46

A/N: Before you all start reading, I would first like to apologize for having not written for this story in so long. The truth is it's really hard to write for this story right now. My muse just hasn't been working for this one very well, probably because of all the cliche's I fell into. This fanfiction was originally my pretentious attempt at writing just like everybody else, however, I don't really want to write like everybody else and so I've been trying to think up a way to give this story more originality. I've rewritten almost all of my original plan for this tale, and I also waited for Naruto to end so I can see if there was anything from Kishi's story that I might want to keep in here. I'll try to write for this fanfic more often, but I'd also like to ask for your patience if I'm not. Thanks for being so understanding, minna. ^_^

Chapter 45: To the Land of Snow We Go!

Naruto never thought he'd find himself back in Hi no Kuni so soon into his training period… well, maybe not soon. It had been six months since he started training, after all, but with nearly two and a half years still left, he'd not anticipated returning to his home country at this juncture in his life. Not until the end of his training.

According to Ero-Sennin, his perverted teacher, they had been contracted for some kind of mission. Much like the one they'd been sent on to Tsuki no Kuni this mission was to be a bodyguard mission.

Naruto was actually more excited for this mission than he was the last one. Their last mission had them guarding a fat man and a brat, and while the brat turned out to be alright the person they were guarding this time would be a thousand times better, because this time they were guarding a celebrity. Yes, a celebrity. To be exact, they were guarding Yukie Fujikaze, the famous actress who played the titular character for Naruto's favorite guilty pleasure movie series: Princess Gale.

They were currently on their way to meet with Yukie's manager, some old guy named Sandayu-something-or-other. Naruto didn't much care for the details. He was just excited to be meeting his favorite actress!

"Look at you, brat, bouncing around like a kid on a sugar high!" Jiraiya laughed at Naruto as walked down the street of what appeared to be an average village. "Excited about meeting a world famous actress, are we?"

"Hell yes!" Naruto cheered, doing a fist pump for good measure. "How can I not be excited? We're meeting Yukie Fujikaze!"

YUkie Fujikaze was well-known as a child actress. Despite only being 17 years of age she had already played a number of different roles. While her most famous showing was the Princess Gale series, she had played in a lot of other movies as well.

"I can't wait to finally meet her," Naruto continued blabbering. "My only disappointment is that I don't have any of my Princess Gale posters with me."

"You have posters?"

"If I had known we'd be meeting Yukie Fujikaze, I would have made sure to bring several of them to get them signed." Sighing deeply, Naruto scratched the back of his neck. "Man, talk about disappointing." He perked up a second later, unable to actually stay depressed in the face of their next mission. "Aw, well. At least I'm getting to meet Yukie. And I can still probably get an autograph."

Jiraiya chuckled at his apprentices enthusiasm. It was good to see his godson's anger at him had dissipated. That had not been a pleasant experience. Certainly not something he would ever want to experience again.

"Can you be anymore giddie? you're like a child in a candy shop."

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Well, excuse me Ms. I-woke-up-on-the-wrong-side-of-the-bed-today. I can't help it. How many people can say they've had a chance to meet the best actress in the entire world? How many of those people can say they were her bodyguard? Not many."

"Calling someone the 'best' of anything is very subjective, Naruto. Just because you like this Yukie woman's acting skills doesn't mean she's the best in the business."

"I don't know how you can say that? You don't even watch TV."

"Did you forget, Naruto? I can see everything you see. I've been able to for as long as I've been inside of you, which means I've also seen all the movies you have. Granted, you haven't seen many movies, but I have to say, out of all the actresses you know, I think Yukie definitely ranks number five."

Naruto narrowed his eyes. "I only know five actresses."

Within his mind, Kyuubi snickered. "Exactly."

Great. So his inner demoness was teasing him again. She'd been doing that quite a bit lately, more than she used to. Part of him wondered why, but the rest just didn't care. Naruto grumbled some as he cut off his connection with the sexy fox-lady. While he didn't mind a little banter with the vixen, he didn't want to get caught up in a conversation where all she did was tease him right now.

Deciding to get a few more details about their mission, he turned to Jiraiya, who walked alongside him as they moved through the crowded city off the coast of Hi no Kuni. "Ne, ne, Ero-Sennin-"

"Kami dammit, Naruto! When are you gonna stop calling me that?!"

