Chapter 69

Naruto sighed in relief as they finally made it back to the village. It was always good to be back home, especially after a mission such as this one. S-rank missions always got his blood pumping, but the aftermath was equally exhausting, more mentally than physically.

Come to think of it, since they fought two S-rank nin, would that constitute this mission as SS-rank?

His train of thought was interrupted by someone nudging him in the side. Kakashi was looking at him with an eye smile. His voice had a teasing tilt to it as he spoke. "Ryo for your thoughts?"

Naruto frowned as he looked to the ground. "Nothing of consequence….yet. Let's just report to the Hokage and get this over with."

Kakashi turned his eyes back to the front after a moment, but his thoughts kept going back to the battle. Never in his life before had he seen a jutsu that was so devastating, and never before had he seen someone do a jutsu of that scale done by a single person.

But perhaps, that is what Minato-sensei had in mind, didn't he?

Kakashi had always believed that Naruto would eventually surpass his old man, but to think he did so at such a young age…there was still so much potential yet to be explored. It frightened him to even speculate what Naruto would be like when he reached his prime. As per protocol, they dropped by the hospital to hand over Kakuzu's body for autopsy.

In the Hokage's office, Tsunade addressed them for the post-mission debrief. "Good work everyone. And it looks like sending you was a wise choice, Naruto. This marks your second successful mission as a leader. Good job."

Naruto gave a nod in acknowledgment.

"This mission marks a significant victory of ours against Akatsuki, but don't relax just yet. There's still work to be done. Dismissed."

Naruto eased out of attention and turned to exit the office. Right now, he just wanted to enjoy some hot water bath, preferably with his wife. He saw Shikamaru walking away with his team, heading for the bridge. Turning, he saw Haruto walking up to Sakura and talking to her. Sakura responded with a smile and they walked off, likely heading for a post-mission meal.

They seem to be doing that quite frequently, he mused to himself.

A hand draped over his shoulders from behind, and a whiff identified his company. "So, are you going to tell me about it?"

Naruto gave the man a glance out of the corner of his eyes. "About what?"

"About how you managed to complete the Rasengan?"

His lips twitched. "Maybe….in time."

If it weren't for his mask, Naruto would have thought that Kakashi was pouting. "Come on, don't tempt me like that."

"I don't know Kakashi. I thought a genius like you would have figured it out by now."

Playing on someone's pride wasn't something Naruto liked to do, but he wanted to be left alone right now, and Kakashi was annoying him. But Kakashi was not just anyone. Giving one of his iconic smiles, he retorted. "If I had figured out, you would have known."

Damn. That was true. Kakashi's loyalty to his father ran deep.

"I would like to know as well, Naruto."

Naruto stifled a groan as Yamato joined them. What was this, the jonin lounge?

He raised an eyebrow towards the nin, who just gave a smile. "For professional curiosity."

Naruto released a deep sigh of exasperation. "You won't leave me alone till I tell you, will you?"

Kakashi cheerfully responded. "Nope!"

"Ever think about using clones?"

Kakashi's demeanor changed in an instant. "Eh?"

Naruto continued to walk, with the two jonin walking with him. With any luck, by the time he finishes explaining, he'll be home. "Rasengan is an A-rank jutsu, the height of chakra shape manipulation. It can already do a lot of damage by itself. But combining that with nature transformation? Nearly impossible. It's like….how do I put it….ah, it's like trying to look left and right at the same time."

He paused, giving the two time to digest what he said. Kakashi gave a slow nod, going over the explanation in his head. "I can see that."

Yamato was rubbing his head guard with a finger. "That's quite an apt analogy."

Naruto nodded. "Forming the Rasengan while adding my affinity to it was perhaps the hardest part of it. Initially, I thought it would be rather easy, given the Rasengan's self-sustaining nature."

That caused Yamato to blink. "The Rasengan is self-sustaining?"

"Oh yes. Once the jutsu is ready, it will keep spinning in your palm until you either use it or forcefully disperse it."

Kakashi mumbled in agreement. "It's the reason why it's superior to my Chidori. Consumes relatively less chakra and concentration to maintain."

Naruto nodded. "Exactly, and that is what I tried. I thought that once the Rasengan becomes self-sustaining, it wouldn't take much effort to shift my focus to adding my affinity." He scoffed, remembering the failure. "Easier said than done."

"Isn't that what you did though? Against Kakuzu, it looked like you added the wind after you formed the Rasengan," Kakashi pointed out.

Naruto shook his head. "That I did, but the process is fundamentally different than you think. As I said earlier, it's like trying to look left and right at the same time. Which is why I thought, why couldn't I use a shadow clone to look in the other direction?"

That left Kakashi floored. Was it that easy all along? Then again, only Naruto has the power and skill to use the shadow clone jutsu like that. I can't do it, and even if Minato-sensei had known….

"It took me about a week to get it right, and that is with the shadow clones. And two months to form the Rasenshuriken by myself, without it exploding in my hand."

That brought up the two men short. "The Rasenshuriken exploded in your hand?!"

Naruto winced, remembering the very close call he had had. "A thin layer of chakra is needed to stabilize the Rasenshuriken. I didn't know it at that time, so when it went out of control, the chakra feedback and recoil nearly tore up my arm. I managed to flash away just in time."

He conveniently failed to mention that because of the backlash, Naruto had been unable to mold chakra in his arm for the next two days. After that, Jiraiya made it a rule for him to use shadow clones to experiment with potential A to S-rank jutsus. He stated that if Naruto had the chakra to spare for five hundred plus shadow clones, then there was no way he should be compromising his safety. Shadow clones were perfect to experiment- they can use jutsu, and in case of a failure, harmlessly pop and send the information back to the original.

No harm done.

Yamato exhaled slowly. "Then we should be thankful for your ability to use Hiraishin. It wouldn't do for you to die just because a jutsu went wrong."

Naruto gave a solemn nod. "Yeah. That would be the height of embarrassment."

The three of them walked in silence after that. Kakashi was mulling over what Naruto told him about the Rasenshuriken and running ideas in his head, and Yamato was wondering as to why the Hokage didn't put Uzumaki Naruto in ANBU. Such a shame, because from what he had seen when he had worked with him, Naruto certainly was a very capable shinobi. With ANBU training, he would have been even better. And the ANBU would have seen a rise in the success rate of their missions. An SS-rank shinobi in the ANBU, capable of infiltration at the highest level, and escape without anyone knowing better.

Shame indeed.

Naruto sighed in relief as he finally spotted his house in the distance. "Now, if you two will excuse me, my wife is waiting." A sly look crossed over his face. "Unless you want to deal with her?"

Kakashi was gone as soon as he finished his question, while Yamato was a bit more polite. "M-Maybe some other time, Naruto. Good evening." With that, he left in a shunshin.

Naruto smirked and opened the gate, venturing into the house. "I'm home!"

The sound of footsteps came from outside as his wife walked in from the backyard, a towel wrapped around her frame. Naruto withheld a disappointed sigh- was it too much to ask for some time with his wife in the jacuzzi?

