Naruto was perched upon a tree bordering Terumi Hotaru's, his target's, house. The man, from his observations, was a civilian. He was looking over some documents, and Naruto focused to listen in to the man's thoughts.
The mercenaries were last seen moving south into Fire Country, near this village…If I can somehow contact them and recruit them into the rebellion…
Naruto's gaze sharpened. Could this be why Councilman Danzo wanted this man assassinated? A rebellion…of what sort? Now that Naruto thought about it, he recalled something about a group in the Hidden Mist that was trying to overthrow the Mizukage.
But the rumor was of a long time ago, and Naruto couldn't think of any rebellion related to Fire Country. If so, then why did Councilman Danzo want this man dead? Naruto shook his head in annoyance. It was not in his place to question orders.
Suddenly, there was a rustle to the right. Naruto froze and held his breath. Had he been found out? His heart was thudding in his chest.
Another rustle.
And then a squirrel burst out of the leaves beside him. Naruto let out a low hiss of annoyance. The squirrel fled the tree, and in the low light the animal seemed like an inky mass of fur. In fact, now that Naruto looked closer, the squirrel looked like it was made out of ink. But the animal quickly bounded out of sight, and Naruto turned back to his target.
In the end, the assassination was easy. Naruto had looked into Terumi's neighbors' minds, and they all thought of Terumi as an antisocial man, and nobody, from what Naruto had heard, was visiting Terumi that night.
So Naruto waited until night fell and Terumi's breathing evened, and climbed through the open window of Terumi's bedroom and slit his throat effortlessly. He watched as the man's life bled away, his thoughts fading away as the life left his body.
Soon there was only silence.
The air, bereft of any whispers of the mind, was a little unsettling. Naruto frowned and leapt away. He needed to report to Councilman Danzo.
"Terumi Hotaru was assassinated at 2300. Target wants to recruit mercenaries travelling south into Fire Country for a rebellion. No other suspicious activity was observed."
Councilman Danzo smiled, thinly and without humor. "Well done, Fox. You've proven yourself worthy of this organization."
Naruto wanted to open his mouth and ask what Councilman Danzo was talking about, because he had never heard of the man heading a separate organization before. But thankfully, he didn't have to ask; Councilman Danzo seemed content to explain.
"Our organization is secret, much like the ANBU. But we operate as a separate division, prioritizing the safety of the village over anything else."
Councilman Danzo stood up and walked forward until he was standing right in front of Naruto.
"Kneel down," he commanded, and Naruto obliged, falling onto his knees.
"Open your mouth." Naruto did.
Councilman Danzo produced a brush from his pockets and dipped it in the ink sitting on his desk. He turned to Naruto.
"Don't move." Naruto didn't.
Councilman Danzo started applying something upon his tongue, a mark of some sort. Naruto thought it was something similar to the ANBU tattoo, a method to identify members of the organization. But that proved wrong when Councilman Danzo finished and put away the brush, only to move back and press his finger upon Naruto's inked tongue.
"Seal."
Naruto's tongue began to burn as he felt Councilman Danzo channel chakra into the marking. He looked down and could see an intricate seal burning itself into his tongue. He didn't study seals, so he couldn't decipher what it meant.
Councilman Danzo stepped back. "The seal I have inked upon your tongue prohibits you from speaking about this organization. You will become physically unable to apart your knowledge. Dismissed, Fox."
Fox stood up and bowed, and left. There was nobody outside waiting for him to escort him out of the base, so Fox assumed that he could leave and go by himself freely, as he now had the seal on his tongue.
But, tired as he was from the six day excursion and assassination, Fox decided to head back to the ANBU Headquarters first to take a nap. He stopped to ask another operative for directions, and, when the ANBU only gave him a flat look and walked past him.
Naruto glared after the ANBU and tried to read his mind, but realized that he could not hear anything from the other. It was disconcerting to hear only silence when he glanced at the other ANBU. But there was nothing he could do. Perhaps the seal blocked his powers or something; that could explain why he couldn't hear anything from Councilman Danzo.
Bereft of instructions, Naruto ended up wandering around the base until he bumped into Sai, the ANBU that had brought him here to report in.
Sai was an interesting person; he had no social skills at all, and Naruto found his attempts to make friends with him hilarious. But Sai had taken pity on him, and given him the directions out of the base with the offhanded comment of, "By the way, you did a pretty good job on the assassination."
So Sai was the one who was watching him. The squirrel that had startled him was probably Sai's fault, too. Then Sai added, "You should work on your sensing skills. I was following you the whole time."
Before Naruto could find a good insult to retort with, Sai slipped away into the inky darkness of the halls. Naruto scowled angrily after Sai and turned around with an indignant huff, and promptly saw himself out of the stupid base.
"Where were you? I haven't seen you around at all." Kakashi's voice roused Naruto from his slumber, and he groaned unintelligibly.
"I was communing with the forest spirits," Naruto lied shamelessly, turning over and pulling his blanket up over his head.
"You missed the graduation of my cute genin! They passed, by the way," Kakashi added.
Naruto turned to look at Kakashi, and his let out a breath of astonishment.
I really wonder what Naruto was up to those past few days…Well, I guess his life is his own's…Whatever. I should really introduce him to my new genin team one day…
Kakashi's thoughts, which were usually only a dull murmur in his mind, were now much louder; it was almost as if Kakashi's thoughts were the same volume as his normal speaking voice.
"Naruto? Are you okay?"
Naruto shook his head to clear his thoughts. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just a bit disoriented."
Kakashi pressed his lips together in thought. "I didn't say that out loud."
Naruto realized that he had read Kakashi's mind and answered his thoughts instead; Kakashi hadn't actually said anything. Well. This was a new development.
"Sorry," Naruto apologized. "It's just…Your thoughts, they're suddenly a lot louder –it's a bit difficult to differentiate between your actual voice and your thoughts now."
Kakashi nodded. "That might become a problem in the future, though. You should inform a Yamanaka so they can look into it; their clan did help scout out your abilities when we first discovered them."
Naruto thought for a moment. This new, amplified hearing…It had happened shortly after Councilman Danzo had inked the seal onto his tongue. What if it was an unintentional side effect? That might also be why he couldn't read the minds of any of the operatives in the base. If so, he couldn't tell the Yamanaka: if one of them could read seals, then it could raise suspicion about the one on his tongue and eventually unearth his participation in Councilman Danzo's organization.
"It's not that big of a problem," Naruto demurred. "I'll be fine."
Kakashi shot him a skeptic look. Are you sure?
Naruto rolled his eyes. Kakashi's lips hadn't moved –did the man really think he could fool Naruto? "I know you thought that; you didn't say anything out loud. Look, I can differentiate between your thoughts and voice. And if it gets any worse, I'll talk to a Yamanaka. Promise."
Kakashi still looked like he wanted to say something, but thankfully, he held his tongue. "I'll meet with you later," he said. "It looks like you need some rest."
Naruto nodded in thanks and turned over in his bed. Kakashi left the room, shutting the door with a soft click.
Naruto sighed. In truth, there was only a slight difference between Kakashi's thoughts and voice. His thoughts were somewhat muffled, but still sounded very similar to his voice. But, with a little, focus, Naruto believed he would be able to differentiate the two when it came down to it.
Naruto closed his eyes and tried to fall asleep. It was going to be difficult to deal with everyone else's minds speaking so loudly.