"-Where exactly are we supposed to meet up with Yukie at? Also, what are the specifics for this mission, exactly?" asked Naruto, blatantly ignoring Jiraiya's angry exclamation. If the perv didn't want being called "Ero-Sennin" then he should stop being so damn perverted.

Jiraiya sighed. "First of all, we're not meeting Yukie-san anywhere. We're meeting her manager, Sandayu-san. Second of all, this mission isn't your standard bodyguard mission."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I mean we're not guarding just one or two people. While Michiru had that caravan of his, we weren't responsible for its protection and our only concern was the prince and his son. Everything else was merely collateral. For this mission we're being required to guard the entire crew responsible for the production of the Princess Gale movies."

"I see." Naruto cupped his chin with his right hand, eyes scrunching in thought and making his features appear even more vulpine. "Sounds like this is going to be a lot bigger than a lot of our other assignments."

"Maybe, maybe not," Jiraiya said. "We've certainly got our work cut out for us, but I doubt we'll have to deal with anything as dangerous as what happened on our last mission."

"Ugh, you just had to say it didn't know," Naruto said.

"What?" Jiraiya looked at his apprentice with clear confusion on his face. "What did I say now?"

"You just completely jinxed our mission." Honestly, didn't this perverted old coot know anything? "You should never say shit like 'I doubt our next mission will be that tough' or 'it'll all be smoothing sailing from here.' That's just asking for trouble."

Jiraiya rolled his eyes. "You're being pessimistic."

"Am I?" Naruto fired back. This dude seriously hadn't learned yet. "Take a look at my track record. My first C-rank out of the village I ended up fighting against a frickin' A-rank ninja and…" Naruto hesitated for a moment, "… someone who could use ice ninjutsu. Afterward, we had the Chunin exam where I fought Orochi-fucking-maru in the second stage, had my arm ripped off by a psycho jinchurikki in the prelims. During the final stage I fought against Neji the prick Hyuuga, Bushy-brows Lee, Yugi-chan, and then I had to go on and defeat Gaara again after he went all Tanuki on the village. And all that happened within my first few months of being a ninja! I have a whole list of shit that I could bring up to back my theory. Seriously, it's like the whole world just loves fucking me over, and now you've gone and completely jinxed our next assignment. I'm gonna have a fucking aneurysm from all the stress these missions put me under."

"Drama Queen."

"Oh, shut up," Naruto grumbled to the vixen in his mind. He was not a drama queen. Not one bit. Everything he'd just said was completely true. "You'd feel the same way if you went through half the shit that I have."

"I've gone through far more than you ever will." Naruto could practically hear the scoff in her voice. "Did you forget how long I've been around? I'm well over one-thousand years old. I've seen and done more than any mortal ever will."

"Yes, that is true, but I'm… I'm not really a mortal anymore, am I?" Naruto asked, his voice abnormally soft, even in his mind.

"Ah…" Kyuubi seemed to choke on her own words. "Yes… I suppose that's true… I guess you're not a mortal anymore…" She became quiet after that. Naruto waited to see if she would say anything else, but when it became clear she wouldn't, he sighed, wondering how long it would be before the knowledge of his own semi-immortality stopped bothering him. Probably after all of his friends were long dead. What a morbid thought.

"Okay, I'll grant you, you've had it pretty rough since you became a ninja." Well, at least his perverted sensei was willing to admit that much. "But I still think you're being too pessimistic about all this. Seriously, we're only being hired as a safety precaution, not because there's any real danger involved. Yuki no Kuni hasn't been a hotbed of activity since the coup d'etat led by Dotou Kazehana over a decade ago, and we probably won't even meet him since all we're doing is filming a movie. What could go wrong?"

XoX

Naruto and Jiraiya eventually found the man they were looking for in a large building filled with stagehands rushing to and fro. Naruto could immediately tell something was up from the moment they entered the building. The people around them all appeared frantic.

It didn't take long to find the guy they needed to. He was standing in front of the stage, yelling into a walkie-talkie, his voice high-pitched and frantic. "What do you mean she's not in her room? You're telling me she ran out again?!"

