30

Chapter 29: Homefront Concerns

Naruto stood next to Tsunade as all of the kage ranked ninja that had attended the exams stood in front of all of the participants while the crowd applauded. Naruto had a faint smile on his face as he saw that Ino, Kiba, Chouji, and Sakura had all managed to get promotions from their efforts during the testing period. He was sort of upset that he didn't see any other fights other than the first round, but when presented with the other option of allowing Akatsuki to get the drop on him in a possibly crowded area it seemed like a hit he had to take for the team… still, somebody could have told him at least who won the whole thing.

When he returned he had to make an attempt to explain away the blood on his clothes. He couldn't even say that it was his since the amount of blood did not equal up to his current condition since he didn't have a mark on him. After the promotional proceedings, Gaara proceeded to blow his cover, making all of his attempts at playing off his disheveled appearance and what he had been doing the entire time moot.

After the tournament had ended, Gaara led everyone back to his office, "Naruto and myself engaged two members of Akatsuki outside of the village. I believe their names were Hidan and Kakuzu."

Naruto nodded as those were the names that he caught from them during their short battle, "Tell them the other part, the part that pissed us both off."

Gaara acknowledged Naruto with a simple shift of the eyes, "They were utilizing some kind of technique that allowed them to use a person as a body double and fight using their own skills and abilities from afar. We aren't even sure that they were anywhere in the entire country at all." Gaara crossed his hands in front of his face as he sat at his desk, "That is a most disturbing discovery."

Tsunade frowned, "With a technique like that they don't even need to go into hostile areas themselves to achieve their missions."

Kurotsuchi scowled as she heard the description of the encounter, "How cowardly. You would think that a group of dangerous ninja like that would be more up for coming in person, especially when it comes to something like attempting to take out a jinchuuriki."

Naruto grinned, "I'm glad you're acknowledging that I'm awesome when you don't even know me."

Kurotsuchi rolled her eyes, "I was referring more to Kazekage-sama than you. I outrank you."

Naruto sat crouched in the corner with an aura of despair around him, "Well you don't have to be so blunt about it… I'm awesome. Right?"

Everyone in the room ignored Naruto's identity crisis and continued speaking amongst themselves about the situation that transpired during the final examination. Gaara spoke once more, "Well needless to say, the goals of this organization are the capture of all jinchuuriki for the use of their biju for one reason or another. Nationality means nothing to them as you can clearly see, they simply desire all of them."

Tsunade had on a business-like face, "Reports from Jiraiya said that the Gobi jinchuuriki and the Nanabi jinchuuriki have already been taken. I guess they were looking to press their current advantage and take either Gaara or Naruto while they were on a roll."

Onoki had a displeased look on his face, "So that was what happened to Han… We assumed he had run off. How they were able to take him with not even a peep is very concerning." He looked at Gaara and Tsunade, "Which ones still remain?"

Tsunade answered him, "Those were the only two that they were able to obtain. There is still the Ichibi, the Nibi, the Sanbi, the Yonbi, the Rokubi, the Hachibi, and the Kyuubi. But the way that they blatantly came for either Naruto or Gaara, it was like they didn't have a real strategy."

Naruto got up from his spot in the corner to contribute, "They said something about intel right before Gaara finished the fight."

"Oh yes." Gaara said, "Sasori had a number of spies, including two in this village. Two of our own councilors were something akin to sleeper agents. After Sasori was killed they were exposed as his men and were promptly arrested. Apparently Sasori had an entire network of similar spies all over the place spanning back to the days when he first left Suna and became a nuke-nin in first place. It was how they were able to ascertain that you yourself were a jinchuuriki back when you were first attacked Naruto."

Onoki looked between his two fellow kage, "So what happens now? We know what they're after, should we simply hunt them down?"

Tsunade shook her head, "We don't know where they originate from. As I speak that's currently what I have Jiraiya out seeking information on. At the moment the only thing we can actually do is to anticipate their movements and prepare counter-measures."

"Do you know how many there are for members?" Kurotsuchi asked, trying to get some sort of handle on the situation.

Naruto scratched his head, "Well I was told that there were nine or ten members, Orochimaru used to be a member, but they had a falling out I guess. You have Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki, the first ones that I met. There's Hidan and Kakuzu, the two that me and Gaara just got through fighting. And then you have Akasuna no Sasori, the one I killed, and his partner Deidara."

Onoki's head quickly turned to Naruto, "Did you say that Deidara was a member?"

Naruto nodded, "Yeah; blonde guy, weird mouths in his hands, makes a ton of weird explosive sculptures, that Deidara. Come to think of it, he did have a slashed Iwa hitae-ate on. Slippery bastard… I'm still kind of pissed off that he got away."

