Fullmetal Alchemist, Naruto 1. The Cost of Living

**Disclaimer**

Naruto characters and references belong to Misashi Kishimoto  
Fullmetal Alchemist characters and references belong to Hiromu Arakawa  
Original Characters characters are mine.

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**Naruto Hurricane Alchemist Chapter 0: The Cost of Living**

As the rain continued to pour down on the now silent battlefield a Silver haired shinobi along with a small dog adorning the Konoha leaf headband, landed on the ground as his exposed eye looked mournfully at the only remains of his young charges. "Too late!" He looked away as he saw a badly scarred, limp and lifeless arm in a torn orange jacket.

Pakkun sniffed the scarred headband on the ground "It's Sasuke's" Pakkun said in a low, disappointed voice.

"Then it goes without saying whom the other Hitai-ate belonged to." He walked over to the Naruto's jacket and Hitai-ate and bundled it together and carried it in his arms after placing Sasuke's headband in his equipment pouch "I'm sorry Naruto that I didn't arrive here on time knowing you; you really gave it your all. "The Jonin struggled to fight back a wave of emotions as he gazed upon at the statues before him, while the only remains of his own sensei's son, soaked the orange jacket with blood. "I failed again sensei, I'm sorry." Then leaped up the cliff face and headed into the forest back towards Konoha.

******Konoha hospital******

After finish healing the Hyuga, Tsunade's assistant Shizune came sprinting out of the emergency room, but instead of pride and joy her face was sombre and calm "Hokage-sama! Hyuga Neji is out of the Danger Zone and one more thing Hatake, Kakashi has returned, however Uzumaki Naruto…" her voice trailed off, even thinking about the young boy's death was hard to comprehend let alone accept.

Tsunade immediately turned on her heal and bolted towards the morgue with Shizune following close behind "No." She threw the door open and saw Kakashi with his head hung low with his back to the two women, slowly Tsunade walked over to the autopsy table timidly afraid of what she may find.

Shizune looked at the ground absently, she already had the unfortunate privilege of seeing what remained of the once energetic and carefree boy. "All he could find was Naruto's right arm, jacket and Hitai-ate." Her voice was almost inaudible, the black haired kunoichi knew that seeing the scarred remains would be harder on her mentor especially after she gave Naruto the 'cursed' necklace and once again the recipient had been taken by death, but unlike before that particular item was no where to be seen.

"This was all that was left?" The fifth said in dry voice as she placed her hands on either side of the pasty white arm that had yet to be removed from the orange and blue jacket.  
Kakashi nodded his head slowly before answering "Yeah, the body was swept away by the lake's current; even with his healing rate the damage Sasuke inflicted would have caused some problems." He balled his hand into fists, he now regretted teaching the Uchiha that technique and not keeping a better eye on him.

"Are you sure that it was Sasuke?" Tears welled up in Tsunade's eyes and fell down her cheeks until finally dripping on to the autopsy table

.  
"The scarring left on Naruto's arm is proof enough; it's similar to that of the Chidori and the fact that Sasuke's Hitai-ate was left behind near the remains further implicates his guilt." he said with venom evident in his voice, while his balled fists shook by his sides.

The receptionist at the front desk of the hospital had told her that neither Sasuke or Naruto had been checked in, but she remembered that she definitely saw Kakashi enter the hospital and when the Tsunade and her assistant Shizune rushed into an isolated room her curiosity had been piqued "It-it can't be true." A rose haired kunoichi with emerald green eyes heard the conversation in its' entirety and walked with a pale face. All of the implications that were being pinned on Sasuke and the murmurs of Naruto's death were taking a toll on Sakura's psyche; she had to know for herself if the rumours were true she had to see for herself.

"Sakura?" Kakashi looked over his shoulder to see his only remaining pupil standing at the door in a half daze, slowly walking up to the table where Tsunade was leaning over sobbing quietly "You shouldn't be in here!" the copy cat nin tried to hold the young girl back but she struggled free. "Don't look!" he tried again to no avail as the kunoichi shrugged him off.

The pink haired kunoichi stumbled forward next to Tsunade and her emerald eyes widened in fear when her gaze met the served arm of the young blonde, the flesh although scarred by Sasuke's chidori was a sickenly translucent, as flesh and muscle hung loosely from where it had once been connected to the shoulder, the hand was scarred the worst, with torn and mangled fingers were disjointed and pointing at odd angles. "No" Sakura said in a shocked, low voice bringing a hand to her mouth as she shook her head, walking backwards in disbelief "This has to be a joke? Sasuke-kun wouldn't do something like that. That's it-it's a nightmare? A genjutsu? It can't be, he can't be…Naruto can't be dead. He's always pulled through." She backed into a wall and slid down, disillusioned by what she had just seen. Her perfect view of Sasuke had been shattered, first he slapped the food she had prepared out of her hand and picked a fight with Naruto at the hospital, then abandoned her and the village for Orochimaru and now, now he had killed his own team mate no someone who was like a brother to him. Tears cascaded down her cheeks more freely than they had for the raven-haired boy.

The silver haired jonin walked over to the young kunoichi and gently shook her trying to snap the girl out of her shock "Sakura! Get a hold of yourself! He's dead, he died trying to bring Sasuke back…but he wasn't strong enough…I didn't get there in time." He said apologetically, Sakura blinked with sorrow filled eyes and got to her feet shaking her head to Kakashi, indicating that he didn't have to apologize.

Three days after the funeral the sky continued to rain and like Konohamaru, Sakura didn't feel any better hoowever not wanting to anyone to worry about her she kept up appearances, but it was just a mask to hide the pain and the nagging feeling of guilt. _Why does it still hurt so much? Why does it hurt more than it did with Sasuke?_ She clutched her chest as she walked the corridors of the Hokage mansion _All I did was cry for. I just cried, and reached out, and clung to you…I did nothing and now your gone. You gave me something that I always took for granted and that was courage and strength. I'm not going to let that gift go to waste anymore_ she knocked on the door before her and waited for a reply.

"Enter!" Came a gruff, commanding voice from the other side of the door.

She opened the door and stared at the blonde woman before her with determined eyes "I've come to ask you a favour." Even if the hokage said no straight away, she would stand her ground and not move until she was accepted.

"Yes?" The Hokage's hazel eyes stared intently at the kunoichi in front of her desk amused by Sakura's boldness.

"Please…" the pinkette started "Take me on as your apprentice!" her eyes had the same look as Naruto's had, when he stated that he would master the Rasengan in three days.

The Godaime sighed at the memory then smiled softly at the girl whole-heartedly "Haruno Sakura. I have heard from Kakashi that you are clearheaded and are able to perservere." she said in an authoritative voice "Fine I'll take you on. But this is not going to be easy, you understand?" Tsunade said with finality

Sakura expected the hokage to put up some sort of resistance, but she wasn't going to turn back now "Y...yes, ma'am!" she saluted promptly.

******Three miles inside Ta no Kuni******

A lone figure walked down a dirt path that followed the river from the Valley of the End, dressed in a black trench coat the man looked up at the sky and sighed at the poor whether.

"Will this rain ever let up? Huh?" he looked over at the river when he saw a muddy figure lying face down against the bank, immediately without hesitation the brunette bolted down the slope, slipping and sliding as his boots tried to get a firm grip on the bank "Hold on kid!" he called out hoping that the boy was still alive "He's lost a lot of blood but he still has a pulse." He took off his coat revealing a navy blue military uniform and wrapped the blonde haired boy in the coat before carrying him back up the hill "That means I need to create a shelter." He shook his head at his rotten luck, but he was relieved that he'd have an excuse to get out of the rain.

Three hours later Naruto awoke to find himself in a log cabin, he heard the familiar sound of flames crackling and sat up slowly, still feeling a little dazed from his fight with Sasuke and saw a stone fireplace and what looked to be a uniformed man sitting with a leg across his lap while in a wooden chair at the foot of his bed while reading a small, thick hard cover book with brass edges. "Ugh-Where am I?" He went to grab his forehead with his right hand but was only rewarded with a sharp pain that echoed though out his entire body "I remember now." he grabbed the bandaged stump as he replayed the fight with Sasuke in his mind.

The man's turquoise eyes followed the murmurs to the bed the boy was laying in and snapped his book shut "So you're awake small fry? Good now I don't have to put you in a shoebox." He said arrogantly walking over to the boy.

There was a crackle from the fireplace as the blonde's eye twitched when the chestnut haired officer called him short and immediately stood on the bed pointing an accusing finger "Who are you calling small you jerk, why I ought to…" the officer placed a hand on the blonde's head while the boy flailed his left arm about punching the air.

He sighed when the boy slumped back onto the bed "Sorry about the accommodation it isn't exactly the Ritz but it'll keep the rain off our heads at least." He pointed to the window with his left thumb.

Naruto looked out the window and droplets of water on the glass and a steady flow of rain coming from the heavens above, his attention was slightly stolen by the navy blue jacket hanging off the chair the man had been sitting in, a gold lanyard was attached to the left breast pocket the jacket and hanging loosely off the arm on the right breast were two rows of bars that signified his rank, it had blue epaulettes with gold bars and stripes and the collar was adorned with a silver lapel insignia which depicted a rampant dragon. He frowned then looked back at the man "Who are you?" he asked.

"I'm Major Lucas Blackburn, the Steel Fortress alchemist." He pulled out a silver pocket watch from his trouser pocket for the blonde to see then put it back. "If it weren't for me you would have floated out to sea and be giving the sharks indigestion by now." The blonde growled at that comment "I gave you my name, so how about telling me yours?" He stood there with his arms folded waiting patiently.

The boy's cerulean eyes looked away. "N…Naruto Uzumaki." The words tasted bitter in is mouth he felt that he didn't deserve to keep his own name anymore.

Lucas frowned at the boy "I need more than that."

"I'm-I'm a Genin from Konohagakure." He said hesitantly

The major walked over to the chair and picked up his now dry jacket and began buttoning it up "Then once the rain stops I'll escort you back to your village" he then slipped on the black trench coat.

"NO! I-I can't go back" Naruto slammed his left hand on the bed and pleaded with chestnut haired major.

Lucas looked over his shoulder to the Jinchuuriki, concerned "Why?" he said calmly

"I had a hard life there and I made a promise to save someone, but I failed and I can't bear to see their face. I doubt I'll be missed" The blonde admitted.

Blackburn shrugged as he continued to get ready to head to the nearest port. "If that is your choice, then I can't force you to go back if you don't want to."

Naruto gritted his teeth and started to shake in desperation "I have to become stronger, I have to keep my promise." He thought aloud

The rain began to let up and now was just a light summer rain. "Then aren't you just contradicting yourself?" the officer stopped at the door.

"THERE HAS TO BE ANOTHER WAY WITHOUT HAVING TO GO BACK!" He screamed.

Blackburn sighed "Normally they don't accept kids, but with some training and luck I'm sure they'll make an exception." The young man scratched his head after an amusing thought crossed his mind, something that hadn't been done in quite awhile.

"Naruto looked at the major quizzically tilting his head to the side "What are you talking about?"

"Well you want to become strong, right? Then why don't you become a state alchemist like myself? We have access to the best resources available" Lucas said bluntly.  
Naruto looked at the man wide eyed unable to believe his luck "Really you think I could become one?"

"Yes, however we'll need to get you a new arm. It'll be like your old one but made of lightweight steel, there's a specialist we can see in Resembool" He pointed to the bandaged stump. "We'll also be able to get your training started there."

He smiled at the thought of having an arm made of steel and gave the major a thumb up. "Sounds cool, I'm in." his eyes became a deeper shade of blue and showed confidence that he thought he had lost after the fight with Sasuke.

"It won't just be physical challenges though, but there'll also mental challenges as well." The officer put a hand up stopping the youth's train of thought.

The boy suddenly lost his enthusiasm and crossed his arms pouting "You mean studying? Nope, no way am I going." Naruto didn't want to have to study; he had enough trouble trying to study during his academy days and he didn't want to relive the experience now.

"Which way do you want to head? Do you want to go back to the life that you said yourself that you didn't want to go back to? Or with me where you can reach heights you've never even considered and imagined were possible?" the major asked his focus still on the weather conditions.

"Fine! But I won't like it." Naruto got off the bed and put on his shirt and made sure to tie the right sleeve up as he walked towards the exit.

"I never said that you had to like it, just accept it" He said blatantly "We'll also have to get you a new name, you don't want your people to find out you're still alive and then be labelled as a missing-nin."

Naruto looked at the ground and frowned at the statement, true they label him as MIA or even KIA but keeping his original name may draw unwanted attention, he then looked up at the officer. "Why are you doing this though?" he asked

Lucas clapped his hands together then placed them on the cabin, an electric blue light engulfed the structure as it was broken down and recreated, the stone fireplace had disappeared into the ground from where it had been born, the wood was used to create a bench and two umbrellas and the sheets were used for a black coat and in the creation of the umbrellas, all Naruto could do was stare in awe. "You have the same look in your as another eyes as Full Metal's when I first met him." he handed Naruto an umbrella and started walking down the dirt path "They speak volumes of determination and strength, as if peering into the endless distance, seeing something that I cannot and you have kindness that our military sometimes lacks." Naruto was taken aback by the man's comments, those who first meet him usually call him a fool or an idiot but this officer hadn't "We'll head to the coast before going west." He pointed northwest towards the ocean. "So are you coming?" he asked going back to his smug attitude.

Naruto grinned "Hell yeah!" he shouted triumphantly and ran up to Lucas' side "What kind of jutsu was that anyway?" he asked eagerly.

"You'll find out." The officer smirked at the possible teaching methods that Ed may use for the blonde, but that depended on whether the Elric brother accepted Naruto as his apprentice or not.

TBC

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**Author's Notes**

**1.** This is a NxS pairing so anyone that is vehemently against it turn back now.

**2.** For this to work properly a few characters will be OOC and considering this is not only a crossover but also somewhat of an AU it is to be expected

**3.** Please note that the Full Metal Alchemist series that this is connected to is the first anime series. Changes include: Edward and Alphonse are able to destroy the gate from their side by sending the rocket transport plane as a bomb to our side (They warn the people in the castle first of course); Roy Mustang became Fuerher (All hail the tiny miniskirt army!).


	2. The Goodbye That Came Too Soon

**Disclaimer**

Naruto characters and references belong to Misashi Kishimoto  
Fullmetal Alchemist characters and references belong to Hiromu Arakawa  
Original Characters characters are mine.

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**Naruto Hurricane Alchemist Chapter 1: The Goodbye That Came Too Soon.**

Continental Calender 23rd June 1935, Resembool

"YOU WANT ME TO WHAT?" A blonde haired and amber eyed young man shouted in disbelief

Blackburn gestured to Naruto who was sitting next to him. "I want you to take the boy as your apprentice." The uniformed man said simply

The blonde scratched the back of his head "But I've never taught anyone before, I don't know where to start." He protested.

The officer shrugged indifferently at Elric's complaints "Just start where you teacher started and work from there."

Edward Elric folded his arms and starred at the chestnut haired man "Fine, but what's in it for me?" he smirked.

"The kid seems to like milk a lot so he can save you the agony of drinking it and I'll try and keep Major Armstrong from interfering with your life until your done with him." Lucas chuckled.

The Major had him pinned, it was no secret that he hated milk and he couldn't deny the fact that it was a lot more peaceful without Louise Armstrong around flexing his muscles "Sounds like an even trade to me."

"It's a deal then Naruto I'll see you in Central when you've finished your training." The brunette stood up and walked towards the door but was intercepted by a short elderly lady.

Pinako poked Lucas with her pipe backing him into a corner "Don't tell me your planning on enrolling this boy into the military." The elderly woman's voice was stern.

"No, no it's not like that." He waved his hands defensively in front of him as sweat began to trail down his forehead and neck.

The short woman placed the pipe back in her mouth and eyed the Major skeptically "Then what is it exactly?" she responded dryly

The spike haired blonde made a fist with his left hand "I was the one who made the decision to become a state alchemist I want to become stronger so I can fulfil my promise to someone precious to me." He said in a low and serious voice, but loud enough for everyone to hear "I don't quit and I don't run, I always keep my promises and I'll do whatever it takes to keep them." He looked up at Pinako with determination in his cerulean blue eyes.

The elderly woman gave a defeated sigh "It looks like you and Ed have a lot in common I doubt I'll be able to talk you out of it." She walked over to Naruto sizing him up "But who is going to pay for the operation?" she looked back at the Major then back at Naruto

Naruto patted his pockets looking for his frog shaped wallet "Um-ah! Crap! My wallet…it's gone!" On the way to Resembool he was so awe struck by Blackburn's stories that he had forgotten to check for missing belongings.

The officer sighed in frustration "I'll pay for it after all I responsible for finding him." He pulled out a roll of notes and put them on the table near the door "I'll meet you in central after your training." He said nonchalantly as he waved back before leaving the house.

******TWO YEARS AND NINE MONTHS LATER******

A black haired man stood at the full-length window with an eye patch over his right eye "Our scouts reported that the Akastuki were on the move and their route took them directly to Sunagakure. That means that they are after Jinchuuriki again, if they succeed in gaining access to the bijuu inside Kazekage, we can assume that they're preparing to do something big." He turned around to look at a young blonde woman.

"What do you suggest sir?" The blonde asked looking up from a clipboard.

He looked at the information that the scouts had given him "We've sent two problem solvers, the Iron Wall and Hurricane Alchemist"

"But if we send troops into foreign territory without approval, we'll risk starting a war." She looked at him concerned.

"I do understand the risks." He looked back at Riza Hawkeye with a gleam in his eyes.

"Sorry sir."

"No need to apologize you're only concerned for their wellbeing, but I wouldn't send them if they weren't capable." The Fuhrer walked over to his desk and took a seat in the high-back leather chair "If by chance they manage to succeed in intercepting the Akastuki, we'd have proven to the Wind Nation that we're just being a good neighbour, if they fail they can aid the ninja in hunting the perpetrators down, saying that we're just lending aid" he leaned forward with a playful smirk on his face "Besides sooner or later the Major would have found out and insisted on going." With her mind at ease Hawkeye nodded and returned to her duties.

Two uniformed men trudged through the thick forest of The Land of Rivers, their heavy black coats and boots were muddied and slightly scuffed from the awkward trek through the bushes "Why are we walking to Suna?" the blonde whined, pushing aside a branch. Since his training with Edward Elric he allowed his hair to grow to shoulder length his spiked hair to became more wild and flow more freely, adding a red streak to his hair, to throw off anyone looking for him he began wearing make up to hide his whisker like birth marks, to try and forget his traumatic past and after changing his name he told himself that the only thing he had to do was keep his promise then he would truly be free of the painful memories.

The chestnut haired man at the front, leading the expedition climbed over a fallen tree and glanced back at the blonde. "Because someone forgot to fill up the radiator at the last stop." He said sarcastically.

"Then why didn't you do it?" Naruto asked leaping over the tree that his superior had climbed over.

"I had to pay!" Lucas snapped shaking his head at the blonde who was trying to shirk his responsibility. The now Lieutenant Colonel pushed passed several trees and bushes and found himself staring down at a river from the ledge of a cliff. "Also getting the jeep through the forest would have been difficult and I don't feel comfortable breaking down all those trees and revealing our presence." He added then groaned to himself at his current situation. 'Why did I have to get stuck on this mission, when I have so much work to do.' He thought to himself dreading how much paper work would accumulate while they were off galavanting in the middle of no where "That's right now I remember." He muttered.

******Flashback******

Six days ago he found himself in the Fuehrer's office trying to convince Roy Mustang that Naruto could handle himself without supervision "But sir why do I have to go with him? He's perfectly fine on his own." he waved a dismissive hand about

The Flame Alchemist just stared at him "Well you did find him and you do have more knowledge on that region besides him. Other than that he's still wet behind the ears." He his voice took a disinterested tone.

