Okay then, next chapter. I've gotten a flood of ideas for this story so I'll keep going with it until I'm done with it, because I won't even be able to think about my other stories until I do. But I've started on another chapter for Black and white.

Also, a review helped me remember that not everyone has played the things I have, if you don't know what Naruto and Keira's apartment looks like, just look up 'GTA Online eclipse towers suite 3 vibrant' on google and there should be a video tour. Sorry about that... I try not to put things into my stories that can't be looked up.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Jak and Daxter, or any other media that may appear in this or any of my other stories.

Tsuki no Kuni - Path to the Palace.

As the carriage rolled through the streets of the capitol, Team 11 looked around for any sign of Zabuza, Haku, or any other ninja. They had left the circus back at the port, and continued with just themselves. Anko was driving the carriage, Naruto was walking behind it, and Keira and Hinata were on either side. When they finally arrived at the palace, instead of the soldiers welcoming them and helping them into the palace, the soldiers were surrounding them and pointing their weapons threateningly. They forced the prince and Hikaru out of their carriage and down to their knees.

Anko cursed as a noble man with brown hair and a beard came up to the balcony at the front and looked down on them. He grinned at the sight of Michiru and Hikaru, "Why hello there Michiru! Welcome home..."

Michiru looked up at the man, "Shabadaba, what is the meaning of this? Where is father!?"

The now named Shabadaba chuckled maliciously, "I'm afraid his majesty is dead Michiru... He just wouldn't back down when I started my takeover of Tsuki. Always prattling on about helping the poor and weak, it was pathetic! Now then, just come along quietly and I promise, your death will be much quicker than his!"

Just as Team 11 was going to start an escape plan, an armored carriage crashed through the gate to the palace and a man dressed in soldier garb stopped it in front of the prince, "Lord Michiru, Lord Hikaru, get in quickly!" Anothr squad of soldiers came in to hold off the traitorous group while the man collected the prince.

Michiru smiled gratefully at the man, "Captain Korega!" Anko wasted no time in shoving the prince into the carriage and throwing down a smoke bomb. The soldiers tried to recover from the mass confusion caused, and when the smoke cleared, the carriage, ninja, and loyal soldiers were all gone!

Shabadaba twitched as his face contorted in rage, "Dammit!" He then turned to five figures behind him, "Find them! Don't come back unless you have Michiru!" The figures all disappeared in shunshins.

A little while later, coast of Tsuki no Kuni.

The carriage finally stopped at a beach. Korega got down from the drivers seat and helped Michiru and Hikaru out, "My lord, we're going to need you if we want to take back Tsuki... Also, honor the soldiers who stayed behind at the palace to ensure our escape..."

Anko then chuckled, "About that..."

Korega turned to her, and his jaw promptly dropped. Mostly because Naruto was on the back of the carriage, holding the soldiers by the backs of their shirts in his hands, and even a couple in his teeth! Naruto dropped them and let the red Eco fade from his system. Korega then picked his jaw up off the ground, then gained a somber expression, "Lord Michiru, please come with me... There's someone who would like to see you. You as well Lord Hikaru.

Everyone, curious at what he said, followed him into a cave in a cliff face on the beach. When they entered, they noticed all the soldiers sitting about, they were the only loyal ones left... Though it was the old man on the stone bed that caught most of their attention, when Michiru saw him, he ran up, "Father!"

Hikaru also recognized him, "Grandfather!"

The king opened his eyes and gave them a small smile, "Michiru, Hikaru... I had hoped that you two would be spared from this..."

Michiru was confused at this, "What do you mean father?"

The king looked up at the ceiling, "I have known of Shabadaba's intentions for a long time now... But I had hoped that he would see the end that awaited him at the end of his path... But he didn't, and a couple weeks ago,... by the time I decided to do something about him, he had made the first move... He hired five missing ninja... Two from Kiri, and three other wandering ninja..."

Anko nodded, "No doubt that the two Kiri-nin are Zabuza and his accomplice..."

the king nodded, "Ah, Zabuza, that was his name... I saw some honor in him, and in the girl he was with... But the other three, they are ruthless and uncaring... The leader, the redheaded one, did this to me..." With that, he used his free arm to push the blankets off, revealing that his other arm and over half of his body had been petrified and turned into stone.

Korega narrowed his eyes and grit his teeth, "There's no way to reverse it, at least none that we know of..."

Keira's eyes widened as she looked away, "How could someone do something so horrible..."

