Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any related characters or properties.

.:10:.
Revenge of the Fallen

The past three weeks on the open water were a fascinating experience. The water continually lapped against the unique ship, reminding him of all the times he had traveled by sea in his old life. Sadly, most of those had not been on good circumstances, and Kiri would never be the same after he was through with it. The wrath of the Bijuu had been felt that day.

He sighed, ignoring his memories and focusing on his new life and the complex sealing array in front of him, a small lamp hanging over it. The ship lurched carefully, making the quill miss and completely screw up the ink design.

Gaara stared calmly at him as he angrily crumpled the paper and hurled it across the room, hoping to start over. "Are you sure it's even a good idea to try to work on Han's seal without asking him first? What if he doesn't want to fix it?"

Naruto didn't meet his gaze, staring at the new sheet of paper on the small desk in front of him. He had all his old notes from Gaara's modified seal formula, and unfortunately, it wasn't as easy as he had thought it would be. The vast difference in the levels of chakra between the Ichibi and the Gobi made this much more difficult, and Han's seal was of a different kind that Gaara's. He'd been working for the last week on it, but he couldn't make any headway.

The blond didn't expect Gaara to understand how vital the seals would be, but he would tell them all when he was ready to. Naruto couldn't be entirely sure that the desired outcome would even happen, but in theory, it worked on paper. Sadly, he couldn't just transfer what he knew on paper into practical use as easily as he wished.

"No, I won't ask him until it's finished," he explained. "Besides, he knows I'm working on something for him. He just doesn't know what."

He'd demonstrated a little bit of his sealing knowledge by transferring almost every bit of the cargo into a seal that was nearly too large to carry. If he'd had a bit more time, he could have simplified all of that into one small enough to fit into a pocket, but he had too much to do.

"I think Han is suspicious of you," Gaara said suddenly, and Naruto shot a look. "About where you come from. Karin doesn't know either, and I doubt she'd be happy about you lying to her for months."

Naruto frowned, but it was true. "I just... don't know if they can handle the truth. I'm worried Karin will gab about it to someone in a town somewhere, and I'll end up strapped to a table and experimented on, wishing for death. And I need Han to stay; what if he leaves and goes back to Iwa, and the Akatsuki gets him?"

Gaara didn't know the specifics of the mercenary group, but knew their overall mission was not unlike his own. Still, he frowned. "Can you keep pretending to be a genius?"

Naruto sighed, knowing it was difficult. He knew techniques that should be impossible, and could probably defeat Han if it really came down to it. He'd beaten jonin before in this body, although they were from a minor village. The battle against Kurobachi probably would have ended with him the victor if he had allowed it to go the full course, but the man was a jonin from Iwagakure; he wouldn't have been surprised if the man got a lucky shot in. He was six and a half years old to everyone but Gaara, and he had to pretend he was a self-taught genius who could use seals that probably no one else in the world could ever think about using.

When Gaara disappeared to go upstairs, rubbing his somewhat queasy stomach as he did, Naruto was just glad the boy had figured out how to beat his seasickness. He followed the boy up to the top of the ship's deck.

"Keep practicing your water walking, Gaara."

The redhead groaned as he jumped overboard, landing with a light splash on the waves and nearly slamming again into the ship. Naruto was proud when he recovered and was able to stand strong for several minutes, before finally got over it and created a platform of sand to guide himself up to the top. The muk from the sand armor around his ankles stained the deck, and Naruto clapped. "You're doing much better."

The boy just rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. I'll keep working on it." Even then, new sand gathered around his feet, attempting to remove the wet sand and fix his armor once more. It had taken forever for him to finally even try it, and fishing the boy out of the ocean had not been a fun experience.

Naruto was just glad the boy's chakra control had returned. Over the months, he was able to actively control his sand again with about the same amount of power. His reaction time was what needed improvement next, because the sand didn't leap up to protect him on its own accord anymore. Those few seconds could be the key to his survival. Naruto was sure he would get it all back to the way things were, especially when he learned to actively control the Ichibi's power.

