I DO NOT OWN NARUTO

Pairing Results so far for Naruto and Sasuke:

Naruto:

Fuu - 50

Single Pringle - 30

Well, I say it's fairly obvious who the winner is, don't you? :)

Sasuke:

Karin - 23

Single Pringle - 35

Well sh-t. I think I'll wait. . . 7 people have voted for Karin and Suigetsu - what do you think?

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"Stupid Akatsuki," Naruto seethed. "What do they think they are doing, going after her now?"

Kurama chuckled from within him. "Don't you think you are getting awfully wound up over this? I thought she was just another jinchuuriki to you."

"She IS just another jinchuuriki," Naruto snapped in annoyance.

"Then why are you so worked up?"

"I don't know, stop asking me such questions that you know I have no answer to! " Naruto growled.

Kurama chuckled. "You are such a child."

"Shut up. I need to go help them."

"Naruto-kun!" a female voice cried in relief when the blonde flashed into the area, his pupils turned to slits as his whisker marks emboldened. His clothes changed, golden flames licking from it as Naruto's whole appearance changed.

Naruto smirked. His Bijuu Mode was back.

"Utakata. Nice to see you again. You sure you should be up and fighting?" Naruto asked, not taking his golden eyes off the two Akatsuki members that were before him.

Utakata snorted softly.

"Kakazu and Hidan." Naruto's lips pulled back as he bared his new, elongated fangs. "It's been too long."

His golden eyes scanned their surroundings. Naruto's mind flashed through everything Shikamaru had told him about the Jashinist. The ground looked like it would crack easily under a chakra-enforced punch, and that cliff overhanging. . . if he could force Hidan to go underneath there and then bury him alive, that would be another Akatsuki member taken care of.

But what would he do with Kakazu? Kakashi couldn't even take down a heart without getting exhausted. What did that say about his chances against him?

The two Akatsuki members looked at him like he was crazy. "Have we met?" Kakazu drawled, caution making his body stiffen slightly.

"A kid?" Hidan looked at the blonde before jerking his chin up. "He'd make a nice sacrifice."

"Look, if I could take down Sasori and Kisame, then I can take you down too," the blonde snarled, making them gawk at him.

"You took down Sasori?!" Hidan shouted with wide eyes.

Naruto smirked. "Don't look it, do I?"

"Hidan. We should try to take him back to the base. I'm sure Deidara would like his fun with the brat for killing his partner," Kakazu said lowly.

Hidan's lips peeled back into a grin. "Well then, I'll take the girl for my sacrifice instead!"

Some sort of flame burned within Naruto when he heard that. Faintly, he could hear Kurama laughing as he cackled about how the two members were going to get "wrecked". Naruto couldn't help but agree.

'I wonder why I'm feeling this way. . .' Naruto thought in slight confusion. 'Did Yagura do something? Ah well, I'll ask him later. If he doesn't answer I'll ask Gaara.'

"I will say this once more - you are such a child," Kurama snickered.

"Kurama? Do you know what this feeling is? "

"Of course I do, Kit. Fuu's feeling towards you is the same as the feeling Gaara has for your sister."

"Comradery? "

"NO YOU IDIOT!"

"Then what? "

Kurama sighed at his host's obliviousness. "You know that Gaara loves Sakura, right?"

"Well, he didn't exactly hide it very well."

"Good, you know they love each other."

"WAIT WHAT?! "

Kurama face-pawed. "Were you not listening?!"

"I knew Gaara loved her, but they are BOTH in love with EACH OTHER?! " Naruto screamed.

"Yes now shut up! Fuu loves you and -!" Kurama's growling was abruptly cut off.

"Come now, Kurama. Don't let him know just yet, you'll spoil our fun," Isobu said cheekily, mentally communicating with the fox.

Kurama growled slightly, his lips pulling back into a toothy smirk. "Fine. Just this once."

"Brat, go back and fight. I need to think for a moment."

'Okay? ' Naruto shrugged and left the mindscape, ready to fight the Akatsuki.