The chestnut haired man shook his head "But I don't know where the hidden villages are." He continued to press the fact that he was better off at Central and Naruto could take care of himself.

"Did I say that you have to go to their village? Besides Naruto will take you there if it is necessary." He stared at the Lieutenant Colonel with cold, calculating eyes.

"And what of my work?" Lucas Blackburn asked with worry in his voice.

"You can finish it when you get back." Roy again sounded disinterested picking up the newspaper which was on the desk.

"But my work would have doubled by then." Blackburn groaned, like Tsunade he really hated to do paperwork

"Would you prefer to take it with you? If not I suggest you hurry back then" he smiled arrogantly.

Lucas flinched at the sight of the grin and the knowledge of the accumulated workload that awaited him upon his return. "Yes sir!" He saluted and walked out of the office and closed the door behind him "Arrogant hard-arse." He muttered under his breath.

******End of Flashback******

"Hopefully we'll be able to intercept them before they make it to their destination."

Naruto stood on the right side of the Lieutenant Colonel and looked at the bushes and saw them rustle only just slightly "Movement!" he said in a low and commanding tone and gestured them to take cover.

The soldiers crawled to the edge carefully and peered at the two figures below them "Do you recognize them?" Lucas whispered to the youth.

Naruto responded with a slight nod "They're Akatsuki but I don't recognize their faces."

"I see" the man glared at the two Akatsuki below them.

"Gaara! That's Gaara!" the blonde growled, his usual sapphire blue eyes became blood red upon recognizing the boy in the beak of the clay bird sculpture. "YOU BASTARDS! LET HIM GO!" Naruto shouted as he quickly picked himself up and leapt from the ledge with a thrust knife in hand, his eyes were filled with fury and were even visible beneath the blue tinted lenses of his wire frame sunglasses.

Lucas rubbed the bridge of his nose in frustration and slowly picked himself up "Damned puppy! He's so impulsive" the other State Alchemist grumbled at being pulled into a battle and knew that sooner or later that he'd have to bail Naruto out.

Falling towards river Naruto threw his knife at the short stocky figure before him trying to catch him off guard. "Another distraction." Sasori muttered to his partner.

Landing safely on top of the water Naruto looked at Sasori's wooden tail in disbelief as he saw the knife lodged in one of the tail sections "He didn't even look at the thrust knife."

"And who might you be hmm?" Deidara looked at the blonde with interest

Naruto stared the Akatsuki members down and smirked "I'm the Hurricane Alchemist and I'm here to end your life." He spoke with bravado.

"Deidara you can handle this." The puppet master went to take the unconscious body of Gaara from Deidara's clay bird when a wall of iron rose from the ground and blocked the entrance to the lair. "Uh?" the puppet master stepped back shocked at the sudden change of events.

On top of the wall of iron stood a chestnut-haired officer, his turquoise eyes stared coldly down at the short Akatsuki member. "Where do you think you're going ugly?" he taunted focusing an FG 42 at the puppet.

Sasori growled at the comment and being delayed further from completing his mission "This is really starting to piss me off." His gravely voice held malice in it.

The Lieutenant Colonel clapped his hands together and placed them on his body, a familiar electric blue light engulfed his body as the iron in his blood and small portion of the wall created a protective armour shell "Then we should make this quick short stuff." was the last phrase he said before Sasori leaped onto higher ground and attempted to impale the Steel Fortress Alchemist with his tail as the tip soared passed his head, the State Alchemist noticed a purple liquid drip off the end _Is that poison? I need to avoid contact or I'm good as dead. _He frowned knocking the tail away with the butt of the automatic rifle.

As the battle raged above them Naruto stood in a defensive position as Deidara stood silently waiting for an attack "I have to thank you for arranging the battle to take place here." The Jinchuuriki said with a smile on his

The self-proclaimed artist looked at the young man quizzically "Hmm?" he dodged another throwing knife "You have to do better than that." The Akastuki member mocked.

"Really? Then I'll need to take this seriously." He slashed the so-called artist's face with one of his spare thrust knives leaving a deep wound across his nose.

The blonde Akatsuki howled in pain and backed up covering the gash with his right hand, as blood trickled down his face and arms spilling into the river beneath their feet turning. "You arrogant prick!" Deidara cursed as he leaped on to the back of the clay bird and began a retreat.

"I can use the air to warm the water up and cause the moist air to rise and by agitating the air enough I'm able to create a hurricane." The blonde raised a gloved right hand and placed his left over the blood red transmutation circle inscribed on the black gloves, the circle pulse blue as the air speed slowly picked up and a small hurricane formed and began chasing his fleeing opponent.

Deidara began to sweat as the cyclone began to catch up to him "No hand signs. But how?" he gritted his teeth in desperation as he could feel his chakra begin to drain under the stress, but was relieved when the wind began to die down and the funnel disappeared "Time to leave and rendezvous at another base." Deidara steered the bird away from the fight and towards the forest.

"You're not getting away that easily." Naruto leaped after the blonde leaving Lucas and Sasori to their own devices.

Watching from a distance Kakashi, Sakura and Chiyo where dumbfounded by the events unfolding before them, shielding their eyes as a blast of wind from the dying hurricane passed by them. "What the hell?" Kakashi shouted as the air howled by the group.

Dropping her arms the elder from Sunagakure starred at the remaining soldier who continued Sasori and frowned when she recognized the style of clothing from long forgotten texts "That uniform." She said in a barely audible voice.

Kakashi and Sakura looked at the elder curiously "Chiyo-obasan?" the silver haired nin looked at the woman curious at the statement.

The old woman's gaze intensified when she caught the glint of silver in his hip pocket when the officer fighting her grandson dodged the tail of the puppet. "That uniform is worn by the Amestris Sate Military and if they're wearing a pocket watch that indicates a State Alchemist." Her voice was serious.

"Alchemist?" It was the pinkette's turn to enquire; in the years that passed she had grown in strength, intelligence and beauty and had achieved the rank of chunin, but retained her short hair, she and changed her clothes so they wouldn't be as difficult and awkward as her Genin clothes used to be and allow her more movement.

Chiyo continued to watch the dance of death between the Lieutenant Colonel and the Puppet Master, however it was obvious to the retired puppeteer and medic-nin saw that the officer was struggling "They use Renkinjutsu or Alchemy in their language, it's a variation of Rentanjutsu a technique that was thought to have been lost along with the clan that practiced it before the founding of Sunagakure. We eventually engaged the State Military from Central in combat only once when Kaze no Kuni was trying to expand it's borders however our first encounter with them left us badly beaten and only a handful survived that engagement after that; all expansion ceased." Her voice was serious and didn't waver.

The young kunoichi turned her attention to the battle between Blackburn and Sasori "So what are they doing here then?" she asked no one in particular.

The retired shinobi shook her head "Who knows? But we need to take care of these guys if we intend on retrieving Gaara" Chiyo launched herself towards the battle on the other side of the ravine

"Chiyo!" Kakashi called after her but it was too late she was already halfway to Sasori, he immediately jerked his head towards his female pupil "Sakura go with Chiyo-obasan"

Sakura nodded in response to the order "Right!" she bounded across the ravine to join the elder.

The silver haired shinobi turned to race after the other Akatsuki member, when two familiar faces stopped him in his tracks "Wha-? Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki" he said with spite.

"We're here to remove you obstacles" the shark like man gave a toothy grin to the copy cat nin, shouldering his sword.

As if in a single motion Kakashi sunk into a defensive position, but was thrown off when four figures stood in the way. "Hope we aren't too late" the leader said boisterously.

The Sharingan user relaxed but kept his guard up, even though his comrade was willing to take on the new menace there was no telling what could happen especially when dealing with the Akatsuki "Gai?" he walked up to the dark haired man.

The Taijutsu expert furrowed his thick brows trying to remember the blue skinned man before him "What's the situation?" he asked the usual carefree attitude had disappeared from his voice and was now serious.

"The Kazekage is currently being held by that Akastuki member that has headed in that direction." He nodded towards the gully that had tree trunks and giant roots that acted like natural bridges and obstacles between the two sides of the narrow valley. "Their uniformed opponents were here when we arrived, we were going to move in when these two and your team showed up." He finished looking Gai in the eye who just nodded in response.

"We'll deal with these two you go and handle them." The Jonin in the green jumpsuit glared at Kisame and Itachi who were waiting patiently for the two senior shinobi to finish their conversation.

"Roger! Be careful." Kakashi warned although Gai could be annoying at times, the silver haired man didn't want the oaf to get killed.

Gai smirked arrogantly to the copy nin "C'mon like I'm going to be beaten by these two after all I'm Konoha's Great Beast. Maito Gai." The man gave a thumbs up, wink, and smile, he turned to his former students when Kakashi disappeared to pusue Deidara, his face became serious as he got back in the game. "Tenten, Neji deal with Itachi, Lee and I will be this one's opponent." He pointed to each group's assigned opponents.

Puppets littered the battlefield broken, twisted and some were almost unrecognisable from the landscape itself, Lucas stood panting heavily his armour had faded, where as the two kunoichi although bruised and cut were barely exhausted. "Let's go Sakura" Chiyo said with renewed vigour

"Hai!" Sakura adjust her combat cloves, preparing herself for another round with Sasori.

The red head didn't look amused but was interested in combat abilities of his enemies.

"Hmph!" The red haired male grunted after having the majority of his puppets destroyed '_Got to admit she's quite a girl and that military dog isn't bad either.'_ Sasori mused "Never thought I'd see the third Kazekage destroyed. I haven't been forced to solve a problem this way since I joined the Akatsuki." He smiled reminiscing about the last time he used himself in combat "I wonder how long it's been?" he removed his coat to reveal joints and weapons instead of organic components, the only part left of Sasori' original body was a blue fleshy core imbedded on the right side of his chest.

Sakura was shaken by what she saw "Wha...What is that?" she stammered.

The elder was shocked by what she saw but not surprised at what he become "He hasn't aged at all. He still looks as he did long ago." She focused on the functions of each weapon that her grandson had installed into his body "Well there's a reason why."

"It's been awhile indeed...since I last used myself." He smiled sadistically at the three figures.

"He's an actual human puppet," Chiyo said blatantly.

After revealing that he himself was in fact a puppet he activated another scroll and activated a pair of concealed flamethrowers in his wrists forcing his foes to find protection from the flames "What's the matter? Aren't you going to attack me?" Sasori of the Red Sand taunted his three opponents, as fire charred grass and rock.

During the fight Lucas had transmuted the spent FG 42 into a sabre unfortunately the puppet of the Third Kazekage had managed to shatter the improvised blade, now all he had left was the Browning Hi-Power "Well if they won't, I will!" he charged out from behind the rock he had been using to shield himself from the flames and fired his service weapon at Sasori causing the puppeteer to reel back as his form became riddled with bullet holes from the pistol.

"The weapons are unlike any I've seen before." Sakura's emerald eye's focused on the black handgun as its wielder charged at the Akatsuki member.

With an empty clip the Lieutenant Colonel threw the piece aside and clapped his hands before placing them on the red head's faux body and smirked wickedly at him as blood started to dribble from his mouth as he snickered "It's a pity you used a lot of metal in your puppet and that your weakness is exposed." He said weakly, a blue flash engulfed the human puppet as the steel blades warped and twisted eventually shooting into the grounds and towards the core of the puppet. "Huh?" the officer then noticed that the organic component was missing and saw the replacement body about to charge the old woman with a blade in hand "Watch out! Ugh! Gak!" his body moved without thinking and took the sword in the stomach when he tried to defend the two women and fell to his knees, just as his eyes began dilate the officer began coughed up blood that seemed to foam while the poison to work it's way through his system robbing him of his strength.

The sword made a grating sound as it was pulled from the middle-aged man, who slid off Sasori's blade with ease thanks to Blackburn's blood which acted like a lubricant. Sakura instinctively caught the State Alchemist in her arms and began her preliminary analysis and was shocked by what she found. "How is this possible? How can someone lose an entire lung? There isn't anything to even suggest surgery."

The former Suna-nin was about to attempt another attack but was stopped dead by a pair puppets the resembled his parents, that were now piercing the only semblance of humanity with their own weapons.

Cold uncaring eyes looked at the two medic-nin and the unconscious man "Leave him he's good as dead anyway. Even if you remove the poison I've hit him in a vital area and with only one lung he'll die in a matter of minutes." He said in monotonous voice as Chiyo began the healing process "Even an experienced medic-nin such as you should realize this." He focused on the elder.

The senior looked up at her grandson then to the officer "This is a technique that I designed specifically for you Sasori." She said in a wavering voice.

It was then Sasori realised what she had meant and as a final gesture offered up some information regarding Orochimaru "As a reward for defeating me…" he began.

* * *

Not too far Naruto was still in hot pursuit of his target, with his eye's still glowing red with rage "This is ridiculous he's got to come down sooner or later." He frowned at what seemed to be his only option left. "I hate using this attack but there's no choice!" he stood on one of the large roots that crossed the narrow valley and again activated the transmutation and fired a powerful volley of compressed air at the fleeing Akatsuki.

"What?" Hearing the scream of rushing air Deidara manoeuvred the clay bird away from the ranged attack and smiled at his luck and the futility of the attack "Phew! Aw-Shit!" he cussed as another blonde and blue-eyed youth crashed into the neck of the sculpture a blue sphere in his left hand.

Kakashi landed on a branch exhausted from his use of the Mangekyou on the pyrotechnic expert and watched from a distance as the blonde alchemist made sure that the Fifth Kazekage was unharmed "Was that a Kage Bushin and a Rasengan? But the only ones who knew the Rasengan technique were the Fourth Hokage, Jiraiya and Naruto? If he's a State Alchemist then how come he moves like a shinobi? Unless…no it couldn't be." then it dawned on him at who he was looking at when he saw feint marks on his right cheek.

Separated from his clay and his target Deidara glared at the Kyuubi container from the bushes and carefully backed away only to find himself standing in front of four more Konoha shinobi "Good work Neji." The thick browed leader praised the Hyuuga.

The blonde smiled "That must be the Byakugan, the eye's that are passed down in Konoha alongside the Sharingan. You used their power to find my blind spot and sneak up on me." He stood up, with a kunai in his mouth "But I'd best be going." He managed to utter before launching himself into the fray.

The pang of metal against metal could be heard throughout the forest earning the attention of Kakashi and Naruto you immediately stared off into the direction of the battle "He's over there." He locked on to Deidara's movements and leaped into the air to intercept throwing a clenched right fist at the Akatsuki's left cheek, sending the member flying into the trunk of a nearby tree. "Feh-You don't have any material to make your bombs, however I have unlimited material." Naruto taunted landing at Deidara's feet before covering the seal with his hand pointing downwards "By condensing and cooling the water in the air I am able to turn the vapour into solid ice." A short sword of made of hardened ice materialised in his hand.

The other blonde smirked when glanced a piece of clay in cuff of Jinchuuriki's uniform, causing Naruto to look puzzled by the Akatsuki's expression. "Good to know then I can show you my own ultimate and final piece of art." The blonde snatched the piece of clay with his mouth and began to chew the explosive material.

"Fuck!" Naruto jumped back several feet, realizing his mistake and what was about to happen.

"Neji what's going on?" Gai asked with concern and alarm in his voice.

The young genius began to sweat when he saw a swirl of blue chakra begin to expand in the pit of their opponent's stomach "There's a build up of chakra in his system and it's growing at an exponential rate."

"Everyone move. NOW!" Kakashi called as the Akatsuki began to blow up like a balloon however it was to late as a ball of flame chased after the shinobi, time seemed to stand still as their lives began to flash before their eyes as some could almost feel death's grip closing in on them, but that was a short lived feeling when they glanced one last time to see a vortex in place of the glow of the fireball. "That was close." Kakashi gave a sigh of relief before covering his sharingan eye.

"Lieutenant Colonel Blackburn." Naruto concerned for his superior ran to his side and went to help him up.

Lucas raised his hand to stop him and grinned, "Are you okay puppy?" The Lieutenant Colonel said teasingly to the young officer in a weak voice.

Naruto's eye twitched "HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO ASK YOU TO STOP CALLING ME THAT!" The blonde shouted angrily, irritated by nickname.

"I'll stop when you stop rushing into dangerous situations without thinking," he said bluntly knowing that he wasn't one to talk seeing as he was stabbed by a poisoned sword earlier "or would you prefer that I call you an idiot?" The Lieutenant Colonel gave him a wicked smile knowing that calling him an idiot would annoy him even more.

"Oh! Now that's real creative." The blonde said sarcastically rolling his eyes.

Blackburn chuckled lightly "If the shoe fits-" he paused when Naruto looked over to the unconscious Kazekage.

"How's Gaara?" Naruto asked worried about his friend.

"He's fine." The officer stretched and headed to the nearby jeep, as luck would have it the battle between the shinobi had eventually taken place close to where they parked the military vehicle and would save them the time and energy of having to walk back through the mud and undergrowth of the forest.

Everyone looked at the blonde with curious eyes then recognized the familiar whisker like birthmarks that were now visible after the makeup that was used to hide them had come off "Naruto?" everyone said confused at what was happening, but were glad none the less to see that the one who changed their lives for the better, was in fact very much alive and had a right arm.

"This was the boy Kakashi was talking about." Chiyo looked back and forth between the Konoha shinobi and the two State Alchemists

Although happy that he was alive and amazed at how much he had grown physically, Sakura Haruno fought the urge to knock him flat for making her feel guilty and miserable over his supposed death, but her impulses stopped when Naruto began walking to the rear of the open vehicle. "Naruto wait! Aren't you coming back with us?" she pleaded

Naruto closed his eyes, biting his lower lip, he really wanted to go back but after what happened to him during the first part of his alchemy training he felt he was a danger to everyone in Konoha. "I-I can't." he strained

She was taken aback by what he said; surely he knew that everyone would understand why he disappeared. "Why? What about your friends? What about your dream of becoming hokage?" she held herself back from sounding too needy, then it dawned on her that it may have been the way he was treated in the village and having the burden of carrying the Kyuubi.

Naruto then looked over his shoulder back at the rose haired kunoichi with a stern look in his sapphire eyes. "I'll keep my promise to you but as far as you should be concerned Naruto died two years ago, I'm Aoshi now." He didn't look at the group of shinobi."Even though you ignored my compliments back then, I still think that you look beautiful Sakura-chan, take care of yourself." He didn't say anything more to the group as he climbed into the back of the army green vehicle and slapped the side of the jeep "Let's go." With that the Lieutenant Colonel pressed the accelerator hard to the floor and the vehicle tore away from the shinobi, creating a cloud of dust and debris in its wake.

As the blonde started to disappear over the horizon the kunoichi desperately ran after the young man screaming out to him with an outstretched arm as tears welled up in the corner of her eyes and eventually broke free spilling down her cheeks. "Naruto wait! Naruto!" she collapsed to the ground when the vehicle was no longer within sight, hugging herself tightly she felt heartbroken she had failed to stop Sasuke and now Naruto from leaving.

After they pulled away from the group Naruto saw what looked to be all of the shinobi from Sunagakure coming to Gaara's side, seeing the sheer size of the group to the boy's aid made him sincerely happy. "Are you sure you want to do this we could have stayed a little longer?" The Lieutenant Colonel called to Naruto keeping his eyes on the landscape that slowly changed from green forest to the harsh browns and tans of the desert.

Naruto faced forward and sighed dejectedly "Equivalent exchange. In order for Aoshi to exist, Naruto Uzumaki must not and vice versa. You of all people should know that" Naruto said plainly, causing Lucas to touch his right side with his left hand.

