Chapter 2: The Festival

Five men walked through the crowded streets of Konoha. The Festival was in full gear and people of all ages walked around to celebrate the defeat of the Kyuubi 19 years ago to the day. Games for prizes were everywhere and all the shops were open to take full advantage of the many people who would be out today.

Over the years, the festival garnered quite the attention from nearby towns and smaller villages as a great festival to have fun in. Even many shinobi took the day off to celebrate amongst the crowd today. If one was observant, you can see small ANBU and regular shinobi patrolling the streets and rooftops. But, with no incidents every occurring on the day, many stayed very lax. Even the so called 'Rebel' faction of Konoha shinobi never did try anything on the day in respect for the sacrifice of the Yondaime Hokage and his son.

But, the people within the village were never told of Naruto or the sacrifice he was supposed to make by being the host of the Bijuu. They weren't even told of how the Bijuu's soul was split in two and one half was harbored within the guarded tower. But the few who did know, were the same ones who defected alongside the former Sandaime Hokage.

The five men all had their hoods up, porcelain animal masks on each one to conceal their faces. Normally, one could spot them and immediately know they were shinobi, but on this day, many people were out wearing costumes so they fit right in.

"The patrols are mostly out looking for any drunks causing trouble, so as long as we lay low, we can get through this." Said Kakashi as he spotted a small patrol of Uchiha policemen.

Neji, underneath his mask, had his Byakugan turned on. Searching for any possible threats.

"Kakashi-taichou, the alley behind the bar uphead is a small blind spot of the patrol and the rooftop guards. We could use that as a rendezvous point."

Kakashi nodded and turned towards Naruto, who still held his guard up.

"Say, Kakashi, wouldn't the guard within the walls be a little bit more… well more than this? We got in pretty easily. We basically walked right in." Naruto questioned.

Kakashi simply kept walking towards the alley before responding.

"These masks have a chakra concealment seal on them, alongside our own ability to conceal our chakra, we basically would be detected as average citizens. As for more guards, today, usually the police are out more as many of the shinobi corps would be guarding the outer wall and perimeter." Kakashi sighed as they reached the alley.

"Although, quite a number of the shinobi corps is out right now hunting for our hideouts. They do this every year. They know we also stop our operations for this day in celebration as well, but Danzo still has men out there in hopes that our security would be very relaxed and make a mistake that coult reveal the location of one of our outposts."

The group of 5 stopped and formed a small circle. Kakashi spoke up first.

"Alright, well, let's get to business then, shall we?" He turned towards Genma and Neji first.

"Neji, I need you to find a good spot around the tower to act as a lookout in case more guards show up when we start this operation. Genma, you stick with Neji and protect him n case anything goes wrong."

"Hai." The two said in unison.

Kakashi then turned to Yamato.

"Yamato, I need you to follow Naruto and I as we sneak in the tower and stay behind on the ground level. If something goes wrong, we can use your wood style to create either a good exit, or block off any entrances to reinforcements that might come our way."

"Hai, Kakashi-senpai."

Now, lastly, Kakashi turned towards Naruto.

"Naruto, our job is to sneak in the tower and retrieve the girl. With you not knowing how you properly use chakra or even show it, you can sneak in pretty easily as long as you don't get caught doing something suspicious. Once inside, we'll find her exact location and make an escape."

Kakashi peered around the corner and looked at the tower. At the top he could see a couple windows, indicating a very top floor.

"Although, I have a pretty good guess where her exact location is."

Kakashi turned back towards the group and looked at each one with a serious eye.

"Remember, watch out for the Guardian Bird. He's out there somewhere. We can't afford to have him fully engage us, not with this many civilians walking around."

Kakashi gave one last look at his group before nodding.

"Okay, let's start." Just as he said that, everyone started walking to their respective spots.

XXX

Naruto, Kakashi and Yamato walked through the crowd casually. Slowly making their way to the tower, laying as low as possible without being the least bit suspicious.

Naruto took a good look around him and he noticed all the people happily enjoying themselves in the festival. Kids were running around, parents watching over them, couples were walking hand in hand and playing the games, and some people were even drunk.

