38

Disclaimer: So, it's time for that same old song and dance again. You know, the one where I tell you about how I don't own Naruto. And how Naruto is owned by this guy named Kishimoto, who seems set on ensuring our favorite orange wearing idiot remains just that, an idiot. And not just about ninja related issues but about women too. I mean, can you believe him? There are so many women who I believe Naruto could choose to start a relationship with – Taki from Bird, Haruna from Vegetable, Koyuki from Spring, Shion from demon – and yet here he is, still in love with Sakura, who, let's face it, is probably the ugliest girl in the entire Narutoverse. She may have the exotic pink hair/green eyes that a lot of the main females in the harem mangas like To-Love-Ru and Rosario+Vampire possess, but she certainly ain't no Lala Satalin Deviluke.

A/N: I would like to thank my Beta reader, Senjuto for making sure my work doesn't suck. Without him, you guys would probably be complaining about all of the terrible grammatical errors in my story.

Naruto: Shift in Life

What's this about a Cursed Warrior?

"...While Gaara managed to defeat Kimimaro, however, the crystal user got away," Naruto said as he finished giving his report to Tsunade, seeing as how he was the only ninja who had fought Guren that wasn't in the hospital. Standing off to the side of the busty Hokage was Shizune, the woman's ever faithful aid and assistant, and Tonton was eating from a dog bowl on the blond woman's other side.

Tsunade sighed as leaned her elbows on her desk, her hands held in front of her face. "I see, so we have no clue as to the status of Uchiha Sasuke. We know that he managed to reach Oto but nothing else."

This entire situation was turning into one large cluster fuck as far as she was concerned. Not only did they have no information on whether or not Orochimaru had managed to possess Sasuke's body, Jiraiya was out of contact, extracting one of his contacts in Iwa who had gotten into some kind of trouble, which meant they wouldn't be able to get any information on the situation from him. Sometimes she really had to wonder if coming back to be Hokage was the right thing to do.

"Do you think Orochimaru managed to use his body possession jutsu on Sasuke?" asked Naruto, not liking this situation at all, mainly because he just didn't know what to make of it. While he would still never consider Sasuke a friend, the fact was the raven-haired Uchiha had been his teammate, and Naruto had at the very least trusted Sasuke enough to watch his back. Naruto just couldn't understand why someone like Sasuke would willingly go to Orochimaru knowing what was in store for him.

'No – wait, yes I can,' the blond reflected, resisting the urge to growl. 'Sasuke-teme's always preferred taking the quicker paths to power. If he thought going to Oro-teme would make him stronger, then he would do it in a heartbeat.' Naruto gave an internal snort, 'And people call me an idiot.'

'You are an idiot,'Kyuubi's amused voice came in through the seal. Naruto's eye began to twitch violently. Somehow, he felt he should have expected Kyuubi to make some kind of comment on his thoughts. The woman loved teasing him more than anything else. She said it was because she was bored, and that he should be honored she was even talking to him. He just thought Kyuubi loved being mean.

'How am I an idiot. I'm way more intelligent now than I used to be. Fuck, I literally had intelligence pounded into my skull by Anko-nee-chan. I've got the bruises to prove it.' Seriously, having a woman who would not only quiz you on the stuff she made you read, but beat the utter living crap out of you and enjoy doing it had been the ultimate form of motivation to get smarter.

'You may have more knowledge, but that doesn't necessarily make one smart. Knowledge gained but not used does not make one intelligent, it just proves even more that you are an idiot.'

'Whatever,' Naruto sighed, not in the mood to listen to Kyuubi poking fun at him. 'I've got more important things to do than listen to you.' Turning his attention back towards the busty Hokage, he realized she had been talking for quite some time.

"I'm sorry, what were you saying?"

Tsunade scowled at Naruto for not paying attention to her and making her repeat herself. "I said it's quite possible that he has. Unfortunately, Jiraiya is out of contact and he is the only person who might be capable of giving us an answer. And even then it's not likely. As far as I know, Jiraiya doesn't have any spies within Oto."

"Wait, you're telling me that Ero-Sennin's gone off the map?" said Naruto, scowling as he figured the damn pervert was off somewhere doing what he did best, perving on women. "That stupid bastard is supposed to train me! How the hell could he just up and leave!"

Sure, Naruto had known that he would be gone while he was in Suna, but he had expected the man to be back in a few days. And it hadn't been like he needed Jiraiya to help him get the last exercise down for his wind chakra, the man didn't even have an affinity for it, after all. But that didn't excuse him from just running off to gallivanting around in search of sleazy bars where he could waste his money on booze and women.

