I think after reading 6 chapters of this story, and seeing me admit that; I don't own Naruto, you all understand the point;

I don't own Naruto.

I'm not going to be saying that any more. Sorry if that makes you sad (Yes you Kishimoto, I know you are reading this.).

I think that's enough; on with the story.

Nine sides of a Mask

Chapter 7 - Plans

Suna - main gate

Outside the main gate of Suna stood the rescue teams from Konoha, along with the Kazekage and his siblings; behind the Kazekage stood Chiyo and her brother; Ebizo, and behind them stood a giant crowd to send off their hero's rescuers.

"I thank you all once again, but are you sure you want to leave now? You can stay for another day and fully recover." said Gaara. He had woken up a day after he had been found in critical situation, Hinata and Sakura had done a lot to get him back so soon. Even now he hadn't fully recovered but still came to say farewell.

"I appreciate the offer but we must leave as soon as possible. Mainly because we must report back to Hokage-sama as it does concern the Akatsuki." Kakashi said, respectfully declining the offer, he also wanted to get back soon so that he can report what he found in secret.

Behind Kakashi, most of the team agreed with him. They too wanted to get back to Konoha because they wanted to be there in case anything happened.

"I too agree with Kakashi, this mission has been completed successfully, and so we must get back home." Gai added.

Gaara accepted that, he knew what they meant; after all he was now a Kage and knew more about how the shinobi system worked.

"Very well then; I guess all I can say is have a safe trip." Gaara said with a smile.

The team took that as the right time to leave. They turned around and started walking back. Their destination: Konoha.

As they left Gaara stayed for a bit longer and looked at the team as they slowly got smaller whilst the horizon got bigger. And as he looked he couldn't help but think of his first friend; the one who changed him for the better.

'I wonder what would have happed if you were still around; maybe you would have saved me, eh Naruto?' he thought as he looked at the sky.

The irony

Amegakure

"So you're telling me that Sasori is dead and you don't know how it happened."

"Yes Pein-sama, the black mist had made it impossible to see what was going on, and I couldn't risk getting closer. But whoever this shinobi is he is very skilled as he took on both Sasori and Deidara and survived with Sasori being dead and Deidara still in critical condition." Zetsu said.

"You did well Zetsu. I want you to get back to locating the Kyuubi, it should be reforming soon." Pein replied from his seat.

"Hai Pein-sama." and Zetsu sank to the ground, gone off to do his next mission.

"This is troubling." said a masculine voice from the darkness in the corner of the room.

"So what you're saying is this wasn't something you saw. What does that mean?"

"I don't know, but somehow there is more to this then just defeating your final goal."

"This is confusing. I thought I was just going to be trained to defeat the juubi. Is there a bigger threat than the juubi?"

"I'm just as puzzled as you are. The power you have gained is no ordinary bloodline. You now have the power to do many great things from simply suppressing an explosion to completely shutting off someone else's power. I can help you learn to use this gift to its maximum potential."

"That's awesome! But how do you know so much about this bloodline jiji? Do you also have this power?"

"No I'm afraid; but it was this very devastating power that helped me defeat the juubi last time."

"But you said…."

'. . . Up'

. . .

'Up!'

'huuh'

'I SAID WAKE UP!'

It seemed to work.

Naruto quickly opened his eyes.

'What happened?'

'What happened is you got really cocky last fight and underestimated your opponent? What were you thinking? That fight was to see if you were ready, and obviously you aren't; still acting like you can take on the world by yourself.'

'I know…'

'What were you thinking using two of the masked beast at the same time without my help? You know it puts a toll on your body. The last explosion threw you far, if it weren't for your healing and your natural ability to suppress explosion then you could be in serious trouble right now. You could have at least used your summons to get this done. I mean why summon the vermillion instead of your summoning.'

'I KNOW! I know that it could have gone better Kurama. I realised the mistakes I made, which is why next time I won't make the same ones. I also realise there is no more second chances anymore.'

'Your damn right there isn't.' Kurama practically roared.

'We don't have tou-san to bring us back like last time.' He continued but with a slightly softer voice this time.

Then they were in silent for about a minute thinking about the sage of six paths.

Naruto then broke the silence.

'Where are we anyway and how long was I out for?'

'You got yourself blown away from the valley and landed about a mile away. Lucky for you it was grassland and not a hard surface. And you were unconscious for just less than a week.' Kurama replied with a small grin.

'WHAT! No. I don't think I have time to rest. I need to hurry right now. We have to go and get registered; it's the only chance we get or wait 4 years for another.'

Naruto slowly got up despite the sharp pain he felt through his back and did some quick stretch. He then cut his thumb with a kunai and went through the summoning seals; however before he finished the jutsu he was stopped due to Kurama.

'bwahahahahahahahahaha. You're even more of an idiot than I thought. Hahahahaha. We still have time to get there. Hahahahaha it's only been a day.' Kurama said whilst finding it difficult to control the laughter.

Naruto then realised that Kurama had just lied to him, and he fell for it. But it was believable; after all he was unconscious for two weeks during his training once. It still sent him shivers down his spine when thinking about what happened.

"You're a jerk." He simply said and cut off the mental link. But he swore he could still hear Kurama laughing.

He then took off in a direction to find some water source.

Konoha

In the buzzing village hidden in the leaf, it was getting close to midday. Even though it was another hot day, the streets were packed with villagers going about with their own business.

