Disclaimer: The author does not possess Naruto or Natsume Yuujinchou in any way, shape or form. He does however own a large public share of apathy which lead to a crippling depression, delaying the next update. My deepest apologies to everyone that waited, and thank you to all that have taken interest.

Formatting Note: A tilde (~) denotes a lengthening of a vowel. It's used a lot in Japanese media text. Also screw whatever ghosts inhabit this site's text editing tool. It erases my page dividers. Went with another format.

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Natsume's Book of Ninja

or The Longest Journey Home

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[忍] Volume 01: The Season of Vanishing [者]

[忍] Chapter 03: Too Good to be True (Part 1) [者]

[I]

Ever so delicately, Natsume removed the gauze pad covering his mentor's worst wound.

The less offensive ones already dealt with had given him the time to work up the courage to come to this one in particular. When the student exorcist had peeled away the first one, he thought the combination of ripping off the bandage and the unpleasant application of the berry mash to the wound would startle the creature awake. But as always, Nyanko-sensei was a reliably sound sleeper, and his unmistakable nasally murmer only went further to drive this fact home.

Nobody but Natsume would comprehend just how imporant this fact was as he worked.

He had been through this trauma with his closest friend once before, and that was for a single arrow wound. The days following the cat's recovery were the most stressful he had felt since the first time he was forced to deal with a spirit while his relatives looked at him with nothing short of fear and distrust. To hear Nyanko-sensei making sleeping noises worked miracles on his nerves. The evidence that he was not alone again battled his anxiety back into that dark lonely corner where it belonged.

With a few touches of the bamboo berry mash that Haku created, the largest wound was now covered. He then wrapped it firmly in place with the dressing left by the recently departed boy-pretending-to-be-a-girl-but-was-actually-a-boy.

Natsume refused to acknowledge the shudder that passed through his body as real. It would be impolite and ungrateful to her... him... gah! Which was it?!

"Alright! I can't believe I'm getting it!" Naruto shouted high above, breathing heavily, "How 'bout it Teme, ready to admit defeat?"

"You say that like you're the only one that got assistance from Natsume-san, dumbass," Sasuke shot back ignoring Naruto's scowl and offensive hand gesture. He too matched his teammate's heavy breathing with his own.

His feline friend dealt with, Natsume wiped the sweat from his forehead, not realizing he had been until the job of treating Nyanko-sensei was complete. How did doctors and nurses care for the sick, wounded, and dying every day? This job was awful!

He stood and made his way back to the trees where his two ninja companions had moved to give Nyanko-sensei a little more quiet from their training. Crooking his neck to look upward at their latest results, he found both younger men resting atop the highest and sturdiest branches while catching their breath.

"How about it you two? Do you think you've gotten it?" Natsume called up.

Cheeky smile in place, the orange one said, "Yeah. I'm finally feeling what Sensei was talking about with the control and the balance and junk. If I was fresh I think I could run up and down this sucker all day."

"I highly doubt it," Sasuke snarked, "you were wasting so much chakra that at one point I thought Natsume-san had invented a new language consisting entirely of the word 'Less'."

"Grrr, like you were doing any better!"

"Umm... guys?" Natsume tried to intervene.

"Except for the part where I was, Dobe."

"Just you wait till I'm not about to pass out again! Then I'll show you!"

Back and forth this exchange went. It seemed that even when they were making progress they would still take parting shots at one another like they were born to butt heads. Still the progress they were making was remarkable. Just from Natsume's own time with Naruto he had started with struggling up a tree to striding like he was the one on a flat surface and not the other way around.

When Sasuke joined in, things only became more interesting. Apparently not everyone's chakra was identical. There were hints of uniqueness, to his outline, the dispersal, the color and feel. His motions were quick and minimal. Sometimes to great effect, other times not so much. He was -however- visibly improving right alongside Naruto, in his own fashion.

What was odd about him was a noticeable chakra presence surrounding his eyes. As if the power was trying to enter them, but blocked by some invisible barrier. In any case he just chocked it up to individuality.

He also wondered if the difference for Naruto was that additional red chakra colouring his otherwise blue pools in his stomach. He'd have to ask about that. It seemed that even with its common ground, the source of power worked differently for everyone.

To think in his short time since escaping the Matoba compound, Natsume would be coaching ninja on another planet in the use of their other-worldly power to greater effect. This qualified as legally insane right? In any case he shook his head in amazement at how remarkable this all was.

What was most remarkable though how quickly Naruto and Sasuke both got over their initial shock at seeing Natsume's eyes and what they could see. This quickly lead to Naruto and Sasuke brainstorming a way for the elder blonde to spot check the use of their chakra, and call out when either of them used too much or too little (Naruto being the former and Sasuke the latter).

With both boys finding their proper levels, they took off like rockets. Up and down, circling their trees like squirrels, and even switching trees to up the stakes. These two ninja proved how capable they were as learners once they got a feel for their respective chakra's baseline. Natsume too, was glad to be apart of something productive after all the danger, and the blood, and the worrying.

He was also grateful the busy work was taking his mind off the fact that his eyes could turn purple with rings making a ripple pattern around the pupil! Just what on earth was happening to him? Did he have secret super powers now? Was there more to his inheritence than he originally understood?

...

This thought crossed his mind so gently that revisiting it struck like a hammer blow. Mainly because it begged the most important question.

Did Reiko-san also have this gift?

For his entire life he was burdened with the gift of seeing and interacting with spirits, just like his grandmother. But now his two most important sensing organs were showing visible effects commensurate with what he could perceive. Chakra had to be involved somehow. There was no other explanation. So how did his deceased relative fit into this? And what was the connection to chakra?

Good thing Naruto and Sasuke's teacher and leader would be arriving shortly.

But...

If he was being honest, however, Natsume was completely at a loss for what to do now. Waiting for Naruto's leader to help was all well and good but what came after? Go with them? Impose on them when they might have been in the middle of something very important?

He wished Hinoe was here. She'd know what to do. She had a thousand spells, charms, and seals to go with her long history of knowledge to all things esoteric. But that was not to be with her in such a weakened state.

Yet more memories returned to take him back. Back to that dark place.

[II]

A group of clan servants rushed passed Natsume while he hid behind a staircase, shouting their plans aloud against the chaos unfolding beyond the walls. Apparently some very big ayakashi breached a sizable section of the eastern wall. Smaller creatures had swarmed through and began setting fires to whatever would burn. If things were falling apart as fast as he surmised, Natsume would not have much to make good on Nyanko-sensei's decoy play.

Once the footfalls had gotten far enough out, he emerged from the stairwell and crossed the intersection to the basement annex on the other side. Rounding the banister he descended with very little grace, looking ready to tumble over as he landed at the bottom. He had arrived in the stony labrynth of tunnels that facilitated the holding cells, sealing labs, and isolation chambers for imprisoned ayakashi. This wasn't a problem however as he continued running.

Natsume knew his way since his training had hit its stride months ago, and with that his freedom to roam the compound. Here, and exorcist could experiment and practice all manor of the sealing arts. From talismans, to charms. From protective wards, to defensive barriers.

There was even an archery range where many hours had been spent whiddling down Natsume's imperfections with a bow into a practitioner equal to the clan's titular head. How he remembered the ache in his fingers from the blisters. Those first few weeks were murder on his eating, reading, writing, essentially anything that involved putting any pressure on his finger tips. But soon enough, he was drawing the bow and releasing arrow after arrow with single-minded dedication. He might not have reached Matoba-sensei's level. Years worth of a head start had seen to it. But when Natsume put his mind into hitting his target, most of the time it would strike true.

He had to.

The wellbeing of his classmate and friend, Sasada Jun, depended on it. Matoba-san may not have outright stated that they would physically harm her, but that didn't stop them from releasing a malevolent spirit into her cell to remove any hesitation Natsume might have had about shooting it to save his friend.

Those were the black and white choices he was given so that Sasada would not be harmed. No silly last-minute saves by Nyanko-sensei, no surprise rescue by a spirit befriended after a brief encounter for some reason. No. Just the choice: kill it, or she would suffer.

"Sasada-san!" Natsume shouted.

"Natsume-kun?" She called out, "What are you doing down here? I thought you weren't due until Thursday. And what's with all the noise coming from outside?"

Arriving at the bars to the cell, he found her already grasping at them, the look on her face confused and troubled. It appeared she was dressed in a modest kimono of green, with a dark blue obi. It would be enough to keep her warm for a time. Enough to escape.

Any other time not as urgent as this, Natsume would have taken it to reflect on how she came to be a prisoner of the Matoba clan. Those conversations had already happened months ago, however. Revelations, confessions, confiding in one another, growing closer for it, and most importantly of all: the moment she forgave him.

He fought down the urge to cry.

"Hold on. I'm going to get you out of there."

"Wh-what?" She stuttered, "but what about the clan-"

"The compound is under attack," Natsume explained. Wasting no time, he went to the desk at the opposite wall. There was a lockbox which he knew held the key to the prison cells inside, "A lot of angry spirits are causing panic so that we can escape."

"You mean... we're going home?" She asked in a small quavering voice.

"I said it before," he said, struggling with the box, "I'll do everything I can to get you out. Tch, how do I get this thing open?"

"There... there was a servant that holds the key. You'd have to get that to-"

With a loud clatter, Natsume threw the box, lid first, at the ground, getting a squeak of surprise from the class rep. Along with her response, "Or that. That works."

Natsume wasted no time. The keys were in his hand and he bolted to the door. After a few false starts he worked the correct key into the slot and turned. The door swung open and Sasada stepped through with a relieved breath.

"Thank you, Natsume-kun. Where do we go now?"

"Come with me."

With one objective down, that left two other tasks remaining. He reached out and clasped hands with his classmate and they jogged deeper into the prison. Rounding a corner, they entered the third door on the right to a room holding many shelves, and poorly lit for the one hole on the wall at the ceiling to allow sunlight through.

"Natsume-kun, why did we stop in here? Aren't we leaving?"

"Just give me one moment, this won't be long. I promise."