'Reminds me of the carnivals back home.' Thought Naruto.

'I remember those. Especially the last one where you tried to win the stuffed bear for that girl you thought was cute.' Came the voice of Kurama from inside his head.

'Kurama? We can communicate like this?' questioned the blond.

Kurama just made a 'Tsk' sound. 'Well of course, I can hear your thoughts and it offers me a way to directly communicate with you since our first encounter. We ARE merging, kit.'

Naruto thought for a moment, realizing just how much will change in him when all of this takes in effect.

'It's already taking effect. You do have some small scale abilities as of now. Nothing too special, but enough to keep you alive. But your handgun will come in handy a lot more than you think. A shinobi is fast, but not that fast.' With that said, Kurama just chuckled to himself.

'Hmm. That's good to know. And wait, you remember that fair? That girl?' asked Naruto.

'Yes. While we didn't have a direct way to communicate, I could still see your life. I saw you as an orphan, I saw your first crushes, your friends, your military career…. Your war. I saw it all.'

Naruto just stayed quiet. He remembers the war real well. He couldn't stop thinking about it.

'Yes, well. I think I'm just going to focus as the task at hand.' Naruto said before blocking off anymore of Kurama's words. Trying to avoid any reminder of his tours of duty.

As Naruto was walking, two people came up to him. A man and a woman. The man had a large sign on his chest with multiple tally marks. The woman, held a coin out to Naruto before speaking.

"Hello, young man. So what will it be? Heads? Or tails?" she asked.

The man then shook his head and looked at the woman.

"You told me it would be my turn to ask this time." He said

"Well, yes but I decided to make an executive-" she began before being finished by the man

"-decision. Yes, yes. I get it. You can have this one as well I suppose." He sighed.

The woman turned back to Naruto and held the coin up to him again.

"So, heads or tails?"

Naruto, now confused with the situation just silently took the coin and flipped it with a flick. He caught it in mid air and slapped it on the back of his hand. The woman looked forward to see which one it was.

"Hmm. Interesting," she began. "I for sure thought it would come out differently."

The man walked towards the woman and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Maybe next time you'll get what you expect. We do have more time."

The woman just shrugged and plucked the coin from Naruto's hand and turned with the man to walk away.

"So do you think he'll-"

"-learn it? Maybe this time around, I have noticed-"

"-a couple changes a well already."

Naruto watched as the two people walked away and before he could fully compose himself to the strange encounter. He felt a hand on his shoulder. With a quick turn of his head, Naruto saw that was just Kakashi.

"Naruto, come on. We're almost there." Kakashi said as he turned to continue walking towards the tower.

Naruto simply nodded and followed suit, but he quickly turned around to see where the man and woman went, only to have lost them in the crowd.

'Fucking weirdos.'

XXX

As the trip walked through the streets, Kakashi kept a close eye on Naruto. He always seemed to be glancing around the crowd. Almost as if he was looking for something, or someone. No, that wasn't it. Maybe he's looking for any signs of trouble? Maybe.

Kakashi couldn't help but try to analyze him. So far, Naruto had stayed relatively quiet.

'So maybe he inherited more than just sensei's looks. He seems to be as calculating as he once was.'

Kakashi watched as Naruto's right hand did not sway as much as the left. Was he hovering over his weapon? Probably.

'Naruto seems to be on guard almost all the time. The glances, the way he walks. He's had some sort of training, some sort of experience. I wonder how he does in a fight compared to his father. I wonder if he inherited any traits from Kushina-sama as well?'

Kakashi just brushed the thoughts away and decided to just keep his thoughts on the matter at hand. Up head, he could see the tower. It didn't take a genius to just see it was pretty well guarded. Kakashi kept looking at the sky, searching for a certain target but could not find it.

'That's either a good sign, or a bad one.' He thought. Kakashi looked towards Yamato and nodded at him

"Yamato. There is a small alleyway near the tower. It's a blind spot for the most part, but be careful for any patrols coming by."

"Hai, senpai. But how will you and Naruto get in?" asked Yamato.

Kakashi sheepishly gave an eye smile and chuckled before looking at the tower again.

