28

Chapter 27: Shifting Sands Land

"Are you all prepared to leave master?"

"Yes Hamako-chan."

"You've got all of your weapons?"

"With all of the scrolls I've got and the stuff I carry on my person at all times I'm armed to the teeth."

"You've got your suppression seals for the Kyuubi's chakra?"

"Yes, I've already given enough to Tsunade-baachan already that she could probably use one to stop me every day on this mission from now on forward though."

"Well… It is one of only two things that you can adequately make."

"…Now why did you have to go and kill my self-esteem like that Hamako-chan?"

Naruto was leaning against the front gate in the same clothing he had taken to wearing recently with Hamako doting over him before he was to leave to escort Tsunade to Sunagakure for the finals of the chunin exam. He hadn't really seen anyone from his graduating class around town since he had returned, but he then put two and two together and realized they must have all made it to the finals of the exams. Hinata and Shino had been promoted last time around so they were probably on a mission, Shikamaru probably went with Asuma to watch the proceedings, and Team Gai, who had been promoted immediately after their next exams were probably busy, because being a rookie chunin did suck. You weren't high profile enough to really put in for down time, but you were considered just good enough to get back to back 'real' missions.

Naruto gave a glance to his pleasant companion, "Are you going to be alright while I'm gone?"

Hamako rolled her eyes with a smile on her face, "I was fine when you left for half a year Naruto-sama. I don't think a week or so without you here will be too much to handle. You will be missing my birthday though." She said, pouting playfully.

"Oh I'm sorry Hamako-chan." Naruto said, actually somewhat upset by this. He had been gone for half a year, leaving her pretty much on her own. All she really had were his own loose acquaintances to block being lonely. It did make him wonder if she had really been okay with him leaving or if she had just been putting up a façade so that he didn't worry.

She smiled and waved it off, "It's alright master. You don't get to dictate your own schedule, I know. And since I am your servant I am also basically controlled by your schedule."

Naruto frowned, "You're more than a servant Hamako-chan. You're way more important than you make yourself seem. Even if you don't agree with me, your master froze you inside the vault for a reason."

Hamako nodded, "I think I know why he did it. I'm certain he knew that the Uzumaki bloodline was too stubborn to just die out, and he put me there so that I could assist a future generation of them upon being discovered. Why else would he have placed me in an area that could only be accessed by one of your lineage? So the way you speak as if it isn't my job to do these things for you, that is actually contradictory, because you are the entire reason I exist."

Okay, this girl was really starting to remind him of Haku, only she seemed more prone to emotion… most of them positive. She was really receptive to the whole being his underling thing, something he didn't think he would ever get accustomed to, but she simply accepted it right off the bat. Hell, she suggested it and insisted on it in the first place.

Naruto shrugged mentally, if this was what she wanted he couldn't just keep trying to get her to stop. Hopefully she wouldn't get too into the whole servant thing, but if he had his way he would wean her onto her own independence. Naruto pulled her into a hug, catching her somewhat off guard, "I'll bring you back a present okay? Something cool, because it's not like I'm going to be short on funds when this mission is over. Just take care of yourself."

Hamako smiled serenely and returned his hug, "What if I get something from Sai?" She whispered to him, knowing that Naruto wanted to keep everything about his relationship with Root under wraps.

Naruto whispered right back, "Just keep it until I get back. I wouldn't be able to handle anything else on this mission anyway."

"Okay Naruto-sama." Naruto let go of the hug as Tsunade and Shizune came into view, allowing Hamako to bow to the blonde woman, "Good morning Hokage-sama, Shizune-san."

Tsunade smiled at the girl, "Hello Hamako. Has this knucklehead been treating you well?" She asked, ignoring the indignant rambling from Naruto in response.

A slight laugh came from Hamako, "Yes Hokage-sama things are very well here in Konoha. Naruto-sama is a good boy."

Naruto sweatdropped, "I am basically a near fifteen year old man that has been known to kill people with twice my age and experience and I'm being talked about like a five year old by my village leader and the girl that lives with me and has sworn my allegiance to me. A lot of those things in that sentence sounded good, and I'm sure you can guess which one didn't seem so great."

Hamako turned to him, "I am still older than you master."

Naruto sighed, "I know. How old are you going to be anyway when your birthday comes around?"

"I will be fifteen." Hamako added helpfully.

Naruto rubbed the back of his head and looked away, "Well I figured that much. I was meaning more along the lines of how old will you really be? In actual years, not in cryo-time." The street got awfully silent after he said that, "What? What did I say?"

Hamako narrowed her eyes on Naruto, "I will be fifteen master."

Naruto looked around in confusion as if he were caught in some kind of loop while trying to run through the mental math in his head, failing miserably because no one really ever told him exactly when Uzushiogakure fell, just saying that it was around twenty years ago, which could have meant anything, "Um, I know that, but for real, how old will you-."

"I will be fifteen master." Hamako asserted sternly, unconsciously leaking killing intent.

He didn't quite get why he was getting the vibe of him about to be getting disemboweled from not only Hamako, but from Tsunade and to a lesser but still noticeable extent Shizune, but he decided that in this case, getting to the truth about a badly kept secret could actually be detrimental to him for once, and figured that smiling and nodding was his best way out of this. Thusly Naruto gave her a toothy grin and a thumbs up, ignoring the feeling of impending death when he did so, "So… super-amazing-expensive gift for you when I come back right?"

"Yes please!" Hamako perked back up, "Be safe on your mission Naruto-sama!"

With that, Naruto bade her goodbye and set out with Tsunade and Shizune towards Sunagakure.