The young man approached the far wall to this room. There stood a chest-high dresser with many shelves and cabinets to store various items. It was the centermost one that drew his attention. For on its surface was the glass jar he had been hoping to find. And it's single inhabitant.

"Hinoe," Natsume whispered gently.

"Natsume?" She croaked in a sickly voice. Slowly, she pushed herself up from the heap she was lying in to look at her closest friend's heir. Her eyes were dazed and half-lidded. Her brows knitted and quivered weakly. Her skin pale and clammy, colouring a gaunt and partially starved face. Despite all this she managed a smile for him.

Months of abuses had piled up on her by this point. It was -in all honesty- a miracle she could still speak. Or had been willing to speak with him; a testament to her strength and spirit. Through all the signs of abuse and mistreatment there was still a fire that refused to be extinguished.

This time the young man couldn't hold back the tears he was fighting. They burned two glistening paths down his face. Natsume scooped the jar into his hands and held her up close to his face. Shakily, his lips fought their way to a smile for his hurting friend's sake.

"It's okay now, Hinoe," He whimpered, "we're leaving now. I'll make everything better."

This only served to strengthen the tree spirit's smile, eyes squinting at the news, as she responded, "Then if I'm being so bold, might I impose on you to walk a lady home? My legs aren't what they once were."

They both breathed a few quiet laughs together for just this tiny reprieve. But like all good things...

"Natsume-kun," Sasada said, her voice betraying concern.

The young man shook his head to refocus. Celebrations and relief could wait.

"Sorry, Sasada-san. I just need one more thing from here and we can be gone," Natsume explained.

He pulled open the drawer dirctly beneath where Hineo stayed and reached in with a free hand. That hand came back out with a light blue waist pouch already holding its most important contents. Natsume set Hinoe's jar down quickly, unzipped the pouch, and assured of the Book of Friend's location, fastened the pouch to his waste.

"Sorry to make you both wait. Let's get out of here."

He grabbed Hinoe's jar in one hand and took Sasada's hand in the other as they left the basement together. Same as before, the three escapees arrived at the intersection between the basement and stairwell leading up. The exorcist peered down each hallway for a beat, before guiding his human companion behind him toward a hall that transitioned into an outdoor veranda and the devastated landscape beyond.

Chaos had taken hold. Already the northeastern storage house was feeding a mighty fire, while clan servants fecklessly chucked pales of water to quell the raging inferno. One of the more senior exorcists on hand held out a talisman while chanting a calming seal on the fire. While it might have succeeded in drawing a small portion of the fire away and into his waiting talsiman, the body of the flames continued undettered.

For the first time Natsume could see the eastern wall that those servants from earlier were speaking of. It was in ruins. An elephant could walk through gate that had been breeched. Wood and plaster coloured the ground with their detritus.

In the courtyard, ayakashi were raising hell against the Matoba clan members: leading them on aimless chases, being chased in turn by larger creatures shrieking and threating to eat these impudent humans, shouting weak curses to various effect before the exorcists could retaliate. One poor exorcist in particular was running across the grounds while tiny flying ayakashi pulled his hair or pecked at his head. If the situation weren't so dire Natsume would have found it hilarious.

This wasn't a slaughter. The spirits were only vying for time, and using every crafty distraction at their disposal to accomplish this.

"There you are!"

Natsume jumped when he heard an older man of the Matoba compound staff shout his way. Sasada shrank behind Natsume to hide just a little more.

The boy exorcist's eyes hardened on the clan servant. Togo-san, he believed. Senior in years, white short hair, mustache and beard. Like all the other clan he wore his drab grey hakama leggings, black kimono top, with a grey sleeveless haori to distinguish his rank. Third tier beneath clan head. The elder man stepped toward them from the courtyard.

"What do you think you're doing out of your room? And with our prisoner, no less? Wait... is that the tree spirit Matoba-sama was using for your compliance? Don't think we'll let you escape, boy, I'll-GAH!"

For a moment Natsume worried that he might have had to resist this senior staffer, but just as he reached into his jacket to pull out some form of restraining talisman, a cooking pot landed on his head. Three small ayakashi looking like a cat, crow, and misshapen man dropped on the exorcist's shoulders and bashed cooking utensils against the pot's sides. Sufficed to say, the veteran staggered and tripped into a wooden pillar along the veranda before slumping to the ground unconscious.

"Hurry now, Natsume-dono," the crow spoke first, "through the wall to your fellow humans."

"They are waiting just beyond the wall human," The cat explained quickly, after, "make haste with your friends."

Taking this to heart, Natsume took off running, pulling hard on Sasada's hand to follow. Her 'eep' barely registered as he called back to the three spirits, "Thank you all. I'll make sure to repay you properly!"

Fast as they could, they crossed the courtyard, through the grass, over a bridge straddling the large koi pond, and under the sakura trees lining the barrier while spirits and humans struggled all around.

One servant noticed his escape and attempted to bar the way. This action however left him open when the fuzzy spirits he was fending off tackled him to the ground and began chanting silencing curses on him. That man wouldn't be cursing or sealing back at them for the better part of a week.

At the breech, Natsume's group broke through to find several human sized and yukata robed spirits of various shapes, natures, and colors holding various staff weapons. Most likely a guard to ensure no exorcists followed.

"It's Natsume-dono," one whom Natsume remembered returning its name to said out loud.

"Oh, what good tidings, very much so indeed," said another.

"Thank you all for coming to my aid," Natsume said urgently, "Do any of you know where these humans I heard about were located?"

The first one to speak turned and pointed to the tree line across the meadow, "Over there. The priest and the old man are together, waiting on us to escort you to them. Now, now, Natsume-dono, please follow us."

Just as things were beginning to look up, a roar of utter anguish rattled everyone present. Natsume the most.

He knew who could make such a cry, because he heard it once before.

"Sensei!"

Whipping around, Natsume saw his mentor thrashing through the air above the manor. His usual grace while in flight had abandoned him, and his motions became erratic and violent. A tense moment passed, and the familiar whistle of an arrow drew Natsume's attention to the projectile flying true and striking home at Sensei's collar.

After one more labored howl, every witness inside or outside the compound was able to watch as the mighty flying wolf-like beast plummeted into the clan compound with a jarring thud. A cloud of dust punctuated the silence, and suddenly the entire mood of the assault had changed.

"Madara," Hinoe whispered. Her tone was void of hope for her long-time acquaintance.

A clamor or worry erupted among the conscripted spirits. They spoke back and forth among their kin for some semblance of clarity. Was this part of the plan? Did Madara-sama intend to take Natsume-dono's place? Was that the sign of the retreat?

While they looked for their clarity, Natsume had already found his.

"Sasada-san," He said, shoving Hinoe's jar into her chest. That he wasn't gentle about this startled her from her own trance with a yelp as he continued, "Please take Hinoe and run. Head for the forest line and keep running west. If you're not sure of your direction, just remember to keep the sun on your left shoulder. Look for my guardian Shigeru-san and also-"

"N-Natsume-kun?" she asked, as the boy in question took her remaining free hand to wrap the glass jar securely to her chest, "wait, I don't understand. I thought we were leaving?"

"Natsume!" Hinoe shouted, already comprehending what was about to happen. Natsume already knew what she was on to him, but he didn't have time to convince her this was a good idea. Even so he owed it to Nyanko-sensei to ensure he came back as well.

"There isn't much time. You have to go now," Natsume said with his voice quickening, "once you find a strong and healthy tree, please open the jar and set it at the roots so Hinoe can be free."

"Natsume, don't do this! Madara wouldn't want you to waste his sacrifice," Hinoe cried, desperate for him to turn against his most stubborn habit.

"Forgive me, Hinoe," He said, giving her one last glance of affection, "but I have to make sure he's okay. I owe him too much. He's too important to me."

"Natsume-kun," Sasada said, breaking into his conversation with the invisible creature in the jar as if it wasn't an issue, "what about the Fujiwaras? What would I tell them if you don't come back out?"

He paused for a second, as if remembering his legal guardians and close-enough-to-be parents for the first time. Then he took a deep breath and let it out, "Tell them I'm okay. I'm being treated well and not to worry. Now go. Hurry!"

Natsume didn't wait for her response before bolting back into the compound. She would be okay from here. Hinoe would also be okay. Her suffering would be at an end.

But as he grew further from his separated friends, he couldn't silence the wail of despair from reaching his ears, or the cries of his name from the lips of the ayakashi he left in Sasada's care.

"Natsume, come back! Natsume~e! Natsu-"

[III]

"-me! Oi, Natsume, snap out of it!"

"Uwah!"

At that he did, but it didn't stop Naruto from making good on snapping his fingers in the poor exorcists face, getting him to stumble back with a yelp of surprise.

"Naruto?" Natsume asked.

"Geez, finally," the rambunctious boy groaned, "for a minute I thought you were back in your happy place. Just like when Haku and I thought you hit your head. Speaking of which are you sure you didn't?"

"Since when are you an expert on anyone hitting their heads besides your own?" Sasuke asked back. This produced the most predictable of outcomes with Naruto turning to glare at his smug teammate.

Had he really been out for that long? To have not seen Naruto and Sasuke's approach before standing in front of him? Those memories were more trouble than he thought. Best to suppress them for until he could speak with Nyanko-sensei of everything in detail. For now he couldn't trouble them with his inner demons. He decided to break apart their latest confrontation before the ember became a forest fire.

"It's okay. I'm fine," Natsume told the two boys, thankfully stopping their fight before it degenerated, "I guess I just spaced out from how tiring this day has been. Thanks for worrying."

This seemed to placate the orange-having ninja when he visibly relaxed, sliding his hands behind his head. He said, "Oh, well then that's cool. I'll bet it's pretty tiring getting chased by... demons... huhuhuhhuhu," with a shiver of dread to end his thought. His arms were hugging his sides again by that point.

Beside him Sasuke snorted, "Oh come on. There's making up stories, but that's a little too desperate for you, Dobe."

"You w-wouldn't b-b-b-be su-saying th' same if you were here for it, Teme!" Naruto said.

