Alright so here's chapter 4. Sorry it took so long but between research projects, studying for finals, and going to Miami for a week, I haven't had too much time to work on it. But now that I'm back home and it's winter break I have tons of time on my hands, so I decided to write. But if you guys want to speed me up a bit IM me (KakashiIshDaSexi) and nag the crap out of me! Seriously just say stuff like, "why aren't you writing?" "are you writing". But really, hope you guys like this one too! Please review!
"We found him." The look in Neji's face and eyes was enough to let everybody know exactly what he had planned once they captured him. This guy wasn't going to have a pleasant time with their team, unless he cooperated. Neji continued and his malice disappeared, the hard part of the mission was over.
"Naruto told me that just before sun down was the best time to act, since the Anbu scouts will be making transfers at this time. If we are going to capture him tonight, we need to act quickly." Neji said as he sat down at the base of the rock that he and Naruto were hiding behind just a moment ago.
"Neji-senpai, now that we have all of our information, maybe we should wait until tomorrow to capture him. It's almost sun down now, and we don't know how we're going to capture him yet. We should take a day to rest from traveling and think of a strategy." Arate was making sense. They were all pretty tired from traveling most of the day. Naruto probably not as much as the others, since a good night's sleep was all he ever needed to recharge himself.
"Neji, that might not be a bad idea. The guy we got the information from won't remember a thing, so he can't tell anyone about it. We're safe to wait another day." Naruto didn't mind giving it another day. They didn't have a strategy and no time to plan one either. But from the look on Neji's face, it didn't look like he wanted to wait.
"The man that told us about Uragiri told us that nobody pays him any mind, which means that if we focus on keeping our presence down, then capturing him and keeping that a secret shouldn't be too hard either. We have just as good a chance tonight as any other day."
"Neji, we need to scout the outer walls for an escape route in case we're seen, we have to find out which parts of the village are easiest to infiltrate through and a campsite to bring Uragiri to once we have him. We can't do all of that in the next few hours, and you said yourself that you don't want to split up. Tomorrow would be better." Naruto didn't feel like arguing with Neji, because in the back of his mind, he knew that Neji would win this anyway. But he had to agree with Arate, they had just gotten all the information about Uragiri that they needed to find him, now before they captured him they needed to make prior preparations.
"Shizune, what do you think?" Neji asked but almost like he was asking for sake of majority rules.
"Naruto-kun and Arate-kun are right. I'm sorry Neji-kun, there's too much left to prepare for and we could all use some rest." Naruto reconsidered what he thought about not winning this. Neji was quiet now, and didn't say anymore on the topic. Since he was silent Naruto took the chance to step in and plan for tomorrow.
"The sun is just about setting, so we should probably get our rest now. There's plenty of time tomorrow starting at sunrise to plan where to bring him, and where to go in case we're seen. To do all of that tonight is a higher risk since the Anbu scouts are usually much sharper at night. So tomorrow Neji and Arate should try to find a safe place to enter the village, and Shizune-neechan and I will find a place to bring Uragiri." Naruto looked up at anyone to see if they had any other plan. It didn't look like anyone thought that the arrangement should be different, so they all just nodded their heads. Naruto then suggested that they move at least a few more miles away from the village, since he's heard of villages expanding their scout radius at night for tighter security. Within the next twenty minutes the team was far enough away to be safe from scouts and was fast asleep. Even Naruto had fallen asleep relatively quickly, and without any worries or fears. Probably because this kind of place is where he's used to being. On the enemies front line, ready for anything. The most dangerous place was now the only place where he felt like he knew where he was and why he was there. Strange and somewhat pathetic. Strange because the dangerous places should be where he stays up all night, worried about his safety and the safety of his team. And pathetic because the places where he should feel safe and out of trouble or danger were the places he couldn't stand to be for more than a few hours. Naruto didn't even realize any of this. All he knew was that he didn't feel strange or pathetic, but calm and familiar.
Next Morning...
Neji woke up first and packed himself up, then woke everybody else who then followed suit to Neji. Naruto was the last one to wake himself up and the last one to have himself packed. Once they were all ready to move out Neji sent Naruto and Shizune out to find a safe place far enough away from the village not to be found, but not too far as to have trouble getting there with a captured prisoner.
