Nature of the Savage Beast

by Sivaatasi

Which is stronger? The environment without or the monster within? Will the inner Uzumaki survive the dark nature of the world he lives in or will the demon win out in the end? And what happens when Naruto gets help from the very monsters everyone in Konoha says he is supposed to fear? Powerful Naruto (AU) over time; NOT a harem story.

20. Chapter 20

A/N: It's been a while since my last update. Sorry for the delay but life has been busy lately.

Remember when I said that this story would delve into uncomfortable territory? Well, it's time. As a warning for those of you that may be underage or tender of heart, I caution about reading this chapter as it is this chapter, mostly for the violence in it, that earns this story the "M" rating.

There is a big "Behind the Scenes" explanation at the end of the chapter given the churn Naruto's mission generated (#Shadistro and folks with similar thoughts: This BTS is for you). This is the only time I intend to explain why this Arc is structured the way it is and I hope it answers the "why" questions that come with it.

Let's get back to it, shall we?

~Siva'a-tasi~

~I I I~

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Chapter 20: Good Guys Wear Masks - The Hero of Wave

~I I I~

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It was late evening on the second day and the original Naruto was back under Tazuna's house speaking with his doppelganger. He was a day ahead of schedule and that reminded him he'd need to thank Kyuubi for her hard work in keeping him functional. He had a greater appreciation, with his rudimentary medical training, of just what she was accomplishing with his biology. Her efforts deserved a proper reward.

"I expect you to honor that promise, kit." Naruto grinned beneath his mask and his hand closed reflexively.

He summoned a lesser clone and turned towards it. "All squad leaders return for final mission pre-brief." The clone bowed, withdrew a kunai, and pierced its chest expiring in a puff of smoke.

Naruto sat and awaited his soldiers' arrival. He sat lotus with his minor clone immediately to his left and one pace behind, the position of a close advisor. Tatsua sat curled up in his lap. The only signs that Naruto was attentive during their briefs were the subtle movements of his mask's ears and the swaying of its tassels, a nod here as he concurred, a shake there before he altered a plan slightly or asked for clarification, the lilt as his head leaned to his left indicating he was listening to his advisor's thoughts.

Tatsua, worn out from watching over him the entire night, began snoring softly as one by one his lieutenants arrived to provide their debriefs.

Each individual plan was well thought out and their owners anxious to execute them. Being part of the same chakra network, each was well-apprised of the rescue mission just off the southern shore of Hi no Kuni and every clone wanted to repeat that success with the entire nation of Wave.

Each wrapped up succinctly by one in the morning, numbers adjusted and, more often than not, boosted by Naruto's feelings on whether risks to prisoner safety were acceptable. Naruto declared that the assault would take place an hour before sunrise. They would give Gato no more opportunity to inflict pain on this country's people.

All five squad leaders bowed, their masks touching the earth, then leaped to their feet. As they rose, fifteen hundred copies rose with them stretching out from under the house stilts and into the still evening water along the coast, their black uniforms cloaking their bodies so that an army of bodiless masks looked on from the sea.

One hundred paired off with the clone going to the village, their mission to clear out the town and wreak havoc on the thugs causing trouble there. They were to pay special attention to the brothel and its customers.

Five hundred paired off with the clone headed to the bandit camp where the majority of prisoners were being held, their mission total annihilation and hostage recovery.

Another three hundred paired off for the encampment along the shore while two hundred were to clear out the Daimyo's residence.

That left four hundred to clear out Gato's headquarters where the bulk of his forces lay.

Naruto would personally join the rescue at the Daimyo's residence. While the mission remained under the clone's prerogative, he would observe from the Daimyo's side and personally keep her safe. He pointedly looked to the clone leading the compound assault saying, "Remember, he lives until I arrive to question him. The rest are yours to make suffer as you see fit."

All of the clones bowed before streaking off into the night, a silent wave of impending death.

Deep inside her gilded cage, the Kyūbi no Youko smiled.

Naruto turned to his hermit clone and nodded once. The clone bowed deeply before sharing a few thoughts and observations. With another nod, Naruto Henged into a copy of his replica as the clone vanished, his observations over the past few days filtering into the original's mind. The original then hopped up to the living room of the house and entered looking for his sensei.

One look into his serious face and she knew something big was coming. Without a word, he exited the doorway and waited for her in the front yard. Kakashi's one eye narrowed as Kurenai exited a moment later without a word in his direction.

