Control freak

by merendes

When you find out that someone messed with your mind, what will you do? Can it be forgiven? Or will you take revenge on anyone who participated and utterly destroy them? Watch what would Naruto do. Warning: Do not expect to see in this story the canon Naruto or Naruto wielding some ridiculous bloodline. Also I would recommand to read at least two chapters beyond the prolog.

10. Chapter 8

Posted: Dec-14-2015

Chapter 8: Baptism of the faceless

"We should decide on our first target," Naruto said approximately ten days after the creation of their new team.

"Yeah," Hana agreed and looked at Shikamaru, obviously waiting for his answer.

"Ok," he tore his gaze from the sky and sat up. "There are basically two ways how we can go about it. The first is just to pick someone from a bingo book. The second possible way is to pick up a mission, which's objective would be someone from the bingo book," he responded.

"Umm... is there some difference?" Naruto asked, blinking.

"Yes and no. To kill or capture missing-nin, which is also the objective of some mission, is generally better paid. Also, usually there are some additional information in the mission scroll."

"So basically if there is a mission, it is preferred option before just picking up someone from the bingo book?" Hana asked.

"Yes. At least for the less experienced teams," Shikamaru confirmed.

"Then I suppose we should visit the mission office?" Naruto suggested and stood up.

"Yeah."

…

"Hey, Naruto, hand me another scroll," Shikamaru said, while reading one.

"Again nothing?" Naruto asked.

"It's not that," Shikamaru shook his head. "There is plenty of suitable missions for team of hunters, but I think that we should take it easy, after all, it will be our first mission without a jonin supervising us. Besides, most of the missions I checked were outside the Land of Fire."

"Hey, what about this one?" Hana asked, her voice hopeful. "Mission objective: Track and capture Gozu and Meizu, also known as the Demon Brothers. Both are considered to be of a chunin rank, hence the mission rank, which is B."

"Wait a moment," Shikamaru frowned and quickly grabbed his already opened bingo book. "I think I heard of them before... Ah yeah, here it is," he muttered and scanned the page.

"What is it Shika?" Naruto wondered.

"We will have to pass on this one," Shikamaru said. "It says here that the Demon Brothers are often seen in the company of Momochi Zabuza, a high jonin-level missing-nin from Kirigakure. He was once member of the Mist's Seven Swordsmen. Also, he is always accompanied by unknown shinobi, whose skill is supposedly of a high-chunin or low-jonin rank."

"Ok, that is a one really big danger sign," Naruto chuckled and picked up another scroll.

"Yeah, and I just remembered, why it felt so familiar, I mean the names. Hatake's team, you know, the one with Sasuke on it, met them on their first C-rank mission."

"So, the mission turned to be an A-rank," Hana stated with frown.

"That. Also, everyone on Hatake's team survived – obviously – but were in a really bad shape when they returned. And I really shouldn't have to tell you that their mission was a failure," Shikamaru shook his head.

"Yeah," Naruto nodded, then added: "This one seems to be okay. Capture Rezaya Mitsuko, dead or alive. She is a chunin missing-nin from Iwa. Last seen in Ugawa village, two months ago."

"Hmm, that seems to be promising. Ugawa village is only two days of travel from Konoha, and what is more, it is in the Fire country," Shikamaru added.

"What about the payment?" Hana inquired. "We have to consider that it could take us even a whole month to capture her, so the reward should be good enough."

"The reward is ok," Naruto said. "If we split it, it should be a little bit more than chunin makes in one moth."

"That seems reasonable. We will have to risk it, until we get a little bit more experiences and can take on a little bit more profitable assignments," Shikamaru shrugged.

"Ok, then it's decided. Let's see what we can learn about her," Naruto nodded.

"According to the bingo book, she is responsible for numerous trade caravan assaults, mostly with luxury goods. She has the earth affinity and is supposedly quite skilled with it," Hana said. "Also, she seems to be accompanied by a small group of thugs, which are considered to be genins or low chunins at most."

"Ok, that's good," Naruto noted in satisfaction.

"Yeah, let's go visit Shinobi Intelligence Office. They could have some more recent news about her," Shikamaru added.

"Yeah. And if not about her, then they will have at least a list of locations and dates of every hijacking and assault in the area," Hana added.

"Good idea," Naruto agreed and stood up. "I will go register us for the mission, see you in a moment."

"Bastard, you just don't want to clean this mess," Shikamaru scoffed and pointed at the table covered in scrolls.

"I don't know what you are talking about," Naruto smirked, already out of the room. He descended a stairs of the Hokage Tower and headed towards the Mission Registration Office. Unfortunately, when he entered, he got a nasty surprise, when he sighted that bastard Mizuki. Naruto calmed himself down and moved further inside.

"Ah, hello Uzumaki, what do you need?" Mizuki smiled at Naruto falsely.

"Just registering a mission," he shrugged and handed him the scroll.

"Sure," Mizuki nodded, and made some notes into the scroll before him. "Here you go," he said and returned the scroll to Naruto.

"Ok, thanks," Naruto said and quickly left, a bitter aftertaste filling his mouth. He shook his head and tracked down his two teammates.

"So, did you find anything?" Naruto asked Shikamaru and Hana, when he entered the Intelligence Office.

"We have already got the map with marked skirmishes and such for the last three months. They are prepared in advance, because as it appears, we are hardly the first team who wanted something like that," Shikamaru informed him.

"Ok, what about our target?" Naruto raised his eyebrow.

"They will bring us a copy of her folder in a few minutes, so we have to wait," Hana shrugged.

…

"Ok. So, from the mission scroll we know that two months ago she and her followers attacked here," Hana stuck a red pin in the map, when they returned to Inuzuka clan compound.

"Yeah, and from her folder I learned that two weeks later she slaughtered a small caravan a little bit to north... Here, that's it," Shikamaru pointed on another dot on the map and Hana proceeded to mark it with another pin.

"That's all you learned?" Naruto asked.

"Yes and no. Three weeks ago, she was supposedly sighted in Tazima, which is..."

"Here, which is probably a four days of a slow travel from her last assault," Naruto finished for him.

"Yes, and it is only a mildly trustworthy information. Besides that there is nothing more about her movements. I found some minor bits and pieces about her companions, though it is nothing one couldn't assume about genin to chunin shinobi."

"Is there a photo of her? Or at least a photo of her companions?" Naruto asked.

"No, but there is a description of her. She has a long black hairs, is about five and half a feet tall and has a scar on her left cheek."

"That is good, at least we have something to recognize her by," Hana mused, then added: "But, doesn't it seem a little bit too long for her not to attack in what? One and half of a month? I would bet, she is responsible for at least one or two more dots on this map."

"Probably, but that would be only guessing. The first thing we have to do, is check with the major of the village, if the mission reward is still for grabs. That is standard procedure, especially if the mission is already a month old. And since the mission was requested by the major of Ugawa, we have to go there."

"Also, we could check the place of the assault from two months ago along the way," Naruto pointed on the map. "It would be a minimal detour."

"Yeah, you are right," Shikamaru nodded. "Ok, we are set. Let's pack and resupply, so we can meet tomorrow morning at eight near the gates."

"Yeah."

"Ok."

…

Naruto blinked, staring at Shikamaru and Hana before him. Their ponytails were gone.

"One word and you are dead," Shikamaru growled.

"I just wanted to say that you are late," Naruto stated innocently.

"Don't tell me, tell that to my mother," Shikamaru muttered. "She and father tried again to force me to return to my old team. Father even threatened to renounce my heir status," he spat.

"Whoa, that is really serious," Hana frowned.

"Yeah, and I don't really think he will go through with it, but..."

"Even mentioning it is enough," Hana finished for him.

"Exactly," Shikamaru sighed.

"I really don't get it. Why are you parents so upset about it? I could - in a way - understand that they aren't happy with your... disobedience, after all they are your parents, but what problem they got against you being a hunter?" Naruto asked.

"Mother is probably only afraid that something will happen to me, but her way of expressing it, is simply annoying. Father on the other hand is more upset about me ignoring family traditions. Our family always was on the... calm side of things. Like being the advisor of Hokage or being the main strategist in the times of war. And me? I am doing the last thing a Nara should be doing," Shikamaru explained.

"I can kind of understand that. If someone in our clan announced that they don't want to bond with ninken, that would probably made a lot of people unhappy," Hana said. "I would be stripped of the heir status immediately."

"Hmm, but in the case of your clan it is kind of understandable. I mean, you wouldn't be an Inuzuka if you didn't had a ninken. Just like every members of Hyuuga clan can use the Gentle Fist. And till now, I believed that the thing that set the Nara clan apart was their ability to manipulate shadows, but now... I am not anymore so sure about that," Naruto voiced his thought process, to which Shikamaru snorted ironically.

"Funny thing you say that. Till now, I thought the same thing," he sighed, then shook his head and added: "Let's move. We should hurry, so we can spend some time tomorrow exploring the site of the assault."

…

"So, this is the place," Naruto said and looked around. "Let's see if we can find anything of interest," Naruto said, while checking one side of the dusty road.

"This place sure looks ordinary," Hana frowned in disappointment.