Kurotsuchi stared at Naruto in surprise, "You beat Deidara-nii?"

Now Naruto still couldn't let on that he had been assisted thoroughly by Sai, lest he blow everything sky high even further. How anyone believed by any stretch of the imagination that he was fully capable of taking on two members of Akatsuki simultaneously was beyond him, but he assumed that the proof of Sasori's DNA as his only existing remains was all the proof necessary to say such.

Naruto looked at the girl who had her attention firmly on him, "Um… I'm here aren't I? That means he didn't blow me into a million pieces or suck my biju out of my still breathing body." She still had an incredulous look on her face, "Fine, believe what you want to, I don't have anything to prove to you anyway."

Kurotsuchi snapped out of it, "Watch yourself Namikaze."

Naruto looked at her with a frown on his face, "Please don't call me that. Just because he's my old man doesn't mean I'm changing my name or anything. I happen to like my name just the way it is. There's no reason to try and make myself seem more important by adopting his name."

"Naruto be silent." Tsunade said officially, clamming the teen up instantly and getting him to stand at attention. She had to hold back a look of shock, 'That was all it ever took to get him to stifle? Why didn't I just order him to do that after I first took this job?' She got herself refocused, "This is going to be a problem very soon. If they've already shown the capabilities to kidnap them right from inside of their villages and they're just now being forced to fight to obtain the jinchuuriki then they might be able to infiltrate Konoha and begin a conflict with Naruto before anyone could assist him. If they work in twos, one could simply deal with Naruto while the other keeps any potential back-up at bay."

Gaara spoke again, "And with the jutsu that they displayed to us they wouldn't even have to show up in person to complete missions. Although it seemed to make their body doubles nowhere near as effective as their true selves. Uzumaki was able to hold off both of them and seemed ready to keep going, and when I appeared to lend assistance the battle didn't continue for much longer. Together it was fairly simple to dispatch them."

Onoki's mustache twitched, "So that means that after this defeat they'll know to actually send the true operatives next time no matter which jinchuuriki they target next… I need to find and recall Roshi."

Gaara looked out of the window at his village, "They won't send anyone after me or Uzumaki so soon after the last encounter. They will wait to further analyze the latest information that they have on us from the short encounter. They will probably pursue the other jinchuuriki that are less informed of their existence for the time being."

Onoki clasped his hands in a satisfied manner, "Well that's fantastic. Now all I have to do is shore up my defenses and get Roshi back into Iwa and everything will work out."

"I'm not sure about that." Naruto said plainly before remembering that he was supposed to be silent for the time being. When all eyes turned to him he gave Tsunade a look asking her for permission to speak. She gestured for him to proceed, "Well how long do you think it will take for you to find this guy Roshi?"

Onoki shrugged, "Two weeks at least, but we will be able to locate him."

Naruto shook his head, "That might not be fast enough. No matter where he may be they still might be able to find him. I went to my ancestral home for personal reasons and told only my jounin squad leader where I was going and they still found me. They probably know where he is already and are just waiting him out if they didn't take him already."

Tsunade's eyes widened at Naruto's explanation, "Do you get reports from Roshi updating you on his condition Tsuchikage-dono?"

Onoki growled, "No we don't. I allowed him to leave many years ago to allow him to learn to control the power of the Yonbi no Saru, it was better that no one was around while he was training to utilize that power."

He had some sort of point there as far as learning to control the demonic power went. To everyone else's knowledge, Iwa didn't really have an area for no holds barred training like the other villages had. Suna ninja could simply head into the desert and cut loose, Kiri ninja had designated islands that they could use, Kumo had their own mysterious island with many strange and gigantic creatures inhabiting it, and Konoha had the Forest of Death that Naruto used frequently. Allowing him to use his power inside of the village's generally provided training grounds would have been a bad idea for at least half a dozen reasons.

The grizzled old kage continued speaking, "So you're saying that he may very well already be captured."

Naruto nodded, "Well yeah. I'm not saying it really, I'm more or less speculating, but it's not much of a stretch to say so."

"That's all we need to hear right now Naruto." Tsunade said to get him to finish talking. Naruto simply stepped back next to Shizune and stood at attention.

Onoki snorted, "I still think that these affairs should be handled domestically. The jinchuuriki should be a country's own responsibility. I will not divert any of my forces to assist you to protect your own weapons. This is just the way of keeping the status quo."

Gaara and Naruto narrowed their eyes at the weapon comment but didn't say anything about it. Both of them accepted it at this point that they were generally meant to be used as weapons, but to hear the way that he had said it as if they weren't people worked their nerves somewhat. Tsunade, Shizune, Kankuro, and Temari actually visibly took it worse that the two demon containers in the room did if the scowls on their faces were any indication of the underlying tension in the room. Tsunade and Shizune were trying to keep Naruto from rationalizing his thought that way, and they figured it would be hard enough to keep Naruto from labeling himself as a weapon due to his time with Danzo without others actually identifying him as such. Temari and Kankuro had spent years since Gaara's defeat to Naruto making sure that he knew that he was their brother, not just Suna's ace in the hole.