"Welcome back, Naruto."

The boy nodded in return. He figured if anyone could tell who the original was, she could. He didn't know that she couldn't tell the difference between the original and a clone unless she had a Byakugan. It was his behavior that gave it away – he was still in his "Taichou Mode" of command, presence flowing from his body in waves.

"It will happen tonight." He heard her slight exhale. Her body control was as impressive as her figure. He was infinitely pleased that she could not see him blush right then.

"Any concerns?"

He realized then that she accepted his plans without knowing their contents. She had faith in him and it was a pleasant realization. As he turned fully to look her in the eye and it hit him, his breath caught in his throat at the sight of her. Even in her serious sensei mode, he failed to understand just how beautiful Yuhi Kurenai was, how tall and athletic was her figure. It was an asset that caused many enemies to underestimate her unto their untimely deaths as she was an equally capable kunoichi. He silently cursed his clone for pointing out a few things about his sensei as it dispersed.

"My remaining concerns center around hostage protection but we've planned and compensated with stealth and distraction to create openings and confusion." She nodded noting his use of the plural language form. She wished, not for the first time, that she shared his enormous capacity to make shadow clones. They were incredibly useful.

Remembering what the clone said to her that first night, she took a deeper breath than needed before speaking.

"Strike fast, return safely."

Naruto bowed deeply from the waste and, when he stood again, the Kitsune shinobi glanced back from his emotionless mask, the henge dropping silently. Kurenai's breath caught in her throat as he slowly vanished from sight, like a phantom, without seals, signs, or verbal commands.

Shaking out the chill that ravaged her spine, she spun on her heel suddenly very wary of the dark and re-entered the warmth and light of Tazuna's home.

"What are you not telling us, Kurenai?" She paused long enough to send a disproving look at the cyclops before moving to the kitchen table to share tea with Hinata and Tsunami, her answer to his question kept to herself.

Sasuke switched to full-blown pout mode. Clearly, no one understood the rigors of command that burdened him.

~III~

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In Various Locations About the Small Island in Wave Country…

The rest of the island slept peacefully. Even brigands not on watch needed respite from a hard day's villainy and debauchery, so they slept in what they believed to be absolute safety in a land they felt completely secure in.

In a word, it was hubris.

The sentries discovered that lie as they lazily patrolled their entrenchments, their attention lax at best or comatose in a drunken slumber at worst. They died quietly and simultaneously, throats slit to prevent raising an alarm.

Those sleeping in open encampments died next, a kunai rammed forcefully into the base of their skulls mangling the brain stems, another hand covering their mouths as their basic motor functions ceased immediately and the spark of life faded from their eyes.

Next came the bunkered guards, those in-place behind fortifications like the Daimyo's home and the makeshift headquarters, fifteen minutes after the camps had been cleared out. Naruto and his clones had sequenced their mission objectives with silent reports sent through expired clones, five for each phase. With the camps cleared and the hostages on the beach, in the bandit camp, and in the village rescued, they moved on to clearing out the fortifications. Excess clones from secured areas body flickered to join the last two fronts, trebling their numbers to over twelve hundred, the remaining staying behind to tend wounded prisoners using medical skills and jutsus.

A good number stayed to pile up the dead and burn them with Katon jutsu. The ash and stench would mark those areas undesirable for years before the earth returned to a semblance of cleanliness.

It was an hour after the initial assault that the final push would start, ninja using headhunter jutsus to bury internal patrols up to their necks in stone just before another clone operating in tandem rose from the same floor to slice their throats. The Daimyo's home was cleared in under thirty minutes. Alert bandits, no matter how alert, were still untrained thugs and they posed little threat to well-trained ninja that could walk silently through the earth.

They died by the score, their superior numbers no longer a factor. The Daimyo of Wave Country rose shakily to her feet, her retainer also being hefted from the hard earth by another ninja almost identical to the one removing the chains from her chafed wrists. Once freed, his hands began to glow a beautiful shade of green and relief flooded into her body soothing away her aches and pains. She could feel the swelling on her face fading as the warmth of his touch washed over her entire body.

Another ninja had entered bringing blankets to cover their bodies, the Daimyo fully aware that her tattered garments had been torn by Gato in such a way as to expose the most sensitive parts of her body, all of it intended to show domination over a world leader and to stroke his perverted ego. She did not care. This ninja, young though he appeared, had saved her life and, though Gato had robbed her country blind (and gloated over it), the only way she could show immediate gratitude was to proudly stand before her rescuer, the strong leader she had always been. She almost resisted the urge to hug him once her hands were free… almost.

