Sakura had been dragging her feet as they came closer to home. Usually she was just as excited as Naruto to return, but for very different reasons. For him it meant a trip to his favorite Ramen restaurant was in the near future. For her it meant clean clothes, a chance to take a bath and a home-cooked meal.

The reason for her reluctance to return home was the promise that she had made to both herself and Shiori. What was she thinking when she had said, she was going to study under one of the greatest medical ninjas in history. At the time it seemed so simple, after all Naruto had convinced one of the legendary Sanninto to train him for at least awhile. If he could do that how hard would it be for her to do the same?

That had been her reasoning at least. Although in hindsight, the only reason that thought had lasted so long was because she had been too busy to think about it. Once they were able to resume their original mission, Kakashi had left them saying he had to make a report to the Hokage immediately. This had left her in charge of the rest of the mission by default. Sasuke couldn't bring himself to care about following the correct procedures in this situation, and Naruto would probably try his hardest but screw up in the end.

In fact she had almost lost it with their client herself. He had raised a fuss because a jonin hadn't been there in the end to deliver the final message. She had to patiently and calmly convince him to pay the full fee. The entire time she had to ignore the voice in the back of her head. Inner Sakura was telling her to do things to this man that would probably result in him never hiring a Konoha ninja again. D ranked mission's paid little as it was and being stiffed on a successful completed mission was not something she wanted to report back. Civilians always seemed to put too much emphasis on empty ceremonies she thought.

After that minor headache was out of the way she had begun to think about herself. She had changed since she had graduated from the Academy but in very subtle ways when compared to her teammates. For example, the supply she had taken on this mission bared little resemblance to what she had taken on her first long-distance mission. When they had departed for the Wave country she had brought among other frivolous things several changes of clothes and a ton of hair products. This time she had brought one change of clothes and a hair brush. This subtle change had only been met with a silent nod of approval from Kakashi.

Things like that didn't really make her stand out from other Kunoichi or any other potential apprentice for that matter. She didn't have any special abilities like Ino did or a bloodline like Hinata did. Either of them would probably make a better apprentice than she would. The only thing she had going for her was her determination. When she set her sights on something she did not give up easily. She would fulfill her promise; she just was not looking forward to it.

For the first time in her life Sakura actually admired something about Naruto. He had always had an oblivious attitude towards his superior's. She couldn't imagine herself demanding that the third Hokage give her a real mission like he had. Of course, what she was going to ask of the fifth was much more than just a mission.

Sasuke had stopped walking and turned to speak to her, "Sakura are you okay? You're walking rather slowly?"

She could feel her face turn red in embarrassment. She really hadn't expected them not to notice her slow pace. After all, she had turned the three day return trip into a four. She just had hoped that neither of them would comment on it. "I'm fine Sasuke, I must have hurt my leg in the fight it's just acting up a little."

From the look on his face he probably hadn't bought the excuse, but Naruto chose that moment to interject his own question. "Hey Sakura, you want me to carry you on my back so you don't have to walk on it? He asked with a huge grin on his face."

He just had to butt in and ruin the moment. "I am fine Naruto" she snapped at him, as she sped up leaving the two of them behind. Why couldn't it have been Sasuke to make that offer?

Their little side mission seemed to have help resolve some of the tension that had been within the team Sakura thought. Things weren't back to normal within her team, but they had improved. Whatever Naruto had done to annoy Sasuke back at the hospital it had apparently been forgiven if not forgotten.

As they approached the main gates of Konoha Sakura's anxiety grew. She really wished she hadn't had so much time to think about her decision. She jumped in surprise as a Chunin guard addressed them. "Team seven I am to accompany you to the Hokage office immediately." She had heard that tone many times before but it had never been directed at her, they were in trouble.

She shot a glared over at Naruto, he hadn't pulled any pranks since he had graduated or at least that's what she had thought. If he had done something that could get both her and Sasuke in trouble she was going to kill him. Completely oblivious to her rather violent thoughts she was directing towards him, Naruto simply shrugged at her glare.

"It's probably about the thing" Sasuke said quietly enough so that their escort wouldn't hear them.

It took Sakura a moment to figure out what Sasuke meant by that, the damn muskets thing again.


Naruto looked around in amazement as they followed their escort into the Hokage's office. For the first time he could recall Tsunade's desk was completely devoid of paperwork. "Oi, what did you do with all your paperwork, hide it under the ceiling tiles? He eyed at the ceiling as if expecting it to collapse any second.

