Chapter 36: Unknown

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto still. Sad day. Also, this chapter is pretty heavily Ronnel-focused for the first bit after what's immediately below, so to a search for 'Flashback End' to find where stuff shifts back to a more neutral focus.

Hidden Cave:

"So the Snake's assault on the Leaf Village failed. Hidan, why did you involve yourself with the exile's attack without letting us know of his location, or attempting to retrieve the ring?" The voice that spoke came from a flickering projection. The cloak wearing man who had been spoken to grinned evilly at that, which made the image next to his put one hand against its forehead in obvious exasperation.

"Because my Lord chose an Avatar from that forsaken place." The satisfaction laced in his tone was matched by the stunned expression of several of the other shimmering images. "That's damn well right you heathens. Jashin-sama is one step closer to being fully revealed to this sacrilegious world once more! Getting back the paltry ring from Orochimaru isn't important compared to that." He smugly crossed his arms, the effect of the motion lost as the flickering image melded the limbs together instead of defining them clearly. "Now, how much longer are we going to be here? I have to get back to training him before Jashin-sama gets aggravated." The first figure that spoke flicked its eyes towards the figure standing next to Hidan's image, who answered the look with a shrug. When no response came from the Leader, Hidan scoffed and spun around, his image fading as he cut the projection. Silence reigned in the small chamber the projections were filling before the first one spoke again.

"This is problematic. When we agreed to take the Jashinist into our ranks, the likelihood of his God achieving His return before our plan was complete were projected to be minimal at best. Kakazu, is there anything you might do to hinder or weaken this 'Avatar' Hidan spoke of?" Kakazu's image shook its large head slowly.

"No Leader-dono. Since the blood-maniac came back with the brat at his side, he hasn't left the worm alone in my presence once. And more than that, from what I can tell… every so often something more fills the brat. I think his being an Avatar isn't just a future concept like the idiot thinks it is; I think the Undeath God has actually already made the kid His Avatar." There was a sharp breath from the Leader, before another figure spoke.

"And do you know who this child is at least? That might give us some form of hold over the child, and thus the Avatar state." Kakazu turned to stare at the figure that had spoken. A full minute passed with everyone waiting for the large figure's response.

"Your younger brother."

"What." Disbelief – no, a distinct desire not to believe at all, filled the figure's voice as it spat that short word out. Kakazu seemed to shift at that, shaking his head.

"Unfortunately, I am certain the child that Hidan brought back is your brother, even if the idiot is not aware of it himself. Not only is his facial structure nearly identical to yours, he has activated the Sharingan twice that I am aware of. Though... the second time it wasn't the normal one, it was one I have never seen before." For a moment Itachi's figure stood still before it vanished abruptly, making the exceptionally tall figure standing next to it jerk and spin around in place.

"Well. He just disappeared outside. I haven't seen him move that fast outside of a fight ever." The large figure turned back around and sighed. "I should probably follow after him. Normally I'm the one rushing off. See you, Leader." With a jaunty salute the figure faded from existence, much more peacefully than its partner had. Soon afterward, the meeting broken irrevocably at this point, the other figure faded, leaving only the Leader and the figure standing directly next to him there.

"We must hurry our plans at this point. Bringing back our deity, even incomplete, will be better than that abominable Godling being the first one to return to our world. We shall move forward with the ones we can acquire." The second figure turned to look at the Leader.

"It will be at least two years before we can acquire any of the components for even the most basic ritual to call our deity back Leader-dono. I will begin the process immediately." The figure bowed and disappeared, leaving only the Leader alone. The figure reached up and rubbed its eyes tiredly, then it looked up sharply, ringed eyes scanning the room, before it vanished as well.

A few minutes later one of the small rocky outcroppings shattered, revealing a small, earth-hued toad. The toad shivered and popped into a cloud of smoke, leaving the chamber completely empty.

Konoha Training Grounds 18

Ronnel was sitting on a rock, a water bottle in one hand as he watched Naruto. The younger Rei-Uzumaki was currently sparring with one of Anko's summoned snakes. Rather, the blonde-haired boy was trying to evade the snake and tag it with a dispelling seal, without being touched. If the human got struck, either with the snake's tail or its fangs, then he had to back away and restart the exercise. Already the teen had had to start over twice, though both times had been from tail swipes, he was managing to avoid getting bitten for now. The brown-haired ninja looked at the two women who were sitting next to him, one on each side, and inwardly grimaced as he remembered the heated 'discussions' that had gone on when he finally woke up in the hospital again.