Wave would make good on its debt someday. She would see to it.

When he finished, she felt a hundred times better. He gently closed the blankets across her front closing her partial nakedness from searching eyes before doing something that shocked the newly rescued leader. He stepped back three paces then knelt before her. The sound, being repeated by hundreds of nearly identical ninjas in her audience chamber with a hearty, "Ossu!", made her realize just how thorough her rescue had been. Glancing over the many masked figures, all wearing the sigil of the Will of Fire, Hoshiyui Akimi, First Daimyo of the Land of Waves, shed her first tear and smiled, slowly falling onto her throne's cushion for the first time in weeks.

With a grimace, she snatched the cushion and hurled it to the floor.

"Saia-chan, please remind me to replace that despicable reminder of that rat's time here once our people are safe and fed."

Her handmaiden chuckled and bowed to her mistress. The Daimyo looked down upon the kneeling shinobis and warmth engulfed her face in a most undignified release of emotion.

"My savior need never bow before me, shinobi-san, but I would ask for his name and, with all humility, ask to be permitted to see the face of my shining light in the darkest times of my small corner of the nation."

The ninja stiffened, and she could see his reluctance. Secrecy was paramount to his world but she and her entire country owed the man a huge debt. If he vanished, as they were known to do cloaked in his mask and his shadows, she would be saddled with an enormous debt she could never repay. She would never be able to erase that stain upon her honor. He did not rise but instead reached up slowly to remove his mask and her lips parted at the sight.

Here before her knelt a child barely in his teen years, his gorgeous eyes the color of the deep sea before a storm, his hair like spun gold from the sun's rays. His entire body was tense, but his face never rose, his eyes never leaving her feet. The hard look in his eyes told her of innocence lost long ago and her heart wept for him.

If asked years later, she would not be able to recall leaving her seat and crossing the floor to kneel in front of the warrior that had saved them all. She would not remember taking his face in her hands and lifting his head, despite the unobstructed view it gave him of her exposed chest through tattered garments, and kissing his forehead forever placing upon it the mark of the Daimyo's beloved, her most trusted servants.

It was to this image that the returning women of her court were brought in by more ninja, each one wearing his unique mask and uniform, to see. They would see this rare gift and hear in complete silence the following exchange.

"Your name, brave shinobi-kun," she whispered. He blinked once before responding, his face burning with his blush as she pressed his face to her bosom.

"Uzumaki Naruto, Daimyo-dono." Her eyes shot open as her grip on his head tightened. At first, she giggled, an ecstatic sound like tinkling bells that grew to throaty laughter, her bosom heaving and rubbing against his face much to his embarrassment. Slowly the laughter shifted to hysterical relief, as the weight of that name crashed down upon her thin shoulders – the heir of Uzushiogakure himself had come to rescue her. It was fate.

Upon hearing the name, the twenty or so females rescued from Gato's conscripted dungeon and the lecherous nobles of Grass Country, all fell to their knees, heads bowed to the blonde shinobi. Naruto was gobsmacked and did the only thing he could… he returned her embrace albeit cautiously.

He was almost thankful when the notification arrived that the remaining force of clones had captured Gato and freed the remaining slaves. They'd also found the Cloud kunoichi but not before Gato had violated her. She was distraught and threatening to take her own life.

He needed to join them immediately.

Naruto begged to be excused stating that his troops had captured Gato and he needed to wrap up his mission. She released him only upon his promise to return to her before he departed Wave, to which he readily agreed.

Standing to face his clone army, Naruto sent one hundred of them off to deal with the poppy crops in the Daimyo's garden. They were to gather the crops and burn them at the southernmost shore. Another three-hundred were to stay and provide security for the Daimyo and her court. He sent another fifty to raid the warehouse and begin distributing the country's belongings back to the people. Once he was masked again and outside with his remaining clones, Naruto sent another two hundred to the bridge with instructions to henge into his normal gear. One was to find Kurenai and let her know that his mission was in its final stages and that they would need to meet with the Daimyo in her court before heading back to Konoha.

That done, he made a beeline for Gato's keep. Time to wrap up his affairs.

The "keep" turned out to be the nation's small business district. The village elder lived in the central unit and the other buildings included the bank, the tiny hospital, and an administrative building for records. They were built of stone and proved to be the most fortified so Gato kicked everyone out and claimed them as his new headquarters. Why not?

