Chapter Three: Beginning of the Reckoning

The atmosphere was extremely tense between the Konoha retrieval team and the two Kakure ninja as the two groups stared at each other. Neither side was willing to speak out of fear of provoking an unwarranted attack by the other. It was a few minutes before the silence was broken by one of the Kakure ninja.

"Come on Imouto, we better catch up to Ayane, before she catches up with Ryū's group and beats the ever living crap out of you-know-who." Hayate commented as he prepared to shunshin away from the leaf ninja to catch up with his friends or in Ayane's case his half-sister.

Kasumi nodded her head in agreement as they prepared to take off after their half-sibling, who probably half-way to Kuni Shinai by now. Only to be stopped by Kurenai, who had a sinking suspicion that they were somehow connected to that Kyūbi brat. She wasn't about to allow the only possible lead to the abomination that was responsible for her daughter being fatherless to escape her grasp so easily.

"Wait, maybe you can help us?" she called out in her normal voice that used when trying to hide her fanatical hatred towards Naruto.

The two Kakure Ninja stopped and turned around to address the assembled detachment of Leaf ninja. It was very clear to the more veteran ninja that their fellow ninja held them in extreme contempt. It was no secret that the hidden leaf village had done many questionable things to secure its position as one of the five great shinobi villages. In fact, out of the five great shinobi nations Konoha had been the one that had done the most unethical things to ensure its dominance as the strongest ninja village.

"What is it?" Kasumi asked, though with a voice that had a cautious and suspicious tone.

She had heard the stories about how the hidden leaf village had treated Naruto when he was growing up. Every member of the Mugen Tenshin clan that knew about his upbringing had been appalled by his treatment, despite the fact that they basically shunned her half-sister Ayane for being the bastard child born from the rape of her mother.

"We're looking for someone, a former ninja from our village. He's about the same height as Kiba here." Shikamaru commented as he motioned to said Dog-user, who was riding on the back of his canine companion Akamaru.

Both Kasumi and Hayate were confused as that sort of sounded like Naruto, but at the same time it matched the description of many people that lived in the Western lands.

"He also has blonde spiky hair, sapphire blue eyes, and has six whisker shaped birthmarks on his face." Shikamaru said as he lit a cigarette in his mouth much to the irritation of Ino.

The two ninja of the Mugen Tenshin clan immediately tensed knowing the description matched Naruto perfectly.

"I'm afraid we haven't seen him." Hayate lied a little bit too hurriedly as he secretly gestured to Kasumi to prepare for a fight.

Jiraiya's eyes squinted as he instantly realized that the young man had given that answer to quickly. Being the greatest spy master in the elemental nations, he could easily read a person's body language and determine if they were lying to him or not.

"Are you sure about that? Because your body language says otherwise." the Toad Sage spoke as he took noticed that the two ninja in front of him were preparing to fight them at a moment's notice.

Though his face remained calm, Hayate was mentally cursing at himself for allowing the leaf ninja to detect his lie. The Ninja of the wind glanced at his sister to find that Kasumi was simply glaring at the Sannin for calling their bluff.

"Even if we did know where Naruto-kun is right now, we wouldn't tell you." she said with an edge to her voice that showed that she was ready to defend her lover at a moment's notice.

The others perked at that when Kasumi said the blonde's name. But then, they were surprised by how the kunoichi mentioned him.

"So you do know him." Shikamaru spoke in a somewhat lazy tone as he tossed his cigerette to the ground and stomped it out with his sandal.

The two Mugen Tenshin ninja nodded their heads in confirmation. They did indeed know the blonde-haired ninja as it was kinda of hard not to when one had to deal with their sisters being in a four way tug-of-war for the said ninja's affections, while the other was involved in said tug-of-war.

"Yes, but I wouldn't think that far ahead if I were you." Hayate warned as glared at the leaf ninja showing that he was being serious.

He was almost certain that if the Leaf Ninja carried out the mission that they had been sent on then the four goddesses of Kakure Sato would rain fire down upon them for stealing their man away from them. He and the rest of the village remembered the incident when a group of ninja from the Black Spider ninja clan had captured him. Those poor bastards didn't stand a chance.

"What the hell is that suppose to mean!?" Kiba shouted before receiving a glare from Jiraiya to stand down and be quiet.

For Hinata and Tenten, they realized that they were close to finding Naruto and being with him once more. But at the same time, they knew that it had been 3 years since they last saw the person they loved so dearly.

"What my brother meant to say is that the Naruto that you leaf ninja remember from when he was a member of your village is long gone. Naruto-kun has become a stronger, smarter, and more mature ninja than the loudmouthed, knuckleheaded Kyūbi-brat that you had abandoned and exiled for simply doing his duty as a leaf ninja." Kasumi said.

