In Order To Keep, a naruto fanfic

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

This is the sequel to my other story, Being Found. If you haven't read it, this story won't make much sense, as it is a continuation of those events. As always, please review at the end, and I sincerely hope you enjoy...

THE SEQUEL!!!!!!

Chapter One

A fire crackled as the branch snapped from the heat. It was a low flame, built in a hole in the ground to keep visibility at a minimum. A chicken was roasting merrily, despite the tense atmosphere.

"Hey, Ero-Sennin, wouldn't it be more efficient to have this line go this way?"

The aging legend leaned over to look at his student's scroll. He shook his head. "It would activate faster, but the seal would be at least twice as unstable. You wouldn't have to work as hard to get it to seal, but you'd end up fighting to keep it contained."

Naruto frowned and looked at the scroll again. "I still don't see it."

Jiraiya snatched the scroll away from his student and marked it with a few deft strokes. "It's the same reason you don't invert the strokes in an explosive tag. See?" he asked, shoving the scroll back under Naruto's nose. "I've told you a hundred times that this is just building on what you already know. If you don't get that, there's no point in me teaching you this."

"You keep saying that, but it doesn't make sense. I was able to alter the standard lines on that seal last week, so if I'm just building on what I already know, why are you keeping me from doing it here?"

"I just told you, you'd end up blowing your hand off trying to contain the energy. The reason you could alter the seal last week was because it didn't gather any ambient energy, it only used what you initially put in it. This seal draws power from everything around it, and changing those lines removes too much of the constraining influence from the seal."

Jiraiya sighed and put the scroll down. "We'll stop here for the night. The chicken's almost done anyway."

Naruto nodded and inked the basic nullifying seal Jiraiya had taught him in the corner of the scroll. Even if the seals weren't charged, the nullifying seal would lower the chance of it going off accidentally to almost zero.

Jiraiya and Naruto were quiet as they ate their dinner. A year and a half ago, Naruto would have been chattering endlessly, but after eighteen months of traveling, they were able to go about their business without talking, only really requiring conversation during training or when they discussed mission specifics. Which was just as well, considering they were deep in Lightning Country.

Relations between Konoha and Kumo were falling apart once more, and Jiraiya and Naruto had been sent in to gather information on Lightning Country's internal situation. The Lightning Daimyo and Raikage had a history of animosity, and if Konoha could exploit that, war could be prevented for another year or so. Not much time, but with the trouble Orochimaru was still causing, Konoha needed all the time it could manage.

From what the pair had discovered, such a rift wasn't going to be exploitable. A coup led by one of the Daimyo's bastard lines had succeeded, and the new government was much more comfortable with the Raikage. There was still a lingering resentment from decades spent at odds, but the Daimyo's samurai forces and Kumogakure's ninja had already been seen working together in maneuvers at half a dozen points across the Lightning Country border. It was unsettling to say the least.

"We're heading back to Konoha in the morning," Jiraiya said around a mouthful of bland chicken. Neither one of the pair were very good cooks.

"Why?" Naruto asked. "Our trip was supposed to be three years long, its only been half that."

"I've gotten word from sensei that he's stepping down. Tsunade's taking up the hat, and I need to be there for the ceremony," Jiraiya explained.

"Why's the old man retiring? He was doing fine last time you said anything."

"He's retiring because he's earned it," Jiraiya snapped back. He shoved the last piece of chicken at Naruto. "Tsunade's been learning how to do the job, and apparently sensei thinks she's ready. And he's not as young as he used to be. His body's finally catching up with him."

"He's going to be okay, right?" Naruto asked, suddenly worried.

Jiraiya waved a hand. "He's still got a number of years left, he just doesn't need the stresses of being Hokage anymore. Tsunade's strong enough to do the job, and Sarutobi's been teaching her everything else she needs to know since she returned two years ago. You knew sensei would step down eventually. Hell, he's done it before, so let it go."

Naruto sighed. "But he's always been the Hokage, you know? I've never thought about anyone else having his job."

"Except you," Jiraiya snarked.

"Well, of course."

Then the campsite exploded.

A bolt of lightning crashed down, striking Naruto square in the chest, who promptly exploded in an amazing wave of heat and force. The real Naruto had switched with an exploding clone the second Jiraiya had offered him the last of the meal.

Jiraiya dove out of the nearby tree, dropping the concealment technique he normally used to peep on bathhouses to engage three of the cloaked attackers in taijutsu. They were good, but Jiraiya had been fighting for longer than any one of them had been alive. He activated a seal on his right ring finger and thrust his fist at one of his opponents. A visible bolt of chakra flew across the space between them in less than a second and a six-inch hole punched its way through the ninja's chest cavity.

The other two attacked simultaneously, and Jiraiya whipped his coat off his shoulders and flared it in front of him. The cloth expanded and engulfed the two attackers. Jiraiya snapped it tight and the captives disappeared inside a pocket dimension built inside the coat.

Another squad of Cloud ANBU emerged from the trees, one attacking with visibly crackling fists and another making seals. A trio of electric serpents screamed through the air towards Jiraiya.

