A/N: Hmmm…. Does anyone still remember this fic? Anyone who can still recall what the hell is going on with the plot? Seeing as I stopped in the middle of a mystery arc and then didn't update for over a year? Is this when I try to excuse myself by claiming late is better than never? Or just lay down flat and apologize for losing interest and motivation in the story? Well, for those of you who somehow stumbled onto this fic, either for the first time or is coming back, here's another chapter. The end of the Land of Iron arc!

Long overdue…

Chapter Forty Seven – Breaching Rules and Twisting Truths

"You're the enemy. I don't want to sympathize with you. So... So don't... Don't cry like that in front of me! Damn it..." - Karin

From the throbbing ache in her head Naruto was pretty sure she had taken a few hits during that last implosion, but it wasn't enough to stop her pursuit.

Unfortunately Tsubasa and the rest of the escaped Ring of Tenko members had a good head start, and knew the terrain better than the Kage guards, which led to a very challenging chase.

The eight Kage guards followed them over of the mountain chain while navigating towards the stadium, and was now clumsily descending while they tried to catch up. There hadn't been time to patch up their injuries before they had to go after the escaped enemies, and now Darui was lagging behind, but at least his leg had stopped bleeding some fifteen minutes ago.

It was somewhat ironic how much more difficult it was to run downhill than it was upwards. As the descent was unsteady with a higher risk of falling than the trip up the mountain had been.

The annoying part was that the Ring of Tenko members were actually outrunning them. It was obvious that they had made the trip many times, as none of the four escaped ninjas had tripped even once, while Naruto had face planted into the snow about seven times in the last half hour alone because of poor footing.

Tsubasa and his men had reached the foot of the mountain, while the Kage guards still had a way to go before reaching the bottom. Naruto was so busy watching her feet and measuring the distance between them and their quarry, that she didn't immediately pick up on what was happening on the snow covered hills stretching out below.

After running around a boulder instead of climbing it she finally spotted two black dots interfering with the white canvas of snow around them from far away.

"What is that?" Asked Baki, panting as he jumped over a rock and got buried to the waist with snow once he landed on the other side. It was hardly enough to stop him, but it grew annoying when you were trying to chase enemies.

Naruto was more than a little dizzy, and her eyes had gone a little snow blind from the intense whiteness. Yet she was pretty sure two black shapes was on the coalition course with the group they were pursuing. Moving towards them at a surprising speed.

"Who is that." Corrected Kakashi.

"Two people… and they are running… Did anyone send for backup?" Muttered Durai confused, but instead of answering him they all continued running.

From a distance they could hear shouts echoing from the valley below, but it was impossible to make out the individual words, though Naruto thought it sounded familiar.

"Holy crap." She exclaimed and dragged a hand through her hair. They were still too far away to make out clearly but Naruto was already speeding up - because she recognized who it was. "It's -."

But at that moment the two groups ahead of them made contact. A loud crash broke through the air and next their targets were blasted skywards. The guys stumbled in shock, but Naruto only grinned from ear to ear and continued on at full speed. "It's Tsunade and Shizune!" Her feet slipped over the snow but couldn't care less as she heard Tsunade curse at the Ring of Tenko ninjas.

"What the hell do you think you're doing! Attacking two innocent women like that?! Where are your manners you piece of shit!" Tsunade was ranting as Naruto finally caught up.

The fleeing enemies were shakily getting up again, and it was clear their priority was to run for it. So the guards spread out, and Naruto with the aid of several clones was upon an opponent a second later. Smashing his head into the ground as he dazedly tried to get to his feet, and making him taste snow as she fished out ninja wire from her pouch.

The rest of the guys were just as effective, and once Naruto had her prisoner bound and secured it was to find the other Ring of Tenko in familiar positions. Kakashi had tackled Tsubasa, and was dragging him by his foot away from the group.

"What the hell is going on?!" Tsunade shrieked in a thunderous demand.

"Uh..." Hōzuki was looking at Tsunade wearily, keeping a safe distance from the furious woman.

"Thank you, Tsunade-sama, these guys were causing trouble for the tournament. We've been after them since this morning and we were just chasing them down the mountain." Kakashi replied and gestured to the direction they'd come from.

Shizune was shifting nervously from foot to foot, biting her lip and looking alarmed at the group.

"What are you even doing out here? Isn't the tournament still going? I thought you had a bet or something? Were you fleeing?" Asked Naruto, the questions coming out rapidly.

"Um, not exactly..." Shizune said hesitantly, her eyes stuck on Hōzuki who she seemed very apprehensive about.

"Naruto!" Tsunade exclaimed, her face lighting up as she spotted her fellow blonde. "Just the one I was looking for. Come along, we're leaving!"

"I'm sorry?" Naruto yelped. Kakashi, who still had Tsubasa pressed to the ground, glanced up and arched an eyebrow in question. "I'm at work right now. You'll have to deal with your loan sharks on your own. I'm not getting involved with your ridiculous private affairs."

The slug sannin waved her hand dismissively, "No, no, no, quite the opposite. But I'll explain later, right now we need to leave. This whole place is going up in flames! There's no other possibility."

"Huh?"

"I won, Naruto. I've won in everything I bet on. From line up to winners of each and every round! I'll even bet all my newly earned money I'll get the winner of the tournament right. There's no way Nii Yugito is losing. Which can only mean something truly horrible is about to happen! Seeing we've got a mixture of all the five Great Nations gathered in this one huge cluster of an event it'll probably be of a world destructive magnitude. We need to leave before this goes to shit!"

"Are you kidding me!?" She screamed, but Tsunade didn't heed her at all. Instead she walked briskly up the jinchūriki, grabbing her arm and started dragging her along. That was not okay, and Naruto dug in her heels so snow got pushed to all sides in their sudden tug of war. "I'm not leaving you old hag! You're right, something was planned for the tournament, but we stopped it! I'm in the middle of it right now! For crying out loud you stopped the remaining culprits yourself. Those guys were trying to blow stuff up."

Tsunade stopped, her brow furrowed as she looked at the bound prisoners that were currently being interrogated in the middle of the field. Hōzuki had dragged one off to the sides, while Darui was questioning another. Kakashi and Baki had Tsubasa while Azuma and Roshi was still wrestling with the last enemy.

"Those guys? Is that why they attacked us?"

"They attacked you?" Naruto asked confused.

"Well, they tried to. They were heading straight for us. I just attacked first." Tsunade muttered, sneering in their direction.

"They probably thought you were our backup." Naruto guessed, laughing at the absurd turn of luck they'd had. To think Tsunade would be all the way out in this tundra at just the precise moment. Tsunade arched a brow, glancing once again at the guys at work.

"Well, it doesn't matter. We're still leaving." She said, as if snapping back to what was important.

"I'm not leaving! Just how much have you been drinking?"

"Half a bottle." Supplemented Shizune.

"Don't talk crap, Naruto. Of course you should leave! You know how it goes. When I win a bet something bad happens, and the more I win the bigger the following catastrophe, and I'm about to get filthy rich, Naruto! Filthy rich! I could buy a castle and fill every room with a person and feed them for years! And considering where we are it probably means something horrible is going to happen here and soon. Which will most likely result in the fourth war and probably your own death. As people I care about usually ends up being the first to go! So stop whining, we're leaving brat!"

"What? You superstitious fool! I can't leave! We're in the middle of a situation here, and we all need to help. We could actually use your help right now. Even if you are hammered."

Tsunade huffed and actually stomped her foot in annoyance. "You won't get in trouble, Naruto! I'm a sannin, and as you are a previous apprentice of mine that never really had anything to show for it, I can take you on again. I'm sure I can beat some sense into you. Sure, you showed about as much potential in iryō ninjutsu as a goldfish, but I'm sure there are ways to beat some knowledge into you. The important part is that we're leaving! Minato can send me a message later. He has a lot of Jōnin who can take over the remains of your shift." Tsunade barked and tugged sharply at Naruto's arm again.

"I'm not leaving!"

"Don't you get it? It doesn't matter that those guys are out of commission. Mark my words, something horrible is about to happen! You need to leave!" Tsunade argued.

