27

Chapter 26: Where the Big Boys Play

(Five Months Later – Undisclosed Location in general area between Tsuchi no Kuni, aka. Land of Earth and Yama no Kuni, aka. Land of Mountains)

Naruto had his eyes closed with his sword in his lap inside of a small fissure on the side of a cliff as he caught a wink of sleep before the tough part of his current mission kicked up once more. As he heard the muffled, footsteps of his comrade enter the vicinity he let out a small sigh and started rebooting his mind to prepare for work. His hair had grown out quite a bit during his long time away from home, allowing it to trail down his neck and he was now wearing the gear he had purchased in Kumo. The sleeveless dark gray hooded vest, the black pants, the black bracers on his forearms, and his black shinobi sandals. He had grown about three inches over the past few months out and about.

As a man in a cat patterned mask entered the cave he looked Naruto over, "You're already awake. That's good. It's time to get to work kid."

Naruto chuckled, "No time for real rest, huh Tenzo?"

Tenzo sighed and pulled the mask off of his face to reveal a man with short brown hair, black eyes, and a mask-style hitae-ate in the fashion of the Nidaime Hokage, "Use the code name for the love of Kami Naruto."

Naruto put his hands up defensively, "We're in a cave, 1200 feet off of the ground, 450 more feet to the peak of the mountain. Anyone that actually hears your name is going to be dead in a few minutes anyway and if a patrol actually came all the way out here away from the base they are either completely stupid, or the others didn't do as good as they thought covering their tracks when they went and did reconnaissance, so either way, you're good."

Tenzo stared at Naruto for a moment with his eye twitching, "Lack of respect for protocol aside, you've done very well on this assignment. You're not half bad at this stuff. Who knew a fourteen year old kid was this good at sacking bases. I thought Hokage-sama was insane when she stuck you with my squad but you are damn efficient at this."

Naruto shrugged, "Just because I have a ton of chakra doesn't mean I can't operate without it. I like this kind of stuff. Though that base in Umi no Kuni was a pain in the ass with that scientist and all. Good thing you were there when it started falling apart. That sea monster thing was annoying."

Tenzo laughed and rubbed the back of his head, "It was pure water. I could control it and bend it to my will, not really a good move on that Amachi guy's part. Anko really didn't take too kindly to the way he played with that girl's head there either. I almost felt sorry for the bastard… almost."

Naruto slung his sword over his back, "And that's why we sent her and that Isaribi girl back to Konoha afterwards. Because we couldn't let her keep doing this crap if that was how she was going to react when we actually caught somebody that was willing to go down without fighting to the death. Alright, who's going with me on this one? Is Yugao heading in with me?"

Tenzo patted the boy on the shoulder, "You're going in alone on this one. If you get caught they're going to swarm and head outside. Only the best will stay inside at that point and from there if it requires it you can cut loose with the Kyuubi's chakra. I mean really cut loose, like go as hard with it as you can, that's why I'm here remember?"

Naruto nodded, "Yeah, about that. Why do you insisting that I keep going full blast with Kyuubi's chakra? I mean, it is really good practice without freaking anybody at home out, but won't people be able to tell that Konoha did this when they feel my chakra being left over afterwards, or can your Mokuton handle that too?"

"As long as you don't turn the place into a smoldering two mile in circumference crater we should be good." Tenzo admitted, "Although we were supposed to do that anyway, but not with demonic chakra, or alerting anyone that needs to stay alive to our presence. Both of which you using every bit of demonic chakra you can pump out would cause."

Naruto stood and dusted himself off before doing some light stretching, "So how am I doing this? Am I going in loud or am I doing this on the sly? Because the last loud one ended up almost being a clusterfuck."

"Quietly." Tenzo said, "You pretty much have the general layout of all of Orochimaru's bases mapped out in your head, so anyone else going in wouldn't have the advantage of staying under the radar like you."

Naruto took off his hitae-ate and placed it in a pocket before pulling his hair into a ponytail and pulling his hood over his head, "If you've seen one of Orochimaru's bases you've seen them all. The man has next to no imagination for this kind of thing. I swear they all have the same basic layout. Once you get past the creepiness of them they get kind of monotonous."

Tenzo placed his own mask back on, "Alright are you prepared to go?" He got a nod from Naruto, "Well then get started and stay low profile. No ninjutsu, and as little chakra use as possible. Set the charges underground to coincide with the ones aboveground and get your ass out of there."

Naruto saluted Tenzo, "Hai Buntaichou." With that, Naruto left the cave and started scaling the cliff-face with chakra on his feet as the sun began to set. This was what he had been waiting for so long for. Tsunade had finally given him a mission that was right up his alley, and though he was out of practice when he started he fell back into the swing of things quickly.

