A/N: I AM SO SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING IN AGES! Blame it on my trip to the Great Barrier Reef! By the way, that was awesome! ANYWAYS, here's the next instalment of Like a Fox! This chapter will be slightly longer than the last and will have lots of fighting (as well as some in-between bits). We are almost at the end of the Land of Waves Arc! Oh and Sasuke...(read on!)

"Talking"

'Thinking'

"SHOUTING"

Chapter 8: Waving Goodbye

"What the hell are those two doing?"

Stubbly face inches from the flickering monochromatic screen in front of him, his sweaty palms gripped the mahogany desk with eager anxiety. A huge rumble racked the illustrious building for what seemed like the hundredth time as the grimy man suddenly flicked his head over his shoulder like a cornered animal, looking to the three men standing stoically behind his chair.

He spat in disgust, "Well? DO SOMETHING! I DON'T PAY YOU TO JUST STAND THERE!"

The tallest of the three brothers looked towards his left, in the direction of his portliest sibling, "Jiga, deal with them."

The portly brother left a slight nod later as Gato slumped back towards his immaculate desk. He could do nothing but watch as he witnessed the rapid dismantling of his Nami no Kuni exploits by the two kami-forsaken Konoha ninjas' hands, as green and black integers and numbers pervaded his screen, counting down his trading stocks as they disappeared into an Underground-controlled docking account, "Well there goes my Wave activities," slamming his palms against the table, he groaned in frustration, "no, no, no, no, NO! THIS ISN'T SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN!" Glaring heatedly at the monitor for a while longer through his black rimmed glasses, he pummelled his fists into the wooden desk like a petulant child as he yelled and shouted indistinctly before collapsing with visible exhaustion into his large seat. Lying there for a few moments, doing nothing but contemplating his endeavours which had now been spoilt, he suddenly snapped ramrod straight and furrowed his brow with concentration. His right hand at his temple, he gestured animatedly with his left index finger to nobody in particular, "If those shinobi are here or at least close by, and the rebels I assume to be mostly within the dock premises, then who's at the Underground Headquarters?"

Spinning a full one-eighty violently, Gato slipped off his chair with the elegance of a slug, before managing to squeeze past Renga and Ruiga, "Let's go."

Renga arched an eyebrow in curiosity as he followed the moustached man out of the room, "Where to?"

Pushing his black spectacles up onto his nose with two fingers, the lens refracted the light from the hanging chandelier menacingly. Chuckling lowly, the crime magnate turned slowly to face his two hired guns, "Why, to wave goodbye, of course."

Fingers clattered frantically into worn keys as the musky odour of spilt blood lingered in the damp air. Flickering screens flashed all around the room, illuminating each and every corner with a dazzling display of colour and excitement; something major, something incredibly important was taking place, something to turn the tables upside down and inside out, something deceptive.

A sudden, urgent tapping broke the rhythmic tune as Kakashi's solitary eye flicked to his blond counterpart. However, it was not Naruto who spoke first, but the voice in his head, "Hurry up you two, you only have forty eight seconds and counting. This is the most important part of the operation!" Shikamaru urged.

Breathing an exasperated sigh through his teeth – and mask – Kakashi shook his head slightly as his fingers blurred into a jumbled mess, 'Now, now – we still have time…'

The jounin slammed his finger on the final key before snapping his head towards Naruto, nodding slightly. The blond shinobi nodded back in acknowledgement before quickly whipping out his chokuto and plunging it into the machine console, "Raisō: Ikazuchi no Utage (Lightning Burial: Banquet of Lightning)!"

Electric currents originating from Naruto's blade tore through the machine, shredding the drives to complete disrepair as the sparks branched off infinitely into the contraption. The awful sound of tearing and grinding emerged from the device as the blond genin watched on morbidly as the computer slowly crumbled and melted into a glugging, plastic mess. Pulling his blade out carefully, Naruto flourished his blade intricately before sliding it smoothly back into its sheath.

Kakashi stared at the burnt wreckage with a thoroughly impressed expression hanging off his face, "So, a lightning affinity…" he glanced to where his blond student was standing last, only to find an empty space.

