"So you're telling me a legendary Sannin asked you to go on a mission with him to look for another legendary Sannin?" Lee looked incredulous in his hospital bed at his dear and youthful friend with a mix of wonder and realization in his eyes, he has after all spent enough time with Naruto to know he's fairly special. "Yosh Naruto-kun! Even in these dire times your flames of youth burn brightly!"

Naruto laughed at his bushy-browed friend's boisterous attitude and stared in admiration at the way he went on in life despite his current condition, he had been informed of Lee's depression episodes of course, he knew there was more to it than just the facade he put on, but the fact that he even tried to be happy was truly praise worth it.

He wished he was at least a little like him.

"Ero-sennin says this Sannin lady is the best medic alive, I'm going to bring her back and have her look at you, I promise and I never go back on my word!" He just hoped she would deliver, in all honesty Naruto was starting to fear Jiraiya simply oversold the Slug Sannin's abilities to make him more interested in the mission.

"You must have her look at Neji as well, Naruto-kun, even if there's nothing that can be done for me I'm sure she can help Neji." Lee was just so selfless it almost made him sad, but he wasn't wrong.

Neji's situation could only be described as complicated.

Naruto hated his guts, well, he liked to say he hated him but it wasn't hate that he felt for him; he just made his blood boil. It all changed when the chunin exams started, for some reason the young Uzumaki became interested in him and managed to extort his whole life story out of Hinata, he learned all the things Neji had gone through and even though he wouldn't say his actions were justified he could at least say he understood why he did the things he did.

The curse mark.

The Hyuga prodigy caught the attention of the treacherous Sannin and received his... gift. Now he was fully unresponsive. The doctors couldn't give Hiashi a straight answer. Apparently Neji went to sleep after his match with Hinata and never woke up, they had some theories of course, the most likely to be true, his brain suffered a lot of strain when both of the marks in his body came into conflict and the damage was so severe it simply became too much to handle so he fell into a coma.

Some sort of self-recovery mode, at least that's what Doctor Teruya called it.

"I'm going to ask her about that too, don't worry about it," Naruto looked out the window of the room and saw Jiraiya there signaling it was time for them to leave. "I have to go now Lee, I'll be back in 2 weeks tops."

He jumped out of the window shortly after and joined the white haired man as they both walked through the streets of the village on their way to the main gate. It was impressive how well they did in the invasion if you stop to think about it. They had been lucky to find out the truth about the situation in time to prepare for the attack.

The village had lost many brave shinobi and it would take them some time to recuperate but the sacrifices had not been in vane, civilian casualties were few and the village itself didn't need much fixing, they lost some important buildings during the attack, the shinobi academy still in reconstruction being the prime example, but they still managed to come out on top against adversity.

They always did.

Naruto kept on walking along his newest master and godfather, oblivious to the looks of wonder and curiosity he got from the village, he had discarded using his Konoha hitai-ate in the same way Kakashi did, every person in Konoha knew of his sharingan by now and even though no one except for a handful of people knew of the events that led to him having one, his actions during the invasion had been proof enough of his character for the villagers who no longer thought ill of him.

The vast majority at least.

Jiraiya didn't know whether to be worried or proud of him, any kid his age would be delighted with all the attention Naruto was getting and the teen didn't even seem to notice, he knew of course why he was like he was and wouldn't blame him for it, kami knows the kid already blames himself enough.

That's one thing they both had in common.

"Heads up brat, we're here." The main gate came into view and Naruto found his team there waiting for him to say goodbye, it was only then he realized it had been so long since he last saw Sakura.

Kakashi was the first to step forward, closing his orange book and putting it back on the pouch reserved just for the safe-keeping of his most treasured item, once in front of his self-proclaimed brother he eye-smiled like he always did and ruffled his hair affectionately. "Ja ne!" He said as he disappeared in a swirl of leaves, not much was said but Naruto knew how Kakashi was by now, he wasn't serious at all but he also wasn't particularly straight forward when it comes to shows of affection and feelings in general.