"I don't care! I'm not about to leave all those people to fend for themselves! I'm not a fucking coward like you! I'm going to stay and help if I'm needed!"

"Then you'll die!"

"I rather die knowing I did everything I could than live a life running away from everything that might hurt me! I don't have your trauma, I'm not you!" Naruto bellowed. "So respectfully, go fuck your own opinion! I'm not coming with you, and if I ever hear you suggest something like that again I'll fucking crush you for thinking I'm that selfish!"

Tsunade reared back, finally loosing her grip on Naruto while her teeth gritted. "Excuse me?! Did you just-"

But her sentence was cut off by a scream, and all three girl's head snapped towards Kakashi, Baki and Tsubasa. Kakashi had his knee pushed into his chest, adding pressure to make the man strain to breathe, his arms were broken and he was gasping in pain. "I DON'T KNOW!" The man shouted, his face red and sweating.

"I don't believe you, who hired you?!" Kakashi demanded, but Tsubasa only coughed in reply, gulping up blood this time.

"It's a decoy-" He managed to gasp, heaving for breath desperately. "If you found out about the demolition explosives, we were to abort operation and keep you distracted… Take your focus away from the stadium." He said at last.

All of them froze. A chill that had nothing to do with the temperature was running up Naruto's spine. "Why?" Asked Kakashi in barely above a whisper. "What is happening at the stadium?"

"We weren't part of that. Only the- the setup on the surrounding mountains." The Ring of Tenko member murmured angrily. "But… the blueprints… the ones you took, it showed the stadium. I think it's going to blow too."

The words caused a ripple effect in the group, and several things happened almost at once. Kakashi loosened his grip, leaning away from the man in fury while looking ready to run for the stadium right away. One of Naruto's clones swore loudly and Azuma hit his own hostage in anger from what the other had said. Then Tsunade turned around, as she had noticed what was about to happen before anyone but the culprit himself had. Tsubasa didn't get to say another word before Hōzuki drove his sword straight through his stomach. The man gave a last half gasp, half scream, while Hōzuki shook from head to toe.

"Hōzuki!" Snapped Kakashi furiously, his eyes boring into the Kiri ninja. "He might have known more!"

"Then we'll ask one of the- the..." But Hōzuki trailed off, and all of them understood why.

Tsubasa - who was quickly bleeding to death - was transforming. Naruto's eyes stayed glued in bewilderment as she saw the man change appearance. His face became older and rounder, his hair turned darker and his body became shorter and broader. His body more stocky than lean, his nose lost it's beak like appearance, rounding out to fit the rest of the new face appearing before their eyes.

Where Tsubasa had been another man was left in his place. He gave a few short last gasps of breath, and then – nothing. He was dead, his eyes – now dark brown, not yellowish – staring unseeing up at the sky. Blood spilled out from the long tear in his abdomen, dripping out onto the white canvas of snow and dying it crimson.

Naruto glanced back at Tsunade, but she still stood with her back turned, refusing to look at the result of the stabbing despite her obvious curiosity about what was going on.

"What the hell was that?" Asked Darui, a touch of unease clear in his voice. "That was no henge…"

Naruto agreed. When you released the henge technique you snapped back to your normal appearance instantaneously, because it was only an illusion being undone. But this had looked like a physical alteration of the entire body that had slowly morphed into someone else. That had not been an illusion at all - it had been a real physical change.

Kakashi was already fishing out the scroll he'd taken from the cabin, laying it out on the snow while looking at it frantically.

"I told you it was the stadium! Fuck, we're too far away! We'll never make it!" Hōzuki shouted in anger.

Kakashi frowned, gesturing for Azuma to come over to look. The man was panting and limping slightly, but was across the field in seconds before leaning over to look at the scroll. Naruto couldn't make head or tails of it.

"That. That is a detonator isn't it?" Kakashi asked urgently.

Azuma was frowning, his teeth bared as his eyes flew up and down the scroll. "Yes."

"Why? Isn't that down in the fighting arena? On ground level… right where the Genin are fighting?" Asked Darui, who was looking over Naruto's shoulder at the scroll.

"No. Close - but not quite. It's where the winner podium is set up." Kakashi replied, a dawning realization shining in his eyes.

"Holy shit! If this is right then the winner podium is the detonator." Azuma hissed.

"And it'll be activated when the winner of the tournament steps up to get their gold medal." Kakashi finished, his eyes closing in defeat.

No one knew what to do or say for several seconds as Kakashi's words sunk in, until -

"Well, that's our cue. Let's go." Tsunade declared and turned on her heel as if to march away at that very instance.

"Tsunade-sama!" Her student said in shock, whirling towards the blonde. "We can't just- we can help!" She argued.

"How? This is not our speciality."

"If people get injured they'll need medics!"

The slug sannin was growing impatient now, and her words were clipped. "No, you are coming with me, Shizune, you're my responsibility and we're leaving."

But Shizune had reached her limit too, and a steely calmness came over her as she straightened to her full height, which - to Naruto's surprise – was actually taller than the Slug Sannin now. "I'm sorry, Tsunade-sama, but I'm staying. You've taught me well, and now my abilities will be needed here. What is the point of learning iryō ninjutsu if I'll never get the opportunity to actually help?"

Tsunade opened her mouth, but no words came out.

"You don't need to come back with us, but you can still help. We can't leave these prisoners without supervision." Naruto said, getting a brilliant idea. "Can you make sure they don't escape?" Naruto asked.

Tsunade went through several emotions, before her eyes hardened. "Fine, yes, I can make sure these bastards don't escape."

"Now that's cleared up, can we get to the point? We're wasting time here." Darui exclaimed. "We need to get to the stadium at once!"

"Minato! We can't be careful anymore, I can call him and he'll be here in a moment!" Naruto suggested, already reaching towards her stomach to activate her Hiraishin seal.

"That won't help. He doesn't have a Hiraishin seal anywhere in the village. For security reasons he wasn't allowed. He only has one on top of that mountain." Kakashi pointed to the mountain on the other side of the stadium. It wouldn't be much better to get to the stadium from up there than where they were now. "He would only get teleported here and he'd be just as stuck as we are!" Kakashi growled.

Roshi was just as pale and frantic as Naruto felt as he stepped into the conversation. "But it might buy us some time, if they start wondering, if the tournament get's halted and they can't continue while looking for the Hokage-"

A loud cheer erupted from far away on the neighbouring mountain. From the stadium. And the reason for such an uproar was dawning on all of them.

"Run!" Kakashi shouted, and no one bothered to argue this time. The guards took off as fast as they could. Bruises and wounds forgotten as they ran against the clock.

Naruto was fast, but she could be faster. A clone popped up and was left behind as the group made it over the peek of the mountain and down towards the valley below. The slowest was Darui and Azuma, who both hang behind with the gap increasing.

She felt the clone pop behind them, and next nature chakra flowed through her system.

Her next step created cracks in the snow covered ground from the strength in her stride, and then Naruto was leaving them all in her wake. As she reached the foot of the mountain she could no longer see any sign of the stadium ahead, but she charged on, knowing if she didn't reach it in time, no one would.

Her feet was already tired, but the adrenaline cruising through her veins made sure her speed never faltered, if anything growing faster as she jumped and leapt up the mountainside. Her feet above the ground more than they touched it.

"Hurry, hurry damn it!" Naruto hissed to herself, her teeth gritting and taking a bite into her tongue. Snow had spilled into her boots and up to her thighs, as the wild mountain terrain had no paths for her to use and it was bitter cold. In this situation she cursed the physical barrier but felt happy the weather was naturally cooling her body temperature the warmer she got.

She reached the top while the others were barely halfway up the mountain, almost stumbling in her haste to cross the last stretch to the closest entrance. The long plain was vast, yet Naruto crossed it faster than anyone had done ever before. And that was when she registered the commentary going on over the speakers. Blearing into the wind for Naruto to hear.

"-fought admirably, but was defeated in an intense final. Give a warm applause for Yamanaka Santa!"

