Hello hello hello! And welcome to the 75th hunge… Oh… sorry wait what? Wrong story? Sorry, I just get a little carried away sometimes. Huh? I'm an idiot? Well fuck you and the horse you rode in on!

-sigh-

Anyway this is Kyoto back with another story for the first time in a long time. And if you've already seen my post of the redo on Sealing Twilight you are aware that my schedual has been rather busy of late. Not to mention my stupid laptop hasn't allowed me to post anything for a week because of constant glitching.

But that's beside the point. You want to know a little bit about the story you're looking to read. So first of all I'd like to say that this is one of my non-harem stories and that this in non-negotiable. This is a strict Naruto/Esdeath pairing that will be obvious from the get go.

Another thing, this story starts near the very end of Naruto's training trip with Jiraiya. Except in this version Naruto actually got some really fucking training from the pervy old man… and he learned to control the Kyuubi's chakra. Not all of it, but enough.

Last of all… Naruto has a bit of a short temper in this story. I wanted to write it as if the Kyuubi's power is influencing him the more he draws on it in battle. So… with all that in mind… let's jump right into the think of things (right after the disclaimer of course)

(I don't own any part of Naruto or Akame ga Kill)

Chapter 1:

The moment it hit, Jiraiya knew the impact would be crushing. The power of an erupting volcano behind a single strike. The very fact that his student could improve this much in such a short time was staggering… and honestly… it was starting to take a toll on the master.

Jiraiya of the Sanin, a man of unquestionable strength and indomitable will… was launched backwards as a fist coated in silver slammed into his gut. He didn't have time to react to the punch. It came so fast that he could barely realize it was coming before his muscles tensed for the blow. And what a blow it was. An observer would have sworn that he teleported backwards, hitting a low cliff side behind him with the force of a giant's left hook.

The ground behind him cratered as the stone absorbed the excess energy from the attack. Immediately he caught his bearing, forty years of battles dragging him back from the brink of unconsciousness before he even registered the dark closing in. And he was blasting forward, chakra pumping through ravaged muscles. He was upon his student in a flash, their eyes meeting. Blue slitted eyes met dark pupils. "Good.. you're even stronger now… Even faster… Let's see how far I can push you! I'll use every ounce of strength I have!"

"NARUTO!"

!-WHAM-!

Their fists met with a crunch and a grind, their feral gazes locked on one another, unable to be torn away. "Eat this old man…" The dark purring voice came like a bloody whip lash across his face as ten strikes battered into him in less time than it took to blink. Jiraiya exhaled crimson as the stone around him was shredded by a wild wind. "WIND STYLY: FURY OF THE WESTERN WIND!" A scream like a hundred banshees rent his eardrums in two as a blast came from the west. Blades of wind falling around him like razor edged meteors.

"FIRE STYLE: INFERNAL ARMOR!" Jiraiya activated his newest jutsu and flung himself headlong into the rain of death, pursuing his student as he bent the currents of air around him, flexible serpents that could shear though diamonds as a sharp blade through flesh. He felt the battering ram impact of the attack like dozens of burning cuts across ever part of him.

He slammed into his student, even as the boy barked out a laugh. "WIND STYLE: MAELSTROM CONVERGENCE!" Jiraiya's eyes widened at the unfamiliar technique. "Could this be the jutsu he told me of last week that he couldn't quite get right?!" He growled out a curse as he kicked out at his opponent, launching himself away, only to feel the world around him compress. It was as if he was in an ever shrinking dome of wind… but the barrier was made of blades. "DAMN!" He whirled and flashed through dozens of handseals.

"FIRE STYLE: TWIN SERPENTS, ELDER'S EXHALATION!" He drew in a great breath and then blew, his breath leaving him as two streams of pure white fire. They twisted and rose high, brushing the edges of the wind dome… and consumed it, the cutting winds feeding their power and sending them crashing around the dome. Jiraiya formed a constant chain of handseals to direct their direction… and saw the clawed hands of his student in the center. "Oh shit. Naruto never uses handseals. If he's doing it now, he's pulling out something huge!" Squinting his eyes against the growing inferno, he separated his hands and made handseals separately, directing each dragon individually. They soared high, skimming the edges of the dome and circled. Each of them leveled off on the ground, their jaws open to consume their target, the space between top and bottom wide enough to fit a tree inside.

A second before they connected in the middle with Naruto between the jutsu was roared out over the burning serpentine dragons and the shrieking wind dome. "WIND STYLE: PERFECT IMPLOSION, SELF DESTRUCTING VORTEX!"

The dome compressed, causing the dragons to become even more bloated as they crashed together around the solitary figure… and then the entire dome exploded, the shockwave leveling everything for three hundred feet and extinguishing the twin fire dragons instantly. Jiraiya found himself tossed like a rag doll in a hurricane, tumbling across the ground out of control as his burning armor was quenched by the gale force winds.

The cliff didn't stop his movement this time, the previous blast having reduced it to a small hill of shattered stone. He crashed through it, coming out the other side bruised and battered. Chakra bled from his skin as he frantically tried to stabilized himself and slow his headlong tumble.

He succeeded and landed on his feet, still skidding backwards. The Sanin caught his balance just in time to defect a horizontal rain of shuriken. It stopped quickly catching him off guard before he heard the familiar shrieking hum of his student's favorite jutsu. "GIANT RASENGAN!" Jiraiya grabbed the extended wrist twisting it. The body turned with the wrist and Jiraiya received a devastating kick to the side of his head, Naruto's entire body contorting around at an impossible angle to land the hit.

Jiraiya was forced back again as he was surrounded on three sides. He lashed out quickly, snapping kicking the blond figure in his front as he ducked under another violently spinning ball of chakra. The attack plunged into the third attacker just as he planted his finger tips into the second's chest. All three exploded into smoke as he spun in the air and palmed the ground with one hand. He pulsed his chakra into the ground and rocketed upwards into the air, already going through a new chain of handseals.

The blond was gone.

!-SNAP-!

An armored heel crashed down on the back of his head, sending him to the ground like a comet. Jiraiya landed, his body almost shattered like glass by the force behind those last two kicks. He rose again, his legendary endurance bringing him to his feet without effort. He caught the fist aimed at his head. His other hand knocked aside the jab for his throat. His knee blocked the one lifting to his gut. Jiraiya snapped his head forward into his opponent's. Their eyes met again as his student imitated the action perfectly.

"Ready to give up old man?!"

"As if I'd ever surrender to an ungrateful brat like you!"

Naruto growled and his voice was a tremor running through the ground. Jiraiya felt the muscles in his student flex through his fists. "Then I'll show you my power again!" The head drew back and lashed out three times

!-SMACK-!

