Konoha : Naruto's playground

Naruto was officially bored. And when Naruto is bored, bad things happen. In this case, Naruto had taken to playing pranks on the two uninjured Jounin who were content to sit and wait out Anko's injury on the Hi/Taki border. As their mission had ended earlier than expected, they could afford to waste some time before going back, and Shisui was adamant to 'face the music' after getting his fun time.

Anko had woken up the day after their escape. The two Jounin and the 8 year old crowded round her prone body and Kakashi was belted in the face within seconds of her waking up.

"Tch! Scarecrow, why'd ya take so long?"

And that had all she had said for the rest of the day. Now two days after their escape, Anko was still resting, but insisted that she would be able to move out when the morning came. Shisui had regarded her suspiciously, but when she had turned to glare at him, he had turned away, a whistle-tune on his lips.

This led to the blond Jinchuuriki's current boredom. Neither of the male Jounin had wanted to stick around at the camp and face the Mitarashi's sour mood from her injury. Kakashi had disappeared, probably to read the orange book he carried around everywhere, and Shisui had gone hunting for dinner that night.

Naruto knew he would never find the Cyclops Jounin and so he decided to 'wedgie' the Uchiha instead. It would be more fun, he reasoned, to see the pale faced clansman with his pants over his head than it would on anyone else in their little group, and there was no way in hell he was doing anything to Anko!

Crouching in a bush, he spied Shisui blending in with his surroundings. He was obviously doing a bad job, but then again, normal cattle were not as receptive as humans so maybe he didn't need to be anymore stealthy. Curiosity winning over his prank-full mind, he observed the teenage Uchiha instead of dishing out his mortal embarrassment.

Shisui was crouching as still as a statue, his right arm reared back and his left hand placed on his hip for balance. Directly in front of him, not 10 metres away, stood a deer, its proud golden mane fluttering in the slight breeze of the mid-afternoon sun. Naruto giggled quietly. Oh this was too juicy to pass up!

Shisui's right arm tensed, an obsidian Kunai flashing into his hand as it caught the sun's rays in its movement, his entire being coiled like a snake targeting its prey.

"HEY! Wat'cha doin'?"

"ARRRRGH!" The deer bolted at the first sound from Naruto's mouth, breaking into a great galloping gait as the Uchiha screamed.

"AHHH GOD DAMMIT!" The Uchiha slammed his Kunai into the ground in frustration at his missed opportunity. Naruto, meanwhile, simply grinned. 'Oh yeah! Score: blondie 2 – pale-face – 0.'

"What the hell did you do that for Naruto?! Couldn't you see I was hunting that deer?!"

"What deer?" Naruto looked side-to-side innocently. "Don't see no deer!"

Shisui simply stared at him, before sighing and tugging his Kunai from the ground. Just as he was pocketing the blade, he paused, his eyes widening as he turned to Naruto.

"What?"

"I'm hunting"

"So?" Naruto's smug grin slipped slightly at the intense expression on his friend's face.

"You're a Wind user."

"Errr...so?"

Shisui's eyes lit up in excitement.

"You can help me! Think about it! All you need to do is nail that guy with one of your swords and bingo! We have meat on the table!" Naruto stared at the Jounin like he was insane.

"You're an Uchiha right? The best of the best? And you need me to help you hunt?" His question didn't seem to faze the teenager at all and Naruto sweat-dropped as he viewed his friend hopping around in excitement.

"Are you tellin' me...that you couldn't catch that deer on your own? Ain't you like...THE Genjutsu guy? Why don't you just illusion it into a fire or somethin'?" Shisui paused in his cavorting, his eyes suddenly becoming desperate.

"Shut up!" He hissed, "Don't tell anyone about this! It's not my fault I can't hunt! Itachi was the one..."

The pale-skinned Jounin trailed off as he looked down at the ground. The greens of the foliage blending with the browns of the ground and the trees like a tapestry. Itachi? Hadn't he heard that name before?

