Author's Ramblings: Well, it's been a while since I've updated this story... mostly because of a major writer's block. However, my recent and very entertaining time watching the animes Black Lagoon and Gintama eliminated said problem. The first was damn good, while the other was hilarious, so I was feeling up to continue writing.
Anyho, you get the chance to see the first demonstration of Naruto's skills in action. Don't get surprised by some events though. This is still the setting of the stage, the real stuff begins next chapter
Chapter 2 : Short Days of Peace
Along Konoha's exterior line were a number of small to large parks. In one of said parks, Shikamaru found it a good time to lie down, relax and watch clouds pass by. Most people would simply assume that he was lazy. He wasn't really lazy, he simply enjoyed watching clouds more than he did training... or school... or listening to his mother rant about how he was never going to make a name for himself by lazying off like his father. Troublesome woman.
Still, it was a nice day to relax a bit. They had no tests during the coming week, so there was no need to bother about it. And Naruto did promise a surprise.
Right next to him were the two of the three remaining members of their group equally relaxed as he was, and equally curious.
"Any ideas what's Naruto going to do?" Chouji asked.
"No" came Shino's short answer
"I swear, that troublesome blond loves to keep us on our toes" Shikamaru added his opinion
"Speaking of troublesome blonds..." Shino started, pointing a lazy hand towards the figure that was approaching.
"Hey guys" came Naruto's loud voice, earning three mumbled greetings from the others. Weirdly enough, Shikamaru was the first one to take a look at him and noticed a strange, satisfied smirk on his face.
"Naruto, what are you plotting?" came the annoyed question
Naruto immediately raised his hands in front of him, as if defending himself"Sheesh, what's with the sudden paranoia? It's not like I haven't called you up like this for something other than stirring up trouble, is it? " he tried, but was rebutted by a loud NO.
"Fine. Look, I just finished work on my 'project'" queue three raised eyebrows "And I thought you might want to see it." he added, pulling out the scroll from his sleeveless vest. "Just watch"
Shikamaru had to admit he was intrigued. Naruto never was one for small talk and nonsense in the time he had known him. If he had something interesting to show them, then by hell it would be interesting.
With a casual flick of the wrist, the scroll began unrolling, invisibly aided by a number of chakra strings as it formed a spiral over a small area. Shino noticed that the scroll already had blood covering it, and the resulting cloud of smoke that appeared slowly started dissipating, revealing a hulking figure dressed in dark robes.
"What the...?" was all that came out of Chouji's mouth at the sight, while Shino let his glasses drop to his nose, revealing his milky gray eye staring in what in his case had to be surprise. Shikamaru was the calmest of them all, though even he would have to admit he was surprised. Naruto took their moment of shock to connect the ten chakra threads to the core within the puppet, jumping onto it's shoulder, and pulling the scroll back into his vest.
"Meet the Guardian, my very first combat puppet" he announced, forcing a wave from the metallic hand, pleased with the fact that the joints he worked on so hard made no sound.
"Combat puppet?" Shino asked, replacing the black glasses over his eyes, just a faint hint of curiosity present in his voice.
"Yep. Ain't he awesome?" Naruto answered, with just a hint of childish glee in his voice, as he let the commands flow through the ten strings, conveniently placed along the tenketsu of his spine, so as not to hamper his own movement, but to react even faster than they would with his arms. Practice revealed to him that puppets reacted not to he finger movements of a puppeteer's hands, but to the impulses of chakra that mimicked the nerves, effectively sending the orders to the core, which then mimicked the brain, controlling the body through an extension of said chakra strings. It was the simple fact that the fingers were the easiest to use that made them so practical, but he never was one to be pleased with just the basics. Hell no, when he first figured out he could project chakra strings from other parts of his body, he first tried the palms, slowly shifting the projection points all over his body until he could do it from anywhere. But still, he still hadn't mastered controlling a puppet this advanced with just one string, and even though he knew he shouldn't, he had just enough pride that he didn't want to make a fool of himself in front of his friends.
