Chapter 2: Freedom and a new friend

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In Konoha just a little bit before Naruto left the village…

Tsunade nursed a growing headache.

This meeting between the councils had been going on for some time now. She was only here because she it was part of her job as the hokage.

Ever since Naruto had returned the rogue ninja Sasuke Uchiha, things had been hectic. The ninja clans were all practically calling for the Uchiha to face punishment. They believed that the Uchiha was still a flight risk. He had managed to get away from the village before, and he would be able to do it again. They were all calling for Sasuke to have his mind picked for any information he had on the sound village, Orochimaru, and any of his experiments that he had done so far. Then have his chakra sealed off and be imprisoned for life, or just have him executed.

The civilians were calling for Naruto to be punished for his brutal treatment, in their opinion attempted murder, of one of the founding clans of Konoha. There were saying some bull about the Uchiha being kidnapped by the sound ninja and not going willingly. Basically, they were calling for Naruto to be punished for his assault on their golden boy.

Tsunade was growing frustrated with the constant bickering between the two groups.

"Enough!" Tsunade yelled in anger, having had enough of this argument, "This a council meeting, not an argument between kids. Sasuke Uchiha was convicted of leaving the village on his own. As such he will be punished."

Immediately, Mebuki Haruno, standing in for her husband, stood up and said, "Lady Hokage, while I agree that the Uchiha should face punishment for abandonment of the village. However, we can't do so without getting any information out of him. After being in the sound village for about three years, he no doubt has some information we can use! As for the assault charge, we do not know what entirely happened. I suggest that we wait until he awakens in the hospital before passing judgement."

Mebuki, amongst the civilian council, was a black sheep. While she had hated Naruto years ago, she realized it was pointless to hold the sins of a monster against the boy. Unfortunately, her husband was not of the same mind and they were only together now for their daughter's sake.

As such, she was acting a mediator between the two divided factions. She was calling for Sasuke to be punished, just not in a permanent way, and not calling for Naruto to be executed, as he had done what the mission specified, bring Sasuke Uchiha back alive.

Tsume responded, "I'm with Mebuiki on that assessment. I can agree that the Sharigan is an asset and that he has information we can use, but we can't just let the kid's abandonment of the village go unpunished. At most you're all thinking of just giving the kid a slap on the wrist! If he knows he can get away with leaving the village, you know he'll think it's okay to run away again! Besides, the mission was to bring the kid back alive and they did! I don't see why you're trying to bust the kid's chops anyway. His teammates and sensei were on that mission, too. If he is going to be punished so should they."

Another civilian, a rather fat merchant, said, "The Uchiha is royalty in this village. As such, he is exempt from punishment. Besides, only the Uzumaki fought him, according to the reports. As such, he is to blame for the Uchiha's injuries."

Hiashi then said, "Really, then as a member of one of the founding clans of Konoha, Tsunade is exempt from punishment as well. She is technically royalty as well."

Before another argument could begin, an ANBU wearing a bird mask appeared in the council room.

"Lady Hokage," the ANBU said, "We have just received word from the hospital. Naruto Uzumaki has left the village."

Tsunade's eyes widened and yelled, "What!?"

The fat merchant from earlier said, "Ha! I knew that boy would run sooner or later!"

Tsuande didn't even both to glare at the fat man who had spoken. She simply rose up and launched out of the room towards the hospital. The council members wanted to make sure this was happening.

Meanwhile at the hospital…

Danzo sat down in a chair, thinking to himself.

The plan had been simple. Take Naruto, and turn him into the village's personal attack dog. However, Hiruzen's bleeding heart didn't allow him to do so. To get their weapon, he, Koharu, and Homura, with the help of the civilians of the village, who were blinded by a need for revenge against the beast that caused so much destruction, came up with a plan to get Naruto under the old war hawk's thumb.

Basically, make Naruto look bad so he could be either relocated, or frame him for some crime. He would then be placed under Danzo's care and he would be locked away. The plan had hit a roadblock with Kakashi. Like many of the villagers the silver haired jonin was against Naruto, but he wasn't willing to risk his ninja career by altering mission reports. However, he had reported incidents where he recorded Sasuke as being the main source of mission success, but noted Naruto having a small part, mostly from being too lazy. There were also the missions where no jonin was present, or just the simple ones. This was fixed when members in records were convinced either through blackmail or bribery, if they weren't on their side, and had the reports altered, including a fake seal of approval.