The chestnut-haired male tilted his head back slightly "That's not what I meant and you know they'll label you as a nuke-nin now that they know that you're still alive." Blackburn stated matter-of-factly

The blonde brought his legs up on the empty seat next to him and position his arms behind his head "I know! But they won't label me a nuke-nin, not straight away anyway. Right now I'm considered KIA or at least MIA and rescinding that declaration creates a lot of paper work and you could say Tsunade-obasan is…allergic to paperwork." He pulled out his blue-lensed sunglasses to put them on when he noticed a crack _'Damn broken'_ he then pocketed the sunglasses and settled for putting his arm over his eyes, although it was his favourite jutsu, creating the Rasengan in his left hand always left him feeling drained.

"Just like I'll be when we get back." Lucas groaned imagining the mountain of paperwork that would have piled up in his absence and just thinking about it made him exhausted.

******Konohagakure four days later******

After returning from their mission Team Gai along with the remaining members of Team Seven stopped at the hospital to admit an exhausted Kakashi to one of the wards so he could recover from his ordeal, to save time and to confirm what she had heard from Gai's team the fifth Hokage and her assistant stood next to the copy-nin's bed "So Naruto is alive?" she asked looking both at her apprentice and the former Anbu, trying to see if there was a hint of deception that might implement a joke but found nothing. _'After I get through with him he'll wish he was dead.'_ She thought bitterly

Kakashi looked at the blonde woman while lying in his bed with the sheets covering his face "Looks that way. However Amestris has taken him in and made him a State Alchemist." He reported in a nonchalant voice.

Sakura chewed her lip "We have to get him back." The kunoichi said out of the blue surprising everyone in the room.

Tsunade sighed, she knew that Sakura was serious but at the same time knew that the kunoichi was acting on emotion too "Does he want to come back though? Unlike Sasuke, Naruto has aligned himself with a nation, a nation that we barely have information on." She tested.

The pinkette gritted her teeth in frustration at the way Tsunade was treating her. "What does that matter? He's still a Konoha-nin!" she exclaimed

Tsunade frowned at her apprentice's brashness "Sakura! Amestris is a nation not a group of rogue shinobi! We're dealing with a nation that has weapons and techniques unknown to us. On top of that the information you've given me on Sasori's contact is a once in a lifetime opportunity and chances are that Naruto may be at the rendezvous too." The hazel-eyed woman reprimanded the sixteen-year-old adolescent.

"No" she shook her head from side to side. "His comrade was out cold and thus won't know of the 'meeting' and for all we know it maybe a trap. Besides Sasuke can look after himself for all I care. Our chances of retrieving Sasuke will dramatically increase if we get Naruto back and the only way we can do that is if we confront him and persuade him to return." The kunoichi stared intensely at the Hokage her emerald green eyes burned into Tsunade's mind.

Tsunade rubbed the ridge of her nose trying to think "But do you know where he is?"

"Chiyo-obasan said that the capital of Amestris was called Central and it is located west of here, before we left she allowed me to copy a map that shows everything beyond Sunagakure's borders it maybe old but the landscape shouldn't have changed that much." Sakura shrugged.

_'She's more like him than she realizes.' _Tsunade thought "Fine! Then how do you intend to find him?" Tsunade asked.

"I managed to catch the name and rank of his commanding officer we'll ask to see him then hopefully he'll point us in the right direction. Besides he owes me and Chiyo-obasan one." The pinkette smirked.

Finally Tsunade threw her arms in the air defeated. "It's your call Sakura, not mine. I just hope you're making the right decision, are you sure you want to go through with this?" she tested to make sure that her apprentice wouldn't regret her actions later.

"Hai." She responded with conviction.

'Then go get prepared. I'll have a team formed by the time you return." She dismissed the kunoichi

"Arigato Tsunade-shishou." Sakura bowed and walked out of the room a little too quickly, everyone noted the spring in her step.

As Sakura was leaving she noticed that Konoha's elders approach Kakashi's room, she thought of sticking around, but preparing for her next mission was more important.

"Tsunade we would like a minute of your time." Koharu stated upon entering the recovery room, then left as soon as she came.

"Great what do they want?" Tsunade glowered.

Tsunade sat quietly facing the two elders with Shizune by her side. Homura adjusted his rectangular glasses then looked at the Godaime "Lady Tsunade we understand that Uzumaki Naruto is alive and that you intend to retrieve him, rather than follow a possible lead to Orochimaru." His tone was cold.

"Let me guess you'd prefer we follow the information that was given to us by Sasori?" she said testing the elders.

Koharu shook her head "No we agree on the course of action you are taking."

"They cannot possibly know the danger they are in, it will be best if we retrieve him and keep him under supervision and prevent him from leaving the village in case the Akastuki realizes his presence in the Fire Nation. It may not seem like it but we are making concessions." Homura reasoned.

The blonde woman frowned at the strict demands that the elders were proposing to place upon Naruto; if Sakura succeeds in retrieving him "There is no need to impose such severe restrictions on him, even if we monitor him and restrict him to the village the

Akatsuki will eventually come after him just like they did with Sunagakure. In that event it will put the village in danger. As long as he is on the move and within the borders of a strong nation he is safe and will keep the Akatsuki guessing. And if you've forgotten he's not a Konoha shinobi anymore." She added.

The elderly man scowled at the Hokage's naïveté and her willingness to give the boy free reign of what he does "Your argument is weak Tsunade and is unbecoming of a Hokage.

We intend on reinstating him as a shinobi of Konohagakure and also give him the rank of Chunin upon his retrieval."

"How do you know that the Akatsuki won't take Naruto from Amestris a country we hardly know about? Do you have irrefutable evidence that once an Akatsuki member has taken the kyuubi from Naruto won't even pose a greater threat?" Koharu remained calm

Tsunade stared inwardly remembering Naruto's determination and perseverance "He won't be caught. I have faith in him." She said wholeheartedly

Homura sighed, "If that's what you believe you can do whatever want. But as compensation we'll be adding a shinobi of our choice to fill one of the positions."

Tsunade frowned at the ultimatum"Fine"

"Danzou you may enter now." The grey woman called out to the hall.

Hearing the click of the lock being released on the door the Godaime's eyes widened when she realised who she was looking at "You!" her voice was bitter

"It's been a while Tsunade-hime" the bandaged man hobbled into the room.

"Then the new shinobi is somebody from Anbu Roots." Tsunade knew that if Danzou was involved then the mission was already threatened.

* * *

Across town in Sakura Haruno was already had her medical pouch prepared for the mission to retrieve Naruto, a platinum blonde stood leaning against the door frame of Sakura's room. "Already going on another mission I see." She smirked.

"Yup." The pink haired kunoichi nodded as she grabbed her backpack and started packing the supplies she would need for the mission.

Ino strolled up to her and looked at her friend's face "You seem rather up beat today. In fact I haven't seen you like this for quite awhile. So is the rumour true?" The platinum blonde mused

"What rumour?" She asked rhetorically.

However her friend didn't catch on "You know the rumour that Naruto is alive." She sat on the edge of Sakura's bed, watching her friend pack.

The Haruno looked at her friend with cheek in her eye's "Why? I thought you were interested in Sasuke?"

"At least I wasn't as obsessive as you were." She responded in kind.

A pained sign of guilt played across the usual gentle features of the pinkette as she replayed her past in her mind "…" she then gripped the covers of her bed tightly as she screamed inwardly.

Ino looked away realizing her mistake "Sorry Sakura" the Yamanaka said in a low apologetic voice

"We both were and I'll never forgive myself for allowing Naruto to make that promise." Her voice caught in her throat remembering the pained expression on Naruto's face and then seeing the severed arm in the morgue after the attempt to bring Sasuke failed.

"Hey why don't I come with you on this one? It's been pretty slow at the flower shop lately and Team Asuma hasn't received any missions either, besides you have a few positions free on your team." She tried to break the awkward silence and lighten the mood.

Sakura was taken aback by this offer but decided to play it cool "Is this out of concern for a friend or do you just want to see how much Naruto has grown?"

"A little from column A and a little from column B." Ino simply replied.

"You'll have to ask Tsunade-sama." Sakura knew that once Ino saw how much Naruto has matured she would be fawning over him like some lovesick schoolgirl.

Ino got to her feet and walked over to the door "Oh-don't you worry I will." She winked to her friend and waved before turning a corner.

******Akatsuki Lair******

A grey-eyed figure gazed at the other members of the Akatsuki with displeasure. "Deidara and Sasori's failure in capturing the Ichibi has put Suna on high alert making another attempt too risky."

"Deidara-sempai fouled up good." An orange masked figure teased chuckling childishly, much to the annoyance of the blonde artist.

"Shut the hell up like you could do any better." The blonde snapped rubbing his fractured jaw that the Jinchuuriki's metal arm had inflicted.

"And it appears that the Kyuubi container isn't dead either. However the use and the appearance of such alien techniques was unexpected." Zetsu added interrupting the argument before it had a chance to begin.

Konan frowned "Then how are we going to combat them?"

"We fight fire with fire obviously." Tobi replied snickering pointing to Itachi.

A half dead man's eyes narrowed after sorting through the information that Zetsu had given them. "The technique was first taught to a people calling themselves the Ishbalans, however the practice soon became a sin amongst them those that practice this art are soon ostracized and considered exiles. However there may be a few that still practices it regardless." His voice was devout and serious.

Hidan looked at his partner curiously "And you know this because?"

"I was alive around that time moron." He reminded sadist

The white haired man rolled his eyes "Oh…Tough words coming from a fucking corpse." He said in a mocking tone.

"Shut the hell up arse hole, before I sew your lips shut." Kakuzu spat.

Pein stared coldly at Hidan and Kakuzu "Both of you silence! Itachi, Kisame head west and find us one of these exiled Ishbalans and bring them back for interrogation." He made sure his orders and wishes were understood.

"Yes Pein-sama." Itachi bowed, before his and Kisame's holographic bodies disappeared.

"_For Team Kakashi's next mission, since Kakashi is still receiving medical treatment, they'll need a new team member. On top of that there isn't much time until the next mission." Shizune reported to the elders._

_Danzou stared out the single small window in the lounge room. "In that case, for team leader, we should select one of the more skilled individuals from the hokage-controlled Anbu." His voice was calm and controlled._

_Koharu nodded in agreement to the suggestion "Agreed! That should be just fine."_

"_I assume you have no objections Tsunade?" Homura asked the well-endowed Hokage._

The blonde woman stared at the Anbu with her hands folded in front of her face "And that's the situation. I'm going to have you act as a temporary replacement for Kakashi." Tsunade finished updating the masked figure that stood before her.

"Acting as a replacement for Kakashi-sempai of all people this is quite an honour." The Anbu said proudly.

"This is not an Anbu mission it is a normal one so remove your mask and I'll assign you a codename. For the duration of the mission you shall be called Yamato. While you're on this mission I want you to keep an eye on someone who'll be added to Team Kakashi. He's a member from a division known as Anbu Roots and Danzou chose him." She was troubled at how quick Danzou had already chosen a candidate to replace Sasuke.

"What are you implying?" Yamato asked suspiciously

Tsunade sighed "Danzou is an old war hawk and was in direct opposition with the Sandaime for the position of Hokage. He's a person who lives for war and sees that the only way for 'true' peace is if he controlled every nation out there and to obtain the title of Hokage he'll go as far as sending the village into chaos just to reject everything Sarutobi has worked for." Her voice was bitter at the thought of the village being thrown in to flames by Danzou.

"I see and who is the last team member?" The brunette enquired.

The fifth Hokage smirked "I'll leave that up to you." she pointed to Yamato playfully.

"Hai Hokage-sama." He nodded dutifully.

There was a knocking at the Hokage's office door "Enter!" she called

A platinum blonde girl walked into the office. "Hokage-sama I was wondering if I could go with Sakura on her next mission. I mean someone will have to keep her in line and seeing as her team will be going into unknown territory an extra medic-nin will be needed."

"What do you think Yamato?" Tsunade quirked an eyebrow to their good luck.

"Huh?" Ino looked at the Anbu and the Hokage inquisitively unaware that Yamato was the temporary leader of Team Kakashi.

He scratched his chin "Well it saves us having to ask for volunteers and we're going to an unknown foreign land meaning the risk of injury will be higher, so it would be prudent if we have an extra medic-nin." Yamato reasoned.

"I agree. Yamanaka, Ino permission granted you'll be temporarily assigned to Team Kakashi for this mission." The older blonde said in a strong voice. When Yamato and Ino left Tsunade swivelled her chair to face the window and got to her feet. _'I only hope it was the right decision.'_ she chewed her thumb nail in anxiety, if Naruto was to refuse to come back to Konoha it would be best if Sakura had her childhood friend there with her to comfort her and if he did decide to come back both Ino and Sakura would be able to keep each other in line._'All this just to retrieve that knucklehead. If I and his other friends weren't so busy we'd all probably go too, oh to be young again'_ she sighed at the whimsical thought.

In a secluded area far from prying eyes, a meeting between the founder of Anbu Roots confers with one of his many subordinates. "I've managed to arrange it so you would be on Team Kakashi. You've been selected for this mission not just because you're close to Uzumaki, Naruto's age, but you're because you're stronger than him and also because your unique artistic skills are unmatched. Until the completion of the mission you will be assigned the codenamed, Sai." The bandaged man stood before a kneeling dark haired teenager.

"So I am Sai" the dark haired sixteen year-old gave a fake smile.

Danzou frowned "Do not use a fake smile like that in front of me." He said sternly, warning the young artist.

"I'm sorry…the manual said that the best way to appeal to someone is with a smiling face. I've practice but I am still unable to make these facial expressions" Sai apologized to his superior wholeheartedly but due to his training betrayed no emotion.

**Konoha Ninja Handbook**

**Naruto's Alchemy**

Air Blast-Naruto is able to create a powerful blast of air by activating the transmutation circle and aiming two of his fingers like a pistol at his target.

Air Control- Naruto controls the temperature of the surrounding area. Due to this ability he has sometimes inadvertently created micro-storms when attempting to create objects of ice when covering the seal with his hand pointing downwards

Hurricane Alley- Naruto can summon hurricanes by activating the transmutation pointing his hand down and moving up.

Air Barrier- Naruto creates a barrier of air by touching the transmutation pointing his hand up and moving down

Air Slash- Naruto can use the air like a blade by activating his transmutation circle and making the desired cutting motion.

Though Naruto specialises in using air techniques for combat, he does know other forms of alchemy. An inherent weakness of his alchemy is gale force wind conditions making the manipulation of air difficult to control and predict.

**Naruto's Ninjutsu**

Kage bushin

Rasengan

Oiroke no Jutsu

Kuchiyose no Jutsu

Due to the loss of his right arm Naruto can only use Ninjutsu with his left hand thus has become limited and becomes exhuasted whenever he uses chakra due to the amount of concentration that is required to form seals and the Rasengan.


	3. Tension

**Disclaimer**

Naruto characters and references belong to Misashi Kishimoto  
Fullmetal Alchemist characters and references belong to Hiromu Arakawa  
Original Characters characters are mine.

* * *

**Naruto Hurricane Alchemist Chapter 2: Tension**

With Konohagakure far behind them Team Kakashi had thought that the journey west would be peaceful and uneventful, however those thoughts were soon shattered when Sakura landed a firm punch on Sai's left cheek and sent him tumbling into the bushes on the side of the road. "You sure tricked me with that fake smile of yours." The dark haired teen rubbed his scuffed cheek.

The pink haired kunoichi relaxed a little while maintaining her guard "You don't know a damned thing about Sasuke or Naruto so don't you dare go trying to act like you do." Sakura glared at the Anbu Roots member. "The next time you say something bad about Sasuke I won't hold back." She warned, "That goes double if you say anything about Naruto." The pinkette added, ever since she had became the apprentice of Tsunade, Sakura didn't only just use her access to the archives just to study but also to do some research on Orochimaru and the Akastuki, which led her to discover Naruto's burden, the cause of the pain he was forced to endure and it was for this reason she had to apologise.

Sai rubbed his bruised jaw "Heh, Heh…Fine…I wont say anything in front of you then" he then looked to the pink kunoichi "Still to think a fake can be used in a way you used it. I'll have to remember that." He smirked.

"You get knock over and you just smile? How lame can you be?" Ino rolled her eyes at the young artist.

"A smile is the best way to get oneself out of a tight spot even if it is a fake one." Sai said bluntly getting to his feet "Surprisingly enough, everyone takes it at face value…I read that in a book. Although it doesn't seem to have much of an affect in my case." He admitted, earning blank looks from his female teammates.

Yamato shook his head at the poor dynamics of the team and thought of a way to help remedy the problem. "Shichuurou no jutsu!" he shouted after completing the required hand seals. Suddenly the ground began to shake as timber sprang from the path, twisting and branching out in the air connecting with joints to eventually form a sturdy cage of hard wood, with a frowning brunette standing in front of the structure "All of you…if you make any more trouble than you have, I really will throw you in a cage."

"Th…That's…the secret jutsu known only to the shodai-sama. Mokuton ninjutsu! How could Yamato-Taicho possibly…who exactly is this guy…" Sakura stood in awe of what she had just seen, someone other than the first hokage was able to create and use the wood element style ninjutsu, but this fact only made her suspicious of the new team leader.

Yamato's features softened slightly as he folded his arms "Now as your mediator I'm going to give the three of you two options to choose from. In order to get better acquainted with one another, you can either choose to spend a whole day in this cage here…or we can stay the night at an inn somewhere that has an onsen. It's your choice." He shrugged and looked at each of the young shinobi making sure to make eye contact with them "The three of you probably don't know me very well either. While I do prefer to interact with people in a gentle manner I'm also not opposed to establishing my dominance in a reign of terror." He said in a cold voice that sent shivers down the spines of the teenagers, with the exception of Sai.

After what seemed like hours of walking Yamato eventually found an inn for them to retire for the day "Why did I say that?" she muttered to herself as she relaxed in the hotel's onsen trying to figure out why she completely lost it with Sai. Sure she was mad when their new teammate had called Sasuke a traitor, but it was when the Roots member had accused Naruto of betraying Konoha that had set her off.

"So…Sakura that was awfully protective of you." Ino said slyly

Sakura glared at her friend "What do you mean Ino?"

"Defending Naruto's honour like that." The blonde said plainly, shrugging.

"I defended Sasuke's too." The pinkette countered

"But you added 'double' when you warned Sai not to talk about Naruto like that." Ino allowed a smirk to play across her features.

"Naruto would never betray Konoha like that, I know that for a fact." Sakura growled.

"People change Sakura." Ino stated matter-of-factly.

"No, not Naruto he was concerned for Gaara and for the team." The rose haired kunoichi starred into the hot water frowning; although her male blonde teammate had grown physically she knew deep down that Naruto was still Naruto, but her thoughts then trailed off. "He also said that I-I was beautiful." She blushed as she played with her fingers.

Ino laughed at the idea of Naruto being so forward "Either he's gone insane or you're starting to imagine things from the heat." The platinum blonde scoffed

The medic-nin glowered at the Yamanaka "What was that Ino-pig?"

"You heard me Forehead." Ino taunted returning the glare.

"I'm going to make you pay for that comment." Sakura growled and balled a chakra filled fist.

The blonde smirked at the challenge "Bring it on." She dared the fellow kunoichi to make a scene.

******Central******

Far from the troubles of the new team Kakashi, the Iron Wall Alchemist was about to face a challenge of the different kind, "Uh-Sir! You don't want to go in there." A dark haired sergeant tried to stop his superior

"It can't be all that bad can it?" he said simply as he sidestepped the sergeant and placed a hand on the doorknob.

The man shook his head "I tried to warn you."

Opening the door Lucas eyes went wide in shock at the towering piles of paper work on his desk that reached the ceiling. "YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME! This…this will take me weeks to finish!" the Steel Fortress Alchemist cried out loud, he felt faint just thinking about signing all of those reports.

