A/N: Just thought I'd squeeze out a chapter before the New Year. Please review and tell me what you think because it has indeed been a while since I got around to working on this story. I was thinking about doing a few one-shots that can potentially become full stories before starting back up on this again to kind of get me more into the mood.

Chapter 25

The old Kage watched the Sanin with a curious expression. "A pig? Somehow I find this quite fitting and I'm sure that Tsunade would agree," thought Hiruzen before he shook his head and thought "No time to get distracted, I called Jiraiya here for a reason." Hiruzen cleared his throat and proceeded to tell his former student about his concerns over young Naruto.

Jiraiya listened and let out a sigh "Sensei I think the workload is getting to you," replied the white haired man as his pig sighed as well. "Just listen to yourself; you're telling me that you think Danzo somehow managed to keep root active all this time and recruited Naruto, who you've had under constant surveillance for years, right under not only your ANBU's but your nose as well." Jiraiya turned around and thought "I know the old man is the hokage, but maybe I should withhold my report on…" Jiraiya's facial expression saddened as he tightened his fist "Tsunade. At least for now, until sensei has his head on straight; that is if he hasn't gone senile." The man closed his eyes. "I'm sorry sensei, but I have something important to take care of and I can't be going on wild goose-"

The Toad sage was suddenly cut off by the sound of Hiruzen pounding the side of his fist onto his desk "Have you forgotten who your Hokage is!" Jiraiya just stood there with a straight face looking back at his sensei.

"No, I haven't, but listen to me sensei-"

Hiruzen held up a hand "I know how insane this sounds. I've gone through it a thousand times over in my head and it still sounds crazy." The monkey summoner leaned back into his chair "Listen to me, Jiraiya, I implore you please put these thoughts of mine to rest. Investigate this, seriously." Jiraiya just nodded before Hiruzen revealed another piece of information. "Even if my theory is wrong… I'm sure you'll find that Danzo is indeed up to something." Hiruzen opened up his desk drawer before pulling out a file and tossing it on his desk. Jiraiya picked up and opened the file revealing a picture of one Aoba Yamashiro. "Start your investigation there."

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Border of Land of Snow

Zabuza and Pakura stood together now clad in Yukigakure's chakra armor looking downwards from a large mountain covered in snow. Behind them stood Dotou's three man team, Fubuki, Mizore and Nadare, who watched the two shinobi with caution. Zabuza wore armor similar to Nadare while Pakura's resembled Fubuki's; the only difference was that they still had the emblems of their former villages engraved on their headbands.

They all watched as a ship pulled up to the shore. Zabuza pulled his Kubikiriboucho, decapitating carving knife, off his back and stuck it into the snow before stooping down to brace on it. "So, they've arrived" said Zabuza as he watched the ship's doors open up. "I've got to admit I do feel bad for making Han miss this battle. It's not every day you face people like Kakashi Hatake and Asuma Sarutobi." The ex-kiri nin stood up and placed his palm on his collarbone before jerking his head from side to side creating satisfying cracking noises.

Nadare Rouga looked at the swordsman before saying "If you don't mind me asking, just how did you get a Jinchuriki to follow you" which caused Zabuza to look over his shoulder.

"Hmm, when I first met Han he told me that he refuses to follow anyone weaker than him," said Zabuza before he picked up his blade from the snow and placing it over his shoulder. All the members of Dotou's three man team eyes widened.

"D-did he beat that monster? I originally thought that Han was the strongest, but… no there's no way he can be stronger than a Jinchuriki like that. I've read of Zabuza's exploits in the Bingo book; it's just not possible," thought Rouga not noticing Pakura letting out an annoyed sigh.

"It's about time we introduced ourselves"

Pakura rose her hand and created a fireball "It's about damn time," she said before Zabuza grabbed her forearm causing the flames to disperse. Pakura looked at him confusingly.

"Don't forget the environment we're in. If you use your scorch release up here there's a chance you'll cause an avalanche."

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With Naruto and the others

Naruto and his team now clad in ponchos like everyone else from the ship were following Asuma as they trekked through the snow to the director. "Wonderful! I'm feeling the scenery," said the director as his entire body shivered in excitement before he burst into laughter. Out of nowhere the man pulled out a megaphone and screamed "Alright everybody get ready for the next scene!"

"We just got here," said Shikamaru with an annoyed look on his face.

The director looked towards the young Nara before holding the megaphone up to his mouth and screaming "What kind of an attitude is that, making a film is all about the passion and beauty. This location, right now, is filled with just that. So, of course we will start filming right now." Afterwards the director folded his arms and nodded his head 3 times before turning back around.

The Nara cleaned out his ear with his pinky before muttering "troublesome."

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Later

Squad 10 now joined with squad 7 watched as the film crew started filming. However not too long after the filming began a barrage of ice needles rained down on them. The shinobi acted quickly as Kakashi ordered everyone to protect their charges. Each member of Squad 10 along with Sasuke and Yagura grabbed one of the actors or crew members they didn't know the name of that were in the path of the ice needles; Kiba however grabbed Yukie who was nowhere near the path of ice needles. Kakashi removed the headband from over his eye and revealed his Sharingan before scanning the sky and spotting a purple haired kunoichi flying in the air with some sort of mechanical device. The sight of the device triggered something in Kakashi's memory "So they advanced it this far," said Kakashi out loud with narrowed eyes.

"It's been a while Hatake, or should I say Copycat Kakashi," said a voice that was all too familiar to the masked Jonin.

Kakashi looked towards the source of the voice and saw a purple haired man "Nadare Rouga" said Kakashi in a dangerous voice as his facial features tensed up.

