2/2

The pair of them had listened to his recounting of the fight against Gaara. Anko berated him for rushing off with Sasuke after Gaara, even if it was necessary to stop him, but both of them also were impressed with his skill and the details of how he defeated the awoken Shukaku. Though Anko made him promise to next time get a more powerful shinobi to help him out, especially when he told them about how almost nothing he had worked against Gaara. Raphael was impressed by Naruto's maturity in realizing his flaws, and that he was seeking to grow stronger now by adding ninjutsu to his fighting style.

Naruto had also taken that moment to do something he had been thinking about for some time. Back in the Academy, he had occasionally doodled out ideas for his robes, but also for new possible gear and weapons. Most of it was impractical, the mind of a young child still maturing. But he had a few designs he thought were actually promising which he showed to Raphael, explaining them to him. Raphael had thought one of them might be an excellent addition to Naruto's arsenal, if not all the Assassins.

Raphael, after hearing his explanations and studying the rough designs, eventually agreed to let Naruto commission a prototype with Ganzo, to see if this design could work. This is where he was going to now, to discuss the design and pick up his repaired weapons and armor. After his battle with Gaara, his robes and some of his equipment had needed repair, and Hinata took care of taking them all in to be fixed. The robes had been easily patched up and dropped off at Naruto's apartment by Hinata, but the equipment had taken longer.

Stepping into Ganzo's shop, he smiled as he saw the blacksmith standing at the counter, quietly polishing a sword. Ganzo smiled back as he saw Naruto, setting the blade down as he picked up a bundle from behind the counter. "Got your equipment right here Naruto," he said with a smile, setting it all on the counter. "All good as new and should serve you well. Provided you don't go fighting any sand wielding tanuki again."

Naruto chuckled at that as he looked the gear over. "Thanks, Ganzo-san. Trust me, I'm in no rush to fight that kind of enemy again," he said, satisfied with the look of his equipment. He pulled out his toad shaped wallet, setting a stack of bills on the counter, before also adding one of the design sketches on the table as well. "I wanted to talk to you about this. It's a possible upgrade for the bracer. Raphael-sensei gave me permission to get a prototype made, to see if it would work."

Ganzo took the rough sketch, looking it over. "Hmmmm, I see then. You came up with this?" He asked, looking at Naruto, who nodded. "I'll see about making a prototype attachment for you to test out. If it works, you can pay me then," he said, taking the design. "And don't worry about leaving one of your bracers here; I've got a mockup in the back I use to test out some designs of my own. I'll use that to help me make this."

Naruto nodded gratefully as he gathered his gear. "Thank you Ganzo-san. Any idea when it'll be done?"

"Give me…three weeks to work on it. I should either have a working prototype by then or run out of every option for making a working one," Ganzo said, already scribbling some notes down while studying the sketch.

Naruto chuckled as he left his gear in his arms. He had barely made it ten steps though when a figure landed next to him, a jovial grin on his face. "Naruto, there you are my boy," Jiraiya said, slapping Naruto heartily on the back.

Naruto blinked, before nodding his head. "Ero-sennin," he said, making Jiraiya grimace at that nickname. "You're looking for me?"

"C'mon kid, can't you show me a little more respect now? I heard you only beat that Gaara kid because of the training we were doing," Jiraiya whined, as Naruto just rolled his eyes.

"And I'm thankful for that, but until you stop acting like an ero-sennin, I'm going to call you ero-sennin," Naruto said, as Jiraiya let out a sigh of resignation while following Naruto, who had started walking again.

"Fine, fine. I just wanted to let you know though that you and I have a mission," Jiraiya said, making Naruto stop and turn, frowning slightly.

"We have a mission? The two of us?" He asked, confused. He wasn't sure what mission could possible require both him and Jiraiya to work together, as anything involving Jiraiya was probably very high level and of great importance to the village.

"Yep. Well…to be fair, I could probably do this mission alone, but I could use an extra pair of eyes on this mission. And I thought I might continue training you like I have so far. I can help you keep working on your fuinjutsu, and I've got some more ninjutsu I can show you, if you're interested," Jiraiya said.