Naruto had not introduced his method to Gaara on how to pull on the Bijuu, because the boy simply wasn't ready. Unlike his own seal, Naruto had not had to follow Minato's method of locking away access to the seal, so the boy potentially had access to the full power of the Ichibi. Naruto would still need to find Gerotora, the scroll toad, one day, but he pushed that thought aside for another time.

He knew the way to Myoubokuzan after all, but it would take way too long to get there. He stared at his thumb, wondering if it would be possible to just reverse summon himself there. But if he did that, he'd leave the others behind. A summoning contract with them was possible, but risky. Could he trust the toads to not tell Jiraiya and Konoha all about his plans?

That thought led to another issue he supposed he needed to figure into his plans: relearning senjutsu. His mind remembered how to draw on nature energy, but his body didn't; he was not ready to turn into a frog or a statue anytime soon. Senjutsu was integral, a skill that he would need to face the larger threats in this shinobi world. But he had not figured out how he was going to access it. Could he even accomplish it without a toad contract if he didn't use one?

His thoughts were interrupted when Karin suddenly ran over, excited. "Look at this! Look at this!" She held out her hands, looking almost giddy. Extending from her right wrist was a thin chain almost three-links long, glowing slightly with her chakra.

"That's awesome! Tell me how you did it!"

The Uzumaki chakra chain technique was much harder to learn that Naruto had ever anticipated, especially because Karin only knew the basic theory that her aunt had introduced to her. Keiko had been skilled with it, skilled enough that she could produce an intricate necklace that Karin had been wearing for years. Karin had difficulty explaining how she called on the chakra to do it, and how she molded it with shape transformation. Naruto himself had yet to produce a chain correctly, and it reminded him so much of his training to learn Rasengan.

He supposed he could learn it by using his shadow-clones, a much faster way of training than he thought. But it felt less important to learn it so far removed from Karin. The girl was an Uzumaki, and she was trying to help him learn and Uzumaki technique that he himself wanted to know. It seemed like something he should learn the old-fashioned way, like Kushina had undoubtedly learned it before him. Unfortunately, that meant it might take weeks or even months to produce a single link, much less go as far as Karin had gone.

He continued working on it with her, listening to her try to explain how she created the small chain from her chakra. His mind wandered, however, realizing that he was so incredibly content. The fact that he was on a boat brought back memories he wished he could erase from his mind, but here and now, he was actually happy and felt like a bright future was in store.

Fuu pulled herself up and down, muscles straining as she completed her third repetition of fifty consecutive pull-ups. The metallic bar on the wall was the only thing worthy of note in the windowless room, a glorified mattress she called a bed the only comfort she was allowed.

She dropped to the ground carefully, running her hands along her sweaty arms. A plastic canteen of water was refreshment, but she wasn't incredibly thirsty. She wondered if it was possible to turn that canteen into a weapon strong enough to kill the guard and escape, but she wouldn't get far. She needed to keep that edge, however, for the upcoming Trials.

She pushed up her white sleeve, displaying the tattoo of kanji that kept her in her prison for a room, preventing her escape. Just above her left breast, nearly nonexistent at only ten years old, was the seal that made her body a prison for Chomei.

Fuu wanted to keep a positive attitude, but it was incredibly difficult. She'd lived in this room for as long as she could remember, becoming a jinchuuriki only five years ago. Nothing ever changed for her in this horrible village, although she was sure that it would be different very soon.

The door opened quickly, the hinges creaking as they did, and Fuu didn't even flinch. She looked up to see the brunette man she knew so well walk into the room, his hair jutted out at all angles under his tan bandanna. He wore his hitai-ate around his neck, the proud symbol of Takigakure displayed front and center.

"When are you going to take that symbol off?" she asked curiously. "It's not like you hold this village any respect."

"Last I checked, neither did you," the man said with a smirk.

"Yeah, yeah, you're right," she said. "Hm. Did you need something specifically, Suien?"

The jonin smiled. "I always need something, but I guess right now, I need you to be ready very soon. I've got allies who are ready to move."

Fuu looked at him curiously. She had never known whether or not to trust the man who had essentially been her handler her whole life, or whether or not he had any allies. "Really? I thought we were waiting unti-"

He cut her off with a look. "I'm tired of waiting to get what I want, and the pressure is on. This village won't even know what hit it."

