1Chapter 9

And once again this chapter is donated to Rob Louis visit his website at next morning was a horrible one; first Naruto woke up with a naked Temari lying on his chest which actually wasn't too bad. It was after observing his surroundings did he realize that Ayame still hadn't come home.

"Temari-chan, wake up!" Naruto said in a panicky voice while shaking her vigorously, hoping that she knew where Ayame was. The nude woman's eyes fluttered open, slowly.

"No Naruto-kun, I can't go, I'm too tired," she whined while hugging her lover tightly. Naruto just shook her harder.

"No Temari-chan it's not that this time, its Ayame-chan, she never came home, she's gone!" Naruto spoke, eyes watering and voice shaking at the thought of losing another one of his precious people.

Now the girl was wide awake, "What? What do you mean she never came home?" She shouted, now wide awake and quite frantic.

"I mean she never came home, never came back, did not return, she never-" his frantic murmurings were cut off by Temari.

"Okay, I get it," Temari stated calmly, breathing in and out in deep shaky breaths, "I'll tell Gaara and I'm sure he'll send out a C class recovery mission to find her and maybe a B class if she's not in Suna anymore. Now, you just get ready for your mission, Naruto-kun," she said trying to sooth him.

"NO!" The fox boy yelled, "I am not leaving this village 'til I know that Ayame-chan is alright!" And with that said he glared at her, silently telling her he was serious.

Temari did nothing but whack him over the head and say firmly, "Naruto, you are a ninja of Suna now, that means you have a duty to uphold and you cannot let personal matters interfere with your job as a ninja," Naruto opened his mouth to say something, but Temari continued on before he could, "Naruto-kun, remember just because your job is more important than your feelings and personal life that doesn't mean you can't have them; your feelings are what tell you what is right and wrong so you can negotiate the mission and complete it within reasonable terms instead of blowing it off," she said gently, stroking his cheek. Naruto just sighed and pondered the girl's words.

"Okay, Temari-chan, if that's what you want I will go on the mission," Temari just smirked at the young man.

"Yeah, damn straight that's what I want, although, I wouldn't mind a foot massage," she said jokingly.

However, her face became serious, "But don't worry, Naruto-kun, I promise you that I will find Ayame-chan, but first I want you to get your lazy ass up and get ready for your mission," she told him before kicking him off the bed.

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"Damn it! Where is he?" Naruto thought as he sat at the North gate of Suna. He was currently all ready for the mission; wearing a red jacket with black shoulder patches and matching red jumpsuit pants, two Kunai bags one with knifes and another with shurikun; the shurikun bag was on his left hip tied by his belt, and the second bag was tied by a bandage around his right thigh.

The mission was supposed to start over an hour ago, yet Kankuro was no where to be seen. If he knew the puppet master was going to be late, then he would've spent some time looking for Ayame, but no, Temari was making him go early even though she knew that Kankuro was going to be late.

"Hey man!" Kankuro yelled as he approached Naruto riding a strange wooden lizard-like object that, like his two other puppets which were burned in the fire of the recent battle, were wearing rag like clothing.

Naruto, who was too distracted figuring out what the puppet was rather than why Kankuro was late, decided to ask him what the hell he was riding, "Uh, Kankuro? What is that and why are you riding it?" He questioned
Gaara's older brother as he pointed at the strange object.

"Oh this? Well, isn't it obvious?" His answer came in the slow shaking of the blonde's head in a negative fashion, "Ug, well since my other puppets were destroyed in the fire, I decided to use all the money I have saved up to buy a new puppet; so, meet Sanshouo, or my sweet new ride," he informed Naruto, smiling.

Naruto, still dumfounded by this new change of events, spoke, "So, ok, well, anyways why'd ya bring that?" he queried the hooded boy pointing at the puppet. (Beta: no offense, but I thought that was just explained. Kankuro uses puppets a main weapon, so it's only natural that he has one now, for his weapon, but I read on partly, but still…)

Now the make-up wearing man thought the boy was nuts, "Dude, we're gonna be traveling through the desert, the very hot and tiring desert, and if you haven't guessed it by now, then just shut up and hop on," he told Naruto with the same squint in his eyes that the ex-Konoha shinobi often used.