Naruto frowned in thought, looking up to Jiraiya. "So, you're taking me along because you want to teach me? Not because I can actually help the mission?" He asked.

The old toad sage quickly waved his hands. "Oh no, you can still help on the mission. We're going to be looking for an associate of mine, and as I understand it, part of your training involves tracking, right?"

"Yeah, but Hinata-chan is better at it then me, thanks to her Byakugan. And there are other shinobi even better than us at it. Like the Inuzuka clan," Naruto said, looking a bit suspicious.

"But none of them are somebody I'm already training. C'mon, it'll be a good experience. Besides, the person we're going to find could help speed up the recovery of your sensei. She's a world-renowned medic-nin," Jiraiya said.

Naruto gave him a slight glare. "I know what you're doing, and that's low," he said, before sighing. "But I'm guessing that I really can't say no, can I? When do we leave?"

"I'll give you a couple hours to get your stuff packed. This will be a long-term mission, as my associate does move around a lot, so we'll need to follow her trail to try and catch up to her. I'd suggest packing for at least a month," Jiraiya said.

Naruto nodded, but then paused. "Are we expecting any fighting on this trip? Because I barely got out of the hospital and I'm supposed to take it easy with this arm," Naruto said, holding up his left arm.

"Don't worry, we'll do our best to avoid conflict and just do light training to give your arm time to heal. But you should know that any mission can result in combat. Don't assume this will be a smooth and easy mission," Jiraiya responded.

Naruto nodded before making a few shadow clones. "Go tell the others what's going on," he ordered them, watching them quickly sprint off in different directions to find his fellow assassins and friends. He turned to Jiraiya, nodding. "I'll meet you at the main gate."

Jiraiya watched Naruto head off, smiling a bit wistfully. For a few moments there, he had been reminded of Minato. The boy had always been able to be happy and easy going, but then turn serious in a heartbeat. And Naruto had seemed to pick up on that as well, though he did display his mother's wild nature and goofy antics from time to time. Shaking his head, he turned to go tell Sarutobi they'd be leaving soon.

Elsewhere, Sasuke was grunting as he attacked a training post, hitting it with a flurry of punches and combos, working on the precision and speed of his taijutsu. The post, despite the padding added to it, was dented underneath and his fists and legs had bruising from continually hitting the post, but that didn't stop him from training still, even as his muscles cried in protest. He couldn't stop training. He needed to keep training, to push himself to be better.

His battle against Gaara, alongside of Naruto, had been a major eye opener to him. Gaara had been the same rank as them, but he had been a monster of an opponent, both figuratively and literally. Sasuke had used everything he had in that fight to try and stop Gaara, and he had only been able to wound him. And not even enough to slow him down or stop him. And then he had been trapped, at the mercy of Gaara and his sand. The Suna jinchuuriki could have killed him if Naruto hadn't interceded and managed to defeat Gaara.

Sasuke paused momentarily as he thought about that. Naruto was far more then he appeared to be. Sasuke had paid little attention to him during the Academy, save when they sparred together during taijutsu training. Naruto had been a capable sparring partner then, but Sasuke had never really felt Naruto was better than him. But things changed in Nami, when their teams sparred against each other and Naruto had held his own. Somehow during that fight, Sasuke knew that Naruto was holding back. Sasuke had been as well, but the Uchiha wasn't expecting to fight someone who was potentially on the same level as him.

The Chuunin Exams had shown him more of Naruto's abilities. Naruto's team had not only emerged with little to no injuries during the second part of the exam but had taken on a team of Kumo chuunin who had infiltrated the exams. And then Naruto had defeated the Kumo kunoichi in his preliminary match, displaying knowledge of wind chakra and wind ninjutsu that gave him victory over his opponent. But it was against Gaara that Sasuke realized the truth: that Naruto might be not just as strong as Sasuke, he might actually be stronger. Because Naruto had defeated Gaara when he, trained by his sensei specifically to defeat the Suna genin, had failed.

