Chapter 10: The Truth About Iwa

After their encounter with the Demon Brothers' Meizu and Gozu, Kakashi immediately questioned Tazuna about why he really hired two teams of Konoha shinobi. Tazuna, seeing that it would be impossible to lie to Kakashi now that the 2 ex-mist nin had spilled the beans, gave in and explained the situation.

Gato, Sole owner of the Gato Shipping Co., arrived in Wave about a year ago. At first, the people were happy because it was believed that the arrival of such a prominent figure would transform Wave from a small little country into a big name player in the trading world. Citizens even dreamed that the financial upswing would see the return of a ninja village in their country.

Excitement, however, turned into fear two weeks later when Gato, after secretly buying up all of the shipping docks in the country, announced that an embargo would be put into place. No ships, other than the ones owned or endorsed by Gato, were allowed in or out of the country, preventing the people from receiving any sort of money, food, and the like. It also prevented them from leaving. While there were plenty of ships that went in and out of the country, most of the cargo going in went to Gato and his men. The citizens of Wave were forced to make due with 15% of whatever came in.

The shop owners were forced to pay a "protection fee", which amounted to 90% of their revenue. As a result, most novelty shops went out of business. Gato cut the owners of necessity shops, such as grocery stores, a break and took half their revenue instead of most of it, allowing the people to feed themselves, but that was all.

Just when they thought that the situation couldn't get worse, it did. A local hero, who Tazuna felt would become his son-in-law, was executed in front of the entire village by Gato and his hired ronin when he spoke up against Gato's practices. The town's spirit was broken after that, unable or unwilling to go against Gato out of fear of being publicly humiliated, then killed.

Tazuna then said that he got the idea to build the bridge to the mainland from the former Daimyo of Wave, who went missing shortly after. With a bridge to the mainland, Gato's control over the country would be broken since every country in the ninja world had a law stating that is was forbidden for any person, group, or company to control a bridge of any kind for any reason without the consent of the countries involved.

Once built, the bridge becomes government-owned by the Land of Fire, since Wave doesn't currently have a recognized Daimyo to negotiate control. Gato knew this and upon learning of the bridge and its creator, responded by attempting to hire Zabuza, Haku, and the Demon Brothers, but they refused upon learning why Gato wanted to hire them. Instead, the greedy billionaire did the next best thing and hired three Iwa BOULDER nin, who managed to capture Haku. This forced Zabuza and the Demon Brothers into working for Gato under extreme protest.

Before he went missing, the former Daimyo of Wave left Tazuna with a bank account that evaded Gato's control. While there was more than enough money to hire a team of jonin, most of the money had to be used to fund the supplies for the bridge. This forced Tazuna to hire 2 teams of genin instead of a squad of the best available jonin.

After hearing Tazuna's story, a vote was taken in order to decide if the mission should be voided or continued.

Naruto, Sakura, and Ino immediately voted to continue the mission. They would be damned if they were going to allow some midget tyrant walk all over human rights in Wave. Kakashi voted to continue since his students did so.

Inabi and Sasuke voted to void the mission based on the fact that not only had Tazuna lied about the mission, which was now A ranked, but also didn't have the funds to pay for such a high-ranking mission. Ami also voted to void the mission, but she didn't give her reason. Team 7 suspected that Ami was scared of going up against such high-ranking shinobi. Kakashi had said that in the event that the voting results in a split, the mission would have to be cancelled since one team couldn't hope to handle two BOULDER nin on their own, even with a jonin along for the ride. However, that didn't happen when Kiba, the last person to vote, sided with team 7 to continue the mission.

As expected, this made Kiba's team members and his sensei angry at him, but Kiba ignored this. Having decided on their course of action, the group continued their trek to Wave country. During the trek, Kakashi noticed something odd – someone was following them. The copy nin glanced over to his students. He didn't expect any of them to be able to notice their tail, but to his surprise, Naruto looked directly at him and gave a barely noticeable nod. 'So, he knows...but how?'

Kakashi and Naruto decided to ignore it for now and continue. Whoever it was, they didn't want them to realize that they were on to them. As it began to get dark, Kakashi decided that twilight was a good enough excuse to stop.

"Alright. Well stop here for the night."

