Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor do I understand why anybody would think I did. This is being posted as fan fiction after all.

Akana gave a full and detailed report of their mission. When she finished Team Four stood at attention, awaiting the Raikage's response. He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his desk before speaking. "Very good, you handled yourselves admirably. Now, I'm sure you're wondering why I called your team here for a personal debriefing." He paused for a moment to examine the team, finding the expected looks of curiosity on all of their faces. "The truth is, I didn't call you here for a debriefing. You have another C-rank. Now I know it's unusual for a rookie gennin team to be given two of them in a row, but Akana has had the most experience with this guy out of all our shinobi here."

She leaned forward slightly, "What guy?" In response, the Raikage tossed her a folder. She snatched it out of the air and flipped it open, glancing at the photo. A look of resignation crossed her face as she glared at the Raikage. "Sometimes I hate you." He just grinned.

Naruto tried to keep quiet, but didn't quite manage it. "Hey, three day ago you threatened me if I didn't show Raikage-sama more respect!"

"He was my jounin-sensei, I'm entitled."

"Yeah, of course you'd get the exception. What's so bad about this guy we need to catch anyways?"

She groaned again, "We're going after Kazuhiko Izanagi. He's the most two-faced, smooth talking, treacherous bastard I've ever met. He's probably the most aggravating and soulless person I've ever met as well." She turned to face the Raikage again. "Why do I have to go find him?"

"He stole a document that was en route to the Lightning Daimyo, who wants it back. Izanagi specializes in stealth and infiltration, so his combat skills are severely lacking. This makes the mission a C-rank. You're going because you've had more experience dealing with and finding him than anyone else in the village."

"Lucky me,"

The Raikage continued as if he hadn't heard her, "Intelligence suggests that he's in Nagunta City, and that folder contains just about anything that could be of help to you. You'll have two days to relax a bit and brief your team, then you head out. Are there any questions?"

"Can't Nagao do it instead?"

The Raikage fixed Akana with a level stare, "He could, but I gave the mission to you."

"Did I mention earlier that I hate you sometimes?"

The Raikage rolled his eyes and leaned back in his chair. "Dismissed."



As Team Four walked through the streets Akana's irritation was plain to see. They moved in silence for several seconds before Meitoku finally spoke. "Raikage-sama mentioned that you've had dealings with the man before?"

"Yeah, I've worked with and against him. The man has no morals, and no sense of loyalty to anybody except himself and anyone he happens to be working with at the moment. Like the Raikage said, he's a pushover when it comes to combat. But that doesn't mean he's not dangerous. The man is a genius when it comes to stealth and infiltration, easily better than most ANBU. He uses that ability to steal secrets and documents of all kinds."

"You said you've worked against him," Meitoku interjected, "does that mean he actively works against Rai no Kuni?"

"Yes and no, he's worked against our nation. But does so less than he works against everyone else, which is why he's tolerated. His actions hurt our enemies more than they hurt us. Balancing his pros against his cons I suppose. It's a smart move on his part though; give him one place that'll tolerate him. It's rather typical of his way of thinking."

"So you know a lot about him then."

"More than just about anybody else in this village, and I've got a day to fill you in." True to her word, Akana spent the next two days drilling everything she knew about Izanagi into their heads. They learned about his looks, mannerisms, speech patterns, about the minor genjutsus he could use to great effect when evading pursuit, and much more. Her gennin began to feel as though they knew the man, despite never having been anywhere near him.

The Team left in the early morning as soon after the two days given to them by the Raikage were up. They covered ground quickly, moving to the southwest corner of Rai no Kuni. Moving at full speed, they arrived in about two and a half days. They barely even slowed as they entered the city, moving straight for the hotel that had been booked for them. They arrived panting, slightly out of breath.

"Akana-sensei," Yugito's voice broke the silence, "Was it really wise to enter like that? Izanagi's sure to know there are ninja about now."

"That's the point. The man is extremely inquisitive; he won't be able to resist trying to figure out why we're here. And if we have him sniffing around trying to find us instead of trying to lay low it'll be a lot easier to find him."

"I see."

"Good. Now, he's likely to come snooping around later tonight so we have to be paying attention. In other words stay alert for nearby chakra signatures. Naruto, Yugito, I'm going to have one of you waiting on the roof since you two are better able to suppress your chakra signature. With luck, we can find him tonight. But for now, let's eat."



Naruto ended up drawing the short straw and was stuck waiting outside. He was crouched on a slightly taller building that overlooked his hotel. He had a black bandanna tied over his bright yellow hair, but it did little to stop the rain that had started about an hour after he got outside. He was wet, cold, and in a very bad mood. Izanagi, he decided, had better show up soon. He didn't, and Naruto spent five hours crouched outside with no sign of his quarry.