He knew he shouldn't feel jealous of a fellow Konoha shinobi being stronger, and yet a part of him couldn't help but feel jealous. Sasuke hard trained so hard, put his all into everything he did in order to get stronger, to be able to defeat his brother one day and bring him to justice. And yet after all his hard work, he was seeing someone else who seemed to be getting stronger than him at a faster rate.

Sasuke grimaced and reached up to touch his shoulder near his neck, where he could feel the Curse Seal burning slightly. He remembered Jiraiya's warning about it, that the seal containing it was only as strong as Sasuke's willpower to resist the seal. But he also remembered the power it gave him when he first awoke in the Forest. A lot more power then he seemed to have currently.

He shook his head, trying to push those thoughts away as he went back to training. His mother had told him about the man who gave him this seal, Orochimaru of the Sannin. He knew the man was manipulative, seeking only his own gain and profit. It would not benefit Sasuke to use anything said man gave him. But as he trained, a small part of him couldn't help but wonder if maybe, just maybe…the power might be worth it.

Training Ground 5

Hinata let out a soft sigh of sadness, watching the Naruto clone disperse in front of her. He had just told her that he was going to be out of town on a mission, and she was going to miss him. Especially since she had been hoping to maybe spend a bit of time with him, to work up enough courage to possibly ask him out on a date.

Shaking her head, she turned her focus in the direction of the village, settling into the shade of a tree as she waited quietly. She had set up a rendezvous with some people and had been waiting for them when the shadow clone had found her. Thinking about those she was planning to meet eased the disappointment she felt at Naruto being gone on a mission, and she consoled herself with the fact that he'd be back and there'd be time then for them to hang out.

Her face brightened as she saw two figures emerging from the trees nearby, causing her to stand up, only to blink as she saw a third figure following them at a more discrete place. Frowning slightly, she stepped out of the shade of the tree, taking in the sight of her former guardian who now was escorting Hitomi and Hanabi. Before she could speak, Hanabi hurled herself forward, hugging Hinata. "Nee-chan!"

Hinata smiled as she wrapped her arms around Hanabi. "Hello there imouto," she said softly, looking up at Hitomi. "Kaa-san, it's good to see you too. But what is Ko-san doing here?" She asked, glancing at the Hyuuga who was keeping a respectful distance.

Hitomi smiled softly as she stepped forward, hugging Hinata as well. "The clan elders and Hiashi-sama insist on the two of us having an escort whenever we are not in the compound, for our protection. I chose Ko-san because he is discreet, and bears you no ill will," she said.

Ko politely nodded his head. "Hinata-san, it is good to see you alive and well. Your fight against Neji-san was most impressive," he said, no hint of sarcasm or hatred in his tone.

Hinata merely returned the nod, before turning back to her mother and sister. "I'm so glad you both could come," she said as the trio now sat down under the tree, with Ko keeping watch. "I was worried about what might have happened with the clan after they learned I was the one who rescued you."

"Most of the Main family members reacted how you might expect," Hitomi said softly. "They were already angry with you for defeating Neji and humiliating the clan in front of all those potential clients and witnesses. Your rescue of us, while not publicized to the rest of the village, still added to the humiliation. But they have done nothing to us, beyond adding protective measures."

Hinata nodded as she looked down at Hanabi. "And how about you imouto? How are you doing?" She asked her sister, who seemed quite happy to sit between both Hinata and Hitomi, keeping close to them.

Hanabi shifted a bit, looking uncomfortable. "Well ummm…I-I…I've been alright," she said, looking down as she played with the grass. Hitomi gently wrapped an arm around Hanabi, who let out a sigh, still looking down. "I-I've been having nightmares…t-that y-you didn't get to us in time," she whispered, tears falling from her eyes. "M-Me and kaa-san are captured and…t-taken away…a-and sometimes…s-sometimes you're captured too…o-or you're dead…a-and I…I-" she broke down at this point, sobbing as the fear and stress overwhelmed her again.