Han jabbed Naruto in the shoulder as hard as he could, before whirling around and delivering a kick flip to the face of another Naruto. Both of them burst on contact, the smoke filling his vision. A hand found its way into his guard, but he parried it away with a palm strike, throwing the clone off balance and into the drink below them.

Han was sparring against Naruto on the ocean, demonstrating the kind of chakra control that should have taken a long time to master. Gaara and Karin watched from the ship's deck, amazed at what they might one day be able to do.

There were at least a dozen more clones around him, and it was indiscernible to understand where the real one was among them. He supposed it didn't matter, as another clone tried to rush him from his blind spot, a shadow alerting him on the water. Han twisted his torso, the momentum of the fist slamming into the side of the boy's stomach dispelling the clone immediately.

Throughout their boat trip, Han had been trying to give them lessons on taijutsu, which was easily his best skill. Naruto claimed he was good, but Han had yet to see it. His form was imprecise and he didn't have the strength behind his moves to catch up.

"You know, I'd probably have dragged you under the ocean with ninjutsu by now," one of the shadow-clones declared when he rushed one of them, kneeing them in perfect form and hitting the next in a fluid, powerful moment.

"I can't help how young I am!" yelled another, causing the rest of the clones to glare at the clone that said it.

He merely grunted, uncertain. The boy might have known the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu and a few other tricks, and gave off the aura that he was more skilled than he probably should be. Han wondered if the Kyuubi jinchuuriki was getting help from the fox with his training, or perhaps the fox itself had more unique powers that neither he nor Roushi would know about. It didn't seem out of the realm of possibility that Naruto could be skilled merely because of the fox's collective memories forcing his training to go faster. His body didn't have the strength to keep up with the interesting, if typically flawed, taijutsu he displayed, but he didn't act like it.

Han knew a few ninjutsu himself to cover his tracks, but it was not his forte. He'd always been what Roushi called a "tricky brawler." Tricky because he used ninjutsu very infrequently, enough to make the opponent think he wasn't capable of it, and because of his interesting combat inventions. Han wasn't allowed to use either of those in his fight with Naruto, but that didn't matter. His taijutsu was far superior to the boy's.

Three of them jumped off of a wave at once, all approaching him from different angles, but Han grinned. With those clones he can do some interesting moves...

In one motion, Han angled his shoulder and head forward, bursting off of the waves and into the torso of a clone, bowling the shorter shinobi-in-training over headfirst. His thick hat took most of the damage, but when the other two suddenly kicked him hard enough to throw him off balance, he didn't hesitate.

Dropping into the ocean, he held his breath and narrowly avoided a fish that didn't understand to get away from the fighters. His moment was coming, as the clones couldn't see him clearly, and with a single chakra-powered move, he lunged upward and grabbed two clone's feet in each hand either hand. In the next fluid motion, he pulled his arms to cross them in front of his chest, slamming the two flailing clones into each other with a huge puff of smoke.

He stared triumphantly when the other clones finally dispelled, revealing the real Naruto. "Anyone else want a piece of me?" He declared carefully, and neither Gaara nor Karin seemed interested.

Han just chuckled. "You know you lost, right?"

The blonde frowned. "I didn't lose! I tactically withdrew!" He pointed at Han and then gestured to the others on the top of the ship. "Karin, Gaara, take this as a lesson: learning when and where to fight is incredibly important!"

Karin just guffawed. "Oh come on. You ran away from a spar! You barely hit him a few times!"

The other boy looked outraged and shouted back at her to argue, but Han just smirked. Naruto didn't seem to be the type to give up in a fight, but this was just a sparring match. It was different than the moment when a life is on the line, and the fact that Naruto understood that difference spoke volumes to Han.

Gaara had never been happier to be on shore, glad that they had finally arrived. They docked the ship on a coastal town, not very different from the one that they had left a few weeks ago. The shipyard, however, was buzzing with activity, and it was easier than he thought it would be to verify that they could dock.

The fact that he was actually touching land made him feel like he was going to throw up more, which made no sense. The queasy feeling eventually passed, but he was jealous of practically everyone else that they were fine at sea.