Flashback!

Waking up with a sore back, staring at the tiles of the hospital room ceiling was giving Ronnel a major case of déjà vu. He looked down to see that there was a strap across his chest, and another syringe in his arm. He looked at the bag that the needle was connected to, and when he confirmed it wasn't some kind of vital medicine – it was just saline thankfully – he tugged the needle out of his arm, ignoring the blood that welled up at the insertion point. Then he pulled the strap off of his chest and sat up, rolling his arms to stretch his shoulders and back. The motion made his back ache, but no fresh wave of pain met it, so he figured he'd been out long enough for the medics to actually finish healing his back this time around.

The Jounin was pulled from his stretch by the door to the room he was in swinging open, and two purple haired women striding into the room. Their personalities were evident even in the way they walked. Anko was first into the room, her strides swift and sure, confident and brash as she barged in, glaring over her shoulder at the woman who was walking in behind her. Zenli strolled into the room, her gait smooth and languid, looking almost boneless beneath the dress she was wearing. Her gaze was focused on Anko, a slight smirk curling her women paused in their tracks when they saw that Ronnel was awake, concern filling Anko's gaze far more clearly than it did for Zenli.

"Hey… sorry about that Ko-hime. I didn't realize that I was still so hurt I guess." Anko shook her head slowly.

"You don't even know what happened to you, do you?" At the way that he twisted his head to the side and started looking extremely interested in what was going on outside, she knew that he didn't. "My bastard of a former sensei apparently hit you with a five-pronged elemental seal, which sent your system completely out of whack for some reason. From what Jiraiya-dono said, he hasn't seen anyone react that way to the Gogyo Fuin if they weren't a Jinchuruuki." Ronnel groaned and rubbed his eyes with his good hand, only now noticing that there was heavy bandages wrapped around his arm, making him remember the flame whip that had caught him from the lucky Otonin.

"I'm not a Jinchuruuki. It has to deal with my special ability, anything that messes with elements screws with me big time. It just had to be the Five Elements seal, didn't it?" He sighed and looked past Anko to Zenli, then back to his current girlfriend. "Right, I suppose it's time for that talk." The Konoha Snake Summoner nodded, crossing her arms over her chest as she sat down on the bed next to him.

"My name is Komadei Narikei. I was an A-ranked shinobi in Yugakure, being considered for the leadership role since I was one of the strongest in the village." At the strange look that she gave him, Ronnel snorted. "Not a main village, having an S-rank ninja would have been more than we could hope for. Anyway. I have a special ability, not a kekkei genkai but more of a specific mastery of a technique type. Can you guess?" Anko stared at him steadily.

"Being a slippery bastard?"

"Please. Here, a hint. I was nicknamed the 'Clone Swarm'." Anko frowned and flicked her gaze to Zenli, who was reclining against a wall, curls of smoke drifting around her head from the pipe in her hand. "And it had nothing to do with the Kage Bunshin."

"Well then I have no idea. Gaki is the only one I know who can spam those clone to hell and back." She blinked and shot upright when three clones shimmered into existence around her. She reached out and touched the one that was closest to her, and it grinned before falling apart into dust that blew away in a gust of wind from the clone next to it dispelling. The last clone waved before a flash of light and crackle of light thunder signaled it leaving.

"What the hell?"

"My ability is a pretty strange one. Elemental clones are easiest, bloodline formed ones are harder to nearly impossible, but…. Clones are negligibly easy for me to use. I didn't know it at first, but all I really need is to see the clones used once or twice and I can use it after that." Anko sucked in a sharp breath, staring at the brown-haired ninja who rubbed the back of his head with his unbandaged arm. "Yeah. I was maybe a B-ranked to low A-ranked on my own merits, but using even elemental clones takes almost no chakra for me. Like Naruto can spam his Kage Bunshin, I could use other clones. Kage Bunshin are outside my range for the prodigious rate I would use clones while I was a Yugakure shinobi, but yeah. I was a one man team."

