Chapter 6 : Human Puppets, bombing transvestites and rescuing a Kage!

Jiraiya looked at his student and shook his head, "so… another bounty eh?"

Naruto nodded as he sealed up all of his equipment in several scrolls containing weapons, seals, medical supplies, and anything else he could think of, and placed them in the containment seals on his pouches, "I don't really need the money or experience but I hear this guys been terrorizing a small mining town."

Jiraiya smirked at his student, "well just make sure you are careful and don't get cocky. You may be powerful, but even the strongest of people can be taken down."

"You know you tell me that every time I leave," Naruto said with an amused smirk, "you worried about your precious student?"

"Worried that I might not have any new material for my books if you go and get yourself killed," Jiraiya shot back as they went through their usual banter.

"You do know if I see any material that I even suspect has me or the girls in I will castrate you right?" questioned the blond with a sadistic grin on his face.

Jiraiya snorted, "kind of hard to find out when you refuse to read my work."

Naruto shrugged, "I'll just have your publisher tell me, after all ever since my novel came out he's liked me more than you." Jiraiya gave him a mock glare as Naruto returned it with a cheeky grin, "I'll probably be gone a few weeks so don't wait up."

"Yeah whatever," Jiraiya waved him off, "just get going…"

Naruto grinned as he left their small hotel room.

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Two people were walking through the desert towards Suna, and while they were both wearing the same uniforms they couldn't be more different. One of them had blond hair that was tied in a ponytail and had a large piece of hair hanging over one side of his face to cover his eye with a large straw hat that was covering his head and had stringers falling around it. The other person was short and had a hunched over back and was wearing a bandana over his mouth, covering the lower half of his face so that all you could see were his black eyes. On top of his head was a straw hat with a single tassel, which he used to cover and hide the rest of his face. Both of them were wearing black cloaks with red clouds, the clothing of Akatsuki and were S class missing ninja; however, both of them were so different from each other it was hard to imagine they were partners.

"I'm telling you Sasori-senpai, art lasts for a single brilliant moment before it withers away into nothingness, yeah," the blond one said.

Sasori sighed as he listened to his partner, they had been having this argument since they became partners. Sasori always wondered what leader-sama had been thinking when he put the two of them together, "and I'm telling you Deidara art is eternal. True beauty lasts forever and never dies over time, that way people can enjoy it longer."

"Sasori-senpai as much as I respect you, I have to tell you you're wrong. True art is…"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Gaara looked out over Sunagakure from the top of the Kazekage tower, a lot had changed in the past three years since he had been beaten by Naruto during the Chunin Exams. Gaara was wearing the robes of the Kazekage over his Suna jonin attire, absent was the gourd that he usually wore on his back. It had been over three years since that battle where his whole life had been changed for the better, after Naruto had beaten him Gaara had realized that the path he had been taking did not grant one true strength or happiness; and neither did it vilify his existence. Wanting the strength that boy had Gaara had begun to make amends, starting with his family Temari and Kankuro. Making amends with them had actually been easy since despite being afraid of him they both still loved him. However getting the villagers to see him as his siblings did was a whole different kettle of fish, well if they had fish in Suna. It had taken a lot more work to get them to stop fearing him and a constant effort on his part. However, through hard work and with the support of his siblings he had been able to overcome the hate the villagers had on him and gain acceptance, and just last year Gaara had been accepted as the Godaime Kazekage.

As he stared at the village he had sworn to protect he wondered where the person who had made this all possible was and how he was doing, Naruto had been his first friend, the first person to accept him, and the only person he knew who could understand him. It was only because of the blond shinobi that Gaara was able to change and gain the acceptance he had always craved. He knew that Naruto was currently on a training trip with Jiraiya of the Sennin, the rumors and stories that had spread about Naruto had reached everywhere in the elemental nations. It made Gaara curious to see how powerful Naruto had become.

"Kazekage-sama," Gaara turned his head to see one of the council members behind him, "The meeting is beginning soon."

Gaara nodded, "very well," he looked out over the village one last time before following the council member to the council chamber. The council chamber itself was merely a large cylindrical room with a circular table, around the table were 12 seats for those who were a part of Suna's council. Gaara entered the chamber and took his seat between Baki and Yuura.

Baki had been Gaara's Jonin sensei during the invasion of the Chunin Exams, after the invasion had failed Baki had been the one who had pushed for them not to do anything rash and try to get the peace treaty between Konoha and Suna. Later he had been appointed to the advisory council for his loyalty to Suna and had been the one who promoted and supported Gaara's rise to the position of Kazekage. Baki had always been of the belief that loyalty to your village was one of the most important things to a shinobi, no matter what the situation was he would always strive towards doing what he felt was best for the village. Baki now wore the robes of a councilor over his Jonin attire, he still had a bandana on his head with a cloth covering half of his face.

Yuura was the Jonin who had originally been in charge of the guards who watched the gate into Sunagakure, four years ago he had managed to work his way up towards the position on the advisory council. Yuura wore councilor robes and a wrap-around bandana, he had spiky bangs that covered half of his face and a small beard.

"The Chunin exams are coming soon," one of the councilors stated as this was Suna's year to host the exams, "I am looking forward to the results."

Yuura stood from his seat to garner everyone's attention, "as am I, however… I have received some rather disturbing information on a rumor that has come up recently…"

"What kind of rumors?" asked Baki as he looked at the man.

"This information is from Jiraiya of the legendary three," Yuura started getting everyone's attention. "Have you all heard of a group called Akatsuki?" mumbling surrounded the announcement of that name, while many people knew of them most thought they were a simple mercenary group. Gaara looked at Yuura as he continued, "they seem to be a powerful group made of nine S class ninja who is after a specific group of people, they are after Jinchurikki…"

The noise in the room increased as everyone began to talk about the information, many of the advisors were looking at Gaara who remained impassive at the information.

"Furthermore I believe that because of the threat these people pose I think it would behoove us to tighten security during the Chunin Exams, just to be on the safe side," Yuura continued.

"Do you believe these people pose a serious threat to Kazekage-Sama?" asked one of the other council members.

"The information itself comes from Jiraiya-Sama," Yuura said in answer, "if he feels that they are a threat I believe it would be best to ere on the side of caution."

"You make many good points councilor Yuura," stated Gaara who had up until this point been silent. When the young Kazekage spoke everyone quieted down, it was a rare event for Gaara to speak at the meetings but when he did they were often said with wisdom not usually found in one so young. "We will do as you suggest and up the security measures during the Chunin Exams, it would also be a good show of strength while the other nations shinobi are here. I would like you to handle the security detail, can you do it Yuura?"

"Of course Kazekage-Sama," Yuura said with a bow.

The rest of the meeting was mainly listening to the various pieces of information about the chunin exams, as well as the security measures Yuura was going to take.

"Then this meeting is adjourned," Baki said as the members of the council stood up to leave.

Gaara stood up as well and began to make his way to the Kazekage tower, since he could not sleep he might as well finish the paperwork.

Yuura began to walk through the halls of the council buildings with one of the other members, "well done Yuura," the man said. "It is a fine idea to tighten the security on the village, even Kazekage-Sama seemed to think so."

"I'm just glad I could help my superiors that I've been working for for the past four years," Yuura said in a humble tone. "Besides this information came from Jiraiya-Sama himself, so I had to make a decision quickly." Stopping Yuura's eyes widened as he felt an intense headache, grabbing his head the man bent down as he tried to get the pain to leave.

"Hey are you alright?" the other council member asked.

"I… yes I just haven't been getting enough sleep," Yuura said straitening up the Jonin councilor shook his head and began to walk again. what was that? Wondered Yuura as he continued walking.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Deidara and Sasori continued their trek across the hot desert of Suna, Deidara looked over at Sasori and had to wonder how the man could not be bothered by this stifling heat. Looking out over the desert Deidara decided to make conversation, "so those people Orochimaru tricked are up ahead yeah?" Deidara asked. When Sasori didn't answer Deidara looked out across the dunes, "it seems that for some reason he leaked our information and turned into a traitor yeah."