"Naruto, isn't puppetry an art from Sunagakure?" Shikamaru casually asked, and barely noticed the small flinch Naruto gave off. He didn't want to reveal where he learned it. Could it have been that he found some scrolls or something? Or was it something much worse... Shikamaru couldn't figure it out.
Naruto already figured out what Shikamaru was thinking, and though he didn't want to yet, he realized it was only a matter of time before he had to reveal the workshop to his friends, if he was going to keep their trust.
"Not really" he stated in a solemn voice "It's all the matter of having the right information. But for now, I think I want to show you a few tricks that this guy is capable off. Spar, three on one." as soon as he finished saying that, the others had already leaped into action, Shino and Shikamaru to his sides as Chouji moved full frontal. Naruto leaped of towards Chouji, the puppet behind him spreading his arms towards the foes to the side.
Shikamaru cursed at the hailstorm of senbon needles that came at him from the puppet's left hand. A quick motion of his long knife parried most of them, while he evaded the others. Only then did he notice something strange about them
'...the fuck? These aren't ordinary senbon... that's acid!' he mentally analyzed the situation. Spars like this were nothing new to any of them, and they usually returned home badly bruised and with multiple cuts, but this was insane. Still, the acid was a weak one from what he could tell. And he had a very bad feeling that Naruto could cook up something trice as nasty if he wanted to. Now that would have been a problem. His hands instinctively went into the handseal for his favorite shadow jutsu, hoping to buy some time to hatch a proper plan to fight the deadly duo and for his two other teammates to disable at least one of them.
Shino was in a similar situation, except for the fact that the right arm of the puppet released small round objects at high velocity. His eyes widened as he realized that at best, those were smoke bombs. At worst, he knew that Naruto would either prepare flammable gas or some insecticide... though he was sure it would be the first. His skill with various chemicals was tempered by his love of things that went Boom. Relieved when he realized that those were simple smoke bombs, he sent his brood to attack him directly, remembering how his father spoke of the puppeteers of Suna, and their inherent weakness towards his clan's chakra-draining insects
Of the three of them, Chouji had it probably the easiest... that is, he wasn't pelleted by various nasty objects, though Naruto's fluid and flexible taijutsu combined with a pair of kunai wasn't anything to scoff at. It was scary how well they knew how the other fought, as Chouji made up for his lack of speed by powerful blows that easily disrupted Naruto's motions, and forced him on the defensive. With a quick motion, Chouji found himself facing the towering form of the Guardian,as a steel fist came crashing on the place he had just a moment ago been standing, leaving an unpleasant indentation in the ground.
Naruto had taken the moment's distraction that their switch had caused to leap on the Guardian's shoulder, using it as a springboard to move towards Shikamaru who was trying to catch the massive puppet's shadow. That was one of the reasons he switched the targets. The other was because Shino's Kikaichuu were getting closer, and if they were going to eat chakra... he was royally screwed.
With a rapid motion of both his hands, he threw both kunai at Shikamaru, forcing him to dodge before they exploded, courtesy of a pair of exploding tags wrapped about their handles.
The lazy nin jumped back, retaliating by a pair of shuriken, which were promptly caught and returned, forcing him to inch further back, and away from the other two. He noted that Naruto was doing his best to isolate him and beat Chouji so that his only actual concern, Shino would be easier to beat. He also noted that Naruto hadn't used a single jutsu yet. The trouble was still brewing.
Naruto frowned when he threw back the shuriken, as Shino's beetles were getting dangerously close to the puppet. He didn't want to kill them for the sake of his friend, but this was training, and if he didn't take this seriously... it was just as dangerous as attacking him all out. Promising himself to apologize later, he fired the second salvo of bombs in the the direction of the unfortunate beetles, throwing a kunai at the same time. Shikamaru's eyes widened as Naruto turned the entire puppet around and fired a single senbon needle at the rapidly expanding cloud around the swarm, scoring a direct hit on the kunai along with a single spark...
