Viruses suck. Also, my dad fell off our roof and shattered his shoulder socket (he's going to recover just fine). But yeah, that was my week last week.

I'll try to upload next month's update closer to the 1st.

Disclaimer: In obviously entirely unrelated news, I now own a shiny new antivirus program (it was free) and nothing else.

The quarters provided to the Leaf shinobi turned out to be a suite of rooms on the top floor of an inn that was lavish and private, but also firmly within the civilian quarter; the nearest compound supporting the ninja element of the Village was visible down the street, barely, but did not look like a headquarters of any kind.

"On such short notice, it was either this or one of the barracks," explained Dakomaru, "and I thought you would appreciate the finer furnishings. This is the deluxe suite we offer to foreign merchants and dignitaries."

("Oh yeah," Kiba would add later, "and we're also nice and far away from any sensitive targets or the beds their defenders will return to.")

In the meantime, Naruto folded his arms and said, "And you want us to just sit here and wait? I want to play nice with you guys, but we do have our own answers to find."

"And I believe you that they are important answers," replied Dakomaru bluntly. "Can you share your motivations? If my countrymen know why you are here they will have less reason to be suspicious."

Naruto's mouth twisted between the wrestling impulses. "…It's not something I want spread around," he said finally.

The stocky advisor shifted. "Then let me at least ask this: at the attack earlier, what did you see?"

Naruto blinked. "A kunai flew between us, and I saw the tag about to go up so I grabbed Shibuki and threw us aside. Why?"

Konohamaru, who had been waiting at his elbow, shot him a strange glance. "Wait, what? Boss, that kunai was about to sink between your shoulder blades. I thought you plowed into Shibuki getting away from it."

The Hokage faced his protégé with an arched brow. "Are those goggles cutting off the blood to your brain?"

"Hey!"

"That's how it looked to me too," said Kiba, who stood thoughtful with his hand on Akamaru's quizzically tilted head. "More or less."

Dakomaru nodded as if he had expected this. "And I thought it was Lord Shibuki in the line of fire; indeed I thought it was being wounded that made him fall, before I understood what you had done."

The sound of trickling water somewhere filled the pause while these conflicting reports sunk in. Kiba grunted. "Genjutsu?"

"Possible," replied Dakomaru. "Regardless, its true purpose seems apparent now. Most of my countrymen are a little too hotblooded to take you at your word."

"You mean thick-skulled," retorted Konohamaru, whom everyone promptly ignored.

"Not so straightforward after all," murmured Naruto.

"I'll speak to Lord Shibuki. Hopefully his recollection is the same as yours, and we can clear up this mess."

The Hokage shook himself. "Yeah, you do that. Just remember that I'm not known for my patience. You can't keep me on the sideline long when a friend is in danger."

"We will bear that in mind, and try to keep you informed." Dakomaru bowed politely and left.

Almost immediately, Konohamaru spoke up, the question bursting like an overfilled balloon. "We're not seriously going to sit around just because they 'asked' us, right? C'mon, let me go take a look around -I'll be gone and back again before they bother to tell us anything."

But Naruto replied, "That guy likes to cover his bases. He says wants to trust us, but I'm sure we're being watched anyway. Staying put really is best for now; if we play nice, he can use it to help smooth over the suspicion."

"Yeah, but he can also use it to stall us!" The younger ninja forced himself to reign in. "I'm still not convinced our 'allies' are on the level. They sure act like they've got something to hide!"

"That's because they do; they built their Village around the Hero Water, and this is the only place in the world it can be found. We just have to convince them they don't have to worry about hiding it from us." Which was a lot easier back when we were only genin, thought Naruto with an inward sigh.

"But-!"

"Hey kid, mind shutting up for a while?" Kiba had plopped down at the foot of a love seat near the window (Akamaru having curled up on the cushions above him) and now threw himself into a long lazy stretch and yawn that bordered on gratuitous before settling his head down against his dog's flank.

When Konohamaru predictably gathered himself for a hot response, Naruto caught his shoulder, put a finger to his lips, and inclined his head. When the younger man looked again, he saw the dozing Kiba holding the gathering hand-sign inconspicuously in his lap. A moment later he understood and moved away, pretending to sulk in the opposite window while Naruto produced a kunai and began polishing it as quietly as possible.