Tsunade knew the look on Naruto's face, it had been one she'd possessed when she got the pervert peeking on her that one time. Still, while somewhat tempted to tell the young boy what his sensei was really doing, she knew that letting out even a hint of what the man was up to could force him into a dangerous situation. Instead she said, "What exactly can you tell me about the Crystal user you fought?"

"She's strong," Naruto started, frowning as he remembered his fight with Guren. "Before I had even entered the fight she managed to take out Shikamaru, Chouji and Kiba. As I said before she uses Crystal jutsu, which apparently is a combination of lightning and earth. Most of her attacks were similar to earth jutsu, though she could also create crystal spears in the air and hurl them at me. Several of her techniques were extremely powerful and I suspect they have a high chakra cost to use, so she probably has higher than average reserves. She also has a very high level of taijutsu, she was more than capable of keeping pace with me. I would even go so far as to say she was way out of my league, as it was the only reason our battle ended in a stalemate was because she had underestimated me."

"Is this her?" Tsunade took a slip of paper from a file Shizune handed her. Placing it on the table she slid it over to Naruto, who picked it up and saw a picture of the very same woman he had fought. He saw that, aside from the picture, there was very little information on her. Only a few lines about her being sighted in a small town in some country he had never been to.

"Yep, that's definitely her." Naruto set the sheet back down and looked at Tsunade with a frown. "I can't help but notice you don't have much information on her."

"That's because we don't know much about the ninja under Orochimaru's command beyond Kabuto," Tsunade said. She grabbed the sheet again and gave it to Shizune, who placed it back in the file and made to return the file to it's drawer. Turning back to look at the blond before her, she continued. "The only reason we even know of this one is because she was sighted during an incident in Suna No Kuni and was apparently responsible for the destruction of several small villages. The only thing Jiraiya was able to learn after that was that this woman, Guren, is apparently Orochimaru's most elite fighter."

"Ugh... so you're telling me I went up against the second strongest person Orochimaru has to offer next to himself." If that was the case then he was lucky to survive. Never in his life had he been more thankful that a lot of people still tended to underestimate him.

"That is exactly what I'm telling you."

"I guess that means I need to train harder," Naruto determined, making Tsunade and Shizune look at each other before smiling. "And speaking of training, just when the hell can we expect to get Ero-Sennin back? I mean, I was supposed to be on a three year training trip. Yet it's only been a few months since I left."

"Unfortunately, we have no clue when Jiraiya will be returning from... wherever he is," Tsunade grimaced a bit. For some reason, it was really hard to lie to Naruto. Not that she couldn't do it, but in that she didn't like doing it. Shaking her head and thoughts inside of it away, she continued. "Which is why I figured I would give you a mission that should take quite a bit of time to accomplish."

His curiosity getting the better of him, Naruto couldn't help but ask, "What kind of mission are we talking about?"

"A solo mission," Tsunade said, almost smirking when she saw Naruto's eyes light up. No matter how mature the brat tried to act, the thought of a solo mission was enough to send him into a fit of daydreams. No doubt of rescuing princesses and damsels and the like. Reaching into the bin for the mission contact she was thinking of, Tsunade eventually found it and set it out in front of Naruto.

Eager, the blond quickly snatched it up and began scanning the contract. "A request from Tori No Kuni?" Naruto frowned as he tried to remember his geography lessons with Anko. It was ridiculously easy – painful as well – and with a shiver at remembering the senbon that had gotten stuck in his ass for getting the location wrong, Naruto figured out where Tori No Kuni was. "That's pretty far from Konoha."

"That was our first reaction as well," said Shizune, speaking up for the first time since Naruto started giving his report.

"An apparition in the form of a cursed warrior is terrorizing the people and giving rise to wicked rumors..." Naruto took several seconds to think about what this statement meant. After a while a small shudder escaped him. "T-They don't mean there's some kind of ghost haunting them, do they?"

Seeing the way the blond shivered caused Tsunade to lean more of her weight onto the desk, a smirk on her face. "They believe it's the ghost of a long dead warrior whose come back to haunt them. Why? You're not scared, are you?"

"Pffftt! As if I would be afraid of some dinky old... g-ghost." Naruto tried not to let the cold chill get to him as he rolled his eyes. When did it get so drafty in here? Shaking himself out of his funk – and completely missing the amused glance Tsunade and Shizune shared – he said, "It's probably just some idiot in a costume trying to scare the people. So what does this 'Cursed Warrior' look like?"

