A.N.: Where did my faithful reviewers go? Did my last chapter suck so bad that it scared you away? Come on, it wasn't so bad as the latest manga. So why did it get the lowest number of reviews since chapter 17? It made my muse really depressed and I havent even started writing the next chapter. So If my last chapter sucked, I hope this one would redeem me in your eyes.
I also took a bit of liberty with some filler countries not much is known about, so I hope I didn't contradict anything in canon.
A.N.2: Now reposted with less grammar and spelling errors.
Also a major change from the original version occurs here. When I first wrote this, Kishimoto hadn't revealed all of his world map soI used the names of countries from fillers here. Now the countries have their canon names, so I changed them to those.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, I never did and I never will. I don't even own the blue-black bunny anymore.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Konoha~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was a somber journey to the outpost. Naruto felt down because he had attacked his teammates. His teammates were wary of him, because it was the first time he had turned against them. The Kyuubi wasn't helping a bit with his comments. Anko had tried to lighten the mood by cracking jokes about how Izumo and Kotetsu now looked like twins without their trademark bandage and bandanna (Izumo's hair was spiky and wild without it), but she had no success.
Naruto's right hand was now wrapped in bandages to prevent any blood from getting close to it. He wasn't too sure it would work if he was wounded in a battle, but fortunately they didn't encounter any more enemies on their journey. The outpost's commander hadn't been too excited with the state they delivered his supplies in, but they managed to divert his anger towards the Rain ninja.
They returned to Konoha and reported the occurrence to the Hokage. The old man looked grave and then demanded to see Naruto's seal. He had studied it for a long time, but couldn't find anything wrong with it. He then examined the mark on Naruto's hand, but couldn't come to any definite conclusion about its workings. He considered putting a chakra-suppressing seal on it, but that would disrupt Naruto's ability to cast jutsu. They decided to keep it in store in case things got seriously out of hand. He also said he'd call Konoha's best sealmaster to solve the problem, but the man was currently away and there was no telling when he was going back. Even the Hokage didn't have a quick way to contact him.
The young chuunin visited Kanou, asking him for more lessons about seals, but the retired ninja was too busy manufacturing supplies for the war and he knew next to nothing about the seal to contain demons. He couldn't teach his occasional pupil much more than he already did.
Gloomy and depressed, Naruto went to the one place that always helped to brighten his mood: Ichiraku's ramen stand. It took one look for old man Teuchi to brew a big bowl of Naruto's special and put it in front of the brooding boy without further question. After two helpings, Naruto felt good enough to tell what was troubling him. The ramen chef couldn't offer any sound advice, but his kind words somehow managed to convince Naruto that the solution would be found. He left in much better mod then he came in.
Team trainings were still a bit tense, but as days turned to weeks and Naruto didn't go berserk again, the tension was lessening. His work on his new jutsu was also progressing. He realized that the problem was in the direction of the blades; he couldn't make them move perpendicular to their edges without destroying them, but he could move them a bit sideways. Once he understood this, it became much easier. Well, not counting the incident when he nearly cut off his own fingers. Fortunately the wounds healed quickly and not a single drop of blood touched the mark. It was a bit of mystery for everybody present how he had pulled it off. He still had trouble holding his technique active for more than a second or two before the blades distorted, but he theorized he could create new ones as soon as the old ones lost their edges. Practical application of this theory was still eluding him.
Not everything was rosy on the home front. It seemed that somebody had overheard a snippet of his conversation with Ichiraku and now word went through town that he was unstable and prone to go berserk at the slightest provocation. People demanded he should be sent to the frontlines so he can massacre the Rock ninja and not citizens of Konoha, but the Hokage was reluctant to do so for fear of the Kyuubi taking over again. But the situation was becoming unpleasant. To make it worse, Tenzo was called off on a solo mission and the time of his return was uncertain. Naruto was spending most of his time holed up in the training grounds, working out until he dropped with exhaustion. This worried his teammates. Something had to happen or he would snap.
Fortunately the solution presented itself. They were sent on an undercover mission.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Frost Country~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"So what's the plan again?" Naruto asked as they were speeding through the trees.