The doors to the stadium was wide open, but crowded with people. Their chatter had reached her at some point, but the rushing blood in her ears and her steel focus had made that fact go completely over her head until she was amongst the gathered crowd.

Naruto stormed through the entrance, pushing away people harshly and toppling over several unfortunate bystanders in her haste to reach the fence blocking the top gallery from the arena beneath them. People were cheering, and Naruto cursed the standing crowd that made it all the more difficult to see the arena below.

She flew across the audience gallery while Mifune's voice droned continuously over the speakers "- and put your hands together for the winner of the Chūnin Exams, Nii Yugito of Kumogakure!"

A gap in the crowd finally gave her a clear view of the arena ahead, and panic jolted through her like a bolt of lightning. Santa and Otokaze already stood on their rightful places at the podium, and Nii Yugito was walking forwards to step up at the top of the ramp.

Naruto bellowed so loud her throat almost tore.

"STOOOOP!"

Her shout might have been drowned in the sea of sounds, but her flailing body springing head first over the fence was hard to miss.

Naruto had never jumped as far in her life, the leap made her fly right over the five Kage underneath her, who all glanced up confused at the sudden interruption, across the span between the defeated finalists and straight at the two tailed jinchūriki.

Yugito noticed her just as Naruto's chains sprang from her body, and the girl had just enough time to make a grimace before Naruto made impact in a loud crash. The collision caused Yugito and Naruto to tumble over backwards in a ball of clambering limbs.

Her chains protruding from her ribs was wrapped around the two on the podium, making sure Santa and Otokaze didn't try to escape their places, while Yugito started fighting back from what she believed was an attack.

"Naruto!" Minato cried, while around her a quiet hush had fallen over the audience at her sudden appearance.

Naruto really couldn't care less. "Evacuate now!" She shouted, trying to make sure Yugito's claws didn't tear her face off. "And retract those damn claws, idiot! Or I have to freaking hurt you! And that would really suck because I'm trying to save you." She screamed into Yugito's face, tightening her grip on the girls wrist so hard they were at the brink of snapping.

Don't mess with a sage. Not in close combat. Not freaking ever.

The girl halted, her eyes widening in pain and confusion.

"Release her this instant!" The Raikage shouted behind her, but Naruto ignored him. Not the wisest move thing all things considered, as the man was horribly fast and could kill her in an instant, but she had more pressing issues than a pissed off Raikage.

Her saving grace came in the form of a commotion on the level above. "Stop it, brotha'! She's doing the right thing, yeah'!" Killer Bee shouted between gasping breaths from the gallery, finally having caught up.

"Stop! Evacuate!" Roshi cried a moment later, his clothing covered in sweat, dust, grime and blood.

Then Hōzuki voice carried from the same direction. "Get away! The winner podium is a bomb!" Above Kakashi's shouts of: "Get to the exits everyone!" as he was already pushing people towards the doorways.

They were soon joined by a red faced and nearly fainting Azuma, and lastly Darui who was now jumping on one leg to spare his injured side.

In total they all appeared pretty banged up, and made for quite the pitiful sight. It looked like all of them had come straight out of a war zone - which they kind of had.

That certainly got the Kage moving.

"Activate the evacuation protocol." Minato ordered Mifune, who was quick to do as instructed. The alarms went off in a horrible chorus, momentarily making Naruto go deaf from the ear splitting volume.

As the long siren blared from all sides, and Naruto finally released Yugito as she was more confident the girl would't try to spear her with those claws. Above the siren Mifune's voice bellowed from the megaphone in his hand. "Evacuate! Return to the safe houses! Evacuation is in progress!"

"What is going on? I demand an answer!" Ōnoki bellowed furiously.

"Release Otokaze this instant!" Rasa demanded on top of the Tsuchikage's outrage.

Naruto straightened while the cat jinchūriki hurriedly got up and took several steps backwards. "I can't! They can't move or they might activate the button!" She shouted back, turning in a whirl to look at the two bound Genin still on the podium.

"What are you talking about!?" Shouted Ōnoki furiously, already rising up into the air to hover ominously.

"I'm talking about the podium! It's- uh, something about chakra signals and, and uh... there's a receiver and-" She stopped as Kakashi dropped down into the arena and straightened up.

"The winner podium is connected with a chakra sensitive detonator which can set off an explosion of unknown size, and as Santa-kun and Otokaze-san has already activated their pressure points they can't be allowed to move until the activation mechanism has been deactivated."

There was a drawn out silence between the group, before Utakata released a long sigh. "Perfect..." He mumbled and looked back at Naruto. "Good catch."

Naruto beamed back. "Thanks!"

"She attacked one of my contestant and is keeping two Genin hostages!" A shouted furiously. "That wasn't a good catch! It was an attack! Who even knows if they're speaking the truth! It could be Konoha setting a trap! This is getting more and more dodgy for every passing second. Konoha came up with this farce of a competition to begin with, who knows if they didn't secretly set up a trap in the meanwhile? They had access from the beginning!" A rambled furiously.

Ōnoki was thoughtful, but seemed to be agreeing with A.

"I take great offence to that. This competition was an attempt to better the relationship between the villages, and if you look up your brother is currently trying to warn you too." Minato replied, his voice cutting.

"Maybe there really is a bomb, but A has a point. This whole tournament has been one-"

"SHUT UP!" Naruto screamed, and Yugito - who was closest - took another cautious step away from the sheer volume of Naruto's lungs.

Behind the Hokage Shisui's shoulders slumped in defeat as his girlfriend finally exploded. "I don't care what you think! Right now everyone is in grave danger! I don't know what that button activates, I don't know what sort of wild conspiracy theory you are cooking up either! I DON'T CARE! Can't you work together just once!? For kami's sake this very well might be a declaration of war and I for one am not interested in a repeat! So shut up, start moving and try to focus on saving people instead of bickering like a bunch of old grandma's arguing over who's grandchild was the source of the lice outbreak at the park!"

Naruto breathed harshly, her teeth gritting as she looked up at Santa and Otokaze standing pale and alarmed where she'd trapped them. "I'm sorry about this, but please be brave and stay calm. You have to remain where you are for the time being. We'll try to deactivate this crap right away."

The Raikage was making a funny expression, a cross between a sneer and outrage at Naruto's outburst, while Ōnoki was looking at her cooly. Utakata on the other hand was gesturing for his two guards to come closer.

"Help with the evacuation." Utakata instructed calmly just as Kisame glanced at Naruto with a smirk before turning towards his Kage. "I can manage on my own."

"You go too." Minato said to his own guards. And though he heard Shisui was still struggling between going over and hit Naruto for being so crass against the five Kage, and flounder around in worry over the fact that she was standing a few steps away from an unknown type of bomb.

"… sure." Shisui replied but glanced worriedly back at Naruto.

"Who is behind it?" Asked Minato when the Uchiha and the other guards left to help the panicking crowd above them.

Naruto's mouth shut with an audible clap.

"We don't know." Azuma replied. At some point he had jumped down along with Hōzuki.

Naruto sent him a glare, which Azuma returned in ten folds.

"All the clues we've gathered indicate Iwa." Kakashi replied calmly.

Ōnoki froze, turning towards Kakashi so fast his cloak billowed in the wind. "Excuse me?"

"The most obvious clue is the winner podium. Iwa made it. When we found out about this attack we had just finished deactivating several bombs in the mountain and were pursuing a group of merchants ninjas that don't specialize in explosives. These type of attacks are a classic Iwa technique not widely used outside Earth Country, and reminded me most of the Explosive Corps." Kakashi explained monotonously. "And the simple fact that it is a very complex bomb…."

"Well, well, well." A said and took a stand against Ōnoki. "I thought you'd been a bit too calm during this whole ordeal. You're known to be more of a hot head, old man. So this was the reason, huh?"

"Iwa isn't behind this!" Ōnoki denied at once. "How dare you! Trying to put the blame on us?! Why would we make that podium and drag it all the way from Iwa just to blow it up!"

"I actually agree." Kakashi replied simply, and Naruto's head snapped around. This was news to her.

"Excuse me? Then who?" Rasa asked surprised.

