Trouble in Suna

When the lights suddenly enlighten the place, everyone was dumbfounded to see that Black Wolf, the one who was doing the exam down stairs, suddenly appeared behind then, without no one noticing, well no one except his own team who was already accustomed to the wolf masked Anbu appearing out of nowhere. Tsunade, for one, was watching Naruto with a sort of pride and both fear, since she figured that with his ookami (wolf) jutsu, he could enter pretty much anywhere and leave unnoticed, hence his performance both at the Anbu jounin exams and getting inside this booth.

While Tsunade was gauging the possibilities of assassination and document retrieval missions for Naruto, the other people present in the room, was studying the Anbu member with fear and strange sense of familiarity. Apart from Asuma, Kurenai and Naruto's Anbu team, none of the chunnins present knew Black Wolf's identity. In fact, the only familiarity was caused by the member's blonde hair, since they didn't know anyone with blonde hair other than Naruto, however could very well be a henge for not being caught.

Back to Tsunade, she wanted to just stare and say nothing but because of her position, she had to say something to break the silence. "Where is the document, Black Wolf?" – Asked Tsunade to which Naruto simply tossed the scroll towards the Hokage to which she caught with ease. "Very well, mission accomplished Black Wolf. Since neither the guards below nor the hidden cameras caught your movements, you passed the examination with flying colors. Congratulations, you've been promoted to jounin." – Said Tsunade, smiling deeply at her surrogate brother.

Meanwhile, the jounins present who knew all about Naruto growing up, were sharing little cries of happiness for the blonde, but from different reasons. Kakashi was happy since his once genin team was developing nicely with two chunnins and one recently promoted Anbu jounin; Kurenai was happy because of her relationship with Black Wolf AKA Uzumaki Naruto, but sad since she wouldn't be able to taunt him because of his ninja rank; Asuma for his part, smiled at seeing the first of Naruto's generation to become jounin, since Neji was one year older than him.

Naruto for his part bowed to Tsunade, in tone of appreciation for the promotion and then manifested. "I appreciate the promotion, Tsunade-sama, however I'm due to ask who thought of the idea of placing hidden cameras inside the compound? Those are very tricky to pass by" – Asked Black Wolf, just for a tall man in a lion Anbu mask with a huge coat enter the place. "It was my idea, Black Wolf. I was the one who put the cameras inside. Any problem with that?" – Asked Tenzou, trying to become serious with the situation, despite the fact that Naruto was promoted. Black Wolf, after hearing the Anbu chief manifest, turned and kneeled in front of him, showing the respect for the man. "Not at all, sir. I was just curious, since none of the old Anbu jounin exams contained other means of guarding places other than shinobis" – Said Naruto.

"The reasons as to why I set those cameras inside served for two reasons, Black Wolf. One to surely test your infiltration abilities as well as be able to make sudden choices that could endanger the completion of the mission. I have to give it to you, though. I thought I went overboard when I put the last camera, but you managed to get passed by it, using a strange jutsu. Second, from Anbu reports I've been reading, it seems that some of the missions were endangered because of the usage of cameras inside the place of infiltrations. This test was to gauge if you were prepared in case such a thing actually happens while on a mission. So, congratulations on becoming an Anbu jounin Black Wolf. Now your team is completed." – Said Yamato before giving his back and walk away to which Black Wolf got up and turned to the others present in the room. "So Tsunade-sama, can I take my leave now. Suppressing my chakra like that, takes a lot out of me and I'd like to take a little rest to recover." – Said Naruto to which Tsunade nodded.

Just as Naruto was about to leave, Tsunade smiled upon seeing the ones from Naruto's graduation class look slightly dejected from not knowing who is the mystery Anbu, so she decided to break the Anbu's identity protocol. "Black Wolf, one more thing before you leave, there is one more thing I need for you to do." – Said Tsunade to which Naruto turned and bowed so that Tsunade could speak. "May I ask you to take off your mask, Black Wolf?" – Asked Tsunade, earning shocks of surprise from Kakashi, Asuma and Kurenai who thought at the same time how crazy it was to do a thing like that.

Naruto for his part turned to gauge the old hag's pretension with this. For one year, now, Naruto was operating behind the curtains, using the black wolf mask as he went through missions and protected his home. After hearing this, he remembered the Hokage wanting to give a name for him so that other villages would be wary of the black wolf mask Anbu from Konoha. Now she wanted to expose him in front of everyone. However, as an Anbu, he was supposed to follow orders from the Hokage, since Anbu reported only to her and the Anbu chief, so Naruto complied and took off his mask.

To say everyone in the room was surprised, it would be an understatement; their jaws were sent to the ground after remembering everything that the Anbu did and now they saw that the Anbu was in fact Uzumaki Naruto, once obnoxious, knucklehead incompetent ninja to now being promoted to Anbu jounin at the age of sixteen. Because of his sudden disappearance, none of the chunnins could understand what happened to the blonde. Of course, Sakura was the one who initiated the conversation. "N…Naruto, is that really you?" – Asked Sakura before seeing the blonde not even fazed upon looking at her. "Why did you abandon our team?" – Asked Sakura now on the verge of tears, but not because of Naruto became an Anbu, but the fact that she was alone and memories from Kurenai's conversation with her filled her mind.