"Everyone remember the plan?" asked Naruto curiously, getting a nod from the other three. Han seemed amused by Naruto, and Gaara knew his suspicious mind was taking stock of the boy and how he so easily took charge without sounding like a bossy brat.

When it was finally their turn, a shinobi from Takigakure came to investigate them, immediately looking to the large teenager who easily dwarfed the shinobi in front of him. "State your name and business, please."

Han gestured to three children. "My name is Tsubasa, and these three are family." Gaara remembered Naruto's whole cover story in Sunagakure, with a clone pretending to be his older sister and the uncle Tsubasa he fooled shinobi with. "We have urgent business in Takigakure no Sato."

"We have to deliver this letter to Shimusa-sama!" Karin practically shouted, holding up an envelope that the shinobi looked at dubiously.

Han took it from her, admonishing her with a look. "It's a long story. I sell interesting inventions and shinobi weap-"

"Hello there!" someone shouted, rushing over. Gaara saw Naruto's fists tighten at the sight of the short, bespectacled man before him, wearing an expensive business suit. "Han-san, it's good to see you!"

"That's Han Tsubasa to you," the man quickly countered, preventing the man from blowing their cover. Gaara met Karin's eye with worry.

"Do you know these people, Gatou-san?" asked the shinobi, staring at the paper on his clipboard.

The man named Gatou shrugged them off, putting an unwelcome hand on Han's arm. "I don't know the three kids, but I know Han here very well."

"Really? I told you all about my sister's kids the last time we talked," Han declared, probably talking more casually than Gaara had ever seen him. The tall jinchuuriki was usually much less animated than this, and had much fewer words. Was this all part of the scheme to get inside, or was he that familiar with this greasy businessman?

Gatou frowned. "Oh well, I guess I don't recall." He turned to the shinobi. "That will be all. These four are with me. I'll show them into the village."

"But you can't do tha-"

"Yeah, yeah, shinobi-san, I know. My hired Taki shinobi will follow all the precautions to keep the village's location secret to all outsiders," he said carefully. "After all, I've been doing business with your village off and on over the years, and I still have no idea where it is hidden."

"Of course, Gatou-san." The shinobi eventually accepted the words, disappearing to check the next ship.

Gaara still wondered why Naruto seemed visibly angry, like he was biting his tongue. Karin kept peering at him, and he wondered if the blond's chakra was acting up in his anger.

"Thanks for the help," Han said carefully to Gatou.

The businessman smiled in reply. "Of course. Although Han, I have to say, I don't really understand why you came in person. Usually I just get a box of your goodies from time to time."

"I'm expanding my clientele into other countries personally," Han explained, placing the letter into his pocket to keep it from Gatou's eyes. Naruto's future knowledge might not even be necessary if this man had as much financial clout as he probably thought he did. "I never expected to meet you here."

The man didn't even acknowledge the three children as he and Han caught up, and Naruto was deadly silent, his jaw set. Had he ever seen Naruto this angry before? With Yashamaru, perhaps, but that was in the midst of a fight. This was a seemingly harmless man... had Naruto known him in the future? Or was something else about the man making him angry?

Either way, Gaara decided very quickly that he didn't like Gatou if the man was provoking that kind of reaction in Naruto.

Naruto eventually calmed down, but in those few irrational moments, all the anger he had felt against the drug smuggler returned. Nami no Kuni was practically on the other side of the continent, but the idea that Gatou had this much reach was impressive and annoying. Han must have used Gatou's shipping company in order to ship his goods around the Elemental Nations, but Naruto wondered to what extent that actually meant.

Did he just work with Gatou, or was he more involved in the criminal aspect of the man's business? Naruto doubted it based on his impressions of Han, but did he really know the man? What if he was one of Gatou's drug clients too?

At this point, Naruto tried to remind himself that Gatou was a relatively minor concern in the grand scheme of things. Gatou's influence on Nami no Kuni was practically at the bottom of his list of problems. He remembered Inari and Tsunami and Tazuna, and was inwardly nostalgic. His first C-rank mission to the Land of Waves was a turning point in his old life, and in retrospect, was his first glimpse at what it meant to be a jinchuuriki. Haku was right; shinobi were just tools, and Naruto hated being used.