"I don't think we could sneak in. I think it's best to do a distraction and get in while the guards are too preoccupied." Kakashi put a finger to his ear.

"Neji, Genma. I need you two to create quite a distraction for me and Naruto to get in the tower." Kakashi turned to Yamato.

"Yamato, you as well, in a different location. About 5 minutes after Neji and Genma create theirs, you do as well to divert more guards away from our location." Yamato merely nodded and headed off to a different location to prepare for his distraction.

"Naruto, are you ready?"

The cocking of a gun was all that Kakashi got from Naruto in terms of a response.

'Definitely not the talkative type.' Thought Kakashi.

"Well, then, Neji, Genma, whenever you two are ready." Just then, two very loud and distict explosves could be hear a few blocks away. Kakashi could hear the screams of panic from the civilians and the shock of some of the nearby shinobi and police.

"That was by the park. Alright men! Let's move!" sounded the shinobi and police and they headed for the park to investigate what happened. Seeing their opportunity, Kakashi and Naruto made a dask for the tower. Kakashi stopped at the front and turned to Naruto.

"Naruto, I'll stay here and hold off any reinforcements coming in case they find out our plan. Go upstairs and retrieve the girl. Yamato will standby after his distraction to help you escape. Now go!"

Naruto nodded at Kakashi as he ran through the front doors. The place was empty, and he could see a side door that leads to a stair case to the top. As Naruto entered, he looked up to see that the top is quite a few flights up there. Naruto turned to the side and noticed as elevator.

"Thank god." He said as he pushed the button to go up.

XXX

Sakura was looking out the window. Smoke could be seen from the park. Her eyes darted all over to see if she could spot what was going on.

"Oh, no. What's going on? Are we under attack?" she asked.

As she looked below, she could see the many civilians running away from the site, while many others looked on in curiosity. She understood, she couldn't help but be curious on what is happening as well.

'Kurama, do you have an idea what is happening?' she asked the fox.

But to her worries, no one answered. For the first time, Sakura felt truly alone.

'Kurama?' she asked again only to receive no answer.

As Sakura's panic started to grow, she heard the elevator door open. She made a small gasp and quickly hid behind a book shelf on a balcony overlooking the elevator door to her floor.

XXX

Naruto exited the elevator and to his surprise, the floor looked like a penthouse. The nice wooden finishes on the floor and walls alongside many paintings and the many full bookshelves made him wonder what kind of girl lived up here.

'Kurama, can you sense her or something?' asked Naruto. As Naruto looked around, he could not find her but Kurama was not answering him.

'Kurama?' Naruto asked again only to receive no answer. Naruto looked at the balcony and saw a large window over looking the village. He walked up the small staircase and looked out the window to see the crowds dispersing from the smoke from the distraction his teammates made. Naruto put a finger in his ear.

"Kakashi, what's going on?" he asked.

"Genma and Neji used their chakra control to burst two pipes that ran below the park. Yamato is standing by to create his distraction once you retrieve the girl. Have you found her?" asked the silver-haired man over the radio.

Naruto sighed over the radio and walked towards the edge of the balcony at the hand railings to rest. "No, I haven't found her yet, although I'm pretty sure-"

Just then, Naruto was cut off as a book hit him over the head and then pushed over the edge. As Naruto fell with a thud unto the floor, he could see a girl run down the stairs and throw another book at him. Naruto used his forearm to shield himself from the attack.

"Hey! Watch it! Stop!" he pleaded as she walked towards him, another large book in hand ready to hit him once more. Naruto took a good look at the girl. She was beautiful, to say the least. Her long pink hair flowed to the middle of her back and her bangs pushed to the side by a small clip on her forehead. Her outfit was a tight fitting long sleeved red shirt with a pink skirt and the shinobi sandals everyone here seemed to wear.

She looked into his eyes and asked, "Who are you?"

Naruto scowled and grabbed her wrist as he stood up. "Lady, I'm here to get you out of here. Now let's go."

Sakura's green eyes widened. "W-what? Are you serious?"

Naruto rolled his eyes and started walking towards the elevator.

"I didn't come all the way here and go through this much trouble just to lie to a complete stranger. Now ae you coming or what?"