Temari's eyes lit up when she saw Naruto back home. "Welcome back. Judging from what I can see, the mission went well?"

Naruto smirked and nodded. "Oh yeah. I even conducted a successful field test of one of my new jutsu. Worked like a charm."

Temari came to stand in front of him, hands folded under her chest. "And when am I going to see it?"

Naruto sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck. "I fear if I use that jutsu in one of the training grounds, Tsunade would have my head."

Temari's tone turned curious. "It's that bad?"

Naruto nodded. "It's a one-hit kill for anyone who comes into contact with it."

Now both of her eyebrows were raised. "What kind of jutsu is it?"

"S-rank, futon ninjutsu."

Temari smirked as she turned to go upstairs. "Oh, now you just have to show me it. You can't refuse mister!"

A resigned sigh. "Yes, dear."

He followed Temari upstairs to gather clothes for his bath. As soon as he entered their room, he almost froze in his place when Temari dropped her towel, giving him a full view of her back, her slender waist, perfect hips, and mile-long legs, and started rummaging for fresh clothes in the closet. Only one thought crossed his mind as he forced himself to move and not stare like an idiot.

I'm a lucky man.

Temari conversed with him as if dropping the towel in front of her husband like that was a completely normal occurrence. "How did your team do on the mission?"

Naruto paused in his removal of clothes and replied in a tone that conveyed long-suffering. "Not too bad, but Shikamaru has to understand that not every battle can be won with strategy. He still hasn't moved beyond his clan jutsu, which greatly limits what he can do. Those Nara's have a really bad habit of sitting and playing shogi all day and calling it "training"."

"….what of the others?"

"I don't know whether to fault Ino or not. Her fighting depends almost completely on the teamwork of Ino-Shika-Cho. Outside of that, she's barely competent as it is, aside from being a sensory ninja. And Chouji needs to learn not to throw temper tantrums like a child. He's a goddamn chunin now, and should act like one." Naruto said while wrapping the towel around his waist, scowling a little as he recalled how easily Hidan had riled Chouji up.

Temari finished putting on a loose tank top and mid-thigh shorts. "That bad huh?"

Naruto scoffed. That was a heavy understatement. "Shikamaru's plan went out of the window as soon as the fight started. That team is not ready to go up against A-ranks, let alone S-ranks."

Tying her hair in a loose ponytail, she idly argued. "Aren't you being too harsh on them?"

Giving a pointed look to his wife, he answered. "We don't have time to be soft. We don't know how many bijuu Akatsuki already have under their control." He looked out of the window, seeing the setting sun on the horizon. "I feel that….we would be going to war sooner or later."

Temari's eyes held alarm as well as caution. "Another shinobi world war?"

Naruto looked at her, seeing how her frame was tense. "I don't know, but whatever this gut feeling I have is, I can tell it isn't anything good."

Naruto pondered over his talk with Temari as he sat in the hot water. To be honest, Team 10 was not completely at fault. Not everyone could be a genius like him, and took time to get stronger. Besides, it was just their bad luck that they had to fight two shinobi who held more resemblance to zombies rather than humans. Kakuzu was a tough fight, and had Naruto known about his hearts he would have used Rasenshuriken in the first place before he spat them out.

Still, beggars can't be choosers. Hopefully, Shikamaru would find solace in the fact that Asuma's killer died a horrible death.

Jiraiya had warned him, and he had speculated as well, that as an organization, there had to be a leader. And an organization like the Akatsuki, which comprised fully of some of the most dangerous shinobi in the entire nations, the leader had to be a step above them all. After all, only the strongest gets elected as the leader, and Naruto knew that at some point in time, he would have to face that leader to bring down the organization.

Other than that, there was also the matter of mastering the power he had at his disposal. Kurama had wanted him to complete the training of his chakra on the training trip, but most of that time was spent on creating and mastering new ninjutsu. He thought he was pretty formidable, and Kurama's chakra made him even more so, able to match a sage at full power. But Jiraiya had warned him after their final fight.

There is always a bigger fish in the water.

Now that he had some time, he could finally start doing some of the things he wanted to do in the village that were long overdue. Starting first, he needed to finish the seal to free Anko from Orochimaru's curse mark.

The next day, he approached his old sensei and told her what he was doing.

"You are doing what?!"

Naruto nearly rolled his eyes at Anko's exclamation. "I'm trying to figure out a solution to your curse mark. If you just let me check it for myself, I would have a better understanding than a second-hand report."

Anko looked at him like he was out of his mind. Not that Naruto minded the comparison; if he was going to tackle this problem, then he would definitely need something insane.

"You really think you can do it?"

Naruto pursed his lips, mentally frowning at the hope she desperately tried to hide behind indifference. "The man himself ran away from our fight, what makes you think I won't be able to figure out his seal?"

Of course, Anko being Anko, she latched onto the first part of his answer. She cheered, complete with a fist pump. "Hell yeah! Way to go gaki!"

Naruto smirked, feeling his ego inflate. "I know. So, will you let me do it?"

At once, the cheer disappeared and exhaustion took its place. Bone deep exhaustion. She didn't physically slump, but Naruto could see the weight of the burden she had been carrying for years. Orochimaru's departure did a lot more damage than what he previously understood, and once again he found himself cursing the snake.

"If Jiraiya-sama couldn't get rid of it, what makes you think you can do it?"

She was trying to defuse the hope that had risen again. "Pfft! Jiraiya is nowhere close to where I am! I am the person who figured out the Hiraishin when I was only 12 years old! I am the person who completed Yondaime's jutsu when even the Yondaime and Jiraiya himself couldn't! If anyone can remove your seal, it's me!"

Anko chuckled, shaking her head. "I don't know where you get that confidence kid, but go ahead. One more try couldn't hurt."

Naruto gave a hurt look. "Have some confidence in me sensei!"

"Sure…."

Later, Naruto wrote down some notes in his diary, referencing his study with Jiraiya's notes and from what he had felt when he had intricately checked Anko's seal. He had factored the sannin's notes plus his speculation of what resided in the seal.

It was clear that the curse mark was a very special type of sealing array meant only to store something. No matter how intricate, its foundations lay in the fuinjutsu of storage seals. Jiraiya had written during his own study of the curse seal that the mark was comprised of three parts. This first part, the one Jiraiya marked down as unknown, was something that they could only identify the function of. It was highly chakra reactive, but at the same time, not chakra. It was also the part that was sensitive to powerful negative emotions. For the time being, Jiraiya had deemed it an unknown variable.

The second part of the array contained what they both believed to be Orochimaru's chakra, given how corrupted and foul it felt. Its function was to empower the unknown variable. The third part of the array was actually locked and held a high quantity of the unknown variable. Both the seal masters had speculated that it could only be activated by a key held by the snake Sannin. Naruto had remembered the retrieval mission, the coffin in which Sasuke was put. After getting out, Sasuke's curse mark was significantly more powerful than before. Which lead to the conclusion that the last part of the array unlocked a power boost.