XxX

(Three Days Later - Kaze no Kuni en route to Sunagakure)

"For the last time Naruto." Tsunade said, currently decked out in full -kage gear as they made their way through the desert, "You aren't wearing the robes and the hat so stop asking."

"Come on Tsunade-baachan." Naruto tried to reason, his hood up to avoid the desert sun beating down from above, "Think of it like this, Just let me Henge into you and you into me and I'll be your body double until we get to Suna. It's a totally sound idea. Besides, I'm going to be wearing that stuff soon enough anyway, I might as well get used to it now."

Tsunade shot an amused glance to her left where Naruto was standing, "Jiraiya said you were gunning for Hokage these days. What makes you think you actually have what it takes brat?"

Naruto put on a thinking face, "Well… I'm Minato Namikaze's kid, the remnant of a powerful clan, and loosely related to you so I have the lineage one would say, if you would promote me again I could start proving that I'm strong enough more than I already have, oh, and I already beat you back when we first met so I have a recorded win over a sannin!"

Tsunade got a tick mark on her head, "That was not a recorded fight you idiot! I was using one finger and was taking it easy on you, and I still ended up knocking you flat on your spiky blonde ass!"

Naruto grinned at her, "I never told you to go easy on me, and you made the terms of the fight making it an exhibition bout, you ended up using your entire hand to wail on my face thus you broke the stipulation and lost. Therefore I won, therefore I have a victory over you. And I have witnesses; Shizune-neechan, Ero-kyofu, and Tonton all saw me take you back to school."

"You should really stop talking before I pick you up and chuck you in Suna's general direction." Tsunade threatened.

Naruto's eyes were shaded by the hood draped over his face, "That actually sounds pretty useful." He looked over at the dark-haired medic holding a small pig, "Do you want Tsunade-baachan to throw you across the desert too Shizune-neechan? It has to beat walking, I hate the desert."

Tsunade flicked Naruto in the back of the head, propelling him forward into a sand dune. As a smile came to her face, Shizune rushed over to dig Naruto out alongside Tonton, "Naruto-kun are you alright?"

Tsunade laughed as she neared her bodyguards, "Shizune I hit the runt harder than that on a near daily basis. He's fine."

Naruto popped out of the dune hacking out sand and brushing it out of his hair, "That was totally unnecessary by the way. A 'shut the hell up Naruto' would have worked just fine. I do follow your orders after all."

Tsunade picked him up by his collar and dropped him back on his feet as the kept walking, "I said to stop talking."

Naruto scowled as Shizune picked the rest of the sand out of his hair, "No, you suggested that I stop talking. If you had directly told me to shut up I would have, I'm not insubordinate baa-chan. If you order me to do something I'm going to do it no matter how I feel about it."

"You don't question orders Naruto-kun? Ever?" Shizune asked as she kept messing with his hair.

Naruto looked over at Tsunade, "She knows right? About how I was trained?"

Tsunade nodded, "I told her after you told me. She knows not to say anything about it."

"Alright then." Naruto shrugged, "Yeah I question orders. You hear me mouth off about some of my missions all the time, because griping and nitpicking is fun. But I never say I'm not going to do something, I always take the missions and after I accept I don't complain. You should know why I don't Shizune-neechan."

She frowned and nodded, "Because of Danzo and Root right?"

Naruto pulled his hood back up when he felt she was done, "Well Danzo-jiji tried putting his stupid seal on the back of my tongue, but I kept breaking it. When it would activate and paralyze me I would just get pissed off, flare the Kyuubi's chakra, and the damn thing would disappear. He must have tried to 're-educate me' about seven or eight times because of it... old bastard, that shit was painful."

Shizune looked appalled, "That's awful."

Naruto shook his head, "That's Root. He wanted obedient operatives, and I originally went to him, not the other way around. I wanted to be a ninja so bad, so while I would never let him own me I did do everything he told me to do. He didn't have to train me after he realized that I wouldn't be like all of the others but he did anyway and while his training was unspeakably harsh, I was the one that asked for it and it's the entire reason I can do the things I do today." Naruto's eye twitched and he grabbed his head before speaking in monotone, "Ow."

Shizune looked at him strangely for saying 'ow' randomly, "What happened?"

Naruto rubbed his temple, "When I relieved you at nightwatch at two in the morning I made a ton of Kage Bunshin to guard the area as well. Before we left I told them to train my nature manipulation, and the bastards all decided to dispel at the same time."

Tsunade heaved a sigh, "Don't train while you're on a mission brat. What's wrong with you?"

Naruto growled lowly at the pain of his headache, only to exhale in relief when a pair of glowing green hands ran over the sides of his head, "Thank you Shizune-neechan. And technically baa-chan, it isn't me training into the ground, I just got a headache. You can get a headache eating a damn ice cream cone. And before you say anything, that was not insubordination that was an opinion on my own personal well-being."

"Whatever." Tsunade let the situation drop as the sight of Suna came up in the distance, "Look alive. Shizune knows the drill, but you know nothing about being a dignitary Naruto, before you say anything about your mission way back when in Kumo, you weren't anything then because Homura never let you do anything or go anywhere with him, you were a glorified tagalong that was left to your own devices."

Naruto frowned because she was right. Oh well, consider this a learning experience.

Tsunade gave Naruto a business-like look, "Here you will need to tone it down some. Talk to me before you do anything, causing international incidents aren't going to fly here like they did in Kumogakure. Keep your senses sharp, I'm counting on you to intercept any threats that may come my way, and don't expect that just because we're in an allied village filled with ninja that I may not be attacked. If you have any questions or concerns, or you notice something off don't hesitate to talk to me or Shizune about it, that is what your job is."