Tsunade attempted to speak through the tension, "That's fine. Suna and Konoha will simply have to reach out to the other villages with jinchuuriki still remaining to ensure that everyone is prepared for the growing threat." With the knowledge that unless directly involved once more, Iwa would not aid either village, the meeting shifted away from Akatsuki.

XxX

"Damn it…" Naruto said dejectedly as he and Shizune had returned to their hotel with Tsunade after the meeting, "I can't believe they left to go home already. They probably think that I'm avoiding them. I haven't spoken to anyone else in forever."

Shizune patted him on the back consolingly, "It's okay Naruto-kun, you can find them when we get back to Konoha, right Tsunade-sama?"

Tsunade was taking the current down time to paint her nails and answered vacantly, "Huh? Oh, yeah sure… maybe. If I don't have any more missions lined up for him when we get back."

Naruto sighed, "There's going to be another mission…" He said as he walked towards his futon at the foot of Tsunade and Shizune's beds, "There's always another mission. Damn overflow of assignments." He lay down on top of his temporary bedding.

Tsunade rolled her eyes and kept at work on her nails, "Stop whining brat. You were the one that wanted all of the real missions, remember?"

Naruto scoffed from his spot on the futon, "You work me like a rookie chunin. Now I don't want to be a sissy or anything, but can I get some downtime again?"

"Downtime?" Tsunade almost bellowed, "Since when do you need downtime you walking chakra battery?"

"Since you send me on jobs that last a month or longer consecutively." Naruto said as he sat up at the foot of Shizune's bed to let the older woman play vacuously with his hair, "The only thing I've had time to do these days is get my hair cut. Do you want to know what I dream about these days? Sleeping in my own bed. There's something wrong with that. I've been getting back-to-back B-ranks and the one S-rank you just sent me on, not to mention this one, it should be A-ranked right?"

Shizune paused in her current actions with her pseudo-little brother's hair, "Well why don't you just take some time now Naruto-kun? We're not going to really do anything until we set out for Konoha tomorrow morning."

"My job is to watch out for Tsunade-baachan, I'm her first and most vital line of defense." Naruto said, "Even if I kept some Kage Bunshin handy around here if anyone actually attacked her that wouldn't even slow them down."

Tsunade had finished painting her nails and was simply waiting for them to dry, "It's good of you to say that brat, very responsible."

Naruto nodded and shut his eyes against the side of the bed, it was a good thing that Tsunade was none the wiser to the very long date he ended up taking Temari on the day before the chunin exam finals. You've got to love Kage Bunshin no Jutsu… and the bounty checks for S-ranked ninja.

XxX

(Five Days Later)

After getting an early start back to Konoha the next morning, the trip back was as slow as the trip up there. There was a lot to digest nowadays, there was no real doubt about it, Akatsuki was beginning to make their move and the new enemies discovered had somewhat startling abilities. There was seriously a lot of work to do if he was going to be ready for the next encounter, because for all he knew the next two-on-one encounter wouldn't be with just a pair of body doubles, it would be the real deal.

After the trek back to Konoha and a quick debriefing, brief because Tsunade was there, she knew what happened, and it was after midnight when they got back, Naruto slogged through the empty village streets, too out of it to attempt a shunshin to his own house. After kicking off his sandals and dropping his gear, operating seemingly on auto-pilot all the way through the apartment, he proceeded to drop face first on his bed and blackout.

XxX

(Naruto's Mindscape)

Naruto awakened in a cave setting. As he sat up from his prone position on his back he looked around. Why the hell was he in a cave? His mindscape should only have been what the Kyuubi knew of Konoha. How the hell did that massive thing know anything of what a cave like this looked like? Come to think of it, why didn't Naruto know what this cave looked like? He was supposed to be able to navigate Konoha blindfolded and yet he had no idea where he was right now.

Taking charge of the situation and wondering why the Kyuubi decided to manifest him inside of his mind tonight and why he picked this exact area to do so, not to mention what the hell this area actually was. As he made his way to the exit he made a small noise, "Hmm." As he jumped down from the well hidden cavern in the cliff wall he landed squarely at the edge of the woods. He actually did know where he was, he was currently in the forest situated on the backside of the Hokage Monument. In truth nobody ever went back there, even less than the amount of people that ever went to the top of the monument itself normally, 'I need to come back here in person and check this place out one of these days. I really feel like I'm missing something here.'