For the first time since he met him, Shino had an angry scowl on his face, he was angry that Naruto pulled it off, even if he understood the reasons why. At least he managed to get away relatively unharmed, as some parts of his coat were caught in the blast.
Chouji was also worried at the sight, Naruto was no longer pulling his punches, which to him meant that this was getting serious. So far, none of them had started pulling off their family jutsu except for Shikamaru, but now, it was time to go past that. There was no risk for either Chouji nor Shino, as theirs couldn't be replicated regardless of skill. Shikamaru was in a similar situation, though he was far more liberal about his skills.
A scowl once more crossed Naruto's face as he figured out the next set of moves that were about to happen. Now was the time to pull all stops, but he couldn't do that without killing them, so he went for the next best thing, restraints.
That day, Shikamaru learned another invaluable lesson about his blond friend. Never, ever, in a million years should you underestimate your opponent. Just because you outnumber him, doesn't mean he can't kick your ass, and do it with style, while smiling a thousand watt smile.
With an impossibly quick flick of his wrist, the glove on his right hand created another kunai which promptly hit a still flying Shikamaru, pinning him to a nearby tree, and releasing a strong sleeping gas which immediately knocked him out. At the same time, the Guardian turned it's hands towards the two remaining nin, and fired of the wire reel, which quickly found it's way to the two... suffice to say that the electric shock knocked Chouji out, but before he had a chance to do so to Shino, he realized that what he hit was a Bug clone, while the real one had just landed on top of his puppet, severing his chakra strings, and letting the large puppet fall in an undignified heap.
"Well damn." Naruto whistled to his opponent "Good as ever Shino. Any challenges?"
"Thanks" he shortly answered, while using the small break to recall all of his Kikaichuu to his body. "Pure taijutsu. I don't use beetles, you don't use your tools. Normal ninja weapons are open" he added.
"Fine with me, though you're helping me wake those two up after this." Naruto responded, the two of them taking a moment to readjust their shades. Complete silence reigned for a few moments, before both of them leaped to action.
Naruto landed a blow to Shino's chest, using the upward momentum to strike a blow with his other leg towards his chin, but the young Aburame twisted out of the way, landing a single strong blow to his left knee, dropping him out of the spin, and using the opening to lay another blow straight to the blond's gut.
With a soft curse, Naruto landed on all fours, preparing for the next attack, while keeping his guard up. Shino took to the offensive by pulling out a pair of kukri, one of the weapons he'd been learning to use. While similar in the amount of damage they dealt to kunai, the curved blades had several advantages over the straight edges of the kunai. Naruto responded by picking out another pair of kunai, without any exploding tags this time, parrying the first blow easily,and evading the second that tried to slip by., however, he was caught unable to block the third blow, a knee straight into his family jewels.
With a silent gasp, he stared into Shino with what could be best described as a murderous glare and a promise of a long and painful death. The look he got back was 'You asked for it'
Naruto always enjoyed fighting Shino. Whereas Chouji was a powerhouse, and probably the strongest fighter of his entire generation, and Shikamaru the tactical genius, Shino had a good balance of both, and that was why he enjoyed fighting him in pure taijutsu with the eventual addition of weapons. He challenged him because he was better than he was at it, and Naruto was forced to adapt and progress just to keep up. He reasoned that he would sooner or later come across a situation where jutsu or puppets were not an option, if for nothing else, then for infiltration purposes.
They were both blissfully unaware of a pair of eyes watching their every move.
(ANBU Tracking and Espionage Division, Office of the Division Commander)
"Cat" the commander Chizaru Katere, a woman in her early thirties called. She had long black hair tied into a ponytail, and coal black eyes. The rest of her rather impressive body was hidden by her uniform, but it hinted at a veteran of many battles, in more than one meaning.
