A few days passed since then and from what Tsunade received from another letter, Suna was sending Temari along with a small delegation to discuss the prisoner transfer and how Temari will be living here along with being a ambassador between both Suna and Konoha.

They were informed that they will arrive in Konoha, in 5 days from now to discuss then set a date for the prisoner transfer.

"Ugh so much paperwork I have to personally go over and can't have a clone do it" Tsunade grumbled as she continued to read a envelope that she herself needed to read and not a clone.

Off in the other room, she has 3 shadow clones doing all the non critical paperwork.

Her eyes then caught something from a report from an Anbu squad, rumors about two individuals wearing black cloaks with red clouds on them, walking through a small town towards Konoha out near the border with Ame two days ago. Her mind began to recall something that Jiraiya mentioned a while back, when it finally clicked.

The Akatsuki wore those cloaks and they were after the Jinchuriki.

"ANBU!!" She yelled standing up.

"Hai" four Anbu immediately appeared before her kneeling.

"Put the village in high alert and I want every Jonin on the look out for figures with black cloaks with red clouds on them, also round up 3 or 4 squads of Anbu and bring Naruto and Fuu here immediately!!" She yelled.

They were about to do what she said, when a massive explosion went off outside the walls and they could all now sense lots of chakra.

"Naruto.." she smashed through her window and jumped down into the village before racing towards the smoke collum "damnit Jiraiya why did you have to go and spy on Oto now!!".

___

(5 minutes ago)

Naruto was in one of the further training grounds away from Konoha so he doesn't bother the people inside the village with his training or jutsus.

He was going through his katas when he noticed that something seemed off and it felt as if someone was watching him, turning his head he didn't see anyone, but that only put him more on edge.

"Kekeke look at this Itachi" said a voice making Naruto whip his head around seeing two figures standing a distance away.

It was a large man with a black robe with red cloud markings all over it. He had a head band for Kiri, with a scratch on it showing he was a rouge ninja. But what's most notable about the man was his appearance is his pale blue skin with six black markings on his face and shoulders, that appear to be gills, and razor-sharp teeth. He also has a giant sword on his back that was wrapped in bandages.

The second man was a fairly tall man of fair complexion. He had red sharingan eyes, under which were long, pronounced tear-troughs. He had jet-black hair that was pulled back in a low ponytail and his face was framed with centre-parted bangs. The rest of his face was hidden by his collar which was the same as his partners cloak but he had a slashed Konoha forehead on his head.

"Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki" said Naruto as sweat began to build up on the side of his head from nervousness.

"Hehehe look at that Itachi, we're famous" said Kisame with a dark chuckle, finding it humorous.

"...".

"Oh well, not like it matters, now we can do this the easy way or the fun way?" Said Kisame "come with us quietly or I'll cut off your legs and drag you".

"I'm sorry but my grandma said I shouldn't follow people that I don't really know" said Naruto as he tried to think of a way out of this situation given he was staring at 2 S class ninja.

Itachi looked at him and set a visual genjutsu which Narutos seal tattoos immediately noticed and flared Kuramas and his stored chakra, disrupting it.

"Hn interesting way to block genjutsus Naruto-kun" said Itachi finally speaking "now please come with us, our boss wants to meet you".

"Oh and why's that?".

"Kekeke I'll tell ya what brat" said Kisame stepping forward "I can tell ya ain't gonna come quietly, so if you land one real cut on me that draws blood I'll tell you why".

Itachi took a step back to give his partner more room to work with, while Naruto wondered if he even could land a scratch on him. Kakazu was one thing given he was using Kuramas chakra and he was distracted by two A class ninja, but Kisame is a completely different monster given his nick name is the tailless tailed beast.

"Not really fair but I don't think I'll get any better options" said Naruto nervously as he started to gather chakra for a jutsu "but before that I do have one question for you Itachi".

Itachi just continued to stare at him.

"Why did you have to such an annoying younger brother... he's arrogance reincarnated and has a log shoved so far up his ass, it's never seen the light of day" said Naruto.

"...".

"Hehehe sorry kid but he ain't gonna answer you" said Kisame.

"Worth a shot, 'FIRE STYLE GREAT FIREBALL JUTSU!'" A massive Fireball taller than Kisame shot out of his mouth heading towards them both and Kisame just chuckled and cut it in half with his sword like it was nothing.