He avoided them deftly, and slammed his hand against the ground. The earth dissolved and trees sank into the muck of his artificial swamp. Two of the ninja disappeared beneath the surface, but the other three jumped away. Jiraiya grabbed one by the cloak as he charged, sinking a fist into his back and breaking the ninja's spine.

Jiraiya parried an electrified fist and broke the ambusher's jaw. He smacked a seal on porcelain mask, and a living flame covered the Cloud ninja. An overcharged fire jutsu dispatched the last ANBU.

"Naruto, we're moving," Jiraiya announced when he didn't see Naruto immediately. Listening for any sounds of battle, Jiraiya's heart jumped to his throat. He split into three and searched for any sign of Naruto. He found where his student put up a good fight, but had obviously lost. Naruto was good, but he apparently wasn't up to fighting off four ANBU at once. Jiraiya raced along the trail the kidnappers had left, but it disappeared expertly.

Jiraiya turned and sealed away camp and the bodies of the Kumo agents he had killed. He summoned a horde of barely larger than usual toads and sent them in every direction, in a vain hope that one of them would be able to find some clue as to where Naruto was being taken. With that done, he raced for the closest body of water. He needed to get back to Konoha fast. Kumo knew he was there, and Naruto had been captured.

In a crystal clear lake on the edge of Konoha, a twelve-inch tall toad broke the surface. It croaked once before opening its mouth wide, as if to catch a fly. But instead of a sticky tongue, a slimy hand shot out, clawing at the muddy shore. The hand inched its way out, clutching at the ground in an effort to keep from sliding back. The toad's mouth opened impossibly wide, and Jiraiya pushed his way out, covered in juices and a glossy sheen. The Sannin dismissed his summon and grumbled at the travel method, but started moving anyway. He had to get to the Hokage.

The door to the Hokage's office slammed open, even as the secretary protested in vain. The Toad Sannin rushed through, all but collapsing in the chair.

"Nice to see you're back, Jiraiya," Sarutobi murmured without looking away from his paperwork. "Get in trouble at the hot springs again?" he asked with a chuckle.

Sarutobi looked up and saw the genuine emotion on his student's face. "Jiraiya, what happened? Where's Naruto?" he demanded, suddenly serious.

"Kumo discovered us. I don't know when. They sent three squads of ANBU after us, twelve total. They ambushed us, split us apart. I killed the eight that came at me, but the other four got away. They took Naruto with them. I assume he's still alive, there wasn't enough blood for him to be dead, and if they were able to get him alive, they'd want to keep him that way for as long as possible."

Sarutobi nodded at Jiraiya's report. "And the other information?"

"Not promising. I don't know how much of it was staged, since I don't know when they discovered us, but if they are so bold as to attack me directly, we're looking at war, sensei."

Sarutobi exhaled sharply through his nose. "I was afraid of that. And as much as I hate to admit it, I am not up to running this village through the course of another war. All I can do is hope Tsunade can rise to the challenge and offer my assistance."

Sarutobi stood and brushed off nonexistent dust from his robes. "We're going to the academy."

Jiraiya trailed a step behind his sensei as they walked through the halls of the First Konoha Ninja Academy. It had been decades since he last set foot in the building, and it wasn't anything like what he remembered. Of course, since academy students had a tendency to destroy walls whenever it came time to practice with explosive tags, that wasn't exactly unexpected.

Sarutobi entered a classroom without bothering to knock, and a few of the students whispered as they saw the Hokage standing in the doorway. "Shino-san, if I could borrow you for a moment?" He spared a glance at the students. "Class, if you would be so kind as to read silently while I have a word with your instructor."

The children rushed to get their books out as Shino limped from the room. He had been injured on a mission to keep Uchiha Sasuke from going to Orochimaru, and it ended his active ninja career. The medic nins were able to reconstruct the crushed bones, but he still walked with a limp and wouldn't ever have the range of motion he once did. However, his injury didn't prevent him from teaching genjutsu at the academy.

"How can I help you, Hokage-sama?" Shino asked as he shut the door.

"I need to determine if a shinobi is still alive, and as Nara Shikamaru is out on a mission, you are our best choice. If you would please summon a fox."

Shino's mind immediately jumped to Naruto, but if the Hokage was speaking so obtusely, he wasn't going to say anything. He nicked his thumb with a kunai and formed the handseals.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu," he said firmly, smacking his hand against the floor. There was a small cloud of smoke and seconds later a large fox was sitting in the hallway.

The fox yawned and looked at Sarutobi. "Did you need something, Shino-san? Oh, hello, Hokage-sama."

"Naruto-kun has been captured by an enemy village," Sarutobi said. "I need to know if he is still alive, and if there is some way to extract him immediately."

"Something happened to Naruto-sama?" the fox asked worriedly. "I would have known if Naruto-sama died, but I can't summon him to myself."

"Thank you," Sarutobi said. "Unless you can think of some way that you can help us, that will be all. You can go back to your class, Shino-san."

The Aburame nodded and headed back inside. The Hokage turned to leave and Jiraiya followed closely behind. Once they were outside the academy, Sarutobi spoke up again. "Jiraiya, go to ANBU Headquarters. Put together a team. I want Naruto back in this country as soon as possible."

"Who are you?"

"My name is Hanzo the Salamander."

WHAM!

"Stand him back up. Stop making this hard on yourself. Tell me who you are."