All they needed was the daimyo's approval for Naruto to be arrested for his assault, alleged assault in this case, and he would be arrested. On route to prison the boy would be intercepted by "unknown assailants" really his root ANBU, and grab the boy. Then he would brainwash the boy with one of his many implanted sharingan eyes, and if that doesn't work, break his will mentally and turn him into the village's weapon, and his personal attack dog.

Unfortunately, a monkey wrench was thrown into his plans when the boy apparently discovered their plans. Now that he realized it the flash of orange from earlier was Naruto. He cursed himself for letting his guard down. It also made him want to update his file.

When he learned Naruto had left, this from a nurse sent to check on him, he realized this could work in his favor. He could Naruto's attempt to leave the village against him, and use it to bring him down.

Immediately, he told the group of Konoha rookies of Naruto's burden and that it was imperative they get Naruto back, so he could face the charges, trumped up of course, and face trial.

He could tell immediately from their reactions, that Kiba and Neji were apparently upset, most likely from their injured pride as they had lost to the boy years ago. Knowing Kiba's brash nature he was taking the words at face value. From Sakura and Ino he immediately could tell that their fangirl nature had made the boy "public enemy number 1" to them. Choji, Hinata, Tenten, and Lee all looked shocked as if they had come to a form of understanding, something that made the old man want to keep an eye on them. What really worried him was the contemplative looks on Shino's and Shikimaru's faces, like they were thinking they weren't being told something.

He then had to use his sharingan eye to influence them to follow his orders to bring Naruto back, even though you can't leave without Tsuande's permission, saying that they couldn't let Naruto get away. They agreed that Naruto should be brought back.

That had been almost fifteen minutes ago, and most likely they had caught up to Naruto by now, by his calculations. If his information was accurate, all of them should have no problem taking him down and bringing his weapon back.

"Danzo!"

The old war hawk scowled as he turned towards the sound.

It was Tsuande surrounded by the shinobi and civilian council.

She stomped up to him and said, "What is going on here? I just learned that Naruto has apparently left the village of his own free will and only fifteen minutes after the fact!? Why wasn't I told immediately?"

Danzo, not threatened by the slug sannin's anger, said, "I was on the site, to check on our resident jinchuuriki and I found that he was gone after being checked on by the nurse. As it was necessary I already dispatched a group of chuunin to bring him back."

The woman snarled at the man.

"You sent out a group of ninjas without my permission?!" she yelled angrily, "You don't have that power Danzo."

The elder said, "As an advisor to the hokage I-"

The woman didn't feel like listening to the man strut like a peacock and yelled, "Your job is to advise your kage on certain matters! You don't have the authority to give out orders to my ninja!"

Tsunade calmed herself down for a minute before she continued.

"You and I are going to be having a very serious conversation. Both you and those other fossils. In the meantime, ANBU! I need you to get some papers from my office. A-rank mission clearance for a group to leave the village and retrieve Naruto Uzumaki and bring him back for questioning."

One of the civilian council members said, "The boy has clearly abandoned the village! We must kill him before he exposes any of our secrets."

Tsunade was about to say something, but Mebuki was a bit faster.

"What secrets would a genin who hasn't been in the village for three years know? If this was your precious Sasuke you would be calling for him to be brought back alive! Shut your mouth about things you do not understand and let the Hokage do her job."

Tsunade nodded thankfully and then turned to one of the ANBU in the room and said, "Well, what are you waiting for?"

The ANBU vanished to do his ordered task. Tsunade began to wonder what had happened to make Naruto leave the village. She mentally prayed that Naruto would be brought back so they could have this whole incident cleared up.

Meanwhile, Danzo was seething that his plans were going so far off track. However, he still had the daimyo on his side. Knowing the man was more interested in listening to the jingle of coins in his pocket than doing what was best for his main military power. Otherwise, he wouldn't have gotten away with everything that he did.

All the old war hawk had to do now was wait.

Meanwhile with Naruto at the battlefield…

The battlefield was shaken up by the group fighting one another.