"Oooh your getting Samehada excited, she can't taste your chakra and she wants to eat it all" said Kisame with a larger fanged grin. He then lifted said sword that was wriggling around from how the bandages were moving.

"Obviously Ninjutsu won't work but hey, if it can give me distance I'm willing to keep throwing jutsus" Naruto thought as he watched as Kisame did his own hand signs.

"Water Style: water shark bomb jutsu!" A massive shark made of water shot out of his mouth at Naruto, who quickly clapped his hands together before slamming them on the ground.

"Wood style: wood wall" a massive wall of wood shot out of the ground and tanked the entire brunt of the attack, but Kismame smashed through the wall with Samehada like it was nothing. He then swung it hitting Naruto dead on making him go flying, but he turned out to be a shadow clone.

"Oh? This is even more interesting" said Kismae standing up and looking around.

"No offense to either of you but I'm one of the strongest sensors in Konoha and I sensed you guys before you got to the field" said Naruto up in a tree.

"Oh? And why didn't you just run?" Said Kisame.

"Well that's quiet simple.. I knew you two would've followed me into the village itself, besides the village is about to get a signal anyway" said Naruto with a foxy grin.

Just then a hand shot out of the ground and grabbed Kisames leg, before the clone pulled himself up "Super clone exploding jutsu!".

A massive explosion ripped through the entire area destroying the entire training ground from the amount of chakra, Naruto pumped into the clone and he handed explosive notes meant for destroying fortresses to it for good measure.

He then looked up and saw Itachi still standing in place staring at him as if he didn't just watch his partner get blown up.

But that's when he noticed something... the tattoo on his right arm never stopped burning, meaning that a genjutsu was still present.

Quickly flaring his chakra as wildly as he could, it shattered the real genjutsu over him revealing nothing changed except that Kisame was standing next to Itachi with a large smile on his face.

"Kekeke now I see why you decided to cast a multi layer genjutsu" said Kisame walking forward.

"Ok that's not terrifying at all... I'll have to update my tattoo seals" Naruto thought to himself.

"Kisame end this fight quickly, with that amount of chakra released and that explosion its likely that other ninja are coming to investigate" said Itachi.

"Fine.. sorry kid, but I'm gonna make this fast" said Kisame.

Naruto stared at him and pulled out his sword the Shinigamis blade and instantly the area had a slight feeling of dread and death coat the entire training ground.

Samehada immediately began wiggling, not in excitement, but in fear since she could still feel the scars on her body from what that blade did to her all those years ago and the fact that they never healed properly.

"I recognize that blade and so does Samehada.. hehehe I guess the rumors were true and you do truly wield it" said Kisame.

Both of them stared at one another before he seemingly disappeared and appeared infront of Naruto at speeds only high A and above could track.

Naruto only managed to block the blow by sheer instinct, if he didn't then who knows how much damage it would've done to him.

Getting blasted back by the sheer strength, he tried to look up but had to tank another powerful swing that cracked the ground under him like it was nothing. As he blocked it he looked up seeing Kisame smirk as he did a single hand sign.

"Water Style: water shot gun jutsu".

A blast of water shot out of his mouth hitting Naruto dead on sending him back, but he quickly recovered and did a total of five hand signs shocking Kisame and getting a slight eyebrow raise from Itachi.

"Water Style: Water dragon jutsu!!" From thin air a massive water dragon appeared and shot forward at Kisame who grinned at seeing this and quickly cut it in half, but then saw 3 explosive notes.

"Ooh? Smart" he commented as they exploded, sending him further back.

Senses honed in from decades of fighting now, told him to turn which he did and blocked the Shinigamis blade with ease, despite Samehada wriggling in fear and hate.

"Gotta say kid your starting to actually get me excited, but you still ain't strong enough" he said annoying Naruto.

With Itachi his sharingans saw multiple chakra signatures racing towards them so he knew they had to wrap this up, but he still needed to instill fear into Naruto to make him work harder to get strong enough. Since if Kisame was serious, he would've been captured before the fight even started.

"Kisame" he said.

"Ugh fine" Kisame grumbled as he jumped back confusing Naruto before he himself noticed Konoha ninja plus Tsunade and Yugao were racing towards them.

"I have a message for you Naruto-kun" said Itachi.

He turned his head to ask, but as soon as he did he was met with a different pattern of Sharingan and heared a single world spoken.