(Flashback – 5 Months Prior)

"You're kidding right Tsunade-baachan? She's kidding right Shizune-neechan?" Naruto asked in an unbelieving fashion, "You're seriously jerking my chain right about now aren't you? I didn't think you would ever send me out on something like this ever again. You're actually going to send me on a real A-ranked mission? Where I'm actually going to fight?"

Tsunade stared Naruto down, "You were recommended for Anbu by Genma Shiranui, and even Kakashi has said that seeing what you can do in the group could be worth looking into. This is the perfect opportunity to see what you've got brat, even if you're not technically one of them at this point in time. Any objections?"

Naruto thought for a moment before shaking his head, "No, not really, but can you do some stuff for me while I'm gone?"

Tsunade thought about it, "What do you need?"

Naruto smiled, "First, take care of Hamako for me. She should be just fine, she lined the apartment with seals so she should be secure, but she might get lonely. Just keep her busy, she can make all kinds of stuff for you, just give her some specs on what you want in a seal and she'll pull something together for you. Second, get rid of that law for the Kyuubi. If people want to talk about it, go ahead and let them, let people form whatever opinion they want on the matter, I'll just have to change it for them later. Or kill them for being stupid and trying to hurt me, whatever comes first."

Tsunade sweatdropped at the casual tone but gave in and agreed to the second request, "Sure, now about your mission. You will be finally using that little spiky blonde noggin full of Orochimaru's secrets for us. What do you have from memory?"

Naruto sat down, tapping his chin before Shizune placed a sheet of paper and a pen in front of him, "Time has pretty much taken a sledgehammer to the minute details, but other than the unholy garbage I have on the Cursed Seal I have a few of his lieutenants' names and the coordinates of a few bases spread out all over the place. That man really got around." He said as he wrote out some of what he knew on the paper provided.

Tsunade waited for him to finish before taking and reading what he had down, "This isn't bad at all. It's definitely more information than anyone else had been able to scrounge up on Orochimaru's workings for years before this. It's definitely settled then. You will be accompanying a contingent of Anbu on search and destroy missions against the bases you've just listed for us."

Naruto had to grin at that, "Finally." He mumbled out, "Are you going to promote me now or what?"

Tsunade lowered the paper and frowned at him, "Maybe. We'll see when you get back. I'll summon you in a few days to get your full briefing for the mission. Tell no one what exactly you're doing. I'm sure you know this."

Naruto had a question, "What about my money? It's been two weeks and I never got my money for Sasori."

Tsunade rubbed her temple, "Since he turned his body into a puppet there was no biological evidence of it being Sasori himself despite his signature poison coating the weapons you sent."

Naruto blinked, "You need DNA? Why didn't you say so? I kept the tatters of the shirt I used when I fought him, it has his blood from my final attack all over it. I'll send it right to you before I set out on this trip. I want my money, Suna's not shafting me on this one."

Tsunade sent a look to Shizune who nodded and left the room, probably to prepare correspondence to Kaze no Kuni. She then returned her attention to Naruto, "I'll handle it if you get me the DNA. Now get rested and ready for the mission. No training, and get your affairs in order before you leave. This one's going to be a long one."

"Understood Tsunade-sama. Consider the bases raided and sacked." Naruto saluted her and exited through the window.

(End Flashback)

Night had fallen as Naruto made his way further in from the edge of the cliff he had just scaled and eventually came upon a seemingly normal looking fracture in the rock wall, 'Pretty normal looking cave entrance. The man can certainly disguise his bases when he wants to.' The opening seemed unguarded, but Naruto knew far better than that. This base was still active, that meant that there was a guard or two somewhere within easy sight of the entrance.

Naruto simply stood still and decided now was the time to use one of his 'natural' advantages, 'Hey Kyuubi, can you help me point out any sentries posted out here. I know they're here, I just don't really know where, and attacking one without having a bead on the other could blow my stealth before I even start the mission.'

He waited for a moment for a reply before receiving one, "There is one currently using Doton: Moguragakure no Jutsu (Earth Release: Hidden Mole Jutsu) about ten feet in front of the hole in the wall. There is another just inside the entrance, right out of your or anyone else's line of sight."

Naruto looked along the ground for a sign of jutsu use before acknowledging Kyuubi's assistance, 'Thanks a million. Alright he's close enough to the surface so that he can sense the movements of intruders, that means I can use a move to get to him, but I have to somehow get the other guy first, or else he'll get wise to something strange happening and alert the rest of the base to my presence.' Naruto was incredibly grateful for the new moon being on this night as it left him with the perfect lack of visibility for him to pull this maneuver off.