Sakura thought for a moment. Unsure whether to trust this man or not. But her innocence coupled with her natural curious mind got the best of her.

"O-of course. Just… let me get my… things." She looked around at all her books and made a small sad face.

Naruto noticed this and sighed.
"Lady, we CANNOT take all your books. So let's go, we're running out of time." Naruto quickly put his finger to his ear to talk to Kakashi, only realize his small radio was no longer there. He looked around and saw that it was, in fact, on the floor and crushed.

He sighed, "Well that's just great. We need to move now to regroup with my team so we can get the hell out of here. Leave everything and just come with me."

Sakura nodded slowly, "Alright… I suppose."

The two made their way into the elevator. But to their shock, the door opened to reveal three men in shinobi gear. The three men looked at the duo shocked and pointed at Naruto.

"You there! Stop right here! Don't move!" he said as the other two made their way to Naruto and Sakura.

Naruto stood in front of Sakura and spoke to her without turning his eyes from the men.

"Lady, just follow my lead." Sakura meekly nodded while standing behind the man.

Naruto quickly pulled out his hand gun and shot three times. Two hit one in the chest and immediately, blood spurted out from the wound while the man fell down. Dead before he hit the ground. The third shot hit the leader in the shoulder and he took a knee, grimacing with the pain while holding his found.

"Fucking stop him!" he yelled to the third member.

Naruto took Sakura by the hand and darted across the large room. He stopped next to a large window. They were cornered. Naruto quickly turned around and pointed his gun at the man. He quickly shot a couple times only for the man to quickly spin and created a dome of energy around himself that deflected the shots. One of the shots however, had hit a pipe over their heads, the sound of the pressure building up filled their ears as it sped up more and everyone in the room had the same thought.

"Shit."

The pipe burst, and with it, an explosion rocked the room and sent Naruto and Sakura flying out the window and plummeting to their deaths.

As Naruto and Sakura fell, Sakura quickly grabbed Naruto and held her hands out below them. Just then, a portal was created that both of them slipped through mid-way falling. Across the village, on the outskirts of a fairly large park still in the middle of the celebration, Naruto and Sakura appeared from a portal 20 feet above the ground and with it, the two hit the ground hard and Naruto was knocked unconscious.

XXX

Yamato and Kakashi stared at the tower and noticed the explosion.

"Oh no." Yamato turned to Kakashi asking for what they should do.

Kakashi scowled, "We need to regroup with Genma and Neji, maybe Naruto and Haruno-san made it out okay from that. But for now, we need to regroup and try to find them later. Hopefully we don't draw out too much attention to ourselves."

"Hai, senpai." Yamato said as he put his hood back up. The two then started casually walking in the direction of their other two teammates in hopes they get out of this situation alive and all members accounted for.

XXX

"What is the meaning of this?" Inside the Hokage tower, a man with bandages over most of his face angrily questioned his men.

The bravest of them, looked up at his master.

"H-Hokage-Sama… the girl… she was… kidnapped. By an unknown man. We do not know where they went, she had used her ability to escape with the man."

Danzo scowled at his men. Disappointed in their lack of ability to prevent such a thing from happening.

"This is unacceptable! We cannot allow this to spread among the civilians. Konoha has never been attacked before by the Resistance and if the civilian population finds out, panic will spread and we will lose some of our credibility and their faith in us to protect Konoha."

Danzo sat back down in his chair and sighed deeply as he rubbed his temple.

"Make an official statement saying that both explosions and incidents were a pipe burst. Do not cause panic, even among the shinobi and police. Gather a platoon and actively search for the girl. As for the rest of the shinobi and police, tell them to look for this unknown man. Did you get a look at him? What does he look like?"

The ANBU in front of Danzo quickly glanced at his men before gulping.

"Hokage-sama… the man. He had blond hair behind a white fox mask. When I first saw him… I could've sworn from the unruly blond hair that he was the Yon-"

Danzo stopped him before he could finish the sentence.

"NONSENSE. You and everyone else knows the Yondaime is dead. I do not care who this man is, but I want him dead and the girl retrieved. Is that understood?"