It was perfectly fine, Naruto had gotten to see Kakashi's more affectionate side before when it was just the two of them which is why words were not needed for this, anyone that could see Naruto's soft smile and the hand he used to caress the spot on his head where Kakashi's hand was just moments earlier could see it.

"Take care Naruto, don't do anything stupid." Haruno Sakura, sarcastic as always but still as caring as she has been for a long while now. She hadn't particularly liked it when Kakashi informed her Naruto would be going on a mission with Jiraiya and they were not a part of it, at one point her reaction was more on the angry side, she understood however that this mission was sanctioned by the legendary Sannin himself and as such he was the one to make the calls.

She hugged Naruto and gave him many instructions to take care of himself while doing so, Jiraiya and the chunin guards watching the gate found it incredibly amusing but Naruto - even if he knew all that she was saying by now - couldn't help but enjoy the feeling of someone worrying about him so he nodded and answered all that Sakura said with a positive remark; he ended up watching as she left with a smile on his face.

Shortly after saying his goodbye - and listening to some undesired and much annoying comments from his new mentor - Naruto and company finally left the village on their new mission, looking at the rising sun in the distance all he could think of was of the people he had promised he'd help even before he knew if such a thing was possible.

He better learn not to make promises he can't keep.

"I hear you're interested in learning Fuinjutsu Naruto-kun, is it true?" All he could do while being questioned by the wise old man was look nervously at his own feet, not bold enough to look at the face of the man he thought he'd let down.

"Yes jiji, I want to be more like my mother and stuff y'know?" He finally managed to muster some courage to look up. "It's just that you gave me those books ages ago and I haven't even started with them, I'm sorry."

The man started chuckling softly until his chuckles became a controlled laughter, putting a hand on the troubled teen's shoulder he smiled warmly and said. "You don't have to learn Fuinjutsu if you don't want to, Naruto. I gave you the material because I assumed you would have a knack for it like your ancestors; that does not mean you have to learn it or even be here for that matter."

"I also know for a fact you don't like reading."

Both him and Naruto started laughing together as they sat, one in the chair of the most powerful man in Konoha and the other on the seat right in front of him...

Not many people would approve of Naruto using the Hokage's chair.

"Naruto?"

The young Uzumaki was suddenly brought back to reality by the white haired pervert, they had been walking together for who knows how long, contrary to what Jiraiya would've expected Naruto was very silent during the trip so far, looking ahead most of the time but in his eyes you could see he wasn't really paying attention to the road ahead.

"Are you alright?" He asked the question knowing the answer, just yesterday did Naruto finally start to accept what happened and he was already on a mission, albeit a tracking mission and a safe one at that, Tsunade is not an enemy of the village and even though she might kick Jiraiya a little when they meet she has no quarrel with Naruto.

The aforementioned teen just sighed as he focused back on reality and shook his head a little to set himself free of the memories that haunt him, he decided to set himself into mission mode and focus on the things that make him sad at a later time. "Yes Ero-sennin, I just got a little distracted."

It was convincing enough, even if Naruto completely missed the fact that his 'little distraction' lasted a good 6 hours, enough for them to reach Tanzaku Gai, the next biggest city - after the capital and Konoha of course - and Jiraiya's first stop.

The city was hailed as a paradise for heavy drinkers and gamblers as well as perverts, their current objective happened to be two of those things so, if there was a place where Jiraiya thought Tsunade could be found this would be it. Under normal circumstances Jiraiya would look for a place where Naruto could rest while he did some research, unfortunately for him Naruto happened to be a good sensor, it would be stupid to not include him in the search.

"Listen up Naruto, we're going to start looking for her here, I'll do some digging on my own and I expect you to do the same, meet me at the hotel in the middle of town in 5 hours." Shortly after saying his part Jiraiya went off running in a direction so specific it made Naruto think the pervert was going to be of little help for the day.