Naruto created a Kage Bunshin and henged it into a spider before pulling out a spool of ninja wire. Naruto's spider clone took the end of the wire and walked off towards the cave, the underground sentry either not noticing or acknowledging the presence of the spider. As it entered the cave and saw the Oto shinobi posted to stand watch it moved up the wall closest to him before jumping off onto him and gently walking around the man's shoulder area twice, leaving slack to ensure that the wire would go unnoticed. Luckily there was no need for the spider clone to transform back as it found a recess in the wall that it could fit its body into and hold the ninja wire. Upon getting the wire fully situated and steadied it dispelled.

Upon getting the mental cue from his clone, Naruto pulled on his end of the wire as hard as he could, feeling the steel wire tighten and run into something, the guard's throat. Naruto kept pulling until he felt the wire give a tug back, signifying that the body of his target had expired. Dropping the wire from his hands he then picked up a stone before tossing it directly into the mouth of the cave. The underground sentry feeling the vibration, jumped out of hiding and looked inside the cave, unknowingly turning his back on the direct location of Naruto who then proceeded to bury a kunai into the back of his head/neck from thirty yards out.

Naruto ran from his hiding place and pulled the kunai from the back of the man's head before holstering it and making a Kage Bunshin to clean up his mess outside while he continued on in with his mission.

Getting through Orochimaru's underground designed bases was a simple game of 'What Deadly Trap Goes Here?' The first hallway, uninhabited, which meant, avoid the pressure plates that would drop the floor out from beneath you in a flash, dropping you into a pungi pit. An easy solution to this, run along the wall. Avoid the tripwires that were set up down the long staircase leading deeper into base that would end up with poison gas secreting from the walls and saturating the area.

The second branching corridor, Naruto proceeded to take a left, hoping that he was right in remembering that the first right turn in the original Oto base that he infiltrated lead directly to the barracks… not exactly the most fun start to a mission if he could accurately recall. Before leaving however, he stuck a charge on the ceiling of the exact spot where the three paths met, using the low light of the base to hide it. Orochimaru really needed to invest in some lighting in his bases. The torches gave the place a dark, creepy, somewhat intimidating vibe, but low visibility meant guys like him could sneak in all day and have the advantage, especially over Oto shinobi and their light grey usual uniforms.

Eventually Naruto came upon a room with all kinds of communications equipment. Oh yeah, this room definitely had to go if he was going to keep doing this. As he entered the room he had to ponder something as he moved along the wall. Why did every room with equipment like this have everything facing away from the only door in there? Even one desk or table turned around would mean that his way in would have been much harder.

One guy manning the main radio out of the base with his back turned. There was no real need to flat out kill him, or even touch him. All he was getting was static anyway, so simply killing the main feed wouldn't alert him whatsoever, and then he could have the guy scrambling to get someone on the line when the place started coming down around him. Naruto followed the cable of the radio up to somewhere in the ceiling corner, with a placement like that, it probably would have led to a long range dish of some sort outside of the base. It was quickly severed with a shuriken cutting straight through it, leaving the same sound of static on the line. His job done, Naruto exited the room and continued down the hall.

XxX

(Outside the Base)

Waiting along the jagged peaks, overlooking the area that Naruto had just entered a pair of masked Konoha Anbu watched for any sign of trouble for the blonde inside.

An Anbu with long purple hair turned to her brown haired partner, "Buntaicho, how long do you think it will take him to finish up and return outside?"

"I don't know Yugao." Tenzo stated, "It depends on how many Oto shinobi he comes across in there. Sending him to do it himself was a better option than sending in two and having them split up or something along those lines, especially after what happened during the first base we ended up going after."

"You're breaking protocol taicho. Naruto must be rubbing off on you on that front." Yugao teased, "But you're right I guess. That alert inside of the first base we went after wasn't a laughing matter at all. I'm honestly still kind of scared from when Naruto had to access the Kyuubi's chakra to cut our way out. I can see why he was worried about using it around us, the bloodlust I felt was horrible."

"You were the one that insisted on checking out the barracks." Tenzo insisted before nodding, "Well either way he should be fine. Even if he gets caught he can get himself out. I think I want this kid in Anbu when we go home, he's damn good all things considered."

"Think he's okay in there?" She asked.

Tenzo chuckled, "If he wasn't then I guarantee that we would both know it."