!—SMACK-!

!-CRACK-!

Jiraiya reeled backwards, his face bloody and his mind dazed. He settled into his best defensive stance as thick red liquid blinded him to his adversary's moves. He blocked the first attack by pure reflex. The second one the same as the first. The third landed square in his the center of his chest, throwing him back a step. He rushed forward blindly, sending fire laced chakra bursting through his muscles and he became a blazing juggernaut fighting like a wild brawler.

Blows rained down on him and were ignored as insolent jabs. He rained down his own, each attack a surge of heat. Every blow a blast of super heated wind.

Then he felt it, the crushing power that hit him from the right, the blood covering his eyes burned and flaked away in the face of the crimson torrent. Jiraiya's eyes showed his enemy in a blurry crimson haze. The beast that was his student, swung, his red coated hand catching him a glancing blow to the shoulder.

He let out his first cry, a howl of pain as the bone shattered like glass and the burning chakra devoured his flesh. He turned, spinning in place with the force of the strike and shoved chakra into his legs, leaping over the creature's charge. A crater BOOMED into existence behind him and he landed hard behind his student. He grinned a dead man's grin and watched as the… creature… wreathed in violent swirling chakra… tuned to regard him. Five tails of purest deepest red scorched the air clean with their very presence.

"It's time to end this…."

Jiraiya shot forward. The demon grinned as well, ducking to the side. The blue eyes were now a red that more than matched its crimson cloak. "Too slow old man… Can't you count…? This is five now." Jiraiya snarled and turned flashing forward in a burst of speed that almost caught the beast of guard. "Almost…." He missed again and the beast casually swatted him to the side. The impact was gargantuan. Jiraiya didn't feel himself crash though half a forest before a convenient boulder stopped him cold. His body was broken and the chakra that ate at his every wound had cauterized his nervous system, he was numb… but at the same time knew he was burning alive from the inside.

"You done yet? I could go all day like this…"

Jiraiya barely moved his head, coughing up enough breath to speak the two words he needed. "Seal… Release…"

Ooo

Ooo

"OWww!"

"Hold still damn it! Let me get the toad oil on it!"

"That stings old man! Get that shit away from me! I'll heal fine without it!

"And you'll scar like an old prune!"

"YOWCH!"

-one hour later-

Jiraiya sat, sullen but victorious, feeling a hostile glare leveled on him by his student.

"You could have just let me heal ya know." Naruto growled. "Now my skin is going to be all itchy and sensitive for the next month. I swear you keep that stuff on hand just to make me miserable every time I get control of a new tail!"

"You whine too much." "With the pain I'm in you have nothing to complain about…"

"Says the guy who bemoans the fact that he hasn't gotten laid.. IN HIS LIFE!" Naruto pointed his finger at him accusingly, the appendage scraped in gauze. "You're probably the whiniest person I know and I had to train with Sakura under Kakashi! Do you know how much she complained on a daily basis!?"

Jiraiya sighed and turned away from the enraged blond. "Get over it. This way we can get back to your training faster. I want to get you as strong as possible before I have to hand you back over to Tsunade. You know she's going to keep you locked away in the village from every conceivable threat. Probably until the Akatsuki come knocking on the village gate." He looked up at the sky as it turned darkened, heralding night's coming. "We only have another two months and there's one more agent I need to meet with before we return to Konoha."

Naruto lowered his hand and grumbled. "You and your agents. I swear if this new 'agent' turns out to be a prostitute that you like in the land of who-knows-what… I am going to achieve Six-tails transformation just so I can kick your ass for good."

"Yeah yeah." Jiraiya glanced back at his student as he twisted back to their camp's fire. "It's actually important that I meet with her. I haven't seen her in ten years and I sent her on a rather important assignment that's been in the works since you were a toddler."

Naruto perked up. "Huh? So this isn't a bullshit visit? Cool! So who is this girl's mission?"

Jiraiya shrugged. "Originally her job was to prevent Kiri and Kumo from trading by sea using any means necessary. This was during the days after they teamed up to destroy Uzushiogakure. But as she was doing her job she kept encountering odd vessels the further out she went into the eastern sea. Eventually she started to take a log of them and came to the conclusion that they were part of a sea trade rout. However… it couldn't have been Kumo or Kiri at that time because shortly before that they became enemies. She… correctly… assumed they were part of another nation, unknown to the Elemental lands."

"COOL! So there's like a whole other continent out there!? Why didn't you ever tell us that was our last stop before?!"

"Because…" Jiraiya said smirking. "You would never have stopped pestering me until I took you there and out appointment isn't for a week… which is exactly how long it should take us to reach the east shore of the Land of Fire. Now shut up. Stop wasting energy talking and heal. It should only be a day and we can take off those bandages and get on the road. It's a straight shot east from here!"

"Come on! I just got access to five tails state! Let me do some Ninjutsu training before we leave this spot! Then we can go over an…."

Jiraiya raised an eyebrow. "Need I remind you that I almost died?... Again…"

Naruto crossed his arms. "You're ALWAYS almost dying. It's like your hobby." Naruto grinned, showing off his semi sharp teeth and long canines. "You forget? I'm the only reason you're as strong as you are now anyway. Weren't you the one who said that Shinobi grow stronger by being brought to the brink repeatedly?"

"True, but…"

"And what is dying a few times compared to sparring with your favorite student and… only godson!?" Naruto seemed to glow with (admittedly sarcastic) pride. "So what if I've almost killed you twenty-five times in the last two years! It's all about the bond right?!"

"Not twenty-five… The tally of near death experiences is almost double that… Or did you forget the three months after you breached the Three-tails barrier? You have nearly killed me a grand total of thirty-nine times."

"OH YEAH! Only eleven more to go and we'll hit fifty!"

He dead-panned. "Please don't be excited about that…"

Naruto lowered his arms and dropped his stupid grin. "But seriously, I have complete control of three tails now and I can reach Five-tails cloak in a pinch… without turning into a homicidal maniac. I used to go bat shit crazy at two."

"That is a good point, but full control over three tails? That is only one third of the total number… and the amount of power you gain with each new tail is exponential. The first tail doubled your usual power and you never ran out of chakra. The second tail was double that as well, putting you well above Chunin level, if not quite Jonin level. Then the third tail tripled that putting you on par and even exceeding my power at the time…."

"Which was when you wanted to quit." Naruto muttered.

"Which was when I wanted to quit." He admitted. "But now it is getting completely ridiculous. If by my measures… the four tails will give you full access to power easily on par with a Kage. Five tails, which you just managed to briefly harness today could give you the power needed to butcher some of the most powerful individuals in the world…." Jiraiya seemed to shiver at the thought. "I hesitate to imagine how much power you could have by fully mastering six of the nine tails…."