Said boy's voice, however, emerged from outside the room moments later, "Come on Kakashi, we only have twenty three seconds. I want to make it back for dinner. Some ramen would be nice actually…"

The silver-haired prodigy gave a small, genuine smile as he looked yearningly towards the heavens, 'Ah Minato-sensei, he's your son alright, he's just like you!"

Asuma slid left effortlessly on his feet before somersaulting backwards acrobatically to avoid a hastily thrown pike. Regaining his feet, the jounin dashed around the spear, dragging his trench knives through the air. The extending of his blades' reach with his manipulation of wind chakra was enough to slice through the thug's midsection cleanly as the Konoha ninja glanced at his two underlings before being forced to reconcentrate on yet another batch of mercenaries attacking him. Breathing sharply in annoyance, missing the comforting feeling of a cigar between his teeth, Asuma span languidly as he carved through the mismatched criminals with accomplished ease, 'This is almost boring, but there's just too damn many of them. They're like cockroaches!' The 'former' smoker closed his eyes momentarily in irritation, 'How troublesome.'

Wave Underground Headquarters…

Shikamaru thought long and hard on the dilemma which now faced him: to fist-pump or not to fist-pump. Calculating the various and many multitudes of possible, likely and unlikely, outcomes, the raven strategic genius scoured his mind over the troubling, and troublesome, predicament at hand. Surprising Ino suddenly, he almost spat in laughter, "What a joke."

He cackled momentarily before his blonde teammate slapped him over the head, "Concentrate, Lazy!"

Holding the victimised spot (now bruise) on his head dearly, he pineapple-haired boy could only sigh, "Troublesome."

Outside Gato's Mansion…

As the bearded jounin closed his eyes however, he only opened them to complete and absolute darkness. Waving his arms in front of him like a mythical zombie of sorts, Asuma probed with his hands at arm's length, feeling the air before him comically. He was abruptly brought to a halt seconds later as he reached a hard wall. Running his hands across the rough, cold wall he found jagged edges all around his body, encircling and overbearing him in a dome-like fashion. Pounding the walls furiously with no amount of delicacy, and finding no physical weakness in the barrier, the jounin stepped towards the centre of the dome. Looking to his palms, Asuma rubbed the residue on his fingers together, noting the gritty and earthy texture, "Doton…"

"...Ganban Kyū (Earth Style: Bedrock Coffin). Not even you, Sarutobi Asuma, a man with a 35 million ryo bounty across four elemental nations, will be able to break out of this anytime soon." Jiga laid his large hand deftly on the enormous dome-like structure now standing before him, patting the surface gently, as if the slightest touch would be enough to shatter the object. The rotund man chuckled in delight, looking to the remaining two offenders fighting valiantly against the hordes of hired thugs, "Now that the hard bit's done," Jiga rubbed his meaty palms together in anticipation, "Let's have some fun."

Sprinting down the lavish corridors athletically, Naruto appeared more hunter than human as he made a sharp, split-second turn to round a tight corner. Shrugging past the elaborate tapestry and curtains, the lean shinobi rushed past a fountain depicting Gato as a stark naked cherub – at which he gave a visible cringe – before forgoing the regular, and generally accepted way of ascending a staircase, opting to leap the entire article completely. Landing lightly on his feet at the head of the flight of steps, Naruto raced off down another hallway, but not before looking over his shoulder to the base of the stairs, to a certain mask-wearing cyclops.

Kakashi watched on as his former sensei's son dashed past doorways and marble pillars. Sighing to himself, he leapt up the staircase before giving chase, 'Kami he's quick. Jiraiya must be a slave-driver when he comes to his apprentices."

Flashback

"Come on, old man! Teach me a kick-ass jutsu already!" The blond menace dived around the sandy shore of the beach in anticipation, flinging his arms and legs manically in a very much kung fu-like manner. Flicking up sand and quartz pebbles alike, his aged guardian of sorts, currently seated on a sizable, smooth rock, groaned slightly with his hands on his temples, "I swear to kami, if you weren't Minato's boy, I would… I would…" the great sage of Myobokuzan tore at his hair in frustration before yelling incoherently.