Naruto came forward, "I may know a way..." He then placed his hand over the king's midsection and used his other hand and put it in the ram sign, "Senpou: Midori no Yashi." His hand became alight in green Eco, and it was actually repairing the king's arm! But when he got to his torso, Naruto stopped and jerked his hands away.

Hikaru was shocked and a bit angry, "Why did you stop? He was getting better!"

Naruto shook his head, "Using that technique I can feel out what a person's insides in order to heal them better... Green Eco can heal nearly any injury... but that was too horrible to call it an injury..."At the other's confused looks, he explained, "This technique wasn't made to last a long time... if a person is in this state for too long, their body starts to break down and turn to dust. I felt it... the king's organs are almost totally dust. It's a miracle he's been able to live this long... Maybe if sensei was here, he could do it, but I'm not good enough..."

Hinata activated her Byakugan and nodded with a few tears in her eyes, "N-Naruto is right... H-his chakra s-system is nearly g-gone..."

At this. everyone realized what he was saying, the king was living on borrowed time... He should already be dead, the king gave a sad smile and looked at Naruto, "You shouldn't feel bad... There's nothing wrong with not being able to do something. If your sensei was here, maybe he could, or maybe he'd agree and say it's impossible. It makes no difference now..." He then turned to Michiru and Hikaru, "Come here you two..." When they did, he gave them a warm smile, "The reason I sent you away was to try and keep you safe from this incident... But now that you're back, It's your time..."

Michiru understood what his father was saying, "What!? But father, I can't become king yet! You always told me that I'd be ready to become king when I realized what was truly important, and I don't! I have no idea!"

The king just smiled and said, "But you do, it's just so simple a thing that you can't realize it... But you will. I have faith in you my son... I'm afraid... That I was only holding on... Until I could see you... again... But now I'm..." The king couldn't hold his eyes open anymore and closed them, "I love you both, Michiru, Hikaru..." With that, the king breathed his last and slipped away...

In the palace, throne room.

Shabadaba looked down at the five missing ninja in front of him and said, "I want them found, scour every inch of the island! I want Michiru brought to me alive, the boy, I could do with his head or whatever, just so long as he's dead..."

Ishidate looked over to Zabuza with a smirk, "So Zabuza, what do you say? A little game to see who can bring in more heads?"

Zabuza merely sneered at the rogue, "Screw off Ishidate." With that, the two Kiri-nin left. As they were walking through the halls, Zabuza turned to his companion, "Haku, I want you to be completely honest with me... That's an order."

"Zabuza-sama?" Haku questioned, wondering what he was wanting.

Zabuza looked up at the ceiling and asked, "Have I lost sight of who I was?" She gave him a confused look, "When I went rogue, it was to raise money for the rebellion... But I still had standards, I still had my honor. Then I made a compromise to make a lot of cash, then another, and another... Now I'm helping some prick noble take over a country just to sate his own greed... The only reason the little fucker took over was because the king was going to use the money to help the poor and less fortunate, and Shabadaba didn't like it!"

After Zabuza grew silent, Haku chose her words carefully, "I admit, there are jobs we do that I dislike, that disgust me... When we met in Kiri... I was picking through trash, and you decided to help me, and despite what you say, I believe that it was truly out of kindness... Now we're helping the people who put others into the state I was in, I feel like one of the Mizukage's soldiers... I hate it..."

Zabuza nodded, not speaking another word as he shunshined out of the palace to look for Michiru.

The beach, near nightfall.

After burying the king, Hikaru and Michiru had been in a funk, no surprise considering everything they had gone through in the past couple of days. Right then, the soldiers were trying to make a large boat to get Michiru and Hikaru out of the country, Anko and Korega had gone to scout out the palace, and the gennin were left guarding the beach hideout.

Naruto surveyed the beach, it didn't seem like anything was happening, but then, Kiki, the monkey from the circus, and Muse came up to him and whined at him. He looked around and his eyes widened, he was flooded with blue Eco as he ran over to Hikaru, grabbed him, and jumped back just as a huge black haired ninja smashed his fist down where Hikaru was standing. Keira and Hinata came up and got into their own fighting stances. The other four ninja appeared, and Zabuza immediately ran up and started fighting Team 11, who were trying to get past him, but every time they tried, Haku was there to crowd them back to Zabuza.