"Then you better get started then." A middle-aged woman walked up behind the alchemist

"What about you sis? You've got a case to investigate don't you?" he turned his head slightly to source of the voice

The woman shrugged "So at least my work is in order."

Lucas smirked at his older sister "Really? Then how come you haven't caught the killer? How many have been murdered five or six officers found dead?" he said in a nonchalant tone

"It's a little hard when they're using Alchemy." The woman rubbed the back of her neck feeling that the investigation was a little out of her league.

"How about I help out?" Lucas offered trying to forget the daunting work that laid in wait in his office.

"Um-sir what about your reports?" The sergeant pointed to the piles of paper that swayed gently back and forth before toppling over to create a single pile that covered the floor.

"Right…" he said reluctantly. "Maybe no one will miss the reports if I transmute them into something…" his voice trailed off.

The sergeant looked at his superior in horror "SIR!"

The red head shook her head "By the way little brother where's Aoshi?" his sister looked about concerned about the blonde's absence

"He's back in Resembol. He wanted to get his automail serviced." He pointed towards the east with his thumb.

His sister looked at him sceptically "Are you sure that's wise, little brother?"

The alchemist sighed, "Sometimes you've just got to stop and do nothing." he replied picking up one of the reports and sweatdropped.

******Flashback******

_**Continental Calender 4th March 1937 **_

_It had been one day since Naruto passed the State Alchemist exams and exactly that long since anyone had seen him. After bringing Naruto to Central, Lucas allowed the blonde to stay in the home that he inherited from his father seeing as the Lieutenant Colonel mostly uses the living quarters at Central HQ it seemed like a natural decision. "Let's see how the new pup of the military is doing." The chestnet haired man opened the door and walked into the lounge to see the blonde with a knife to his throat with tears falling down his cheeks "Fuck!" immediately Lucas bolted over to the teen and absently grabbed the blade of the knife "Y-you know that really did hurt, what the hell were you thinking?" he said through gritted teeth before throwing the thrust knife across the floor._

_The fifteen year old looked down at his feet trying to avoid eye contact but had the unfortunate opportunity of watching blood drip from the Lieutenant Colonel's hand on to the polished rosewood floor "I-I'm a monster I really am a monster." He sputtered_

"_What the hell are you talking about?" the chestnut haired man looked at the blonde quizzically._

_Naruto handed an aerial photo of himself to Blackburn, showing a crimson red figure on all fours with pale white eyes surround by a devastated forest. "This. That's me at least I think it is." When Edward was testing Naruto to see if the shinobi was ready to become his apprentice, the older Elric brother made it a point to supervise the blonde and observe the Jinchuuriki's progress but instead caught Naruto in the form of mini-kyuubi, all that he remembered before the incident was that he was frustrated at the futility of the 'test' and how it would enable him to retrieve Sasuke._

_He scowled at the picture then at the blonde before him "And you think that sticking a knife to your throat is the answer? If so then you're a coward. What about the promise you made? Does that mean nothing to you now?" he questioned the teen as he made his way to the open kitchen to clean the wound._

_Naruto's cerulean eyes hardened as he glared at the Lieutenant Colonel "No and I'm not a coward!" he said sternly._

_Lucas' turquoise eyes stared intently at Naruto as if seeing right through the young blonde "You certainly are acting like one. Only people who are afraid of living even think of taking their own life." He said with a hint of concern in his voice, he retrieved an emergency med-kit from under the kitchen sink._

"_But I may end up hurting them." Guilt and fear now took a hold of the blonde._

_Blackburn just sighed and took a seat in the lounge room, bandaging his hand "It is a lot braver to live than to die, if you take your own life you'll end up hurting those who know you and the promise you'd said that you would keep, would've meant nothing." He said nonchalantly, he then looked up to meet Naruto's eyes that still shook with uncertainty and guilt "As long as you keep your emotions in check you won't become a monster and I sincerely doubt that a monster would be concerned for the safety of their friends." He smirked, securing the end of the bandage._

"_Is everything okay in there?" a feminine voice came from the hallway outside the lounge. _

_Naruto looked up to see a red head with hazel eyes "Who's that?" the blonde pointed to the woman who had entered the room carrying with her a cake_

"_My older sister Fiona, she wanted to see the Puppy." Lucas chuckled._

_Naruto looked about confused trying to find the small dog his superior was talking about "Puppy? What Puppy? Gah…you mean me don't you? You jerk! What give's you the right to call me that?" Naruto fumed standing on the couch while pointing an accusing finger._

_She looked him over inspecting the blonde "So this is him? Well…if I was younger I'd take you in a second" she stood up and smiled._

"_O-okay." Both Lucas and Naruto looked at each other uneasily after Fiona's comment._

_She giggled after seeing the look on their faces. "Anyway happy birthday Aoshi, I did a background check and…what's wrong?" she held out the cake in front of her and smiled only to become concerned as Naruto batted away tears._

"_N-nothing just that I've never had an actual birthday like this." He confessed no one that he knew had ever said happy birthday to him and all of the birthdays he had prior to becoming a shinobi if Konoha were filled with untold pain and loneliness._

_Lucas got Naruto into a headlock "Hey, don't get all teary eyed on us pup. By the way here you'll need this." He released his grip on the blonde and placed a silver pocket watch with the Amestris Military emblem on it in the former shinobi's hand._

_He raised the pocket watch in front of his face. "What's this for?" Naruto tilted his head curious as to the purpose of the timepiece._

_The Lieutenant Colonel picked up the silver pocket watch from Naruto's hand and let it swing on it's own for the young man to see. "You're now a certified State Alchemist and this pocket watch is the proof. Welcome aboard." he grasped Naruto's hand and shook it giving the watch back to him._

"_That also means you're a dog of the military but seeing as you're new to the job we'll call you puppy." Fiona said teasingly patting the blonde on the back_

******End of Flashback******

A blonde dressed in black denim jeans and an orange button shirt with black sleeves, laid back on a rock wall near the river that flowed by Resembol engulfed in the passed and what had recently happened in the Land of Rivers. "Why now? Why did I have to meet up with her now? It only makes this harder. She probably still likes Sasuke so I won't have to worry about her coming after me." He raised his arm up from his face to look up at the sky to see that the sun already had begun to set on the horizon "Time to head back I suppose." He lifted himself from the wall and began his trek back to the Rockbell residence

"You're late where have you been?" A blonde woman scolded Naruto.

The young man just grinned and rubbed the back of his head and walked over to the table "Sorry. I was just clearing my head that's all." His expression then became sombre "I'm going to eat outside." He picked up his plate and tea and headed to the outside table.

Winry scratched her head. "What's wrong with him?"

"I'll go see what's on his mind." The other blonde male sighed and got up from the table.

"You haven't drunken your milk" the automail specialist scolded her fiancé

"Why don't you drink it?" Edward Elric quipped.

Winry became irritated at the statement "Because it's yours" she retorted

"It's not like I'm not going to grow if I don't drink it." Edward growled

The blonde haired woman grabbed the glass and marched over to the golden-eyed man "If you don't drink it I'll force you to-" she was cut short when Edward gently placed a kiss on her cheek, causing Winry to forget what she was about to say "What were we arguing about?" she blinked as Ed walked out on to the porch.

When the older Elric brother walked out on to the porch he saw the Hurricane Alchemist gazing at the stars with an empty plate on the table. "You know I prefer the countryside to the towns and cities, unlike Konoha and Central you can see the night sky perfectly." He sounded as if he was off in a world of his own.

"There's something bothering you Naruto isn't there?" Ed got straight to the point for his reason for being outside.

"What are you talking about?" a fake smile plastered his face.

Ed shook his head, both he and the former shinobi were much a like not wanting to trouble others with their burdens "You're not usually this calm." He said plainly

"…I-I just don't know whether I should go back to my hometown or not. If I go back I'll just be putting everyone at risk, but I kind of miss all of them you know?" Naruto finally admitted.

"I know what you're going through however the best answer to a question is one that you find on your own." Fullmetal and took the seat on the side of the table and joined the other blonde at stargazing.

The Major groaned, "Figures you'd say something like that."

"Heh- There are some things you're supposed to find out on yourself." If he gave Naruto a straight answer the nuke-nin wouldn't have learnt anything.

"I've lived that way my entire life so why should now be any different?" the adolescent male got up from his seat and walked over to the door

"Before you go I want you to think about who are you really protecting when you say you don't want to go back to Konoha?" He looked up from his tea.

"…" Naruto stood at the door thinking about his answer before heading inside, both Edward and Naruto knew the answer to the question and both were too stubborn to admit it.

With the sun starting to rise Sakura stirred from her slumber "Aahhhh! I slept soooo well!" She yawned as she stretched out as she looked out the window a lone figure caught her attention "Sai?" after getting changed and leaving Ino inside to her 'beauty' sleep the pinkette walked up to the dark haired boy and caught a glimpse of what he was doing. "What's this? So you're an artist."

"Do you need something?" the Roots member continued to sketch in his book.

Sakura leaned closely to look at the image on the page "You may have a dirty mouth, but you have a delicate side, huh? I'm surprised." She smiled only slightly.

Wearily he looked up at Sakura "That fake smile… Did you come here to hit me again? Just like yesterday?" Although he didn't show it he was somewhat afraid of her due to what happened yesterday and thought it best not to stir up anymore trouble for now.

Her smile deepened at the thought of smacking some more "Actually yes…kidding!" she added "I just wanted to see your picture…I was curious what were you drawing."

"I see" he always felt uncomfortable when someone watched him draw.

"Since you're in a place like this, I thought you'd be drawing the scenery…But that's an abstraction I see. That picture what's its title" she asked

"Who knows?" The dark haired boy said simply

Sakura looked at him perplexed at the statement "You haven't decided yet?"

"It just doesn't have one. I've done tens of thousands of pictures in my life, but I've never given any of them titles"

"Hmm…" Sakura looked at the other images that Sai had completed and was amazed that none of them had any names

"To be accurate it's not that I don't give them titles it's that I can't. Not one thing comes to me. I just don't feel anything at all." The dark haired boy admitted.

Ino came outside in saw Sakura looking over Sai's shoulder. "So this is where you've been hiding?" she chided, "Yamato-taicho sent me to tell you that we'll be heading out soon." She walked up to the pair and took a look at the images giving an approving nod.

Sakura nodded and took her backpack from her friend "Okay"

The Anbu roots member got to his feet placing his art book on top of the other pictures that he had finished earlier. "Please go on ahead I'll follow as soon as I've cleaned up here."

"Let me help." Sakura offered. "That isn't printed is it? Did you draw this also?" she picked up a small book that had a picture of a white haired boy on one side and a black haired boy on the other.

"Yeah…" Sai admitted in a monotonous voice

She looked the book over "Oh really… a picture book huh…would you mind showing it to me along the way sometime?" the pinkette asked

Sai snatched the book from the kunoichi's hand "Actually I would…this book isn't finished yet. Also I make it a point not to let other people touch this." He placed the small picture book in his bag.

"Okay everyone break time is over we got to keep moving we still have a long way to go, before we reach our destination." Yamato came out of the shadows clapping his hands to gain his squad's attention.

"Right." Sakura nodded slinging her pack over her shoulders. _I'll retrieve you Naruto and then we'll retrieve Sasuke together._

Standing amongst the devastated home of an elderly exile, Fiona looked over a crime scene. "What happened here?" the red haired woman turned to an elderly Ishbalan

The old man looked up from the chaos as uniformed men scoured the area for evidence. "There were two strange men arrived in town and demanded to see the exiled one, we asked them why but they only pressed the matter." The white haired man stated.

"Were there any casualties?" She asked.

The elderly man shook his head in despair "Only those that tried to stop them from leaving." He pointed his cane to the bloody mess at the doorway of the crime scene

"What did they look like?" the red head sighed and jotted the number of casualties.

"They were wearing coats with red clouds around the base. One of the men had blue skin and was carrying a heavy sword, where as the other had dark hair and blood red eyes." He etched their likeness into the sand.

_It matches the description of two Akatsuki and we were only informed of this organization after Aoshi joined our ranks. Just what is going on here and what are you hiding Lucas?_ she mused as her eyes seemed to focus inwardly at her own thoughts "Thank you elder, you may leave now." She nodded slightly to the Ishbalan

"Ma'am should we send a search team?" A private walked up to the colonel.

She shook her head slowly "No if they are indeed from the east then pursuing them now would be futile without any clues as to their true destination, for now we concentrate on discovering what they were after."

* * *

From one of the many Akatsuki hideouts, the figure of the organization looked down upon the unconscious body of a withered old Ishbalan male "Is this him?" the voice was cold

"Yes Pein-sama." A raven-haired figure bowed.

Pein turned to the half-man, half-plant member Akatsuki who acted as the information gatherer for the organization "Then begin the interrogation I want you to extract every drop of information from him." His grey eyes gazed hungrily at the exile in anticipation of the information that would be unlocked.

"Unh?" the old man began to stir.

Zetsu stood menacingly over the Ishbalan "This will be over before you know it."

"…Gyaaagh!" the old man's screams echoed through out the cavern as the hybrid began the extraction process.

TBC


	4. Center of the Heart

**Disclaimer**

Naruto characters and references belong to Misashi Kishimoto  
Fullmetal Alchemist characters and references belong to Hiromu Arakawa  
Original Characters characters are mine.

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* * *

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**Naruto Hurricane Alchemist Chapter 3 Centre of the Heart**

After days of travelling through the scorching desert the members of Team Kakashi finally arrived at their destination, Amestris. As they travelled throw the busy paved streets, Ino was visibly struck with awe at the variety of stores and the size of Central however Sakura chose to remain silent as she was more concerned with more pressing matters. As Team Kakashi was driven to the house that their wayward friend was staying at, Yamato glanced back at the pink haired kunoichi and sighed inwardly "Why are you really helping us?" he asked the uniformed officer next to him that was driving the vehicle.

"As pinkie back there said, I owed her for helping me." The emerald-eyed kunoichi twitched at the nickname that the officer gave her, then Blackburn's face took on a more serious tone and he continued to speak "I originally invited him into the world of Alchemy to enable him, to give him a sense of purpose and to keep living. However lately it seems as if he's trying to run away from something." Sakura looked down at the floor of the vehicle mentally blaming herself for the condition of her blonde team mate as the Lieutenant Colonel's voice trailed off "His sense of reason and reality has become distorted, he's not the same Naruto that I helped two and a half years ago." The brunette shook his head at the unfortunate change in the adolescent's behaviour.

The temporary captain of Team Kakashi saw where this was going "and you want to see if we can snap him out of his 'daze'?" Yamato summarized, getting right to the point of the discussion.

"More or less and I want to see his expression when you lot show up at his doorstep" Lieutenant Colonel Blackburn let out a light chuckled "Well here we are." He said stopping the car pointing to a house across the road.

The group looked out to their right and across the road, what the saw was a the front of a two story red brick house, complete with a veranda and a garden of red, yellow and white roses "Nice house." Ino said impressed as she opened the door of the vehicle and stepped out onto the smooth paved stone street.

As they began exiting the car and making their way to the gate of the residence, a young blonde male exited the building, Naruto noticed the driver of the vehicle as his superior however failed to notice the passengers at first and just shrugged, locking the front door behind him.

Ino starred at the former shinobi approvingly, she could tell that he didn't look like the same small fry when they were younger and that's when her eyes began to wander. "Wow! He has definitely matured. I wonder if…" Yamnaka smirked playfully.

Sakura saw the hungry look on Ino's face and clenched her teeth and fist "That's enough out of you." She said bitterly before knocking her friend on the head.

Hearing a dull thud coming from behind him he instinctively turned swiftly withdrew a push knife from his sleeve as he spun around he saw two familiar faces and two unfamiliar to him. "Haruno-san and Yamnaka-san? And two others." He said in an unimpressed tone, burying the knife back in his sleeve.

Although it wasn't the reaction he wanted Blackburn simply smiled at the reunion "Have fun now and no fighting" he teased from the driver's seat of the car.

Hearing his commander's voice Naruto stormed towards the running car with a twitching eyebrow "Oh…Lieutenant Colonel!" the blonde said sweetly as he thrust his hand into his pocket and exchanged his regular gloves for a pair with a transmutation circle sewn into the cloth.

Seeing the killer look that the blonde was giving him the Lieutenant Colonel swiftly took out his silver pocket watch just as a bead of sweat trailed down his forehead "Well look at the time I think…I should be getting back and help with the...umm...investigation" He said innocently before leaving Naruto fuming in the streets behind him.

Naruto ran a few meters down the road chase before letting his commander before stopping at the end of the block "GET BACK HERE SO I CAN BEAT THE SHIT OUT OF YOU! YOU JERK!" He shouted at Blackburn who just waved back dismissibely at the blonde as he disappeared around another corner

As the former shinobi entered the modest sized yard of his current home, Ino's gaze was drawn to the roses "Who planted the flowers and who's been tending to them?" she asked inquisitively hoping to get a better response then the one the group had received when they first arrived.

The blonde walked passed the ninja before he decided to answer "I did and gardening has been a hobby of mine since the academy." He stressed the last point, making the sentence a jab at the two kunoichi.

Ino and Sakura looked at the ground briefly although Naruto's jab at them was uncalled for they still were ashamed of how they treated the young man when they were still genin "Really? They're quite beautiful" Ino said as the young man opened the door and allowed the unexpected guests to enter first.

After being led to the lounge and the blonde male served his guests tea, Yamato decided to introduce himself and the dark haired male "Seeing as you already know Sakura and Ino let me introduce ourselves, I am Yamato temporarily replacing Kakashi and he is Sai who is filling in for Sasuke" The brunette was a little too casual about Sasuke's replacement.

This struck a chord with the former shinobi but the young male simply pushed his anger aside not wanting to fuel the kyuubi's chakra "…Why are you here?" he asked bluntly.

"Aren't we allowed to visit an old friend?" Ino tried to sound innocent seeing if the knucklehead of Konoha would fall for the excuse.

Naruto frowned at the comment knowing full well that Ino was trying to play him for a fool "You barely tolerated me and you were looking me over like I was a piece of meat." He said accusingly, taking a sip of tea from his decorative china cup. "But I can't complain, others have been looking at me like that to lately. I've even been asked out on dates a couple of times." Sakura sat there quietly, although she told herself she was fine with other girls asking him out but deep down she felt oddly jealous. "And I know that you're actually here to take me back" he gently placed the cup in its saucer "Let me be clear about this I am not going back, not yet" Naruto looked at everyone intensely.

Yamato leaned forward his black eyes pierced Naruto's blue eyes, in search of answers "Do you have a reason?"

The blonde male sighed closing his eyes briefly he leaned back in the rose patterned velvet chair accumulating his thoughts. "If I go back, I'll just be endangering the village with my presence. I'll be targeted by the Akatsuki and I think the villagers would probably prefer it this way." he said after having thought been through the scenario several times in his mind ever since he had arrived in Amestris.

No longer able to take Naruto's coldness towards them Sakura finally spoke up "What about your friends!" she slammed her hands on the coffee table disturbing the china.

Naruto rolled his eyes at Sakura "So…I am just going to walk through the gates and tell them that I'm sorry for making them think that I was dead and ask if they can put the fact that they wept for someone who was still alive behind them." He said sarcastically

"Why are you acting like this?" Ino scowled.

Naruto not wanting to continue the discussion any longer got up from his chair and brushed himself off "You're wasting your time here. Go back to the village." He said turning his back to the group as the grandfather in the hall chimed.

"But Naruto!" Sakura and Ino pleaded

"If you intend to stay you can take the rooms upstairs. Sakura and Ino in one room while Sai and Yamato in the other" He said walking across the hard wood floor to the stairs "There's food in the fridge, you can serve yourselves."

"We aren't like you we don't eat and breathe ramen." Ino scoffed.