Naruto, however, chose to not mutter a single word to the pink-haired chunnin. He wondered where those tears lied, since in close to one year, he didn't even hear of her asking of him, not that he was waiting for, that's for sure. And now here she is, voicing her frustrations on him. Tsunade for her part was surprised to see Naruto not even wanting to open his mouth in protest, however she knew that Sakura's tears wasn't towards Naruto, but rather her choices in life. Nonetheless, she was surprised to see Naruto not trying to comfort her at all.

The other chunnins present wanted nothing to do with comforting Sakura. They all knew that Sakura blamed Naruto from hurting the precious Sasuke one year ago, however none of them expected to see that Naruto's face was void with any kind of emotion. After a while, Kurenai stopped towards Naruto and asked if he was Ok to which Naruto smiled at her and nodded in affirmative. "Do not worry, Kure-chan. I've done trying to become her friend when she blamed me from hurting the Uchiha. Sakura only thinks of herself and seeing her like this, could only mean that the Uchiha rejected her" – Said Naruto to which Sakura looked at him and cried even more, proving his point.

"Naruto, while I share your thoughts of Sakura, why you disappeared for a year?" – Asked Shikamaru, making Naruto look at him still unfazed by everything. "Sorry Shikamaru, other than a few personal reasons of my own, I'm forbidden to tell. If you wish to learn about my personal reasons, I can tell you some other time, now I really have to rest for a while. Because of my high chakra capacity, suppressing it takes a lot of my control" – Said Naruto before he put the Black Masked Anbu mask and shunshined away within a small tornado, leaving everyone inside.

After a while, Sakura calmed down and left with Tsunade who wanted to speak to her. The jounins and Anbu all vanished as well. However, the chunnins chose to stay a while to talk about the sudden revelations about the blonde enigma. "Who would've guessed that Naruto was all this time doing missions as an Anbu. I remember Asuma-sensei telling me about him getting a lot stronger, but this was surreal." – Said Shikamaru to which Ino nodded. "Although, I'm happy for him; I happen to see him and Kurenai-sensei having the most wonderful date in the park. He surpassed us all in no time, Shika" – Said Ino to which Shikamaru smiled and nodded.

"Come on, Ino. We have to meet our team at the Barbeque Place in thirty minutes, let's go" – Said Shikamaru to which Ino nodded and left together with the pineapple head ninja. Shikamaru, however, was wondering of what Naruto said about the reasons for him becoming a part of Anbu. Naruto, just when I thought you showed who you truly are, you do something like this. I wouldn't be surprised if you wanted to play with my mind a little bit. – Thought Shikamaru, already out of the Anbu HQ.

-With Tsunade-

After arriving at her office, Tsunade went to her chair. Staring at sad Sakura and the resolved face of Shizune, she was more than certain of what to do next. "Sakura, I have a long-term mission for you" – Said Tsunade, making Sakura lifts her head to pay attention. "I have a request here by a village ten miles from here. It seems that the village's doctor caught a deadly virus and won't be able to attend the community for at least two months time. You are to go there and replace his position as well as try to heal the man. In there, you'll receive all the necessary medical supplies, even being able to request from us should the need arise. You are to leave tomorrow, understood?" – Asked Tsunade to which Sakura lifted her head and nodded.

"This will be good for you Sakura. Give your mind some freedom to think of the future. When you arrive at the village, talks to the mayor for him to fix you an apartment for you to stay, he'll be happy to supply you with one." – Said Tsunade, earning another nod from Sakura who then got up and left the office still sad about seeing Naruto moving on in life. After she left, Tsunade and Shizune were surprised that she didn't show resistance towards the mission and wondered if the girl was finally waking up from her delusional dream.

"Do you think she'll be alright on her own?" – Asked Shizune who although liked to teach some lesson to the girl personally, was worried for her learning on her own. "She needs to see what the world really is. Here she has my protection, because of my foolish act of labeling her as my apprentice. She was too young to understand such a position. There, she will have to fetch for herself, thus, growing up. Just like Naruto had to fetch for himself while on Anbu." – Said Tsunade to which Shizune nodded and smiled while knowing of his promotion to Anbu jounin.

"I'm surprised that he managed to grow so much in so little time." – Said Shizune to which Tsunade smiled and nodded. "I know. I remembered when he came asking for the Anbu position a year ago. The Anbu commander thinks high of him and his Anbu team. He's thinking of creating a special Anbu unit out of them. Together, they were able to take Akatsuki member and former member of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist Hoshikage Kisame." – Said Tsunade while looking at some documents pertaining Sakura's long term mission. However upon thinking further, she remembered the other Uchiha being in Konoha and was happy to know that Sasuke was on a mission towards Iwa.

Thinking of the last original member of old genin team 7, Tsunade considered the last Uchiha to be doing quite well. Under the tutelage of a more direct jounin like Aoba who didn't treat him better just because he is the last of his kind. Huh, if everything goes well, Sasuke could become a jounin in a year and Sakura could as well, if she wasn't blinded by her position of authority. – Thought Tsunade as she ran throw the documentation.