As soon as she spoke, a single kneeling figure appeared before her desk
"I've just finished reading your report, and I must say I'm impressed" Chizaru spoke "You've handled the situation perfectly, and retrieved the documents with the target being none the wiser. Congratulations are in order" she shortly stated "However, your skills are required by the Hokage, so please go"
And in a moment, without a single word being spoken, Yugao Uzuki, alias Cat of ANBU was gone.
"Now, if I can just get the rest of them in line" Chizaru added while rubbing her temples before returning to the thrice accursed paperwork.
(Back on the Clearing)
"Damn that hurt" Naruto groaned as he finally got up. "Still, all in all, not bad for a day's work, eh?"
The clearing looked more like a battleground after their spar, but none of them really minded. Shikamaru was sitting with his back to one of the nearby trees, trying to shake off the effects of the knock-out gas from his head, while Chouji was still untangling the wire. Shino helped him out of the strings by cutting them off wherever he could. Pretty soon, all three of them were once more lazing about contently, each of them having once more made a check on the growth of their skills.
Naruto was pleased with his progress, he was aware that Shino was likely to defeat him, his skills were good, but unlike Shino, he had to focus on multiple areas, and without the support of ninjutsu or some of the few genjutsu he managed to learn (not that they would properly affect the Aburame, but that was a moot point) he didn't really stand a proper chance... which was why he fought. Seeing your greatest achievement brought down so easily was a humbling experience, and it once more reminded him not to overestimate his own skills or underestimate those of his enemies.
"You are improving" Shino shortly stated after a long gulp of water, before passing the bottle to Chouji.
"Yeah, though you still kicked my ass." Naruto returned
"You were at a disadvantage, paired against the enemy most likely do defeat you. It was to be expected" the bespectacled boy argued, speaking more today than he did in weeks, a fact that didn't go unnoticed by the others.
"You're awfully talkative today" Shikamaru grunted from his place, still slightly buzzed by the knockout gas. "Is something wrong?"
Shino remained quiet to the question, and received a friendly nudge from Chouji.
"You know, if you need someone to talk about it, all of us are here for you" he said, a friendly smile covering his face, while Shino simply nodded in return
"Today's the anniversary" he quietly stated, bringing a complete silence to the group. Naruto, Chouji and Shikamaru all knew what he was talking about far too well. Shino's mother had died five years back from disease. Aiko Aburame was greatly respected and loved by her adoptive clan and family , mostly because of her gentle, caring heart, which showered her family with enough affection to stave off the weird and disgusted looks many of them got for their unique skills. Her death brought a great sadness in her son and husband, along with the rest of the family, though they all persevered. Shino was hit especially hard, being a mere six at the time, and ever since then he had acquired his family's characteristic stoic image, withdrawing his emotions within, to protect the aching heart. In his own way, Shino was as much disliked in the village as Naruto was, as people feared what they couldn't understand.
Naruto wasn't sure whether to find their situation funny or sad. Chouji was an inherently shy, caring soul, though by no means weak, often the target of mockery for his weight. Out of the group, the one who got the least negative attention was Shikamaru, though one could argue that it was because he rarely got any attention at all, aside from that of his friends, and even that was mostly because wasn't afraid to state his opinion when others did what he thought was wrong, and for standing up for Chouji when needed.
He decided to write it off as funny, mostly because he didn't like the idea of being sad, regardless of reason. It may seem shallow, but he hated feeling broken and helpless, and he never wanted anyone close to him to feel what he had to feel.
"Come on guys, let's go get something to eat" he offered, soon hearing a number of appreciative grumbles.
The shadow that watched the spar disappeared, as if was never there
(12:00,Hokage's Office)
Yugao Uzuki was a prodigy in every sense of the word. Genin at nine, chunin at twelve, and ANBU at fourteen, the finest kunoichi of her generation, and generally surpassed only by Itachi Uchiha in the speed of her ascension through the ranks. The fourteen-year-old girl was calm, professional and very skilled in all matters concerning Shinobi life... however, she was also very isolated, growing up as an orphan, and lacked almost any social skills. Her prodigious talent pulled her away from her generation, and the only friends she ever made were her teammates... right before they died during the chunin exams in Kumo. Apart from her teacher in ANBU, she basically had no one.
