36

Naruto: Shifts in Life

Chapter 36: Wind

"FUCK!"

The curse along with several more loud sounds of vulgarity rang throughout a small clearing along the borders of Hi No Kuni and Kaze No Kuni.

"HAHAHAHAHA!"

"It's not funny Ero-sennin!" Naruto scowled at his sensei who was rolling on the ground and holding his stomach. The blond Uzumaki made an attempt to stand, before falling back on his ass and hissing in pain as he felt his calf muscles stitching themselves back together. "I've been working on this thing for four months now and I still can't seem to get it right."

Jiraiya gasped and wheezed several times as he finally regained his composure. "You're right brat, it's not funny," The white haired man's facial features twitched several times before he burst out laughing again. "It's hilarious! Watching you smash yourself against rocks, trees and other objects while trying to get this technique down is some of the finest entertainment I've ever had. The only thing that can beat watching you kill your brain cells via bashing your head into solid objects is having a harem of beautiful women dance for me."

"Laugh it up Ero-sennin," Naruto said with a scowl, he sat on the ground for several long moments before testing out his re-healed limbs, standing on them and moving them around. He sighed before grumbling a bit, "We'll see who gets the last laugh."

He was already plotting his revenge against his sensei for laughing at him and not helping him complete this technique. All he needed was some rope, a marker, some honey, and a banana.

Yes, soon Jiraiya would regret laughing at Uzumaki Naruto.

"You know, you still haven't told me what this technique of yours is." Jiraiya commented as he watched his student exercise his re-healed calves. "I might be able to help if you actually tell me what it is you're trying to do."

Naruto looked at his sensei before sitting down. "I'm working on a speed technique similar to the Shunshin except this one is supposed to be entirely combat-oriented. What I do is channel chakra, or youki in my case, to the bottom of my feet. After that I expel the youki in short bursts that would theoretically propel me from short distances instantaneously."

Jiraiya seemed to hum in thought as he looked at his student. "So what's the problem?"

"That's just it!" The blond gave a cry of frustration. "There isn't a problem, the theory is completely sound. Yet for whatever reason whenever I go past three steps my calf gets torn to shreds and even getting the technique ready takes at least three seconds, which is three seconds too long in combat." It was the most frustrating situation he had ever been in. No matter how hard he tried, how much chakra he used nothing seemed to change. He could as much or as little as chakra as he could, but the technique always ended the same way, the muscles in his calves getting torn apart.

'Naruto-kun.' Naruto blinked several times as he heard Kyuubi's voice come across through the seal.

'Yes?' asked the whisker faced blond.

'It may have something to do with the fact that you're not using chakra, but youki.' Kyuubi gave what amounted to a mental tail flick as she began her explanation. 'Because youki is a lot more unstable than chakra it's most likely causing an influx when you try and send it out in bursts.'

Naruto frowned. 'So then what should I do? I can't just give up on this technique.'

'I'm not saying you should.'Kyuubi replied mildly. 'But you may need to get better youki control, or even think about adding the elements to the technique as a counterbalance for the instability of your youki.'

Naruto sighed. 'You may be on to something… thanks Kyuu-chan.'

Within the seal Kyuubi gave a grin. 'You're welcome.'

"Oi! Gaki!"

Naruto blinked as he found Jiraiya waving a hand in front of his face. "Sorry Ero-sennin." The blond rubbed the back of his head and gave a sheepish grin.

Jiraiya rolled his eyes. "Having a dialogue with your inner vixen?" He gave his student a lecherous grin.

"Can it you old perv!" Naruto glared at the man. Jiraiya tended to tease Naruto a lot about the various women who seemed to come into the blonde's life, but he always seemed to have a particular fondness of making fun of his relationship with Kyuubi. Naruto thought it was because the white haired man liked the thought of having a hot woman in his head.

'Such a flatterer Naruto-kun.' Kyuubi spoke in a seductive purr as she heard the passing thoughts.

'Ugh... not you too,' Naruto grumbled a bit, the red-haired demoness had been getting worse with her blatant...flirting? He wasn't sure that was the right word since while they got along much better ever since his near death experience at the hands of Orochimaru, they still didn't seem to quite click. Of course, that could be because he wasn't all that comfortable with her when she got too close. While he would admit that she was starting to grow on him, there were some times when he just didn't want to deal with her.

Not that it stopped her from doing whatever she wanted regardless of how comfortable he was with her. Naruto still had yet to determine just what he felt about her blatant use of her body to tease him when they were in the seal and her near continual use of sexual innuendo at the most inappropriate of times.

Grunting the blond stood up and glared at his sensei. "I suggest you get that mind of yours out of the gutter or I'll let Kyuu-chan use you as a chew toy."

Jiraiya just laughed his students ire off like he had every other time the whiskered Chunin had made comments like that, the blond had threatened him with similar threats before but they both knew such a thing was impossible. "I take it she was giving you some help with this technique you're working on?"

Naruto stood up and nodded. "She thinks my youki is simply too chaotic. It may flow more smoothly and be easier for me to control, but its nature points towards jutsu and techniques that require more power than finesse."

Jiraiya stood up and patted him on the shoulders. "Well, just keep working on it; I'm sure you'll get it eventually. Now get yourself ready to go, the next town is a few hours away and I want to get there by nightfall."