Naruto was currently on the receiving end of a lot of fighters. He had managed to fight them off for now, and was thanking whatever deity that was watching down on them for his training in fighting multiple opponents, usually his own clones, and for his massive chakra reserves and stamina.

They had been battling for a few good minutes. Naruto was currently in another fist fight with Lee, he and his teammates being revived by Sakura's medical prowess. He dodged a pair of Jyuken strikes from Hinata and Neji before spinning on his heel, to dodge a punch from Choji and countering with a powerful elbow into his cheek.

The rotund boy was sent crashing the ground. Naruto then performed a substitution, with a log of course, to avoid a barrage of needles launched by Tenten, most likely covered in poison or a paralytic agent. Sakura charged at him from his side, but he quickly knocked her fist away, slammed a fist into her diaphragm, knocking the air from her lungs, and then throwing her over his shoulder in a different direction.

Off to the side, Shikimaru and Shino, not being front line fighter's prepared to fight.

"Fang over Fang!"

The two drills that were Akamaru and Kiba, launched at the blonde from both sides, when the blonde performed a substitution to avoid the attack. The two wound up slamming into each other. They fell to the ground clutching their heads.

Naruto landed a good few feet away from the substitution.

As he prepared to fight again, he glanced over his shoulder at his mysterious savior.

The unknown was currently engaged in a two-on-one brawl with Itachi and Kisame. He was fast enough to dodge Itachi's usual methods of attack and strong enough stop Kisame's sword.

As Naruto glanced at the unknown, Shikimaru and Shino seized their chances.

"Ninja Art: Shadow Possession Jutsu!"

The Nara heir's shadow extended and connected with his former comrade's shadow. As soon as the two shadows made contact, Naruto felt his body seize up and he lost his ability to move. Naruto cursed his carelessness, but was immediately drawn from his thoughts to the sound of insects buzzing.

Naruto was then aware of the sea of black that surrounded him.

Shino's hive.

The rest of the group stopped as they realized Naruto was now cornered. They were still prepared to fight, in case he got out of his situation, as unlikely as it seemed.

Shikimaru said, "Give up Naruto, you can't escape now. Even if you can get out of my technique you can't deal with all of Shino's hive. Just surrender."

Naruto growled angrily and said, "You can kiss my orange clad but, pineapple head!"

Shino sighed, though his visage was currently hidden you could tell he was frustrated.

"Then you leave us no choice, Insect Bog."

The bugs closed in. Naruto was prepared however, and quickly sent out a massive pulse of lightning chakra through his body.

"Bug Zapper!"

The massive charge of electricity shocked the entire group. Shino could feel his hive screaming as they were fried by the massive amount of power. The others stepped back, completely shocked by the massive amount of power that Naruto had just showed.

Some of the more brash and arrogant, like Neji, Sakura, and Kiba, refused to believe that the amount of strength they were seeing was Naruto. The others who weren't as arrogant were now realizing that underestimating Naruto on this mission had been a huge mistake.

The one's who showed real surprised were Shino and Shikimaru. They had theorized that Naruto had gotten stronger in the past three years that he had been gone. He had proved himself a good fighter in the chuunin exams and on missions that they had work together on. However, they didn't know that it had changed that much.

Shikimaru was so surprised, his shadow jutsu faltered.

Shino quickly withdrew his hive, or what remained of it.

Naruto knew that to fight the group in front of him, all at once would get him in deep trouble. So he opted to go a different route.

Time for some old-fashioned stealth.

Naruto reached into his coat and launched out a trio of balls from his hands. Aiming right at Kiba, Akamaru, and Shino. The orbs came within a few feet and then exploded into clouds of smoke.

Almost immediately, everyone retched at the awful smell that flooded their noses.

"What the hell?!" Kiba yelled, "Oh my god, what the hell is that stench!?"

Everyone took a step back, as they held their noses to the foul odor.

'That was one of Naruto's old stink bombs!' Shikimaru thought, 'Damn! He just took out two of best trackers! Three, if you count Shino's hive's ability to track pheromones.'

Naruto quickly smirked before forming a few shadow clones and then running off into the trees, putting as much distance between them and him as possible as a mix of the training from Jiraiya and his old prankster habits started to mix, causing a fox like grin to spread over the boy's face.