"Fine," Naruto replied grumpily as he got on the wooden salamander, "Now off to Stickville," the fox boy announced as the puppet began running at a pace of around twenty-five miles an hour, letting his tails drag on the way making wavy trails through the hot desert sand.

"Kit pick up your tails; having three of 'em should be an honor for a mortal, yet here you are, dragging them across a desert like they are mere trash. Show some pride I will not have my container looking like a degenerate," the Kyuubi scolded him.

"Damn, since when did my stature become so important to you? Besides, not like I'll be as strong as you, 'Mr. I'm the Lord of Hell," Naruto spoke to the demon rudely.

The red, demon fox smiled at this comment. Oh, how he wished he could rule hell, but sadly that would not be possible for a demon of his power, 'Well when I transform your body you'll become strong enough to rule all of
hell so you should at least so some pride,'

"Well I hate to break it to you, kit, but I'm no where near the strongest demon. I only have nine tails and a demon's tails show the power and knowledge of a demon. And another thing, Hell currently has no ruler, it's basically anarchy, (Beta: I don't know if that's right, anarchy.) very fun but no respect unless you have more tails than one but the most tails I've seen a demon have is 132, so like I said, I'm no where near being the strongest," he said smugly.

Naruto visibly shivered at the thought of a demon stronger than the Kyuubi, not only that, but Hell must be in absolute chaos with no ruler. 'How could these creatures even survive long enough to grow even two tails? I mean, with all the killing and chaos and destruction, how could the baby demons live if their parents were weak?'

Reading his thoughts, the demon fox answered his unspoken questions, "Kit, do you honestly think that because we have no governmental establishment we are savages? Well, if so, think again, baka gaki; we have honor and traditions to guide us through life, such as not killing children. Otherwise, other demons will suspect that you are a threat to their litters and will get together in multiple groups to kill that demon out of self-defense," the demon fox explained to the boy.

Naruto chuckled at his next thought, 'Maybe I should live there, huh? I mean, I'm starting to look the part, I got the tails, claws, and eyes; all I need now is a pair of fangs and I'll be set, but then again, I probably wouldn't last very long in a place like that,'

"Oh, I wouldn't say that, believe it or not, jinchurikis have the potential to become stronger than the demons living inside them by."

Naruto's eyes widened at this information, "What? How can that be possible? I thought nothing can surpass a demon, I mean, you guys are all like blowing up mountains and destroying villages in a single shot!"

The fox chuckled at the stupidity of mortals, "Well, Kit, think about it, us demons have so much chakra in our systems we cannot passably hope to control it, so we basically fling it around, but due to the almost infinite amount of chakra we possess, we make up for our lack of control. Now humans on the other hand, have a much smaller amount of chakra so it's easier for them to control," Kyuubi explained.

Naruto still didn't understand, "What's that have to do with demon vessels being stronger than the demons that inhabit us? What you just told me only says that we can be equal to other humans."

"Yes, but jinchuikis have the ability to draw upon our power in small amounts at a time 'til they gradually adjust to the increased amount allowing them to conserve our chakra and make it more flexible," he finished in a almost jealous voice.

Naruto, who had his arms crossed and was nodding his head, surprisingly, understood what the fox meant, "So, wait, if there are demons with more than nine tails then, why is there no knowledge of demons with over nine tails?"

The demon fox gave a big, toothy smile, "Because, gaki, if a demon with more than nine tails came into the mortal world, the whole place would be torn to shreds by its power. This dimension would be completely destroyed because of the demon's power, that, and the portal back to our home would be destroyed and no demon wants to be stuck in this dump."

Naruto, who was still nodding while absorbing the newfound information, felt a painful prick on one of his tails, "Oh shit!" He yelled.

"What is it?" Kankuro yelled back, seemingly just waking from his nap. (Beta: I wasn't sure about this part.)

The demon host just held up his tail, great pain filling his eyes, "I think my tail just hit a cactus," he said in the saddest voice he could muster.

A vein in Kankuro's head started to throb, "Is that it?" He asked, obviously a little pissed at the blond. "I freaking thought we were under attack, you idiot!" He yelled before pushing Naruto off the wooden puppet, "Listen, we're gonna walk from here because we're getting close to the town and we don't want to draw any unneeded attention to ourselves," then, glaring daggers at the blond, he asked, "Got it?" before he, himself, dismounted the wooden contraption.