Naruto nodded in complete seriousness. Shizune gave him a small smile, "We know you're good at the assault part of being a shinobi Naruto-kun, you've proven that. But this is really the most high profile escort job you've ever done. It's not about going out to find the enemy and destroy them, it's about keeping the danger away from something important, about keeping it safe. In this case that something is Tsunade-sama."

Tsunade snorted, "Please Shizune, you make it seem like I'm some fragile glass figurine. I'm not Hokage just because of my pretty face you know."

Naruto snickered, "Especially since it's just a powerful Henge. Don't kill your bodyguard baa-chan that's counter-productive!" Naruto yelled as he ducked and covered his head in anticipation of a strike that Tsunade had already wound up for. Shizune sweatdropped and nudged him forward from behind getting him to stumble ahead.

Naruto chuckled as he regained his balance, "Yeah don't worry. I'll do everything I have to do to make sure I don't let either of you down. Just remember that I'm not really accustomed to hanging back and watching things unfold. I'm more of the 'go there and beat the crap out of that' kind of guy so if I start stepping out of line feel free to check me… non-physically of course."

Tsunade had a serious face on as they neared the entrance of the village, guarded by two Suna ninja, "Well just be ready for rapid response in any event."

One of the ninja guarding the way in immediately came up to the traveling party, "Welcome to Sunagakure Hokage-sama. The Kazekage has requested your presence at his office upon your arrival if you will permit it."

Tsunade nodded, "Of course. I trust that my security detail are allowed to remain with me throughout the proceedings."

"Yes Hokage-sama. If you would follow me to the Kazekage Residence." The guard led them into the village.

XxX

On the way to the meeting, Naruto noticed that the looks the group had been getting were no longer hostile as they were for him when he had escorted Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro back home following the invasion that had taken place before Tsunade's inauguration as Hokage. The looks were more like awe, something Naruto obviously chalked up to the fact that Tsunade was walking through their village in her robes.

As they arrived at the Kazekage's building and were escorted all the way to the office, Naruto had been expecting to be taken straight to the council chamber that he ended up sitting in for three hours during his last trip to Suna, but they ended up being taken straight to an office with an ornate door, not too different from the one that signified Tsunade's office.

Naruto raised his eyebrows in curiosity, 'Huh… Well I guess that it has been two years since the Kazekage was killed. It's only natural someone else took the spot.' Wondering who it was, Naruto followed alongside Tsunade into the office after the door had been opened by the guard and Naruto froze in place when he realized exactly who it was sitting behind the desk, 'No way.'

Tsunade smirked as she saw Naruto's reaction out of the corner of her eye, even Shizune had to give off a small giggle, "Greetings Kazekage-dono."

"It is good to see you in good health Hokage-dono." Said a monotone voice, "And you as well Naruto Uzumaki." The spiky short red hair and the kanji for love on the left side of his forehead dressed in Kazekage robes was none other than Sabaku no Gaara.

Naruto looked between the robed Tsunade and the robed Gaara about four times, "Can I speak freely Hokage-sama? Kazekage-sama?"

"You may." Were the responses from the two leaders, though one was exponentially more jovial in tone than the other.

"Thank you." Naruto nodded before taking a breath, "What the fuck Gaara? You can't write a letter? And nobody thought that this was something I would like to know?"

Tsunade had an amused grin on her face, "He was given the position and inaugurated while you were off on your little rampage against Orochimaru's bases. How were we supposed to contact you to tell you when we couldn't even find you?"

Gaara then spoke, "Besides, your Hokage decided it would be far more amusing if you didn't know when you came to collect your bounty. And speaking of that there are two people that want to speak to you about that."

Naruto looked at him curiously, still not over seeing Gaara as the Kazekage, "Well sure, as long as the reason they want to see me isn't to kill me. I get enough of that." He stood in place just staring at Gaara, "So… Kazekage huh? Running a village? How's that working out for you?"

A small smirk came to Gaara's face, "Fantastic actually. You should try it."

Naruto returned the smirk, "Oh I will, just you wait. If you're already Kazekage then all I have to do is wait for Tsunade-baachan to retire and that damn hat is all mine. Where is your hat by the way?"

Gaara shrugged, "I don't like wearing the hat indoors."

Naruto's eyes widened, "I would bronze that hat and have it surgically attached to my scalp if I could. I don't get you guys, Sandaime-jiji wore it all the time, and so would I. They would literally have to pry the damn thing from my cold dead hands."

Gaara was legitimately interested in Naruto's choice of address for Tsunade, "Uzumaki why do you refer to the Hokage in such a familiar manner?"

Naruto shrugged, "Aside from the fact that she let me speak freely and hasn't told me to shut up yet, after a bit of digging I found that she is legitimately related to me way down the line, so it's appropriate."

Tsunade interjected, "Alright Naruto that's enough for now. The Kazekage has called us here for business."

Gaara nodded, "Yes, I have invited you here to observe the final round of the chunin exam selection tournament due to Konoha having four participants involved. However I have also invited the village of Iwa to watch the event as well."

Naruto got stone-faced at the sound of Iwa, as did Tsunade. Gaara took notice of this, "Is there a problem? I understand the latent aggression from your two villages after the war all those years ago, but can we not let the matter settle?"

Naruto looked at Tsunade who nodded her consent, "Um, I'm kind of the son of Minato Namikaze, Gaara. I've never really said anything about it since I found out because for the most part it doesn't really matter, but in this case it's kind of a big deal."