"The only description we have to go on is that the Cursed Warrior is always seen wearing white Samurai armor," Tsunade said, hiding her amusement. "Anyways, because of how far out this mission is, as well as the fact that all of our Chunin and Jōnin are on missions and the few genin who could have taken it have been taken out of commission, you're really the only person we have for this mission."

"Right, I should have figured it was something like that," Naruto said with a sigh. So much for his thinking that Tsunade had given him this mission because she felt he was the best person for the job. Straightening up, he looked back at the blond woman to say, "I guess I don't have much choice but to take it. It's either do this or sit around doing nothing while I wait for Ero-Sennin to return." He couldn't train here, the few techniques he was working on on his own were incredibly dangerous, not to mention he didn't want others to know about them until he was sure they worked. Maybe not even then. After all, he needed some trump cards to use against Akatsuki.

"Since I'm ordering you to go you don't actually have a right to refuse anyways," Tsunade stated, her left eyebrow twitching at how Naruto spoke as if he could just refuse a mission she gave him. "Anyways, you are to meet Chishimo, the man who paid for this mission at the North Gate in one hour."

"Yosh!" Naruto snapped off a salute before he got a move on, hopping out the window instead of taking the door.

"Dammit, Naruto!" Tsunade shouted as moved over to window and watched as the whiskered blond landed on the adjacent building, where he began hopping from roof to roof. "Don't pick up Jiraiya's bad habits!" While she couldn't be certain, she was almost sure she heard Naruto laughing at her. Or maybe it was just the wind. "Stupid brat, always acting like an idiot... stupid Jiraiya for letting Naruto pick up his bad habits. When I see that damn pervert again, I'm gonna make him sure he understands what will happen if he corrupts Naruto."

Somewhere in Tsuchi No Kuni, Jiraiya shivered. For a moment there, he believed death had touched him.

Naruto's journey to Tori No Kuni started the moment he reached the North Gate. Chishimo, an earnest looking man in his mid-twenties with brown hair and dark eyes covered by a pair of glasses had already been waiting for him. After signing out the two left Konoha and began their very long walk.

And Naruto was bored. Ever since his graduation, the blond had worked very far on keeping himself from acting out like he used to, and while he still did it on occasion, the instance were getting more and more rare. While he had calmed down much from his hyperactive self since his graduation, there were very few things that actually caused Naruto's conscious to waver. Walking at a civilian's pace to a land that would was so far that in doing so would take a month to get there was one of those things.

In an effort to keep his mind from wandering, Naruto observed the man who had requested the mission he was on. The clothing Chishimo was wearing showed just how impoverished he was. He was wearing a straw hat, and a poncho that was made out of hay. His shirt was a standard blue gi that had a pair of green sleeves sown on. Wrapped around his waist were several white bandages that looked like someone had taken a knife over the left side and cut it open. He had very drab looking grey pants with a set of leg warmers on the bottom attached to his legs via a pair of strings on the top and bottom. On his feet were a pair of old and worn zori sandals.

The man also looked like he was about to die on his feet.

"You know, I can't help but notice that you don't look so good," Naruto commented idly, getting Chishimo to turn his head and look at the blond. "Are you feeling alright?"

"Ah hahaha..." Chishimo gave a sheepish, if somewhat weak sounding, laugh as he scratched the back of his head. "Of course I'm alright! Don't worry about me one bit! I..."

GURGLE!

The loud sound of a stomach rumbling filled the air. Naruto blinked, then looked down at the guys bandaged stomach, which made even more gurgling noises.

"Eh heh heh, I guess I'm a tad... um, hungry," Chishimo admitted.

"Riiiiight." Naruto drew out with a large sweat drop on the back of his head. If the sound of this guys stomach was anything to go by, a tad hungry was a severe understatement. Shukaku's insane shouting had been at a lower volume then this. Shaking his head he said, "You sound like you haven't eaten in days."

"Ah well, I had to pay for this mission with money out of my own pocket," Chishimo explained, scratching his left cheek with his index finger. "So I'm pretty much broke." Naruto raised an eyebrow. This guy paid for a mission out of his own pocket? That meant either one of two things, this guy was seriously dedicated to his country, or the country was completely broke as well. It could also be a bit of both.

Commenting on this, Naruto said, "So this mission must be pretty important to you, huh?"

Chishimo looked down at his feet as he walked, a crest fallen expression on his face. "It could mean the difference between life and death for a very dear friend of mine."

A frown marred Naruto's face for a moment before his expression cleared. "Do you want to talk about it?" The smile on Chishimo's face told Naruto that the guy would be more than happy to share his entire life story with him if he asked.

