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I'm happy this fic is turning out better than my expectations and hope you like the longer chapter.

Disclaimer: I only own the words in front of you on the screen


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Chapter 4 (To the Fight)

The disguised blonde channelled as much chakra as he could into his legs to get as far away from Jiraiya as he could, desperately hoping he wouldn't follow him. He spotted the stretch of a broad branch ahead and halted his headlong rush with a thud on the wood.

"Kai!"

Naruto released the complicated transformation, aware that Kitsune Moriko's masquerade would be useless if he kept going. The spiral charm on his jacket's zip flared, a scorching heat against his chest, bringing Naruto back to the matter at hand. The young chuunin ranged his senses for the small device that had just been activated in a different signal; Kakashi-sensei was in trouble and needed backup. Naruto found the altered chakra in a direction to his right, a fair distance away.

He allowed a second to pass on the debate whether to turn into a fox or not. If the jounin was in danger and still the grey furred wolf-dog, Naruto couldn't afford the limitations. Mind made up, the teenaged shinobi raced through the sparse areas of foliage towards the location where the charm was and Kakashi. He checked his chakra reserves, relieved to find that it was hardly dented from the fall and mad dash from Jiraiya; relieved he wasn't going to unwittingly tap into the Kyuubi's supply.

The blonde could feel the presence of three unknown ninja and the altered pattern that was Kakashi well before the sounds of battle reached his sensitive ears. He noted that only one of the Sound-nin seemed to be moving, the others content to watch from the sidelines as their companion toyed with the large canine. Naruto's annoyance came to the surface, why in hell did their secret mission have to get an unexpected twist so close to completion.

He thought he had had the upper hand with a surprise attack on the two motionless shinobi as their backs were exposed to his sight. However, once again he forgot to plan alternatives past the initial attack as adrenaline swept through his veins and he plunged into the fight. He was Uzumaki Naruto after all.

The orange and black clad teenager drew kunai from his leg pouch and threw a couple of them directly at the man on the left, not even pausing in his stride. Blue eyes widened as the sharp points refused to penetrate flesh and bounced off in opposite directions.

Pushing past the incredulous of the event, Naruto aimed the next weapon carefully and flipped the kunai in his left hand to a defensive hold. The airborne blade buried itself into the underside of their perch. The enemy whipped around at the consecutive attacks, one of them already performing hand seals. The blonde twisted thin strings of chakra together and lined the edge of the remaining weapon in readiness for the counter attack. Several large spiders crawled from their hiding place on the ninja's body and launched themselves at the incoming Naruto, silky threads trailing behind them. A chakra reinforced thread net closed in around the chuunin but the wind blade sliced through it cleanly.

The other ninja, the one with the impenetrable back, followed the arachnids with a set of bombs which exploded in the blonde's face. Naruto detonated his own explosive as he breathed in and choked on the pepper smoke, eyes watering and temporarily disorientated. The enemy struggled to find another footing as the wood was blasted from underneath their feet courtesy of the last kunai the boy threw. Naruto dropped into lower foliage to get away from the smoke and almost slipped out of the tree he landed in. He discovered that the branch was slicked with damp moss as the young shinobi righted him self and then cursed the unfamiliar environment.

The Konoha teen remained as hidden as possible with his back to the trunk while he sensed out the Sound's movements. His ears picked up a consistent whining hum somewhere behind him but everything else told Naruto they were ahead and to the left. This could be his chance to seize the advantage again for he was certain they couldn't sense his dampened chakra very well. Naruto carefully drew three each of kunai and shuriken from his pouches as well as another explosive tag. He kept a cautious tab for any movements of chakra while he wrapped the tag around the hilt of a kunai. Just as the teen had finished readying the weapons, a shift in his senses alerted him to the feat Naruto would never had thought feasible. The enemies' charka signatures had vanished.

"Damn it" the blonde cursed in a breath.

Typically, thoughts such as, 'what', 'where'd they go' and 'how'd they do that', ran idly around in the part of Naruto's brain that was not occupied by the battle at hand. There was nothing for it, he'd have to continue with his attack plan at their last known position and try to flush them out. The joints of his fingers flattened against the metal shuriken to hold them firmly in place as Naruto cautiously crept around the solid trunk. The young chuunin threw them in the prior direction of enemy chakra and observed the flight of his weapons, waiting for a counter attack.

To his relief, shuriken sliced through the shrubbery to confirm the hidden whereabouts of the pair, though Naruto had no idea how the Sound-nin thought that three stars would be enough to stop his six. He found out quickly as the kunai and shuriken suddenly slapped against the foreign objects and started to fall, halted in their trajectory. One of them hit Naruto's booby trapped blade and the smoke of the explosion obscured the area along with shredded leaves and wood debris.