In the blade's reflection, he saw Kiba scratch his chin with the shoulder nearest the open window, twice. Akamaru yawned. Two observers in the tree outside, not trying very hard to avoid detection, likely giving regular radio updates. Those would be the ones the Leaf were meant to notice then, to draw their attention away from… Kiba's foot twitched, twice again. Two more at street level, probably disguising their purpose as town guards on patrol -on a very protracted route. The scoutmaster went still. Naruto raised the kunai as if to peer at it in better light and turned enough to see Konohamaru managing not to be obvious with his desire to turn around, though he wouldn't know how to decipher the signs if he did; this was a code Kiba had devised himself and kept to his closest teammates. The younger man was doing his part to hide the communication, but Naruto knew he resented being left out. With a rueful smirk, he remembered how long it had taken Hinata to convince him it was worth learning such a niche-use code, and how much longer it had taken her to convince Kiba to endure teaching him.

It was coming in handy now though. When he returned to Kiba, he caught the Inuzuka brushing a lazy hand through his hair, a begrudging quirk in his lip as he drilled a finger into his ear briefly. One on the roof, pretty good at his job and running silent, no radio. He might be watching them with some form of scanning jutsu or simple enhanced senses himself; either way, he was the trump card, the one they weren't supposed to know about. Kiba did not resume the concentration hand-sign. Instead, Akamaru pulled himself to his feet with a long, slinky stretch and hopped down from the love seat, taking a lazy stroll during which he brushed up specifically against three items of furniture, pointing out the bugs in the room.

He paused as he passed Naruto, looking at him with his mouth open and his tail wagging tentatively, as if hoping for a treat. He knew what the hound was really asking though. He tried to keep the frustration out of his sigh as he put away the kunai, blade first followed by cleaning rag, and ruffled the hound's ears, deliberately pressing down on his head. Akamaru whuffed happily, but his tail fell and he unceremoniously flopped down next to Kiba by the open window. His human partner crossed his arms and issued a deliberate sigh as well, plainly expressing his displeasure having to endure such substandard spying. Even Konohamaru caught on, and his sulk became genuine. Naruto couldn't blame them. He wanted to be out there hunting down clues even more than they did.

A niche in one wall of the room housed what he supposed Hinata or Sakura would consider an impressive and artistic fountain: a plant cropped to resemble a small but thick and healthy tree perched atop a cluster of smooth rocks, and streams of water poured from beneath its roots to tumble in weaving cascades down the stony mound, pooling in a wide basin at the fountain's base. A few of the tiny tree's leaves floated in the pool, and despite the currents and ripples of motion around them, somehow they remained undisturbed, lounging idly.

Resisting the urge to prod them loose, Naruto stood and brooded. Konohamaru's conspiracy theory nagged at his thoughts, refusing to be shaken. What if the Waterfall did have something else to hide? He didn't want to believe Shibuki could be involved, but hadn't the Land of Waves just shown him the dangers of blind faith in a 'friend'?

He growled to himself. Yes, and it had also reminded him the importance of believing in a true friend, even when things looked bleak. So which was Shibuki? The man he'd first met those years ago was a good and honorable shinobi -a little reluctant to do the right thing, maybe, but opposed to doing wrong. But the fact remained that Waterfall and Leaf ninja had come to blows in the years since, and it had nothing to do with virtue or villainy; in the end they were separate nations whose interests did not always align, great bodies whose shoulders rubbed and heads butted regardless of individual members who liked and respected each other. Now that Naruto was finally Hokage things should have improved, but people change over time. Naruto had, for the better, but the expectations of leadership may not have been kind to Shibuki. He knew from plenty of first-hand experience that desperation could make people do things they would never consider otherwise. But kidnapping children?

Unable to help himself, Naruto flicked one of the leaves in the fountain pool. Like an egg knocked off a balancing pin, it began to tumble awkwardly and roll and slide about, caught in the undercurrents of the chaos. Naruto watched it follow its winding path.

Even if Shibuki didn't give the order, he might know something about it. Someone could be blackmailing or threatening him into keeping quiet. And maybe he really wasn't involved in any way. It could be Waterfall who were holding grudges against the Leaf Village, or even vice versa. It could even be none of them; the kidnappers might just be trying to drive a wedge between would-be allies, as Dakomaru suggested.

Somehow, the leaf returned to that one calm spot out of the way, drifting idly. Naruto hissed in frustration. Too many possibilities, too many questions, and he wasn't going to get anywhere sitting around just thinking about it. He needed answers, and soon. In the meantime, he thrust it all out of his mind and stared into the water's troubled reflections, trying to picture Kei's and Zumi's faces as he waited.

And waited.

(End)

I imagine that last part must be kinda what it feels like for you guys between updates, especially when I run late like this. Sorry about that.

See you all next month, hope to hear from you sooner,
~ArcTheJedi