"We don't have a choice it seems," Sasori said after a long moment of silence, "I don't know what he's like after using that jutsu either," Sasori spoke, referring to the body possession jutsu the snake Sennin had made. The puppet user looked at Deidara who had grabbed a bag from his pouch, "will you be alright with just that bag, our opponent is a Jinchurikki after all?"

"I wouldn't worry about me," Deidara said as he unzipped a pouch on his waist and stuck his hand in. "My jutsu are all artistic, so I came up with my favorite, number 18 yeah. Because our opponent is the one tails yeah," Deidra brought his hand out of the pouch to show that the bottom of his hand had a mouth on it.

As they continued walking they eventually came upon the gates of Suna, along the walls were several dozen guards who were currently staring at the two figures that were coming their way in surprise. Before any of the shinobi had a chance to react Yuura who had come up just moments ago killed them by activating several traps. Walking to the front of the gate Yuura got down on one knee as he bowed to the two of them as they walked up.

Sasori and Deidara walked up to the bowed down figure, "Well done," Sasori said in his gruff voice, "do you remember me?"

"Yes sir! Of course Sasori-Sama!" Yuura said still in a kneeling position.

"Good, since your memories have returned you are my faithful servant," Sasori stated pleased to see that his slave seal had done its work properly.

"Alright." Deidara said, "If you'd forgotten I might have had to use my jutsu… yeah." Deidara looked at the mouth on his left hand as it finished chewing the clay he had it eat, "alright then here we go." the mouth coughed up some clay and Deidara began to mold it into a bird, "Sasori your husband should watch too yeah," Deidra said in a teasing voice. He threw the bird into the hair and held his hands in a hand sign, there was a puff of smoke and when it cleared the little bird that Deidra had molded was now twice as large as Deidra himself. Jumping on the bird Deidra threw off his hat and grinned as he looked back at Sasori, "What do you think of my artistic modeling yeah?" Deidara asked Sasori as he flew into the air not giving the man a chance to speak.

The Ichibi Jinchurikki had a date with his art.

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Naruto sighed as he looked out over the desert, everything looked the same for miles and miles. All that he could see were sand dunes and more sand dunes, now he knew why Jiraiya had never taken him to Suna. I wonder how Gaara could stand this desert, and this heat… putting his hood up Naruto started walking out into the desert. As he walked he found himself glad that he had started taking some bounty hunter work, otherwise it would have been much harder to escape from Ero-sensei. After his meeting with Konan, Jiraiya had asked where Naruto had gone off to. In order to make an excuse Naruto had claimed he had done some bounty hunter work, this seemed to convince Jiraiya and he had actually started to give the blond bounties as a form of training. Whenever Naruto was out catching a bounty he would usually be able to visit or teleport to one of the four girls who had come into his life, that way he could, for the most part, avoid Jiraiya's constant lecherous comments. It was also a good alibi for what he was about to do since when accepting a bounty Naruto would often disappear for about a week or two. Naruto sighed again as he looked out over the desert and thanked Kami that his cloak hid him from the sun.

Still, this heat is stifling…

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Gaara sat in his office after having just finished the last bit of paperwork, a part of him wondered why other Kage's like Tsunade always complained about having too much paperwork to do. Of course, because Gaara could not sleep he was able to get all of his paperwork finished faster, still he mused that it would be easier for them to just do the work rather than complain and throw it off. As he continued on with his musings Gaara looked out of the window behind his desk and frowned when he spotted a giant white bird flying outside.

Deidara grinned as he looked down at the village where the one tails was supposed to be, moving the hair out of his eye he revealed that he was wearing a viewing lens and camera. He pressed a button on the side and began to count the number of ninja on the roofs, once he got a good lock on all three sky guards he made three small clay spiders. "This village's artistic design isn't too shabby," he said with a large grin, "it will definitely be worth ruining, yeah." Deidara threw the spiders and made a hand seal, there was a small puff of smoke and the three spiders landed near the three guards. The spiders jumped onto the guards and Deidara made another hand sign as he channeled some chakra into his creations, "Art is a bang!" the three clay spiders exploded on guards, they were small explosions but each one was enough to kill the guards they were attached to.

Deidara made his clay bird dive down as he jumped off and landed on the roof of the Kazekage tower, "infiltration successful." Deidara smirked only for his eyes to widen as he looked up, standing in front of him was Gaara garbed in his maroon robe and one strap over the shoulder flak jacket. Before Deidara could even speak a wave of sand came at him from the left. Deidara jumped into the air just as the sand crashed into where he had been standing, landing on his bird he looked at Gaara who began to wave his arms as if guiding an orchestra.

The sand began to move towards Deidara as Gaara jumped on it, the mad bomber looked at Gaara and smirked. "Ho if it isn't the Ichibi Jinchurikki yeah, how did you know I was attacking?" he asked.

"In this desert," Gaara said in his monotone voice, "no bird like that exists."

"Heh, seems like all my sneaking was in failure yeah," Deidara said with a grin, "but whatever, at least now I don't need to look for you yeah."

Gaara said nothing as he raised his hands, Deidara began to prepare some clay bomb birds for his attack. Just a little ways outside the gates of Suna a large wave of sand shot into the air, there were hundreds of tons of sand from the desert that Gaara could control and all of it headed for Deidara. The sand turned into huge claws that soon made a grab at Deidara in an attempt to crush him, Deidara's bird weaved in between the attacks as he rummaged through his bag. Pulling out his hands he made several more clay birds, these ones of a more sleek design than some of his other work as he threw them at Gaara. A hand seal later and there was a burst of smoke the birds grew a little bit and came to life as they flew around the sand and headed straight towards the young Kazekage, seeing them coming Gaara manipulated the sand around him into a shield to protect himself from the explosion.

A small eye appeared just outside of the dome of sand that Gaara was in and locked onto Deidara who was looking at the sand with a smirk, "it's like the eggshell protects the inner contents." Deidara didn't get the chance to say anything else as sand began to encircle him, compressing itself in the hopes of crushing him. Just as the sand fully compressed into a sphere Deidra shot out, however, the sand latched onto his arm as he was falling down.

"Sabakyu Kyu!" Gaara said as he made his hand into a fist, Deidara's eyes widened in pain as he felt his arm being crushed. As Deidara fell he made an owl with his uncrushed hand, making a hand sign the owl grew and Deidara landed on it as he got away from the sand, though it was not enough to save the rest of his arm.

The blond bomber grimaced as he looked at the stump where his arm had been, "Your good yeah," Deidara said as his remaining arm went into his pouch and began to gather clay. The bomber realized that he only had a little bit of clay left, he looked over at Gaara and tried to analyze his opponent and find a weakness. Looking at the sand Gaara was on he realized that it was most likely specially made sand that he carried in his gourd, realizing that that was where he got his ultimate defense sand Deidara devised a plan. Molding his clay he made one of his most powerful explosives, Deidara smirked as he readied his strategy.

On the ground Kankuro, Baki, and several other ninjas were looking up at the large sphere of sand next to the smaller one, it was clear the Kazekage was fighting.

"From looking at the shape we can assume that Kazekage-Sama's opponent is Akatsuki," Baki said as the ninja gathered around him and Kankuro. All of the ninjas were currently staring at the battle taking place, looking unsure of what to do when faced with an opponent who could remain airborne.

"It's just as I thought," Kankuro said as his hands turned into fists. The minute he had seen the giant wave of sand coming from the desert Kankuro figured that the Akatsuki had somehow snuck into their village and that Gaara was battling them.

"Hurry and prepare for battle! We're going to assist the Kazekage!," Baki said as he began to order their forces, "Medical teams set up a barrier!" as the ninja began to follow Baki's orders, said ninja turned to look at Kankuro, "Kankuro…"

Kankuro turned to look at Baki, "what is it?"

"We need to consider what will happen if Gaara loses control and Shukaku comes out again," Baki said in a solemn voice. While the Jonin had faith in Gaara's abilities and did not want to consider that this could happen, he felt it would be best for the village if they took all variables into account.