They were both silent at that. Jiraiya personally was frightened at the god like power Naruto could easily wield in the future, but at the same time, ecstatic that he was the one training him to use it…. Of course he himself was far more powerful than he'd ever been before. Training every day for two years with (quite possibly) the most dangerous and unpredictable ninja alive… To put it bluntly, he improved rapidly. Not nearly as fast as Naruto did, but still… he felt that he could have gone toe to toe with Hanzo.

And that was something he'd once been unfortunate enough to fail at… even with the help of his old teammates.

Naruto on the other hand.. He changed. Drastically.

Gone was the immature boy of thirteen who would rush headlong into a fight, completely and utterly unprepared for anything. He was still immature in some ways; retaining that devil-may-care attitude and complete disregard for authority… or his own skin. He still rushed headlong into conflict… but he was no longer unprepared for it. Seeing how he was undoubtedly high Jonin level now… just with sheer power. That wasn't counting his keen mind.

Oh yeah… he had one of those now.

He would never be called an idiot again. Jiraiya would personally hamstring anyone who considered his godson anything less than a genius. For example, he mastered jutsu so fast that it made his head spin. Shadow Clones… an A-rank jutsu in a single night. Rasengan… a week without any real hints or direction. Mastery over wind manipulation in two weeks… Not just cutting a leaf in half. Not just cutting a piddly little waterfall in half… Naruto could cut a huge boulder in half just by putting his palm against it.

That was mastery… and that was only a small part of why Naruto was a mastermind. The kid could come up with a solution for ANYTHING. No matter what the problem was, he could find some way to fix it… in the most bizarre unconventional way you could imagine. Things that no remotely sane person could think of.

The kid was also a genius when it came to inventing jutsu… and, if he did say so himself, far better than his father at naming them. And some of them… jeeze. He outdid himself regularly. Out of his arsenal of twenty Wind Style jutsu… not… a …single… one… was below A-rank. Six were S-rank. Their chakra costs were unreal and the fact that he could do more than half with no handseals…

He was deadly. Now Naruto… He could have thrashed Hanzo while using the Five-tails cloak.

As for his general maturity… he'd improved greatly. He still spoke his mind without care, but he wasn't clueless anymore. He understood how things worked in the world. He did embarrass himself sometimes… but these days that was usually because he fudged a jutsu and blew himself up. Jiraiya might have thought that he'd been hopeless when it came to girls… but he wasn't. Not that he was a playboy in any way. He just tended to ignore the fairer sex, thinking that they were far more trouble than they were worth.

Not exactly a golden development for his novels, but Naruto… thank Kami-sama… still had a tendency to find himself in situations. Well, sometimes might have been an understatement. To tell the truth it was at least once a month. But he never got in trouble for it… for some reason.

How he hated that.

Jiraiya felt a smile tracing across his lips again as he turned to look at his Godson. Naruto was taller now, having gained quite a bit during the trip, though he was still way under his own towering height. His skin was a slightly deeper tan and his muscles were powerful but sleek. His definition would make any self respecting woman swoon if he took his shirt off. He was fond of saying that he'd be even more handsome than his father had been said to be. And seeing how Minato Namikaze could have easily had a harem by seventeen… Well, that might not have been a bad thing. At the very least he'd get plenty of writing material.

Naruto's most marked appearance was in his face, which his rigorous training had shaved of any baby fat. In fact Naruto was even more fit than him in that regard. Basically all he did was train and the Kyuubi already boosted his metabolism to an insane degree. But that only made him look older. The real change was his eyes. Neither of them knew why, though they hypothesized that it had to do with the excess chakra running through his system for two entire years… but his usual blue eyes now bore slitted pupils. That and his whisker marks no longer faded back to thin lines after he achieved complete control over Two-tails cloak. In addition to that his hair was longer, appearing almost as Minato's from certain angles.

Now if he could just get the kid to cooperate with him on his Ichi-Icha. Then he could get some quality material!

Not that it would ever happen… but maybe he could get some when Naruto finally found some girl he liked. He personally refused to count the pink haired monstrosity as a girl… She was some kind of rage-demon masquerading as a member of the female species. Truly a horror to behold. And she didn't even have any tits to speak of!

"Oi! Pervy sage, what's that look for?!"

"Oh… nothing Naruto… Nothing at all.

"You were thinking something perverted weren't you." Naruto growled accusingly. "Admit it; you can't even go five minutes without thinking about girls… I should lob you into a women's hot-spring again, see if that finally cures you of your illness."

Jiraiya coughed and sweat-dropped. "No need to try and kill the old man for good… I haven't groped Tsunade in over three years you know. I can't die quite yet!"

"Knew it… Perv."

"Says the boy who gets chased around by the local Kunoichi every time we go into a village. You might be more like your mother than I ever imagined, but you aren't completely immune to it. I saw the way you looked at that girl back in the last village. You were honestly thinking about asking her out weren't you?"

Naruto's head whipped to the side. "Shut up…" He blushed, scratching at the back of his head. "She said she liked my eyes… Most people get freaked out by them these days."

"Poor Naruto… Most civilians are put off, but half of the Shinobi who see them assume you have a Dojutsu.. not the worst think for them to think. It puts them off the idea of attacking you. And that makes things easier for both of us…." Jiraiya stood and walked to the fire, stooping down to bank it for the night. "Now shut your trap and get some sleep. We get up early tomorrow and head east."

Naruto gave him the finger and slipped backwards off the log he was sitting on. He landed on top of his sleeping back with an Umph! of expelled air. He lay there staring up at the night sky as Jiraiya finished prepping the fire for the long night and went to his own sleeping bag.

Ooo

-One week later-

Ooo

Naruto sighed as he looked out over the crystal blue ocean. "Pitty.. If we were a bit further south we could stop by and see Tazuna and his family. I wonder if Inari took over his father's business by now… He'd be the same age now that I was when I was there last."

Jiraiya huffed as he finished speaking with one of the local fishermen. "Yeah, but then we'd have to worry about the last remnants of the Kiri loyalists. They're still being hunted down by the new Mizukage. I don't want us getting caught up in anything big a month before we head back to the village."

"Fine. Anyway, where is this agent of yours?"

He pointed down the shore to a larger docking area that bordered the shore side village. "That right there is where we meet. Usually she sends me reports through a secondary chain of contacts set up thought out the Land of Fire, but seeing how I've been on the road for a good three years I've missed six separate reports from her. I'm eager to see what she's learned."

