Kishimoto, if you can hear this then... um... I actually didn't think you would so... this is kind of awkward. I don't own it?


Plucking Strings

"Every night is different, a ball of thread that unrolls differently." - Jane Siberry


Konoha at night was a very different place. Without the steady bustle of foot traffic and the distant calls of stall merchants hawking their wares it could almost be described as eerie. The streets were hardly deserted though, with the late-night crowd emerging to do their own business and the stumbling silhouettes of their patrons bathed in low red light. Atop the rooftops however, one could almost imagine the village was almost completely empty, only populated by the occasional flitting shadow of a shinobi either coming back after a long mission or heading out for a late assignment.

That was Naruto tonight, hopping over the gaps in the street with a surety bred from a decade of practise. He didn't even have to disguise himself. Far from nearly every other town or village in the world, mysterious shadows flitting across the skyline was expected here, not suspicious. As he made his way over the ninja's highway towards the village gate, he was just another shinobi going about his business. And in a way, he was.

The fact that his business was unsanctioned wasn't the point.

There was still no Hokage, thanks to the unprecedented lack of chosen successor. Still, the Sandaime was nothing if not prudent, he had left provisions for this outcome. The Daimyo was supposed to come and confer with the top advisors in the village, and between them they would figure out who was best suited to the position. Although, it could all have been rendered moot if Jiraiya stopped playing at the stubborn child and just accepted the role.

Nobody would dispute his claim to it, being the student of a Hokage. He was certainly powerful enough, if not outright the most powerful shinobi still loyal to the village. He would likely have the temperament for it, if he could keep some of his less savoury habits to himself. And, as a master of an extensive spy network, he was hardly a stranger to the bureaucratic side of running a large organisation which, in essence, was exactly what Konoha was.

The only problem then was, he didn't want to be Hokage, much preferring to gallivant around the continent writing his smut. Now that the Hokage had passed, there was only one other person who could force Jiraiya of the Sannin to do anything he didn't want. Kami knew she wasn't going to be any help. So, right now, the only thing keeping him in that seat was the fact that the Daimyo had yet to grace the village with his presence, sending courier after courier with his deepest, most sympathetic apologies that he was much too busy.

It was a well-known fact that the Daimyo was one of the few people able to make the Hokage do anything at all. It was a no-less well-known fact, although less spoken about, that in reality, the Daimyo had very little power over their respective hidden villages. They weren't a figure to be pissed off, certainly, but that bridge ran both ways. The leader of their nation brushing off a summons to the hidden village like this for so long was… unusual.

So, Jiraiya remained interim, and the mission office remained a murky, easily-manipulated mess. By the time he and Anko got back from their unauthorised jaunt, nobody should have been the wiser to it.

"You're bringing the kid?" Anko asked as he dropped down to street level next to her, a few houses down from the gates.

"Who are you calling a kid?" Hanabi shot back.

"Oho," the older kunoichi replied, that dangerous spark of mirth dancing in her eyes, "she thinks she has spunk. Well, we'll see about that." When she glanced back at Naruto, ignoring Hanabi's silent fuming, he shrugged.

"Five weeks out, she needs to get back into practise and get some experience with the new eye." Plus, he didn't want her out of his sight for the foreseeable future unless what he was seeing was more dangerous than leaving her alone again.

"Practise?" Anko scoffed. "Against Orochimaru? That's make you nearly as crazy a teacher as he was."

"We're not facing Orochimaru today. He'd either be insane or stupid to stay so close to the village if he knows how we're tracking him. The best we can hope for is a lieutenant, or one of those reject-monstrosities he's so fond of. Maybe we can get his location out of one of them, but it's not going to be any time soon."

Anko didn't bother arguing, simply sniffing sharply in distaste.

"Well, I knew it wasn't going to be quick, if that's what you meant. I have nothing but patience." And then, as if just to be contrary, she bounced eagerly on her feet. "Shall we then?"


They had made it a good distance north before Naruto even allowed Anko to activate the altered tracking shiki. Outwardly, it was because it would be pointless anyway so close to the village. In reality, it was because he was well aware that Sasuke still held a curse seal, and there was no point letting Anko know that. Nobody else knew after all, and Naruto would prefer to keep it that way. Thankfully, when they finally did turn it on, it led Anko away from the village, instead of toward it, so he knew they were on the right track.