"What's wrong?" Karin asked, looking at Naruto with concern. They were on the outskirts of the coastal town, prepared to be led blindfolded in the direction of Takigakure. Gatou was taking forever to meet with them.

"I don't like Gatou," Naruto said after a moment to consider his words, locking eyes with Han. "He might have done work with you before, but I have a bad feeling about him." He gestured to his stomach. "The big guy can read negative emotions to a certain extent, and if I tap into his chakra, I can too. This guy has all kinds of malicious intent." That was a lie, in a way, because he couldn't read emotions yet without harnessing all of the Kyuubi's chakra.

Han didn't necessarily seem offended by his observations, but it was difficult to understand the older jinchuuriki's face. "I owe a lot to his company."

"Does he know about the Gobi?" asked Karin.

Han adjusted the scroll containing his invention inventory on his back, hoping to make some money while he was there and to keep up their charade. "No. He shouldn't."

Naruto was not convinced; it would be just like Gatou to try to gain a powerful shinobi for a body guard, and a jinchuuriki would be perfect for that. Zabuza was very skilled, but having a chakra demon on his side? He'd go for that in a heartbeat. Perhaps his business in Takigakure relied on the Nanabi.

Finally, the man appeared, walking up the hill to join them with his two bodyguards trailing behind. They were the same two bodyguards he had known in the past, but there was a third this time wearing a headband from Takigakure. Gatou had mentioned hiring a Taki shinobi, which was an interesting way to get into a village as secretive as that one.

Naruto hated admitting this, but he would owe Gatou for helping them get into Takigakure. He would pay the man back with a kunai to the throat, and avoid that whole mess before it started. Thinking about the domino effect on that was interesting: would Sasuke gain his Sharingan at around the same time if the mission to Nami no Kuni never occurred? Naruto had to hope he wouldn't, but if fate planned for it, the third incarnation of Indra would find a way.

"How long until we know what they'll do with the letter?" asked Karin, looking around the strange place.

The village itself was shaped almost like a crescent moon, buildings made of pleasant blues and greens and whites. Small canals were built in-between sections of the village, all leading toward the giant lake that the village encapsulated. But the most impressive part of the situation was the giant tree, its canopy covering nearly half of the huge city alone. Its roots extended into the lake itself, which had an odd green tint to it.

It was not as large as some of the other hidden villages that Naruto remembered, but it hadn't had its hay-day since the Shodaime Hokage was still around. He supposed that was because the Five Great Nations militarized so quickly that Taki was unable to keep up, but he'd have to read more about it.

Naruto shrugged at Karin's question, as they sat on the bench overlooking one of the canals, waiting for Gatou to set up their accommodations in one of the best inns in the city. "I doubt it will take long. It's a matter of the village's safety, so if their leader is worth a damn, he'll do something about it quickly."

Naruto had decided to send the letter anyway, containing details of a plot by Suien to steal the Hero Water. He had originally hoped to use it to essentially blackmail their way into the city by coming off as "heroes," while Han could set up his business there and they could find Fuu. He figured Shibuki's father would owe them somehow, even after the plan shifted. But Gatou had been an unknown factor, and it had been stupidly easy to get inside with his pull.

Are they all blind, or is this before Gatou becomes a shady bastard? Naruto considered, curious as to how to can handle it. He didn't want a repeat of what happened at Masa's home, and it might have worked out in the end, but not without consequences. Was association with Gatou enough to keep Taki out of their business?

Either way, he sent the letter regardless, hoping to gain some favor with Shimusa after all.

"Can you sense the jinchuuriki?" whispered Gaara to Karin, who shook her head.

"No. I'd have to move through the village because my range isn't big enough," Karin explained, staring at the canopy of the giant tree stretched overhead.

Naruto wondered how he could help her expand her range, because it was so out of his comfort zone. Sensory ninjutsu weren't really necessary when he could just use Sage Mode, although he didn't have access to that. None of the scrolls he procured from Konoha had that knowledge, although that might not matter given Uzushio's hidden library. He'd already found it once, and he supposed it wouldn't be difficult to find it again. The Kagura Shingan would have to be included in that.

Han sat down, studying his hands, obviously deep in thought. Naruto raised an eyebrow. "What's wrong?"