She suddenly felt another pair of arms wrap around her, as Hinata held her close, murmuring softly as Hanabi sobbed, hugging Hinata tightly. Hitomi gently stroked Hanabi's head, to try and help calm her down, as she spoke for Hanabi. "It's been difficult for her…and me as well. I've also had a few nightmares," she whispered quietly, shame in her eyes. "I wouldn't have been able to save her, if you didn't come along. I would have failed you both."

Hinata, looking up at the shame and regret on her mother's face, gently placed one hand over her mother's and squeezed. "You did what you could in the situation," she said softly. "And I've never blamed you for what happened to me. Whether you had stood and screamed and fought or not, the clan was going to banish me no matter what. All that would have happened was you getting punished, and Hanabi never being placed in your care again," she said.

Hitomi nodded quietly, though the shame remained in her eyes and face. "S-Still…I-I should have been stronger," she said softly.

Hinata looked at her, then down at Hanabi, who was still sniffling as she snuggled between the two of them, before smiling. "Hey…do you two want to know what the secret to getting stronger?" She asked them, making them look at her.

"T-There's a secret?" Hanabi asked, hiccupping a bit.

"It's one I've learned thanks to my friends and team," Hinata said, pulling back so Hanabi didn't have to crane her head back to look at her. "And that secret is really simple. Do you want to know what it is?"

"Yes! I want to be as strong as you nee-chan," Hanabi said, looking a bit more excited while Hitomi smiled slightly, though being admittedly curious herself.

"The secret to getting stronger…is finding something worth fighting for," Hinata said, making them both blink.

"Something worth fighting for?" Hanabi asked, looking confused, wiping tears from her eyes.

Hinata nodded as she reached up, wiping the last few away from Hanabi's cheeks. "That's right. Learning, training, and fighting alongside Anko-sensei and Naruto-kun, I've learned it's very important to have a good reason to want to get stronger. Because then you'll have something that keeps driving you to be better, to be stronger. Like for me…I decided I wanted to be stronger so I could stand up for myself…so that I could protect myself and the people I care about," she said, her mind drifting back to the day at the Academy, where Naruto lay screaming on the ground after Neji struck him. "I wanted to be stronger so that I could protect my friends, and my family," she said, looking to the two of them, smiling.

Hanabi looked up at her with wide eyes, awe evident in them. "And that helped you grow strong enough to beat Neji?" She asked Hinata.

"That is one of the things, yes," Hinata said with a smile. "I always wanted to prove that the faith my teammates and friends had in me was well placed. They believed in me, and I didn't want to let them down. Plus, Neji underestimated me," Hinata said, though she knew that even with all that, it had been a very close call.

Hanabi bit her lip in thought. "B-But what could I fight for? What could I fight for to grow stronger?" She asked, confused.

Hinata smiled as she gently poked her sister's nose. "That is something you have to find on your own. It has to be something that means a lot to you. Something that you'd be willing to fight for, with everything you've got. I can't tell you what that something is. It's something only you can find, in here and in here," she said, gently touching Hanabi's forehead and then her chest, roughly where her heart would be.

Hanabi looked down at her sister's hand, and then nodded a bit. "I think I understand," she said, looking up at Hinata. "I'll find something worth fighting for, so I can be as strong as you are!"

Hinata smiled at that. "Don't do it just to prove yourself to me, imouto. You're already strong in my eyes. Do it for yourself, and for anyone else you care about."

Hanabi nodded, hugging her tightly. Hinata returned the hug, as Hitomi looked at her, pride in her eyes.

Unfortunately, their moment was interrupted by Ko, who discreetly approached. "Forgive me Hitomi-sama, but we need to be going soon," he said.

Hitomi let out a soft sigh at that. "Thank you, Ko-san," she said, slowly standing up and wiping her clothes off. "I am sorry girls, but we must go now. We could only be outside the compound for so long."

Hanabi looked down in disappointment, but hugged Hinata again. "Thank you nee-chan…f-for everything. I'm sorry I ever doubted you," she whispered, her eyes watery again.

"Don't apologize, Hanabi. I'm just happy to have my imouto back," Hinata said, hugging Hanabi. The little girl gave her one final hug before stepping back, allowing Hinata to hug Hitomi.