"Hai, Hokage-sama."

XXX

Naruto opened his eyes and the first thing he could see was people relaxing in a park. He groggily stood up from the tree was leaning against and looked around him. Music was playing, people were dancing in the park and people were interacting with each other.

He slowly composed himself and did a quick check on his body. He no longer had his gun.

'This… is not good.'

Naruto started walking around the park, looking around for the girl. Just then, he spotted a familiar sight of pink hair among a crowd of people dancing to the music. He slowly walked over to her. He couldn't help but notice the large smile on her face as she danced with the people and laughed alongside them as well. Naruto hasn't seen this much innocence in a long time, that he was actually caught off guard a little.

Sakura turned her head and saw Naruto and her smile only grew. She walked over to him and took his hands in hers.

"Hey! You're awake! I saw that you were knocked out and was going to get help so I set you down by that tree. I got distracted and well… now here we are!" she laughed nervously, hoping he wasn't angry at her for just leaving him.

"Yeah, whatever. I think we should go." Naruto said as he turned to leave only to be brought back with her hands still holding on to his.

"Can we- can we stay for a bit longer?" Sakura pleaded as she looked down.

"I never left the tower before and this is the first that I ever got to experience something like this. Even interacting with people. All I ever talked to were the workers at the tower and they were so… professional." She smiled and looked around. "Not like these guys! Everyone here is so relaxed and having fun! I just want to at least experience that." She looked into his eyes. "So please?" she asked as she gave him puppy dog eyes.

Naruto only sighed and thought to himself.

'Well, we are in a safe spot for now. Maybe Kakashi and the others will find us here, and if not, we can still use the crowd to our advantage.' Naruto rolled his eyes and stared back down at Sakura.

"Alright fine we can-" but before he could finish, Sakura cut him off with a yelp of joy.

"Yes! I knew you'd understand!" with that said, she quickly led him to the middle of the crowd, music still playing and turned back to him.

"Come on! Let's dance!" she said quite excitedly.

Naruto, not really much for dancing, opened his mouth to protest and looked at her eyes and realized he was not getting out of this one.

"Alright. One dance." He said coldly.

Sakura smiled knowing she had won.

As the two danced, Sakura stared at Naruto with a confused look.

"Yes?" Naruto asked the girl.

"I have two questions." She said as she continued dancing.

"One, why the mask?" she asked. It was then Naruto realized he had been wearing the white porcelain mask the whole time.

"It's to hide my face from any of the guards. We ARE trying to get you out of here."

Sakura rolled her eyes, "Yeah I suppose."

Naruto sighed, "I'd rather not have my face out there. But if you'd like, we could get you one too. Hide yours as well so we can blend it a little easier. Although-" Naruto said as he looked at her hair. "That hair is pretty unique."

Sakura beamed at this. "Yes! Please? I always did love the fox masks everyone wore for the festival! I'd love one! As for the hair, well I can't help that, but since it is the festival, a lot of people are wearing all sorts of things so my hair won't stand out too much today of all days."

"Okay, now what was your second question?"

Sakura's large smile slowly fade to a smaller, but sincere smile.

"What's your name?" she simply asked.

"Naruto."

"Na-ru-to." Sakura said a loud. "I like it. Reminds me of a book I read."

"And yours?" Naruto asked.

"Sakura."

Naruo smiled behind his mask.

"Sakura." He repeated as the two kept on dancing.

XXX

Kakashi, Genma, Yamato and Neji had escaped the village. The guards were all over and it was getting harder to conceal their chakra from it all so they decided to regroup with one of the backup teams lying in wait.

The four approached a group of trees and three shinobi jumped down to meet them.

"Kakashi! My eternal and youthful rival! What brings you here so suddenly, and without the other two that was supposed to be with you?" asked one of the shinobi, glad in an all green spandex underneath his flak.

Kakashi sighed deeply and cursed himself that this was the team that had to be assigned to assist him.

"Hello, Gai. They were unfortunately separated from us, but I know they're not dead. I sensed one of their signatures before we left the area. So they're out there. I don't think Danzo and his men know who exactly they're looking for so they could hide easily in the crowd."