All three were surprised however, when Anko insisted that the seal was pulling her towards the capital, of all places.

"Well this can't be anything good," Naruto muttered as the three of them stood before the enormous ornate gate that marked one of the four entrances to Heian-Edō, the capital of Fire Country. This was the Hagane-mon, the steel gate of the south, named for the highway that almost directly linked it to Konoha itself. Distinct from the Hisui-mon to the north, only accessible to nobles and the royal family, the Kin-mon to the east, primarily used by merchants and the largest trade route on the continent, and the Ishi-mon to the east, the original entrance back when Heian-Edō had been a simple trading outpost.

"What would a lieutenant of Orochimaru want in the capital?" Hanabi asked as they were waved past by a bored-looking samurai. He reminded the young Hyuuga of the Chuunin stuck on gate-guard duty back home, only their boredom was feigned… most of the time.

"Nothing good," Anko muttered under her breath as the trio began weaving through the thick crowds bustling about the city's busy streets. It wasn't hard, the moment people caught sight of their headbands they were all too quick to move out of their way. Even in Hi no Kuni, people didn't like to risk getting in the way of shinobi. If they had come in from the west, it would have been a straight shot down Heian's main road, the legendary Kindōro where it was said you could buy anything if you looked hard enough, to the palace at the city's heart.

As it was, it took some weaving through bustling streets, just beginning to stir with the morning's activity, before the Bara-Kyūden came into view. Like a monument to the continent's most wealthy nation, the Rose Palace stood above the surrounding buildings like a pale pink beacon of opulence. Once a fanciful extension to the original fortress atop the hill, it had quickly overtaken the old fortifications until nothing remained but a home fit for a Daimyo.

In any other place it would have been a gaudy monstrosity, but framed by the red-tiled roofs of the sprawling city below, it stood out like a jewel in a particularly ornate crown. Thanks to the pale-pink quartz it was constructed from, all of it imported at great expense, when the light of the sun struck it just right – namely, at sunrise and sunset – it bathed the entire city in a warm glow, like a reminder of the Daimyo's watchful gaze.

The numerous ranks of samurai at the palace's gates only helped to reinforce the image. Thankfully, their forehead protectors were better than a signed invitation, and the trio was waved passed just as easily as at the gates. Despite the apparent oversight in security, Naruto knew that the moment they were spotted a message had been sent to those that needed to know. Fully aware of this, he paused in the impressive courtyard that, even at this early hour, was a flurry of activity.

Beside him, Anko was practically wilting in pain, gripping her curse-seal with a shaking hand. Figuring that was as accurate as they were going to get, he obligingly reached over and deactivated the tracking seal, letting the kunoichi slump in relief. Hanabi was looking around behind him. She had been to the capital before, but never to the Bara-Kyūden itself. Hiashi had lost much of his interest in external politics after his wife's passing. Although Naruto considered that wisdom, as opposed to indifference, considering what he knew of court drama.

"I'm guessing that if Orochimaru's agent being in the capital was bad, that them being here is even worse?" She guessed in a hushed voice.

"Nail on the head," he muttered back, disguising his own concern. There were only two types of people with curse seals; those that survived, and those that wished they hadn't. If one of the rejects was here, they would know it. Those mindless brutes had no sense of subtlety whatsoever. They were only good as fodder; a little stronger than an average Genin, only less intelligent and harder to kill.

Those that survived the procedure on the other hand, were the type who easily became strong enough to rise to prominence in Orochimaru's eyes. Not exactly the kind of people you would waste as a simple spy, which meant their presence here was of a more malicious nature. His musing on the subject was cut short when Anko stood up straight, disguising her previous discomfort just in time for their hosts to arrive.

Three of them, flickering in like ninja, but all marked with the distinctive grey sash of the twelve guardians. They were the reason Naruto hated taking jobs in the capital. They took their positions extremely seriously, and any slight insinuation that they weren't enough for the Daimyo's needs was taken as a grave insult. Asuma was a lot better off for having left them, that was for sure. The whole situation wasn't exactly helped by the fact they small group was still recovering from an attempted coup from within a few years ago.

"Morning, friends from the south," an affable young-man with the shaved head and robes of a Fire-temple monk greeted them. The current leader of the Guardians. "What can the Twelve do for you today?"