"Anyway, you can't put a Genjutsu on most animals. Contrary to popular belief, most animals don't have enough mental energy to sustain Chakra in their bodies, and no, they don't die because of it, they still have a heart."

Naruto looked at the Jounin with a blank expression.

"Ble-le-lel-le What?" The Uchiha sighed again.

"Most people think that everything that lives needs Chakra to survive. But that's wrong. Most animals and plants don't have enough brain cells to keep a Chakra system."

"Oh!" Naruto nodded in understanding. Now he knew something that other people didn't, how cool was that!

"As I was saying, can you help me kill that deer?" Naruto's grin became full-blown.

"Whyyyyyyy should IIIIIIIII?" Shisui glared at the young blond.

"Damn you Uzumaki! You just want me to say that again don't you?!" Naruto cackled in glee.

"Fine! I'm rubbish at hunting! Happy now?" Naruto laughed uproariously.

"Ahahahahaha! The mighty Jounin needs help from a civilian to catch his dinner! Ahahahaha!"

Shisui smacked him upside the head.

"OW!"

"Well?"

Naruto rubbed the tender patch of his scalp. Strangely the pain had subsided straight away. 'Why have I never noticed that before?'

"Ok, ok, I'll do it." Shisui nodded in satisfaction.

"Alright, because it's a deer, you don't need to lower your Chakra levels, which I know you can do; Kakashi-Sempai told me that you can. It'll be simple, we hide near it, and you simply throw your sword like you did at that Iwa guy and then we'll kill it!"

Naruto grimaced. Just how much did that one-eyed Jounin know about him? It was like he knew everything about his abilities.

Naruto and Shisui turned towards the path that the deer had fled through.

"You know how to track?" Naruto shook his head as they bounded through the trees.

"You see those hoof marks in the ground?" At Naruto's nod, he continued. "That's the most obvious way. On soft earth like in Fire Country, the weight of an animal or a human causes slight depressions in the earth. It's harder to distinguish lighter objects, but there are other signs to look for." Shisui indicated the ground as they flew overhead.

"See, as the animal runs, it steps on twigs and breaks them in half. It scatters leaves that would otherwise be near the trees. You just need to look carefully and you'll find the signs that you are looking for."

Naruto peered down at the ground, intensely scrutinising the forest floor. Sure enough he could spot twigs snapped irregularly and leaves scattered in obvious patterns. It was clear that something had gone through here recently.

"With Shinobi, it's slightly more complicated. Most upper Chuunin and Jounin know the 'Air Pads' exercise and so can move through areas without disturbing the floor but there are things that give them away. Look at my feet. As I land, I have to regulate the Chakra in my soles to adjust to the new surface. Most of the time it's impossible to get the levels exactly right and this causes small differences in the places I land.

Naruto paused on a branch as he watched Shisui land on one before taking off again. As his foot almost touched the bark, a small indent was gouged into the surface before Shisui sprang into the canopy once again. Hurrying to catch up, Naruto drew level with the Jounin.

"Yeah I saw it! That's amazing!" The Uchiha's mouth twitched slightly as if he was trying not to smile.

Suddenly, he indicated downwards with his hand before pointing to a bush at the edge of a clearing. The two friends slipped quietly between the leafy plants and slowly peaked over the top.

The deer they were chasing was standing at the side of a river. Its head swivelled 180 degrees in agitation from its previous attacker, nostrils flaring and eyes rolling in their sockets. Naruto faintly regretted that in a few moments, the beautiful brown deer, prideful and shining in the afternoon light, would be dead. Silently, he gazed down at his own hands, likening the imminent demise of the poor animal to his own hands.

He hadn't killed before, not yet. He had been the cause of two deaths, the first in that mission he didn't know he was taking part in and the next, when escaping from Iwa. He vividly remembered the Kunai buried up to its hilt in the Iwa-nin's forehead, Anko having thrown it sometime after Naruto had knocked him out. The blond knew that eventually, he was going to have to take a life. People were out to get him, the example of Uchiha Madara so fresh on his mind as if haunting his every breath and movement. His resolve wavered slightly as he tried to come to terms with the death of something so innocent and magnificent.