XxX

(With Naruto inside the Base)

Naruto had only had to kill one more person since he had been there. A lone ninja that had almost caught sight of Naruto walking through the halls as he was on his way back to the barracks had to be dealt with. Naruto ended up breaking the neck of the unprepared man with a swift kick to the head before a fight could break out. Why he didn't just shout intruder, Naruto will never know, but that was neither here nor there. To hide the body, Naruto propped the corpse up in an off area corner to make it look like he was trying to catch some standing z's before someone busted him. That wasn't going to be a reasonable hiding spot for long so he had to move.

There was only one real area left for Naruto to enter and go through before he could exit; the laboratory. Orochimaru constantly had people working on experiments for him and sending him the results. It was the main reason he created Otogakure in the first place, a series of hideouts and strongholds where Orochimaru could experiment on subjects and learn ninjutsu. Every base they had been to thus far had a laboratory with tons of experiments, some reasonable, most of the inhumane variety, as well as a bunch of prisoners… many of which the Konoha ninja had discovered would have been better off dead.

Naruto's interest in Orochimaru's labs were the product of the promise he had made to Anko to get the seal off of her neck. He had discovered from Orochimaru's notes back when he was a child that the origin of the Cursed Seal were from an organic source, most notably a human being. Orochimaru was obviously keeping him somewhere and he figured if he was able to take out enough bases he would be able to find the person it came from. If he could do that then he could get Hamako to work on trying to break the seal down. He still needed DNA from Orochimaru to study, but he was sure that there was plenty of that laying around Konoha somewhere. The only ways to really free Anko that he could possibly see were to either kill Orochimaru, something he knew he wasn't going to get a chance to do anytime soon, or to find the source of the Cursed Seal and go from there.

Orochimaru's true lack of knowledge in fuuinjutsu came to the forefront once again as instead of some sort of elaborate security device the door to the lab was protected by a lock, a lock that Naruto was able to pick and move along from without any trouble. Steeling himself for whatever horrors he would find within he opened the door and rolled inside, closing it behind him to keep a wandering guard from stumbling across him.

The lab was empty and cleared out. Anything that he would have found useful or "Tch…" Naruto let out in an annoyed fashion.

A red herring of a base. He should have known, if this place were truly active the people stationed here would have been far more attentive, it would have been a rat's nest comparable to the original Otogakure that Naruto had infiltrated as a boy. Blowing this place to bits now would do nothing more than let Orochimaru know once again that someone was on to him, and that someone was obviously Konoha since for the most part the rest of the shinobi world simply let him be. They had already destroyed two bases without much of a trace, and the one in Umi no Kuni was next to abandoned by the time they had gotten there. Taking this one out now would have definitely let the snake sannin know that his gambit of using expendable bases like this was definitely working to keep the heat off of him. This one was a complete and utter bust.

As he went to open the door he found it locked from the inside. Naruto jiggled the handle before realizing that he would have to pick it all over again. This place had some stupid security measures. Just as he pulled out his tools for the job a recorded voice came over an intercom in the room.

"To the fool that thought that trying to inspect the remnants of my research was a good idea. If you really wanted to see what I had been doing here all you had to do was ask kukukukukuku…" The far back wall opened up to reveal three men in prisoner garb. From where they were it appeared that this room was directly connected to the cells of the prison… how fun. Especially when they looked like they were under the influence of the Curse Seal. Second stage if the discolored skin and the barely human appearances were anything to go by.

Naruto drew his sword from his back wordlessly as they stalked inside of the empty lab, the door to the prison closing itself behind them. These guys were nothing more than mindless savages now. Not worth his time whatsoever, but he couldn't open the damn door without getting rid of them first. Naruto waited for them all to rush him at once in attempt to simply overwhelm him with numbers.

From their approach it was clear that they didn't even have any real training, something that he took advantage of when he cleaved the arms of one attacker off at the elbows. Before he could even let out a scream in pain, Naruto cut his head off cleanly. Naruto shoved his shoulder into a second attacker and pushed him back, allowing him to throw a back kick to the third prisoner that caught him in the body, pushing him up against the wall. Naruto quickly backpedaled and reversed his sword in order to run the man against the wall through with it while he was disoriented.

The second berserk prisoner ran at the self-cornered Naruto who grabbed the deceased man behind him by the collar and threw him over his shoulder at him. The unexpected action of his blonde prey threw the prisoner off, forcing him to stumble and slow down. More than enough time to let Naruto grab his sword like a javelin and throw it straight at the poor fool, catching him right in the head.

Naruto watched the Curse Seals on their bodies recede with an impassive glance. He pulled the sword from his victim's head and wiped the amassed gore on the blade off on the deceased man's clothing before resheathing it and proceeding to pick the lock, swiftly getting a satisfying click, signifying his success.

"Damn it… time to pull out." Naruto gave the room one last look before shaking his head.