"Yeah, besides a few half destroyed signs of earth manipulation, there is nothing," Shikamaru said.

"Where did you see those?" Naruto asked. "I didn't see anything on my side."

"On the other side, about twenty meters along the way," Shikamaru shrugged. "Why do you want to know?"

"No reason really, just an interest of a fellow earth user, I suppose," Naruto waved his hand uncaringly and along with his two companions approached the place.

"Here," Shikamaru pointed on something, which remotely looked like small wall. It was situated vertically towards the road.

"Yeah," Naruto crouched and touched the soil, then frowned. He willed his chakra and intensified its concentration in his immediate surroundings.

"I think I know how it happened," he said. "Rezaya raised a small roadblock here," he motioned towards the road. "It forced the caravan to stop and..." Naruto grimaced.

"What is it?" Shikamaru prodded impatiently.

"She slaughtered the whole caravan. I can sense the remains of the attack she used," Naruto explained.

"Could you elaborate?" Hana asked.

"She used a jutsu called Earth Spike, or at least I think she used it. It looks like this," He announced and moved his fingers through the required seals, then guided the shaped chakra through his legs into the ground, causing a surprisingly fast spike erupt from the ground.

"Ok, thanks for the demonstration, but how can you know she used it?" Shikamaru frowned skeptically.

"Because for the jutsu to be effective, one has to harden the earth. Otherwise if would be too... soft? Anyway, the hardened earth is actually very close to an actual rock and I can sense and distinguish between different types of soil. And here, bellow us, are remains of at least twelve such spikes," Naruto shrugged. "Sure, it could be a different jutsu, after all she is from Iwa, but I know only two jutsu with similar effect and the other one wasn't used here."

"Ok, I get it and what is more, we just found exactly what we needed," Shikamaru said.

"What do you mean?" Naruto frowned.

"If the mission is still valid, we can check the other nearby skirmish sites and see if Rezaya is responsible for some of them too." Shikamaru informed them.

"Good thinking," Hana nodded, impressed.

"Yeah," Naruto agreed. "Let's move, we won't find anything else here."

…

Tsuji Kitahachi entered his house and let out a long and tired breath. Tired but happy. His daughter married the son of the local blacksmith today, which of course deserved a huge party afterwards. Huge for Ugawa, that is. He slipped out of his shoes and headed towards his bedroom. It was already night, and the hallway was dark, but Tsuji wasn't afraid. He lived in this house for the last thirty years and knew every cranny of it. He sure as hell knew, how to navigate it during the night.

Tsuji entered his bedroom and with years-long practice picked up the matches, lighting the lamp on his bedside table. Big town like Konoha was already equipped with the wonder, which was electricity, but it would take a several more years for it to reach a village as small as Ugawa. Till then, they would have to use the traditional means.

Tsuji slipped out of his official kimono and carefully hanged them inside his dresser. His wife would have his hide if he let such a nice clothing to crease. He yawned and turned towards his bed, when a palm was firmly pressed to his mouth, preventing a scream. He saw a demon.

"Do not be alarmed, I am here only to speak with you," the intruder spoke, his voice surprisingly human.

Tsuji nodded weakly, actually afraid that he might get a heart attack.

"W-What do you want?" he asked weakly as the monster removed its limb from his face and stepped back. And Tsuji realized that it wasn't a monster but a human with face covered by mask. The only word which could describe it, was death. He shivered and almost jumped up when the person spoke again.

"Are you Kitahachi Tsuji, the major of the Ugawa village?" the intruder asked.

"Yes," Tsuji nodded, completely confused.

"I am here to ask if the mission for capture of one Rezaya Mitsuko is still considered to be valid," the person spoke again and handed Tsuji a scroll. Tsuji blinked and with start realized that he was speaking with a shinobi and what is more the person was a hunter, which was immediately after the ANBU the most feared division in the whole Konoha military system.

He quickly unrolled the scroll and briefly scanned it.

"Yes," Tsuji nodded hurriedly. "Our village, trade association and Konoha put this sum together, but unfortunately, she is still at large."

"Were there some new attacks since the last, which happened forty five days ago?" the intruder continued, with his interrogation.

"Yes, but we are not sure if it was Rezaya or not," Tsuji shrugged and handed the scroll back.

"Ok, good. You will not speak to anyone about this meeting. Actually, this meeting never happened. We don't need you or anyone else to warn Rezaya about our presence," the shinobi said.

"Of course, as you wish," Tsuji agreed. Only a mad person would argue with a hunter.

"Good, it was nice speaking to you," the hunter said and the next time Tsuji blinked, he was gone.

"I just met a hunter," Tsuji said to the empty room, still in daze. "Shame I can't speak about it," he sighed, but then realized: "Nah, no one would believe me, anyway."

…

"So?" Naruto inquired.

"We are on, but... I think, I scared the major," Shikamaru scratched his neck sheepishly.

"And you are surprised?" Hana snorted in amusement. "With that mask of yours, you would scare even a vegetable person."

"Yeah," Naruto smirked at Shikamaru, but then asked: "So, which site do we check first?"

"Hmm, there are two locations in approximately same distance. According to the map, one happened about three weeks after Rezaya's second attack, while the other one a week prior to that," Shikamaru said.

"That means we can ignore the second one," Hana pointed out. "Even if Rezaya is responsible for it, we already have enough old and not too useful sites to check."

"Yeah, let's ignore this one for now," Naruto agreed.

…

"This wasn't done by Rezaya, there aren't any unnatural formation in the soil," Naruto shook his head.

"I suspected as much," Hana approached Naruto and Shikamaru, while extending her palm towards her teammates. "I found several rusty arrowheads and even one broken bow. I can even smell faint traces of blood from some of them."

"You can actually still smell something?" Shikamaru said in surprise. "This was done three weeks ago."

"Firstly, I am not saying that I could track anyone with this, but..." Hana paused for a moment with frown marring her face. "Normal dogs trained for tracking can track at most a ten or twelve days old trail. Compared to that, Inuzuka members, including the hounds can do something around sixteen days," she shrugged.

"Ok, so what now?" Naruto asked with frown.

"Maybe we are searching at wrong place," Shikamaru offered. "The first attack happened near Ugawa and the second was located a few days of travel towards north. Do you think, that Rezaya would return here, to a place just a few hours from both, the first attack and Ugawa?"

"So, you think she continued further towards north? Towards the borders with Takigakure?"

"I don't know, it's possible," Shikamaru massaged his forehead.

"It doesn't matter," Naruto shrugged. "Let's move towards the second confirmed site and check the other locations around there."

"Location. There is only one other place in a reasonable distance."

"Yeah, that," Naruto nodded.

…

Naruto jumped down from the tree tops and lightly landed on the road. His teammates followed shortly afterwards.

"I hate you both," Hana growled, with hands on her hips. "You know that my chakra control is not really suited for using freaking leafs as a running surface."

"You will get used to it," Shikamaru stated with shrug as he watched Naruto examine the ground. "Besides, it will help you with your healing skills."

"I know, but that doesn't make me any less tired," Hana muttered. "Good thing that we are finally here, I needed a break."

"Stop lazing around and come here, I think I found something," Naruto yelled at them. Hana rolled her eyes, but without a word followed Shikamaru.

"What did you get?" he asked.

"Whoever reported this site, was correct. Rezaya was clearly here and the ambush was done in a completely same fashion as the first one," Naruto explained. "However, it seems she messed up this time," he smirked. Shikamaru raised an eyebrow.

"Do you see this unnaturally flat surface?" Naruto pointed at the ditch at the right hand side of the road. "It almost looks like a small bridge, and it's wide enough for any rack wagon of any tradesman."

"You think she used it to get the caravan into the forest?" Shikamaru asked skeptically. "There are trees, you know. There isn't any room for a cart."

"Yes, but you forget, she can use the earth manipulation. She could move the trees aside temporarily," Naruto pointed out.

"Wouldn't that be like really tiresome?" Hana frowned, with her hand folded on her chest.

"Yes. I wouldn't be surprised, if we found some hidden forest road after a few hundred yards."

"Then let's go, and Naruto?"

"Yes?"

"Nice work, by the way," Hana praised him.

"Thanks, but let's just hope we will find something," he responded and turned his attention towards the forest.

"You were right, there is a plenty of broken branches or overturned rocks and similar stuff. For example this wheel track," Shikamaru pointed a little bit to the side. "Anyway, how far do you think it is back towards the road? Three hundred meters?"

"It's more like four hundreds," Naruto corrected him.

"Hey guys, I think there is a pathway just about fifty or so yards ahead," Hana called from her leading position.

"Good, I was starting to wonder, how big chakra reserves Rezaya got," Naruto muttered.

"Hmm, it's nothing much, but a smaller carts could comfortably fit in here," Shikamaru commented, when they emerged on the trail.

"Yeah, but more importantly, this road isn't in any of our maps and by the direction of it, I would bet it lead towards Takigakure's border," Hana said. "I think we just found a smuggling route," she added and Shikamaru frowned.

"Guys, I think this is bigger than we think," he said, making Naruto and Hana turn towards him. "If this path leads inside Takigakure, it could very easily continue to Iwa. And in that case, there is a good chance, that Rezaya isn't a missing-nin. Iwa probably entered her into the bingo book, just for the case if she got caught," he explained.