"It's my friend, Sagi, you see," the earnest looking man started. "We've been close friends ever since we were little. We were raised like brothers, he's now the Daimyo of Tori No Kuni." Naruto raised an eyebrow. This guy was best friends with the Daimyo of his country? No wonder this guy was dedicated enough to getting this mission that he would gladly give all the money he had to pay for it. Of course, that did beg the question of why he was wearing such old and weathered clothing. Perhaps Naruto's belief that Tori No Kuni was in a poor state right now held more truth then he had realized.

Granted, with something like a ghost haunting them he probably shouldn't be surprised.

"However, recently things have been very hard for my friend," Chishimo continued, unaware of Naruto's thoughts. "With the death of his father, Lord Ōwashi and then his twin sister died shortly after." The whiskered blond had to hold in a wince at that. He knew how hard it was to lose someone you love. How much harder would be to lose to people you loved within such a short time span? Chishimo looked into the treeline they were walking passed as he said, "And now the friend I was knew, always smiling, always cheerful has become a completely different person. He no longer shows his face in the village, even when I visit him."

Naruto wished he could relate, but he didn't really have any experience with watching as your friend went from kind and happy to a recluse. And not just because Naruto had only gained friends recently, since he became a genin, in fact. The only person Naruto could create parallels to with this guy's problem was Sasuke, and really, the Uchiha had never really changed. Even during the academy he had been a moody, broody asshole who cared for nothing but gaining the power to kill his brother. And now he was with Orochimaru...

Shaking his head, Naruto dispelled thoughts of Sasuke's stupidity and focused on Chishimo as he spoke. "This change in him worries the others, because Sagi is the Daimyo for our country. I don't really care about all that, I'm worried because he's my friend. I would do anything to help him, to bring the old Sagi back again. No matter the cost."

Ok, now Naruto was impressed. From the way this guy spoke, he would gladly give his life for this Sagi character. Even in friends that kind of dedication was hard to come by. Smiling, Naruto said, "I'm sure things will work out in the end." He turned his head to look up at the sky, so missed the look of shock on Chishimo's face. "I was once told that when people share a strong bond, their emotions and feelings will reach each other. I'm sure your friend will eventually come to realize how worried you are and get out of his funk. Who knows, maybe if I solve this... ghost case, things with your friend will get better."

He shivered at the word ghost, but didn't react otherwise. Naruto would never admit, even to himself, that the supernatural scared the other living crap out of him. Give him a Bijuu to face over a ghost any day.

"Naruto... thank you," Chishimo said with a smile. Naruto looked over at the man curiously, shrugged, then gave a grin. He was about to open his mouth to speak when...

GURGLE!

"Um..." Naruto sweatdropped as the man's face took on a Hinata shade of red. Sighing, he said, "Why don't we stop for a break and get something to eat?" Chishimo, it seemed, was more then agreeable to this plan as he sat down right where he stood, causing even more sweat drops to appear on the blond shinobi's head.

Naruto watched in utter astonishment and growing horror as Chishimo put away his sixth serving of rice, scarfing the food down faster than an Akimichi at an all you could eat buffet. Seeing such a skinny guy eating so much food was almost as amusing as it was disturbing, and Naruto, tactless as he was, had no trouble commenting on this. "Dear kami, I don't think I've ever seen anyone eat as much as you!"

"Ah ahahaha," Chishimo laughed a tad sheepishly, even as he wiped away some of the rice stuck on his face. "I know, I'm sorry, everyone's always wondering where I put it all." Naruto couldn't help but wonder where all that food went too. He also couldn't help but wonder if this was what people saw whenever he was eating ramen. Maybe he should think about slowing down his consumption of the delicious noodles if eating as fast as he did made this much of mess?

Now there's a scary thought. Naruto eating ramen slowly, not the mess.

Shaking his head, Naruto decided to get back on track and try to learn what he could for this mission. "Right, well, why don't you tell me a little bit about this Cursed Warrior that has been appearing in your village."

Chishimo stopped eating his eighth serving of rice to look over at him. The man swallowed what was in his mouth, making Naruto cringe a bit – seriously, if he was this bad Naruto swore to himself that he would start eating with better table manners – then said, "Some people think it's the disembodied spirit of Sagi's father, Ōwashi-sama." Naruto shivered a bit at the words disembodied and spirit, but quickly shook it off.

Deicing that he really didn't want to hear anymore about this ghost business for the moment, Naruto decided to change the subject. "So, why don't you tell me a bit more about Tori No Kuni? You know, like it's history and background."