On their way, Shizune was keeping track of their distance on the map and Naruto was running through the brush on the ground as opposed to through the trees. Reason being that hopping through the trees caused the branches to shake and made noise, and they didn't want to alert anything or anyone around them. Besides, the last thing they needed was to be followed to a place that was supposed to be a hideout. Once they were around a good twenty miles from the village, they found an abandoned cabin. Naruto and Shizune both examined the outside perimeter and the inside to make sure that there was no way anyone lived here. It was old and the wooden walls, ceiling and floors were all rotting. There was no sign of furniture or belongings anywhere, and from the amount of overgrown forest and brush covering the house outside, they assumed it had been a while since anybody was here.
Once they were satisfied with the location, they left. Before running off, Naruto grew one of Kyuubi's tails from his lower back and gently brushed his and Shizune's foot prints away. Then pounded his tail against the ground to make it look like it hadn't been disturbed. Once Naruto started back towards where they were supposed to meet up with Neji and Arate, he found that Shizune hadn't waited for him, but left tiny kunai marks on the nearby trees in case he couldn't find his way back.
With Naruto's speed, he caught up to Shizune quickly and they ran the rest of the way together. Once they were at the previous night's campsite, they sat and patiently waited for Arate and Neji. They didn't talk, but Shizune occasionally glanced at Naruto, but he never glanced back. The one time he did, all he did was smile at her, and still said nothing. Shizune didn't smile back, in fact, she looked sad almost. Naruto noticed, but ignored it.
"Naruto-kun, why...?" Shizune didn't get to finish before Arate interrupted.
"Neji-senpai and I found some good places for us to enter and exit the village, but both places are different. In case we get discovered and one exit is blocked, we can use the other!" Arate seemed awfully proud of his achievement, and who was Naruto to tell him it wasn't that big of a deal? It was a big deal, an insurance policy really.
"What now, Neji?" Naruto asked getting less cheerful. They were that much closer to the enemy, so there was no time for fun and games.
"Shizune, the map." Neji said without looking at her, just holding his hand out in her direction. Shizune rummaged through her backpack, pulled it out and handed it to him. Neji took it and opened it on the ground. Naruto, Arate and Shizune gathered around and watched as he drew faint lines on the map with a pencil.
"Arate and I took time to make sure the exits were usable. We saw the place where Uragiri is, and confirmed that it was him. The information we were given is correct, nobody pays him any mind, and he almost never leaves his house. The closest usable exit to him is here. Naruto, we will need you and Shizune to lead the way out of the village to the hideout you prepared. How far is it?" Neji said occasionally pointing to some important places on the map.
"Shizune-neechan and I found an abandoned cabin about twenty miles southeast of here. It's back in the direction of Konoha, so in case something goes wrong, we can retreat. We checked it. Nobody's been there for quite a long time." Naruto said as Neji looked at Shizune, and she gave a nod saying that he was telling the truth.
"It's right about here, Neji-kun." Shizune said as she took the pencil from Neji's hand and drew a small line from the village to the cabin. Arate watched and paid attention the whole time.
"Alright! When do we go in for the kill!" Arate said, a little bit too excited. Neji, Naruto and Shizune gave him stares. Naruto was the only one smiling at him. He remembered being happy about dangerous things, because he thought it might be a way that he can prove that he was a great ninja, and he had to admit that those feelings were flourishing inside of him now once again.
"After we have a plan, Arate." Neji said sounding like he was on his last nerve with the peppy kid. Naruto put his hand on Neji's shoulder and gave him a look that said 'calm down, he's just a kid'. But in the back of his mind, he couldn't blame Neji for being annoyed. They were on enemy lines, and they were merely hours away from infiltrating them, and Arate was sitting here eager and unprepared.
"Shizune, I need your help to knock him out. First I'll hit his major tenketsu and stop his flow of chakra, making him unable to do any real damage to any of us. Then I want you to use medical ninjutsu to knock him out for a good few hours. You can do that, right?" Neji didn't even really ask but wasn't confirming either, more like ordering.
"If you attack his vital tenketsu and I strike his center of gravity, where the body's chakra is circulated, the surplus of chakra that will be forced to circulate and have nowhere to go, will cause his body to go into hyperthermia, and soon pass out from massive raise in temperature. This maneuver is easy for any medical ninja." Shizune almost said that as if to say 'what do you take me for?'.