"Damn it Naruto get back here!" Sakura yelled angrily as he ran off into the trees after the boy, anger over her recent humiliation over her getting hurt overriding her judgement.

"Sakura, get back here!" Shikimaru yelled as she ran off before he cursed under his breath, "Sai, go after her, the rest of you split up into teams and find him."

The group gave their confirmation of their orders and ran off into the woods after the blonde.

Meanwhile, Naruto's unknown ally was currently in a grappling match with Kisame.

Kisame was currently having a blast, even though someone was currently interfering with their mission. It had been a very long time since he had fought anybody who could match him in strength alone. He couldn't remember the last time that he felt his adrenaline pump like this! Since he felt his blood rush with excitement! He couldn't remember the last time a fight brought him such enjoyment.

As they were brawling, Itachi made sublet movements as he pulled out a series of shuriken.

"Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Scarlet Claw."

Itachi released the shuriken from his grip and then using a fire blast from his mouth, wrapped them in blaze of crimson fire.

To add to the flames, he went through a few more hand signs.

"Fire Style: Grande Fireball!"

The fire enhanced projectiles and projectile fireball all rushed towards Kisame and the still grappling unknown. The shuriken simply bounced off the man's armor, only two sticking to his back, as the flames spread. The flames hit the rogue swordsman, only for his body to evaporate into steam, revealing he had switched with a water clone.

Kisame smirked and said, "Guess that new fancy armor didn't do anything."

Itachi kept his eyes on the flames. Suddenly, a dark figure could be seen in the center of the blazing inferno. It became clearer and clearer as it moved closer. The armored man was revealed to have no scratches on him, save for a few stubborn embers that stuck to his body. The sound of metal hitting dirt reached their ears. Glancing behind him, they saw that the shuriken that had embedded themselves into his back were falling out.

The drone looked at the group with his blank face, giving an emotionless mask that surpassed even Itachi. The drone then opened a special compartment in its back. Two rods, both about 8 inches in length shot into the air, before falling, the drone catching them.

The tops of each staff glowed briefly then blades of energy formed, each one almost three feet in length.

'Chakra blades?' Itachi thought, his eyebrow cocked in curiosity.

Kisame scoffed and said, "Ha, if you knew so much about us, you should know that chakra blades are worthless against Samehada!"

Kisame charged and swung his massive weapon, only for the armored man to dodge to the left and then swing his own weapons. Kisame blocked, fully expecting the chakra to be drained from the weapons. His confident smirk was replaced with a look of shock when Samehada screeched in agony.

He quickly drew back and immediately got on the defensive, dodging a barrage of precisely aimed sword swings. As they passed a tree, one sword swing cut right through it, bringing the smell of burned wood.

Kisame jumped back to put some distance between him and the unknown.

Itachi was also surprised, though his face, didn't show it. His armor gave him the strength to match Kisame, gave him immunity to genjutsu, and uses bizarre energy swords to fight them.

Who was this guy?

He was cut off from his thoughts when the man charged with his bizarre weapons drawn.

In the woods, Team 10…

Ino, Choji, and Shikimaru were currently in the middle of the forest. They had followed Naruto's clone and had managed to capture it with a well-place shadow possession from Shikamaru. While Ino was boasting about they had caught the boy, he burst into smoke.

As the blonde was ranting, Choji was attempting to keep her from going crazy, and Shikimaru was examining the immediate area. There was no doubt in his mind that Naruto had some sort of plan going on, as unlikely as it seemed.

Up in the trees, Naruto glanced down at the trio. Out of all the teams of his generation, Naruto knew that the Ino-Shika-Cho trio was known for their teamwork, so he knew he had act fast before they could get into one of their infamous formations. Not only that, but Ino could have learned her clan's ability to telepathically communicate with others. Add in Shikimaru's superior intellect and they would be a problem. Naruto mentally thanked the old pervert for idea to learning about his fellow comrades in case of a future competition.

Naruto reached into his bag and pulled out a grenade-like cylinder. Naruto felt a brief hint of nostalgia as he popped it and then threw it at the trio. The device struck the ground and exploded into a blast of blue smoke and black powder.

Shikimaru jumped back and knew that this was Naruto's work. Before he could do anything however, he suddenly realized that he was incredibly itchy. He quickly realized that the bomb had been laced with itching powder. Ino and Choji soon followed their boss's lead and began scratching like crazy.