No, he wouldn't back down, not after coming this far.

The Sandaime had helped him, no matter how much he began to realise that his relationship was weakening. Jiraiya had trained him even though he didn't need to. And most of all, TenTen. She had helped him without knowing anything about Naruto's experiences. She had simply accepted that Naruto wanted to train, even though he had no intention of becoming a Konoha Shinobi.

Even Shisui was helping him; he didn't have any reason to. In fact he had a reason to hate the blond; and yet he didn't. Naruto reached up to his right shoulder, sliding one of his dragon blades from its sheath in a slow, fluid motion.

Shisui simply watched; his hand placed firmly on the 8 year old's left shoulder, exuding a calm and confident aura. If that was what the kid needed, then he could give it. It was the least he could do after he had seen the blond save Anko's life.

He hadn't said anything and neither had Kakashi. Just as they had arrived, they had spotted Naruto hopping in front of the downed Kunoichi, the glowing spirals of the Rasengan revolving in his hand. He could have run like they had wanted, escaped into the land around Iwa without anyone noticing and yet he hadn't. He had stood protecting the form of his rescuer, the blue glow of the Fourth's trademark technique dancing along the shadowed walls of the small alleyway they had been fighting in.

It had been quite a sight and if Shisui had needed any further proof that the kid was in no way the Kyuubi, it was there, staring him in the face.

His hand tightened slightly on the blond's shoulder and Naruto glanced at his face.

"We all have to die kid. Whether in battle or laying down 80 years from now. Do we survive to protect ourselves, or do we starve and let our enemies kill us?"

Naruto nodded slowly, his arm rising up to the level of his ear, his short sword pointing horizontally forward.

And then he threw.

Shisui hadn't seen when Naruto had nailed the Iwa-nin to the wall using the very same move, but he had yanked the sword from the unconscious body as he and Kakashi retrieved their teammate. He knew it was a powerful move, but watching it personally was a whole other experience.

The blade literally tore through the air, travelling at an insane speed that the Uchiha had a hard time tracking with his eyes. He could probably track it with his Sharingan, but there was no way he'd be able to dodge something like that. The blade flew, the silver of the blade catching the sun, almost blinding the beholder. The sapphire dragon twisting from the hilt to the tip sparkled and glittered as if the dragon itself was alive, the ocean blue spot for the eye, flashing from excitement at its prey.

This time, the blade didn't catch onto the animal. Instead, it blew a hole right through the right haunch of one of the deer's legs. Naruto watched in slight disgust as the dapple-brown animal toppled onto its side, pitiful whinnying sounding through the clearing. Shisui grinned, clapping the blond on the shoulder.

"Nice shot! Let's get this guy to camp. We're having deer for dinner!"

Naruto stood queasily, trudging towards the tree his blade had sunk into to retrieve it. As Shisui hefted the deer onto his back, the blood from the wound miraculously absent, he shouted.

"AND DON'T TELL ANYONE I CAN'T HUNT!"

XXXXXXX

The three Jounin and one blond Konoha civilian sat around the warmth of their small campfire, their stomachs full and their appetites content. Naruto glanced around at the three faces of the adults around him. Kakashi stood out with a shock of silver hair sticking up like a Cuckatoo, his hitai-ate tied to his forehead slanting downwards, covering his left eye. Naruto didn't know what was behind the bandanna, whatever it was it must have been something interesting; why else would the Jounin hide it?

Sitting to his right was Shisui. The teenage Uchiha looked like a typical member of the prestigious clan; black flowing hair tied in a knot at the base of his skull, blue T-Shirt with the Uchiha fan emblazoned on the back and pale, china-glass features. He was sitting back against the stump of a tree, a contented grin spread across his face. Naruto thought he looked a bit like a baby.

Lying on her left side directly opposite to Shisui, was Anko. She had recovered well from the hit she had taken when they escaped from Iwa. She still had bandages covering her head, but the predatory grin she kept sneaking at Kakashi's face mask showed that she was up to her usual antics, of which Naruto had no idea.