"Get to the city, infiltrate the festival, keep an eye on daimyo whatshisname… Futsutsuka?" Hotaru tried.
"Fusutsuka," Hana corrected.
"Fusutsuka, Futsutsuka, what's the difference?" the blond boy shrugged. The brunette shot him a dirty glare.
"Keep our eyes on daimyo Fusutsuka and report any suspicious activity to daimyo Kikutomo," Hotaru finished.
"I know that," the youngest teammember replied, "but how are we going to do that? Are we going to just wander around, munch on some dango and keep our ears open and hope we'd hear whatever ploys is Futsutsuka plotting? It isn't like the mission scroll gave much detail."
"That it didn't." the Inuzuka heiress grimaced. "And it's Fusutsuka. Fortunately we have almost a week to spare before the festival begins. That's plenty of time to come up with something."
"We have to make ourselves inconspicuous first," the purple-haired kunoichi suggested.
"Yes," Hana agreed. "We'll have to do something about this face of yours," she pointed at Naruto.
"Look at yourself," the blond retorted. "Those clan marks of yours are quite obvious and how do you intend to hide your dogs?"
"Don't worry about my dogs, Tiny," the canine user replied. "They can take care of themselves quite well."
"Why did you two ever get sent on an infiltration mission?" Hotaru laughed. "You'd stand out like sore thumbs anywhere. I have it much easier."
"Are you so sure?" Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Those hair of yours isn't exactly inconspicuous either."
"What do you have against my hair?" The oldest girl on the team scowled.
"You mean beside the ridiculous color?" the only boy of the trio raised his eyebrows.
"What's wrong with it?" Hotaru retorted. "It's beautiful, unlike a certain somebody."
"Shouldn't we be planning for the mission?" Hana chastised them.
"Yes," the other girl admitted, "but what are we going to plan? We have virtually no information."
"Then we are going to gather it first," the clan heiress answered.
"Thanks for the advice," the purple-haired kunoichi replied sarcastically. "I wouldn't have figured it out myself."
"It would be much easier if we at least knew what to look for," Naruto mused. "I mean: the daimyo of Hot Springs Country suddenly decided that the daimyo of the Frost Country might be plotting something against him. He didn't even say what tipped him off. If he at least said who is he supposed to be plotting with."
"Then he wouldn't need us, would he?" Hana pointed out.
"True," the boy agreed. "So what is our cover story going to be?"
They all agreed they were going in as civilians. Frost Country didn't have their own hidden village, but their location at the neck between Hot Springs Country (and Fire Country behind it) and Lightning Country made it easy for the locals to hire ninja from both villages. Even Kiri wasn't far, so they could expect to see somebody from there too.
The Frost Country capital, Shimo, stood in a hilly area deep inland. Its surroundings were mostly grassy, but there was a couple of occasional forests as well. A river flowed around it, creating a deep valley with steep sides, with cliffs emerging on several places. The biggest of them had jagged edge that was often covered in frost whenever it got cold and glittered beautifully in the morning sun. Local legend said that the whole country was named after it. It was entirely possible, because the Daimyo's castle stood on top of it. Around the castle, the rest of the city was build. A major trading route went through it, leading to Lightning Country at the northeast and to Hot Springs and Fire Countries at southwest.
It was this southwest road, on which a traveling performer named Akane and her three trained dogs entered Shimo. Some people were intrigued by her well-behaved canines and bright facepaint, but thanks to the upcoming festival, many artisans were coming to the city, so she didn't stand out too much. An hour later, two orphaned sisters, Ran and Ren, entered the city. Some men turned their heads after them, since the older one, Ran with her long dark hair, was quite a looker, but otherwise they remained unnoticed. They wandered the streets for a while, listening to people's chitchat, until they settled for the night in the Preening Peacock Inn, where a traveling artist happened to be showing tricks with her three trained dogs. After a modest dinner they retired to their room for the night.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Hotel room~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I'm going to murder the hag who sold me the hair-dye," Hotaru, currently known as Ran, muttered. "Pleasant gingery shade, she said. Ginger, tcha. If this is ginger, I'm the princess of Fire Country."