Meanwhile, the soldiers were trying to fight off Ishidate, Kongo, and Karenbana, but the ninja easily got through them and tied Michiru up, dragging him away. Naruto , Keira, and Hinata tried everything, but no matter what they did, Zabuza had an answer. Eventually, Keira and Hinata were struck in their legs by Haku, leaving them temporarily paralyzed. Naruto decided to try one last attack, he channeled a huge amount of yellow Eco into his fist, packed it with all the emotions he was feeling, and shot forward.

Zabuza brought his blade up to prepare for the attack, but he couldn't prepare for what he felt next. An interesting characteristic of yellow chakra, if one was truly putting their emotions into it's use, then their emotions and will would wash over their opponent. Zabuza was feeling Naruto's will to do what was right, his passion for helping those weaker than him, his hatred for people who valued things and titles over human life, everything. Zabuza mustered up the strength and pushed Naruto off of him, before he felt something coming at him from behind.

Zabuza turned to slice the attacker in half and found... Hikaru.

The small boy was holding a kunai and was obviously scared out of his mind. As Zabuza looked at him, he saw images of other kids overlapping him... A young Haku, scared and lonely, just trying to survive... It was the second one that really got to him, caused by the kunai Hikaru was holding... A young Zabuza shakily holding a kunai, debating on whether or not he should do it. Kill the graduating class, or live his entire life without the approval of his ruthless, cold, shinobi parents...

Zabuza returned to reality and turned to see his reflection in the water. Instead of a ninja protecting his country, Zabuza saw a man holding a sword, about to cleave a terrified child in half...

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHH!" Zabuza yelled at the top of his lungs before continuing with his slash, liquid splashing into the air and onto him... Hikaru's eyes widened as Zabuza suddenly turned and sliced the water. Zabuza then turned to where the loyalists were fighting the rogue soldiers, "I REFUSE TO BE A PAWN TO GREEDY ASSHOLES ANYMORE!" He hefted the Kubikiribocho and charged, hacking through the traitors and blocking shots that would have killed the loyalists.

Once it was all said and done, everyone was looking, stunned, at Zabuza, who just walked over to the water's edge, sat, and stared at the water. Haku walked over to team 11 and gave them a warm smile, "Well, I guess that we're not enemies anymore."

A few hours later.

Anko and Korega returned to the beach to see a whole slew of dead soldiers littering the beach. They ran over to the cave to see what had happened, only to find something that immediately both confused them, and got them very wary.

"The guards won't let anybody in, no matter the reason. I told them about you buying the circus, so using it to sneak in isn't an option..." Zabuza and his accomplice were sitting with Team 11 trying to come up with a way to get into the palace.

After explaining Zabuza's change of heart, they kept talking for hours before they came up with an effective plan.

Palace throne room.

Shabadaba grinned evilly to himself when Haku led the group of bound ninja into his throne room, It looked to be the three gennin, "Perfect! Now the gang's all here!" He then gestured outside to Michiru standing on a board definitely not meant to hold him. He was up on a walkway extending from the center tower , extending out to about the middle of the courtyard, held up by slanting pillars extending from the wall to under the walkway. The board was extended out past the path, and it was clearly meant to hang Michiru, judging by the noose...

Haku spoke up, "Zabuza-sama stayed behind to track down the boy and jounin."

Shabadaba nodded and said, "Excellent... Ishidate, come with me up to the walkway, I want to be there when Michiru dies, Kongo, head to the entrance hall and discourage any loyalists who get in, Karenbana, stay here with the royal guard and watch the ninja, Haku, go with the royal guard to track down the last few loyalists... Ah, the crescent moon out tonight makes the best mood!" With a nod the ninja all went about their orders.

After they had left and the gennin were alone with Karenbana, they soon heard an explosion rock the palace, they all smiled and broke the ropes binding them with almost no effort, and left in different directions. Keira went to fight Kongo, Naruto headed out the window and up to help Michiru, and Hinata immediately went on the offensive on Karenbana.

The petite ninja merely smirked and jumped back before disappearing. If Hinata was worried, she showed absolutely no sign of it. Karenbana then spoke from all directions, "I'll admit, that was clever, I have no idea how you managed to get Haku to help you... But I'll just kill you and end it, simple!" Hinata just activated her Byakugan, making her invisible enemy scoff, "Ha! You think I haven't accounted for that? It'll be easy to-"

*Smack!*

Hinata didn't even turn to face her opponent as she backhanded her onto the ground, Karenbana got up angry, "You bitch!"