Naruto would've wondered who "she" was, but at that moment Jiraiya walked up to the man and, after a seconds hesitation, he decided to follow.

"You're Sandayu Asama, I presume?"

The one Jiraiya addressed appeared startled and spun around the stare at them.

"Uh, yes. Can I help you?"

Sandayu quickly made to straighten his glasses and Naruto got a good look at him. The dude looked old. Not like old old, but more like a worn old, as if he'd been under so much stress that he'd aged prematurely. He wore a pair of rimmed glasses, had his hair in a ponytail, and had way too many stress lines, like an old fruit that had been left out in the sun for too long.

"Yeah, we're the ninja you hired for the bodyguard detail," Jiraiya said. He then looked around, his face reflecting his confusion. "Uh… is something going on around here? Everyone seems kinda frantic."

"Oh, it's horrible," Sandayu moaned piteously. "Our star actress, Yuki Fujikaze is missing!"

Whatever Jiraiya had been expecting, it most certainly wasn't that, a fact which became more than evident by the old sannin's dropped jaw and wide eyes.

"I told you something could go wrong," Naruto smirked at his sensei. Jiraiya leveled him with a glare.

"Shut up, brat," he grumbled, not at all pleased with having the first few seconds of their mission already looking so troublesome. Maybe he should have kept his big mouth shut?

Jiraiya turned his attention back Sandayu, trying to glean what he could from the man as to the possible whereabouts of their missing actress. Naruto didn't pay a whole lot of attention, doubting they would be able to glean any clues from this man, who seemed just as lost as to the whereabouts of Yukie Fujikaze as they were. Instead of listening as the old man expressed his woes to the even older man, the Uzumaki made the familiar cross-seal for his most used jutsu and created several clones.

"Alright, men!" Naruto barked like a drill sergeant giving orders. The clones snapped to attention. "You all know what to do! Spread out and search the area! When you find Yukie, dispel yourselves!"

"OSSU!"

His clones saluted before shooting off. Some took to the buildings, others ran along the streets. One of them even decided to get cheeky and started jumping on the heads of people passing by. Most people would have shaken their heads at that one. Naruto was just depressed he didn't think of doing something that awesome first. Weren't he and his clones supposed to be the same?

"Now there's an interesting ability," a voice said from somewhere behind him. "I haven't seen something like that before."

Turning around, Naruto ended up face-to-face with another old man. For a second, Naruto wondered if everyone around him was going to be some kind of geezer on this trip. Wasn't he supposed to be protecting Yukie Fujikaze? The hottest actress in showbiz? This man had shock white hair, wore shades indoors, a hat, and had a pipe in his mouth. He grinned at Naruto.

"Who are you, old man?" asked Naruto.

"Heh, I'm the director to the Princess Gale movies." The old man smirked. "I'm not surprised you don't recognize me, since I'm the one in the background shouting orders while all the magic is happening on the big screen. Anyway, what was that power you just used?"

"You mean my Kage Bunshin?"

"Yeah, yeah, that." The director nodded his head. "I've never seen anyone do something like that one before, however, it's definitely an interesting ability. Would be pretty useful, too, and I could just imagine how cool it would be seeing something like that on the big screen."

"Wouldn't it?" Naruto said, grinning. He had no trouble tooting his own horn when someone recognized how awesome his jutsu was. "It would totally look amazing on the big screen. I could just picture the looks on people's faces as they watch a movie and see a thousand people suddenly appearing on screen. It would be totally awesome."

"Indeed it would." The director nodded his head. "I might even have a use for that ability in Princess Gale. Hmm… that's something I'll have to think about doing, actually. It looks like I may need to rewrite some of my script."

Naruto grinned. "You know something? You're alright for an old guy."

Said "old guy" laughed. "And you're alright for a brat."

The two grinned at each other, already bonding over their shared disregard for protocol and the awesomeness that was the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. For some reason, Jiraiya, while listening to Sandayu complain and fret over his missing charge, shivered in some unknown fear.

"So does this happen often?" Naruto asked, arms crossing over his chest. "I mean this whole 'Yukie is missing' thing. It almost feels like you guys have done this song and dance before."