"Keep shining, my little sunshine," Hitomi said softly to Hinata, who smiled at that.

"I will. And kaa-san? What I said to Hanabi…take it to heart. Because you can grow strong too," Hinata said.

Hitomi started a bit, before nodding softly. "I will, Hinata. I will," she said, pulling away from her.

Hinata watched the two of them start to move away, only to blink as Ko turned to her. "If you ever need to give them a message, Hinata-san, please let me know. I will see to it that it reaches them and them alone."

Hinata looked at her former caretaker before bowing her head. "Thank you, Ko-san. For everything. It is good to know there is one Hyuuga I can trust outside of my kaa-san and imouto."

"You honor me with your trust, Hinata-san," he said, bowing his head in return before leaving to follow Hitomi and Hanabi.

Hinata watched them go before slumping against the tree, letting out a long shuddering breath as both joy and sadness overcame her. It had been so good to sit and talk with them when there wasn't an invasion going on, to be able to spend some time, no matter how short it was, with them. And it had made her so happy to be able to help them. But she felt a loss as she knew that their time would be fleeting due to them having to sneak around to meet her, as most likely Hiashi would never willingly let them see her and would do his best to punish them or keep them away from seeing Hinata if he knew what they were doing.

Hinata couldn't help but feel anger burn in her at that man. Facing Neji in the Finals and defeating him had really helped her get over what had been done to her all those years ago, having the Outcast Seal placed on her and then being banished by the clan. Any doubts about her strength, that maybe they had been right about her, had vanished in that arena when she stood victorious over Neji. But even with the doubt and fear gone, she still felt anger and even a small amount of hatred towards the man she had once called father, and others of the Main family.

Clenching a fist, she took deep breaths, trying to calm herself. She hoped that in time, this anger would go away, that she'd be able to not care anymore, and look upon Hiashi without wishing to yell and scream or attack him. But for now, she'd deal with the emotions as they came. Taking one final deep breath, she pushed herself off the tree, heading towards home.

Konoha Gate, 2 hours later

Naruto stood by the gate, adjusting his newly repaired Assassin robes, making sure everything still fit before adjusting his equipment straps to ensure it was all secured but not restricting. He was quite pleased that everything seemed to fit well, before grinning as he pulled out the scarf Hinata had given him, wrapping it around his neck. It was quite comfy, and he cherished it as the heartfelt gift it was to him, something he had had very few of so far in his lifetime. Plus, it was quite handy in hiding the lower part of his face, to help him conceal his identity when he had his hood up.

Naruto knew it might seem silly to try and hide his identity when all someone had to do was connect his outfit with himself but given how most of the people during his assassination missions either never saw him or ended up unable to identify him due to death, he wasn't really worried about his outfit giving him away. In the dark or in the quick flurry and chaos of one of his strikes, most people might not notice the details about his outfit beyond it being dark in color. But his whisker marks stood out, and it paid to keep them covered so he couldn't be more easily identified.

At the moment, he simply had it around his neck, his hood down. There was no need to cover up, except to shade himself from the sun, but it wasn't too bad now. He looked around, feeling a bit impatient though. Jiraiya should have met him here by now, but so far, the old sannin was late and Naruto wanted to get underway, because the sooner this mission was done, the better.

He blinked as he heard a disturbance in the distance and turned in that direction. Naruto's eyes narrowed as he saw a dust cloud growing in that direction, only for them to widen as he soon saw what was causing it.

Jiraiya was running in his direction at full speed, a look of terror on his face as he was being pursued by a number of civilian women and kunoichi, each one wearing either a bath towel, a robe, or regular clothing hastily pulled on. All of them were hurling various things after the toad sage, such as bathing implements, kunai, shuriken, and oddly enough, pots and pans from one Yoshino Nara.

Naruto could only facepalm, groaning before turning to the two gate guards. "I think you'll need to sign us out on your own guys," he said as he quickly turned and leapt off up into the trees, Jiraiya soon following him out of the gate as the mob of angry females stopped at the edge of the gate, yelling insults and throwing things at the man's retreating back, one skillet managing a lucky smack into the back of Jiraiya's head.