"I am Tsunade of the Sannin."

WHAM!

"We know you're from Konoha. What is your name?"

"My name is Hatake Sakumo."

WHAM!

"You're making me angry…"

"You're making me bored. You're nothing compared to Ibiki."

WHAM!

Naruto bounced once as he was thrown to the concrete floor of his holding cell. He could feel the seals inked around the outside of the cell draining his chakra. They were supposed to keep a prisoner hovering just above chakra exhaustion, but Naruto had more chakra than anything the seals were designed for.

Elbow length gauntlets kept Naruto's hands restrained behind his back, and his legs were held much the same way. He wasn't going to get out of the cell.

"You know, I'm a little impressed."

Naruto peered up at the shadowed figure. One of the punches had opened a cut on his forehead, and the blood was getting in his eyes, but Naruto could tell that this was someone new. The voice was different, smoother, more sophisticated.

"And why's that?"

"You're still alive," came the simple answer. "Frankly, your previous interrogator is still new, and hasn't learned where the line is yet. Where to stop before the subject's body gives out. And that's not even mentioning his atrocious questioning style, but he is still learning, I suppose. But the point I'm getting at is that all his other subjects died under his questioning, and despite not changing anything about his technique, you're still alive."

"And you want to know why that is," Naruto filled in the blank, as he felt a genjutsu press on his senses, slowly raising his fear.

"Not really. Either you're more durable than most, or his other subjects were weak, I don't care. I just care about getting information, to protect my village. But I don't believe you have any information that's worth keeping you alive for. So unless you change my mind in the next thirty seconds, I'm going to kill you, and then go eat lunch."

Naruto fidgeted as much as he could for twenty seconds, squirming under the hot lights and dispassionate stare of his interrogator as the genjutsu wormed into his nerves. Just as the knife was produced, Naruto jerked back. "Okay, okay I'll tell you what I know! Just please don't kill me."

"Everybody dies sometime, or does Konoha no longer teach that? Either way, it's only your information keeping you alive, so I'd start talking. Now." The knife advanced slowly.

"Alright, here's what I know." The knife paused. "Your genjutsu are crap and you talk too much."

The knife flashed forward, but the bonds holding Naruto captive slackened, and Naruto spun around, the knife glancing off the metal back of the chair. The bonds fell the rest of the way, and Naruto flung the chains at his interrogator.

Naruto threw himself through the air, slamming his knee into the interrogator's soft stomach before pinning the man to the floor with his body weight, controlling his hands. Naruto's shoulder slid underneath the man's chin, and cut off his airflow, suffocating him.

As the man beneath him stilled, Naruto checked to see if the man was dead or merely unconscious. Taking the knife, Naruto slit the man's throat with a grimace. The knife was barely suitable, hardly sharp at all. It would have to do until Naruto could strip someone else of their weapons.

Knowing that someone had to have been watching and would be in any second, Naruto reached back into his mind, touching a presence that hadn't spoken for quite some time.

'Kyuubi, I need power.'

The mental presence that Naruto knew to be the world's strongest Demon Lord stirred. "Really? You've been doing so well on your own until now," the demon muttered sarcastically.

'I don't have time to argue. I need power. I'm going to kill everyone in this building, and your chakra will make sure I don't do something stupid like lose an arm because all I have to fight with is a dull knife.'

"Very well," Kyuubi agreed. Naruto's half-healed wounds hissed away as red demonic chakra bubbled out of his tenketsu.

The door collapsed inward, and a chakra claw decapitated the Kumo shinobi who entered first, cauterizing the wound as it cut. The second shinobi faired just as poorly, his belly sliced open as Naruto threw him against the opposite wall.

Naruto raced down the hall on all fours, a cloak of red chakra hanging over him with two red tails trailing behind him. "I've been keeping track of the hallways while you were unconscious. Go down this hallway and take the third right."

The alarm sounded and lights flashed as Kumo shinobi poured out of the side rooms. Naruto didn't break stride as he cut them down in the enclosed hallway, taking out legs and arms as they stretched out to meet him, only for the poisonous chakra to burn them as Naruto sliced tendons and muscle.

Naruto nearly fell as he cornered, but his clawed fingers dug into the solid stone floor to stop him from sliding. He dashed down the hall at Kyuubi's instruction, finally seeing a door heavier than any others.

It gave him pause for a few seconds as Naruto slammed against the door, destroying the strengthening seals as demonic chakra invaded their designs.

The sweet taste of fresh air nearly stopped Naruto, but Naruto knew he couldn't afford to waste anymore time.

The shouts of a dozen Kumo shinobi announced the ninjutsu that flew at Naruto. Most he dodged, but he still came out singed.

Naruto spun to see the building he had been held captive in. Kumo shinobi were still pouring out of the windows, but Naruto didn't care. Without fanfare, Naruto moved through the handseals he had used most over the past eighteen months.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" Naruto screamed, shooting into the air as his summon appeared. The smoke cleared slowly, but the Kumo shinobi were beginning to panic even before the massive head appeared. "Ichirou! These men are enemies of my village! They conspire to destroy my people, and have held me captive! Stand with me, and we will destroy them!"