Sarutobi had taken all of these facts into account when choosing her, hoping to help both her and her future protege, a certain blond. He hoped that his mostly friendly nature (at least to his friends) would help her develop in that aspect as well, while she would prove a positive influence for him. Kami knows he needed one, even if he was finally making friends.
"Enter" Sarutobi spoke quietly.
"You asked to see me Hokage-sama?" Cat asked, her voice flat, and slightly muffled by her mask, a standard procedure for ANBU to ensure their off-work identity isn't revealed.
"Yes. I have a mission, well, more of a request for you. Unlike the usual missions you are used to, you are allowed to refuse it, and I will not hold it against you" he slowly explained
"Sir?"
"Take of your mask for a moment" he ordered, and she did, without a moment's hesitation. The removal of the mask revealed a sad image. A cold expressionless face, framed by shoulder long purple hair, and deep purple eyes. While some might mistake that as the look of professionalism the ANBU usually wore, Hiruzen knew better. The look others wore hid something beneath it... here, there wasn't much to hide.
"Yugao, the task I have for you is a long term one. I want you to watch over a certain individual, namely Naruto Uzumaki. You do understand his importance to this village?"
"Hai, he is the jinchuriki of the Nine Tailed Fox."
"True. But he also much more than that." Sarutobi started "Take a seat. This might take a while"
An hour later, Yugao left the office, her thoroughly shocked face concealed by her ANBU mask. Hiruzen Sarutobi had managed to achieve his first objective.
(14:00, Naruto's Workshop)
Naruto found himself content with the morning's achievements as he walked into the hall of the underground workshop. He unsealed the Guardian on the workbench where he had been originally assembled... he needed to check for damage, as the battle wasn't exactly easy on either of them. Thankfully, the damage was minimal, and easily mended. Among the jutsu that his sensei left behind were a few very simple ones that dealt with mending damaged materials. Though those were mostly cosmetic repairs, an interesting side note claimed that if sufficient chakra was used, it could easily mend even large cracks in wood and metal, which was exactly what he needed for his puppets.
He had already begun preparing plans for his next projects, the Lightning Weaver as he liked to call him. A puppet in the form of an overly large spider that would use ninja wires to great efficiency to form webs, and later shock it's prey, along with having a side arsenal of other weapons. The other he called the Hummingbird, multiple small, airborne puppets that were the equivalent of a mobile artillery position, carrying an amount of weapons and elemental scrolls used to fire off attacks. Both ideas unfortunately had a number of kinks he still had to iron out.
Naruto had refused to use finished designs that were offered, preferring to rely on his own creativity to make new puppets for his collection/arsenal.
"Let's see what's on today's schedule" Naruto muttered as he walked over to a tome he had been using to make his plans. He had intended to continue his chakra control training today as his skills still needed a lot of polish, but after the demonstration, he changed his mind, and went to focus on his puppetry skills. He still had a long day ahead, and he intended to use it well.
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Later that day, he was unaware that he was being watched as he walked in the streets, heading to his apartment. He had left something behind there, and he needed to pick it up before tomorrow. He seriously needed his toolbox to continue working, but first, a dash of ramen.
Yugao had watched the blond going about town for an hour now. So far, all he had done was walk, visit a few places, and go to his old apartment, which by the most recent report, he rarely used anymore.
'What are you up to now Uzumaki?' she asked herself as he kept moving. The Hokage's orders were clear, watch over him, and approach at a suitable time. Try and befriend him. But the boy was more than just curious. He was intriguing. Every move he made had a purpose, even when he trained, his style was based on that principle. No excess exertion, maximum force at all times. Sarutobi was unclear about his level of skill, but he had an extremely good basis. So either he had a damn good teacher, which she doubted... she seriously didn't want to consider the second option that came to mind, which left the third, the he was likely self-taught. For the time being she would watch over him, and try to learn more about this boy who was but three years younger than her.