-In Naruto's house-

After Naruto left, he went straight to his apartment. He was happy that now he is a jounin, but he couldn't see why the Hokage wanted to expose him so much. He thought he was quite clear when he told them he wanted to operate behind the curtains and now the rookie 9 will know that he is an Anbu, including Sasuke. Naruto wasn't stupid as to believe that the traitor would just sit around and throw his revenge out of the window. Naruto knew that Sasuke wanted power more than anything. Now that he will know of Naruto's position, Sasuke may very well seek him out to battle and the blonde didn't want to look at his face.

After a while, Kurenai appeared slightly worried for her boyfriend. Truth be told, she knew that he didn't want to show his face to his old peers just like that. She knew how collected he was and it was plainly visible that he was angry at the Hokage for making him do this. "Naru-kun, are you okay?" – Asked Kurenai to which Naruto looked at her and smiled. "I'm fine, is just that I've been wondering why Tsunade-sama keeps exposing me like that? First, is the bingo book and now the order inside Anbu HQ" – Replied Naruto, confirming Kurenai's worries.

"It took me by surprise as well and I for one can't figure out why she's doing such a thing" – Said Kurenai to which Naruto nodded. "Now that some knows my identity, it wouldn't take long for word reaches my enemies. After Akatsuki knows about my identity, they will come here with three instead of two S ranked missing-nins" – Said Naruto. Kurenai for her part knew about all of this, but sadly all she could do is comfort Naruto. "I know, we'll need to think of something to change that. Until you stopped becoming an Anbu, your identity needs to be kept in total secrecy." – Said Kurenai to which Naruto smiled. "A simple henge on my hair color would suffice to my enemies, I guess. But other than this, I suppose I can't change anything else. My black wolf mask is a symbol to me, I can't just use another one" – Said Naruto to which Kurenai nodded and smiled.

"This mask defines who you are Naruto-kun. It defines your spirit. Of course it wouldn't be fair to use another one. Not only that but I think Ace would be very disappointed because of that" – Said Kurenai to which Naruto smiled. "Yeah and where is that old fur any way? I can't believe he is chasing one of Hana's dogs again" – Mumbled Naruto to which Kurenai giggled at the prospect of seeing a 200 year old wolf being attracted to a husky.

-In Tsunade's office-

After Shizune left, Tsunade was dealing with the paperwork. She absolutely hated the damn paperwork, since almost half of it consisted of council and diplomacy issues with villages and other countries. However when she sensed a familiar presence, she relaxed and let the presence enter the room. Hatake Kakashi smiled and entered the room from the window. "Kakashi, what can I do for you?" – Asked Tsunade to which Kakashi just sigh and putted both his hands inside his pockets. "Tsunade-sama, forgive about my rudeness here, but I don't understand your intentions as to why you made Naruto take off his mask in front of the rookie 9?" – Said Kakashi to which Tsunade smiled seeing that she got caught.

"Naruto was downsized his entire life just because of other's hatred towards him. I just thought that showing how people like him could be able to rise in rank if he or she applied hard enough" – Said Tsunade not even being able to sense the seriousness of what she did. "I see, so you sacrificed the only thing we had against Akatsuki coming here to hunt him, just because you wanted to show his friends that he was an Anbu" – Said Kakashi before seeing Tsunade going wide-eyed at the implications of a few knowing his identity.

"The news of his identity will eventually fall at the wrong people's hand and when that time comes, he'll be at a very tough spot. We have to make amends to this, Tsunade-sama. The reason as to why we could take Kisame was because they didn't know where Naruto was. If they know that he is an Anbu, they'll be prepared to take him and worse, they will use his precious person to make him come to them, if necessary." – Said Kakashi to which Tsunade sighed, realizing the outcome of what she did. "Damn it, I didn't think it like that. We need to summon everyone present who saw him and tell them not to share this information." – Said Tsunade to which Kakashi nodded. "I'll go alert Asuma and Gai, they will inform the rest." – Said Kakashi before shunshining away.

Tsunade, after being left alone, got up from her chair and looked at the village behind her. She didn't think that her actions would cause him damage. She just never wanted for him to become an Anbu, thus, having to hide from everyone, she wanted for him to become a regular jounin and eventually take on a genin team. Nonetheless, Kakashi was right. Right now, the only reason as to why Akatsuki haven't bothered us until two days ago was because they didn't know of the blonde's whereabouts and probably was sent here for reconnaissance.

-With Akatsuki-

After Itachi reported Kisame's death to the leader, Pein was in deep thought. According to Itachi, they were caught and had to engage against Konoha's Anbu force and the Hokage. Itachi told him that one Anbu with a black wolf mask delivered the killing blow at Kisame's heart, thus, killing him instantly. It was a mistake to send someone they were expecting, next time I'll send Zetsu, he should do the job as well.