He walked through the forest and eventually found his own personal demon lying down in the middle of a burned out wasteland. Naruto looked around as he approached before coming to a stop and sitting down directly in front of the Kyuubi, "Alright wake up. I know you can't possibly be asleep because you're the one that brought me here."

One blood-red eye opened, staring directly at Naruto, "You are still weak."

He was kind of right. There were still far too many people with the ability to somehow stop him. Granted, these people were the absolute best of the best, and he felt that a full-scale fight against a true elite even if it ended in his inevitable defeat would end with some sort of permanent reminder on their person of their battle with him that is even if they were ever the same again, but after getting smacked around by two people that didn't even bother showing up in person to fight it kind of grated on his mind.

Naruto didn't even bother verbally responding. The Kyuubi opened up both of its eyes and sat up on its haunches as it looked its host over, "Honestly, you've done as well as can be expected for a mere human child when it comes to using my power. But if three tails is the limit of your control then you might as well surrender your body and relinquish control to me. I can destroy your enemies and ensure the peace of your village."

Naruto's lips quirked slightly, "Before you come back here and trample this place flat right?"

The sharp teeth of the Kyuubi were bared in a grin of sorts, "Well I never said that I would leave this place alone did I? I simply said that I would destroy your enemies and ensure this village's peace. What better way to do that than to make everyone rest in peace?"

"You're a very funny demon." Naruto commented, "And it doesn't matter if I have any more control, I can simply train and get it. It's that simple."

"It could be simpler Naruto." Kyuubi said off-handedly, "I can be the tool of victory that you want to be. With my true power I can eradicate any threat that you have ever come across. It would be so easy for you, all you would have to do is entrust your heart to me, and I will make it so easy for you."

"You know…" Naruto started, "I've never really considered myself selfish before." He started pacing in front of the massive frame of the Kyuubi, "I have to admit, there is a part of me that wants to just give you the reins, to just let you handle everything on the off-chance that you aren't simply lying to my face to get me to set you free. To just allow myself the chance to let things go as they may, telling myself that I did the best thing I could. To give up my freedom and body just to ensure that your power would truly be used to keep the promise that I made when I became a ninja; to keep Konoha safe."

He stopped walking in circles and got right as close to the Kyuubi's muzzle as he could, "But I'm going to be selfish this time. I'm going to find a way to get control over your chakra, and I will get you to help me. I'm going to learn how to beat people without even taking a small hit of your chakra. I'm going to keep everyone close to me safe. I'm going to be normal, and I'm going to be extraordinary. I'm going to finish my last mission to Danzo-jiji and become Hokage. I'm going to tear Akatsuki asunder, crush them, and throw them into the wind. I'm going to do all of this… because you and I both know that if it really had to come down to it, there's not a whole lot anyone can do to stop me from doing what I want."

He turned away from the Kyuubi who had not taken his eyes off of him or interrupted him the entire time and began walking away, "And rest assured, when I finally think that I'm ready to do it, I'm going to open the seal and I'm going to kick your big fuzzy ass until you fully accept me as your partner."

"A partner?" Kyuubi scoffed as it lay its head back down on the ground, "You mean a slave…" It growled as lowly as it could.

"No." Naruto said as he started vanishing from his mindscape, "I meant partner. I'd rather be your friend and ally than your master."

Slowly shutting its eyes as Naruto fully disappeared from view, the Kyuubi adjusted itself to get back to sleep, "That heart you seem to have developed kit… It will either become perhaps your greatest weapon, or it will be the catalyst to the end of your life."

XxX

The next morning he awoke to the sound of tapping on the window in his room. As he made to turn over and get up he felt a weight on his back. Looking over his shoulder he saw Hamako attached to his back, fast asleep.

'Damn it, she sleeps in my bed when I'm gone? I don't really know how to feel about that right now… sheets are clean though.' Naruto sighed as he thought of figuring his way out of this without waking her. Turning his head to his window he saw a male ANBU in a cat mask waiting and watching.

Naruto looked at the man with a twitching eyebrow as he made a Kage Bunshin and used Kawarimi to switch places with it before he walked sluggishly to the window, "You were just so amused watching that I'm sure Tenzo." He remarked before he reached the window, stopping his hand from opening it up as he realized something and pointed accusingly at the man, "Oh no. Oh hell no. It hasn't even been 12 hours yet and she's going to send me right back out?" He hissed out lowly to keep from waking Hamako.

The masked Tenzo shrugged and motioned for Naruto to open up. A sigh came from the boy as he did as instructed, "Hello taicho. I wish I could say that it was good to see you, but seeing you means I have to work."

Tenzo patted Naruto on the head, getting a frown from the boy that he was sure made the man smile behind the mask, "Same to you Naruto. Hokage-sama is here to inform you to keep yourself at the ready in case any missions open up for you soon. She said something about 'mission overflow duty' and that you would know what that meant."