As the mob of angry females dispersed, one figure on a nearby rooftop watched the duo of now distant shinobi with a neutral look. Kakashi quietly stood there, his usual book in his supply pouch as he watched Naruto leave with Jiraiya. He turned and hopped down to the street level, brooding a bit as he walked away from the gate.

It seemed that his scheming and planning had been for nothing, as Jiraiya, one of the legendary sannin, had gotten to Naruto first and was starting to train the boy. He had heard the report on Naruto and Sasuke's fight with the Suna siblings outside of Konoha, and he was both proud and unnerved by how well Sasuke did, but also how it seemed to amount to nothing in the end, as Gaara overcame each of Sasuke's techniques. Yet hearing about how Naruto had not only learned and used the Rasengan to do even more damage than Sasuke's Chidori but had then called upon the Kyuubi's power as well to defeat Shukaku, told Kakashi that someone else had beaten Kakashi to the punch in training Naruto in ninjutsu.

A part of Kakashi was angry at that as he felt he was the best to teach Naruto ninjutsu, where the boy's talent truly lay in his opinion. Naruto had massive chakra reserves, which if properly trained in using, could allow him to unleash all kinds of powerful ninjutsu upon his opponents. And Kakashi, with his arsenal of ninjutsu gathered over the years thanks to his Sharingan, could have taught Naruto dozens of ninjutsu to give him that dangerous arsenal.

Now, just like with the genin team assignments, someone else was teaching Naruto. Unlike last time though, Kakashi had a harder time justifying being a better teacher. Yes, he was certain he knew a greater variety of ninjutsu then Jiraiya did, but Jiraiya had many more years' experience as a shinobi and teacher then Kakashi did.

Kakashi let out a disappointed sigh. He had wanted Naruto on his team for several reasons, one of them being that Naruto was Minato's son. He had tried to be there for the boy following the death of his parents, but with the village's shinobi stretched thin and him being one of the rising jounin, he had been called away on many missions to help maintain the village's strength. By the time he had been able to retire from ANBU and would have been able to give Naruto the attention he wanted to, he was already being mentored by Anko and Raphael. Kakashi had decided that he would simply wait till Naruto graduated from the Academy and start mentoring him then. Only to be denied that chance when Anko became a full jounin and Sarutobi placed Naruto under her tutelage.

Kakashi clenched one fist at the thought of that. He knew he would have been a better teacher for Naruto then Anko was. He would have actually brought Naruto's true potential out, not keep squandering it all. He would have taught Naruto everything he could and helped remake Team 7 into something better than it had been when he was a part of it, to make up for his past mistakes and honor his sensei.

He slowly released his hand, shaking his head slightly. It seemed too late for that now though. Reaching back into his pouch he pulled out his book, opening it but not really reading it as he headed towards the market district. He had to meet with Sasuke for more training. At the very least, training Sasuke would help him make up for one of his past mistakes.

He soon arrived at the meeting spot, opposite a small café, only for his instincts to go off immediately. He could sense something out of place, a very slight aura of continuous killing intent. It didn't seem directed at anyone, it just was present. Appearing to casually turn a page in his book, he used the moment to quickly glance around, his eyes landing on two figures sitting in the café, both wearing wide brimmed straw hats and black cloaks with red trim and clouds decorating them. The larger of the two seemed to be emanating the continuous killer intent, though it was so low that it most likely would be undetectable to anyone below jounin rank.

A fact made apparent when Asuma and Kurenai, both in the district as well, walked up to him. He gave them his patented eye smile. "Well look at you two. Here on a date?" He asked them, seeing how close the two had been walking together.

Asuma looked a bit sheepish while Kurenai blushed ever so slightly. "He's just helping me pick a few things up for Yakumo-san," she said, looking off to the side. To a normal person it would have seemed like she was being embarrassed. Her red eyes, however, had looked in the general direction of the two figures, communicating non-verbally that they had sensed the same thing he had.