"Then why the hell did you never use that here?" Ronnel frowned and leaned back against the headboard of the bed, wincing slightly as the wood dug into some of the still tender flesh.

"Because I was going incognito. My village was dead, my brother was part of a group of rapidly rising S-ranked monsters. While he may not care now, when he first started Hidan still hated me, and would have been happy to kill me if he had found me. So Narikei had to die, and using clones like that would have given me away."

"Well. Damn." The two looked to the until now silent woman, who was staring at Ronnel. "I hadn't thought of that. I thought you were just ashamed of not being able to save the village. You were being smart." Ronnel rolled his eyes. "You tended to prefer throwing clones at things over thinking heavily on stuff Keima."

"No, I was thinking. I… I actually did attack Hidan not long after." Ronnel rubbed his chest, staring at the ceiling above the bed. "It didn't end well. He'd already been blessed by then, and he used Jashin's warped ritual to torture me. I'm not sure why he left me alive, but I don't think it was on purpose." Ronnel frowned. "But he didn't seem too surprised to see me earlier."

"I …. Kami, that is heavier than I expected Ron-kun." Anko deflated for a moment then turned to stare at the woman who was still leaning against the wall while smoking. "Now then what about her?" Ronnel blinked at the sudden subject change but shrugged and went with it.

"Zenli is, like I said, my former girlfriend. Not sure about ex, but I suppose that's what she counts as. I thought she died in the village when Hidan helped the Jashinists destroy the shinobi aspect of it. I haven't seen her in years. I'm with you now."

"And I'm not going to sit by and just let that happen. My Keima was the best thing that happened to me in that crappy village, and I'm not going to let you have him without a fight now that I have him again." Anko growled and placed a hand on Ronnel's arm on the bandages, eliciting a slight tightening of the man's eyes before it passed.

"I'm not sure what to make of that Zenli-chan. I told you, I hurt for a long, long time after you. I know it wasn't your fault, but I sincerely thought you had died and I didn't even have an inkling that you were alive until that Bingo Book came out, and even then I thought it was Hidan trying to torment me since I was in it too." Ronnel tried to stand up, only for Anko to push him back into place as Zenli also narrowed her eyes. "What? I can stand up ladies."

"Actually we were told to try to make sure you stayed in bed. It's apparently going to be another few days before your body is fully healed, and the medical staff want you to stay resting until then. So you don't get to get mobile to try to avoid talking with us." Ronnel furrowed his brow as he looked between the purple haired beauties by him.

"I wasn't trying to avoid a conversation. I don't see much of one now. I am with Anko. I still care a hell of a lot about you Zenli-chan, but it's been years of pain and thinking you were dead."

"I'm not asking you to dump the new girl you idiot. I know what you're like, you would hate me if I suggested that. Instead, I'm going to be trying to win you back… as distasteful as that is for me to say since I had you first." Zenli slipped over to the window and opened it before tapping out the ashes in her pipe. That then disappeared into her sleeve as she flowed over to the bed and sank onto it on Ronnel's side opposite from where Anko was, placing her hand on his other arm. "And we've already talked… some."

"I'm going to let the new girl hang around for a while since you two didn't have any real closure. I'm also confident that you won't leave me for her." Anko suddenly grinned mischievously, her eyes glinting. "Maybe we should take a page from your brother's book." At Zenli's angry snort, the Konoha kunoichi shook his head. "Sorry, that didn't come across correct. I meant the Gaki, the kid I know as your brother, not the psycho who needs to die." Ronnel groaned and tried to slap his hand against his face, but neither woman let go of his hand so he had to settle for thumping his head back against the wall.

"No, no no, no no no. She'll root for that." Anko blinked and looked to Zenli, who raised an elegant eyebrow, confused.

"The Gaki, Naruto, is currently in the middle of a brewing little harem, though he doesn't seem to realize it. About the only girl his age who spends any amount of time with him that isn't trying to get him to date her is the Hyuuga brat, who he sees as a little sister and who sees him as a brother." She let out a laugh. "They don't realize that their little spats have been pretty obvious to us, even if the blonde idiot doesn't seem to notice it." Ronnel slapped Anko's leg.