Kakashi had been reading an orange novel for a while now, but suddenly he stood, snapping the book closed.

"Alright, I'm going to scout the area ahead of our departure in the morning. Shisui, get this place cleaned up and then lay some traps and a Genjutsu for while we sleep." Turning, the silver-haired Jounin leaped out of the camp in one huge bound. Shisui's grin became even wider.

"Ahhh! I guess I'll get to it then! Naruto, Anko, have fun!" Naruto got the distinct impression that both Jounin just wanted to get out of there now that Anko was awake. It seems that Kakashi was aware of Anko's devious looks while they were eating. Naruto was reminded once again that the Jounin were a lot better than he gave them credit for.

The blond-headed Jinchuuriki was nervous. Anko was prone to sudden violence, if her back-handing Kakashi was anything to go by. Shisui and Kakashi's haste in vacating the camp didn't help matters and Naruto didn't want to hang around if his rescuer was on the crazy side. In a fight, he'd trust her in a flash, but in life...There was no way he was going to hang around long enough to find out what her idea of 'fun' was.

"What's up brat? You look like you're bein' stalked."

Naruto gulped. Damn! He knew he should have gotten out of there!

"Hey, hey! I don't bite you know! At least not usually heheh..." Naruto turned a baleful eye to his injured companion.

"Umm. Shouldn't you be sleepin' or something?" Lame, lame, LAME! Now she would know he was scared of her!

The purple-haired Jounin glared at the Uzumaki in front of her.

"What's that supposed to mean huh? I can still beat the crap outta you even with these injuries!" Naruto squawked indignantly at that.

"HEY! I'm not THAT bad!" Turning, he glared at the stump Shisui had been resting against. Stupid cowards! They had to leave him with an injured mental nut-case!

"I know you saved my life. I'm not that stupid." Anko's voice was much softer this time. She hesitated before continuing. "I'm grateful. You're one hell of a fighter kid, I know you're not a Shinobi, but you can sure as hell fight like one."

Naruto rubbed the nape of his neck in embarrassment. It wasn't THAT big a deal. He'd only fought because he'd had to, but it seems that the Mitarashi wasn't entirely unconscious when she had been thrown into the wall. Naruto watched, distracted by his thoughts as the Kunoichi tilted her head to the side.

"You know the Rasengan." What was it with ninja and asking questions that weren't questions?

"Yeah, I learnt it almost a year ago now." Anko's eyes widened considerably.

"I was watching you the whole time. I saw you step in front of me, and I saw you get hit in the face by that right-hook." Naruto winced. She was going to rub it in so much...

"Honestly? I'm surprised at you. Your Taijutsu's not worth anything but you nailed that first guy. What was it? The Hibana?"

Naruto nodded. She hadn't made fun of him so that was a positive in his book.

"Kid, when we get back to Konoha, I'm gonna run you into the ground with Taijutsu, you got that?"

The blond-haired 8 year old's head sprang up, his eyes perfect circles of astonishment. Anko couldn't help but smile inwardly at the sapphire sparkle that flashed in his gaze. It was so similar to the Rasengan in that regard; a fitting technique for his eyes.

"W-WHAT?!"

"You heard me. I'm gonna beat the crap outta you when we get back to Konoha." Naruto's expression grew into a large smile as he finally comprehended what the woman was saying. He was going to get Taijutsu training! The only training he had going for him was the odd skirmishes in the seedier parts of the village. He had been going there regularly in the past year before leaving Konoha, just to get experience in fighting.

"I'm not goin' back to Konoha yet. I wanna see the world a bit more first."

Anko stared blankly at the Jinchuuriki. The last stunt he had pulled almost got all of them killed and he said he wanted to continue?!

"What are you going to do?"

Naruto was quiet for a few seconds, yet the older Shinobi caught the look of sadness and melancholy in the youngster's gaze. Something was obviously stopping him from going back. He was lying, and she knew it.