"Not usually," the director said, sighing and scratching the back of his head. "I mean, sometimes she'll occasionally disappear, but she usually shows up again an hour or two later. Yukie is actually a very admirable actress. She's never run off like this before, and she's certainly never vanished during the middle of shooting. This is the first time I've ever seen her pull a complete vanishing act like this."

"Hm…"

XoX

One of Naruto's clones eventually found Yukie Fujikaze on the other side of town. The woman in question sat upon the edge of a stream just inside the borders of the small city. Dressed in stately robes fit for a princess-or at least one acting as a princess-the young woman silently gazed at the stream, knees pulled up to her chest, arms wrapped around her knees, and her eyes staring into the tranquil waters that flowed across her vision.

This was how Naruto found her. He stood several feet away, not yet approaching, but instead just taking a moment to admire the woman. She really was pretty. She was even prettier in real life than she was in the movies, and Naruto needed a moment to calm himself down before greeting her. It would be really bad form if he went all "fanboy" on her. What kind of bodyguard acted like an overly enthusiastic fanboy anyway?

"You really are obsessed, aren't you?"

"Jealous?"

"Hmph. Not in the least."

Taking a deep, calming breath, Naruto walked up to the woman without bothering to mask his presence. She seemed to notice him, for her head turned and lifted to gaze at him from her seated position. He stopped just a few feet from her, and did his best to put on a friendly grin.

"You're Yukie Fujikaze, right?" Naruto asked for clarification before pointing at himself with a thumb. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto, a Chunin from Konohagakure. I'm here with Ero-Jiraiya-san as a part of the security detail hired by Sandayu Asama to watch over you and the others during your photoshoot and ensure your safe passage through Yuki no Kuni." The grin seemed to gain several more levels of brightness as he looked down at her. "I'm looking forward to working with you."

Naruto had many expectations about working with an actress of Yukie Fujikaze's level. He expected her to act with poise and grace, just like the person she played in the Princess Gale movies. He expected her to understand decorum and how the coming days would work. He expected her to be understanding and compassionate. And most of all, he expected them to have a cordial, if professional relationship.

What he did not expect was for the woman to spray him with a can of mace.

"GA!"

Rubbing his eyes furious, Naruto tried to somehow alleviate the pain of having mace shot into his eyes, but dammit if it wasn't hard. Who the hell does that anyway? Just spray mace into people's eyes? That wasn't graceful or compassionate at all!

Finally managed to rid himself of the worst sting, Naruto opened his eyes to glare at the woman.

"Dammit! What the hell was that… for… eh?"

It was only after a couple of seconds that he realized Yukie no longer stood in front of him. It took a moment, but he soon found her leaping onto the saddle of a horse. He stared at the woman in shock for several long silent seconds, watching as the horse she rode disappeared around a corner. Then he balked.

"Wh-w-what the hell?! She just ran away from me!"

Growling, Naruto decided that he simply couldn't let this go. If this woman wanted to take him on a merry little chase, then by the Rikudou Sennin he would show that woman why you can't outrun a ninja! No one got away from Uzumaki Naruto. No one.

Upon hopping onto the nearest roof with a chakra enhanced leap, Naruto took off in the direction he last saw Yukie traveling. It didn't take long to find her. She was the only person in the entire city riding a horse down the street. That made things considerably easier. With the grin of one about to pull a successful prank, Naruto leapt down from the building he'd been running along and onto the horse's hind quarter. Neither steed nor rider noticed him yet, such was the softness and silence with which he moved.

Damn he was awesome.

"You really know how to ride a horse, lady," Naruto said, amusement seeping into his voice, especially when Yukie nearly jumped out of her harness. She turned her head to see him standing there, gaping, and Naruto gave her a close-eyed grin. "However, the fun ends here. I think it's about time you and I-gack!"

It was most unfortunate for Naruto that he was standing instead of crouching. If he had, maybe he would've been able to avoid the branch that smacked him right in the throat. He hadn't, however, and thus ended up getting knocked off the horse when an abnormally long branch sticking out of a passing tree clocked his windpipe and blocked his air passage. Naruto lay on his back for several seconds, staring up at the sky, gasping in asphyxiated agony, catching his second wind. Then he groaned and sat up.