The most of the leaf ninja winced at that accusation that Kasumi had made knowing that it was completely true. The only people that didn't wince were Kurenai, Hinata, Sakura, Sasuke, and Tenten as each of them had different reasons why they didn't wince at Kakure Kunoichi's accusation.

"Look, we know what we did to Naruto was wrong and incredibly stupid! That's why we're trying to find him, because we want to apologize to him and bring him back to the village!" Kiba said as he tried to plead their case to their fellow ninja.

Hayate's eyes narrowed at what Kiba had said. The stories of the hidden leaf village of making promises and treaties to various people and nations only to break them at the first inconvenience had reached the ears of almost everyone within the western lands. So the shinobi of the wind doubted what he just heard was actually true.

"Or maybe you need him because of the Kyūbi." he accused causing a few of the Konoha 11 to scowl.

Most of them had long since abandoned their prejudice of Naruto being the jinchūriki of the Kyūbi. The only people that still held any hatred towards Naruto for being something that was forced upon him by his own father were those who apart of the Vigoorian cult.

"That's not true! We need him to come back to the village with us, so he can save the village from being destroyed by Orochimaru and his coalition!" Ino exclaimed in an attempt to convince the two Kakure ninja that what they were saying was true.

Jiraiya had to resist the urge to slap his forehead with his hand at Ino's slip of the tongue. This was one of the reasons why he had been against allowing the most of the Konoha eleven and their sensei to accompany him to the western lands. Despite all of them had grown into exponentially skilled ninja, they still had the annoying habits that they developed during their time at the ninja academy.

Kasumi and Hayate blinked in surprise at this sudden revelation.

"I thought a banished ninja from any of the Elemental Nations could never welcome back into their former villages?" Hayate commented with a skeptical tone in his voice.

It was at this moment Kakashi spoke up for the first time in this conversation.

"Normally that would be true, but Lady Tsunade has promised to drop all charges against Naruto if he returns to the village and helps us. We only banished him because we were beginning to believe that the seal that kept the Kyūbi was inside of him was beginning to fail. It wasn't until after Jiraiya-sama took a further look into the seal that he discovered that Naruto's parents had actually placed failsafes in the seal to prevent such a thing from happening." Kakashi truthfully answered, not knowing that Tsunade actually had no intention of doing what she had promised.

It was at this moment that Kasumi decided that the Leaf ninja would only hinder Naruto and most likely interfere in the mission that he had been given alongside Master Ryū and Momiji-san. Besides, Ayane was getting away from them with each passing second that they stay here and talked to these leaf ninja.

"You'll have to come back at another time as he's currently on a mission right now and the fewer distractions that he has to deal with the better." Kasumi spoke as she removed her hand from the tsuka of her wakizashi sword.

The two prepared to leave before a soft voice stopped the siblings. They turned as Hinata stepped out from the group

"Wait! Please! Can you at least tell us how he is?" the Hyūga princess asked with a look of concern on her face.

Kasumi looked at the girl, taking in her features before recognizing her from the descriptions that Naruto gave about the two girls that had stolen his heart back when he was still a member of the hidden leaf village.

"You're Hinata Hyūga, right? Naruto-kun talks about you and another girl by the name of Tenten a lot..." she commented with some bitterness in her voice surprising the leaf ninja.

At this comment, both Tenten and Hinata blushed at the fact that Naruto stilled remembers them enough to openly talk about them.

"He actually talked to us about all of you. He said a lot of nice things about you... at least up until he talks about his banishment." Hayate casually spoke which caused several of the leaf ninja to flinch once again.

Kasumi let out a beleaguered sigh as she knew that this Hyūga girl deserved to know the truth about Naruto. It didn't mean that she had enjoy the fact that she and fellow Kakure kunoichi would be getting unwanted competition from a kunoichi from the hidden leaf village.

"I can't tell you too much about Naruto as he is a Kakure Ninja now. However, I will tell you he has gotten a lot stronger and smarter since the last time you saw him." She said with all honesty.

She then looked around to find that all of the leaf ninja were giving her looks to continue causing her to let out another sigh.

"Look, it's completely up to him if he wants to come back to your village or not. That also holds true, if he wants to even see any of you. I can promise you this if you stay here then we'll be able to tell you if he wants to see any of you once his mission is over." Kasumi warned her fellow ninja about the possibility of Naruto not wanting to see them again.

She then shifted her focus back onto Hinata.

"He has also found four others that love him for who and what he is, Hinata-san." Kasumi spoke as she took noticed of the Hyūga's face becoming crestfallen at the mentioning that Naruto had moved on with his life.

Kasumi let out a third sigh knowing what she was about to say would piss off the other girls that were competing for Naruto's affection. She briefly glanced at her brother to see how he was handling all of this, only to find him shaking his head in amusement. She then quickly returned her attention back onto the female Hyūga.

"But he did say that if he sees you or Tenten again, he'll properly return the feelings that you two have for him." She finished speaking allowing what she had just said to sink in.