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Number 375. That was the only designation he had. An agent of ROOT, loyal solely to his home, Konoha. Those few who knew of ROOT's existence believed them to be Danzo's mindless puppets, but nothing could be further from the truth. At the time, they believed him to be the best choice for leading such an operation, so he was tolerated and obeyed. While some members who were raised from near birth to be agents had no emotions, most were simply masters at concealing and controlling their feelings. Each and every member of ROOT had given up their identity and their very lives to protect their home. Naruto Uzumaki, while not a threat, was interesting to Danzo, and therefore, 375 was sent to study him, and discover all he could about him. The battle he had witnessed earlier piqued his interest, and he continued the study. Their leader would be interested in this. With a quick step he vanished away to make his report.
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Naruto took one short look at the sky above him after finishing his training schedule for the day. It was dusk already. He tiredly sighed as he walked over to the supplies he had carried for the day. A simple meal, consisting of rice and some meat, along with a bottle of water. He had eaten quickly, opting to spend the night outside, and watch the sky.
"Funny. Why do I get the feeling I'm being watched" he muttered, laying his back on the comfortable branch under him, staring upwards through the opening in the leaves. His friends preferred the clouds, but he loved the stars. Distant and cold perhaps... but ever shining. There was something very comforting about them. The loneliness no longer bore down so badly on him in recent years, but there was still a sense of missing something. He was a perspective future ninja, with a solid circle of friends, the potential which he, to his belief, used to it's maximum.... so what was he missing?
He let his mind wander, eyes locking on an especially bright star in the sky, letting the depressive thoughts leave his mind. He would not brood, dammit! That was that uptight Uchiha's job.
Shaking his head at the annoying idea, he let himself drop from the branch, and proceeded to reseal his equipment into scrolls, before returning to the workshop. He made one last check over his equipment before placing the shades back to their place on the collar of his shirt, pulling the gloves off, stuffing them in his pocket, and going home. He needed some sleep tonight.
The walk home was relaxing, the clean, sharp night air clearing his mind. Most people ignored him, though he paid it little mind. If they didn't like him, it was their fucking problem. Hands in his pockets, he walked on, he kept his attention up. Just because no one tried anything yet, didn't mean that they wouldn't... it never did any hurt to be careful about things.
"Nice night" came a voice from his right. Female, slightly older, his limited amount of knowledge told him. The second thing was to keep his calm, even if he was surprised, and to keep casual
"Uhm, it is" he politely answered, eyes rising to take a look at the moon. "The sky is rather clear"
'So he's keeping calm. Curious' Yugao thought as she kept walking by him "You seem a bit young to be staying outside this late" she offered. It was nearly midnight, after all.
Naruto chuckled in turn
"It's not like I have any parents to worry." he retorted "Besides, I'm preparing myself to be a ninja. My foes aren't going to ask me if I went to bed on time when they try to kill me, no?" he jokingly added, bringing a laugh from the unseen woman next to him.
"You're a strange one" she bemusedly commented
"That coming from a girl who starts talking to unknown people on the streets, in the middle of the night?"
"Touche"
"I'm Naruto" he offered in a friendly voice, turning to face the person he was talking to. To his right stood a young woman, a few years older than he was at best, dressed in long, black pants and a dark gray sweater. Long purple hair fell to her shoulders, framing a calm, but hardened face, along with equally purple eyes.
"Yugao. Pleased to meet you." she answered. Both moved on silently for a few seconds
"So, apart from talking to strangers in the night, what's a young ANBU doing out here in the middle of the night?" he nonchalantly, but quietly asked. To her credit, she didn't as much as flinch.
"What makes you say that? And what makes you think that I'm not a foreign agent" she asked curiously.
