Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto, someone else does, lets get this over with...

Sono Saishuu Konwaza

Chapitre 10

The gang were laying low in their condominium, all the while Shikamaru, and Temari were trying to decipher the last note of the late Kazekage. For the most part, they were rather displeased with their role, as trying to keep themselves busy was getting harder with each progressing day. However, Shikamaru told them to stay quiet and quit complaining. "When the time is right, you can kill as many as you all want," he told them. Ino had made the most of the books in the reading room, while Sakura and Tenten would go outside to keep themselves busy. Sasuke, being the serious worker, would throw kunai at the tree and beat on the training dummies in the backyard for the most of his day.

However, Naruto was nowhere to be found this day...

It was morning. The gang had just begun their individual activities. Naruto, would usually go to the backyard with Sasuke, but would rather just train in his own way, as he had no need for kunai and the like. However, they would have a guest in the mid-morning.

Naruto, being the unfortunate soul closest to the door, grumbled and opened it to find his newest contact.

"Hello Gaara," said Naruto.

Gaara just nodded, and let himself in, to Naruto's bemusement.

"So, are you here to say something, or should I prepare a wall for you to stare at?" asked Naruto jokingly.
"Uzumaki Naruto right?" said Gaara.
"I know we just met yesterday," said Naruto, "but you couldn't have forgotten me that easily."

"It's not that jackass," spouted Gaara, turning to look Naruto dead in the eye. "Its just that you're positive that's your clan name. You didn't bump your head or anything?"

Naruto had no idea what Gaara was getting to. Since when does someone ask such questions to someone who's for the most part still a stranger? Apparently Gaara of the Sand was the answer to that.

"Yes, my name is Uzumaki Naruto," said Naruto, hoping that ended the weird questioning from Gaara.
"I see," said Gaara, "I find that interesting, seeing as all the Uzumaki died a long time ago during the Seiryoku massacre."

Now it was becoming clear to Naruto. It was immediate for a shinobi, but even a normal person could eventually get at what Gaara's hidden meaning was at that statement.

"You know about the village?" asked Naruto.
"Hard not to around these parts," said Gaara. "When the village killed itself, it was originally in an unknown territory. That territory would eventually be taken over by the Feudal lords of Wind."
"The village is around here?!" spat Naruto.
"What's left of it anyway," said Gaara. "It's about a three hour journey for you and me to get there."

Gaara was grabbed by the tuft of his shirt, being shaken violently.

"Show me! Show me! Show me!" exasperated Naruto.
"I could when you stop trying to break me," said Gaara in a shaken tone. Naruto halted his attack.
"Right lets go," said Gaara.

It was the third hour, and Naruto and Gaara, along with Kankuro, were almost finished with their journey. Kankuro wanted in on the two's little expedition to Seiryoku. They weren't being hassled by having another tag along, and who knows what might be out in the middle of the desert.

"We're here," said Gaara, halting his shinobi sprinting on a dime. Naruto and Kankuro followed suit. They stopped in front of a rather large sand dune, to which they started to hike up it. When they reached the summit to the crest, they looked downward to see a sight.

The dune was overlooking a rather large dune crest, almost like a crater big enough for a meteor. It leveled out after a point, to which one could see several ruined buildings. Some were intact, surviving the common sandstorms or high winds. Others were scraps of their former lives, which pieces of all shapes and sizes buried in the sands. There was a particular structure in the middle of this carnage: a underground tunnel, dead center of the village.

They let themselves slide down to the village, to which Naruto just looked at it with a mourning face. This was his first real clue about the truth, and it was all but ruined. He could only imaging the bodies, buildings, weapons, and acts of murder that the sand had already buried.

"It's horrible," he said simply. His comment got no rebuttal from either Gaara or Kankuro.
"Our village researchers found it about ten years ago," said Kankuro. "They were hoping for some kind of weapon or technique to pop up for them to exploit."
"The never-ending obsession of a shinobi scientist," spat Gaara in disgust. "Give them a weapon or move that can kill hundreds, and they want to play with it."
"Is there anything left?" asked Naruto. Kankuro nodded and pointed towards the tunnel.

"Our researchers placed whatever they could find in there after they were done with it all. They tried to make it into some kind of shrine for people to visit, but in the end they weren't allowed to by the village and the Feudal Lord."

The three made their way to the tunnel. It was rather well made, obviously made by shinobi with knowledge in Earth techniques. They found a study door in their way.