Naruto held back a face-palm, 'I will never sleep through a meeting ever again no matter how boring it is.' He then spoke out loud, "Well it's better to at least keep me mobilized and let me rest than to send me right back out again. Thanks for the message taicho."

Tenzo nodded, "See you later Naruto." He then jumped off to resume his usual duties.

Naruto ran a hand through his hair and turned back to where his Kage Bunshin was underneath Hamako with a deadpan look on his face, "So what are you going to do about this boss?"

Naruto shut the window and walked out of the bedroom, grabbing all of the things he had dropped the previous night off of the floor, "I'm going to go do something since I'm up. You're going to stay there until you can come up with a way to get away from her without waking her up." Naruto smirked as his Kage Bunshin glared at him darkly over his shoulder until he left the apartment and shut the door behind him.

Upon giving it a few seconds, the Kage Bunshin's glare turned into a grin as he gently rolled over and held Hamako in his arms, "Yeah I could do that. Or… I could just stay like this for as long as I last." His grin widened further when he felt Hamako snuggle her head further into his chest, "Yep, this option is definitely the best."

XxX

Naruto simply wandered around the village as many were out and about starting their day, and without even realizing it ended up in front of the Hokage Tower. He blinked in surprise as he shrugged and walked past without a second glance, "I guess this is what Kakashi-sensei meant by getting lost on the road of life. If this is the first place I go out of instinct then I really did need a break."

Before he got too far he heard a voice call out to him, "Naruto!"

The blonde turned around to see Sakura walking up to him with papers in her arms, "Hey Sakura. Long time no see. And by the way, way to go on getting promoted."

Sakura gave him a smile, "Thanks. Being Tsunade-sama's apprentice is working out for me huh?"

Naruto chuckled, "Yeah apparently. Just don't ever try to hit me the way she does… ever… no matter what." He said with the utmost seriousness, "I get enough of that already from her alone."

Sakura sweatdropped before perking back up, "No one's seen you around the village in a while. How are things going? Oh, I met the girl that lives in your apartment too." She said at the end with slight distaste.

Naruto frowned at her change in tone, "Hamako-chan's a good girl. She's just a friend that I wanted to help, it's a very long story, just know that everything that goes on in that apartment is completely platonic." Of course inwardly he was rolling his eyes, 'I'm just about fifteen years old and have killed more people than you can even reasonably estimate, and yet the prospect of me having sex is enough to upset you. How ass-backwards is our society?'

"Well I'm kind of busy right now." Sakura gestured with the papers in her grasp, "I need to get these over to the hospital and then I have to work a shift today so I'll see you around."

Naruto nodded, "Yeah, unless our magnanimous Hokage decides to send me on a six month tilt between now and dinner time."

Sakura waved to him as she walked away, "Bye Naruto. I'll see you later."

"Tell Shizune-neechan I said hi. And tell baa-chan if nee-chan catches her drinking again and takes her stash I will not be speeding up my usual delivery just because she lost it all." Naruto said as he went off in the other direction, 'Well she certainly does seem way better these days than what I last remember about her.'

Naruto let out a yawn as he continued on his way, wandering through the village without much purpose to doing so, "Well isn't this an ironic little problem. I've been talking about how I need time off and when I get it I can't think of anything to do but train or work." After walking about for a little while longer he wound up in the forests near the residential area. If he was really this hard up for ideas he knew one thing that needed to be done when he got home.

A kunai passed by his face while his mind was elsewhere. Now when a kunai usually comes at him behind the walls of Konoha he knew it would be either one of two people, and there were very particular ways to pinpoint exactly who it was. Did the kunai cut his cheek? No. Was there a shapely female form hanging off of his back with her arms wrapped around him? Again no. Did the kunai miss him by a mile in the effort to divert his attention? Yes. Did the damn thing have a pinwheel on it for some reason? Yes. And if he listened closely he could hear the creaking of a spandex jumpsuit rubbing together at high speeds.

The time it took for him to work out this equation in real time, less than one second, which was convenient, because that was all the time he had to react to it in one way or another.

Now depending on who was coming for him he would have one of two reactions. For the first person he would only have so much time and room to maneuver himself to put himself at an advantage instead of being left to her 'tender' mercies, and by tender I mean with a kunai pushing against his jugular and his maybe his junk depending on her mood. For the second person there was only enough time for one response and one response only.

"Dynamic Entry!"

At a speed that most could only keep up with assisted by a doujutsu, a spandex-clad figure slammed his foot into the side of Naruto's head before he burst into smoke. A Kawarimi combined with Kage Bunshin.