"That's my Otouto you're insulting, even if he does seem pretty dense. Where is he by the way?" Zenli studiously looked out the window while Anko scratched her cheek.

"We uh, convinced the brat to stay away until we'd had a chance to talk." Ronnel tilted his head to the side, looking at the girls who refused to meet his eyes. After a moment the Jounin laughed and shook his head, wondering what the two had done to the blonde Jinchuruuki to convince him to stay away when he had been here last time Ronnel had woken up.

Flashback End!

Zenli still hadn't responded to the joking suggestion that Anko had made that day, and now nearly a week had passed since then. Ronnel had been allowed out of the hospital two days after that, and he had wasted no time in pushing himself hard and fast to get back into shape. He hadn't been pulled in to talk Jiraiya and Sarutobi yet, so he still didn't have the Kusanagi back yet, which was aggravating him though he didn't show it. He'd also started pushing Naruto more, though the younger boy had apparently pulled off some big stuff himself, or been in charge of a group that had done so from what the Jinchuruuki had told him. Three 'A'-rank ninja, though that was easily arguable as B-rank, had been taken out, not counting the actual Jashinist, who had easily been an A rank himself. Naruto still wouldn't tell him how he had finished the dead god cultist off, only that it had been a certain kill.

"Yatta!" Naruto pumped his fist in triumph, making his adopted brother look over at him. The blonde Gennin had managed to send the summoned snake back. Then he turned and headed towards where his brother and the women who were sitting with him were. "Ne, Aniki!" He grinned as his older brother tossed him back his two-sided sword, which he strapped back to his waist.

"Right. Well, Naruto, you've pretty much hit what I can train you in. You aren't quite suited to my combat style so teaching you beyond the basics isn't going to do you much good. I'll still work with you on raw elemental manipulation or helping you with whatever it is you need help with, but at this point I'm going to be more of a guide than anything else." The blonde looked disappointed before his brother plucked the boy's hat off and ruffled his hair. "Relax, you're probably going to be getting a promotion with that showing you pulled off in the Exams and afterwards. Leading that little group against the Sound shinobi that tried to seal Sarutobi-sama will also help." Naruto nodded and sighed, looking around the training field the group was in.

"So Brat, where are your girls?" Naruto looked over at Anko, who was smirking at him as she leaned against Ronnel slightly. "Normally at least one of them is around you."

"The only 'girl' I could loosely call mine is Temari, and she is with Gaara and Kankuro hashing out the finals of the surrender of Oto and the rebels of Suna." Even with the death of the Kazekage and Baki's surrender, some of Suna's forces had fought with the Sound ninja against Konoha, the main forces of Suna, and the small contingents of Kumo that had come in. Naruto rubbed his upper shoulder as he looked to his brother, who tilted his head to one side as the cerulean-eyed boy studied him.

"Aniki… do you think I'm ready? To not be trained by you?" Ronnel sighed and shrugged.

"I'm probably not the best person in the world to be training you in all honesty. I've passed on as much as I could from what I got trained in, but you have to remember, I got trained as a ninja of a different village, so I don't have quite the eclectic backing in tons of stuff that Konoha ninja would. I'm really good at what I can do, but outside of them not so much. You can certainly seek out someone else for help with a different taijutsu style, there are bound to be some that suit you better than the Kaiheiken, and the same for genjutsu. And for sealing most definitely, since I was never big on it outside of the family stuff which I hope you won't ever need to know." Naruto scratched his head at the statement from his brother, who ignored his confusion and moved on.

"And if you want to learn an actual kenjutsu style, there's people here who know those too. Konoha has a ton of resources, beyond what I was able to give you. Don't get me wrong, I made you into a kickass shinobi as it is." Here, both purple haired women snorted, drawing a glare from both Rei-Uzumakis. "But if you want to become Hokage still," Naruto gave a single, decisive nod, "then you will need to be good in more than just a few fields. You have to be a master in all of them, or at least as much as you can. Ninjutsu and raw elementals you are golden, as well as tactics and clone team usage, and you have solid grounding in sealing, taijutsu, kenjutsu, bojutsu, and dispelling genjutsu. I'd say, as of right now since you haven't started personalizing too much of what I've taught you, internalizing it and incorporating it into your own unique style, you're still easily a B-ranked ninja. Add on the fact that you have two elemental styles, in addition to everything else, and that you have the Kyuubi to fall back on if absolutely necessary, and you're actually probably high B ranked, edging into A-ranking." Naruto's eyes got wider and wider as his brother spoke, until at the end he was staring at Ronnel completely stunned.