"A door in a tunnel?" said Naruto.
"It's to protect the items inside," said Kankuro, kneeling down and taking off the large apparatus on his back.
"I was wondering why you brought that," said Naruto. "Is it some sort of latch or something?"
"Something along those lines," said Kankuro, and unwrapped his object to reveal a human-sized dummy.

"A puppet?" asked Naruto.
"Kankuro is a puppetmaster," said Gaara, "Its common, but Suna specializes in the art. Some of the greatest puppetmasters were Suna shinobi."
"Yep," added Kankuro as he finished his preparations, "though my skill isn't near that level by a longshot for now."
"So how are you going to open it?" said Naruto.

"Just watch Karasu at work," said Kankuro, and manipulated his chakra wires to move the puppet towards the door. It shot out six appendages, which landed into six holes inserted in the door. Naruto heard a click, like a mechanism, and the door slid itself outward open.

Naruto whistled at the work.

"Never knew a dummy could be made that smart," he said.
"Heh," said Kankuro, "Karasu is my best yet, but its still not close enough to the legends of our village."
"Can we continue?" asked Gaara, as he led the charge to find yet another door a little ways inside.

"How do you open this one? There's no hole like last time," asked Naruto.
"This is where Gaara comes in," said Kankuro. "See that switch?"

Naruto looked to see a pair of levers being straddled off of a single bar.

"It used to work easily, as you would just push the two levers towards each other. But they've rusted over the years."
"So how do you work it?"

"Like this," interrupted Gaara, as he popped the cork on his jug, and summoned some sand. The sand wrapped around the two levers, and Gaara extended his right hand, rotating the wrist as far as it would go.

"Sabaku Shosho," said Gaara, as the sand violently convulsed, squeezing the levers. The levers groaned in pain, as they slowly were pushed together, activating the door mechanism.

"And we're in," said Gaara, calling back his sand. They walked into an end of the tunnel, which widened into a dome. There were six make-shift shrines aligned along the rim.

"These are the shrines you were talking about?" asked Naruto.
"Yes, but the tunnel was here before any of it," replied Kankuro.
"Our researchers thought this to be a sort of meeting place for the village," said Gaara. "They think the clans would meet here at least once a year, for a sort of state of affairs."

"These are the six clans," started Kankuro, clearing his throat, as he approached each individual shrine.

"There are the Bizen. It is said that their water techniques could even bring the dead back to life," said Kankuro.
"You mean like living dead?" asked Naruto.
"No, more like a pure expression of reincarnation," said Gaara. "A person would be perfectly reformed."
"Of course no evidence was ever found," added Kankuro, as he approached the next shrine.

"The Dorogon," said Kankuro.
"I've heard of that name before," said Naruto.
"They were a very ancient clan, and they are credited with being the premiere fire technique clan," said Kankuro.
"They have a few moves named after them, hence your familiarity with the name," said Gaara.

"The Watanabe," said Kankuro, "are the least known clan in the bunch."
"Why's that?" asked Naruto.
"They were good at keeping their secrets," said Kankuro. "Out of all the things our researchers found, the only stuff of the Watanabe was either destroyed or empty."
"Dead shinobi tell no tales," said Gaara. "That statement works both ways."

"This is the shrine for the Yagi clan," said Kankuro. "Bunch of savages this lot. There were many well-kept records of their merciless conquests."
"Why would a bunch of butchers be welcome in a village like this?" asked Naruto.
"Every village has their sadists," said Gaara, "Seiryoku just had them all in one place. Aside from their methods, even shinobi can't use tricks to solve every situation."
"Enforcers," said Naruto, "must have been a rough bunch to sit at a dinner table with."

"The Tatsujin," began Kankuro. Naruto held his hand up to stop him.
"We've met," said Naruto.
"You met a Tatsujin?" asked Gaara.
"Not a pleasant experience," said Naruto. "The last time I almost got inpailed, and I left him with a dislocated shoulder."
"Well," said Kankuro, continuing his talk, "the Tatsujin do have some surviving members left around, so I guess it's not completely impossible."

"And last but not least," said Kankuro.

"The Uzumaki," said Naruto.

"I'm assuming you heard of their past," said Gaara.
"All too well, and its been pissing me off for a while now," said Naruto. "It can't be true that it was my clan that decided to turn traitor to their friends, and slaughter everyone in the process."
"What can you do about it?" asked Gaara. "History is written always by the winners. You can try to find another side of the story, but is that even possible anymore?"