"That won't happen," Kankuro shook his head, "Gaara won't harm the people of this village."

Flashback…

"You know I didn't want to say this but I think this is one of your craziest ideas," Kankuro said to Gaara who was staring out at the desert. "I mean our superiors don't really like you, and the village is deathly afraid of you. By separating from us and trying to involve yourself with the regular shinobi out of the blue like this… it's going to be hard." He looked at his brother who just continued to stare at the desert, he was unsure what to think when Gaara had told him that he wanted to integrate himself into the standard shinobi forces. Though he knew Gaara had changed since the failed invasion of Konoha, hell the first conscious words that came out of his brother's mouth was an apology for all the things he had done to him and Temari. He knew his brother wanted to change the way he was looked at, but he still didn't think this was a good idea.

Gaara was silent for a moment as he listened to Kankuro, "I know but by just waiting, I get attacked by even greater anguish. All one can do is create his own path through hard work, without being a loner and taking the easy path." Gaara fell silent for a moment as he tried to put what he wanted to say into words, "someday I hope to be like him…" Kankuro stayed silent as he listened to Gaara, knowing who he was speaking of. "So that's why I as one of the sands shinobi aim to be Kazekage, to bond with and live for this village."

"Gaara," Kankuro said, awed by how much his brother had truly changed after his battle with that orange-clad shinobi. It was one of the things Kankuro would have never thought possible, that some boy who no one had really thought much about and seemed to be the dead last of his graduating class could not only beat Gaara but also said something that fundamentally changed the young redhead.

"Through hard work, I want to be respected by everybody, I got that from Naruto Uzumaki. But up until now, bonds have been nothing more than an annoyance to the point I would want to kill everything. But when I fought Naruto he told me, he gains his strength by 'protecting his precious people' because they give him a reason to exist. I saw that strength for myself and I feel like I can understand just what he meant a little better. Hate, sadness, and even happiness, to be able to share these things with another person," Gaara looked out at the desert with a contemplative look on his face. "I learned that with my fight from Naruto Uzumaki. He knew pain as I did, and he taught me that you can change that path." Gaara nodded to himself as if to confirm his beliefs, "one day I wish to be needed by somebody, not as a frightening weapon…" Gaara turned his head and Kankuro saw a small smile on it, "but as the sands Kazekage."

Flashback end…

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Naruto looked up into the sky as he finally saw Suna in sight, channeling chakra into his eyes Naruto zoomed in on the battle going on overhead. Looks like Gaara's already been started his battle, Naruto sighed, well then I'd better-

Naruto was cut off as his instincts forced him to jump from his spot just as a giant tale crashed down where he had been, looking at the tail Naruto followed it to a hunchbacked figure. Naruto recognized it as Akasuna No Sasori (Sasori of the Red Sand) from the description Kona-chan gave him, the blond looked at Sasori with a smirk, "you know it's rude to try and kill someone without even introducing yourself."

He was answered with the tail trying to impale him, moving into a series of backflips Naruto got some distance between him and Sasori. Said man looking at him with narrowed eyes, "who are you?" Sasori asked.

"Oh no one important," Naruto said with a smirk even though Sasori could not see it through his face mask, "I'm just trying to get through to help the Kazekage."

"Then I am afraid I cannot let you pass, and if you try I am going to have to kill you," Sasori said as he took off his cloak and got down all fours to reveal that he was inside a puppet. It had a large tail that was coming out of an orange mask, the legs and arms had joints that made odd clicking noises as they moved. "I do not know who you are but if you really are here to help the Kazekage then I am afraid I must kill you."

Naruto's smirk widened, "well you know that's fine by me since I was already planning on killing you anyways Sasori." Sasori was surprised that this person knew who he was but did not show, he focused his eyes on the hooded shinobi. There was nothing about the man that would reveal the type or style of fighting he used, the large black cloak covered his entire frame all the way to the feet. The hood covered up his hair and because of the face mask, the puppet user could not even see who it was.

Naruto raised a hand towards Sasori and pointed fingers at him.

'Raiton: Byakuri. (Lightning Release: Pale White Lightning)'

A large bolt of lightning so bright it looked white was shot from Naruto's fingers straight at Sasori, despite being in a puppet Sasori moved out of the way quickly. Naruto appeared right in front of the puppet user and was about to attack only to be forced to dodge Sasori's tail, jumping back Naruto was forced to dodge a hail of senbon. according to Kona-chan, those senbon are poisonous, I don't think poison will work on me but it will still take time to flush it from my system so I better not get hit by any of those. Thinking on his feet Naruto thrust a closed fist forward as another burst of senbon came his way.

'Fuuton: Genkotsu No Kaze! (Wind Release: Fist of Wind)'

A giant blast of wind in the shape of a large fist blasted the senbon away and headed for Sasori, the puppet user managed to move out of the way in time to dodge. But Naruto had already calculated where he would be and was waiting for him with a spinning ball of chakra in his hand; Naruto thrust the Rasengan right into the puppet user. A body was launched out of the one Naruto had just destroyed, landing several feet away before standing up.

"It's been a long time since anyone could defeat Haruko," Sasori said with a voice that sounded really young. As Sasori looked up Naruto saw that the person still looked like a teenage boy, according to Konan Sasori had turned himself into a puppet when he was younger. This not only gave him eternal life but also made him stop aging at the time he had been turned into a puppet. "I will enjoy adding you to my collection," Sasori said as he pulled out a scroll and unrolled it. There was a puff of smoke and Naruto found himself staring at the figure that came out. It was a puppet, with an olive complexion spiky black hair, and a long brown cloak. "This puppet was the hardest one to get in my collection," Sasori spoke, "you should feel honored to see it."

"I see, so you turned the Sandaime Kazekage into a puppet," Naruto said as he narrowed his eyes. While the Kazekage was not a kage of Konoha they were still Kage's, a position that Naruto respected no matter what village it came from. So to see one of the village's Kage's having their corpse desecrated and used by someone pissed the blond shinobi off, however, he knew that he needed to keep his wits about him and so did not let any of his emotions come through to cloud his judgment.

"Correct," Sasori said as he began to manipulate his fingers, in response the Sandaime Kazekage came forward. One of the Kazekage's hands came up and several large wires came out shooting towards Naruto, said blond unsealed Susanoo as he dodged out of the way of the wires. He rolled to the left just as the Kazekage shot several poisoned blades at him, coming up on his feet Naruto spun around and slashed several wires apart with a Kaze No Yaibe before they could come at him. Naruto was forced to continue dodging wires and knives as Sasori tried to catch him off guard, rolling under a set of wires Naruto found himself suddenly immobilized as several latched onto him from behind. The Kazekage lifted up his other hand and poison gas shot out of it towards Naruto, covering the entire area around the blond in noxious fumes.

Sasori waited for a minute and when nothing happened assumed the hooded man had died, just as he was about to bring the Sandaime Kazekage back the area that was covered with poison exploded revealing the Naruto that Sasori had captured to be a Bushin Daibakuha (Great Exploding Clone). Naruto burst from the ground right next to the Kazekage with a Rasengan pointed at the human puppet. Sasori managed to move the Kazekage puppet out of the way to avoid being destroyed, but he was not fast enough to keep his prized puppet from losing its arm. As the Kazekage moved back a large pillar of sand began to coalesce in front of it, the top of the pillar gained a sharp point.

The blond shinobi knew what this was, like Gaara the Sandaime Kazekage had the ability to manipulate and control sand. Naruto was unsure how it was done, but given the name, Iron Sand Naruto assumed the man's bloodline allowed him to manipulate the iron particles found in the sand, possibly through magnetism or some other form of control. It was said that the Sandaime Kazekage had created the ability-based off of Shukaku itself, hoping to find a way to utilize the power of the desert without the Bijuu.