Freezing at the glare Tsunade was directing at him he had the familiar feeling of being in trouble. For the first time in his life he was completely innocent. He was about to start protesting, when he was cut off by a dismissive gesture made by Tsunade. Their escort wasted no time in his retreat, not wanting to witness the wrath of an angry Hokage. Naruto was starting to get that tight sick feeling in his stomach which he only felt after disappointing someone important to him.

"Team seven" Tsunade began in a grave and serious tone "you are hereby to be commended for your recent actions."

"What!" Naruto shouted as he leaned over her desk so he could shout at her more efficiently. "Why did you make us believe we were in trouble if you were going to congratulate us?" He was going to say a lot more when Tsunade used one of her fingers to send him flying across the room.

"I thought you of all people would enjoy a practical joke." She smiled as she continued "there are some things we have to discuss about your last mission. Naruto according to Kakashi's report you fought the second ninja. Tell me about him."

Climbing to his feet Naruto frowned in concentration. He didn't understand why she cared about this but she was the Hokage.

Frowning in concentration Naruto began describing the man the best way he could. "He wore the same type of clothes that those Grass ninjas wore. The ones we fought during the Chunin exams. He fought with a" he trailed off.

His mind blanked when he came to the exact name of the weapon. He tried to remember back to a book they had to read while at the Ninja Academy. It had described dozens of weapons that they might come across in the field and how they might be used against them. So many of them had looked alike, he couldn't remember all their names. The weapon had been something basic, the answer suddenly came to him "aBo! It was longer than usual and when he hit me in the arm it made me feel a little numb. He only used one jutsu I don't remember what he called it, but it was like a small tornado." Making a face Naruto continued, "It wasn't really all that powerful of an attack."

"Did he say anything during the fight?

"He said he was a ninja, but he said it like it was a bad thing."

Tsunade leaned back in her chair and stared at the ceiling considering the new information. After several minutes surprisingly Sasuke was the one to break the silence. "I don't understand why any of this is important."

"It's actually rather simple, consider the situation. A middle-age ninja abandons his village for no obvious reason; he doesn't try to become a mercenary or a hermit. Instead, he gets mixed up in some organization which we've never heard of. They are able to set up a complete blacksmith shop in the backwaters of a backwater country. To top this all off another ninja is his contact to this organization.

"We want to identify him so we can follow his trail back to someone else. At first we thought he was a ninja that was not affiliated with a village. Unfortunately, the facts no longer support that theory. We could write off his clothes, but using basic medical knowledge to numb parts of the body in a fight is a fairly unique fighting style only use by a small portion of Grass ninjas. Considering he doesn't seem to be proud of being a ninja he was probably working as a spy for this organization."

Shizune chose this moment to enter the Hokage's office with paperwork stacked so high she couldn't see over it. "Good news Hokage-sama I was finally able to find your paperwork. For some reason, Izumo and Kotetsu were under the impression that you had moved your office for some reason. Oh, sorry I didn't know you were still in the middle of this."

Waving Shizune foreword she pulled out a sheet of paper from her desk along with three envelopes. The Hokage straightened in her chair and summoned a more serious attitude about her. "Team seven, your last mission along with all details discussed in this office are hereby classified. That means you are not to discuss the details with anyone not even with each other."

She held up the paper that she had taken from her desk. "This will be the official report on your mission. Officially it was completed satisfactorily however, on your way home you were involved in an altercation at a roadside restaurant for which the village was sent the bill. This is why you were rushed to my office and will also be your excuse for your injuries." Cutting Naruto off before he could object she explained. "The real report has already been filed at the ANBU headquarters. Sign your name at the bottom and pick up your pay. You're free to do whatever until Kakashi gets back from his new mission. Dismissed.

Shizune watched as Naruto signed the report before passing on her message. "I ran into Iruka downstairs, he wants to talk to you as soon as you were back. If you hurry you still might catch him." She couldn't help but smile as his face lit up and he ran out of the room, while shouting thanks over his shoulder. Shizune couldn't remember the last time something so simple had made her so happy.

She was about to start handing over some of the paperwork to Tsunade but paused. "Sakura is there something you need?"The girl had stayed behind while her two teammates had left. She was obviously nervous about something.

"Hokage-sama with all due respect I would like to request that you take me on as an apprentice."

The silence that followed her statement was long and uncomfortable. Shizune was about to start explaining why the Hokage really couldn't take on an apprentice when Tsunade broke the silence.

"You understand any training I would give you would be in addition to your training under Kakashi. You also would be expected to continue to do some missions with team seven." Sakura nodded. "Well then" she said with a smile, "let's get started right away. First I want to see how good your chakra control is."

Shizune suddenly found herself alone in the office. She couldn't quite understand what had just happened. As her thoughts finally caught up with what just transpired she could only say one thing, "Hokage-sama you haven't done any of your paperwork yet.