XxX

(One Week Later – Konohagakure no Sato)

Tsunade read over the report given to her by Naruto, Tenzo, and Yugao, "So in the end you didn't get anything else?"

Naruto shook his head in the negative, "He probably builds bases, stays for a bit and leaves, keeping some troops behind as footholds in case he needs to fall back to one. The base in Umi no Kuni was long abandoned. I think the last time he was actually there himself was when he put the seal on Anko and abandoned her. And about that, does Anko still want to kill us for sending her back to the village?"

A smirk adorned the female kage's face, "I'll leave that one a mystery for you to discover when you leave here." She then sighed and placed the written report down, "Tenzo, what do you say about Naruto's performance on the mission?"

Tenzo took off his mask and smiled, "We're all alive aren't we Hokage-sama? Naruto did a great job. The second base in Kawa no Kuni (Land of Rivers) was a bonafide death trap, but we worked it out in the end."

Naruto didn't look as pleased as Tenzo did over the whole thing, "It worked out if you call taking out a bunch of grunts a successful mission. Five months of travelling and searching and we didn't find anything on the guy that I didn't already know. We probably tipped him off about what we were doing too. I've got to find him and kill him before he can switch bodies with the Uchiha… or kill the Uchiha, which would work out too. Where's Ero-sennin? The next time we do this he needs to come with us so he can fight the snake himself."

Tsunade averted her eyes, "Yeah, about that. He came back while you were gone and asked me where you were. He was actually kind of pissed off when I couldn't tell him where you were because I didn't know. He said to summon him to you whenever you got back and heard this from me."

Naruto gave her a strange look, "How the hell am I going to do that?"

Tsunade shrugged, "He said to summon a toad and tell them to come get him."

Naruto didn't know what the hell that was going to do, but listened to his order, biting him thumb and making the hand-seals, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Jutsu)!"

In a puff of smoke a toad around Naruto's size appeared, "Hey bro! How ya doin? It's been a while!"

Naruto smiled, "Long time no see Gamakichi. I've been super busy these days, but hey listen, could you get Ero-sennin for me, whatever that means."

Gamakichi nodded, "Sure thing nii-san, I'll get him back here in a second." With that the toad vanished in another puff of smoke.

The four ninja just stayed where they were in the office silently wondering what to do now. "So…" Naruto started, "What's new around here these days?"

Before Tsunade could answer, Jiraiya appeared in a puff of smoke in the middle of the office with a small elderly looking toad by his feet, "Now remember to visit me and ma again soon Jiraiya-chan. And bring that apprentice of yours next time."

That got Naruto's attention. Why would any of the toads actually want to meet him? From his experience with Gamabunta he usually hated being summoned unless it was for binge drinking purposes. Jiraiya gave the toad a grin, "I'll be sure to do that next time. Why don't you meet him yourself right now? He's just over there." He said, pointing at Naruto.

The old toad looked Naruto over, seemingly appraising his worth or whatever. That was certainly what it looked like to him anyway. He finally smirked at Naruto, "He looks as if he'll do just fine. Be sure to bring him when you think he's ready."

Ready for what, more secrets damn it? And badly kept ones at that? Why did being a ninja have to be so enigmatic only when it was annoying to him? Jiraiya nodded, "Will do Fukasaku. Tell Shima I said goodbye."

The old toad 'Fukasaku' nodded before vanishing in smoke. Jiraiya turned to Naruto and gave him a toothy grin, "Well now gaki, did you have fun? Kill some Oto ninja did you?"

Naruto rubbed the back of his head, "Well yes, not the ones I needed to though. What was that all about by the way?"

Jiraiya chuckled, "Even the sannin have to train too kid. I went to Mt. Myoboku since you were off gallivanting across the globe to raid and pillage." He then hooked an arm around Naruto shoulder and looked at Tsunade, "Can I steal this kid away from your debriefing since you've got these other two with you?" Not waiting for an answer he grabbed the boy and jumped out the window with him, "Thanks a lot hime!"

XxX

Jiraiya took Naruto to the top of the Hokage Monument and found the boy incredibly amused when they arrived there, "They put baa-chan's face up here while I was gone. She's so lucky I wasn't here or I would have made a spectacle out of it." He now paid attention to Jiraiya who looked to be in full serious mode, "So what do you have for me now Ero-kyofu?"

Jiraiya looked at Naruto before speaking, "You do know that Tsunade did what you said and repealed the law about the Kyuubi don't you?"

Naruto shrugged, "We were moving so fast when we got back in the village and my hood was up so I don't know. And don't tell me how things are going now either. As long as Hamako is okay and nothing happened to her due to her association with me I don't care. If anyone did do anything to her and I find out when I get home, I'm going to go hurt the idiot that did it."