"We don't know, but the clues are a bit… too perfect." Kakashi said with a tilt of his head. "If this place gets blown up Iwa will get blamed. There's no getting around it, but in all honestly I find it strange that Iwa can ever be that careless with such a severe attack. Not a single other village was indicated through the clues. Call it a hunch, but I think they're being framed for someone else's actions."

"So you don't know?" Utakata asked frustrated.

Kakashi shook his head. "No, but-"

He stopped abruptly as Naruto's head whirled back to the podium, along with all the others. They'd all felt it. The chakra signal that had suddenly activated. Naruto just couldn't understand what could have caused it.

But there was no doubt about it, the bomb had been activated with no pressure needed on the final button.

They all tensed up, Minato's eyes flying around the area. But nothing happened.

"What was that?" Asked Kisame with his sword ready in hand.

"Nothing is happening..." Mused Darui and looked around.

But then a distant bang was heard, far, far away from everyone. Naruto whirled on the spot, looking up at the mountain they had crossed over to get to the village. The barrier keeping snow from collapsing had been torn apart from the explosion. And the sheer force of the bomb had made the snow start falling.

"Oh damn. Avalanche." Naruto murmured with wide eyes.

"We need to stop it! It will burry the village!" Mifune shouted in panic.

"Take a hold of me! I have a kunai stationed up there and can get us up in a moment." Minato said and turned towards the other kage.

A, Utakata and Ōnoki looked at his hand with doubt. "How do we know you're speaking the truth? Strange isn't it, that you just happen to have-"

"Not this again! Get your act together! Please. There is literally an avalanche falling as we speak!" Shouted Naruto and released the two Genin from her chains now that it was useless to keep them in place. Then she created fifty clones to help out down in the village before she ran over and grabbed a hold of Minato's shoulder. "Stay here and do nothing then! In the meanwhile we'll try to save your people from getting buried in this avalanche you ungrateful, paranoid, greedy old men!"

Tsunade's eyes were tearing up from staring so intently into the distance she'd forgotten to blink. Even from so far away she could hear the commotion. The alarm blaring, the roar of a crowd in a state of emergency. The uncertainty of what was happening.

She breathed slowly and purposely, hyper aware of the corpse freezing in the snow not far away, but unwilling to turn to look at the bloody remains of the Kiri swordsman's kill. Instead her eyes penetrating the distance as if willing her her eyesight to improve. Now would have been a good time to have been born a Hyuuga instead of a Senju. The Byuakugan would have been pretty useful at that moment to see what the hell was going on at the stadium. To be able to watch where Shizune was going. What Naruto was up to.

She shifted her weight from one hip to the other, tapping her fingers against her thigh as she swallowed down the bile in her throat. There was some rustling from her left, and Tsunade absently flicked her finger against her newly awakened captive's head, knocking him into the ground with a crack and making sure he was unconscious once more.

What the hell was she doing?

Was she really going to stay here and wait around like some… some helpless academy student waiting for their sensei to come fetch her? Was she really leaving her brats to deal with the danger while she stood moping at the sideline?

Slowly she turned her head shakily to the side, her body forcibly locking up once she saw a vague shape from the corner of her eye, before she couldn't make herself move further… Ah, panic… She could feel it rush through her body with the shock of a raiton jutsu. She just couldn't make herself turn those last few inches to see the bloody corpse of the shape shifting ninja.

Frustrated she gritted her teeth, tears springing to her eyes.

She couldn't. She couldn't! She couldn't make herself look at the blood and wounds, but couldn't ignore it either. She knew it was there, yet couldn't make herself look at it. Standing in a vast field of snow she felt the walls start to close in on her, the fear like poison spreading through in her veins.

A bang rang through the air, and her head snapped to the stadium.

No, no, no!

What was that?

Shizune was there, and Naruto!

A shattering relief went through her as she figured out that the explosion hadn't been from the stadium, but the neighbouring mountain.

It only laster for a second.

Because it could just as easily have been the stadium, couldn't it? And she would have been out there in the middle of nowhere, watching and doing nothing as Shizune and Naruto ran into danger…

Before she could stop it her eyes whirled back to the dead body. Her mind strangely blank as it landed on the gaping abdomen wound from one of the swordsmen of the Mist.

The stranger turned into Dan, then Nawaki, before her imagination went straight ahead and pictured Jiraiya with that wound, Hiruzen-sensei, Orochimaru, Rin, Naruto… Shizune…

She swallowed, her panic breaking with a jolt and looked back at the stadium where the volume had increased exponentially. People were shouting and running, the sound carrying on the wind for those with chakra enhanced hearing to pick up on even from a neighbouring mountain.

Shizune was helping out, but without Tsunade there was a much larger possibility she'd end injured too. That she'd die.

And Tsunade would be wasting time here. Close but too far away. And this time it would only be her own fault. It wouldn't be Konoha who declined her proposal to have a medic on the teams. She couldn't use the excuse she hadn't made it in time. It would be all on her for not taking the initiative.

Inside her head she heard the scratchy voice of her most scatterbrained student ring out.

"I rather die knowing I did everything I could than live a life running away from everything that might hurt me! I don't have your trauma, I'm not you!"

She had no idea what happened, but next Tsunade was running back to the village, the bloody corpse and prisoners quite forgotten.

Kakashi's brow furrowed as he watched the Kage gave in and go with Minato and Naruto. Alongside them Mifune, Hōzuki, Killer Bee, Roshi and a Suna guard came too, and in a flash of yellow they were gone. A samurai named Okisuke had stayed behind to evacuate the village, and Kakashi spotted him running along the audience platform, barking orders as the one in charge until Mifune returned while making sure everyone was heading in the right direction.

Kakashi was left relatively alone while everyone focused on the evacuation, as he was the only one, for the moment, focused on the reason it was necessary. Displeased he glanced back at the podium, and at the same time caught a wink of Otokaze and Santa pelting out the exit at the other end of the arena.

Walking slowly towards the podium Kakashi wondered.

It was strange… How had the podium activated? No one had stood on it, not on the top of the platform, and though Kakashi hadn't been able to understand the blueprints entirely, he still had a good idea of how it activated, even if the resulting explosion had been blurry.

He knelt in front of the heavy object and speculated, touching the material carefully. His eyes trailed slowly over the many joints and details that had not been obvious from afar as he studied the construction and decorations. It consisted of a hollow core with several plate pieces joined together, and he suspected this was so it would have been easier to bring along on such a lengthy journey. Basically this had been constructed on the day of the Tsuchikage's arrival, which was the day before yesterday, as they had arrived the evening before the Konoha delegation.

The detonator wouldn't really have activated by pressure from weight alone, as it was too sturdy for that. What would activate it was the chakra of the person standing on top of it. Everyone gave off chakra, especially when you came into direct contact with it. Iwa had indeed created the podium, which made them suspects, but Kakashi wasn't entirely convinced.

First of all, though the clues weren't many, they were still one too many of them to be coincidental, and all of them were directed towards Iwa. If Iwa really had done this they would have tried to confuse the trail, to put suspicion somewhere else, yet that remained undone. It reminded him more and more of a decoy, when someone placed everyone's attention on one player to give time for the other players to either attack or get away. The Ring of Tenko had been a decent decoy, but anyone who figured out who they were would realized that someone had hired them to distract the audience.

Though the podium was indeed just as beautiful and grand as Ōnoki had bragged, with precious stones decorating the edges. His fingers lingered at the bright yellow stone winking at him in the sunlight, and his fingers clenched with a sudden idea. It started as a low whisper of a thought, but within moments it grew with an alarming amount of sense.

Because if Iwa was not the culprit, then there were really only one other village that made even the slightest sense. Because any of the villages could - in theory at least – copy Iwa's explosions to put the blame on that village, but there were really only one that could set it off the way it had been after Naruto had stopped Yugito.

They would have the ability, access and opportunity… The reason Kakashi hadn't really considered it before was because of the motive. They definitely had many motives for doing this, but it was also such a huge gamble, and he could hardly believe they'd dared to take the risk. And yet… it fit only too well to ignore.