Gaara showed no surprise to the revelation, "I see. That is somewhat astonishing, but it makes sense. Most jinchuuriki are related in some way to the leaders of their villages to instill loyalty, though I do not see how that would have worked if you still didn't know."

"Anyway." Naruto continued, "What's the over-under that the Tsuchikage sends assassins after me after he realizes who I am. All it's going to take is one good look at me for any of them to hate my guts."

Tsunade sighed and took a seat by Gaara's desk, "If it's still the same old man from when I was a kid then he'll definitely know you at first glance. The fact that your jinchuuriki status is now common knowledge would only make that worse. Tell me why you told me to let that out again?"

"I'm already being pursued by Akatsuki. Keep your eyes open for that by the way Gaara. But anyway, at this point if it gets out and Iwa starts sending people to kill me there isn't a snowball's chance in hell they'll actually send someone capable of finishing me off. Maybe if I were my old stupid sealed self then most definitely, I would be a dead man walking right now, but I just got through killing Suna's most infamous missing ninja and have been obliterating Oto bases for the last half year." He blinked and looked at Tsunade, "Am I in the bingo book yet?"

She shook her head, "No, you haven't caused any kind of stir with any nations yet so you're not on anyone's radar. And you don't want to be in a bingo book anyway brat, what's wrong with you?"

"I'm trying to get famous baa-chan!" Naruto shouted before silently musing to himself, 'It's my mission after all. Who ever becomes Hokage when no one has ever even heard of you? That's why Danzo-jiji found it so hard to get his name in the argument after my old man died. He had spent so much time running black ops and underground stuff that people had forgotten about him both in the village and abroad. He was too good at orchestrating it and keeping himself in the shadows.'

Gaara returned to the issue at hand, "In any case, do you think I should position any protection around Uzumaki? I would rather not have another war start at another chunin exam if I could help it." He looked at Naruto, "You seem to have very bad luck with chunin exams."

"Tell me about it." Naruto sighed, "I think it would be better for the world in general if I just stopped knowing about these things. I'm two for two with these things so far so it can't just be a coincidence… I'm not even in this one."

Gaara placed his hands together on his desk, "Well now I would like to speak to Hokage-dono about matters alone. I have to ask your guardians to step outside of the room."

Naruto looked at Tsunade who nodded to him and gestured for him to leave along with Shizune. Gaara spoke again just as they reached the door, "Those wanting to speak with you about your run-in with Sasori will find you outside of the office while we have our meeting inside." With that, Naruto and Shizune exited.

XxX

(Two Hours Later)

Naruto and Shizune were seated on a bench in the hall leading towards the office, simply waiting for either the meeting to end or for whoever it was that wished to speak with Naruto, "So you're telling me that I can't ever learn baa-chan's strength enhancing jutsu because it requires medic-nin control? But if you can use it then why don't you?"

Shizune laughed sheepishly, "I never liked using taijutsu or fighting in general. All of the things I use in combat are generally ranged techniques with poison. As of now the only people that can use that technique are Tsunade-sama, myself, and Sakura Haruno."

Naruto's eyes widened, "When the hell did she learn how to do that?"

Shizune smiled at him, "She started learning it a few months ago while you were gone and during her stay in Suna she finished her training for the technique. She sent a letter back saying she did. She's very gifted at medical ninjutsu as well."

"Well good for her." Naruto grinned before returning his face to a placid outlook, "But I can't ever learn it. Oh well, I'll just have to get along with raw brute force and keep developing that."

Shizune blinked, "How strong physically are you Naruto-kun?"

"With or without the Kyuubi?" He questioned in return.

"Um… both." Shizune said.

Naruto thought on it, "Without the Kyuubi I would say that the only people in Konoha that can actually outmuscle me are adult Akimichi, Maito Gai, and of course Tsunade-baachan. Rock Lee might be able to do it if he's been doing Gai's training for all of these years and I'm sure Ero-kyofu can do it too, but the last time we sparred I couldn't get him to go all out on me so I wouldn't know for sure. With the Kyuubi; well let's just say that baa-chan isn't the only one that can finger-flick walls down."

"Naruto Uzumaki."

The attention of the two was grabbed by a diminutive elderly woman walking up to them, "Are you Naruto Uzumaki, the boy credited with the defeat of Akasuna no Sasori?"

Naruto and Shizune looked at each other before Naruto spoke up, "I am. Who's the one curious about it?"

The old woman gave Naruto an appraising look before speaking once more, "I am Chiyo, and I am the grandmother of the man you killed in battle."

Both Konoha ninja paled at that revelation, 'Damn it! I can't believe this crap is going to start another war! He came after me!'

Chiyo then bowed before them, "I apologize for Sasori's actions against you. By now it is common knowledge who you are Uzumaki-san, you became somewhat famed around Suna for being the only person that has ever defeated our Kazekage in battle, and your character has been vouched for countless times by the Kazekage and his siblings. If you engaged him in battle then he attacked you first. He was a missing-nin regardless of that anyway."

"So…" Naruto felt out, "Am I still getting paid?"

"Naruto you glorious bastard!" Was Naruto's warning before he was picked up and engulfed in a hug from a larger than him Kankuro who rushed over upon seeing him, "I can't believe you actually defeated Sasori, and you brought him back! I've got permission from Chiyo-baasama to use him as a new puppet!"

"Good to see you too Kankuro." Naruto strained out before he looked at Kankuro strangely, "Wait, I obliterated his body, how the hell could you use him as a puppet?"

Kankuro grinned, "He had spare bodies on him, sealed on a piece that you actually left intact."

Naruto nodded, "Of course he did. Well it's a good thing I hit the heart when I destroyed him isn't it? So Gaara's Kazekage, have you been promoted yet?"