"Alright," Chishimo said, setting his half-eaten ninth serving of rice aside for the moment so he could speak. "It's called Tori No Kuni because our capital is built on a lake to which the birds come with they migrate. It's always been a beautiful and peaceful place, made fertile by the waters from the lake and the many canals. The first signs of trouble came from the sudden death of our previous Daimyo, Ōwashi-sama. As to who would take over the leadership, it was between his son, Sagi-sama, and his most trusted adviser, Kōmei-sama."

Naruto had to blink for a moment as he heard that Sagi's position as Daimyo had actually been in question. Unlike the Kages, who were selected based on their strength and abilities as a leader, Daimyo's were always selected by blood. Only someone who was of the same blood of the previous Daimyo could become the next Daimyo, unless the entire family was killed off. That an adviser could become Daimyo was troubling. Of course, he didn't know enough about Tori No Kuni to actually make any kind of true assessment to the situation. Maybe that was just how they did things there.

"Kōmei-sama argued that Sagi was far too young to assume the role of Daimyo, and there were many who agreed with him. Nevertheless, Sagi-sama assumed the role of Daimyo, mainly because Mōsō-sama, our high priest and my master, agreed to act as Regent, advising Sagi and helping him govern our country." Naruto rubbed his chin with a thoughtful expression, noting the difference in the man's tone when he spoke of Mōsō to when he talked about Kōmei, but didn't say anything as he allowed the man to continue.

"Then, less then half a year lady, Toki-dono, Sagi's sister, died as suddenly as his father." Naruto narrowed his eyes a bit, but didn't comment. Chishimo didn't notice his expression as he continued, saying, "Since that time, the Sagi I knew has become a completely different person. He's retreated from view, sees no one, and governs from the confines of his palace. And it was about that time that the white warrior began appearing in the capital. Rumors started to spread about Ōwashi-sama's death, that it was not a natural one. People began to say that the white warrior was, in fact, the spirit of Ōwashi-sama, come back to earth to reek vengeance on the traitors who murdered him."

Naruto gulped, an action which Chishimo thankfully did not notice. Unfortunately for the blond, someone else did and had no problems teasing him.

'You're such a baby Naruto.'

A growl almost escaped his lips at the teasing sound of Kyuubi's face. No one called him a baby! Fortunately he was able to keep it internal. It wouldn't do for Chishimo to think he was some kind of psychopath, after all.

'I am not a baby! I've just... never dealt with real ghosts before.'

Within the confines of his mind, Kyuubi giggled. 'It's alright to feel frightened. After all, you may be a big bad shinobi, but you're still a kid. If you want, you can come into the seal and I'll provide you with some succor, Na-ru-to-kun.'

'Guh...' Naruto shivered at the way Kyuubi spoke his voice. Stupid Bijuu, trying to act all sexy to mess with his mind. What's worse was that he was almost tempted to do as she said. Almost.

His actions did not go unnoticed, however, as Chishimo watched Naruto shiver with a bit of worry. "Are you alright, Naruto-san?" he asked, sounding concerned. "You look a little..." actually, Chishimo really couldn't come up with a proper way to describe how Naruto looked. His face looked pale and he had broken out into a cold sweat. At the same time, his cheeks were suffused with red, almost as if he was blushing. Not able to think of anything, the man finished lamely with, "Um, well, you look like you're not yourself."

"I'm fine," Naruto was, shivering a bit more as his fear of ghosts and embarrassment at Kyuubi's words warred within his mind. Doing his best to shake them both off, he said, "just remembering something is all." Not wanting Chishimo to question him anymore – and needing to speak of something, anything, so that he could ignore the giggling within his mind – Naruto changed the subject. "I'm not really sure I believe this Cursed Warrior is actually a ghost."

When in doubt, go with denial.

"Then what do you think this Cursed Warrior is?" Chishimo asked, looking slightly skeptical. The man seemed to be somewhat superstitious. Not that Naruto could say anything, much as he may try to deny it, the blond had always believed in – and been deathly afraid of – ghosts.

"It's quite possible that this ghost is the work of someone who is looking to spread chaos in your country to gain power," Naruto said, trying to think through this logically. He refused to believe that a ghost was actually involved. Though this could have been more out of fear then actually believing his own words.

"You think so?" Chishimo asked, surprise evident on his features.

"Yes," Naruto stated, more to himself than Chishimo.

"But who would do such a thing?"