The incessant whine increased, seeming to come from every where at once. Naruto turned in several directions, wishing for once for the sight and nose of his fox transformation. Hundreds of black and yellow bees burst into the open aimed directly at the blonde's tree. It took the second for Naruto's eyes to open fully to realise one of the enemy shinobi was a general bug user. The bees were swarming in rapidly but he knew he didn't have enough throwing weapons to combat the tiny pests. Well he could remedy the lack of supplies, so that was no problem. A hasty but entirely plausible idea struck the chuunin; he could find the magnetic guy while he defeated those bees.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu."

Suddenly there were hundreds of shuriken hurtling through the cloud of insects, slicing them cleanly in half. It was like a storm of blood and minute bodies surrounding the still island and originators of Naruto triplets. Sky blue orbs concentrated on the ever expanding circle of throwing stars as he anticipated the moment when steel collided. At the same time as numerous shuriken disappeared to be lost in the foliage, a single metallic twang rent the charged atmosphere from the opposite side of the circle. The two bunshin Narutos at the tree vanished in smoke for the boy was all over the revealed position of the ninja within seconds.

The young shinobi from Konoha flashed his battle grin when he saw the guy's shocked expression at the four shuriken that had not succumbed to his magnetic jutsu and abruptly turned into a black and orange clad Naruto. One of the previous weapons tackled the Sound's legs, knocking him clear of his perch. The other three followed closely behind to send him high into the air for one of the boy's personal moves. Naruto leapt above the enemy and gathered chakra to his leg before twisting into the kick.

"U-zu-ma-ki Naruto Rendan!"

He released the built up chakra and delivered the final blow with punishing force, five times stronger than normal. Naruto knew it was a clumsy effort that Sakura-chan would have ridiculed, but he was thankful that she had even decided to train him a little before the blonde had left for this mission. The body of the magnetic shinobi crashed past thick branches to reach the hard ground below; it was highly likely that the guy would never get up again.

Naruto landed on an unbroken limb for a moment and then jumped back into action headed for the known area of the last Sound he had neglected, since the chuunin still could not sense his chakra. He had only moved through several trees when blood splattered grey fur caught the edge of his vision. Kakashi lifted his muzzle towards the teen as Naruto dropped into a crouch beside him on the bough.

The jounin immediately released the transformation, knowing every minute counted to keep the mission on track. But Kakashi refused to give up his sense of humour to take a stab at Naruto.

"What took you so long?" the older shinobi asked.

Naruto almost saw red when he heard that annoyingly calm tone his sensei used, but he had known Kakashi long enough not to bite. The blonde ignored the question to raise one of his own.

"Where's the guy you were fighting?"

"Some where back there I suppose." Kakashi tipped his head back over his shoulder, careful not to over do it.

Naruto, however, saw the slight wince the jounin made with the movement. Concern seeped through his being as he bent to examine the blood covered uniform more closely. There was a gash across his left forearm and the arm was flaccid, though the boy hadn't been able to discern it straight away from the way the former ANBU had been holding it. The blonde shook his head and stood from his squat to help him. He placed his hand against Kakashi's left shoulder, grabbed the elbow in a firm grip and gently twisted the dislocated shoulder back into place. Kakashi rolled his eye at the admonishing expression his student threw at him once he was done with the injury.

"We've got to move. That bug user has left to get reinforcements and I don't want this reconnaissance mission to turn into a rescue because we got careless." Naruto just nodded and the jounin continued. "I spotted a cave where we can hole up about a kilometre back towards the town."

With that said, Kakashi led the blonde away from the battle marked zone to the somewhat relative safety of the so called cave. Naruto mulled over the reasons the jounin wanted to leave around in his mind while his feet instinctively found purchases amongst the vegetation as he followed. The blonde would have loved to pursue that last ninja but Kakashi was right, the mission had top priority over his grudge against the Hidden Sound.

It took several minutes for the Hidden Leaf ninja to reach a low hill covered with short stumpy trees - whose canopy did not achieve the same height as the surrounding forest, forming a shallow bowl in the greenery. Kakashi motioned with a hand and the pair descended to the ground. It was quite rocky at the base and there was a lot of thick scrub which the jounin immediately walked into. Naruto grumbled while he pushed past whippy twigs heavy with leaves that occasionally liked to whack the back of his head when he wasn't careful. So it was in typical Naruto style that the boy only noticed the opening once the earth gave out from under his feet.

Kakashi observed with mild amusement as Naruto squawked and tried to regain his balance; he tilted backwards and fell heavily on his butt, sliding downhill a little. The young chuunin gingerly got up and dusted the dirt off the seat of his orange pants.