Hinata's eyes widened at this news before some traces of tears started to form at the corner of her eyes before she wiped them away. A small smile appeared on her face at the news that Naruto still loved her and Tenten.

"Thank you..." she said as she tried to control her in order to prevent herself from crying in public.

Kasumi nodded her head and returned Hinata's smile with a smile of her own. While she didn't like the fact that she admitted that Naruto still had feelings for her and that other leaf kunoichi, she knew that she did the right thing.

While this conversation had been going on, Sasuke had become more and more jealous of Naruto by the second. The Uchiha wasn't jealous of the dope having six women that love him unconditionally. He was pissed off about what the girl said about the freak getting stronger and smarter.

"The dope is getting stronger and smarter!? If anyone deserves to have power, it's me! Not freaks of nature like him!" Sasuke darkly thought as he silently cursed the blonde with all his might.

It seemed like no matter what he did, that fucking Uzumaki always seemed to be one step ahead of him. It was bad enough that the psychotic Uchiha had learned that his brother allowed himself to be killed, thus robbing him in the honor of having his revenge.

"If you excuse us, we really need to get going and catch up with our comrade." Hayate said as he and his sister prepared to leave.

Only to be stopped by the Uchiha, who did something incredibly stupid.

"You're not going anywhere!" said Sasuke as he activated his Mangekyō Sharingan and prepared to charge at the Kakure kunoichi using his Chidori.

Most of the other Konoha ninja were shocked and or horrified by what their comrade was trying to do. The only ones that didn't seemed to be shocked or horrified were Sakura and Kurenai for two entirely different reasons. Sakura was too busy cheering Sasuke on to care, while Kurenai was frozen in anger at what was happening.

"DON'T DO IT, SASUKE!" Kakashi yelled out, just as the spoiled Uchiha attempted to ram the assassination jutsu into Kasumi.

Only for a flash of blue light to appear in front of Sasuke to reveal Hayate standing in front of his sister. The shinobi of the wind had an angry scowl on his face as kicked the arrogant Uchiha in the stomach, knocking the wind out of the former rogue ninja.

"Don't...ever...try…to…touch…or…harm…my…sister!" Hayate angrily growled at the downed Uchiha.

Kakashi and Jiraiya were completely shocked by Hayate's speed. It reminded them awful lot of their fourth Hokage's Hiraishin no jutsu that helped Konoha win the Third Shinobi World War.

"He was so fast that I didn't even see him move!" the two men thought to themselves at the same time.

At this moment, Sasuke slowly got back up off the ground and prepared to charge again. Only to find out that he wasn't able to move his legs at all.

"I don't think so, Uchiha! I will personally break your damn neck with my shadow, if you don't stop this idiotic behavior. Damn, the troublesome consequences!" Shikamaru said as he used his Shadow Possession Jutsu to restrain Sasuke, who was giving the Nara a glare.

The lazy Nara was fed up with the Sasuke's attitude and his recklessness. The bastard had already put the mission in jeopardy with his and Sakura's constant preaching of Vigoorian cult's teachings in the few villages that they went into. He will be damned if he allowed the asshole to start another war with some unknown village from the Western lands.

"Damn you Shikamaru! Let me go!" the Emo-king yelled out as he struggled in vain to break free of the Nara's shadow.

"Let him go, Shikamaru!" Jiraiya ordered while giving Sasuke a heated glare.

The shadow-user reluctantly complied with his orders and released the jutsu.

"As for you, I don't care that Tsunade has nominated you for the position of Rokudaime Hokage. If you EVER pull another stunt like what you just did again and I hear about it, I'll personally break every single bone in your body, permanently seal away your chakra, and send you back to Konoha tied up in a sack. You got me!?" Jiraiya threatened as he was longer in any mood to deal with the constant bullshit that the Uchiha has caused.

Sasuke only give the toad sage a disgruntled 'Tft!' before getting back in line. Jiraiya turned back to apologize to Hayate for Sasuke's actions, only to find that he and Kasumi were nowhere to be seen. Everybody on the Naruto recovery team was shock at this new development.

"Well shit! Thanks a lot, Emo-king! Because of you, they're gone! How in the hell are we supposed to find Naruto, now!?"Kiba yelled at Sasuke.

Jiraiya sighed in irritation as their only lead to finding Naruto had disappeared quicker than a flash of lighting.

"We stick to the original plan of us heading to Kuni Shinai and finding a place to set up shop, while we search the surrounding area for Naruto. If any of you do manage to see him, do not approach him. I want you report back to me via the radio" the Sannin ordered in a serious voice.

Everyone nodded their heads as they continued their trek to the city, except for Sasuke, who was too busy brooding over being punished by the sage. All the while Jiraiya was looking at the spoiled Uchiha with some concern and gave a nod to Kakashi who returned it, knowing what the Sannin was thinking about.