The Land of Red Beans shared a border with the Land of Earth to its north and to its south laid the Land of Wind. Caught between these two great nations it was largely seen as a buffer zone. In reality it had one of the largest standing armies on the continent, but with no hidden village it was not considered a military threat. Its large castles and army of samurai were considered an anachronism.

This view would only be strengthened by anyone who set eyes on the capital. The buildings were not impressive few extended higher than two-stories and all were made completely out of wood. There was no sign of cement or steal used in any quantity. Even glass was a rarity. However, this was more of a result of the tax placed on sheets of glass used for windows then for any ecstatic reason. Most homes and businesses relied on the old wooden shutters to keep out the rain and burglars.

The only part of the city that did not look as if it had been pulled from a painting was the harbor. It was here where the tableau of an ancient city was broken. Several large ships constructed out of steel were anchored in the harbor. These ships were designed to go further out to sea than any other ship could imagine, but the fact they were made out of steel was what made them truly unique. A strict interpretation of the Forbidden List would result in their immediate destruction and the deaths of all involved in their construction. Fortunately, they could not easily be turned to the purpose of war so they fell within a gray area. It also helped that they kept the price of fish low which pleased more people then it annoyed.

Etsushi never got tired of this view particularly the ships. To him it represented the self serving attitude of the current order. The ninjas who were suppose to be the guardians of the Forbidden List turned a blind eye to them because they were useful.

He had long ago come to the conclusion that the Forbidden List was a mere excuse for the ninjas to hold onto their power. It wasn't enough for them to posses' inhuman powers. They had frozen society in a form that they could control and profit from. For generations ninjas had sold their services to whomever would pay their price and the world had slowly descended into its current lowly state. Soon though the world would be restored to its former glory and it would start in this small country.

"Sir with your permission we will begin the test."

Etsushi turned his attention back to the chief engineer and nodded in consent. He listened as orders were shouted in the sound of the generator starting in the distance. For a moment the water in the moat seemed to do nothing and then it started to slowly bubble causing the water to explode into action. Water formed miniature whirlpools that only lasted for a second as white foam formed on the surface. More and more bubbles rose from the bottom making the top a massive churning chaos.

This went on for a full minute and then as suddenly as it began it stopped. Etsushi listened as the engineer shouted for reports in an attempt to find out what had gone wrong. Etsushi knew not to get involved, now he would just wait for the final report. The engineer soon turned to him and bowed in forgiveness. "Sir I regret to inform you that the test has failed again. I can offer no excuse for this failure."

Etsushi nodded in acknowledgment and said calmly "call me when you have fixed it." With that he turned to reenter the castle. Normally delays in construction were not lightly tolerated, but like most of the renovations the castle had undergone in the past three years they were in uncharted waters. For example, what he had just witnessed had never been attempted before. It was designed to disrupt the density of the water. This would make it impossible for ninjas to run across the moat by using their chakra. For such a goal delays had to be tolerated.

This castle had always been the stronghold for this country. Long before the time of the ninja when samurai were the weapons of choice this castle had struck fear in the hearts of an enemy. It had been called many names but officially it was known as the Shining Palace. Of course its fierce reputation and walls that had broken the backs of numerous armies had not saved the daimyos of the past from being assassinated. The ninjas had brought death to them as easily as if they were standing in the middle of a field.

That would now be in the past. The Shining Palace would soon be feared again and known as the first ninja prove castle in recorded history. Largely this would be due to the improvements, but its fearsome reputation was well deserved. It had been built a few miles away from the capital on a slight rise in the forests of the Red Beans country. First a deep moat had been dugged out of the ground twelve to eighteen feet across and twentyfive feet in depth. A nearby river had been temporarily diverted to fill it. The bridges that crossed the moat were set at an angle to increase their length. There had been three sets of walls that surrounded the Keep. The Keep had been built a slight rise and rose eight stories into the air. Overall the castle's walls enclose about four square miles and were intended to hold sixty thousand samurai along with enough provisions for seven years. Unfortunately, it currently had less than six thousand samurai.

That had been what it looked like before the improvements. Now the first wall had been thicken and was now a height of fifteen feet. More importantly then the new height was the barb needles that were sticking out of the plaster every two inches gave the outside the appearance of a porcupine making it hard to climb. The buildings on the inside had something similar on the roof. In addition, the walls now had loopholes in them. Loopholes were slots in the walls where defenders could drop stones and shoot arrows without exposing themselves. Above them was a platform where additional soldiers could stand and fight from. The force had been cleared for a mile around the castle to deny cover to approaching ninjas. These were the obvious changes.