They continued to plan where and when to attack until everybody came to an agreement on time, place, and how it was to be done. Arate would enter the house first through the back door, and watch his movements for thirty minutes, to make sure that he truly was alone, had no guests, and that they weren't walking into a trap themselves. After thirty minutes, Arate would signal to Neji to enter his home. They needed to be fast, and make sure that no struggle or trouble was made so that nobody would wonder what happened enough for the Tsuchikage to investigate or put up a search party for him. Arate would draw Uragiri's attention and distract him from Neji, who would quickly strike his vital tenketsu and stop his flow of chakra. Once that was done, Arate and Neji would retreat out from the house and out of the village and scout for Anbu. Shizune and Naruto would then enter the house. Shizune would knock him out with one strike, and Naruto would carry him out leaving everything as it was. Once they were at the cabin they would question and torture him if he didn't cooperate.
Dusk...
Naruto had generated another Bunshin and disguised it as an Anbu and had it keep an eye on their escape and entrance routes. Thankfully, it was overlooked by the other Anbu scouts of Tsuchigakure during the shift switch hour. Besides, it's not like it was standing out in the open to be seen, it was hiding, in case it was seen and not recognized. But in case it was found hiding by other Anbu, they wouldn't get a good look at it.
Neji was using his Byakugan to scout and watch for Anbu scouts and find the ones that were changing shifts and that seemed unaware. The five in particular that he was watching were the five closest to the team's escape routes, and not Uragiri's location. If an Anbu attempted to help him, they could easily be taken care of, and Naruto would be able to fill there positions with Bunshins, who would be able to hold out until they got what they needed from Uragiri, or until Godaime decided what to do about the situation or what to do with the information they would either get or have to force out of him.
Arate was stretching and getting himself ready to infiltrate Uragiri's house. He was confident that he could sneak around for a half an hour and not be seen. He felt like he was ready for anything, and didn't notice Naruto watching him, as he seemed to be concentrating his chakra onto watching his Bunshin. Naruto wasn't smiling this time. In fact, he was thinking about how horrible it will be for Arate when he actually does get ruined. There was no way Arate could possibly have been ruined and still maintain such innocence. Naruto wished he could be happy and confident again, wished he could be peppy and innocent. It seemed earlier like the closer they got to danger, the farther Naruto felt from harm. But now that he was watching Arate, he felt that maybe the boy was too happy about being this close to danger. It brought back the cynical side of Naruto that he thought he had left in Anbu HQ that night, but apparently, it followed him one way or another.
Shizune was also getting herself ready to attack Uragiri by attacking nearby rocks with her hands charged with chakra. The rocks didn't move at first, but after a moment or so, shattered into pieces. She hadn't attacked the rock with great strength, but they were breaking from the inside out. She was forcing her chakra into the rocks, and then expanding it causing the rock to lose stability. This principle would apply to her attack on Uragiri by sending a surplus of chakra into his body then expanding it quickly through his tenketsu, causing hyperthermia then eventually unconsciousness.
"Everyone, come here now!" Neji didn't really yell that command, but said it firmly enough so that they knew when he said 'now' he meant 'now'. Once everybody was close enough to him, Neji squinted his eyes tightly and started looking around carefully. Naruto didn't bother watching him, but also looked off into the distance, while Shizune and Arate just starred at Neji waiting for him to speak.
"Two of the Anbu by our entrance route have left their posts, and there's no replacement. Our best change is now, only one is scouting close enough to that area to catch us, but we can avoid him easily. Let's go!" Arate jumped off to another tree branch and Naruto followed. They leaped through the trees for a few moments until they came to the village's gate. It wasn't as large as Konoha's but still big. Arate jumped and grabbed the ledge of it, then looked back at Neji. Neji nodded his head, to tell him that the area was clear for him to jump the gate.
Arate swung himself up and over the gate and landed in a crouched position on the ground in front of the wall. He looked up and to the left to make sure that the Anbu scout that was closest too him didn't see him, and used Henge no Jutsu to change his appearance to that of a villager, when he saw him about to look in his direction as if he had heard something. Once he was changed, he started walking in the opposite direction of the Anbu casually, as not to seem suspicious. Neji was still watching and let out his breathe, and loosened his grip on the tree branch he was using for balance.
"What happened, Neji-kun?" Shizune asked when she saw him ease up.