"So," the blonde snarled, "which one of you wants to greet me first? Or do you both want to take me head-on?"

Hidan grinned wildly. "I'll take him, Kakazu. You focus on the other jinchuuriki."

"Oh really now. . .? Like hell you will!" Naruto roared, thousands of Naruto's appearing as he rushed in a flash of golden chakra, two Naruto's at each heart Kakazu bore. Faster than a Sharingan could see, the Naruto's tore apart the hearts they were targeting with a Massive RasenShuriken.

Hidan's mouth fell open as his partner was. . . annihilated. Within literally ten seconds.

"You're next. . . Hidan," Naruto's voice hissed dangerously.

Hidan pulled himself together, forcing a cocky smirk as he said, "Come at me, brat."

The golden-chakra-coated boy ran at him, a Rasengan already forming in his hand. Hidan narrowed his eyes and dashed past the seemingly-enraged-about-nothing jinchuuriki, managing to swipe his scythe at Naruto's back once as he dashed by.

The jinchuuriki skidded to a stop, snarling. He ran head-on at Hidan once more, making the Jashinist laugh to himself.

"Does he never learn, or even pause to strategise and analyse?"

An idea popped into Naruto's head, and he threw a Hiraishin kunai at Hidan's head. The Jashinist dodged calmly, a seemingly-permanent cocky smile on his face. Naruto let a smirk go on his own face as he teleported above Hidan and slammed a Rasengan into the "immortal" man's back.

Hidan let out a cry as he slammed into the ground, the jutsu tearing into him.

With a Shadow Clone's chakra-enforced punch scarily similar to Sakura's, a crack etched long and deep in the ground. Naruto flung Hidan into the crack, just as the Shadow Clone that had been waiting broke the overhanging cliff chakra-enforced kick. Dozens of boulders then tumbled down, crushing the Jashinist.

Naruto was only slightly panting, his rage simmering down. 'What the heck? Why did I get so angry? ' he thought in confusion.

"You idiot. You got angry because that Jashinist said he would use Fuu as a sacrifice. Don't you remember?"

"Nope."

A paw hitting a forehead was heard in the mindscape. "Baka~"

A hand on his shoulder jolted Naruto out of his mindscape, and he turned to see Utakata and Fuu beside him. His Bijuu Mode faded as he blinked his sudden dizziness away.

"Fuu, Utakata, are you both alright?"

Fuu blinked at the formal tone Naruto used, but nodded alongside Utakata. Naruto looked as if a weight was lifted off his shoulders as piercing, cerulean blue eyes swept over them, scanning for any injuries that they would have made the mistake of refraining from telling him.

Fuu was looking at his back, the cloth torn open by Hidan's earlier swipe. With all the fighting he had been doing, the tear had larger and unnoticed by its owner.

Naruto sighed, "And Hinata-chan had that made especially for me. . ."

Fuu swallowed the lump in her throat when she heard "Hinata-chan". She had realized her feelings for the blonde the minute Chomei had pulled her into her mindscape and explained the time-travelling mess.

Her amber eyes strayed to the many faded scar lines that decorated the blonde's back. "Um, Naruto-kun, your scars. . ."

'She's sounding way too much like the old Hinata-chan. . .' Naruto frowned slightly. He shook himself from his thoughts as he said, "They don't matter. We are shinobi, and more than that, we are jinchuuriki. These scars are nothing more than a symbol of the villager's hatred towards a jinchuuriki. We all bear scars, do we not? Mine are just more visible than most."

"Thank you. . . for coming."

"No problem, although I really should get going," Naruto said slightly distantly as his mind whirred with questions he was planning on asking Yagura.

Fuu looked slightly disappointed. "Oh. . . okay then."

Naruto said nothing, only vanishing in a flash of golden fire.

[In case you guys are wondering, Naruto can use either golden fire or a dark orange flash when he Hiraishin's. I couldn't make up my mind. . . so do you guys wanna choose for me?]

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"Hey, Yagura!" Naruto popped his head into the Mizukage office, making said Mizukage spit out his coffee in shock, his eyes turning into white saucers.