Naruto was beginning to suspect this man was as naïve as he used to be. There were always greedy people who would be more than willing to kill others if it got them what they wanted. Hell, there were people who would do even more despicable things if it allowed them to accomplish their goals. Naruto's mind instantly went to Orochimaru, who was willing to defile the previous Hokages by resurrecting them from the grave and forcing them to fight against their village. If there were people out there who were willing to commit atrocities like that, then there had to be hundreds of people who were killing someone and pretend to be his deceased spirit.

"Whoever had the most to gain from Ōwashi's death," Naruto said, pausing in thought as he reviewed all of the information that had just been given to him. He looked over at Chishimo before continuing. "From what you've told me, there are two people here who stand to gain the most. The High Priest, Mōsō, could have –"

"My master is a good and virtuous man!" Chishimo interrupted Naruto, some anger lacing his voice. The blond was actually taken aback by the venom in the man's voice. From the way he was talking, one would think Naruto had just insulted his ancestors. Before the blond Chunin could even think of speaking, Chishimo continued, saying. "He couldn't be involved in this!"

Naruto looked at the man before shrugging. It was obvious Chishimo was biased towards this Mōsō guy, but the blond knew he had to look at everything objectively. Facts were facts, and even if Chishimo firmly believed that his master would never be involved in a crime like this, there was always the possibility that the man he served was simply lying to him in order to gain his trust. Such things were not uncommon. Still, he said nothing more on the man's master, not wanting to anger him.

Instead, he said, "Then there is also Kōmei. It is quite possible that he assassinated your Daimyo to gain power, then got angry when it didn't work." Considering the Daimyo's adviser had been considered for ascension to Daimyo himself, it was a very plausible theory. And it was clear that this was the one Chishimo believed.

"It's true, he's been complaining bitterly ever since Sagi-sama was chosen over him," Chishimo stated firmly. His eyes seemed to blaze with conviction, or desparation as he grasped at straws. It was hard to tell with him. "I wouldn't put it past him to manufacture the Cursed Warrior himself, and then started these evil rumors."

"Well, let's not get ahead of ourselves," Naruto said, bringing Chishimo down from his fanatical high. It was obvious to Naruto that the earnest man truly believed Kōmei was responsible, but that was more of a by-product of his belief that his master, Mōsō was too just to be involved in something like an assassination. Naruto had no such beliefs one way or the other, and until he had more clues with which to go on, would hold them both in suspicion until one or the other was proven innocent or guilty.

After all, a ninja must always look underneath the underneath.

After the first few days of travel, Naruto ended up growing tired of the civilian pace being set. In order to speed up their progress and get to Tori No Kuni faster, he had taken to carrying Chishimo piggyback. That way he could use his chakra enhanced speed to blaze a trail to the man's country. With the pace the blond had set – the kind of pace which only the likes of Maito Gai and Rock Lee would ever bother going – they arrived in the capital of Tori No Kuni within two weeks, instead of the standard month.

Naruto had to admit the country was beautiful just as Chishimo had said. The capitol possessed a lot more flora than most other cities, giving life to the otherwise standard buildings and dirt roads. Much of the city itself had walls following the roadways, creating an interconnecting set of paths that were much like a maze. With his unnaturally sharp eyes, Naruto could see the large hedging surrounding what the blond assumed was the palace, even though it was the dead of night. Running into the capitol city with Chishimo still on his back, the blond followed the path set for him by large plaster walls.

"So which way is it to your master's place?" asked Naruto as his eyes moved back and forth across the city. The entire place, except for the palace in the center, all looked the exact same to him. Even if Naruto knew where Mōsō's house was, he would probably get lost because everything looked identical.

"It's just a few blocks ahead. If you go right at this next intersection, then take another left two intersections down, you should see it. I'll point it out to you when we get closer."

"Right." As Naruto continued moving the sound of a whistle pierced the night air. It was a pretty shrill noise, one that cut through the air like the wail of a banshee. It sounded like some kind of alarm. Skidding to a stop, the blond shinobi surveyed the area while saying out loud, "What was that sound?"

While Naruto did not find out what the sound was or where it had come from, he did find something else which was likely the reason the noise had appeared in the first place. Up in the sky above him was a figure clad in white samurai armor. It floated through the air above him, hovering just like one would expect of a ghost. The sight sent a chill down Naruto spine that he refused to give into. He wouldn't fail some mission just because of some stupid ghost!

"Clad all in white with a helmet and a halberd in it's hand, wearing the mask of an evil demon with the eyes of fire, there can be no doubt about it. That's the Cursed Warrior!" Naruto's right eye twitched violently. Did Chishimo have to give him such an evil and creepy description? It wasn't like he needed one, and really, listening to the guy just made him feel that much more jittery.