"Every six months?" Naruto frowned. "What is she doing if she only sends you updates every six months? Villages have been razed and rebuilt in less time."

"Ahh…" Jiraiya grinned. "That's the thing about her. She doesn't just log shipping lanes anymore. She actually went over 'there' a year or so back. The journey to the other continent takes a minimum of a week by water. And that's with special ships aided with Ninjutsu. A normal fishing vessel would take over a month to travel there and another month back. So she has about three months over on that side at a time."

Naruto nodded, looking back towards the dock. "What time is the meeting?"

"It's scheduled for 9:00 sharp at the local bar. We'll be going in on time, but you need to disguise yourself again. Remember that just walking around town is usually fine, bars are always places where information gathers…"

"And…" Naruto finished the sentence for him. "…where others go to gather information… whether it is being given freely or not."

"Yes. And as much as it was amusing to watch the girls fawn over you in the last three villages, this is one of my best agents and she doesn't need any attention being drawn to her through our actions. So keep your head down."

"Alright old man, gimme a second to get my henge in place." Naruto made a single handseal and in a plume of smoke there was a blond haired girl in his place, remarkable attractive, but wearing modest clothing that didn't draw attention to its self. This being the 'infiltration' version of Naruto's not so infamous sexy jutsu. When he was completely done 'she' got into character, a serious/pouty expression became the default instead of the roguish grin Naruto usually wore these days.

She turned and gave a mock salute to Jiraiya. "Oi! Ready to go uncle! Or is it sensei this time?"

Jiraiya started walking towards the village. "You'll be my student until it is more convenient to reveal your identity. Keep up the usual attitude. She'll like you with that."

"Okay, but what is she like… based of people we've met recently?"

"Appearance wise? She has black hair, maybe late twenties to early thirties. Looks wise… Rather like that Kurotsuchi girl from Iwa. At least that's how she keeps her hair…. Not much in the way of tits, but with a rather nice rear end. Quite muscular. The biggest thing to tell her by is her arm is mechanical."

"M…mechanical. Like metal?" 'Naruko'scrunched her face up. "Never heard of anything like that except in the land of Iron. Don't the samurai have stuff like that?"

"Oh she keeps it hidden and is quite vain about it. I wouldn't talk about it if I were you. She'd probably try to kill you for it."

Naruto groaned and started following him. "Ya know, I'd like an explanation old man.. I mean… every one of the agents we meet seems like a vain person who would kill you for mentioning it."

"That's not.."

"Nakiko village? The old man with the wandering eye who threw a kunai at me every time he thought I was staring at it."

"That was…"

"Or in Suna with that girl with the huge rack and who was so self conscious about her squeaky voice that she made us communicate in writing the ENTIRE time? And when I asked why she was being so weird she tried to chop my balls off with that claw gauntlet of hers?"

"I…"

Naruko raised a finger, "Or even your agent in that Kumo village that thought she was such hot stuff that when I mentioned that she wasn't exactly in the peak of her youth anymore… she literally tried to turn me inside out? What about her?"

As they walked Jiraiya let out a sigh. "Well, at least they all came around once they learned about who you were."

"Of course." Naruko rolled her bright blue eyes. "As soon as you drop the Namikaze bomb they all turn into the nicest people you could imagine. But I don't care about who my dad was. I mean, I love the fact that he was my dad, but I don't want others to respect me because of who my dad was. I've told you that before."

"True…"

"And that's not even the point I was trying to make. We're going to meet someone weird and somewhat insane aren't we?"

"….."

"I'll take that as a yes."

"She's really a great person once you get to know her!"

Naruko deadpanned so hard that somewhere in Konoha a certain Wood Style user sneezed before going back to practicing his stare in a small pocket mirror.

"You're pathetic."

Jiraiya's shoulders slumped as they entered the edge of the small village. Conversation dropped off as they made their way down the street, drawing looks from nearly everyone… despite the fact that both were dressed as civilians. This might have been because Jiraiya was easily head and shoulders above most in height… and his hair was almost unique to the elemental nations. Not to mention the fact that he had a massive scroll on his back, which might have detracted from the civilian dress. However people stared more at the beautiful blond girl by his side though, the eyes of the men not failing to notice her curves even under her modest clothing. Nor the fact that she walked with a grace that was beyond beautiful.

Inside said blond's head she was at once proud of 'him'self for deceiving some who were obviously ninja. Why at least three of the men who were leering at him wore ninja headbands. And at the same time he was disappointed that no one… ever… saw through his disguise. Honestly there was no challenge anymore. Even Jiraiya, with all the time they'd trained together, could only guess who the real him was in a shadow clone battle. Honestly, people should have been able to see through a simple henge, regardless of how well put together.

But, as always, it seemed that the guys were too busy trying to measure her three sizes and the women, too busy being jealous.

Naruto thought of all the people he'd fooled with a simple henge and his superb acting skills. Literally he could count the number of people who could see though his henge on one hand. And two had the Sharingan, two had the Byakugan, and the last was an Inuzuka. All five required some assistance to see through his henge… He/she gave a great sigh, emphasized by the dramatic movement of her breasts… which was shortly accompanied by the mass dripping and iron tang of several bloody noses in the area.

"Which building is the bar?" she asked, getting annoyed.

"This one." Jiraiya turned on his heel and they made a swift right into a smallish building on the north side of the village. They entered through the open door and into a relatively well lit room with some fifteen or so people in it…. All men. This immediately alerted both of them to the absence of Jiraiya's agent as well as to the fact that Naruto in the guise of a female was now, without a doubt, the center of attention.

Jiraiya, realizing that the situation was less than the best, still decided to continue with it. He turned his gaze to the left, scanning each booth in turn and located the one where he was supposed to meet his agent.

In her place was a young man, about thirty or so. He had long straight brown hair and dark eyes. His skin was pale, but not naturally. His pasty complexion looked to be from some emotion like fear or sorrow. Jiraiya noticed the distinct lack of any weapons or even a headband. Not that any of his agents wore headbands when they came to meet him. These meetings were meant to be discrete after all. An Iwa nin for instance would not normally deign to even speak to a Konoha nin. So they tended to leave anything that marked them as ninja at home.

Naruto nudged Jiraiya. "I don't feel anything off about him, but he smells… I don't know. Desperate almost."

"I'll take it from here. Keep silent until it's clear he's not some spy sent in her place to get info on us."

"Got it."

They both strode into the bar, ignoring the blatant stares of at least half the room… and seated themselves at the booth where the man sat.

For a moment he seemed not to notice them, then with a start, he looked up. "Oh! You must be..!" Naruko made a line across her throat with one thumb and frowned dangerously. The man stopped just short of saying what would probably have been "Jiraiya of the Sanin" and gulped nervously. Jiraiya smiled at Naruko for salvaging the situation at least a little bit. Then he glanced back at the guy, who was sweating at that point.