Then, at about three o'clock in the morning he sensed something. There was a chakra signature slowly approaching from the north. Naruto crushed the sudden surge of elation; he couldn't afford to let his emotions ruin his concentration and cause his chakra to spike. He slowly shifted position, changing his field of view and spotting a shadowy figure moving slowly across the rooftops. He moved quickly yet stealthily to the roof of the hotel. No sooner had he touched down than Akana appeared on the roof with a crackle of electricity. Naruto also saw Yugito and Meitoku burst out the window and sprint up the side of the building. "Izanagi," Akana's voice rang out clearly, "we need to talk."

"Akana, it's been a while hasn't it?" Izanagi's voice was smooth; and dripped with charm, sincerity, and charisma. He completely ignored Yugito and Meitoku as they arrived on the roof alongside Akana. "Let's see four, no five years. Yes, back when we stole that trade information from the Water Daimyo."

"I'm not here to talk about the past."

"You never seem to be, always so serious and full of business. You need to learn to relax a little. I'd help, but unfortunately I must be going." He broke to his right suddenly, sprinting towards the edge of the roof. Meitoku didn't even seem to notice him moving. Naruto picked up on his other teammates' reactions as well. Yugito stared at his former position for about a second before shrugging something off and sprinting after him while Akana quickly brought her hands up in the ram sign before giving chase. The man had obviously used a genjutsu.

Izanagi was fast, and was gone from the rooftop in the blink of an eye. Luckily, however, he was moving towards Naruto. The aforementioned gennin was still hard pressed to catch him though. He landed on the far corner of the building and leapt off almost immediately. Naruto had sprinted across the building as soon as he saw Izanagi move, and just managed to catch the older man's ankle. He whirled, and tossed the infiltrator back towards the center of the roof.

Izanagi was caught by surprise, and hit the roof in an undignified heap. He was back on his feet quickly though, and Naruto got his first good look at their quarry. The man was completely unremarkable in appearance. He was of standard height, standard weight, plain face, brown eyes, black hair. Even his clothes were unremarkable, made of drab colored cloth and in a plain cut. Only by observing his eyes closely could one tell that there was anything special about the man. They had a shifty intelligence, and spoke of a lifetime of experience. Naruto noted how they were darting around the rooftop, obviously looking for an escape route.

"So the fourth member of the team makes his appearance, I was wondering when you'd show up." The grin soon faded from his face though, and Naruto knew why. He had felt the chakra lacing Izanagi's 

words, a sound-based genjutsu. It never quite caught a firm hold on Naruto however, and he was able to shrug it off with minimal effort.

"I'm sorry; you'll find that that won't work too well on me."

"Didn't work too well on your kunoichi teammate either. You're them aren't you, the wielders of this To-Remu Yajuuk bloodlinei I keep hearing about."

Naruto grinned as the rest of his team arrived. "That's right, so if you'd just cooperate for a second…"

Izanagi flashed a grim smile. "Sorry kid, but it's not like genjutsu is the only thing I've got up my sleeve." He shifted his weight slightly, and the area was suddenly enveloped in smoke. When it cleared, Izanagi was gone. Yugito and Naruto were both moving in slow circles, their Megurushi no To-Remu was active and they had enacted another stage as well. They now had slitted pupils, and their irises had adopted the color of their markings. There was also chakra surrounding their ears, taking on a form suggestive of those of a cat or fox.

"Well," asked Akana, "anything?"

Naruto growled in frustration. "No, not even with Ishiki no To-Remu. We can catch his scent where he was standing, but then it's like he just disappeared."

"We'll split up then. Naruto and Yugito will pair up, Meitoku's with me. Search the area in concentric circles; he has to have left some trace of where he went." The four shinobi leapt off the roof in a blur.

Izanagi was standing on the top floor of the building, and let out a sigh of relief as he felt them leave. He had phased through the roof to escape his pursuers. It was a useful escape jutsu that he had just learned. It was nigh impossible to sense it being used, there was no sound and no chakra surge like what would be felt with a shunshin. He was lucky to have it; Akana was highly gifted in genjutsu. And however To-Remu Yajuuki helped its bearers, it seemed to make them highly resistant to genjutsu. He'd have to lay low for the rest of the night, and leave tomorrow.

The following morning a team of very disgruntled shinobi met back at their hotel room. They had spent all night running around the city, and not seen hide nor hair of Izanagi. "Damn," Naruto muttered, "I've never seen anybody just disappear like that. Not even Raikage-sama."

"That's because Izanagi has trained exclusively in stealth and infiltration. I don't even know how he pulled that escape off, and I've worked alongside him before. Even when you're allied with him he hides his abilities. He'll use genjutsu to cover up many of the things he does, and always insists on splitting up."