Once inside, Naruto saw that the worthless human hadn't even been roused from his slumber when his clones tied the fat slob to his own office chair. Naruto glared down at the snoring bastard wearing only a loincloth, his sex slaves now freed and huddled in a corner of the room under silken bedsheets.

They could not have been older than ten or so.

Naruto nodded to the prisoners, young girls kept from the slave market most likely until he grew bored with them, and the squad leader had them removed. With a snarl, he backhanded the snoring crime boss, knocking him and the chair to the floor, and sneered as the fat man snorted himself into painful consciousness.

"With us, are we? Gooooood!" Naruto sneered as two clones set the man upright again.

Gato immediately bellowed his rage and yelled for his guards. He was answered by the headless bodies of two swordsmen being wrapped in more of Gato's prized bedsheets and being carried out of the room. The mogul's face paled and his bellowing turned into sputtering. His predicament was slowly starting to sink in.

"I'll give you w-whatever you want! I'm powerful!"

Naruto snorted.

"I-I have money! Women! Most still fresh and untouched! You can take your pick!" Gato assumed most men were like him and given to perversions of the flesh through abuse of power. Gato completely misunderstood the snarl from what was obviously the leader of this band of shinobi. What he mistook for a feral snarl of lust and greed thinking it implied this guy must surely understand that need to satisfy one's primal urges, was in fact one of pure hatred. Gato was thinking perhaps he could replace Zabuza with this guy's army to back him.

The second backhand wiped those thoughts from his mind and knocked a few teeth out onto the floor to boot. This time the chair did not fall over but instead spun in place; Naruto was getting better and this corporeal punishment schtick.

The chair stopped spinning when a clone grabbed the arm.

"Get us what we need to know and show me our other guest," the latter being directed by turned his head to a nearby clone that rapidly vanished back into the building proper.

The next nod was directed to Naruto's patiently waiting Lieutenant, who signaled to his nearest enforcer.

The squad leader's grin beneath his mask promised lots of pain, which he gleefully leaped to deliver heedless of Gato's grunts, whines, and whimpers begging for the pain to stop. It was to the sound of the fat bastard being pummeled to death that a beautiful woman was brought gently into the room, her footsteps hesitant and her face contorted in discomfort, as her eyes settled on Gato's suffering. She paused and the smile that blossomed on her face held no warmth.

Naruto briefly wondered why Inari kept sending beautiful blonde women into his life.

After a moment of savoring the meaty thuds into Gato's overly-expanded midsection that were also accompanied by the sound of bones snapping, she diverted her eyes to the shinobi dispassionately watching the…interrogation? Is it really an interrogation if they aren't asking questions? She tried to bow, winced, and righted herself with a groan.

"Easy Kunoichi-san." His masked face turned to one of the identical figures holding her up, but her eyes stayed riveted to his mask. She noted the similar marks on the masks and zeroed in on the infinity sign above his brow. This one held power, he was… her eyes flared for a second in recognition and Naruto saw her nostrils flare again ever so slightly.

'Interesting.'

"We did what we could to ease her suffering, Taichou, but she remains sore due to our lack of skill in internal medical ninjutsu." He bowed in regret, but the woman waved it away.

"I am good, Taichou." She adopted the moniker effortlessly. "It's cool. Don't worry about what you can't return to me, what this bastard," she indicated the nearly insensate Gato, "…took from me."

Naruto motioned for the squad leader to stop his assault. He did so very reluctantly.

The kunoichi noted that the soldier hit like a bull. Gato was indeed a nearly-unrecognizable mess of blood and fused skin.

"When we are done, you may strike the killing blow, but I need his head."

She bowed her own head in gratitude. Looking once more at the bloodied fat man, she licked her lips in anticipation. The questioning had begun, and the pile of filth was given all that he could in the hopes of sparing his pathetic life.

In the end, it would not be enough. His body would be buried without a trace using Doton jutsu. He would be forgotten but, for now, they needed more information.

In the meantime, clones were alternating between copying down account numbers and passwords to bank accounts in Grass, Fire, and Hot Water. It would take some time to clean up the mess properly but now they had time to do so.

They discovered, using his uncovered ledgers, account lines for his shinobi underlings as well as incoming lines of deposit from recent sales, the fleecing of Wave's banks, and estimates of merchandise confiscated from its citizens. Naruto sent revised estimates to the clones running the warehouse operation with orders to relocate the bank's fund back to the vault. They also found the three chests that Gato had brought with him into the country. He'd hidden them in his bed-chamber assuming his thugs would be enough security.