But because the activation of the seal triggered negative emotions, it, unfortunately, ate away at the sanity of the person. The problem was identifying the unknown variable. Without it, finding a way to remove the curse mark was all but impossible.

Naruto put the pen down and closed his eyes, resting his chin on his hands. The unknown variable was the key to access the power of the cursed mark. Or rather, it was the power of the curse mark. The mark was activated by negative emotions, which then triggered the release of the variable. But there was no way to connect a seal to emotions, given how chaotic and ever-changing they were. It would take more than one lifetime to map the complete scope of human emotions, and a complete mastery of fuinjutsu to create a seal to avoid rejection of the emotion upon the mark's activation. Whatever it was, it could perceive negative emotions, and act upon them.

And there was no way that the unknown variable was simply the sannin's chakra. Chakra transfer was a delicate science, and the human body simply could not accept foreign chakra without it being filtered by iryo-ninjutsu. It would be a complete rejection on part of the recipient. It was not chakra, but something that empowered chakra, boosting the body's capabilities by a significant margin. And it was something that the body could accept without crushing in on itself. Or at least, 1 in 10 people could accept.

But what was it? What was potent enough to empower regular chakra, and make it even stronger?

For the umpteenth time, Naruto mentally went over his fight with Sasuke, trying to find something that would give him the answer.

From the start of the fight, Sasuke had been performing beyond what he had been capable of, thanks to the curse mark. And he matched Naruto blow for blow. Naruto had even started to overpower the Uchiha until Sasuke unleashed the full power of the mark. Which meant access to the complete potential of the unknown variable. It was then Naruto found himself on the defensive, enough to draw upon Kurama's power-

Eyes snapped upon in realization. Naruto shot to his feet, hands banging on the table, for he simply couldn't take the shock while sitting down. There was no way it could be that…but the parallels were too prominent to miss.

Naruto had to resort to Kurama's chakra because Sasuke started to overpower him due to being empowered by an unknown variable….or rather, unknown energy. It boosted his chakra potency and physical abilities beyond the limits of the human body.

Naruto had to resort to Kurama's chakra because Jiraiya started to overpower him due to being empowered by a, at that time, strange energy. Strange energy that boosted chakra potency and physical abilities beyond the limits of the human body.

Realization struck him like a hammer to the head, and Naruto found himself nearly vibrating on the spot. Fucking snake….

The seal held Natural energy! It had to; there was nothing else that could enhance a human like that! Naruto could be wrong but…he was 99 that he was right.

And the seal that supposedly held Orochimaru's chakra, which not only perceived and identified negative emotions but also react to them. React as in, activate to save the host. Chakra was not that sentient, not that intelligent. To perceive and react to emotions to a level such as that, Orochimaru would have to insert a functioning brain of…all….things…

His mind corrected him. Not insert a brain, no. Insert a soul.

A memory came to the front of his mind, his conversation with Kimimaro.

"Orochimaru-sama has already obtained the immortality jutsu…something that only he understands and is capable of."

"Suuuure. But I fail to see what that has to do with Sasuke."

"Immortality doesn't mean that the body will remain…only the soul. His soul is immortal and to house that immortal soul, every once in a while, a new flesh is needed."

The answers were with him for the whole fucking time! Almost in a frenzy, he took out his pad and contacted Jiraiya.

N: Jiraiya! Answer this instant!

It took almost a minute for the sage to respond, and Naruto considered spamming messages just to do that.

J: What is it brat?

N: I know what the unknown variable in Orochimaru's seal is! I finally identified it!

J: …..you better not be fucking with me brat. Out with it!

N: It's Natural energy! It was right in front of me the whole time!

J: …how sure are you?

N: 99%! Tell me, what else can boost the chakra potency and physical ability of the person? The reason behind the low success rates of the curse mark is because only those people could accept it whose bodies were strong, or just strong enough! It's not true sage mode, but a cheap version of it! Orochimaru must have access to senjutsu from somewhere!

J: …..fuck, you're right. Ryuchi cave is another place besides Mt. Myoboku where senjutsu is taught. Somehow, Orochimaru must have figured out how to seal Natural energy in a seal. That, or he figured out a seal that could passively draw in Natural energy, ready to use at a moment's notice.

N: And I also know what is contained in the second array. It's not the snake's chakra, it's a piece of his fucking soul! Orochimaru's goal has always been immortality!

The silence from Jiraiya's end put him on an apprehensive edge. He was almost out of patience when Jiraiya's reply came to him.

J: What proof do you have?

N: His henchman told me himself years ago! Immortality doesn't mean the body will remain, only the soul. Every once in a while, Orochimaru needs a new body. That is why he branded Sasuke! The curse mark not only gives a boost to the host, but it also degrades their sanity and makes them susceptible to possession by Orochimaru. It acts as a gateway to him, right into their bodies!

J: …start working on a way to remove her seal ASAP. Given how many years ago Orochimaru applied the seal on Anko, it's likely an older version of it, less refined and probably more prone to being removed than the newer versions. I'll talk with you once I'm back in Konoha. Well done Naruto. We'll speak later.

Naruto put down his pen, not wanting to believe that he had hit the nail on the head. But the facts checked out, and the speculations were logically backed up by solid evidence.

Now that he had figured out the curse mark, it was time to remove it.

The next morning found one of Naruto's clones heading into the woods surrounding Konoha. The original had stayed back at the house to keep working on a solution to the seal, so he saw fit to send shadow clones out to do other jobs.

C1 found himself going 10 kilometers outside the village walls, heading for the coordinates the original had checked out years ago. Hopefully, those safe houses would be in one piece.

The original had been very clear about the job. Install the special kunai at every safehouse for easy accessibility in case of an attack. Prepare the safehouses in case of an emergency with materials like first aid, emergency ration, and weapon kits.

Reaching the first safe house, he was inwardly relieved to find it relatively intact. The inside was covered with dust, and it was empty. There was nothing there, not even a closet. This suited him perfectly.

Taking off the scroll, he unsealed everything he needed to set up and got to work. After all, there was only one shadow clone doing this work, and there were eight others he needed to tend to. He sighed, even as he began setting everything up. Prime took too much advantage of his shadow clones, letting them do the grunt work instead of himself. The least he could do was send more clones and make his job easier.

Don't complain. It's distracting me.

Two clones popped right beside C1, who looked a little relieved. "Good. Now I can finish this faster. Thanks, prime."

But Naruto was no longer concentrating on what his clones told him. His excitement hadn't allowed him more than four hours of sleep, and so he had to leave Temari's embrace and start working on the solution. He had been awake since three in the morning, and it was twenty minutes past seven. After four hours of brainstorming, he finally had a rough draft of the removal process ready.

Simply put, he was planning to trick the consciousness of Orochimaru to move away from the host. Kakashi used Fuja hoin to seal the mark on Sasuke back when they were genin. Naruto knew that the hand signs of the seal used in reverse would be the Kaija hoin (Evil release method). The problem was, Naruto didn't know what would happen if he simply used the evil release method.