"But that would mean that Takigakure is on it with them," Naruto reacted. "There is no way, that a country so small as Takigakure wouldn't notice a smuggling route traversing their whole land."

"We have to inform Hokage about this," Hana stated firmly. "However, before we send a reverse summoning scroll back to Konoha, we need to determine where this path is actually leading."

"Exactly," Shikamaru nodded, already moving forward. "Also, from now on we should move silently and use only the sign language."

"And try to not leave any footprints behind," Naruto noted, while using a variation of water walking technique, to spread his weight. Others nodded and slowly moved forward.

As they moved, Naruto had the time to examine the deciduous forest more thoroughly. It was dense mix of common trees and bamboo, which would be probably a quite hard to navigate, if it wasn't for the path. And it even appeared that it was becoming even thicker the longer they traveled.

"This road had to take some time to build," Shikamaru signed towards his two companions.

"Yeah, and what a manpower it had to require," Naruto added with a slightly disbelieving look shook his head.

"I wouldn't be so impressed by this," Hana shook her head while her hands moved. "It took probably many years to build, which almost certainly means, that slaves were used to do it."

Shikamaru nodded and wanted to add something, when Naruto's raised his arm and stopped him.

"There is something before us. Approximately one hundred yards before us," he signaled.

"Shinobi?" Shikamaru inquired.

Naruto shook his head, then added: "Nothing alive, just... irregularity in vegetation." He then slowly moved forward, Shikamaru and Hana following him.

"I don't believe this," Shikamaru whispered after a few moments, when they emerged at a crossroad. The pathway leading from the direction of Takigakure was actually splitting and every single direction was leading further inside the Land of Fire.

"This is ridiculous," Hana quietly growled. "How the hell did we missed this? Do you know what could happen if we entered into a war with Iwa?"

"Nothing good, that is for sure," Naruto snorted caustically. "Anyway, how far is it still towards the border?"

"Several more hours probably, we should find some spot to spend the night," Shikamaru reminded.

"Yeah, let's," both, Naruto and Hana nodded.

…

"So, it actually took us almost another whole day to reach the border," Naruto said with frown. "This is our eighth day away from Konoha."

"Yeah, we had to travel a little slower than we thought yesterday." Shikamaru shrugged. "It's actually a quite hard to notice the passage of time inside a forest as thick as this one."

"So, we confirmed that the road leads all the way towards Takigakure, we should finally send the reverse summoning scroll," Hana reminded them.

"Yeah, you are right. We probably should have sent one yesterday already, in the case something happened to us," Shikamaru nodded and pulled out a scroll from his vest. "But I decided against it, because we actually have only one reverse summoning scroll. They are supposedly a really hard to make, hence SIO (Shinobi Intelligence Office) hands only one to each team."

"We should make a sketch of this area and the pathway," Naruto noted.

"We have to write down everything we know. Any less would be careless," Shikamaru said while writing down everything they have found so far.

"When I think about it, do you remember, when we were still in Konoha, how I said that it was weird for Rezaya to not attack for so long?" Hana asked.

"Yeah? What about it?" Shikamaru asked.

"Her being a fake missing-nin would explain it, right? She probably returned home for few weeks or permanently. Who know?" Hana shrugged.

"Right, I will write that down too," he nodded.

"What about our mission? If Rezaya is really back home in Iwa..."

"Actually, I thought about that. It isn't very well known knowledge, but if the information passed via reverse summoning scroll is good, we might be rewarded with some money. Especially if our original mission wasn't successful. I think that the amount would be enough to cover us three for two weeks, but who knows. I can't be too sure," Shikamaru explained.

"Huh, that is good," Naruto nodded. "In that case we could wait a few days, if Rezaya or someone else won't appear?"

"I agree, besides, I don't care that much if I don't get paid. All Inuzuka members live in the clan compound so I don't really have to worry about it as much," Hana nodded.

"Ok, then it's decided," Shikamaru nodded. "Also, I got an idea. It's obvious that all this," he motioned towards the pathway. "Is pretty big. Don't you think that Rezaya would know when another trade caravan will arrive? I mean, such information is spread as far as it can be, so the merchants would make a good money. Rezaya could easily learn such things and appear only when there is something to steal."

"I could make a clone and send him to ask around?" Naruto offered.

"Yeah, I hoped you would say that," Shikamaru smirked at Naruto, who rolled his eyes.

"I am really not looking forward to the moment the clone decides to dispel," he muttered.

"You are talking about the Shadow Clones right?" Hana asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah. Very useful jutsu, but it's a pain in the ass to use it," Naruto sighed and with a few hand-seals created one clone.

"Try to be quick," Naruto told his clone, who nodded and disappeared inside the treetops.

"Where do we ambush Rezaya in the case she appears?" Hana asked. "We probably shouldn't do it here, I mean on the pathway, because even if we kill her, we want to let Iwa think that we don't know about it."

"Yeah," Shikamaru nodded. "I think that the ideal place to wait would be near the crossroad, but even if Rezaya appears, we will have to wait until she leaves the forest. And probably a little bit longer just to give her time to make some distance from the entrance point."

"All right, let's return. I want to have a camp prepared before my clone dispels," Naruto stated, already moving.

"Give me a moment. I still need to send the scroll," Shikamaru halted him, while rolling up the scroll.

…

"When do you think your clone will dispel?" Shikamaru asked, when the camp was set up and they were relaxing. It was very modest camp to tell the truth. There was no camp fire, or tents. They only cleared small area from branches and then unsealed three military sleeping bags.

"Probably any moment now, after all, there is only one place my clone can visit," Naruto shrugged.

"It's a shame we can't make a fire, there is a plenty of wildlife around here, I can smell it," Hana sniffed the air.

"Maybe on the way back," Shikamaru smiled slightly with a dreamy expression. It would be welcomed change after almost ten days of military food, which was designed to emit as little smell as possible. That of course meant it was barely edible.

Just then Naruto grasped his head with a painful moan, and fell on his knee.

"Fuck, that was nasty," he cursed and groggily climbed back on his makeshift seat.

"So, did you learn something?" Shikamaru asked impatiently.

"Yeah. The merchants should arrive to Ugawa in about four days. It seems that they will travel the same path where the second attack happened," Naruto informed his two teammates.

"That is bad. If Rezaya arrives, she will leave the forest just for the ambush," Hana frowned.

"We could join the caravan..."

"No," Shikamaru interrupted Naruto. "There is a good chance that Rezaya has someone in the caravan. We would give our presence away far too soon."

"I would argue that we could disguise ourselves as a members of the caravan, but I doubt that anyone here is trained in infiltration. I would probably fuck that up like three seconds after we joined," Naruto snorted.

"Yeah," Hana chuckled. "Besides, it's far too late for that. The caravan is already on the road by now, and anyone joining it would be suspicious."

"So, how do we do it?" Naruto asked. "It appears that we will have to ambush her at the same time she attacks the caravan. Wouldn't it be better to attack her inside the forest?"

"That depends," Shikamaru frowned, his hands joined under his chin. "If preserving the illusion that we don't know about the smuggling route is more important than protecting the caravan?" he asked.

"There is nothing to decide really," Hana shook her head. "The first is clearly more important, so we will attack them as they attack the caravan. At the same time we will try to prevent any unnecessary death. If we can protect the caravan, we should try to do so," Hana looked at Naruto and Shikamaru.

"Ok, if we are doing it this way, Naruto, you will have to stay back, hidden somewhere inside the forest and take out all Rezaya's teammates. You, because of your detection technique. The forest is really thick and neither I nor Hana can ensure, that no one would escape," Shikamaru declared.

"Ok, but in that case I have to make a clone, which will disrupt any earth attacks. I wouldn't be surprised if Rezaya attempted to annihilate everyone just before she died," Naruto nodded.

"That's good idea," Shikamaru nodded. "I will try to ensnare her in my family jutsu and for example strangle her, but otherwise, it will be your job to take her on," Shikamaru informed Hana.

"Sure," Hana nodded.

"Ok, the plan is ready and we have probably enough time to iron out any kinks, but... prepare for few days of boredom," Shikamaru warned.

"What if Rezaya won't come?" Naruto asked.

"Then we pack up and return to Konoha," Shikamaru shrugged.

"Ok guys, it's settled. I am going to sleep," Naruto murmured, while slipping inside his sleeping bag.

…

"I want to do something!" Naruto moaned dramatically, his arms stretched towards the sky. Or more precisely towards the branches above him.

"Stop whining," Hana muttered half annoyed, half amused. "You are acting like a small kid. Go clean and sharpen your weapons or something."

"Compared to you, he is small," Shikamaru chuckled quietly. "You are at least four inches taller than Naruto... Or me for that matter."

"Yeah. Besides, I sharpened and re-sharpened my weapons too many fucking times already," Naruto groused in mock outrage. And though he was bored, he was simultaneously scanning the surrounding area. "Anyway, I was thinking, shouldn't we try to ambush them during the night? When they will be sleeping?" he asked. "With your family jutsu, it should be really easy, since you are significantly stronger during the night."