"Are you sure?" Tazuna questioned.

"Yes. We need to come up with a plan, anyway. After the demon brothers, I'm fairly certain that the next encounter will be a jonin-level shinobi." Kakashi said loud enough for the spy to hear, but making so that it wasn't obvious. Tazuna looked confused, but didn't say anything when Naruto shook his head, silently telling him not to talk about anything that they had discussed earlier.

"Now then," Kakashi continued. "Ino, I want you to go and gather some firewood. Sasuke and Ami, locate as many water sources as you can within a 5 mile radius and get a sample from each. Kiba, I need you to hunt for meat and any vegetation that is eatable. Inabi, set up a 1-mile perimeter around the camp. Sakura, stay and guard Tazuna. Naruto, we need to talk."

"Understood sensei. Just give me a sec..." Naruto said, as he reached into one of his pockets and pulled out a scroll that read "Extra". He unsealed the scroll and out popped two more scrolls, except that these scrolls read "storage" and had the number "0" next to it.

"Ino, Kiba, takes these with you." Naruto said, tossing the scrolls to his friends. "Considering what you're getting is going to be heavy, you'll need them. There aren't any security measures on these scrolls, so all you need to do is simply pump a hint of chakra into the seals to either seal or unseal items."

The two ninja nodded before vanishing to complete their assignments along with everyone else.

Kakashi and Naruto

Kakashi signaled for Naruto to erect a sound barrier around them. Naruto did as instructed, going through a few hand seals. After a few seconds, the immediate area around them shimmered slightly, indicating that the barrier was active.

"You noticed..." Kakashi stated. Naruto nodded in confirmation.

"Yeah, I noticed alright. Who do you think it is?"

"If I had to guess, I think it's Zabuza. My guess is that he's tailing us to see what we do from here on out. That said, if what the Demon brothers said was true, then he may try to communicate with us first." Kakashi theorized. He was about to continue, but stopped when he saw Naruto perform a ram seal. Less than a second later, a small spark appeared at tip of his fingers. After a few seconds, Naruto's eyes shot open.

"Kakashi-sensei," Naruto spoke, his voice holding a slight edge. "We may have a problem."

"What is it?" Kakashi asked.

"Zabuza isn't the only one out there." This caused Kakashi to pause for a moment.

"How far out?"

"...About a mile from where Zabuza is." Naruto answered. Kakashi knew right then and there who it was.

'That's too far for them to keep tabs on us. However, the person is close enough to track Zabuza without him noticing.' Kakashi thought. "Can you identify who it is, Naruto?"

"Not really – my control haven't progressed that far yet without resorting to combining it with a jutsu. However, I can tell you that whoever it is, seems to prefer to stay on the ground. Based on that and the fact that our spy is keeping their distance the way they are, there's no doubt about it: it's an Iwa BOULDER agent." Naruto frowned at that last part. Iwa was a very sore spot with Cole and, to a lesser extent, himself.

The two sat in silence for while, trying to come up with a plan for the current situation they were in. They wanted to talk with Zabuza, but the problem with that was that if they talked about what they learned from the demon brothers, there was a good chance that the Iwa nin would report the incident to Gato, resulting in Haku's death. That's when it hit Naruto.

"Sensei, I may have a solution." Kakashi came out of his own thoughts, giving his genin charge his full attention.

"I know that our job is to protect Tazuna and we should continue to do that. However, if Iwa is truly in contact with Gato, then we can't just simply guard him until he finishes; Iwa will simply send more ninja to deal with us."

Kakashi stopped at that. 'That...actually makes sense. Iwa is a major shinobi nation, so it does stand to reason that they have the resources to monitor the situation. Still, what are you getting at, Naruto?'

"So what are you suggesting?" Kakashi responded, voicing a portion of his thoughts.

"What I'm saying is that maybe we are looking at completing this mission the wrong way. Instead of simply placing dividers around the flower bed to protect them against weeds, why not just get directly to the problem by pulling the weeds out themselves?"

Kakashi's eyes widened greatly at that suggestion and was about to speak when Naruto held up his hand, indicating his jonin sensei to let him finish.

