest seal. He'll be much happier to hear this instead." A admitted. "Good. Now finish your tea and get back to work. There's a fresh pile of paper work out here that you need to get to." She finished with a grin. A silently cried, but nodded anyway.

~ Meanwhile – With Naruto and the girls in the Morgue ~

Naruto smiled as he saw Yugo doing a quick study on a corpse. "Yugo, can I speak with you?" He asked. Yugo nodded and quickly went towards him. "Naruto-san, how can I help you?" He asked, thankful to see the man that had helped him out of his problems a few months ago. "I need to talk to you about that favor you owe me.." Naruto said as he looked around. "Sure, anything!" Yugo said excitedly. "do you have anything that is about my approximate size?" Naruto asked as he looked around the corpses. "Umm.. sure, Naruto-san. Why?" Yugo asked, slightly worried.

"Perfect. And how quickly can you get their dental records and other files used to identify them?" Naruto asked. Yugo adjusted his glasses and began pondering the words. "In about..three hours. Why?" Yugo asked. "I have an idea." Naruto replied with a grin on his face.