Naruto looked up from his prone position with his chin resting resolutely upon his palms. Kicking his legs in mid-air nonchalantly, the five year old giggled happily before hopping up and diving onto the luscious mane of his mentor, "HAH HAH! You would love me just as much!" Slipping off Jiraiya's thick hair, Naruto skipped over fondly to the front of the large man, crouching forward with his hands on his knees, "So?"

Giving his sore temples one last longing rub, the tall shinobi sat up slowly and folded his arms confidently, "Fine." He ignored Naruto's massive fist pump, "I'll teach you a knockout jutsu, but not until you're fast enough to… to get from here," He hurled a small stone four hundred and fifty yards down the beach, "to there before the pebble hits the ground."

Naruto looked gobsmacked as he snapped his head from Jiraiya to the spot where said man had thrown the rock, "But, but…"

The sage cut off the jinchuriki however and smirked to himself contently, "Being light on one's feet is one of the most important aspects of shinobi combat. Being able to dart around opponents and slowly exhausting them, tiring them out will only help you, as they become increasingly sloppy in their fatigue. Even further, you could potentially-"

A loud groan erupted from the blond boy as he slumped backwards exaggeratedly in a crumpled heap, "But why?" Slurring out the latter word, the young child propped himself up on his elbows as he looked towards Jiraiya, clearly unimpressed by his short lecture, "You can't even beat someone by being fast. Just teach me an amazing, kick-ass, cool jutsu and I'll beat someone into the ground so many times that it-"

He was abruptly cut off by a burly fist crashing down resoundingly unto his head.

"Shut up you damn brat!" Puffing his chest out exasperatedly, the Sannin elaborated, "For one to… If you get beaten into the ground before you can even react, how are you going to unleash your 'amazing, kick-ass, cool' technique?" Waving his arms about for extra effect, Jiraiya watched smugly as his point finally dawned upon the boy's whiskered face. Patting Naruto warmly on the head, the perverted sage got up and kicked his seat down into the water, not even watching in his peripheral vision as it tumbled sea-bound, "Now watch carefully, I'm going to show you some effective exercises to help you build up some of that speed. Once you've done that, we'll move to utilizing chakra to enhance your muscles, and then, and only then, will I teach you a cool jutsu."

His blond apprentice huffed loudly and pouted, looking disappointedly at his master, "There really isn't any way for me to talk you out of making me do this is there…" Sighing heavily, Naruto sat up attentively, flicking his shaggy hair out of his face, "It better be an awesome jutsu."

Jiraiya looked at his adopted son slyly, grinning, "With the technique I'll teach you, you'll be able to beat your opponent to the ground alright, beat your opponent into the ground and then beat the ground into oblivion."

Flashback Continue

Waves rolled in along the shore, disturbing the otherwise motionless sand banks as small crabs darted across the surface. Seagulls squawked noisily and circled above the beach, as if as an omen, and Jiraiya sat silently at the top of the foredune.

Watching on as his Kage Bunshin (Shadow Clone) tossed yet another pebble across the shore, he clapped approvingly as Naruto danced about elatedly at the far end of the beach. Grasping the small pebble in his hand, the blond eight year old spun rapidly before releasing the stone, flinging it randomly into the sea as he cheered at his success.

A success which was quickly cut off by a stone being thrown at his head.

"Hey! Listen up: I'm a man of my word, so I will be teaching you the jutsu I promised you," Looking around at the beach the two had frequented sporadically over the past three years, Jiraiya digressed, "in fact there's plenty of water around to help teach you the first step."

Naruto hopped impatiently from one foot to the other, nervously awaiting his mentor's next few words, "First step of what?"

A blue ball of pure chakra swirled ominously in Jiraiya's right hand.

"Well, what other than the Rasengan?"

Flashback End

Walls beside him, bejeweled with exquisite embroideries and extravagant ornaments, blurred beyond recognition as the masked ninja tore through the building. Skipping on his left foot haphazardly, the jounin reached around the corner with his opposing leg to find Naruto simply standing at the door of Gato's private office, a hand gripped firmly against the frame.