"He almost got caught, and he hasn't even been in the village for a minute." Neji asked sounding really annoyed and slightly relieved. The last thing they needed to slow the mission down was having to save him from interrogation. Naruto didn't even look over at them, but instead kept his fingers crossed for Arate.
Arate decided the best thing for walking on enemy grounds was to stay in that form and hopefully nobody would be watching him too closely. Once he reached Uragiri's home, he looked around for Anbu scouts and didn't find any close enough to him, or watching him. Once he confirmed that, he quickly slipped around to the side of the house and peeked into a window. When he didn't see Uragiri, he immediately dropped his head. He may not have seen Uragiri, but he might've been seen. Basic knowledge for spying was your angle of vision as opposed to your target's angle of vision. If the target's angle is unknown, don't risk it. With that, he waited for a moment in case someone came to the window, and when nobody did, he snuck around to the back. Arate then reached out to the sliding door, and pushed gently. It was unlocked. He took that tiny crack that he made, peeked through it and looked around a little more. He couldn't see much but he could tell that Uragiri wasn't in the room. This was good, and bad. Good because he could easily slip into the house granted that he was quiet, but bad because he didn't know where he was, and either could be seen or snuck up on, and finding a place to hide in that condition would be difficult. Deciding that the ups weren't worth the risking the downs, he slid the door closed and waited.
Neji watched and nodded. At least Arate was smart enough to know how to weigh the pros and cons of a situation, and then take proper action. Arate then put his ear up to the wall then felt and listened for movement. He heard nothing, but felt vibrations coming from the upstairs portion of the small house. Knowing this now, he slid the door open enough to let himself in, then quietly shut it behind him, and quickly ducked into a hiding place. Arate made sure he was well hidden, even to somebody who knew the house well, and stayed there. During the thirty minutes he was assigned to keep watch, Uragiri didn't come downstairs at all.
Instead of signaling to Naruto, Neji and Shizune, he decided to make sure it was safe for them to come inside. For all Arate knew, he could be upstairs waiting for him so he could ambush them. It was worth risking one ninja's life instead of four. He slipped out of his hiding place and walked slowly, in a crouched position, over to the stairs. He climbed them, and peeked around each corner before turning it.
"What's going on down there? It's already been a half an hour Neji-kun. Why hasn't Arate given us the signal?" Shizune was clearly getting worried that maybe Neji wasn't giving them enough information about what he was seeing.
"It's not safe right now. We don't have enough information on how to enter his house. And Arate hasn't given a signal, because he hasn't seen Uragiri yet and doesn't know what he's doing. He's been in the lower level of the house, and now he's going to check the upstairs, to confirm Uragiri's position. It won't be long now." Neji obviously was agreeing with Arate's course of action. Neji then looked over at Naruto, and finally understood what he was doing. He was concentrating on his Bunshin, having it keep an eye on Arate, and give him notice if something happened. It was also keeping the other Anbu scouts away, by ensuring them that somebody was already covering that area. It lightened the load on Arate, so all he had to worry about was Uragiri for the time being. Neji said nothing to him, as not to break his concentration, since that was always an area where Naruto lacked but instead motioned to Shizune to be quiet, stop asking questions and be patient.
Neji looked back into the house with his Byakugan and saw that Arate was right outside the room that Uragiri was in. He was getting ready to sleep and from his body language and chakra flow, was apparently tired. Capturing him would take no time at all. Just as Neji thought that, Arate drew his kunai and used the hand holding it to cut his finger a bit. Both Neji, and the Bunshin saw it.
"That's it Neji!" Naruto finally said which startled Shizune. Neji immediately took off and Shizune followed closely behind him, and Naruto by Neji's side. Within minutes, they were all surrounding the house that Arate was in. Naruto looked up and saw his Bunshin and waved to it. It didn't wave back but lifted it's mask to show that it was, indeed, Naruto's Bunshin. Arate looked through a window and saw Neji, they nodded at each other, saying that they were both ready. Naruto looked at Shizune and they both showed that they were ready. Arate then took the kunai that he was still holding and jammed it into the door hard enough for the blade to push through to the other side, and make enough noise to wake Uragiri, if he was sleeping. Once Arate heard movement in the room, he ran through an open door and hid again. Once Neji saw the door handle move, he opened the window and slipped inside, making sure to be close enough to attack him quickly.