Naruto looked at himself and then returned his gaze to Kankuro, "Try not to stand out, huh? Look at me. I have tails, red eyes, and not to mention claws. How can I not stand out?" He practically yelled at the puppet wielder.

"Well, let's see here, Mr. I wanna be a Hokage, did you even consider using a henge?"

Naruto just grumbled a 'shut up' before transforming himself into his old appearance; to what he looked like before he was changed by the Kyuubi, "So? How do I look?" He questioned with a goofy smile.

Kankuro looked him over, "Like an annoying fourteen year-old boy with a ramen obsession and lusts for my sister."

Naruto just held his smile in place, "Great, that was exactly what I was goin' for."

So then the two split up, with Naruto going east and Kankuro going north. They slowly made their ways to the city.

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"This is Uzumaki, over and out, I'm at point thirty-four A and I see a burglar about to break into someone's home. So, this is a good chance to see what kind of burglar system these people have," he whispered into the microphone connected to his earpiece. (A/N if you go to then you know the kind of stuff that
happens here if not then enjoy and don't worry this chapter will not
affect the story a lot in any way)

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Kankuro questioned angrily.

"Well," Naruto started in a smart aleck tone of voice, "Remember that mission your broth-"

Kankuro interrupted him with a series of curses, "Not that retard, I mean the location thing you told me; we never made any location points, not only that, but think before you use you own name in a foreign village!" He yelled, taking a deep breath, "Just because we're still in the same country doesn't mean it's safe," he finished, slightly pissed at Naruto's lack of intelligence.

"Well, sorry, just trying to set the mood," Naruto grumbled, "Anyways, the guy just broke into the house and he's… looking around, oh, he found the safe behind a portrait," Naruto's eyes grew wide at what the burglar pulled out of the safe after he got it open, "K-Kankuro, your not gonna believe this, but a snake came out of the safe and bit the guy's balls off. Then he turned around to run, because of the pain, you know, but he apparently forgot the window closed after he opened it and he hit his head on the glass making it shatter, causing shards of glass to impale his face… and he's not moving," Naruto barely said through his laughter, "Uh, Kankuro? Did you hear me because that was really funny, but you don't seem to be laughing… or even chuckling?" Naruto questioned curiously.

Kankuro smirked before relaying his own message to the fox boy, "Well, I'm not surprised. I mean, I'm just walking down the street and then I see an old man racing a little kid down the street on mopeds just so he could get a hold of some Viagra. Long story short, the kid hit the geezer off the moped with a stick and the empty moped crashed into the kid's moped, killing them both. So, I'd say I've had my laughs for the day," he said, now chuckling at the memory.

"Oh my god, really? Seriously? That is so f-ing hilarious!" Naruto exclaimed before looking around. Lowering his voice, he spoke, "Hey, Kankuro, I'll talk later, I want to look around for a little while."

"Yeah, yeah, just don't get killed alright? I don't want Temari kicking my ass over losing her precious Naruto-kun," the puppet wielder said in a teasing voice, "But yeah, it would probably be better to not talk until we meet up at the hotel we're staying at so, Kankuro over and out," he stated before ending the transmission.

So Naruto took off running; the truth was he didn't really want to look around, but that the Kyuubi's voice was becoming faint ever since he entered the village, "Hey, fox, what's up with you? You're not being your usual, annoying self," the boy asked with a little concern creeping into his voice.

The demon scoffed at the boy, "Not my usual, annoying self? Are you on opium, gaki? If so, get off it now. Anyway, if you must know, there is a weak demonic aura coming from around here, possibly from the one that the raccoon kid said might be another vessel."

"Really? So, do you think we can get him to join Suna?" Naruto asked eagerly.

"Kit, the raccoon boy said there may be a vessel here, he never said whether or not to communicate with it, but he did say for us to ONLY, and I repeat, ONLY, interact with missing suna-nins," the fox said in a warning voice.

Naruto stopped running now that he was in an alleyway that looked unseen from people in the street, "Okay, seriously, what's with you lately? I mean, first your always correcting my manners and listening to orders from Gaara, then your not talking very much, so tell me, what the hell is with you lately?" The jumpsuit clad kid asked worriedly, not wanting to lose a friend, yes, a friend. The Kyuubi may be a blood thirsty creature, but he was always there for Naruto and never blamed him for being his vessel.