"So you can find a tavern and get drunk and hook up with some woman that you have to pay for, Ero-Sennin?" Naruto grinned when he saw the man glare. Snickering the blond went over to a tree where his shirt and other items were. He grabbed the towel hanging next to his shirt and wiped the sweat off his body. His thoughts soon began to stray as he wondered where they were heading. The air was getting much drier than what he was used to.

"Oi! Gaki, quit daydreaming!"

Naruto snapped himself out of his small fugue and put his shirt on before putting the necklaces he had around his neck. "Yeah, yeah, quit your bitching Ero-sennin." He turned around and was forced to move into a light jog to catch up with his sensei. "You know you never told me where we're headed next?"

"I didn't did I?" Jiraiya asked with a wry grin, said grin widened when he saw Naruto scowl at him. While the boy was actually pretty patient, he hated dealing with people who tended to speak in cryptic words that never gave any information.

"So where are we going?" asked Naruto after a several minute silence.

"We're going to Suna." Jiraiya stated.

"Suna?" Naruto tilted his head to the side and frowned. "What exactly are we going there for?"

"To complete your wind training of course," Jiraiya grinned. "You haven't completed all of the exercises yet have you?"

Naruto frowned. "I don't know. After the leaf cutting exercises I heard we have to cut a waterfall, but I never got the opportunity to do so since I would need a place to stand and I don't have the carpentry skills to build a bridge." The blond looked forward and shrugged. "I actually started creating my own exercises after I managed to cut a leaf."

Jiraiya raised an eyebrow at his student. "Oh? What kind of exercises have you created?"

The man got a shrug. "All kinds really, anything I could think of that wind can do."

Jiraiya waited for Naruto to say more but when the boy remained silent he decided they should start moving. He took to the trees with Naruto following mere seconds later. The pair made their way to the next town and got a room to stay for the night. Like always Jiraiya had gone off to a tavern to find some female company while Naruto just decided to let his body rest while he went into the seal and spent his time with Kyuubi.

"Hello Naruto-kun," Kyuubi said with a grin as the blond entered her room through the door that led outside. She only got a glimpse of the trees beyond as he shut the door; a part of her wondered what if being outside in his mind would be similar to the real world. It still made her angry to think of how she was stuck in this house for all eternity. Her only saving grace was that her container was nothing if not amusing. "Did you come for more stories of my past?"

That was really the only reason he came to the seal, when she had asked, or more like teased him about it, Naruto had told her that he just wanted to get to know her better since all he knew were from books. Kyuubi wasn't sure what she thought about that, but considering he was one of only two people she could talk to, and she held a strong hatred of the other one, she found herself oddly grateful for his presence.

"Not unless you want to tell me," Naruto said as he sat down at the edge of her bed.

"Oh?" Kyuubi raised an eyebrow, "then what did you want to talk about?"

"Whatever we feel like I guess," Naruto said. "Since being in the seal is the same thing as going to sleep, I figured it would be better to spend time with you and maybe learn something useful then sleep."

"So you want to spend time with me? How flattering," said Kyuubi, batting her eyelashes at him.

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Whatever, so what exactly do you do when I'm not here?"

"You mean besides sleep?" asked Kyuubi, her tone sarcastic. "Not much, it's not like I can go outside, and even if I did, I'm not sure what there is to do in your mind anyways."

"What did you do before being sealed?"

"Traveled," Kyuubi said, "I was constantly traveling. I learned early on that it was never good for me to stay in one place for too long, most of the people I enslaved could only stand being under my charms for so long before they became brain dead. I would usually stay for several dozen years, sometimes a lifetime depending on what I was doing at the time. If I was pretending to be the daughter of a noble, I would usually stay a lifetime before quietly disappearing. Most of the time, I would find a rich merchant and place them under my charms, then leave when they got older."

Naruto nodded, her answer was more or less what he expected by now. He was surprised she was so open about her past, but with no way of escaping the seal he figured she just found it easier to be honest and upfront with him. It was something he was appreciative of since it at least meant she was being honest.

"How come you could never stay around for too long?" asked Naruto.

"You mean aside from the fact that people would get curious if I didn't die when I was supposed to?" asked Kyuubi, reminding the blond that the people she disguised herself as were human. "If I stayed longer than a natural human lived, people would get suspicious. I couldn't afford to let other people know I was immortal or other countries would come to the one I was staying at in order to...acquire me and find out how I could live for so long."

"I suppose that makes sense," Naruto said, he felt slightly embarrassed that he hadn't thought of that. It also made him wonder if he would be forced to do that as well, constantly travel to keep people from becoming suspicious of him, never being allowed to truly settle down, always having to remain on guard from people wanting to use him for their own purposes. Whoever said they wanted to be immortal obviously didn't realize how much it sucked. He hadn't even been alive for fourteen years and just thinking about the problems that came with it were enough to worry him.

"Something wrong, Naruto?" asked Kyuubi, raising an eyebrow as the blond went silent and pensive.

"Huh?" Naruto looked up to see the red head staring at him. "No, I was just thinking about...something." Kyuubi raised an eyebrow at the blond, getting him to look away, but she shrugged any curiosity away for the moment. She didn't particularly care what he was thinking so in the end it didn't matter.

"So what else did you want to know?" she asked, getting the blond shinobi back on track as he started asking questions about her life before being sealed.