"Don't you ever use those eyes of yours" Kakashi commented dryly before sauntering through the entrance and down the steep decline into the darkness.

Naruto glared at the retreating back then took a step as if to join him but his pride refused to prove the older shinobi right, instead his blue eyes wandered to the environment. There was a wall of foliage forming a semicircle in front of the entry and the stunted trees did not grow as thickly here. Naruto marvelled at the jounin's uncanny ability to see underneath any type of cover, the blonde would have needed to stop and look around a bit before finding this entrance. Now that he stared at it, the opening appeared like a natural fissure which had been broadened by human tools. Back in the forests of the Fire County usually there would be the distant calling of birds or even the background scuffles of the native animals, yet here it was unnaturally quiet save for the light wind disturbing the complacent vegetation.

A faint voice echoed back to the blonde. "Oi, you coming?"

The glare returned to pierce the darkness even though Naruto knew the silver haired ninja couldn't see it and marched inside. He moved slowly down the tunnel to let his eyes gradually adjust to the ever increasing lack of light, which was lucky for the sides, floor and low roof of the passage were quite rough. Naruto brushed his palm along the wall as he turned a soft corner in the tunnel, feeling the varied combination of stone and packed earth that made up the hard surface. He let the lumps of dirt crumble and fall from his fingers as little chunks broke away from their natural arrangement.

The blonde finally caught up to Kakashi at the end of the passageway that spilled outwards into a small, circular underground cave, probably eleven metres to the furthermost wall at a quick guess. What little amount of light that had managed to filter in from outside revealed a thin layer of dust and decaying foliage which littered the ground. It was safe to assume no human or animal would disturb the two shinobi any time soon.

Naruto dropped his backpack on the ground near the centre of the hollow and glanced back to Kakashi and his wounded arm. Blood was lightly clotting along the cut and stiffened the once green cloth as it dried. Behind that mask it didn't even look like the jounin was the slightest bit worried about the gash. The blonde dug around the inside of his pack to grab the item he was searching for and threw the roll of bandage at the tall man.

"I'm not going to be your nurse you know."

Kakashi didn't bother with a reply, instead the sound of ripping material echoed about the small cave. The former ANBU flipped the stained sleeve and a scroll from his vest at the teen. Naruto deftly caught the two objects, quickly swiping a thumb across the cloth and onto the expanse of the now open scroll. A puff of white smoke heralded the successful summoning of Kakashi's smallish but heavy pack, which incidentally Naruto dropped on his foot. Konoha's Number One loud ninja swore and kicked the offending bag in the direction of its owner where it landed half way between the pair.

"Aw, Naruto, did you have to do that?" Kakashi played.

Naruto glowered momentarily at the pack and then his sensei. "Hmph. You summon it next time."

"You still have to find wood for the fire."

He rolled his eyes as he approached the battered backpack to pull out the small axe. "When don't I get the wood" the chuunin grumbled and trudged back up the tunnel with the tool braced against his shoulder.

The jounin slipped from his standing position to discover a more comfortable spot on the hard ground. He carefully wiped the injury on his arm clean and securely wrapped it in the sterilised bandage one-handed. Kakashi gave him self a slight nod of approval once he was satisfied with the tightness of the dressing. A hand automatically pulled the ever-present orange book from his belt pouch and flipped it open to a well read page. But for once Kakashi's one good eye didn't trail across the page, focusing rather blindly on a single point.

They would rest a while in this deserted underground place until the silver haired man was more certain that the Sound shinobi that was surely on their tails, had been shaken somewhat. Next was to avoid running into any body else and returning to Konoha to report to the Hokage. The mission scroll did state the two ninja had one more place to scout but they had been in the Sound Country for a month already. The last communication of information had been sent back over a week and a half ago. Kakashi sighed and then allowed him self to be distracted wholeheartedly by his favourite novel.

Meanwhile, grumbling outside in the forest, Naruto already had the makings of a decent campfire and was now gathering a neat pile of spare fuel. He stayed close to the entrance but was cautious not to leave any obvious marks of his travels. It was about his fifth return trip when Naruto collected his timber booty and traipsed into the underground hollow, only to drop the lot once he spied Kakashi.

The blonde absently asked the air "Why me?" as he stacked a few logs on top of each other for the fire. After he was done, Naruto wiped the dirt off his palms along a trouser leg.

"Need help?" asked a voice in the blonde's ear and Naruto jumped. Startled, he swivelled to face the jounin, who had put down his reading and quietly crept up on him.