"Mikaku," Naruto returned with a small inclination of his head. He had found it paid to be respectful here, as the Twelve had de-facto control over the Daimyo's security and could immediately gum up any kind of investigation they attempted.

"Ah Naruto, I was wondering when we would see your face again," the man said with a knowing smile. "No need to ask why you're here, of course. Although, it's a bit early isn't it?"

The blond purposefully ignored the questioning look he got from Hanabi.

"Your companions on the other hand, I'm afraid I haven't had the pleasure."

"Hyuuga Hanabi, my apprentice," he introduced, as if Mikaku didn't know. He was the type to always remain informed of these things, and the pale eyes and Gilded-Cage seal were a dead giveaway. "And Mitarashi Anko, a… friend."

The kunochi in question took the opportunity to loop an arm around his neck, pulling him towards her a little too forcefully.

"The bestest," she agreed with a shark's grin.

"Ah," Mikaku acknowledged with a strange smile. "We've never met Mitarashi-san, but your reputation certainly does proceed you."

"I get that a lot."

"Well, I am Shirohara Mikaku, formerly of the fire temple, and my two associates are Gekko Hanryō," he gestured to the absolute bear of a man standing behind him, with a thick but finely kempt black beard and an enormous zanbatō strapped to his back, "and Kitamon Tayuya." His hand drifted to the woman to Hanryō's right. She was a few years Naruto's senior by the look of things, with long rose-red hair and wearing an elegant, if risqué kimono top that suggested she wore little beneath.

"A pleasure," Naruto drawled. "If the formalities are all accounted for?"

"Of course," Mikaku said, still wearing that mysterious smile. "I wouldn't want to keep you. Usual restrictions apply of course."

"Restrictions?" Anko cut in, still irritatingly hanging off Naruto's shoulder.

"No entering the throne room, no visiting any personal rooms, and no interaction with any of the royal family without invitation," Naruto explained dryly, shrugging her off him before turning back to Mikaku. "Did I get that right?"

"Perfectly," the former monk said, gesturing to his two companions. "Will you be needing a guide at all?"

"We should be fine."

"Good," Hanryō grunted. He seemed like a friendly enough man, but it was quite obvious that mornings didn't agree with him. "We're not babysitters."

"Well," Mikaku carried on as if he hadn't heard the small snipe, "I'm sure you'll be able to find me if you need anything. Enjoy your stay at the Rose Palace."

"Not for too long I hope," Tayuya muttered off to his side.

Naruto repaid the courtesy by ignoring that comment and simply nodded at the man, leading Hanabi – and to a lesser extent Anko – past the other trio. As they passed by, Anko glanced down at Tayuya's feet, clad in unusual grey sandals that wound up her lower leg in criss-crossing straps.

"Nice shoes."

The redhead merely smirked. "Designed for comfort when I lodge them up someone's ass, and they breath like a dream."

Anko matched her smile tenfold all the way up to when she was forced to look away to keep pace with the others, jogging to catch up.

"I like her."

"Mission first, playtime after," Naruto shot back lazily, nodding to a samurai he recognised as they passed between the huge ornate doors of the inner-palace.

"Who says they have to be separate?" She drawled back, licking her teeth and glancing back over her shoulder, but the three Guardians had already vanished.

"Don't antagonise the Guardians, they can make our job here a lot harder without much effort. We need to keep all of this quick, quiet and out-of-sight. It would be bad it if got out that an agent of Orochimaru came so close to the Daimyo."

Anko huffed, but acquiesced all the same. "Alright then, should we split up? I have no idea how you operate, and you sure as hell don't know how I do things, so we'd probably just step on each other's toes."

"Sure." It wasn't a hard concession. He had been waiting for an excuse to get away from the older kunoichi.

"Cool, then I'll nab your apprentice for a bit, scope the place out."

"You'll do what?" Hanabi asked, blinking.

Anything Anko might have replied in was abruptly put to the side as a voice cut across the open foyer.

"Naruto-sensei!" A young girl called, maybe a year or two younger than Hanabi. She glided across the polished floor of the hall with what had to be extensively engrained grace, barely ruffling the hems of her exquisite hanfu. Despite being just a child, the clothes looked like they belonged on an empress, leaving no doubts who this was.