"I get the picture. Got any idea as to what he'll do next?"

"Oh that's easy, he's going to leave."



"Wait, all that talk about how unpredictable and secretive he is. And you can just predict his next move that easily?"

"Oh, I can't predict his next move."

"But you just said he's going to leave."

"I can predict the purpose of his next move; I know he'll want to get out of here. What I don't know is how. He could climb the walls, leave under disguise, hide in a wagon, leave under a genjutsu. There's no way to tell."

"So how are we supposed to catch him?"

"We're going to patrol the city and try to sense his chakra signature."

"Wonderful," the sarcasm was evident in Naruto's voice. "When do we start?"

"Now."

Naruto groaned. He had barely gotten a few hours of sleep before he had gone out to watch for Izanagi the previous night. Then he spent half the night crouched on a rooftop, in the rain. He proceeded to spend the rest of the night running around the entire city, also in the rain. Now he was going to run all around the edges of the city, and the kami-forsaken rain still hadn't stopped. He sighed; it was shaping up to be a crappy day. He bit back his complaint, though, and leapt after Yugito as the pair took off to continue scouring the city.

Two hours later Naruto was really starting to get annoyed, and a bit fatigued. He had spent two and a half days of hard travel, a night spent running around in the rain, followed by a day spent running around in the rain. If it wasn't for his inhuman stamina he doubted he'd even be aware of his surroundings. Stamina or no, his fatigue got the better of him and he stumbled as he landed on the next roof.

Yugito placed a steadying hand on his shoulder. "You okay?"

"Yeah, just starting to get a bit tired is all. I didn't get to sleep in shifts like the rest of you."

"Then you shouldn't draw the short straw next time."

"If I'd have known it was the short straw, do you really think I'd have drawn it?"

"Whatever, just settle down and get a little bit of rest. Then we can keep going." Naruto nodded and leaned back against a cooling unit on the roof. As he let himself relax he found his mind drifting back to his brief encounter with Izanagi last night. Something was bothering him, but he couldn't quite place it. Wait, that was it. He had been fleeing to the east. They had already been fairly close to the eastern edge of the city, and there were no more gates in the walls any further in that direction. In fact, the walls themselves stopped where they met a massive series of cliffs. Izanagi couldn't have been planning on climbing them, they were made of shale. Loose, slippery shale that would crash down and slice apart 

anyone that was foolish enough to climb it. It made that section of the town very dangerous, the only things there were heavily reinforced warehouses that contained cargo from boats moving along the river.

"That's it!" he shot to his feet, all fatigue forgotten. "The river!"

"What do you mean the river?"

"Last night, when he was fleeing from the rooftop, he was headed east. There's nothing east of there except warehouses and the docks. He was heading to the river, it was his first instinct. He's going to use it to get out of the city. Come on."

"Wait, Naruto, are you sure?" But Naruto was already gone, leaping along the rooftops as he headed towards the river. Yugito bit back a curse and leapt after him, thumbing the radio on her belt so she could tell Akana where they were going. Naruto didn't stop until he reached the last tall building that overlooked the docks. Upon arrival, he stood at the age and stared down at the streets below. Yugito landed next to him, "River huh? I don't see him."

"I don't know when he's leaving Yugito-chan, only where he's doing it from. Wait, there!" Yugito followed Naruto's pointing finger and, sure enough, a figure could be seen running down the street between rows of warehouses.

Yugito opened her mouth to give him a plan of pursuit, but Naruto was already gone. "He can be so impulsive at times," she grumbled. Then she hit the switch on her radio. "Akana-sensei, we have visual contact among the warehouses by the river. We're initiating pursuit."

Akana's voice came back, garbled slightly by static. "Understood, Meitoku and I are on our way." Yugito switched the radio back to standby mode and leapt off after Naruto. The aforementioned blonde was making good time. He had guessed Izanagi's route correctly and put on all speed. He landed in the middle of an alley about fifteen seconds before Izanagi came sprinting around the corner.

He pulled up short as he saw Naruto waiting for him. "Oh, you too. My day keeps getting better and better."

"This doesn't have to be so difficult, if you'd just be willing to surrender the scr-" Naruto was cut off as another cloud of smoke obscured the man. This time, however, he was able to notice Izanagi's chakra signature slipping into a warehouse. With a grin of triumph, he ran up the wall and through a window, throwing himself headlong inside.

He landed on a stack of crates, and just glimpsed a shadowy figure run by underneath him. He gave chase, but Izanagi managed to lose him in the warehouse. He was, however, forced to give himself away while opening a door to get out. Naruto arrived at a dead sprint and almost bowled over Yugito as he ran outside.

"About time I found you, start thinking before you run off!"