Ichirou, the oldest eight-tailed fox and first-born son of the Kyuubi, snarled and bared teeth bigger than the largest man. "For their crimes, they will die," Ichirou agreed.

"Good." Naruto dove off Ichirou's head and into the crowd of terrified Kumo shinobi. "Oodama Rasengan!"

Jiraiya moved through the trees with the ease of a lifetime of experience. His group had been put together hastily, but they were some of the best. He had even been able to enlist the best tracker in the village, Inuzuka Tsume and her partner, Kuromaru.

"We'll rest here for a moment," Jiraiya called, indicating the scouting post Konoha controlled just on the inside of Fire Country's borders. "Restock your water rations. We're moving again in fifteen minutes."

Jiraiya found the restroom and relieved himself, but was accosted the moment he opened the door. "Jiraiya-sama! We just received an urgent message from Kumogakure. It bears the Raikage's seal."

"When exactly did it arrive?" Jiraiya asked, his attention now focused on the special jounin in front of him.

"Three minutes ago, by a summoned bird, not a normal messenger hawk. I don't know if that changes anything."

"Where is the message now?"

"We haven't moved it yet. Normally we would send it onto Konoha, but since you're here, we thought it would be a good idea to show it to you."

Jiraiya nodded and followed the special jounin to the letter. After a quick scan for any traps, Jiraiya tore open the envelope.

To the Godaime Hokage—

In response to your blatant offense against the current treaty, I give you one chance to avoid conflict. Send us the head of the shinobi you sent to destroy our posts within one week, or Kumogakure will crush your village for your impudence.

Rokudaime Raikage

Jiraiya read the letter again to make sure he had understood correctly. "Shit," he cursed aloud, getting the attention of everyone in the room. He was glad everyone there had enough discipline to keep from asking any questions as he left to find his team.

They were nearly ready to leave again, but Jiraiya just raised a hand and everyone fell into a more relaxed position.

"Stand down for now. I'm suspending the mission for the time being. The situation has changed, and I need more information before we move."

"What's the situation now?" Tsume asked.

"Kumo captured Uzumaki Naruto, and we were going to get him back before they could get any information out of him, or do anything worse. But now, given what I know of Naruto and reading between the lines of the letter we just received, Naruto has escaped captivity and likely burned down most of the countryside on the way."

Tsume let out a low whistle. "So what now?"

"Now, I'm going to track down my student, and the rest of you are going to stay here and wait for my orders."

Tsume shook her head. "I'm a better tracker than you, and no one has a better nose than Kuromaru."

"Too bad," Jiraiya said as he began to look queasy. "I'm already gone." Then the Kage Bunshin grimaced and disappeared in a puff of smoke, having been too far from the original Jiraiya, who was already trekking towards Lightning Country.

It didn't take Jiraiya long to find out what happened after he crossed into Lightning Country. He had used the Toad transport technique to move himself across the two countries separating Fire and Lightning, and he knew he would pay the price later. As useful as it was, the technique was extremely painful and dangerous to be used twice in such a short period of time.

After pulling himself out of the toad's mouth for the second time in less than forty-eight hours, Jiraiya started scouring the countryside. Kumo ninja were out in force and not bothering to hide their movements, so it wasn't hard for Jiraiya to follow them. What he found shocked him.

There was a blackened swath of earth that stretched for miles, apparently Naruto's work. The destruction started at a medium sized Kumo outpost that had been razed to the ground, and moved in the direction of the border. As Jiraiya followed the destruction, he found that four more outposts had been destroyed along the way.

Jiraiya was amazed at the destruction Naruto had caused. He had focused a lot of Naruto's training on summoning to take advantage of the boy's huge chakra reserves, and was more than aware of the power the monstrous summons could command. But even he, with decades of experience as a Toad Summoner, hadn't imagined doing something like this.

From what he saw, Naruto had initially summoned a fox larger than anything Jiraiya had seen the boy use in their practice spars, and his force grew from there. While the markings were too blurred to make a positive identification of all of Naruto's summons, Jiraiya could easily pick out the trails of both Gamabunta and Gamaken, as well as at least four foxes of similar size.

It was unbelievable, and Jiraiya could easily tell that the Kumo ninja felt the same way. Muttering to himself in disbelief, Jiraiya cloaked his presence as completely as possible and started back towards the border.

Jiraiya and his team arrived back at Konoha a day and a half later, tired from the pace he had set but relieved to be home. Sarutobi met them at the gates, and Jiraiya could see the disapproval clearly written on the retiring Hokage's face.

"What happened?" Sarutobi demanded firmly as he set a privacy jutsu.

"Naruto's no longer Kumo's prisoner," Jiraiya started.

"Then where is he?"

"I'm not sure. The most likely answer is that he's with either the Toads or the Foxes. Probably the latter, if my suspicions are correct. In any case, Naruto escaped on his own, and then decided to burn down half of Lightning's countryside with a force of half a dozen giant summons."

Sarutobi sighed. "The Lightning Daimyo and Raikage won't let that stand."

Jiraiya nodded. "As my group passed the border outpost, a letter arrived from the Raikage. We'll be going to war unless we send Kumo Naruto's head."

"I see." Suddenly, Sarutobi looked even more his age. Straightening up, he turned to head for his office. Jiraiya stopped him.