"Itachi, I'm releasing you from the Kyuubi, your presence in Konoha will alert everyone and we can't afford another loss like Kisame, Sasori, Deidara, Kakuzu and Hidan" – Said Pein to which Itachi nodded. At a moment, though, sharingan eyes were locked with rinnegan eyes. Truth be told, Pein didn't like Itachi, he suspected that Itachi was playing both sides, so he needed to take him away from Konoha.

Itachi for one didn't want to go back to Konoha anyway. He saw the level of the Anbu force there and wondered how much stronger they've gotten since he went away. However, Itachi was thinking of the one wearing a black wolf mask. Itachi couldn't look into his eyes with the sharingan, because he wasn't able to look into the man's eyes, but he found the man vaguely familiar. After a while, he shrugged it off since he wouldn't be sent to Konoha anymore.

Back with Pein, he called for the member he was thinking of. "Zetsu, I need you to find out where the Kyuubi jinchuuriki is. I sent Kisame and Itachi to Konoha and Itachi returned with Kisame's corpse. I don't want you to engage; simply try to gauge information of Uzumaki Naruto's whereabouts" – Said Pein to which Zetsu nodded and disappeared.

-In Konoha, the next day-

After Naruto woke up, he looked at his companion with a smile. Kurenai chose to sleep with him to keep him company and that alone made Naruto's day even more amazing. He is in love with her, period and the thought of Akatsuki capturing her just to get to him was unnerving to say the least. He wondered if such a thing happened and he lost control of himself while trying to rescue her at all costs. The damn fox could take advantage of his fragile state and take over his body in an instant.

When Kurenai opened her eyes, she suddenly felt her boyfriend's lips locked with her own in a deep kiss. She loved such a wake-up call from Naruto. After opening her eyes fully, her eyes were locked with her lover's smile upon looking at her and felt piece. She loved to wake up with him still there with her, however because of his Anbu schedule, he had often to present to Anbu HQ pretty early. Since the Hokage gave him a day off in recognition for his promotion, he could be with Kurenai all day long. Well, all afternoon since she would have to train her team in elemental manipulation.

"I'm so glad to wake up with you Naru-kun. It's been forever since your last vacation and every day I wake up, you already left to Anbu HQ." – Said Kurenai to which Naruto responded by giving her a deep kiss. "I'm sorry my hime, I wanted for so long to just wake up and have breakfast with you, but being an Anbu, means having to get up real early" – Said Naruto to which Kurenai dismissed it, saying it was okay and that she understood. "So how about that breakfast?" – Asked Kurenai to which Naruto smiled and got up from the bed. "Just wait right here, hime. I'll prepare it for us and bring it here" – Said Naruto, while heading for the kitchen, leaving a smiling Kurenai, since she never had anyone bring her breakfast in bed before.

After the most wonderful breakfast, Kurenai and Naruto got ready to relax at the park for a while before Kurenai had to go to her team for training. However, they were interrupted by a knock on the door. When Naruto went to open, he was afraid that the Hokage postponed his vacation because of a mission. However he relaxed upon seeing Shikamaru and Ino at the door smiling at him to which Naruto found extremely odd, since the last thing he remembered Shikamaru doing was muttering 'troublesome' all the time. "Say Shikamaru, did Ino-san forced you to wear that smile on your face?" – Asked Naruto to which Shikamaru muttered troublesome and Ino rolled her eyes. After a moment, the group heard a giggle coming from inside the apartment.

Kurenai was laughing at Naruto's comment and then Shikamaru's face after hearing it. Of course, the pineapple head chunnin knew that and muttered more 'troublesome' words, wondering if they prepared this to mock him. "Naruto, I was wondering if we could talk for a while. Kurenai-sensei is welcome to come as well." – Said Shikamaru to which Naruto and Kurenai nodded. Suddenly, a puff of smoke appeared next to Naruto and Ace appeared. "Can I come as well? I'd like to stretch my legs and Naruto's couch is damn uncomfortable" – Said Ace to which Naruto sighed. "You're just tired from playing with that husky" – Shouted Naruto, earning sweat drops from Ino and Shikamaru and a laughing Kurenai.

After Naruto's exchange with Ace to which Shikamaru and Ino were still gauging why the wolf could speak, the five headed to Konoha's public park. When they arrived, the group separated with Kurenai and Ino going closer to the lake while Shikamaru, Ace and Naruto picked up a tree to hang out a bit. While walking, though, Shikamaru was trying to understand why the blonde was acting so peaceful and quiet. Shikamaru himself was all in favor of not muttering even a single word, however when he saw the once hyperactive stamina freak genin, now behaving like he didn't have a care in the world kind of unnerved the chunnin.

"So, how's life been treating you?" – Asked Shikamaru while watching Ino and Kurenai resting their feet on the cool water while enjoying the conversation. Naruto for his part smiled upon remembering what happened until today. "Can't complain, Shikamaru, you know. I'm with the girl I'm in love with, just promoted to Anbu jounin and I'm able to learn a lot from other Anbu comrades. The only downsize of it all is lack of sleep and lack of time to pass some time with Kurenai-chan. But apart from that, life's been great. How about you? " – Said Naruto, earning nods from Shikamaru who seems to have the urge to smile all of a sudden.