"You take to training like a fish to water Otouto. And I have a suggestion for you." The boy almost shivered in place at the dark expression that flickered across his brother's face. "Look for your supposed godfather. Jiraiya is a renowned Fuinjutsu master, and remarkably good with summons, which I have no experience with." Anko blinked and pounded her fist into her hand, then shook her head when everyone looked to her. "Riiiiight. Anyway. I suggest you go find Kakashi and see if he has anything he wanted to train you in, there might be something. Or, and this is the better idea, take some time and rest. Reconstruction is almost done, and once it is the Hokage is probably going to be starting missions again." There was a loud, piercing cry, and the two Konoha Jounin flicked their eyes upwards, frowning in unison as they saw the hawk that was flying through the air.

"Ok, well. Anko-hime and I need to go take care of some business. Zenli-chan, don't scar my Otouto if you stick around. Ja ne!" The two Jounin body flickered away, leaving a nonplussed Zenli and a pondering Naruto behind. For a few moments the two of them remained silent, before Naruto started training once more, doing simple sword swinging exercises for the moment. Zenli looked after him before shrugging and slipping away from the field.

With Naruto

Naruto was actually at a loss for what to do at the moment with everything that had happened in the last two weeks. From the Invasion that Konoha had managed to stop, to his brother being hospitalized and his past getting dragged into the daylight, a lot had happened.

That wasn't even beginning to look at the whole relationship thing between himself and Temari that had come up. He didn't know why, but the blonde kunoichi just made him feel comfortable and secure, like no one other than his brother or the Hokage ever had. It was a strange feeling for him, especially after the outright isolation he'd lived through before Ronnel had come into his life. He stopped swinging his sword and tucked it into the sheath again.

Kit. Something isn't right. The rumbling voice from within his gut made the blue-eyed demon container stop in place, his hand resting on the hilt of his weapon. He frowned and strode to the rock that his brother had been sitting on before and sat with his back against it, closing his eyes.

What do you mean?

I'm not sure. Ever since the Invasion, something has felt wrong, twisted and dark. It's like there is something massive looming on the horizon, but I can't see what it is. Naruto scratched the side of his head. Something massive looming on the horizon, and bad enough to feel wrong to the largest manifestation of chakra in the world?

Any idea what it is?

No. And that bothers me. Be on your guard, and keep an ear out. I didn't want to worry you until your brother was healed. The entity lapsed into silence, ignoring when Naruto tried prompting it to continue. Naruto eventually gave up and stood back up, shaking out his hands. He needed to keep working, even if the Kyuubi couldn't or wouldn't tell him what was going on, and if his brother was at a loss for what to train him in.

But he wasn't at a loss, was he? Just that he didn't think his exact skills were what Naruto needed. But was that because he didn't believe in himself, or because he just didn't want his younger brother to follow in his footsteps too exactly? Naruto frowned as he thought about that, then shook his head. His brother probably just didn't want to force Naruto into anything specific, if the Jinchuruuki sought out additional training, or got it from the people his brother suggested, then he could keep growing,.

"ARGH! Enough of this!" Naruto spun around and punched the rock behind him, causing a spiderweb of cracks to form on the surface around his fist. "Aniki believes in me, and I still have a way to go." Naruto froze as an idea suddenly came to him, and he grinned widely. "Aniki uses raw elemental manipulation, pure Nature transformation. But he keeps to one element when he does. What if I combined two elements?" Naruto looked down at his hands, his left hand quickly becoming wrapped in swirling winds that he knew were there even if he couldn't see them. Then he looked to his other hand, knowing that this would be the harder one. He wasn't as used to using Lightning jutsu, or raw lightning manipulation like he was used to wind, so forming some would take concentration.