"Tsukuyomi".

___

Naruto opened his eyes to a world that he could only describe as hell. The ground and trees were pitch black while the sky was blood red and he himself seemed to be both gray and black given the shades of his clothes.

"Now we can talk Naruto-kun" said Itachi making Naruto jump and turn around with his arms raised to fight.

Itachi didn't show it outwardly but he was at least amused to see that reaction.

"Your not strong enough and I wish you no harm, merely talk" he said.

"You and your friend have a weird way of showing it... and why do you want to talk... you said you wanted to capture me" said Naruto.

"Tell me Naruto-kun, if we really wanted to capture you, don't you think we would've and no one would've known till it was too late" he said bringing cold hard logic to him.

That did make Naruto think... for S class missing ninja that were feared the world over... they went really easy on him.

"So then why?".

"We came for a multitude of reasons, but the ones that concern you is to warn you and gage your strength. While you may be strong against your classmates and most Chunin and some Jonin, your still weak compared to season A class ninja and S class" he said.

Now Naruto was really confused why he was telling him this and why it sounded like encouragement.

As if reading his mind, Itachi spoke "me and Kisame work for your grandfather as spies for an organization of entirely S class ninja who want to capture the tailed beats".

"Both of you are his spies?" Said Naruto honestly shocked.

"Yes and in time if your grandfather sees it, he'll inform you why for me, but for Kisame it's simply because Jiraiya told him that he could get the chance to fight someone who might one day reach Hashirama Senjus level" said Itachi.

"Gee thanks toad-jiji I truly appreciate you using me as a bargaining chip" said Naruto sarcasticly.

"That's just how the world works and it was the only reason why Kisame joined, if not for that then he would've tried to kill him" said Itachi.

"Well I guess I have another reason to get stronger" said Naruto.

"Yes and in 3 and a half years we shall be making our move to start capturing the tailed beasts given in Kiri the 3 tails host just died" said Itachi.

This made Narutos eyes go wide since he didn't hear anything about that from anyone.

"It happened two days ago by the combined efforts of the rebel forces to finally kill him" said Itachi.

"Well at least the civil war is over... do you have anymore massive bomb shells to drop on me" said Naruto.

"...Madara Uchiha is alive".

".....what?".

"He is alive and running my organization from the shadows while he acts like a fool from a member named Tobi" said Itachi.

Naruto couldn't believe what he was hearing at he could feel Kurama rithing in rage from hearing this... Madera Uchiha is alive.

"That is all I have to say for now, but remember what I said, you must train more to get stronger or else next time we will 'succeed' or even worse, our leader will send a different team to do and won't pull any punches" said Itachi.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Naruto collapsed to one knee panting hard from strain of the Tsukuyomi being used on him.

"Hehehe guess I'll ha-" Kisame stopped mid sentence as violent red chakra shot out of Naruto and shattered the ground making both of them jump back to dodge. They then watched as two tails coated themselves around Naruto guarding him while the third was ready to strike.

"Kurama calm down.." Naruto groaned out as he looked at the two with now blood red eyes with slitted pupils.

Kisame actually felt a shiver go up his spine as he instinctively gripped his sword tighter while Itachi found himself before the tailed beast and the message was clear for both of them in that very second.

You touch him and I'll kill you.

"We must leave now, Tsunade and other Konoha ninja are coming" Itachi said before both of them took off to escape before they could escape.

Naruto watched the leave and not even 10 seconds later, Tsunade, Yugao and multiple squads of Anbu filled the area.

"Naruto what happened?" Said Tsunade kneeling down before him to look him in his eyes.

"...I has a run in with Itachi and Kisame" he said.

Her eyes went wide before she snapped to the anbu "SECURE THE VILLAGE! I DONT EVEN WANT ONE STONE UNTURNED IN MAKING SURE THE VILLAGE IS SAFE!!.

"HAI HOKAGE-SAMA!!!" The Anbu yelled as half of them left, leaving only 4 squads left to protect her and Naruto.

"Bachan... we need to get home.. I have something serious to tell you about" he said looking at her.

She looked at him and nodded her head knowing that whatever this was, they couldn't risk anyone, not even Anbu hearing it.

___

A couple miles outside of the village now was Itachi and Kisame staring at it from a distance.