"Can't complain so much, I'm afraid; Team 10 is doing pretty great under Asuma-sensei's tutelage and we're getting tougher missions. Ino is not so troublesome anymore and Chouji is still Chouji, however in his case I don't think he'll ever change. My mother is still troublesome, but I can't complain, though, since Ino has been able to calm her nerves a lot." – Said Shikamaru, before turning to the blonde, which didn't get unnoticed by the blonde. "So, Shikamaru, I understand you're starting to like Ino." – Said Naruto catching Shikamaru off guard, to which Naruto chose to elaborate.

"You never seem to take your eyes off her, always talking about her and according to you; she saved you countless times from your mother's wrath, sounds like the beginning of a relationship to me." – Said Naruto to which Shikamaru at first rolled his eyes but then smiled and once again looked at the blonde Yamanaka. "You know what; I guess this relationship that you're talking about isn't so troublesome as I first thought it was. Tell me, I'm curious about something. How did you and Kurenai-sensei get together?" – Asked Shikamaru to which Naruto smiled and took a look at the smiling Kurenai before telling the story to when they met.

While Naruto was relaying what happened, Shikamaru was surprised that Naruto had to close his heart once he saw Kurenai together with Asuma. Shikamaru also learned that on his first year as an Anbu, he had to rescue Kurenai from Kumo's clutches and the fact that Naruto was so cold towards her at the time. According to Naruto, at that time, Naruto couldn't look at Kurenai without remembering what it was like to hold her on his arms and kiss her with passion. However when Naruto finished the story with the encounter at the forest near the river, Shikamaru was flabbergasted. Of course, he wasn't a romantic kind of guy, but upon hearing the story, he smiled at the prospect of something like that happening to him.

-With Ino and Kurenai-

After they separated from the guys, the girls initiated a heated conversation about intimate details and how their respective men treated them. Ino was jealous of what the older woman was telling of what Naruto had done for her and she wished that Shikamaru returned her love for him. Ino was dumbfounded by the jounin's ability to tell the story in a way as to hook Ino's attention until the very end. "You're kidding, Kurenai-sensei. Don't tell me you yanked Naruto's mask off and kissed him while he was on a mission?" – Asked Ino still didn't believing that such passion even existed. "I wasn't thinking back then, of course Ino-san. It was just this drive to simply kiss him fiercely, showing to Naruto-kun that I wanted to be with him, despite our differences. I can tell he was surprised as hell; however when he returned the kiss; it was nothing short of amazing. I heard Naruto-kun, than compare that kiss to a painting that happen to show us kissing while the full moon illuminating the river and the forest" – Said Kurenai to which Ino saw hearts all over the place.

Ino always were into fairytales even though in her world, such a thing never did happen. However, she found that Kurenai and Naruto's story got pretty closed to one. "So tell me Ino, did Shikamaru return your affections yet?" – Asked Kurenai smiling, catching Ino by surprise since she never said anything. Little did she know that Kurenai saw her trying to take a glimpse at the pineapple head chunnin for quite some time. "How do you know that I like him, Kurenai-sensei? I didn't say anything" – Asked Ino to which Kurenai smiled. "I'm a jounin remember; that and the fact that you've been looking at him on occasions, pretty much gave me the hint" – Said Kurenai to which Ino blushed and looked down in defeat from being caught.

"Don't be like this, Ino-san. It's no shame to like someone. Have you told him yet?" – Asked Kurenai, before receiving a negative response from Ino. "No, however I've been trying to send him signals on occasions; however I don't know if he likes me or not. Shikamaru is very smart and I can tell he understood my signals, so that means that maybe he's not interested in me…" – Mumbled Ino in sadness to which Kurenai sighed, remembering trying to have the strength to tell Naruto how she felt, but then when she gathered the courage to do it, it all worked rather well to say the least.

"Ino-san, trust me I've been in this situation before and I can tell it isn't going to end until you tell him. The reason as to why I wasn't together with Naruto for a while was because I didn't have the courage to face the situation; however when I chose to face it, it all worked well in the end and me and Naruto-kun are together happier than ever" – Said Kurenai to which Ino smiled and nodded, while regaining her confidence on earning the love of Shikamaru in the near future.

-With Naruto and Shikamaru-

Back to Naruto and Shikamaru, both of them were relaxing below a tree when suddenly an Anbu arrived with orders from the Hokage to Naruto. "Black Wolf, collect your gear, your team has been summoned to the Hokage's presence at once" – Said the Anbu to which Naruto nodded and got up from his nap, earning a troublesome reply from Shikamaru. "I see now what you said about the downfalls of being an Anbu." – Said Shikamaru to which Naruto nodded and then vanished towards Kurenai in order to tell her the sad news of his sudden mission calling. Shikamaru found strange that Naruto's face turned from peaceful to angry, but shrugged it off since he would be like that if he got called on his day off.