"Jeez," Choji groaned in annoyance as he scratched himself like he had fleas, "First a stink bomb now a canister of itching powder? Hell's king of pranks is making a comeback! Oh man, what did he put in this stuff?!"

Ino was sharing Choji's sentiments and said, "I'm going to murder that blonde moron!"

Naruto then leapt from the trees and said, "Well, here I am then flower girl."

Ino growled angrily as she went through hand signs for her signature jutsu. She fully intended to transfer her mind into the boy's and tear it apart. Shikimaru realized this as a ploy by Naruto ad tried to stop her, but it was too late."

"Mind Transfer Jutsu!"

Ino's mind launched forward from her body leaving her limp. Naruto smirked at this and quickly performed another substitution, with Shikimaru this time. The next thing the genius knew his mind was being force back as Ino took over his body. The possessed chunin looked down at his hands with a shocked expression.

Choji realized what this meant and turned only to a get a punch to the face, a knee to the gut, and a getting thrown over Naruto's shoulder to slam into a tree.

Naruto then quickly performed a powerful curb stomp on the pone Ino's stomach, utilizing the long-time weakness of her family technique. The male blonde then launched forward towards the shell shocked Ino/Shikimaru, and slammed him/her in the stomach. A barrage of punches would result in some nasty bruises that began to appear on Ino's body as well. To finally, finish the job, Naruto punched the possessed chunin before grabbing him by the skull and slamming him skull first into a tree.

The chunin hit the ground unconscious. Moments later, Ino moved slightly indicating she was back in her body, but feeling the combination of her own injuries and the ones dealt to Shikimaru.

Naruto smirked and turned to Choji who just got up from his spot on the ground and growled before charging.

The two began a rather brutal hand-to-hand fight. Choji had Naruto beat in size and it was clear that he was putting his weight into his punches. Naruto used his smaller frame to his advantage ducking, bobbing, and weaving through the attacks, and then counterattacking.

Naruto dodged a punch and threw a shot that struck the Akamichi heir in the stomach, making him double over. Naruto then grabbed Choji's head and threw up a knee into his face, breaking his nose and causing blood to leak.

Angry, Choji then went for his signature technique. He jumped back and used his expansion technique to bloat himself up,

Naruto expected this and quickly began to for a Rasengan in his hand. He was shocked however, when Choji's hair wrapped around him and formed spikes. Something Naruto remembered seeing the old pervert do during one of their many spars.

The surprise quickly faded, and Naruto brought his technique to bear, just in case. The two charged and prepared for the final stand.

"Spiked Human Boulder!"

"Wind Style: Rasengan!"

The two techniques clashed. The resulting pulse kicked up dust and sent wind smashed into the trees, sending loose leaves from the branches. The two attacks ground against each other, the chakra infused hair holding up against the spiral sphere of chakra. After a moment, Naruto pushed more charka into the technique pushing Choji back and knocking him out of his boulder form.

Taking advantage of the chubby boy's temporary disorientation and rushed forward. The remain strength of the wind chakra enhanced rasengan slammed into Choji's stomach causing him to scream in pain as it ground away at clothes and burned the skin and muscle beneath it.

Choji, still screaming, was sent flying into a nearby tree and struck it with enough force to break it. With the Akamichi now unconscious, Team 10 was officially taken out of play.

Naruto smirked at his victory before shaking his head. Now was not the time to get cocky. He quickly sent out a pulse and found that team 8 was now the closest to him. He then made for them, intent on taking them down.

Naruto quickly found themselves standing around. Kiba, Akamaru, and Hinata were currently looking for him, while Shino seemed to be performing a technique of his own. Naruto could feel something off, but he couldn't tell what was. He guessed that it was something to do with the boy's hive. Naruto began to think of something to take them out and came up with a plan rather quickly. Staying down wind of Hinata, he approached the group.

Down with Team 8…

"Damn it, where is he?" Kiba growled angrily, Akamaru barking alongside him.

Since Naruto had hit them with one of his old stink bombs. His entire sense of smell was messed up. This was supposed to be an easy mission! When the hell did Naruto start thinking like this?! Naruto was practically the omega of their class and that was how it was supposed to be!