He frowned at the comment "Ramen is hard to come by in Central, so you'll have to make do with what's in the fridge" he said grabbing the stair's banister "See you in the morning." The blonde then disappeared upstairs.

* * *

The next morning as the dawn rays crept into his room Naruto looked to the window on his right as he tried to brush the sleep from his sapphire blue eyes with his left arm "Mmm…unh?" when he put hand down to rest on the bed again he felt it brush against something warm, slowly his eyes traced his arm to where his hand had fell and saw the uninvited guest that had found their way into his bed and saw that it was the pink haired kunoichi Sakura "Gah-ah!" he let out a startled yelp and fell backwards off the bed and onto the floor with a loud thud.

Sakura alarmed by the crash shot up and looked towards the mess next to her, as she peered over the side of the bed she saw the blonde male on the ground groaning in pain "Huh? N-Naruto?" her back stiffened as the realization that she was no longer in her room hit her "How, how did I get here…?" Then she remembered that she got turned around after going to the bathroom in the middle of the night when the grandfather clock chimed.

"What the hell is going on?" Ino's muffled voice could be heard coming from the hall. "Is everything okay in there?" she knocked on the door to make sure everything was okay.

The blonde female startled Sakura and Naruto, not wanting to be caught the blue-eyed male hurriedly pulled on his trousers "C-crap! Um-uh,Yeah! Oh-er, c-coming!" he stuttered scrambling for the door after tripping on his trouser leg, earning a stifled giggle from the pinkette.

"Is everything okay in there?" This time it was Yamato who asked from the other side of the wooden door.

Slowly the door creaked open and Sakura not wasting time raced to the group that was outside "Yup! Everything is fine I was awake and we began talking" she began to gently push the group away from the room and downstairs

"Uh…huh? Really?" Ino looked at them sceptically as Yamato just grinned inwardly and Sai stood there trying to understand what was going on.

Sakura quickly got up and walked to the group at the door "R-really…um let's uh…go down stairs and have breakfast" She began pushing everyone towards the stairs while trying to laugh off her embarrassment.

"Alright, alright will you quit shoving?" Ino complained but not before shooting a wink Naruto's way, however the young blonde male just shook his head and absently slapped his forehead with his automail hand and fell on his back groaning.

* * *

On the other side of town within the rebuilt State Library a bookish brunette approached a similarly dressed woman with a thin hard covered book in her hand. "So is this all of the information on Akatsuki?" Lucas' older sister asked the woman behind the desk, sounding disappointed in the lack of information on the organization.

"Yes ma'am." She nodded promptly.

Letting out a sigh in defeat Fiona took the small book in her hand and waved to the woman behind the desk with her free hand and headed over to one of the free desks in the library "Thanks Chezka"

She smiled in return "No problem."

Once finding a free desk she slipped into her seat and opened the book, flipping the handwritten pages "Now let's see…not a lot to go on but if what happened with Sunagakure is any indication these 'bijuu' must hold incredible power for such a small organization to make such a bold move, so what is Aoshi's connection with the Akatsuki…unless he has one or is a part of the organization." She muttered to herself while continuing to sift through the pages in an attempt to find an answer to the raid on the Ishbalan settlement.

* * *

After a day of grocery shopping Team Kakashi along with Naruto sat in one of the parks located in Central and watched the setting sun from a park bench under a large oak "Please Naruto comeback to Konoha." Sakura continued to beg her former team mate to return to his home village.

"Haruno-san don't" He said not wanting to get too familiar with his old crush while trying to give her a gentle hint that he doesn't want to return.

Through out the day Sakura felt uneasy that Naruto had not used her first name and she even had to admit to herself that she missed the honorific on the end but she was confused by the statement "Huh?" she asked blankly

Naruto sighed taking a few steps forward "I'm not going to replace Sasuke and I'm not going to return just to satisfy your guilt." He said bluntly and was already hating himself for what he had just said to her, not wanting her to see his discomfort he pocketed his hands into his uniform and dared not to meet her eyes.

"Wha-what are you talking about?" The pinkette's eyes widened in shock and she began asking herself why she was in Amestris and trying to convince Naruto to return

The blonde sighed and looked into distance as the street lamps flickered to life "As I said before I can't return…and you have nothing to feel guilty about. You weren't to know about the kyuubi, neither was I it was for our own protection" He stated matter-of-factly as if he had rehearsed the speech countless of times "you only responded to what your parents allowed you to know and how they felt about me." He steadily began to make his way home.

The emerald-eyed kunoichi swiftly got to her feet with an outstretched hand "But even so, I shouldn't have treated you so harshly."

"You were hardly to blame you just wanted to fit in, besides Sasuke was always stronger and smarter." Naruto admitted to Sakura with a fake smile on his face.

The kunoichi couldn't believe what she was hearing and shook her head trying to tell herself that what she was hearing was a nightmare "Stop it Naruto! I should've made my own mind up, not let my parents make it up for me." She called out desperately to the shinobi-turned-alchemist.

Naruto closed his eyes briefly and let a slight chuckle out "It was true was it not? Anyway I have no home to return to and the villagers a glad I'm gone, besides I have a life here and I'm accepted for who I am."

"What about your friends and what about Iruka he was like a father to you wasn't he?" She tried desperately to change his mind trying to get him to remember those whom he had left behind.

He again chortled at her attempts "I was alone from the start so how could I know what having a father is like or so I'm told?"

She frowned at the statement that her ex-teammate had made "Who put this into your head?"

"I'd rather not say…" The blonde closed his eyes already feeling guilty for saying too much.

Sakura looked down at the ground, deep down she already knew the answer but she had to hear it from someone else "…Sasuke said that didn't he?"

Naruto winced at the memory of that fateful day that cost him his right arm and his ability to fully implement his chakra "I'm not going back." He said with finality

Sakura had enough of Naruto's game "FINE BE LIKE THAT! SEE IF I CARE!" she shouted at the former shinobi causing the resting birds in the tree behind them to fly off into the distance.

As the blonde walked down the path again a brown and black car pulled up in front of him and his superior exited the vehicle "Naruto an alarm has been raised; there's been another murder."

The major stared intently at Lucas "Where?" his voice was stern.

The Lieutenant Colonel pointed towards the waterfront "Churchill Lane, warehouse district."

Acknowledging the information Naruto nodded in reply "Right! I'll go on ahead." He said knowing that it was Lucas' intention of letting the blonde go on ahead due to his speed.

After watching his subordinate head off to find the serial killer he saw the rose-haired kunoichi with a distant look on her face and holding her right arm, he sighed and walked over to her and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder "You know Naruto does care about you." His voice was calm and gentle.

"He certainly doesn't act like it." Ino walked up to the two unimpressed with the blonde male's actions

The state alchemist ignored Yamnaka's outburst and again tried to console the medic-nin "He doesn't want to take advantage of you, he wants to protect your feelings and he doesn't want to feel like he's being used either. He's a giving person and who asks little in return."

As Lucas tried to cheer up her friend Ino's aqua eyes saw the corner of a leather bound book in the uniform of the state alchemist "What is that?" she leaned in to get a closer look of the book.

The Steel Fortress Alchemist looked down at his pocket and fished out the journal from his black coat "Well this is a research journal, it's Naruto's to be exact." The Lieutenant Colonel stated handing Sakura the book.

Ino looked at the leather bound book and back to Lucas in disbelief "He has a research journal?" she refused to believe that Naruto was even capable of taking research notes especially with his low grades in the Academy

Sakura took the journal from the middle-aged man and began flicking through the pages of the small book "Seeing as he is a Jinchuuriki, It looks like he was researching bijuu and those that are burdened with carrying them" he opened the rear door on the passenger's side of the car for the girls while Yamato took the seat at the front "You can read the book on the way." The officer said in a low voice.

Peeling her attention from the book that her friend was now sifting through she noticed that the fourth member of their team was missing "Yamato-taicho where's Sai?" she asked inquisitively.

Yamato looked at Ino, Sakura and Lucas with a heavy heart "This is his bingo book." He raised a black book in front of the group lowering he flipped to a page that had been book marked.

Sakura and Lucas frowned at the details they saw in the book while Ino gasped in disbelief. "Why is Naruto in it?" the pinkette finally asked.

Yamato slapped the book shut and placed it in his green vest "Danzou has marked him as a threat to the village and we can only assume that Sai's gone to execute his other mission."

"You can't mean that Sai is going to…" Ino began as her eyes widened in disbelief at what the male member of their team might be planning to do

After putting the pieces together and going through several simulations in her mind Sakura saw Danzou's ultimate goal and what he wanted to achieve "If he does that while Naruto is still here and as an Alchemist..."

Lucas saw where Sakura's train of thought was going and finished the sentence for her "It'll start a war with the Fire Nation and seeing as Konohagakure has never dealt with tanks, guns and alchemists there will be heavy casualties." He stated earning a shocked look from the other kunoichi.

"Either way it suits Danzou's desires perfectly." Yamato said to the group in a low voice that seemed to warn of danger.

* * *

The silver moon shone brightly in the crisp night air from the tiled roof of dock's customs office the former shinobi cast a watch gaze across the warehouse district looking for possible leads. "Still fresh and in the same district as before however we've checked all of the warehouses, docks and ships but we found nothing there's nowhere else to search that's close by to water…the construction site." After bounding from roof to roof towards his goal, Naruto walked into the area he designated as the likely spot of the murderer as he continued to walk across the moist sand of the construction site the Hurricane Alchemist noticed dark red droplets on the ground and knelt down for a closer look "Blood!" he muttered to himself after swiping a finger through the fluid on the ground and feeling its viscous texture "YOU MIGHT AS WELL SHOW YOURSELF!" The blonde yelled into the darkness.

From the shadows of the incomplete warehouse a deep laugh echoed into the night "Looks like the State Military new pet is better than I expected. But it still took you long enough to find me" Creeping from behind a steel I-beam the voice soon had a face.

Seeing the bloodied Amestris uniform Naruto shook his head in disbelief "Why are you doing this? Why have you turned your back on those who trusted you?" the cerulean eyes of the former shinobi searched the traitor's eyes for an answer.

The well-built man chuckled again "Because King Bradley is the true Fuehrer and Roy Mustang has made you all…WEAK!" the criminal raised his hand in front of his body and the transmutation circle on his metal-grey gauntlet flashed an electric blue, beneath the man the water in the white sand began to bubble up from the surface and whirl about him creating a small vortex until launching itself like a spear at the blonde.

The jet of water speared passed the young male and penetrated the wall of the site office sending paper and timber flying onto the street, the blonde rolled across the soft, wet ground and planted his right arm on the surface and leaped to his feet and flashed his enemy a confident grin "Too slow baka." Naruto joked slipping on an orange gauntlet with a black transmutation circle on it.

The red haired man glowered at Naruto "THEN TAKE THIS!" The former state alchemist shrieked and waved his hand in the air activating the seal on the gauntlet, the water in the atmosphere began to crackle and crystallize forming spines of glistening, frozen water in the air above the blue-eyed alchemist.

As the cold spikes of liquid fell from the sky Naruto dodged and ducked through the hail of ice as if he was dancing to music that he could only hear, however with the damp sand beneath him his foot slipped and like a sharp blade cutting through fine fabric, dug into the flesh of Naruto's back "ARRGH!" the blonde male wailed before unleashing a wave of compressed air at his opponent sending the former alchemist crashing into a stack of bags of cement mix.

As the cloud of dust cleared the well built man pulled himself from the mess of broken fragile bags "Damn he's stronger than he looks." He spat a mouthful of blood from his mouth onto the ground of the darkened construction site "Then I'll have to up the ante." He grinned eagerly enjoying the thought of an intense and long battle.

* * *

As the car passed by each streetlamp the interior of the vehicle became briefly illuminated by the lamps and then left in darkness as each light vanished into ebon darkness of the night "He's willing to sacrifice his humanity along with his own life just to keep his promise." Unable to continue reading the journal, the pink haired kunoichi gave into both her guilt and also to heartbreak after the stark realisation as to how much the young man has given up for everyone, collapsing in her seat Sakura began to weep into her hands as she tried desperately to hide her face from the others.

"Sakura!" Ino shouted in concern as her friend collapsed into tears, placing a supportive hand on the back of her friend trying to get the pink-haired medic-nin to speak

Sakura couldn't bare to look at the people around her and kept her face buried in her palms "It's always the same…the only things I can do for Naruto are these small things." She managed to say between sobs

Yamato in the passenger's seat next to Lucas smiled warmly turning to face the sixteen year old girls "It isn't a matter of doing big or small things for him." He said in a sage like tone. "It's how strongly you fell about him that counts. Sakura I can tell just by looking at you that in fact you l-"The car halted near the construction yard

"We're here." Lucas interrupted Yamato, nodding to the dark haired boy that was watching the heated fight between the two alchemists.

As the night air was filled with bright flashes of electric blue light the dark haired boy slinked along the perimeter of the construction site with his blade drawn, from her seat with in the car the green-eyed kunoichi saw the gleaming sword and leaped into action, nearly tearing off the vehicle's door in the process charged at Sai and grabbed him by the scruff of his shirt and made him look in her rage filled eyes "Sai! What the hell do you think you're doing?" she growled at him.

Sai looked at Sakura then at the rest of the group then turned his attention back to the side entrance of the makeshift 'arena' as another spark and subsequent explosion filled the air "It's true that my orders were to assassinate Naruto-kun." Sai said emotionlessly "But I've had enough and I want to act on my own for once." The dark haired boy then looked at the group "Sakura-san somehow forced me to remember what it was like to feel something that was very important to me. I don't know much about him but there's a reason why Sakura-san came this far to find him. Even if he try's to cut his bonds he'll only become more frantic about retying them." Sakura then released her grip on the dark haired boy and let out a small smile.

"Seeing as his speech is done, can we get moving and arrest the guy Naruto is fighting before they level the whole block?" Lucas quipped just as a section of scaffolding crumbled to the ground.

As Blackburn, Yamato, Sai, Ino and Sakura walked into the construction site the blonde haired male grinned as if he had already won the fight "Heh…Your surrounded now so time to give up." He gestured to the group standing to his left with his head.

The Water Alchemist smirked wickedly at the young man "Not by a long…" The murderer was cut short as flame engulfed the top half of the man lightly charring the flesh and completely destroying his old uniform.

At the other side of the construction site a creak from car doors could be heard followed by the patter of boots on hardened ground filled the night air. "How's that for a long shot then?" a deep voice came from a staff car.

"Fuehrer Mustang!" Both Naruto and Lucas said in unison and stood at attention.

The dark haired man smiled crossing the cratered battlefield "Good work Major Uzumaki," he patted the youth on the back watching the Military Police take the renegade alchemist to the waiting van "Thanks to you we can finally but this man on trial and give him a suitable punishment for his crimes."

Naruto stared blankly at Roy Mustang blankly "How did you…?" he began.

"Know? Come now, I am the Fuehrer after all" The Flame Alchemist said rather arrogantly.

_Damn you, you smug jerk!_ Both Naruto and Blackburn thought to themselves as they watched Roy Mustang help move the convict to the paddy wagon.

As the shinobi-turned-alchemist watched the clean up, the emerald green-eyed kunoichi noticed the darkened wet fabric of the Blonde's uniform "Naruto! You're wounded let me heal you." She moved her hands over the wound and allowed her chakra to flow into her hands.

The blonde male shrugged her off "I'm fine it's just a scratch" He began to walk to the edge of the poorly lit construction site.

Sakura however grabbed his arm before he got to far away from her. "Please." The adolescent woman pleaded in what was barely considered a whisper.

_Who are you really protecting?_ Edwards words played in the blonde's mind "Sure." He said in a calm and gentle tone and without hesitation the kunoichi began to heal the gash in his back "Sakura-chan and I'm sorry...about earlier."

The pinkette was surprised but somewhat glad that he had begun to use her first name with the honorific after it, however she shook her head and allowed the chakra to again flow through her hands to heal the gash "No I shouldn't have tried to force you to return." Her voice was filled with guilt.

The blonde male saw the sadness in her eyes "…I'll go back if it will make you happy and to smooth things over with the others." This cheered his ex-teammate up somewhat "But it'll only be temporary just to gauge everyone's reaction." He said in a sombre tone.

Although she was pleased that he was going to go back to Konoha with them the fact that he said it was temporary disappointed her "I…I understand." Now that Naruto was returning home with the group, Sakura now had to make sure that he would decide to remain in his home village.

* * *

Back in the land of the shinobi in one of the many darkened lairs of the organization known as Akatsuki the members of the secretive organization conversed in the shadows "Is everything prepared?" the figurehead of the organization asked his pawns.

"Yes Pein-sama, the Zombie brothers know what to do." A half plant and half human reported to the grey-eyed man to his right.

Pein nodded in response to Zetsu's report "Konan and I will be heading to Amestris to affect the next stage of the plan." He outlined the next stage of the revised plan that true leader of Akatsuki had formulated "Itachi, Kisame, Zetsu, Deidara and Tobi will stay where you are and deal with the other thorn." Pein ordered the listed members with a hint of venom in his voice.

TBC

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* * *

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**Konoha Ninja Handbook**

**Name: **Lucas Blackburn

**Alias: **Steel Fortress Alchemist

**Rank: **Lieutenant Colonel

**Position:** State Alchemist

**Age: **26

**Current Data:** From what we have gathered Lucas Blackburn, also known as the Steel Fortress Alchemist, specializes in the use of both projectile and close ranged weapons. Rumour has it he was permitted into the State Military by King Bradly after showing off a vehicle which would later become their Main Battle Tank and the reason for his name. Shinobi that have met this individual have often commented on his arrogant but goofy and energetic manner with disdain but it has been also noted that he has a keen intellect.

* * *

A/N: Although I'm am both surprised and overwhelmed by how many favs the story is receiving, I would like to here the thoughts and the creative critiques from you the readers.


	5. Hero's Come Back

**Disclaimer:**  
Naruto characters and references belong to Misashi Kishimoto

Fullmetal Alchemist characters and references belong to Hiromu Arakawa

Original Characters characters are mine

* * *

**Naruto Hurricane Alchemist Chapter 4 - Hero's Come Back**

Standing in front of the giant wooden gates of Konohagakure a young blonde male couldn't help but remember the parting that he had with the person that had introduced him to the world of Alchemy, the one thing that perhaps saved him from a world of despair, darkness and a cold death.

- Flashback-

It was early morning in Central the birds were chirping happily as the golden glow from the bright sun washed over the features of the shinobi and the Hurricane Alchemist as the stood in the polished office of Lucas Blackburn. "Well I guess this farewell for now Naruto." The Iron Wall Alchemist shook the blonde's hand firmly

"I guess." Was all that Naruto could manage to say due to his inability to his dislike of saying goodbye to people.

"Due to my experience with the Fire Nation the Fuehrer has promoted me to Colonel and has transferred me to Eastern HQ on special assignment with that in mind I'll try to persuade my sister to let me deal with the investigation into the missing person that was abducted by the Akatsuki." Lucas said in a stern and serious tone before turning his attention to Naruto once again this time leaning in close to the young blonde to keep the discussion between the two of them "Listen Naruto you don't need me to tell you this but…. be sure to control that temper of yours."

"Yeah I know." Naruto said dejectedly remembering what had caused his transformation while undergoing his training to become an alchemist

Blackburn placed his hands on his hips proudly before slapping Naruto on the back "Good! And don't make the State Military look like a bunch of goofs." He said boisterously.

"WHAT'S THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN!" his sapphire blue eyes of the blonde State Alchemist warned his superior of danger.

The brunette smiled at his subordinate as a father would a son "Good luck Naruto and no matter which path you choose just remember you'll always have a home to return to." Lucas said warmly as he opened the door to his office to allow the group to leave earning polite bows from them.