"I was thinkin' of goin' to Kumo, see? They must have loadsa sights! I heard one time that they've got these HUGE mountains that explode all the time!"

Anko sweat-dropped. Exploding mountains?! This kid was beyond his nut! First he drops the biggest paint-ball known to man, and now he wants to see 'exploding mountains'?!

The Mitarashi shook her head. She wasn't one to judge. Hell, she was the last person to call anyone crazy. Without any prior warning, a totally random thought struck her and caused a predatory grin to spread across her face. It reminded the young blond of a snake plotting the capture of a mouse stuck in a hole on the surface of the forest floor. Should it pull the little thing by its tail, or should it munch the poor mouse whole? Decisions, decisions.

Whatever it was, it wouldn't be good.

"Hey kid, I've got an idea. The Raikage's a right punk so how about we do something to him that he won't forget, hmm?"

Naruto glanced sideways nervously. Oh no, this was definitely not good.

"Don't worry, it'll be easy peasy with your skills. All ya gotta do is take a permanent marker and draw something really embarrassing on his face. You know what? I'll get 'Kashi and Shisui to come back you up too! We finished the mission early and if we leave tomorrow, we can get there within 5 days, no problem! We can be in and out in one hour! How about it?"

Naruto pondered this idea. On one hand, his prank-sense was tingling and that meant it was a good idea. On the other, this was a Kage, one of the 5 strongest ninja in the world. If he was caught he was dead. No two ways about it.

"How would I pull it off without being caught?"

Anko's grin intensified.

"You won't."

"WHAT?! This is a Kage we're talkin' about! He'll kill me!"

Anko shifted slightly, propping her elbow on the hard ground and resting her head on her open palm.

"Well, if you go in usin' that technique to lower your Chakra levels to that of a civilian, I'm sure no-one would notice as long as you're invisible."

"But there ain't anyone that can go...oh." As if hit by an epiphany, the blond 8 year old's grin bloomed to match that of his 'co-conspirator'.

"But first, let's get 'Kashi as pay back for wakin' me up this morning. Consider it training for the Raikage." Naruto's grin threatened to stretch his face off. Oh he knew what to do to the one-eyed Jounin. He was going to totally embarrass him in front of everyone!

Naruto and Anko huddled together in the soft glow of their campfire, putting the final touches of their new found plans together.

The world would shudder at this friendship that had been born.

XXXXXXX

Hatake Kakashi was worried. He could sense Naruto, only one person in the world knew the technique he was experiencing, and from his perch on a random tree-limb, he knew the blond Uzumaki was up to something. The one-eyed ninja balanced his copy of 'Icha Icha Paradise' in his right hand as he took in his surroundings warily. The part of the forest he was reclining in was literally saturated in Chakra, a technique the ex-ANBU captain had only ever seen the Nine-tail's Jinchuuriki pull off. The thing was, he couldn't see him. He couldn't even smell him and due to the nature of the technique, he couldn't pin-point where the kid was.

For a Shinobi of Kakashi's calibre, it was frustrating. He had killed upward of 30 A to S class missing-nin and never had any of them hidden so completely from his senses.

Evidently his Sensei chose well when sealing the Nine-tails.

As he glanced around one more time, he decided that he didn't want to wake up in the morning with no hair, worse yet, his mask stolen, and so he moved his hand to put the orange book back in his utility pouch attached to his right hip.

With a start, he realised he was holding a solid block of wood. When had that happened? How had the blond swapped his...HIS BOOK!

Kakashi leapt from his vantage point, Chakra blazing around his feet as he pushed off from the tree, shooting back towards the clearing. As the trees thinned out and the camp came into view, Kakashi's heart froze.

Naruto stood above the campfire, his right arm extended.

Icha Icha Paradise clutched in his hand.

"NO! Please no! I'll do anything! I swear! Don't let go of that book Naruto!" Kakashi's silver hair waved wildly as his single eye took in the horrific sight in front of him. Idly, Naruto regarded the orange glow that reflected off the steel plate of Kakashi's hita-ate; the flickering flame dancing along the edges and giving the Jounin an aura of power.