Hinata tilted her head, "If it makes you feel b-better, I'll fight without my B-byakugan..." With that, Hinata turned her doujutsu off. Karenbana smirked and disappeared again, this time into a flurry of sakura petals. When she went to stab Hinata with a kunai, she was suddenly on the receiving end of a Jyuken assault from Hinata, who was striking relentlessly. A palm to the stomach, another to the chest, side, even under her chin. Hinata then decided to deal the final blow, stepping back, then stepping forward again, placing her hands on Karenbana's torso, right on her chest, and left on her stomach, before switching them while dragging her hands to the right, "Juho, Shizukana Nagare!" Karenbana was violently wrenched off of her feet, being thrown beside and behind Hinata, with her torso being twisted and crushed.

Hinata then stood up, before walking away from the body, "Your p-perfume is cheap. I can s-smell it from a mile a-away." Normally she would have had a more violent reaction to her first kill, but she and the team had killed some bandits in one of the attacks on the way to the port. Anko had helped them through it, but that didn't mean that it was easy...

Keira found her way to a large hexagonal room with a long winding staircase all the way up. As she started to look around, Kongo appeared behind her and kicked her forward, over the railing. Keira tapped a seal on her wristband and threw a kunai she retrieved from it, after it stabbed into a pillar, she swung on a string of ninja wire and landed safely on the ground floor.

Kongo jumped down after her and chuckled, "Just how is a pretty little thing like you gonna take me down?"

Keira twitched and took out a scroll, unrolling it and activating a storage seal, revealing a rather large warhammer. (It's a Dwarven Warhammer from Skyrim, but precursor metal orange instead of yellow) Kongo was about to laugh at the thought of Keira wielding it effectively, until she twirled it around in her hands with practiced ease. Then she shot forward and slammed the hammer into Kongo's stomach, sending him back into a wall.

Kongo pulled himself out of it and the two engaged in a close quarters battle, Kongo was fast for his size, and his punches hit hard, but Keira was able to use her hammer to match his blows. It became clear to Keira that they were at a stalemate, so she planted her hammer into the ground and kicked Kongo away, placing her hammer back into a scroll. She then took out another one and said, "Sorry buddy but this is where it ends. I've been saving this for a special occasion..." She unraveled the scroll and draped it on her right arm, then made a ram seal.

There was a large column of smoke obscuring Kongo's view, but he soon heard a slight scraping of metal, and something large moving... After the smoke cleared, his eyes widened, because Keira had the arm of a precursor robot over her own! (It's an arm from the Precursor Robot in Jak 3)

Keira moved the arm around a bit before smirking with a gleam in her eye, "I'm planning on restoring the whole thing and refitting it into a suit. But this works for now!" She clenched the arm into a fist, and Kongo gulped. The large ninja grit his teeth at being intimidated by a tiny girl like Keira, and shot forward with a plan to finish her with one punch. Once he got close enough, he threw his arm forward and was rewarded with a loud 'gong' sound from punching Keira's armored arm. However, instead of the arm breaking as he'd thought, it was only dented, it was his hand that broke.

"Aaaagh!" Kongo yelled as he backed off holding his injured hand, Keira removed the arm from in front of her body and gave Kongo a glare.

"Do you have any idea how hard it'll be to knock that dent out!? I'll have to open the arm up and fix it with almost no room to work a hammer! I'll have to take out the wiring and everything!" With that, she ran forward and threw Kongo up into the air by the back of his shirt, then placed her palm on the ground. She was immediately launched up into the air as a jet of fire blasted out of the arm, propelling her above Kongo, where it stopped. She then pulled the arm back, hearing a sound from inside, like something turning, and got ready for a palm strike.

Kongo noticed this and held his arms in front of himself to block, but Keira only smirked as a hole in the arm's palm glowed white and red. She thrust her palm forward and fired a laser blast, throwing Kongo into the ground and killing him, the laser blowing a hole through him and cauterizing it.

Keira landed on the ground with the help of her armored arm, using it to absorb the fall. She then channeled chakra into a seal on the inside, and it was sealed back up into the scroll still inside, letting Keira drop to the ground, a bit unsteady before falling onto the ground, "Damn, that thing really takes up a lot of chakra..." She steadied herself and stayed down to rest a bit, before looking up with a surprised expression, "What'd I get so worked up about? I can just pop the armor off and get the dent out that way!" Even though it may seem cold to not even think about her opponent just after killing him, Keira was just trying to distract herself... Unlike her teammates, she wasn't born into ninja life, Naruto and Hinata had known that they'd have to kill eventually, but Keira hadn't. She found an escape in her projects, and it worked for her. As she thought up new ideas for inventions and weapons, she stood and made her way back to the throne room.