"Naruto-sensei?" Hanabi muttered under her breath, eyebrow quirked as she glanced at the teen in question. She found him looking up, eyes closed and lips drawn tight across his teeth as he took a deep breath in. Then his features reset, becoming blank and entirely indifferent. He looked around as though he hadn't even heard the girl speak, the only outward sign of his recognition being a slight roll of his eyes.

"Ayumi-hime," he greeted curtly.

Far from what Hanabi would have expected, the girl merely giggled at his brusque demeanour.

"As blunt as ever Naruto-sensei, but that's what I like about you, isn't it?" She suddenly did a twirl, making her dress flutter out at the hems. "What do you think? I had this one designed myself."

"Stunning," he said, as if commenting on particularly bland weather. Although it wasn't untrue. The girl wasn't only immaculately dressed, she looked as though an entire team of artists had sculpted every inch of her face. Despite her obvious youth, she was already beginning to come into her figure, and it promised to be the kind that set entire courts ablaze with gossip and suitors.

Hanabi already inexplicably disliked her.

"I thought so," Ayumi said, either not hearing or outright ignoring his insincerity. "Are you here for another lesson? I've been practising," She smiled conspiratorially. On her aristocratic features, it looked as though she was sharing secrets that could destroy a country. "I know you didn't tell me to, but really? What kind of student would I be if I couldn't read between the lines, as the common parlance goes."

"Not this time Ayumi-hime, I'm here for business."

The girl just scoffed good-naturedly. "Oh come now, that's what you said last time, and the time before that. Besides, I know every time father sends for a shinobi, and you aren't on that list. It can't be that important." She grabbed his hand and began to pull him away, or tried to at least. "There's always time for a small lesson. Oh, I have so much to show you, I think you'll be really pleased with my progress, and then there's-"

"Sensei?" Hanabi finally asked, loud enough to cut off Ayumi's little spiel. It was enough to grab the other girl's attention, bringing her around with a small, dignified cough.

"Ah, I apologise," Ayumi said slowly, taking in the other two with a curious eye. "In my excitement, I seem to have neglected to notice your companions." She seemed to pay special attention to Hanabi, gliding over to the other girl with an ethereal grace and sizing her up with an indecipherable look. "A Hyuuga, I presume? You are supposed to be a kind of ninja nobility." The edges of her lips quirked up amusedly. "How quaint. And sensei, you say? That's just adorable. You know he was my teacher first?"

"Ayumi-hime," Naruto said with a suffering tone, getting her to wave her hand airily.

"Not that it is a competition, or anything of the sort. I am merely pointing it out as her… senpai." She seemed to taste the word, luxuriating in it for a moment before finding it to her liking.

"Senpai?" Hanabi asked, absolutely befuddled by this point, and only earning herself a pat on the cheek from the younger girl.

"Yes. Senpai. Do keep up. Naruto has been teaching me puppeteering for years now," she glanced to the side as if reconsidering, before adding, "on and off."

"Mostly off," the blond drawled, giving Hanabi a look over Ayumi's shoulder that told her to just go along with it for now.

"No need to be coy, Sensei," Ayumi said as a well-dressed servant walked over, leaning down to whisper in her ear softly. Whatever the news was, it clearly wasn't anything the girl wanted to hear.

"Really? Now?" She sighed, managing to make it look elegant as opposed to petulant, the kind of sigh that informed people valuable time was being wasted. "It can't be helped I suppose." She turned back to Naruto, giving him a small bow that was perhaps a hair too deferential to be proper. "It seems I am needed elsewhere, but don't be a stranger Naruto-sensei. You know where to find me."

And then she was off, gliding away with the servant in tow deeper into the palace. She walked with a confident gait that only a noble could have in a setting this absurdly opulent, and, like every noble Hanabi had the displeasure of meeting, she left only infuriation and irritation in her wake. The only caveat in her favour was that it seemed entirely unintentional; although Hanabi wasn't sure if that was better, or worse.

"Well, now that's out of the way," Naruto said, attempting to move right on only to be held in place by the combined curiosity – and implicit demand in Hanabi's case – of his companions' stares.