"I'm sorry again for that," Natsume bowed with an apologetic look, "I'll do whatever I can to make sure they aren't a problem later."

Any day of the week, count on Sasuke to be level headed and disinterested by most everything. But even he couldn't hide the way his face transitioned from a mild sneer to relaxed to stretched into one of complete dumbfounding.

"Wait," he said, "are you both being serious with me? Naruto if this is some prank-"

It was Natsume that fielded this question while Naruto was all-too-busy crouching into a ball, covering his ears, and mumbling something resembling a prayer. He said, "It's true I'm afraid. If it weren't for Naruto they would have taken me. I don't feel any more in this area, though, so we should be safe."

"That," Sasuke began... but then couldn't find something to explain how insane that sounded, so instead just went with, "oh," and grew very quiet. He looked down at Naruto, still clutching his head, but seeing him in a new light. What was he supposed to feel about that?

The first time they had to contemplate a dangerous situation was with the ironically named (by this situation's standards) Demon Brothers, the missing nin duo from Kirigakure. At that time, Naruto had frozen up and it rested with the young Uchiha to cover for him and delay the two chuunin until Kakashi-sensei decided to stop playing dead.

What followed was Naruto's crazy blood vow while plunging a kunai into his wrist. His commitment to never flinch in the face of danger again.

Then there was the other... sigh... demon, (seriously wasn't there any other naming convention or title these people could come up with?) Momochi Zabuza. By that point Naruto managed to step up and deliver on his vow, and together he and Sasuke successfully freed Kakashi from his trap and turn the situation around into a partial victory.

Now this.

Had he really arrived late to learn his teammate scored a victory over actual demons? He shook his head hard at that thought. This had to be a setup. A setup to some enormous gag, and so long as he didn't play along they couldn't spring the final surprise on him. Provided no one else showed up declaring themselves being demons he could see himself accepting this. With a nod, Sasuke was back to normal.

That was until he did a spit-take. Across the grove Natsume was gathering what looked like robes, pale white masks with two tiny eye holes, and broken scythes into a pile while Naruto watched from a safe distance.

Why didn't he notice that earlier?!

"Are you sure it's okay to touch those? What if you get cursed?" Naruto asked, the shiver continuing.

"It's okay," Natsume said, "I don't feel any lingering evil in these. They were meant to hold those shiki to this plane without the need of a continuous chant or ritual. By themselves they are just benign tools. Kinda like your shuriken."

"Oh," Naruto spoke, eyes wide in realization, and a foxy grin following, "then it's okay then."

"You were being serious," Sasuke said, finally swallowing his pride and joining the other two.

By this point Natsume had folded the robes into a stack, placed the masks on top, and surrounded the pile with the broken shafts of the scythes. Of note, they were placed in a sunken patch of ground barren of all grass.

"Teme, what part of 'We fought demons,' did you not understand?" Naruto quivered.

He didn't dignify that with a response. No, the scowl on his face didn't count.

"Now that we've gathered all these items together, I just need to burn them away so there's no traces of their presence returning. I just have to make a bonfire and-"

"Natsume-san," Sasuke began, "stand back."

From the tone of his voice, Sasuke sounded slightly annoyed. Natsume took a wild guess that the cause was Naruto. Deciding it better not to let this situation disintegrate, he simply complied.

Standing back at Naruto's side, Natsume asked, "So what exactly-"

"Katon: Goukakyu no jutsu (Fire Skill: Great Flame Technique)!"

"Whoa!"

With that a mighty plume of fire belched from the young ninja's mouth. In an instant the shiki's implements were aflame, and began to smoulder and warp under the intense blaze. Natsume covered part of his face from the heat. It might not have been close enough to injure, but a step closer would make his skin chafe.

"So..." Natsume said, "chakra can make fire too." It wasn't really a question, but it might as well have been.

"Hmph," Naruto humphed, "thinks he's so hot. Just you wait till I learn an elemental technique."

"Are there more elements that ninjutsu can create?"

Sasuke turned back to them to explain, "Ninjutsu can be transformed into five different elements: fire, water, earth, lightning, and wind. Though most ninja have affinities toward one in particular, they can train in the others to broaden their range."

"That's incredible," Natsume said, "to think chakra has this much versatility."

"Yeah," Naruto said, rubbing his nose, "and it's got many uses too!"

Natsume fought the cringe that begged to come out. It seemed Naruto needed some quality time with a dictionary rather than learning to walk up and down trees. He could see Sasuke didn't even bother hiding his deadpan expression. Thankfully, the young Uchiha didn't feel the need to cut Naruto's oblivious remark down.

Sometimes stupidity simply didn't need that juxtaposing.

"Sasuke-kun! Naruto! We're back," shouted a young lady's voice beyond the treeline.

"Ah," Naruto was first to react, "Sakura-chan, we're over here!"

Natsume took a deep breath for courage. So this was the 'Sakura' that Naruto and Sasuke spoke of. It looked like it was time to meet the rest of Naruto's team, and that also meant speaking to the team leader. So far he had been gently getting used to knowing real actual ninja. Once he got past their eccentric natures they were decent people.

But what would a ninja team leader be like? Fearsome? Intimidating? Cold and calculating? Bloodthirsty? The more he stewed over this, the more his stomach tightened. He could feel his heart beating in his neck. A sheen of sweat had found its way onto his forehead. His hands could say the same when he worked his fingers over them to find them getting sweaty as well.

Natsume swallowed the growing lump in his throat while taking deep and steady breaths. It wouldn't do to show fear when introductions and first impressions were so important now. How someone perceived after the first greeting could dictate how they treated him thereafter.

Then there was no more time to worry. People appeared from around the trees.

"There you two are. I thought you'd both be busy on your... why is there a bonfire?" this young lady named Sakura said.

At first glance, Natsume felt his tension deflate almost completely. Here was a young girl so seemingly unthreatening and strangely colored she might have been at home posing in cosplay in Akihabara or dressing up for Harajuku. Her brilliant pink hair blossomed from her head and trailed down to her low back, while the forelocks lifted before framing two large side bangs around her delicate face. Green eyes surveyed over the three young men and the bonfire behind. Her dress was an interesting fusion of pink Chinese dress with white hem partnered with black spandex shorts and open toed sandals like everyone else present.

Then the other one appeared.

"Oya? Is that what I'm smelling? Is there any particular reason you two are baking potatoes and not training?" Asked a tall, lanky, and unimpressive-looking man hobbling into view on crutches.

Natsume face-planted-

*WHAM*

Hard.

"Hey, we're not baking potatoes, Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto protested, fists pumping, "we were burning demon-possessed stuff. Also, Natsume are you okay? You look like you hit your head pretty hard there... on an unrelated note, I KNEW IT!"

Hearing his name called brought him out of his shock. The young exorcist pulled himself out of the face-shaped hole he'd made, while rubbing the sorest spots. He winced on a particularly smarting one. His vision cleared and he managed to take a good look at these two new ninja that had entered the clearing.

"You said so many incredible things in one go that I don't even know where to begin," the tall lanky man sighed while scratching his head.

So this was "Kakashi-sensei." The image did NOT fit the impression. Not. At. All.

Atop this mans head was spiked out silvery hair that would make a broom proud. It was held up by the forehead protector attached to a wider-than-Naruto's dark blue cloth band. Strangely it draped down over his left eye, leaving only his simple pitch black right eye visible. Coming up to meet the forehead band was a matching dark blue face mask, lending an aura of mystery to his easy-going appearance.

As for the man's clothing it was a forest green flak vest with high raised collar on his chest. Underneath was a simple long sleeve navy shirt with red swirl patches on both shoulders. Matching dark blue pants dressed the lower half, with white bandage around the right thigh, and bandage wrapping the openings at the bottom to seal them tight. Lastly, his pants were tucked into open toed sandals like all others present.

Somehow, a single word stood above all others to encapsulate this man's image: scarecrow.

"So," Kakashi continued, "who's your guest, Naruto? Care to introduce us?"

"Sure," the orange genin nodded with a open hand directed at his new friend, "this is Natsume. Natsume this is the rest of my team, Haruno Sakura-chan and Kakashi-sensei."

"Idiot! Leave 'chan' out of introductions. It's bad manners!" Sakura growled with a blush.

"Did you forget my last name already, Naruto?" Kakashi sighed once again.

The young blonde hid his embarrassment with a squint-eyed smile while rubbing the back of his head.

All in all, these two new additions seemed level headed and self-conscious enough to forgo any type of professional decorum. Preferring casual familiarity. Natsume was relieved at how much less... well... "Naruto-ish" they were.

Speaking of which it wouldn't do to leave a poor introduction hanging.

"My name is Natsume Takashi," he bowed after stepping forward, "I met Naruto this morning when I was under attack from some... well... unpleasant things. I'm truly grateful to him for his help. Incidentally, he was adament that I meet with you. I could really use some insight into my current situation if it's not too much trouble."

Not missing a beat, Kakashi returned a cheerful smile under all his face coverings, "Did he now? Well I'm not sure how helpful I can be. Maa, for now, it's a pleasure all the same. I hope my students weren't too much of a bother?"

"Oh," Natsume quickly replied while waving his hands back and forth, "not at all! In fact it's been very educational being in their company. Naruto lent me a ration bar when I was hungry. And when I had questions, he and Sasuke-san also helped me understand some basic things regarding chakra. I owe them a lot."

"He~eh?" Sakura hummed impressed, "Sasuke-kun helped you with your own chakra? That's Sasuke-kun for ya!"

"Te-hey!" Naruto sputtered, "I helped too!"

"You meant he part where you got a laugh out of Natsume-san when he gagged on the ration bar?" Sasuke asked with an almost cruel smirk, "Or the time you showed him your perverted transformation rendering him unconscious?"

"Urk!"

"Na-ru-to," Sakura fumed, cracking her knuckles with a perfectly visible vein throbbing on her forehead, "What have I told you about showing that to strangers while we're on duty?"

"U-umm... well, that is... ... ...don't?"

"Punishment for Idiots ~ Teacher's Edition!" She shouted while her fist deformed Narutos' face and sent him airborne.

