Title: Blood Red Ice

Summary: Uzumaki Naruto is gone, vanished just like his mentor. And lately a new power is being introduced to the shinobi world. Konoha, meet the Red Ice.

AN: Finally, I have a new chapter for you all! I know I said I'd try to put it up yesterday, but I was too lazy. ;P So here it is.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, but I do own Mamoru, Kichi, and Kisho. Yay me!

Chapter 3

Kisho and Kichi laid the Hokage's letter between them.

The Hunters: Kengo Mamoru, Kichi, and Kisho

I have sent this letter to request your services. I would like you to find a boy for me. He is a 14 year old blue-eyed blonde named Uzumaki Naruto, though he may have changed his name and/or appearance. I regret to say I have no further information as to where he could be or if he is even still in the Fire Country. I want him alive and unharmed. He was last seen traveling with a tall, old, perverted man with long white hair by the name of Jiraiya, the Gama Sennin. If you do not wish to take this mission, please burn this scroll. I would understand if you did. I will automatically be notified by the seal on the back of this page of this occurrence. Should you accept, you will find pictures and more information on both Naruto and Jiraiya if one of you would put a drop of blood on the seal at the bottom of this page. This seal will also notify me to this action and is how I will know if you accept. If you succeed, you will be rewarded generously. And if you attempt this, but cannot find him, you will still be reconciled for your efforts. This is my personal request, not on the behalf of Konoha.

Konohagakure's Godaime Hokage,

Senju Tsunade

When they finished, Mamoru handed them the pictures. One was of the missing boy, the other of his old companion.

The kid looked younger than 14, inferring that the picture was probably taken a few years before. In it, he was sitting on a stool wearing a black t-shirt with bright orange pants and a Konoha headband on his forehead. He had a foxy grin on his face promising mischief and strange whisker-looking marks on his cheeks framed by messy sun-kissed locks. His azure blue eyes were lit up even in the picture. The teens realized that he was sitting in a ramen stand with a big bowl of the noodles in front of him.

In the picture next to it, the old man was shown in the process of being chased through the streets by a horde of angry women that, by their sparse clothing, appeared to have just rushed out of the local spa in the background through a giant hole in the fencing around the women's bath, several throwing kuni and shuriken.

"Wow. The Godaime," was Kichi's response once she was through giggling at the second picture, a tad sadistically.

Kisho's was more practical. "We shouldn't take this job."

"What? Why not? This is Konoha's Hokage requesting this of us," Kichi blurted.

"Just think about it. We don't know anything about the case. We don't know what this boy looks like now, where he is, where he's headed, how he acts- thus how he'll respond to us, or even why the Hokage is looking for him. We don't even know if he is still alive. This could turn out to be a big wild goose chase."

Mamoru sighed. "That's exactly the problem. We don't have enough information to look for this kid very effectively. With the limited knowledge we do have, it could take us years to find the slightest clue that he still exists, if he in fact does."

Kichi frowned. "She said this was personal. This boy must have meant a lot to her if she's paying us good money out of her own pocket to find him. Why can't we at least try?" She begged, pulling out her puppy dog eyes for added effect.

Kisho closed his eyes. Neither he nor Mamoru could stand against the dreaded Eyes of Doom for long and this was one thing Kisho wanted to keep his own opinion in.

Noting this, Kichi turned her power fully to Mamoru "What can it hurt to look around? We could all use a break from hunting criminals for a while."

The man cringed and glanced desperately at Kisho, who shook his head when he felt eyes on him.

Seeing that both the kids had made up their minds and would not be swayed, Mamoru found himself in the same position he had hoped to avoid by telling them: he would still have to make the decision. Both of the teens had made good points.

On one hand, they hardly knew enough about this job to know what they're doing. They didn't know where to start looking or what the Hokage wanted with this boy in the first place. What if it wasn't for a good purpose? Besides, as he himself had already pointed out, it could take them years to get even a clue to finding this kid. If the Kage of one of the greatest hidden villages in existence couldn't track him down, how were they supposed to?

On the other hand, how could they deny a personal request of said Kage? Despite the professional tone, Tsunade's letter had seemed a bit desperate, like this boy was precious to her. And if he knew Kichi, she would probably look for him with or without the guys' help, maybe even leave the group to do so. Though she was a fighter by nature, she was also very caring. Too caring to sit by while a young boy was away from his home for some reason or another. She knew what it was like to not have a home and be separated from the people she cared for, and she didn't wish that kind of pain on anyone. No, she would definitely search for him.

Mamoru sighed. What should they do? He knew it was likely to be unsuccessful and maybe risky, but at the same time, he would never forgive himself if they didn't do something. They would never know if they could have done something to help get that boy home if they didn't try. Finally coming to that conclusion, Mamoru nodded to himself, signaling to the teens watching him that he had reached a decision.

"Alright. Here's what we'll do. We'll carry on with our hunting business and keep traveling around like we always do."

As Kichi opened her mouth to protest, he quickly hurried on. "But, we'll keep our senses peeled for any clue to this Uzumaki kid. If we find something, we'll see where it leads us."

At this, Kichi lit up and nodded vigorously while Kisho rolled his eyes at her enthusiasm.

"But," Mamoru stressed again, gaining their attention. "If anything goes wrong, if it's beyond us, we'll drop the mission immediately. Understood?"