The pillar soon came barreling down point first towards Naruto, the Uzumaki Namikaze heir resealed Susanoo as he dodged the giant pillar. Naruto came at the Kazekage with another Rasengan and tried to smash into the puppet, a sphere of sand covered the Kazekage's frame to block the ball of destructive chakra. Sand shot everywhere as the Rasengan drilled into it, but despite the power behind the jutsu Naruto was unable to penetrate the protective sand sphere.

He was forced to jump back and dodge several spikes that shot out of the protective sand, moving into an impressive series of twirls and flips as the sand spikes shot out at and then flew past him. As soon as Naruto's feet touched the ground he rolled to the left, dodging another large pillar that crashed into the sand. Getting onto his feet Naruto took out a scroll from his pouch, unsealing a large torrent of water came out. Naruto went through a few hand seals before calling out his jutsu.

"Hyoton: Toketsu Ryu No Jutsu! (Ice Release: Ice Dragon Jutsu)"

A giant dragon form out of the water before freezing over and turning into ice, the great 60-foot beast turned its yellow eyes towards the Kazekage and flew forward. The iron sand of the Kazekage came to the puppet's protection, when the ice dragon hit the sand began to actually freeze over. This technique had taken Naruto a year to create and master, Naruto combined wind and water and then condensed it to the point that the water became a more malleable version of ice. Naruto was able to not only shape it into the form of a dragon but upon impact would reduce the amount of wind chakra in the technique of melting the ice before compressing the water with his wind chakra again to make anything that was wet freeze over. It took more chakra than most of his ice techniques especially since he was out in the desert, but the surprise and disbelief he saw which caused Sasori to hesitate from and ice jutsu being used in the desert were well worth it.

Unsealing Suzano again Naruto shot towards the Kazekage puppet, using wind chakra to increase the length of the blade and sharpen it to the point where only a few metals in the entire world would be able to withstand it. Naruto's blade moved in several flashes of light as the blond appeared behind the Sandaime Kazekage, Naruto resealed the blade as the Kazekage fell apart into six different segments.

Sasori looked at Naruto who was breathing a little heavier than before, "you are definitely impressive, I will enjoy turning you into a puppet."

Naruto smirked, "I'll be taking you out long before you can turn me into anything."

"We'll see," Sasori said as he removed his shirt to reveal that he was in fact a puppet himself, with two five-point propeller blades came out of his elbows and several scrolls on his back. Naruto also noticed that where the man's heart would be was a container with the kanji for here, he assumed that that was where Sasori's weak point was. "It's been a while since I've used myself," Sasori stated as he raised a hand before a large scroll detached from his back and connected to the hand. Aiming at the blond Sasori shot out a powerful jet of water towards Naruto, said blonde merely smirked as he brought his hand forward and infused his own chakra into the jet of water. He wrested control of the water from Sasori and sent it right back at him, Sasori jumped to the left as he was forced to dodge his own attack.

"Using one of my most powerful elements against me was a foolish move," Naruto stated and Sasori could almost see the smirk on his face.

"I apologize," Sasori said as he held up his other hand, "why don't we try this one." A powerful blast of fire shot out coming at Naruto who began to run away from the fire, which started following him as Sasori kept the blond in his sights. Naruto was able to just barely stay ahead of the flame and realized he needed more speed, making a single hand sign Naruto charged chakra into several seals located throughout his body.

'Kai (release)'

Were it not for his cloak Sasori would have been able to see several lines begin to run along Naruto's arm, legs, chest, and back. As Naruto did have the cloak on he did not see those so when the blond shinobi suddenly disappeared in a burst of pure speed Sasori was shocked, it was only a case of hard-earned shinobi instincts that allowed him to dodge as Naruto appeared on his left with a massive Rasengan in hand. There was a large explosion as the Oodoma Rasengan blew up and sent sand and dust everywhere; Naruto came flying out of the blast like a bat out of hell as he launched himself towards Sasori. Said opponent tried to launch a jet of flame at him but the blond merely kicked up his speed again and disappeared, Sasori looked around for his opponent only to find him coming down from above. Sasori brought his five-bladed propeller blades in an attempt to slice his opponent to ribbons, Naruto unsealed Suzano for another round. Sasori jumped away when Naruto's blade became nothing more than several flashes of silver, the puppet user looked at his opponent before looking at where his blades used to be. He looked back at his opponent who was staring at him, the man's eyes completely dead reminding the puppet master of a certain red-eyed shinobi in Akatsuki. Never in his life had Sasori faced such a strong opponent, so far he had been unable to actually do anything to the young man and was starting to find himself backed into a corner. Sasori realized he would need to fight using something more powerful to beat this enemy, or perhaps more numerous?

Sasori removed one of the scrolls from his back as a compartment in his chest opened up, there was a large puff of smoke as several hundred chakra strings were lunched from the puppet's chest. When the smoke was blown away by a light wind it revealed a hundred puppets surrounding Naruto, "I would like to introduce you to my most powerful jutsu," Sasori said. Naruto was sure that if the man's puppet body could smirk it would be, "This jutsu has taken down entire fortresses before."

Naruto looked around at all the puppets and sighed, "That's a lot of puppets," said Naruto in a voice that was as lazy and uncaring as a certain pineapple-headed Naara heir. Looks like I'm gonna have to use that jutsu, the blond thought as he reached his hands into the two pouches at his hips. When he pulled them out there were five Hiraishin kunai in between each finger, "While this is an impressive jutsu I feel I should tell you…" Naruto disappeared, Sasori looked around his opponent only to find him in the air, "my jutsu has destroyed whole armies!"

Naruto released the kunai into the puppets at even fifteen meters so that he could get the maximum effect for the sensor seal arrays. Before his opponent's even had the chance to do anything Naruto disappeared in a bright yellow flash of light, all-around Sasori his puppets were destroyed as they were smashed to pieces with powerful kicks and punches, sliced into even segments with wind or blown to bits with a Rasengan. Sasori looked down when he felt an odd prick on his wooden body to see a sword sticking right through his 'heart container', he turned his head to see the person who had just defeated him. His hood had fallen off revealing a mop of spiky blond hair and cerulean blue eyes, "it seems you've beaten me," Sasori stated. "To think I had been fighting one of the people we've been trying to capture this whole time… looks… like I… under…estima…"

Naruto sighed as he pulled out his sword and watched the body slump to the ground, pulling up his hood Naruto looked over towards the village and felt his eyes widen. He had been paying so much attention to his own fight that he had completely forgotten about Gaara's battle, right now there was a giant… thing falling towards the village. Remembering Konan's information that Sasori's partner had a fetish for explosions Naruto set off at his maximum speed.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

While showing no outward emotion Gaara mentally cursed as the giant explosive began to fall on the village, redirecting his sand Gaara created a large protective barrier over the village in the shape of a bowl. The giant and odd-shaped explosive hit the barrier and exploded, however, something happened that surprised and shocked both Gaara and Deidara. The explosion was beginning to warp towards one point as if it was caught in some kind of slipstream, everything from the explosion to Gaara's sand was pulled into that one spot before it disappeared.

"What happened to my art?" Deidara asked in frustration as he looked over to see an equally stunned Gaara. Just then something stuck into the head of his clay owl, he didn't even get the chance to see what it was before a large explosion took over the owl he was on.

Gaara watched as Deidara's bird exploded in confusion, he was not sure what had just happened. When the explosion lived out its life Gaara saw that Deidara was gone. The young Kazekage looked around to see if there was any trace of the Akatsuki member left, which was when he noticed a cloaked figure on the roof looking at him. He didn't know why but Gaara felt a sense of familiarity when he saw the blue eyes of the stranger, when the Kazekage blinked the figure was gone causing him to wonder if he had seen it at all. Shaking his head Gaara floated his sand down until he was on the ground, where he became surrounded by his ninjas who were congratulating him on beating such a strong opponent. Soon after the villagers who had seen Gaara's act of defending the village came out and began to cheer for him too, despite not being hated anymore Gaara was finding it awkward to receive such high praise and affection; especially when several women exclaimed how hot he was.