"Naruto!" the young man complained as he wiped his mouth. "Never do that again! Those papers were important, and you just made me spit out my coffee!"

Naruto stared at him like: (-_-)

"Um. . ." Yagura was slightly confused why he wasn't talking.

Naruto grew a tick mark as his eyebrow twitched. "Yagura. . . I don't give a crap about your papers."

Then he noticed something. . . and immediately covered his mouth with his hand, face twitching as he fought the urge. However a few minutes later the Mizukage finally gave up, throwing his head back as he burst out laughing. He leaned back so far that he accidentally fell off his chair, still laughing his head off.

"You. . ." Yagura gasped as he wiped a tear from his eye, "s-sorry. . . Naruto!"

Naruto growled, opening his Kyuubi-red eyes. "YOU SPIT YOUR COFFEE ALL OVER ME DAMNIT!" he roared, burying his fist on top of Yagura's head.

"Ow!" Yagura whined, clutching his head, rolling around pain. "Don't sneak up on me when I'm drinking next time!"

"How was I supposed to know you were drinking?!"

"Then don't sneak up on me in general!"

"I opened the f---ing door! How do you call that sneaking?! It wasn't like I popped up behind your chair or anything!"

"You didn't even knock!"

"You're a ninja, you're supposed to sense stuff!"

"I only sense danger!"

"What kind of ninja only senses danger?!"

"Oh I don't know. . . someone who isn't a sensory ninja?!" Yagura screamed as he and Naruto clashed foreheads.

"Ninjas can also sense chakra signatures! I thought you were the Mizukage!"

"I AM the Mizukage!"

"Then you should be able to sense chakra signatures!"

"You were hiding your -"

"Am I interrupting something. . .?" a tentative voice came from the broken doorway, Utakata standing there as he blinked at them.

"Utakata, welcome back," Yagura smiled as he and Naruto stood upright. "Naruto, you owe me a door," he glared at the jinchuuriki who huffed as he crossed his arms and looked away.

"Whatever, I have some questions for you."

"Considering what just happened earlier, I don't think I'm inclined to reply to any of them."

"Geez, what a prick. . ." Naruto muttered to himself.

"I can hear you," Yagura called from where he had sat himself calmly back into his seat behind the desk.

"Why did I get angry when Hidan said he was going to sacrifice Fuu?" Naruto asked, ignoring the purposefully bored look on the Mizukage's face.

Yagura, who had taken yet another gulp from his coffee, immediately spit it all over Utakata, who simply stood there as a wave of coffee hit him right in the face.

"What did you just say?!" Yagura yelled with wide eyes, the brown liquid still dribbling down his chin and dropping on the already-coffee-splattered papers.

"So I take it you're finally done?" Naruto asked in amusement, shooting Utakata a sympathetic smile, the latter still having his eyes closed as he stood as still as stone.

"Yeah. . . sorry about that Utakata," Yagura apologized sheepishly as he wiped his mouth for the second time that day. Utakata simply sighed as he wiped his face and chest with his kimono sleeve, frowning at the brown stains.

"So Yagura, about my question," Naruto interjected.

Yagura sighed, crossing his arms as he fell back into his chair. "You're not seriously asking me why your body is reacting, are you? Naruto, I have no idea what's going on in that head of yours, so why are you asking me when I couldn't possibly find an answer for you?"

"Why can't you? I mean you're older than me, you have more experience, more knowledge, surely you would know what's happening to me."

"Naruto, the question you are asking is answered by both yes and no. I don't have an answer for you because, well, I'm not you. But on the other side, I do know why you're feeling this way, and what your feeling is. However, it's not up to me to tell you. This is something you have to figure out yourself, just as many others have done before you. Like Fuu has."

Naruto frowned. "I'm not asking you why I reacted like that, I'm asking why I got angry when the Jashinist said he was going to sacrifice Fuu."

Yagura facepalmed. "That's essentially the same thing. Isn't just like you said? The Jashinist said he would sacrifice Fuu, so you got angry. Isn't that what you just said, what made you angry?"