The fox just snarled at the boy, "Don't be weak by caring for others. You live to protect yourself and your mates; no one else, got it?"

'Damn it! Mutating the kid with my chakra is really taking a toll on me, not only that, but if he keeps up with these questions I'm sure to slip up eventually.'

"Jeeze, fine, you don't have to be so touchy; I was just worried about a friend," and with that stated, the boy left the alley, heading for the designated hotel that he'd be staying at for the next two days.

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Back at Konoha

"So the attack failed, huh?" A smiling Jiraiya said to the council.

Hiashi gritted his teeth, "Silence Jiraiya, as long as the copy ninja Kakashi Hatake fulfilled his mission, we are content with our losses," it took every fiber in Jiraiya's being to not punch the Hyuuga bastard right then and there in the face, "You guys did what? How could you send Kakashi to kill Naruto? That man already lost enough people in his life and now you're making him take the life of one of his former students? There is no way the man had the will power to finish the boy or even cause harm to him to begin with. And now, now he's probably lying dead in some ditch because of your stupidity!" He yelled the last part as loud as he could; disgusted at the way they treated his student's student.

The council all talked and murmured amongst themselves; Jiraiya could not here, until finally Shibi stood up, "Okay, Jiraiya, tell us who do you think would be the most qualified to kill the Uzumaki child?" He questioned the hermit.

The man just narrowed his eyes at the bug master, "Why would I tell you people that? I want Naruto to live after all. Oh, and by the way, how about only one of you talks to me instead of taking turns," he said smugly to he council, enjoying the looks of annoyance targeted towards him. (Beta: I didn't understand this.)

Shibi remained standing, his face showing no trace of emotion, "It that is what you wish, then I will speak to you instead of the others," the council murmured their agreement to the bug-man.

Shibi now stood staring directly at Jiraiya, "If you will not give us information about the boy, then will you consent to answering us a couple of questions?" The trench coat wearing man questioned calmly.

"Depends on the question," Jiraiya responded.

Hiashi accidentally activated his byakugan out of anger, "You senile old fool! Do you wish to disgrace the village that your student worked so hard to protect by sacrificing his own life?"

Jiraiya did a few hand seals which deactivated the Hyuuga Head's Kekkei Genkai, "I'm sorry, Hiashi, but you people have already disgraced this village by not honoring the Forth's dieing wish. Oh! And two more things; one, I will not answer how I deactivated your eyes and two, I believe that me and my good pal, the talking statue, were having a conversation," he said grinning at Hiashi, who was rubbing the side of his face trying to find the veins from his doujutsu.

"So, now that that distraction is gone, where were we? Oh that's right, questions; so come on! I'm old and don't got forever, you know," the fifty year-old man said to Shibi.

"Very well, Jiraiya-san," Shibi said, nodding.

Jiraiya smiled, "Great! Formalities; I just know this is gonna be good."

Shibi showed no signs of annoyance about the toad man's comments, "Who is Naruto's friend or who are his friends in this village?"

Jiraiya once again grinned at the soon to be response of the council when they found out that most of their kids had befriended Naruto, "Well, let's see here, there's Sakura Haruno, Hinata Hyuuga, Kiba Inuzuka, Ino Yamanaka, Neji Hyuuga, Rock Lee, Tenten, Choji Akimichi, Shikimaru Nara, and finally, Shino Aburame."

The room was silent, mainly because most of the council members were in shock about the fact that their kids were friends with the demon spawn. All that was heard was Hiashi grumbling something like, 'Figures Hinata would be friends with the demon child.'

"However, Shino, Shikimaru, Lee and Kiba are dead while Neji and Choji are in comas; so I guess his friends are Sakura, Ino, Hinata, and Tenten," Jiraiya finished in envy of all the girls Naruto is friends with, "So, any other questions?"

Shibi shook his head, "However, Jiraiya-san, we have a mission for you."

"Really now? And what would it be? If it's to assassinate Naruto, I will not accept the mission," he informed them with a glare.

"No, that's not it," the bug user said before placing a scroll in front of Jiraiya, "This is a B-class mission and it is to receive Tsunade and her assistant, Shizune."