Truth be told, he hated doing this to Kurenai. This was his day off and he wanted so much to spend with his lover. However, he couldn't do anything, since Anbu were obligated to respond to the Hokage's orders right away. When he appeared near Kurenai to tell her the sad news, however he didn't need to since Kurenai already saw his sad face and knew the reason of that Anbu's appearance. "Kure-chan, I'm sorry but…" – Said Naruto, but was interrupted by his lover's smile dismissing the apologies. "Don't need to apologize, Naruto-kun. I understand your position and I understand the Hokage wouldn't call you on your day off unless it was utterly important." – Said Kurenai to which Naruto nodded and gave her a little kiss and then vanished.

Ino, seeing Kurenai sigh and look down to the ground, became worried about her new friend. She was surprised to see that the Hokage's consideration of Naruto's abilities to summon him on his day off, but seeing Kurenai look down, she realized that the couple had plans today and that was ruined by Naruto's call for a mission. "Kurenai-sensei, are you okay?" – Asked Ino to which Kurenai still looking down said. "No, I'm not Ino. I love Naruto to death, but his job as an Anbu has been reducing our time together to almost none. It's not his fault, it's just that the Hokage worships Naruto's Anbu team as one of the best since Kakashi's and Itachi's." – Said Kurenai almost on the verge of tears since she couldn't be with her boyfriend even in his day off from work.

At some point, Shikamaru arrived only to see Kurenai almost on the verge of tears. Looking at Ino, she smiled and turned to look at the jounin whose tears were beginning to fall. "I'm sorry, I wasn't supposed to be like this, but I can't help it" – Said Kurenai to which Ino and Shikamaru kneeled next to her to comfort her. "Kurenai-sensei, if it helps any, Naruto was almost on the verge of ripping the messenger's guts from doing this, I'm sure he'll let the Hokage know of his frustrations" – Said Shikamaru to which Kurenai smiled at the sight of Naruto talking to the Hokage.

"Thanks, Shikamaru. I know he will. Naruto doesn't behave well to people who treat him unfairly. He's a strong shinobi, therefore I have to be strong for him." – Said Kurenai, earning smiles from Ino and Shikamaru, whose thoughts were pretty much similar. 'I wonder if I'll have that with Ino/Shika as well' – Thought both of them at the same time, while looking at the fierce Kunoichi in front of them. Naruto-kun, please come back safe to me. – Thought Kurenai as she left the park together with Ino and Shikamaru.

-With Naruto-

While going towards his apartment in order to collect his gear, Naruto was furious at Tsunade for doing this to him and Kurenai. He wanted so much to spend some time with her and he knew that his lover wanted to be with him as well. Upon arrival, he concluded that he'll request at least two days off after this mission for compensation.

After gathering everything, Naruto stopped for a while and looked at his black wolf mask. This mask has been his companion for almost two years now. He remembered what Kurenai said to him about the mask being his spirit and therefore giving it up wouldn't be fair to him and for Ace. Speaking of his wolf partner, he was looking at the wondering Naruto with a heavy sigh on his face. He understood how much Naruto loved this Kurenai person and how he must be feeling right now. He knew by looking to Naruto's eyes, that doubt was all over the place and Ace found it plainly reasonable to be in doubt right now. He dedicated his life to protecting Konoha as an Anbu, but by doing so, his team ended up being one of the best along the Anbu teams, therefore they're called more times than the others.

Back to Naruto, he put his mask and charged towards the Hokage's office with speeds peculiar to Ace to which the wolf smiled since he knew the blonde would like to have a word with the hokage before his team arrived.

-At the Hokage's office-

After issuing the order to call Naruto's team for a mission towards Suna, Tsunade knew that Naruto would show his discontent towards being called on his day off, but she had no choice. This mission was considered S class and out of all of Konoha's teams, only Anbu Team 5 had the abilities to deal with this situation. Suddenly, she was caught from her wonderings, when someone shunshined inside her office. Recognizing the mask, the blonde Hokage knew who the person was and was a little surprised to see him thirty minutes early. Clearly not a good sign – Thought the Hokage.

"Tsunade-sama, may I have a word with you?" – Asked Naruto, not even bothering to take off his mask to which Tsunade turned to speak. "Naruto, before you say anything, I know that you're displeased about being called on your day off and I promise that once you arrive, I'll give you three days off, however this mission requires your team's abilities to deal with." – Said Tsunade to which Naruto nodded, but spoke anyway. "I understand. However, I'm not displeased simply because it was my day off, I don't care about having time to rest. I care about spending time with Kurenai and it kills me to tell her that I'm not able to spend time with her" – Whispered Naruto to which Tsunade smiled at the boy's first emotion display in nearly two years.

"I understand Naruto and I'll assure her that you'll have your three day off after your return, however let's wait for your team to arrive before giving the mission's details." – Said Tsunade to which Naruto nodded and went towards the nearest wall to wait there for his team to which Tsunade smiled and returned to her paperwork duty. After a while, Bear and Hawk arrived followed closely by Yuugao who upon arrival, turned to look at Naruto, seizing him up once more, making Naruto very angry since he wouldn't be able to be with his girlfriend plus having to stand Yuugao's flerting with him.