No use crying over spilled milk he figured as he started walking in the opposite direction, he looked at every building with his different colored eyes trying to familiarize with his environment the best he could, this was after all the second time he left the village and a new place to know and observe. An idea came to mind as he walked so he stopped in the middle of a less crowded road and bit on his thumb to then perform a quick series of hand-seals.

Kuchiyose no Jutsu!

A puff of smoke manifested and then cleared with the wind revealing a little reddish toad Naruto had gotten to know since signing the contract, Gamakichi smiled at the sight of his human friend and was just about to greet him when the blond interrupted him by performing the same jutsu again, only this time out of the smoke a different kind of summon was revealed.

"I wondered when I'd be seeing you again, what do you need?" Eiji emerged from the smoke looking as uncaring and annoyed as he did when they first met, they didn't really dislike each other but they weren't friends either, Naruto would have to change that.

"I don't need anything, I'm on a mission right now and it's not really exciting, you said I should summon you and hang out some time, that's what I'm doing." Naruto took Gamakichi from the ground and put him on the toad's usual place on top of his head. "This is Gamakichi, the son of the toad's summoning clan leader and a friend of mine."

"Yo!" Was Gamakichi's greeting, carefree as ever before he looked at Naruto and asked a question. "You signed another summoning contract, did you tell pops?"

Naruto sighed and looked at the ground in something akin to embarrassment. "No, I pass out whenever I summon your dad y'know?"

"So you also summon toads? Interesting..." Eiji looked at Gamakichi and politely greeted him, surprising them both. "Hello Gamakichi-san, I suspect we'll be seeing each other more often than not" Gamabunta and Enma had met on many occasions during their lives after Jiraiya happened to bump into the toad contract. That's why Enma taught all the monkeys to respect the Toads and expect respect to be given in return.

Being done with his musing, Eiji fell in line with Naruto, getting a kick out of the people watching in amazement as some blond kid with a toad in his head and a monkey the height of his shoulders walked together around the town. "So dude... what exactly is your mission?"

"We're looking for one of the legendary Sannin, the pervert says she's the only one that can become Hokage." Naruto wasn't too convinced about it, and it wasn't because he felt like Hiruzen would be replaced and forgotten, he understood perfectly why the village needed a new and strong leader, he just didn't think they were going to find that someone in Tsunade. One of the Sannin was a no-good pervert and the other was a sick and twisted bastard.

How is she going to be any different?

Naruto and company walked around the place looking for any sort of evidence as they talked among each other about everything and nothing in particular, he had to admit Eiji wasn't really a bore to hang with, he could definitely see them becoming a good team along with the toads, the young monkey seemed to agree with him judging by his current calm and relaxed mood.

Hours went by and Naruto never managed to spot a chakra signature that felt particularly outstanding or at the very least different than that of a regular civilian, still for some reason, he couldn't help the feeling of being watched. Naruto stopped dead in his tracks and focused his sensing abilities the best he could, he even made his onyx eye turn red hoping he would be able to find some sort of evidence with the help of the sharingan, much to the confusion of his animal companions.

He found nothing.

Was he imagining things now? He could hardly be the one to blame, losing someone as important as he did and then being tossed into a mission right after was bound to be a stressful situation. Naruto took a deep breath and let his friend's eye go back to its normal onyx color before going back to meet the pervert in the hotel he set as a meeting point.

Fully unaware of the truth going on besides him.

"He seemed to feel we were here, most curious don't you think... Itachi-san?" A blue shark-like giant man with a big bandaged sword strapped to his back and a toothing grin that showed his pointed teeth suddenly materialized out of thin air, revealing alongside him the subject of his question. A young man no older than 19 with long black hair and two sharingan eyes.

Uchiha Itachi.

He looked stoic and said nothing, his eyes following the path Naruto walked until he came out of sight before simply turning back and leaving the place, not bothering to spare his companion so much as a glance, which only served to irritate him even more.