However, what the Konoha Shinobi didn't know was that a figure had been watching the entire situation from the safety of a tree branch. The figure watched the large group of fourteen people leave in the direction of the largest port city in the West with piercing royal blue eyes.

"My, my, so Konoha has finally come to reclaim their weapon. They'll be in quite the shock when they finally meet up with him." the figure said with great disgust whey they spoke the words 'reclaim' and 'weapon'.

The figure then let out a sinister chuckled as they disappeared into the shadow.

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Meanwhile in the Kuni Shinai Hotel Room

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A pair of cerulean eyes opened as Naruto awoke from his sleep after last night activities that he and Momiji did. Turning his head slightly to the left and downward, Naruto smiled as he saw the young woman asleep on his chest. She had a content smile on her face as her beautiful long black hair was out of its signature ponytail and spread out over them like a blanket. Naruto slowed reach out his right hand and gently cupped the Dragon Shrine Maiden's face affectionately. This caused her to move her head into his touch.

"Mmmm...Naru-kun." she cooed out in her sleep causing the former Konoha shinobi to let out a chuckle of amusement.

This had been the first time both he and Momiji had been able to spend a night together alone without the other girls interfering. He loved all of the girls that were vying for his affections equally, but sometimes it was just nice to have some alone time with just one of them and not have to worry about the others.

"Wakey, wakey, sleeping beauty, it's time to wake up." Naruto silently spoke as he gently nudged Momiji awake.

His gently prodding prompted the young woman's yellow eyes to flutter open, and a warm smile to etch itself on her face.

"Morning, koi, what time is it?"" Momiji asked before she gave Naruto a soft but passionate kiss.

She often dreamed about waking up like this in a bed with just him and her. Other times, she dreamed of her waking up in a bed with Naruto while Ayane, Kasumi, and Taki standing at the foot of the bed with a collar and chain fastened around their necks.

"It's just past nine A.M. We should get ready and meet up with Ryū." The former Konoha-nin answered as he gently pushed her off of him.

Momiji nodded and the two got out of their bed and got dressed and headed out in the hallway where Ryū was waiting for them, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. Though they could see the rings around the eyes which indicated he didn't get much rest last night either. The super ninja also had a look in his eyes that he was mildly irritated with the two of them. No doubt, he had heard their 'activities' last night.

"I trust that you two are well-rested?" he asked in a serious voice that told that he was completely focused on the mission at hand.

The coupled let out a bashfully chuckle. They knew that if they had pulled that stunt with anybody else in charged, they would have lectured for several hours and promptly punished.

"We are Ryū-sensei." Momiji answered as she and Naruto regained their composure.

Ryū gave a slight nod and straightened himself. Naruto and Momiji were lucky that Taki had spent almost the entire night out of the hotel searching for any possible leads on the Gel-o-Fury. If she had so much heard a grunt coming from either of their rooms then she would broken down the door and started a massive catfight with Momiji that would have most likely destroyed the hotel.

"Let's go then." he said and motioned the two to follow him and they did as they headed off on their assignment.

However, the two suddenly stopped dead in their tracks as they felt a shiver of doom go down their spines.

"Uh-oh, you felt that right?" Naruto asked.

Momiji nodded knowing what the shiver meant and knew who exactly had caused the shiver.

"Ayane is here in the city and judging by the aura, she is very furious at us." the shrine maiden replied as they continued to follow Ryū.

"I just hope she's in a merciful mood when we see her as I rather not go through another one of her punishments." Naruto said as he slightly shook in fear at the mere thought of her punishments.

Sometimes Ayane could be a complete and utter sadist when she wanted to be one. He still remembered what she did to a spider ninja and proved to him that she could be more vicious than Anko ever could, which was saying something.

The three ninja had exited the hotel and began their trek to the rendezvous point where one of Todoh's contacts was to meet them at. The ninja hopped from roof top to roof top as they headed in the direction of the city docks. Or to be more specific, they were heading towards the abandoned warehouse district that was near the docks.

It took them a little more than an hour to get there, and they perched on top of a building overlooking the district. The three looked at the warehouse that was to host the Kumite Tournament and had to admit that this Gouda guy knew a good place to hold an illegal death tournament.

"So, where is our contact?" Naruto asked Ryū who was using a pair of binoculars to look for the man they were suppose to meet.

"I see him, shipping crates on the right side of the warehouse." Ryū quickly stated as he found the man hiding by a set of shipping crates

The two other dragon ninja looked at where he was pointing the binoculars and spotted the man.

Naruto quickly spotted the man that was their contact for this mission, but he felt something was off about this entire situation.

"I don't like this as something feels completely off about this entire situation. I advise that we keep our guard up during meeting with the contact." Naruto warned as he prepared to shunshined down to the ground.

Ryū and Momiji nodded their heads in agreement as they to felt that something was completely off. Granted, they were ninja and the unhealthy amounts of paranoia that they all had is completely mandatory when it came to being one. But, they and the rest of the ninja living in Kakure village had all quickly learned to trust Naruto's gut feelings as they were often proven right.