-End of Flashback-

After being allowed to enter the village from the guards at the gate entrance, the group continued down the main path towards the Hokage Mansion, taking in all the familiar sights, sounds and smells of the village Naruto sighed in content "Konoha hasn't changed at all." He commented but his gaze was drawn to a new face on the mountain in front of them. "So they finally put her face on the mountain." He said with a smirk and a hint of cheek in his voice.

As they continued their trek to meet the Fifth Hokage a certain pink haired noticed the glances of some of the villagers that they past most particularly those of the young women. "You know Naruto you don't have to wear the uniform and don't you think the make-up to hide the marks on your cheeks is a bit much?" she tried to make her comment sound casual to hide what she considered to be embarrassment.

Naruto looked around at the glances he was getting from the people, some were of suspicion others were of curiosity and of course intrigue, the blonde male tilted the hat of his blue military uniform slightly as he inwardly smiled at Sakura's feint. "If I just walk in like nothing happened, my sudden return from the 'grave' would cause…complications." He said glancing over his blue tinted sunglasses "Besides I want to see baa-chan's reaction." He snickered at the thought.

The pinkette sighed at the blonde male's childish comment "Geeze Naruto…and here I thought you were going to be mature." She shook her head from side to side.

Naruto shrugged and began walking backwards weaving through the crowd "We're still young Sakura-chan don't be in such a rush to grow up."

Ino and Yamato nodded in agreement at the Hurricane Alchemist's statement "He's right Sakura you should enjoy your life while you still can, after all the line of work we do is dangerous." Yamato said

_'How did I become the villain all of a sudden?'_ Her inner self whined at the fact that the temporary leader of Team Kakashi and her friend was agreeing with the hyperactive ninja, Sakura looked up to see that the group had progressed further "OI WAIT UP!" she shouted jogging after them.

Within the mansion a blonde haired woman and her assistant were busy with the paperwork "Finished this one, are there anymore?" she passed a stack of papers to the dark haired woman in front of her.

Shizune shook her head after looking at the stack near the door "No Tsunade-sama that was the last one."

"I really hate boring days like this" Tsunade said glancing out the window with a bored look on her face, as she continued to stare out into the streets of the village she had sworn to protect as her arm absently went for the top draw of her desk that stored her sake however her hand stopped a few inches from the handle as someone rapped on the wooden door of her office. "Enter!" she shouted as the door creaked open she blinked when Team Kakashi entered the room "You're back, so how did the mission go?" she asked expecting to see someone else.

Under the assumption that the mission was a failure Tsunade frowned at the group until a man in a blue uniform entered the room "Baa-chan it's been a while." The young man grinned.

The blonde woman's eyes widened in surprise at the name, for she only new one person that would call her that "Na-Naruto? Is that really you?" Tsunade and Shizune looked at the young uniformed man again as the boy nodded. "It looks like you've certainly grown." She said, both Tsunade and her assistant Shizune were surprised at how handsome he looked in the foreign clothes.

"I haven't grown that much I've still got quite a bit to learn." The blonde said bashfully taking his hat off and running his hand through his golden locks.

Tsunade blinked confused by the former shinobi's behaviour, she was expecting that he would boast about his improvement and claiming to be stronger than he was the last time they met. "Okay where's the real Naruto? The Naruto I know wouldn't be this humble." Her voice was filled with scepticism however Naruto just stood there letting out a light chuckle. "Oh! Naruto there's someone outside who you should greet as well." The godaime pointed to the window to her right.

"Huh?" Naruto looked at the current Hokage blankly before walking to the window in question and looked outside "Kakashi-sensei!" his face immediately lit up when he saw the person Tsunade had been referring to.

The silver haired shinobi looked up from his book to the source of the noise "You've gotten big Naruto. Yo!" he said in his casually lazy tone.

Naruto smirked as he leaped out of the window onto the roof "You haven't changed at all."

Watching the two men begin talking as if nothing had changed both Sakura and Tsunade smiled contently "Nostalgic isn't it?" The blonde woman's voice sounded warm and gentle.

After telling his old sensei some of his experiences in Amestris as a state alchemist the young man began searching his coat pocket "By the way Ero-senin's newest book started circulating, so I thought I might as well get you a copy." After a minute of searching the blonde produced a thick green book and proudly handed it to the copycat nin.

Kakashi's uncovered eye was wide in shock due to his former pupil's generosity and the fact that he was giving him the latest book of Icha-Icha "Nani? Naruto you-! This is-!" he stammered opening the book.

"Sorry to interrupt your reunion but this is yours is it not Naruto?" The godaime held her hand out and in her palm was a small blue crystal on a black leather string.

Still on the roof outside of office of the hokage Naruto walked over to Tsunade and looked at the crystal then at the woman holding it again "The chakra crystal? But I thought I lost it." He said in disbelief.

She grabbed Naruto's hand and placed the crystal in his palm "Take it 'cause you'll need it for training tomorrow."

"About that…our mission although a success, Naruto is here only on a temporary basis." Yamato said.

"Explain!" she looked at the shinobi-turned-alchemist demanding answers.

Climbing back inside the blonde let out a defeated sigh escape from his lips "I'm here only to smooth things over with everyone here to show them that I am alive and well, secondly if possible to enlist your assistance in continuing my search for Sasuke and eliminate the Akatsuki threat." He sounded sincere in his declaration for he knew that if he were to go against the Akatsuki, or attempted to retrieve Sasuke that he'd help to do it.

The uncovered eye of the 'copy cat-nin' widened both out of surprise at the sudden mature approach Naruto was taking about the situation "Well then that still means you'll need to become stronger doesn't it?" Kakashi said from his perch on the windowsill

The blonde nodded in agreement "But can't that wait until tomorrow, I'm kinda beat and I need to arrange a place to stay." He turned on his heel and made his way to the door.

"Of course I'll arrange-" The hazel-eyed woman began.

"He can stay with me-" She placed a hand over her mouth realizing what she had accidentally said and bowed apologetically for interrupting her master.

Although taken aback by Sakura's offer the blonde male shook his head from side-to-side knowing that he'd just be a burden to her and knowing Ino, rumours of an illicit nature would start to spread around the village "No. I think I'll rent a hotel room, I may not be able to pay with currency from Amestris but I can fix a few things for them in return for a room. See you later." He waved back casually as he left the office to seek out some sort of lodging.

Once Naruto was out of ear shot, Ino turned to her friend with a wicked smirk on her face "So Sakura where exactly was he going to sleep in your apartment was he going to sleep on the lounge or was he…?" she stopped there knowing that if she said anything else she'd be sent through the wall.

"Kill me now please kami" Yamato, Shizune and Kakashi chuckled as Sakura tried to hide her face from the embarrassment while Ino continued to poke fun at her however Sai just looked on with curiosity.

Although she to was enjoying the moment Tsunade cleared her throat "Ahem! Sakura, Sai I want you two to keep an eye on Naruto although it's been three years since the incident at the Valley of the End there'll be some mistrust towards Naruto and I also don't want him wandering too far from the village especially after the attack on Sunagakure by Akatsuki." She held a hand up to let Sakura and Sai know that she wasn't finished speaking "But before that, Sakura get everyone that Naruto knows and arrange for a welcome home party and as for you Ino-" the elderly blonde woman began giving Ino her orders

Ino turned to the fifth immediately "Yes Lady Tsunade?"

"I want you to go with Choji and rendezvous with the rest of Team Asuma they're responding to an attack on a temple within the borders of the Fire Nation" Tsunade finished

"Right!" Both of the young kunoichi replied in unison at the orders that were given.

After the group had left both of the women smiled at the sudden improvement in Sakura's mood ever since the blonde's assumed death, the pinkette had been sullen and distant but now a spark long since forgotten had returned "Sakura-san appears to be livelier since she returned with Naruto-kun."

"Yes she does and I have to say that Naruto has turned out to be a fine young man, inside and out." The blonde woman said with a hint of cheek in her voice as a smirk crept onto her features.

"TSUNADE-SAMA!" The dark haired woman was in shock at the godaime's suggestive tone even though she had to agree with Tsunade.

The Godaime looked at Shizune innocently "What? We may be shinobi but we're still human after all." She said taking out her bottle of sake and poured herself a cup.

* * *

Walking one of the main paths of Konoha, Naruto trudged down the dirt street half exhausted from doing transmutations to pay for a room at one of the hotels in the village. "Repairing eight chairs, five tables, six plates and three vases has left me feeling a little hungry. I wonder if Ayame and the old man are still serving at Ichiraku Ramen." He sighed placing a hand on his growling stomach as he stood outside his favourite restaurant. "Hello? Anyone home?" he called ducking in underneath the cloth characters that made the Ichiraku sign

Hearing a new customer arrive a brunette woman came from the back carrying a basket of freshly made noodles with a smile on her face "Welcome to-to! Aiiie!" she cried dropping the plates she was carrying when she recognized the familiar whisker marks on the young man's cheeks and those piercing sapphire blue eyes.

Upon hearing his daughter's cry Teuchi ran to the front of the restaurant in a panic "What's wrong Ayame?" he then stopped at the door frame when he saw the customer his mouth gapping "N-Naruto Uzumaki is that you?" he asked looking the blonde up and down, then rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't dreaming "What happened? Where were you all this time? Did you learn any new techniques?" the old man behind the counter began asking all at once.

Naruto smiled and took a seat at the counter his orange shirt creased as he folded his arms across his chest. "How about I tell you everything over a hot bowl of ramen?"

"Of course." Teuchi nodded in agreement at the 'trade'

It was at that moment that someone from his academy days decided to duck in and pay a visit to Naruto "Actually I was thinking that I treat you and you can tell us all about what you've been doing for the past three years." He said proudly

The blonde swiftly turned in his chair and saw his old sensei from the Academy "Iruka-sensei!" he called out happily

Iruka took a seat next to his old student "I'm really glad to see you alive and well Naruto."

"You too sensei, but how did you know?" Naruto said warmly as Teuchi placed two bowls in front of his customers.

"I met Sakura on the way here and she told me that you were back and I simply figured that you'd come here sooner or later." Iruka explained to the blonde. After having their meal and allowing Naruto to tell his tale to him, Iruka took his former pupil for a walk so that he could tell the shinobi-turned-alchemist what has happened in Konoha but what astounded the Chunin teacher was the attentiveness that Naruto displayed.

Eventually the pair stopped in front of the side entrance to a building familiar to both the blonde and the brunette "The school? Don't tell baa-chan wants me to go back to the academy?" Naruto let out a groan.

"Don't be silly Naruto you graduated remember?" Iruka shook his head letting a slight chuckle escape from his lips at the comment.

"Yeah…but Tsunade does like to screw with some people." Naruto grumbled recalling the first day he had met the 'Slug Princess'

Iruka already in the darkened room turned to face the blonde "Just come on Naruto." He gestured for the young man to follow him.

As he stepped onto the hard wood floor he heard the slight echo of his footsteps and immediately knew which part of the academy he was in. "Why are the windows covered and why are the lights off?" He asked barely making out some furniture that was supposed to be in the training hall.

As he made his way into the centre the lights flickered on "WELCOME HOME!" A group of people jumped up and shouted to Naruto who was struck in awe, he looked up and saw a large white banner with large black characters that spelled '_**WELCOME BACK NARUTO'**_ on it he then looked to his right where the stairs were and saw a table with various sweets and platters on it that was native to the shinobi world.

After scooping the room he turned to Tsunade "Was this your idea Baa-chan?" he gave a knowing smirk.

The blonde woman nodded and returned the smile "I had some help from the Sakura, Yamato and Iruka" she gestured to her accomplices whom waved to him innocently.

"I can't believe that you're alive" Tenten was the first partygoer to speak to him

A brown haired male got off his large pet dog and made his way to the crowd not caring that he had to force his way through to the centre "How'd you survive?" Kiba asked

The bushy browed chunin thought for a millisecond before giving an answer "It was the power of youth that did it." He bellowed with flames in his eyes.

"Well-said Lee" Both bowl cut males did the 'good guy' pose, this caused the focus of everyone's attention to give out an uneasy laugh in response.

"My you've turned out quite handsome since the chunin exams" Anko said leaning in close to Naruto's ear which sent a chill running down the former shinobi's spine however the woman that said this just laughed in response to her own prank.

"He really looks happy." Kakashi said to the pinkette who was standing watching the commotion over Naruto's return to Konohagakure.

Sakura nodded although she was happy to see that her old team mate was happy amongst the group but she couldn't help but feel that she is missing out on something "He does." Sakura turned her attention to her hands that seem to be clutching her heart _'But I can't help but feel that I'm watching your back again Naruto, like I've been left behind.'_ she thought to herself

As the party began to settle in to a steady flow of conversation, drink and food the shinobi-turned-alchemist noticed the curious eyes of his friends and sighed in defeat he knew that he'd have to answer the question sooner or later. "I suppose you're wondering about the arm am I right? I think everyone is but they're being too polite to ask." He turned to those at the party with a disappointed look on his face "As Sakura already knows my arm wasn't healed and reconstructed by some sort of jutsu, this arm of mine is in fact made of metal." He undid the button the cuff of the shirt and lifted the long sleeve to reveal polished steel.

Kiba like everyone else, with the exception of Team Kakashi, stared at the prosthetic arm then at the blonde "So you're saying that you no longer can perform jutsu?" he asked with naivety evident in his voice.

Raising a hand at Kiba's question he shook his head modestly "No I can perform jutsu but it comes at the price of becoming exhausted. Besides I've always got alchemy and this." He took out a pistol and showed the group the black Browning Hi-Power briefly before pocketing it smugly in its leather sheath behind him.

In a blink of an eye the bushy browed teenager whipped out a pad and pencil. "What's alchemy?" Lee asked raising his eyebrows showing an interest on the topic, hoping that he may be able to use the foreign technique in his over-the-top training

"Alchemy is done in three steps. The first step requires understanding what an object is made out of, the second step is to break it down and the last is to reconstruct it into something else." The Hurricane Alchemist tried to simplify the process but then began to think that he may have over simplified it, the concern was all too visible on his face.

"I still don't understand…" Kiba said groaning.

Not wanting the life to be sucked out of Naruto's welcome home party Tsunade clapped her hands together loudly causing everyone in the Training Hall to jump slightly "This is a party so let's not talk about such boring things" she said lifting up a cup of tea, everyone nodded and then began to have conversations amongst themselves taking the social nature of the party to catch up.

The party continued well in to the night however it didn't take long for Sakura to notice the person that the party was for was missing and began to meticulously search through the classrooms of the academy for the blonde male, however outside of hers, Sasuke's and Naruto's old classroom she froze when she realized that she had been searching in all the wrong places _'only one place left I haven't checked...'_ And as she thought there was the person whom she had been looking for sitting under the tree in front of the building "Naruto why are you out here? The party is meant for you!" she lectured.

He looked over his shoulder and up at a pair of emerald green eyes "Sorry Sakura-chan. Just needed some air." He lied.

"If you needed fresh air you wouldn't be sitting this far from the door." She said raising an unconvinced eyebrow and sat next to her friend.

As Sakura got comfortable sitting down Naruto stood up and stared at the silver moon letting out another sigh he turned slightly so that he could look at the pinkette "While I was training to become a State Alchemist, I had time to actually think about what I really wanted in life." He sounded distant as he told her this.

"I thought you wanted to become Hokage so that people would respect you?" She recalled the first day that they met Kakashi.

He shook his "That's the thing...it wouldn't be true respect it'd be respect out of formality and it is expected, I want respect for being me not because of some title." he turned his head slightly, feeling slightly disgusted with his younger self.

"So you want it to be more fulfilling? You know you can get that respect if you try hard enough and not snub your nose at the D-rank missions." She stated matter-of-factly trying to convince him not to give up his life of being a shinobi and his dream of being hokage.

He ran his hand through his hair as he tried to find the right words to convey his thoughts "It's not just that issue either Sakura-chan. While I was here I never even thought of what I'd do after becoming Hokage or chose to step down." His eyes shimmered in the moonlight as if he was gazing into the distance as if trying to peer into his own future. "You know thinking further ahead?" he looked at the young woman who was still sitting on the ground.

As the rosette looked upon the Hurricane Alchemist's face as a gentle breeze blew through Naruto's golden locks and with the moon light gently shining behind him gave the young man's face an almost ethereal appearance which caused the to look away to her side to hide her blushing cheeks from her team mate "What're you trying to say Naruto?" she tried to make her voice sound serious.

Realizing that he had said the last part a loud he rubbed the back of his head with a dumb look on his face. "Nothing, never mind I'm just thinking aloud Sakura-chan. Let's go back inside everyone will start to wonder where we are" He walked past the rosette and headed back to the Academy as if nothing had happened.

_'I always thought I knew what I wanted in my future.'_ Sakura looked up to the ebon night sky reminiscing about her childhood to that day she thought she knew what she wanted and the experiences that had led her to where she was now. _'But now I'm not so sure.'_ She then turned her attention to the blonde disappearing back inside the academy to rejoin the party, her thoughts going back to when she first saw Naruto crying in see of villagers who had been picking on him and to the times where she could have been patient with him and what he had done for her. _'I'll repay you for what you've given me Naruto, somehow.'_ she thought tucking a strand of pink hair behind her ear and then hurried back inside.


	6. Declarations

**Naruto Hurricane Alchemist V:** **Declarations**

**Disclaimer**

Naruto characters and references belong to Misashi Kishimoto  
Fullmetal Alchemist characters and references belong to Hiromu Arakawa  
Original Characters characters are mine.

* * *

As the sun rose over Konohagakure the villagers that already were awake were greeted to the sound of music from a strange land, it was dramatic and bold but also had a sense of harmony and rhythm to it. As the orchestra played Sakura looked up to its source, knowing full well that the music was coming from the apartment Naruto was renting. From the spacious apartment looking out the large windows the blonde haired male gazed down at the village with mournful eyes and then covered his face with his left hand and returned to the small table near the kitchenette "Last month was crap. Although I managed to beat a member of Akatsuki, Asuma still died and I failed to retrieve Sasuke again." He slumped forward in his chair and held the back his head with both hands with a sorrowful look on his face.

Many times since Team Kakashi had returned from their mission to retrieve Sasuke, the rose haired kunoichi had stood outside of Naruto's apartment but never dared to knock on the door, she was afraid if she knocked on the door and saw the blonde in tears that she wouldn't be able to control her emotions, but after waiting for three days and not seeing him in all that time she had finally mustered enough courage to approach the door "Naruto? Naruto I know you're in there I can hear music!" she called from the other side of the door.

Naruto looked at the traitorous gramophone with disgust, he knew that the music was loud but he thought it wasn't that loud _'Damn…. they really need to invent a way to turn the volume down.'_ He sighed and walked to the door and opened it a crack "Hi Sakura-chan…" Naruto managed to put on an uneasy smile for Sakura and allowed her to enter.

As Naruto returned to his seat near the window the kunoichi looked about the room and nodded in satisfaction at the improved conditions that her former team mate was staying in now, she then turned her attention to the blonde who was sitting at the table whom was looking out of one of the full length windows "Are you okay Naruto? We haven't seen you for awhile and some of us were becoming concerned." she said taking a seat opposite him.

He closed his eyes and swallowed before he looked at the pinkette "I don't know if I've become stronger, I was unable to beat that orange mask guy from Akatsuki and I wasn't able to get to Sasuke in time…" His body trembled out of frustration.

Sakura looked away, this was what she was afraid of seeing the boy that used to be so brazen and upbeat in their childhood now broken. "Kiba and Shino weren't able to touch him and I said that we'd bring Sasuke back that means we're weak too." She leaned forward in her chair and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.

For a while his body stopped trembling and he shook his head and took Sakura's hand off shoulder with a sullen look on his face "But I was the one that made the promise not you." This visibly shocked Sakura, she knew that the blonde could be stubborn but the promise that he had made to her was still a sensitive and strong issue with him.