Either the seal would be undone and Anko would be free, or the soul piece could take over her completely.

"How to trick the mark though?" Naruto muttered, tapping his pen against the table.

The mark reacted to negative emotions, but for all of Anko's craziness, she had kept the mark from activating all these years. Her hatred for Orochimaru was more than enough to activate the mark, but to trick it into moving….

"The mark will respond to the host who drowns in negative emotions….if I can somehow create that and form a connection, I might be able….."

It came to him after a few moments. He did not need Anko to activate the curse mark for him. That could be a disaster in itself, seeing as Anko had never used the mark and had no idea how to control it. But he could use Kurama's chakra to draw the attention of the snake's consciousness; the demon's chakra was saturated with hate for humanity, and therefore should be more than capable of attracting the vile snake's interest. Add in a catalyst to force the seal from the body, a blocking seal to prevent it from backtracking….yes, he could work with that.

The catalyst will have to be blood, for blood was a powerful medium in fuinjutsu. Seals drawn by blood were completely different from those drawn by sealing ink. Anko's blood would power the sealing array, and coupled with her positive emotions, the curse mark would be forced to leave the body after it falls for Kurama's chakra.

Naruto put down the pen and rubbed his face with his hands. This was going to be one heck of a seal, but it will take him a few more hours to draw the first diagram. Coupled with making the required double and triple-checks for corrections….

"I need a break." He muttered as he stood up and walked out of his study.

Heading to the kitchen, he decided that he might as well prepare breakfast. Temari was bound to come in a few minutes.

Said woman found herself waking up without her husband. Her eyes fluttered open, hand patting the empty space beside her. Frowning slightly in confusion, she turned to see the space empty and no sign of Naruto. Now fully awake, she sat up on the bed and looked around the room, the incoherence of the morning fizzing her brain a little. Getting on her feet, she wobbled into the bathroom to wash her face.

Opening the door, her nose was assaulted by the delicious smell of pancakes. Walking around, she found Naruto expertly flipping the pancakes on the pan and piling them onto a plate. "Good morning."

"G-Good morning…you got up early?"

Naruto shrugged. "Couldn't sleep."

"Anything I should know about?" Concern seeped into her voice as she came to stand beside him.

Naruto waved her worry away. "Nothing bad. I was just working on a way to remove Anko's curse mark. I just figured out Orochimaru's seal last night and got excited is all."

Temari's eyes widened. "You figured it out?"

Naruto smiled and flipped the last pancake before setting it on the plate. "Yep. The bastard's surprisingly clever in his work, and predictably disgusting."

"So you're removing it today?"

"Oh no. I still need to write down the array for that, and that's gonna take me hours. I'm just taking a break."

Temari kissed him on the cheek. "Good thing I didn't have to drag you out of the study."

Naruto gave an imperceptible pout. "I'm not that bad."

Temari was unconvinced. "Uh-huh, and how long have you been awake?"

Damn. "Since three in the morning."

Temari crossed and arms and glared at him. "You haven't slept at all!"

"I did! I slept for a full four hours!"

"Doesn't count! You need at least six hours of sleep at this age!"

"Oh come on, you just made that up!"

"Just for that, you're only getting two pancakes."

Now it was his turn to glare. "That's almost nothing to me!"

"Yeah? Well, deal with it!"

"Why Naruto, it's been a long time since you came so early in the morning!"

Naruto savored the flavor of his ramen for a moment before answering. "Yeah. I had a lousy breakfast today."

Ayame frowned from behind the counter. "Everything alright with Temari-san, Naruto-kun?"

He was quick to reassure her. "Oh no, nothing like that. Just a small matter which I'm already serving punishment for."

The waitress smirked coyly. "Eating your favorite food for breakfast doesn't quite sound like a punishment to me."

Naruto glared at her. "I don't need you to make it worse."

Five bowls later, Naruto was walking in the streets with hands in his pockets, having no particular destination in mind. Most of the shops were already open, but the crowd was sparse at the moment. The morning air was slightly brisk, which was perfect for him. Cool air did wonders for his mood, and while he liked going fast, slowing doing every once in a while was a refreshing change.

Before long, his feet took him to the Hokage's office. Huh, did he really visit here a lot?

Knocking on the door, he waited for Tsunade's answer before entering. "Good morning baa-chan."

Tsunade's eyes showed surprise, but she was happy to see him. "What's got you so chippy?"

Naruto smiled as he came to stand before her desk. "Nothing. I was just taking a morning stroll and I found myself here."

"Oh, and why's that?"

He shrugged. "Don't know. Just….wanted to talk to you?"

"About what?"

He took a minute to answer. "First things first, when can I get my bounty?"

Tsunade clasped her hands as she leaned back in her chair. "Deidara's bounty was given to you in three days' time if I recall correctly. This should be no different."

Naruto nodded slowly. "Right. Secondly, how's Kabuto?"

Tsunade scowled at the mention of the nin. "Bastard was surprisingly tough to break. He can heal any damage done to him with his cellular regeneration, and it seems that Orochimaru took steps to ensure that the mind of his subordinates is protected even from mental attacks. Inoichi only managed to break through the defenses two days ago, and all we've learned is that Orochimaru planned to take Sasuke's body soon."

That was bleak. "Nothing else? Anything about the information of his bases or something?"

Tsunade raised an eyebrow. "Why are you so interested in what he has to say?"

Naruto raised his hands up in a non-violent gesture. "Hey, I'm just looking for topics to talk about."

Tsunade eyed him with suspicion for a moment, before relaxing once more. "When I deem it important, you will know."

Naruto nodded in understanding. He couldn't push the Hokage for information. "Fine. Also, just so you know, I'm planning on removing Anko-sensei's curse mark in the next two days."

That sent her head spinning. "You figured out how to remove it?"

"Not exactly, but I have figured out Orochimaru's curse mark. Now that I know what it is, I can work on countering it. The solution should be ready in two days."

Tsunade crossed her arms and leaned back against her seat. The brat really impressed the hell out of her. Even Jiraiya had been unable to remove Orochimaru's curse mark on his own. But that might be because, as Naruto put it, he didn't understand it at the time. But still, where did this sudden burst of inspiration come from?

"What the hell Naruto? Two days? How long have you been working on this?"

Naruto shrugged. "I didn't figure out the curse mark until last night, and I got so excited that I've been working on the solution from three in the morning."

That statement caused her to give a narrow-eyed glare. "You shouldn't ignore your sleep like that Naruto."

But Naruto was steadfast in his defense. "Come on! You ever got excited about a medical project in your life that you couldn't sleep until you've finished it? And besides, Temari already gave me grief about that. I don't need anymore."

Tsunade chuckled a little. He was right; she did do a few projects before which she couldn't rest without completing. Naruto was so much like his father that she shouldn't be surprised anymore, but that's exactly why she was so surprised. Minato couldn't rest his mind at all whenever he got an interesting sealing project going. She had heard through Kushina that Minato slept only three hours a night for a week straight to figure out the final stage of his Hiraishin. Despite not meeting him, Naruto emulated Minato so much, it was scary.