"Damn it Rock Lee!" Naruto said as he dropped a nearby tree, "That would have given me a concussion if that had actually hit! What the hell is your malfunction?"

Lee was taller nowadays, but other than the growth that came with him growing in age and the chunin vest he now wore he didn't look too different at all from the old days. Lee simply gave Naruto one of his gleaming smiles, "Ah, Naruto-kun it has been too long since we have seen one another. When was it? Oh yes, during our border patrol mission, what a youthful assignment."

Naruto gave him a dry look, "We didn't do anything the entire time for three weeks except walk around the countryside and check the civilians that crossed our path."

"Protecting our home from foreign malevolence is always a youthful endeavor!" Lee said before shooting Naruto the nice guy pose.

Naruto simply stared at him, "Uh huh. How did you even know I was around? I just got back into town and I haven't raised a peep since I've gotten here."

"That would be me Naruto." Said a calm and familiar voice as Neji came into the picture. He had gotten rid of the straps around his hitae-ate and simply wore a simple black one around his head. Instead of his khaki shirt and dark brown shorts he now wore traditional looking black and white robes, and they suited his personality Naruto would have had to say, "I was the one that alerted Lee to your presence while we were training."

Naruto looked at the older Hyuuga, "I had to have been at least half a mile from any training field that you could have possibly been using."

Neji smirked, "Well my Byakugan can see up to 800 meters now."

Naruto frowned, "Showoff."

Neji shook his head with a satisfied look on his face, "Still upset that I was promoted to jounin before you Naruto? You found this out almost a year ago during the border patrol."

"Yes I'm upset." He replied, "You weren't chunin for even a damn year and you got boosted over me."

"Lee! Neji!" Called out a feminine voice that landed near all three boys, "Gai-sensei wanted to know why you two ran off so suddenly." A girl with her brown hair in a pair of buns on her head dusted off her clothing which had changed over time. She wore a flowing white Chinese-style blouse and loose red pants, now wore black fingerless gloves, and had a large summoning scroll across her lower back, "Of course he would make me come out here after you both."

Naruto lifted his hand in a short wave, "Hey Tenten. How are you doing?"

Tenten turned her brown eyes slightly and took in the scarred face of Naruto, "Naruto-kun? It's been a while."

The blonde rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "Yeah, I've kind of been really busy for a while. I'm finally getting some off time but I could still be called for anything at the drop of a hat. Don't expect me around for too long, Tsunade-baachan has been running me into the ground."

Tenten sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, "Why would you call Tsunade-sama a name like that?"

Naruto shrugged, "I have very good reasons to, you can be sure of that."

"I guess…" Tenten said before she saw Naruto shift the sheath on his back. Her eyes lit up, "Is that the sword that you replaced your old one with?" She asked brightly, "Can I see it? Please?"

Naruto almost face-fell. She hadn't seen it yet because when he knew he was going to see Tenten he left it at home. The danger of leaving his weapon at home was only equaled by the fact that if he brought it and she got a hold of it he might not get it back in time to defend himself with it anyway, "Um… About that."

Tenten turned on her puppy-dog eyes, "Please Naruto-kun?"

Naruto attempted to avert his eyes only to catch Lee giving him a thumbs up and Neji smirking and attempting to hold back laughter, "Well you see…"

Tenten's brown eyes quivered at him, "Pwease Naru-kun?" Okay, this was getting ridiculous. Why had she not used this on him yet? Is this a damn genjutsu? He was one second away from yelling 'kai'. Well she can't even touch it anyway so maybe he was being paranoid.

He reached his hand up over his back, "Okay, but-." Before he even said another word he felt the sword being pulled out of the sheath from behind him and heard Tenten yelp in pain as the sword clattered on the ground. He turned around to see Tenten with her palms cut. Naruto sighed and picked his sword up to re-sheathe it, "I tried to tell you, no one can touch it but me. It's an old family heirloom."

Tenten waved her hands around as the stinging from the cuts got to her, "You have a sentient sword?"

Naruto shook his head, "It's not really sentient. It's more like loaded down with so many seals it would take me months of inspection to find everything on it. It has security for my blood, nobody else can use it but me. Sorry about that."

"It was my fault Naruto-kun, and they're just flesh wounds. I'm fine." She assured him, "But I still would like to see what you can do with that thing. Hopefully you can swing it around better than you could the last time we fought with swords because I'm way better now."

"We'll have to see about that won't we?" Naruto said, the two getting closer and closer with challenging grins on their faces before Lee interjected himself between them, "Lee what the hell?"

"Naruto-kun! With all of this talk of competition I need to challenge you myself!" Lee said, with Tenten sweatdropping and mouthing sorry behind him.