She shot up out of her chair knocking it back causing Naruto to look up to the emerald eyed girl that was close to tears "That doesn't matter Naruto you shouldn't bare the burden by yourself." Her voice cracked slightly during the outburst "I'm here and so is Iruka, Kakashi and everyone else."

He smiled slightly and walked to the glass door that led to the concrete balcony "Thanks Sakura-chan but I need to sort this out on my own as I said to Kakashi-sensei this is my bridge to cross alone." His voice sounded distant.

She regained her composure and moved away from the table she had been sitting at, to her she accomplished nothing by visiting her old team mate "Alright just… don't be so hard on yourself." She said reassuringly to the young man she clutched her left arm nervously and took one last look at the blonde, although she had rejected the young man whenever he asked for a date his requests at least made her feel wanted and helped boost her own confidence "Hey Naruto how about we…." She was cut off.

Homuru the elder male knocked on the red wood door "Uzumaki, Naruto." It was the female elder that called for the blonde haired and blue eyed young man.

"Hold on to that thought Sakura-chan" Naruto slipped past the pink haired kunoichi and opened the door answering it in his civilian clothing of an orange long sleeved shirt and black jeans. "Yes? Who are you?" He asked with a perplexed look.

Sakura still behind the blonde knocked him on the side of head "Baka! They're the village elders!" she rasped quietly into his ear.

He looked back at her as if offended "Sorry…is it my fault that I haven't met them before now?" He said sarcastically

The old man cleared his throat to stop the arguing from continuing and regained the attention of the pair "We would like you to follow us." Both Sakura and Naruto looked at each other blankly wondering what the elders could possibly want with the blonde.

* * *

Billowing with smoke and rocking from side-to-side a coal black steam train puffed through the deserts of the east to the front line "I find it hard to believe that we're going to war after all this time?" a large muscular man sat cross armed in one of the carriages

The sandy blonde haired man sitting adjacent to the towering figure just shrugged indifferently to the comment "It appears that we're at war no matter how you look at it." He said with an unlit cigarette in his mouth

"I thought he wanted to become Fuehrer to try and stop things like this from happening?" Fuery asked the other men in the group

Havoc sighed as he thought of how much political drivel that their commanding officer had to go through "It's no surprise really." He took out a matchbook and struck one of the matches against the fine sand paper at the bottom and lit the cigarette in his mouth "If he didn't do something the generals and eventually the people would have pressured him into attacking in retaliation. At least this time there is irrefutable evidence to go to war." He eased back in his seat on the train.

Falman gazed out the window and let out a frustrated sigh "Still he's been locking himself away for the past two weeks." This earned the concerned looks from the rest of the group.

As the train sped towards its destination the man in question stared at the wooden wall of his private train carriage with his female friend as both reminisced on the events that had transpired a week ago. Night a time where people rest and relax however some use the shadows of darkness to further their plans and to hide their true agendas, as the street lamps flickered to life on the empty streets of Central an explosion rattled the windows of Central Headquarters as group of men fight against a single State Alchemist. _These guys are fast and tough they just won't stay down._ The dark haired man thought to himself as he slid across the cold and slippery road after dodging a crashing blow from the large fisted version of Pein _It appears that each one is specialised in a specific area as well, they also time their defence and attacks to precisely as if they can see what the other is seeing or read each other's mind._ he glared at each of the six grey-eyed opponents as he brushed himself off and then grinned arrogantly at them as if nothing has happened. "Mind telling me why you've attacked me? " he asked in his smooth tone "You're obviously not here for my autograph." He quipped with a childish grin.

One of the grey-eyed men narrowed his eyes at the Flame Alchemist "You're an obstacle in Akatsuki's plans." He said plainly

He stood only very slightly from his defensive stance "What might they be?" he asked as his eyes darted to each of the Peins following the paths as they attempted to catch the Fuehrer in pincer manoeuvre

"That is none of your business." Again he said in a dry and monotonous voice.

The dark haired man smirked mischievously at his foes "Very well then I guess I'll have to beat it out of you" he snapped his fingers and sent a wall of fire at two of the Pein's with his right hand and attempted to blind the large ranged Pein with his left, however he was caught off guard when a large chameleon appeared and swept it's tail at him _Damn this prick is really starting to piss me off_ he jumped out of the way only to be ambushed by the bigger version of Pein and sent skidding along the wet road, tumbling towards the river's edge.

Running from the shadows of the streets a blonde haired woman ran to her Fuehrer's aid firing her side arm at the Akatsuki "Sir!" she called out to the dark haired man and knelt by his side as Pein went for another attack.

"Hawkeye get down!" The Flame Alchemist dove after his secretary and they both rolled across the road's rough surface and hit the gutter of the sidewalk "What are you trying to do? Are you trying to get yourself killed?" he rasped at her.

"I could ask you the very same thing." She snapped back

Mustang gritted his teeth as he let go of Hawkeye and stared down Pein "This is bad the situation has become more complicated." He snapped his fingers again to gain the attention of his opponents and ran towards the waters edge with the blonde woman in tow "Only one thing to do." He eyed the oncoming arms of the larger Pein as it closed in on his position Roy Mustang once more snapped his fingers and sent a powerful blast at the lower edge of the fist the force of the impact sent the missiles crashing into the ground just before them, concrete and stone began to crack and wrench until eventually the surface crumbled beneath their feet and both Roy and Riza fell into a dark abyss.

Konan whom had been watching from the sidelines walked over to the hole that had been created and looked down into the sewers and saw nothing but a piece of a uniform "They're getting away should we follow them?"

The Yahiko Pein shook his head solemnly "No. We may not have been able to kill him but we can still move on to the next phase of the plan, I'll take Fuehrer Mustang's place and Konan you will take his secretary's place these are our orders" he said with authority.

Soon after disguising himself as Roy Mustang and taking his place as Fuehrer precise attacks by people whom were believed to be ninja were made though out Amestris, the attack on the civilian population sent the people into a bloody fervour that cried for revenge against the assailants known as shinobi. As the reinforcements sped to the frontline, treads chewed up the earth leading the attack into the Earth Nation followed closely by thousands of marching footsteps of uniformed men using the updated tanks to shield themselves from the kunai, they made their way through the empty streets of evacuated villages mowing down the remaining fighters with the aid of the State's 'Problem Solvers' the more difficult opponents that resisted didn't last long against the Alchemists whom left nothing more than a crater of glass after their one-on-one battles.

Off the coast of Mizu no Kuni steel grey battleships carved their way through the crashing waves as their bristling 11-inch cannons cast their gaze on one of the many outer villages while bolts from ancient and outdated ballista's fell short of the steel ships the crew of these vessels continued their towards the shore and unleashed the full fury of the battleships upon the wood and stone structures of the community, softened their enemy and opened a safe passage for landing craft to release their cargo of foot soldiers into the battle. The shinobi world was about to see a war the likes that they had never seen before.

* * *

As the hot zones began to spread the nations it did not take too long for the reports to reach Konohagakure each report that had been flown in alarmed Shizune and the bird handlers when they saw first few lines of the documents. "Tsunade-sama! The Earth Nation and Water Nation is under attack by hostiles!" Shizune burst into the Hokage's office panting and walked up to the desk handing the blonde haired woman with the report.

Tsunade launched herself out of her chair and slammed her hands on her desk "By who?" she demanded

Shizune quickly looked over the scroll she had in her hand and cleared her throat "The attackers used unknown techniques and weapons." She hesitated with the last part remembering the uniform that Naruto wore when he first arrived in the hokage mansion "The uniforms were mostly coloured blue." She said in a sad tone

Tsunade didn't like what she heard and their information was second hand so she couldn't jump to conclusions yet. "Could it possibly be them? Gather all available shinobi, I don't want Naruto in on this just yet." She began barking out orders to Shizune.

It was at that time that Naruto entered the room with the elders at his side "Don't want me in on what?" he asked disappointedly.

Tsunade looked to the doorway in shock and saw the blonde standing near the elders "Naruto?" was all she could say to the young Uzumaki if she held back the information from Naruto now the blonde male would hound her until she relented and if she did she would be hurting him with the news she had received.

The air in the room was now tense enough to cut it with a knife which both Shizune and Sakura could feel "Umm….ah" The raven haired woman stuttered trying to think of a way to calm everyone down.

"We have unconfirmed reports that Amestris is attacking the Earth and the Water Nation." A raspy voice came from the hall causing everyone to look to its source.

The blonde shook his head vigorously "What? That's not possible before I left they were content on maintaining their own borders." Naruto protested he refused to believe that the nation that he had spent in for so long would attack with out provocation.

The bandaged man walked past Naruto, Sakura and the elders as if he was an immortal "Apparently that has changed and they've begun expanding their territory." He said plainly to the blonde who was now battling with his conscience.

"Danzou what are you up to?" Tsunade glowered at the leader of ANBU Roots, the only time that this man appeared it was only to advance his own ambitions and subvert her own authority.

The crippled man looked at the Hokage with a bemused look then turned his attention to the blonde male again "If their aggression is any sign they could very well attack us next." Danzou's only uncovered eye stared coldly at the blonde male "In short we want you to decide." Everyone's eyes widened then turned their attention to Naruto who was now grasping the silver pocket with a pensive look on his face as if the time piece would help him decide the correct course to take.

TBC


	7. Mistaken Accusations

**Disclaimer:**

Naruto characters and references belong to Misashi Kishimoto

Fullmetal Alchemist characters and references belong to Hiromu Arakawa

Original Characters characters are mine

**A/N:** Well here it is the next chapter for Hurricane Alchemist, some of the conversations have been fast tracked or are left in mid-sentences to create a sense of tension and also I don't really want to write such large blocks (my poor fingers). Anyway a number of loose ends have been tidied up and new ones have emerged thus moving the plot along. Well HatchetChu the elders will meet their end but not until much later in the story. XxSpIcYpEpPeRxX the term TBC is basically the abbreviation for **T**o **B**e **C**ontinued, however you may be being facetious. Thanks for all the support for those who are reading this Fanfic and an extra special thanks to those leaving reviews.

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**Naruto Hurricane Alchemist Chapter 6 - Mistaken Accussations**

The atmosphere within the Hokage's office was stifling and thick enough that it could be cut with a kunai as everyone present waited with baited breath for Naruto's decision however to Danzou he didn't care what decision the young Jinchuriki made but the old war hawk secretly hoped that the kyuubi host would side with the State Alchemists. "So Uzumaki Naruto what is your answer? Are you going to reclaim your status as a shinobi of Konohagakure or are you going to remain with our enemy?" The crippled man stated the last part coldly getting straight to the point.

The blonde haired Fifth Hokage bit her lip and glenched her teeth as her temper refused to die down. "DANZOU!" Tsunade shouted in protest, slamming her hands on her desk which caused the stacked papers to spill onto the floor.

"Tsunade. You may speak for the village's ninja however we speak for the village's people, the reason why you're here is because this involves the village as a whole." Female elder said sternly to the Fifth Hokage to ensure that the blonde haired woman understood that from this point on, Naruto wasn't under her protection and that she could do nothing to stop what was about to happen regardless of her position.

Tsunade dug her fingers into the desk and and she gritted her teeth in frustration and Sakura couldn't help but feel the same as Tsunade about the elders going too far but she also wanted to know what Naruto's decision was going to be. "Why?" the shinobi-turned-alchemist began "Why must I decide like this? WHY MUST I CHOSE BETWEEN MY FRIENDS?" he shouted desperately while clutching the pocket watch in his left hand.

Homura the male elder of Konoha stepped forward "It is because of the world's current situation that you must decide now. Are you going to turn your back on the village or are you going to aid it?" the elder demanded that the boy make his choice.

Naruto turned his cerulean blue eyes to Sakura, Tsunade, Shizune and then to his pocket watch once more while briefly touched his automail arm, the pain of being torn between two worlds and forced to decide between them was evident in his eyes. "Damn." he cursed under his breath glenching his teeth and began to remember his experiences in Konoha and Amestris. "I choose-" he stared at everyone in the room and his sapphire blue eyes burned with unequalled clarity as he announced his decision to the room.

* * *

Deep within the bowels of one of the many hidden bases of the Akatsuki, located not't too far from the Uchiha Hideout where the two Uchiha brothers had battled an unconscious Sasuke stirred and his charcol eyes adjusted to the dim light given off by the candles. "You won." a voice came from the darkness "It was a very close battle though...you're still badly wounded. You shouldn't be so reckless with your life" the owner of the voice entered the light, before Sasuke stood the same orange masked man he had met before during his battle with the Akatsuki explosives expert. "We've met once before as enemies." the orange masked man regarded the young Uchiha carefully "Don't worry about what happened with Deidara. I'm no longer your foe." Sasuke looked at the masked man with glazed eyes as he still tried to wrap his head around the outcome of the battle. "I brought you here to tell you something important" the younger Uchiha looked away with disinterest, "Not interseted I see...then maybe you'll pay attention if I phrase it like this. It's about Uchiha Itachi." Sasuke looked at the orange mask wondering what he could possibly know about Itachi "There we go...you know so much about your brother, and yet at the same time you don't, you know nothing." the man said raising his hand slowly to the mask. "All right, why don't I start by introducing myself...much like yourself, I'm a living, breathing Uchiha..." the younger sharingan user forced himself to adjust to the light in the cavern "and the man who knows the truth about Uchiha Itachi." the masked man flashed his own sharingan eye to prove he was of the Uchiha clan and Sasuke's left eye activated and blood began to ooze out from his eye and change into the Mangekyou which activated Itachi's technique, the Amaterasu on the masked man.

As the man tumbled about in the darkness trying to put out the black flames, Sasuke covered his eye and panted heavily as pain shot through his body "What...the hell...was that?" he looked to the dark side of the room and wondered if the technique that was used had killed the man.

Still in the shadows the other Uchiha pcked up the mask and then slipped back over his face for security and then appeared before Sasuke again "The 'Amaterasu' that Itachi implanted into you." Sasuke looked at the man in disbelief "Itachi, Itachi, Itachi...Even in death, he ceases to amaze me. Even planning for a situation like this..."

The youth considered his words carefully but still couldn't wrap his mind around what the masked man was saying "What...what are you saying." he questioned.

"He equipped you with his own jutsu, as a last-ditch effort to kill me" the other Uchiha began making his way over to Sasuke "Or prehaps his intention was simply to keep me away from you. I assume he set things up so that the sight of my sharingan would automatically trigger 'Amaterasu' to activate" the young Uchiha was becoming more confused by the masked man's words. _'Fortunately I managed to keep a few secrets even from him...if I hadn't, I'd be dead' _he thought to himself "It's what you'd call a 'fail-safe'...Although he managed to get as far as the 'fail' part."

Sasuke still couldn't understand "...I have no what you're getting at."

The man let out a sigh, Sasuke was still thinking of Itachi as the enemy and as someone who could never be forgiven. "Look, Itachi did something to you before he died, right?" Then it struck the young raven-haired Uchiha. Itachi had done something before he died, he had tapped Sasuke on the forehead like he used to and mutter something under his breath however the overall reason why someone he had sworn to kill would do something like that. "Somehow at the last second, he transferred all of his eye techniques into you." the man in the orange spiral masked stated to the youth before him.

Sasuke though still had problems trying to make sense of it all, why would a man who killed his entire family and tried to kill him do such a thing? "...That makes no sense...what are you trying to say? Why would Itachi want to-"

"You still don't know?" the man interrupted "It was to protect you."

The words alone were enough to shock Sasuke to the very core, what this man had said made no sense it was absolutely absurd."Me...protect me?" he said and the words left a bitter taste in his mouth "Is that supposed to be funny?"

The masked man frowned beneath his mask at how stubborn Sasuke was being "As I said before, you knew so much about your brother, yet you knew nothing at all." he stated coldly trying to make the young Uchiha more receptive.

However to the raven-haired nuke-nin the conversation was starting to wear on his nerves fast and he clenched his teeth in irritation "You keep fucking with me, and I will kill you!" he emphasized the last part.

"I see talking with you is going to be difficult." the masked man was also starting to hate how Sasuke, who was supposed to be a prodigy like his brother, was in fact starting to look like a spoiled brat. "I guess I understand, some weirdo takes you in and starts saying all these shocking things. I assure you, what I speak is the truth. You asked Itachi yourself about the person who helped him that night." Sasuke looked at the masked man skeptically "It was me. Uchiha Madara." The man's words ran through Sasuke like ice, he was in the presence of the man who helped his brother to annihilate the Uchiha clan and this Madara was trying to say that Itachi who had used Tsukiyomi on him not once but twice was in fact protecting him "I know everything there is to know about Itachi. Of course, he died without realising just how much." Madara stated confidently.

Sasuke clenched his sheets, the words of Itachi's co-conspiritor was too much for him to handle "ENOUGH! I DON'T CARE ANYMORE! GO AWAY, AND NEVER COME NEAR ME AGAIN!" he shouted holding the sheet that covered him tightly, if what Madara said was true then everything he had come to believe and done would have meant nothing.

The older Uchiha though refused to listen to Sasuke's protests "I think you should- no, you have to question me. It's your mission..your duty!" Madara waited patiently for Sasuke to calm down before continuing "You need to know about him...This man who risked everything to protect this shinobi world...the Leaf Village...and most of all, his little brother. You need to know about Uchiha Itachi's life!" he baited Sasuke into listening to his version of events and then began to explain the 'hell' Itachi had to live through up until the massacre of the Uchiha clan.

* * *

Heavy dark clouds loomed over Amestris as rain pelted the rooftops and streets of the Central relentlessy. In the darkened halls of Central State Library a lone figure sat at one of the many tables that littered the library, studying files on Ishbal and anything remotely related to it however things seemed to be going slowly for Lucas Blackburn's sister for most of the data on them was about how they rejected alchemy and the rebellion against the State Military which meant there was nothing to be gained by kidnapping except for the fact that the 'outcast' knew alchemy "This is getting me no where." she muttered to herself resting her head and covering her eyes from light that came from the lamp, letting out a sigh and rubbing the ridge of her nose Fiona sat up "I suppose, I should call it a night." She stretched and began sorting the documents back into their proper folders when an aerial photo of Lior caught her attention "This is...I've seen this before!" she stated remembering a symbol she had seen on the wall of the elderly Outcast's home. "I may not be an alchemist but if they're after information on something that can reduce an army and town into nothing, then we're in trouble." Fiona then gathered the materials she'd need in a bundle with the intent of showing the Feurher her findings however she stopped short of the door when several sheets of paper from various locations in the room began spiralling around in front of her like hurricane and began to take on a human form.

After the paper had stopped folding together and took on some colour, the purple haired figure looked up at the female officer with amber eyes that dared not showed any emotion "We cannot allow you to leave here with that information." the woman said.

The Fiona Blackburn was startled when she recognised the purple haired woman's coat "Akatsuki..." she trailed off "Afraid you'll get caught with you hand in the cookie jar?" she chuckled and brought out her service weapon "The State Military doesn't allow psychopaths like the Akatsuki to do as they please, especially with something that can destroy an entire town." however she already knew that Amestris had failed in the case with Scar and Kimbley but in the end those problems did solve themselves.

Konan looked at the weapon and then back at female officer unphased by the threat "Akatsuki only allowed you to find that information so that it maybe destroyed, your usefulness has reached its end." unnerved by her emotionless assailant and the cold threats Fiona fired several rounds from her pistol but Konan was moving at such unimaginable speed that none of the shots struck their target, racing around the room and leaping from desk-to-desk Konan much to the surprise of Fiona, dispersed herself once more into the darkest corners of the library.

