CHAPTER ONE

Naruto huffed, groaned, and winced which each step that he took with the body on his back. His fight with Sasuke Uchiha had been an exhausting one, to the point where he had to rely on the Kyuubi's chakra. One particularly made Naruto wince more so than before. A shock of pain went up through his body then resonated throughout the hole in his chest from Chidori.

The pain wasn't as bad as it was when he felt Sasuke's hand go through his chest due to the Kyuubi trying to suppress and numb the pain that originated from the wound. He also noticed that the hole was a bit smaller than before, no doubt from the Kyuubi. He really needed to thank for the demon fox one of these days. Although he knew the fox was mostly doing this out of self-interest. If Naruto died, he would die, and the fox wouldn't want that.

Naruto winced even more and more with each step. His face contorted into one of pain and confusion. Was the fox getting tired? If he was, that would surprise even the unpredictable ninja himself. After a few minutes, Naruto grew sluggish. The blond nin spotted a tree in the distance. After walking towards it, he placed the unconscious body of Sasuke on one side while he sat down on the other. Naruto rested for a few minutes, or at least that was what he told himself.

The air around the blond picked up, the wind blew the leaves around him along with the trees. A great thundering rustling sound resonated throughout the very clearing that he had decided to stop in. Naruto turned his head and eyed his best friend, at least that what he thought.

He knew that Sasuke was seeking power. His scuffle at the hospital that Kakashi had to break up was a pretty clear indicator. He shook his head, to go to Orochimaru of all people? He had tried to talk Sasuke into coming back to the village. Throughout the fight, he had tried. The Uchiha was having none of it and instead attacked Naruto. The blond had to defend himself and unfortunately, he had to rely on the power of the Kyuubi to help him through the end of the fight.

Naruto grunted. He lowered his head and eyed the hole that was currently in his chest. The pain was… mostly gone. Had the fox come through? He didn't know. His eyes began to droop. Maybe a small nap to replenish his energy was in order? Yes…yes it was calling to him. His eyes began to droop further until his head limped to the side onto his shoulder.

She jumped from branch to branch as quickly as she could. Her father had ordered her to scout the Konoha border and possibly, if she could, infiltrate them and gather intelligence. Kurotsuchi didn't want to mess this mission up, her grandfather was granting her a chance to impress him.

A Konoha infiltration mission to the Tsuchikage's granddaughter? The future leader of Iwa? Madness. But he had trusted his granddaughter to perform and complete the mission with excellence, he wouldn't tolerate nothing less.

Kurotsuchi reminisced in her memories to try and make it seem as if her traveling was going faster. She was born into what can only be described as village royalty. The granddaughter of the current Tsuchikage. The position had been in her family since the village's founding, and it was going to stay that way if Onoki had anything to say about it. Kurotsuchi didn't mind. Well, …that was a lie. Sort of. Since day one she had always had this immense pressure from her family and her grandfather, along with the village itself.

She was to be the future Tsuchikage and expectations have been placed upon her. She was supposed to be excellence since her pre-academy days. Kurotsuchi didn't mind the pressure so much. It had given her drive and motivation to outperform expectations.

One of her favorite things to do was completely shock her grandfather whenever she could. Although he did place an immense amount of expectations on her, he knew that she was still only a child. He knew that power and skill came with time along with constant training. So whenever she managed to make Onoki's eyes widen with shock, it made her smile.

But, the older she got, the more and more the village treated her as the princess. She got special treatment from her instructors, something she absolutely detested and would chew their head's off. A teacher showing special treatment was no teacher in her mind. She hated it when they did that. She understood why the did it. She was the Tsuchikage's granddaughter, she needed to be the best, everyone else be damned.

Kurotsuchi shook her head at that. Even in her current age, the village treated her like that. The only person that didn't was her grandfather. Although all this pressure was placed on her by him, he would always push her to her limits. 'No weak shinobi like you will inherit this position. You need to be strong. I've seen the way the village treats you. A princess, solely because you are of my blood. I will have none of it. You will train to be the strongest nin in this village. I won't have anything less.'

She could see how that would be a bit harsh on some other shinobi but to her, it meant the world. Ever since then, she was the toughest shinobi. Besides, Roshi, but he was cheating since he was a jinchuriki.

Kurotsuchi senses immediately made her halt. She looked behind her, to her sides, up, down. Nothing. Her senses were going haywire and she didn't know why. Suddenly, a great wind rustled the trees in her vicinity. The pink-eyed kunoichi brought an arm up to cover her eyes. The wind would have knocked her off if it wasn't for her chakra that was holding her in place. She continued to eye below her trying to find what it was that was making her cautious.