The toad summoner simply raised an eyebrow at this odd request; after all, Tsunade had not been to the village ever since she became a sannin, "Why do you want Tsunade here? She is of no use as a ninja because of her fear of blood, unless…" Jiraiya pondered this mission for a moment before coming to a conclusion, "YOU GUYS HAVE FINALLY FIGURED OUT YOU'RE USELESS AS LEADERS AND WANT TSUNADE AS HOKAGE!" He exclaimed.Finished, he took several deep breaths.

Hiashi once again activated his byakugan out of anger only to have it deactivated by Jiraiya's jutsu, "No, you arrogant fossil, we want her here to fight as a ninja for the destruction of Suna and Oto, and if she refuses because of some petty fear of blood, then she will be classified as a missing ninja, and quit using that jutsu, and quit using that jutsu!" He finished, angry that Jiraiya knows a jutsu that can deactivate the byakugan.

" I will only stop using that jutsu if you stop using your byakugan," the perverted man said, knowing it would only further irritate the Hyuuga clan leader.

Hiashi narrowed his pupil less eyes, "I will not take orders from- HEY WHERE ARE YOU GOING!"

The elderly man waved to the Hyuuga, "I have a mission, remember?" And with those words he left the building room.

"So," Inoichi started, "Should we send the ANBU squad to retrieve the girl known as Ayame, now?"

The rest nodded in agreement, "Yes, I believe she will make acceptable bait for the Kyuubi brat," one of the Hokage's previous advisors said.

Inoichi smiled, "Then, I will send for her right away," and with that he used a mind jutsu to contact a group of ANBU and told them the mission specs, "The deed is done, so now what?"

But before anyone could answer two Chunnin broke through the window covered in battle wounds, "WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS!" An elderly woman yelled as loud as her old lungs would allow her.

One of the chunnin bowed to her before looking at Hiashi, "HIASHI-SAMA, THERE ARE A GROUP OF OTO NINJA ATTACKING THE HYUUGA COMPOUND, PLEASE SIR, THEY CANNOT HOLD OUT MUCH LONGER!"

Hiashi looked at the man with a calm face, "So, tell me, if this is true, then how come the village siren has not gone off or we have not heard any sounds of battle?"

The other chunin collapsed from blood loss, but apparently, Hiashi, thinking this was some kind of sick joke, would not allow anyone to get the man help, "Please sir, there is a sound barrier around the co-" just then five ninjas wearing full black outfits except for different shades of grey in a camouflage like patterned scarves.

The leader of the squadron looked around the room before saying, "Oh shit, we're in the council tower," and with that, Hiashi left the building, leaving the rest of the elders to fight the ninjas while he headed for the Hyuuga compound in an attempt to save the village's precious bloodline.

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Back in Suna

It was evening and most of the teachers had already gone home, but she stayed after to read papers. What Gaara loved about paperwork, she never knew. Temari just sighed as she looked over her reviews for the students she was teaching. Apparently, what Gaara meant by the most gifted was that she would be teaching kids from prestigious clans who were predicted to be gifted ninjas. Not only that, but they had no luck in locating Ayame. Luckily, when she told Gaara about it, he sent out, not only an ANBU squad, but a suna bunshin of himself to look for her.

Once again, Temari sighed. But then she started to chuckle when she pictured the looks of the villagers when they see a walking statue of Gaara walking the streets of Sunagakure looking for a girl.

Temari came back to reality when a small girl around ten started shaking her arm, "Yes, what is it, Himee?" (A/N to pronounce her name its He-may) Temari asked the girl, slightly grumpy. The child stood at about four feet, seven inches with blue eyes and long, braided brown hair which she tucked into the back of her shirt. Apparently, this girl's choice of weapon was her family heirloom, which was a large fuma shuriken that had red trimming and points tipped with an adamant, almost clear crystal-like chain which was tied to it through a hole in the middle. (Beta: I didn't really get it because it was hard to picture what you are saying.)

The girl started to blush, a slight pink tint to her cheeks, "Um, well, your brother is Kankuro, right? I mean, the Kankuro who uses the puppets," she asked nervously.

The wind mistress looked at the girl, wondering where this was going, "Yeah, and?" The fan wielder replied, slightly dazed.

"Well, if you were given a puppet, would you know how to use it?"

Temari, now curious as to where the girl was leading up to, decided to start to pay attention to the girl, "Well, only if I had a string or some kind of flexible object to use as a conductor for the chakra. As much as I hate to admit it, I can't do the same kind of puppetry as Kankuro; he actually know how to create strings with his chakra which I lack the proper control to do."