Natsume just froze out of fear while his first ninja friend sailed past him and skidded to a crash beside Nyanko-sensei. Okay... right, so... okay... a thought occurs. Maybe she wasn't as innocent and harmless as he first thought? In fact, was he the only person being self-conscious about appearances at this point?

"Maa-maa," Kakashi said, doing his best to placate his riled up students, "let's just settle down. Sasuke, Naruto, since you both look rested, why don't you show us how much you've improved first?"

"Nn," Sasuke nodded.

"Mphay," Naruto muffled through the dirt. A second later he pushed his face from the crater it was lying in, then wiped away the debris while he fumbled over to join his teammate.

Natsume swallowed nervous at this. He would get to see how well they would do with their reserves partially restored. He wondered how amazed their sensei and teammate would be. It was strange to feel nervous about his help in training these two, but pride was pride and that's all there was to it.

Together Naruto and Sasuke returned to their respective training trees and stopped at the feet. They looked at one another, some unknown words passing between them as they grinned. And just like that, they ran up. And up. And up. As naturally as if they were the ones on solid ground.

Together they went their own separate directions. Naruto shot left and immediately began running circles around his oak. He even managed to work in a cart wheel. Natsume heard Sakura gasp beside him.

Sasuke must have seen this because he took it to the next level. He crouched before leaping outward to adhere to a neighboring tree then completing a backward hand spring. His momentum brought him to a sturdy branch. He released his hold on the tree and deftly corrected his fall like a cat before hooking the branch, swinging under, then performing a double back flip which landed him back onto the original tree he had started from.

Before Natsume knew it he felt his mouth had stretched into an astonished smile. His help had paid off and his two friends were reaping the benefits before his eyes. What a rush!

The boys continued their acrobatics for another minute, getting in as many off-putting maneuvers to their competition as possible. Deciding it was enough, Kakashi clapped his hands a few times and said, "Alright, that's enough. Well done, both of you. Be proud of yourselves."

Naruto and Sasuke stopped at the nearest sturdy branch the could find. That "little" display had taken it out of them. They had been at it all day by this point, so this encore had left them panting and glistening with sweat. Both of them had the most satisfied smiles one could manage.

Natsume jumped when Sakura shrieked, "Kya! Sasuke-kun! So cool!"

"It looks like you both graduate from tree walking," Kakashi said warmly, "congratulations."

"Yatta! Who rocks? We rock! I wanna rocks!" Naruto cheered delerious from his branch. Sasuke contented himself to another self-satisfied smirk.

"That was incredible you two," Natsume called up. Words just weren't enough to tell them how amazing they were. He could feel his heart hammering in his chest from his excitement. Chakra, ninjutsu, and ninjas were awe inspiring.

"You both got a handle on your control quite well," Kakashi said, "did you both use team work to figure out your flaws?"

"Nothing like that Sensei!" Naruto answered back, "It was Natsume that helped us figure out the perfect amount of chakra we needed to make this work."

This got the ninja sensei to blink a few times in surprise. From what little they had told him about Natsume-san, and how they helped him, he did not expect to hear it was the young man that helped his students get down the feel for such a hard control exercise.

He looked at Natsume to ask, "You helped them?"

"Ah, well," Natsume rubbed his head in modesty, "they already had to motion down, but for how I helped them... it's kind of complicated. It's one of the things I was hoping for advice regarding."

Kakashi's eyebrow raised at this. What could he possibly answer for this young man that he didn't already know? He opened his mouth to ask as much when-

"Hey, guys! Hey! Watch this!" Naruto shouted, "Wh-wh-whoa-whoa!"

Everyone's hearts stopped beating when Naruto dropped off his branch, but before anyone could react he swung under the branch to hang upside down by his chakra empowered feet. He immediately started pointing and laughing, "Hahaha~, you guys -haha- you guys shoulda seen the looks on your faces!"

Everyone not named Naruto sighed out the breaths they were holding, Sakura rebounding the fastest to respond, "Naruto, you idiot! I thought I was gonna have a heart attack! Be more careful."

While the others were coming back to a more relaxed state with Sakura continuing to berate the blonde genin, Natsume could not say the same. His heart was pounding from the sudden shock of seeing his friend endanger himself like that. And with that shock, came the sight. It wasn't as see-through any longer for some reason, but it saw the chakra under Naruto's feet, and it was not enough to...

"NARUTO!" Natsume screamed at the top of his lungs somehow making the forest rumble, "Grab the branch! Hurry!"

Naruto's posture instantly changed from ecstatic to confused. His brain hadn't quite caught up with the severity of his friend's warning. And that was all it took to break the remainder of his concentration.

He suddenly felt weightless, as everyone below gasped in surprise for a second time, and finally realized what was happening.

Sakura shrieked first.

"No! My body's not healed enough," Kakashi said, his tone frantic.

As all of Naruto's team rushed toward him, and as Naruto fell helplessly through the air, time seemed to slow for Natsume. His hands reached out as if to grasp his precious new friend as some form of clarity took hold.

...

V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V

From deep inside, at the center, the warmth of the living blue essence burst forth from all points fed by the vines throughout his body. Power like he had never known waited on his word -his will- to reach out and take hold of that which he desired completely; utterly, universally, in totality. Words he did not understand controlling his mouth for him, as they fought to be spoken aloud.

V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V

"BAN%& TE$#N!"

And just as fast as it had started, Naruto's plummet had stopped. Literally.

"Wh-whoa-I-wha?" Naruto stuttered while floating about like a bubble on a gentle zephyr. He reached his hands out to take hold of his former branch, but this proved useless when he pinwheeled upside down again.

He looked like a flailing spider that lost its sense of direction.

...

A very orange spider.

"What?" Sakura whispered, tone sapped of all its strength. She could be forgiven for reacting this way. The dumbest kid in her graduating class may have just invented anti-gravity by accident.

Kakashi remained silent and wide-eyed. There was a air of superstition to this moment, and he feared any sudden movement would put an end to it. His senses finally caught up with him again as he pieced together how this happened. He turned to look at the only possible explanation for Naruto's sudden rescue.

Gritting his teeth, eyes clenched shut and grunting with exertion, Natsume held his hands outward toward Kakashi's student looking as if all his effort was supporting Naruto's entire bodyweight.

Unless it actually was.

"Sasuke," Kakashi barked, "quickly!"

Broken from his own spell, the Uchiha leapt to his teammate's branch, swung under, and clasped ahold of Naruto's leg. Once done Natsume collapsed to the ground with a heavy groan, face concealed by his hair. This relaxing of force saw Naruto's weight return, making Sasuke flinch at the extra labor. Naruto continued wiggling about unsure how to proceed, making his rescuer more frustrated.

"Stop struggling idiot," Sasuke grunted.

"Sasuke-kun, that was so cool," Sakura cheered.

Kakashi took one last glance at Naruto to assure himself that he was going to be okay, before limping over to Natsume's position. The boy was panting heavily, sweat drops visibly falling from beneath his hair. The scarecrow didn't waste time.

"That's some ability you have, Natsume-san. Thanks for saving my student, by the way."

"That was," Natsume paused to breathe in, "that was me?"

"It didn't look like anyone else was trying their hardest to levitate Naruto in midair. What was that if you don't mind me asking?"

"I... I don't know. That's never happened before today. None of this has happened before today."

Now that was odd. Someome with a gift as unique and useful as levitation, and this young man going on seventeen or eighteen years of age was completely oblivious to this ability? Strange, and what stranger timing.

"Is that why you had questions for me? And why you asked questions about chakra from my students?" Kakashi asked.

"That was part of it-"

Before Kakashi could speak further, they heard Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke come up from behind.

"Did you really have to hit me a second time, Sakura-chan? Owowowow," Naruto said, unable to hide the pain while rubbing his soft spot.

"Of course I did! We thought you were going to bash your head open on a tree root! Reflect on your actions!" She growled with a commanding bite.

"Y-yes ma'am!"

"Honestly," Sasuke just chose to grumble and leave it at that.

Seeing Natsume hunched over, Naruto moved ahead of his teammates to his friend's side. "Hey, Natsume, you feeling okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, I was just need to calm it down again. That's all." Natsume said.

Naruto had the modesty to look ashamed, "Sorry. I'll be more careful."

"Don't do it in the first place!" Sakura chided, somehow getting the sore on his head to throb again.

"S-sure, so what was that anyway, Natsume? Did you do something with your eyes again?" Naruto got back to the subject at hand like it wasn't a big deal.

As a matter of fact it was a big deal to Kakashi when he heard this. "Eyes?" he asked with a note of hesitation turning to concern, "Natsume-san, is there something about your eyes that made you do this?"

"I'm not sure," Natsume answered, rising from his kneel, and faced everyone with open eyes once again, revealing them as if for the first time, "but I think it has something to do with this."

To all present, this moment would be the moment they considered as the true beginning of everything. To Naruto and Sasuke, they were already familiar with his eyes special transformation. They were more curious about their two other teammates reactions.

Sakura simply gasped yet couldn't find the courage to say anything. This seemed expected. Naruto and Sasuke had been the same way. They then looked at Kakashi, and that's when they knew nothing was ever going to be the same.

Kakashi was struck silent. His one visible eye wide and locked with Natsume's. He drew in a breath, and the word came out in a shrill whisper.

"Rinnegan."

[IV]

Haku crashed through the tree canopy with reckless abandon. Nerves wracked and heart hammering, she made her way back to the forest grove where her two friends had remained. She had donned her false hunter nin garb to ease the unpleasant task to follow. If luck was with her they might still be there. If luck was favoring, those two leaf genin that had stayed with Natsume would be bone tired from training all afternoon.

Should that luck have proved kind enough, she could secure and capture Natsume-san on Zabuza-san's command, and return him unharmed.

It did not take much explanation from her leader to get the gist of why he had become frantic, after hearing description of the strange exorcist's gift. Although it relied heavily on myth and legend, what was described to her sounded out of this world.

"Out of this world. Natsume-san, you aren't really from another world are you?" She asked aloud, voice smothered in doubt. But who could blame her? The timing between meeting an enemy ninja and a young man who possessed the eyes to the power of the gods was bordering unthinkable. No, impossible. Yet it happened. And in front of her.

