Danzo allowed his displeasure to show as the copy-cat ninja and the Nara left his office. The enemy successfully managed to steal a lot of classified documents, even he did not know what was missing or not as only the third Hokage knew the full contents of the room the Kyuubi container had ransacked.

That a genin managed to nearly blow up a section of the tower, after infiltrating it without his agents noticing was making a mockery of his extensive training programs. A detail that displeased him greatly.

Danzo knew Konoha's security was to lax, but for a group to hit three targets at once, only spotted once well outside Konoha showed major weaknesses. 'I need to officially take the Hokage hat, moral will take a blow with Tsunade's betrayal and this infiltration.. how do spin this in my favor.' The man thought, steering his thoughts into more productive ways.

He quickly send out his ROOT ninja once he had a plan, assembling the collective clan heads for him to officially take the title. 'I will use this infiltration mission as a proof I need to become Hokage… I will write off Tsunade as a traitor to the leaf, but I will need keep an eye out on Jiraya, I will need to ward that perverted fool far away from Konoha without telling anybody, moral would plummet further if all the three 'sannin' are gone from Konoha.' Danzo planned in his mind as he settled into the improvised council room, the Nara clan head already lazily making his way in, throwing a weary look towards Danzo.

Outwardly Danzo showed nothing 'He will be a problem.' He thought.


Neji looked like he was hewn out of stone as he calmly reported to Hiashi he killed both his daughters who turned traitor. The man himself was iron faced too, not given away any emotional response to the murderer of his two daughters, his last links to the wife he loved.

Hiashi dismissed Neji after the rapport, blinking away a tear as he realized he nearly lost everything now. The only way he could preserve order was to make Neji the new heir, keeping the leadership of his clan in his own family line, perhaps repaying the debt he felt he had to his brother for failing him again.

Neji meanwhile made his way to the leader of the branch house, quickly and quietly explaining his plan and gamble. The man was dismayed the youth took such a risk after killing the potential heiresses, well aware Hiashi could have killed the upcoming prodigy with a single handseal.

As Neji further explained his plan should he designated heir, the man shook his head, but couldn't help but agree. Althought the risks where great, with the elimination of Hinata as possible heir, there were no other children to take the seat in Hiashi's line of family, and it would be worse if another family line in the main branch would take leadership.

He'd just hoped Neji would not change upon becoming the heir.


Danzo smirked as the council of clan heads played to directly his hand, he assigned two 'public' root agents to become his advisors, meaning unless another attack directly on Konoha happens, he is in full control of the leaf now.

With his authority he could now put more pressure on Shibuki, the supposedly spineless leader of Taki was showing quite some backbone over the letters that were exchanged. Danzo suspected the man would fold upon having some personal time with some ROOT agents, but doing that before he became Hokage would be dangerous if the people like the Nara found out. He quickly assembled a team, telling them to keep themselves unmasked until they were near Taki to avoid suspicions.

He needed the seven tailed container to be silently absorbed into his ranks, so that the likes of Akatsuki did not know about her existence in Konoha. That way he could have his hidden ace without the burdens that came with her kind.

She was a bit older that he'd liked, but he was confident he could break her nevertheless.


Kushina smiled wickedly as the messenger snake poofed away, the report she just skimmed through showing that her spy assigned to guarding the gates had excelled himself once again. Correctly recognizing a leaving root team, who obeyed the instructions to the letter about their mission, which was delivering a letter to the leader of Taki to retrieve a person while acting like normal ninja.

The gate guard/spy recognized them, and ordered a large inspection, which conveniently included the non-classified part of the mission scroll.

'Danzo might be able to kill emotions, but forgets that they could be needed to properly infiltrate or other tasks ninja need to do involving people without directly killing them.' Kushina thought with a smirk 'So he is making his move on the Nanabi girl. I am surprised he did not earlier.' She mused. 'Still, it gives me time to intercept them, and send my own team to grab the girl.'

Kushina frowned as she went through the list of people she trusted closely 'I will need to send Naruto again, their connection as tailed beast containers that have been mistreated would make convincing her to join us much easier.' Once again her motherly and leadership warred inside her, this time the leadership side won out, much to the motherly sides dismay.

'Well, this will be the last time-sensitive mission I have unless the thing with Mizu pans out, why does that Terumi woman be so hard to contact.' Kushina thought. 'Now who to send… Taki is most likely aware of me, so I can't go myself, I can safely send Guren, she is unknown towards Konoha and Taki… I can slot in Anko if we make a convincing background story for her temporary disappearance, making the replacement squad more believable' She suddenly frowned with realization.

'Temari is helping Naru-chan with his wind manipulation for a month and a half.. this mission could easily take more than a week. I need to convince her to go along… and I don't know if Naruto has problems with Anko, or that Anko has any lingering problems with Naru-chan. Best to find that out first.' She thought with a scowl.