Naruto stared at Lee blankly for a second, "Okay Lee, A new contest. This contest will be a grueling one, are you ready for it?" Lee nodded vigorously, "Okay then, this contest will be simple. Who can go longer without challenging the other one to another contest… that is all."

"Agreed!" Lee shouted, "I will win this competition and get one step closer to matching you and proving myself as a splendid shinobi! I'm off to get some advice from Gai-sensei! Yosh!" Lee then sped off to find his similar in appearance sensei.

Naruto looked at Tenten and Neji who were staring with their jaws slacked in shock. Naruto chuckled and turned to head home, "And that's how you do that. Seriously Neji, you couldn't handle that yourself back when we were kids Mr. Genius?" He walked away, leaving the other two in the woods.

Neji simply stood still until Naruto got out of his range of sight before he activated his Byakugan to stare even more, "I think I hate him. I really, really do."

"Hmm." Tenten said mostly to herself, "I wonder, if I marry him would I be able to use that sword?"

Neji turned from staring at where Naruto once was to staring at Tenten, "A-Are you serious?"

Tenten shook her head and walked off, "Of course I'm not serious." She said, getting Neji to sigh in relief before speaking under her breath out of earshot, "I mean a cool, powerful sword would only be a bonus…"

XxX

Deciding that a little lunch was in order, Naruto headed over to Ichiraku Ramen. Upon entering through the curtain he found his current next door neighbor with her head set down on the counter and a bowl of ramen by her head.

"You look pretty out of it Tayuya-chan." Naruto said, getting enough of her attention to lift her head and turn around with a groan, "Are you going to finish that by the way?" He said, pointing to her bowl of ramen.

Tayuya grunted slightly and set her head back on the counter, "No… go ahead. If I ate anymore right now I would probably just puke it up anyway." Her eyes slightly widened when she really took into account who had just pulled up a seat next to her, "So you're actually back."

Naruto nodded as he pulled Tayuya's bowl close to him and took a bite of her ramen, "Mmm, it's still warm. But yeah, hopefully I get more time off than just a few days this time. By the way, why do you look so beat up?"

At this Tayuya gave him a weak glare, "Because when this lady named Anko found out that I was your next door neighbor and a friend of your… caretaker… she took it upon herself to 'train' me until you got back. What the fuck did you do to her?"

Naruto sweatdropped, "Me? Nothing. She's just pissy because she was called back from a mission we went on together recently. Of course, when she finds me then she'll leave you alone… if I let her find me."

Tayuya pulled herself up onto her elbows on the table, "Well then I'll just tell her you're here in the village."

Naruto rolled his eyes as he polished off the bowl, "That won't do anything. Nobody can get into my house without permission anymore remember? Unless she somehow catches me in the street or goes far enough into the Forest of Death to actually search for me she won't ever get a crack at me. When I don't want to be found there aren't a whole lot of people that can do it."

"Mighty full of ourselves aren't we Naruto-kun?" Ayame asked as she came from the back. She looked over at Tayuya, "Are you feeling any better Tayuya-chan?"

Tayuya nodded, "I'll feel a lot better when I get home and sleep. Thank Kami that Anko has afternoon work at T & I."

"Hey Ayame-neechan. Let me get three bowls of miso ramen." Naruto said before a smirk adorned his face, "And Tayuya-chan? What happened to that? I thought I was the only person that could say that. Tayuya-chan didn't we have something special?"

Ayame giggled as she took down Naruto's order while Tayuya scowled, "If by something you mean you kicked my ass twice and captured me the second time then yes, we have something."

Naruto put a hand on her shoulder and hugged her from the side, "I love you too Tayuya-chan."

Her cheeks slightly reddened, "If I wasn't so drained from this morning I would kick your ass right now."

Naruto grinned, "And that's why I did it."

XxX

(One Day Later)

Naruto sat on the couch in his apartment staring at a wall full of whatever information he could pull up on the members of Akatsuki that he was aware of. Hamako was seated next to him with a new accessory; a black choker with gold fastens in the back and an emerald across the throat, Naruto's gift to her.

He had tons of stuff about Itachi Uchiha, him being a former shinobi of his village got him an abundance of information on his skills. Kisame, his partner, also had a fair amount on him, apparently he had a little run-in with Konoha ninja many years ago where they were able to ascertain a lot of this stuff. While the thought of a fight with either of them still raised hairs on the back of his neck he could honestly say he felt his chances against Kisame were far greater than if he had to go up against Itachi Uchiha for real.

The files he had on Kakuzu were old, very old. They were so old that Naruto was astounded that the man was still alive and was an active shinobi of the highest level. If Kakuzu's body double hadn't been on the scene he was certain that Hidan's body double would have been obliterated in no time, and simply the presence of the man's body double was enough to tip the tides of the fight, how strong was the genuine article? However he didn't have much, just under forbidden abilities was Jiongu (Earth Grudge Fear), and due to it being an old hijutsu from Takigakure he didn't have anything on it.