Focusing back to the task at hand, Naruto began saying, "Ok, this is where you get off." Chishimo looked surprised as Naruto set him down, then made the handseal to his favorite jutsu.

"Kage Bunshin No Jutsu." Two clones appeared next to them in a puff of smoke. The blond pointed at the copies he made and said, "These two will escort you to your master's house. I'm going to go after this Cursed Warrior and see just what kind of warrior he really is!"

Not even giving Chishimo time to say anything, Naruto pumped chakra to his legs and jumped, taking to the sky and landing on the roof of a building several feet away. He dashed off, hopping across the roofs as he chased after the so called 'Cursed Warrior'. Looking up at the sky, he saw that the armor clad warrior was still floating up above him, just a few meters out from his position.

He was soon forced to abandon his roof hopping when he entered a more forested area. As the trees passed by him in a blur, Naruto looked on ahead and saw that he was coming up on a single building surrounded by a small wooden fence. Without hesitating, the blond Chunin ran towards the building, coming to a stop just a few feet in front of it.

The building he was staring at reminded Naruto of some of the shrines he had seen. It was elevated several feet above the ground by rocks that had been compressed together then had sediment poured in between them to form a wall. There was a staircase in front of him, leading to a small rectangular pedestal that looked like it was used to light incense. Behind the pedestal sat a building that looked very much like the Honden of a Shinto Shrine, right down to it's architectural style. Only the scent of death that hung in the air, stale and old, let Naruto know that this was a burial sight, likely to the recently deceased Daimyo and Sagi's father.

A frown marred Naruto's face as his eyes scanned the area, glowing unnaturally bright as his enhanced vision cut through the night with ease. He couldn't see anything, and his hearing couldn't pick up any movement either. Channeling youki into his eyes, the blond's irises went from blue to amethyst, the pupils elongating into slits. His frown increased when he still couldn't see nothing, not even a flicker of chakra anywhere.

That didn't bode well.

'Kyuubi, can you sense anything?'

At hearing Naruto's question, the great Bijuu perked up. Extending her senses outside of the blonde's body, she looked for any sign of the armor clad figure that her tenant had been chasing. After a moment, a frown marred her face. She sighed, then shook her head and said, 'No, nothing. Odd...'

'Could they be masking their presence?'

Kyuubi scoffed, sounding insulted as she said, 'They may be able to hide to your inferior senses. But no human can hope to hide from me.' The very notion that somebody, a mere human at that, could possibly hide their presence so thoroughly that even she could not sense it was ridiculous.

Naruto gulped as the chills once more returned. 'So then... it might really be a ghost.'

A severe case of eye twitching was the response to his fear. 'Oh for the love of – when did you become such a coward?'

'Oi!' Naruto shouted in his mindscape, affronted by Kyuubi's accusation. 'I am not a coward. I just... don't like ghosts.'

Kyuubi sighed, then rolled her eyes and said, 'Even if it is a ghost, you can still hurt it with ninjutsu. Remember, a ghost is nothing more than a spirit. Therefore, it is made up entirely of spiritual energy. Chakra is partially made up of spiritual energy, and youki is far more potent than chakra and possesses a more supernatural aspect to it. It doesn't matter if the thing you are dealing with is a ghost, you should be more than capable of killing it just like anything else.'

'How can I kill something if it's already dead?'

'Grr! You know what I mean. Stop being so damn obstin –'

Kyuubi's words were cut off as the door leading into the burial sight opened with a loud creak. Naruto stiffened, fear coursing through him. Fuck, he just had to be dealing with a ghost didn't he? God he hated his life. Despite his fear, the blond had the piece of mind to summon a pair of kunai. He thought about getting out his katana, or even Kubikirihoucho – having a big ass head cleaving blade would make him feel infinitely better right about now – but wasn't sure if weapons would even work yet. No sense in bringing out the big guns until he figured out if they would even be of any use to him.

The warrior in white armor slowly stepped out of the doorway. It then proceeded to float past the pedestal and land on the ground a few feet away from Naruto. Said blond did his best not to let the creepy glowing yellow eyes of the armored warrior get to him. The way they were staring at him was really giving him the creeps. Unable to deal with the look anymore, the whiskered shinobi pointed at the warrior and shouted. "Alright! I don't know who the fuck you are! But if you think I'm gonna let some creepy ass specter scare me, you've got another thing coming!"

Within her seal, Kyuubi face palmed. "Is it just me or is Naruto allowing his fear over ghosts to revert himself back to his original self?"