The girl simply held up her shuriken, "Can you teach me how to contol my fuma like that, but with the chain instead of a string?" She asked innocently.

Temair smirked at the girl, "Sure thing, kiddo, but first," she stared as the child with a serious stare, "I want you to cut out the goody two shoes act. I mean, I've only been here a day and already I've seen you threaten to cut off a boy's genitals."

Himee gave Temari a big grin, "Yes ma'am, Temari-sensei," the kid announced happily.

"Okay, well, I can't show you any examples today, but I may be able to tomorrow with the rest of the class, but for now, I can explain the main principle behind it."

"Okay!" The girl exclaimed cheerfully, taking out a notepad and pencil.

Temari couldn't help but chuckle at the little girl's enthusiasm, "Well, first of all, a chain is harder to use than a string mainly because in order to fully control and inanimate object you must use chakra equal to the volume of the object. Not only that, but a chain is madeup of a series of loops so not only do you need to use more chakra than what you would use with a string, but you have to shape your chakra into a series of loops instead of a straight line."

Himee nodded and wrote briefly, "Okay, but once you match your chakra to the shape of an object, how do you move it?" She asked.

"Well, you see because chakra is a plasma-like matter, it can fuse with other objects so, once it takes the exact shape of the conductor, the chakra will meld with the object until its completely cut off from the source and so, once it's melded, your free to do with the object as you please," Temari finished, closing her eyes in a proud manner, impressing herself with the knowledge she knew.

The girl finished up her notes and thanked Temari before running out of the classroom with her weapon to train.

Temari resumed her paperwork, picking up where she left off, "How does Gaara enjoy this crap? I can't even read it without my eyes burning!" Temari, though, continued to read until she came across student profiles, "Hmm, let's see here…boring…don't care…loser…oh, Himee; well, might as well see her current academy stats.

Tai-jutsu: Basic.

Dou-jutsu: None.

Gen-jutsu: Lacking.

Nin-jutsu: low Genin

Kekkei Genkai: None.

Chakra Control: Mid Chunin.

Temari's eyes widened, "Good god, mid genin! This can't be accurate; she's only ten years old!" Temari spent thirty minutes reading information on Himee and found out several things. She was now an orphan; her parents had been killed in the Suna/Oto invasion of Konoha, "Interesting, hmm, well Naruto does want kids, but doesn't want to adopt, ah well, I suppose I could ask him later… OH SHIT I GOTTA LOOK FOR AYAME-CHAN!" Temari exclaimed, darting out of the classroom and into the streets, taking flight upon her fan to look for the missing Ayame.

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Ayame was walking through a destroyed section of Suna, occasionally sniffling and letting a tear run down her cheek. This section of the city was covered in debris and ashes, along with stray kunai and shuriken lodged to deep into the wood to pull out without damaging yourself or the throwing instrument in the process. Ayame had a strange feeling that she was being followed. It became worse the longer she stayed walking about.

She began running non-stop, the feeling finally making her panic, until she stubbed her toe on a brick. She collapsed on the ground and started to cry, "I'm useless, I can't even be with Naruto-kun, after all, him and Temari-chan are ninjas and I would only slow them down with whatever they do. I can't defend the ones I love or myself for that matter," Ayame stood and continued walking down the abandoned street until she came across a crying child wrapped in a fetal position. Ayame carefully approached the child, taking every step as if it could be her last. A bad feeling had settled over her and she didn't like it, though she didn't know what it meant.

She continued to approach the crying child, "What's wrong?" Ayame kindly asked the child, trying to hide the fact that she was previously crying.

The mysterious boy looked up to Ayame with a big grin, "Nothing anymore," and as soon as those words left his mouth, the boy exploded in a poof of smoke, revealing a Konoha ANBU member, "Ma'am, you are to come with us right now, or we will not hesitate to use force," the masked man said as he grabbed her arm. Four more ANBU squad members soon came out of hiding.

Ayame started to struggle against the man's grip, "NO! Let me go right now!" She screamed and bit the man's hand causing him to loosen his grip just enough for her to break free and dart down the nearest alley.