Approaching the blond, Kakashi looked over his student's shoulder and hummed enquiringly. Nudging past Naruto, the prodigious shinobi looked into the room with confusion. Eyeing up the flickering screen on the centre of the wooden desk, he watched curiously as he observed the rotating cycle of cameras pass over the communications room and battle outside, "I thought this was the only place he would ever go in the case of an attack, at least that's what Shikamaru told-"

Naruto interrupted his sensei however, suddenly sprinting off towards the far panoramic windows, "He's going after Wave HQ!"

Turning suddenly and running after Naruto, Kakashi yelled out the question preying on his mind, "How do you know?"

The blond genin spared his new master a concerned look as he barrelled towards the glass panes. Pointing to his head urgently, he braced himself for impact as he scooped up a small coffee table, holding it in front of him like a battering ram, "Ino just screamed!"

Blazing through thugs twice his size with practical ease and a trusty kunai, Sasuke skipped elegantly away from one of such mercenaries' desperate lunge before using the man's head, ingeniously, as a springboard, soaring into the air gracefully before flicking through a series of well-versed hand seals, "Katon: Karyūdan (Fire Style: Fire Dragon Bullet)!"

The outmatched men below looked on with hopelessness as a series of dragon-headed fireballs tore through their ranks.

Chouji watched on morbidly as the screams of the burnt or burning rang out across the battlefield, slowing daring to a close. Eyes slowly roving left and right, he looked at the blatant destruction around him as the smoke and dust gradually cleared up. Stepping carefully to avoid the bodies scattered sparsely around him, he finally met the steady yet determined gaze of his impromptu teammate. "How… Sasuke…"

The pleasantly plump Akimichi sullenly brought his gaze to his own hands, inspecting the calluses and blackened skin analytically, "Could I have been able to do this… even for Shikamaru and Ino?" He shivered at the thought and shook his head grimly as he saw his reflection staring back at him curiously in a murky puddle at his feet.

Eventually regaining the strength to drag his head back upright, he took a double take as he saw the last Uchiha take a kunai from his hip pouch and fling it hard and straight at him. Throwing himself desperately to the side, the food-lover almost smacked the offending boy into the damn ground for such an action. Almost.

A soft grunt sounded from behind the rotund Akimichi as he turned quickly to see a man pull the small kunai gently from his left bicep and discard it. Sneering arrogantly at the two boys, the new arrival deftly revealed a small sickle, taking great pleasure in unravelling the long chain slowly as the overweight man whirled the weapon with clear expertise around his head, "That was a lucky shot kid, and it won't happen again," he suddenly stabbed the sickle at the end of the chain into the hard earth between them, yanking roughly to tear the ground up, "But you wont get another opportunity like the one you just wasted, because you'll be dead by then."

Sasuke eyed the newcomer unimpressed as he toyed with a weapon of his own absentmindedly, "You won't kill me now, because I still have things to do before that day comes, if ever." Looking at Chouji with a keen eye, he acknowledged his fellow teammate's nod as the round boy threw dozens of shuriken at the man with all his might.

A formidable wall of metal death approached the portly man – who forwent any and all attempts at movement or evasive manoeuvres – as Sasuke narrowed his eyes, keenly observing the event at hand. Suddenly lifting his hands, the new enemy took a deep breath before exhaling heavily, glaring at the projectiles heatedly, "Jishaku Ninpō (Magnet Ninja Art)."

Pure, unadulterated chaos erupted in the vicinity as the shuriken – formerly flying the air - abruptly stopped midway before amazingly enough, shattering into miniscule, particle like pieces, forming together to create a single, great mass.

Staring at the reality anomaly with no lack of surprise, the two genin were unable to react as the metallic swam blindsided the pair, roughhousing them heavily into the dirt. Dragging himself quickly to avoid another run of the particle swarm, Sasuke pulled Chouji quickly to his feet before fling themselves off the path.

Sparing his partner a brief look, the Uchiha glanced over the battlefield to find their missing jounin, "Where is Asuma-sensei dammit?" He winced as another run of the particle swarm smashed into their previous position as he and Chouji dashed from cover to cover, hoping for an opening to arise.