Jiraiya kept up his concerned look, "Are you sure you'll be okay with people if they start cursing you in the street? I'll crack some jaws for you if you want me to kid."

Naruto chuckled, "Thanks Ero-kyofu. But the people love and respect you… for the most part. No, don't throw your rep away for me, as long as no one directly tries to attack me, or my friends, I'll be cool. They can't burn my apartment out after Hamako-chan put up all of the security stuff I told her to do so only direct attacks against us would have a chance of doing anything. If they do, I'll just have to cripple something as punishment."

Jiraiya sweatdropped, "Harsh gaki."

Naruto gave him a dry look, "Gaara would suffocate them in sand and crush them to death. A broken arm or leg is me being nice just so you know."

Jiraiya patted Naruto on the shoulder, "I don't know how Minato and Kushina would feel about the whole 'you crippling the people attacking you thing'… Well actually Kushina would cheer you on while you did it and probably even jump in herself, but that's neither here nor there. Anyway, I know that your growth as a ninja and your whole attitude over the Kyuubi would make them incredibly proud of you."

Naruto smiled up at the man, "Thanks a lot Ero-kyofu. I'm not really sure about that though. I'm baptized in blood, how could a hero like the Yondaime Hokage consider me anything to be proud of, I'm not even talking about my time in Root anymore, I'm talking about now. Do you know how many lives I just got through ending, either directly or remotely? I'm fourteen years old and since the age of five I've killed more people than many war veterans even have to, I know I've done more than any other ninja my age… except for Gaara. Gaara's definitely killed way more people than me, I don't even think I'm close."

Jiraiya sighed and flicked Naruto in the forehead, "Are you dumb kid? Do you know how many ninja your old man killed in his time? I can assure you that your body count has absolutely no chance of holding any kind of candle to his. How many do think you killed?"

Naruto estimated in his head, "I would say between 200 to 300… especially in the one place where we got caught."

Jiraiya ruffled his hair, "Minato killed over 300 Iwa ninja in one battle… by himself. Before that I think he killed about 100 ninja and razed their camp to the ground when they ended up capturing your mother. Hell I had to pretty much almost destroy an entire village by myself. If you call yourself a killer than what are we? That's what we have to be Naruto, that's the way things are in the shinobi world. In reality in the eyes of the public the only difference between butchers and heroes are the colors of the uniforms of the men you've killed."

"As messed up as that is…" Naruto said, "I guess you're right. I had a bit of a punk-ass moment there. As long as you're sure they would have been proud of me I believe it too Ero-kyofu. Alright, now I have to go home and see how my 'roommate' is doing."

Jiraiya then got a lecherous grin on his face, "How's that girl doing anyway gaki? She adjusting to the village okay?"

Naruto glared at him, "Get that look off of your face you damn pervert. And how would I know? I've been gone for almost half a year. I guess I'll find out when I go back home." Naruto waved at him, "Later. Don't be a stranger now." Naruto then used shunshin to disappear from the mountain.

Jiraiya smiled to himself as he watched the leaves settle from Naruto's shunshin, "I wonder how good of a sage that kid would make."

XxX

Deciding to see what the people of the village thought of him now rather than wait for a time where he had to actually do something amidst the people and be caught off guard, he decided to stroll through town on the streets on his way home. Much like before, adults didn't try to look at him, but much to his surprise instead of having angry looks on their faces quite a few of them looked down at the ground. That had never happened before.

"Demon." A passing middle aged man said as Naruto walked past his position outside of a building.

"Your mother." Was Naruto's eloquent reply.

The man stepped out from his position and marched into the street to confront Naruto, "What was that? I don't have to put up with you anymore! You don't have the Hokage's protection anymore, she obviously sees what you really are!"

Naruto didn't even turn around, "Yeah, she sees me as someone that is able to handle his own business, so I have one question for you sir. Are you my business?"

"You tell me!" He said as he pulled out a pocket knife and ran at Naruto only to be stopped by the blade of Naruto's sword at his throat.

Naruto sighed as he looked at the man from a side gaze, "That was a great idea. Let's attack the trained ninja armed to his teeth with a stupid pocket knife that's probably too dull to even cut notebook paper." Naruto used the blade of the sword to slide the knife out of the man's hand before smacking him on both of his kneecaps, dropping him to the ground in a bowing position, "I had her take away that law for your benefit. Because keeping the secret that wasn't really much of a secret in the first place was getting obnoxious. However, just because you won't get Anbu on you for speaking out about this doesn't mean that someone won't kick your ass for attacking me. I'll do it myself, I'll just enjoy it better." He then used the flat of his sword to knock him out.