"Alright, let's go. But stick to the shadows." Ryū ordered before shunshining off of the roof alongside his fellow Kakure ninja and headed into the warehouse district to meet up with the contact.

The three Kakure ninja easily stuck to the shadows, while keeping an eye out for trouble. They all hoped that Naruto's instincts were wrong for once, but they were all prepared for the worst if something happened. As they got closer to the contact they started to relax slightly as there hadn't been any sort of ambush waiting for them. However the lack of attacks didn't make the three ninja lower their guard as they arrived at the crates.

Ryū then signaled to Naruto and Momiji that he'll go first and began heading toward the man who was casually leaning against one of the larger crates in a strange manner. The Ultimate Ninja was within 8 feet before he spoke in a quiet manner.

"Kirito Segawa?" he asked only to receive no answer from the man in question.

This caused Ryū to narrow his eyes as he looked closer at the person. He quickly noticed something that was highly unusual for an individual. The man's chest wasn't rising and falling that normally indicated that a person was breathing. His eyes widened slightly in alarm at the implications of his discovery.

"Shit!" he thought before he jumped away as a series of kunai and shuriken flew out and hit the area where he was at.

A vast majority of the weapons hitting the body of the now confirmed dead spy. Ryū landed safely a few feet away from the spot where he had been almost turned into a human pincushion. Naruto and Momiji rushed out of their respective hiding places in order to back him up and had their respective weapons drawn at the ready.

"Very impressive, dragon ninja...you effortlessly dodged the little trap I set-up for you." said a voice that immediately reminded Naruto of Danzō Shimura as he had heard the warhawk's voice when he was younger.

Except, this man's voice had a slight trace of arrogance in it that made Naruto want to cut the bastard's head off. It was Ryū that spoke for the rest of the group.

"Kazoda Gouda, I presume." The ultimate ninja said, his calm visage never faltering as he gripped the Ryūken

They then heard a deep chuckling.

"Yes, you would be assuming correctly...I have been expecting that persistent pest Todoh to call for aid from the Kakure village for awhile now. But my spy never told me that it would be you of all people, Ryū Hayabusa." the voice now identified as the voice of Kazoda Gouda spoke.

Ryū's eyes along with his two compatriots' squinted at that piece of info. They now knew why every man Todoh sent to investigated Gouda either turned up dead or missing.

"So you decided to hire ninja yourself. Probably from one of Kakure's rivals." Naruto said as he gripped his own katana, ready to fight anyone willing to come out.

"Very astute of you, I did indeed hire one your village's rivals. Of course, I didn't just hire some random village to deal with you." Gouda spoke in a way that indicated that he was about to take pleasure in the following battle.

The sound of snapping fingers was heard and soon from the rooftops and shadows came several figures in dark green Shinobi Shōzoku that had a design that the three knew all too well.

"Black Spider Clan..." Momiji said with an edge to her voice as the group of Black Spider Ninja surrounded them.

Most of the spider ninja were carrying the standard two katana swords that their clan was famous for wielding in battle, while a few others were armed with tekko-kagi claws.

"Yes, I paid their village a handsome fee in helping me deal with those troublesome spies that Todoh constantly sends to infiltrate my organization. But now seeing as you are here, I can offer them your heads, since I read in their bingo book about how you and your two friends have been causing them quite the headache. In proper terms, it's a win-win situation for us both." Gouda spoke even smugger than before.

Naruto growled as the Black Spider Ninja prepared to attack.

"It's not like we haven't faced these guys in battle before, Gouda." The blonde-haired ninja retorted as he eyed several Spider-ninja that were slowly inching their way towards him.

Naruto knew that after Ryū, he was probably the second most wanted person that the Black Spider ninja clan wanted died. However, since the first time coming into contact with their clan he had become a lot stronger, and could easily take on any grunt that the Black Spider Clan sent out after him.

"Oh quite on the contrary, Naruto Uzumaki... I have come prepared..." Gouda assured as the sound of something being dragged against the ground could be heard echoing in the alleyway.

The sound was like something made out metal being dragged on the concrete ground. What concerned them the most was that in order for metal to make that much noise from being dragged on the ground, it had to be the size of a small wooden shipping crate. That block of metal alone would easily weigh over two tons.

"What the hell is strong enough to drag something that heavy?" the three dragon ninja thought to themselves as they continued to look at the Black Spider ninja that surrounded them.

Whoever or whatever was making that dragging sound it scared even the spider-ninja that were surrounding the three of them. Whatever had made a group of black spider ninja clans tremble in fear was indeed something to take as a threat as the black spider ninja were well-known for their suicidal fearlessness in battle.