Landing haggardly on an extenuating piece of debris, Sasuke's eyes narrowed imperceptibly as he saw a large earth dome structure jutting out unnaturally in the distance. Hopping away hurriedly yet again as the mobile metal storm swerved into the ground just beside them, the last Uchiha grabbed Chouji's arm urgently, "Get Asuma-sensei out of the rock dome over there," pointing into the distance, he turned back towards their attacker with fury in his eyes, "I'll hold him off for now. Hurry!"

Chouji nodded and sprinted towards the dome Sasuke was talking about. Frowning slightly as he leapt over a small crevice made by the metal swarm, he perused his brain over a certain object of his interest pestering him since the new guy arrived and began attacking the two, 'Why were Sasuke's eyes red?"

The small wooden-framed door stood no chance as Ruiga planted his tonfa through the age-old lock. Marching in confidently, the mercenary looked about as his short employer shortly followed.

"It looks like you were right, there really isn't anyone here."

The moustached shipping corporate magnate sneered arrogantly at the purple-haired missing-nin. Strolling casually down the corridor to his left, Gato tapped his walking stick against the wall suspiciously, looking for a trapdoor mechanism or hatch opening of some sort.

"There may still be a way to salvage my exploits here yet," now in the kitchen, the five men, including Gato's two samurai bodyguards, suddenly halted as said man scoured through cupboards scrutinisingly, "We need to kill Tazuna, we kill the client, the damned Kiri and Konoha shinobi will leave. No client means no reward. No reward means no point in staying."

Suddenly, the stout man brushed clumsily past two empty aluminium cans and reached for a lever, concealed cleverly at the back of the drawer. Nodding to himself satisfyingly, he smirked at the two ninja's surprised reactions. "Well what are you waiting for?"

The two criminal brothers looked at one another briefly before shrugging and hopping into the now exposed passageway - A passageway constructed of aged wooden stakes and brick pillars feebly supporting the tons of earth above, with small oil lamps placed at regular intervals to provide light.

The light of aforementioned oil lamps glimmered faintly, reflecting sharply of the glistening sweat of the small group as they picked up the pace. The sound of flames flickering and wavering slightly was the only sound heard as they hurried through the tight earthen corridors.

A new sound, however, abruptly emerged in conjunction with Zori smacking face-first into a large metal door with the words 'Wave Underground' scratched roughly onto the surface, spanning across the two doors brilliantly.

Pushing past the two samurai smoothly, Renga began tugging the moisture from the air around them tersely, before collecting them in his palms, "Move. Ice Disk Technique!"

The two samurai and Gato watched on in awe as two powerful pillars of pure ice erupted from the small ball in the eldest missing-nin's hand. Sharpening to a point, somewhat resembling a spear, the two pillars tore straight through the heavy metal obstacle and into the fortified room with practical ease, surprising all the occupants within.

As the dust around them settled, Shikamaru could only watch and witness the already troublesome situation mount in seriousness and become even more troublesome for him and his blonde teammate. Wiping the grit and debris from his face, the pineapple-haired boy made no effort to move and decided that the best option to make at the moment would be to play dead.

Ino sat up slowly, gripping a spot where a small but fast-moving shard of ice made itself home in her lower abdomen. Staggering to her feet, the blonde Yamanaka stood as confidently as she could before pointing assertively at the new arrivals, "Who the hell do you think you are? I don't remembering a squad of misfits to use as target practice in the past month." Tilting her head backwards superiorly, Ino turned to her Team Ten teammate for backup before smacking her palm into her face in exasperation, "Shikamaru, stop playing dead and get up…"

Flicking a single eye open languidly from his spot on the floor, which he decided to be extremely comfortable in the current situation, the child genius turned his head slightly to face the group, "Will you guys accept a verbal surrender?"

Turning and seeing the extremely confused faces of the new enemies, Ino rushed over to her lazy teammate and dragged the sprawled out boy to his feet, before knocking him back to the ground again with a heavy punch, "GET UP YOU IDIOT!"

"Troublesome."

Shaking himself out of his confused stupor, Gato smiled as Tazuna walked into the room hesitantly, always staying behind the two genin. Treading carefully, the old bridge-builder and leader of the Wave Underground frowned at the unexpected appearance of his nation's recent decline.