The armored warrior didn't respond and Naruto, unaware of Kyuubi's question, decided that he had enough. With a flick of his wrists, the blond sent the two kunai in his hand soaring through the air. They impaled the chest plate of the warrior with quite a bit of voice, enough to send it stumbling backwards several steps as the dull planking sound of metal piercing metal echoed throughout the clearing. Still, the apparition didn't seem at all bothered by having a pair of kunai impaling it, as it just straightened back up.

Eyes twitching as he stared at the thing, for that was all he could call this armored warrior, Naruto decided that he was going to bring out the big guns... sword. Reaching into his pouch, he summoned a sealing scroll from one of the storage seals inside his kunai pouch. He unrolled the scroll in mid-air, biting his thumb and then swiping it along the parchment, a thin trail of blood following in it's wake. With a burst of smoke, Naruto unsealed Kubikirihoucho. He swung the blade up, letting it rest on his shoulder and took a wide stance.

For a moment, neither of them moved. Naruto's amethyst eyes narrowed. His feet slid further apart, rustling the dirt underneath, but that was the only movement he made. With slow, steady breaths as he tried to calm his beating heart, Naruto waited for the thing in front of him to make the first move.

It did, taking a single step forward, it's armor clanking together, rattling ominously.

Naruto didn't let it take another step.

Bursting forward, propelled by a youki enhanced push off the ground, Naruto almost glided above the ground as he sped towards the Cursed Warrior. He channeled youki through Kubikirihoucho, the blade becoming consumed with an intense flame of ethereal purple. Naruto dashed passed the armored figure, the large head cleaver slashing through the Samurai armor like a hot knife through butter. Skidding to a stop just a few feet behind the warrior, the blond turned around and went back into a ready stance, waiting to see what would happen next.

For a moment, nothing seemed to happen. Naruto was about to begin freaking out about how his youki didn't even seem to be capable of defeating this apparition, when light burst forth from the armor. Bright rays of light came out of the sword slash the blond had made in the armored body, from left shoulder to right hip the intense rays shot out from the inside, as if something was trying to break through the armored shell. As the light began to disappear, the armored figure fell backwards, hitting the ground with a loud clang.

Naruto waited for a few moments, wanting to make sure that the thing he had attacked would stay down. After several seconds, which to him felt like hours, the blond moved, cautiously, towards the armored figure. He stopped when his foot was close enough to touch it and frowned, then gulped. Kneeling down he grabbed the first piece of armor he could get his hands on, the helmet, and lifted it off the ground. Looking inside of the armor, Naruto paled when he saw that it was empty.

'Oh my god! This really is a ghost! This is so not cool! Why did I ever accept this mission... oh, wait, I didn't, Oba-chan ordered me to go on it. Damn that woman! She knew I would run into a ghost and be forced into mortal combat with it! I bet she's laughing at me even now! That horrid, loathesome –'

'For love of all that is good and holy, shut up!'Kyuubi snapped from inside the seal. However, Naruto was too far gone, having gone from complaining about how horrible Tsunade was to send him on a mission that would involve fights with the supernatural, to ranting about how he was gonna, in his own words, 'prank her ass into oblivion for making him go on this stupid mission'.

Kyuubi sighed, sitting down on the bed and covering her ears with as many of the fluffy pillows around her that she could reach.

"You know," she commented, her voice muffled by the large red pillow on her face. 'He's as bad as you are when it comes to dealing with ghosts and the like."

There were no words spoken, but Kyuubi got the distinct feeling of embarrassment coming from the area around her. She let out a mild chuckle, but was forced to stop when she realized Naruto was still continuing his rant, only now it was about something entirely unrelated to ghosts or pranks.

'– and when I get out of here, I'm gonna treat myself to several dozen bowls of ramen. I wonder what kind I should have? Maybe Miso, Pork and Chicken... or Chicken, Shrimp and Miso... or maybe...'

Kyuubi groaned as she buried her face in her bed. "Kami, what did I do to deserve this?"

She had not been expecting an answer, but Kyuubi thought she heard snickering. Lifting up a single finger, she gave a one-fingered salute, even though she was sure her guardian couldn't even see it.

She sighed, all Kyuubi could do now was pray Naruto ran out of breath soon. Because if she had to listen to this brat talk for much longer, then she was going to go insane.

I apologize for this being a bit late. I was trying to decide which arcs I should go with. I wanted to do one of the subplot arcs that I've never read about before, which is when I came up with the idea of doing the Land of Birds arc. I have yet to actually read any fanfiction with this particular arc in it, and thus, decided it would be a good transitional little subplot to switch from the 'Naruto period' to the 'Three year training period'.