"Fine, if you must know." He pinched the bridge of his nose and let his eyes quickly glance around to make sure he wasn't overheard. "After the Akatsuki incident it got out that I was involved heavily in the defeat of their leader. That kind of thing tends to draw the fleeting attention of the nobles, the Daimyo especially. He's the kind of man that enjoys throwing a party for whatever reason he can think of. I'm not of the mind to be throwing away easy connections, so I attended. I figured his interest in me would be as temporary as everything else."

He sucked his teeth. "Unfortunately, his daughter, who you have just made the acquaintance of, thought to make a big deal of it. She seemed to think that the leader of the Akatsuki couldn't be such a terrible threat if he was defeated by dolls, of all things. I didn't take particularly well to that, but I also knew that pissing off the nobility wasn't in my interests. I thought if I just ignored her, she would lose interest and go bother somebody else."

"Aw," Anko cut in with a saccharine grin. "See, now that's how I know you're a virgin blondie, because you don't get how women work at all, do you?"

Naruto's eyes narrowed, but he didn't refute her. "It turned out that after a life of having her every whim catered to her, ignoring her only had the opposite outcome. If anything, she only became more interested in me. I thought I'd humour her a bit, show her a bit of mundane puppetry to sate her curiosity, but now she has some twisted idea that I'm her sensei."

"I thought you said you only ever had two missions in the capital," Hanabi accused.

"I wasn't lying. It's just that the second happens to be of an… ongoing nature." It really was rather irritating too, as Ayumi was actually a very intelligent girl and would make a savvy leader. Which was good, because without another heir, she was slated to be the next Daimyo.

"And of course," Anko smarmed again, giving him a Cheshire grin, "the girl is clearly only interested in puppetry, and nothing else from the young, dashing war hero who isn't a toadying bootlicker like everybody else she has to deal with."

Naruto just shot her a glare that seemed to bounce right off her. "It's not exactly relevant to our current mission, is it?" Except, even saying that, he knew it was untrue. If he wanted to get a feel for the palace and how things might have changed recently, Ayumi was probably his best bet. She wasn't just bright, she was perceptive too. She had spent her entire life soaking up the subtle nuances of court life, and if anybody could spot something out of place, it was her.

"Uh huh, sure thing, stud," the older kunoichi said, already guiding Hanabi by the shoulder. "We'll just leave you to your 'puppetry' lesson."

The blond sighed, but didn't bother arguing, instead looking down at Hanabi. "If you…" he tapped the side of his head, near his eyes "...make sure it's out of sight. People here know what it means, and won't appreciate it." To Anko, he merely glared at her. "Don't antagonise the Guardians."

She acted wounded, hand over heart, as she led his apprentice away by the shoulder. Hanabi shot him one last look, seeming conflicted, before shrugging out of the older woman's grasp and falling into step beside her.

Naruto rubbed his temples before heading off towards the servants' quarters. He still had a few veins to tap before he had to resort to anything… unpleasant.


"So," Anko started up as soon as they had passed out of sight of Naruto. "First visit to the Rose Palace, huh? I remember mine. Could hardly stop myself stealing everything that wasn't nailed down. Shoving your wealth in people's faces like this should be criminal."

"Says the trained killer," Hanabi muttered absently, not really paying attention.

"Ouch, you are your master's apprentice, huh? Isn't that a little cynical for a fresh Genin?"

"Is it any less true?"

Anko just clicked her teeth with a grin. "Didn't say that," she mused, treating Hanabi to a more intrigued look. The Hyuuga had experience with those types of expressions, and knew to cut off any line of questioning before it could begin.

"So, you've been here before? I thought Mikaku said you two hadn't met."

"Just because he's never seen me, doesn't mean I've never seen him," Anko offered mysteriously, only to shatter the mystique with a lopsided grin. "But nah, I came here a way back, a little younger than you. Never got a taste for all this political by-play the way your sensei did."

"You think he enjoys this?" Naruto had only ever shown blatant distaste in the goings on of the nobility, considering it trivial and irrelevant.

"You think he doesn't?" Anko shot back. "I saw the look in his eyes, and I know his type. Ninja like him, they love this stuff. He's a schemer, and the kind of secrets and intrigue that go on behind closed doors in places like this are like a fine wine."

"Naruto-sensei doesn't drink."

Anko's eyes gleamed. "My point exactly. Everyone has a vice, and I'd much rather trust a pervert or an alcoholic than somebody who doesn't appear to have one."