"I'm not the only one with information. Gamabunta had been summoned. We'll need to go out to one of the larger training grounds to see what he can tell us."

Sarutobi and Jiraiya waited for the smoke to clear, and the imposing shadow of the Boss Toad was cast over them.

"Jiraiya," Gamabunta greeted shortly. "What do you want? There's no fight here. I don't appreciate being summoned for no reason."

"I do have a reason. Naruto summoned you a few days ago. I need to know what happened."

Gamabunta took a long drag on his pipe, blowing the smoke out slowly. "Yes, the boy summoned me. He told me he had been captured by one of your rival villages, and needed me to help him destroy some of their buildings and to kill some of their ninja. It's been a while since I've been summoned for something so useful, so I obliged him. I haven't had so much fun in years, and it's been more than a century since I've fought beside a fox like I did."

"Naruto's actions may have started a war," Sarutobi noted.

Gamabunta grunted and another blast of smoke erupted from the giant toad. "And? After being captured and tortured, what would you expect him to do, run away? No. The boy has my support in his actions. Especially if you take notice that he stopped us from destroying the civilian towns along the way."

"Kumogakure is choosing to ignore that fact."

"So what? We killed every one of their men we could find; I'd be surprised if they've noticed it even now. If I were the victim of our fun, I know I wouldn't take it into account. I doubt you would either."

"Is there anything else you can tell use? Do you know where Naruto is?" Sarutobi probed.

"No, I don't know. The foxes took him when they left, so they will still have him, if he hasn't come back here yet. And no, I won't be giving you the location of where you can find them."

"Thank you, Gamabunta," Sarutobi said. "Your help is appreciated."

Before he disappeared, Gamabunta looked directly at Jiraiya. "And Jiraiya? The next time you summon me for something other than battle, you better have a couple barrels of sake." With that parting comment, Gamabunta disappeared.

Shikamaru grunted as his chakra reserves plummeted, a gout of smoke erupting from the ground. An elephant-sized three tailed fox appeared in from of them, covered in battle-scarred samurai armor.

"Ah, Shikamaru-kun," Dachi rumbled. "Why have you summoned me today?"

"We need information," Shikamaru said, and then gestured to Jiraiya and Sarutobi. "Something happened in Lightning Country, and now we don't know where Naruto is. Gamabunta believes that you might know where he is."

Dachi nodded his large head. "Naruto-sama is with us. He will be undergoing training with us for the foreseeable future. You can expect him to return the same time he would have had his trip remained uninterrupted."

"So eighteen months?" Shikamaru clarified.

"More or less. He has much to learn, and little time to learn it in."

Sarutobi shook his head. "Konoha needs every shinobi it can muster at this point," he said. "That includes Naruto."

"If your village's survival hinges on one shinobi, I despair for its future," Dachi said mildly, but the message wasn't lost on anyone.

"Sensei, I have to agree with Dachi. There's no reason to call him back just yet. Its obvious Kumo wants him, and if no one knows where he is, he's not in danger. And as we wouldn't hand him over anyway, conflict wouldn't be avoided even if we did have him here. Not to mention that this won't be your decision in a couple days, you'll be retired and it'll be Tsunade-hime's problem." Jiraiya paused. "Where is she anyway? This seems to be the kind of thing she'd be involved in."

"She's finishing everything needed to turn the hospital over to Shizune. She won't have time to run the hospital once she's Hokage, so Shizune is going to be the new head."

Dachi interrupted Jiraiya's response. "Naruto will be safe with us, and he will be trained in arts that he would never learn about with you. In eighteen months, whether his training is complete or not, he will return to Konoha."

"It's not as if there isn't precedence, Sensei," Jiraiya reasoned. "I spent a year training with the Toads, and Konoha got along just fine without me, despite conflicts with Kiri. And we're stronger now."

Sarutobi nodded, conceding the point. And the comment about Naruto learning things that Konoha couldn't teach him was both troubling and promising. If Naruto could be convinced to pass the knowledge on, Konoha could potentially end the war quickly. "Very well. Naruto will train with the Fox Clan for eighteen months. Once that time period is up, he comes back to Konoha. I trust we won't have any problems with this?"

"That is acceptable," Dachi agreed. "If there is nothing else, I am done here."

Tenten crouched silently as she tried to catch her breath. Her team had been sent out to escort a caravan to the border outpost, to protect it from ninja attacks. Kumo and Oto would love to sabotage their supply lines.

Now the caravan had been destroyed, and she had no idea where Neji or Lee was. A wave of sound had ripped through the center of the caravan, destroying three of the wagons, including the one their other teammate was resting in. Neji and Lee had charged off to face their attackers head on, but she had stayed back to provide support and pick off anyone who made it through Neji and Lee.

The first one to make it past her teammates fell to a poisoned sickle to the chest, and by now was dead. Tenten wasn't so lucky with the second one.

He was a jounin, she expected, but she couldn't be sure. Her team had beaten jounin before, but she wasn't with her team. The jounin had run her off, and now she was in a running battle, only getting the fewest strikes in as possible. She had caught sight of him five minutes ago, but he was nearly unmarked and she could tell that if she didn't get lucky and find her team soon, she was going to die.