She send a man to get the woman, and brought her attention the seals Anko had brought, having put them a bit too far in the corner her mind. This time she looked more closely at the seals. 'Whoever made this definitely had some knowledge with Uzumaki sealing techniques, but is trying to mix and match them with more rigid techniques the rest of the world uses. This person is either improperly taught or did not complete his or her training.

Somebody knocked, and with a 'Come in' from Kushina, a familiar purple haired woman entered her office. Kushina put aside the sealing designs, temporary storing away the possible Uzumaki survivor until she had a scouting team available to find it out the location of this supposed 'summoning island'.

"Anko, back in Konoha you told the reason why you disliked Naruto, do you still hate him now?" Kushina asked neutrally. Anko shook her head. "Excellent, then tomorrow you have your first mission as Oto-kunoichi."

Anko fidgeted on the spot. "Are you sure you want me to work with Naruto?" she asked. Drawing a surprised look from Kushina. "Why not?" Anko blinked. "Well I did hate him for something he probably didn't knew… and I could have been there for him since we were both disliked without raising eyebrows." She rambled, the last thing she wanted was to draw the woman's ire.

Kushina slowly nodded. "I see…." She spoke slowly. "I honestly do not have a problem with it, as you said, you were both in a bad spot and you held on to your pride as woman, one of the few things you did have for yourself." Anko gave a slow nod, conceding the point. "So just apologize to him." Kushina finished.

Anko blinked. "Why would he believe me?!" she yelped. Kushina sighed. "He forgave me for not being there for 13 years Anko. During the exams was most likely your first meeting, I don't think he will have any grudges against you."

Anko blinked 'That is surprisingly… logic.' "I see… I will." Anko stammered out. Kushina shot the other woman a hard glare. "Do it now, you will be briefed later today, and you will most likely. You will find Naruto training with Temari, a suna nin, in the training area close by." Kushina thought for a second. "Tell Temari to come here please while you are there." Anko nodded and set off.


Anko quickly located the right training area, where a frustrated Naruto, and a group of clones where collectively glaring at their leaves, while Temari was going through a long kata using her fan as a blunt weapon.

"Temari?" Anko enquired "The blond girl stopped swinging his fan around, and turned towards Anko "Yes?" she asked. "Kushina-sama wishes to speak to you." Anko said, unsure how to phrase it. Temari nodded "Keep visualizing Naruto." She advised, before she set off, leaving the pair alone. Naruto growled at the advice, but soon focused his attention back to the leaf, ignoring Anko.

Anko watched Naruto silently for a handful of minutes before deciding to speak up. "Brat.. I mean, Naruto. Err" she hesitated

Anko stood nervously in front of Naruto, who looked up at her confused. "Look.. brat… I.. errr. I am sorry" Naruto tilted his head , trying to remember if the purple haired woman ever did something to hurt him. As far he could remember, the first time he saw her was during the exams. "For what?" he asked.

"For not being there as a fellow outcast" she snapped. Naruto looked confused at her "Look, I was hated for being Orchimaru's apprentice. You for Kyuubi, we could have toughed it out together." She snapped. "And you are saying you're sorry you didn't?" Naruto still asked puzzled. "Partially, I also disliked you for the fact I would be forced to bear your children." Naruto looked aghast at the idea itself. "Yea, I know you didn't know, but I still let it get to me. For that, I am sorry. And uh… iconsiderdtokillyoubackintheforest" She finished hurriedly.

Naruto nodded slowly, putting the pieces together. He gave a warm smile. Apparently unperturbed somebody admitted wanting to kill him "Nothing to apologize for, you were put in a bad unpleasant spot. And you didn't kill me, and you don't want now right?" Anko nodded carefully, his face turned serious "Who was responsible for that childbearing nonsense order?" he inquired. Anko grinned bloodthirstily, reminiscing some pleasant memories "Ah don't worry about them brat, I had my fun with them." She said dreamily, mumbling about the different bloody tortures she had done on the elders.

Sadly for Naruto, the mumbling was loud and understandable enough for him to hear.

Naruto backed off wisely, not wishing to be the one she would 'recreate' the scenario on, that grin informed him it would be quite unpleasant. "Well… I'll see you later?" he asked hesitantly, the woman just nodded dreamily, lost in 'happy' memories.

He ran, like Kyuubi was after his manhood. Training forgotten.


Temari entered Kushina's office "Kushina-sama, you called for me?" she spoke formally with a bow. "I did, I have to favor to ask from you Temari." Temari raised an eyebrow in response. "What do you wish to ask Kushina-sama?"

"I know you are solely here to train Naruto, but he is needed for a mission that might take more than a week to complete. Do you mind joining him during this mission?" Temari mind started to whirl, trying to figure out the why. "What is the mission Kushina-sama?" she asked.