He was the only one frustrated. Because the smell had clung to his clothes, Shino's hive was also slightly incapacitated, due to the Kikaichu's sensitive sense of smell. Add in the damage he had done earlier with his surprise lightning attack, and Shino was beyond frustrated. Right now, he was using one of his clan techniques to speed up the repairs to his hive.

Out of all three, Hinata seemed to be the least upset. Her Byakugan was the only thing that seemed to work at this point. The mission was proving hard for the now long haired Hyuuga. She didn't like having to fight her, not so secret, crush, but she had to bring him back, if only just to understand why he would want to leave. The boy had always preached about becoming the hokage, so why would he just leave out of the blue?

Off the side Naruto, still in stealth mode, came down and moved nearby one of the group, specifically Akamaru. Naruto glanced down at the large hound who glanced up at the hound before blowing a raspberry at the dog.

The dog snarled and barked loudly before charging forward.

The rest of the team turned towards the dog as it charged.

Naruto dodged the swipe before grabbing the ninja hound's rear right leg. He swung the hound around in the air before throwing the nearly horse sized dog over at Kiba, who didn't react in time. He was nearly crushed underneath the weight of his partner. Naruto then charged forward, leaped over the dog and then stomped hard, right on Kiba's skull knocking him out.

Naruto formed a pair of shadow clones who proceeded to do the same to Akamaru, incapacitating the hound. To follow up all three charged at Shino and Hinata.

Hinata took a step back as Shino pulled out his arm and sent out a wave of new kikaichu. However, much like his earlier technique the two clones burst out lightning from their bodies, frying the two bugs. The two clones then leapt into the air, somersaulting in the air. As lightning erupted from their legs to the air and came down with a shout.

"Clone Lightning Ax Kick!"

The two ax kicks connected with Shino's shoulder's before he could create a bug clone. The physical blow strained Shino's bones and the lightning shocked him, damaging flesh and nerves and frying a good amount more of the Aburame's hive. Shino let out a scream before he fell over, out cold.

Naruto turned towards Hinata dispelling his clones. The girl looked nervous before getting down into her family's traditional stance.

"Please, Naruto," she said, "Just come back with us. We only want to get things figured out."

Naruto sighed and said, "Figure what out? Those council bastards saw a chance to get rid of me and they are. If you don't believe me than the daimyo is going to be arriving in a few days to discuss an issue involving a potential traitor."

Hinata's eyes widened. People were conspiring against Naruto? In her own village. She guessed it might have to be about the Kyuubi, but that was ridiculous. Naruto wouldn't do anything to harm the village, he had stated that as many times as he wore orange. There was no way anyone in their village would have to try Naruto executed or killed. No way!

Naruto saw the surprised and disbelief in her eyes. He just shook his head. She had never seen the worst of Konoha, like Naruto had. She may have a hard time due to her father, sister, and cousin, but she never had been dealt with.

Naruto then charged, taking Hinata by surprise before chopping her on the back of the neck, knocking her out.

Naruto sighed as the Hyuuga heiress fell to the ground out cold.

Naruto then turned to leave, but was stopped when a barrage of kunai landed at his feet.

Naruto turned towards the direction they came from and saw the remains of team 7 and team 9.

Sakura cracked her knuckles and charged forward, completely ignoring the shouts of Neji, who was currently in charge in place of Shikimaru.

She charged forward, and Naruto wound up grappling her. The two stared at one another glaring at one another.

"Just give up, already," she said, "You're coming back with us, whether you like it or not."

Naruto didn't answer her. He was tired of this old song and dance.

He smiled and said, "To think, I used to consider that forehead of your charming back in the day. Just so charming and kissable."

Sakura's eyes widened. Those words. She remembered Sasuke saying those words to her just before running off, apparently feeling shy about admitting his feeling for her. How did Naruto know what Sasuke said to her?

She didn't get a chance to ponder this before slamming his knee into her stomach. Naruto then punched her and sent her rolling backwards. Sakura immediately got up and glared at her.

Naruto snarled and said, "Listen, I've told you before, I'm not going back!"

Neji smirked and said, "You don't have much of a choice. Even if we can't beat you, our back up will?"

Naruto blinked and asked, "Back up?"