Now her leader wanted this power so he could return to Mizu no Kuni, bring much needed relief to the civil war, topple Yagura, the sitting Mizukage, and claim the Kage hat for himself. And it would all start with taking Natsume-san and using his power toward Zabuza-san's own ends.

The young kunoichi's fists tightened against her better discipline.

Haku would do anything Zabuza commanded. That he had never ordered her to violate her dignity, stain her honor, or shed innocent blood was a small kindness, but it could not last. Not if what she thought her leader would do would Natsume would be accurate.

Her head shook violently. Now was not the time to think on the unpleasant possibilities. If it came down to it she could try to dissuade the more sinister designs for Natsume-san once he was captured.

She could only hope Zabuza-san would be willing to hear her out if the worst case scenarios were the first thoughts entertained. Natsume-san deserved that chance.

There were voices ahead.

Quickly, Haku decelerated to mask her approach. Choosing a sturdy bough pointing opposite the grove, she landed quietly the way Zabuza-san showed her and put her back to the trunk. After a few hand signs, a mirror of ice coalesced from the air, hovering at just the right angle and position to give her optimal surveillance on the clearing, and whomever was out there.

She tisked the instant she counted the people present, "I was too slow."

In the time she was away, Hatake Kakashi and his very pink student had joined the others and were already talking. By the looks crossing their faces there was healthy share of concern. The unasked question was answered when Haku saw Natsume-san's special eyes had returned.

Acting quickly she repeated the hand signs necessary for another ice mirror and jumped into her first. She reappeared in the best blindspot possible where listening in would not draw their attention, and enhanced her hearing as best she could.

[][][][][][][][][][]

Natsume's world came to a halt. Rinnegan. Eye of... Reincarnation? Referring to the wheel of life, death, and rebirth?

Since his training in the Matoba clan compound began so many months ago, he was versed daily in the knowledge of Shinto Buddhism. This was to be expected, considering the entire school of exorcism had been divined from it. Central to this knowledge was understanding where all of creation stood within the borders of his world. That was critical for a human exorcist when handling spirit matters.

...

And then everything made sense. Natsume's sight condition had a name. It's name pertained to the wheel of all creation. And he could see all forms of non-human entities. Not just spirits or ayakashi. No, he had been on adventures in which he had crossed path with spirits that regular humans could see as animals, gods, local deities, beings powerful enough to be considered gods, living curses that fed voraciously on one individual aspect of human emotion, always unsatisfied.

Even Matoba-san couldn't claim to be capable of seeing all the mysteries of the spirit world. Look no further than the case he helped investigate behind the self-replicating cursed mask ayakashi. The case that would snowball into what lead to his imprisonment.

Yes. This was another answer. One step closer to finally understanding Reiko-san, and this ninja had simply known. What else could he tell him? Naruto seemed to have the same idea.

"Eh! Kakash-sensei, Natsume's ability has a name? We just thought it was cool he could see chakra'n stuff."

"Not just any name," He exhaled heavily, "It was told by legend that they belonged to the progenitor of all ninjutsu. The man that taught the shinobi world how to harness their powers into what he have today. Tell me, Natsume-san, have you ever heard of the Sage of the Six Paths?"

Upon hearing that title, something deep inside Natsume stirred. Almost a reflex, like an instinct taking hold when he heard those five words. No... two; Six Paths. The wheel of reincarnation had six realms. That's the only explanation that fit. He clutched his head at the sensation, trying to push it back down so he could simply talk.

"No. It's the first I've ever heard that name," he explained.

"Your reaction says otherwise."

"That was... that never happened before. Like with Naruto's accident."

"Then I'll be careful to avoid saying it for now."

"How was that an accident if I didn't fall?" Naruto asked.

"Shut up, Naruto," Sakura and Sasuke groused, getting a stuck out tongue from their teammate in response.

"Natsume-san, if you wouldn't mind," Kakashi continued, getting the conversation back to where it belonged by grabbing his headband, "I'd like to confirm something," and pulling the fabric away from his concealed left eye.

A single red eye with strange markings met the purple Rinnegan eyes Natsume held. He was once again surprised by this ninja leader when he revealed a special eye of his own. Surrounding Kakashi's pupil were three comma shaped whorls. From Natsume's Shinto Buddhist training, he immediately recognized them as the symbol of the Mitsudomoe. It was the symbol at the heart of Shinto which represented the three-part divisions between man, earth, and the heavens.

Chakra was accumulating within this red eye, and Natsume felt something... connect.

The senior shinobi narrowed his eye in concentration. At this the three whorls began to spin around the pupil, and Natsume felt something poke and tug at his mind. In response, a pressure burst within his own eyes, and he flinched with a shout of surprise. It was only seconds after that he realized it didn't hurt, but his body didn't know how to react and he resisted the reflex instead of embrace it.

He clenched his eyes shut and looked away, rubbing furiously at his eyelids so the sensation would calm. Thankfully, it did just that, and he was able to look at Kakashi again. The man was already pulling his headband down over his special eye. He didn't appear any better if the signs of his quavering eyebrow were true.

"It's as I suspected," The scarecrow said with a note of strain, "Your eyes can overcome even the Sharingan."

"Kakashi-san," Natsume said once the last drops of that sensation had departed, "you were born with special eyes also?" It seemed almost too good to be true. Had his fortune turned so abruptly from this morning that he had finally met someone that knew what his life was like? Someone he could relate to?

The shift of Kakashi's face muscles began to unravel that thought right quick.

"No," the grey haired ninja answered. It'd be an idiot that missed the solemn tone his voice carried, "this was entrusted to me by a good friend. It was his last will that I carry it so a part of him could live on to protect those precious to me."

Having had plenty of practice at empathy, Natsume immediately discerned that pressing any further would have been cold hearted and boneheaded at bare minimum.

"I'm sorry for your loss," he offered gently. The elder ninja gave him a nod.

It would not be appropriate to broach that subject again too soon. But Natsume just had to ask this senior ninja about spirits later on. You could never have enough friends that could see spirits. Tanuma and Natori-san were a start, but it never hurt to have more.

"But Kakashi-sensei," Sakura interjected, finally snapped out her paralysis, " I thought there were only two doujutsu's in the shinobi world? The Sharingan and the Byakugan!"

"That we knew of," said teacher corrected, "this however just confirms that nothing is absolute and life is full of surprises." In spite of his words however, Kakashi managed an easy going smile, "Well then, Natsume-san. I think I can understand now why you might have had some questions."

"Some questions?" Natsume replied disbelieving, "You just dropped a bombshell on me. In less than a day I meet ninjas though my mind is demanding I reject that, and one of them immediately recognizes my condition as something right out of their oldest legend. So to say I have some questions at this point is the nothing less than the understatement of the century!"

"Hey, Sakura-chan," Naruto whispered, "what's an understatement?"

"You. Cannot. Be serious," she balked.

Ignoring his crush's remark, Naruto wedged his way back in to the conversation, "So Kakashi-sensei, apparently that's not the only thing Natsume had questions about. He also says he's not from our world! That's crazy isn't it?"

The coolheaded jounin's eyebrow raised just slightly at that. Perhaps the shock that he had seen the eyes of legend was of far greater importance than hearing the latest bit of news. Or maybe it was the best explanation considering how mind blowing this chance encounter really was.

He looked back towards Natsume before he spoke, "As much as I trust my genin to make a report, perhaps you could give me some more details on that one."

"Well... please bear with me, because there's a lot to explain," Natsume began.

In a few minutes, Natsume had rehashed what he knew of his world like when he, Haku, and Naruto were getting over their initial misunderstandings. He covered the basics, starting with earth proper, its continents, oceans, his nation, and home town. He explained why he knew he was no longer in his world, and how he happened to come to the Elemental Nations and why he thought that might have been acomplished.

He also explained his surprise at learning about chakra. While he had experienced elements that could only be supernatural, he'd never heard of or seen a force that could be used by humans the way it was. By the end, nobody dared be the first one to speak... minus Naruto that is.

"You see?" the genin said, "Crazy!"

"So what do you think, Kakashi-san? Do you believe me?" Natsume asked.

The jounin thumbed his chin in consideration, "Hmm... it is a rather startling explanation. You might have simply been placed under a genjutsu and then broken free from someone's clutches before you met us. But then, there's this nation to consider. Someone practicing such powerful ninjutsu would have had their presence known long before now... but it doesn't explain how you know so much geography in such precise detail that cannot be true for this world and its maps. It's too elaborate a cover when everyone would think you are mad, wrong, or intentionally spewing fallacies. That'd just draw too much unwanted attention. And then there's us. Natsume-san, you were surprised to meet ninja or witness chakra powered ninjutsu, yet our kind and ways are ubiquitous. Commonplace. You seemed to know of ninja but were surprised to actually meet some. Can you explain that?"

"It's because where I'm from shinobi haven't existed or been employed for over a hundred years," Natsume explained surprised reactions from all present, "They acted as spies, assassins, and night raid soldiers in the days when my country was ruled by emperors, daimyos, and shogun. But our government, technology and the weapons of war made them completely obsolete. They were replaced by spies that would lead false lives within enemy territory, and when necessary rely on the weapons of war rather than old-fashioned tools like shuriken and throwing knives. Nowadays, ninja are merely iconic warriors of legend; glorified in stories found in all forms of media. And their school of martial arts, ninjutsu, is merely taught as a sport rather than a lifestyle to be used for combat. Well, a sport that doesn't use chakra anyway, seeing as it doesn't exist over there," he finished with a roll of his hand for emphasis.

"Kakashi-sensei," Sakura chimed in once again, "it's not possible is it? I mean, another world? That sounds ludicrous when compared with your genjutsu theory."

"Wait a moment, is genjutsu some practice involving illusions?" Natsume asked after growing concerned about the word "gen" they kept using about him. When he got a nod from Sakura he realized what they were suggesting and furled his brows in anger, "I am not under some illusion!" He shouted, "I'm not making this up! You have to believe me!" Sakura flinched back at his insistent tone.