There, she thought when she spotted a blond-haired boy in an orange jumpsuit along with a raven-haired boy. Both were unconsciousness from what she could see from her. The Iwa-nin quickly made her way towards the small clearing that housed the two bodies. Once in front of them, Kurotsuchi took in the features of the blond. Sun-kissed hair, three whisker marks on each cheek. A kill me now orange jumpsuit that made her cringe. Then, her eyes landed on the obvious wound.

She eyed the hole that was centered on his chest. 'Ho-how!? How is he still alive? His heart should be completely obliterated,' Kurotsuchi then saw it. A Konoha headband that she had somehow manage to miss when she was inspecting him. At the sight of the silver headband, she scowled. She, along with the rest of her village, had the same prejudice and distaste of Konoha and their shinobi due to the third war when Konoha's fourth Hokage massacred Iwa's nin on two separate occasions leaving hundreds dead, maybe even thousands by the war's end.

Kurotsuchi's scowl lessened when she eyed the blond. For some reason, she didn't have the same prejudice that she should normally have whenever she interacted with shinobi from Konoha. At this point, she didn't know why. It scared her. Her grandfather had always told her to never trust a Konoha-nin. No matter what. She had always trusted her grandfather but right now? She didn't know. Kurotsuchi shook her head. While doing this, her eyes caught the body of the other boy.

The Iwa heiress walked over to the unconscious boy and eyed him like she did the blond. Just from first observation, the boy had minor injuries. Which amazed her. The blond Konoha-nin injuries suggested whatever battle took place was an intense one. Maybe the blond shinobi held back? Maybe. Kurotsuchi eyed both of the shinobi and sighed. Should she abandon them to die? Should she help them? If she went with the latter then that means she needed to save both, how was she going to carry both bodies?

Kurotsuchi let out another sigh. A twig breaking quickly broke her out of her dilemma. The Iwa-nin swiftly pulled out a kunai from her pouch on her thigh and got into a defensive stance. From behind a tree, a silver-haired shinobi revealed himself. His Konoha headband covering his left eye. Kurotsuchi knew instantly who this was. She studied the bingo book sometimes in her free time, and he was the student of the fourth Hokage. His appearance was muttered often in the same breath as the Fourth.

Kakashi eyed her wearily. The one-eyed man slowly approached her with his hands raised, his lone eye went from her to the two Konoha-nin them back to her.

"Hello," said Kakashi defensively, "it seems you've found what I've been searching for."

Kurotsuchi tilted her head then looked at the unconscious blond, "It seems I have," she replied. Kakashi nodded then started to approach again.

"Do I have to kill you?"

Kurotsuchi narrowed her eyes, "I hope not," she said, "I was trying to find a way to rescue these two."

Kakashi saw her Iwa headband out of the corner of his eye. He was perplexed. Why did an Iwa-nin want to save two shinobi of Konoha? Kakashi merely offered up a look then knelt down when he was close enough to Sasuke. His lone eye assessed the damage his blond student has caused to the prodigy. Minor damage, good. He let out the breath he didn't know he was holding.

Kurotsuchi eyed the man. He looked over the raven-haired boy as if he was worth several sacks of gold. "The other one is in critical condition by the way," she interrupted the infamous Konoha-nin's concentration. Kakashi turned to look at the purple-eyed girl with narrowed eyes but nodded. Kurotsuchi shook her head at the man's behavior. The Iwa heiress walked up to the blond then carefully put her onto her back. She brought her arms underneath both of his legs and shook her body so that his arms encircled het neck and that his face nuzzled her neck.

After she was done, she felt a hand suddenly grip her shoulder.

"What are you doing?" the low deadly voice of Kakashi invaded her ears.

"Saving him?" Kurotsuchi replied sarcastically, "you won't be able to carry both bodies. Thought I'd help."

"Hmm," the silver-haired shinobi hummed, "try anything and I'll kill you."

Kurotsuchi rebuffed his threat, "Wasn't going to, Kakashi Hatake."

Kakashi offered the Iwa-nin a patented eye-smile. The silver-haired jonin carefully placed the Uchiha heir unto his back. Kakashi motioned his head towards the way he came. Kurotsuchi nodded and started walking towards the way he pointed. She stayed silent on this trip and contemplated her current situation. She was an Iwa-nin helping Konoha save two of their shinobi. She didn't know why these two fought but whenever the fight took place guaranteed that it was an intense fight based off solely on the blonds injuries.

Kurotsuchi turned her head and stared at the copy-nin with her purple eyes. Kakashi felt this almost immediately. He wasn't sure if she was doing it to get caught or if she was trying to be sneaky. If it was the latter, she was doing an awful job trying to conceal her staring.