Naruto looked down at the unconscious man and back up at the villagers who had just watched him knock a grown man out with no effort whatsoever. Naruto laughed nervously as he sheathed his sword, "Nice day huh? Sorry about that, please, carry on with your business."

Naruto then proceeded to whistle a jaunty tune as he continued making his way home.

From within a nearby restaurant, a group of young ninja somewhat knowledgeable about the scar-faced blonde had witnessed the spectacle. A group of 10 Konoha ninja were celebrating the fact that the 4 that were still genin would be travelling to the upcoming chunin exam in Suna and had seen just how hostile things could get for Naruto. Each of them sat in silence as they watched him walk off on his own through the window, whistling the entire way.

XxX

"Yo Hamako-chan!" Naruto yelled as he entered his apartment, "I'm back!"

Hamako came from the back room with a gentle smile on her face, "Welcome home Naruto-sama. I hope you're unharmed from your mission."

Naruto nodded as he started taking his gear off, "Yeah, I'm fine Hamako-chan. I'm just drained, I forgot how long those missions like that really are. Were you okay while I was gone?"

"Yes, I was fine. Tayuya-san and the Ichiraku family were very helpful to me while you were gone and I even got to meet the members of your graduating class when they came by asking for you." Hamako admitted to Naruto as he took of his hooded vest that probably had some kind of leftover residue from his violent activities over the last few months. Hamako scrunched up her nose as he walked by her, "You smell like blood master."

Naruto frowned, "Sorry. Throughout the mission there was a lot of it and a considerable amount got on me, repeatedly. I need a long shower and a good meal after this." He yawned loudly, "What have you been doing to occupy your time?"

Hamako winked at him, "Oh just a few personal projects. I have to say master; the seal on your stomach looks very familiar to me." She said as she looked at the visible seal on Naruto's belly, "It looks like something derived from the sealing style of Uzushiogakure."

Naruto made a thoughtful noise, "You can study it after I shower, eat, and sleep. Anything interesting happen while I was gone, or did you just watch the wallpaper to entertain yourself?"

"Hokage-sama revealed your jinchuuriki status to the village." Hamako said as she picked up his vest and walked towards his hamper to drop the piece of clothing inside, "It was a mildly entertaining spectacle somewhat."

Naruto smirked, "So how many of the old fogies called for my death when she was through talking?"

Hamako shrugged, "More than a few actually. But then the shinobi that had met and knew of the things you had done in your career thus far shut them up, especially the two that are always guarding the gate. It was amazing. You probably would have gotten a kick out of it."

"Note to self." Naruto said, "Send Izumo and Kotetsu a fruit basket or something for being good people."

XxX

(Three Weeks Later)

Once again, Naruto's training took him deeply into the Forest of Death. He put his attempts to learn how to utilize the Kyuubi's chakra on the backburner for the time being as he wanted to learn the nuances of using his sword. The rate at which it drained his chakra when he transformed the Sen'nenki no Ken into Sen'nen Kougake was ridiculous. He couldn't even keep it up for too long without tapping into the Kyuubi's chakra and even then, getting more than several minutes of use out of them was seen as a success. How the hell did anyone use this thing without draining themselves dry? Or maybe that was why it was a sealed heirloom in the first place. Hey, maybe he could use it by giving it to his enemies to use themselves. Just let them kick his ass until they dropped dead of chakra exhaustion and then take it back. Nobody would ever see that coming.

From experimentation the blades cut through pretty much everything like a guillotine blade, even without him circulating wind chakra between them, which was good, because the damn blades absorbed his chakra like a sponge. The transformed blades couldn't cut him, and with them his taijutsu was extensively more dangerous than it ever could have been otherwise.

Other than that, he was having more trouble manipulating his new lightning element than he had been expecting. He couldn't even hold the chakra in his hand like he could with his wind chakra without damaging himself. The damage would come by way of him shocking the feeling out of his hands for hours, he couldn't practice getting the feel of the chakra with his Kage Bunshin because they would dispel after taking the damage, and this was the only way for him to train the element for the time being.

His elemental Rasengan was a work in progress as well. Adding his wind chakra to the orb ended up blowing up in his face, or more accurately on his arm, giving him deep gashes that took time for him to heal even with his advanced healing. He joked to himself that he needed a medic-nin on hand for whenever he wanted to train these days the way all of his current projects were going.