"It may seem like that would be frowned upon sensei, but it won't be for two reasons," Naruto held up his index finger. "One, the demon brothers have said that he has been heavily involved in major illegal activities; activities that have more than likely pissed off several countries since the rise of "The Shop"[1]. What do you think will happen once everyone finds out that Gato is a black market player?"

Kakashi nodded his head in agreement. Being a major player in the black market doesn't earn you many allies in legit countries or hidden villages which, unfortunately for Gato, are the major shinobi villages and even a majority of the smaller hidden villages. Naruto then held up a second finger, signaling his second point.

"Two, not one single country recognizes him as the official ruler of wave, even the ones who turn a blind eye to his dark-alley activities. If we free wave from Gato, allowing the citizens to elect a new daimyo, Iwa will be forced to do nothing or risk losing clients since they will be labeled as an untrustworthy village should they attack wave or us. They'll try to distance themselves from Gato and his thugs once things go south."

Kakashi had to admit that Naruto had very strong points. Iwa would want to keep this mission from the public eye if it is revealed that Gato is heavily involved in illegal activities, meaning that even if they had to kill the BOULDER ninjas, Iwa would very likely let it go since their involvement could have major consequences for them should it become public knowledge. Still...

"Naruto, your idea is quite brilliant. However, we still have to come up with a plan to carry this operation out. Keep in mind that if we don't do this correctly, Haku-san will likely lose her life." Kakashi pointed out.

"I know. That's why I propose that we capture the Iwa spy." Naruto then looked Kakashi directly in his eye. "You know as well as I do that there's little chance of me beating one of Iwa's elite ninja one-on-one. That's why you're the person that will determine whether this plan succeeds or fails."

Kakashi nodded at this. The boy knew that he was powerful for a genin or maybe even a chunin, but at least he knew that taking on a BOULDER nin by himself was suicide.

"Once we've captured the spy, there's a technique that I've been meaning to try out. It'll be tricky since this person is a BOULDER nin, but if everything goes smoothly, we'll know everything." Naruto finished, emphasizing the last word.

Kakashi had to admit that he was impressed with Naruto's approach. There were some jonin that would be hard pressed to come up with such a plan.

Seeing Kakashi nod, Naruto spent the next hour going over exactly what he had planned.

Kakashi was silent for a long moment, digesting everything that he and his genin charge just discussed. It wasn't everyday that a genin thought up such a complicated plan that not only had a good chance of working, but would also likely cut the mission time from two weeks to a few days. Regardless of which country/village you haled from, the speed of a mission was second only to completing the mission successfully itself.

"So, what do think, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked, bringing the jonin out of his thoughts.

"Naruto...that has to be one of the most well thought out plans I've ever heard from a genin. I was going to tell you what I had in mind, and while it works well enough, it would take longer to pull off than yours. I say we go with your plan." Kakashi approved.

"Besides," Kakashi let a small smirk form on his face. "I'm quite interested to see what you've learned from Jiraiya-sama."

Naruto return the smirk. "Let's get to it, then."

Sakura and Tazuna

"Hey, Sakura-san..." Tazuna spoke up, breaking up the comfortable silence.

"Yes, Tazuna-san? What's on your mind?" Sakura responded.

"I couldn't help but notice that you and your two blond teammates don't seem to like most of that other team that's with you. Hell, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you three looked like you wanted to hurt them."

"Were it so easy..." Sakura muttered darkly. That caused the bridge builder to raise an eyebrow. 'Those three must have done something for this girl to be this...dark, when she talks about them.'

As if she read his mind, Sakura began to explain their experience at the academy and even some events after it. While she didn't tell him specific things such as the Kyubi, Naruto's powers – as well as her's and Ino's – and the information from the mind pool, she wasn't shy about telling Tazuna just how horrible Naruto was treated by a lot of people, herself included.

"So how do you feel about that kid now?" Tazuna questioned. Sakura looked down a bit, remembering her actions towards Naruto.

"I know that I like him, at least as a friend, but..." Sakura blushed as she wasn't able to finish. She felt something else, but she just can't explain it. She came out of her thoughts when she heard their client chuckle a bit.

"I maybe an old man, but I can tell that you really care for the blond boy. I wouldn't worry too much about it. Things will work out. Just continue to be there for him and the problem will take care of itself." Tazuna saw that Sakura was thinking about something and was about to ask, when the pinkette beat him to it.