"Ugh, that was embarrassing," he muttered.

"I'll say. Beaten by a tree branch. Some ninja you are."

"Put a muzzle on it," Naruto growled. He then directed his gaze to the tree branch that knocked him off Yukie's horse, glaring at it. What he wouldn't give for the ability to light things on fire with his vision right now…

He sighed. "I guess I'll have to go and find Yukie… again."

"You mean your clones will find her again, right? You don't do anything."

"… shut up."

XoX

Dark lighting greeted Naruto as he walked into the rundown dive that called itself a bar. He blinked several times, letting his eyes adjust to the shifts in the light spectrum. Several round tables situated into booths greeted his vision, grimy and rusted, with stains and dirt covering their surface. And the patrons weren't much better. Most of the people there were definitely the shady sort, sitting in their alcoves, huddling together and whispering. This certainly was not the kind of place he'd want to have a drink in. The sooner he got out of here, the better. Now if he could just find…

"Oi! Bartender, get me another drink!"

Speak of the devil…

Naruto found Yukie Fujikaze, drunk as a skunk, swaying in her seat, and demanding more alcohol. As he walked further in, one of the other patrons, a man covered in a long trench coat and a hat hiding his face, stood up and began drunkenly swaying toward the equally wasted Yukie. The man's hand stretched out, reaching toward the young woman, whether to cop a feel or for purposes more nefarious would never be known.

"I don't know who the hell you think you are," Naruto hissed, glaring at the suddenly frightened drunk. "But if you think for one second that I am going to let you grope some woman in my presence without her consent, you've got another thing coming." A pause. "Even if that woman is so drunk she probably won't even notice."

The wrist clenched in the blond's grasp began to creak as he increased the strength of his grip, causing the man to cry out. A second later, Naruto spun on the balls of his feet, the drunk in his grip getting jerked off his feet and sent flying right into the door when Naruto let go. Clapping his hands as he saw the man crumble to the floor in a heap, clearly unconscious, a certain grinning blond clapped his hands, and then turned his attention to the woman he'd come to this dump for.

YUkie Fujikaze was, most assuredly, drunker than anyone had any right to be. Her bloodshot eyes gazed at him, half-lidded and blinking, as if she recognized him but couldn't place where. Cheeks stained red from alcohol consumption also showed how far gone she was. Naruto was surprised. Wasn't Yukie only 17-years old? Why was the bartender allowing her to drink? Or did she have some kind of fake ID or something? Maybe she tossed around a lot of money.

"I don't really appreciate you running off on me, lady." Naruto crossed his arms over his chest and glared at the woman. "I don't care if you are an awesome actress. I don't put up with crap from Ero-Sennin, and I'm not putting up with that crap from you. And who the hell sprays mace in a person's eyes?"

Yukie stared at him in her drunken stupor for all of 10-seconds. Then she turned around, clicking her tongue and going back to her drink.

"Tch… you again. Why don't you go bother someone else, kid. You're ruining the mood."

"Oh, ruining the mood, am I?" Naruto's voice was so laden with sarcasm it could fill the bar. "I'm so sorry for ruining the mood, but then, you'd know all about that, wouldn't you? I'm pretty sure the mood was ruined the moment you decided to run out on the set while you were mid-shoot."

"Whatever," Yukie dismissed his words. Naruto grit his teeth. He was seriously beginning to regret this assignment. After having such high hopes about meeting one of his favorite actresses of all time, Naruto had been expecting someone a little-okay, a lot more personable. This woman was completely destroying all of his childhood fantasies!

"I also wouldn't try running out on me like that again," Naruto said. "That shit you pulled back there with the mace? Uzumaki Naruto never falls for the same trick twice."

The raven-haired young woman stared at Naruto hard for several seconds, which was impressive considering how drunk she was. Seriously, how many people who had enough alcohol in their system to poison an elephant were capable of producing a glare like that. Then Yukie turned away, going back to her drink. "Why are bothering me anyway? Why do you even care?"