If possible, Kankuro's grin got wider, "I'm a jounin now. Temari is too."

Naruto's eye twitched, "Because that's fair and everything. I can't get promoted by baa-chan to save my life and you guys just sleepwalk right past me in rank." He turned to Shizune, "When this is over I seriously need to put in for a promotion."

"Speaking of Temari…" Kankuro trailed off, looking at Naruto in amusement, "She's looking to have some choice words with you. You're so lucky she isn't here right now."

"Me?" Naruto asked, "What the hell did I do?"

Kankuro leaned against the wall near the bench as Naruto sat back next to Shizune, "Well you haven't even spoken to her since we left Konoha after the joint mission for your Uchiha kid. It's been two years since we've even talked to you kid."

Naruto almost face-faulted, "I've been busy! Between the ridiculous training I had to do to master my element, missions to other nations, and the long assignment to hunt for Orochimaru's bases I have had almost no down time. How could I have possibly visited?"

"And about that." Kankuro added, "Ever since Gaara's been Kazekage she's been Suna's liaison to Konoha, and she didn't know about your mission when she wanted to see you, and she's very pissed off for a myriad of reasons that I'm not going to go into right now. Besides the not seeing us part she's also mad because went off and got into a fight to the death with Suna's greatest puppeteer all on your own."

Chiyo was still standing there as the boys had been catching up, but it had finally swung back to a topic of her interest, "How were you confronted by Sasori anyway?"

Naruto sighed, "I didn't go looking for the guy. He came to me when I was perusing through my clan's ancestral village ruins, him and some bomber freak with mouths in his hands, Deidara was his name. Somehow I isolated Sasori and was able to kill him before the other retreated. If I don't see her before I leave you tell her that wasn't my fault I am a victim here."

Kankuro nodded, "Sure thing. But that will only work if you're going to be gone by sunrise, because she's going to be back tomorrow."

Naruto sweatdropped, "You're an ass, you know that?"

"So I hear from Temari on a daily basis." Kankuro said as he started walking away, "See you later Naruto."

Chiyo turned to follow him out as well, "Before you leave be sure to allow the slug woman to let you collect your money young man. You're getting quite a hefty sum for it."

Naruto nodded in agreement and looked at Shizune as he had picked up on the way that Chiyo had referred to Tsunade. The dark-haired medic shrugged, "She doesn't like Tsunade-sama because she kept countering her poisons during the Second Great Ninja War. People seem to be very good at holding grudges."

Naruto sighed, "Old people especially… Oh man, if that lady is mad at you and baa-chan for her just coming up with counters to her poisons like thirty years ago then how pissed off at me is the Tsuchikage going to be after my old man single-handedly made their village his bitch sixteen years ago."

Shizune patted Naruto on the back, "It's okay Naruto-kun he might-." She cut herself off when she realized how accurate that statement could have been and laughed nervously, "Well maybe you could wear your hood for your entire time here?"

Naruto slumped in his seat, "Aw man, that fucking thing is hot!"

XxX

(The Next Day)

Naruto, Shizune, and Tsunade were seated in a Suna café with Tsunade actually permitted to indulge in a little sake due to the vacation-esque feel that the entire trip had. Naruto was sitting and practicing his seal making speed on napkins while Tsunade drank, Shizune had a small cake for herself, and Tonton had a small bowl of corn, "Why did we get here so early? The fights aren't until tomorrow. And where is everybody right now? Can't we see them before the finals?"

Tsunade downed her saucer and looked at Naruto, "Brat we can't just run off to see them like that. My apprentice is in the damn thing tomorrow, don't you think I would like to see how she's doing before tomorrow? But I'm also the leader of the village and any interference from a kage on a competitor's training would be seen as some kind of favoritism, even if it was just to see how any of them are doing. We are in a foreign village after all, they would know and use it when it came time to judge on their growth and skill." She looked at the scowl on his face and realized his problem with a sigh, "You are so bored it's killing you right now aren't you?"

Naruto gave her a hopeless look, "Desperately. I can't even train and I can only work on so much fuuinjutsu stuff without Hamako-chan here, because if she finds out that I've been trying to freestyle seals without her permission again she'll kill me." He let out a small shiver, "She's so sweet, how can she be so damnably scary too? It's a paradox." He turned puppy-dog eyes to Shizune, "Can we please spar Shizune-neechan?"

Shizune quickly averted her eyes, "We can't fight Naruto-kun. We have to make sure we stay in top condition in case something happens. And from what I've heard from Jiraiya-sama about training you, you don't know how to hold back. I'm a medic ninja but I would still be less than 100% if a real battle were to break out."

"Okay." He said dejectedly before turning to Tsunade, "Baa-chan do you want to fight? Come on, you know you want your rematch with me. I can see it in your eyes, those big brown orbs are just screaming at you to tear me apart and get your win back."

Tsunade gave Naruto a dry look as she refilled her saucer, "As much fun as it would be to slap you around the desert, you are my bodyguard brat and I can't in good conscience cause the physical bodily harm to you that I would like to for that asinine remark... here." She then got a smirk on her face, "I will keep that in mind however when we get back to Konoha. I need a new human punching bag to spar with. I can't go all out on Sakura because I'm supposed to be training her, but you don't have that safeguard on you do you? And beating your ass would be the next best thing to beating Jiraiya's ass when I can't catch him for being a glorified pervert. With your healing factor you should be able to take it right?"