"Your idea has few problems. Firstly, let's imagine that something goes south and the pathway gets noticeably damaged. What then? In the middle of night, when we won't see anything? And even if it is only a blood puddle or something, we can miss something during the night. We would have to stay till the morning to make sure, we took care of any tracks and such," Shikamaru shook his head.

"Yeah, that would be troublesome," Naruto sighed wryly.

"If we wouldn't have other priorities, this would be the way to go," Shikamaru added. "But I believe, that in our current situation, it would be the wrong route to take."

"You are probably right, though our every option is kind of crappy," Hana rolled her eyes.

"Yeah."

…

"Guys!" Hana hissed quietly towards her teammates. Their heads snapped towards her.

"I smell humans," she signaled.

"Distance?" Naruto signaled back, already packing his sleeping bag.

"Several kilometers probably," Hana responded with shrug. In the next moment every sleeping bag was sealed away and the camping site nonexistent. "Be careful, there is a chance that they have some skilled tracker or sensor," she warned them, receiving nods in return

"Do we dare to get a visual confirmation of our target?" Shikamaru raised a question. Naruto shook his head.

"Let's wait until the ambush," he signaled, slowly moving in said direction. He pulled out his dark grey, almost black hunter mask, which was adorned with two simple blood-red stripes. One horizontal in the height of the mask's eyeholes and one vertical crossing the left. Additionally, there was red marking above and below its right eye.

There was a short pulse of chakra as the seal matrix on the inner side of the mask activated and glued itself to his face. Naruto flexed his jaws and with satisfaction looked at his teammates. Shika's face was covered in the black and gray mask, with painted cracks and chipped areas around his eyes and mouth. The overall feeling it gave of wasn't very friendly.

Hana's mask was on the other hand painted to imitate wood. It looked a little bit like some tribal mask.

"Ok," Shikamaru responded.

"Guys, the scent is getting stronger, they are probably running," Hana signaled quickly, which to Hana's disgust was followed by Naruto quickly disappearing in the treetops above them.

"Are you sure this is a good idea? They could do this too," spoke into her radio.

"I doubt it, no one travels like this really," Naruto shrugged with a slight smirk.

"Great," Hana muttered silently.

…

The trio didn't stop until they reached the road.

"Naruto, create a clone few minutes before Iwa shinobi arrives and send him at the other side of the road, so he can do his job, then circumvent the enemy and get into their backs. Also, check your walkie-talkies, especially the batteries," Shikamaru said.

"Already did," Naruto said.

"I think I smell the caravan," Hana frowned. "I smell horses."

"This is fucked up. They have this whole a little bit too well mapped out," Shikamaru muttered. "They have to have someone on the inside, it's not possible otherwise, that they would arrive with such precision."

"I don't like this," Hana frowned. "We have to be careful during our fight. Someone in the caravan could backstab us if we aren't careful."

"Yeah."

"Ok guys, I will move a little bit towards the south and I will let you know, when the caravan appears," Naruto said. Shikamaru and Hana nodded.

Naruto took a deep breath and moved alongside the edge of the forest. When the distance between him and the rest of the team was about four hundred yards, he stopped and laid down on his stomach, so the arriving caravan wouldn't notice his silhouette atop the trees.

"The Iwa shinobi are getting closer, ETA probably ten to fifteen minutes, guessing by the scent," Hana's voice resonated in Naruto's ear quietly.

"Creating a clone now. Also, if possible, get a visual confirmation on our target," Naruto responded and got an affirmative grunt in return.

"What about the caravan?" Shikamaru asked.

"Nothing yet," Naruto whispered back.

"They will arrive several minutes after Iwa," Hana added quietly.

"You are right, I think I see movement on the road... Yeah, the caravan just appeared around the curve of the road," Naruto confirmed.

"ETA five minutes for Iwa," Hana said, then added: "Limit the talking as much as possible."

For several long minutes no one spoke, not even when Naruto finally sensed the Iwa shinobi. There was seven of them, where one of them had noticeably larger chakra reserves than others. Additionally, he sensed two strong animal signatures. Horses probably? Naruto carefully crouched and hunched started moving deeper inside the forest area. He sensed that two Iwa shinobi split from the group and slowly moved towards the road, leaving five shinobi to Naruto. It was good that the powerful one left.

"Seven shinobi, two most powerful moving towards the road. One stronger than the other," he whispered.

Naruto continued carefully forward, successfully getting about forty yards behind the enemy. He looked around and carefully descended onto the ground level, using a gap between branches. Then looked at his targets. They stood next to two carts, each pulled by powerfully looking horse. Naruto concentrated on the five figures with a frown. Two of them had chakra reserves so small, that they actually couldn't be shinobi. Or they were just that good in suppressing their chakra, however Naruto doubted that, because even if suppressed, the signature would be stronger.

The rest of them were probably weak chunins, because genins wouldn't be sent into a foreign country... probably, anyway. Naruto willed his chakra and spread his weight across the ground and silently moved forward. Thirty yards. In that moment the caravan appeared on the edge of Naruto's senses and simultaneously he could hear two quite taps with pause between them. The target was identified.

"Good," Naruto thought and with his gaze glued to the nearby enemy moved forward. Twenty yards remained. The group was looking towards the road, while talking quietly. Naruto was too far away to distinguish separate words, so with withheld breath he moved closer. Suddenly there was a weak stir of chakra in the distance and Naruto realized, that Rezaya had to raise the roadblock. The caravan was still three hundred yards away.

Naruto slowly pulled out a kunai and waited behind one of the plentiful trees. He had the smaller fishes to take care of, so he needed to wait. He needed to give Hana and Shikamaru opportunity to do this as they wanted, on their own terms. If he attacked now, Rezaya would get so much more dangerous immediately from the start.

The caravan was close by now. Naruto guessed that the distance from the caravan to the roadblock was something about one hundred yards and still decreasing. Another several seconds trickled away and the caravan halted before the roadblock, and just then there was a much stronger pulse of earth chakra, immediately followed by angry yelling and clang of steel. Naruto carefully peered at his targets. They were arguing about something and few seconds later one of them started loosening the harness of one of the horses.

"Fuck, he wants to run!" Naruto cursed internally and quickly pulled out several shurikens. He would need to improvise. He waited for a moment when all of them were looking away, then stepped out of his hiding place. He took a careful aim, then threw three shurikens at the nearest targets. There was quiet whistle of wind, then Naruto rushed forward, kunai firmly gripped in his hand.

Two of his shurikens found their marks without a problem, but the third one missed, as the last enemy suddenly turned towards the second horse, probably intending to loosen its harness too.

"Fuck," Naruto cursed and with snap of chakra shunshined atop the closer horse. He ignored the alarmed yelling of shinobi before him and pushed of, lunging at the nearest enemy. But the black haired boy just finished a seal and disappeared, leaving behind piece of old trunk. Naruto cursed again, but his gaze snapped immediately to his right towards the next target, while simultaneously hurling a kunai at him. The chunin managed to pull out a kunai of his own, though it didn't help him. Naruto's projectile coated in wind chakra snapped his in half, then tore through his chest.

Naruto landed on the ground and with roll jumped to his feet, already gripping another kunai. He turned around and sized his opponent, who was a few yards away. Behind him he sensed a living signature, quickly moving away.

"You will pay for..." the enemy started speaking, but Naruto ignored it and lunged forward. Just as both of them were to clash, chakra string shot forward from Naruto's left palm, diverting enemy's kunai down and leaving him defenseless. In the next moment a kunai was buried into his throat.

Naruto let the body drop to the ground, already searching for the last target. He was running along the pathway back towards Takigakure. Naruto shook his head and with chakra enhanced swing released another shuriken. There was a moment of silence as the weapon curved through air, then buried itself in the back of the last Iwa civilian.

"This is what you get for ambushing caravans in the Land of Fire," Naruto muttered as he summoned another clone and without a word rushed back towards the road. It took him only few moments to reach it, so he slowed down, and carefully peered out. Shikamaru and Hana was both standing near one of the caravan carts, and few meters away from them stood Rezaya. She was hiding behind a girl, to which's neck she was pressing a kunai.

"And this is what we get for endangering the innocents," Naruto sighed and explored the area a little bit more carefully. There was a body a few yard away with chest ripped open. Hana had to slash him with a clawed hand.

"It seems that we are at impasse," Rezaya spoke with sneer.

"It appears that way," Shikamaru shrugged, seemingly without a care. "But either way, you will not leave here alive," he responded.

Naruto frowned in concentration, then backpedaled a little bit back, so he could circumvent behind Razaya's back.

"I will distract her, you need to ensnare her," he whispered into his microphone and quickly weaved between the trees. When he was about ten yard behind Razaya, he stepped into the open.

"Let her go, you killed enough civilians as it is," Shikamaru stated.

"And I will add at least one more," she spat.

"I really doubt that," Naruto said with arms folded on his chest, causing Rezaya to whirl around. In that moment Shikamaru's shadow shot forward instantly enveloping Rezaya. Hana lunged forward, grabbing her hand and puling the kunai from the girl's neck. Rezaya growled, but it was meaningless, because Hana punched her, relieving her of her consciousness.