"I don't know what you are so mad about, Ran-chan," her little 'sister' Ren, usually known as Naruto, replied. "I think it's an interesting color."
"Interesting," the kunoichi spat. "Only you can say something like this. It's absolutely ugly!"
"It's an exotic shade of brown," the younger ninja replied. He had used his improved Henge no Jutsu to look like a ten-year-old golden-haired girl.
"Exotic?" the older (and only real) girl raised an eyebrow. "Well, you can say that. I certainly haven't seen anything like that before." Her hair presented quite an odd sight. Instead of its usual bright purple, it was now an indefinable brownish color with strands of red, black and grayish hues.
"I don't see what you are complaining about," her young teammate said rubbing his cheek. "At least your hair doesn't itch." Naruto's cheeks always started itching a bit when he masked his whiskers. Over time it could become very annoying.
"You can change back the moment this mission is over, Tiny," the older kunoichi pointed out. "But what if I can't wash it out? What if I have to cut my hair?"
"At least you won't complain about your hair clashing with your vest anymore," Hana's voice joined the conversation. The dog mistress slipped into the room through the window. Her face was covered in bright make-up that made her look like a clown, but it also hid her clan marks perfectly. Both her teammates had seen it before, yet they still had a hard time keeping their faces straight. Hotaru's hair wasn't the worst part of their disguises after all.
"That's mean," the used-to-be-purple-haired kunoichi pouted.
"Try walking around looking like this and playing stupid tricks to stupid little brats," the Inuzuka shot back. "You wouldn't be in the mood for pleasantries either."
"And looking like this isn't bad?" Hotaru pointed to her hair.
"Why? Is there something wrong with your dress?" the dog mistress pretended not to notice the hair.
"You know what I mean!"
"Hey, girls," Naruto interrupted, "shouldn't we be discussing our findings instead of fashion?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Daimyo's compound~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kichirou wasn't having a good day. He was even on the verge of calling it a bad day, something he almost never did. The last time was when… well, he'd rather not go there. It haunted his dreams even now.
He shook his head to clear his thoughts. Such idle musings won't help him any. He had a problem and he had to solve it. He was the chief butler in Daimyo Fusutsuka's household and he was responsible for the preparations going smoothly. He shuddered when he remembered the fate of his predecessor after the debacle three years ago. There was no way he'd allow something like that happen to him.
The problem was that it was now mere three days before the festival and an epidemic had broken out amongst the household staff. It had been the worst among the maids. He even had to temporary promote some of the kitchen staff to fill in the empty spots. That naturally opened up positions among the cooks, so he was forced to hire. And to make matters worse, there didn't seem to be enough decent helpers in whole Shimo. The moment the word spread out that there was work in the Daimyo's palace, every street kid applied. He had to deal with such ruffians… Like now. The youngster barely knew how to stir a pot, much less cook a decent meal. And let's not even go into his personal hygiene habits. At least the pair that entered after him looked good.
And what good looks they were. The older one couldn't be more than fifteen, but she was already shaping up nicely. He could imagine she would grow up into quite a beauty in a couple of years, if it wasn't for her odd hair. The younger one… well, he didn't think he'd ever seen such a beautiful hue of gold before. And if she took after her sister in central departments, then in a couple of years… well, that was like something out of his favorite books with orange covers.
He closed his eyes and counted to ten, trying to banish the mental image of a golden goddess from his mind. He was a serious, respectable person, he couldn't allow himself to be caught leering at little kids. Once he was alone though… He counted to ten once more. This wasn't the time for daydreaming. He had a job to do. He remembered what had happened to his predecessor for botching the festival. That was enough to purge all perverted thoughts from his head.
He opened his eyes. The two girls were waiting patiently.
"What did you say your names were?"
"I'm Ran," the older one answered.
"And I'm Ren," the younger one added. Even their voices were sweet.
"Beautiful names," Kichirou uttered. The girls smiled coyly. It looked utterly too cute on their young faces.