"Oh, I don't know, how about because it's my job?" Naruto crossed his arms over his chest. "My sensei and I were hired to protect you and your crew as you traveled to Yuki no Kuni. I'm not too keen on failing my missions, especially not because some snotty little princess wants to run from her duties." He was still pretty pissed off about what happened in the past hour or so. His throat was sore from where he'd struck that tree branch, and his eyes still itched from when she sprayed mace in his face. That was just not cool. "Now, come on. Get your ass up. I'd like to get this mission over with so I can move on with my life."

"Che." Yukie scoffed at him. "What would some brat like you know about life?"

"Plenty." So she wanted to play that kind of game, did she? Well that was just fine with him. Naruto was more than willing to play. "I probably know about life than some snooty little actress. And you're not that much older than me, you know."

The belligerently drunk actress offered him a bitter chuckle as she swirled the ice around in her glass. "Allow me to let you in on a little secret, kid: actors are the biggest fakes in the entire world. We're put up on the big screen, displayed to millions of people who ogle and admire us, never realizing that we're some of the biggest liars you'll ever meet. We're given our scripts, handed these lives put on paper that we're supposed to breath life into. It's all just a sick joke."

Naruto snorted, causing Yukie to toss a nasty look his way.

"What are you laughing at?"

"I'm laughing at you. Actors are the biggest fakes in the entire world? Please, you're preaching to the choir, lady. I'm a ninja. We make our entire lives off lying, cheating, stealing and killing. Living fake lives? We do that every time we go on an infiltration mission, generating false identities, creating fake personas, and breathing life into them. You clearly have no concept of how the world works if you think actors are the biggest cheats and liars around."

Yukie's glare was truly scathing. "What would you know?"

"More than you, it seems." Naruto was still getting his chuckles in when he decided they'd wasted enough time. "Now, come on. I've humored you long enough. It's time to go back to Sandayu and the others. They seem pretty worried about you, can't imagine why."

"Ah, let them worry." Yukie dismissed Sandayu and the rest of the crew with a dry chuckle. "Sandayu's just worried about his next meal ticket, and don't even get me started on the director. He doesn't care about anything but his movie. As for me, I'm done playing the part of the princess. They can always get some other woman to pick up the slack. Movies switch out actors for sequels all the time. I'm sure they won't have any trouble finding someone else to play Princess Gale for the next movie. One thing's for sure, however, and that's that I'm not going back to Yuki no Kuni. No way, no how."

Naruto faintly registered the words "going back" and shelved it for posterior inquiry. Right now he had a stubborn, prissy little actress to deal with. And how should he deal with this? Now there was a question worth asking. Part of him just wanted to knock the bitch out and drag her sorry, drunken ass back to the others; world-famous actress or no. But he couldn't really do that, could he? Ero-Sennin would be upset, and it wouldn't really generate good will or endear him to the rest of the cast-even if giving this lady a chop to the neck would make him feel a whole lot better personally.

Releasing a prominent sigh, Naruto sank down into a chair next to the woman. "Oi! Bartender, get me whatever she's having."

The bartender, a middle-aged man with graying brown hair and a handlebar mustache, gazed at him with one eyebrow raised skeptically. "You want me to get you a drink? What are you, ten? I can't give alcohol to a ten year old."

A vein throbbed on Naruto's forehead. That throbbing intensified when Yukie giggled at him. He sent her a scathing look before turning back to the bartender and pointing at the metal plate on his head. "You see this headband? This headband means I'm a ninja, jerkwad. I know fifty different ways to slit someone's throat and hundreds to kill them. It also means I'm exempt from standard laws and regulations within Hi no Kuni. Now get me my damn drink."

"Whatever you say, kid," the bartender said, setting aside the glass he'd been cleaning with a rag and getting Naruto his drink. The young man grumbled some as a glass with several cubes was set in front of him and some kind of amber liquid poured in. Naruto took a small sip of the stuff… and then decided that whatever swill this was had nothing on Myobokuzan brand fire sake.

"What are you smirking at?" Naruto asked upon noticing the blatant smirk on the drunken Yukie's face. Said smirk widened at his words.

"I see you've finally decided to throw in the towel," she said, grin widening even further when he took another sip. "You know you can't convince me to do what I don't want, so you've given up and decided to join me. Smart choice."