Kakashi turned to face Gai with a more serious look this time.

"Gai, we must report to Sandaime-sama and tell him of what happened. We need to formulate a plan to get those two out quick before anything escalates."

Gai sighed and looked back at Kakashi with an equally serious look.

"This is serious, isn't it? Sandaime-sama did not brief us on the whole situation, only that we are to be on standby to support your team."

Kakashi nodded at Gai, "Hai. Those two could be the key to ending this conflict and bring peace to Konoha." Kakashi turned back to his team. "Well, Neji, looks like you're going back with your old team! It was great having you along, Neji-san." Kakashi eye-smiled at Neji.

Neji only grimaced as he looked at Gai's team and behind Gai stood another shinobi in a very similar outfit and similar terrible bowl-cut as Gai.

"H-hai.. Kakashi-taichou." Neji said as he walked over to his old teammates. The first to walk to him was the other shinobi, a brown haired girl with weapon pouches all over.

"Neji! It's great to-" she begand before being rudely interrupted by the man dressed exactly like Gai.

"NEJI! My eternal rival has returned! I see you have been spending time with Gai-sensei's eternal rival! This only solidifies that we are truly meant to be rivals!" said the man.

Neji held a pained look on his face. "Hello, Lee." And with that, the 7 shinobi made their way back to the hideout.

XXX

As Naruto and Sakura made their way out of the park, Naruto took extra care that they weren't being followed, and that another patrol wasn't around to see them. Noticing that he was preoccupied in peering around the corner, Sakura saw a vendor selling the white porcelain masks that she adored so much and took the liberty of walking over to ask for one. Naruto, finally realizing she had walked away, sped walk towards her.

"Hey! What are you doing? You're supposed to stick with me." He scolded.

Sakura just rolled her eyes and stared back at him.

"Relax. I just wanted to get one of these cute masks." She said as she picked one out. She held it softly in her hands as she caressed it. "I've always wanted one…" she said somewhat sadly.

Naruto sighed, "Sorry, I don't have any money to buy it for you." Sakura was just about to give up, until the vendor spoke up.

"For the lady? It's free." Sakura's eyes widened and her smile only grew as she held the mask.

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" she excitedly said in gratitude for such a kind gesture. But the vendor wasn't finished.

"And, also on the house, are-" but the man was cut off by a woman who appeared from behind the stand with two unique necklaces.

"-these two necklaces. Also on the house." The woman said. She held up the two necklaces. Made of a silver metallic design. One was of a bird and the other was a cage. She held up both to Sakura and asked which she preferred. Sakura took them both and held them up to Naruto.

"They're both so beautiful! Naruto! Which one should I get? I want you to pick." She said with such innocent eyes.

Naruto couldn't help but to look back at her eyes and see her innocence and her plead for his acknowledgment. Naruto made a small smile and took the bird necklace.

"I think this one looks nice." Sakura gave the cage necklace back and handed the bird necklace to Naruto. "Could you help me put it on?" she asked.

Naruto obliged and as he was helping her, he saw the man and the woman walk away and speak to each other.

"I could've sworn he was going to choose the other one."

"Maybe next time you'll be right."

This just confused Naruto, but he thought nothing of it, so he decided to just brush it off for now. As Naruto finished putting the necklace on, he took her by the wrist and lead her to a spot away from most of the people.

"Alright, Sakura. Listen, we cannot stay here. As much as I know you want to experience all of this. We need a way out." Sakura sighed.

"Yes, I know. I just spent my whole life only watching. Experiencing all of this for the first time just made me happy. If we really do have to leave, can we at least stay for the fireworks? They take place at a park at the edge of the village. We could leave right after… maybe?" she pleaded to him.

Naruto thought about it for a moment and decided that the extra time, he could try to think of more ways for them to escape instead of just running in blind. Maybe Kakashi and the others would have found a way to extract them. He weighed in his options and realized that Sakura's idea wasn't so bad anyway.

"Fine. We can stay for at least that."

With one last wide smile, Sakura took Naruto by the hand and led them away. She didn't notice the blush on his face, however.