The next morning the apprentice-teacher pair were off again, making their way through the forest and then cutting through the desert. When they reached the gates of Suna it was around mid-day. They were stopped by a pair of guards who asked for their ids and passports. When Jiraiya gave them a letter bearing the Hokage's seal the two immediately escorted the two Konoha ninja to the Kazekage tower.

As soon as they were directed inside Naruto saw Baki sitting at the desk. "Yo! Baki-san, how are you?"

Baki looked up and grinned a little when he saw who it was, "Nice to see you again Naruto-san, though I did not expect to see you so soon." The man looked over at Jiraiya. "And Jiraiya-sama, it's a pleasure to finally meet you."

Jiraiya gave the man an easy grin, "Same to you. I have a letter from the Hokage." He gave Baki the letter bearing the Hokage's seal.

Baki unrolled the seal and frowned when he saw what was on it. "I see, so the Hokage wants us to help Naruto-san here finish his wind training."

"That's the gist of it." Jiraiya nodded. "As you know, wind users are rare in Konoha. In fact we only have the gaki here, and Sarutobi Asuma."

"I see…" Baki set the scroll down. "I have no problems with this, even were we not getting on better terms with Konoha I would probably do this since Naruto helped Gaara so much. I'll just need to find someone suited to the task, but that should only take an hour or so."

"Oh yeah! Speaking of Gaara, you should have Ero-sennin look at his seal." Naruto spoke excitedly. "He should be able to do something about Gaara's sleeping problem better than my seals can."

"Would you be willing to do that Jiraiya-sama?" asked Baki

Jiraiya looked thoughtful before shrugging. "I suppose I could do that. Since I'm not a wind user I can't exactly help the gaki with his training. Alright! I'll take a look at the seal while Naruto begins his training."

"Thank you." Baki bowed his head slightly in a sign of respect. "Right now Gaara is on a mission so we'll have to wait until he comes back, until then how about I have someone escort you to a hotel?"

"That will be fine." Jiraiya said as an ANBU appeared in one corner of the room and escorted them outside.

Naruto plopped down on the couch in the hotel room that Baki had given him and Jiraiya. It was a very basic two bedroom hotel room with a kitchen/living room combination and two bathrooms. The young blond had kind of hoped he would be able to go and live with Gaara, Temari and Kankuro, he was a little disappointed that he couldn't but understood that it might not be the best idea with Jiraiya. The teasing he was likely to get from the man would likely send him and Temari over the edge.

Speaking of…

He looked over to see said man already hopping out of the window. Probably going to a tavern to get drunk and pay some woman to hang off of him…

'Well that is the only way he can get anything from a woman.'

Naruto chuckled a bit as Kyuubi's voice resounded from his mind. 'That's probably true; I doubt the old perv could actually get a woman without money.'

The blond heard the soft alto laughter he had come to know very within the past few months since the Chunin Exams. He always found it so odd that the Kyuubi, the most powerful Bijuu in existence could have such a pleasant sounding laugh.

'Why thank you.'

Naruto blushed a bit as he realized she heard him. It always bothered him when he caught himself thinking about something like that, mainly because he was paranoid that Kyuubi was somehow putting those thoughts in his head. 'Damn it! Am I still transmitting?'

'Yes,' Kyuubi said, with the changes to the Shikki Fuiin that came from when Orochimaru tried to place his own seal on him, Naruto had been finding it very difficult to keep things from her. He could still do it, but if he wasn't careful, Kyuubi would pick up on even the most random of thoughts from him.

'Personally I don't even see how any female could stand to be with that pervert and his obnoxiously loud voice.' Kyuubi felt a small shudder run down her tails, that man's laugh simply disturbed her on many levels with how obnoxious it was.

Picking up on her thoughts Naruto snickered. 'Would you rather listen to that, or have to deal with the sunset genjutsu of 'youth'?'

Kyuubi's shudders became even more pronounced as the horrible mental images entered her mind. 'Don't ever remind me of that…in all my centuries of life I have never seen something as disturbing as that damned genjutsu.'

'It is pretty creepy; I bet they would be great at torture and interrogation. Just let them start hugging and we'd have our prisoners talking in no time.'

'Now there's an idea.'

A knock at the door interrupted their conversation. Naruto stood up and walked over to the door, opening it to find…

"Hello Naruto-kun." Temari smiled at the blond.

"Mari-chan?" Naruto looked at the blond girl for a moment, wondering why she was here before realizing. "You're here to help me with my wind training?"

Temari's grin widened. "You've got it cutie."

Naruto groaned. That damned word will never leave me…

"So, are you here to get started, or is there another reason?"

If possible Temari's grin widened, and Naruto had a very bad feeling.

"How long do you plan on dragging me around?" asked Naruto as Temari, with his arm securely gripped with her own pulled him around Suna. They had spent nearly two hours walking around, talking and had just finished lunch. Now they were making their way towards one of the districts he had not seen before, it looked like a factory of some kind.

"Are you that tired of me Naruto-kun?" Temari asked with a small pout, bringing out her lower lip as her eyes began to tear. Despite knowing instinctively that her tears were completely fake Naruto felt himself begin to panic.

"Of course not, Mari-chan!" he reassured the girl who had a chibi version of herself giving the victory sign in her mind. "I was just wondering if we were going to get to training, or if there was something specific you wanted to do instead of just walking around."