"Naruto!" He shouted, and one of the only remaining clones running away stopped half way across the stadium to look back.

"Come here. I think I'll need you to stay with me."

While the boss was up on the mountain, clone number sixteen and seventeen had reached the village boarder after being ordered there by a haggard looking samurai. The clone with Kakashi had just popped, making sure the information he had relayed was transferred between all clones and the boss. The news of what he wanted her to do was making her all nervous and uncertain, but it was Kakashi, and she trusted he was confident in the accusation he'd just shared with her.

Number seventeen was just helping a little girl back on her feet while making sure the crowd didn't trample her when clone sixteen noticed the new person running towards the gates. Looking pissed off but determined anyway.

Her smile broadened as she realized Tsunade was coming to their aid.

"Tsunade!" Clone seventeen shouted when they spotted the Sannin too.

They exchanged a glance, the both having the same idea at the same time. "I'll go!" Clone sixteen volunteered and ran to cut off the Sannin before she entered the village.

"Tsunade! I need your help! Right now!"

"Well why do you think I'm here, brat?!" The woman barked back, reminding the clone more and more of the fifth Hokage Naruto recalled from her first life than the drunken gambler she had gotten used to in this time line.

"I'm not the real one, the boss is up in the mountain and I'm heading that way. Uh, it will only take a second. You know those sedatives you always carry with you? I need one. Or two."

Tsunade paused, her eyes narrowing in suspicion. "Why?"

The clone smiled sheepishly, but her gaze were dead serious. "Eh, can we do this later? I just really need it. Preferably fast."

To stop a force of nature was surprisingly difficult.

The last time Naruto had been in an avalanche was back in the Third War, and during that incident they had let the snow pass them by without interference, letting it run out of power on its own.

Trying to control and contain it was a vastly more problematic dilemma. Not only had this group of highly lethal and stubborn ninja never worked together, but they didn't know what the others could do outside of a general idea from bingo books and rumours, and no one had time to plan and figure it out either. The avalanche was coming down fast and with much more power than anything Naruto had seen before.

In the end they all reluctantly had to fall back onto a simple plan of action; do what you can and listen to Mifune's advice. He was on home turf and so had the last say.

It didn't really matter that they were a collection of A and S ranked ninja going up against it. The truth of the matter was that only half of them had any useful techniques, while the rest were reduced to assisting.

It quickly became apparent that the most effective in the group was Roshi. Not only was his rock barriers extremely useful, but his lava release was efficient to melt the snow. The problem was the wide coverage of snow and how to contain it. They were working against the clock, and only Minato and A with their insane speed and Onoki with his levitation had any hope of reaching anything in time.

Butt hough fast, the Raikage had very few abilities that helped contain an avalanche, and was reduced to sprinting from one place to the next to set up C-ranked earth jutsu walls he had clearly only used a handful of times before that day to help redirect the snow under Mifune's shouted instructions. Minato was more helpful. His seals swallowed up entire fields of snow, and his speed enabled him to move the fastest of everyone.

Rasa was severely handicapped. He was a sand user with a magnet release. A snowy mountain was as far from his preferred terrain as he could get. The weapons he brought along wasn't useful at all, and his lacking speed made him reduced to putting up earth walls too.

Naruto was pelting the mountainside with clones running around like blond blobs in the distance, all of whom was using earth jutsu too. It was an element Jiraiya had been teaching her during their journey, and with her large chakra reserves it enabled her to put up several barricades that led some of the snow into Roshi's awaiting lava release instead of the village.

The whole ordeal was made a lot worse once the after explosions started going off every fifth second.

Naruto watched as Utakata nearly lost his right leg when he stood too close to an explosion, only the chakra burst as the bomb was activated gave him a half-second head start to jump out of range.

To their increasing frustration the blasts resulted in a row of new avalanches., and at this rate the entire mountain would be emptied of snow. The moment they had secured one direction, another was being set loose.

It was just as Minato had brought Roshi further down the mountain, using Hiraishin to bring the jinchūriki to a new location where his flexible rock walls would be the most effective, that Mifune's distressed cry caught Naruto's attention.

The samurai had changed course and was running in a new direction, one they had down prioritized because the snow falling that way wouldn't hit the village itself, which was first priority.

"Safe house! There's a genin safe house down there!" He shouted as loudly as he could. Naruto was one of the few within hearing range of the samurai when he said that. Though it hadn't been long since they arrived, already most of the group had scattered up and down themountain, and the next explosion had drowned out half the statement.

Naruto's eyes widened in horror as she realized Mifune was correct. The Iwa contestants that had been knocked out of the exams in one of the previous rounds were all huddled in a safe house outside Bushigakure. They had been so focused on making sure the avalanche didn't head towards the village that Naruto had forgotten there was a safe house constructed outside the village which would be crushed if they didn't act at once.

One of her clones, which had blessedly heard the statement, popped to relay the message to the others around the mountain. It took a second at most before Minato had been told what was happening from a nearby shadow clone and was teleporting up the mountain, overtaking Mifune and any Naruto duplicates that were trying to assist.

It was as Naruto was legging it through the mountain, the disorienting situation both confusing and chaotic enough she was only half sure what was actually happening, that her clone down in the village popped, and a stream of new information entered her head.

Kakashi wanted her to do what now?

The absurdity of the information she'd received made her halt abruptly, too dumbfounded to know how to proceed.

Naruto looked around, seeking out her new target through the haze of airborn snow particles and dust from explosions. Squinting as she caught sight of the man further up the mountain.

She swallowed. Feeling her stomach turn unpleasantly. She had a choice to make. Follow Minato and Mifune to help or follow Kakashi's discovery.

Of the two options Kakashi's led needed Naruto in person though.

Another rush of info streamed into her, and she received the news that one of her clone's was legging it for her at full speed with sedatives at the ready. That would certainly help her if she was to bring down this man alive.

Kami… She couldn't believe it had come to this. She turned towards the man, knowing she needed to separate him from the rest of the group. The chaos and widespread company helped a lot. She had already lost track of where Minato, Onoki, Roshi and Utaka had gone off to, but if she was to fight and keep it secret she would need more distance.

Kami… She couldn't believe Kakashi wanted her to do a Sasori.

It wasn't everyday one was asked to defeat and kidnap the Kazekage.

Shisui glared as a group was getting nasty. He hurried over to break up the upcoming fight. In the chaos people started blaming one another, and it was all he could do not to make ninjas attack one another in the sky high tension building.

"Stop it now! You have orders, get to your evacuation points!" Shisui growled, sending the group of Kiri ninja on their way towards their designated safe bases. This had been planned in advance in case of emergency. The last thing they wanted were antsy ninjas of various nationalities gathered in the same place. And right now Shisui was extremely grateful they'd thought ahead in case of this sort of scenario happening. If not a fight would have broken out a long time ago.

He looked around, hoping to find Naruto somewhere, but again he was left without a trace of her.

From the corner of his eyes he spotted a couple of women fighting at the street corner. A Suna and Kumo ninja were about to start throwing jutsu, and so Shisui hurried over. He hated stopping cat fights, but he undoubtably had a lot of experience after being on a team with Naruto and Anko for so long.

He stopped mid stride though, because he thought he'd heard something. Turning towards the mountain confused he searched for any signs of another avalanche, but it looked fine. Concluding it must have been his imagination he continued with the task at hand.

"It's over here. We should secure it now that there's a break between explosions." Naruto indicated to the random spot she actually had no idea was avalanche proof or not. The point was that it was far away from everyone else and she actually had some privacy. The only problem was that one of the guards had tagged along, but she was confident she could take him out easily enough. The problem was the Kazekage.

"Sure." Rasa replied and rose his hands.

"I can see my clone coming up now." Naruto said, actually seeing her clone come sprinting up the mountain, hopefully with the sedatives clone seventeen had reported about at hand. Rasa nodded while he lifted up an earth wall. He was a pretty good actor. If Kakashi hadn't explained his theory she never would have suspected he wasn't trying to help.

"It might have knowledge of another area that's still unsteady. I'll go check."