The two lapsed into silence at that, and Hanabi took the opportunity – away from any obvious means of being seen – to quickly tap into her Byakugan. With the prosthetic, her sight still wasn't perfect, but her natural eye seemed to make up for the shortcomings of its artificial counterpart, for the most part. Limited to the palace grounds like this, it was like nothing had changed. For a moment, she familiarised herself with the feel of Anko's curse mark, then cast her gaze out wider to try and find something like it.

She had no luck before another court functionary came into view and she was forced to deactivate her sight.

"So," Anko began again. "What do we think of our young Daimyo to be?"

"What, her?" Hanabi sputtered, caught off-guard by the sudden tangent. "She seems just like every other noble I've met."

Anko hummed noncommittedly. "Because I'm sure you've met a ton."

"Enough," Hanabi argued. It certainly felt like it. In times of peace like this, it was more often than not nobles who needed the services of shinobi.

"I wouldn't be too sure. There's a fire under that veneer." The older woman mused. "Hell, if she's anything at all like her mother… well, this country could use somebody like her after all the asinine decisions her father made over the years. Old man Sandaime must've had a hell of a time keeping him from doing any permanent damage."

"Her mother, really?" Hanabi thought of the rather… corpulent woman that came by Konoha ever few weeks or so to reclaim her runaway cat, now deceased as she understood it.

"Madam Shijimi was her step-mother," Anko explained, pre-empting her thoughts. "You should have seen Lady Ameyuki, now there was a woman with the full package. Brains and beauty."

"What happened to her?"

"Died while our little princess was still young. There was a big hurrah about it at the time, a lot of finger pointing and foul-play implied, but nothing proven. Supposedly, she was having a little extra-marital tryst with one of the Guardians. With what I've seen of the Daimyo? Couldn't blame her. Then again, that might have just been the court rumour mill at work. Can't trust a word that comes out of this place."

"Noted."

"But yeah, if Ayumi inherited even half of her mother's best traits, Hi no Kuni will be in good hands." She glanced down at Hanabi slyly, nudging her slightly. "Might not be the only thing she's inherited from her mother, given the way she was eyeing blondie."

"You can't be serious," Hanabi grouched defensively. "She's like, eleven." She didn't like the way Anko was smiling at her.

"Weren't we all once? Wouldn't be the first to fall for the broken ninja, hoping to fix him up and bring out the warm, kind hearted soul behind the stoic façade. Or, for all I know, she's just into older guys." She shrugged uncaringly.

"It's not like it matters," Hanabi said. "Naruto-sensei isn't the kind of person who would pay her any attention like that."

"Oho," Anko chortled, flicking the younger Hyuuga under her chin. "Is that a little spark of the ugly green beast I see? And I ain't talking about Gai's spandex-clad behind."

Hanabi merely turned away without dignifying her with a response. It had nothing to do with the light dusting of red on her cheeks.

"Listen kid, from me to you, I'd try and curb the girlish crush while you can."

"What would you know?"

"About being infatuated with an older, more powerful shinobi that also happens to be my mentor? More than you know kid."

The surprisingly honest admission was enough to knock Hanabi off-balance. There was none of the usual playfulness on the kunoichi's features as she spoke. It was kind of unnerving.

"So… with Orochimaru?"

Anko glanced down at her with a sad smile.

"He's a monster. But the best monsters never look like one."

"Stop doing that," Hanabi growled suddenly, taking a step away from Anko. "Stop comparing Naruto-sensei to Orochimaru. They're nothing alike."

"I'm sure they're not," Anko said, again in that noncommittal tone. "But trust me, when you said blondie wouldn't be interested in a girl like Ayumi, you weren't wrong. But that's only because he ain't interested, period. Some people are just like that, and you gotta learn to recognise it before it crushes you."

Hanabi sniffed dismissively. "You act like you're some expert on people. You don't know Naruto at all." Nobody knew Naruto, not like she did.

"Not an expert," Anko sighed, running her fingers through her spiky, fanned-out ponytail. "Just somebody with experience."

"Whatever," Hanabi muttered, quickening her pace a bit. "So, how were you planning on gathering information?" If she had to be stuck in this woman's presence, she might as well learn something.

Behind her, Anko shrugged, setting her smirk back on her features and skipped along to catch up. She had done her humanitarian bit for the day, now she could have some fun.