"Thank you, kind sir," Ran blushed. Ren only looked at him with her huge sky-blue eyes. Kichirou felt his heart fluttering. He swallowed. He couldn't let himself be distracted so easily.
"So you are looking for work," he said in the sternest voice he could muster, which wasn't much. He didn't have the heart to be mean to pretty girls. The two beauties nodded. "Now you must understand, it's only temporary, though if you perform well, you might be hired long term."
"Really?" the golden-haired little angel asked with hope in her sweet voice. Kichirou mentally slapped himself. What was he doing? If he was too soft on the applicants, they would demand a high salary and that just couldn't be! Did everybody think that the daimyo's treasury was bottomless? It certainly wasn't the case, as Yokumaru-sama, the minister of finance, often reminded him. No, he had to be stern, no matter how hard it was not to smile at such pretty girls. Now what job would he assign to them? It would be a shame to have them waste away in the kitchen, their beautiful soft hair matted by the fumes from the cooking food. No, he'd assign them to serve at the tables, their guests would be delighted to be waited on by such beauties. He would have preferred to keep them for himself, but one couldn't have everything.
"You must also understand that it's a very responsible job," he preached to them. "You will be providing for some of the most important people in this country and several others." The younger girl swallowed, looking mildly intimidated. "The nobles expect everything to be perfect and they can get quite angry when the services don't meet their expectations. And trust me, you really don't want one of them angry at you." Now little Ren looked ready to bolt. Maybe he overdid his speech a little. He'd have to go easier on her, or she would run for real. He allowed a small smile to appear on his face. "Now, what your duties will be." The girls perked up, listening with rapt attention. "You will be…"
At this moment, the door opened with a bang, interrupting Kichirou's speech. An elderly obese matron in a dirty apron appeared in them.
"What's taking you so long?" she barked scowling at Kichirou.
"What are you doing here?" he scowled back. Yuuna, the head cook, was the last person he wanted to see now.
"The lunch isn't going to cook itself and you still didn't send me enough helpers!" she berated him. "Are you slacking off again?" Then her eyes fell on the pair of girls he was interviewing. "You two, come with me," she ordered in a voice that silenced any protests before they could be voiced. Kichirou could only watch in dismay as his two angels disappeared in the dungeons that housed the kitchens.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Preening Peacock Inn~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Report," Hana commanded when the team gathered in their room. "How did the infiltration go?"
"Partial success," Naruto answered.
"Partial?" The Inuzuka raised an eyebrow.
"We managed to get a job, but it wasn't the one we were aiming for," the blond explained.
"If I see a dirty plate again, I'll smash it on somebody's head," Hotaru added. "Why did we have to get a job there again? Couldn't we just sneak around? We're ninja, for Kami's sake."
"It's much better to have an excuse should we get caught," Naruto reminded her.
"And why would we get caught? We are ninja and the guards are not," the Uzuki girl grumbled.
"Some of the guests might bring shinobi guards," the dog mistress reminded her.
"Right," Hotaru admitted. "But it still isn't worth all the dirty dishes."
"Don't be so down," her younger teammate tried to cheer her up. "At least you can finally put the special kunoichi classes to use."
"Do you even have any idea what they taught us?" the girl snapped.
"No?" the boy admitted.
"They taught us the refined arts essential for women of class, not some measly dishwashing," the Uzuki explained. "Now if we got the job as waitresses, that would have put my hard-earned kunoichi skills to good use."
"It would also make it harder for us to sneak away," Naruto pointed out.
"We wouldn't have to sneak around if we were already there," Hotaru huffed.
"Do you think they would discuss a conspiracy in front of so many people?"
"What do you know?" she shrugged. She knew he was right, but she didn't like to admit defeat in an argument. It made her even grumpier than washing the dishes.
"Now if you're quite finished," Hana said, "can you tell me what did you find out about the castle?"
"People there use loads of plates," Hotaru answered. The dog user sighed.
"There are lots of people," Naruto observed. "We haven't detected any shinobi presence."
"They wouldn't go into the kitchen first place," Hotaru muttered.
"I went into the kitchen," the Inuzuka heiress pointed out.
"I don't even want to know what you did to the servants," the only boy on the team said.