"Maa, let's remain calm for now," Kakashi placated, "I mean, for as strange as we are to you, your presence is just as strange to us, Natsume-san. Can you see where I'm coming from?"

The young man let out a sigh, and took a few breaths to calm himself down, before continuing, "I guess that's fair. If ninjas ran into me in my hometown, I guess I would think you were all dressing up in cosplay and suffering from chuunibyou before I believed you." He looked to Sakura with a regretful face, "I'm sorry for yelling at you Haruno-san. Being called a liar my entire life because of my sight has made me sensitive to having my motives questioned. Please forgive me," he finished with a bow.

"Eh-ah," Sakura fumbled for words until she waved her hands about, "it's okay, Natsume-san. I'm sorry for implying you were-" before taking a more interested tone of voice "-Though... what's this cosplay you were mentioning?"

This got Natsume to blush, remembering how he thought Sakura was cosplaying earlier. He mastered himself as quickly as he could so he wouldn't stutter out the answer, "W-well, cosplay means "Costume Play," and you see... it's... kinda like... public theater!" He did his best to ignore Kakashi's stifled giggles, "Yeah... and well, you would basically dress up as characters from one story or another to live out the fantasy of being them... kinda..." Gee just accuse them of playing dress-up for how confident you sounded, he thought. Thankfully they didn't seem to take offense.

"Oh!" Sakura said with a growing smile and an excited blush, "that sounds sorta like our Henge no Jutsu (transformation technique)."

"Or my Sexy no Jutsu!" Naruto added. This was enough to transform Sakura's curiosity into smouldering anger once again.

"Naruto, do you need more... education?" She growled/threatened/asked while cracking her knuckles.

"N-No, Ma'am!" he wailed.

"Enough, we're getting off topic," Sasuke groaned finally having put up with too much banter, "Sensei, what do we do about Natsume-san? If he's from another world, then he's stranded here. That's pretty much the gist of where all of these questions were going from the start weren't they?"

"Indeed," Kakashi agreed, "If we accept that you're from another world, then it's safe to assume that this land isn't your home. That is unless you can point us back in the direction you came from? Or assuming that whatever conveyed you here is still around?"

Natsume's eyebrows raised at that. He hadn't dwelt on that thought since meeting these people and getting Nyanko-sensei treated. C'mon, think back, he thought. Where was the way back. He looked around furiously, before his memory caught up, "Ah, that's right, I was running east when I was chased here earlier. I think it had been for about twenty to thirty minutes before I was captured and Naruto saved me.

"Naruto saved you?" Sakura repeated, looking at her blonde teammate. He rubbed the back of his head and grinned in modesty. This got her to frown before the thought occured, "from what?"

"Demons," Naruto supplied. Before Sakura could protest, he pointed at the diminishing bonfire, "That's their stuff we're burning."

Sakura followed Naruto's finger to the bonfire. Within the flames, three blackening face masks with tiny eye holes stared back at her.

"Ee~yaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" She shrieked before shooting like a pink missile behind Sasuke's back and latching on for dear life, "Save me!"

"Sakura!" Sasuke growled, struggling fruitlessly from his teammate's barnacle grip, "let go of me!"

"Oh, so you were serious when you said you all were burning 'demon-possessed stuff' earlier," Kakashi said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. It amazed Natsume that the team leader could be so stoic about this. What had he seen to be so unfazed by that?

"See? Told ya!" Naruto shouted.

"So, Natsume-san," Kakashi said returning to the topic, "it appears you have a choice. I'm not sure how safe you'll be while with us, but... as it stands you don't seem to know where you are either. There's a risk, like with everything in life, but it can't be any safer than going it alone."

Natsume thought about this for a second before speaking, "I'd really like to retrace my steps and see if there is a way back. But I was being pursued by people that wanted my capture. I don't want to be a burden on whatever mission you have Kakashi-san, so I can just set up camp and-"

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Technique)!"

In an puff of smoke five Naruto's appeared forming ranks before their leader, "Alrighty, men! Step forward and be counted."

"Naruto?" Natsume asked, unsure of his friend's intent.

"One, two, three, four, five," The blonde genin said while pointing at one clone after another, "I want you five to spread out and head west of our current location. Follow Natsume's and those Demons' tracks back to where they started!"

"Yes, boss!" They saluted in unison. Number One stepped up, "How are we dividing the work, boss?"

"Simple," Real Naruto answered, "You five are going to comb the hills heading west. Number Three, since you are in the middle, you're in charge. You'll be following the tracks in reverse. Two? Four? You watch his ass from the trees. Anything fishy decides to cause him trouble, make them regret it."

"Yes, boss!"

"One, Five?"

"Boss?"

"Follow in chevron formation to Number Three's flank at ground level. Two and Four you double up above your ground copies. Signal them if there's trouble coming."

"Osu!" The respective clones affirmed.

"Natsume had to have landed here somehow. Find where his path began. If it comes to an end outta nowhere, all but Number Three dispel and you report back to me yourself Three."

"Yes, boss!" They shouted.

"Naruto," Natsume cut in, "You really don't have to-"

"If Natsume's path leads back to some creepy looking mansion, Three you report back and the rest continue monitoring for any leads or info."

"Can we infiltrate under disguise, boss? Get some real intel?" Five asked.

"Not without a head count you don't. You're me. I didn't sneak into Jiji's office over a dozen times without knowing every mug that goes to and from that place. Stick to the plan."

"Yes, boss!"

"Naruto," Natsume tried again, "this really isn't-"

"Lastly, don't be seen. I coloured the faces of giants in extra glossy neon paint without getting caught. I bleed sneakiness while wearing orange for kami's ever-loving sake! Show me what you're made of by not showing me in the first place! Now go!" He whipped out a commanding right hand, and on his mark his doppelgangers dashed away with an impressive show of professionalism.

"Since when do you know squad tactics?" Sakura asked, though her tone betrayed disbelief.

"Jiji gave me a scroll to read when I'm not busy about cool ways to use my Shadow Clones," the blonde explained, "'If you're going to use a forbidden kinjutsu then you're going to learn how to use it responsibly' he said."

Sakura fought for words to convey how unlikely an explanation that was, after all, "Naruto... reading..."

"Hey!"

"Naruto, you didn't have to do all that," Natsume said, "it's not right for me to impose when you and your team are in the middle of a dangerous mission. I can still-" he was cut off when his shorter friend spun on him and suddenly felt as if he was being looked down upon.

Arms crossed and facing down Natsume with a frown he ground out, "Look here, Natsume. I said you could rely on me and my army of Shadow Clones and I meant it. Don't you trust me?"

Worried by the misunderstanding had just caused, Natsume replied frantically, "Of course I do. I just don't want to be a burden when you already-"

"We're offering for you to be a burden! We're okay with that! All you have to do is say 'okay' and we'll gladly help you out. There's no need to be worried about our feelings. You're my friend. And it's like Sensei says, 'Ninja that abandon their mission are trash, but ninja that abandon their friends are lower than trash! Don't make me become lower than trash by refusing my help."

Natsume was sure he would have thought of some pitiful excuse so that his friend wouldn't have to work so hard for him. He saved his and Nyanko-sensei's life once already. It wasn't right to depend on him so much. But then that motto he recited silenced any protest he was ready to give. It painted in clear colors how Naruto felt about this, and Natsume had pretty much told his younger friend he wasn't good enough to help.

Somewhere out there, Tanuma was berating Natsume for letting him repeat his mistake with another friend.

I am such an idiot sometimes... aren't I Sensei?

"Maa~ I did say something like that didn't I?" Kakashi pitched in when nobody had the courage to fill the uncomfortable silence, "Although, Naruto, I'd appreciate it if in the future you cleared your spur-of-the-moment scouting plans with me before putting them into action?"

Naruto blushed and scratched at his scalp, "R-right, sorry Sensei."

"Well, it was a decent enough plan, so we'll use it for our information gathering. Now then, what do you think , Natsume-san? We can't offer much, but you need answers, and we have a few. Also, it'd be a pretty stupid ninja that didn't try to learn as much as possible about the power that began their profession. I'm sure we'd all benefit from staying together."

"Won't you consider it?" Sakura asked having unlatched from Sasuke at some point, "I'd really love to hear what's it's like to have the sage's power first-hand."

"C'mon, Natsume," Naruto added, "If not for your sake, then think about Mr. Pig Cat! He'll need a better place to rest."

Another unnoticed tick mark.

"It'd feel awkward if you didn't come with us after all you did to help," Sasuke pitched in his share, getting a nod from Naruto and Sakura, "besides, what kind of story begins with, 'and they never saw each other again?'"

"You're... you're right," Natsume admitted, ashamed he had ever upset Naruto, "You're all right. Thank you. I'll be in everyone's care for the time being."

"Well," Kakashi continued like all these revelations weren't a thing, "this means our mission has been upgraded once again. Yare~yare-" he shook his head with a weary expression "-And here I thought we'd just have a nice little backwoods retreat with an A-rank Missing Nin out for our client's blood and his masked apprentice to contend with."

There was silent pause from everyone (yes even Sasuke, no longer concerned with Sakura's closeness). They had all assumed deadpan expressions before saying in unison, "Please take this seriously, Sensei-dattebayo." Well mostly in unison.

Naruto just shrugged at the look his two teammates gave him.

"Now that our greetings are out of the way, and our plans are set, why don't we all head back?" Kakashi said.

"Ah, right," Natsume jolted from his trance, "Let me take care of this fire first. I'll have to grab Sensei also."

"Allow me," Kakashi cheerfully offered. He rapidly flicked his hands through several hand seals that Natsume remembered from Naruto's brief lesson. Kakashi stomped his right foot gently on the ground, "Doton: Yomi Numa (Earth Release: Swamp of the Underworld)."

In short order the bonfire waned its way into what looked like a mud pool that had emerged from underneath. It was swallowed the shiki implements and put out the plume of fire with a wet plop. And then the ground was solid again like nothing ever happened.