Learning his seals with Hamako was a very self-esteem crushing experience to say the least. Every concept he had been working on prior to bringing her back to Konoha had been burned as she had proceeded to verbally tear down every single original idea he had come up with. Her reasoning being that everything he had made could have been classified as a forbidden technique, and not for the good reasons, like they were strong, or that if they fell into the wrong hands they could endanger Konoha. No, they were forbidden because everything he had come up with had a greater than not chance of flat out killing him if he had really gone through with their usage. So as far as Hamako was concerned he had to start straight from square one, and she had half a mind to find Jiraiya and make him sit through her lessons as well if he had really been the one to introduce Naruto to those abominations that the boy had the gall to call seals. Even his 'custom explosive tags' that he designed to take the Kyuubi's chakra were flawed. The timer on them was next to two seconds before detonation, and with the mass of the explosion that really wasn't enough time to get safely away. As far as she was concerned, the only thing she didn't have to reteach him was how to make his own ink and how to write the seals out.

The girl was usually very kind and patient normally, however when she was teaching Naruto fuuinjutsu she was a very harsh taskmaster. Instead of letting him freestyle seals the way that Jiraiya had done from just about day one, letting him get along through trial and error, she had him break down seals that she had put together for him by order of difficulty. Then she would have him do it again under a time limit. She wanted him to be good enough to identify every major nuance of any seal he would come across at naught but a glance, much like she herself was able to. Looking at what Konoha had referred to as seal masters had actually gotten Hamako to laugh. Not smile, not giggle, but full-board laugh uproariously.

As far as she could see, Kakashi was a hack and a novice and Jiraiya was overrated.

So when Naruto was called into Tsunade's office he figured that this was as good of a break as he was going to get from the grind he was putting himself through on a daily basis.

"What's up baa-chan?" Naruto asked, "And before you even complain about it, if anyone in the entire world has a reason or an excuse to call you baa-chan it's me and you know it."

Tsunade's eye twitched. The brat had a point, but she still didn't necessarily have to like it… and she was still his boss, relation or not, "Listen up brat. As you know, the chunin exam is taking place in Suna this time around and the finals are rolling around in about two weeks."

Naruto blinked blankly, "No. No I didn't know that. Why the hell would I know that?" A paperweight to the head was his response, "Gah! That was a reasonable question!"

Tsunade put her hand down with a smirk on her face, satisfied with the throw, "Anyway, I'm taking you and Shizune with me for my security." She pointed towards the black haired woman standing by the desk, waving pleasantly.

Naruto waved back before groaning, "Aww… another escort mission. Fine, whatever, it's an order. And speaking of Suna, where the hell's my money, I gave you the DNA which means I gave them the DNA, why am I not rolling in dough right now?"

"Yes about that." Tsunade said, "They don't feel comfortable transporting that much money themselves so they've laid that responsibility on us to collect, which is another reason that I'm assigning you to my personal guard detail."

"Oh." Naruto looked at her vapidly, "Well thank you then baa-chan. But do you think I'm really your guy in case it all goes down while we're there? Shouldn't you bring someone like Kakashi-sensei, or even Ero-sennin?"

Tsunade let out a laugh, "You don't think you're up for this? You killed a top level missing ninja that had eluded capture for twenty years and destroyed Otogakure bases. You're a jounin in everything but title kid."

"So…" Naruto said somewhat testingly, "Promote me." A grin worked its way onto his face.

Tsunade let a wry grin of her own show, "Maybe later. I'll think about it. Anyway, tie up all of your loose ends Naruto, you're coming with me and Shizune to Suna."

Naruto smirked, "If I yelled road trip out the window at the top of my lungs would you hit me?"

XxX

"Kabuto… what does that make, the fourth or the fifth of my bases that have been hit in the last half year?"

The medic in question adjusted the glasses on his face as he smirked, "The last one that was hit last month makes five Orochimaru-sama. And I think you'll find the person that is responsible for the damage to be extremely interesting." Kabuto placed a video tape in the nearby VCR that revealed Naruto fighting the Curse Seal prisoners in the empty lab, "I guess I do owe him some thanks though. He did free me of the control that Sasori had over me if the buzz over the bounty is anything to be believed."

"Well now isn't that interesting kukukuku? Little Naruto-kun is growing up… It looks like your rival hasn't been losing any steps since you left Konoha has he Sasuke-kun?"

A pair of spinning Sharingan eyes glowed in the dark, "Hn. The dobe is nowhere near my level anymore." His glare grew intense as he saw Naruto easily dispose of his opponents with little effort, "I'll be sure to prove that the next time we meet. He'll never get a victory over me again."

Orochimaru chuckled in the background, "That still remains to be seen Sasuke-kun, perhaps, just maybe Naruto here is more special than you."

Sasuke bared his teeth in the darkness as the Curse Seal ran across his face, "There's nothing special about that loser. And soon I'll finish what we started myself. First him, then Itachi."