Chapter 27: Capture the Thief Gosunkugi

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(June Seventeenth)

Naruto had just finished telling Tsumae, Hana, Kiba, and their partners about his mission. "So you got to face another of the Seven Swordsman. Impressive for someone so young." Kuromaru spoke as he started eating his food, which Tsume had placed on the table right as the blonde finished. Of course with their dining room being connected to the kitchen, she had heard the blonde's story while cooking. "So what happened on your mission Kiba, you haven't told us yet?" Kuromaru said, as Kiba had just got back earlier that day.

Kiba took a bite of his food before answering. "Well, Hinata and me were both on the mission, but Shino was the actual leader. The reason was that we were searching for a rare beetle called the Bikochu. Apparently it is good for tracking, and once it gets to a certain stage in its growth, the next smell it smells. it will remember forever. Then if it smells it again, it will try to find that scent. Along the way we ran into some enemy ninja, from a bug using clan from Iwa. Shino said that they were rivals of the Aburame since one of they were almost wiped out in the Second Shinobi World War."

At this point he paused for another bite. "Unlike Shino's clan though, they used bees. They sent a lot of bees towards us, but Hinata killed the bees with her Protection of the Eight Trigrams: Sixty-Four Palm Guard. Once she took out most of their insects they summoned a giant bee. I stopped it from attacking by making an Earth Wall and Shino's bugs devoured it. After that the ninja ran away, and we brought a mating pair of beetles back to the village. They will be a great help in the future, as we can use them to track missing ninjas."

Naruto smiled at the other boy. "Well, I am glad the mission went so well. I wonder how long we will have before our next one?"

Tsume laughed a little. "A day or two max. Now that you are chunin you will be sent out more often, and be expected back even quicker. Add in how well you did in the exams, and everyone will be asking for you when they come in for missions. It will be tiresome, but it will also bring in more missions and funding to Konoha. After another exam or two, the missions will slow down some though."

Kiba sighed before looking towards Naruto. "That means you could get sent off with another team tomorrow. Do you want to spend the night here?"

Naruto faced Tsume. "I will if it is alright with-"

Tsume cut the young blonde off. "It is fine, if you left Kiba would just spend the rest of the night complaining anyway." Kiba didn't even try to deny it, and after eating the two boys ended up falling asleep curled up on the living room couch, Akamaru laying up against the front of the couch. They woke up the next day due to Tsume shaking them. "You two need to be in the Hokage's Office in twenty minutes."

Naruto sat up, forcing Kiba to let him go, as the brunette had previously had his arms around the blonde. Kiba groaned, wanting to fall back asleep. "Kiba-kun, I am going to go home real quick. I will meet you in the Hokage's Office." When Naruto spoke, Kiba groaned once more.

"I'll see you there in twenty minutes Naru." The brunette said as he sat up as well, and then headed upstairs to change and get ready. When Kiba and Akamaru got to the Hokage's Office exactly twenty minutes later, he saw Naruto and Hinata there.

Tsunade had her fingers laced together and looked at them. "As my main tracking team, I have a mission for you four. With the three of you being chunin though, I want to know, who you think should be in charge."

Hinata and Kiba spoke at the same time. "Naruto" Akamaru barked his agreement a few seconds later and the blonde shook his head.

The Godaime Hokage raised a brow. "Well Naruto, what do you think?"

The younger blonde let out a slow breath. "I think that any of us could, and we will all need the experience of leading missions. All three of us are well equipped for a tracking mission, but without knowing details, I can't say which of us would be the best leader for the mission."

Tsunade rolled her eyes. "I mean what do you think about being the leader of the mission."

Naruto scratched the back of his head and looked a little sheepish. "I have no problem leading the mission."

Tsunade nodded and tossed Hinata and Kiba a picture. "Lord Jirocho has asked for you three to find a thief. One who stole from the Ruler of Tea Country. The thief's name is Gosunkugi and he was last seen in the Land of Stone. I want you four to find him, capture him alive, and bring him back here."