Both responded an affirmative.

As they paid their bill and got up to leave, Kichi smiled. "We'll find them. After all, how hard can catching one gaki be?"

Kisho rolled his eyes again and Mamoru chuckled.

Kichi had realized by now how ironic her words were as she huffed in frustration. After memorizing the information the Hokage had given them, the trio of bounty hunters had been traveling for three months now and they had hardly found a singe bit of evidence that Naruto Uzumaki existed. Or more likely, she had hardly found a single bit of evidence. The guys of the group didn't seem to be trying much. Kisho didn't bother to try at all- why waste energy searching for something you are not likely to find for a while yet- but at least Mamoru had put in some effort at the beginning. Now, though, he just let her drag him around every town they passed through in search of some sign of the missing boy, including this one.

"This is impossible! The one person that remembers seeing any sign of Naruto and Jiraiya only remembers the geezer kicking some mob boss' ass and leaving right away!"

Mamoru sighed.

"Kichi," Kisho impatiently interrupted her tirade before it got out of hand. "We already established that it would be very difficult to track them."

"Well, yeah but I didn't think it'd be this hard! We're The Hunters for crying out loud!"

Mamoru sighed again. "We may be good bounty hunters, but even we won't be able to track a sennin that easily." He gave her a questioning look. "And besides, I thought I already explained that it could take years to find a trace of them. We've only been looking of a few months. We were extraordinarily lucky to come across anyone remembering them at all."

Kichi screwed up her face in though. "There has to be an easier way to do this."

Kisho rolled his eyes, as quickly becoming a habit these past months. "Kichi, how is it possible to find someone if we don't look? There is no other way."

The girl didn't answer him and started to wander away, lost in though in an attempt to solve the problem that faced her. There had to be something they could do. But what? Kisho was right. The only way to find someone is to look. But where to look? That was what was making this take so long. They were looking in the wrong places. Where was the right place?

'Think, Kichi. Think. You have to narrow down their possible locations.'

"Mamoru?" She called. "Can I see the stuff from the Godaime again?"

He looked up at her in surprise, but gave her the papers.

She ran through all of the info again and suddenly grinned like a maniac. "Of course!"

She excitedly turned back to her companions, who were looking at her in concern.

"That's why we can't find them! We're looking in the wrong places. But now I know exactly where to look." She held up the picture of Jiraiya being chased.

They continued to stare at her.

She waved the photo back and forth in their faces. "Don't you get it? The old guy's a pervert, remember? And a pretty big one, judging from this pic. We need to check out the spas. I'm sure people will remember some old, strangely dressed ninja dude like this peeking in the women's bath area somewhere."

Kisho cocked his head to one side, pondering the new light Kichi had shed on their search.

Mamoru pursed his lips in a thoughtful manner. "That's actually not a bad idea. It just might work after a while."

"Of course it wi..."Kichi blinked and then glared at him. "Hey, wait a minute. What's that supposed to mean, 'actually not a bad idea?' Of course it's a good idea. I can come up with good ideas!"

The poor man put his hands up in an apologetic gesture. That didn't stop the torrent of words gushing out of Kichi as she defended her thoughts.

While Mamoru tried unsuccessfully to calm her down, Kisho knew it was pointless and opted to ignore her the best he could as they drifted to the hot-springs across town.

The spitfire female was still going on when they reached their destination.

The conversation was short and nasty. An already irate Kichi had become increasingly pissed with the clerk's uncooperative attitude and, well, apparently the rather plump older woman did not take kindly to being called a fat old hag. Needless to say, Mamoru decided it wise to continue their mission elsewhere shortly after.

After a few hours of walking, they came to a city. A big city with many tourists. A big city with many hot springs for many tourists. You see where this is going.

The three travelers entered an overly crowded information office where Kichi tried to catch someone to help them. Unfortunately, there was a festival that weekend and people had swarmed into the city sooner than the owner had anticipated, resulting in a shortage of hands.

While Kichi continued her doomed approach, Kisho spotted a board proudly displaying info on the city's most promising attractions. Finding the place that exaggerated the quality of the spas, his eyes glinted over it and blinked once...twice...a third time.

Mamoru noticed his distraction and turned to the board as well. When he found what the boy was looking at, his jaw dropped as his head did the math.

Kichi, still trying to snag an employee, was oblivious to their reactions. "Oh, come on! How hard does it have to be just to get directions around here." She began talking to them as she resumed her quest. "Hey, guys! Some help here? I know you don't think this is worth the time, but you could do more than just stand there. Hello? Are you even listening to me? Ouch. What?"

Mamoru had jabbed at her shoulder a few times. Now that he had effectively gotten her to stop talking, he drew her attention to the board as well.

After a few moments of furious thinking, the puppeteer stilled herself and slowly sucked in some air. "Ohhhh," she breathed. "This is going to take a while."

In front of the trio was a list of at least four dozen different hot springs in just one of many, many cities in just the Fire Country alone.

AN: So how do you like it? Good, bad, corrections? I know it's been a while since I've uploaded a new chapter. I'm trying though. And I promise to do my best to not have a month+ long stretch of nothing as long as you all review, okay? Motivate me! :D Also, what do you think of the chapter lengths? Should I keep them long, or do you like shorter pages?