"That was... convenient," Natsume noted, "Thanks, Kakashi-san." He took that opportunity to fetch Sensei.

"Cool! Kakashi-sensei, where did you learn that one?" Naruto asked.

"From a personal hero and role model," he answered, not bothering to elaborate. By that point Natsume had returned with... with... what was that?

"W-what is that?" Sakura was the first to voice Kakashi's question.

"It's a little late for introductions," Natsume said of the bundle of fur he was holding, "But this is Nyanko-sensei. He's recovering from some arrow wounds so please be quiet around him. He needs his sleep."

"How was that thing there and I didn't notice?" Sakura mulled.

"He looks like a beckoning cat, doesn't he?" Naruto said conversationally for her sake.

"He..." she took a second glance and the realization dawned on her just how right her teammate was, "he does. The pets of sages are something else."

"I'm not a sage," Natsume sighed.

"Does that mean you keep a pet dragon back at your home?" Sakura asked with increasing excitement.

Is... is she sparkling? No wait that's not the problem. "I'm not a sage!" Natsume insisted vehemently. A snort from his mentor snapped him out of his rant. Nyanko-sensei wasn't going to get any rest if he didn't take Haku's advice. With one last sigh, he whispered over to Naruto, "Will you grab my hood? My hands are kind-of-" he nodded downward "-full."

"Heh, sure thing," Naruto responded, snickering.

"If that's everything, let's head back to Tazuna's house. We'll have to think of a convincing cover story for Natsume-san's sudden appearence," Kakashi said, taking the lead out of the grove.

"Of course," Natsume followed close, "thank you again, for your help, Kakashi-san."

"This is gonna be great, Natsume!" Naruto shouted, "I know you won't regret it. Tazuna-jiji and Tsunami are great people, except... well hopefully that brat won't be a problem."

"As long as you don't cause a scene with Inari, Naruto!" Sakura chastised

"By the way, Natsume-san, you might want to do something about your eyes. They'll cause a misunderstandings if anyone else sees them," Kakashi suggested as their voices began to fade from hearing.

"Ah, you're right. I completely forgot."

...

Stepping out from behind a pin oak at the far end of the clearing, Haku watched her friends and adversaries depart. This would change the dynamic of her mission. Zabuza would be ready to move against the leaf shinobi by tomorrow, and the sun was already on its way to setting.

There was not much time remaining to act, but this was critical. Maybe more-so now if Natsume's display of emergent powers was any indication.

And what a site it was. Levitation was by no means some small feat. Especially when it wasn't a wind release. This was only the tip of the iceberg if what Zabuza-san said was true. Thankfully, Natsume looked as if he barely had control of that untapped potential.

Two hand seals and another ice mirror bloomed behind her. Wasting no time she stepped in. This day was not over. Not yet. There would be an opportunity to capture Natsume, so she would use this time to plan. Plan for some eventual opening.

And when that opening appears...

The mirror vanished.

...I'll be there.

[V]

Gato Corporation's Chief Operations Officer adjusted his glasses for the twentieth time. Count on a liberal coating of sweat to send them slipping down his sharply-angled nose when it mattered the most.

This was just perfect. Perfect! Gato-sama just couldn't make the most risk-free play, no. He just had to get more ninja involved! Why hadn't he tried to convince him harder before it was too late? Now it truly was.

They had come. And fast.

"I must say," The magnate said, taking a few pulls on his latest cigar before continuing, "for ninja whose homeland is 150 leagues across the ocean, you responded to my communique quite promptly," his sentence ending with a nod of the head to the guest sitting across from him at the balcony table.

"My cell was in port at the time. We had spotted the sea hawk before it had gotten too far out to water and intercepted. A priority-laden carrier with the wingspan for a single flight across the sea carrying a message of urgent news concerning one of our countries' heroes fallen from grace," the so-called "leader" explained. "May I assume you have some information for Mizukage-sama?"

"You may," Gato confirmed. He gestured for a servant on hand to serve them drinks, which caused the chief's gut to tighten.

Kusuna stepped forward in all his magenta-haired unsettling demeanor. The galling thing of it was despite how much he unsettled the chief, the man wore a butler's uniform like a second skin. He presentation was above reproach as well. Like it was his day job.

Just how many more ninja's worked within Gato Corporation without their knowledge?

"Here you are, Gato-sama," the shinobi said, setting down his platter, "single-malt whiskey from Yugakure's Northern Peak Distillers, red label, aged to 30 years-" serving his master's drink with impeccable delicacy, he then turned to the masked shinobi offering a drink, which the man simply waved off.

Shortly after consulting Gato-sama on Momochi Zabuza's bounty he had concluded his medical treatment. Seeing the opening for something more, Gato hired this strange medic-nin, once again, to act as an undercover point-man should his guests prove unruly. It did make sense in a fashion.

Fight fire with fire. Ninja with ninja.

"Mmm," Gato hummed his approval after sampling his drink, "Thirty years, gone in an instant.-" he noted, as if he wasn't talking about the drink at all. "Do you know what I was doing 30 years ago, Shinobi-san?"

The odd slit-eyed-white-masked man tilted his head. Whether this was because he was unaccustomed to getting sidetracked on digressions or growing impatient the chief couldn't figure. Blank mask reading skills weren't apart of the job's syllabus.

"You would have to enlighten me on that. My mother and father hadn't even met by that point," he finally answered.

"Exactly," Gato frowned, "to cultivate this drink that I can now enjoy, some distilling company made the effort thirty years ago to harvest the grain, separate the chaff, boil the remainders, ferment the mash, keep the yeast levels at a perfectly even keel for weeks, then store the final product in a wooden cask that would then have to wait at least 18 years to not taste like rubbing alcohol and piss. That's assuming the building it was stored in never had a fire or pest infestation. And then it would have to age another 12 years yet again to reach red label status and get the red wax seal you saw just now. That is what I just drank after using my money to buy this top shelf beverage so I could enjoy its taste for only seconds at the most."

"Where are you going with this?"

"You weren't around 30 years ago. We can say that number like it's easy. One, two, three and before you know, thirty! Simple right? But it's not. That is a goddamned lifetime. An entire generation passed by."

"Thirty years ago, I was a deckhand for a real salty bastard. You prolly never heard of him. His name doesn't even matter now. In any case he was well known for his drinking and his women, and he brought both with him wherever he went. One night, one of his broads was swaying about out on deck, sashaying past all the deck hands-" he paused to make whimsical gestures, "caressing a rugged face here, rubbing a hairy chest there, all the while laughing and hooting and carrying on to the cat calls all around. She fed off that energy," his face darkened toward the end. He slid his glass back toward Kusuna whom in turn refilled the glass, one-one-thousand. He downed half of it before continuing.

"Then she came my way. I was some no-named-nobody to the captain and to the officers. The only thing that set me out was my short height. This broad realized it was me right away. She had taken to calling me 'Pochi' as her idea of a pet name. Petting my head and asking for a "shake" and a "bark" whenever she was in the mood for a laugh. Make no mistake I had to listen. Or the captain would hear about it."

His second serving of whiskey was gone and he slid the glass back across the table to his "butler" once again. As usual he poured, one-one-thousand... but this time the glass wasn't pulled back. Gato shook the glass a few times while eyeing his servant whom caught on and served a double, two-one-thousand.

Another guzzle and Gato's tongue was loosened again, "So this particular night was my mother's birthday, and I had been called away at the very last minute. They didn't care. I would report for shore leave or never work in town again. I was beside myself with melancholy and this-" he snarled as his face reddened some sickly red pallor, "worthless, miserable, pock-marked bitch decides she just has to play with her Pochi! 'Here Pochi~! Sit Pochi~! Speak Pochi~!'

I spoke alright. Since she asked so enthusiastically I told her to fuck the fuck off the face of the fucking planet and get eaten by a pack of sharks. I'll never forget the way she shrieked when I told her off. She ran back to her pathetic captain. For just a moment I felt justified in standing up for myself just a little. That was until I got lynched and chained to the front of the boat after enjoying a lash from every-single-crew-member-and-whore aboard-" his words were punctuated by a pound of his fist.

The hunter nin sat there in silence. Staring at Gato with his unreadable expression awaiting where this story was headed.

"You Kiri ninjas are sea worthy. I'll bet your training involved getting thrown in the sea and having been forced to stay there to build up your resistance to hypothermia. Tell me, how long does it take to suffer from the effects of hypothermia when submerged?"

"Hours to days at the height of summer, minutes in the depths of winter, and that's not factoring in how salt water changes temperature dynamics," the hunter answered patiently. Being honest, the chief was impressed he hadn't resorted to demanding Zabuza's location already. Was Zabuza that valuable if the hunter ninja was willing to indulge Gato-sama to this extent?

"Precisely. I was half submerged under the ocean waves on the first day of my voyage. Every time the waves would peter out I would get dunked. That wasn't including the rough patches that rose up to slap me full bore. I tried to put up with it. If I endured it then I felt like I would have won on principal. I was probably out of a job by that point. I thought I had nothing left to lose," he finished leaning forward.

"It doesn't matter how salty a man pretends to be, or how strong he appears on the outside. After spending enough time facing the sea, any man will break. For the first hour I swore every curse in every language, accent, and dialect I could think of for that pompous captain and his harem. I was even sure it had gotten to him when things got quiet above."

Seeing his tumbler was empty, Gato shoved the glass at his pretend butler and waited on him to pour, one-one-thousand... two-one-thousand... ... ...three?!

"G-Gato-sama, maybe you shouldn't have so much to drink so fast?" the Chief suggested in worry. After all the meeting hadn't even come to a close. He had yet to seal the deal, and this ninja could take advantage of a less cautious client to trick him into just giving away the information without securing any advantages in return.

"I'll decide when I have enough!" He barked with a furious red tint to his cheeks. He was mean when angry, but the chief knew for a fact he was downright monstrous when angry and drunk, "Where was I?"

"You were submerged halfway under at the front of the boat?" The hunter helpfully reminded.