'Hmm.' Naruto thought to himself, 'This could either be really good or really bad, a fight with my own Hokage. In an effort to put this in the back of your mind for further thought, just smile and nod in agreement.' He then actionized his thoughts before he felt cold iron being set on top of his head, "Hello Temari-chan. Good to see you again, if I could actually see you."

"Hello Naruto." The fan freed itself from Naruto's head, allowing the boy to turn around to catch sight of her. Temari now wore a black Suna hitae-ate on her head, a black battle dress, black gloves, and a red sash around her waist. Her ever-present iron fan was strapped to her back as always, "You don't know how to keep in contact with people?"

Naruto sighed, "I could have told you where I had been for a lot of the last two years, but I would have had to kill you after sending the letter."

Temari placed her hands on her hips, "Anything to say in your defense?"

"Yes actually." Naruto said with full confidence, "Blame her." He said pointing at Tsunade, "You should know being a rookie chunin sucks. Well try that being cranked up to twelve with the rate she had me working at. In the last two years, 14 months of it have been spent working long missions. Add that on to the banes of my existence; gate guarding duty and routine border patrol, and my ass has been run ragged." He looked at Tsunade, "Why the hell did you make me work so much anyway Tsunade-baachan? I know for a fact that Shikamaru didn't work one third of the schedule I kept."

Tsunade shrugged, "When I had a joint meeting with the upper ranked ninja a few months after my inauguration to go over our mission influx I talked about how I needed someone to fall on the explosive note of picking up a lot of the slack. Gai, Kakashi, Anko, Genma, and you raised your hands to volunteer."

"Oh…" He said as he thought back to it, "I honestly was not paying attention to a single word you said in that meeting, it was so boring. I just raised my hand at the end because I saw other people doing it. You never elaborated on what it was I had raised hand for, and nobody said anything about it after that so I thought it was totally inconsequential, especially when nothing happened after that."

Tsunade and Shizune sweatdropped, "And that's why we haven't promoted you yet." They said in unison.

Naruto stood up abruptly, "Oh come on! It was staff meeting! Not a war meeting, not a mission briefing, but a staff meeting! Nothing important is ever said at staff meetings, especially to the chunin in attendance! We're too high ranked to avoid them, and too low ranked to get anything out of them."

Temari gave Naruto a look that had an air of indifference, but listening to her tone one could tell that she was somewhat perturbed, "Well the last time I was in Konoha I found something quite interesting. How long have you had a girl living in your house with you?"

This one was an easy bullet to dodge for Naruto, "It depends on when you were there. She's been there for almost six months, but I haven't been there in six months, so technically she only lived with me for about a week, then I left, then I lived with her another week."

"She called you master and Naruto-sama." Temari said.

Naruto responded, "If anything I would call her an old family friend, not a servant. She seems to really be into calling me that, so I let her, and I let her live with me for personal reasons. However she is just an old family friend. An old family friend." He emphasized.

XxX

(Meanwhile in Konoha)

Hamako had taken to visiting Iruka Umino and being something of a teacher's aide for the academy when Naruto was out on missions, due to not having a lot to do when he was gone. Kids had taken a shine to her due to her pleasant demeanor being a welcome contrast whenever Iruka got into lecture mode, and the little she knew on the subject of ninja arts, while incredibly specialized, helped Iruka out when he had gone over the basics of sealing with older students. Instead of just showing them a sealing scroll and having them come to their own conclusions on what to think he had Hamako lecture for the day instead, actually teaching him something in addition to the students.

Currently however, Hamako was assisting Iruka in grading papers while the class were outside for lunch when she looked up with a somewhat blank look on her face, getting Iruka's attention, "Hamako is anything the matter?"

Hamako frowned, "I'm not sure Iruka-san. But I have an overwhelming urge to find Naruto-sama and cause him physical harm of some kind."

XxX

(Back in Suna)

"Be that as it may." Temari stated firmly, "I haven't seen you in forever, and it's mostly your fault, and I'm fairly certain you've been doing stupid things while you've been busy. What are you going to do to make that up to me hmm?"

Naruto pulled out his wallet in a placating fashion, "I am going to make a ton of money once I get around to grabbing my bounty check from your brother. So if I take you out to do whatever you want like the last time I pissed you off would that work out?"

Temari's eyes shone as she grabbed Naruto's forearm firmly and pulled him out of the café, "Let's go then!"

Naruto tried holding on to the doorframe in vain, "Wait! I have a job to do! I'm guarding baa-chan! Temari-chan let go!"

XxX

(Two Days Later - The Day of the Chunin Exam Finals)

Gaara and Tsunade, in full kage garb, were seated in a box overlooking the entire stadium which was an open air coliseum at the outskirts of Suna, dug halfway into the cliff surrounding the village. The battlefield was earthy, mostly rocky earth with boulders lining parts of the field. Naruto and Shizune were flanking Tsunade while Gaara had Kankuro and Temari doing the same for him.

While the genin up for promotion were down on the field, Naruto had taken to pointing them all out in his own way, "I could beat him, her, her, him, him, him- Oh that kid wouldn't last five seconds with me."

Sakura, Ino, Chouji, and Kiba were the Konoha ninja that had made it this far this time around. All of the others had been promoted in the previous exam, leaving them as the ones that needed to pass this time. Naruto frowned at seeing Sakura down there, "Man, I kind of screwed Sakura over when I advanced in rank didn't I? After Sasuke left she didn't have a team so trying to take this again must have been a major pain in the ass."

Tsunade tried to get him to take some blame off of himself, "She rotated between active teams while I trained her and was on Chouji and Ino's team the last time she made an attempt. They were all simply matched against opponents that they couldn't handle in the first round fights and were forced out. Sakura fought Neji Hyuuga, Chouji fought Rock Lee, and Ino fought Hinata Hyuuga. Of course you weren't there to see it."