It was then that their unasked questions were answered as a section of the Black Spider ninja hastily moved aside as a tall, possibly 9 foot, and menacing-looking figure approached them. The figure appeared to be wearing a black butcher's apron, which was covered in blood. The mass figure also wore black pants that had the pants legs tucked into a pair of large steel-toed boots. The figure's head was completely covered by a black hood that was also smeared in blood. Finally, being dragged behind it was a Massive deadly looking axe that had an oversized hammer attached to the opposite side of the blade with chains. (1)

"What the hell is that thing?" Naruto asked in slight shock at the sight of the monstrous thing standing in front of them effortlessly hefted its large weapon onto its right shoulder.

"Allow me to introduce, Sainiku aka The Executioner. He is the current reigning champion of my gladiator tournaments. Many men and women have died at the hands of his weapon's blade. And the small few that just managed to land a blow on him were rewarded with a slow and painful death at his hands." Gouda said in a rather proud manner like a father would be after hearing that his son had been the top of his class.

The behemoth then gave out a beastly roar as he shook his weapon furiously in challenge.

"Well, this is just going to be one of those days." Naruto commented as the three prepared for a fight.

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20 Minutes Earlier

Somewhere else in the city

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The streets were busy as market vendors opened their stands for the customers they would be receiving, and it wasn't long as citizens began to move in to purchase what they wanted for the day. Among this crowd of people, one person was also searching, but not for food, or the worthless trinkets sold by peddlers. This person was wearing a light grey cloak as they moved about with grace around the people. The hood of the cloak shadowed the upper part of their face, but the lower part was revealed, showing a feminine mouth.

The cloaked then appeared next to an old man who standing behind his cart and counting the money he made at his vendor.

"Excuse me, sir." A soft and angelic voice spoke out from underneath the cloak's hood.

The voice immediately caught the man's attention as he turned toward the figure. The man quickly tensed up at the sight of the cloaked person standing in front of him as the only people that usually wore cloaks on sunny day like this were robbers trying to conceal their identity.

"What do you want?" he apprehensively asked as he prepared to reach for the flintlock pistol that he had underneath cart's counter only to stop when the cloaked person brought out what looked like a small brown leather pouch.

The unknown figure tossed the pouch at the man who proceeded to catch it.

"They told me that you would have information on anyone and anything here in the west. Is that true?" the cloaked woman asked in a professional manner that showed that she was completely serious.

The man opened the bag and his eyes instantly widened at the contents before he closed it.

"What's the information that you're looking for?" he asked in a courteous manner towards his newest client.

He saw the figure's gloved hand come out from underneath the cloak. In the hand was the picture of what looked like a teenager around the age of sixteen. The teenager was wearing a black and orange jumpsuit and blonde spiky hair, blue eyes, three whisker-like scars on each of his cheeks, and was sporting the biggest grin that the man had ever seen in his life.

"I'm looking for the person in this photo. It's been five long years since this picture was taken of them, but I'm pretty sure his features have changed little since then." The woman stated as the stand vendor looked at the photo giving it a thoughtful look.

The blonde hair was extremely unique for a person even out here in the west as few people had that hair color. The few that did often dyed their hair into a more common color to avoid standing out.

"I can't say that I've seen this person before, ma'am." The man spoke truthfully as he tried to recall hearing about anybody that matched the person in the photo.

He was being truthful as it wouldn't be good for his information broker business if he lied to a first time client. The woman, at least that's what he was assuming this figure was, give out a sigh before he spoke again.

"But, I have heard stories of a person who might match the description. He's a ninja who is commonly known as Master Hiryū of Kakure no Sato." The man spoke with a tinge of fear in his voice.

The woman seemed to perk up at this.

"Do you know where this Kakure no Sato is?" she asked in a somewhat hopeful manner at being one step closer to finding the person in the photo.

The man looked at the woman like she had a death wish or something.

"Kakure is rumored to be located within the Mori no Kage, but I strongly recommend not going in there if I were you. Many people go into that accursed place, and very few come back out alive. That place is filled with dangerous animals like wolves and tigers. And if they don't get you, then the Black Spider Ninja Clan surely will." The man warily stated said clan's name like it was a cursed name.

The cloaked woman blinked in surprise at the mentioning of this unknown ninja clan. While she was well-aware of ninja clans operating out in the west, she wasn't familiar with their names.

"Who is the Black Spider Ninja Clan?" The woman asked causing the man to blink.

The man quickly realized something about the woman standing before him. He let out an annoyed sighed at the fact that his client had come from the east.

"You're one of those ninja from the east aren't you?" The man asked before he felt a glare coming from the cloaked woman.

He had heard about many eastern ninja moving to the western lands in the arrogant belief that they would easily be able to carve out a nice chunk of territory to claim as their own. Only to later hear about said ninja being killed off by one of the local ninja clans for intruding in their territory.

"So what if I am?" she commented while sounding like she was offended by the man's comment.