"Who are you?"

Ooo

Ooo

Twenty minutes later they were outside the bar and quite a ways away from the village. Naruko still hadn't become himself yet, keeping up the pretenses of being a girl. While Jiraiya was trying to get the man, now identified as Sir Armen, to calm down.

It took awhile, but eventually the older man succeeded in getting Armen to breathe properly.

"Now…" Jiraiya said, his voice somewhat strained. "That we've established that you know who I am and that you are coming in place of my agent… please explain yourself."

Armen, who was only slightly less pale than he had been, nodded. "I am terribly sorry for my reaction, but I was sure your wouldn't come. Recent events in my homeland have been horrible and I have little faith in foreigners… I'm truly sorry." He gave a deep bow to Jiraiya but asked timidly, "But I was also under the impression that you were to come alone…" His eyes darted to the blond worriedly.

Jiraiya waved it off. "This is my student and he will be the heir to all my operations. If I die in the near future he will take up my duties as spymaster."

"He?" Armen blinked. "You do mean 'she' right?"

Naruko let the henge run out of chakra and closed her eyes as the illusion dispelled in an explosion of smoke. When it cleared there was a very 'male' boy there, with his arms crossed and his eyebrow raised in question. "Yet another guy who can't see through a basic henge…"

"I…?!" Armen looked amazed for a moment then recovered. "I.. I am sorry, but I was not aware you were under a henge. My wife did not tell me much of her abilities as she was always busy. I was under the impression that she was the only one who could do that."

"Eh? Wife?" Jiraiya blinked in shock. "You're telling me that Hakana married you?!"

"Yes… Allow me to explain please. I am Sir Armen, former tactician and advisor to the Emperor. I am not born of these lands, as I am from the Capital. You probably do not know any of this, which is why I am here and must tell you everything. My wife tasked me with this job in the case that she died."

"She's dead…" Jiraiya closed his eyes briefly, allowing himself a moment of sorrow before getting back to business. "Tell me everything from the beginning."

"Very well." Armen sat down on a log in the clearing where they had hidden themselves and began.

"To start off with I met your agent, Hakana, a year and a half ago. She at first told me that she was from a foreign land in the far south and was in need of information. I had just recently been dismissed from my position as an advisor to the Emperor and had nothing else to do. She offered me money and I wasn't in any position to refuse… so I helped her get settled on the Empire's far western coast. It wasn't too long and we became friends. I, for my part, was still mourning the loss of my rank and position while she…. I thought…. was a refugee of some kind. We grew close very quickly and to cut a very long and… a bit sappy story short… she eventually told me her secret. She wasn't a refugee as I assumed, nor even from my home continent. She was an elite warrior from another land sent here to gather Intel on possible threats."

Jiraiya glanced at Naruto who shrugged. What was it to them? They couldn't blame someone for falling in love. Armen didn't even notice their movement and continued.

"I was shocked of course. I didn't even know she could fight at the time. So I asked her for proof and she used that same ability that you used to become a woman. I was astounded. I assumed that she possessed an Imperial arm, one of 48 powerful artifacts created by the first Emperor. But she said that she was born with the power and that she could do any number of amazing things with it. She then explained that she loved me, but that she had a duty to perform. She… she said that this land is currently in a cold war of sorts. No one dares openly declare war, yet it isn't peace. I understood what she meant by this. She wasn't there to cause trouble, but instead to make sure that anything from my land didn't start off the next Great War here."

He swallowed hard. "So I decided to help her in that regard. Hakana started to branch out and create a network of small time informants and spies on the coast. It was very successful, or at least I thought it was. She was always so efficient it scared me sometimes. But we continued. That was when things took a turn for the worse. Hakana heard from one of her informants that there was revolution against the capital of the Empire. I'm sure you know Jiraiya.. that Hakana was very opinionated and would stop at nothing to help others. I had already told her of what happened to me in the Capital and she understood that the entire Capital is corrupt to its core. So she contacted the revolution and… in particular… a group known as Nightraid."

"Nightraid?" Naruto asked.

"A group of specialized warriors and assassins of great power and skill. Their duty is to kill corrupt individuals in the Capital and protect those few just leaders that are left. They are the front line of the Revolution and are regularly hunted by the Capital's most powerful men… and…" He added almost as an afterthought. "Women…"

He shivered at some unknown thought and continued. "She contacted Nightraid and asked if there was any way she could help further the goals of the revolution without being discovered. They sent back that there was a way. They asked her to go to the capital and meet with a member of Nightraid and exchange information. Then she would help set up a network of spies and informants in the lands surrounding the Capital its self. Things went very smoothly for two month after that, but…" Armen looked to the ground suddenly, his jaw clenching. "But then we were betrayed. One of her contacts on the coast was actually an agent of the Capital and had been working his way onto Hakana's trust the entire time. And about the time that my wife had fifty people working in and around the Capital… he struck."

Jiraiya began to feel sick at his stomach and Naruto was pale.

"The next day my.. my wife's head… was on our d..door step and there was a note.. on the door…. It said 'Those who oppose the Empire oppose the Emperor himself… and by the law of the land, those who oppose the Emperor will be sentenced to death.' It was a warning to everyone who had dared try to stop the corruption that we didn't have the power to stop them at all. I.. left as quickly as I could and, under my wife's instructions, I came here the following month."

"And here you are… So the Capital destroyed the spy ring she set up there?"

"Yes."

Naruto groaned loudly. "And only a month left and we have to go back to Konoha! Damn! I so want to go over there and kick ass now!" He gritted his teeth. "This Emperor sounds like a scum bag. I ought to rip his head off."

"No! You are mistaken!" Armen shouted. "The Emperor is a nice boy, kind to a fault and ignorant of everything he does. The man who is to blame is his chief advisor… Or I should say, 'only' advisor. His name is Honest and he is the most evil man I have ever met. He has made himself into the Emperor's only friend and confidant."

At Naruto and Jiraiya's surprised looks he explained further. "You must understand that my homeland operates under an absolute monarchy and the Emperor is the last of his family. The royal family's advisors have always had immense power, but our current Emperor is barely thirteen and knows nothing about how to rule a nation. His late father knew that he would leave his son as a young boy on the throne and gave him an entire cabinet of advisors, twenty in all, to help him govern until he was ready to do it alone. But Honest has killed, discredited, or banished all of them in the Emperor's name."

Jiraiya let out a groan of his own. "So you have a figurehead as your emperor and the one behind the scenes has manipulated him into thinking that everything he does is for the good of the people."