At the village gate we find two very dedicated shinobi doing their job passionately.

"Ace"

"Go fish."

Doing a big sigh, Kotetsu went to get a card from the pile in front of them. As he was about to all the cards flew off.

"Yatta! Gai sensei did you see that! I got here first." shouted Lee from outside the registering office.

"I did Lee. Your flames of youth is shining brightly." Gai said with a thumb up and his bright smile.

"We haven't even arrived and you guys start some commotion." said Tenten as she walked through the gate with the rest of the group.

Most of them nodded their heads.

"Man it feels great to be home again." Kiba said whilst taking in the scent of the air. Akamaru barked as if he too was sharing the same thoughts.

"Well teams, since we are here now, I guess all of you could do what you want now. I will go to Tsunade-sama and give in a report of this mission." Kakashi said relieving them of duty. Then he went in the direction of the Hokage's office.

After that Kurenei left. Gai and Lee left together singing about 'youth'. Sasuke too left, but not many paid attention to him, they already knew he went off to train at the Uchiha compound. Shino too left saying he needed to tend to his hive at the compound.

"Well guys what about going for some BBQ?" questioned Kiba, since they were all free now.

"I don't know Kiba, we just got back from a mission, I think I will go home and get some rest, and maybe help my dad out around the shop." replied Tenten.

"Sorry Kiba I need to go to the hospital, see if there is any extra help needed. If not then I'm going home to rest." replied Sakura and left with Hinata, who was doing the same thing.

"I'm going to go train." Neji said and left.

"Well it's just me and you now, eh buddy?" Kiba said, and got no reply.

He looked around and saw that Akamaru had wondered off with another ninken from his clan.

"TRAITOR!" he shouted and just heard a faint sound of the dogs barking.

He then saw that Izumo and Kotetsu was playing cards so he just went up to them.

"Hey guys. Mind if I play with you?" Kiba asked.

"Sure." They replied, and put out a chair for him.

Hokage's office

After having told the Hokage about the mission, Tsunade was happy. The Kazekage was saved, but most of the Ichibi was taken by the Akatsuki. This news made here slightly angry, but there was nothing they could do. Tsunade had also saw that Kakashi had more to say.

"Is there anything else to add Kakashi?"

"Actually yes Hokage-sama. I told you about the black mist and the interference it caused us."

Tsunade nodded her head.

"Whilst we were in the cave guarding the Kazekage, we felt the earth shake, upon further investigation we realised that it was chakra infused. So me, Neji Hyuuga and Kiba Inuzuka formed as an investigation team to look into this. As we were getting closer to the epicentre of the tremor we felt an even bigger explosion. By the time we arrived there all that was left was a giant crater." Kakashi paused for a moment to allow that to Tsunade to soak that up.

He then took out a scroll.

"I didn't show anybody else this, but it was something I found there."

He then unsealed it and a small cloth with red clod and a small piece with red pattern fell on her desk.

After taking a closer inspection, she concluded that it had something to do with the Akatsuki.

But what she didn't understand was the strange piece with the red markings.

"Good job Kakashi. This could prove to be important information. I think for now you shouldn't tell anybody about this. You should go take a break, after all the jonin exams begin next week." Tsunade said.

"Hai Hokage-sama." Kakashi said with a bow and left the room.

Tsunade sat there thinking about the piece whilst carefully observing it.

Knock Knock

"Come in." shouted Tsunade so that the person behind the door could hear her.

Then a young kunoichi entered the room. She walked up to Tsunade's desk and took out a small red scroll.

"Hokage-sama, this is another applicant for the jonin's exams. It's from Kiri, it was a late entry." She then presented it to Tsunade.

Tsunade opened the scroll and started reading through it.

The kunoichi was observing Tsunade as she read through the scroll. As Tsunade got halfway through the scroll her eyes widened.

"Take this back and have the exams add this name to the competition." she quickly said.

The kunoichi took the scroll and hurried out the office.

"What caused that kind of reaction, eh hime? I think you scared her." said a voice behind her with a chuckle.

"Jiraiya! How many times have I told you to use the doo- never mind." She said.

Tsunade then turned towards his direction.

"I have a mission for you. It's to be completed very quickly and I want to reports back before the jonin exams begin." Tsunade said, very seriously.

Jiraiya knew now was not the time for jokes.

"What is it." he asked, giving her his full attention.

"I want you to look into a name. He will be joining our exams next week as Kiri ninja however he is originally a mercenary. Perhaps Kiri is using him to gain more mission request if he is good." She then paused to think a little deeper into this and to allow the information to sink in for Jiraiya.

"The name of this participant is; Menma Uzumaki."

Jiraiya then understood this is serious. There is an unknown Uzumaki joining this exam. He needed to look into this before the exams started.

"I will look into this hime. I will be back before the exams begin. Until then just treat him like a normal participant." With that Jiraiya made his exit, leaving Tsunade to think a little more about this new participant.

Author's notes

Sorry for a short chapter, but was that good?

Well I did say I was going to take a different turn to last time and when I thought about it, it wouldn't have worked out.

Well thank you for still sticking with this story. After next chapter I will hit a milestone. Passing 30,000 words. Just passed 100 followers now, so thank you :)

Leave a review. Tell me if you see a mistake, if you want to see something not there. Or even any suggestions. PMs are welcome too. I will try and get back as soon as I can.

Reviews motivate me to write faster :)