The moment was broken by a hysterical Anko pounding her fist into the dirt.

"Oh that's just rich! Wait till I till 'Nai-chan that Inu got his book stolen by an 8 year old!"

Kakashi glared at the Kunoichi. So it was her fault was it? He should have known that Naruto wouldn't pull something on a Shinobi he didn't know just for the sake of it.

"Really, name something you want, and I'll do it!"

Naruto's smile became devilish.

"Two things. One, you come with me to Kumo and bail me out when I prank the Raikage, and two, you tell me what's with your left eye?" Kakashi's visible eye nearly popped out of its socket in shock.

"Y-YOU...WANT TO PRANK THE RAIKAGE?!"

Naruto suddenly gave a start. His head whipped around as he stared at Anko.

"What Gaki?"

"Did you say Inu?"

Anko shrugged lazily.

"As in, ANBU Inu?"

Anko nodded.

If Kakashi had been calm, he would have been very worried at the sudden trust that was being displayed by the two most dangerous people in the world. He was surprised, however, when Naruto turned to face him again and walked calmly to stand right in front of him.

"Here." The Silver-haired Jounin stared disbelievingly his right hand that now held his precious novel.

"You saved my life when I was little, didn't you Inu-san?"

Kakashi glanced at the purple-haired Jounin who scowled and looked away, before returning his gaze to the blond who had spoken. This was getting awkward. He couldn't stand the emotion that was tightening in his chest, the look that was being directed at him from the kid so much younger than him. It reminded him of teachers past, friends that he had lost and most of all, his own incapability of responding to them.

"I have a Sharingan as my left eye." Kakashi reached up and pushed his bandanna out of the way, revealing the blood-red iris to the world.

Kakashi wasn't prepared for Naruto's reaction. The blond looked as if he was stricken; his face pale and his eyes shaking in disbelief. Kakashi quickly covered his left eye again. The kid had been involved in the massacre, Jiraiya and Sarutobi having said that he was roughed up by none other than Uchiha Madara. No wonder he reacted like that. He should have known that the kid would be traumatised from that incident; it was a small wonder that he appeared so normal most of the time.

Actually, maybe he wasn't so normal after all.

"You said something about the Raikage." He was answered by two identical grins that caused a shiver to un down his spine.

What had he unleashed when he rescued the blond boy?

"OI! Naruto! I found your tree-branch thingy...What's going on?"

All three turned as Shisui landed in the camp. Shisui blinked at the silence. Not even any birdsong in the air. And how come Anko and Naruto were smiling like they...

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh no, no no no no. Whatever it is I'm not doing it! Forget it! Yadda! Nada! NO! That's final!"

Anko's grin only widened.

XXXXXXXX

The Raikage complex was in an uproar. There was a massive influx of foreign Chakra that no-one could identify in the network of buildings situated at the very edge of Kumogakure. It was baffling to the Kumo-nin that something was able to get past the guards and enter this far in without it being detected. The Raikage complex was located right at the base of the 'Unraikyo Mountain', the village spreading out around it. It was a veritable fortress and not a single enemy Shinobi had ever made it to the complex without being detected. The main building where the Raikage took up office, was built into a much smaller mountain and clouds could be seen drifting around it at all times of the year. It was as if a whole team of invisible Chuunin had descended on the complex from the sky...

A loud shout of fury rent the air. Samui's elite Jounin team burst into the Raikage's room.

"Omoi, guard the door! Karui, check on the Raikage!" The orders were carried out immediately.

"Raikage-sama, why did you shout?"

The broad shouldered, flat nosed hulk of a man turned to face one of his most senior team of Shinobi. All three recoiled at the sight of their hardened leader's face.

Someone had taken a bright yellow marker and drawn childish pictures all over the veteran's face. Not a single inch of skin was left unmarked, and the artist had even coloured the tips of his moustache and eyebrows. The only thing left untouched by colour, was the Raikage's point of a beard that poked from the tip of his chin. Instead, a pink ribbon had been tied around it, as if to emphasise the picture of a cute girl taken directly from a nursery picture book.