"What about you Kakashi? Didn't take you for a sweets person," Asuma asked, nodding towards the café and the other small eateries around them. Kakashi merely continued his eye smile and shrugged.

"I'm just waiting for my student…and look, here he comes now," Kakashi said, as Sasuke approached. He noticed the ever so slightest flinch out of the corner of his eye, before the smaller figure leaned over to his partner and spoke.

Sasuke crossed his arms as he looked at Kakashi. "You're on time for once sensei? The world must be about to end," he said, looking around. "I'm not really a big fan of pastries Kakashi-sensei. What are we doing here?"

"Oh, just taking in the sights. It's always good to appreciate the village and its people. Helps build up your desire to protect it, especially after that invasion," Kakashi said, noting that in the few moments they had been distracted by Sasuke arriving, the two figures had left already. He glanced at Asuma and Kurenai, who both nodded and disappeared in a shunshin, leaving a confused Sasuke.

"Is something going on Kakashi-sensei?" He asked. Kakashi just gave him the same eye smile, putting his free hand on Sasuke's head.

"Nothing for you to worry about. Now let's discuss some more training regimens," he said as he led Sasuke away. Neither noticed the third figure leaving the rooftops and heading off in a different direction.

The two cloaked figures, having made a hasty but discrete retreat, now were moving along a deserted walkway next to the river that flowed through Konoha, only to stop as two new figures appeared in front of them. Kurenai and Asuma both held defensive stances as they eyed the two figures. "We don't really appreciate armed strangers in our village after an invasion. Especially ones leaking as much killer intent as you are," Asuma said, looking to the taller figure.

"You know the roads are dangerous, right? Bandits and missing nin preying on travelers. It pays to be well armed, and scary enough to make them think twice about attacking," the taller one said.

"Who are you, and what is your business in Konoha?" Kurenai demanded, watching the two of them while readying herself to unleash a genjutsu in an instant.

The taller figure turned his hat covered head towards his partner. "They seem to be mighty demanding of us, don't you think partner? Is seeing your old comrades making you teary eyed and nostalgic?" He asked in a joking manner.

The smaller figure tilted their head down for a moment, before reaching up and slowly removing their hat, tossing it aside. Both Asuma and Kurenai went rigid as they found themselves looking upon the face of Itachi Uchiha, missing nin of Konoha, responsible for the deaths of several of the Uchiha Clan's leadership and more powerful shinobi. Itachi gazed upon them both with a cold, emotionless demeanor as his Sharingan eyes took them in. "You speak too much Kisame-san," he said in a monotone, undoing the collar of his coat to fully unveil his face.

"Well someone has to be the chatty one in our partnership," Kisame said as he tossed aside his own hat, revealing himself to Kurenai and Asuma.

Both the Konoha jounin were tense now, realizing the situation was far worse than they feared. Itachi, due to his incredible skill and rank when he was a Konoha shinobi, and for his actions in slaughtering his own father and several other Uchiha shinobi, was a well-known S-ranked missing nin, putting him in the same category of infamy as the likes of Orochimaru, or Hanzo the Salamander of Ame. And his compatriot was another well-known S-ranked missing nin, Kisame Hoshigaki of Kiri. One of the famed Seven Swordsmen of Kiri, Kisame had abandoned the village when it was discovered he was plotting to overthrow the government and had assassinated several powerful political figures, including another country's daimyo, without authorization. His skilled and power as a Swordsman of Kiri, matched by his stealing the sword Samehada, led to him easily being given an S-rank as well.

"Itachi Uchiha…come back here to finish what you started?" Asuma asked, trying to sound more confident then he actually felt.

Itachi looked between the two Konoha jounin, before finally speaking. "Where is Naruto Uzumaki?" He asked.

Kurenai's eyes narrowed at that. "Why do you want to know?"

"A good question," a third voice spoke, as a blade appeared at Itachi's throat, startling most of them by the sudden appearance of the blade and the figure holding it.

Itachi's only reaction, however, was the slightest widening of his eyes and him turning his head enough to glance over his shoulder. "Kiseki-san…it has been some time," he said, his voice still in its monotone.