"Gaara!" turning his head Gaara spotted Kankuro and Baki coming towards him.

"Kankuro, Baki," Gaara greeted.

"What happened?" Kankuro asked, "what was that when the explosion and your sand…"

"I have no clue," Gaara said shaking his head, "I have never seen anything like it."

"So then if you didn't do that then who did?" asked Baki.

The three of them were silent amongst the cheering, none of them had an answer to that. Deciding not to worry about that for now Gaara looked out at the people who were cheering his name, a small smile graced his lips. It was this kind of recognition and desire he had longed for, to be needed and wanted by people because of his willingness to protect his precious people. That brought an even bigger smile to Gaara's face as he thought about the person who told him that expression, he would have to thank Naruto the next time they saw each other.

Several miles away from Suna Deidara cursed as he sat down on the ground in exhaustion, not only had he lost an arm but he had multiple seconds and even a third-degree burn from that explosion. What the hell was that anyway? One minute he had been about to enact his plan to use the village as a means to force Gaara to use his special sand so he could set his trap, then his jutsu gets swallowed up and somehow ends up exploding on him. The very thought that his art could do that sounded ridiculous, and yet it had somehow happened.

"DEIDARA-SENPAI!"

Deidara cursed as he turned to Akatsuki's newest member, Tobi was an oddball who wore an orange spiral mask centered around his right eye whole. He didn't know anything about the man other than he was childish and annoying, "What do you want!" Deidara asked with a glare on his face.

"Ohoh Senpai is mad!" Tobi yelled as he threw his hands in the air and began to run around in circles.

"Tobi I swear if you-"

"Leader-sama wants a report on the one tails."

Deidara turned to the man who interrupted him, Zetsu was a man who looked like he had been swallowed by a plant and had just his head sticking out. One half of him was white while the other was black, it had been a common joke among Akatsuki that this showed that Zetsu was half good and half evil. Of course, there was some truth to that, the white side was fairly polite and not as interested in fighting while the black side was a lot more violent and liked to feast on human flesh.

"I wasn't able to get the Ichibi," Deidara said, "But it wasn't my fault yeah," he added hastily as he held his one good arm out in defense. "I was just about to capture him with my high yield C3 when it got sucked into some kind of worm hole, it was weird yeah. And then my own bird exploded and if it wasn't for a quick Kariwimi I would be dead yeah…"

As Deidara explained what happened 'Tobi' had gone silent, his explosion was sucked up? Why does that sound so familiar…

"What about Sasori where is he?" asked Zetsu.

"Don't know," Deidara shrugged, "I didn't see him yeah."

"This is not good, we will need to report this to Pain-Sama," Zetsu spoke

"Don't worry Tobi will tell him!" Tobi shouted out as he waved an arm around, "after all Tobi is a good boy!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It was night and Gaara was currently walking down the hall of the Kazekage tower to finish the paperwork that this incident was going to cause, he would also have to send a letter to Konoha letting them know Akatsuki was on the move. Gaara stayed up like this most nights anyway, since he had the Ichibi inside of him Gaara could not sleep lest the giant Tanuki takes over and goes on a rampage. Though he had gotten used to not sleeping, walking up to his door Gaara tensed at feeling a presence already inside. Being cautious Gaara opened the door and stepped inside as he summoned his sand in case he had to fight, the sand returned to his gourd as soon as he saw who it was. It was the shinobi who he was positive had helped him sitting at his desk with his feet propped onto it, the one Gaara was sure had used that odd jutsu.

"Who are you?" Gaara asked wearily, just because this guy had helped him did not automatically make him a friend.

"I'm rather hurt that you would talk to a friend in such a way Gaara," the cloaked figure said as he stood up. Gaara tensed as the man walked away from the desk, only for his hands to fall slack at his side as the man removed his hood and face mask.

"Naruto?" Gaara questioned and though it was still emotionless, those who knew Gaara could tell he was surprised.

Naruto grinned, "It's been a long time Gaara, a little over three years if I'm not mistaken."

Gaara blinked once, twice, thrice, "that was you who helped me wasn't it?"

"Of course," Naruto said with a smirk, "I was on my way to visit since I had just captured a bounty near here when I saw your battle." Naruto shrugged as he walked up to Gaara, "I decided to step in when I saw that large explosion, which reminds me," Naruto reached into his pocket and pulled out a scroll. He put it out to Gaara who was looking at it, "inside is the person who was that man's partner I believe. He had been standing just outside the gates as I was making my way in, I believe he is a shinobi that was once a part of Suna and figured you may want his body back."

Gaara took the scroll and noticed that it had the kanji for 'puppet' on it, "I will give this to my morticians later." Gaara walked over to his desk and set the scroll down before turning back to Naruto, "it is good to see you again 'Namikaze'."

Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "so you know about that eh?"

Gaara actually smirked, "I doubt there is a single person within the elemental nations who have not heard of the rebirth of the Kiroii Senkou. Word traveled to Suna after Tsunade made a public announcement of your heritage to the people of Konoha."

"I bet that went over well," Naruto said with a grimace, "I wonder how they reacted?"

"I'm afraid I couldn't tell you since I was not there," Gaara said as he sat down at his desk. The young Kazekage looked over at Naruto again, it was obvious the blond had not been here just for a visit. The timing between the attack and Naruto's rescue was far too convenient for the blond to have just arrived for a visit. But Gaara saw that it was equally obvious his first and possibly best friend did not want to talk about how he knew Akatsuki would attack, and while a part of Gaara wanted to ask about his knowledge on Akatsuki, another part decided to trust in his friend. "I hear you have been training with Jiraiya of the Sennin," Gaara said as he gestured to a seat in front of his desk.

Naruto grinned as he sat down, "yeah I am, it's pretty awesome actually…"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It was a beautiful and peaceful day in Konoha as the sun began to rise, however one Tsunade Senju was not awake to see it. Said blond Hokage was currently sleeping with her head on her desk, sake bottles littered both her table and the floor. Her head was lying on the paperwork that she did not do last night, it had a decent amount of drool on it ruining the ink and ensuring Tsunade would have to rewrite it. However, Tsunade noticed none of this as she was blissfully unaware until the door to her office slammed open.

"TSUNADE-SAMA!"

"WHA! I WASN'T DRINKING I SWEAR!" Tsunade's head shot off of the desk as she shouted.

Shizune who had barged in was silent as she looked at the Hokage, then looked at all the sake bottles littering the floor. "Honestly Tsunade-Sama can you please not drink yourself into a stupor for once? Especially since you're on the job," Shizune said as she stared at the busty blond Hokage.

Tsunade flushed with embarrassment but recovered quickly as she coughed into her hand, "so was there a reason you came barging in here."

Shizune blinked before her eyes widened, "yes we just received word from Suna that they were attacked by Akatsuki!"

"WHAT!" Tsunade yelled in a voice so loud that everyone who was within two miles of the Hokage tower could hear it.

Shizune nodded as she handed Tsunade a scroll, "thankfully the attack failed and Kazekage-Dono is safe."

Tsunade read the scroll and frowned, "a friend of Suna…" she looked up at Shizune, "do you know who this friend of Suna that the Kazekage is speaking of is?"

Shizune shook her head, "no Tsunade-Sama I only know that he helped Kazekage-Dono sometime during the battle."

Tsunade looked back at the scroll in thought, "well at least the Kazekage and Ichibi are safe from Akatsuki for now. Though I want you to inform Jiraiya of this friend of Suna and see if he can find any information on who this friend that the Kazekage mentioned is."

Shizune bowed, "hai Tsunade-Sama!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto frowned as he looked down at the small clearing, it was near the mining town where his mark was but that was not what was causing him to frown. All around the small clearing were markers that no doubt marked graves, there were several people who were currently digging a hole for a new grave. That in itself was not weird, what was however that was there were more people who were putting someone into a coffin with that person still being alive and crying out in terror. Right next to those people was another man who like the others putting the petrified man into the coffin was wearing a set of robes, said man had a hanker chief to his face as he wiped what were obviously false tears from his eyes.