"Nothing permanent," the medic of the team answered, "but they're going to feel sick until the festival is over. And you better have something more to report. Don't tell me I got into the trouble of gathering the proper herbs for this."
"Well," Naruto scratched his head. Hana scowled.
"That Yuuna woman didn't let us from her sights," Hotaru finished.
"Is that supposed to be an excuse? I expected better of you," the self-proclaimed team leader chastised them. "Are you ninja or not? That wasn't the performance worthy of a chuunin."
"And what about you?" the boy retorted. "Did you have any more success?"
"Well, I didn't manage to secure a position among the entertainers for the banquet," the brunette admitted somewhat embarrassed. "It appears that daimyo Fusutsuka is allergic to dog fur."
"So you did even less than us," Naruto gloated.
"Watch it, Tiny," the dog mistress growled.
"So what are we going to do next?" Hotaru escalated before the name-calling could escalate.
"More surveillance, what else," the Inuzuka shrugged.
"At least we have access to the compound. It's going to be easy from now on." Naruto really should have known better than to say such things.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Daimyo's castle~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A young maid was walking through the hallways of the personal wing of Daimyo Fusutsuka's castle. In her hands she carried a priceless antique vase and within it the flowers arranged by the greatest master of ikebana in whole Frost Country. Well, whether she was really the greatest was arguable, but she was certainly the most expensive. In Fusutsuka's mind that equaled quality, so he hired her to do all the flower-arranging around the palace. Ume, that was the servant's name, scowled a bit. Just what was so great about the bouquet she was holding in her hands? She was no expert of the flower language, so maybe the whole arrangement was some elaborate poem, but to her untrained eyes it looked, well, not exactly ugly, but she thought she could have done better. The blue, purple and white blossoms sure were pretty, but what was the one reddish-orange doing there? It completely ruined the whole. She shrugged. It wasn't like she had any place to question the tastes of the nobles. Her task was only to bring the vase to the Daimyo's chamber and put it on its designated spot, which she promptly did. But she made the hideous orange flower face the wall.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Preening Peacock Inn~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Report," Hana commanded once again.
"Why so formal?" Hotaru raised an eyebrow. "Who died and made you the boss?"
"I am the commander of this mission," the Inuzuka snapped. She had spent the day making her precious Haimaru perform silly tricks and enduring the ogling from the male populace, so her temper was quite short. Hotaru had to wash dishes the whole day so she wasn't any better off.
"I must have missed your appointment."
"Your problem," the clan heiress scowled. "Now the report."
"Oh, yeah," the other kunoichi sighed. "I spent the day washing dishes, listening to idle gossip, failing to learn anything of importance, unless you consider the latest development in the affair between the head cook and the chief stable boy a matter of importance. It was gross. They're both ancient and fat. Oh, they also brought lots of supplies so lots of guests are expected. Oh, and I also helped to place some transformed Naruto clones around."
"What about you?" the self-promoted mission leader turned to her male subordinate (though he didn't look that way at the moment).
"I got my disguised clones into the main wing of the palace," Naruto began his report. "I managed to keep the daimyo under surveillance most of the time since noon."
"And what did you find out?" the brunette prodded when the young blond(e) wasn't about to continue.
"Nothing of interest," the youngest chuunin answered hurriedly. His teammates immediately knew he was holding something back.
"That isn't enough," Hana scowled. "Give me a more detailed report."
"He didn't do any plotting and he didn't meet with anyone suspicious," he informed her.
"That's still not enough," the kunoichi stated. "I want you to tell me what he was doing hour after hour. And if I'm not satisfied, I'll make it a minute after minute. So?"
"Well," Naruto began, "He had lunch, rather opulent one, then he laid back and listened to music," here his face reddened a bit. The sharp eyes of his teammates caught it, but Naruto didn't give them the chance to say anything. "Then he went to his office and did some paperwork, I couldn't read it from my position. Then he had some tea and sweets. Then he went to the throne room and was giving audiences. Two farmers came with a dispute over some lands and he judged them. I forgot their names. Then was dinner time. Once again he ate a lot. Then he went to his room. And then he went to sleep." Naruto's face turned bright red.