The apple fell right under the tree it seems.

Moving on, it was time to address the very interesting part of Naruto's last statement. "Oh? Marital troubles?"

Naruto gave her such a sour look she was tempted to laugh out loud, but held it in. "She stole breakfast. Breakfast that I prepared for both of us. And I made pancakes."

"Oh? Is that all?"

"Don't say it like that! Two pancakes are practically nothing to me. I was starving!"

"So you decided to eat breakfast at Ichiraku's." It wasn't a question; she just knew it.

If Naruto was surprised, he didn't show it. "I was hungry, so it seemed justified."

The two sat in silence for a while. Despite her impatient nature, Tsunade enjoyed silences just as much as Naruto. Most of the time she was too busy in her duties as Hokage, and people just kept coming to her for one thing or another.

"Baa-chan?"

Tsunade broke out of her thoughts to see Naruto looking at the ground with a frown. He seemed…somber. "What?"

"…do you think that there will be a war?"

Of all the things she had been expecting, this wasn't one of them. "Come again?"

Naruto's eyes held apprehension and resignation. "Do you think there will be a shinobi world war? Over….all of this mess with the bijuu?"

Tsunade was about to answer in negative when she paused. Honestly….she was unclear, and that fact itself was far more unnerving. A fourth shinobi world war, against an organization that was hellbent on collecting bijuu from every Jinchuriki there was currently. An intelligent person would say that this organization had beef with every village that possessed a Jinchuriki. That they wouldn't target one particular village. Add on to the fact that their intelligence knew next to nothing about the end goal of Akatsuki, and it painted a nerve-racking, horrifying picture. It was almost as if…..

As if the Akatsuki wanted to go to war with the whole world. No, at this point they knew very little. The next best guess would be….

They wanted to be prepared to go to war with the whole world. That would imply…..that their primary objective was something else. Could be something else other than war.

"I…don't know Naruto."

The thought that she could lose Naruto was the one she wanted to refuse to accept, but it was a frighteningly real possibility.

Far below the surface of Konohagakure, Danzo was sitting in the headquarters of ROOT. His left arm, the one that wasn't bound by seals, scratched faintly at the scar on his chin in deep contemplation about his latest problem.

Kabuto.

He had read the report on the mission that the new Team 7 went on, and despite his iron stronghold on his emotions, he had wanted to tear the report apart. The mission had been successful, and it was all thanks to Uzumaki Naruto. It was almost surreal; the mission would have been, should have been a complete failure, and yet it was the success that threw a big wrench into his operations. No, it wasn't that he wanted the missions leaf shinobi went on to fail.

Simply put, Kabuto knew too much. Too much about Danzo and his operations, and way too much about Danzo's interactions with Orochimaru after the latter became a traitor. He was a threat to Danzo's existence.

A threat that needed to be eliminated.

Danzo wasn't sure why, but Kabuto had yet to talk about him. That didn't mean he was going to wait around for that. It had been more than one week since Uzumaki captured the former leaf shinobi and handed him over to T&I. Danzo had nearly gone into a panic when he learned that Kabuto was under imprisonment at T&I. The thought of his secrets going out in the open from the words of a spy would destroy his ambition of becoming Hokage completely.

Kabuto was under heavy protection. Getting to him would be difficult, as he was being guarded by ANBU. It would have to be an assassination, a clean one. It would have to be staged such that it couldn't be traced back to Danzo. Maybe, he could even stage it so that it seemed Orochimaru had Kabuto killed in order to protect his secrets.

But passing it like that was….not easy. For all of Orochimaru's resources, Danzo wasn't sure whether Orochimaru had assassins skilled enough for the operation. It could easily backfire if he wasn't careful. But one thing that was clear, was that no matter how he tried to pass it, Danzo was bound to become a suspect. No one else in Konoha had enough beef to have Kabuto killed, and the lack of knowledge about his past would put him under Tsunade's scrutiny.

Damn Uzumaki. Danzo didn't miss the irony that despite wanting the best for his village, it was his village's successes that were giving him headaches. He wanted the Jinchuriki to be powerful, and he became powerful. Just not under his control, like he had originally wanted.

But he let it pass before. The Jinchuriki was powerful, and he served the village well during the invasion three years ago. He was a dutiful shinobi who was loyal, but now that loyalty was causing him problems. Kabuto was a treasure mine of information, information that Konoha would greatly benefit from, but Danzo could not afford, at any cost, to expose his secrets in any way. There was too much work to do.

"Summon Reio."

Within two minutes, the summoned shinobi was kneeling before Danzo. "Orders, Danzo-sama?"

Danzo stood up from his chair. He spent exactly one moment regretting the loss that Kabuto's death would bring to Konoha before issuing his orders.

He would protect his secrets, no matter the cost.

Shikamaru walked with Chouji and Ino as they exited the graveyard. Asuma's death had hit the three of them hard, and now that he looked back on it, it was pretty stupid of him to think that his team could take Hidan and Kakuzu down on his own. All his preparations had gone to waste when Naruto blew Hidan up to pieces, but the man's death still gave him a sense of peace. He was not going to beat himself up that it just wasn't himself that did it.

"Asuma-sensei should be able to rest in peace now."

He turned to Ino, who had a small smile of acceptance on her face. It suited her.

"Yeah, but we shouldn't forget that we are alive because of Naruto. He really saved our hides back there." Chouji added as he opened a packet of chips to munch on.

Ino's face took on amazement as she began talking about the Uzumaki. "Oh yeah! Did you see that jutsu he used?!"

"We all saw it Ino." Shikamaru dryly interjected.

A vein throbbed in Ino's forehead. "Shut up Shikamaru! I meant; can you guys comprehend how much chakra was poured into the technique? All of us together won't be able to do it!"

All of a sudden, Ino stopped speaking, causing the two boys to pause and stare at her. This was a bit out of habit for her, stopping just like that. Usually, she would keep talking fast enough to outrun a hurricane but to suddenly shut up like this was out of character. "Something wrong?"

"…I just wondered if…if he was with you Shikamaru, on that day….would Asuma-sensei still be alive?"

She looked up from the ground to see her teammates looking at her with surprise. Not shock, but surprise. Shikamaru sighed, this was too troublesome to think about. With that, he proceeded to interrupt everyone's thought process.

"It's no use wondering what could have been Ino. What's important is that Naruto not only helped us take out two S-rank criminals, thinning out Akatsuki's ranks even more, but he helped us despite being against our decision to confront them by ourselves. And he saved our asses while doing it. Given who we were against, Naruto shouldn't have gone with us at all." Shikamaru expressed, his mind going back to the fight. Naruto had fought the lion's share of the fight, all the while saving them from the lethal attacks of Kakuzu.

And they had only been a little more than useless. Granted, had they tried to interfere they would only have gotten in his way. But the fact remained that Naruto was leagues above them. His fighting style wasn't limited to just taijutsu, ninjutsu, or fuinjutsu. He used them all, and he used them to great effect. He was well-versed in each of them. He was a master in each of them.