Thinking that she was now safe from the wrath of the Akatsuki female Lucas' older sister ran out of the library and into the heavy rain. "I've got to get this to the Fuerher or at least to someone who knows alchemy." she panted running down the wet concrete path however slipped and fell back when she felt as if something had been pulled out from her and much to her disdain it was another piece of paper. "Get it over with" she growled as water trailed down her face and at her request Konan's paper kunai pierced Fiona's flesh and let out her last breath and her eyes dulled as red seemed from the wounds and pooled underneath her rain soaked body. Foina's death like many others would be used as an excuse to escalate the war and left only one target that had been close enough to Naruto that could foil or at least delay their plans but for now Konan had to settle for the older sister and kill the younger brother later, after all accidents do happen on the battlefield.

* * *

Homura closed his eyes and opened them after deciding on what position the council and village should take "Very well Uzumaki Naruto if that is what you have decided we still cannot allow you move around freely,.even if you are not our enemy that doesn't make you our ally either." the elderly man said looking at the blonde haired boy apathetically.

"To that end your movements shall be restricted to the village, you will not allowed to become involved in any missions and all of your activities shall be constantly monitored." The female elder stated coldly.

Tsunade didn't like where the discussion was headed and had already drawn her own conclusion to what was going to happen. "I take it that Danzou will be the who will be in charge of that matter?" the Godaime folded her arms and fell back into her chair causing the cushions to sigh under her weight.

The male elder nodded "You go too easy on Naruto and we can not risk him falling into enemy hands."

Danzou gazed at the Hokage and then to Naruto with a hungry look in his eyes as his mind was going through several different scenarios he could use to implement his plans in using the war and the Bijuu container to take control of the village. "You have nothing to worry Naruto will be safe in the capable hands of ANBU Roots" He bowed to the elders politely as if mocking the fifth.

"You bastard..." Tsunade growled

However the blonde male who was the focus of the discussion was already leaving "I got it, I got it all I have to do is stay out of trouble and not go beyond the gates." the boy said nonchalantly.

Sakura couldn't believe how rude her former team mate was being while remaining so calm about being placed under house arrest and by Danzou of all people "NARUTO!" she called after the shinobi-turned-alchemist and sighed in irritation.

The elders confident in their decision along with a more than pleased smirk on his face left the room but as soon as the door clicked shut, the fifth hokage slammed her hands on her desk startling Shizune and Sakura. "DAMN THAT MAN!" she got up from her chair and looked out the window of her office and watched as Naruto exited the Hokage's Mansion "He's using the confusion of the other nations and Naruto's ties to his advantage. It wouldn't have mattered what answer he was given Danzou would still have found away to gain control over Naruto's movements." she turned back around and focused her hazel eyes on the pinkette "Sakura! I want you to go and make sure Naruto understands the what exactly is going on." Tsunade ordered her former student, knowing Naruto he probably think that as long as he behaved the ANBU Roots can't do anything to him but Danzou was a tenacious one and would find away to further restrict the blonde youth's movements

"Hai!" The teenaged Kunoichi nodded then bowed to the Godaime before leaving the room to search for her former team mate. After Sakura had left her office the hokage then turned her attention to figuring out what Danzou stood to gain from keeping Naruto under observation but from what she knew was that whatever the old warhawk had planned it wasn't good. As Sakura began her search for Naruto the young kunoichi had noted that something odd was happening at the hotel that her blonde comrade had being staying at namely that masked shinobi, most likely from Danzou's ANBU Roots, were moving cardboard boxes and headed towards the direction of Naruto's old home, which due to the lack of covered balconies made it easier to observe anyone inside however that had to wait, she had to tell Naruto the danger he was in and how much of a threat Danzou posed to not only himself but also to those that follow the teachings of the Sandaime.

After the pink haired kunoichi had failed to find Naruto at Ichiraku Ramen the adolescent girl moved her search to the next location where the shinobi-turned-alchemist would be however when she got there she found a curious sight, Naruto holding Tenten and thought it would be best if she hid herself from view however thanks to the wind she would have a hard time hearing the conversation. The brown haired female member of Team Gai stood completely still as Naruto held her arms firmly while she grasped onto the Browning Hi-Power in her hands "You know for someone who was basically a dropout, you're a pretty good sensei to understand." She stated as she adjusted her aim with the handgun.

"I prefer the KISS method." he said looking away slightly embarrassed already guessing Tenten's response to what he was about to say.

The brunette looked up at the blonde with curiousty "KISS method?" this the pinkette heard.

Naruto groaned inwardly "It means: Keep It Simple and Stupid." Tenten couldn't help but stifle a giggle at the blonde's explanation, while Naruto looked away embarassed however Sakura missed the explanation thanks to a gust of wind that swept across the training field. "Now raise it and keep it level, keep your shoulders and back straight. Relax a little and don't tense up so much, it maybe your first time but you'll get used to it." Naruto tried to help the weapon's mistress prepare for the recoil from the pistol.

However being to far from the pair to see what was actually going on Sakura had misinterpretted the whole situation and decided to interupt before the two could do anything "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING AND IN PUBLIC OF ALL PLACES? BAKA!" she shouted in anger and threw a powerful punch at Naruto which sent him flying across the field and broke a tree in two all-the-while Tenten looked from Naruto to Sakura in terrified shock. "I COME HERE TO TELL YOU THAT DANZOU HAS MOVED YOUR STUFF TO YOUR OLD HOME AND WARN YOU ABOUT HIM AND I FIND YOU MAKING MOVES ON TENTEN! YOU PERVETED BAKA!" she shook him furiously then let Naruto go before storming off the field believing that she fulfilled the Tsunades request.

Shaken by the experience Naruto got to his feet with the help of Team Gai's female member who was soon joined by Neji and Lee with concernered looks on their faces "What was all that about?" the Hyuuga asked Tentena and she only shrugged, she too was still trying to figure out was happening that's when the heard the gurggling from Naruto and saw him foaming at the mouth, Sakura's harsh treatment having finally overwhelming him "Oi! Oi! Naruto!" Neji and Tenten tried to wake him up but because of his concusion the group had no choice but to get him to the hospital for treatment.

TBC.


	8. Crimson Path

**Disclaimer:**

Naruto characters and references belong to Misashi Kishimoto

Fullmetal Alchemist characters and references belong to Hiromu Arakawa

Original Characters characters are mine

**A/N: **It's been a long time in the making but here it is, chapter 7 has finally arrived and even though it may be a bit short it'll have to do for now. Now as the author of this fanfiction, I do encourage you to leave a review once in a while because I do like to hear what you the fans like about the story so far, what needs improvement, what characters they'd liked to see more of, or just answer a few general questions. In short it helps drive me to keep producing more chapters, so please don't just fav but also leave a review.

* * *

**Chapter 7 - The Crimson Path**

The funeral for Fiona Blackburn was small compared to other funerals for fallen soldiers although many of her subordinates had attended many of those that had known her that were outside of her department were occupied with the war against the shinobi nations, among those who had known her and attended were the Elrics and the Rockbells. "I can't believe she was killed like that and in central of all places" Winry looked away and placed her head on Edward's shoulder for him to comfort her, to Winry it was like her parent's and Maes Hues' deaths all over again.

Holding his wife-to-be close Edward looked at Lucas who had been silent the whole time "Do you know why it happened?" he asked knowing full well what the silence meant, undoubtedly his fellow alchemist was planning to something to drastic, a common and if not troublesome trait shared amongst all alchemists.

Lucas nodded slightly and placed a slouched hat on his head and fixed his leather duster coat, something that everyone present felt was strange but to Edward and Pinaco it was proof enough "She was meddling in affairs that I told her not to continue but she didn't listen." It was Edward's turn to look away, several times Ed and Al had come close to unveiling the secrets behind the philospher's stone and those associated with it, and many people who they shared the information with paid for it with their lives. "I'll find out what she stumbled onto and deal with those who did this." he sloped the hat forward and began walking away from the grave that laid next to their father's and mother's in the Resembol graveyard, although both Lucas and Fiona were born and raised in Central their father was born in Resembol which somehow made it appropriate for the family plot to be in the peaceful countryside.

The short, elderly woman stopped the Lieutenant Colonel by poking him in the gut with the tip of her smoking pipe. "I understand that you want to do something to avenge your sister but do you think throwing your life away will make her happy?" she questioned the chestnut haired man on his motives and reasons for doing something so reckless. "Besides you don't even have any leads to start your search." Pinaco hoped that by pointing this out, Lucas would drop his quest and be content with living out the rest of his life but she knew that was asking too much of an alchemist, especially a State Alchemist.

Looking down at the woman the middle aged man gave Pinaco an arrogant smirk "I've got one lead and the Fuerher gave me permission to follow up on it." he walked up to a waiting jeep that had his duffle bag and a driver.

Alphonse looked at the Lieutenant Colonel skeptically "I thought he was helping with the situation in...Amegakure?" he wondered if he had gotten the place name exact.

The Lieutenant Colonel leaned back and turned his attention to Alphonse who was standing behind Edward and Winry "Well the thing is, from what I heard is that they surrendered without our forces firing a single shot, further more they're also going to volunteer their services. At the moment we're building up troops in Amegakure, outside the Land of Water and in the territory we've gained in the Land of Earth so all the fighting has ceased for the moment until the big push." Lucas gave the young State Alchemist the current report from the front and deep down he was glad that Alphonse was only running errands. "Anyway I'll be seeing ya and ED BE SURE TO DRINK YOUR MILK!" Lucas shouted back to the blonde haired Elric as the jeep tore off down the road and towards the desert.

A vein popped on Edward's forehead at the comment and he lost his composure "OH YEAH! COME BACK HERE AND SAY THAT! I'LL FORCE THAT CRAP DOWN YOUR THROAT!" he shouted in vain however his temper evaporated as soon as he felt a cold chill run down his spine and saw Winry waving a wrench in her hand with a dangerous glare on her face and Alphonse sweating bullets as he tried desperately to calm her down, all Ed could do was laugh uneasily at his precarious situation.

* * *

After explaining the past of Konohagakure and the tough choices that were forced onto Itachi by the treacherous elders, Sasuke had initially refused Madara's explanation but the elder Uchiha told the young raven-haired teen to remember his brother for who he was before Itachi was given the orders to the seditious Uchiha clan however Sasuke was still having trouble accepting Madara's words "Nonsense...I was nearly killed more than once."

"You would have been...had Itachi been serious...that's certain" Madara replied simply to Sasuke's protests.

The teenaged Uchiha stared at the masked man as he recalled his fight with Itachi which still ran clear through his mind "He even tried to kill me with the Mangekyo Sharingan! And yet..." he was left confused as to how he survived the battle with his brother.

"Yet your still alive...It was all part of his plan, he had to drive you into a corner. You...must have already noticed the reason why" Madara continued "Freedom from the cursed seal...and with the death of someone close to you... The battle would awaken your mangekyo." the masked man reminded Sasuke of what had happened to Orochimaru and his cursed seal during the battle and continued to press the fact that inspite of what everything that had happened the young Uchiha survivor was alive, which was enough to paralyze Sasuke to the core. "You couldn't see through Itachi at all. You couldn't see through his illusion." Madara began untying the ropes that bound Sasukes arms and legs "But Itachi...had killed his friend, his superiors...had killed his lover and his mother and father. The only one he couldn't kill...was his little brother." He emphasized that out of all of the people that Itachi had killed on that night, the only one he could not kill was Sasuke. "The man who cried blood as he smothered his emotions and killed his brethren...couldn't bring himself to kill you. Why do you think that is?" The orange masked man asked rhetorically before continuing with his speech which had Sasuke frozen stiff from this startling realisation "For him, your life weighed more than the village" he added for good measure "For the sake of Konoha's peace, and more than anything, for you...Uchiha Sasuke, he wanted to die as a criminal, a traitor. Accepting dishonor in payment of honor... and hatered in payment for love, even then, Itachi died smiling. Entrusting the Uchiha name to you, while decieving you forever." Madara's words echoed in the back of the young Uchiha's mind even well after they had left the Akatsuki lair.

Standing at the edge of a cliff and as waves crashed and broke against the rocks, Sasuke looked up to the sky with a new sense of purpose and resolution "We have left 'Hebi' behind." he began his announcement to Karin, Jugo and Suigetsu "From now on our team will remobilize under the name 'Taka'. As 'Taka' we only have one goal. We will crush Konoha." he said with finality, the rulers of Konohagakure no Sato had been the reason why the Uchiha had begun to plot the coup de'tat and in turn caused his brother to suffer and now Sasuke would make things right by avenging his clan by destroying the Hidden Leaf.

* * *

As the sun baked down on the desert sands of the Kaze no Kuni, the jeep in which Lucas was riding in had come to a complete and sudden halt, causing the State Alchemist to jerk forward and to wake up in the process "Hnh? What's the matter?" He said with a drowsily, rubbing his eyes before shielding them from the blinding light and glare coming from the sand.

"This is as far as you go." His driver's voice was filled with killing intent and that was only matched by the look in his eyes.

Lucas gazed at the driver quizzically. "What?" The Lieutenant Colonel eased his hand over the leather brown holster of his service pistol, readying himself to defend against a potential attack.

The Lieutenant Colonel then heard the sound of metal kunai being drawn and as if by instinct he brought his own weapon out in response and blocked the assassin's weapon however even though it had been blocked, the tip of the instrument had managed to draw some blood. "Pein-sama wishes for your death and he has granted me the honour of fulfilling his request."The driver launched himself out of the driver's seat and tore off his Amestris Military jacket, reveal explosive tags plastered all over his torso.

"SHIT!" Lucas cursed under his breath and eased himself out of his seat and made his way around the military vehicle and began sizing up this new enemy. 'This guy isn't kidding around, he really wants to kill me.' he placed himself between the assassin and the jeep that they had been using.

The driver then charged ahead and started to attack the State Alchemist "FOR PEIN-SAMA!" The man shouted as he plunged the kunai directly at the Lieutenant Colonel and swept to the left.

Jumping out of the way and used his Colt 1911 pistol to defend himself again, deflect the weapon away. 'The only materials I have are the sand and the jeep and I need to capture him alive.' he thought as he skidded across the desert sands before sliding to a stop. "RIGHT!" He called out with conviction and ran past his assailant and at the jeep, throwing the gun into the air before clapping his hands together and touching the bumper of the vehicle then caught the weapon and brushing his hand along the underside of the barrel and an electrical spark engulfed the handgun as it was reshaped to have a blade fused to it. Now it was his turn to go on the offensive and rushed the would be assassin.

The shinobi and the alchemist traded blow-for-blow and the sounds of metal striking each other could only be faintly heard from afar. Fortunately Lucas had seen Naruto maintain his training in the ninja arts and as result also trained himself to follow Naruto's movements. It was at that time that the assassin increased his speed and attempted to attack the State Alchemist from behind, however Lucas was able to predict the shinobi's move and parry the blow, throwing the ninja off balance and fired shots at the legs of the shinobi to give him enough time to use his alchemy to create a sandstone stockade for the his enemy. "YOU BASTARD!" The driver cursed loudly, struggling with his bonds.

Now that he no longer needed to defend or attack, Lucas could finally get some answers. "Now tell me who this Pein-sama is and why does he want me of all people dead? Well...?" He pressed, getting to the matter at hand He didn't want to stay in the heat of the desert for too long and be distracted from his search, however he had a feeling that it was this Pein-sama who was responsible for his sister's death or at least played a part in it.

The shinobi looked up at Lucas with cold yet tired eyes, a side effect from the blood loss "You'll have to kill me first before I betray my comrades!" He said hatefully through his laboured breathing, stubbornly refusing to answer any questions

Lucas covered his face with hand and groaned out of frustration due to the lack of cooperation he was receiving "For the love of...you guys are always so overkill...fulfilling your mission even if it means your death? Just cooperate with me and-" As a State Alchemist it was his duty to find new resources for alchemy and most of his travels had taken him all the way through the five great nations and his experience with shinobi had always been awkward, with most being too serious about their duties .

"GO TO HELL!" The ninja screamed and pressing his index and pointer fingers together and activated the paper bombs on his body.

A bright white light emanated from the tags and engulfed the shinobi "Ohhhh...fuck me." He cursed as the light turned into a n a pillar of flame and washed over Lucas.

* * *

Meanwhile in Konohagakure, the shinobi village of Hi no Kuni, Naruto felt like a caged bird, only able to stretch it's wings but unable to fly in the sky. As he was about to take his umpteenth nap for the day, the familiar pop and saw a cloud of smoke evaporate to reveal an elderly white haired man, with red paint on his face and green with red clothing. "Hey Gaki! Long time no see!" He said cheerfully while sitting on top of Gamabunta

"Ero-Senin! You haven't changed at all!" The blonde haired shinobi-turned-alchemist shouted excitedly, unable to believe that he was seeing another one of his old sensei's for the first time in years.

Upon hearing the nickname that Naruto had given him when they had first met, the old sage huffed and pouted indignantly; "Oi, oi! Is that any way to greet me after all this time?" The blonde however just rubbed his head and just laughed, still excited about seeing Jiraiya "Alright what is it? You're under house arrest and yet you're smiling." The perverted sage gave the blonde shinobi a questioning look.

Naruto kept grinning and laughing, still excited about the unexpected guest. "It's nothing, heh. I'm just happy to see you that's all." He admitted scratching the back of his head bashfully.

"Oh? If that's the case you wouldn't mind if we had a little talk then?" He said slyly with a grin of his own.

Naruto looked back with a quizzical expression across his face "About what?" he asked, certainly the sage must have heard something from Tsunade and Kakashi or even Iruka.

"This and that, but I want to mostly hear about how things have been going." He leaned forward, using his right leg for support while he was using Gamabunta's head as a seat.

The blonde haired youth eased himself off of his bed and over to the kitchenette to get something to drink out of the refrigerator for himself and his guest. "Alright, but can you at least come inside? It'll be awkward with you sitting at the window on Gamabunta-san." Naruto said dryly, he could only imagine the stares they were getting from the people passing by

After an hour of story telling, the elderly sage placed his cup of green tea down on the small coffee table and sat back in his arm chair. "Sounds like you had quite an adventure. I'm sorry that I missed it all and that I couldn't help you Naruto." He apologized for not being there to help with Sasuke's retrieval.

For some reason Naruto felt something like this was going to happen and in fact received a similar apology from Kakashi when he returned to the village, letting out a heavy sigh he walked over to the glass door and out on to the balcony. "It's fine Ero-Senin." The Sage followed his god-son outside, noting a somewhat calm yet passionate tone in his voice which reminded him of his late student whom had become the Fourth Hokage. "It was tough but I learned a lot, not a lot about being ninja but I don't have many regrets." he admitted, although he had to read a mountain of books to get where he is now, those same books has given him the chance to fulfill his promise to Sakura and the ability to bring back the one person he considered to be not only a rival but also a brother.

Jiraiya felt almost a little jealous, even if Naruto had returned safely to the village, he doubted he would have been able to have such an impact on the youth that he'd mature into the person standing before him."You know what? Just for today why don't we do some training?" The old man said boisterously, trying to liven up the sombre mood in the apartment.

"Seriously?" Naruto's eyes lit up in excitement, it had felt like it had been a long time since he had any training and he was eager to get outside.

The white-haired man let out a slight chuckle before nodding his head in affirmation. No matter how much time passes and how mature Naruto may seem, he'll always remain a kid at heart. "Mhmm. And don't worry about the guys outside, they won't be causing any problems." The toad sage said plainly, getting up on the balcony railing and launched himself into the air and landed on the dirt road below, waiting for the blonde Uzumaki to follow.

Although he had wondered where the ANBU that had been watching him had disappeared too all of a sudden and wasn't stopping him from participating in a ninja related activity or at least talking to an active ninja, it was no longer a concern to Naruto "Alright! Training with Ero-Senin!" He shouted, climbing on top of the railing and leaping out onto the street to follow his teacher for the day. Outside of the apartment, at key surveillance points, masked men were laid out and the sound of snoring came from the mouths of the slumbering shinobi, whom were now sound asleep and out of the way for the time being.

TBC


End file.