"The thing is, I think my friend Ino may also like him as well..." Sakura said softly. Sakura and Ino had indeed made up, becoming friends again. While she didn't think that it would ever get that bad again, she admitted that she and Ino were going to have to talk about Naruto at some point.

"Don't worry about that, either. From what it seems, You guys get along great. I think that you guys will find a solution that will make everyone happy." Tazuna said sagely. Sakura smiled at that. 'I don't know how it'll work out, but he seems to believe we can make it work somehow. Maybe when this mission is over, me and Ino can talk about-'

"What are you talking about now, billboard brow?" came a snide voice. Sakura turned towards the voice and scowled. It was Ami, along with Sasuke, who looked bored.

"That's personal, Ami." Sakura said, successfully keeping her timidness down.

"So?" Ami smirked darkly. "That never stopped me before. What makes you think I'll stop now?"

Sakura wasn't feeling very confident after that threat. Ami had been, and still is, a bully. You would think that all that would stop when they became ninja, but the problem, for Ami, was that there were at least a few chunin instructors nearby to ensure that it didn't get too bad. They were no longer in the academy and the only adult present wasn't a ninja. Still, that didn't seem to stop Tazuna from trying to defend the pink-haired kunoichi.

"She right young lady," Tazuna stepped forward, a frown present on his face. "What was discussed is between me and her. You're name wasn't even brought up."

"Shut up, you old fool!" Ami rudely shot back. "I'm a ninja, which means I can do some very...unpleasant things to you. When it comes to billboard brow, I can easily get what I want out of her. Now, either shut up or I'll ask Sasuke-kun to shut you up."

Tazuna, while slightly scared, looked furious and was about to respond when Sasuke spoke up. "She right, old man. This is ninja business. Get involved and you'll have to explain to your family why you came back to them a cripple." the Uchiha threatened before turning to Sakura. "I think I can take a guess what you were talking about. You were talking about the dobe, weren't you?"

Sakura head was lowered, her eyes hidden by the shadow of her pink hair. Sasuke didn't seemed to notice this and continued his taunting.

"I guess I shouldn't be surprised. I guess even monsters need some love, even if it is from a weakling." Sasuke smirked. Sakura immediately snapped her head up, anger clearly present in her eyes. However, she didn't get a chance to respond as a kunai came flying out of the bushes and embedded itself into the ground right in between Sasuke's feet. Everyone looked towards the direction the kunai came from and saw a highly pissed off Ino Yamanaka.

"I highly suggest you shut the hell up, Sasuke." Ino said darkly. "You've done more than enough to warrant an ass whipping."

Ami snorted. "She's no threat. Inabi-sensei will cover for us, anyway." She then began to stalk towards Sakura with her kunai drawn. "Now then, billboard brow, it's time to tell me what you were discussing with the old f-" She stopped when she felt something cold and sharp press against her neck.

"Drop the kunai or I'll put a permanent smile on your face." Ino hissed in a low icy voice that cause Ami's blood to run cold. During their years at the academy, she never seen Ino this angry before. It didn't take a genius to figure out that the killing intent that she was currently sensing told her that Ino was serious about severely hurting her.

Even Sasuke was shocked at how fast Ino appeared behind his teammate. 'I didn't even see her move.'

"What do you think you're doing to my student, Yamanaka?" came Inabi's voice as he grabbed Ino's wrist and flung her away from Ami. Ino rolled once before landing on her feet. "I should charge you with attacking a fellow shinobi along with threatening a fellow leaf shinobi."

Tazuna stepped forward to defend the blond "Now, wait a minute, Uchiha-san. She ha-"

"Stay the hell out of this, you old fool!" Inabi snapped at the bridge builder, cutting him off. "It's bad enough that we actually have to continue the mission when we should have left you to your doom. As far as I'm concerned, you have no say in anything else. Be glad that we have no choice but to follow the orders of Hatake and-"

"What the HELL is going on here?" someone shouted. Inabi froze upon hearing that voice and turned around to Naruto looking at the scene with his arms folded, clearly expecting an explanation. Everyone was too stunned to answer. Naruto almost never shouts...unless he's pissed.