He waved it off and Naruto didn't press him; Han was a private person, and if it was important, he would share it.

Gatou walked out of the inn overlooking the lake, the nice building several stories higher than some of the buildings around it. "Hello, Han. Good news: I've set you up with a room for the next week, paid for and everything. This will allow you to set up clients, but if you need to stay any longer, you'll have to pay."

Karin bowed gracefully. "Thank you for your generosity, Gatou-san!" Naruto fought the urge to shoot her a glare; she didn't understand, so he couldn't fault her for it.

The shipping magnate shook his head. "No, of course. It's the least I can do. My own room will be close to yours, but I doubt I'll be staying in Takigakure for long." Naruto raised an eyebrow at that, but he supposed it made sense. Gatou's company was based in Nami no Kuni in the future, so it wouldn't be unreasonable that he was there now, or perhaps somewhere else.

"Where do you normally do business?" Gaara asked, catching Naruto's eye. Had the boy caught onto his thoughts that this man wasn't to be trusted?

"All around the world," he said simply. "I'm trying to make a name for myself and my company, and there are certain people and resources that are here that I can't get anywhere else. I'm making connections, you see, not unlike what Han here is doing."

The hat-wearing jinchuuriki nodded in agreement.

"Well, now that that is in order, I'm afraid I need to go handle some business," Gatou explained with a grin, and they wished him well as he turned back to the village with his bodyguard in tow.

Naruto was already prepared, and he needed to know what Gatou was all about. Signaling the clone hidden under a Henge with a two-fingered wave, he had to hope it would lead to something important. Learning everything he could about that slimy man was incredibly useful.

"Who did you say this letter was from?"

Shibuki stared up at his father, afraid of being directly addressed by the man. He ran a hand through his longer hair, staring blankly at the piece of paper the man was holding behind his desk. There was a certain worry in his voice, a kind of tentative anger or concern that he couldn't read.

"The shinobi who brought it to me- I'm sorry I don't remember his name- said that it was from a merchant who has worked with the Gatou Company in the past," Shibuki explained. He hated keeping track of details, but his father was trying to gear him toward administrative tasks so that when he took over, he would be ready. "What did the letter say?"

Shimusa gripped it harder. "We have a traitor in our midst. This merchant's nephew heard a rumor while they were traveling through Amegakure about a plot, orchestrated by Suien, to steal the Hero Water."

Immediately, Shibuki gasped. "Not Suien-sensei!"

His father frowned sympathetically. "Calm down, boy, and think. Don't let your personal feelings get in the way."

Thinking through his Academy teachings, he calmed down and tried to read between the lines. "How do we trust the letter's authenticity? I mean, kids make up stories all the tim-"

"But the Hero Water is one of our village's most prized secrets," Shimusa explained. "This letter has to be legitimate, because only jonin of his caliber would know about it. The only question is whether or not they heard the rumor as they say, or if they are part of the plot itself." With a word, three ANBU suddenly appeared, fading from the genjutsu that had hidden them from sight. "Collect all the parties involved. I want a full investigation."

When the ANBU vanished as quickly as they appeared, Shibuki sighed. "What can I do, Tousan?"

The man shook his head. "Nothing for now. Go back to your studies. Thank you for delivering it to me."

Shibuki nodded and left the room, wishing he could be half as amazing as the ANBU were. Maybe one day, he'd grow out of his shell and stop being the coward his father thought he was. He had a few years to do just that.

Karin hated waiting, especially waiting for something like this. Despite the fact that she could see beyond the room with her mind, she felt claustrophobic in the small interrogation room. She was growing more and more anxious, but she had to remind herself that it was the plan. Naruto had helped her in their discussions about how to avoid spilling secrets over the past few months, and it was all in believing in the plans themselves and using subtle manipulations of chakra to mask the signs of lying.

The four of them had been gathered and split in a small compound that she supposed was where they kept prisoners of war and other dangerous entities. Their group wasn't dangerous though, and this seemed like overreach to deal with elements like them. Shouldn't they have taken in Suien to interrogate him, and not someone else?

The small, empty room was playing to her insecurities, forcing her to feel nervous, uncertain, and jittery. Han and Gaara were so calm that she was sure the two of them would be fine, but Naruto was an enigma. She wasn't sure how he would react.

