The sun was shinning exceptionally bright that day as Sasuke sat in his chair. He was sitting at a small round table waiting for the waitress to bring him his noodles. It had been weeks and still no sign of anything. "I wonder if Naruto is enjoying himself?" he said quietly to himself as the waitress finally came to his table with a bowl of noodles. "Thank you young miss." With that he began to eat. Ironically Naruto was in a similar situation. He sat in his cell staring at a bowl of what he determined to be mud, high quality mud but mud none the less. He smiled to himself as he lifted the spoon.

"You seriously aren't going to eat that now are you?" Ichigo took a chair off the wall and placed it a few feet from the cell bars. "So shall we start again?"

Naruto's smile grew bigger at his comment. He took a spoon full of mud and shoveled it into his mouth. "Sure. I don't know anything more except the fact that someone was sent to kill her." He looked at Ichigo and Ichigo nodded and let out a sigh.

"You know if I could get you out of this cell I would. I still owe you for savin' my life. But you have to tell me something. The Raikage has ordered that you stay in this cell till you talk. It's been how many weeks?"

"I know. But I'm getting used to this cell." Naruto patted the bench he was sitting on. "I was even thinking of putting up a picture over there." He raised his arms pretending to hang a frame on the opposite wall.

Ichigo tilted his head a little. "You've changed. The Naruto I know would be going crazy in this cell. The Naruto I knew would have never walked into this village the way you did. What happened to you when you left?" Naruto shook his head in what seemed to be in agreement.

"That is because I have changed." He unconsciously touched his stomach. Ichigo shook his head and got out of the chair. "Hey on your way out can you ask someone to bring me more of this." He raised the bowl. "I didn't like this at first but its growing on me."

Ichigo smiled and just started laughing. "Tell you what I'll do something better." He pulled out of his pocket a shiny red apple which he tossed through the bars. Naruto's eyes lit up as he caught the apple.

"Thank you." He did a slight bow and took a bite savoring the juices. Outside in the cells the Raikage stood in the garden. Ichigo soon came out to join her.

"Same response." Ichigo shook his head. "You know I think he's telling us the truth. I mean given the level of security around the cell he could easily escape and he hasn't. He just sits there eating that crap we keep giving him."

Raikage smiled. Although the security is relaxed around him the building is heavily guarded. "I might be inclined to believe you but nothing has happened."

"I don't know what to say, maybe the assassin found out that we found out and called the thing off." Ichigo scratched the back of his head. "Who knows?" He shrugged and left. The Raikage just stood there lost in thought. She had papers to fill out, missions to sort and oh yes an assassination to stop. She turned back to look at the cell where their 'friend' stayed.

"Maybe its time for another visit…" She walked inside the building nodding to the guards as she past them. The hall was a dull shade of grey with little lighting. She stopped at a double door where two guards stood. They bowed and opened the door. Inside Naruto sat putting down his bowl, it was empty save one little apple core. "Hello again." Naruto stood up to face her.

"And what prompts this visit." He then looked behind her. "No guards? Isn't that a little dangerous? You think I might try and kill you remember?"

She smiled. "I used to think that but now not so much. Ichigo in his own way made some very good points. That's why I came to see you now." At that point the double doors opened. She turned around. "What is it…Lee?"

Lee smiled and pulled out a kunai. "Nothing just came to kill you that all." At that moment a guard busted through the doors. Lee quickly spun around knocking the guard down. The Raikage jumped back and got into a defensive stance. "You know how long I had to wait to get you here." Lee picked up the disoriented guard and threw him to the corner.

At this point Naruto kicked at the bars but they did not budge. He held his palm facing the bars, a ball of chakra formed. "Rasengan!" He pushed at the bars. They easily twisted but then the area around the bars began to glow. Before Naruto could react the glow from the bars struck him and he flew to the back wall.

Lee smiled. "Every effective cell I might add." He looked down at the guard; he was out of the fight but fully aware. 'Good an audience' he thought to himself. He brought his hand up and made a seal. Lee's appearance peeled away and tall dark haired man replaced him, his head protector had a leaf on it. Raikage stared at his eyes they were red.

Naruto slowly got back up hold his side. He looked at the man. "Sasuke? What are you doing?"

"My mission." He replied. He then charged at the Raikage with the Kunai in his hand. She was able to dodge his but Sasuke blocked her counter. The two exchanged several blows before Sasuke took a step back. "You're better than I expected."

"Thanks." She formed a seal and fired a bolt of lightening. Sasuke dodged and was about to counter when the wall behind him exploded. The room was filled with smoke. The Raikage managed to dodge the flying rocks. "Now what!" She threw down her hat and robes. Underneath she wore a black tights and a violet sash around her waist.