They on the other hand- and he found himself ashamed to admit- knew little more than their clan taijutsu and ninjutsu. Fighting against Hidan should have been the first clue for him to realize that mastering his clan jutsu was not enough. But his mind had been too supercharged with determination for avenging his sensei. His most recent fight showed him how….inadequate they were.

Near flawless teamwork or not, individually, they were nothing against S-rank or even A-rank.

His hands formed tight fists inside his pockets. They were weak, and that was the truth.

I will have to train harder. All of us. We can't afford to limit ourselves to our clan styles. We have to go beyond if we want to be able to fight alongside Naruto, instead of being in his way. Shikamaru swore to himself that he would, and help his team, get stronger than they were now.

"Yeah. Let's not focus on what could have been, Ino." Even Chouji was solemn this time, foregoing his usually cheerful attitude.

Shaking her head, Ino looked up with a determined gleam in her eye. "We have to get stronger! We can't afford to laze around anymore!"

As Ino started to gain momentum in her rant, Shikamaru sighed again, but with a smile. This is going to be troublesome, but worth it.

Haruto arrived in training ground 7, having agreed to an early morning training session with Sakura. "Am I late or what?"

Sakura, who was in the middle of some stretches, turned to look at him with a smile. "Not at all. I just came early for a bit of a warm-up."

Haruto cracked his fingers and set about to do some stretches himself. If he were to come out of this training session without a broken bone, he would need everything at his disposal. Though the chances were already minuscule, he still had to try.

"Sakura, do you mind telling me about the previous member of this team? This... Uchiha Sasuke?"

The question startled her a bit, but she grew resigned and her mood soured. Seeing that, he hastily backtracked. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to!"

"No it's….it's okay. Though I am a bit surprised that Naruto hasn't told you about him already."

A frown twisted at his lips as he stretched his legs. "Naruto has only mentioned it in passing….and he refuses to go in-depth about the subject. He would get this strange look on his face like he regrets something."

Sakura frowned even more at that. She had no idea that Naruto regretted something from that day. From that mission. Naruto thought of Sasuke as a friend, and Naruto was the only one Sasuke considered…well, as close a person could be considered to a friend. Then he proceeded to betray the village, causing Naruto to hunt him down and bring him in.

"Naruto treasured the bond he had with Sasuke, and I believe that even Sasuke considered Naruto a friend, his only friend. Sasuke didn't like us from the start, but he did eventually warm-up to Naruto, if just a little." She broke off, not knowing what exactly to tell him.

"Then Sasuke left the village," Haruto prompted with a frown.

"Yes. Though to him, killing his brother had been his goal from the start, ever since we became a team. I, or even Kakashi-sensei and Naruto, never thought that he would go so far as to betray the village to do it," Sakura quietly revealed, clenching her fists tightly. Sasuke's betrayal didn't speak of his hatred of the leaf, but rather something more dangerous.

Sasuke had demonstrated, on that day, that he would abandon anything and everything to pursue his goal.

"I'm not clear as to what exactly happened between them, but what I do know is that they fought, and Sasuke lost. At that time I didn't reflect on it much, but now that I do, it wasn't really a surprise given how prodigious Naruto was. Learning and mastering Yondaime's Hiraishin no jutsu….anyway, the point is, they had a fight and Naruto won," Sakura asserted.

"If Naruto managed to bring him back, why would he regret something? Or even refuse to talk about it?"

Truth to be told, even she didn't know. Something could have happened between them, before Naruto left with Jiraiya-sama. She had only seen a glimpse of Sasuke before he was taken away for his punishment, and it had been unusual to see him without even a trace of anger directed at Naruto. Sasuke had been jealous of Naruto, something she couldn't see back then. He should have been furious about being defeated by Naruto, but the anger wasn't visible at all.

"Who knows." It was all she could say.

They both mulled over their thoughts in silence. Haruto was partly annoyed; his cousin and the missing Uchiha clearly had some history. The said history was troubling his cousin, and he could do nothing to help. However…

"Do you think that… Sasuke and Naruto will meet again?"

Sakura blinked at the sudden change of topic. "Um, I'm not really sure."

"You said that Sasuke wanted to kill his brother. It was the goal he kept in mind while leaving the village. Do you think that he will return to Konoha once his goal has been accomplished?"

That was a deep question, and certainly not the one she knew the answer to. She told him so, and his question in return managed to almost shock her completely.

"Has Sasuke been placed in the bingo book yet? By the village?"

She gaped at him in disbelief, though a small part of her mind acknowledged the fact that he was technically correct. Sasuke was a missing-nin, and hidden villages did place the names of their own shinobi who had forsaken the village, with a large bounty on their head, with specific conditions related to their capture.

As she began to think about it, the more she began to question- why hadn't Tsunade-sama placed Sasuke in the bingo book? She had all the reason in the world to. Sasuke deserted Konoha to join up with the most infamous traitor of the village, Orochimaru of the Sannin. She needed to start reading the bingo book of her village at least.

"I…. don't know actually. Probably not."

The cracking of fingers drew her attention back to him as he cracked his neck. "I think that they will eventually meet again. And most probably, it would turn out to be a fight. Sasuke is being trained by Orochimaru, right? He is one of the Sannin, and there's no way he hasn't picked up the man's tricks."

Haruto's eyes were narrowed in determination. "Call it a gut feeling, but I think a clash is inevitable. Naruto has gotten stronger, but no doubt Orochimaru would tell Sasuke about some of Naruto's tricks."

Sakura agreed with that statement. Orochimaru had escaped from their fight, and he had no doubt gathered intel to give to Sasuke about Naruto's fighting abilities. "But Naruto won't be alone in facing him. We'll be with him this time!"

Haruto's mouth twitched. "Like we were with him last time?"

He shook his head and spoke before she could. "Right now, Naruto has surpassed us by leagues. The only thing we would do is get in his way. All we can do is get stronger ourselves so as to not be a liability to him when the time comes to go to his aid."

"Then why the hell are we wasting time talking?!"

Haruto barely had time to leap back to dodge Sakura's fist, which would no doubt have broken in cheekbones. "The hell you violent woman?! Give me a warning first!"

A vein pulsed on Sakura's temple. "Violent woman?" She hissed out.

Haruto winced before cursing his slip of the tongue. And they were getting along so nicely!

"Alright Anko-sensei, I'm ready to remove that curse mark."

Naruto observed his sensei as she slowly walked into the sealing chamber underneath the Hokage tower. Her apprehension was visible to all; this was no small event, he supposed. Anko-sensei had wanted to be rid of the mark for decades now, and today was the day.

She glanced around to see who all were present for the procedure. There was Naruto obviously; she could understand the need for Tsunade-sama and Shizune, but why was…..

"Why is he here?"

Her question was directed towards Haruto, who looked nervous but under her scrutiny. Naruto eased her worries by patting his cousin on the shoulder. "My cousin is here because of his ability to use chakra chains. In case anything goes wrong, his chains would prove useful in containing it."