"The girl is bleeding. Rezaya cut her when you spoke," she stated as Naruto came closer, already healing the girl. "It is shallow, fortunately. She didn't cut her carotid artery. I will have her patched in a minute."

"The luck was on our side today," Naruto sighed.

"Yeah," Shikamaru added, then turned towards the other members of the caravan. "Who is the leader?" he asked.

"That's... That's me," a middle aged man in quality, but not ostentatious clothes stepped forward from the nearby group of scared civilians.

"The girl is alright. My teammate is almost done healing her. Please prepare to continue your travel towards Ugawa village..." he said, but was interrupted as a worried women rushed from the group forward, towards the girl."

"Um, but we cannot continue, there is still the roadblock," the caravan leader responded, still obviously trying to get his bearing back.

"Fushin?" Shikamaru raised an eyebrow.

"Already on it, boss," Naruto joked and quickly freed the way. When he returned, the girl was already sitting on one of the carts. She was still very pale, but it was obvious that she would live.

"Please, move along," Shikamaru reminded the caravan and patiently waited until everyone was moving again.

"Thank for saving us, masked shinobi!" a young girl called after them, standing on the last cart and waving with her small arms.

"She doesn't seem to be all that much scared," Shikamaru chuckled, then suddenly frowned: "What about Rezaya?"

"We should bring her to Konoha, confirm the capture with IHA and then hand her over to T&I. They also can find out if there was spy in the caravan or not," Naruto offered. His companions nodded and together they secured their prisoner.

"Ok, she is tied up. Now follow me. We have to move the dead bodies from the forest here, and take care of any tracks I left there," Naruto reminded them. "We will have to probably even fake some scrummage here. We can't just drop them on the ground. Also, there are two carts with horses in the forest. We will need to leave them there untouched."

"Ok, let's get to it, so we can continue to Ugawa for our reward," Hana said and moved forward.

"You realize that we won't get an actual money, we will only receive a certificate for capturing the target. Then we will have to visit the local branch of International Hunter Association in Konoha and pick it up. Generally it is good policy to bring to IHA besides the certification some other proof. For example a sealed head of missing-nin is good."

"But we don't really need the certification, right?" Hana asked slightly confused. "If we captured someone from bingo book, for whom there wasn't any mission assigned we would just need the body, or the head as you said."

"Yeah, that's true," Shikamaru nodded. "But, what I learned in my previous team is that IHA takes quite long time to verify the identity of a captured target. It's not like we drop a head at their office and grab the money. If I understand it, they have some investigation squad, who have to verify the body first. There are supposedly ways how to create a fake one... Anyway, if we bring certification and some additional proof, the reward money will be processed significantly faster.

"Good to know," Naruto nodded as they traveled through the forest. "Let's clean up as fast as possible, I would like to make it to Ugawa today if possible." Others agreed.

…

As it turned out, they managed to visit Ugawa and also make a good progress on the way back to Konoha. They traveled in a slower fashion than usual, because they had a prisoner, which couldn't be sealed away. It was the first thing they told you in academy, that even though sealing living person won't visibly damage them, it would mess up their memories, making them in most cases vegetable.

That night they dared to make a small camp fire and Hana brought two rabbits shortly afterwards.

"What are you thinking about Naruto?" Shikamaru asked, as Hana skinned the animals. "You have been unusually quiet since we stopped."

"Ah, just thinking what to learn next, you know," Naruto shrugged. "You two could actually help me decide that."

"So what do you have so far?" Shikamaru asked.

"Hmm... Ok. You know that I am really good at chakra control, be it normal or elemental one and any further progress is more of a long-term project. Swordsmanship is similar, because I cannot train it without supervision, not yet anyway. Beside that? There are only small things, nothing significant. I should branch out a little bit. It doesn't have to be even combat related," Naruto shrugged.

"So what are you thinking about?" Hana asked as she placed the rabbits over the fire and sat next to them.

"Two things. Healing, because of my good chakra control and it would be really useful if I knew it during my first chunin exam. The other possibility is fūinjutsu, though I don't like it. It's boring and you could say, I don't have a good experiences with it," Naruto winced slightly.

"What about genjutsu? You would have chakra control for that," Hana suggested.

"Not possible," Naruto shook his head with chuckle. "I am crap at it, and that is a polite description."

"But why?" Hana frowned.

"Because you have to have a really good imagination for it. I used few genjutsu in the past and it was always very difficult for me. I am actually trying to create one genjutsu in my training right now, but it's very slow going. If you want to make it realistic, you have to imagine everything to the latest detail. Simply said, my brain doesn't work that way."

"Hmm, nothing comes to me, right now," Shikamaru frowned. "But I suppose healing is as useful as anything else. To have two skilled medics on team wouldn't be bad."

"I don't intend to learn some really advanced stuff. I would just like to be able to fix broken bones, stop bleeding be it the venous or arterial type and remove poison from bloodstream and similar stuff."

"Hmm, the poison extraction isn't easy, I can do it to limited degree, but I have a long way to go to be proficient at it. However, with your chakra control, you could be done in six, eight months with it," Hana mused aloud. "I think you should pursue it. Also, I will ask my last sensei to start training me again. I didn't finish my training when my last team was ambushed. When I think about it, I could also ask if she would help you." Hana offered.

"Thanks, but no. I have someone in mind for that," Naruto waved his hand lazily. "Ok, so when we are talking about it, I actually think, that you could pick up the fuinjutsu," Naruto turned to Shikamaru. "After you finish your water and earth affinity training, that is."

"I will think about it," Shikamaru nodded, then turned the topic towards less serious stuff, while they waited for the rabbits to be done.

…

"They certainly weren't very friendly," Naruto scowled at the building of International Hunter Association, which his team just left.

"No they weren't, especially after we refused to let them keep Rezaya," Hana muttered.

"And what would they do with her? That whole debate was completely ridiculous!" Shikamaru growled, the mask covering his face accurately describing his mood.

"Yeah. Let's visit Hokage and report to her," Naruto stated and pulled their unconscious prisoner behind him. The track was absolved in silence, the whole team too angry to discuss anything in civilized manner.

"What do you want?" The already known Sloth ANBU barred their entrance into Hokage tower.

"We just returned from mission and have an urgent report for Hokage. And a prisoner for interrogation," Naruto shrugged.

"Your codenames?" he asked, pulling a thin book from one pocket on his vest.

"Shi, Ikari, Fushin," Shikamaru, Hana and Naruto responded one after another.

"Ah, that's you. You are already expected, Hokage-sama will receive you immediately," he informed them and stepped to the side, allowing them to continue.

They quickly ascended the stairs, meeting and briefly greeting another ANBU along the way, then entered the office. Tsunade raised her head from some documents, then raised an eyebrow.

"Interesting masks you got there," she stated and leaned back in her chair.

"Thank you Hokage-sama," Shikamaru responded with a shrug.

"Oh, I didn't say they were nice, only that they were interesting... Anyway, we received your report almost six days ago. If what you described is true..."

"It is," Naruto interrupted Tsunade, who scowled shortly at him for interrupting her, but then relaxed and Naruto knew that she recognized his voice.

"Continue please," Tsunade nodded and Naruto with the help of others described everything that happened in the last fifteens days.

"That are very grim news," Tsunade rested her chin on her hand with a frown.

"May I have a question Hokage-sama?" Shikamaru asked after a moment of silence.

"Sure."

"Why wasn't an ANBU squad sent at the place? I expected that we would meet one a few days after I sent the report."

"Good question, but the answer is simple. All ANBU squads specializing on infiltration, scouting and tracking were busy. There have been some disappearances among our genins and we are still in the middle of investigation. I could sent some other teams, but…"

"Genins disappeared?" Shikamaru interrupted worriedly.

"Yeah, but no one from clan. Actually, the only missing genin that had in their team a clan-member was Haruno Sakura. It appears someone targeted those with bellow average practical skills... But back to the matter at hand, Tsunade sighed, then added: "As it appears, my decision was good one. We can thoroughly interrogate the prisoner you brought first. Anyway, you did a good job and will receive the small payment bonus for your report. You are dismissed," she ordered.

"Yes, and thank you Hokage-sama," they bowed and left the tower.

They walked to an empty training ground and removed their masks, quickly stashing them.

"Ok guys, thanks for the mission. I am going home to relax for a few days, then probably start on my healing training," Naruto said.

"Yeah, me to," Hana agreed.

"So when do we meet for team training? In four days?" Shikamaru asked.

"Yeah, that sounds good. Let's meet on Monday, the usual time," Naruto suggested and others agreed.

…

"Hey Midori," Naruto called lazily and smiled.

"Naruto! What are you doing here? I mean, here inside the Konoha hospital?" Midori asked.

"I am searching for Shizune. I heard that this was her office."

"That's correct. What do you want with her?" Midori wondered aloud.

"I want to learn healing. You know, to mend some cuts and stab wound, occasionally a broken bone, maybe extract some poison?" Naruto smiled wryly, which Midori with snort returned.

"It's good to see you again," she grinned and shortly hugged him.

"Yeah, you too," Naruto reciprocated.