"I'll ask again: What the hell is going on here?" Naruto demanded, his glare intensifying. He was starting to lose his patience.

Ami, who seemed to forget about Naruto's rank, shot off her mouth without thinking. "Get lost, Uzumaki and let Inabi-sensei handle this."

"AMI!" Inabi shouted with a small hint of desperation. Inabi may despise the blond jinchuriki, but he remembered the warning that the hokage had given them. "I certainly don't like it, but on this mission, he's our superior. Keep your mouth in check!"

Ami looked as if she wanted to argue, but even Sasuke was glaring at her as if to say, 'Shut the hell up before you get us in trouble'. She huffed out a "fine" and kept quiet after that.

Naruto, seeing that Inabi had enough sense to get his team under control, decided not to add to the issue, but he still didn't like how the Uchiha jonin treated Tazuna and decided to address that. "Inabi-san, may I ask why you were being so extremely rude to the client?"

"He was getting himself involved in shinobi business." Inabi gruffly responded, sending a quick glare to the bridge builder.

Naruto calmly turned towards Tazuna and asked, "Is this true? Where you asking about Shinobi secrets?" His voice held no anger at all. It was simply a question he wanted to know the answer to.

"Heavens, no!" Tazuna exclaimed. "I was defending Sakura-san here from tha-"

"I was not!" Ami shouted without thinking...again. Inabi mentally face-palmed. 'She maybe loyal to our cause, but she might very well be the most mentally challenged genin in her entire graduating class.'

"Ijimekko, your jonin sensei has ordered you to keep quiet until spoken to, yet you even chose to disobey his orders. That little outburst just got you written up on report." Ami's eyes widen in fury as her hand shot towards her weapons pouch, but it never made it there as a hand had ahold of her wrist. She looked up and saw that Inabi was staring down at her with a look of disappointment.

"Move your had away from your weapons pouch. Your actions will be discussed later." He whispered harshly. After Ami was silenced once more, Naruto gestured for Tazuna to continue.

"As I was saying," the bridge builder resumed. "I was defending Sakura-san from Ami-san. Sakura and I were having a private conversation and Ami threatened to use force against her to tell her. Her teammate, Sasuke-san, then joined in and threatened to maim me if I didn't 'stay out of their business'."

Naruto immediately snapped his head towards the Uchiha and gave him a withering death glare, but continued to talk to Tazuna. "Tazuna-san, the contract states that if one of our shinobi threatens your life without just-cause, you are within your rights to press charges against the perpetrator. Do you wish to exercise this right at this time?"

Sasuke froze. That was in the contract? Since when does that sort of thing become standard? He glanced around. While Ami looked confused, he saw that Inabi was sweating. 'This isn't good. Inabi-sensei rarely ever sweats like that. Shit...'

"No, I'll let it slide this time." Tazuna stated. Sasuke breathed a sigh of relief, but found that Tazuna was glaring hard at him as if to say, 'Do it again and it's your ass.' While Sasuke looked unaffected, on the inside, he was pissed. 'Are we that weak that civilians can now threaten us with imprisonment? That will change when we take over.'

"That still leaves the matter of Yamanaka holding a kunai to Ami's throat." Inabi stated.

"I believe I can answer that as well, Naruto-san." Tazuna spoke up once more. "Ijimekko-san drew a kunai and walked towards Sakura-san in a threatening manner. Ino-san then appeared behind her and order her to drop the kunai. That's when Inabi-san showed up and tossed Ino-san to the ground."

Inabi scowled, but not just at Tazuna, but at Ami as well for making things worse for them. 'This is humiliating...but if what the old fool said was true, then Ami let her foolish attitude get the best of her. She made her bed, now she has to lay in it. As for Sasuke, he also needs to learn when to make threats. I'll have to have a talk with Fugaku-sama about his son's actions.'

"It would seem that my actions may have been a bit rash. If my students Ami and Sasuke did, in fact, threaten you all, then I suppose they need to be punished." Inabi admitted, albeit hesitantly. "I will punish Sasuke myself. He is the heir to the Uchiha clan and must understand that he can't simply threaten someone like that. I leave Ami's punishment to you, Uzumaki-san, since she seems to have the most infractions, one of which was against your teammate."