Even though the silver haired shinobi always moved quietly, Naruto never seemed very prepared when he made surprise appearances directly behind the boy. "Geez Kakashi, are trying to kill me?"

"I didn't think you would let me" Kakashi replied, waving a hand.

Naruto watched silently while the jounin exhaled chakra and created a little bit of Katon magic. "Hey sensei?"

"Yeah?"

"Will you teach me some Katon jutsus when we finish our mission?"

"Since when did you desire the knowledge to create fire?"

The chuunin stuck out his tongue. "You know I always want to learn new jutsus. I just," Naruto shifted his gaze from the older shinobi to the ground, "I never got around to asking before."

Ever observant, Kakashi noticed the flicker of pain behind those azure eyes when he had hesitated. Naruto must have wanted to learn Katon since when he was a Genin, most likely because that was his greatest rival's specialty. He could have asked Jiraiya-sama while on his two year training trip, yet he didn't. Sasuke abandoning Konoha really did hit Naruto hard if he was only now requesting for the jounin to train him in the ninjutsu.

"Eh," the former ANBU scratched a temple with an index finger. "I don't know Naruto. You might not have fire as a second element and your chakra control isn't crash hot."

Naruto pouted. "But I've improved a lot. Can I at least try?" he whined. "Please Kakashi-sensei, pretty please?"

Kakashi debated whether to tease Naruto and draw out his answer, but the knowledge that the disgustingly cute and watery puppy eyes would be next, pushed the argument in the boy's favour. "Alright. When we get back to the village we'll se if you can manipulate the fire element as well, though don't get your hopes up."

"Wah!" The blonde grinned outrageously. "Thanks Kakai-sensei!"

The silver haired ninja let the teen celebrate for a moment before getting serious. "Naruto." The boy in question caught the gravity in his tone and immediately calmed. "I'm calling an end to this mission."

"Why? I thought we had another village to visit."

"Our encounter with the Hidden Sound has made it too dangerous to continue." Kakashi pushed a grin past his worry. "Now go do something that doesn't use chakra while we wait."

"Hai."

Naruto shoved a hand back into Kakashi's pack and pulled out the things he would need to make tea then busied himself with heating the water. Once it could be left unsupervised for a little while, Naruto flopped down next to his own bag to pull a scroll from an outside pocket. The writing on the label announced that the scroll contained some kind of theory/information behind wind jutsu. Naruto knew well he didn't have a lot of experience with his own element and had resolved to gain enough skill to create variations of wind jutsu since Rasen Shuriken was off limits.

The two Konoha shinobi lapsed into silence as Naruto commenced his study and Kakashi did whatever it was he did when bored. Naruto didn't bother checking to see what he was doing, refusing to believe reading perverted books was the older man's one and only hobby, despite all evidence pointing to the contrary. The chuunin had almost finished memorising the last part of the scroll when the former ANBU passed a tea filled bamboo stalk along with a hunk of bread and hard cheese. Kakashi drank the last of his own tea before standing and flexing the muscles in his injured limb. The blonde watched the face of his sensei closely even though his back was turned towards Naruto.

"I'm going out to scout the forest for ninja. I won't be back until after dark."

"Don't expect me to wait up for you."

"When have you ever been awake for more than ten hours." Kakashi transformed and disappeared out the cave entrance in a flash of familiarly coloured fur, missing the scene of Naruto once again sticking out his tongue at the jounin's comment.

"Does he get an unholy kick out of teasing me?" the teen muttered into the silence. He received no response from the empty space; not that Naruto expected one, he was too used to it at his apartment for him to be fazed in a situation like this.

The crackling of the flames slowly ate at the atmosphere as the blonde watched the few fire-cast shadows dance on the stone ground. Without the presence of someone else around to entertain his mind, the loud mouthed ninja let his normal energetic self wane, along with the desire to complete his jutsu study. Naruto felt tired; the lacking rest of last night's troublesome nightmares must have caught up with him already. The blonde stretched out the kinks beginning to form in his upper back and neck from hunching over the scroll, a small yawn escaping his lips.

Naruto had no idea how much time had passed since they had fought with the enemy of the Hidden Sound. He found that he didn't really care all too much anyway for the sensible part of the chuunin's brain was telling him to take a catnap. Since Kakashi was out and he currently had nothing to do besides waiting, Naruto laid down on the earthy floor with his pack as a pillow. The contents of the bag had to be shoved around a little before it was comfy to the blonde's satisfaction. It didn't really matter anyway as Naruto was unconscious about thirty seconds after he stopped fidgeting, his breathing soft and calm for the moment.

. . . T B C . . .


Kai! - Release!
Katon - Fire element
Rasen Shuriken - Spiral shuriken

Um, please review, pretty please?