"Since Team 5 is present, we can begin with the mission. This morning I received a request from the Kazekage for us to send a jounin level team for assist them with some high-level missing-nins that are terrorizing one of Wind Country's villages. According to the Kazekage, some of the missing-nins were from Konoha, so you'll be doing a hunter-nin's mission. Team 5 is to leave right away towards Suna to meet with the Kazekage. Hawk will be the leader of this mission, dismissed" – Said Tsunade to which the team nodded and vanished towards the respective gate.

-With Team 8-

Kurenai, after regaining her composure, went to meet her team for elemental ninjutsu practice. Together with her was Kakashi, since the silver-haired jounin practically knew all forms of elemental ninjutsu. At the moment, Hinata was already able to manipulate suiton chakra, because of her excellent chakra control; Kiba was already able to make a little earthquake and Shino already managed to channel raiton chakra through his chakra coils.

All in all, Kakashi and Kurenai were amazed by Team 8's ability to learn that fast, however they weren't surprised when the answer for that was to surpass their Anbu peer Uzumaki Naruto. After hearing that, Kurenai and Kakashi smiled upon seeing that Naruto could cause that on people. Suddenly, both jounins turned to see five presences arriving very fast. However only Kakashi knew who they were simply because of the way they moved. As the team of Anbu approached, Kurenai recognized one chakra signature and smiled.

Truth to her senses, Naruto looked at her and waved her goodbye as well as showing her three fingers to Kurenai, making her smile more than anything. Kurenai understood Anbu's signals and recognized Naruto's message to her. Three days, Naruto-kun. I'll be waiting for your return. We'll travel to a hotel together. – Thought Kurenai before turning to her team.

Back to Anbu's team, Bear was using all the blackmail he could against Black Wolf making Hawk laugh. However Yuugao was furiously jealous at Kurenai for dating Naruto. Back to Naruto, he was glad that he was able to tell Kurenai the good news, so now he could focus on the mission in hand. He smiled at the prospect of meeting Gaara once again. Because of their inner demons, both of them shared a brotherly relationship.

-With Zetsu-

Ten miles from Konoha's border, Zetsu was approaching the village in order to gauge Uzumaki Naruto's whereabouts. So far, the only method of searching a jinchuuriki was to sense demonic chakra, however after some time, they couldn't sense any trace of Kyuubi's chakra inside of Konoha which could only mean that either the jinchuuriki is dead or he left the village.

"Uh, it seems that the demonic chakra is not in the village, also I can't sense any trail of where he's been" – Thought Zetsu, as he began to gauge his options regarding the mission. Since he couldn't sense the jinchuuriki, the next alternative would be entering the village and interrogat someone, but that would endanger his position and therefore ruining the mission. Reaching a conclusion, he closed his eyes and made the astral projection technique to report to the leader.

"Yes, Zetsu, report" – Said Pein to which Zetsu began his report. "Pein-sama, so far I haven't sensed any presence of demonic chakra in Konoha or near Konoha for that manner. Therefore, either he's dead or left the village" – Said Zetsu, leaving time for the leader to think about the report. "He being dead is not a possibility since we'd be aware of that the minute it happens. However, the possibility of him being a missing-nin is not impossible. Konoha treated him like they would treat the Kyuubi, therefore he could've left. Nonetheless, you cannot risk entering the village. Return to your old duties Zetsu, find the Hachibi (eight-tails).

-With Team 5-

One day later, Team 5 was already running along the desert to reach Suna hidden village. Along the way, the group rested each for two hours, with guarding rotation between the members. From Hawk's calculations, the team should be arriving to Suna in two hours. At one time, during the travel, the team were chatting about who were the Konoha missing-nins that they would be facing. Of course, Naruto wouldn't be able to know since none of the ones from his age ran from the village except for the Uchiha.

Hawk and Bear knew of two brothers that were causing a lot of commotion ten years ago, but they wasn't sure if the brothers were still alive or not, however they were known for being very strong and could easily beat a team of four chunnins each. Yuugao for her part couldn't remember one missing-nin that was still alive, because Anko one time killed the guy.

After two hours, the village was visible and the team arrived in front of the gates. "Halt, state your reason for being her Anbu." – Said one Suna chunnin to which Hawk presented the order from the Kazekage, while saying that Team 5 was sent here to assist Suna in dealing with some missing-nins. After the chunnin revised the order, he authorized entry to the village and proceeded to escort the Anbu team to meet the Kazekage, after leaving the other chunnin to guard the gates for a while.

-The Kazekage's office-

Sabaku no Gaara was a very busy man. Being appointed to Kazekage at the age of fifteen, the ex-Jinchuuriki had to get accustomed to the busy and strenuous life of dealing with paperwork. Nevertheless, Gaara was doing a much better job than the Hokage when dealing with the paperwork. If one would look into his office, stakes of scrolls deeply organized from mission ranks and village documents.

Right now, Gaara was reading the report of an information gathering mission on the village which was attacked by missing-nins. According to the report, close to 20 missing-nins formed a group called 'red dragon' and were terrorizing a village five miles west from the Hidden Village. However, Gaara heard a knocking on the door. "Kazekage-sama, a team sent by Konoha arrived, sir" – Said the guard chunnin to which Gaara simply issued a 'come in' and the door was opened.