There was nothing on Hidan whatsoever. The not dying after getting his head cut off thing was irking Naruto, but there was simply no data on it for him to analyze. If they met again he was going to have to get creative to win decisively.

There was nothing but Naruto's handwritten notes taken from his own point of view and that of Hamako's for Deidara, as Iwa wasn't exactly very forthcoming with that information.

So one was down, there were five more that he knew of… and there were three more that he didn't. In addition to that they only had at the most a little over half a year to find Sasuke Uchiha before Orochimaru turned him into his own personal Uchiha body skin and then came back to Konoha to raze the place to the ground which would give them nine months to a year from now, accounting for Orochimaru's time needed to adjust to the new body and mobilize for another offensive. Why was he the only person that seemed to take this little aspect into account?

He needed to find Sai, and Jiraiya needed to get his ass back to Konoha in a hurry…

They had work to do.

(Omake – Lost Missions 1)

Naruto had been with Team Gai plus Shikamaru on a B-ranked border patrol assignment for the last week by now. Border patrols weren't really B-rank material, they were more along the lines of glorified C-ranks, but since they vaguely had something to do with national security or whatever they were given one step up above being that lowly ranked. There were minute chances of some action going down; a few smugglers here and there, a bandit party trying to hop borders and try their luck in a new country, hell if you were there at the right/wrong time you might even get something of a skirmish against foreign ninja, though that hadn't really happened on a significant scale in over ten years. For the most part it was just a rare question to a travelling civilian or merchant group here, some suspicion and even rarer checking of possessions there, and a whole lot of walkabout.

And here is where we found our blonde hero on this particular day of his routine countryside perambulation, made all the more simpler with his ungodly amount of Kage Bunshin littered about the borders, thus depositing him and his partner for the day in boredom, a state of being that his partner was doing his best to fight off.

"Naruto-kun! I spy something with my little eye, something that is green!" Lee shouted, far too enthusiastically for a person his age to be over a game of I Spy.

Naruto sighed, he really wished he had drawn Shikamaru as his partner for the day. At least if it were Shikamaru the lazy bastard would have been okay with him littering the woods with clones, leaving the others to guard the main roads, and simply sitting still and relaxing or something. Maybe Neji, at least he wouldn't be yelling at the top of his lungs every seven seconds. Hmm, maybe Tenten, at least it would definitely improve the scenery, "Gee I don't know Lee. The last time you said green you meant your spandex suit so I'm going to go ahead and guess the fucking leaves on the trees because that's about the only damn thing we have out here to look at!"

Lee paused for a moment before whipping out a small notebook, "Well done Naruto-kun! Once again you keep yourself firmly ahead of me in our rivalry. This one puts you the lead now with 28 wins to my 6. But I will catch up to you soon! If I cannot I will do 100 squats while drinking a gallon of water, and if I cannot do that I will-."

"Okay Lee I have a new contest for us to do!" Naruto hurriedly shouted before he could get off on a tangent. Noticing he had Lee's full attention he pressed his advantage, "It's called 'background noise'. All you have to do is be quiet longer than the other person is. The first person to talk is the loser, you up for it?"

Lee's eyes filled with the fires of youth, "Oh you have selected an incredible task for our latest challenge! If I cannot outlast you in a contest of silence I will-!"

Naruto cut him off, "Okay Lee let's practice! Starting now!" Both teens became tight-lipped and continued their trek along the area.

After about thirty seconds, Lee let out his emotion, "I can simply feel the leaps and bounds I will grow as a shinobi by taking part in this! I will master this-!"

"Okay Lee we're starting for real this time okay!" Naruto yelled, 'Kami, he won't even shut up to win a goddamn challenge!' The bowl-cut chunin gave him a firm nod in the positive, "Okay Lee on the count of three. One. Two. Three, and shut the hell up!" Knowing that this time was for real, Lee quickly reeled himself in and buttoned his yap, this time for longer than thirty seconds.

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…!"

"…"

"!"

"…"

"!"

"…"

"Ahh! I cannot go any longer Naruto-kun! You are the victor!" Lee let out in a loud exasperated manner, "It is simply too great of a challenge for me, but I will best you in a similar competition later or I will do 250 ax kicks, and if I cannot do that I will-!"

Naruto palmed his face as he continued patrolling next to his exuberant partner, "Well at least I got him to be quiet for 45 seconds…" Naruto then perked up, "Okay, next time I'll get him to shut up for an entire minute, and from there a minute and thirty seconds, and then I'll get him to shut up for-!"

Needless to say the insane sounds of the two yelling kept away anyone thinking of heading their way anytime soon.