The four nodded and headed out. They got ready within the hour and headed out the main gate. After running for half the day they stopped in a flowery meadow. "The Land of Stone is just beyond here." Naruto said as he stretched his senses. "No one is in the area, so we should take a small break. There is no telling what we will find once we cross the border."

Everyone agreed and the three humans sat down while Akamaru bounced around the meadow. As they set Naruto unsealed some lunch for them. They all ate rather quickly before standing up. "Headbands off for now guys, we need to keep our identities hidden. Hinata transform to hide your eyes and Kiba, you need to hide your facial markings." Naruto said as Akamaru came back over to the group. "We will pose as a group of merchants. We have plenty of things that can be stored in a backpack to make it look like we have cargo, and a group who just started out wouldn't have the money to pay for a escort. That should make us easy targets for this thief."

The blonde unsealed a backpack and filled it with some rations, water, and a few tools before slinging it over his shoulder. Things that others would need in a barren land like the Land of Stone. To replace his headband he put on the fox mask that he got at the festival with Kiba during the search for Tsunade. After heading across the border into the Land of Stone and after walking for a few minutes, they arrived at the town they were headed towards. "We should check out a tavern or inn for information on any special events happening."

Hinata nodded when she saw a poster. "There is a wanted poster of our target. He might not being in town anymore if he stole what he was after." She whispered as Kiba lead Naruto and her to the tavern. When they walked in they noticed all eyes turned to them. They headed to the counter and Naruto spoke up. "Hi there, we were wondering-"

The man behind the counter cut the masked blonde off. "Whatever it is, paying customers only."

Naruto smiled as he kneeled down and scratched Akamaru behind the ears. "How about some milk for our fearsome guard-dog here." The man scoffed, but when Naruto placed the money on the counter, he got the milk. When Naruto sat it down he faced the man. "We are forming a small merchant band, and have a few wares to sell. We were just going to ask if there happened to be any events coming up that we could buy some more wares after we sell our current stock. We have some food if you are running low by the way."

The man behind the counter narrowed his eyes and looked the group over. "I have plenty of food in stock at the moment, but you might be able to sell your wares during the bell festival next week at the O.K. Temple."

Akamaru had finished his milk by this point and Naruto handed the saucer back to the owner. "Thank you, it was nice meeting you."

When the blonde turned to walk towards the door, his path was blocked with a sheathed sword. "I will take that backpack of yours." Said the man holding the weapon.

Naruto let out a breath. "We don't wish to fight you." When the man kept the sword in his path Naruto sighed. "Akamaru?" The small dog instantly leap from the floor, over the sword and bit down on the would-be thief's hand. The man dropped his sword which Naruto caught. The blonde sent the scabbard flying from the sword before spinning it in his hand, making sure not to seem too skilled with the blade. Afterwards he placed the tip of the sword to the man's throat as Akamaru let go. "I will give you a chance to leave, I would hate to stain the owner's tavern with blood."

The man growled, but left the building and after picking up the sword's sheath Naruto placed it on the counter. "This sword is of poor quality, won't sell for much, but you might be able to use it if your customers start acting up."

The owner nodded his head. "Thanks for not breaking anything."

Naruto laughed a little as he left with Hinata and Kiba. Once they were outside Kiba growled a little. "I wanted to rip that guy to pieces for threatening you."

Naruto placed a hand on the brunette's arm. "He was just an idiotic want-to-be bandit. There was nothing to worry about Kiba. We should spend the night here and tomorrow we should head towards the O.K. Temple." The three of them headed towards the inn at that moment, but before they went in, Naruto spoke up. "We should head outside of town tonight instead."

Hinata and Kiba nodded as they had realized they were being followed too. When they made it outside of the village, a man approached them. "You aren't merchants so what are you really here for?"

Naruto turned around and faced the man. "What are you talking about?"

The man's eyes narrowed at the masked blonde. "When you picked that sword up and spun it in your hand. You had to force yourself from doing it in a familiar way. You know how to use a sword, but tried to hide it. You are after somethings here, maybe someone rather then something. I want to know why you are here."