When the door finally opened, a pretty woman with dark brown hair entered the room, her green eyes glinting in the florescent light. Her uniform fit her snugly, and based on what she knew, she suspected that the woman was a chunin. Karin let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding in, checking the others with her Kagura Shingan to realize they were still waiting. So she was going first.

"Good afternoon! My name is Midori. How are you-" she looked down at her clipboard, "Karin-chan?"

"I'm fine," she replied. "I really like your hair. It's pretty."

"I like yours too," the woman said genuinely, sitting across from her and jotting a quick note on her files. "So I want to get started as soon as possible. I'm a very busy woman."

Karin smiled, trying to calm her heartbeat. "I'm sure you want to save time to investigate your jonin, so I understand."

Midori looked at her pointedly and nodded. "Yes. I want to ask you about that. How do you recall the events that your group described in the letter to Shimusa-sama?"

The second the question left the woman's lips, Karin was inwardly relieved. They aren't using the mind-reading stuff that Naruto mentioned... Just questions. Maybe they are saving that for the jonin? Either way, Karin was glad as she began to explain.

Midori was an interesting woman, Gaara realized. Her eyes were so attentive that she was able to scribble notes as they talked without actually looking at the page, and he wished that he could read what she was writing.

He relayed the story that Naruto had crafted, able to recall it in relatively simple voice that spoke volumes. He started to feel nervous about halfway through, as he was sure he was forgetting certain details.

"I'm... sorry. I can't remember how Naruto described him," he said in explanation, hoping she would believe him. He remembered Naruto's advice that people don't talk about every detail of every event; the story would look too polished if he remembered exactly how Naruto described it, because it would look like a prepared statement.

"That's okay. I'll get the fill-in from him," she explained. "Did Suien mention anything else to the Amegakure shinobi?"

Gaara shook his head. "I don't think so."

Han hadn't agreed with this plan of Naruto's for a lot of reasons, that relied on knowledge he couldn't possibly know, but wouldn't tell them how he knew it. It was possible he really did hear it in Amegakure, and that this Suien had real allies in Ame. But the way he discussed it pointed that it was a lie, a way to get into the village and on their good side. Gatou had gotten them in the door, but would they have even needed this?

He thought back to his mother and realized why it was necessary. In order to prove they were good guys, they would prevent someone from coming after them and hurting someone else's mother in the process. The boy was brilliant, he had to admit.

Midori focused her emerald eyes on his face again, almost peering at him. "How long have you been a merchant?"

"Four years," he said truthfully. Near his fourteenth birthday, in fact, he'd sold his first product to someone in Iwa. Despite the fact that it was defective and nearly blew up their house, he still considered that his first sale. It had tarnished his name in the village forever, so he had to go out of his way to sell some of his more interesting wares.

"Do you do business in Ame often?"

"Sometimes," he said, "but not often."

"What do you sell?"

Han lifted his shirt, revealing the launcher under his sleeve. She visibly tensed, but he raised up his hand. "Sorry. It's a launcher powered by my chakra. No ammo." He reached with his other hand and proved it to her, and didn't lower his hands until she nodded with understanding several moments later. "I invent things, some combat-oriented and some not." He wanted to go into detail about his most proud invention, the steam engine powering his ship, but decided not to bore her.

"And how do you know Gatou?"

Han wasn't sure that they knew of Gatou as well as they probably should, despite the fact that he stayed in their village and did some business there, but apparently they did. "I've worked with his shipping company before," he explained truthfully, meeting her focused gaze. It was a little bit too focused, in actuality, because he was starting to get a little uncomfortable.

"Where did you meet him?"

This was the question that would make him or break him, but it was necessary how he answered this. The truth was that it had been in Iwagakure, but should he say that? Would that connect him to the village too easily, easily enough to verify? Finally, the idea hit his mind.

"Small village that you probably haven't heard of," he said, hoping the woman would get off of this subject. When she finally nodded, he felt in the all clear for once.