"Unfortunately… yes."

"That's just great. Not only did I lose one of my best agents, our neighboring content is ruled by a figurehead. And this figurehead is controlled by an advisor who seems to be slowly rotting your country from the inside out. Am I correct it assuming that life is not easy or pleasant in your homeland?"

"That is true." Armen admitted. "Many of the outlying villages and towns are filled with families who are slowly starving to death for lack of food. The Capital taxes everyone in extremes and when they do not have the money to pay them, the enforcers take possessions.. then food or water. Then anything they you own. And Honest recently convinced his majesty to bring back a kind of slavery. It's terrible because of how excited he was about it. I think the Emperor's education has been stunted and twisted so much that he would think having someone executed the best thing in the world."

Jiraiya's expression twitched, struggling not to show his anger. "I only have one question then."

"Yes Lord Jiraiya? Will you help me? ...Us…?!"

"That depends." He closed his eyes. "Do your people know of us? The Elemental Nations?"

"Of course." Armen nodded. "They have known about another continent to the west for years. However the Emperor before the current one was content with our holdings and did not wish to venture into new territory. He was a peaceful Emperor. But Honest wants the entire continent under his control and will probably succeed in conquering the few free nations left in three years or so."

Naruto interrupted. "That's pretty fast. Three years to take over a whole continent? I mean here that would be impossible. All the villages are relatively equal in strength. Except for Suna and Kiri which are weakened right now. How could your… Capital take over a whole continent in that short a time?"

"To be blunt, the people of your continent are very powerful... My wife told me that even a low ranking soldier from one of your villages could most likely take on a captain in our army. I think that she said that even our Generals would have a hard time against true Jonin… though I don't know what that name means exactly."

Naruto pointed to himself. "A Jonin refers to a specific rank out of four. Genin are the weakest and newest to the military, Chunin are more skilled and experienced, Jonin are the elites and Kage are the leaders of the individual villages. I'm only a Genin but I have abilities that easily stack against strong Jonin." He nudged Jiraiya. "My sensei here is at Kage level right now. He could level whole villages with a single move, but then again so could I."

Jiraiya shook his head. "Naruto, shut it." He turned to Armen. "Go on.."

"Well…" He sighed. "Unlike here the Capital has almost all the strong warriors already in its service. For example the Capital's two great Generals could defeat an entire army single handedly and come out uninjured… In fact that has already happened. Currently the Ice General, as she is called, is in the far north conquering the tribals that banded together there. And the Lightning General is still in the Capital acting as a deterrent to the rebels and Nightraid."

"And there isn't anyone outside the Capital that stands a chance against these two great Generals?"

"Not really. Those two are demons… Devils in the skin of men. I once thought that the Lightning General, known as Budo, was a just man." Armen expelled an angry breath. "But I was wrong. He sees anything that opposes the Emperor as trash that must be destroyed, even though he knows the Emperor is an ignorant child being controlled by the Prime Minister. He can control lightning and his physical strength and endurance is legendary."

"Tell me…" Jiraiya leaned forward. "Will the Capital turn its gaze on the Elemental Nations once it has taken control over its own lands?"

"I wouldn't doubt it for a moment. Although I don't know if they could defeat you, I think that Prime Minister Honest would do that… without question."

Jiraiya swore loudly and stood. He bit his thumb and smeared blood on his palm. A split second later he slammed it into the ground. Naruto and Armen watched as a large toad appeared in a plume of smoke. Armen was gaping like a fish out of water… either at the six foot tall toad… or the manner in which it had been summoned. Perhaps both.

"Yo! Jiraiya-sama! How's it going?!"

"Listen, no time to talk. Something has just come up that is extremely important. I need you to go to Konoha immediately and tell the Hokage that we need an extension of at least two months on Naruto's training trip, details to follow."

"Okay…" The large toad shrugged. "Fine with me. Anything else?"

"Yes. Send a messenger toad to Otsu village and contact my agent there. Tell him to come to this village immediately and take over Hakana's duties."

The Toad saluted. "As you command master Jiraiya!" Then in a plume of smoke, he disappeared.

Jiraiya paid it no mind and turned to Armen and Naruto. "Okay. This is what we will do. You, Naruto, and I will go to your homeland and find out exactly what the situation is. That shouldn't take more than three months to accomplish. Then we will decide what is to be done about this. We absolutely cannot allow your people to set off another Great War here and if push comes to shove… we will help you deal with this corrupt minister ourselves."

"Really?!" Armen looked ecstatic. "You would actually come to our land and help yourselves?! That's more than I could have ever dreamed!"

The Toad Sage raised a hand. "Wait."

Armen quieted and listened.

"We are only going there to appraise the situation and deal with small issues as we meet them. Once we have decided on a course of action we will call for reinforcements to remedy the situation. While my student and I are very strong, we aren't going to take on an entire country by ourselves. That would be idiotic and far too slow. We would send a message back to bring a few teams of our elite Shinobi who's talents were just right for the task."

Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Yeah, it's a pity I don't know how to use Hirashin… Otherwise we really would only need one person."

"What is Hirashin?"

Jiraiya waved him off. "Not right now. We have a relatively limited amount of time to work with. I have been in war before and three months is hardly any time at all in the scheme of things. And time flies even faster when you are working to prevent war. We will leave today by the ship that Hakana used to go back and forth between your land and ours. I don't have much skill with Water style jutsu… but I have enough to get us there in just over a week. Naruto can help with the wind as well to speed our arrival."

"We.. leave today?" Naruto asked hesitantly. "Just like that?"

"Yes. Now let's get going."

Naruto grinned. "Granny Tsunade is going to so… pissed. But, oh well! I want to see this place! In only a week I'll be kicking ass!"

With that, they left.

Ooo

-Two days later-

Ooo

Armen watched, still in some amazement, as Jiraiya funneled a stream of wind into their ship's sails. He'd been doing this for hours…. And before that Naruto did the same. The blond had kept it going for two entire days! Without taking a break other than to eat! It was astounding… and his sheer control over wind… It was incredible. He could have easily held the title of Great Wind General to match Esdeath or Budo.

What scared him was Jiraiya's straight faced comment about this being quote, "only a small piece of what he could do". That was almost scary. His wife had shown him some powerful techniques, but nothing that compared to punting a medium sized ship along at speed for two days straight.

But he didn't voice these thoughts of wonderment to Naruto or his master. He felt that doing so might lower himself in their eyes. He already appeared to be desperate and he didn't like feeling such. As weak as he was and as little influence as he'd had recently… he liked to be able to do things at his leisure. Back when he was an advisor to the Emperor he was able to do what he wanted when he wanted and no one would question it. He didn't abuse the power like others often did, but he still enjoyed the privilege.