Both Kiba and Hinata dropped into fighting stances, and Naruto sighed. "We are here tracking down my father. He killed my uncle and betrayed our village. We heard a rumor that he was to be around here and I plan to take him back to the Land of Iron for execution. Three samurai's walking around would draw to much attention though." The man relaxed at the lie. The upside of no one seeing his eyes, was that it was harder to tell when the blonde lied. "Why did you care though? Your actions either point to you being scared we were after you, or you being scared that we were after your target."

The man nodded his head. "My name is Sazanami. I am a bounty hunter after the thief Gosunkugi for a murder that he committed within a small town in the Land of Fire. I was worried that you were tracking him as well."

Naruto nodded his head. "I suppose you will leave us be now Sazanami-san, or whatever your real name is?"

The man tensed at that. "Yes samurai-san, I will be leaving your be." With that he headed off.

Naruto turned towards Hinata and Kiba. "Everything he said was true except for his name. Sadly allowing him to take our target would mean failing our mission. If we manage to capture Gosunkugi though, we might be able to have him brought up on the murder as well. The Land of Tea and the Land of Fire work together since they don't have a ninja village they hire Konoha when they require aid."

The other two nodded before heading back into town to an inn. After nightfall Naruto's eyes snapped open as multiple chakra signatures marched through town. Waking his team up they realized it was Gosunkugi and several genin-level adults with him. They slipped from the window and followed the group out of town a ways before Naruto spoke. "Alright we need to do this fast. I will use my chakra chains to trap his group, afterwards Kiba will engage him in close quarters. He will distract him long enough for Hinata to shut down his chakra points."

With their plan ready Naruto slammed his hands into the ground, focusing his magic into the chakra chains he was forming. "Cohibeo (Confine)!" He whispered as the blue chakra chains broke from the ground, black symbols covering half of them, and wrapped around the men. Kiba launched towards Gosunkugi, who watched wide-eyed as Kiba closed in. The man barely drew his weapon in time to block the claws on the brunette's hand.

Naruto tried not to focus on the points, forcing a seal through each chain, and after he knew that the weak opponents were taken care of, he stopped both the spell and his chains. Channeling a spell through his chains was something he thought of recently, and it was only possible with the cohibeo spell. It would stop someone trapped in the spell from using their chakra though, and it would have helped against several of the blonde's opponents.

Kiba at the moment was avoiding Gosunkugi's nail-like weapon and several nail related jutsu. As Nails flew towards him from the ground he ran through several hand-seals. "Earth Release: Rock Armor!" The stone rose and surrounded him, and when the nails hit the stone, they broke.

Gosunkugi turned to run at that moment only to come face to face with Hinata. "Eight Trigrams: Two Palms!" She said as she started striking him repeatedly. "Four Palms, Eight Palms, Sixteen Palms, Thirty-Two Palms, Eight Trigrams: Sixty-Four Palms!" She said as she struck him a final time. Sending him flying to the ground unable to move.

At that point Naruto sense Sazanami rushing towards them. He had of course already taken off his mask and replaced it with his headband. "Grab Gosunkugi and lets go. No need to fight more then necessary." Kiba nodded and threw the man over his shoulder. Akamaru jumped into Naruto's arms since Kiba had his hands full, and they disappeared from the clearing right as Sazanami disappeared. They made it back to Konoha at around three in the morning and headed towards the Hokage Tower. Tsunade was already being informed that they had returned and would be their waiting for them.

Shizune opened the doors to Tsunade's office for them and the Hokage was sitting behind her desk. "Team Eight reporting in. I am happy to say we accomplished our mission."

Kiba laid the man down in the floor and an ANBU agent took him away. "You three did well, now go rest as tomorrow you will be escorting him back to the Land of Tea. They are worried that other bounty hunters will try and steal him away for the reward. This mission will start at noon today and this will be a separate B-rank mission due to that added threat. Dismissed."

Both Kiba and Hinata headed out, with Akamaru jumping from Naruto's head to follow Kiba, but the young blonde stayed. "Lady Tsunade we learned on our mission that Gosunkugi was responsible for a murder within Fire Country, although we are unsure of the exact location. Shouldn't that take precedence over some stolen items."