As the stare down between Nadare and Kakashi was taking place Sasuke weaved some hand signs before shouting "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu" and shooting a fireball straight at the airborne kunoichi. The fireball evaporated and the Kunoichi fired another barrage of ice needles at the young uchiha. Sasuke activated his Sharingan and easily evaded the needles that now with closer inspection he could tell were ice swallows.

However both shinobi were caught off guard when a new voice sounded "Lightning release: False darkness" and a spear of lightning shot towards the Kunoichi. Unfortunately the spear dissipated when it hit an invisible barrier like Sasuke's fireball. Yagura sucked his teeth at seeing his technique fail.

Fubuki laughed "That might have worked if it wasn't for this marvel of Yukigakure engineering that I'm wearing. All of your Ninjutsu and Genjutsu are useless!"

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Back with Kakashi and Nadare

Kakashi blocked a kick from Nadare before responding with a punch to his opponent, which Nadare narrowly dodged. "Against this chakra armor our ninjutsu and genjutsu are useless so get up close and fight them with taijutsu. I've made sure to train all of my cute little genin in that area," spoke Kakashi as he pulled out his kunai and swung at Nadare, who blocked it with his gauntlet.

Asuma pulled out his trench knives and slashed them together "Up close and personal? Not going to be a problem," said the Sarutobi before dashing to Kakashi's aide. However before he reached Kakashi something jumped in the way and Asuma was forced to jump backwards. Whatever it was the got in his way created a cloud of snow on impact with the ground. As Asuma waited for the cloud to clear he got ready by getting into a boxer stance. Just as the snow started to clear a large metal object flew out of the snow cloud which Asuma dodged by shifting to the side. The Sarutobi's eyes widened as he sensed someone behind him and quickly responded by ducking under a slash, turning around and striking with the edge of his trench knife. His opponent exploded into a puddle of water and next thing Asuma knew he was forced to block a giant blade, with his trench knives, coming at him from overhead. The weight of the blade alone was immense along with the strength of the man that was pressing down on him. The bearded shinobi received a kick in the face and was sent flying. However before he left arms reach his opponent grabbed Asuma by the leg and slammed him to the ground. Asuma quickly responded by rolling to the side to avoid his opponents massive blade. Asuma got up and finally got a good look at his opponent, Zabuza Momochi. "And here I thought this was going to be easy."

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With Naruto and Tenten

The two moved to jump towards their sensei's aide but were stopped by a fireball that blocked off their path. In an instant they saw the snow melt and evaporate, reveling a patch of dirt that was scorched by the heat. A green haired Kunoichi with bat wings landed on the patch of scorched dirt. "I can't believe I'm reduced to facing genin," spoke Pakura as the she retracted the wings on her chakra armor and turned to face Naruto and Tenten who got into a combat stance.

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The Director, Crew, Shikamaru, Kiba and Yukie

"I don't know what's going on, but keep filming!" The director screamed into his megaphone causing everyone to look at him as if he was insane.

"Sir, I think it would be best if we go back to the ship." A member of his crew suggested.

The director responded by smacking him upside the head with the megaphone before using it to scream at him "Don't you see that this film is evolving!" The director put away his megaphone and spoke in a serious tone "Tell me what's the point of living if you are not going to be passionate about it. You can die today, tomorrow or 50 years from now. It can range from something small like choking on a chicken bone or something huge like being caught in the crossfire of a shinobi battle. You never know, but I will pursue my passion to create the greatest film ever made and leave my mark on this world or die trying." After the director said this there were some that felt moved, but the vast majority ran back to the ship.

Instead of being caught up in the director's speech, like Kiba, Shikamaru kept on alert in case there was another enemy shinobi out there. Unfortunately for the Nara another shinobi came into view as he sled down the mountain on a snowboard. "Kiba!" Shikamaru called out.

Kiba, who at the time was wrapped up in the director's speech looked up to see a snowboarding shinobi approaching fast. "On it!" the Inuzuka screamed as he jumped at the shinobi and spun around fast enough to transform himself into a drill "Tsuga!" The shinobi easily avoided the attack by swerving to the left and approached Yukie at high speeds. However before the Yuki-nin could grab her Kiba burst out of the ground still in his Tsuga form before transforming he stopped spinning and grabbed Yuki-nin from behind.

The large shinobi spun and fell off his board as soon as Kiba grabbed him. Shikamaru activated his shadow possession jutsu but unfortunately it hit a barrier causing his shadow to snap back at him. "Tch, Armor that protects against ninjutsu and Genjutsu? I'm useless here."

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Kakashi and Nadare

The kunai of the two shinobi clashed and they struggled trying to overpower each other "Tell me Nadare, what is it that you want, what is your target here? This seems like a bit too much effort for…" Kakashi said as he jumped backwards, spun around and threw the kunai at Nadare's feet. "…a bunch of actors." Kakashi said before the explosive tag he attached to the kunai he just threw went off.

Nadare remained unfazed and laughed "Our Chakra armor is a lot more durable than it was the last time you were here Kakashi and as for what we want why don't you ask Yukie Fujikaze or should I say Koyuki Kazahana."

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End

Omake

"Join me," said Zabuza as he faced down Han.

"I refuse to follow anyone weaker than me," responded the man that stood at an impressive 7 foot 5 inches.

Zabuza smirked and reached for his Kubikiriboucho "Fine, have it your way." Zabuza drew his blade and Han stood unfazed. Pakura who was watching from the sidelines started to sweat. Zabuza stuck his sword into the ground, sat down and put his elbow on the table with his hand raised. "Bring it."

Han sat at the other side of the table and the arm wrestle match commenced.