"Anyway, you are in luck. Shizune will come here shortly, because she is my sensei... kind of anyway. She is quite busy, but still manages to find a time to teach me healing for few hours every week," Midori explained.

"That's good. Do you think she will have time for me? I wouldn't want to be bother or to lessen the amount of hours she can devote to you," Naruto asked with frown.

"Don't worry about that," Midori waved her hand with chuckle just as the doors into the room opened.

"What are you doing here," Shizune scowled at Naruto. "I am still mad at you, you know," she folded her hands on her chest and tapped her shoe.

"I am really sorry, but Midori has her leg thanks to that, doesn't she?" Naruto defended himself weakly. Shizune continued to frown for another few minutes, but in the end sighed and let out a moan. "What is wrong? Is everything alright between you and..." Naruto raised eyebrow.

"I am not talking about that here," Shizune snapped. "Let's just say that the situation is complicated... Anyway, what did you want?"

"Hey! Am I missing something here?" Midori demanded suddenly, but Naruto and Shizune ignored her.

"I want to learn healing. Midori said that you are teaching her." Shizune frowned, measuring him with her gaze.

"I heard your chakra control is great. Is it true?" she asked after a few moments.

"Yes it is," Midori snorted. "We sometimes call him Control Freak," she smirked at her scowling ex-teammate.

"That's good, but tell me Naruto, how far do you want to take it? I mean how much do you want to learn?"

"Ideally I would like to learn until I can extract poison. If I understand it correctly, then everything else, like classical wounds and such would come before that," he explained.

"That's true I suppose, but you should prepare that it will take you at least a year, more likely eighteen months." Naruto raised an eyebrow, corners of his mouth raising.

"We will see about that," he said, while slightly raising his chin, causing Shizune to smile.

"You know what, let me check Midori's progress, and after that I will explain you the first heling exercise."

"Sounds good," Naruto nodded and sat on the nearby chair.

…

"So, tell me Naruto, do you know, what is the biggest difference between healing and other disciplines using chakra?" Shizune asked, when Midori had something to do.

"Hmm... no, not really," Naruto shook his head. Shizune nodded, obviously expecting it.

"The difference is, that there aren't used any hand-seals during healing or at least in ninety percent of all cases. There are some highly advanced healing procedures and such, which require it, but otherwise it's not used."

"So, healing is pure chakra control?" Naruto's forehead creased.

"Yes and no," Shizune responded. "Healing is built on a branch of chakra control called raw chakra manipulation. What you need to know is, that all chakra has - in its idle state - healing properties. And by idle I mean, when said chakra is inside our bodies."

"But that would mean, that anyone should be able to heal wounds, right?" Naruto asked in confusion. "I certainly never noticed any healing side effect when using some jutsu."

"Exactly," Shizune emphasized. "The secret to this lies in the function of tenketsu, the points which shinobi use to expel chakra. As I said before, when is chakra inside our bodies, it naturally possess healing properties, which normally manifests in the form of enhanced strength of our muscles. Similarly, if is shinobi wounded, they will heal much more quickly than civilian with underdeveloped chakra network. However, when said chakra is pushed through tenketsu out of one's body, any healing ability the chakra possessed is lost..."

"So how is healing even po..."

"Wait, let me finish," Shizune halted Naruto patiently. "You are wondering probably how is healing even possible, when pushing chakra outside our bodies negates it. And at the same time that is exactly what is done during healing. Am I right?" Shizune asked.

"Yeah," Naruto nodded.

"I actually told you the reason already, but it's not that obvious. The reason are the tenketsu points. The healing doesn't disappear because we push our chakra outside, but because we push them through tenketsu. Imagine that tenketsu points are small gates, which are designed to enhance chakra in the best possible way. And when the chakra is leaving body, they ask this: Is healing needed outside one's body? No, it isn't, we should change the chakra. I will not describe the details how the chakra is changed and such. You just need to accept it."

"Ok, I don't have a problem with that," Naruto shrugged, then asked. "But what other way is there to extract chakra?"

"There isn't," Shizune smirked at Naruto.

"Erm... What?" Naruto blinked.

"There isn't another way, at least not natural one. There isn't any secondary chakra network or some other type of tenketsu," Shizune wiggled her eyebrows and simultaneously written quotation marks with her finger in the air. "The only way how to preserve the "healing chakra" is to push it outside of our bodies through the tissue of our muscles and skin. You have to forcefully push you chakra out of the chakra network and then guide it outside, which is significantly harder to do, than the traditional way. It is also the reason, why there aren't any hand-seals or why healing isn't possible during actual combat. It's simply too hard."

"Ok, I get it," Naruto nodded. "And I guess that my first exercise will be to push my chakra out of my body without using the chakra network or tenketsu."

"That," Shizune smiled and raised her left hand. "You should aim for this," she pushed the sleeve on her forearm back, while simultaneously causing it to glow with a weak, green light.

"Ok," Naruto agreed.

"Good. The technique for this is practically the same thing as for the classic chakra control. You will however, meet significantly more... resistance. If you can't do it after two weeks, come here and I will try to help you. Or you could visit the library, there should be described some exercises for it."

"Ok, and thanks. I will return when I am done," Naruto nodded towards his new teacher and stood up, stretching.

"Naruto, wait for me, I would like to talk to you about something," Midori reminded him of her presence. "I should be done in about fifteen minutes."

"Sure thing, I will be outside. See you Shizune-sensei," Naruto grinned at the brown haired woman, who rolled her eyes, then quickly scampered out of the office. He closed the door behind him, then leaned against the wall.

"All right, let's see," he thought and rolled up his left sleeve. Normal chakra control was for Naruto like a second nature already. He was aware of the chakra inside him and its circulation every waking moment. He didn't need to concentrate on it. If he wanted to channel a chakra into a hand-seal, it was similarly hard as breathing for him. Therefore, he was quite intrigued by this new… area of study.

He grasped the chakra saturating the muscles in his forearm and tried to push it towards his skin, deliberately avoiding any tenketsu point.

"Fuck," Naruto cursed weakly in bewilderment. "That is some resistance," he thought. The problem actually wasn't the fact that the chakra didn't want to move outside of chakra network, even though, it was noticeably harder. To normal person it would probably seem like swimming in a pool of mud. And while Naruto immediately noticed that, the much bigger and much more noticeable problem was, that the actual movement of chakra through the tissue of his muscles was unpleasant. And that was putting it lightly. It was like the sound of nails on chalkboard, only the effect was physical and not auditory.

Naruto willed the chakra again, instinctually clenching his teeth in preparation. He forcefully pushed the chakra towards his skin and just barely resisted the urge to immediately stop. There was a flicker of barely noticeable green light, causing Naruto to blink in surprise.

"Fuck me. This will take some getting used to," he sighed and wiped the sweat from his forehead. And just then, Midori stepped out of Shizune's office.

"You tried it already, didn't you?" she smirked at him.

"Eh?" Naruto blinked in confusion.

"I mean the exercise that Shizune gave you," she explained.

"Ah, yeah. Yes, I did. How did you know?"

"You are really pale," she grinned and Naruto rolled his eyes.

"Will it get any easier?" he asked.

"Yeah, after few weeks," Midori nodded. "Anyway, I wanted to speak about something. Tomorrow morning I am going to ask Tsunade for permission to search the archive for some steam jutsu finally. And I wanted to ask if you want to go with me. Saburo will be there too."

"Hmm, why not? I am free tomorrow," Naruto nodded.

"Great! Meet us at nine before the tower, ok?"

"Sure."

"Good, I have to go now, see you later," Midori waved him, already backpedaling away.

"Bye," Naruto responded.

…

"Hey, guys," Naruto raised his hand in lazy greeting.

"Good to see you again," Saburo smirked at him. "How is the hunter career going?"

"Actually quite good. Our team returned from the first mission just a few days ago."

"First mission?" Saburo raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, it took us fifteen days to complete it," Naruto chuckled. "Actually, I think that from now on, almost every mission will be longer than what we used to do as genins."

"I see," Saburo nodded and turned to Midori. "So, are we going to speak with Tsunade?"

"Yeah, let's go," Midori nodded and all of them entered the tower.

…

Tsunade sat in her chair, already waiting for them, when they entered her office.

"So, what do you want?" Tsunade asked, looking at Naruto.

"You are looking at the wrong person, I am here only as a friend, Hokage-sama," Naruto grinned cheekily at the blonde women. She scowled at him, but then looked the other two chunins expectantly.

"We are here because of me, Hokage-sama," Midori said. "I have finished training with my elemental affinities, which are fire and water, and I would like to ask permission to search the archives for some steam jutsu, to check if I don't have a bloodline."

"Oh? That combination is quite rare," Tsunade stated in surprise.

"Yes, I know, Hokage-sama," Midori nodded.

"Hmm, I don't see why not, and I suppose that these two are here to help you search," Tsunade pointed at Naruto and Saburo.

"Yes, they are the only people, along with Hayate-sensei, who are aware that I might have the bloodline. Although, others might have had realized it too, if they saw me using both elements," Midori explained.

"That's good. The less people know about it, the better," Tsunade noted and stood up, while simultaneously hitting a button on the side of her table. In the next moment, Iruka entered the office.