Michiru looked out at Tsuki no Kuni from his precarious perch. He reflected on the things he had learned since his father's death... Shabadaba had done this because he wanted the money that the royal family possessed, and as much as Michiru didn't want to, he couldn't help but draw similarities between himself and the corrupt adviser. Believing that money was more important than people, a materialistic want for material possessions... He then heard Shabadaba's voice from behind, "Well, it looks like things are finally coming to a close Michiru... Soon I'll have everything I deserve, and you'll be dead!"

Shabadaba laughed at his position, before an explosion shook the palace. They all looked down into the front courtyard to see Zabuza and Anko throwing around dragons of water and fire, mowing down soldiers like it was a favorite past-time of theirs.

Ishidate grit his teeth and turned to leave, before Naruto launched up from over the side and kicked him back. Naruto landed on the walkway and got into his fighting pose. Standing normally, with the only thing to indicate a change in stance being his arms pulled up to his sides, by his waist. They were clenched into fists and turned so his palms were pointed upwards.

Shabadaba turned to run away in all the confusion, and Naruto smirked as Haku appeared, she gave him a smile and said, "I'll hold him until this is over." Haku then followed Shabadaba, catching up in a matter of seconds. When he saw her, Haku held up a senbon and channeled a little Hyoton chakra, making the walls become covered in frost. The former adviser nearly soiled himself when he saw Haku glare at him, "I'm afraid your royal guards have come down with a little cold..." Then all he saw was darkness.

Meanwhile, Naruto channeled green Eco through his body, wisps of green energy flowing off his body. Ishidate pulled a glove on his hand tighter, and powered it up to maximum, the eye on the back opening and red lines appearing all over it. Naruto quickly created a pair of clones and had them rush forward, Ishidate was prepared to take them out, but they both rushed past him. He turned back to see Hikaru firing off an arrow that cut the rope around Michiru's neck, and the clones pulling the prince up off of the board.

Ishidate then turned back to Naruto in front of him, "Don't take your eyes off of your opponent." Then the two engaged in a taijutsu battle. Ishidate quickly lost his smirk when he realized that his petrification glove didn't work, "Why aren't you turning to stone, this thing is at full power!"

Naruto smirked, "That's for me to know and you to get pissed at." Then Naruto quickly lunged forward and threw a straight punch to his opponent's chest, throwing him back and knocking his wig off. (By the way, for Naruto's taijutsu style, I'm gonna use some of Jak's fighting moves. Like that punch Naruto just did was his punching attack.)

-Play: Naruto Shippuden OST, Reverse Situation. I don't own this -

Ishidate grit his teeth in rage and jumped up, using a Doton jutsu to break up the rocks on the walkway and throw them at Naruto. He stood on a floating stone and broke the other ones up, sending a rain of rock shards at Naruto, making a dust cloud form. The blonde pulled out his sword and used it to knock away the shards and cut them up. After Ishidate ran out of ammo, he expected to see Naruto covered in rock and dead on the ground, but instead he got Naruto standing with his sword, looking as if he'd just finished a slash.

The mercinary ninja decided to try a different approach, "You're pretty strong kid, how about you join me? What do you say, we could use some new blood."

Naruto looked up and sheathed his sword, "Not a chance. You don't even care about your comrades, I fight for the people I care about, few as they may be. Someone like you... You'll never beat me, because you don't have a reason to fight greater than petty selfishness." Naruto then jumped up and made a quick axe kick that sent Ishidate into the ground.

As Michiru watched the battle, he was struck with a sudden realization. Hearing what Naruto said made him realize... It wasn't the title of king that was important, it wasn't himself, it wasn't even the country... It was the people, it was everyone who supported him and depended on him. They were what was really important... He pushed himself to his feet, his father made him the new king, and now it was his turn to act like one.

Ishidate was livid, and he was about to launch a jutsu that would level the castle when Michiru came up behind him and got him in a full nelson hold. Ishidate's eyes widened as he started using his jutsu to stab Michiru with rock shards.

Michiru's face contorted in pain, but he looked Naruto in the eye, "Finish it!"

Naruto nodded, and held his hand out, forming a spinning ball of chakra, the rasengan. It had taken years of work, but Naruto had figured the jutsu out from the scroll he had taken when he left. Naruto rushed forward, holding the Rasengan aloft and drawing in nature energy, making the Rasengan grow bigger in the light of the crescent moon. The ball of chakra then took on a shining white hue, and a small crescent shape appeared inside of it.