"The mission is to retrieve Fu of Taki, the container of the nanabi." Temari was startled 'Talking about getting a demon container like it is nothing?!' she thought. Kushina smiled slightly at the surprise. "She is being mistreated like Naruto and Gaara were before I came along. Danzo has set his sights on the girl to replace the loss of Naruto."

"I understand, you want to send Naruto to convince her as a fellow container?" Kushina nodded. Temari smiled "I agree, I presume you have a good plan?" Kushina nodded again, now with a feral smile gracing her features. "I do indeed, You will be briefed later today. Prepare your things and tell Naruto and Anko to do the same.

Temari exited the office, heading back to the training ground, running into Naruto whose skin tone was a bit lighter than usual. With a raised eyebrow in curiosity she asked "Why did you stop training?" "Anko… well I don't want to be near her right now" Naruto replied. "Why?" "…Don't want to be here subject when she is going to recreate those torture things she was talking about before I left." Naruto replied plainly.

Temari shook her head at the apparent craziness. "Right… Well Kushina-sama has a mission for us later today, get yourself ready for it." Naruto nodded, and set off.


Guren stepped in Kushina's office, being summoned soon after returning from a patrol keeping their eyes on Kumo's forces, the Raikage getting twitchy in the non-war war situation. 'Did something happen while I was busy?' she wondered as she took in the rest, she saw Naruto, a blond haired girl slightly older than him she didn't recognize, and some purple woman she didn't recognize either. 'Who are they?'

"Ah, Guren, you are here. Allow me to introduce you to Temari, daughter of the Kazekage, and Anko, Orochimaru's first apprentice. Temari, Anko, this is Guren, wielder of the Shoton bloodline and team leader of this mission."

Seeing Guren slightly surprised expression, Kushina decided to elaborate. "I know this is sudden, but we are on a time limit. Danzo made an overt move to gain the Nanabi container, A girl named Fu. There is more information in this file." Kushina said with a wave of a small folder. "Surprisingly, Shibuki refused to simply hand over the girl, and there has been some suspected letter contact between him and Danzo."

"However Danzo has decided to send some people, probably trying to capitalize on Shibuki's supposed cowardice. You are to eliminate the ROOT team, who are traveling unmasked until they get close to Taki. Since Taki does not know their physical appearance, and none of you are 'famous' enough to recognize aside from perhaps Anko, you will infiltrate Taki and convince Fu to join Oto, or dissuade her to fight for Konoha and its allies." She commanded sternly.

She threw a file at Naruto, who caught it. "Here is some information you can use in your arguments to convince her to join. She is also a mistreated demon container, so you are our best shot to convince her to join us." Naruto nodded, understanding why he was the best shot.

"You will intercept the ROOT team soon after they cross the Taki border, thanks to the summon snake system we know roughly when they left, and which routes they could take. Once there, Naruto and Anko can summon some scout snakes to inform them which route they decided to actually take and intercept them."

Kushina handed Guren another folder. "These are the most recent patrol routes we have observed, sadly Taki, despite effectively being an hidden hamlet.." Kushina quipped about Takigakure shinobi force '… they control and gather information well, however their communication with Konoha is subpar from what my spies observed, wear the Konoha headbands that are stored once you leave Oto territory and bluff yourself a way through if you have to."

Kushina frowned suddenly for a moment. "Should they by some miracle recognize Naru-chan…" Naruto groaned silently at the nickname, much to Temari's amusement. "… tell them the entire 'Konoha lost its jinchūriki' is a lie to the gate guard, but keep him out of Shibuki sight then… in fact, it is best he stays out of the Taki's leader sight in any case."

"Understood Kushina-sama" Guren intoned, expertly hiding her own tiredness and surprise of the mission. "Any questions?" Kushina asked, nobody responded. "Very well, you will leave at the west exit immediately. Don't worry Guren, I will inform Yuki-chan that you had to leave on an important mission." "Thank you Kushina-sama"

"No problem" Kushina replied with a smile. "Now go!" The squad shot off

AN: Fic is now up for a month, and I surpassed my own 75k word goal. Oh, don't think because of the triple combo I am going back to the chapter per day thing. Nooo way I got time for that ;)

Writing Anko is hard… methinks I screwed up.

Digitize27: In hindsight, I completely forgot to think up a harsher one.

Guest: /not so subtle hint. Who says Kushina approves of Naru/Hina? And she is one tricky woman (Chap 30 will have more) ;)

Ncpfan: Hope this chapter covers Anko. Kushina/Tsunade need to wait for the next home-chapters.

Ryperiour2: I considered it, but how I set up the world situation, Naruto doesn't have an awfull lot of time to save princesses or slay demons. A few anime only things will be used.

chim3ra1988: Kimi is hardly the last character I will kill off *evil laugh*

shadow, Dave: One tiny mistake and I get pounced straight away :P *Grumble* fixing.