"What are you doing here, Gato?"

Gato laughed manically before sticking a fat cigar into his mouth. Taking his time to prepare and light the roll, the criminal mastermind exhaled a large plume of smoke before gesturing for his accomplices to move forward and attack. Ruiga plunged his tonfa into the large water globe, shattering it, as all hell broke loose.

"Kill them all."

Renga dusted his hands off symbolically as his brother rounded the bend, dragging a tightly bound Shikamaru behind him. Dropping the unconscious boy ungraciously onto the ground in front of them, Ruiga planted himself firmly on the bound boy and stretched his legs out idly, "Damn kid was pretty tricky with his traps and all but I didn't even need to bust out any of my ninjutsu to better him. Any trouble with the girl?"

Scratching his brown hair listlessly, the taller of the two almost spat as he turned to his brother with a raised eyebrow, "Not at all. She's a Yamanaka: all they have is their kami-damned clan jutsu but she couldn't even use that well. Missed me completely and left herself vulnerable." Shaking his head disapprovingly, the ice-wielding missing-nin walked over to their calm employer, who was still smoking his tobacco unconcernedly with his foot placed firmly on Tazuna's back.

"Well? What now?"

Taking a particularly large breath through the cigar, Gato through the roll onto the ground and stamped it out with his foot. Kicking apart the small rubble and debris around the greyed bridge-builder, the crime magnate crouched over to the former drunkard's face and spat onto it. "Look how pathetic you are now, sprawled about like this, mister 'Leader of the Wave Underground'. Using kids to protect you. Hah! Pitiful. You have no idea how much you have pissed me off, and you probably never will so I guess there isn't any other point in keeping you alive any longer." Standing back to his unimpressive full height, Gato turned on his heel and scooted towards the now destroyed entrance, barking one last command to the two missing-nin over his shoulder, "Kill him, slowly."

Renga smiled viciously at the order from his employer as he drew his katana from its sheath. Taking his time to clean off his blade of all the grime a dirt accumulated from past events, the beige eyed man sneered at Tazuna before raising his blade above his right shoulder, "It's not every day you get to kill a nation's leader at your own discretion, so don't mind me if I want to enjoy it."

He thrust his blade downwards as Tazuna closed his eyes, embracing his fate. A loud whooshing sound of the blade followed by the noise of it puncturing flesh. And then nothing. 'Is this what it feels like to be dead?' A pained grunt sounded from above the greying man.

Opening his eyes slowly in confusion, Tazuna gasped as he saw Naruto crouching above him with Renga's blade through his right hand and into his shoulder. Rolling out from beneath the blond boy, he watched in amazement as Naruto closed his fist around the missing-nin's handle before kicking out at Renga's chest roughly. Pulling the long sword out of his palm gently, the blond genin inspected his now blood-soaked tan vest quickly before gripping the katana in his hand tightly, pointing at the brown-haired shinobi peeling himself from the wall delicately "Renga from the Land of Vegetables. Former jounin and mastermind of the Land of Vegetables coup d'etat resulting in the death of its daimyo. It is definitely not nice to make your acquaintance."

Arriving moments later, Kakashi analysed the situation with his now exposed Sharingan in a moment before moving to confront the three other armed men. Running through the hand seals for Raikiri (Lightning Cutter), the silver-haired jounin dashed at the nearest foe, looking to end the fight quickly. 'I hope Naruto can hold off the jounin long enough for me to finish up here. Kami knows what Jiraiya might do if he finds out I got his apprentice killed."

Plunging his hand into a heavily tattooed thug, Kakashi ignored a desperate call of 'Waraji' before shrieking in horror as a potential punishment dawned upon him, "What if he bans me from purchasing any of his future copies of Icha Icha?"

Face suddenly darkening, he struck fear into the souls of Zori and Ruiga as his expression turned cold. Pulling out three kunai in each hand, he placed them deftly between his fingers as knuckledusters before settling himself into an aggressive stance silently, 'No, that must never happen. I will have my precious. Even if it costs these two dearly, so be it."

Safe to say, Zori ran away immediately.