"Why are we even here?!" He asked, his irritation and annoyance now clear for all to see. "You were the one who discovered the kid wasn't Konoha's secret Jinchuriki, why did you come here only to observe him?"

"You yell too much Kisame," Itachi glanced at him for a second before continuing his path away from the city. "All the information we can get for our leader is our priority, besides... I was curious."

"What information?" Kisame hated Itachi and that air of superiority he always had around him, like he knew everything or at least more than him. "We went to Konoha looking for information and we got nothing! What information could you possibly gain from that brat? Unless... the information you were looking for wasn't for the leader."

The true last Uchiha wanted nothing to do with the conversation the shark-man was about to start so he cut him off before he could even begin. "We're losing time Kisame, let's go."

Earlier that day

"What are we doing here Itachi-san? Are you feeling Homesick?" Kisame and Itachi were walking together in a path leading outside the village. The scenery was... beautiful, green leaves scattered all around trees oozing with life and that crystal clear river that flowed beside them; it was hard not to get homesick.

Yet Itachi's face showed none of that.

"We're being followed"

Two figures emerged from the trees revealing themselves to be none other than Sarutobi Asuma and Yuhi Kurenai, two of the best Jōnin in the village. They knew what Itachi was capable of, they knew what he did and they were ready to put a stop to him... or die trying. "Uchiha Itachi... tell me, what brings you here?"

Itachi turned around and looked directly in the eyes of the person who asked the question with a look of complete and utter calm in his face. "Asuma-san, I don't wish to fight you, I would advise you just let us go... for your own good."

Asuma didn't exactly like the threat and reacted as one would expect. Fishing two chakra knives out of his pouch and holding them in a cross guard; Kisame decided he would be the one to fight him and unfolded his bandaged sword to fight him. Both shinobi jumped at each other and traded slash after slash, the Sarutobi found himself to be overpowered slowly but surely and was hit by the weird sword wielded by his opponent.

Asuma had felt the pain of a sword slash before, this wasn't anything like it.

The part of the sword that hit him didn't look like an ordinary blade, not even close to it. The bandaged object set itself free revealing the real composition of its body, it definitely wasn't any normal sword, there were tons of scales in it, dangerous hard and sharp scales; Asuma looked in both amazement and confusion at the object that had managed to hit him, a look Kisame found hilarious. "My beloved Samehada doesn't cut, it shreds!"

The fight once again started and both Asuma and Kurenai found themselves terribly outclassed, they were both Jōnin and good ones at that but their strengths simply didn't seem to be enough against these two, a failed attempt at capturing Itachi in a genjutsu left Kurenai their victim of her own attack while Asuma simply didn't have what it takes to overpower Kisame.

"I told you it wouldn't be wise to underestimate them, Asuma, Kurenai."

An imposing figure, calm and collected made his way to the place where the battle was taking place looking not at all bothered by the scene, he didn't even bother to pocket his ever present orange book until he was standing right in front of the treacherous Uchiha.

Itachi looked at the man with caution, he knew it wouldn't be wise to ignore the threat that meant being in the presence of this man. "Hatake Kakashi... it's been a while, senpai."

Asuma and Kurenai looked in relief at Kakashi and decided their victory was secured with his arrival, something the lone Hatake wasted no time in refuting. "This man was made ANBU captain at 13 years old, you haven't seen what he really is capable of yet."

This wasn't good, Kakashi was sure this is not what the third wanted but there was nothing he could do at the moment, so he had to play it out, he allowed himself to be pushed by both ninjas, trading Katon and Suiton ninjutsu with them left and right with the help of Asuma and Kurenai but it proved to be fruitless. What frustrated him the most was how obvious it was that Itachi was not putting too much effort in the fight.

At one point all three Konoha shinobi stood in the water and watched as Itachi's sharingan eyes morphed into a different shape, one that Kakashi knew to avoid. "Kurenai! Asuma! Close your eyes, NOW!"