"I think you aren't telling me something," the dog mistress stated.
"I told you everything!" the young jinchuuriki protested.
"I don't think so," she shook her head. "You're withholding something and withholding information on a mission is serious offense, so you'd better tell me."
"Do I really have to?" Her only male teammate was pleading, his face aflame.
"Yes, you do." Hana was merciless. "Or do you want to be in my report for disobeying an order? That's a serious offence as well."
"Well, he read for a while…" Naruto's voice trailed off.
"You're still doing it," the Inuzuka heiress scowled.
"What?" He tried to look innocent and failed miserably.
"You're still withholding information," she clarified. "So better tell me now or else. What book was he reading?" By this time, she had a pretty good idea of what her young teammate wasn't reporting, but she was in a sadistic mood and wanted to see him squirm. The blond blushed so beautifully, especially in his current female form.
"I couldn't see the title, but the cover was orange."
"That's better but that still isn't all," Hana told him. "What happened next?"
"Th-then a lady came…"
"Somebody visited him and you didn't tell us?" The dog user pretended to be enraged. Naruto hung his head, his face attaining an even deeper shade of red. "Who was she?"
"He called her Aimi-chan," the boy answered.
"We'll have to investigate this," Hana muttered just to torment her teammate. She wasn't disappointed. His eyes nearly popped out. "Such women are often dangerous. Who knows what…"
"That won't be necessary," he interrupted her hastily. "She isn't a part of any conspiracy."
"And just what would you know?" The dog mistress had a hard time maintaining a stony expression. Hotaru wasn't any better off. "Tell me all they did together."
"A-All?" Naruto's face was a mask of pure horror painted in crimson.
"All," the girl nodded gravely. The boy took several deep breaths in a futile attempt to regain his composure. Finally he realized it wasn't working and started speaking.
"He-he pointed at a spot in the book and said that they would do this. She looked into the book, said good idea and… Do I really have to do this?!" Naruto screamed in frustration. His face was still deep red, but his eyes were blazing. It was probably only a trick of light of the setting sun, but Hana thought she saw a flicker of red in them. She unconsciously took a step back. What was she thinking, teasing the jinchuuriki that way? It wasn't that long since he had lost all control. What had gotten into her that she had nearly tried to cause another such incident?
"No, you don't have to," she shook her head, her heart beating rapidly. "I can imagine."
"Good," the boy growled. He then ran into the bathroom and locked himself there. Hana didn't dare to remind him that the team meeting wasn't over yet.
"Looks like you overdid it," Hotaru stated the obvious. She was smiling slightly, not feeling any of the terror that had gripped her teammate's heart. The dog mistress growled at her. The purple-haired girl blinked in surprise. "What's with the mood?"
"Nothing." The Inuzuka didn't meet her eyes. She suddenly felt ashamed of herself. Was she really so scared of little Naruto? Sure, she knew the power he housed, she even saw it in action, but did she actually believe he would unleash it upon them in retaliation for mere teasing? She shook her head. Naruto would never do such a thing and she knew it. But did she really? Didn't she just a moment ago fear his rage? She feared that the close bonds of their team were broken the day on the rice fields. She felt she was being a bad teammate, and that was one of the worst offenses in the Inuzuka clan. She resolved she'd try to be a better one and refrain from teasing the boy, well, at least until the next irresistible opportunity arose.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Daimyo's compound~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was now a day before the festival and guests started arriving. Naruto's clones were spread throughout the manor, disguised as decorations and some odd utensils. They were keeping their eyes on every person that arrived, watching for any signs that one of them was the mysterious conspirator. So far they had no luck.
Then in the afternoon some minor noble arrived. Naruto couldn't tell who he was and where he was from, but one thing he knew for certain: The two bodyguards with him were shinobi. And what was worse, they were wearing hitai-ate with symbols the young chuunin had never seen before, and Tenzo made him learn the symbols of all the current and past villages. This one wasn't among them. It was a musical note.
Next time: Who are the mysterious strangers? And who else is going to show up?