A cold silence filled the tunnel. Naruto had no retort for that. It had been many years since the village collapsed. Maybe he was just chasing a ghost?

"Well, there is one possible way."

Naruto looked over to Kankuro.

"Care to clue us in puppet boy?!"
"Well, there are the clan logs," said Kankuro.
"Clan logs?"

"Each clan kept a record of their history, to the date," said Kankuro. "Even the Tatsujin have one, and even now they're probably keeping it up to date as per their tradition."

"So what you're saying," started Gaara, "is that if Naruto were to find the Uzumaki log, it would contain information on that day of the massacre?"
"I'm saying its the only chance he has. Problem is, the logs were never found here, and they could be scattered to the four corners of the world."

Naruto sighed at the prospect at his feet. No way he could look for five books when he had absolutely no clues to their whereabouts. Still, his colleagues were just trying to help.

"Thanks anyways guys," he said to the two. "I'll just keep it in mind for now. Got a mission to worry about anyways."

A noticeable cloud of sand and dust hovered its way towards the group.

"Does it belong to you?" said Naruto to Gaara.
"I had an eye back in the village, it obviously has some news for us," said Gaara, as he grasped some of the sand, and then jammed his fingers into his eyeball. Naruto gagged a bit at the gesture.

Gaara stood still for a minute, gathering the information from his "third eye" and taking a look at it. His eyes opened widely.

"We've got a lead," he told the others. Kankuro and Naruto nodded, and the three made their exit from the ruins. They had nothing left for them here, and a lead would need to be followed up on almost immediately in a shinobi village.

They ran into Shikamaru's house, with a rather exhausted look on their faces. They rushed themselves on the return trip to Suna, so it pushed their chakra systems a bit. They found Sasuke and the others looking at their appearance.

"Where have you been?" asked Sasuke.
"I'll tell you later," said Naruto, as he walked over to the others. "So is something up or not?"
"There's something up," answered Shikamaru. "Temari managed to 'persuade' some people and collect info on one of the cout's officers."

"Onesan, you didn't," started Gaara.
"And if I did, it wouldn't be any of your damn business," interrupted Temari. "Besides, it managed to get us some good information, so quit your protests immediately."

"So who's the mark?" asked Tenten.
"Name's Harkuri, and according to the bar he's visiting on a frequent basis, he's small pickings. He's an officer, but one of the lower ranking ones. As for his skills, he is your basic Suna grunt, along with a ego tripping on its newly acquired power," said Shikamaru.
"Shouldn't be hard to beat such a drunk punk," said Ino.

"Oh he may be a punk, but he is smart enough to always bring some of his goons along with him anywhere," said Temari. "That's about all I got."
"You didn't get the name of the bar?" asked Sakura.
"Of course I did, its called Sandsea, and it's in the center of the market districts," said Temari.
"What's the plan Shika-kun?" asked Ino.

"We'll stake out the bar, and when he's nice and sloshed, we should be able to get him easily."
"Sakura," said Sasuke, "you know of any...supplements we could use on him?"
"You mean drugs to put in his drinks?" said Sakura. "I could whip up a few I suppose."
"My family techniques could help out too," added Ino.

As they were going over this, Temari walked over to her brothers.

"Should we help them?" asked Kankuro.
"We've helped them enough for now," she said. "Besides, Shika doesn't need us for something this easy. He'll make a plan and it'll be over in seconds."
"So, what now?" asked Gaara.
"You, and the rest of us, will prepare ourselves for what's next," she said. And with that, the three Suna children let themselves out.

"Ok, lets have Sakura, Ino, and Tenten inside the bar," said Shikamaru. "Naruto and Sasuke will stay with me until I say otherwise. We'll have the girls try to get near them, and Sakura can drug the thugs drinks. Ino, I want you to paint a little portrait for them with your techniques."

"How so?" said Ino.
"I want you to shadow the leader, and lead the goons like a pair of lambs," he said. "Tenten can recover your limp body and leave it with me, I need her to help subdue the punks in case they get jumpy."
"Subdue them eh. What's up your sleeve Shikamaru?" asked Sasuke.
"I want to get this Harkuri talking, and I'll need him alive for that," said Shikamaru.

"Won't that compromise your diplomat status? One look at your mug and they'll know immediately that Konoha had something to do with this," said Sakura.
"It won't be at my house, and it won't be me interrogating them," said Shikamaru, turning to Naruto.

Naruto just pointed at himself. "What, me? I don't know the first thing about interrogation!"