"There are a lot of things I would like for us to do," Temari purred, the way she said us put Naruto on guard. "But I figured I should show you where you'll be training."

"We're training here?" asked Naruto, looking over at the large buildings. They didn't look any different from any other building; they were the same cylindrical, beige structures that the city was made of.

However, these particular buildings were massive, literally two to three times larger than any other building in Suna.

He absently wondered how he had missed these on his last visit.

"Not here per say," Temari replied cryptically as they walked to one of the buildings. "But this place leads to where we will."

They both walked inside one of the buildings and Naruto's first thought that this was some kind of factory seemed to be spot on. The interior of the place was littered with pipes and machinery that he had never seen before. Along one side of the building were large cylindrical tanks.

"What is this place for?" asked Naruto curiously.

"These buildings are where we gain 1/3 of our water supply," Temari said. "Those machines over there have large pipelines that lead to several underground canals are located and pump water up from them."

"You said only 1/3," the blond male commented, "Where do you get the rest?"

"Import it from other nations of course," Temari answered as if the question was obvious, and it was, how else would they get something aside getting it from another country. The fan user began walking further into the building, "now come on."

Naruto followed his companion as she led him over to a steel plate with a handle on it, an entrance of some kind. His believe was proven correct when Temari had him help her in opening the entrance.

They climbed down using a latter that was located on one side and found themselves in a tunnel. It looked unnatural due to how smooth the walls were and Naruto had to wonder how it was made.

"These tunnels were cut out using wind chakra," Temari answered when he voiced his question. She smirked at him, "our boast about having the best wind users in the world wasn't an exaggeration, you know?"

She led him through the tunnel; there was only one path so it was rather easy to follow. Up ahead Naruto noticed one of the large pipes was also following the tunnel, he could see moisture dripping off of it and realized it the tunnel was actually damp. It was not something he expected to find in Suna, given how hot and dry it remained all year.

When they reached the end of the tunnel Naruto could not help but let a gasp escape him. Seeing and hearing his reaction, Temari smirked, "welcome to where you'll be training, Naruto-kun."

(One Month later…Unknown Location)

"Are you positive of this information Kabuto-kun?" Asked Orochimaru as he grit his teeth. The pain he was in was getting more and more unbearable as time passed. He knew that if he did not choose a body soon he would die.

Kabuto pushed up his glasses and hid his worry of his master's condition as he gave his report. "Yes it is. This information was given to us by Danzo so I assume it is correct."

"I see…" Orochimaru knew that Danzo was not to be trusted, however the man still had his uses and the Snake Sannin knew that for the moment he still had his uses to Danzo. "So, Uzumaki has gone on a training trip with my old teammate Jiraiya. Kukuku, this may be the opportunity we are looking for. With that blasted brat gone and Konoha's shinobi still stretched too thin from our invasion there is no one among them who is a match for our shinobi."

"Shall I send the Sound Four to get him?" Kabuto asked.

"No, they still have a use for me that I plan on using right now. I want you to go with Kimimaro and Guren."

"Guren!" Kabuto actually looked surprised. "Are you sure that is a wise idea Orochimaru-sama, we both of her…dislike towards me."

"Kukuku, she is also my second most loyal servant after you Kabuto-kun," Orochimaru chuckled, truthfully he found the girls rivalry with his second in command amusing. "She will do as asked."

Kabuto looked unsure for a second before he bowed, "It shall be done Orochimaru-sama."

It was just another day in Konoha for Team Seven as they walked out of the missions building, having just finished their quota of D rank missions for the day. Even after several months since the invasion there were still a lot more D-ranks than before, and Genin teams like theirs, Eight and Ten were the ones who were usually forced to take them.

Kakashi did not even bother to look up from his book as spoke, "Now that all of our D rank missions are done I'm giving you guys the day off today."

Sakura looked over at her sensei. "Kakashi-sensei I was wondering, where is Naruto? I haven't seen him on our team ever since the Chunin Exams."

Kakashi looked up from his book to see his two remaining squad members looking at him in interest. He thought about whether or not he should tell them but figured out they would learn soon enough from one of the blonds friends anyways. "He left with Jiraiya-sama two days ago to go on a training trip. So you won't see him for three years. Anyways, you guys are dismissed."

As he watched Kakashi disappear in a puff of smoke Uchiha Sasuke clenched his fists. Why is the dobe getting special training when I'm the one who needs to become stronger! Why is it that ever since I joined this damn team he's been getting stronger while I've just been standing still! These thoughts that his mind was taking him was infuriating him even more. Ever since he had joined Team Seven Naruto had made him feel inferior at every turn. And now the dobe was getting trained by one of the strongest ninja in the village!

"Um…Sasuke-kun?" asked Sakura, unsure of whether she should say anything as she noticed Sasuke's clenched fists bleeding.

"What!" Sasuke growled as he glared at the pink haired girl. His Sharingan eyes active and giving him a frightening and hateful appearance.

Sakura took a step back for a moment before steeling herself. "I…I was just wondering if you were alright. You seem well…" she trailed off at the end, not sure what she should say to him.

"I'm fine." Sasuke grunted as he spun on his heel and walked away.

For once Sakura did not follow him and try to get a date. The look he had cast her was frightening, she knew Sasuke had always been cold, to her and everyone else. But that look just now had been so filled with hate resentment that for the first time in her life Sakura had felt scared of her crush. She stared after where he had stalked off before slowly turning and making her way to her own house.