Naruto rolled his eyes, "And whose fault is that? You had me working like a slave so how was I supposed to show up and watch? Besides, I'm not that important to them, They had to have forgotten about me by now. The only one that should even have a semblance of care about me is Shikamaru and that's because I've worked with him on the mission to Kiri and did a border patrol for two weeks with him."

"You would be surprised brat." Tsunade assured as the proctor for the fights, Baki, called for the fighters to acknowledge the crowd that had come to see them today.

One of Gaara's Suna ninja made their way to the box and bowed to him, "Kazekage-sama, the Tsuchikage and his entourage have arrived and are making their way to the box as we speak."

Naruto cracked his neck to the side, "And here we go. Let's get this over with."

Shizune looked over to Naruto, "Naruto-kun pull your hood up!"

Naruto shook his head, "To hell with that, I'm not hiding when I don't have to. Baa-chan didn't order me to cover up so I'm not doing it. If he's dumb enough to cause a stir here then I have to seriously doubt his status as Tsuchikage."

There was no more time left to speak about the subject as the man in question made his way into the area of seating. A small man dressed in the kage robes of his own village with the kanji for earth on his hat made his way towards the seat on Gaara's left, opposite of Tsunade's seat. The man had a large bulbous nose and a fu Manchu moustache/beard combination. Accompanying him was a large man with dark eyes and hair that spiked out from the back of his red bandanna style hitae-ate. He had big cheeks and a plump nose and wore the Iwa brand flak jacket and a yellow scarf over his red long sleeved shirt and red pants. Also accompanying him was a girl with short black hair and pink pupil-less eyes. Under her Iwa flak jacket she wore appeared to be a kimono with the right sleeve missing as well as the bottom left side, and underneath that she had fishnet tights and shorts.

He took his seat, prompting Gaara to initiate conversation, "I am happy you were able to make it to the event Tsuchikage-dono."

The Tsuchikage gave Gaara what looked to be a somewhat haughty smirk, "It's been quite a while since I've made the trip to watch an exam outside of the village. When the opportunity was offered I just had to jump all over it for once. I needed a vacation." He looked over at Tsunade, "Well Tsunade. How's the job since you took over? I never pegged you for kage work."

Tsunade let out a small laugh, "Let's just say that Konoha gave me an offer to return that I couldn't refuse. It's a bet I was willing to take."

On the field, Sakura was fighting first, standing out face to face against male Suna genin. Along with her still short pink hair, Sakura now had a red hitae-ate in her hair. Her top was similar to the dress she wore a few years back, but was just the top. She had black high-heeled shinobi sandals, black shorts, a short pink apron-like skirt, and pink elbow protectors as well as a tanto and a medic field pack on her lower back. As she stared her opponent down she pulled a pair of black gloves onto her hands.

Upon being allowed to start by Baki, Sakura attempted to rush right towards the boy who jumped out of the incoming pink-haired girl's path as she headed in to attack him. She made a set of half a dozen Bunshin to disorient the boy and allow her to get closer while he tried figuring the right one.

XxX

Gaara turned to Tsunade as the battle progressed, "Your apprentice is fighting much the same way she did in the chunin exam that I competed in Hokage-dono. How would she go about winning this fight?"

Tsunade smirked, "That's easy Kazekage-dono. She's a woman and an obvious medic-nin, and he's a man and probably more of a direct combat type. That means he thinks she isn't physically skilled and he'll attempt to get close."

Gaara looked somewhat puzzled, "What does that mean?"

The Tsuchikage knew what she was referring to and let out a laugh, "Oh this will be funny. Keep your eyes on the fight young one and you'll see what she's talking about in just a moment."

XxX

The boy had managed to discover which of the copies were fake and now had the real Sakura, but hitting her with any of his weaponry proved to be an arduously difficult task as she seemed to be effortlessly moving out of the way of everything he sent her way. Getting upset now, the boy rolled through handsigns, "Fuuton: Kyouryokuna Kaze no Uneri (Wind Release: Powerful Wind Wave)!"

The Suna genin shot off a powerful blade of wind at Sakura who took to ducking behind the boulders produced on the battlefield. The technique cut into, but not through her cover, showing that the boy was not fully adept at using the element.

Three versions of Sakura came from behind the boulder, charging his way, "Not this again." The boy said before reaching into his kunai pouch and hitting them with more weapons, dispelling their illusionary forms, keeping his eyes peeled around him for more instead of keeping himself locked on the boulder Sakura initially took cover behind.

As his attention was diverted to search for Sakura, the boulder that he had cut into had been lifted off of the ground into Sakura's arms before being tossed across the field at him. He felt it coming at the last moment and dodged to potentially save his life. As he jumped far to the side he never noticed that Sakura had anticipated his movement and moved to cut him off upon the point he found it necessary to turn around and face her again.

As he turned his head, all he saw was Sakura with her fist cocked back… and that was the last thing he saw for the rest of the fight. Sakura's fist collided with his jaw sending him flying across the field into the stadium wall, leaving a deep impression in the wall where her opponent's body had hit.

Baki made his way over and found the Suna genin utterly response-less. Lifting his hand in Sakura's direction he spoke, "Shousa, Sakura Haruno."

XxX

As applause sounded out for Sakura's victory, Naruto looked at a very pleased Tsunade while giving the girl applause of his own, "Damn Sakura… Kami, you just had to go and teach her how to do that didn't you? From what I remember as a genin on Kakashi's team she already hit hard enough, though that never made its way towards fighting, just the back of my head really."