When the door opened, Gaara was surprised that Konoha sent a team of Anbu to deal with the problem in hand. However, when he looked at one with the black mask, he was suspicious of the apparently blonde man kneeling in front of him. However, his musings were cut short when the one with the Hawk mask, turned to speak. "Konoha's Anbu team 5 presenting for assistance Kazekage-sama" – Presented Hawk to which Gaara nodded, but first he needed two more people present. "Izumo, call Temari and Kankuro here immediately" – Shouted Gaara to which Izumo nodded and vanished in order to find the rest of the Hokage's siblings.

After Temari and Kankuro arrived mumbling words like being interrupted while performing their duties at the village. Temari and Kankuro took up to both of them to teach Suna's next generation of shinobi so that no one would sneak on them in the future. However when both of them were interrupted by the Kazekage for a meeting, they weren't very pleased about it. However both of them as well as Gaara, were suspicious of the black wolf masked Anbu, from seeing his blonde hair. "So, now that the team is completed, I'll relate the mission." – Said Gaara as he began to tell the team the details.

When the report was over, Gaara dismissed the Anbu team and handled to each of them a key for a hotel room to sleep and begin the mission tomorrow. Now at the hotel, each member of the team entered their respective rooms and took off their respective gears. Naruto at least appreciated the rest because of the travel. "Man, I wished Kurenai was here with me to rest." – Wondered Naruto as he entered the bathroom for a little bath. As the water reached Naruto's body, he was relieving all the tension he pretty much bottled up since leaving Konoha, it wouldn't make sense to dwell on it.

After one very long bath, Naruto exchanged for some comfortable clothes and decided to just lie down a bit. After seeing the Sabaku siblings again, Naruto didn't want to make his presence known. Naruto knew that should he show himself, there would be a long questionnaire about his life since the Ichibi (One-tailed demon) withdraw and truth be told, he didn't want to tell. Little did he know, however, that the Kazekage planned to make a visit to him soon.

-With Yuugao-

After a long shower, her mind wondered about having shower with the blonde and that thought alone made her shiver in delight. She blamed Kurenai from being such a good story teller and now she was imagining every bit of the story, however replacing herself with Kurenai on top of Naruto. She was imagining Naruto taking advantage of her the most savage way possible and thus she began to pleasure herself.

However, the good part of her remembered that Naruto was her best friend's boyfriend, therefore, trying to get her way with him would be wrong. Yuugao was devastated upon seeing her ex kiss another woman and truth be told, she couldn't do the same thing with Naruto and Kurenai. She was totally supportive of their relationship to break them up like that. However, she realized now that she already tried to make a passing at the blonde while on their trip, but he never cared or chose not to, in preservation of her friendship with his girlfriend.

But while her good side was preoccupied of what could happen, her bad side almost had an orgasm while imagining the blonde doing to her like how he did to Kurenai. Damn it, I can't be like this, but Naruto is so hot, I…I can't take this much longer. – thought Yuugao already on the verge of losing her mind because of Uzumaki Naruto.

-With Naruto-

Back when Naruto was about to sleep for the day, a knock was heard to which Naruto snarled since no one would let him have one minute of rest. When Naruto asked who it was, he was surprised to hear Gaara's voice asking for permission to enter. Seeing that his plan backfired, he opened the door and let the Kazekage enter his room. "So, hello Naruto, long time no see" – Said Gaara to which Naruto responded with a nod and went back to bed this time just to sit. Seeing the blonde giving his back to Gaara, the Sabaku hokage wondered what was wrong with the always cheerful blonde.

"Gaara, sorry for not presenting myself back at your office, I was just tired a bit." – Said Naruto to which Gaara once again became worried. "Since when do you even get tired?" – Asked the Kazekage, afraid that the Kyuubi was out of Naruto's body just like Shukaku was out of his. "Before you think Kyuubi isn't inside me anymore, don't. The bastard is still there. Being an Anbu means doing missions almost 24/7. I don't have enough time to recover, nowadays." – Said Naruto, earning a nod from the Kazekage.

"So, I take it you don't want to talk about it, then." – Concluded Gaara, earning a apologizing nod from Naruto who mumbled that he was so damn tired that he deserved one good night sleep to which Gaara understood and left the room. "Oh and Gaara, please don't tell Temari-san and Kankurou that I'm here okay; at least not until the end of the mission" – Said Naruto to which Gaara shrugged it off and nodded in affirmative, before leaving the blonde.

After the kazekage left, Naruto literally jumped towards the comfy bed of the hotel and just let gravity close his eyes, since he was already sleeping which proved to be one bad mistake. While he was sleeping peacefully, the fox were preparing one big headache for him to overcome. "Get ready Naruto. You seem to be holding up my killing intent for quite some time, but this time you'll not be able to overcome it. Ku ku ku" – Laughed Kyuubi as he began to gather his chakra for one good demonstration to the blonde.

Needless to say Naruto would not be able to have his well deserved rest after all.