What happened to you, Sasuke-kun?

As Sasuke made his way into his clan compound he glared at everything in sight. All of it, this entire was a reminder of how his brother had killed his clan and how he was still not strong enough to avenge them. Every day he would look at this place, a place that was once so full of life, and was now a grave yard reminded him of his still constant failure. He used this place and the memories that came with it to fuel his hatred of Itachi. However, even after all this time, even though his hatred burned even more strongly than it ever had…

… It still wasn't enough.

It was like no matter what he did, he never got any stronger. Meanwhile Itachi was getting farther and farther away, and pretty soon he would never get his revenge.

Sasuke opened the door to his clan compound and made his way to the kitchen so he could grab a bite to eat before getting to back his training. However, when he came back from the kitchen he was shocked to find someone else in his house.

"Hello Sasuke-kun, it's been a while since we've last seen each other know?" Kabuto asked with a small smile.

"How did you get into my house?" Sasuke asked wearily, he was not sure what was going on but he remembered who this was. "Kabuto."

"You remembered my name," Kabuto gave a pleasant smile that seemed more mocking then anything. "I am so pleased to know you didn't forget me."

"You didn't answer the question," Sasuke ground out, his left hand went into his kunai pouch. Something was off here; he could feel something different about the white haired Genin before him. Some kind of change had come over him, and it was unsettling to Sasuke.

"Do you still desire power?" asked Kabuto, hiding his smile of victory when he saw Sasuke stiffen. "If you want, my master can give you power."

"Your master?" asked Sasuke, narrowing his eyes at who he thought was still just a Genin. "If your master trained someone as weak as you, then I doubt I need them."

He was stopped from saying anything further when Kabuto disappeared and reappeared at his side, fast enough that Sasuke had not even seen him, his smile still in place. "I assure I am far better than I let others believe." Kabuto turned away. "However, if you do not want Orochimaru-sama to help you with your goals of getting strong enough to kill your brother…"

"Wait!" Sasuke said as he Kabuto began to walk out of his house. When Orochimaru's right hand man stopped and turned around Sasuke started again. "He can offer me the power I want?"

"Of course," Kabuto smiled, it seemed his master was right, the boy could not think of anything other than power. "Orochimaru-sama has asked me to tell you that he is willing to train you, and give you all the power that Konoha has denied you."

"Why?" Sasuke asked, his eyes narrowing in suspicion.

"Who can say," Kabuto shrugged, "I can't speak for Orochimaru-sama, maybe you just remind him of himself, or perhaps he wants your help and is willing to give you what you want so he gets what he wants." There was no real need to beat around the bush with Sasuke, Kabuto would not tell him that Orochimaru wanted to possess his body but what he said was close enough to the truth. Orochimaru did want something from the boy after all.

"Even though my cursed seal has been sealed?" a hand went to Sasuke's neck, where the cursed seal could be seen, and the counter-seal around it clearly visible.

"Yes, I heard about that." Kabuto paused. "You're fortunate that your cursed seal is only in its first stage. Once we upgrade your seal to its stage two form, the other seal will be overpowered." When Sasuke did not say anything Kabuto began sinking into the ground again. "I'll give you a few days to think about it. If you wish for the power Orochimaru-sama can give you then come find me two miles outside of the north gate in one week."

Sasuke watched as the white haired traitor disappeared, his thoughts centered on the man's offer.

(One Week later…)

It was nearing the end of the week long time frame that Kabuto had given Sasuke. During that time the raven haired avenger had actually thought about what he wanted to do for a long time. Surprisingly, coming up with the answer was harder than he thought. Every time he had thought of taking up Orochimaru on his offer his mind would replay images of his time on Team Seven.

Even if he refused to admit it to anyone else but himself, he had more fun being on Team Seven than he had for several years. His time with Kakashi, Naruto and even Sakura had been more pleasant than he would care to let on. Team Seven had become something of a family to him.

In the end he had been forced to ask himself. What did he want in life? Did he want to stay here? In a place where he could be happy? A place where he had friends? Or at least as close to friends as was possible for him.

Or did he want to go to the person who could offer him power? Enough power to crush Itachi. Did he still want to go after his brother and avenge his clan?

He looked at the Team Seven photo on his desk. Kakashi was in the back, book noticeably absent and an eye smile on his face. Sakura was in the middle giving the camera the peace sign and had a rather large smile on her face. Naruto stood on her left, offering a small, content grin. And he was on the right, glaring at Naruto.

He stared at the picture has he thought about what decision he should make.

He placed the photo face down.

He grabbed his back pack.

And left…

…Because in the end, he was an avenger.

"Sasuke-kun."

Sasuke looked up to see Haruno Sakura standing in front of him, he should have known that she would know what he was up to, the girl had some kind of blood hound sense. "Why are you prowling around in the middle of the night?" he asked without stopping, passing her by as she stared at the ground.

"This is the only exit in the village that's not guarded at night," Sakura said, getting Sasuke to stop. "I knew if you were going to leave…all I would have to do was wait here."

"Get out of here and go back to sleep Sakura," Sasuke said.

Sakura began to sniff and cry as she turned her head to look at him, "Why won't you say anything to me? Why do you always keep so quiet? You never say a single word to me…"

Sasuke sighed, not even sure why he was talking to her, maybe it was because even if she was annoying, she was still his teammate… and friend. "I told you; I don't need your help, don't try to look after me."