Kiseki matched his stoic stare with her own, Sharingan meeting Sharingan. "Likewise Itachi-san. You've gotten rusty, allowing me to sneak upon you like that."

"Or perhaps you've gotten better at stealth," Itachi replied, complimenting her. "Though you should have killed me instead of letting me know you were there."

Kiseki wasn't given the chance to respond as Kisame, moving with speed greater than one would expect from a man of his size, seized the hilt of his sword and swung it down at Kiseki, who quickly jumped back. Itachi quickly blocked a blow from one of Asuma's hidden trench knives, his Sharingan blazing to life as he watched Kurenai fade away in the background. He felt the genjutsu take hold, trapping him against a tree as she emerged from it to strike at him.

Suddenly, Kurenai found herself trapped in the tree as Asuma suddenly found no resistance against his blade, causing him to stumble forward towards the trapped Kurenai. He barely managed to stop his blade from stabbing her as she dispelled the genjutsu, only for them both to be blown back by a sudden blast of water from Itachi, sending them both flying into the river.

Itachi slowly stepped out onto the river, watching the two. "Kisame-san…kill them all," he said simply.

Kisame grinned as he looked at Kiseki, holding his bandage wrapped sword in one hand. "Heh, with pleasure," he said, as Kiseki gripped both swords in a defensive posture.

"Don't think this will be easy, fish boy," Kiseki said, studying her opponent.

"Good. Give me a challenge," Kisame shot back, before the two charged at each other, Kiseki's blades flashing in the sunlight as they began their dance of death.

THE EVIL CLIFFHANGER RETURNS! MUHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAH!

I know, a really crappy place to end it, but…well I wanted to save this fight for next chapter, once I saw how long the chapter here was becoming. So you'll have to wait till next chapter to find out what happened.

RS19: Wow, you're evil.

LR: I'm not evil, I'm just suspenseful.

DLTLR: I finished clearing out those mines! *is covered in soot with smoke trailing off of his clothes*

LR: Good. Take the remaining ones and dispose of them properly. No more explosives around here for anyone but me and the new OCs and personalities!

Old personalities and OCs: Awwwwwwww!

LR: That's what you get for trying to kill me! Now, I do have a couple more reviews to address here, so let's get to that. To Steel Guardian, while it is true that apparently people can learn how to use Eagle Vision, according to Assassin's Creed Wikia, I don't have any information on when such knowledge was more well known amongst the likes of the Assassins. For the moment, I'll say that Raphael does not have Eagle Vision, but I will not deny the possibility of him learning how to access it thanks to chakra and intensive training. It might help to give him an edge over some shinobi opponents in the future.

And to Animefan124, thank you so much for your review, and glad you're enjoying the fanfic so much! Hopefully I continue to do well in your eyes and the eyes of the other readers.

Arashen: Are we done now? Can we rest?

LR: Not until that back wall is fully repaired and reinforced! Hop to it!

Elroth: *muttering* I'm starting to think we were better off with him gone.

LR: I HEARD THAT!

Thanks go out to Bill Alain for betaing my chapter! So yes, hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and see you next time!

1. Other than a rough estimation based on one single number given to us in canon Shippuden, when the five major villages and the Land of Iron form an army of about 80,000 strong, we're never given a number of shinobi in Konoha. Based off of the aforementioned number, evenly divided each group would have to contribute 12,000 shinobi/samurai. Since obviously they are not evenly matched, some villages would contribute less and some more, thus varying the numbers to between 9-15,000 per village/faction. And I'm sorry, but even as big as Konoha is, there's no way they have 12,000 shinobi there. Mostly because we've seen the statistics for the number of graduates who actually make it to becoming fully fledged genin, and then take into account the most likely death toll on forces during missions, even in peace times, and Konoha could never achieve that many shinobi in the village. Instead I'm going with what seems like a far more realistic number, both for Konoha's size and the lifestyle/mindset of shinobi, who operate more in small cells and platoons rather than large scale armies.