The man sighed knowing that the woman took some sort of pride being a ninja. He didn't mean any disrespect as he had learn to fear and respect the abilities of ninja after witnessing them first hand back in his younger days.

"Don't get your panties in a bunch, little lady. Now just listen to me closely, if you ever come across men wearing dark green shōzoku with grey spider web designs on them, don't even think about fighting them. They're very ruthless, and they have no mercy toward anyone outside their clan. Hell, I bet that they don't have any love toward their own fellow clansmen either." he whispered to her in attempt to make it perfectly clear how dangerous the Black Spider Ninja clan really was.

The woman frowned at that piece of information. These Black Spider Ninja sounded like they would do anything to gain even more power than they already have. In fact, they reminded her of a certain Uchiha back out east.

"Don't worry about me. Unlike the rest of the so-called ninja in the east, my village's kunoichi have trained long and hard from a very young age. If my gut tells me that the situation I am in is unfavorable, then it's best to retreat to live another day than die like a dumb samurai." The cloaked woman commented before turning around to leave.

With that the woman left, disappearing into the crowd, leaving the old man stumped.

'What a strange girl.' he thought, before he blinked. 'She said kunoichi, and not shinobi...are her village's ninja all female?'

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With said Person on some random roof

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The woman sighed as she removed the hood of her cloak, revealing hime-cut waist length black hair tied in a high ponytail, with chin length framing her fair-skinned face. Her eyes were a bright emerald green, and on her forehead was a hitai-ate, the metal plate decorated with a five leaf flower (2). The woman looked back at the photo she had, and had a look of longing in her eyes.

"Naruto-kun...I will find you soon, and I will admit my feelings." She thought as she placed the photo over her heart.

She had come to the Western Lands against her fellow Kunoichi's advice in order to find the former Konoha-nin. The reason why she was doing this in the first place was because he had saved her from herself after the death of her lover. Somewhere down the line, she had developed feelings for the blonde.

Before she could think anymore a sudden explosion got her attention. Turning to the harbor in the southwest, she could see plumes of smoke rising in the air where the warehouses are. She then felt a chakra signature she hadn't felt in a long time. It was significantly stronger, but there was no doubt in her mind that it belonged to only one person.

"Could it be?" She thought with hope beyond hope.

The young woman quickly discarded her cloak to reveal a skintight grey Kunoichi uniform that had a shoulder guard protecting her right shoulder. She was also wearing two gloves, with one going up her left arm to her bicep, and another glove that had a leather cord wrapped around it. An opening in the front of her shirt showed some of her sizeable cleavage.

The Kunoichi then proceeded to jump from the building to another rooftop as she headed toward the harbor.

"I'm coming, Naruto." The woman thought to herself as she dashed off.

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15 minutes earlier

Meanwhile at the Hotel

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Ayane angrily grumbled as she stomped through the halls of the hotel that Ryū, Naruto, Momiji, and Taki were staying at during the duration of their mission. Many of the other guest that were staying on that floor quickly got out of the furious Kunoichi's way unless they wanted to faced her womanly wrath.

"When I get my hands on those three, I'm gonna kill them!" the purpled haired Kunoichi screamed inside of her mind as she finally approached the room that the receptionist told they were at.

That was after the poor guy had been given a very good threat of a slow and painful castration by Ayane with a rusty and dull kunai knife.

When she finally got to the door, she proceeded to kick the door off its hinges. With the last thing standing in her way now gone, she stormed into the room. Only to find that the three people that she was furious with weren't there. Ayane narrowed her eyes as she could still smell the lingering smell of sex in the room.

"Dammit...Where the hell are they!?" She growled out as her fists tightened and started crack from the pressure while turning a pale white.

"Uh, Imouto..." a voice said and she turned around and saw her half siblings by the door.

The two of them were hiding somewhat behind the walls that were connected to the doorframe with only their heads sticking out. It would have been funny if Ayane wasn't so pissed off at Momiji, Naruto, and Taki at the moment.

"I know that you are furious at Naruto and Momiji not taking you along on this mission. However, as your brother, I must strongly suggest..." Hayate started to speak to his younger half-sister.

Hayate didn't get to finish as the killing intent from Ayane went soaring through the roof. The young woman had a light purple aura of doom around her and he could have sworn that he briefly saw the girl's eyes glowing with a purple aurora.

"Nee-chan...Please don't be angry at Naruto-Kun, Momiji-chan, or Taki-chan. They were just in a hurry as Jô-sama told them that it was urgent matter. They didn't mean to forget about you." Kasumi spoke out in order to calm her sister down.

Ayane seemed to calm down somewhat after hearing what her half-sister told her, but still gave an angry "Hmph!" before moving out of the room as her two half-siblings wisely getting out of her way. Hayate gave a sigh as he watched his sister walking down the hall.

"May Kami have mercy on Naruto, Momiji, and Taki's souls, because Ayane would surely not..." he bleakly commented with Kasumi nodded as the two followed her out of the hotel.