This country and this castle was the perfect place to start tearing down the corrupt ninja order. This country still held the samurai in high regard and ninjas were seen as the cowardly murders they were. Thoughts of the future brought a smile to his face but were chased away as a breeze brought the smell of the sea to him. Every time he smelled the sea he remembered that he was a foreigner to this country and could never really call it his home.

He picked up his pace trying to push the memories of his past away. He entered a fairly nondescript building where he had a meeting to go to and no good news to report. Before entering the room he paused to straighten his kosode and flicked a piece of dust off the crest he wore. He admired it for a moment this little symbol represented so much to him it was the proof that he served a lord. The little dragonfly had been carefully embroidered on all his clothes.

He entered the room and kowtowed in deference and respect to his Lord before joining the group to begin the informal meeting. At the head of the group was their Lord himself Mitsuhide Tenzo an old man but wise, he had been the one to start all this. Despite the fact that he was almost blind and well into his seventies his mind missed nothing and could still move with the speed of someone forty years his junior.

To his right sat his only son, Nagoya Tenzo, he was in his late twenties and still had the arrogance of youth. He only recently started to show the signs that would make him a leader worth following. In truth he reminded Etsushi of himself when he was younger. Though he never had the looks or the time to chase women as Nagoya did.

Of the other five men only one was worth noting. He was a Buddhist warrior monk and because of his Buddhist hood which concealed everything but his eyes, Etsushi was not sure of his identity yet. It could be any of three men but he would not know until he spoke. These men had originally been brought in to the conspiracy in hopes that they could do something about the ninjas summoning capabilities. It always seemed to him that "summoning" would be based in the supernatural but they claimed ignorance of any way to prevent it. Despite this they had proved their usefulness in many other ways.

After the events of the Lotus war fifty years ago any religious sects that were armed had experienced a crackdown. Funding had become scarce and so had new members. This had destroyed most of them while the rest were finished off by direct military action by their neighbors who coveted their land. They had survived because they were based on an island and had an excellent intelligence network. During routine incursions by the Mist they had become experts at fighting ninjas. In some ways they would welcome the destruction of the ninjas almost as much as the samurai.

The rest of the men present were businessmen who had provided the funding for the upgrades to the castle and soon would turn their resources to aid in the upcoming war. They were useful but in the end though they were in it for the money that would flow to them with the relaxing of the Forbidden List. One of them even represented a consortium of foreign businessmen who saw opportunities in the downfall of the hidden villages. In truth he had never bothered to remember their names.

Mitsuhide began the meeting with one word "report."

Etsushi bowed his head as he began. "I regret to report that the moat's defense system failed again." He paused to allow that information to register before reporting his much graver news. "Also, the report from our facility in the Honey country is overdue. I have sent one of my most trusted personal retainers to check on the facility but I believe we should consider the worst case scenario."

"Aren't you overreacting to a late report? Spies really can't be expected to always run on schedule, when you consider their work." Nagoya spoke up from where he sat next to his father.

The monk spoke up in Etsushi defense and in a very low wispy tone that identified him immediately as Ekei and said, "I must concur with Etsushi opinion. If Iwato is late then something must have happened to him. I recruited him myself he was completely devoted to our cause. He believed it was repentance for his past misdeeds."

It was lost on no one that Ekei was speaking in the past tense. Silence descended on the group as the possible repercussions played out in all of their minds. Nagoya asked the obvious question "can anything there be traced back to us?"

"No, those we recruited to work there had no traceable connections to anyone here. That is as long as the shipping company is no longer in business," Ekei said turning his attention to a mousy looking civilian.

The man cringed away from the sudden attention as he began to speak. "Well you see ruining another person's business is not as easy as you might think."

This is why Etsushi couldn't stand the rest of the men on the Council, you never got a straight answer out of them. "Is there still a paper trail or not?"

"There is."

"Ekei can you have one of your spies torch the building?" Ekei nodded in acknowledgement.

"Considering this recent information perhaps we should move on to stage three of our plan despite our recent setbacks," Mitsuhide said speaking up for the first time since the meeting began.

Stage three was the last step before opened warfare with the hidden villages. It involved the spreading of propaganda among the people to gain support for their cause and a general recruitment drive for more samurai. Also, the foundries within their land would stop producing their famous bells that could be found in almost any temple and start producing cannons.

It was put to a vote despite their difference in social class they were all equal when it came to the planning of the ninjas downfall. Each brought their own specialty to the group and all had to agree before the plan could advance. The vote was unanimous they would move one step closer to achieving their goal. The stage was now being set for a war the likes of which the continent had not seen in decades.