As Sasuke began to walk again Sakura looked down and gave a sad smile as a few tears dropped from her chin and onto the ground. "No matter what I do; you'll always hate me won't you. You remember, don't you?"

"…" Sasuke did not turn around but he did stop moving.

"When we became genin, the day our three man squad was assigned," Sakura remembered, after beating on Naruto again she had found Sasuke on his way back to the class room. "The first time we were here, by ourselves…you were so mad at me…"

She remembered how she had berated Naruto in front of Sasuke for being an idiot because he did not have any parents.

Flashback….

"Can you believe that baka Naruto? He's always causing problems for me and trying to mess things up. It's because he wasn't raised right. He just says whatever pops into his head because he doesn't know what it's like to be punished on a personal level. It's all because he doesn't have parents."

"You think he…"

"Think about it! He doesn't have anyone to answer to, never has, which is why he's become so selfish! If I tried to do the things he gets away with I would be grounded for life, so of course I don't do them! Without parents it's the only possible outcome that one becomes an idiot!"

"…Alone…"

"What?"

"Being scolded by parents is nothing. You can't possibly compare it. Even Naruto knows what can't be escaped in this world. Emptiness. Isolation."

"W-what are you saying!"

"You're annoying."

Flashback end…

Sasuke did remember that conversation. It had been one of the few times he had realized that there was someone who might understand at least some of his pain. Not that he was going to let Sakura know that, "I don't remember that."

Sakura looked wide eyed for a moment, before she looked back down, "Hahaha…yeah, I guess you're right, that was all in the past huh? That's when it all began though, you, me and Naruto, along with Kakashi-sensei."

Sakura smiled as she remembered some of the things they had done, "We did all sorts of missions, just the four of us. It was painful and difficult at times, even with that though, I still enjoyed it."

She looked up at the young Uchiha avenger's back, "I know all about your past Sasuke, but even if you get your revenge…it won't bring anyone happiness, not even you Sasuke…nor me."

Sasuke smirked as his hair cast a shadow that covered his eyes, "I know that already. However I'm different from all of you, I can't be following the same path as you guys. Up until recently we've done everything as a group. But there are some things that I can only accomplish by myself that I must accomplish by myself. Deep inside my heart I've already decided on revenge, that is the only reason I live. I'll never be like you or Naruto."

Sakura bit her lip as more tears began to form in her eyes, "Do you really want to go back to being alone? You told me how painful it was to be alone! Right now I know you're in pain! I may have friends and family, but if you were to leave…" Sakura closed her eyes as more tears began streaming down her face, "If you were to leave, I would be just as alone as you!"

Sasuke did not even turn around to look at her, in the end she didn't matter. All that did was him getting enough power to kill Itachi, "From here on out, we all begin new paths."

"I…" Sakura grit her teeth, "I love you! If you were to stay with me, I would make sure you never regretted a single moment of it! Because every day we'd do something fun, we'd be happy, I swear! I would do anything for you! So please…just stay with me!"

"I'll even help you get your revenge," Sakura sniffed as she tried to stop crying, "Even though I don't know what I could do, but I'll try my best to do something. So please, stay with me…or take me with you if you can't stay here."

Sasuke stayed still for several seconds before turning around with a smirk on his face, "you really are annoying."

Sakura's eyes widened and she looked up just in time to see him turn around, "Don't leave! If you do I'll scream!"

Her eyes widened when Sasuke disappeared.

"Sakura," the voice came from behind her, "Thank you."

Her eyes widened even more, before she felt a quick prick on her neck and everything went black.

Naruto and five hundred clones were standing atop a bridge made of sandstone as they all worked on cutting shapes out of the waterfall. It had been over a month since Naruto had been here, during the first two weeks he had managed to cut the waterfall in half. After that his training would have been complete; however like always Naruto was determined to take his elemental training to the next level, doing the same exercises he had done with the leaf exercise.

For a moment the blond reflected on how odd it was to see a waterfall in the middle of a desert, much less the ten waterfalls that were around him. He was in an underground cavern under the desert on the outskirts of Suna. Apparently this place was fed by several rivers that had tunneled underground and traveled along Suna as a naturally made canal. He remembered the first time Temari had led him here and how amazed he had been to see something like this in the middle of the desert.

The waterfall he was on now was the largest one, spanning about fifty feet in width. He and the clones combined their wind natured chakra and began creating a shape, working together as the water from the fall began to gain a line in it that curved along and moved. At the same time he kept a constant stream of wind chakra to areas he had already cut. The line grew larger and larger as the shape began to get more and more complex, eventually taking the shape of the Konoha leaf symbol. He could not do anything more complex than that right now, but he was getting better with time. Sighing, he wiped off the sweat and water that had gotten on his face when a voice spoke up behind him.

"You know, it still amazes me, seeing the ways you take a simple exercise and run with it."

Naruto and his clones all stopped and turned around. The original gave Temari a grin, "What can I say Mari-chan, I'm just awesome like that."

Temari smirked at her fellow blond before changing it into a pout, "You know you've been here for several hours. I think it's time you did something else."

Naruto's grin widened slightly, "You mean do something with you." At Temari's blush the whiskered blond chuckled.

He had not just trained during the month. He and Temari had gone out on many dates during his time here.