After promising the hotel manager that they'll pay damages to the hotel room door, the three Mugen Tenshin clan members were now on one of the many roofs of the major city of the west.

"So, where do you think we should start looking for Ryū-dono and the others Onii-sama?" Kasumi asked her older brother who was looking over the city.

"Well, from what we got from the General's secretary told us. Their investigating one of Kuni Shinai's councilman for suspected corruption and could be anywhere within the city. So where they're currently are, I have no idea." Hayate answered as he continued to observe the city for any sign of their comrades.

Ayane was tapping her foot aggressively as she wanted nothing more than to beat her baka of a boyfriend and her fellow girlfriends to kingdom come.

"So how do we find them?" she bluntly demanded from her half-brother.

Hayate placed his hand under his chin and thought about it. After a few minutes of thinking it over, he started to speak.

"I think given that a mission like this could go sour, and the best thing to do is..." He started to speak only to stop when he heard the sound of two distant booms.

His two sisters also heard and they looked toward the harbor and saw plumes of smoke in that area.

"...Follow the explosions..." Hayate commented instead of finishing his original train of thought.

Not saying another word the three began to roof hop toward the distant battle.

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5 Minutes Earlier

Main Gate of Kuni Shinai

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The so-called "Naruto Retrieval Team" had finally arrived at the gate of Kuni Shinai. They were, with the exception of Sasuke, impressed by the massive wall that protects the city from invaders, bandits, and rogue ninja. They could also spot many heavily armed and armored samurai guarding the walls, with archers watching them like a hawk.

"Man, these guys are serious. I can tell that they're wary us just by their smell." Kiba commented as the group proceeded to walk through the gate.

Shikamaru nodded his head in agreement at that. The city of Kuni Shinai was the only thing of real strategic value in the western lands, so it made sense for the city's guardians to be extremely vigilant. The story of the fabled city of Ba Sing Se and its final fate must be constantly on the minds of the Samurai.

"Not to mention that samurai and ninja are supposed to be sworn rivals with each other. These guys are just like the samurai back in the Land of Iron, but I can tell they're only letting us into the city as long as we behave ourselves." The Nara said as he gave Sasuke a sideways warning glance,

The Uchiha just gave an agitated "Hn" before walking past the Nara.

As they entered Jiraiya turned around and spoke to them.

"Alright, now that we're here, we are gonna have to split up. That way we'll cover more ground." the Sennin commented as he looked over the assembled team.

He turned to Hinata with a concerned look. She had been one of the few ninja that he had protested against having on the mission due to her love of Naruto. He was worried that she might defect over to Naruto's side, which would further weaken the leaf village's war effort.

"You can search the city alone if you want to." he offered knowing that Hinata wouldn't want to work with anyone besides Tenten.

However, before Kurenai could object to Jiraiya's offer, Hinata cut her off.

"That's fine with me Jiraiya-sama." the Hyūga Heiress said as she gave her former sensei a glare.

Jiraiya could only sigh at this. After Naruto was banished from the village, Hinata openly refused to be associated with anyone that had dared to hurt his godson. That included her own clan, or more specifically, her father, younger sister, and the branch clan.

She told them they were stuck in their old customs and were arrogant not to see whole picture. She also gave the entire branch clan a real tongue lashing about them being nothing more than a bunch of blind hypocrites. Hinata pointed out that the entire branch family also had a seal forcibly placed on them and had suffered for it. Now they were the ones who were becoming the oppressors and that she was a fool for wanting to help the branch family who had become like the Main Family that had oppressed them.

Needless to say, Hinata had disowned her entire family for their empty prejudice of Naruto.

"Okay, let's go. We'll meet at the hotel with what we gathered. But, if you see any sign of Naruto then I want you to radio in with what you have found." Jiraiya ordered.

The others nodded their heads in understanding. However, Hinata and Tenten had different thoughts about their orders.

"When I spot him, I will do the exact opposite." the two girls thought to themselves.

Soon the group dispersed itself to begin their search for the wayward heir of the Uzumaki clan. But they didn't know about the current predicament that he was in.

(1)-Based off of the Executioner from Resident Evil: 5. The only difference between the two is that the Executioner in this story is without nails that are sticking out all over his body and doesn't have the three hooks impaled on his back.

(2)-Anyone who guesses this right, you'll get a cyber cookie!

Now for those of you who are new to this, the reason why Jiraiya is alive in this story was because I had his body rise up out of its watery grave. Now that Obito offered to bring everybody back to life, it's entirely possible for him to be among those people.

Sorry this chapter took so long everybody! I had to deal with a series of unfortunate events ranging from my baby nephew deleting the story to my original becoming inaccessible due to a computer virus. I can't promise a new chapter very soon, but I do hope I will post one soon. Now that I, hopefully, explained that, it's time for me to head out. Until next time! Hoorah to Ashes!