She left them behind and met up with the clone. It dropped the needle into her hand while pretending to gesture towards the side of the mountain leading towards the rest of the company. She had intended to separate Rasa from the rest of the Kage and guards.

It was still extremely risky, nearly suicidal, and she would need to rely on a one hit take down if she was to have much chance of doing this without being discovered. Which is why she had asked for the sedatives. Naruto was pretty sure she had a good chance against Rasa in a fight, but he was to be taken alive and without notice if she was to prevent war.

Swallowing Naruto turned towards the two men as her clone popped.

The guard stood strategically between Naruto and her target, and she had to act fast if she was going to do this without being discovered. Worst come to worst she'd throw them all off the mountain. It would lead them even further away from the rest and give her more time.

"Any news?"

Naruto nodded. She received an influx of news from a popped clone, the ones that had helped Minato and Mifune. She decided to relay the news as an excuse for what the clone had said. Gambling on Rasa not knowing how shadow clones worked when it came to information distribution.

"The Iwa genin safe house was secured. It was a very close call, Minato had to use a huge seal to swallow up the avalanche. He nearly didn't make it in time, so the kids in the base got a scare, but they're all fine."

Rasa's face was blank, but she thought perhaps his shoulders had stiffened. Had she given herself away? Naruto would never claim to be an expert in being covert and subtle. This whole pretence game wasn't her strength, but she thought she'd done a pretty good job acting normally. If she hadn't Rasa never would have gone off with her, would he?

The guard Naruto still hadn't heard the name off turned towards his leader, and Naruto realized this was as good as it would get. It was the furthest she'd separate them and there was no one too close. The clone she had set aside to gather nature chakra was ready.

She breathed once and deeply, the action drawing the attention of both Rasa and the guard. There was a spark of something in the dark eyes of the Kazekage as Naruto's eyelids went red, her irises yellow.

Rasa was at a field disadvantage. The line of the Kazekage had always been at their strongest in the desert, but this was a snowy mountain. His attacks would be much less effective here.

One hit. She only needed a single hit with Tsunade's special sedative and Rasa would be out like a light. The guard might have to be killed though.

All these thoughts passed by in a split second while the two Suna ninjas only had time to jolt in uncertainty, and then Naruto sprang.

Naruto was gritting her teeth in frustration and hoped to hell Kakashi was correct in this theory of his. If not Naruto was pretty sure she'd just started a freaking war.

She peeked out from a street corner, seeing Azuma hurrying past with a group of people following. She waited until they had passed before looking back over her shoulder and gesturing for her clones to follow with their bound and unconscious prisoner.

The guard had been easy enough to deal with, he had been knocked unconscious quickly, and after the battle was over she'd bound him up to be collected later. The other one had been harder, and her only trump card had been the sheer shock on his face when she attacked.

Rasa had not thought she would have figured him out, which in all honestly she hadn't. This was Kakashi's plan, not hers. At least partly.

Kakashi never asked her to go up against the Kazekage alone. He just told her he suspected he was behind the attacks and they would need to figure out a way to question him without the other nations realizing what was happening. Naruto had taken the opportunity of their unexpected isolation from the others to do the dirty work. She thought it best if Minato - at the very least - could claim plausible deniability if this all went to hell. He was the Hokage, and in this incident it would be better if he said Naruto acted on her own that be involved with a Kage kidnapping of an allied village. Even Naruto was logical enough to realize that would be catastrophic.

Minato hadn't been around at the time anyway, so it was better to just get it over with.

Rasa had tried to put up a fight, but against Naruto's senjutsu mode he hadn't actually lasted very long. She had hit him with the sedative on the first hit, then it was all about keeping him quiet until it took effect. Luckily the sedatives were fast spreading and reliable. Naruto doubted it would have been as quick if she had to beat him into unconsciousness. She would have had to rely on noisy attacks for that, and this was all about efficiency and secrecy.

And Orochimaru had claimed she couldn't be subtle. If he could only see her now.

Kakashi was a mixture of horrified and impressed when she showed up with the Kazekage. Looking between the clones carrying the knocked out captive and his nervously twitching teammate. "Impressive." He'd admitted, then he whistled under his breath. "And you did it without tearing down the mountain too. Didn't think you had it in you."

They hadn't stuck around to discuss much further than that. It wouldn't be good if they were caught red handed with a kidnapped kage, so they quickly found a place to hide Rasa away.

Which is how they ended up in a small clearing with decent coverage at the outskirts of Bushigakure. It was the best they could find in their current situation.

"Talk!" Naruto demanded, her face well within Rasa's personal boundaries as she stared him down with furious eyes.

He spat in her face.

Jerking back Naruto grimaced and tried to dry away the drool on her face while Kakashi looked on unimpressed. "I doubt that will work, Naruto." He turned towards the Kazekage and bent down with a good distance between them. His expression neutral.

"You set off the trap." He stated pleasantly. "The winner podium had gold decorating the edges. It blended well with the other metals, but it was there. Is there one person on this earth that would notice that then it's the guy who can manipulate gold himself. So when the trap was stopped by Naruto you took the task into your own hands. You were right there, and no one would notice that you used the gold already decorating the podium to activate the explosion." He explained and sat down cross legged in front of Rasa.

"So tell me Kazekage-dono, why did you attack the exams? I have to admit that I'm puzzled. At best it was a very big gamble with very little reward. Suna can't afford going to war against all the four other nations. In fact; I doubt you could even face one of the Great Villages. Suna is still struggling after the war. I can see this attack could have gone one of two ways; either it would have put Iwa in a very bad light, efficiently drawing Suna into a new conflict, or you were discovered to be the real culprit, as you now are. So you see your actions here today was very unwise, and when the truth comes out the others won't react well. You just signed your own village's death sentence Kazekage-dono."

Shisui's mouth fell open in shock. Because there, waiting patiently for him in the clearing was Kakashi and Naruto on each side of a very beaten up and bound Rasa.

"Holy cow! What do you think you are you doing!? Is that the Kazekage?!" Shisui hissed furiously. He hadn't known what to expect when one of Naruto's clones had demanded he come with her in all secrecy, making sure he left behind a clone so he could help out with; "Something super-mega important that really, really couldn't wait."

"We're asking him some questions… and he's being a bit difficult." Naruto answered with a tilt of her head.

"You've kidnapped the Kazekage! A kage! You can't be that stupid! And everyone is looking for him! The Suna ninjas are getting suspicious already!" Shisui exclaimed but was interrupted by Kakashi hushing him.

"Keep quiet will you? This is better than the alternative, which is confronting him in front of all the other Kage. Can you imagine how Iwa will react?"

"You've lost your mind! We have a peace treaty with Suna, and you kidnapping the freaking Kazekage won't help anyone."

"We think he set the trap." Naruto snapped back. "You did right?"

Rasa looked stonily ahead of him, his mouth firmly shut.

"We need your help Shisui." Kakashi said with a pleasant smile.

"Oh, really?" Shisui spat through clenched teeth.

"Yes. He's one tough cookie and he won't talk. But uh… you're pretty good with seals and genjutsu. We thought you could seal off his chakra and then put him under a genjutsu he won't be able to break afterwards. We thought it might be enough to crack him." Naruto replied with an innocent smile.

Shisui's mouth opened in disbelief, closed, and then opened on repeat. "You want me to…? Do you expect me to...? You've got to be kidding me!"

Whatever Shisui put him through was not pleasant. After Shisui had placed him under chakra suppressing seals he stepped back and forced Rasa to look him in the eyes. His Sharingan activated, and next Rasa was stuck in an unbreakable genjutsu.

Naruto watched worriedly as he grew steadily paler, his brow got sweaty and he was shaking. "What did you do?" Asked Naruto and looked up at Shisui.

He glanced back nervously. "Ah, it's not pleasant… um, it causes great emotional imbalance, while subtly hints at Konoha or something associated with it as a source of relief. It's pretty complex, but simply put it's emotional manipulation in genjutsu form. It's mostly used when we have highly dangerous prisoners at the Police station refusing to speak during interrogation. I've been asked to use it for the T and I a few times."