"I can feel you staring."

Kurotsuchi huffed, "Want to tell me who these two are?"

Kakashi merely stayed silent. Kurotsuchi openly stared at the man, annoyed. Her mind immediately went to an obvious answer. She was from Iwa. A Konoha-nin should never openly supply Iwa-nins with information of their shinobi. Kurotsuchi understood that and she somewhat respected it.

"Based off the emblem on the back on the black-haired one there, he's an Uchiha. Sasuke if I'm correct," she stated and smiled when Kakashi looked at her with narrowed eyes. She didn't know who the blond was. He didn't have any family members of importance that are in the bingo book, she assumed he didn't have a reputation outside the village due to her having heard nothing about him before her discovery of his body.

Kurotsuchi shrugged and stayed silent the rest of the trip. Both ninjas sped up their pace and after merely a few seconds they were both faster than she was before she discovered the two boys. Kurotsuchi figured these two meant something to the silver-haired copy-nin if he was the one to come out to retrieve them.

What was irking her though was why did these two fight? They were both part of Konoha. Had Sasuke Uchiha defected? She knew of his reputation and attitude from inside Konoha due to his older brother, Itachi. What Itachi did would leave anyone scarred for life and turn out as Sasuke had. She shook her head once again. But who was the blond? She had pondered this before the silver-haired Konoha-nin came.

Maybe she would find out once she made it to Konoha? She hoped so. Both nins traveled for what seemed like two hours at top speed before they finally made it to the imposing gates of Konoha. She had never been to this village due to the frigid relations between the two relations that started back during the third war. The pink-eyed kunoichi spotted two chunin guarding the gates. She mentally scoffed. Was Konoha really that lax in their defense that they only had two chunin guarding their entrance?

Both chunin spotted Kakashi and the unknown kunoichi and quickly got back to their positions that they were supposed to be in. "Kakashi!" one of them yelled. Kakashi nodded towards them.

"Get ANBU and Hokage-sama to the hospital," Kakashi ordered with authority, "now."

Both chunin nodded then used shunshin to quickly carry out Kakashi's order. Kurotsuchi once again eyed the silver-haired jonin. Were they going to allow her inside? Kakashi motioned with his head to follow him and Kurotsuchi did. She ignored the stares of disgust and anger she got due to her headband being out in the open. She was proud of where she was born and represented her village with excellence.

After a minute, the pair finally made it to the Konoha hospital and out in front of the double doors was a pig-tailed blonde with a green coat along with a black-haired woman he was holding a… pig? The woman looked at Kakashi and Sasuke then looked at her. Tsunade's eyes narrowed at the Iwa-nin with suspicion, she then spotted the blond on her back and her suspicions were quickly abandoned.

The Hokage appeared in front of her in an instant, her face contorted into one of worry for the blond boy on her back. Tsunade gave Kakashi a look and the man nodded and entered the hospital with Shizune following closely behind the silver-haired copy-nin. Tsunade turned back to Kurotsuchi with curious eyes.

"How is he? Is he alright? Where did you find him?" asked Tsunade rapidly. Kurotsuchi smiled internally at the woman's worry. This blond obviously meant a lot to the Hokage from the way she was looking at her and the boy along with her questions.

"I don't know about his condition fully but the gravest one was the one on his chest," Kurotsuchi replied. She shifted the body on her back and held him in a bridal style so that Tsunade could examine the boy. Tsunade's eyes widened immediately at the small hole at the center of Naruto's chest where his heart was supposed to be.

"Give him to me," Tsunade said leaving no room for argument, "I need to get him inside and stabilize him."

Kurotsuchi swiftly handed over the blond boy and watched Tsunade walked towards the double doors. The blonde Hokage stopped then turned her head over her shoulder and gazed at the Iwa-nin.

"Come. I'll make sure they let you inside. You wouldn't be here if you didn't care in the slightest bit. You could have left him to die but you didn't."

Kurotsuchi bit her lip but nodded and followed Tsunade into the hospital and hoped that this blond boy that confused her feelings on Iwa-Konoha relations pulled through.

Welcome to this new story that I've come up. I've always been interested in the Naruto/Kurotsuchi pairing. The Konoha-Iwa dynamic is a good one along with the fact that Naruto/Kurotsuchi is a pretty rare pairing.

This is going to be a Naruto exile story. (I know, I know, it's been done to death and I already have a story up that does the Naruto banished trope. But, it goes with the plot). I was really feeling this story and wrote this first chapter in only two days. Let me know what you think!