It did take about fifteen minutes, and he had to dispel the wind chakra around his left hand as he focused. Electricity crackled around his hand, and he grinned as it stayed in place. This was completely impractical if he was trying to fight with this, but it was a decent starting place. He tried forming wind around his left hand again, but as he did the lightning flickered out of existence. That… that wasn't supposed to happen. He started going back and forth, taking a few seconds shorter to form the lightning but still nowhere near the few seconds it took to make the wind chakra. Unfortunately, each time he formed one Nature Transformation chakra, the other vanished. How was I able to pull this off with Aniki's jutsu earlier? In his fight with Dosu he had pulled off combining a wind jutsu with some lightning chakra…

"That is entertaining to watch, I do have to admit." Naruto looked up, blinking away the spots in his eyes from staring at the lightning chakra too long, to see Kakashi standing a few feet away, one hand tucked into a pocket and the other waving at him. "Though you're probably trying for something more than alternating those, right?" The blonde Gennin nodded, wondering where he was going with this. "Are you trying to make a specific jutsu, or are you just going for the raw transformation?"

"Just raw transformation at the moment. I haven't heard of any jutsu beyond bloodline stuff that actually combines two elements." Kakashi nodded.

"IT's extremely unusual. Takes a special turn of mind from what I know. Even A-rankers like me don't really do that. Multiple elements sure, that's a requirement for Jounin, but combining them is S-rank material. Hokage-sama uses all five of the basic elements, but I don't know about combining them. Though I do know a couple people who have bloodlines." Kakashi rubbed his chin then snapped the fingers of his free hand. "Anyway, I'd suggest training in ninjutsu of the elements you want to combine. Maybe ask someone who has experience with raw Elemental manipulation, they might have advice." Which meant going back to his brother, which he was more than happy to do. Kakashi then spoke up again, interrupting Naruto's thoughts.

"Anyway, I was sent to get you for a meeting. We should get going." The blonde Jinchuruuki followed after his former teacher, the man taking a lazy, wandering route through the village.

Hokage's Tower

There were several people in the Hokage's office at the moment, filling the small room to a significant degree. Ronnel was leaning against one wall, giving Jiraiya a steady glare that the white haired Sannin ignored. Anko was idly chewing on a stick of dango, while various Jounin, both solo and team leaders were also in the room. The Hokage was watching them all from behind steepled hands, his cane leaning against the desk beside him.

"Reconstruction has proceeded well, with civilians returning to the village without much problem. At this point, we have to show that the Invasion did not do damage to us, which means that it is time for us to resume higher rank missions throughout Hi no Kuni. For the Jounin leaders, prepare your teams for C-rank missions. Solo Jounin, you will be resuming A rank missions at this time. Jounin, save of Rei-Uzumaki, dismissed." The Jounin saluted and bowed to the Hokage and filed out of the room quietly discussing to themselves what missions would be available. Anko paused at the doorway and looked back to Ronnel, who smiled and shrugged.

"Right. Ronnel-san. Unfortunately, you will be resuming A and S-rank missions, along with Kakashi soon." Ronnel's eyes widened then narrowed. "Yes, you presume correctly. Your protégé garnered himself a promotion, moving you from Jounin instructor to solo. And…. Sasuke has gone missing." Ronnel sucked in a hard breath. "We do not know when, it was only confirmed a yesterday, when things calmed down enough to verify our headcounts. Kakashi immediately left on a short reconnaissance mission, but half a day's travel showed no sign of the last Uchiha. We have had to presume that he either fled or died in the Invasion, as that is the last time anyone can remember seeing him." The Jounin groaned, then looked at Jiraiya, who stared back at him.

"So, about my sword?" Hiruzen looked sharply at Jiraiya, who ignored his sensei's gaze, whistling softly. "You know by now that I'm safe." The white-haired Sannin sighed and nodded, pulling a scroll from his waist and tossing it to the Jounin, who unsealed it and grinned as the Kusanagi popped back into his hand. The blade was different from the last time he had seen it, making him look at Jiraiya, who frowned and tilted his head to one side.

"The hell?"

"I take it you didn't do anything to it then?"