"Hehe brat is good but like I said, he's got a long way to go" said Kisame with his arms crossed and stared at the village.

Itachi was more silent than normal because of one sole reason, the clone he sent to look at Sasuke finally desummoned itself and he was honestly hurt... he's letting the darkness in him twisting him into something that barely resembled his brother, it was twisted by years of Yes men and people over inflating his ego.

"So what now Itachi?" Said Kisame.

"We wait and hope that this will he the push he needs to get stronger or else we will have to kill him to stop the Akatsuki for a long time" he said standing up and walking away.

"Hehe for a cold blooded killer, you can be nice ya know that".

"Hn".

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"So what did you think Naruto wanted to talk to us about?" Said Fuu as she trailed her hand over the spot he kissed her a couple days ago.

"I think... he wanted to confess to us.. but has been to busy with training and missions.. not to mention princess over here" said Akane in a bit of jealousy glaring Kayo who was reading a book about the history of the Uzumaki clan.

"Huh? What about me?" She asked looking at her.

"You've been fucking taking lots of Narutos free time shit head" said Tayuya.

Kayo narrowed her eyes, she may not he a kunochi like them, but she wasn't gonna let them start and try to push her around "I haven't seen Naruto in years so sorry if I've been a bit clingy lately. Also lots of my time with him is talking about the village more or the letters my grandfather gives for me to do while here. So don't you three go and think you can walk over me since I have no chakra! I may be weaker than all of you, but when it comes to politics and other related objects I'm far ahead of all of you" she said.

Lightning was going off between the four girls while Akanes mom and Karin watched all of this play out.

Before a fight could really break out between them, the door opened and Naruto walked in with Tsunade leading him up stairs and Yugao stopping at the stairwell and letting out a sigh at feeling like she already failed her one job now.

"Yugao-San whats wrong?" Asked Karin seeing her depressed state.

"...... Naruto-Sama was attacked by the Akatsuki just a minute ago and I failed to be with him, to protect him" she said looking down in shame.

"That's not your fault, you can't always be with him, especially when he asked you to enjoy a day off" said Fuu.

"I know but I swore to protect him and I failed... he was fighting two S class ninja by himself while I was just spending a date with Hayate...".

They all looked at the depressed woman and they couldn't exactly understand how she was feeling, they could at least sympathize with her and tell her that she just has to trains harder to get stronger.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"This is just becoming to much..." said Tsunade with her hands on her face, holding it.

Naruto told her everything about the fight and talks he had and safe to say, his grandma wasn't taking it too well.

"Madara is alive, the two Akatsuki agents who just attacked you are double agents, an entire organization of S class ninja are getting ready to capture all the Jinchuriki and tailed beasts, Kiri civil war ends, you have to strong enoughto fight them all... do you have anything else to tell me?" She said hoping that was it.

"Itachi said that Kisame only agreed to be a double agent since I might be on par with great great grandfather Hashirama" said Naruto.

"Oh course which means you now have to get even stronger!" She said annoyed that all of this was happening.

After she said that, they sat in silence for 5 whole minutes before she sighed and stood up.

"I will be back in the kage tower and I'll look for a mission for you once Temari arrives, so you two can spend time together" said Tsunade "Oh also stop beating around the bush and tell the others how you feel".

"I... I'll do it" he said with a sigh.

"Good because they deserve a answer and how obvious Akane and Fuu love you" she said standing up and leaving.

As she left, she told those two that Naruto wanted to talk to them in his office and before she even left the yard, she heard two loud screams of happiness from outside.

"I'm sorry you have to go through so much Naruto... but please keep enjoying life while you can.. it feels like this are gonna get a bit better before they get truly worse" said Tsunade to herself quietly.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Ahhh so good to be back in my own skin" said Orochimaru stretching his limbs around.

His eyes then caught sight of his most loyal follower who was in a embryonic tank to stave off his disease.

"Hmm truly to bad you had that disease of you'd be the perfect candidate after Sasuke" he said before letting out a sick life at how he was going to get everything he wanted so very soon.

"Kukuku once those eyes are mine, my dreams will be accomplished" he said before disappearing deeper Into the lab to begin creating birthing chambers for all the future Uchiha babies he will have farmed for him to be his next host.

"Hehe so soon" he chuckled one last time.

___

Chapter 41: Temari And The Land Of Snow. Is available on Patreon.