Naruto grinned sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head. "Heh, sorry Yugito-chan. Guess I just got carried away."

"Obviously. Anyways, Akana-sensei should be here soon. Then we should be able to get him."

Naruto's expression went from sheepish to serious in the blink of an eye. "Wait, you mean she's not already here?"

"No, she's on the far side of the city with Meitoku, why?"

"He said you too. When Izanagi saw me he said "Oh, you too." He had someone else chasing him as well, and if it's not Akana-sensei…"

"Then we've got competition."

"Yeah," The familiar markings of Megurushi no To-Remu appeared on Naruto's skin, and he activated Ishiki no To-Remu soon after. He gave a brief sigh, still amazed at how greatly his senses were enhanced. He twisted his head slightly, catching Izanagi's scent. "This way, come on." The two shinobi took off at a dead run; now they really needed to catch their quarry quickly.

Izanagi was fast though, and was able to lead them on quite a chase. He was also able to work his way back to more populated areas. Naruto found that out the hard way, turning a corner and nearly trampling a purple-clad girl. He grabbed her by the shoulders briefly as he ran buy, steadying her. Then he ran on with her cries of anger ringing in his ears.

Their chase came to an abrupt, though hopefully temporary end, as they charged into a building only to find it empty. It was at that moment that Akana landed behind them. "Where is he?"

"Good question," Naruto snarled, angry at himself for letting the man get away. "He's just so damn slippery, we can't keep track of him. He has to be close though, we saw him run into this building and we aren't under a genjutsu. Oh, he also alluded to someone else trying to chase him down."

"Did he give you any clue as to who they are?"

"Nope, not at all. All I know is that we're probably not the only ones trying to catch this guy."

"Nothing ever seems to go well that involves this guy. Okay, from now on we move as a unit. Let's see if we can sense his chakra, we need to catch him fast." Before the gennin could voice their agreement an explosion rumbled throughout the district, likely from a large explosive tag. The four of them exchanged glances, then raced off. They arrived at the smoking crater about a minute later. Naruto and Yugito immediately took a few sniffs and conferred with each other, then turned to address their teammates.

"There were four people here. Izanagi was one, along with another male in his twenties. There were also three people about our age; two male and one female."



Akana looked up from where she was analyzing the crater. "Must have been another gennin team. Did anybody get caught in the blast?"

"Doubtful, there's no blood."

"Okay then, start trying to find chakra signatures. See if you can pick out a group of three that have reserves around gennin-level. The other team searching for Izanagi saw him last, so they'll have a better idea of where he is now then we do. They're also going to be a lot easier to sense than he is. Hell, the jounin with them might be easier to sense than Izanagi."

"Got them," Naruto and Yugito spoke simultaneously, both having picked up on the chakra signature's of the three gennin almost instantly.

Akana nodded, having picked up on the signatures as well. "Okay, let's go." Team Four set off and Akana soon noticed something. "They're moving towards us."

Naruto grinned, "Hopefully that means they're herding Izanagi in our direction."

Meitoku briefly adjusted the kodachi at his hip before speaking. "That is a distinct possibity, and a most welcome one at that. I've grown weary of chasing this one."

Yugito quirked an eyebrow, "Wow Meitoku, that has to be the most words I've ever heard you speak at once."

Akana cut in before Meitoku could reply. "Quiet, if Izanagi is coming towards us we don't want to alert him of our presence before he arrives. Talk if you have to; otherwise keep your mouths closed." The four shinobi hurtled forward in the tense silence, each of them hoping that their chase was finally at its end.

They rounded a corner to see Izanagi sprinting towards them. He skidded to an abrupt stop and spun around, only to see four more shinobi turn that corner. They all bore Konoha hitaites. A bearded jounin met Akana's gaze as he removed a cigarette from his mouth and stomped it out beneath his heel. "You were one of Kumo's diplomats. It's been what now, ten years?"

"Yeah, ten years," she turned to regard her team, "It should go without saying, but we can't let them get that scroll."

The jounin turned to his team as well, "Well, looks like you'll get a bit of a fight after all."

It was the dark-haired boy standing behind his sensei that, in Akana's opinion, summed up the situation quite nicely. "How troublesome."

Translations

Megurushi no To-Remu: Translates to Markings of the Totem. This is the first stage of the kekkai genkai To-Remu Yajuuki. It is easily identified as the user's chakra appears on their skin in a pattern of tribal markings. While in this state the user gains enhanced speed, strength, and sensory ability. 

Additionally, their nails turn into claws and they gain the ability to utilize the rest of their bloodline's techniques.

Ishiki no To-Remu: Translates to Senses of the Totem. User's eyes change to resemble that of their totem. Chakra will also outline the user's ears. This stage of To-Remu Yajuuki greatly enhances all five senses of its user.