Author: *Shifts nervously*
Inner!Author: *glares furiously* YOU FORGOT ABOUT ME.
Author: Er. I actually had to mass update 'Changes', and I couldn't go through every chapter talking to you.
Inner: YOU FORGOT ABOUT ME! I'M INSIDE YOUR FREAKIN' MIND AND YOU FORGOT ABOUT ME.
Author: *nods* Yeap. Anywho... Don't own Naruto, I own my OCs.
Inner: *lunges at Author* YOU'LL PAY FOR THAT! *pauses* Oh, and if you want to see Kiana as made by an app on angelslaugh's tablet, go to her blog, lolangez. blogspot. com. Remove the spaces. *returns to chasing Author*
Author: *flees*
~:~
Not getting a break, Naruto was instantly whisked back to Konoha to talk with Tsunade, this time with Uzukage robes, and a very public entrance.
The spiral that was on the back of every chuunin outfit and emblazoned on a LOT of Konoha's shops was a testament to the friendship that Uzushio had with Konoha, true. The swirl on the headbands was a pointed reference.
However, Naruto knew that Tsunade was still recovering from the losses of life from the invasion. Naruto was, too.
She never went back to the arena. It held too much grief.
Walking closer to the gates in official Uzukage robes, she knew she was garnering a lot of interest.
"When can I quit being Uzukage again?" she whispered to Chiota.
"When you have a husband," he told her in a low voice. "And whoever that is, kami help him -"
She shot him a glare.
"- he'll be Uzukage, you'll be Queen."
"Great. So I have to wait a few more years." Naruto was disappointed.
"Well, you could set up a political marriage, say to Gaara-san, as he technically does belong to Kaze no Kuni, and you could marry someone you actually love after. Speaking of Gaara-san, we might need to take a look at his seal. It does not feel stable," Chiota admitted to his adopted granddaughter. "And we should officially induct the rest of Nagato's Akatsuki into Uzushiogakure - it would help a -"
Just as Chiota was finishing his sentence, threads whipped through the air and latched themselves around the Uzumaki heiress' throat.
~:~
"The Uzumaki are late," Tsunade frowned. Jiraiya frowned, too, not expecting them to be late on their official first meeting with the -
Resident sensor Nikima Tsuyano, also know as Frog, gasped.
"I think they're engaged in a fight!"
Tsunade took off.
Who cared if she wasn't technically supposed to leave the village? She'd be damned if her granddaughter was going to die because -
No, she couldn't think like that.
She couldn't think that her granddaughter might die because they were being attacked by an unknown amount of persons. Uzumakis were natural sensors, and the only thing that got in the way of sensors was if the person in question had been following them for the whole time, long enough for one of the sensors to be fooled into thinking it was just a chakra residue. When large groups of Uzumaki were gathered, they were sure to cloud up sensors. Tsuyano hadn't been able to specify much more than 'they're fighting', which meant a lot because Tsuyano had ALWAYS trained on his sensing ability.
And just over the ridge, a man with threads was using them to hold a limp Naruto up in the air like a rag doll while fighting with his other hand, completely at ease.
Naruto had been completely blindsided.
With a growl, Tsunade launched herself forward.
"Sabaku Sousou!"
Sand whipped up and caught at the man.
Naruto's eyes fluttered, and she took a minuscule breath.
"Magnet Style: Gold Dust Coffin!"
Gold dust exploded from the ground, covering the man currently trying to kill Naruto.
But just as it crunched down, the man exploded from the ball of gold dust and Naruto's eyes hardened.
"Mokuton: Great Impalement!"
Instantly, trees grew sharp and went to impale the man who was trying to kill her.
Naruto gasped.
Tsunade turned to her, but Naruto shook her head as she flew through other hand signs.
"Suiton: Water Drag-"
She was cut off by a single thread coming closer to her. She slapped it away on instinct, but was grabbed by the thread.
"If you want her to live, you'll stop whilst I question her," a deep, pissed voice said.
Naruto was restrained by a ton of threads and was yanked out of there.
Her curses could be heard, up until they cut off quite quickly.
Tsunade frowned. "What the hell?" Why was the man so familiar?
"Oh, shit!"
All heads (except for the non-Uzumaki, that didn't have any Uzumaki blood in them) turned to the voice. It was a floating, see-through ghost of a man Tsunade had met before.
"Kazama-sama?"
"I'm dead, don't address me like I'm still head of the Uzumaki." The ghost had a troubled look on his face. "I believe that was Kakuzu."
Kakuzu.
"Please tell me you're joking," the Hokage said, her heart practically stopping.
"If I was, I would be alive," Kazama said dryly.
Naruto had Kakuzu on her tail. Which means...
Her heart froze. Another reason she'd been running: Kakuzu had been after the necklace for years. After her grandfather died, he'd hunted her down and demanded it - she could never forget the look in his eyes when she'd told him that she didn't have it.
And then he'd let her live, but then he must have killed her brother who'd had the necklace. He must've been too late to get it, or it wouldn't have been given back to her by Orochimaru.
She grimaced. Had Kakuzu orchestrated Dan's death, too? Damn.
Kakuzu was a sadistic man. And Naruto had the necklace.
~:~
Naruto glared at the man, who had restrained her quite well. The green crystal dangled from his fingers.
"Where did you get this?" he demanded.
"Fuck you!" she spat at him.
"Spirit. I like that."
He sighed.
"I will end you much faster if you told me."
Her eyes widened.
"I don't want to die!" she said, incredulous.
"What did you think was going to happen? You have the necklace," the green-eyed man said in apparent confusion.
"I don't know," the teen leader said. "I didn't think a necklace was something to die for."
"It's not as if I killed the last owners of the necklace," he scoffed. "That was someone else. This necklace is mine."
"Huh?" Naruto was really confused. "Did he give it to you or something?"
"I rightfully bought it from the Uzumaki."
Naruto snorted.
He glared at her.
"What, did you pay for a hundred gold mines to give you their gold, then turn the necklace over for money?" she sniggered. "You should know that the necklace was given to Shodai-sama in order to contain the Kyuubi if it ever became necessary. Idiot. What's your name, anyway?"
"Kakuzu, Kyuubi."
Naruto glared at him.
"Don't do that, Thread. My name is Na-ru-to. Maelstrom!"
"Fishcake? Interesting name. You are the Kyuubi, though, so I will address you as such."
"If I was the Kyuubi, which I'm not, I woulda killed you at this point, dickwad."