XXX

The Sandaime sat in his chair in deep thought. Occasionally taking more puffs from his pipe. Kakashi and his team had just told him of the news and it greatly troubled him. What was he to do now? They had two very important people, people who could possibly end the whole conflict, stuck behind the walls and surrounded by the opposition. At most, they had two days to do something as Danzo and Konoha could not use too much manpower to search, especially not publically, with the whole festival going on.

No, a mobilization of their forces to search for the two would cause panic and it would make Konoha look bad. And if he knew Danzo, making Konoha, and in turn himself, look bad, was something Danzo absolutely hated. They could use this to their advantage. Suddenly, a knock on the door was heard.

"Come in."

Through the door walked in Kakashi, Gai, Kurenai, Asuma and a couple other Jonin. They all stood at attention in front of their leader, anticipating the next order.

The Sandaime took a puff from his pipe before finally speaking.

"As you all know from Kakashi's report, the two halves of the Kyuubi and the hosts are finally together. But they are stuck behind Konoha's walls without much knowledge on how to get out."

The Sandaime sighed as he noticed the Jonin start to tense up.

"As of now, we have two days before the festival ends and Danzo could spare many more men to actively hunt these two down. At the same time, this conflict had gone on long enough and other nations might take advantage of our divided and weakened state." The Sandaime then walked over to one of the maps of the Fire Country and stood in front of it while the people in the room watched him.

"I believe our best course of action is an all out attack."

Gasps could be heard around the room.

Asuma was the first to speak up, "But now? Are you sure this is the best course of action? I'm not sure we're fully ready for such a drastic course of action yet!"

Hiruzen looked at his Jonin with determined eyes.

"Ah, but I believe otherwise. You see, with Jiraiya still inside spying for us alongside one of the Uchiha acting as a double agent for us, we do have some sort of advantage. I will contact Jiraiya to seek out the two and keep them safe while we prepare for the attack which is to be on the final day of the festival. With the return of Naruto, we could show the population of Konoha just how many lies Danzo has been feeding them. We could show that the legacy of the Yondaime isn't dead and that he fights for us."

With renewed determination, the Jonin all nodded as they were dismissed to their respective teams to prepare for the assault.

XXX

The setting of the sun only made the village look even more beautiful. Candles were lit and the steet lights gave the village a sort of homey feel. It was a feeling Naruto couldn't exactly explain.

The fireworks display was happening soon and Naruto and Sakura sat on a park bench in the direction of where the fireworks would be shown. Naruto was in thought at the moment while Sakura just looked around like a child. He looked down at her and couldn't help but show a small smile at just how innocent she is. But his smile faded as he realized that that innocence could not possibly stay within her. The world was cruel. It was dark and it was about to get tough for the both of them, and he knew that.

But as his mind wandered, a single detail that escaped his mind this whole time finally hit him like a truck.

"Hey, wait Sakura." He began as she turned towards him. "Yes?"

He looked at her with a sort of confused expression before speaking again.

"Earlier today, when we fell from the tower. You did … something. What was that?"

Sakura looked at him with wide eyes.

"Oh! That! Yes.. you see… well.." she said very shyly before sighing.

"You see, I'm… special. In a sense." She looked down to her feet, feeling a bit embarrassed, maybe ashamed.

"I don't have the normal chakra abilities like so many others do. But I do have… something.. inside me." With that said, she clutched her stomach a little. A detail that Naruto did notice.

"With this… energy, I guess you could say, I'm able to open up these portals or doorways I call them. Before, in the tower, I could rarely open a door like that. It was mostly windows. I could see through them and the other side but I was never able to go through. There was a place I always tried to open a door to, but couldn't. So I just always opened up windows to at least see it. It's the Land of Spring. The flowers and the overall landscape is so beautiful it just makes me want to visit and maybe even live there someday." She looked up at him and their eyes met.

"I always thought I was weird for these abilities and I never really knew exactly why I got them. I just know I was always able to do them since I was a kid. Not even Kurama explained it to me." She finished as her eyes widened. "I mean Kurama is… he's a friend that I know at the tower." She tried to cover her tracks.