Being with Hakana had made him feel important again… and in more than one way. Both in that he had a beautiful woman doting on him, and that he was affecting world events again. Now that she was gone though… he felt powerless, especially with such powerful men as these two.

Armen sighed as Jiraiya let the winds die down.

"Oh… sheesh.. that really takes it out of me. I'm mainly a Fire user so wind is opposed to my power. Not as bad as Water, but still hard. Anyway… go wake up Naruto. He's probably rested enough to take over for now."

"Wait.. can I ask a few question about your… chakra was it?"

"Sure. I'm actually surprised that you haven't already asked." Jiraya leaned back against the rail of the ship and crossed his arms. "What did you want to know?"

Armen scratched his chin. "How is it that you can do all this without Teigu? In my land we use artifacts known as Teigu to produce some of the same effects. For instance there is a pair of heavily armored gauntlets which give the user complete control of lightning. But neither of you have artifacts of any kind… And neither did my wife. I'm not usually one to pry, but I am confused."

"Let me put it this way then. Imagine if these… Teigu… as you call them. Imagine if we had a genetic ability to use similar abilities passed down from generation to generation. My agent, you wife, was a skilled with Water Style. She could pull water out of thin air with only a small amount of effort."

"I.. she never really told me."

"Of course not." Jiraiya shook his head. "She may have told you some of her abilities and she may very well have loved you, but she wouldn't endanger her entire home continent just so you could be well informed. Someone might have captured you and tortured the information out of you."

"I understand that… I just have a hard time believing that…"

"That your wife would be so cautious?"

"Yes… That's exactly it."

Jiraiya sighed. "Your homeland is obviously more lax than ours. Your wife was a member of the Hidden village of Konoha. The Village Hidden in the Leaves. She was, above all else, a loyal ninja. And in our land, which has been warring off and on since before anyone can even remember… secrecy, discretion, loyalty.. These traits are taught and valued above all else. She was in what she probably considered hostile territory every moment of the day." He closed his eyes. "It may seem out of the ordinary to you… but a more devoted Kunoichi would have killed you rather than create a loose end during her mission."

Armen took a step back and paled. "That's…!"

"One of many things that make Ninja more deadly than normal men and women. We are willing to do what others would gag at the thought of. It isn't that we are monsters… It is merely that we do what must be done."

Jiriaya cracked one eye, his expression becoming very serious. "Besides… You can't fight monsters… without, in some way, becoming one."

Armen swallowed and practically fled the deck, almost sprinting into the cabin and descending below to the middle level of the ship. There he let himself catch his breath. He was pale… very pale. To think that his wife might have murdered him because she loved him… because he made her lose momentum or an advantage in completing her mission. To think.. that these two men could be the very same way. Did he really want to recruit them? What was he THINKING?!

These two men were immensely powerful… and… "No.. wait. They are just doing what is right for their home. Just like what I am doing… Fuck. I have to get myself together! I can't just shy away because they are willing to go to drastic measures to get the job done. It's like he said, it takes fire to fight fire sometimes. You can't fight something that has nothing to lose without putting everything you have on the line. To destroy the Capital… we are going o have to resort to underhanded measures…. Just like Hakana said."

He straightened, his mind resolved, and walked over to the living quarters to wake Naruto.

Ooo

Ooo

Naruto mumbled sleepily as he stood, very confused, in the middle of a…

He looked around. To all appearances he was standing on a white capped plateau. He could see nothing but blue sky and white clouds around him… Or was it snow? He couldn't tell… and it was very strange. Why was he here? Wasn't he supposed to be?

"Ah… I'm dreaming…" Naruto blinked rapidly and looked up into the sky. It was pale blue with streamers of cloud… It was beautiful. "Well, this is way better than most of my dreams… Guess I'll enjoy it…"

Looking around again, Naruto became aware of a… feeling. Like something was out of place. Or… no. That wasn't the right way to describe it at all. It was less a feeling of something missing, and more the sensation of something being there that wasn't supposed to be. It was uncomfortable and… growing more so by the second.

Naruto shook his head as a pressure. A cold pressure squeezed his mind.. his thoughts. "OW! What the hell!? Dreams aren't supposed to hurt! What the hell?!" He fell back, his rear landing in cold white powder. "Snow?! Why does it feel wet?! What the fuck is happening to me?!" Naruto cursed loudly as the pressure on his thoughts became painful, icy needles burrowing into his temples.

He winced and put his hands to his head, groaning in pain and collapsing backwards to lie flat on his back.

"Ow…" he moaned as the needles… drills… continued to turn his brain to mush. He screwed his eyes shut from the excruciating pain and gritted his teeth.

And then… It stopped.

Naruto felt the pain abruptly vanish and the uncomfortable feeling of pressure changed into a… cool, pleasant sensation in the back of his mind… it was comparable to the feeling of a snowflake melting on your skin. Chill but at the same time, gentle. He let out a long breath and lay still. He didn't know what had just happened or why. And he really didn't want to move again in case it restarted the drilling. Instead he settled for letting his muscles uncoil… letting himself slowly relax.

"Wh.. where am I?!"

Naruto opened his eyes. He sat up quickly. His ears registering a voice, feminine and clear… like a strident bell. Loud and demanding, yet soft in its undertone. It almost seemed to echo in his mind after the initial sound had faded.

He turned around.

Naruto blinked…. and blushed pink.

He found himself staring at… possibly the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen in his short life. A young woman… looking to be maybe twenty years of age. She was tall with the fairest skin he'd ever glimpsed and hair the color of sapphire. His eyes traveled upward from her long toned legs to strong thighs and wide hips. His blush deepened as he noted the neatly tripped patch of light blue between her legs. A v shape that would have caused Jiraiya to die outright of bloodloss. Her waist was curved delightfully in a perfect hourglass figure, yet the muscles were tight and absent of unnecessary fat.

Naruto tried and failed to skip over her breasts which were only a size way from Tsunade, their color so… -gulp- …He moved on, up the slopes of her breasts to her nipples, two medium pink circles and to her graceful neck… around which rested her only adornment, a black collar like band inset with a small black cross. Just below that, nestled above her breasts was a simple black design like a tattoo.

Then his eyes took in her face and he would have sworn that… had he ever desired to redo his Sexy jutsu… he need look no further. Creamy skin that held no small embarrassed blush and rosy lips that were still full and… kissable…. Round features and… eyes… that perfectly matched his own. Long eyelashes that were themselves blue. Her hair… fell in three parts that curved inward over her eyes.