Naruto felt the clone dispel, immediately revealing what had happened with Gatou. He'd gotten lucky, he supposed, that Takigakure had rounded them all up, because Naruto had a rock solid alibi. The man and his bodyguard would be found freshly dead on the street, a forced overdose on drugs the clone had found in his apartment and injected. It had been stupidly easy to do it, and he didn't even feel the least bit of guilt. He was proud his clone had the initiative and the improvisation to take care of it; if there was anything he was good at, it was planning on the spot.

What was more interesting was the confirmation that Gatou had been working with Suien, because the man seemed to have been freaking out over seeing that he had been taken into custody. Naruto could have allowed the man to go free and to implicate Gatou with Suien, and allow Taki to arrest him and bring him to justice that way.

But Naruto didn't care about their justice; he wanted to impose his own. And he supposed it was understandable, given that connecting Gatou to Suien would also connect their group to Suien, and make it seem even more unbelievable that they would have this knowledge.

Midori seemed to stare at him more intently, her eyes flashing. "I'm glad I came to you last, because the details from the others will confirm or deny your story. Briefly tell me everything you know about what you heard and described in your letter."

He went through the motions, telling the who, what, when, where, and why of his fabrication. He touched on everything he could remember from Team Seven's mission to stop Suien from stealing Taki's Hero Water, told through the perspective of overhearing the conversation with Suien's allies from Amegakure. He wished he could remember what their names were or even what the three of them had looked like, but all he could remember was a girl with light brown hair using a water whip.

Midori listened intently, writing notes without ever leaving his face. He tried to play up the angle that he was just a kid, that he wouldn't have understood anything more than knowing that Suien was going to betray the village by stealing something that would make him ten times stronger. He tried not to worry about the others and their testimony, because they were all children. Probably Han's was the only one they would take seriously because of how much older he was. Or appeared to be, at any rate.

"Thank you," the woman said after he was finished. "I've got to take care of a few more things, but I'll be back as soon as I can."

"Will we be free to go, Midori-san?" asked Naruto innocently.

She gave him a smile. "Most likely."

Midori stepped into the next room, escorted by two shinobi on either side of her. The jonin under suspicion had bruises covering his face, metallic bindings holding him in place. He looked like he was barely conscious, and she was already pulling up her sleeves in preparation.

"You're wasting your time, Midori-san. Don't you have some real criminals to torture?" Suien declared, spitting hard at her feet, blood running down his chin as his head barely had enough power to remain standing.

"Real criminals? I just questioned four people, and you know my reputation," the woman said with a sick grin. "They were just kids and seemed genuine, which is more than I can say for you." She raised a hand to his cheek, gripping it loosely before tightening, hard enough that the man winced. "After all, your actions today when you resisted arrest already proved it. They confirmed that you were plotting against Takigakure." She slapped him in the face hard, before roughly untying his headband from around his neck. "Shimusa-sama should have you publicly hanged, as a show of fear for those who plot against the village and disrespect us!" The hitai-ate fell to the floor, clattering against the tiles.

The man spat again, looking up carefully to meet her eyes. "But he's not as cold as you are, Midori-san."

She grinned. "No, you're right. The old man's soft. I have to admit, from my perspective, I guess it's a good thing that you were training Shibuki. Perhaps your moral caliber transferred to your student, so he'll punish criminals in the ways his father won't when he takes over." She slapped him again as hard as she could, just for good measure, before preparing to go into another line of her brand of questioning to understand his plan and motivations.

She never saw Suien smile as he bit down as hard as he could, his mouth foaming over as the cyanide pill almost instantly killed him.

A little bit of action/intrigue, as well as some more changes for the future. Naruto gets a bit of a personal vendetta settled very quickly.

I thought about keeping Gatou alive, if only to make him a recurring antagonist of sorts, but decided that it wouldn't fit this Naruto at all. He had the opportunity, and he took it. Or rather, a clone did. His impact will still be felt in the story down the road.

I also dislike introducing OCs, but it's almost impossible not to in some of the lesser known villages, or to establish background (like Masa) for lesser known characters like Han. Figured making a female version of Ibiki would be interesting, but I doubt she'll show up again beyond a quick scene next chapter. Also gave Shibuki's father a name, since he never had one in that OVA.

Also, I couldn't help myself with the title of this one. That movie was terrible, but it fit so well.

Anyway, let me know what you think in a review!