"You're the only option left Naruto, as everyone else will be busy with their own duties. Plus, I can't do it, and we don't want to blow the girls cover, so none of them can do it. Sasuke is left, but he'll be busy with the others handling the goons," explained Shikamaru.

"So what am I supposed to do? Ask pretty please or something?" said Naruto.
"Take a seat Naruto," said Shikamaru, "you're going to get a crash course in interrogation."

It was a day later, and the gang stood ready for their little operation...

For the most part, the Sandsea was alright as far as business was concerned. It wasn't too fancy, but it wasn't a dump either. It was kept reasonably sanitary, and it had its share of regulars who enjoyed taking some time off with friends inside their walls. Keeping with its desert home, it was rather fashioned like an old bar from the days of desert wanderers: with elaborate tables with stools to sit on with no back support. The bar itself was one thick, sturdy piece of wood, with a slot for the barkeep to enter. The ceiling and walls were decorated with tent fabric, like it was a shelter from the desert. There a section of seats for people who wanted somewhere to smoke and such.

And there at the middle of it all, was a rowdy lot of Suna shinobi. They were being tended to with care by the staff. One of the benefits for being an officer for the commanding forces in the region was that you never paid a bar tab, and the staff couldn't say a word about one's behavior, for fear of consequences. The shinobi still had most of their garb on, using the cowl to conceal most of their faces: possibly as intimidation via "the masked assassin" routine. The one in the middle was Harkuri, as one could identify as he wore a royal purple cloth wrapped around his upper left arm.

The barkeep had been putting up with this crap for a while, as he skulked back over to the tap to fill yet another class of their imports. He filled the glass, and would have slid in down the table in classic fashion. However, he was stopped momentarily by a woman.

"Excuse me sir," she said, "isn't there anything you can do about that bunch?"
"Sorry miss," he told her politely, "but its best just to try and ignore them. They're mean enough when they're not intoxicated."

As he explained the situation to the woman, said woman stealthily used his inattentive state, and placed a small round pill in the filled glass, which fizzed and dissolved instantaneously. She then let herself be excused and walked over to a table with two other women.

"So, what's that do again Makie?" whispered 'Tenten'.
"Its a depressant Karuga," replied 'Sakura'. "Except its concentrated, he'll be quite lethargic and loopy for a while."
"Makes our job easier when we need to take his buddies out," said 'Ino' "Plus it'll be easier for me to break him and use him as my puppet."
"So Kimiko," said 'Sakura', "got an idea about that 'portrait' Shikamaru wanted?"
"Oh, I think I have a few things I can work with," said 'Ino', cracking her knuckles while waiting for the drug to kick in.

'Now, I gotta take him in an instant the drug starts working. I can't let his buddies catch on to anything, and I should be able to make him move as normally as possible. I let him bait the thugs, drop the technique, and we got ourselves a drugged officer,' thought 'Ino'.

It normally took at least a half-hour for drugs to circulate through the body, but thanks to 'Sakura's' talents, it was considerably short. Ino saw her window coming up, and began her family technique.

"Shintenshin no Jitsu," she whispered, as 'Ino' sent her psyche into her intoxicated victim. Within a second of time, she gained control of the body, and managed to keep the bozo from hunching over from the shock to his body. Harkuri's buddies looked at him quizzically for a second, but after a few seconds let themselves relax.

"Close one," whispered 'Sakura'.
"I'll say. I'll take sleeping beauty here to the meeting spot," said 'Tenten', as she slowly carried 'Ino's' limp body out of the bar.

'Harkuri,' after a few more beers, started his way towards the exit. He swaggered a bit, as even shinobi can't resist the chemical imbalance of booze fully.

"Hey boss, you done already," said one of the goons. 'Harkuri' turned to the shinobi.
"Yeah, lets get moving boys, we have a small errand to run right now," said 'Harkuri'. He nodded his head at the door, and his squad followed suit.

The shinobi walked a bit down a few of the streets in the market district. 'Harkuri' looked every which way, eying the landscape for trouble. They found themselves in a peculiarly empty street at the moment.

"Hey boss, what that up ahead?" said one of the Shinobi.

'Harkuri' smirked a bit.

"That would be my ride boys," said 'Harkuri'. In an instant, 'Harkuri' collapsed onto the dirt street.
"Boss!" they shouted, but they suddenly felt a pair of killer intents. They looked above themselves to see two approaching figures, landing squarely in the middle of them.