But Naruto was unphased. He knew who Kurama was. "Sakura. I know who Kurama is. He's the fox." Sakura's eyes could only widen and her mouth agape. She didn't know what to say. For the first time in her life, Sakura Haruno was speechless. "I-I mean. How do you… what?" she stuttered in shock.

Naruto smiled back and sighed as he leaned back into the bench.

"Sakura, I'll just come out and say it. Kurama spoke to me a little while ago, before we met. Kurama spoke to me because I have him too."

"So… wait. Does that mean y.. you're…"

Naruto turned his head towards her and looked at her directly in the eyes.

"Yes. I have the other half." Sakura, not knowing how to fully process what's happening just stared down at her feet again.

"So why can't I speak to him? I usually can, but for some reason he's been quiet and won't answer me when I call to him."

Naruto leaned back again into the bench and closed his eyes.

"Maybe I could explain that. Kurama mentioned to me that something like this would happen. That we, once together again, would slowly start absorbing Kurama. Maybe that's why you were able to create a doorway so easily. Kurama's soul is probably merging with ours and you're starting to feel the effects."

Sakura could only nod in understanding at this. Missing her friend's company. She turned to Naruto and smiled a little. She was still happy though that she at least made a new friend.

"Hopefully he comes back soon. Maybe he could explain more. Maybe even help us get out." Naruto casually said.

"Yes. Get out… maybe one day I can visit the Land of Spring." She smiled at the thought.

Now, Naruto was never the type or be of his emotions. Ever since the war he closed himself off from the world. He became colder and more distant, but this girl. She was different. He hasn't been around her for too long, but for some reason she already had a way to get passed that barrier. Even if it was only a little.

"Tell you what Sakura. If we get out of here alive? I'll take you there myself."

Sakura's eyes widened as she looked at Naruto. "R-Really?" she asked smiling.

Naruto turned to her and their eyes met. He gave her a small smile.

"Yes. Consider that a promise." Sakura then jumped to him and enveloped him in a tight hug.

"Thank you." She said as a couple tears fell from her eyes.

Naruto took a moment to register the sudden, but intimate contact. He slowly hugged her back and smiled a little sadly. Thinking about the whole reason he came here in the first place. He thought of her, his days back in the war and how he was before. He realized this girl got through to him in a way he didn't think another person could. To hell with the job.

End Chapter 2.

A/N: Hey guys! Back here with Chapter 2 and I kind of really like this one. The length I'm kind of proud of. I'm trying to make around 6kish words each for each chapter. So hopefully this story would have quite a word count to it once I finish. This story though wont have too many chapters. It's not going to be too long, I'm aiming for around 10-15ish chapters before it ends. But who knows? Maybe if this story does well enough, I'll make a sequel.

Preview of Chapter 3: So Close, So far

Naruto struggled to his feet. He coughed up a little blood unto the ground. His body felt so much heavier and he found it almost too hard to pick himself off the ground.

A set of feet walked over to him and kicked him in the face. Making his body fly away a few feet. His cloak was now torn. Bloody as well. His mask was shattered and his gun was too far out of reach. The man walked over to him again and stood over his body.

"Get on your knees." He said as he picked Naruto up by the collar and forced him to be on his knee.

The man forced Naruto look him in the face. Naruto stared at the blank expression of the white porcelain mask of the agent in front of him.

"You couldn't possibly have thought you two would have gotten away, could you?" the man taunted. The man then suddenly grabbed his right arm tightly and lightning erupted from his palm. Naruto wasn't familiar with this jutsu but he could just tell it was meant to kill.

"If you're gonna kill me… then do it. Leave her out of this." Naruto said as he looked off towards the crying Sakura being held by two more ROOT agents.

"No," began the man with the lightning in his hand. "This isn't for you." The man turned to Sakura and brought his hand up to prepare for the attack.

"Danzo said to bring her alive. He never said in once piece. Maybe losing a limb will teach her a lesson." He said coldly.

Naruto, now having enough got back to his feet slowly. A red aura of chakra slowly started enveloping his body. As he fully stood up, his eyes now red themselves, Naruto stared back at the ROOT agent.

"Enough."