Naruto knew good and well why Inabi chose to 'punish' Sasuke himself. 'The only thing he's going to tell the little snot is when to make threats, nothing more. As much as I can't stand Ijimekko-teme, I don't approve of Inabi-teme throwing her to the wolves. This is definitely going on report.'

"Fine." Naruto sighed lightly. It wouldn't do any good to try and argue with the man at this point. There was too much they needed to do right now.

He then turned his attention towards Ami, giving very cold look. "Ijimekko, as of now, your pay will be reduced and your actions will be reported to the hokage. You are also no longer allowed to be out of sight of either Kakashi-taichou, myself, or Inabi-san. If you are, you will be brought up on insubordination charges, which may result in you being confined to the village with no missions above D-rank for 4 months. Do I make myself clear?"

Ami scowled, clearly not happy with her punishment, but the look by Inabi told her that causing anymore trouble could result in further punishment from him. He was already displeased with her lack of tact.

"Yes...Naruto-taichou." She grinded out, then stomped away with Inabi and Sasuke following her. Not even a minute after they left, Kiba came back with a small amount of blood on his clothes.

"Hey guys, I got plenty of food for..." he stopped when he saw that his friends seemed to be upset. He sniffed the air out of habit and caught the sent of his entire team being in the vicinity just recently. "Ok, what happened?"

Naruto decided that Kiba should know what happened, since it was possible that team 11 could try to take their anger out on him. At least Kiba will be cautious around them if he is aware of the situation. "To make a long story short, Ami threatened to torture Sakura-chan while the teme threatened to cripple Tazuna-san."

Kiba growled at that. The Inuzuka clan doesn't take kindly to people who threaten clan members and clan allies. He is, quite frankly, getting tired of his team's attitude and is very close to filing a request to be put on the inactive list if it meant getting off this team.

"Kiba...calm down, would you? It's under control. Did you get some good food for us?" Naruto asked, attempting to get the Inuzuka male to tone his anger down.

Kiba gave a grin and held up the storage scroll Naruto gave him. Unlike before where the scroll had the number "0" on it, it now showed the number "40". Naruto nodded, motioning for him to unseal the scroll. Kiba proceeded to open the scroll and lay it out on the ground before putting his hand on the seal. A loud 'poof' was heard as several brown packages appeared in front of the group.

"Found some wild boar, some chickens, lots of herbs, and plenty of fire fruit [2]. I butchered the animals at another location so that predators would focus on the remaining carcasses instead of the meat I stripped off of them. We should be good until we reach wave."

Naruto nodded. "Alright then. Sakura, I need you to oversee dinner preparations. How long do you think it will take?"

Sakura went into her think pose for a second as she eyed the ingredients that Kiba brought back with him. "We can have dinner ready in about an hour, give or take 10 minutes, shushou."

Naruto nodded. 'Good. That's plenty of time to do what Kakashi and I need to do.'

"Alright, I leave dinner in your capable hands, Sakura-chan. I'm going to check back with Kakashi-sensei and then go on my rounds." Naruto smiled as he shushined away, leaving a hint of static electricity in his wake.

About 50 yards way, a shadowy figure with a Iwa headband had been watching the blond.

"So the boy is an Uzumaki, as I suspected," the Iwa boulder nin mused.

"Combined with the fact that he looks like that accursed yellow flash, it's no doubt that he is the bastard's offspring based on some information that the Namikaze may have married someone from Uzugakure. Capturing the boy would be a far more valuable prize than Zabuza Momochi...although I'm sure Tsuchikage-sama will reward me for bringing him that blood thirsty maniac, as well."

The figure leapt away, following the blond genin. Unfortunately for the spy, he never noticed a seal that was glowing on his back.

Seconds after the Iwa nin left, two dragonflies that had been sitting on a branch behind him, 'poofed' out of existence.

Timeskip – 30 minutes

The Iwa nin continued to follow the blond shinobi as he appeared to be making his rounds. The boy stopped when he got into a clearing. The spy grinned evilly. 'Perfect. He's alone. Time to make my move.' The boulder nin the leapt up high in the air and landed right in front of Naruto. The genin appeared to be caught off guard, giving the Iwa nin all time he needed.

"Secret Iwa Art: Golem Warrior!"