Naruto got close and created a couple clones who grabbed Michiru and pulled him away, out of the Rasengan's path. Ishidate's eyes widened in fear as he was hit with the attack, he was shot into a world of pain as the rasengan expanded to be the same height as himself.

Naruto made a final push, "Senpou: Mikadzuki Rasengan!" His jutsu exploded in blue and white light, Ishidate being thrown back into a far tower on the other side of the courtyard, the force of the blow killing him.

- Song End. -

Hikaru started celebrating with Chamu, Kiki, and Muse when he saw that they had won.

Courtyard.

Anko looked up at the explosion with Hinata and Keira beside her, resting after their own battles, "Damn... That kid really is something else..."

Keira just nodded, "You bet he is!"

Hinata nodded as well, with a bit more awe, "That m-move is so strong! It's b-beautiful too..."

Zabuza watched as well with an appraising eye, "He's not half bad... What do you think Haku? ... Haku?" When he looked to see his student, she had a blush on her face and a little smile, she and Naruto had actually hit it off rather nicely after their little enemy thing.

She snapped out of it and looked at Zabuza, "I'm sorry Zabuza-sama... He is very strong."

Anko laughed mischievously when Zabuza twitched at seeing the way Haku blushed. Keira and Hinata just gave each other a look before nodding with smiles.

A week and a half later.

After getting the last of the traitors and corrupt nobles and soldiers rounded up, Team 11, Haku, and Zabuza had spent a while helping the guards repair the damage to the palace. After that was done, only taking a few days with Naruto's clones, they had relaxed for a couple of days. Well, Anko didn't relax much, sure she went to the beach with them, taking pleasure in teasing the other beach goers, she had spent most of her time in the casinos and bars.

Currently, everyone was loading up onto a boat going back to the mainland. Michiru and Hikaru were seeing them off, the king had started working out and was about to try and patch things up with Amayo, everyone was happy to see that both he and Hikaru had learned the true value of the lives of others. Michiru gave them a thankful smile, "I can't thank you enough for all you've done to help us... But I suppose I can start by saying that you will always be welcome here, and that we'll always remember everything you've done for us."

Hikaru nodded with a smile, "Yeah! I'm gonna start training so one day I can be as strong as you guys!"

After many heartfelt goodbyes and a few tears, the boat was on it's way back to the mainland. Anko decided to strike up a conversation, "So Zabuza, what do you think you two are gonna do?"

Zabuza shrugged, "After all the things I've done, I really don't know... I've got too many bad memories in Kiri, so I'm not going back there..."

"Why don't you two come to Konoha with us?" Everyone looked at Keira with confused expressions, "Well, Hidden Villages have been known to take missing ninja into their forces before, and as long as Zabuza agrees, then he should be fine. Haku too."

Anko ave it a little thought, "It could work... With the four of us vouching for you, it'd be even better."

Haku gave Zabuza a puppy dog eye look, and he caved, "Fine... We'll at least check it out..."

Konoha main gate. A few days later.

Kotetsu and Izumo, the eternal gate guards were bored out of their skulls... It had been far too long since anything exciting had happened, they perked up when they noticed a group approaching the gate. As it got closer, they wished for no more excitement. It was team 11 back from their mission, that much was easy, but it was the infamous Zabuza Momochi with them that worried the two chunin.

Anko walked up with her usual smile as Naruto put his hood back up and said, "Hey guys. Team 11 and guests reporting back from our mission."

They nodded and Kotetsu said, "Alright, I assume your two guests are here for a reason?"

Zabuza gave them a glare and Haku nodded with a smile. Anko got the paperwork all signed and they made their way to the Hokage tower, drawing more than a few looks from the villagers. It was mostly Zabuza and Haku drawing all the attention, but Hinata also got quite a few looks, it appeared that putting her jacket on and covering herself back up had slipped her mind.

When they got to the tower, they walked up and knocked on Minato's office door. After a few moments, they heard the usual, "Enter." The team, minus Zabuza and Haku, all walked in to see Minato, Kushina, and team 7 in the office.

Kakashi gave his usual eye smile, "Welcome back Anko. Just let me finish my report on our mission." At Anko's nod he turned back to Minato, "Anyway, after Gato tried to initiate a takeover of Nami while we were there, we took him down and protected Tazuna and Kaiza while they finished their bridge. We left a few days after."