Anko didn't like the sound of that. "What do you mean contain?"

The pit in her stomach only grew at the flash of unease on Naruto's face. "Anko-sensei, before we begin this procedure, I want to know whether you know anything about this seal."

She shrugged her shoulders, looking a bit confused. "Nothing more than you or Jiraiya-sama know."

Naruto nodded to himself; that was comforting to know. "Then allow me to explain to you how the mark works-"

"I don't give a fuck about that!" Anko snarled as she slashed a hand in the air. "Just get it off me!"

"Anko!"

Tsunade's warning seemed to calm her down, but only just. "There is a reason why Naruto is telling you this. Listen to him."

Once tempers were cooled sufficiently, Naruto began in almost a lecturing tone. "I'll start with how the curse mark works. Orochimaru is no fuinjutsu master, but he knows he enough to be called proficient. Jiraiya-sensei initially believed that Orochimaru created this curse mark for himself, as an added boost to his own power. He planted this mark on others to experiment, to see whether or not this mark would work for him. However, this seems to have been proven otherwise as new information as revealed that the mark is much more than that."

Naruto held up three fingers. "The curse mark consists of three parts. Or to be technical, it is a sealing array comprised of three microarrays. The first part is something that became known to us only recently: a highly complicated storage seal for a special type of energy that is able to empower normal chakra, boosting the physical capabilities of the host by a fair margin. Their ninjutsu would become stronger as well."

He folded the second finger. "The third part of the array is actually a lock. It basically guards a, again, highly complicated storage seal that contains high amounts of this special energy. The good news is that this lock can only be opened by a special key that is in the hands of Orochimaru or one of his trusted subordinates. Evidence suggests that once unlocked, this part allows the host full access to the power of the mark."

Naruto put his hand down, pausing for a moment to think about the best way to explain what the second part was. His hesitation was noted by everyone in the room, and Shizune called him out on it. "Naruto-kun?"

"You skipped a part there, gaki."

He glanced towards Anko, who was tapping her foot impatiently. No doubt, this technical lecture was not what she had in mind when she came here. "What's the second part of the seal do?"

He sighed; there was no better way to phrase this. He simply had to tell them like it was. "The second part of the seal was something that took me a while to figure out. Initially, I believed that this microarray contained his chakra, judging by the careful prodding that I made a few days ago. This matched the speculation that Jiraiya-sensei wrote down in his notes years ago. However, a recent revelation has proven it to be something else entirely."

Now came the hard part. "You see, in a sealing array, all the parts work together to produce the desired result. It's like a mathematical equation- all the variables must be balanced for the equation to work. The function of the second part is to empower the first microarray. It is highly reactive, as it can not only perceive negative emotions but also act upon them."

Tsunade interjected at that. "What proof do you have of that?"

Naruto nodded to her. "I'm getting to it. Our studies have revealed that the mark is activated by negative emotions, which then triggered the release of the special energy. But the truth is, there is no way to connect a seal to the emotions of a person, given how chaotic and ever-changing they are. It would take more than one lifetime to map the complete scope of human emotions, and a complete mastery of fuinjutsu to create a seal to avoid rejection of the emotion upon the mark's activation."

His expression became severe. "I concluded that whatever it is, it is not Orochimaru's chakra. It simply cannot be, for it is far too…intelligent."

A heavy silence descended upon the room as they tried to figure what Naruto was trying to tell them. Whatever it was, the idea of Orochimaru's….whatever it was, behaving intelligently inside another body did not give them comfort.

Anko's fear was starting to become visible by the second, and Tsunade snapped at him. "Don't keep us in suspense, out with it! What is it?!"

Naruto released a deep sigh. "Chakra has many properties, but the one thing it cannot do is act on its own. Cognitive and conscious decisions are what allow us to mold chakra. For the curse mark to perceive and react to negative emotions? This means that it can identify negative emotions, and if it can do that, then it can think on its own.

"The second microarray contains a piece, albeit small, of Orochimaru's soul."

Anko reacted just as he had predicted. Her grasp on her emotions was completely gone and for the first time since he met her, Anko's face showed true, naked fear. Blood drained out of her face as she began to hyperventilate. Her whole being was shaking as she finally understood the enormity of what she had been carrying with herself all these years. A trembling hand came up to cover the crook of her neck.

"Get it off," she whispered in panic as her movements became frantic. He was slightly alarmed to see that she began scratching the mark, almost as if the action would make it come off. Blood dripped from the intensity of her scratches, but she seemed not to notice. "Get this fucking thing off me!"

Tsunade too had noticed, and she restrained Anko before she could do more damage. The shock of the revelation still hadn't worn off, and it was clear in her eyes as she turned to him. "Again, what proof do you have?"

Her voice was hollow as she spoke, finding it hard to believe it could be something like that. "Is it even possible?"

Naruto pursed his lips but nodded. "It's possible and yes, there is proof. Years ago, on the retrieval mission, I ran into one of his henchmen called Kimimaro. He was the one who revealed how Orochimaru's immortality jutsu works. Orochimaru's soul switches bodies after a certain amount of time. If he can manipulate his soul to that extent, then it's not so hard to believe that he can cut a piece of it."

By now, Anko was in tears as she shook in Tsunade's arms. "Please…please, get it off me."

"Right away."

Naruto laid down the giant scroll he had brought with him and spread it open. "Given that this is the very first time I'll be performing this procedure, I am unsure as to the aftereffects." He looked her in the eye to convey how serious he was. "For all I know, you could slip into a coma from the exhaustion."

"But I will be free, right?"

Naruto blinked, but nodded. "That you will be."

Shizune knelt down beside him. "How are you going to do this, Naruto-kun?"

Naruto unsealed an empty ink jar. He held it out to Tsunade and Anko. "I need this to be filled with Anko-sensei's blood."

Shizune winced at the quantity required. "So much?"

"Blood is a powerful medium in fuinjutsu. Seals powered by the user's blood are comparatively more potent than those by chakra ink. The reason I need Anko-sensei's blood is that this will establish a sense of identity within the seal," Naruto explained as he waited for Anko to finish filling the jar.

"Here." Anko handed him the jar filled with her blood as Tsunade healed her hand. She was still shaking, but much less compared to the panic attack she had minutes ago. "Won't you need a brush to draw the seals?"

Naruto simply smiled as he focused his chakra on the tip of his finger. Deep blue chakra immediately began glowing around it, and Anko gave a small smile. She was very familiar with his powerful chakra signature.

Naruto held his finger above the ink jar, letting his chakra draw out the blood. Then he swiftly brought his hand over the scroll and began drawing the seals, the kanji glowing slightly with every stroke he made.

It was with a sense of awe that everyone watched Naruto draw the seals for the next full hour. Each stroke was made with confidence and zero hesitation. His handwriting was impeccable, and Tsunade was reminded of how her grandmother had tried to teach her once, but she had shown no aptitude. Nevertheless, she had been just as awed as she was now. Naruto had practiced this seal only twice before this operation, but he was confident that there would be no mistakes. He couldn't afford them now.