Before Naruto could make a move, a short rumble was felt before he heard something rise out of the ground behind him and grab him, effectively pinning his arms to his side.

"I have to admit, I'm a bit disappointed that you didn't even know that I was following you, son of the Yellow Flash." the Iwa nin gloated. "Now then, before I take you back to Iwa to face charges of war crimes, tell me what your team is planning to do with Gato-san."

He would get no answer as Naruto simply glared at him. The Iwa nin was beginning to get impatient. He needed to get as much information as possible about the Konoha group. Gato was paying too much money for him to come back without viable info. Gato could then refuse to pay based on his failure to complete his end of the contract, which would make Iwa look bad.

Deciding to take the interrogation up a notch and gave the blond several right hook across his face, causing blood fly out of his mouth. "Now I'll ask you again – what are you damn leaf fuckers planning to do!"

Again, Naruto didn't answer. He looked into in his eyes and realized that he wasn't going to get any answers out of him in the short amount of time that he had. 'Fine, I guess I'm just going to have to continue having them watched to see if I can get more information that way.'

"No answer, huh? That's fine. I'll just have to get the information from someone else..." His face then formed a predatory grin. "I'm not sure who the pink haired one is, but I'm quite sure that the blond one is a Yamanaka. I believe that Tsuchikage-sama has a warrant for the arrest of any member of that clan, too. I wonder what she would taste like..." The predatory scumbag was about to knock the blond genin out, when...

"Welcome to the end of your life, you worthless Iwa scum." came a ice cold voice from behind him. He spun around and was shocked to see Naruto staring him down with an arctic cold glare. Before the Iwa nin could act, Naruto made a one-handed ram seal and muttered, "Kai!"

Right after he said that, 5 seals surrounding them in a pentagon formation activated. Bolts of electricity suddenly shot out of the seals...and straight towards the boulder nin. The nin's eyes widened when he realized that he couldn't move. "W-What have you done to-"

He was interrupted by a loud noise from where he had thought he held the boy captive. He turned his head, the only body part he could move. His face went pale when he saw who it was. The golem that he had made was gone, lying on the ground in several pieces, and in its place was the one person that no enemy ninja wanted to see: Kakashi Hatake, AKA, the copy ninja. Just like Naruto, Kakashi's glare was frosty. That's when it dawned on the boulder nin...

'He used a henge to make himself look like the brat! But that means...!'

Did you really think that your presence would go unnoticed with ex-ANBU captain leading this mission?" Naruto asked rhetorically. "Also, what the hell is this shit about being charged with war crimes? I wasn't even alive when that war happened!"

"That doesn't matter, you son of a murderer!" the boulder nin spat. "Iwa law states that if an enemy ninja commits a crime against us, they, as well as their family members can be charged for that crime." The second he finished, he felt a fist impact his stomach, bringing him to his knees.

"Just what the hell gives your village the right to charge me with a crime I didn't commit?" Naruto growled. "Especially since it was YOUR village that not only started the war, but willfully attack and killed civilians!

The boulder nin scowled at him defiantly. "Your bastard of a father killed a platoon of our soldiers-"

"Because they raided and murdered an entire civilian village in our country! If anything, YOUR current kage could charged with war crimes by fire country since that village was directly under their jurisdiction!" Naruto yelled, starting to lose his composure. Kakashi moved to calm his genin charge when he heard the Iwa nin snort.

"So? They refused to serve us when we marched into their town and demanded their livestock and women. Anybody that cross us is-" He was cut off when Kakashi grabbed him by the neck and began to squeeze.

"Most...of my family was in that village." Kakashi spoke with an ice cold edge in his voice. "If that's how the third conducted business then and even now, then maybe someone needs to remove Iwa as a ninja village altogether."

The boulder nin froze in fear. Every story that he had ever heard about Kakashi Hatake being one of the most frightening Konoha shinobi that his village had ever seen, began to rang true.

Naruto was shocked. He had never seen the famous copy ninja act this cold before...and it was a scary thing to see. 'Sensei...'

Although Kakashi let his cool demeanor return to his normal level and stopped applying pressure to his neck, the Iwa shinobi then remembered what Kakashi had said and...laughed?

"You actually think that old fool runs our village?"