"Rekuske why are you crying?" the man asked through his false tears, "do you not like the beautiful funeral I'm giving you?" the man now known as Rekuske continued to scream in terror and plead with the other man, "don't worry despite your obvious lack of respect I will always remember you fondly." the other people were finally able to put the man in the coffin and shut the lid before bolting it down with nails. As they brought the coffin over to the now finished grave the man which Naruto finally recognized as Raiga Kurosuki began to make a speech about the person they were giving the funeral to. Naruto listened in disgust as the 'funeral' came to an end, when he was sure the group was gone Naruto walked over to the grave.

Creating several Kage Bushin Naruto had them dig the man out, they pulled up the coffin and smashed through the top. Pulling out the man who was half delirious, Naruto ordered his clones to take him to the Curi of Life shop that he had seen on his way here. He looked over at where Raiga and the others left, now all he had to do was take care of them

Naruto looked out over the small mining town as he crouched down from atop a cliff. The town was fairly small, with only a few buildings that Naruto recognized as Taverns and shops. The blond did not see any houses which led him to assume that the people had houses just outside the town itself. As he studied the layout Naruto also looked at its people, they were doing severe manual labor as groups of people moved in and out of the mines. The people were surrounded by members of Raiga's gang, which was obvious by the cloaks they were wearing; the blond counted eight in all.

One of the people, an old man seemed to be wobbling under the strain of his load and fell down panting. Two of the cloaked men came up to the old man and began taunting and kicking him, telling him to get back up and work unless he wanted to have Raiga give him a funeral.

Deciding enough was enough Naruto disappeared in a burst of speed, shooting down the cliff and heading for the mining town. Naruto soon came upon the two people beating the old man, without giving them time to react in any way, shape, or form Naruto smashed his fists into the men's heads. As they went flying Naruto disappeared in another burst of speed, knocking out every cloaked figure that was there. When it was all done Naruto looked around at the stunned figures of the people in the town.

"I suggest all of you head home for now," Naruto spoke up in a clear voice that rang across the town. "This place is no doubt going to become a battlefield and I do not wish for any of you to be caught in the crossfire, please make way to your homes."

The people looked at him like he had grown a second head before they looked at each other. Not knowing what else to do they followed Naruto's advice and started leaving, as they were, another group of thugs appeared running down a hill to Naruto's left-hand side.

With a small grunt, Naruto kicked himself off the ground and flew towards the thugs, smashing into them with all the fury of a hurricane. Naruto began to twist and turn as he dodged the pathetic weapons of his enemies, lashing out with his own kicks and punches. The people he was fighting were extremely week by shinobi standards and Naruto made quick work of them, looking around Naruto frowned when he did not spot Raiga anywhere. He had been hoping that he could lure the man out by taking care of the members of his gang, yet he could not find Raiga anywhere.

Little did he know that Raiga was standing on the same cliff he had been before beginning his assault. "Well I did not expect to find such an adversary in this small town," Raiga said in his insane voice. He turned his head to look at the bag on his back, "are you ready?"

"Hai Raiga-Sama I am ready," surprisingly the answer came from the large sack on the man's back.

"Good then let's get started."

Naruto frowned as a thick mist came in and his senses began to go haywire, telling him that he was surrounded by enemy shinobi. Closing his eyes Naruto began to block out all forms of distraction, reaching out Naruto tried to gain a sense of the chakra being used for what was obviously some form of illusion. Finally, he found what he was looking for up on the cliff that he had been on before he started his assault, looking towards and focusing chakra to his eyes he found a cloaked figure with a large bag on his back.

Naruto channeled chakra into his legs and took off running towards the cliff, once he got there he jumped onto the cliff face and began running up the wall. There was a puff of smoke in his hand as Naruto unsealed Suzano, he got to the top of the cliff and in a burst of speed jumped at the smirking form of Raiga.

CLANG!

Naruto's blade clashed with Raiga's two in a battle for dominance, the two soon jumped away as they eyed each other.

"Well well look what we have here," Raiga said with an insane grin, "I have heard many things about you Namikaze-san."

Naruto stayed wary of the man in front who was acting too confident for his liking, "then you should know that you stand no chance against me."

"Heh," Raiga smirked as he got into a low stance with his two swords, "your more than welcome to think that. You should be prepared to fall by my blade, maybe afterward I'll even give you a funeral."

Naruto said nothing as he held Suzano in a reverse grip and got into his stance, with his blade held in front and his knees slightly bent.

The two stayed that way for a while before a slight breeze rustled through the area, which was when both fighters kicked off and began their kenjutsu match. Their forms were mere blurs as the two clashed blades, disappearing only to reappear again when their swords locked. The battle soon picked up in intensity as the landscape began to change, large cracks appearing where the two met due to the power behind their strikes.

When they met again Raiga tried to disarm Naruto, using the hooks at the end of one of his blades to grab at Suzano. When the blond shinobi found out what Raiga was trying to do he jumped away and made a slashing motion with his sword, a Kaze No Yaibe was launched from the tip and shot towards Raiga who was forced to dodge. Putting his swords above his head in a cross guard Raiga began to channel lightning into his blade, which soon took the shape of a ball.

"Raiton: Raikyu! (Lightning Release: Lightning ball)"

Naruto deftly dodged the attack before making a slicing motion with his sword and sending a Kaze No Yaiba to Raiga, said man merely jumped out of the way. Naruto appeared right in front of him and began a Kenjutsu match with the swordsman, going in with an alternative mix of low and high strikes aimed at vitals and tendons in the hopes of either killing the man outright or crippling him. None of it seemed to work as Naruto continued his assault, not only did the man seem to know what he was going to do before he did it but his two swords also gave him the advantage of more weaponry; nullifying Naruto's advantage in speed.

Naruto ducked under a horizontal slash from the man, before bringing up his sword in an attempt to impale Raiga through the stomach. Said swordsman sidestepped the attack and used his left blade to push it out of the way, coming in with his right with a slash to take off Naruto's head. Naruto leaned his head back letting the attack narrowly miss him, bringing up his blade in a reverse grip he blocked Raiga's next slash. Pushing against the blade Naruto managed to open a hole in his opponent's guard, switching to a standard grip Naruto slashed in an upwards diagonal cross that would vivisect Raiga. Said swordsman blocked the attack with one of his blades before he could counter however Naruto pushed Suzano off the swordsman's blade and made a downwards diagonal slash. Raiga blocked that with his other blade and made an attempt to slice Naruto in half, said blond jumped back before the blade passed through to where he had been.

As he charged again Naruto felt the man channel Raiton chakra into his blades, channeling his own Fuuton chakra as the two locked blades the blond shinobi was able to negate the effects of the man's Raiton chakra. The two began to push against each other in a contest of strength, each vying to push the other off balance. Raiga was the one to eventually slip as Naruto's immense physical prowess proved to be too much, jumping back the mad swordsman gained some distance.

"My, my, your quite good, you truly live up to the rumors I've been hearing about you. When I kill you I will make your funeral my most amazing piece of work," Raiga said with a twisted smile on his face.

Naruto paid attention to none of the man's speech of funerals as he studied his opponent, as he tried to analyze his enemy. Raiga was only an A rank ninja so he should not be this good, that meant he had some kind of gimmick or something that was giving him an edge in this battle. He eyed the sack that was on the man's back, Raiga had been awfully protective of it; he would bet his fortune from his book Loveless that whatever it was that was helping him was in there.

Naruto immediately put a plan into action to separate Raiga from whatever was in the bag, throwing several kunai at the man who deftly dodged or blocked them, but that was okay. These Kunai were not meant to hit, but rather to hide one of Naruto's Hiraishin kunai. Naruto took one of the frog Kenjutsu kata stances as he disappeared in a bright yellow flash and reappeared right next to Raiga. He slashed the bag off the man's back and kicked the man in the stomach sending him flying to the ground and then knocking him out with a kick to the head.