Neji simply smiled and said, "I can see them. An ANBU and at least three jonin. Even if you defeat us, you will have to defeat them."

Naruto narrowed his eyes. Naruto wasn't sure about everyone in ANBU. On top of that, he wasn't sure he had the skill or experience to defeat one jonin, let alone three. Neji didn't entirely count as he had only been recently promoted.

"Naruto," Lee said, "You are outmatched. Please, just surrender my friend. You cannot defeat all of us."

Naruto sighed and said, "I told you before, I'm not going back Lee."

Tenten brought out her scroll and said, "Naruto, either you give up, or we just beat your orange wearing ass unconscious and drag you back. What is it going to be?"

Naruto looked between them all and reached out with his sensor ability. He could sense the fight between his unknown and the Akatsuki members. He also could sense the three jonin and ANBU coming their way.

Naruto sighed and said, "I'll take option 3."

He formed a familiar hand signs and said, "Beat the crap out of all of you and run. Mass Shadow Clone Jutsu."

There was an enormous puff of smoke surrounding them. As soon as the clone were gone, there were multiple shadow cones surrounding the remaining teams on all sides.

The chuunin and jonin were all staring on in shock as they saw just how many shadow clones Naruto could make. If Lee wasn't so shocked, he would be spouting about the flames of youth right now.

The group got ready to fight, but Naruto was one step ahead. Every clone leapt up into the air, and Naruto focused all his strength and slammed his fist into the ground with a small, local quake that managed to knock the group's balance off.

As the clones descended Naruto and his clones called out the formation.

"NA-RU-TO 2K Uzumaki Barrage!"

Meanwhile…

Itachi had seen many things in his life as a missing nin. However, this was something that had flabbergasted him.

The mission had been simple. Zetsu had found that Naruto was leaving the village and they decided now was a good time to obtain the Kyuubi. They had found Naruto about to confront his friends. Then they were interrupted by this unknown armored individual.

As the fight progressed Itachi realized that this guy was no normal man. He was far stronger than any human being, aside from Tsunade or Kakuzu. Then there were his weapons. Those weapons didn't seem to rely on chakra as they burned through everything they touch, including the water and even the air, something he could easily smell.

Right now, Itachi was sporting some bloody knuckles form a close range attack that went bad. He was also suffering from some slight chakra drain because his armor allowed him to tank, basically all the techniques he threw. He also had some burned spots on uniform from some just barely dodged sword slices.

Meanwhile, Kisame's arm was currently broken from a grappling contest that went horribly wrong. If that wasn't enough he also had a long, cauterized gash across his chest which, if Kisame's expression was anything to go by, hurt like absolute hell. He also had a large bruise on his face, and was clearly missing a tooth.

All in all, there were too many unknowns with this guy. Who was he? Where did he get his armor and weapons? How had someone with this skill in building, weaponry, and fighting skill alluded them.

"I am through wasting time," he said, "I will terminate you now. You have interfered with my mission long enough."

He held out his hand and was about to act, when something happens.

He glanced at the side. The man then turned to a different direction. Then, he deactivated his swords and put them back into his back.

He turned and then shot off into the forest at such a fast clip, it would have made a certain green suited jonin jealous.

Itachi turned towards his partner and said, "Kisame, we are leaving."

The shark man turned and said, "What do you mean we're leaving. We have to-"

The former mist shinobi was stopped mid-complaint when he saw the sharp glare of his comrade.

"We are both injured by an unknown who is currently still around. There is also the fact that there, is likely, back up coming for the Konoha shinobi. We are in no position to face off against them, especially with your arm and chest wound. Now, we must retreat. I am fairly certain that Pain will want to learn of this new player."

Kisame growled, but he knew that his normally silent partner was right. His burn was really starting to hurt, and he couldn't fight with his arm broken. On top of that, Samehada had taken some damage as well, from the man's bizarre weapons and he needed time to be repaired.

With a small grunt, the two vanished in a blur of speed.

Back with Naruto…

Naruto blinked as he stood over his fallen comrades. The group had been completely overpowered by his clones and himself. They were on the ground with several bruises and injuries, but they weren't going to be crippled or die from their injuries. As he stood victoriously and the last of his clones vanished he suddenly had a thought.