"How long are we supposed to stand here?" Asked Naruto.

Shisui glanced at his watch. "Two more minutes."

It was surreal. Here they stood patiently waiting for Shisui's genjutsu to take effect on the Kazakage which they had taken hostage. Without approval.

Naruto could only imagine what Minato would say when he found out what they'd been up to. For Konoha's sake Naruto dearly hoped this wasn't a huge mistake.

Finally Shisui bent down and released Rasa from his technique. The man gasped for air and collapsed forwards with a wild expression. He was hiccuping in his distress as Shisui grabbed his shoulder and straightened him harshly in an upright position. His face was suddenly devoid of emotions as he met Rasa's eyes with blaring Sharingan.

"Why did you attack the Chūnin exam?" He demanded quietly.

Rasa's teeth gritted and his face sagged. Shisui's eyes started to spin, but the panic of knowing what came next caused Rasa to start stuttering in protest. But there was no mercy from Shisui, and soon the Kazekage was under a new round.

He straightened up and put his hands in his pocket.

"Is this some sort of torture technique?" Asked Naruto uncertainly.

"Yes." Shisui replied honestly.

"How long this time?" Asked Kakashi.

"Shorter than last. If he still won't talk I'll put him through a longer one. That way he won't know how long I'll put him on next time. He won't be able to black out either. This is all imagined, so a few hours here will feel closer to a year to him." Shisui said with a shrug. "Eventually he'll crack."

"This can't be good. We don't want him braindead." Naruto said and looked up.

"He's the Kazekage, Naruto, we really don't have a lot of options here. You wanted answers fast, and so I'm trying to give you that. I will probably get a first page in Suna's bingo book and it will probably make him deadly afraid of Uchihas for the remains of his life, but honestly that is a risk I'm willing to take if it means preventing a new war." Shisui answered and looked down at Rasa.

Next he released him again, but now Rasa spluttered.

"Why did you attack the Chunin exam?" Shisui repeated slowly.

He breathed harshly, glaring back as his face turned from deathly pale to deep red. And then he spoke. "Why? Why!?" Cracked Rasa furiously, his eyes wide and hateful. "Because Iwa... Iwa is better off buried in dust!"

"Huh?" Naruto asked confused.

"Iwa…? But you attacked more than one village today..." Shisui murmured quietly.

"Maybe he didn't… He actually led us in the right direction." Kakashi said with dawning realization. "This whole ordeal actually makes a lot more sense if there was only Iwa who were the target, and not the exams itself. He sent Baki with us the whole time, able to steer us in the right direction if we got off track. The Kazekage had to fool a lot of highly trained professionals with this stunt, and so it couldn't be easy. He had to hide the motive within a larger decoy. Kami, Baki was the one who started everything. The fight this morning, it was… it was to lure us and confuse us, because if he was targeted we wouldn't suspect Suna first. If everything went as planned, he probably expected everyone to focus on the security of the civilians and the village, and so only the Iwa genin's safe house would have gotten crushed. It very nearly did. He couldn't have expected Minato-sensei of all people to have gone out of his way to save Iwa citizens." Kakashi pinched the bridge of his nose, and Naruto could see that his brain was working a hundred miles a minute, connecting things she couldn't at such a speed she couldn't keep up.

Suddenly he snapped his finger."It fits. Suna was part of the exam organisation from the beginning. Minato-sama reached out to Suna first, and they accepted. His shinobi built this stadium, his shinobi has been crossing that mountain for almost a year. It would have looked like a failed attempt from Iwa, as the avalanche would have hit themselves the hardest."

"But… Why?" Asked Naruto.

"Because then Iwa might feel what they're doing to us." Hissed Rasa, glaring through blurry eyes at Naruto. "They have taken most of our fields. We can barely gather enough food and water for the village! Before the war those areas was ours! But no, after the war they planted a flag in it and declared it theirs! Konoha is the only reason we're still working at the moment, and yet hundreds of children have died thanks to malnourishment and thirst when the rain season is bad!" He ranted angrily.

"What would this accomplish…? Even if you hadn't been discovered, Ōnoki was safe." Wondered Shisui.

"But the Genin wasn't." Naruto said suddenly. "They were in there… This wasn't about hurting those who fought in the war. It was about making Iwa look bad to the other nations while simultaneously damaging the next generation."

Rasa turned away, his jaw tense. And Naruto sighed and looked up at the ceiling feeling heavy and drained.

"What now?" Wondered Shisui and looked up at them in turn. For a whole minute no one spoke, their heads turned down in thoughts. Only Rasa's rapid pulse and panting penetrating the silence.

Naruto bent down in front of Rasa, and the man glared at her.

"I'm sorry." She said quietly. "But this… This wasn't right. This whole exam was for the sake of peace, and you just made it all the more difficult. How could you think this would have ended well?"

"I know perfectly well what happens now!" Rasa whispered. "You're going to tell, and then Suna… Suna..." He started hyperventilating, and Naruto leaned away as the man gasped for air.

"He's having a panic attack." Shisui said and came forwards and grabbed the man's shoulder. Rasa tore away from him in a jerk.

"We all lost people. We've all suffered by the hands of the people of another nation." Naruto murmured quietly, thinking of her irrational dislike of Hōzuki. She had hated him simply for being from Kiri even before he proved to be a shitty human being in general. "But you can't continue like this if we're ever going to have any lasting peace!"

Rasa breathing had quieted a fraction, but he didn't reply to her words.

"This won't help anyone. Someone has to be the bigger person, and it should've been you. You are the Kazekage, and if not even you can make a good example, what are you teaching your subordinates? You have three children at home… How can revenge for the sake of long lost ghosts overshadow their current safety? The dead don't care Rasa. It's only we who live on who has to deal with the chaos called life."

Rasa was scowling at the ground.

"I get you're angry. Perhaps you hoped this would destabilize Iwa enough so you could get back some of your land. Hoped the hit to moral would be a fitting form of revenge. It might even have started a conflict between several of the countries against Iwa for breaking the sanctuary of the Chunin exams, weakening them further." Kakashi was speaking aloud, wording his speculations and with Rasa's deepening scowls Naruto was pretty sure he was hitting the nail on the head for each word. "But now you've created a very big mess. Attacking the Chunin exams was a very large gamble. One I'm not sure your village can afford."

Naruto nodded, pinning Rasa with large blue eyes as she saw the raw defeat in the depth of his mind. "There is always a better way! Look at Minato. He has worked tooth and nail to create a better relationship between the villages, and though he's not perfect I know he only has the best interest for the village. Yet he's managed that without falling to these kinds of operations. He's still optimistic that the Five Great Villages can peacefully coexist, and if… If you're having problems, all you had to do was ask."

Rasa's expression twisted, clearly disbelieving that last naive statement, so Naruto clarified. "Minato would have helped. Isn't networking a big part of your station? Why is it that most people are more interesting in attacking enemies than making new allies? It didn't have to come to this. Is there one thing these few days have taught me than it is that power makes people presumptuous and narrow minded. All you had to do was ask, and it wouldn't have been a show of weakness, because at some point Konoha would need help in return and we would have been even. Why is that so hard to do?"

The Kazekage's eyes bore into Naruto's, and she hoped he could see her sincerity. She could certainly see something stirring in him. Was that regret?

"Well, it's too late now." Rasa murmured heavily. "As mentioned before, I have doomed my village."

Kakashi tilted his head to the side. "Hmmm… Not necessarily." He said slowly, drawing the attention of everyone with cautious curiosity. Naruto knew that tone of voice. He only used it when he came up with specifically vicious counter attacks against an enemy, or when he was particularly vindictive and sent team 7 on a really horrible D rank mission in revenge for being horrible little brats. "Who here is against telling an elaborate lie that might have the fourth ninja war start if discovered?"

"Exactly how elaborate are we talking here?" Shisui asked fearfully, even if he still seemed willing to hear the copy ninja out. Even if he wasn't happy about it.

"Pretty big. But if everything goes as planned, and with a bit of luck – but that's why we have Naruto around anyway - I think we can turn this situation to our favour."