He caught the bag and set it on the ground frowning at how it felt. The bag had something roughly shaped like a human and was breathing. He undid the bag and opened it up, only to find himself staring into a pair of red eyes. "A child?" Naruto questioned. "You were the one giving Raiga that edge in the battle weren't you?"

The little boy said nothing, Naruto sighed knowing he wasn't going to get any answers out of the boy and refused to torture a mere child. He created a Kage Bushin and began to give it orders, "seal Raiga's head in a scroll, burn the body."

The clone saluted and was about to go off when a voice stopped him, "NO!"

Naruto looked at the kid again, "excuse me?"

"Don't kill him, Raiga is all I have in this world. He's the only person to ever want me for something," the boy said, tears running down his eyes.

Naruto looked at the kid as he remembered another person who had the same fanatical and loyal devotion to another. It was the person who had told him what it meant to be strong and set him on his path, Haku. He saw the same eyes in this boy that he saw in Haku's almost four years ago when he had met him in the clearing during the wave mission. Naruto closed his eyes and sighed, "Very well." He turned to his clone, "Seal him in a prisoner transportation scroll, we'll take him to Kiri and ask if he can't be given a pardon."

He turned back to the now stunned kid, "Hey kid what's your name?"

"Uh… Ranmaru," he said.

"Well, Ranmaru it's your lucky day as I happen to be friends with the new Mizukage so he may just get off being killed. However, both of you will have to come with me so I can give my account to the Mizukage myself." Naruto stood up and lifted the boy on his shoulders; deciding he didn't want to walk Naruto sent a pulse of chakra through his seal towards Mei's Hiraishin kunai letting her know he was on his way. "Hey, kid you might want to hang on tight this is going to get a little disorienting.

"Wha"

Ranmaru didn't even get to finish as Naruto and he disappeared in a bright yellow flash, they reappeared nearly a second later. Ranmaru looked around extremely disoriented until he heard a cry of "NARU-KUN!" and turned his attention to the source. A beautiful red-haired woman wearing the Mizukage robes, said woman who looked like she was about to tackle the blond shinobi but stopped when she noticed Ranmaru's presence.

"Naru-kun who is this?" Mei asked as she looked at Ranmaru with her head slightly tilted to the side.

Naruto gave her a smile, "Mei-hime this is Ranmaru, Ranmaru this is Mei-hime," Naruto said introducing the two. "Ranmaru is the companion of Raiga Kurosuki," Naruto stated as he watched Mei look at him with interest.

"This I need to hear," Mei said with a smirk as she sat down on the couch and gestured for Naruto to take a seat.

Setting Ranmaru down on the couch Naruto took a seat next to Mei, right before he pulled Mei onto his lap and began to explain how he had gotten into a battle with Raiga. Mei wrapped her arms around his neck and rested her head on his shoulder as she listened with a large smile and rapt attention as Naruto told his tale, she had always found it amusing that the blond was such a good storyteller. Even more amusing was that unlike others she knew the blond shinobi was actually telling the truth without any serious embellishing since he was far too modest and found it embarrassing to be considered a hero. As she listened to Naruto finish his story as well as his request she closed her eyes as she thought about what he was asking, in truth she was actually pleased to know that it might be possible to get another of the Kiri no Shinobigatana Nananin Shū in her ranks. While the war was over and she had more shinobi than she expected to have, any help she could get to bolster her ranks was appreciated.

"I will ask him if he would like to rejoin our forces," Mei said after a moment much to Ranmaru's joy. "Having another member the Kiri no Shinobigatana Nananin Shū will greatly help to bolster our ranks and since Raiga left during Yagura's reign the man's bounty holds no real value."

Naruto turned to the little red-eyed child with a grin, "see kiddo nothing to worry about."

"Anbu!" Mei called out.

The door opened and in stepped two Anbu officers who ignored the presence of the blond and red-eyed child as they looked at Mei awaiting her orders, Naruto grinned that the two were not surprised to see him. Naruto had often been seen coming out of the office with Mei without entering, for nearly two years and he had given more than half of the Anbu heart attacks every time he would Hiraishin here. It was good to see they were learning.

"I would like you to find someone to give Ranmaru here a tour of Kiri," Mei said gesturing to Ranmaru. "When you're finished make sure he is taken to my house, I'll have him stay there while we wait for Raiga's decision on whether or not he will join us. Also, someone will need to carry him since he cannot walk on his own," the Anbu nodded though Naruto could sense they were surprised about Raiga, one of them picked up the child while the other was handed the scroll that had Raiga in it. "also," Mei continued, "I want you to check in with some of the doctors to see if any of them are capable of healing Ranmaru's legs." the Anbu nodded and left, closing the door after them.

As soon as the two of them were alone Mei pulled Naruto into a heated kiss, having expected this Naruto returned the kiss and began to gently nibble on Mei's bottom lip. When the busty red-haired kage opened her mouth to let out a low moan, Naruto slipped his tongue into her mouth. The two soon began a small duel with their tongues entwining each other trying to get the upper hand, Naruto decided to submit to Mei and retracted his tongue to grant her access. Mei eagerly began to explore every crevice of his mouth, enjoying the sweet taste Naruto had.

Mei pushed Naruto down onto the couch so he was laying down as she straddled his waist, still kissing him as her hands began to run through Naruto's sun-kissed hair. Naruto likewise had wrapped one arm around her waist as the other began to gently massage and fondle Mei's firm butt, it was about half an hour later that they stopped their small make-out session. Mei smiled as she closed her eyes, giving a content sigh as her head rested on Naruto's chest. Even though it had only been around two weeks since she had last seen him she still missed him, the blond always managed to keep things from being boring and was able to light up her day just by being with her.

"Koishii (beloved)?" Naruto asked causing Mei to smile at one of his frequently used suffixes.

"Yes, Koibito?" Mei responded.

"Are you done with your paperwork for the day?" Mei raised her head to look at Naruto and saw his eyes' small glint, causing her to smirk.

Naruto and Mei smiled and waved to another group of villagers they passed as they walked arm in arm around the village, they had no clear destination in mind and just kept on the move while enjoying each other's company. It was something they had done often when Naruto was around, simply walking around Kiri or whatever town Naruto summoned Mei to and walked around until something caught their fancy. Eventually, the couple settled down at a small stand with Naruto deciding to go with some Beef ramen and Mei ordering a Miso ramen, as the two waited for their meal they discussed some of the new things going on in their life. Mei told him about the new batch of shinobi that just got out of the academy sometime last week, she hoped to have them ready for the chunin exam next year and was having them trained by some of her more talented Jonin. Naruto told her about some of his travels, leaving out his stint at saving Gaara; not that he didn't want to tell her, but with so many people around he did not feel comfortable talking about it here.

"You know I almost wish I could just go where ever I want now that I'm stuck to my desk," Mei said in a teasing voice as she gave him a pout.

Naruto affected a mock hurt expression as he made a few sniffling noises, "aww I thought you got to do that already or is spending time with your fiancé outside of Kiri not good enough for you." that was another thing that had happened, after Naruto had made that… movie with Koyuki he had officially proposed to both Mei and Yugito. Well, he had after he made it up to them, when the two had heard that Naruto, their Naruto had been in a porno they had been downright furious. Thankfully Naruto had made sure Jiraiya sent that letter, which Naruto had changed the contents of making it sound like the perverted sage had blackmailed him; which had not only gotten Jiraiya beaten but also had his testicles melted by Mei's Yoton when Naruto had summoned them via Hiraishin. Naruto shook his head, Jiraiya had to be used to taking a shit load of punishment to still be able to use his package after something like that.