'Why didn't I just do that to all of them earlier?'

The sound of something hitting the ground go the blonde's attention.

He turned around and let out a sigh of relief when he saw it was his new friend…he hoped.

"Hey, big guy," he said, "Thanks for the help back there with Kisame and Itachi."

"A "thanks" is not necessary," he said, "I was simply fulfilling my mission."

Naruto nodded and looked at him with a curious eye.

"Um, if I might ask, what was your mission?"

He answered, "To prevent your capture and then deliver you to my creator."

Suddenly, the man's head opened, revealing machinery and wires inside. A triangle shaped object shot out and hooked onto Naruto's face. Naruto grabbed at the hose and tried to tear it, but suddenly the large machine, grabbed the blonde's hand and stopped him. After a moment, Naruto's movements started to slow until he fell over and lost consciousness.

The drone then proceeded to pick up Naruto. The rest of his body, his chest, arms, and legs, opened up as well and then pulled him inside of his body, and then closed up.

The robots back then opened revealing a pair of thrusters, which fired up and sent him flying up into the air.

As he flew off several shinobi from Konoha, including an ANBU with a fox mask, Kakashi, Gai, and Asuma arrived.

Kakashi said, "Spread out, see if you can find them. If Naruto has gotten away they may know where he has gone, or at least have a hint."

Little did they know, that Naruto was long gone, in a direction they would not be able to follow.

Several miles above the surface, the drone flew up flying high above the clouds. Suddenly, a bright blue energy field formed around him as his feet fired off jets likd the ones on his back.

He flew higher and higher until he finally shot through the atmosphere. Now surrounded by the icy void of space, his body began to glow slightly red, to add heat and warm to his currently sleeping, and unwilling, passenger.

He flew through the void, approaching the massive dome, hidden in the shadow of the moon.

"Creator, I have returned with subject Naruto Uzumaki. What are my orders."

After a moment, an answer came over the droid's internal computer.

"Bring him to the control. Make him comfortable. Seeing as we have, essentially, kidnapped him, he is bound to be a little bit upset.

The drone understood this and flew towards dome and entered through large bay door open on the side. The drone landed in the middle of a large square shaped room. The door closed and the voice of Caretaker spoke.

"Door closed. Oxygen levels rising…rising…oxygen levels at prime levels. Artificial gravity activated."

Another door opened, and the drone walked through the hall, his metal feet echoing through the empty hall. The lights came on room filling the room with light as he walked.

He eventually entered a room where various machines sat.

After that, his body opened, and Naruto's unconscious form tumbled out. The mask attached changed what was pumped into it, resulting in Naruto awakening, before it separated.

Naruto jumped and spun around, looking around frantically.

"Alright, buddy where did you take me? What the hell are you and what is going on?"

Suddenly, a new voice said, "Relax, Mr. Uzumaki. We do not mean you any harm."

Naruto spun around trying to pinpoint where the voice was coming from.

"Who's there?" the blonde asked, sounding annoyed.

The sound of something moving got the ninja's attention. He turned around and saw bowl sized object floating towards him.

On top of it was a small creature that could easily fit in Naruto's hand. It was only a few inches tall with gray skin, and green eyes with a horizontal bar pupil, like that of a toad. He wore a black suit that clung to him with a metal belt buckle around his waist, and dark gray gloves, which only had three fingers and a thumb. He also had two small tendrils coming off his face, between his mouth and eyes, acting like a small mustache.

"Greetings," the frog thing said, with a small wave.

Naruto blinked in shock at what he was seeing.

"W-What are you some…weird toad or something?"

The creature chuckled and said, "No, I am not. However, I can see where you would get that mixed up. My species does have a several similarities with amphibians."

He chuckled again and Naruto just stared.

"Now that all the jokes are out of the way we can get to business," the creature said, "My name is Merlin. And I have an offer for you."

CUT! Okay, we meet Naruto's unknown ally, Merlin. What does he want with Naruto? We'll find out next chapter. Next chapter, Naruto learns more about Merlin, gets a tour of the base. In the meantime, the daimyo arrives and light begins to be spread on the conspiracy. Along with that, I should tell you all that with school starting up again, I'm going to be busy. I'll attempt to update at least once a month. Let me know what you think. Flames will be ignored.