Flashback…

Naruto and Temari entered the expensive restaurant arm in arm as the pair followed the waitress, who was dressed as a traditional geisha, led them to one of the booths that lined the walls. The pair seated themselves and Naruto looked over at Temari.

"You know when you said to dress nicely; I still didn't expect to come to a place as…" Temari's male counterpart paused as he searched for the right word. "…extravagant as this."

Temari gave Naruto a smirk, "The benefits of being a child of the former Kazekage. My…the Kazekage used to own this place, and when he died those rights were transferred to me."

Naruto noticed how she refused to call the former leader of her village father, but knew where her bitterness came from and so he chose not to comment on it.

"So you own this place?" he asked instead, eyeing the beautifully crafted statues, the luxurious looking carpet and the professional musician that was playing over in one corner for background music. The place made every restaurant he had eaten in pale in comparison.

"Yep!" Temari chirped as she picked up a menu. The came over with two glasses and a bottle of wine, filling them as the pair gave their order.

Temari smiled to herself before looking over at the blond and couldn't keep the small giggle from escaping her throat as she saw him tugging at his shirt. Of course he noticed this right away and scowled at her, "It's not funny."

"It is too funny," Temari snickered at her fellow blond. "You can kick Gaara's ass even when he's in Tanuki form, you managed to cut a waterfall in just over two weeks, and you don't break a sweat even with the threats you're going to have to face in your life." She gave him a smirk, "Yet you can't even wear a set of nice formal clothing."

Naruto's scowl became more pronounced, "I've never had to wear anything like this. They feel so confining and stuffy."

"Well I think you look good in them," Temari complemented. She really did believe he looked good in the clothes he was wearing, a dark rust orange hakama with a dark blue kimono that almost looked black in the lighting. She gave him another smile and couldn't but add, "Besides, you should be lucky I let you add some orange into your ensemble."

"I suppose," Naruto sighed as his shoulders slumped. There was no use griping about it now. He perked up a second later and looked over at Temari, "You look like you're used to this kind of thing."

"Of course I am," Temari gestured to herself, "between my brothers and I, I was always the one they sent on any kind of diplomatic mission. You know that. Naturally a lot of the times I would eat at places like this, or in the palaces that Daimyos and other rich nobles lived."

"Ugh, that sounds so boring," Naruto grimaced. "I would hate having to deal with a bunch of rich snobs. I've only met a few Daimyos, and most of them are fat, greedy old farts." He remembered the Daimyos from Kiba and Ta No Kuni with a grimace.

Shaking the thought away he gave her a look of sympathy, "Being such a beautiful girl, I don't know how you would be able to deal with people like that."

Temari blushed at being called beautiful, "W-well, I usually just ignored the ones that tried to come onto me. If that didn't work I would just tell them off, though it wasn't always easy."

"I'm surprised you didn't just bash their heads off with your fan," Naruto gave her his foxy grin.

"I would have if doing that wouldn't have hurt Suna's reputation," Temari fired back.

"Then you must have far more restraint than others," Naruto said.

Conversation ceased for a while after that as the food came, and the two began to eat.

Afterwards Naruto had taken the girl for a walk around Suna and they had stayed up late to look at the stars before heading off to bed.

Flashback end…

That was not all he had done either, he and Temari had sparred quite often. Naruto had also got in some good spars with Gaara, though they had been forced to take their sparring outside of the village training grounds. He had to admit that had been a good idea as the first time the two had sparred they had not only destroyed an entire training ground, by burying it under sand and having that sand turned to glass, but the amount of noise and explosions had caused a mass panic from the citizens thinking they were under attack.

Speaking of Gaara, Jiraiya had managed to help him with his Bijuu problem. The process had been a pretty big hassle and Jiraiya had actually required Naruto's help in keeping the Shukaku from escaping.

Flashback…

"Okay, Naruto, as soon as I begin the process of replacing Gaara's seal, I need you to produce a suppression seal on him and keep the Shukaku from escaping," Jiraiya said as he stared at the seal that Gaara had on his the lower section of his back. He honestly could not believe that someone would actually place a mere two prong seal elemental seal and expect it to hold a being as powerful as a Bijuu, even if said Bijuu was the weakest of the bunch.

Naruto nodded his head. This was a standard procedure for re-sealing or fixing seals with powerful entities of any kind involved, or so Jiraiya had told him, "Got it Ero-sennin."

Jiraiya cracked his knuckles before producing his specialized ink and brush, "Alright Gaara, we're going to begin now. I warn you, this will hurt."

Gaara who was lying in the center of a large seal array that had been prepared beforehand to help contain the demonic youki, merely gave a small nod, "I am aware of that. However, pain is a small price to pay for being able to sleep after twelve years of going without."

"Right," Jiraiya dipped his brush in the ink before he began to write a complex looking seal over the one that held the Shukaku. Naruto watched as the white haired man deftly and quickly drew the seals along Gaara, starting around the original seal and spreading out from there as it increased in complexity. Naruto couldn't help but notice that compared to Jiraiya's work, the two prong seal placed on his friend looked like it had been done by a toddler in comparison.

It was here that Naruto saw just how talented his sensei really was. Oh sure, he knew the man was strong, the blond still had yet to land a single hit on Jiraiya even after all of their spars. But that was to be expected, having nearly forty years more experience than Naruto; however, seeing the man making a seal that he could not make heads or tails of really brought the fact that Jiraiya really was not just some perverted lecher.