The man checked his hand to see if any skin was broken before signaling his four comrades to go after here, "Heh, every time the person struggles and gets away, they go down an alley. And ninety percent of the time, that alleyway leads to a dead end," was the masked man's thoughts as he chased after the ramen girl.

Ayame, now regretting that she spent so much energy running earlier, continued to run down the alleyway. However, she soon came to a stop when she saw an eight foot wooden fence blocking her path, "Damn it! Out of all the things that were burned down, it figures that this wall is still standing! Damn it!" Looking around, she found a kunai stuck into the ground; so, she pulled it out and crouched onto the ground, hoping that the men would pass by without noticing her.

A Konoha ANBU with a hawk mask slowly walked down the alley, the other ANBU following on the rooftops; two on his left and two on his right. He assumed the leader was still looking at the wound the girl had given him.

Finally, he reached the end of the alley where he found the girl on the ground, surprisingly, looking like she was going to fight, "Okay, miss, we will give you one last chance, because you are a civilian, to come quietly," and he reached out to grab the girl only to have his palm pierced by a kunai, "DAMNIT GIRL! THAT'S IT!" He screamed before getting his legs kicked out beneath him and falling to the ground. The feisty brunette stole his kunai pack soon after.

Ayame backed away, drawing out some more weapons, "Even though you're ninjas, I have the advantage here because of two things. One, apparently, your orders are to bring me back alive, otherwise, I'd be dead by now and two: when we're in a enclosed alleyway, like this, your techniques and maneuverability are limited to the point where even I have a fighting chance," she said with great pride in her voice before throwing all her weapons at the man on the ground, temporarily crippling him. She was unaware of the others currently circling her.

The ANBU right behind his crippled comrade started to clap, "Very good, little lady, however, you do not have the advantage. Although, I am surprised you managed to take down an ANBU. It is very amazing considering you lack the will to kill him.

"We have you surrounded, though, and you are out of weapons. You are already caught, give up," that said, the man went through a series of hand signs and prepared to cast a genjutsu on Ayame, "You should be honored. It is not often that an ANBU has to use a jutsu on a mere civilian. Now, here we go," the man finished his hand signs. "San Sunpou Kaishin!" (three dimensional conversion)

Ayame started to look around, finding that nothing had changed, "Ha! It didn't work!" However, as soon as she said that the alleyway started to tip forward and Ayame stumbled into the ANBU's arms.

The masked man smirked, "Now, come on, up you go," with that the man threw the girl over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and left his fallen comrade on the ground, "Sorry man, but if you can't take out a civilian that I don't know how you made it this far as a ninja," that said, the Konoha ninja left with Ayame draped over his shoulder. "Sir," he spoke as he strode over to his leader, "I got the girl."

The ANBU leader was about to take the girl from his subordinate when the rest of the squad came out of the shadows with another ANBU captain with them, "BAKU, STOP! HE'S AN IMPOSTER!" The leader yelled his subordinates name to make sure he knew that he was the real captain.

However, before the ANBU could pull back Ayame, the imposter threw a scroll in the air and pulled out one of the biggest swords any of the ANBU had ever seen. The sword was wrapped in bandages, the ANBU noted as the imposter released his henge revealing a tall man with a shark-like appearance. He had pale blue skin, beady white eyes, pointed teeth, and gills under his eyes. He wore a straw hat with bells attached to it, a black cloak with red cloud designs, and a ring on his left ring finger with the word Nan (south) carved on it, "Damn it, almost had ya too. Ah well, Samehada (shark skin) was getting hungry anyways," the shark man said, pointing his giant sword at the man.

The Konoha ninja dropped Ayame on the ground. With the man's genjutsu no longer in effect due to his lack of concentration, Ayame was now able to move. She began to crawl away, now completely scared. The Konoha ninja took a fighting stance similar to Gai's and Lee's, "You d-demon! St-Stay away!" The ANBU turned around to see two of his comrades went after Ayame and that his captain stayed with him.

The captain looked at his subordinate and nodded, "We have the upper hand here; we outnumber you two to one. Prepare to die!" The squad leader pulled out a shuriken and threw it at the shark man, "Kage Shuriken no Jutsu!" (shadow shuriken technique) The flying metal star multiplied into ten shuriken.