"Do you really think that after being watched by ANBU for years one wouldn't figure out how to recognize one, especially when he or she is acting that obvious? And I know I've seen you once or twice around town for the past several years" he continued in the same calm tone he used. He finally relaxed the hand that had been going for the kunai concealed on his baggy cargo pants. He really didn't know why, but a year ago, he had first noticed an ANBU taking checks on him during his training sessions, at times when he walked around. His studies taught him about a lot of details about Shinobi life. For instance, the most common scenario where someone got an ANBU tail was when he was considered either a flight risk, a threat, or under need of a guard. So, curious, he confronted the Hokage about it. The old man had smiled in a combination of pride and annoyance, and simply stated 'training exercise', leaving it at that. Naruto knew that he could be hard to find at times, and that if he truly wanted to disappear, they'd need a real tracking expert to find him. Anything under that wouldn't find him, but he was very much aware of how good the Aburame/Inuzuka tracker teams were... Shino had retold some of the stories he had heard from his family members. He was sure that they'd track him down in five minutes, if it even took them that long. The Hunter-Nin division did their job perfectly.
The only further response was near-silent 'hm' from her. A comfortable silence descended between them after that comment, as the two kept walking, eventually reaching a place where their ways parted. Both stood still for a moment.
"Well, it's been a pleasure talking to you Naruto. See you around" Yugao kept her goodbyes short, before walking off into the night. Naruto let a small smile twist his lips before proceeding home.
'Well, you don't see that every day. Wonder what it was all about. Maybe she's the new one sent after me'
He quietly opened the doors of the workshop. He had grown used to it over the years, and the slight tingle of the security wards no longer bothered him. Hanging up the vest on the coat rack he had installed, he continued downstairs, walking towards the simple, spartan bed, before taking off the glasses from his shirt, along with the shirt itself. He seriously wasn't in the mood to sleep with any clothes on, but he had plans for the morning, and those included two things: getting as much sleep as possible, and wasting as little time as possible. Freaking Sunday.
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Yugao was also retiring for the night. The checkup had gone by perfectly, and the meeting as well. While she had meaningfully given hints, she hadn't expected him to pick up on her profession so easily. Perhaps there was more to him than she had expected. At least the task would be interesting.
By many accounts, her room was a mirror of Naruto's, spartan, with but the bare basics, apart from ninja equipment. The only exceptions to this were a group of three pictures.
The first was that of her late parents, who died during a routine border run some ten years ago, a young couple in their early twenties, smiles etched on their faces. She had her mother's purple hair, and her father's eyes.
The second was a snapshot of the three of them together, the only such picture she had. One of the last times she smiled openly as a child.
The third and final was her with her two dead teammates along with their sensei, also dead. after their first mission. Before she closed herself off to the world, and became the perfect shinobi.
There was a fourth one, but that one was kept in a different place, her room in the ANBU headquarters. Her without a mask, along with her first commanding officer and trainer in ANBU. That was one of those unsafe to keep outside. Operation protocol and all that crap.
Forgetting the nonsense for the night, she rechecked all of her equipment, making sure it was safely sealed up in the various hidden seals over her body. One of the protocols explicitly followed at ANBU was that you should keep your identity hidden, apart from a very select few. Exceptions were occasionally made. In order to do so, they kept their gear hidden in expertly crafted seals that were practically invisible on the skin. The only sign of their occupation when off duty was a symbol of the leaf tattooed on their right shoulder, something every jounin gained once they reached the rank.
Pleased with the results, she took of her clothes, walking to the bathroom for a long shower before sleeping.
Author's Notes: Cut and wrap. Damn, it took me so freaking long to finish this chapter. Sorry for that, but the fun part starts from the next one. For the record, I intend to publish both 'With But a Pull of the Strings' and 'A Demon Among Reapers' at the same time next chapter.
I hope it's of acceptable quality. I seriously had a lot of difficulty writing this one.
Regardless, read and review ladies and gents.