Minato nodded and said, "Alright then, you all can go home." Kakashi and team 7 left the room, "Now then Anko, how did your mission go?"

Anko stepped forward and smiled, "It was good, for a B-rank turned S-rank."

At this, Minato and Kushina nearly choked on air, "What do you mean S-rank!? It was a simple escort mission!" Minato asked with widened eyes.

Anko wasn't fazed in the least and said, "Well it turns out that one of the king's advisers had started a coup, and we helped take back the whole damn hostile country!"

Minato narrowed his eyes and turned serious, "I want word for word what happened..."

And so Anko explained the play-by-play for the mission, from meeting up with the prince's group to leaving the island. With each of the gennin stepping in to describe their own fights, Naruto leaving out how he'd used the rasengan, instead going with his flaming punch from his fight against Sasuke. After they had explained, Minato sat and thought for a minute before Kushina spoke up, "What about Zabuza and his student, where did they go?"

At this, Anko scratched the back of her head and opened the door, letting the two ninja walk in, putting everyone except team 11 on edge. Zabuza spoke up after a few minutes, "The mechanic girl suggested that we come here to be shinobi... I said I'd give it a try..."

Minato, not sensing anything from them, said, "Very well. But there'll be some conditions. For now, you'll talk with the head of T&I. Then there'll be a month long period when you'll only be able to go to the training fields to train, and stay in the village. You'll be monitored by ANBU during this time. After that, there'll be a six month period where you'll be able to take missions outside the village with a team, but you won't be able to attend any jounin meetings or be entrusted with any village secrets until it's over. The same conditions go for your associate. Acceptable?"

Zabuza nodded, it could have been a lot worse...

A few hours later, Naruto, Hinata, Haku, and Keira were out looking for some lunch. They had stayed behind until Zabuza and Haku were done with their interrogation, then offered to show the two around the village. Zabuza had declined, opting to walk around and look for an apartment for himself and Haku. Anyway, we now find the four walking into the Akimichi's barbecue restaurant, and taking a seat at a booth. After ordering and getting their food, Keira noticed that Haku was damn near inhaling her food, "Slow down Haku! It's not like the food's gonna run away on you!"

Haku realized what she looked like and blushed, "I'm sorry, it's just that when Zabuza-sama and I were traveling, we never got to visit places like this, so I'm pretty excited..."

Naruto gave her a smile, "Well, the village is home now, so you don't have to worry about being hunted down anymore."

The Hyoton user smiled, "Thank you. It feels nice to have a home after all these years." She then took out a senbon, scaring Muse, who was about to steal some food from her plate. In order to save her, Naruto picked her up by the scruff of her neck and placed her over in front of her own plate.

The four had a nice time eating, then after they had payed the bill, another gennin team came in and took a seat at a table near theirs. They seemed nice to Naruto, Keira, and Haku, but one member made Hinata flinch and try to sink as low into her seat as possible...

As they made to leave, Keira and the female of the team, a girl with twin buns a bit like panda ears, locked eyes. The girl stood up and walked over to them as Keira turned and met her halfway. All the members of either group watched them, not knowing what they were doing. One boy with a bowl cut called out to her, "Tenten?" She didn't listen... Then both pulled out a kunai.

Both teams tensed, until they tossed their respective kunai to the other. Keira looked over Tenten's kunai and said, "Standard issue, expendable, crafted by someone who obviously knew what they were doing..."

Tenten was also examining Keira's kunai, "Made of an abnormal metal, incredibly strong, no doubt rare..."

After this, they returned the kunai and took out various other weapons and swapping to examine them for any imperfection. Keira vs. Tenten, Scimitar vs. Katana, Warhammer vs. Kanabo, Tonfa vs. Staff. Back and forth they went for over twenty minutes, with their teams just standing there and watching them. After they were done, the two looked at each other, as if sizing each other up, before Tenten said, "Your weapons are all made out of that strange metal. While very strong and easily conducts chakra, it's obviously very rare..."

Keira responded in kind, "Your weapons are basic, but masterfully crafted..."

After another small stare-off, the two shook hands and turned back to their teams like nothing had happened.

Just as team 11 plus one were about to leave, the Hyuga on Tenten's team gave Hinata a dirty look, which Naruto noticed, "Do you have something to say about my teammate?"

The boy stood up and looked at Naruto with a superior look, "No, she knows exactly how I feel about her." He said with a sneer directed at Hinata.

Hinata shrunk back and mumbled, "N-Neji-niisan..."