"This was a different type of angry," Naruto insisted.

"Different how?"

"I wanted to tear him to shreds, but also make him die painfully and slowly, just for saying that."

Yagura sighed once more before stating bluntly, "You're possessive."

"Possessive?" Naruto looked shocked. "Possessive of what?"

"Of whom," Yagura corrected.

"Okay then, possessive of whom? "

Yagura facepalmed again. "Most people would get the hint, Naruto, but clearly you are a special case!"

Naruto tipped his head sideways, confused. "Huh?"

"You're feeling possessive of Fuu," Utakata clarified, having decided to step in and try clear things up for his dense jinchuuriki friend.

"Why?"

"You got angry when the Akatsuki member said he was going to sacrifice Fuu, right? Well, to put it simply. . . Fuu's special."

"Special how?" Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"Fuu is special to you. Think of her like. . . a precious person, although you feel differently about her than your other precious people."

"Why would I feel different?"

Yagura was about to pull his hair out and scream in frustration, but Utakata pierced him immediately with his eyes, the look in them that screamed at him to stay away.

"I'll take care of this, you hothead."

Yagura growled mentally. "I'm not a hothead."

"Sure, whatever floats your boat."

"I don't have a boat."

"It's figurative language, idiot."

"Who are you calling an idiot?! I'm the Mizukage! "

"And. . .? "

"You're disrespecting me! "

"*sigh* Yagura, you are so childish I wonder why they picked you as Mizukage. Anyway, I have to get back to Naruto. Talk later."

"Hey, I'm not done with -"

Utakata had Saiken cut the mental link mid-sentence as he turned to fully face Naruto. "You feel differently with her because she's what some people would call "soul mate"."

"My soul is split in two?" Naruto asked dumbly.

'How much am I going to have to dumb things down for this boy? I thought he was smart,' Utakata groaned mentally. "Naruto, have you ever loved someone?"

"Well yeah, I mean I love my siblings and stuff. . ." Naruto looked confused.

"That's a different type of love. . . you see some people love another person so much they would die for them. It's what we call "romantic love". It's when two people get together and then they pretty much spend the rest of their lives together."

"Huh? What's so different about that love?" Naruto was severely confused. "I love my siblings, and I would die for them. Pretty sure we're also gonna live the rest of our lives together too. But I don't really get the two people part. We're a three-man team, and always have been," Naruto stated with a proud grin.

Utakata inhaled and exhaled through his nose, resisting the urge to pinch it. "You'll understand when you get older," he said somewhat tiredly. "For now, all you have to do is make sure that Fuu is okay, and try not to explode when someone threatens her."

"Um, okay?"

"Good, you at least understand that," Yagura rolled his eyes, leaning forward as he leaned his elbows on his desk. "If you want more information, we're not the people you're looking for. The ones who may have the answers you want would be the people closest to you, like your family. They could explain this better than we ever could."

"Oh, okay. Thanks though. . ." Naruto smiled slightly at them, mind gears whirring as he flashed out of the office.

The two men just stared at the spot where he had been before Yagura broke the silence with a groan, rubbing his temples.

"Kami that boy is dense. I hope he's not coming to us for answers anymore."

"I am going to go take a bath," the Six-Tailed Slug's jinchuuriki stated simply as he walked out of the office.

"Sorry Utakata!" Yagura called after him, to which said jinchuuriki waved a dismissive hand over his shoulder.

"Stupid, dense, idiotic brat," Yagura muttered under his breath, glaring at the brown-stained papers in front of him, "he made me get the paperwork all wet and frustrated me so much I wanted to kill him."

A knock on the door made him glance up in slight annoyance. "Who is it?"

"It's me."

Yagura's eyes widened, standing up so abruptly his chair toppled over. He hadn't heard that voice in months. Or was it years? His train of thought was cut off when the door hesitantly creaked open.

Who do you think it is? Any guesses? :)

Anyway, in case you didn't bother to read my A/N: up there, I need votes. The poll is about Naruto's Hiraishin afterflash.

- Golden flame flash

- Dark orange flash

Thank you ~ !