"What do you need, Hokage-sama?" he asked, while wordlessly greeting the trio of chunins inside.

"I am granting these three the permission to enter the archive. I believe you know what to do," Tsunade trailed off.

"Off course," Iruka nodded. "Follow me," he told his ex-students.

"You aren't teacher anymore, Iruka-sensei?" Midori asked when they were outside Tsunade's office.

"No," Iruka shook his head with smile. "I am just occasionally helping out with some administrative work. Especially if someone gets sick. Also, you don't have to use sensei, while addressing me. After all, you all have the same rank as me, now."

"Sure, Iruka-sensei," Naruto smirked, making the older shinobi sigh, then asked: "Where is the archive anyway?"

"It's here," Iruka suddenly stopped and opened a door with label: Restroom – under reconstruction. The trio chuckled and entered the small room. On the right side was reception desk with stack of paper boxes next to it, while directly in front of them was another door.

"Ok, here is how this work," Iruka began. "Behind the door you see, is the actual archive. It looks probably like any other archive, however, there are several important rules you need to know. Firstly, every scroll, book or tome in the room behind me is sealed. It cannot be opened, while in the archive and simultaneously it cannot be brought outside the archive. Any attempt to do the first or the second will cause an alarm to trigger. I hope I don't have to tell you that that would be bad," he measured all of them with stern look, then continued.

"When you will go inside, you will take one of these boxes with you, and put inside anything you want to take outside the archive. When done, you will come here and together we will go back to Hokage-sama, who has to authorize the unsealing of every single item. Do you understand?" he asked.

"Yes," they all nodded.

"Good," Iruka nodded. "Good luck with you search, I will be waiting here, while working on some paperwork," he explained and handed them one box.

"Thanks," Midori said and with both Naruto and Saburo disappeared inside the archive.

…

"So, where do we start?" Saburo asked with a little bit lost expression. The Archive was enormous, filled with endless rows of shelves, stuffed to brim with scrolls, book and ancient tomes. Occasionally there could be seen some weapon or artefact.

"I noticed a letter on several shelves. And if we are looking for something on bloodlines, we could try B?" Naruto offered.

"Sure," Midori nodded and turned around searching for the right shelve. "That is as good start as any other."

"Here it is," Midori entered one aisle and started examining individual titles.

"Fuck me, this whole aisle is only B," Saburo muttered.

"Then you better start searching," Midori stuck at him her tongue.

"I will start at the opposite end," Naruto chuckled.

…

Naruto was already searching for about fifty minutes, occasionally pulling out some title which seemed promising and then examining a tag with description of it. So far he found nothing beside one book, which seemed more like a general description of elemental affinities and its combinations.

"Midori, I think we can move on to some other letter. Like for example S, there is nothing here," Naruto said.

"Yeah, you are probably right. I found two book, but I doubt that they will be useful," she answered.

"You can add this into the box," Naruto handed her his single catch and headed in the direction of the mentioned letter.

"Steam... steam... steam...," he bumbled under his breath. "Ah here!" he nodded. "Midori, I think I found something," he called. Shortly afterwards Midori appeared, the box in her arms.

"What did you get?" Midori asked eagerly.

"You can add all this into the box," Naruto handed her without too much thinking three book and four scrolls. "All of them are somehow related to steam bloodline. Unfortunately you will not learn if they are any good, until Tsunade unseals them," he added with shrug.

"Doesn't matter, anything... Oh good! This one looks promising. Steam Bloodline and its jutsu," Midori read the title of one of the books.

"Yeah. Hopefully it won't be some fiction," Naruto said absentmindedly, while examining another shelve.

"You think that someone would put some bullshit here? I mean here in the archive?" Midori asked.

"Dunno," Naruto shrugged. "But I sure saw some total rubbish in Konoha library."

"I suppose, though Hokage-archive is a little bit different caliber, don't you think?" she asked.

"Probably," Naruto shrugged again.

"Hmm... I don't see anything else," he muttered as he neared the start of the S shelve. "There is nothi...," Naruto halted and backtracked a little bit. There! He pulled out a thin black book with single word title: Sharingan. Underneath it was pair of blood-red eyes. The left had three tomoes, while the other was filled with much more intricate pattern. Naruto frowned and turned the book, searching for the tag with the basic info on it. It stated:

Original owner: Uchiha Clan
Added: The day after The Uchiha Massacre
Note: Collected from the ruins of Uchiha Clan Compound.

"What did you find?" Midori interrupted his musing.

"A book describing Sharing," Naruto answered slowly, still half-lost in thoughts.

"You interested in it?" she asked.

"Under normal circumstances no," Naruto shook his head, but in his thoughts added: "However there are some circumstances that make me want to read this. Like, Uchiha-Fucking-Itachi!"

"Hmm, you say that, but your face is telling me you want to read it," Midori rolled her eyes and raised the box.

"Oh, ok," Naruto chuckled and put it inside. Just then Saburo appeared.

"Did you found anything?" Midori asked him.

"Umm... yes and no," he scratched his neck nervously.

"You went looking for earth techniques, didn't you?" Naruto snorted in amusement.

"Um... yeah?" Saburo grinned.

"Why I am not surprised?" Midori rolled her eyes. "Anyway, let's look a little bit more, I think we could try at least for one more hour," she decided.

…

Tsunade opened the box and raised an eyebrow.

"And I thought that two scroll might fix it," Tsunade snorted, half amused, half annoyed.

"For my defense, there aren't only things for me," Midori said weakly.

"I should have seen this coming," Tsunade rolled her eyes, then sighed. "Ok, let's see what we have here," she said and unsealed every item, then examining it.

"Ok, this is for who? The Earth Element: The secret of earthquakes," the leader of the village asked incredulously.

"Not me," Naruto snorted and pointed to Saburo.

"When you raise to jonin rank, I might allow you to study it. But no promises," Tsunade stated and put it aside. Next she pulled out a small black book and blinked.

"That is for me," Naruto informed her.

"Could you please tell me, why should I even consider unsealing this?" Tsunade scowled at him. "You realize that you actually don't have any right to read this, right?"

"Yes, but even though I don't have a legal right, I have a valid reason," Naruto frowned.

"And that is?" Tsunade asked impatiently.

"Itachi Uchiha," Naruto muttered. Tsunade paused for a moment, then looked at Midori and Saburo.

"Could you two give us a moment?" she asked. Midori and Saburo nodded and left.

"You know I can't let you read it. That would mean breaking clan rules," Tsunade said with frown.

"Actually, that is not true. There isn't any Uchiha Clan currently. You need at least four living members of a family to form and maintain a clan status, and what is more, none of those three can be marked as missing-nin," Naruto responded.

"Hmm, I suppose that is true," Tsunade massaged the bridge of her nose. "Ok, I will let you read it, but you will have to do it here. I cannot allow you to carry it outside. And where the hell did you learn about clans?" she asked in annoyance.

"Academy," Naruto shrugged. "That question was raised at least three time, while I attended it. Apparently many kids dreams to have their own." Tsunade rolled her eyes.

"Ok, let those two back here, I want to finish this already." Naruto did as asked.

"Ok, it seems that besides that earthquake technique or whatever it was, there is nothing too dangerous," Tsunade stated and pushed a small pile of reading material towards them. Naruto picked up a two scrolls with wind techniques, though to tell the truth, he wasn't sure if they would be of any use to him. On the other hand, when would he visit the archive again?

"Now that that is done, I want you to try this technique right now," Tsunade threw Midori a scroll.

Midori ably caught it and examined at it. "Steam Torrent Technique? You want me to do it right now?" she asked in surprise.

"Yes. If you really have a steam bloodline, I want to know it. So, please proceed," Tsunade motioned towards her impatiently.

"Ok," Midori gulped and unrolled the scroll. She studied it for a few moments, then put it aside.

"Ok, I am going to try it out," Midori said and turned to side, so she wouldn't aim directly at her leader. Naruto sensed movement, as the invisible guard on the left side of the door moved. Apparently he didn't want to be boiled alive.

Midori carefully channeled a combination of normal and elemental chakra to her palms. In the left dominated water affinity, in the right fire. Afterwards Midori carefully ran through sequence of five seals, patiently letting the chakras combine, then absorbing the transformed chakra back inside her body, letting it do its work.

She took a deep breath and in that instant Naruto felt it. The resulting energy of the jutsu building up inside Midori's lungs. But there was something wrong with it. There was simply too much energy. It didn't match the amount of chakra she channeled through the seals.

Midori exhaled, releasing a furious torrent of thick white and impenetrable steam. Naruto reacted on an instinct. His right hand shot forward, grabbing the back of Midori's vest, sharply pulling her back, while rising his left hand. There was a whistling sound and just a fraction of second before the rebounding steam cloud scald anyone, wind barrier snapped in existence before him, protecting him and everyone else inside the room.

"What the fuck was that?" Saburo asked shakily, when the steam evaporated and the air cooled down.

"That was a steam bloodline," Tsunade stated warily. "Are you all right Midori?" she asked worriedly.

"It burns," Midori gasped, grabbing her throat. In the next moment Tsunade was next to her, glowing hands pressed to the indicated spot.