The white haired jounin was marking her closely now, and she had a feeling she was being played with.

A sharp snap came from behind her, and she let loose with a barrage of poisoned kunai as she spun around. A wan chuckle was her only warning as her legs seared with pain and she collapsed.

The jounin reached for her throat with a green glowing hand, and Tenten closed her eyes. Call her a coward, but she didn't want to meet death with her eyes open.

"Rasengan!"

Tenten rolled towards the base of a tree and hissed. The muscles in her thighs were screaming in pain, but she didn't dare draw any more attention to herself. She quickly went through some pain-reducing exercises to let her at least see straight.

Tenten saw the white-haired jounin facing off against a very familiar shinobi. "Naruto," she whispered. He was wearing different clothes, most predominantly a dark red trench coat, instead of the deep blue coat he wore when she had last seen him. He still wore orange, but only on top. His pants were dark blue, almost black and had loops running down the sides to hold scrolls.

Naruto and the white-haired shinobi continued fighting, but movement at the edge of her vision caught Tenten's attention. Ignoring the pain in her legs, she pulled a trio of poisoned kunai and sighted across the break in the trees. She threw her weapons and the hooded shinobi dropped from his perch, the blades buried halfway in his chest.

The motion of the falling body distracted Naruto long enough for his opponent to rake a green-cloaked hand across Naruto's chest as he sank into the ground, disappearing with a mocking smirk.

Naruto cursed inventively, but popped a Kage Bunshin and sped off towards the road. The clone looked around and his eyes fell on her. "Tenten-chan," he smiled, and she would have believed this was the real deal if not for the fact that she had seen the clone created.

Tenten was shifted into a sitting position, and the clone kept a hand on her shoulder to hold her steady. "What's hurt?"

"He did something to my legs. He barely touched me, and my legs were useless."

"That was Kabuto. He's one of Orochimaru's top ninja, or at least he was the last time I heard. My information's probably all outdated, but as far as I know, he was at least as strong as Kakashi or Gai. And with the experiments Orochimaru does, who knows what Kabuto can do now."

Tenten winced. If Naruto hadn't arrived, she would have been killed. Or worst.

Naruto dove out of the trees, sliding a kunai into his target's side and ripping it across his stomach. Lee spun around and flashed him a quick smile, and rushed to sink a fist into a Sound shinobi's cheek. The shinobi was unconscious before he hit the ground.

Neji thrust his hand at his opponent and an invisible lance of chakra made sure he wouldn't be getting back up. Ever.

"That it?" Naruto asked.

Neji's eyes bulged and veins stretched his skin. "Yes. We're safe. And Tenten is making her way towards us. She's being carried by you." Neji focused his attention on Naruto as his eyes relaxed. "Which one of you is a clone?"

"He is," Naruto shrugged. "I didn't want to leave her alone, but I could tell you guys were still fighting, so I left a clone with her to make sure she could get back here."

Neji nodded in understanding. "We should make for the outpost. They should have a medic there to patch us up. We also need to report the attack."

Naruto's clone landed next to Lee as Naruto was sealing the bodies into separate scrolls. "Well, let's get going then."

Team Gai and Naruto landed outside the outpost and signaled to the guards. After a moment, they received the countersign and walked inside. A blue-clad ninja with a bandage across his nose approached them. "Isn't there supposed to be a caravan with you?"

Neji stepped forward. "We were attacked by a squad of Sound ninja. The caravan was lost, as was our other teammate, Akame Iwana. We defended ourselves, and killed or otherwise incapacitated six of them. We believe that only two of them got away, including the leader."

"It was Yakushi Kabuto," Naruto said. "I don't know why he was with them, I would have thought he'd be too important to risk on a normal mission like disrupting a supply line."

The bandaged ninja nodded slowly. "Your captives?"

Naruto pulled a scroll off one of the loops on his pants. "Six Oto shinobi, four dead, two unconscious." He squinted at the ninja debriefing them. "You look familiar. Do I know you?"

"Hagane Kotetsu," he said, introducing himself. "I used to work in the Hokage Tower, until the Godaime was initiated. Then I was promoted to manage this outpost. I did some work with Morino Ibiki from time to time as well."

Naruto's face lit up in comprehension. "Oh yeah, I remember you now. Didn't you hang around with another guy all the time? What was his name again?" Naruto muttered, trying to remember.

Kotetsu's face shut down. "Yeah, Izumo. A Kumo probing team got him about three months ago."

Naruto grimaced. "Oh, sorry to hear that."

"It happens. I can let you rest here, but in return I'm going to need you to take some papers back to Konoha for me. Sound reasonable?"

"We can do that, Kotetsu-san. Once we've rested up, we'll be on our way," Tenten said from the chair that had been quickly supplied.

"Thank you. At least now we won't have to go down a man for a day or two to deliver these," Kotetsu said bitterly.

Temari collapsed on the bed in exhaustion. She made the daylong trip from the capital to Konoha in just over seven hours, and her body was punishing her for it now.

As a natural wind user, Temari was faster than your average chuunin. As a Fuuton specialist trained by some of the best in Wind Country, Temari was faster than anyone that wasn't a taijutsu specialist. Add in that she could ride her fan to keep from leaving a trail, Temari had quickly been recruited as a courier for the Hokage.