That was not to say Naruto had been let off the hook, it had taken Naruto spending an entire week with Mei as something of a personal slave to get her to forgive him. Though Naruto would not call what she did punishment, he would often take her out to eat or make her food or just treat her like a goddess anyway so it was no different than what they usually did. Mei had also made him give her a full body massage, of course, that was anything but punishment for the blond. Though there was also that time when she had taken Naruto shopping, which he really did not mind doing things like this for her unlike others of the male gender; he would often do the same thing for Koyuki, Yugito, and Konan. He remembered that this time Mei had gotten a devious streak and had come out of the changing room one time in nothing but lacy blue lingerie. Naruto remembered the way the light blue cloth had not only hugged her curves but had been slightly see-through making it give you enough of a view to tantalize you and make you want more, but not enough to see everything. Naruto had been blown out of the store by a nose bleed so large he had gone through the store wall and blacked out,*Sigh* good times…

Mei smacked his shoulder in a playful gesture snapping him out of his thoughts, "you know what I mean…"

Naruto nodded sagely, "all that paperwork," he looked at her with a mischievous grin, "you could do what Baa-chan does and just drink yourself stupid until you forget about it..."

Mei laughed as Naruto started telling her stories of when he would find the Hokage whom he called Tsunade-baa-chan getting so drunk that she would oftentimes fall asleep at her desk, only to get scolded by her assistant the next morning. Adding onto that fact that Naruto would call one of the legendary three Sennin and the one most known for her super strength and violent temper baa-chan merely added to the humor. When their food came the two quieted down to eat, keeping a comfortable silence until they finished.

Afterward, the two walked out as Mei held one of Naruto's arm's in both of hers, pressing it into the valley of her breast much to the jealousy of both males who wanted Mei and females who desired to have Naruto. As they walked around Mei looked over at a store where she apparently saw something that caught her attention and began to drag Naruto into it, said blonde just grinning at Mei's enthusiasm.

It was four orgasms and several hours later that the two dropped onto the bed, Naruto flopping onto his back as Mei laid in between his legs while still connected to the blond Uzumaki Namikaze heir. Wrapping her arms around Naruto's broad chest Mei let out an utterly exhausted yet content sigh, the afterglow from the sex still had not faded and probably would not for some time. Naruto wrapped one arm around Mei's waist as the other began to caress and massage Mei's firm butt, "Mmm… that feels good.."

"Just what you need after several hours session of hot passionate sex ne?" asked Naruto with a quiet chuckle.

"Mmmhmm," Mei murmured as she kissed his chest, "do you think you could continue doing this until I fall asleep?"

"Of course," Naruto said as he added a small amount of chakra.

Mei smiled as she let out a soft sigh, eventually succumbing to exhaustion.

Naruto stayed awake a little longer as he brought the blanket over their nude forms, kissing her on the head the blond shinobi let out a deep breath as he smiled. Closing his eyes he let himself fall into a dreamless sleep.

The next day Naruto and Mei were walking around town later in the afternoon, with the Mizukage having a rather noticeable limp. It seemed they had gone at it so hard last night that Mei had actually been unable to get out of bed this morning, for a while, it had been rather funny to watch her try and get up only to fall face down again. Of course, she started cursing him out for laughing at her and promised to melt him if he did this again, which they both knew would happen again just like it did the first time when she said the same thing.

They ignored the stares as they made their way to the Mizukage tower, giving a greeting to her assistant and the Anbu at the door to her office. Making their way inside Mei went over to her desk and sat down, sighing as she noticed the pile of paperwork that had seemingly grown anew overnight. Naruto walked behind her and began to give her shoulder's a gentle message, Mei looked up at him and smiled before grabbing the first sheet of her paperwork and began to read.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Jiraiya didn't even bat an eyelash as Naruto appeared right next to him in a yellow flash, having grown used to it over the past few years the Sennin merely looked at his student. "You took a little longer than expected for a simple a rank ninja," Jiraiya stated as he looked at his student with a small hint of suspicion in his eyes. Jiraiya had just received a letter from Tsunade, telling him about someone who came to help Gaara when he was attacked by the Akatsuki.

Naruto merely shrugged, "he had this one kid who seemed to have a bloodline that allowed him to see everything like the Byakugan. It made him a lot harder to hit, besides I decided to spend some time with Mei-chan." While it was not a lie it wasn't the whole truth either, he did not want it getting out that he helped kill two members of the Akatsuki yet. While the blond had no doubt that it would happen eventually Naruto had no desire to have Akatsuki begin to feel he was a threat, this would also hopefully keep them guessing about who this new enemy was.

Jiraiya's narrowed eyes soon gave way Naruto a lecherous grin as he completely forgot about Tsunade's letter, "hoho so you were hanging out with the hot redhead this time! I can't say I blame you, she's…"

"Ero-sensei if I hear you make a perverted comment about her or the other girls I am going to Rasenshuriken your ass back to the time of the Rikudo Sennin."

Jiraiya closed his mouth, though his grin remained in place as the two continued to walk down the dirt road. "We have about five months left until you return to Konoha," Jiraiya said after a few moments, "I don't believe there is anything more I can teach you within that time frame." Jiraiya looked at Naruto with a proud smile, "I want you to know I'm proud of you, you've really come a long way."

Naruto looked at his sensei and smiled, despite the arguments they would get into most of which were when he made a perverted comment about Naruto and one of his girls; the man was still the closest thing to a father he had. "Thanks… Jiraiya-sensei," Naruto replied.

"This is the only time that you're going to call me that isn't it," Jiraiya deadpanned.

Naruto's smile turned into a grin, "of course it is."

The rest of the way to their destination Jiraiya cried anime tears as he complained about not getting enough respect.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Omake: Jiraiya's punishment pt. 1

It was late at night and Jiraiya had passed out on the Futon on the hotel he and Naruto were staying at, it had been about a month since the Icha Icha movie had hit the market and everything had been going great for the Toad Sennin as his fan base went crazy over the movie. Unfortunately for the white-haired pervert, some people were not happy about this movie, more specifically they were not happy that Naruto had been in it.

It was because of this that one Mei Terumi had been summoned here via Hiraishin by Naruto, the busty red-headed Mizukage had been planning this ever since the movie had come out and she saw that HER Naruto had been in it.

She and Naruto entered the room where Jiraiya was currently sleeping, he was lightly snoring while mumbling about beautiful woman not being able to get enough of him. There were numerous sake bottles littering the floor showing that he had gotten extremely drunk this night and would no doubt be out of it until morning. The two of them threw the blanket off of the man and stripped him down until he was in his underwear before tying his hands to the head of the bed, while his feet were bound to the end. The two then waited till morning for the man to wake up.

It was sometime around 11:00 when Jiraiya stirred, opening his eyes he looked around blearily before trying to rub his face with a hand. When he could not move either of his hands he opened his eyes and turned his head to find that his hands were bound to the bed, he tugged on them but found they were tied so tightly he could not even move them a centimeter. Looking down he noticed that his feet were bound in the same way.

"Good morning Jiraiya!"

Jiraiya froze as he heard the overly happy feminine voice, it was one he easily recognized, the tone was one women use when they are about to cause a pervert extreme pain. Looking over near the door Naruto found Mei standing there with her arms crossed and the most sadistic smile he had seen to date. The Toad Sennin paled but tried to hide his fear with a smile.

"Heh ah Mizukage-Dono, how are you today?" he winced as the smile widened.

"Oh I'm just great thanks for asking," she chirped as she walked up to him, the shadows from her bangs hiding her eyes and added with her smile was making her look like something that came from hell itself. "I mean I just found out a little while ago that MY Naruto was in a porno which you had made!"

Jiraiya's face became as white as the sheets he was sleeping on, "N-now Mi-Mizukage-Dono-"

"For blackmailing my Naru-kun into making your perverted movie, you must be punished," Mei said with her last words being merely a whisper.

Jiraiya felt his eyes widen as he realized what was happening and how he had been duped, DAMN YOU NARUTO!

Mei went through several hand seals before she called out her jutsu.

"Yoton: Ryuusui No Yougan! (Lava Release: Stream of Lava)"

A stream of lava was shot from Mei's mouth and hit Jiraiya's goodies before melting them.

"AAAAAAYYYYYEEEEE!"

Naruto and everyone else looked up when they heard the screams of what could only be described as utter agony. Shaking his head Naruto went back to writing his story, Loveless Duex (Two).