Not a single thing moved.

Omoi coughed.

"Excuse me Raikage...s-sama...I-I need to...err...I need to go to the bathroom." Karui, the black-haired, petite sword-mistress wobbled out of the room. There was an audible crack of wood from outside and Samui, the blonde-haired Jounin, positively knew that she had burst out laughing as soon as she had stepped foot from the room.

"S-Someone find out who did this! I don't care who it was! I'm going to fry them with my Rairyuudan!"

There was an audible click as Omoi replaced his blade in its sheath and spat the stick of his lollypop out of his mouth. Running a tanned hand through his short, spiky white hair, he sighed and made to exit the room.

"I'll get Bee."

XXXXXXXX

Naruto, Anko and Shisui laughed uproariously as they sprang from branch to branch, making their way towards fire country once again. Kakashi was leading the group at a fast pace, not wanting to get caught up in the aftermath of Naruto's latest prank. Sure, it wasn't on the scale of Iwa, but attacking the Raikage directly like that was unheard of. It would be a worldwide legend in a few weeks.

The whole team froze as they caught 5 Chakra signatures surrounding them. How had they hidden all this time?

The 5 Shinobi vibrated into view as they slowed from their high speed movement.

Foremost of the group stood a large brown-skinned man, a strange double-clawed mark tattooed on his left cheekbone. He wore a white wrap of a shirt that went over his left shoulder, exposing his brawny arms and his left shoulder too. A total of seven sword-hilts could be identified strapped to his back, two peaking over his right shoulder, three diagonally secured to his back blades up and another two to the side of his left bicep. Naruto recognised the uncanny resemblance between the face of this man and the man he had just decorated so finely.

Behind him stood four more Shinobi, all bearing the Kumo bandanna. Two blonde women, one black-haired and another white-headed man. One of the blond women and the white-haired man carried swords.

"Halt! Konoha Shinobi! What's with the gaki?"

Kakashi stepped forward.

"Hatake Kakashi, Shinobi ID: 009720, Konoha Jounin. Returning from a routine scouting mission along the Fire/Rice border. We found this Konoha civilian far outside Fire's lands and so are returning him to the village."

There was complete silence for a moment and the younger blonde woman stepped forward. She was a hot-shot Chuunin, Nii Yugito, also known for being the Jinchuuriki of the two-tailed cat, Nibi no Nekomata.

"We're going to have to take you in for questioning. Will you come freely?"

Naruto stared at the five nin. He had no doubt they were all dangerous and the two that had spoken were causing his belly to gurgle. Why? He had no clue, but they seemed to have an adverse affect on his appetite.

Well, there was no way he was hanging around if his stomach was getting damaged!

Quickly, he swung his newly made 'Airboard' from his back. Jumping onto the main seal, he stuck his tongue out at the Cloud ninja before taking off in a random direction.

"Damn it Naruto! Why do you always do this to us?!"

The three Konoha Jounin looked back at the Kumo Shinobi before exchanging glances. They didn't know where Naruto was heading to, but he was a civilian so technically he was allowed to go wherever he wanted. Kakashi just knew that the Sandaime was going to have his head after this mission...

Glancing to make sure that the Kumo-nin were still pre-occupied with attempting to inflate their faces to record-breaking levels at the sight of Konoha's pariah, the three made haste in getting the hell out of dash.

Once Naruto had disappeared on the horizon, Samui glanced at where the 4 foreigners had previously stood.

"Errr, they're gone."

All four of her companions snapped out of their awe as they registered what she had said.

"It seems as though, we have a report to blow."

"Ah shaddap Bee!"

SMACK!

THUNK!

"OW! What the hell was that for?!"

Samui sighed. Karui and Omoi were so childish most of the time.

"Hey we call ourselves Cloud right?"

All four nodded at Omoi's question.

"So how come we can't do that?"

ZZZZZZZZ