"That thing has been sealed since I took it from you at the gate." Ronnel gripped the blade tightly, feeling the comfortable weight in his hand, and stared down at it. The hilt was now almost molded to his hand, shaped and molded to fit his grip and give him excellent handling of the weapon. He hefted the blade up and inspected it, and bit back a sharp exclamation as he stared at it. The blade was still impossibly sharp, that didn't change, but now the entire edge of the blade was somehow covered in impossibly fine jagged edges that cut back and for at angles. This thing would now tear as it sliced, the wounds would be nasty.

The door swung open as Kakashi pushed on it, showing Naruto into the room. The blonde teen waved at his brother, who waved his empty hand back. Sarutobi nodded at Kakashi, who bowed and headed back out of the room.

"Naruto Uzumaki-Rei." Naruto snapped to attention, staring at the Hokage, who had a grim look on his face. "You will no longer be answering to your Jounin Master from this point on." The boy's eyes widened, but he kept his mouth shut, though he did look at his brother, who actually smiled. That relieved Naruto, his brother would fight something bad.

"For your high levels of combat skill, the attention to detail and intelligence shown in the first and second stages of the exam, and your prompt reaction to the invasion, and leading a response team to a B-ranked threat, you have merited a promotion to the rank of Chuunin of Konohagakure." Naruto's eyes widened at that, as Sarutobi tossed him a small scroll. "You will be putting that on after this meeting is finished. Second order of business."

"You have a new offer of apprenticeship available Naruto." This came from the Sannin, who had remained silent since Naruto entered the room. "With no offense to your brother, you have likely reached the limit of what you can gain from him simply from dedicated training." Ronnel rolled his eyes. "If you take the apprenticeship with me, I will be teaching you many things, from ninjutsu, to summoning if you are capable of it, as well as… well. A few things that I cannot say due to you not being my apprentice." Naruto frowned and looked at his brother.

"Sorry kiddo, I can't give you advice here. The offer is a good one, but it's your call. Except for maybe the things he isn't able to tell you, you can get the other things he is offering, but it will be much harder to accomplish, and will require talking to different people for each of them. He offers it as a, well, package deal?" The Demon Container frowned as his brother went against his own words and gave advice. He did catch though, that both Sarutobi and Jiraiya glared at his older brother for that. The Jounin gave a sheepish grin and held his empty hand up, before sliding the Kusanagi into a loop on his belt.

"Right… uhm, can I have some time to think about that? This is kind of a lot to take in all at one." Sarutobi nodded, but Jiraiya frowned.

"You can, but not too long. I have to leave the village within the week, and I would like your answer before I head out."

"Good. Now, Ronnel, there is a mission in the Dispatch office that I have set aside from you, you need to get started on it as soon as possible." The Jounin paused for a moment before saluting and heading out, leaving his younger brother with the Hokage and Sannin. The boy was subsequently dismissed, leaving the two older men alone.

"I actually thought he'd jump at the chance to work with you."
"Not surprised really. He was fairly angry with me when we talked in Narikei's room while the guy was out. He has a lot of resentment built up about the village, even if he doesn't show it. He knows I'm his godfather by the way." Sarutobi coughed and looked at his student in shock. "No, he doesn't seem to have put together why I'm his godfather, at least not yet." Sarutobi's features relaxed minutely at that.

"Right. Well, even if you don't take him as an apprentice, he is at least a B-ranked shinobi now. I'd appreciate you telling him about his family before you go." The Sannin nodded, looking quietly out the window towards the Hokage's Monument. "And I do want you to see about getting your teammate to come home. She's been out long enough."

"How drastic do you need me to get?" For a long moment Hiruzen was silent. When he spoke, there was steel in the Hokage's words.

"Her vacation is at an end. Her village needs her. I am too old to keep doing this, and you cannot due to your duties as a Sage."

End!

Sorry about the… well. At this point, it almost feels like a new story rather than me keeping on with the old one. The reasons I came back to this…. Well. I never actually wanted to stop, I just fell out of having the drive to write this and the inspiration. But the other day, I went to read some of Guardian54's work – he had some wonderful stories that I had read time and again, only to find out that he had pulled all of his longer stories from Fanfiction, which disheartened me. And I didn't want to be a source of sadness for anyone else, leaving this story incomplete. So! Here is another chapter, after far, far too long. I hope people are still interested in it!