"Ah, right. So I put up a brave front for several hours after things got quiet. That's when the cold crept in," he paused to physically shiver, "I had never realized just how cold and unforgiving the ocean could be until that moment. For close to an hour after it got uncomfortable, I continued to endure. By this point it was a matter of pride. I figured they would eventually let me back up and if I just held on to that time it would all be worth it. Surely, this punishment was just to make that hussy feel better about herself, and they would hoist me back up and put me on latrine duty."

The balcony fell silent, cloaked in the distant murmur of the waves beating against the quays and shores nearby.

"I had been forgotten. And soon after I started shouting. 'Let me up' I'd cry. At some point the cold that I'd been ignoring had crept up on me. It was biting now, I had to kick my legs to keep myself from freezing. No matter how long I called out nobody responded. I figured they would have to get sick of my moaning at some point and let me up just to get me to shut up, but nobody responded."

"I'm assuming nobody answered your cries?" the shinobi asked.

"You assumed correctly. They ignored me. They were going to let me die and they'd likely dump my body and claim I was lost at sea. At some point I was reduced to crying and begging like a kicked dog. Even to this day I consider it a miracle I survived. I was in such bad shape by the end that I don't remember how many days had passed."

"But eventually you were saved," the hunter nin deduced getting a nod from the tiny business mogul.

"Eventually. A patrol for the Moon Kingdom happened upon our ship. They noticed me first and called out," he stopped to huff a defeated chuckle at that part, "I could only croak out a pathetic little whimper by that point. Sufficed to say I was rescued. At the back of my mind, while I was being unchained, lain across a bench, and covered in blankets, I was wondering why none of the mates on deck had signaled for this patrol boat. I wouldn't find out until days later when I was recovered enough to speak."

Gato snorted. The snort transformed into chuckles, which in turn built into chortles. Laughter became full blown bellows, and for a moment the chief worried that he'd have to intervene, but his boss came to before too long. The magnate was back in control of his emotions before he continued.

"They were all dead. Every last one of 'em!" He chortled further, "A... ahahaha... apparently just shortly after I had been tied to the front, the captain had been in a giving mood. He had broken out a cask of some decent rum for all the crew to enjoy, seeing as they were in a partying mood after lynching the short little midget. I figure that whore egged him into it. She got whatever she wanted.

The officer in charge of investigating their deaths interviewed me for as much as I knew, showing me pictures and the like to make sense of what the hell happened on deck while I was taking my extended bath. After hours of helping them piece together what they knew, putting names-to-faces, they were able to deduce that at some point one of the crew had slipped a poison into the cask, and little by little everyone died. A few knife fights broke out. Crew turned against crew thinking that the guy they hated was the one that did it. How could something so perfectly destructive have claimed all hands except for me?"

"I'll tell you."

"There was one deck hand that was not accounted for when they compared what I knew to the manifest and round robin. Whoever this lost soul was may have either gotten drunk and fell overboard, or it was an assassin hired to kill the captain and make it look like everything had gotten out of hand. The only clue they had of it being assassination was two missing rowboats from starboard-side."

"Why two?" the chief asked, realizing too late that he'd let himself get engrossed in his employers story, "ah, forgive my interruption."

Gato didn't seem bothered by it so he continued, "The authorities with Moon figured he was covering his tracks. You know? If it was one, that'd definitely mean someone escaped the chaos, but two? That'd sound like the crew was playing around for fun and it got out of hand. Remember there was only one person not accounted for."

"Whatever the case I was released from hospice care gratis, thankfully, since Moon liquidated the cargo and refitted the ship for their navy. The king caught wind of this and actually gave me a small portion of the proceeds so I could make my way home."

"Eyes on the outside looking in would have thought that I got some karmic justice for the captain and crew and those diseased whores getting what they deserved. I should have been dancing a jig and pissing on their graves. No. I cried. Wept light a brat."

"Why?" The shinobi asked.

"Because it was all for nothing!" The diminutive man shouted, "All my courage. All my pride and bravery and endurance and it didn't mean shit! In the end I got no recognition for my suffering! No one was left to acknowledge how much I went through," by the end he was gesticulating madly.

Then his eyes settled on the bottle of whiskey Kusuna had been serving him and grabbed it up quickly, "All that misery for those many days and nights-" he lifted the bottle high, "all for nothing!" and smashed it on the marble flooring with a painfully loud crash.

Nothing smarted the ears like a lot of glass breaking, and in the silence that followed Gato's heavy panting took its place. It might have made for an unpleasant atmosphere but once again the chief noted how unfazed both the Kiri nin from Mizu and Kusuna were. Perhaps Gato had grown accustomed to those around him having his tantrums because he didn't demand any reaction either.

Taking one last deep breath, Gato settled, "Shinobi-san, what is the greatest sin in your opinion?"

Without missing a beat, the ninja answered, "Betraying Mizukage-sama, and bringing dishonor to Kirigakure."

Gato snapped his finger and pointed at the man while standing in his chair. The chief thanked kami it was solid wood or else he'd have to be prepared to dash in like when Gato-sama was drunk enough and stood in his office chair in the past. Those were trying days.

"Exactly," Gato said, "you value your honor and duty above everything else. To break that is the greatest sin, so therefore Zabuza is the embodiment of what you detest the most."

"That... yes, you could say that," the shinobi affirmed. By his tone, it sounded like it was the first time he'd thought of that, "Are you ready to negotiate his location?"

Gato used that perceived opening.

"First he betrays his leader and goes on the lam, then he sells his sword and he betrays his client by under-performing then breaking his client's arm. That same client that offers to pay him handsomely. A miserable dog that bites every hand that has ever fed him. Shinobi-san, your greatest believed sins are betrayal and dishonor. Well mine is waste."

He gestured a wave at the class littering the ground, a cluster of crystalline islands in a sea of single-malt whiskey.

"Thirty years ago, someone's efforts were wasted on my tantrum I just threw tonight. And there's no chance of recovering it. Tazuna, the bridge builder of Southern Nami is about to finish a bridge that will cut my thirty year-old empire in half. It's completion will be like that bottle of whiskey, only this time it'll mean the livelyhood of thousands of people and my fortunes!"

"I entrusted Zabuza to protect my interests and to prevent this incalculable threat, and he in turn has wasted my time, my health, and my resources."

"So what are you proposing?" The hunter stood to meet the magnate halfway. Now the real negotiations had started.

"I know that Zabuza carries an impressive bounty on his head. It would be a fool that would overlook all those zeros behind the three."

"Yes, he along with one other of our missing swordsmen carry the highest bounties at the moment. So what part of the bounty are you asking as a finder's fee?"

Gato took a moment to pause and let the tension build before grinning, "None."

He could hear a pin drop.

The chief and hunter nin both flinched at hearing this. Kusuna smirked from his client's blind spot, more amused than surprised. After all, there had to be a reason the man had contradicted himself.

The hunter nin began, "But, you just said-"

"Yes, a fool would turn down those numbers," Gato cut in, "A fool or an insanely wealthy shipping magnate. No, money is money. It knows only one word, but that one word it does know it knows in every language: 'goodbye.' No what I want is something far more tangible and lasting. Something irreversible."

"You would forfeit thirty million ryo for something else? Let's say I accept... what would you want instead? Remember, Gato-dono, I cannot make any guarantees in Mizukage-sama's stead."

"O-ho," Gato chuckled with his hands raised placating-style, "it's nothing too much I assure you. Chief?"

"Hah," the chief affirmed, finally called forward to provide a folder of documents and photos. The ninja took the folder from him and pulled it open. Everyone waited for several minutes while the masked hunter leafed through page after page, until deciding it was enough and closing it once more and looked at Gato.

"You want the bridge builder dead by our hands?"

"Oh yes. Very dead. The most dead you can make him if possible," Gato confirmed, "and it would make for the ultimate show of 'no confidence' on Zabuza's part. He loses his contract, his kill, his money, and his reputation in one stroke... all the while you can also plan for his ambush at the hideout I have him residing at. You can take out two birds, with many stones, and I don't have to throw a single one."

"These are acceptable terms. You provide us this location you're keeping him and we can plan a two-front assault. Get this done nice and clean. Be on our way," The ninja nodded and stepped forward with a raised hand.

A smile of satisfaction in place, Gato raised his own hand, grabbed the one offered to him, and shook firmly, "A pleasure doing business."

"Now that negotiations are set, is there any reason Zabuza failed to kill the bridge builder? What is his protection like?"

"That would be because of whom he chose to hire. Tell me, how would you go about handling a few ninja from Konoha?"

-Continued-

A/N:

Well that took forever.

When was the last time we were here? Febuary? I can promise you all now that a break like that won't be happening again. Between writer's block, moving anxieties, questioning my existence, then sitting down to write, I think I'm back in a comfortable groove.

I can also guarantee you know that final scene is the last big pinch-point involving Gato. I was going for that Stephen King style again. Bad villains do things For the Evulz. A good villain has to have a reason you can empathize with and then be disgusted when he uses despicable means to get what they want. So I gave Gato a little humanity with a formative backstory... or did I?

I'll be focusing more on the main cast and everyone's newest adversaries to the party, Kiri hunter ninja!

Honestly, after the canon story waffled on the wave arc, I was wondering if anyone would ever do a similar arc where Gato relied on Zabuza's bounty and real hunter nins to do the work for him. The original manga/anime set up the idea of hunter ninjas and then went "Nope, it was imposters and failures that suck at assasination all along!"

Seriously, Haku could have visited Tazuna's house the day after Zabuza and Kakashi's first battle and killed the man in plain view of everyone and gotten away with it. Kakashi's handicapped, team 7 is a bunch of scrubs at this point, why not?

Hell what was stopping Gato from killing Tazuna when work on the bridge began? It's all so goddamn convenient. As if the universe has to wait for the main character's to show up before the story can happen. Shame on you Kishimoto! Shame!

So this concludes part 1. My outline for chapter 3 took longer to draft than I imagined. So look forward to part 2 when things begin to ramp up.

Did you like? If so what? What didn't work? Let me know. There's this awesome box down below where you can share your thoughs with me :)

Until next time!

Version 1.0: Zelosh is dead. Long live the Zelosh.