"Will she be all right?" Saburo asked.

"Yes," Tsunade nodded. "Her trachea was only mildly scalded."

"Good," Saburo grunted.

"Naruto, what was the technique you use to protect us with?" Tsunade asked.

"It wasn't a technique. It was an instinctual reaction. I never used it before," he shrugged. Tsunade raised her eyebrows.

"I suppose that the rumors about your incredible chakra control are true," she chuckled. When she was done with Midori's healing, she stood up and turned in the direction of the guards.

"Guards, reveal yourself," she ordered. Shortly afterwards, two armor clad jonins with ANBU masks shimmered into existence.

"Remove your masks," Tsunade ordered, ignoring their noticeable hesitation. After a moment they obeyed, reveling a young woman with a short, dark hair and pale eyes. She was a Hyuga. The second guard was older shinobi, with brown hairs pulled back in firm and very short ponytail.

"You are Hyuga Nozomi and Arasu, am I correct?"

"Yea Hokage-sama," they nodded.

"Good. From this moment on, the knowledge of Midori possessing the steam bloodline is S-ranked secret. Should anyone divulge this information without my authorization to anyone, he or she will be accused of treason and executed. Understood?" she asked sharply.

"Yes, Hokage-sama," everyone in the room bowed slightly.

"Good. You two can go back to your work," Tsunade addressed the guards, who put the masks back on their faces and shortly afterwards disappeared. Tsunade sat back into her seat and let out a tired breath, then turned towards Naruto. "Uzumaki-san, you have my thanks for your quick reaction. I will make sure, to have it marked in your personal file, along with appropriate commendation."

"Thank you, Hokage-sama," Naruto nodded.

"Midori, you have the Steam Bloodline, which is incredibly rare, and even more sought after. I actually never considered that you could actually possess it," Tsunade admitted. "Nevertheless, the fact is that it is very dangerous. If, for example Iwa was to learn about it, you can be sure that there would be at least five separate assassination attempts on you in a single month. And knowing the current Raikage, Kumo would probably just try to kidnap you. I cannot overstress enough, how dangerous this whole situation is, do you understand?" Tsunade asked, piercing the now quite pale girl with her stare.

"Yes, Hokage-sama," Midori nodded.

"Good. You will start training tomorrow and the only place you can do so, are the private and protected training areas, beneath this tower. I will take care of the authorization for you. Also, till I say otherwise, you are forbidden to train alone. It seem that the bloodlines are as dangerous as the legends tell us. I will accompany you at the beginning of your training."

"I understand, Hokage-sama," Midori nodded.

"Good, you are all dismissed," Tsunade ordered, but Naruto remained behind.

"You too Naruto," Tsunade stated blandly.

"What about the book?" Naruto asked. Tsunade blinked, then sighed in annoyance. She picked up the book and flung at him.

"Here. You can use the sofa," Tsunade pointed at a large, dark brown, leathern piece of furniture to her right side, then bitted out: "And be quiet, I have a work to do." Naruto only nodded, not wanting to annoy Tsunade anymore. He was very aware, how incredibly lucky he was to be reading the book.

Naruto relaxed on the sofa, while opening the thin book. His eyes eagerly scanning the letters:

The origin of Sharingan is unknown. Some sources hints at the possibility that The Sage of The Six Path gifted the Dojutsu to worthy humans as a reward for their deeds. Unfortunately, the existence of The Sage of The Six Paths is only rumor too.

Others believe that the first Sharingan user was brought into this world from union of human and divine being. Again, nothing that can be confirmed.

There exist countless other theories, from which I will mention…

…

The first stage of Sharingan is woken by threat on one's life. It works as an instinctual safety measure, encoded in the genes of every Uchiha. This can happen immediately after the child is able to comprehend such situation, but since children are naturally protected and shielded from any danger, the usual time range for this phenomenon is somewhere between ninth and fourteenth year of an Uchiha's life.

The first stage of Sharingan is identified by blood-red iris and one rotating tomoe. The exact function of tomoe is unknown, as the Sharingan dojutsu is heavily protected clan secret, and unfortunately, it's well known fact that we, Uchiha aren't gifted in any healing discipline, even though our chakra control is without a peer.

The first stage of Sharingan gifts its user the ability to comprehend and absorb any happening more quickly and by extension allowing him or her to react with shorter delay. Also the ability to cast and disrupt genjutsu is increased.

The second stage of Sharingan has two tomoes, and is woken generally in those situations, when the enhancements of the first are no longer sufficient. This can happen anytime. For example there are records of one waking the second stage when trying to catch a falling glass filled with a water. The gifts of this stage is a further increase of previous gifts, along with enhanced memory. This combination then allows Sharingan user to easily decipher sequences of seals and by extension copy ninjutsu. However, this doesn't mean that one masters said jutsu instantly. For example questions like: when should I use this jutsu, why and how, are logically obtained only through actual training and experience. Similarly, no Uchiha can use a jutsu, without possessing the matching elemental affinity.

The third stage of Sharingan has three rotating tomoes and only improves the previously stated.

Mangekyo Sharingan is the last stage of Sharingan, and can be deliberately obtained immediately after an Uchiha obtains the first stage of Sharingan. The required condition for its awakening is the witnessing the death of very dear person to one's heart. As I already hinted, this can be done directly and deliberately by the Uchiha, who wish to obtain Mangekyo Sharingan.

The powers of Mangekyo Sharingan are... incredible. Every Uchiha, who obtains Mangekyo Sharingan automatically obtains the ability to ignite anything in the line of sight with Amaterasu, black flames that can be extinguished only by Mangekyo Sharingan. The only outside prerequisite for this ability is that the Uchiha has to possess the fire affinity.

The second power is Susano, an impenetrable chakra construct that can be used for either, defense or offense.

The last power is unique for every Uchiha, defined only by their personality. For example there are records of users with ability to control the flow of time, influence thoughts of others in completely undetectable ways, or permanently enslave one's mind and by extension the person.

However, all abilities of Mangekyo Sharingan drains extreme amount of chakra and therefore can be used for very limited time or very sporadically. Additionally, every use of Mangekyo Sharingan damages the user's eyesight, ending only by a complete blindness. This undesirability can be prevented, or healed only by transplanting another pair of eyes, already possessing the Mangekyo Sharingan, effectively creating the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, which can be used without the fear of damaging one's eyesight.

Additionally, all forms of Sharingan can use Izanagi and Izanami. Izanagi allows the user to temporarily break the boundaries between illusion and reality, effectively making them able to manipulate the reality itself. The limitations of this ability are the amount of chakra it needs and also the cost, which is that the eye which casts the Izanagi will go blind permanently, even if it is the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan.

Izanami on the other hand...

…

Naruto closed the book with a snap and pressed the bridge of his nose. This was just ridiculous. The abilities that Sharingan provided were just… bullshit. That. Naruto raised his head and checked his surroundings and with surprise realized that it was already long past noon. Tsunade seemed to be engrossed in some document, unconsciously chewing on the pen in her right hand.

"I am done," Naruto said, startling Tsunade.

"Was it helpful?" she asked, putting the paper on the table.

"Yes and no," Naruto sighed. "I know what to expect now, but am not sure if I will be able to do anything about it," he shrugged and ran a hand through his hair. "The shit that is in this is simply ridiculous," Naruto muttered in frustration, while waving the book.

"Hmm?" Tsunade leaned back in her chair.

"Do you know what Mangekyo Sharingan is?" Naruto asked.

"Unfortunately. I was recalled to heal Sasuke Uchiha, after The Uchiha Massacre. Itachi used it on him," Tsunade explained and Naruto perked up.

"Do you know anything about his abilities? The book doesn't say anything about him. It's more of a general description of the dojutsu."

"We are not sure about the details, however we were able to put together few basics from Sasuke's description of the events. As far as we know, Itachi's Mangekyo Sharingan gives him a hybrid technique, which combines mind manipulation and genjutsu. He can bring the target into an illusion reality, over which he has an absolute control. That in itself is incredibly powerful, but the particular way, how he used it on Sasuke, was to torture him for several days, though in reality it was only few seconds.

"Great," Naruto rolled his eyes and groaned: "Another bullshit technique." Tsunade raised an eyebrow.

"Anyway, what I learned from the book is that the dojutsu is simply and totally overpowered," Naruto stated and handed the book back to the blonde woman. "I will not describe the details, because you need to read it," he announced.

"Why?" Tsunade frowned.

"Because the only missing-nins from Konoha who are strong enough to pose a threat to you are Orochimaru and Uchiha Itachi..." Tsunade rolled her eyes, but nodded.

"Ok, I will read it."

"Good," Naruto said and neared the door. "Thanks for letting me to read it. I should be going to get some snack."

"No problem," Tsunade shrugged, watching him leave. With a sigh she picked up the document again and returned to her work. "Another day when my daily dose of sake will be deserved..." she mumbled.

A/N: I have read all you reviews. Thanks, I appreciate them. Also, I received some notions that Naruto should be stronger, to which I say: Wait for chapter ten. Oh no! I just revealed that another two chapters are already written. :P Additionaly, please excuse any mistakes, English isn't my first language.