"Clever but my eyes aren't that red." A figure stood at the entrance. He looked identical to the Sasuke except no Sharingan in his eyes. "I know it's you Gouda. There's no point in this." Gouda smiled as he released his jutsu revealing his true face. "You can't beat us both, your mission has failed." Gouda charged Sasuke but Sasuke easily dodged it. Perfect, thought Gouda. He took the opening to escape the room by exiting through the whole in the wall. "Damn," Sasuke crouched ready to sprint after him when he noticed that the Raikage was already in front of Gouda.

"Konoha ninja stay out of this fight. He came for my life." She tied her hair back into a ponytail, "Now let him try and take it." She slid into a battle stance. Gouda turned back to see Sasuke relax, standing up straight. He turned back to the Raikage with a smile. He had always wanted to fight a Kage.

Konoha

Hikari was mediating when Saitou knocked on her door. She slowly got up from her position and opened the door to Saitou's cheerful smile. She just shrugged and walked inside leaving the door open. Saitou took this as a sign he could enter. "The Sixth has called us up. We are to meet in his office in an hour." She walked to the center of the room and sat cross legged on the floor. Saitou walked around her. There wasn't much in the room, a small kitchen, bed, a table, desk and one wooden chair. He took that chair. "Listen I think this has something to do with Hinata sensei. She tells us our training is done and a few days later we get called by the Sixth. I think this is something big. I've never been through such harsh training." He rubbed the back of his neck.

"Does it matter?" She finally spoke. Her eyes remained closed. "We are ninja. We complete any task given to us."

"You aren't still mad about Tapion are you?" She didn't respond as usual. He took this as his sign to leave. "Alright well I'll see you in one hour."

Hidden Cloud Village

Sasuke looked on as Gouda and the Raikage fought. Gouda clearly did not have the advantage in this fight. He was losing. Sasuke wondered if Gouda realized this. Suddenly he heard a loud crash from behind him. The bars from Naruto's cell came flying and Naruto slowly walked out his cell. He now stood beside Sasuke. They both looked at the battle in front of them. The Raikage blocked everything Gouda threw at her. With every blow blocked, Gouda's anger increased. "Why won't you die!" He threw a punch. The Raikage ducked and kicked him hard in the chest. He flew back a few feet, he managed to slow himself. He was now down on one knee. He was breathing heavily now. He punched the ground hard. "Calm down…" He whispered to himself.

"Is that all you got assassin." Raikage began a series of hand seals. Her body began to glow a fluorescent blue. "Wolf's Fang no jutsu" The aura around her body took the shape of a wolf and charged Gouda.

As the lightening wolf was about to hit him, he open palmed the ground. A cloud of smoke surfaced and huge bear double the size of a normal bear appeared. It wore a red helm and shoulder pads. He deflected the attack with his claw. He let out a growl and charged at the Raikage.

The Country Side

The valley was green and lush with forest. The three travelers were walking against the side of the valley at a base of a cliff. "Are we there yet?" Tapion looked up the clear sky. Naomi stopped walking at this point. Fists clenched and eyes closed.

"Oh my god…I am going to hurt you if say that one more time." She turned around and was about to deck him with extreme prejudice.

"We're here…." Vidina declared. This caught both genin off guard. Naomi stopped short of punching Tapion in the face. "This way." They reached what looked like a flight of stares. The stairs looked as if they were carved into the face of the mountain. Vidina started up the stairs. "It's a two day walk so we'd better start now." Tapion and Naomi looked at each other and then started up the stairs behind him.

The cloud village

The bear put up a good fight but the Raikage was finally able to put it down. As the bear fell into a cloud of smoke she looked around. Gouda was no where to be found. She then turned to see her would be saviors. "He's gone; the bear was his escape plan." Sasuke stated. Naruto was sitting down next to him.

"You didn't go after him?" The Raikage stood slowing her breathing down.

"We could have but that was not the mission. Your safety was the mission." Naruto said in a weak voice. "By the way was the bolt of lightening supposed to stun me or kill me?"

The Raikage laughed. "You'll be fine in a few hours. And I suppose this is the part where you want me to ally with you against this threat huh?"

"That would be the plan." Sasuke said, taking a few steps toward her. "They consider all the hidden villages their enemies. We were the just the first. So what do you say?" She walked up to him and then looked past him at Naruto.

Konoha

Neji just sat in his chair with his eyes closed. The day had finally come. He opened his eyes and looked at the Four genin standing there tall and proud. It reminded him of his days as a genin. "As you know we are in a state of emergency and all available shinobi are on assignment. Although I do have other genin on missions what separates them from you four is that they have years of experience. No matter how I look at it you are rookies." His voice became louder full of authority. "This is an A rank mission." This caught Saitou's attention. "Almost two months ago we were attacked. Part of that force was made up of ninjas but over a third of the enemy was conventional military forces. Now from what we could gather they were mercenaries from the Wind Country. I need you four to go there and investigate. Find out what you can and report back. Any questions?"

A/n: Wow yea…so I'm back. I hope you liked this chapter. I know it was a little late. Hence the gap in time. Lol Its been a long time since I touched this story. I'd like some feed back.