Kakashi, surprised by this new piece of info, immediately dropped him to the ground. What the hell did he mean by that? Naruto was just as stunned to hear this. All this time, he thought that the 3rd Tsuchikage had been in power even to this day. What the hell was going on? As if he was reading their minds, the Iwa nin answered the unasked question.

"Onoki never did like the fact that the council was the reason we decided to go to war with everyone. We have the power to rule the ninja world and that old midget claims that we shouldn't try to make enemies. As a result, the council decided to remove him from power. Unfortunately, the old bat fled the village before the council could send assassins after him. A new Tsuchikage was elected and three days later, we declared war on Konoha. Believe it or not, the 3rd Tsuchikage is a more wanted man than even you are."

"Who is the current Tsuchikage, anyway?" Naruto questioned.

"Like I'll tell you, Namikaze scum. You may have escaped capture today, but sooner or later, we will get what we want: the death of you...and every member of your family as well as any friends that you have made. We will kill them all." the boulder nin threatened. He then bit down on something in his mouth. Kakashi's eyes widened.

"He just activated a suicide pill!"

"Very good, copy ninja. I will be dead within a minute, so unless you can somehow get me to talk in that span of time, I'm afraid that all the secrets that I know will die with me!" the Iwa nin laugh maniacally.

However, his laughing stopped when he saw Naruto give him a grin that seemed to say otherwise. Seeing the look on the nin's face, Naruto decided to drop the bomb, knowing that he just got the last laugh.

"It's a shame that your pill doesn't work faster than that." Naruto smirked as he placed two fingers on the boulder nin's forehead. Not even a second later, a seal appeared on his forehead.

"What are you doing?" the Iwa nin half shouted in panic.

"Tell me..." Naruto said in a casual tone. "What is required for the human brain to translate what we see, taste, smell, hear, and touch?"

The Iwa nin's eyes betrayed his realization of what Naruto was getting at. 'Damnit! He's going to get the information anyway!' He mentally screamed, realizing that Iwa's biggest secret may have just left its walls.

"Electricity, and unfortunately for you..." Naruto's body began to pulse electricity. "...I have plenty of that."

Naruto slammed his hand onto the seal that was on the nin's forehead. The Iwa nin screamed as he became engulfed in electricity for what seemed like several minutes, but when this much pain was going through your body, time always felt like it was slowing down. The boulder nin's muscles were now ripping themselves to shreds and smoke was already beginning to form. Finally Naruto removed his hand from the Iwa nin's forehead, causing said ninja to fall to the ground, dead – his body nothing more than an empty ash husk.

"May Kami have mercy on your soul...Chimmoku no Ishigaki[3]." Naruto stated with cold finality as the wind began to blow away the remains of his body.

Kakashi waited for Naruto to collect himself for a minute. Getting all the information from someone else's brain and sorting it out was something that couldn't be rushed. After a few minutes, Naruto finally opened his eyes.

"Kakashi-sensei...I know where they're keeping Haku."

Kakashi nodded. "Impressive, Naruto. Good work. Now we can put an end to this mess."

"Sensei, there's something else as well." Naruto continued. Kakashi gave him a curious look.

"It seems...that Onoki was never responsible for starting the 3rd major shinobi war. In fact, most of their ninja don't even know what really went on." Naruto said quietly. All his life, he and Cole had believed that Iwa as a whole was responsible for the fall of Uzugakure. After learning everything from the now dead boulder nin, it would seem that only a select few were aware of what had really happened, and it seems that the Onoki never had a choice in the matter.

"What does all of that mean, Naruto?"

Naruto paused a moment before answering, "The 4th Tsuchikage, along with the Iwa council, used a completely separate ninja force to do their dirty work. This nin wasn't a boulder nin at all. He was a member of their secret ninja force."

Kakashi's eye widened at what Naruto was implicating. 'That would mean...'

"Yeah," Naruto answered for him, knowing what his sensei was thinking. "This secret ninja force from Iwa is known as the CORE of Iwa...and they make Danzo-teme's ROOT look like Club Disney."

[1] "The Shop" is a organization that has control over most of the black market. As the story progresses, more about them will become known.

[2] A fictional fruit (for this story) that is a mix between a tangerine and a jalapeño pepper.

[3] Stone Wall of Silence