Sure, it wasn't glamorous, but Temari didn't care. She had done enough 'glamorous' missions back when she had been on a team with Gaara and Kankuro. Running orders was fairly safe, it was necessary, and it kept her off a team with arrogant assholes who thought they were better just because they were Konoha-born and she was from Suna.

Temari groaned and levered herself up; if she didn't go clean herself up now, she would hate herself when she woke up later.

Then the door opened.

And someone wearing only a towel walked in.

Temari growled, everyone knew her room was off-limits unless she let them in. She got ready to pound whoever this was into the ground.

Then the towel dropped.

Cute butt.

Then Temari caught sight of the blonde mop of hair and she realized who it was. "Naruto?"

"Oh, hey Temari-chan," Naruto said as he pulled a clean pair of boxers up around his waist without turning around. A pair of pants was pulled from a seal and Naruto turned around. "How's it going?" His eyes went up and down her body quickly, noticing the sweat and grime. "The bathroom's free if you need it. You just get done with a mission or something?"

"Yes, actually," she replied before her annoyance reasserted itself. "And what are you doing walking into my bedroom naked like you own the place? I ought to beat you senseless."

Naruto buttoned his pants and stuck a finger out. "First off, we're married, if you've forgotten, so if I can't be naked around my wife, there's some bigger issues that we need to talk about." Another finger joined the first. "Second, I've spent the past three years in the company of the world's greatest lecher and living with a clan of fox demons who have a very different concept of morality from your average person. Third, this is my house; they're all my rooms. Everyone lives here at my sufferance, so if I want to walk around naked, dammit, I will." He threw on a shirt and noticed the look on her face. "Don't worry, I don't want to walk around naked all the time, that would get seriously chilly, I think."

Temari studied Naruto for a second. "You're a lot more forceful than I remember."

Naruto shrugged. "Yeah, well, like I said, I spent a lot of time on the road with Ero-Sennin. If I didn't claim something as mine, he'd take before I could do anything about it. And then I was with the foxes, and some of them have been around long enough to remember the things humans evolved from. So you really got to be forceful to get any kind of respect from them."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"…"

Naruto's hand shot up to the back of his head and he laughed, and suddenly, the awkwardness was gone again. "You want to get some ramen? I've sent some messages off to everyone I could think of, so we won't be eating alone."

Temari paused. Most of Naruto's friends had warmed to her over the years, but there was still a sense that she didn't belong. And she didn't. No matter what anyone said, she was still a Suna kunoichi living in Konoha, and there wasn't much anyone could say that would change that. But Naruto was technically her husband, even if it was only a political marriage, so maybe with him there it wouldn't be so awkward. And even if it was as awkward as every other time she went out with Naruto's friends, she did need to get to know Naruto better. They hadn't known each other well before he left, and except for the occasional letter, they had three more years of catching up to do. Maybe that would put her on even ground with the others.

"Sure," she put out tentatively. "Just let me get cleaned up a little bit."

"Great!" he grinned enthusiastically. "Just don't take too long, it's been three years since I had Ichiraku's, so I've got a lot of ramen to eat to make up for it!"

His grin was infectious, Temari noted, as she headed in the direction of the bathroom with a smile on her face.

"I have eaten ramen in every country on this continent, and I can honestly say that there is no ramen better than Ichiraku ramen," Naruto proclaimed, standing just inside the stand with his hands on his hips.

Ayame nearly squealed. "Naruto-kun, you're back!" She wiped her hands on her apron as she hurried around the counter to give Naruto a welcoming hug. "It's been three years, that's too long without our best customer," she admonished fondly.

Naruto blushed and rubbed the back of his head. "It's not like I wanted to stay away for too long, I had to, that's all."

"Either way, it's good to have you back," Teuchi said from his place at the stove.

"It's good to see you too, old man. Now, I need three bowls with everything, before I waste away from ramen deprivation!"

Shikamaru tugged on the bottom of his chuunin vest, straightening it. "You look fine," Shino muttered. "You know she doesn't care what you look like."

"It's less troublesome to just go ahead and do it so I can avoid the nagging later," Shikamaru grumbled in return.

Shino didn't reply. It wasn't any of his business if Shikamaru wanted to look nice for a girl and then lie to himself about it.

They made the turn towards Ichiraku's and could already hear Naruto's boisterous laughter. "So he really is back," Shino remarked.

"It's not like anyone else can summon foxes to carry messages," Shikamaru pointed out.

"And it would not be uncharacteristic of Naruto to send us all messages as a prank," Shino countered.

Shikamaru grunted. Shino had him there.

"…So of course, at that point, there was nothing but to do except throw the ramen back in his face." Laughter erupted from the booth as Shikamaru and Shino ducked inside.

"Hey, Naruto. Hello, Ayame-chan," Shikamaru said, perking up ever so slightly as he saw the girl behind the counter.

"Hello, Shikamaru-kun," Ayame cooed, and for the second time that afternoon, she left the counter to hug a customer.

And do a little more.

"Buh…wha…Shikamaru? You and Ayame?" Naruto spluttered.

Shino straightened his glasses as he slid onto a stool. "They have been dating for nearly five months now. It's good to see you back, Naruto. It's been too quiet without you."