"Karuga!" said 'Sasuke'. 'Tenten' nodded and drew out her sword, its sheen glistening in the sun. 'Sasuke' quickly made his way to the officer's body, and spirited himself away from the scene immediately.

The Suna would have given chase, but they knew they would have to deal with this emerging troublemaker.

"You just made a fatal mistake little girl," said one of the thugs.
"Oh did I," said 'Tenten' calmly, "well I suppose we'll see. If I defeat all of you here, I won't be in trouble, will I?"
"Kill her!" shouted one of the them, and they closed in for taijitsu.
"Big mistake," said 'Tenten', and she thus began her specialty.

'Tenten' was surrounded on four sides, two on both her left and right sides. The two on the left began the attack, drawing out their kunai and throwing a quick volley. 'Tenten' defected them easily, but then felt the other two charging her exposed side. She quickly backflipped over the charging two Suna, and swung her blade, managing to get one in the back of the thigh.

"Give me some cover," said one of them. The other three complied, charging in for close combat, keeping 'Tenten' busy with defense. The other quickly preformed a long line of kata.

'Tenten' knew the plan immediately, but she didn't think her time would be so short. She quickly blocked one of the shinobi's kunai, and spun around to his back, twisting his arm in the process. She then pushed him forcefully into the others, just before moving herself out of the way, as the remaining Suna used the technique: a blazingly fast gust of wind.

'Tenten' had dodged it, but then felt someone right behind her.

'Bushin' thought 'Tenten', and quickly sliced at the shadow, causing it to disperse. She sheathed her sword, and rolled up her sleeve to reveal her scroll band. She took one off, and quickly made the kata she needed.

"Eat this!" she shouted, and leapt into the air, spinning the unfurling scroll around her. The scroll materialized several dozens of weapons, hurling them toward the four shinobi. The four quickly evaded the most of them, as they stuck into the ground around them.
"That's the best you've got?" said one arrogantly. He was confused at seeing 'Tenten' grin.

The 'Tenten' he saw soon dispersed in a puff of smoke.

"What?!" he said. While he was busy being surprised, another dispersal occurred, as one of the weapons stuck in the ground behind them turned into 'Tenten'.

While the four turned around to defend themselves, 'Tenten' had already brought out her sword. A flash of strikes later, 'Tenten' stood tall, as the four shinobi fell to the ground. There wasn't any apparent cuts or slashes on their corpses in the least.

'All dead, and not a scratch of evidence on them,' she thought, and left to meet up with the others.

It was back at Shikamaru's house that 'Tenten' found Shikamaru, Ino, Sakura, and Sasuke.

"I'm back," said 'Tenten' "by the way, nice job clearing the area Shikamaru."
"What happened with the goons?" asked Sakura.
"Dead, I just crushed their throats in using the back end of my sword, so they shouldn't be able to trace us. Where's Naru-kun?"
"He's with our guest, somewhere else so as not to arouse suspicion of this house," said Shikamaru. "He's keeping guard there, until we get there tomorrow."
"That drug will keep him helpless for another day at least," said Sakura. "And besides, Naruto is using what Shikamaru taught him to loosen his tongue."

"Shikamaru-san, you didn't just tell Naru-kun to torture him did you?" asked Tenten nervously.

"Of course not," said Shikamaru, "Naruto wouldn't have any idea how to torture someone the correct way as to get information out of them. I just told him to feed him and give him water, and if he gets lippy just beat him around a bit."

"Come tomorrow," said Sasuke, "me and Shikamaru will come in, and I guarantee that we'll get what we want out of him.

Ok, done.

Footnotes:

(1)
One of my more loyal readers asked me when I'm going to move on to the Chunin exams. Well, its a sort of moot point. As you probably can guess, most of the gang are at Jonin levels of ability. Most fics do have something going on with the Chunin exams, as it is a monumental turn of events for the series. Still, fics can live without it, and this one will.

(2)
Some readers have taken the time to let me know about my spelling mistakes. Some have been more polite than others, but I digress. Please understand, that I spell check every few paragraphs or so, but even I don't see mistakes sometimes. Its one of those situations where your brain doesn't recognize the problem, or dosen't see it in the least. Still, I will try from now on to be more careful.

(3)
On a more personal level, I was thinking about something. I have 72 alerts on this fic, and about 20000 hits. So, I would like to issue a half-assed sort of challenge. I want to see if you, the fanfic community, can make this chapter have more reviews than any of the others so far. The record so far is 15. It would really make my day to see people take me up on this, so PLEASE REVIEW!

KPAAF, and good turkey slaughtering!