"That's why you disappeared, because you were taken by Madara…?" Muttered Utakata puzzled.

"It would explain the other strange happenings this day too." Kakashi replied. "He can use time space ninjutsu. All he needed was the right angle. It is soundless and he wouldn't have to materialize his whole body. He could simply materialize one hand to activate the podium."

"The fact that I look like this should also be proof." Rasa grunted and gestured to the bruises and scratches remaining from Naruto's brief battle with him.

It took everything in her not to react and keep her face straight.

It had taken a lot of talking and negotiating, which Naruto had left to Shisui and Kakashi to clear up with Rasa back during the interrogation, but the plan to frame Madara for Rasa's actions was one Naruto couldn't decide if she really liked or really disliked. In the end she had to agree it was the most peaceful solution though. If Rasa was discovered as the culprit it would almost guarantee a new war, something no one wanted no matter how furious they were at Suna for orchestrating this disaster. Then there was the fact that the others needed to take the threat of Akatsuki seriously, which they hadn't so far, and this was perhaps their best opportunity to do so. They needed a scapegoat, and they had picked Madara for that role.

"You saw him? With your own two eyes?" Asked A in shock.

"He wore a mask, so I can't be certain, but the genjutsu I was placed under felt livid enough." Rasa muttered. "He wanted information about the bijū, but I didn't break before we were found. I thank you again for rescuing me. It seems I… owe you a debt." He said and looked over at Naruto, Kakashi and Shisui in the corner, his eyes lingering a moment longer on Shisui.

"This is his worst fear though. The villages starting to cooperate would make his goals a lot harder." Minato stated seriously.

"But… Are you trying to say he orchestrated this whole event to... what? Bury us in snow? That was hardly effective. Sure, civilians and genins might have been lost, but the stronger ninjas would undoubtably have made it!" Ōnoki protested.

"It wasn't about the attack." Shisui answered and looked Ōnoki in the eyes. "It was about framing a village and make us distrust one another. In this case Iwa. How do you believe the other villages would have reacted if the Kazekage was found too late - probably dead? It's well known Iwa and Suna don't get along, and with all the other proofs stacking up against Iwa it would make it… obvious, that you planned and attacked the other villages. Possibly breaking out another war. With your village on one side, with all the other four on the other. In fact, I believe Rasa-dono just saved Iwa a lot of difficulties."

A ringing silence filled the room, and Ōnoki breathed heavily at the implication. He glanced over at the Kazakegae uncertainly before leaning back in his chair. Seemingly too stunned to do much else.

"Which means you can finally take our warnings about Madara seriously." Minato continued and leaned forwards. "He is a threat, and I hope you have finally realized that too."

"I'll listen." The Raikage muttered, though strained.

"Me too." Ōnoki agreed.

"… sure." Utakata said quietly after a moment's hesitation.

"Good, because Madara's greatest strength doesn't lie in his powers, but his free reign to act in the shadows. That has to stop, or we'll all start losing the few trump cards we're currently in possession off."

"So..." Shisui started, sliding down the wall to sit next to Naruto. "How was your day, dear?" He asked lightly, voice dripping with sarcasm.

Naruto chuckled. "Oh, you know how it is. Walked in on an assassination. Uncovered a murder. Tracked down a terrorist group. Tore down parts of a mountain. Before helping stop an avalanche and defeat and kidnapped the Kazekage. And look at that, all before dinner. How was yours, honey?"

Shisui couldn't stop grinning even while he was shaking his head. "I… watched a group of genin beat each other silly for the entertainment value of the crowd. Oh, and I ate the best yoghurt. Apparently they make them specially here in Land of Iron."

Naruto snapped her fingers. "Damn, can't believe I missed out on that."

"We'll have to come back some other time then." Shisui mumbled. "For the good memories and all. We can share."

They glanced at one another, before Shisui pulled her to him, his arms engulfing her in a tight hug. "You did good, Naruto." He said quietly. "I don't want to know what would have happened if this had gone any other way. We could have been pulled right back into another war."

"We did it together." Naruto replied with an uneasy smile. "Well... with the exception of Baki. I had no idea he was such a good actor. I seriously had no idea. I still don't know how Kakashi saw through it all."

Shisui pulled away, his grip loosening as he glanced down at her. "Kakashi's a smart guy, but he doesn't have your conviction or drive. Don't underestimate the importance of your actions today."

"I'm not. I know I was awesome today." Naruto replied with a sheepish smile.

Naruto couldn't decide what was first priority, and ended up with a mix of emotions. The first was relief at seeing the tall wall guarding their home village, the trees spreading out in all directions and the familiar sent of Konoha.

Next was a wave of fatigue, as she was pretty exhausted and sleep deprived at this point. Not to mention her many bruises and wounds from earlier in the day had been making a nuisance out of themselves since the adrenaline had worn off.

And finally, and probably must urgently, she was rapidly growing uncomfortably hot.

"Ugh!" Naruto moaned and dragged her scarf off in one motion, her cloak hitting the ground only seconds later. Around her the others were of a similar mind, because the drastic temperature change was hitting them like a shock wave.

Even if they'd been saddled with a couple of extra members to their party the return journey had gone a lot faster. Tsunade and Shizune had helped out in the village during the evacuation, and to Naruto's great bewilderment and pleasure it seemed Tsunade had taken a major step in the right direction. The Sannin wasn't entirely healed, but she'd still been able to work under pressure. There hadn't been any great injuries, but the panic had caused some accidents which Shizune and Tsunade had efficiently dealt with.

In the chaotic aftermath Tsunade and Minato had words together, and whatever was said had resulted in teh Slug Sannin's official return to Konoha. Naruto had no idea what changed her mind or where this newfound conviction came from. There had been no great epic battle between former teammates this time around. Yet it sounded like Tsunade was willingly being reinstated as a Konoha citizen once more. Her first demand was to be allowed to travel with Minato's party instead of the larger group of Genin. She made some excuse about the Hokage needing extra security considering what happened during the exams, but Naruto was pretty sure she was just tired of the snow and cold, and was taking advantage of Minato's Hiarishin to get out of Land of Iron faster.

Minato led the group of guards over the first couple of mountains, before taking a hold of the group and using the Hiraishin to teleport back to Konoha.

Which meant they had gone from the top of a freezing snowy mountain in Iron country, to full blaring high summer of Konoha in a matter of seconds. It was still only late afternoon, with little wind and a cloudless sky.

"I had nearly forgotten how stifling summer can get." Naruto groaned as she kicked off her winter boots while rummaging through her backpack. Soon she found her sandals, which were much more suited for the more familiar temperatures of Fire Country.

"Ay, I forgot about the temperature difference too." Shisui muttered while wrestling off his winter cloak. Of the three guards his was the only one still in perfect condition. Not a patch of dust to be seen.

"At least we made it home." Kakashi added, dragging a hand through his hair to swat away water from rapidly melting snowflakes. Tsunade and Shizune were huffing and scoffing too, quickly ridding themselves of scarfs and extra gear as they made their way towards the gates.

"Yes, well I'll take hot weather over that icy tundra any day." Minato said with a wry smile and stretched his hands over his head. Naruto could see him become calmer for every passing second. The tension of the last few days slowly draining out of his shoulder as he stood and washed himself in the setting sun of their home village. "Though… in hindsight this really couldn't have gone much... worse." Minato summarized with a sigh, his head dropping in exhaustion.

"Ah, but the aftermath could have." Kakashi pointed out.

Minato turned to his students and a short nod of assent followed. "True." He allowed.

Naruto snickered and together they picked up and packed their disregarded garments. Following after the rest Naruto hummed as they headed for the gates. She couldn't wait to see Anko and tell her all about the last mission. It would be really nice to have a bed to sleep in again too.

.

.

.

To be continued...

Author Note: Thank you so very much for reading! The chapter is not beta'd, and English is not my native language so I'm sorry for the mistakes.

This was a pain to write. True agony! I might go back and fix things, but for now… Well, I think it's one of those chapters I'll never be satisfied with.

Ugh, right now I'm just glad that arc is over with…