Naruto released a little killing intent while Muse actually growled at Naji, the fur on her back standing on end, all while showing off her sharp teeth, drawing the attention of the shinobi in the restaurant, "Look at her like that again and I'll wipe that smirk off your face."

Neji narrowed his eyes before lashing out with a strike to Naruto's arm, his sensei then stood up, "Neji!"

Instead of Naruto backing off and trying to move his now temporarily useless arm, a green energy just seeped out of Naruto's arm, and the blonde held the limb up and moved it with no problems. He looked to see Neji's smirk gone, "There it goes... No more smirk."

With that, Naruto turned and left, his companions following. After they had left the restaurant, Hinata went up beside Naruto, "N-Naruto... you d-didn't have t-to do t-that... I'm u-used to it..."

Naruto gave her a smile, "Of course I did Hinata. We're teammates, beyond that, we're friends! Of course I was going to defend you." He gave her a winning smile to punctuate it, leading to a large blush from the Hyuga girl.

After they had dropped Hinata and Haku off, Naruto and Keira returned to their apartment, Muse taking her usual place on the couch. As they got ready to go to sleep, Naruto sensed something, and left the apartment. He went up to the roof and saw what, or who, he was looking for, "What now Naruko?"

His sister gave him a bright smile, "I just wanted to tell you that your last chance to join me is coming up soon! While I'd rather have you by my side, I won't hesitate to kill you if you get in my way."

Naruto was about to get her to leave, "Kit, get her to use my chakra on the outside... I need a way to see into her network. The best way is for both of you to use it, and make contact, then I'll confirm what's wrong..."

Naruto nodded mentally, then he spoke, "I want to see just how serious you are..." He then channeled Kurama's chakra into his hand, wrapping it in the cloak.

Naruko's eyes widened in joy as her hand was wrapped in Kurama's chakra as well, then she shot forward at Jounin level speed and went to punch Naruto, who grabbed her hand with his. Kurama immediately went to work on finding the problem, meanwhile Naruto and Naruko were staring at each other. Naruto wondering just what the hell could make her like this, and Naruko thinking about all the things she'd be doing with her Onii-chan when he finally saw things her way.

Then Naruto let go, and Naruko stepped back, "I'll get your answer in a few days time... Be ready Onii-chan!" With that, she disappeared again.

Naruto took a few seconds and headed down to the apartment, sitting on the couch in the dark, "Did you figure it out?"

Kurama took a few seconds to gather his thoughts and spoke up, "My chakra is looking for a way out of her body and back to me. Unfortunately it can't control itself without me, so it's running rampant throughout Naruko. The seal you two share was made to hold back a sentient being, but since my chakra doesn't have conscious thought, it was able to slip past a loophole in the seal. Anyway, it's influencing her, making her need to use it so that my chakra can get out into the world and find a way back to me... Unfortunately, this had some consequences... My chakra, at it's nature, is destructive and deadly. Without me to keep it in check, it has been reaching out and drawing in anything that feels similar to itself, again trying to find me, and taking that into itself, therefore, into Naruko. Think about it kit... We agreed that she was insane, warped... What could do that to her, something that emits destruction..."

Naruto's eyes widened in realization, "Are you trying to tell me that she has Dark Eco inside of her!?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying... But not all is totally lost. Once inside her, my chakra recognized that the dark Eco wasn't what it was looking for, so it isolated it, kept it contained. However, this means that once Naruko runs out of my chakra, the dark Eco will attack her all at once. She'll die instantly. From what I sensed from her, she has one week left..."

Naruto sat there, reflecting on what he'd learned... It was obvious that he needed to purge the dark Eco from Naruko's body before she used all of Kurama's chakra up, the question was, how? Naruto kept going through every single healing technique he knew... But there was nothing that could get rid of dark Eco, it was obvious that Naruko wouldn't just let him take away her power... Naruto thought through everything Samos had taught him, everything he'd read about Dark Eco and biju chakra, anything that would have helped... Eventually he figured out what he needed, but it would not be easy.

He snapped his eyes open and said, "I need Light Eco..."

Chapter End!

Okay, so the chunin exams are next, and we know what's wrong with Naruko! I tried to make it good enough to where it wouldn't sound like a typical, 'biju chakra made her do it' thing.

Also, when I said that Naruto would be getting dark and light Eco powers around the chunin exams, but I never said he would get dark and light Naruto yet. I want to save those, but he may or may not go dark for a fight in the finals.

Okay, that's all I really had to say now, I hope you guys liked the chapter!

Review Please!