When the seal was finally complete Jiraiya placed a hand in the center of it and began to channel some chakra into it. "Kirema Fuiin (Destabilization Seal)!"

All of the seals on and around Gaara soon began to move into the two pronged seal, writhing their way up the redhead as they glowed a light blue. The seal holding the Bijuu had soon began to hiss and steam as it started to dissolve. At that same time Gaara began to thrash and yell as agony ripped through his body, "AAAAHHHHHH!"

"Get started gaki!" Jiraiya shouted, knocking the blond from his fascination at watching the seal in action.

"Right!" Naruto created six kage bunshin, all which were reinforced by the blond consciously subverting more chakra to them. They all went up to Gaara and held him down while he thrashed in pain.

In the meantime Naruto's hand began to glow a light purple as he used a technique he had created called Chikara Chosaku (Chakra Writing), which was an ability he came up with to supplement his increasing skills in fuinjutsu. The technique allowed Naruto to use his youki to write on solid surfaces of any kind. Due to being half demon, Naruto's youki was more potent than the human equivalent and was what allowed him to use this ability, though the seals would only last for fifteen minutes until they would fade.

He soon began to write a seal on Gaara's stomach, being as quick as he could while still maintaining perfect precision with his writing. Sweat began to trickle down the blonde's face as a muddy brown chakra began to bubble up from Gaara, starting from the stomach and spreading out. Naruto did his best to block off the bloodcurdling screams as he worked, and was supremely grateful he and Jiraiya had the foresight to put up a powerful sound barrier before starting.

There was no telling what Temari would do if she was able to hear her little brother's screams.

C'mon, c'mon… Naruto blinked the sweat out of his eyes as he finished the last few lines to the seal array before channeling some chakra into it, "Oni Fukaku Fuiin (Demonic Supression seal)!" the seal began to glow a light blue and the brown chakra stopped its movement, before getting stuck onto Gaara's lower back, "Ero-sennin!"

Jiraiya hurried up and began to work on drawing a four pronged seal on the red heads stomach, using the careful and skillful precision that came from decades upon decades of writing seals.

Because Naruto's ability only allowed a seal to last fifteen minutes the two were forced to constantly switch places so the blond could reapply the suppression seal each time it dissolved. They would have found a better way to do this, however when creating a high level seal such as the one Jiraiya was making, they could not actually place a seal on Gaara or they risked the two seals getting crossbred, which would cause the seal to break and the Shukaku to explode out of Gaara, an event that would likely kill everyone in the process.

However with Naruto's ability that would not be a problem, as all they would have to do was wait until the seal dissolved before activating the new containment seal.

It was three hours later that Jiraiya finally finished writing out the seal, just in time as the last suppression seal Naruto had placed on Gaara dissolved. "Hakke Fuiin (Four pronged seal)!" Jiraiya took a step back after he finished activating the seal and he and his student watched as the seal glowed a bright blue.

Gaara's movements soon ceased and the redhead became so still that were it not for the light up and down movement of the chest that signified the Ichibi's jinchuuriki was still breathing, Naruto might have thought he was dead.

Jiraiya moved over to the red head as Naruto's kage bunshins dispelled, now that he was no longer thrashing about, and checked over the seal.

"How's it look?" asked Naruto as he came up to the other side and looked at the new seal on Gaara's stomach. It was very similar to his own, with a large spiral hiding the actual kanji for the seal. The only difference between his and Gaara's was that his seal had eight squiggly lines on the outside surrounding the seal, while his fellow jinchuuriki's had four.

"The sealing was a complete success," Jiraiya said after triple checking his work. The older male sighed in relief and slumped down a bit, "it looks like we did it, and Kami I hope to never do it again."

Naruto snickered at Jiraiya's exhausted expression, "Tired from just a little sealing Ero-sennin? You must be getting old."

Jiraiya scowled at his student and began to go off on one of his rants about how he never got any respect from the youth of today.

Flashback end…

That had been an experience he did not want to repeat, and he hadn't even done the hard part of the sealing.

"I suppose we can go somewhere, provided your little brother doesn't go all 'hurt my sister and I'll bury you under twelve feet of sand' on me again," Naruto replied, remembering the first time he and Gaara had sparred and the red haired Jinchuuriki had given him that threat.

Temari grinned, "He hasn't done that for a while, it will be fine."

Naruto's just shook his head, "No, but I'm expecting him to start up again any moment now."

Temari would have said something however a few seconds later Gaara appeared between them in a whirl of sand. "I hate to break up your flirting at the moment, but Baki wanted us at the Kazekage tower."

Both Naruto and Temari blushed as Gaara described of their conversation as flirting in such a monotone way. Honestly, how he could just say something like that without any inflection in his voice and not even a twitch of his face was disconcerting.

"You wanted to see us Baki-sensei?" asked Temari as she, Naruto and Gaara entered the room. The three noticed that Kankuro was already there.

"Yes," Baki looked at them and everyone, even Naruto could see a few stress lines signifying something happened. "We have just received a request from Konoha, asking us to send some back up for a squad of ninja that are going after one of their own who either left or was captured."

Baki looked at the three of them, "You four are to head towards Konoha and assist a squad with Chunin Nara Shikamaru in command with the retrieval of Uchiha Sasuke."