"Finished." Naruto glanced up, finally releasing the chakra on his finger. He had used up all of Anko's blood to draw the seal. It was now time for the second part of the preparation. He glanced at Tsunade before motioning to the privacy seals.

"You should activate those right now. We don't want the entire village to be feeling bursts of chakra from the Hokage tower."

Tsunade nodded as she pressed her hand on the wall, activating the seals. The sealing chamber was now completely blocked from the outside world.

Naruto moved towards one end of the seal and pressed his palm in the center of an array shaped like a circle. All the occupants save Haruto tensed as they sensed the unmistakable feel of bijuu chakra. Once Naruto was finished putting the sufficient amount of Kurama's chakra inside the seal, the seal glowed briefly and the kanji changed from 'open' to 'close'.

"Naruto, what the-"

"The seal reacts to negative emotions, and Kyuubi's chakra is completely saturated with hate and anger. I will be tricking the curse mark to activate not in response to Anko-sensei's plight, but in response to the negative emotions of Kyuubi chakra. Are you ready?"

Anko took a deep breath and nodded resolutely. "Where do you need me?"

Naruto motioned to the other end of the seal, where kanji were centered around a circular formation. The formation was broken up into pieces, swirls circling each other until they converged in the center. Anko removed her sandals and walked onto the scroll, sitting where Naruto told her to.

She looked up when Naruto walked over to her and put his hands on his shoulders and knelt down. "Anko-sensei, I don't know whether this will hurt you or not, whether this will be painless or not, but a significant part of this procedure depends on you."

"M-Me?"

Naruto nodded. "Yes. I want you to push Orochimaru away with all the strength you have. Happy thoughts, as many as you can. I will try my utmost to pull him away from you."

He hesitated, but leaned forward to place a soft kiss on her forehead. Anko froze upon the contact, not used to Naruto showing affection so openly. Naruto pulled back and gave a smile. "It could probably turn out to be the most painful thing you have to do, but what doesn't kill you…."

He shrugged and got up, walking over to the part of the scroll he had to activate. He turned to Tsunade and Shizune to caution them to be ready, but they were both looking at him as if they wanted to squeal. Or at least, Shizune did.

Tsunade looked like she wanted to break out in laughter.

Rolling his eyes, he just grumbled at them to get ready and knelt down, forming the ram seal. "Haruto, I want you to step in as soon as it looks like the soul fragment is trying to escape my hold. Bind it with your chains, got it?"

"Got it!"

Nodding in satisfaction, he placed his hands on the seal. "Let's begin."

He pushed chakra into the array, watching intently as the kanji started to glow orange and spread, making their way to where Anko was sitting. The first part of the process was to activate Kurama's chakra, stirring up the necessary negative emotions.

The glow reached Anko, and Naruto saw her visibly restrain herself from moving. He barked out an order. "Give her something to bite on!"

He turned back to the seal, just as the curse mark started to activate. Perfect.

The curse mark had responded to the negative emotion of Kurama's chakra. Anko's blood kept her connected to the seal, so the soul piece had been tricked into thinking that Anko was using a jutsu that utilized negative emotion. Of course, he was hoping that the soul piece would realize that it had been tricked and would offer resistance, inadvertently drawing upon the protection of the Fuja hoin.

Time to initiate the second part.

He got up and walked over to Anko, and was pleased to see that the curse mark was pulsating, trying to break through the Fuja hoin seal that was applied over it. Because of Anko's refusal to use the mark, the seal had worked well for her. Now it was time to let the monster out.

The reverse order of hand signs for the Evil sealing method would give him-

"Kaija hoin!"

He slapped his palm on the mark, and Anko screamed.

Her scream was muffled by the belt she had in her mouth, which Naruto had no doubt would be in tatters by the end of the procedure. But his attention was grabbed by the foul energy that had been released by the evil release method and was coming out.

Too late it sensed that the negative emotions it had responded to did not belong to Anko's, and too late it figured that it was a trap.

Naruto grit his teeth as the soul began to resist, and Anko began to thrash in her place. He sent one glare to stop Tsunade from interfering, just as she was about to. Interference at this stage would prove disastrous. Orochimaru's willpower to stay attached to the host was strong, but he was literally just a fraction of his soul. His power was diluted, and Naruto's was whole. His chakra was much more powerful than the Sannin's. Slowly but surely, Naruto pulled Orochimaru away from Anko and slapped his hand connected to the chakra on another part of the seal, activating another trigger.

Kurama's chakra, which he had earlier put into the seal, would power the pulling force that would tear Orochimaru's soul piece away. The foul taste lapped at his senses, and he struggled not to break his connection with the seal. The piece was disgusting in feel, to begin with, and it looked more horrendous than he had imagined.

A white, twisted, squealing piece of soul vaguely looking like a snake, struggling within the grasp of Kurama's chakra connected to his hand. The soul piece had apparently realized that its connection to Anko would not ensure its survival and thus, it severed all the tendrils of energy from her. It tried to latch onto Naruto, no doubt sensing the incredible life force in his chakra.

"Like I'd let you do that," Naruto muttered and pushed a bit of Kurama's chakra in his hands.

The feel of corrosive bijuu chakra on two ends pushed it right into the seal, getting absorbed into the part that looked just like a whirlpool. It was the whirlpools that Naruto had designed the final piece of his seal on.

Whirlpools pull in everything that gets caught in them. Nearly impossible to escape from.

The kanji finally stopped glowing, and Anko finally stopped screaming, collapsing onto the floor. Tsunade and Shizune immediately moved towards her, while Naruto waited to ensure that the soul piece would not escape. Only when nothing happened for over two minutes did he finally relax.

"It's over."

Standing up, he walked over to Anko to inspect her neck. He couldn't stop the grin that pulled at his face when he saw that Anko's neck was bare of any mark. He had managed to remove the curse mark. "How is she?"

Tsunade's hands were green as they hovered over Anko, but her voice was full of wonder. "She's fine. Her chakra reserves have been exhausted, but she will be fine!"

Abruptly, she stood up and grabbed Naruto in a bear hug that caused all the air to escape his lungs. "Well done Naruto!"

"Y-Yeah," he choked out.

She released him and brushed his shoulders. "Great job Naruto! Time and time again you surpass my expectations of you! Even Jiraiya couldn't remove the seal!"

Naruto tried to play it humbly. "Ero-sennin is a master, but seals drawn by an Uzumaki are just something different."

"That you have proved without a doubt!"

Naruto wiped the sheen of sweat from his brow as he watched Anko slumber. One more victory over the snake bastard. Maybe now, Anko would finally be able to sleep without feeling the burden of Orochimaru on her soul.

Jiraiya was tense as he reviewed the information that had been sent to him. He had been in Tea country investigating Akatsuki's whereabouts. He had been trying to find out just where the organization was based, and now this drops into his hands.

Looks like Naruto wasn't the only one who surpassed his master.

He burnt the note with a small fire and looked out of the window. He needed to hurry back to Konoha to report this to Tsunade.