The shark man looked at the man bored as he swung his giant sword horizontally, absorbing the kage shuriken and deflecting the real one, but the one known as Baku appeared on the tip of Samehada and started to run down it, his own standard ANBU blade drawn. The straw hat wearing man smirked at the young man running along his blade. The next step Baku took caused the spikes on the sword to rip through the bandages and into Baku's foot. The sword began to drain the ANBU's chakra.

The ANBU collapsed on the sword, impaled by even more spikes, "Captain, help it's devouring my chakra!" He exclaimed weakly. That said, the captain waited no longer to charge the shark man, however, he soon had the air knocked out of him by a single punch. The shark man picked the captain up and threw him onto the sword with the captain's subordinate to be drained by Samehada. (Beta: that was confusing)

"Eat well, my sword, it may be all you get before the kyuubi's chakra."

Baku had already died of chakra exhaustion so the only one left was the captain, "What business do you have with the kyuubi child," the ANBU captain questioned weakly, only having about ten seconds left to live.

The shark man gave a confused stare, "The kyuubi has a kit?" He questioned.

"You idiot…" were the man's last words as he joined his partner in hell, for there is no heaven for a ninja.

The shark man shook the dead bodies off his sword and strapped it to his back. He walked off after the two remaining ANBU ninjas.

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About one kilometer away, deeper into Suna's remains

Ayame was running down the street; going as far as the adrenaline surging through her body would allow her to go. However, she was soon trapped in a corner with two ninja's stalking her slowly, "So, girlie, it's been fun but, it's time to come to an end. After all, we all don't want to have to deal with the fish thing back there right, Domo? Domo?" The man looked over to his partner to see him staring into the distance like he was hypnotized. The hypnotized man soon collapsed onto the ground, though. "What the hell?" The Konoha ninja then looked up to see a man jump from a telephone pole to the ground, landing gracefully on both feet.

The Konoha ninja looked at the stranger to see he was wearing a black cloak with red cloud designs on it like the shark man, but with a ring on his right ring finger with the inscription 'Shu.' (scarlet/bloody) However, unlike the other man, this man lacked a straw hat, which most likely fell off, and this man actually looked human with… red eyes? "You-your Itachi Uchiha," the ninja stuttered, beginning to back away.

Itachi gave no answer, but instead lifted his hand to the man, "Amaterasu," black flames appeared from his hand and engulfed the man in flames, killing him before he could feel pain. Itachi then looked around until he spotted Ayame. He started to approach her.

Ayame, to scared of the man to even let him touch her, threw a rock at him which he easily caught, "S-Stay away from me," she stuttered as he walked closer. Ayame knew who Itachi was, hell, everyone in Konoha knew who he was and she didn't want to die now.

Itachi was now a mere foot from her and he extended his hand, which she tried to push away, and picked her up so she was staring into his eyes. Itachi's sharingan began to swirl in a circle until she was captivated by it, "Nemuri," (sleep) he said to her and, almost as if he was Kami-sama, she instantly fell asleep. Itachi's partner showed up then, "Hello Kisame."

Kisame looked around the street, "Damn it! You could have at least let me watch!" He said, crossing his arms before spotting an unconscious ninja on the ground, "Hey, can Samehada eat him?" Kisame questioned hopefully.

Itachi lifted Ayame onto his shoulder, "No, we need a witness. Now, use a jutsu to draw people here," Itachi said as he began to walk away.

"Fine, Mr. 'I'm the strongest Uchiha,'"Kisame went through a large number of hand signs, "Suiton: Suikodan no Jutsu!" (water release: water shark missile technique) A large shark of water flew into the sky before exploding causing a short downpour of rain, "That good? Itachi?" Kisame looked around to see Itachi already walking up the village wall, "Damn it! Wait for me!"

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Beta: Eh? This is my fault, the late update I mean. I procrastinated… a lot. So, sorry peoples.

Please read!

I will no longer ask for reviews because I have enough to keep me going throughout the whole story and I would like to take a moment of silence for specual, I dunno if I spelled that right, but he is possibly the most talented Naruto fan fic writer I've read but alas, he no longer enjoys writing for us... ok done now time to get on with my life.

Funnies!

Naruto Uzumaki means spiral steamed fish paste cake.

Itachi is Japanese for weasel so for all you itachi fans your favorite ninja is named after a rat, congatulations.

See ya in a week or two.

grumbles why does human flesh have to be so tender dammit I miss my
old body.