"If that's what you're thinking then I can tell you right now that you're dead wrong." Naruto propped an elbow onto the table and rested his cheek on his hand, the other of which held his drink. "I have no intentions of giving up, however, seeing as you're being completely unreasonable at the moment, I figured I should at least relax a bit and share a drink with you before we start hating each others guts."

Naruto looked at the blinkingly flabbergasted Yukie and smirked as he raised his drink to her in toast. "So how about it? Wanna at least have this one small gesture before we start making each others lives miserable?"

Yukie looked at him, blinking some more, before a cynical chuckle escaped her lips. She raised her glass, completely missing the soft fizzling of something dissolving in her drink. The price she paid for already being quite drunk.

"Sure, kid. Cheers."

"Cheers."

Their glasses clinked together. Naruto threw his drink back, gulping it down in one go. Not one to be outdone, Yukie followed his example. Naruto watched as she drained her entire glass, and despite her personality being one that left a lot to be desired, couldn't help but admire the way her elegant throat moved as she drained her glass. He then shook his head.

"What the fuck is wrong with you, Naruto. You know nothing can happen between you two, even if you did like her, which you don't. Remember what you are. No women would love you once she realized you're actually a monster."

Within the seal, Kyuubi listened to Naruto's thoughts, wondering if he knew that she could hear him. Probably not or he wouldn't be thinking like that.

"You know, for a brat you sure can handle your drink," Yukie said, turning to him, eyes becoming droopy.

Naruto smirked. "I'd say you're not so bad yourself, but since you're about two seconds away from passing out, I don't think I can."

Yukie's frown grew more prominent. Her eyes began droopier and she began swaying on the spot. Her body tilted back and forth and her eyes blinked several times as they tried focusing on him.

"What are you… talk… ing… ab… out…"

The teen actress suddenly pitched forward. Fortunately for her, she ended up falling into Naruto, who kept her from having a close encounter of the face on steel kind. Her eyes were closed; pink lips slightly parted, glistening in the low lighting, and light snores could be heard coming from the woman who had seemingly fallen asleep. Naruto couldn't help but notice that Yukie actually looked much prettier when sleeping. It probably had something to do with how he didn't have to deal with her attitude.

Scooping the girl into his arms, Naruto gave a cheery grin to the bartender before heading toward the door. He absentmindedly took notice that the drunk he slammed into the door had, at some point during his conversation with Yukie, woken up and left. Ah well. What he did care about that drunk? It's not like some stupid old pervert trying to cop a feel of a young woman could do anything to him.

Several kilometers away, Jiraiya, standing with Sandayu and the director, sneezed.

XoX

"I see, so she has the hex crystal," a deep voice akin to a growl exclaimed from the large man seated on a metallic throne, a glass of amber liquid in his left hand, the ice inside idly jingling back and forth. With his other hand being used to pillow his head, the individual looked down at his subjects with the absolute authority of a ruler as he addressed the three people kneeling before him on the ground. "Splendid. This is truly wonderful news, Nadare."

"This actress, Yukie Fujikaze, she is undoubtedly Koyuki Kazehana," Nadare, a man with long grayish-purple hair tied into a ponytail, marks underneath his eyes, strange-looking shinobi armor and a mask-style Yukigakure headband on his head, stated with a smirk. "My informant who's been shadowing her for the past week has confirmed that she does indeed have the hex crystale. She's without a doubt the genuine article."

Kneeling on Nadare's left, a woman with pink hair lifted her head, revealing a cynical smirk and sadistic green eyes. "I can hardly wait. It was worth the ten years it took to find her."

"Heh." The largest of the group, a hulking, giant of a man with a chiseled chin, notable plate armor, kneeling to the right of his leader, smirked. "Taking care of one little girl? This'll be a piece of cake."

"Don't be too sure about that," Nadare said, frowning, his face growing serious. "She's not alone. My informant has managed to find out that she has two powerful shinobi guarding her."

"Who are they?" asked the man on the throne.

"Uzumaki Naruto and Jiraiya of the Densetsu no Sannin."

The man leaned against his throne. "Jiraiya of the legendary three and his apprentice, Uzumaki Naruto. Yes, these two could definitely cause trouble for us."

"Indeed," Nadare said. "While I am confident any one of us could handle the boy, I am not so arrogant as to belief that we could take on a Sannin, especially not Jiraiya. He is not hailed as one of the most powerful shinobi in the Elemental Nations for nothing."