Neji looked at the position of the door again, and decided differently. Instead of being there when Uragiri opened the door, he hid behind the banister of the staircase and waited for him to come closer. Naruto looked through the window he was closest to and saw Uragiri. The picture they were given was old, so his appearance didn't match exactly. He was a man of average height, and was very skinny. He looked much older than he was, he was in his early forties, but looked closer to his late fifties. He had large, wrinkly bags under his eyes and his cheekbones were clearly visible. It was obvious that he wasn't taking good care of himself, and Naruto made a mental note to himself that he probably would have to be gentle with him if he was going to survive torture, if it came down to that.
Luckily enough, Uragiri walked slowly towards the stairs, holding onto the wall as he went. He was weak and frail, and Naruto silently hoped to himself that Neji would notice that, and not attack him so violently. But before Naruto could think anymore, he had to act. Uragiri was a few steps away from Neji's range of attack and he couldn't risk Neji killing him by being too violent.
"Shizune-neechan! Go in now! Attack him!" Naruto said loud enough for her to hear. Sure enough too, without hesitation, she did. She came through the window that Neji left open and did as they planned. She struck the old man right in his stomach, and he immediately fell to his feet coughing and wheezing. Right after, his skin started to sweat and become clammy. Shizune just watched until his knees gave out and he collapsed onto the ground. Neji rose from his hiding place, and looked enraged with her early reaction. Thankfully Naruto saw it coming and slipped through the window, grabbed Uragiri, and positioned him so that his arms came over his shoulders and he could hold onto the underside of his legs. With that he called for Arate and jumped back through the window and followed through with the rest of the plan.
Neji and Shizune simply followed Naruto and Arate quietly. Eventually Shizune made her away ahead of Naruto and lead the way. Once they got to the cabin, Naruto went inside and put Uragiri down in the corner farthest from the door, and immediately walked out. Shizune walked over and started to tie Uragiri up with the rope she was carrying with her, and strengthening it with chakra. Just before Naruto walked out the door, he looked back at Shizune.
"There's no need to strengthen the rope. He's too weak to break the rope without it, you'll just burn him. He can't die before we can make him talk." Shizune heard him, but didn't stop what she was doing. She simply finished binding his ankles and wrists, then left him alone, and didn't strengthen the rope. Besides, if he was that weak, they wouldn't have any need to worry about him getting away.
Naruto wasn't too happy to find Neji following him outside the cabin. He was about to bitch at him for telling Shizune to act before he signaled her. Naruto at this point didn't care too much. He knew that he did was needed to be done for the mission. The man had almost no chakra to begin with, and attacking his tenketsu would've been too dangerous for him. Naruto had made rash decisions like that on Anbu missions before and after explaining to his team why he did what he did, they usually dropped it and continued with the rest of the mission. But they never questioned him while he acted, but when it was safe and the task was complete.
But not Neji. Neji was smart, and knew what it meant to act as a team and according to plan, but he was already angry with some of Arate's actions and clumsiness. And now he had a perfect excuse and target to release it all on. Naruto sat against a tree outside and Neji sat in front of him.
"You should've waited for me to signal Shizune." Neji didn't sound as angry as Naruto had thought, so he eased up as well.
"If you had attacked him the way we planned, it would've fatally injured him, and possibly killed him. I couldn't risk that."
"That's why we have Shizune."
"I know why she's here, but no amount of medical ninjutsu can unclog the tenketsu. That simply takes time, and for him, too much time."
"I'll give you that."
"I did what I had to do. I didn't have time to explain myself to Shizune-neechan or signal to you. It was a now or never situation."
"I know. Forget it. I actually wanted to ask you something else." When Naruto looked up at Neji, he saw that he was genuinely curious and definitely concerned. Whatever it was that he was going to ask Naruto, he knew it wouldn't be easy to answer, but felt ready for it anyway.
"Shizune tried to ask you about it earlier, but she didn't get time. Why did you enlist into Anbu? And more importantly, why did you resign?" Just as Naruto thought. And to make it worse, it was the last thing he wanted to talk about. The last thing on his mind at the moment. He was fighting to keep it there, and was winning, but now that Neji brought it up, and he couldn't ignore the question. He could easily say that it wasn't any of Neji's business, but knowing Neji, he would use his genius skill of interrogation by reading his eyes, and eventually get it out of him. Naruto saw no reason to stand his ground and keep him mouth shut like he was captured. He was with a fellow ninja. A teammate. His friend.
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