Tsunade looked at Naruto and shook her head. "While murder is a harsher crime, that is not what we were hired for. We have to complete the missions that we accepted. The Lord of Tea has hired us to bring him back as fast as possible. Doing our job quickly means continued service."

Naruto lowered his head. "I know that Tsunade-sama, but is there no way that we can try to find out today before we leave."

Tsunade looked at the blonde. "The members of Konoha's T&I department wouldn't be able to get to it for a day at least. You will be leaving before they could attempt to."

Naruto let out a soft sigh. He didn't like that he couldn't do anything to help the man, but he understood that Konoha's mission came first. "I understand Tsunade-Baachan. I will see you once we get back from our mission tomorrow."

Naruto headed towards his home and fell asleep rather quickly. He woke up at ten in the morning and after making a few shadow clones, he headed towards Team Eight's training ground at a causal pace. He knew that before they picked up Gosunkugi, his team would meet at their training grounds as it was what they always did before a mission. However Kiba would most likely sleep until eleven-thirty giving him some time to train.

When he got to the training ground he noticed that he wasn't the first one there. Hinata had already arrived and seemed to be mixing some herbs from her garden together. It was something that she would do every once in a while, and the healing creams she made did work well. Naruto smiled towards her and unsealed his sword. He started going through some normal slashes, and after thirty minutes he started adding in his chakra chains. After another half hour had passed Naruto started trying to focus elemental chakra through the chains. It was hard, and even harder if he tried to focus the chakra in the chains through the sword itself.

By the time Kiba and Akamaru arrived Hinata had finished her mixture and Naruto had broken a sweat. Kiba smiled at them both. "Sorry I took so long. Ma wanted a recap of our mission after I woke up and I didn't mention that we had to leave again already until I finished."

Naruto and Hinata both shook their heads in amusement at the explanation before Naruto moved over to Kiba and kissed the tip of the boy's fang tattoo. "No worries, but we should hurry to the Hokage Tower. We need to pick up our target and head out. If we hurry then we can make it to the border by nightfall. We can rest and then drop Gosunkugi off and be back in Konoha by tomorrow night."

The two nodded and they headed towards the tower. The picked up Gosunkugi from one of the small holding cells underneath the tower. After Naruto completely sealed away the man's chakra and movement, the blonde slung the thief over his shoulder. The trio walked outside of the tower and disappeared in a burst of speed. They rushed across the rooftops and out the gates.

The trip to the border was uneventful, and by the time they got there the sun was going down. Naruto sat Gosunkugi down and the three quickly got a makeshift camp set up, which wasn't hard since Naruto had almost everything they needed sealed within his scrolls. After that was done they sat down around the tents. Their prisoner lay a few feet from them, unable to move. "So who is taking first watch?" Naruto asked as he looked around. He would gladly do it, but all three of them would have to stand guard for a while.

It was decided that Hinata would stand guard first, then Kiba, and finally Naruto. The night had passed quickly and after the sun started rising Naruto lead the group across the border and to the capital. When they got there they were met at the gates by the captain of the guard. A woman with black hair and green eyes. "My name is Nami, I am in charge of our lord's protection. We have been expecting you Konoha ninja, and I take it this man is the thief."

Naruto nodded his head. "My team and I captured Gosunkugi and rushed him here. We are unsure where the item he stole is, but Konoha didn't have the time to interrogate him as you wanted him brought straight here."

The woman nodded her head. "The item itself isn't important and has already been replaced, our lord simply wanted to oversee the man's punishment personally." At this point she drew a scroll from a pouch on her hip. "This scroll shows that you completed your mission quickly and efficiently. The Land of Tea looks forwards to continued cooperation with Konoha."

Naruto smiled and took the scroll, tossing Gosunkugi from his shoulder as he did. "He is all yours, Konoha appreciates the business that we get from the Land of Tea." With everything in order the trio of humans and single canine headed back home. They set a rough pace, but would arrive that night tired, but in otherwise good shape.