The man leaned against his throne, his face turning toward an area of the large room covered in darkness. "Hmm, it seems I was right to hire you two."

Two people stepped out of the shadows several feet from the three Yuki ninja. Both were easily distinguished-looking individuals. The one on the left had medium-length, slicked-back white hair and purple eyes, and around his neck was a headband with the Yugakure (Hidden Hotsprings Village) symbol with a slash running through it. The other had tanned skin and stood much taller than his counterpart. The white hood and black mask around his head hid everything about his face except for his eyes, which peered out at the world around him with an almost apathetic gaze. They were unusual-looking organs with green irises, no pupils and red sclerae. Talk about freaky.

Both wore strangely vibrant clothing: black cloaks with red clouds imprinted on them. The one with the freaky eyes wore his in an oddly normal fashion. Meanwhile, the other wore his cloak open to reveal that he didn't believe in wearing shirts, his muscular torso exposed to the world despite how cold it must have been. Where the tall man with the eyes appeared unarmed, the one with white hair carried a large, triple-bladed scythe with red blades over his shoulder.

"Indeed it was," the one with the eyes spoke up, his voice raspy and grating, as if he hardly ever used it. "Jiraiya of the Sannin is no ordinary shinobi, and we've been keeping tabs on his apprentice, who was already powerful enough to go toe-to-toe with Orochimaru's strongest henchmen during the Chunin Exams that happened in Konoha recently. Mere jonin level shinobi would be no match for either of them."

Nadare and the other three ninja growled, but the man on the throne chuckled.

"Indeed, I'll be counting on you two."

"Che," the man with white hair spat on the floor. Nadare and the others started at such disrespect being shown, but he didn't seem to care. "As long as I get to fucking kill something, I don't really care. And this greedy bastard will do anything for money," the man finished, hiking a thumb at his partner in crime.

"Money makes the world go round, Hidan," the man said. "And if you don't stop pointing at me, I'll kill you."

Hidan smirked at his partner. "Heh, like you could. If you were able to kill me, I'd let you."

"Tch."

"I'd like you to wait in the wings at first," the man on the throne said. "While I will definitely be utilizing your… services for this, I would like to see how well my chakra armor works against opponents skilled opponents. A fight with a Sannin and his apprentice will be a great test."

"That's fine," the dark-skinned one replied. "So long as I get my money I don't care either way."

"Che, heathen."

"Religious fanatic."

Nadare watched the two shinobi as they begun arguing over, of all things, religion and money, with a look of disgust. Dotou might approve of these two Akatsuki members, but he sure didn't. You couldn't trust a group of ninja mercenaries for hire, and he wouldn't be trusting these two as far as he could throw them.

Silently, Nadare made a promise that he would kill at least one of the ninja guarding the former Daimyo's bratty little princess. If not Jiraiya then at least Naruto. Surely it couldn't be that hard to deal with a 14-year old brat, right?

First off, I would like to thank everyone who's been reading this mesh work of cliche's that I call a story. Thank you and I hope you have a Merry Christmas... unless you don't celebrate Christmas, in which case I wish you a happy holidays.

Second, I have an announcement to make and two favors to ask. Starting today and ending on Thursday, December 25th, my book, A Fox's Love, will be free to download on Amazon Kindle. This is a limited time deal that I can only afford to do this once and only for this book. I'd like to ask that all of you who enjoy reading my fanfictions and haven't gotten this book to please go onto Amazon, download it, give it a read and, if you like it, please leave a review on my book's Amazon page (or goodreads if you've got an account there), letting everyone know what you liked about it. Consequently, if you thought it was crap, I would love to personally pick your brain. Please send me a message so I might be able to figure out where I went wrong and do better next time.

If you don't have a Kindle, do not worry, you can download a Kindle application onto your computer and/or mobile phone for free. I myself don't have a Kindle, but I do have an android, which is where I read my Kindle ebooks.

For those of you who are patiently waiting for the next installment, I ask for just a little more patience. I'm having manga illustrations done to go with Book 2, so it's taking a bit more time than I initially suspected. My hope is to have it ready to launch sometime next Spring.