Naruto found himself incapable of speech as his face flamed red. Three thoughts were warring in his mind. And nearly a minute passed before one fought through to the head. "She's…. she is… beautiful…." Nothing else occupied his mind and he was… quite unable to say anything. He was stunned… shocked… paralyzed by the beauty before him. As much as he had done his best to survive his sensei's 'teachings'… he still couldn't help but memorize every detail of this woman's perfect figure…

She too seemed paralyzed and her own cheeks were darkening even as they sat there. She was less than ten feet from him. He could… smell… her. A scent like melted sweets. He couldn't help it. His heightened sense of smell caused him to close his eyes in pleasure as he inhaled. He didn't know why this felt so… real… so… vivid. But he couldn't bring himself to move from that spot… He simply couldn't break the spell that he was under.

Ooo

Ooo

Armen turned into the room where the blond ninja had gone to sleep. He glanced across the room to the inset cubby where he was snoozing. Armen walked across to him, taking note that he slept curled up like a fox kit. Had he been a woman he was sure he'd be hugging the life out of him, but no… He was a man and he was already somewhat scared of this boy. Regardless of how harmless he looked right then.

He closed his eyes and spoke out loud. "Hey! Wake up. Master Jiraiya is ready for you to take over." Naruto didn't so much as twitch. Armen shifted and repeated himself a bit louder, but again, nothing happened.

"Well… I guess he really tired himself out. I'll go back and ask Jiraiya about whether or not to let him rest more… Two days really did seem like too long…"

Ooo

Ooo

Esdeath took in the boy's features. He was handsome with golden blond hair… which was quite unruly. His skin was a deep tan and she could tell that he was powerfully built, yet also slim. She let her eyes move upward, taking in his strange dress. A burnt orange and black jacket… appearing to be lightly armored. It was open in the front to show chiseled muscles covered by a black mesh shirt. At the same time he wore black pants and armored combat sandals.

She noted the white of scars that littered his body, testament to great injuries.

Their eyes met. His were a deep turbulent blue… his pupils were black slits that seemed to flicker as a candles flame. They were stunning and she felt… something… in them, like a connection. A tie to those eyes or… perhaps a similarity.

The rest of his face was just as unique. His round face was handsome. Very handsome. His expression, which was currently trapped between confused and enchanted, was at once seductive and vulpine…. And cute. The three jagged black marks on either side of his cheeks only made this more pronounced.

Esdeath blinked as she saw his mouth open, exposing long canines. He breathed in and his eyes drifted closed. An expression of sultry enjoyment lingered there even as they opened again. Those blue tiger like eyes settled on hers with a kind of intensity that she'd never experienced before.

And then she heard his voice.

"W..who are you?"

It was deep and purring, as though he was speaking in the rich tribal tongues of the west. Yet she understood him perfectly. Though his accent was strong and foreign. It reminded her of nothing so much as a fox, yet she couldn't say why.

"Who are you? And what are you doing here…?" He trailed off, his eyes dropping lower for a second before rising to her face again. "And…. Why are you… naked?"

She blushed a deep scarlet, not knowing how to deal with this situation… And not understanding why she was so flustered. She didn't know this man… She didn't even know where this was. In fact she was supposed to be sleeping at that moment… So… this had to be a dream. Yes, that was it. This was just a dream.

So who was he? Why was this young man so vivid? And what had inspired this amazing image in the first place… She was in the middle of a soon-to-be-over war in the north. There had been no one who even looked like this young man. Especially not with his unique features… Not with those eyes. Not with that… Esdeath breathed in, catching a strong scent. She blushed harder. She didn't understand why but her stomach twisted hotly and she shivered at the animalistic quality his scent possessed.

Esdeath realized abruptly that she had…. Seemingly in an instant…. Become at least physically intoxicated by his mere presence. He felt…

…and there it was. Hovering in the background like a low hum. Power…

This boy was dripping raw power. It saturated the air around him, settling in like dense fog. Her senses had been so saturated by it that it numbed her perception. It was incredible! Amazing that such an endless ocean of energy seemed to flow from him… She curled her fingers and bit her lip, her eyes fluttering closed as she allowed it to wash over her. She… had no earthly idea what was going on… but she couldn't be bothered to care. If this was a dream, it was both the strangest and most pleasant one she'd ever had.

"Who… are… you…?"

Her eyes snapped open as she felt a warm breath on her face and the tickle of hair in her face. He was right there, his blush receding ever so slightly as a look that perfectly mixed confusion and embarrassment, marred his face. Or.. not. She couldn't say that the expression of puzzlement didn't make him seem even more attractive…

Once again his question fell on her deaf ears without her mind being able to register the correct response. Who was she? Was she not the Great General of the Empire? The Ice Queen of the Emperor's military? Why did she feel like a shy maiden right now?!

Ooo

Ooo

Armen came back out on deck as Jiraiya took a deep draft from a canteen on his belt. The Sanin gave him an odd look. "Eh? Where's that lazy student of mine? Don't tell me he went back to sleep."

"No… I let him sleep a bit more since I couldn't wake him. I figured he was more tired out from his duties manipulating the wind than we knew."

"Nah! You just have to be really insistent. Go smack him upside the head with something and he'll wake up. Got to do it hard though. The kid's head is hard enough to knock through stone… or so I've heard from certain people."

"I… guess." Armen turned back into the ship to wake Naruto for good this time."

Ooo

Ooo

Naruto leaned in close to her, feeling a bit embarrassed to be so close to such a beautiful and… very naked girl. But her eyes had closed and she had an almost blissful look that made his stomach do flips. What was that look for?

"Who… are… you?" He repeated gently, not wanting to startle her.

Her eyes flicked open and her cheeks and neck flushed an even deeper shade of red. Her lips parted as if to speak, but she paused. Then after a moment she asked, "Who are you?"

He tilted his head to the side. "I already asked three times… But… I'm Naruto. Naruto Uzumaki. Who are you?"

"Esdeath… of the Partas tribe… G..general of the Empire…" Her blush deepened, if it were possible, and she leaned forward… "What are you…. How… I'm dreaming aren't I?"

"I don't know about you.." Naruto hesitated as her nose was nearly touching his, but he didn't stop her from continuing. His skin was tingling with a cool sensation that was hard to ignore.. The feeling was far too pleasant, raising bumps on his arms. "I thought I was dreaming too… Are…" He trailed off for a moment, regaining the courage to speak. "Are you... real?"

She was still… matching him, their faces barely an inch apart. "Yes.. I am real… but… what are you?"

"I'm…."

Ooo

Ooo

Dang! Cliff hanger!

WHAT!

But don't be too angry. I'm actually posting the next chapter right after this!

((remember to review anyway!))