Tsunade applauded and turned her eyes to Naruto, "Hey, I have free-reign to teach my apprentice what I want. If Jiraiya could teach you the spinning blue orb of death and how to summon toads then I can give Sakura a little strength boost."

Naruto sweatdropped, "'A little strength boost?' I sincerely hope she never goes back to her old habit of trying to smack me one like when we were fresh genin. Getting hit every blue moon by you is enough."

The Tsuchikage entered the conversation, forcing Naruto to subconsciously steel his features, "So if that girl down there is your apprentice Tsunade and you claim that this kid here has learned the Rasengan from Jiraiya and how to summon toads, does that mean he's Jiraiya's apprentice as well? That's curious." He got a look at Naruto, who until that point he had overlooked as a random bodyguard and almost had a PTSD flashback at the serious look in Naruto's eyes before settling himself, "You know he looks awfully familiar. I never forget a face, especially a face that caused so much impact to my village."

Naruto, Shizune, and Tsunade frowned inwardly, 'Here we go…' They all thought at the same time.

The blonde currently being scrutinized looked at his blonde leader, "Hey baa-chan can I just come out and say it? It's clear he already knows and just wants confirmation, and you know that I can't stand a badly kept secret."

Tsunade frowned and nodded, "What's with the baa-chan brat? You started out calling me Hokage-sama."

Naruto shrugged, "When you let me speak freely in Gaara's office you never told me to shut up or reign myself in. I used that as a loophole to keep saying what I wanted." He admitted, getting a small sweatdrop from Tsunade for such a simple tactic. He then locked eyes with the Tsuchikage, as much as he could anyway with the man's hat obscuring them from full view, "As for why I look familiar, well I'm the son of Minato Namikaze. My name is Naruto Uzumaki and it's nice to meet you."

That brought looks of shock from Temari, Kankuro, and the Tsuchikage's two bodyguards. As the Tsuchikage allowed Naruto to look in his eyes he didn't see any real hatred, mostly amusement really, "I honestly believed they had resurrected the man from the grave for a moment when I first looked at you kid, but then I got a look at those marks on your cheeks, and that name. You're the jinchuuriki of your village aren't you?"

Naruto nodded, "Guilty as charged. You're not going to yell at me and tell me to die for my father or something? Because that's really what I was expecting the second you got a look at me."

The Tsuchikage looked back out at the arena, "Bah, I'm getting too old to hold grudges against dead men. You weren't even a screaming brat yet when all of that happened, so how could I possibly justify trying to take you out, it's not like Iwa is looking to fight with Konoha and you know Hiraishin or something."

"Man that would be so bad-ass…" Naruto grumbled to himself, "I need something cool like that. Every kage or famous ninja has something cool that nobody else can do. I don't have jack, I'm just a jinchuuriki, therefore if I am known, I'm known as the jinchuuriki kid, not 'Naruto of something', just 'Naruto the Jinchuuriki'."

The girl that was guarding the Tsuchikage was in shock at how Naruto was casually speaking to her kage, "How can you just speak to the leaders of three of the Five Great Shinobi Nations so casually? Nobody ever talks to gramps like that."

Naruto turned his attention to her, "I hung out with the Sandaime Hokage all the time from the age of eight until his death. I call the current Hokage 'Tsunade-baachan' to her face, mostly because it's actually appropriate. And hey, Gaara." Naruto said, getting the Ichibi jinchuuriki's attention, "You remember that time you and your siblings spent the week at my house? You guys still owe me grocery money." Naruto smirked, "Unless I'm told to be meek and compliant to the honorifics that everyone uses for each other I won't use them. I hate being like that. Sometimes these guys just need someone that is willing to treat them like everyone else. You seem to be pretty familiar with the Tsuchikage to be calling him gramps so what does that mean?"

The girl glared slightly, "Because he's my grandfather. What else would I call him?"

Naruto chuckled, "That's a better excuse then I have for why I call baa-chan what I call her. I was just being a bastard when I met her and called her granny, I had no idea we were actually related somehow, so now she has no reason to tell me to not call her that." Naruto was still somewhat wary, but was satisfied at the moment that the Iwa contingent didn't flat-out want him dead. He was very happy about that. As the contestants for the next bout entered the field he figured maybe he was being all paranoid about the chunin exams for nothing.

There was no way that he would go two for two in regards to catastrophic situations right? Nobody's luck was that hit or miss. He wasn't even in this one.

XxX

"Sasuke-kun is this really what you would like?" Orochimaru asked, "Heading into Sunagakure just for Naruto-kun seems a tad over your head." Questioning Sasuke's abilities, no matter how seemingly suicidal his task was always the perfect way to push him into pretty much anything.

"Hm." Sasuke grunted, "I'll finish him off and we'll be right out of there. It'll be so fast no one will even know we were there."

XxX

"I can't believe Leader-sama told us to come all the way into the fucking desert just for the Kyuubi jinchuuriki." A man with slicked back silver hair cursed as he and his masked partner strode through the desert, "Isn't he Itachi and Kisame's mark? Where the hell are they for this?"

The masked man sighed, "Just deal with it Hidan and stop complaining about it. The sooner we finish this mission the sooner I can go back out looking for more bounties. Besides, this kid killed Sasori. Maybe he can do me a favor and finish you off once and for all."

"Heh." Hidan laughed, "If he can do it he's more than welcome to try Kakuzu. Unlike the rest of you heathens I'm Jashin-sama's chosen one. None of you fools can kill me."

Kakuzu shook his head, "Well maybe if we can get the Ichibi as well Leader-sama will give us a bonus?"