"I thought you liked peace and quiet, Shino," Naruto remarked.

"I do. However, I wasn't speaking of the noise level that seems to follow you wherever you go, I was speaking about the general mood and spirit of the village."

"Well, I'm not going to be doing anything like that anytime soon, so don't worry about that. I'll have this place livened up in no time."

"Before you do, have a word with Konohamaru-san. He's taken it upon himself to try to top your academy time antics, but hopefully with you back, he'll slack off."

Naruto laughed loudly, but agreed.

"Yup, that's definitely Naruto-kun," a voice said from behind the group.

"Well, no one in their right mind would wear the eye-piercing color of orange that he does," a second voice agreed.

Naruto spun around on the stool and was face to face with Ino and Sakura. He moved faster than they could react, and both the girls were suddenly pinned to his shoulders as he hugged them both at once. "It's great seeing you again," he said as he released them.

"I'll thank to you to keep your hands off my student."

Naruto looked around and saw Ibiki standing off to the side. "Your student? Who?" He looked back at the girls.

Ino raised her hand. "I'm doing Dad's old job. He still comes in sometimes, but I'm full time at T and I, nowadays."

Naruto smiled. "Well, that should be nice, being able to stay around the village most of the time."

"It is," Ino agreed.

Looking around, Naruto noticed who was missing. "Where's Chouji?"

"He's on a long term mission," Shikamaru volunteered. "Been gone about two months now."

"Oh. Well, that's good for him, I guess. I'd've liked to seen him. So what is everyone else doing?"

"I'm still learning from Yuugao-shishou whenever we're in the village together, but other than that, I'm in command of a genin squad," Sakura volunteered.

"I'm with Tactics and Intelligence," Shikamaru said.

"And I am teaching at the academy. Genjutsu, mostly, but some trap-making as well," Shino said as he silently devoured a mouthful of noodles.

"That's cool. That's why you were saying something about Konohamaru," Naruto realized.

"Indeed."

"Hello, Naruto-kun."

Naruto spun around again, and his mouth opened just a little bit. "Haku-chan…"

He grabbed her in a tight hug, and she relaxed into the hold, despite not being used to the intimate contact. "I've missed you," she whispered.

"Missed you too," Naruto said back. "Sorry I didn't write much more than a couple times, but I didn't really know what to say."

"I'm not happy about that, by the way," Haku shot back, pulling away. "Nobody is. We weren't sure what was happening to you."

"Well, Ero-Sennin was always telling me how I couldn't tell you guys what we were doing, and if I told you about where we were, there's no way I'd hear the end of it."

"I don't care. We all wanted to hear from you more often."

"Hmpf."

"Don't be so hard on him, Haku-san, even the vaguest letters could have put Naruto in danger. He and Jiraiya may have been discovered long before they were if Naruto was keeping regular correspondence."

"Hokage-sama!" Haku blushed at the light chastisement.

"Please, that's not been my title for nearly a year and a half."

"Old Man!" Sure enough, the Professor of Konoha was standing there, wearing muted gray robes. Naruto wrapped him in a hug that made his bones creak, but Sarutobi just returned the affection before pushing him away.

"Naruto-kun, it is good to see you again and looking healthy. I heard you were back in the village, and I felt sure this would be your first stop. Though I'm surprised you didn't decide to announce your presence with another one of your infamous pranks."

Naruto waved his hand. "Eh, I figured I'd save the village the trouble. They've already got enough on their minds with the stuff with Kumo and Oto, so why worry them about being pranked by the greatest mischief-maker Konoha has ever seen! Ha ha!"

Sarutobi smiled at Naruto's absurd pose while the girls just sighed into their noodles. "Naruto, when are you ever going to grow up?" Sakura asked.

"Never!"

"It's good to see that you're able to keep upbeat despite everything going on," Sarutobi remarked as he sat down, taking the last unoccupied stool at the bar.

"Besides, I don't need to go around pranking people, Shino's says that Konohamaru's got that covered. Anyway, I got plenty of pranking experience while I was training Ichirou and Dachi."

"Really?" Shikamaru said skeptically.

"Yup! They taught me a bunch of ways to blend in and conceal myself. Then they tested me by making me infiltrate places and screw with them."

"Like where?" Ibiki interjected roughly.

"I think Dachi felt bad that I wasn't able to help the village, so he had me go into a bunch of Lightning Country towns and mess with their inventories and stuff like that. You know, screw up the paperwork for the Kumo supply lines."

"You'll have to tell me more," Ibiki promised.

"Sure, whatever. I don't think I got it down as good as Ichirou wanted, though. I kept getting caught when he made me go into a Kumo camp. Those guys have some really hard security measures. Ah, well, security measures don't mean much when you've got a bunch of giant summons knocking down the walls."

"Very true," Ibiki nodded as he recalled the enormous snakes that Orochimaru's brood unleashed on Konoha three years ago.

"Come on, Naruto-kun, you're bringing down the mood," Ayame teased. "My guy's already gloomy enough as it is. Stop talking about destroying stuff, we're supposed to be celebrating that you're back."

Everyone laughed and fell into an easy banter as they forgot about the war, even if only for a little bit.