Normally they would have been.

In short order, the three chests were brought into the office and opened proving that Gato's arrogance didn't believe in traps. It was horrifically easy.

He opened the first chest, counted off two-hundred thousand Ryu, and sealed all three into the unused series of seals on his upper right forearm guard. Wrapping up the money in stacks, Naruto tossed the payment to another clone with orders to find the hidden nuke-nin. Apparently, Gato had provided their location during his pain-addled ramblings.

"Avoid hostilities at all costs. Just cancel their obligation and ensure they depart… quietly."

The clone "Oss'd" and body flickered away.

Only when they were absolutely certain they had everything, including the pilfered land titles and other state documents (Naruto noted the documents pertaining to Whirlpool were not there), did Naruto release Gato to the vengeful kunoichi. The loaned kunai she'd asked for sawed its way painfully through his throat only after she'd just as painfully sawed through his crotch a minute before. She watched impassively as the light left his eyes and all the stress in her shoulders fell away. The bloody blade clanged loudly on the tiled floor.

Naruto had two clones, henged as women, lead the bloody kunoichi away to get cleaned up. She paused for a long moment, staring intently into his crystalized eye sockets, before laboriously lowering her body to the floor and prostrating herself before him, her forehead pressed to the tiles, her arms outstretched to either side of his feet, her palms flat along the floor.

It was the position of complete submission, of complete surrender before an enemy. Naruto was stunned.

As the female clones tried to lift her from the cold stone, she whispered a plea.

"Please!"

They all paused.

"Please take me with you!"

He could hear her sobs. In confusion, he turned his head to the squad leader.

"Taichou, when she was taken by Zabuza, her village wrote her off. The moment her Raikage refused to ransom her, Gato took her maidenhead and threw her into a cramped cell."

Naruto was appalled.

With extreme tenderness, he knelt and touched his hands to her shoulders, placing his face by her head.

"Can you learn to live again? Can you learn to live by my side? Or are you too broken?"

She tensed at the intimate closeness, her shock released in a shuddering sigh. "H-H-Haaaaii, Taichou!"

He thought he could see her eyes cloud over, her face turned a little towards his own as she panted.

"If you are to come with me, you are not allowed to take your own life without my permission. Do not make me regret this decision, kunoichi-san."

Her tears fell, tears from the stress of her captivity, betrayal, and abuse, now that she was finally free from her insecurity. For now, she had a reason to live and the abyss of darkness seemed less bottomless. He had given her closure, revenge on the man that violated her. She would serve him until she could find better to take her place or find a way to gain his leave to take her own life.

His hands, rough and calloused as they were, were firm and gentle as he lifted her from the floor. She rose shakily, more dependent on his strength as her hands grabbed his vest to steady her unsure legs. Her fingers traced the edges of his mask and a shuddering smile broke out on her normally stoic face. He was Kitsune and he was in prime form.

"Samui, Taichou." It was almost a whisper.

Naruto nodded and motioned for her to go with the "female" shinobi, which she did willingly, her eyes staying on his mask until the last possible moment.

Naruto turned to his now blood-covered and visibly contented squad leader. "Clean up the office and wrap up in town. I want all of the clones except for the warehouse and Daimyo contingents gone by the end of the day. Make sure we hold a feast for the villagers using some of the stuff liberated from the warehouse."

The clone saluted, and the mob of replicas set about removing all signs of struggle using jutsus to remove the blood.

Naruto entered the room the clones had taken Samui in to get her cleaned up and, hopefully, clothed. She stood naked having just stepped into a tub of warm water, one clone holding fresh robes while the other had just finished scrubbing her back. Samui made no effort to cover her nakedness, her head bowed to her new Lord. He tried to not growl at the large number of bruises and bite marks on her shapely body wishing he could kill the fat bastard all over again.

Naruto approached her and removed his mask, his ocean-blue eyes seeking her ice blue ones. He also noticed how they immediately glazed over and internally grimaced knowing full well why it was happening.

He noticed her blonde hair cut short and framing her pale face. He intentionally ran his eyes over her body, his glowing green hands hovering over each bruise and deftly sliding past her more sensitive areas. On impulse, she grabbed his hands and pressed them to her overly large breasts, which broke his stoic façade, as they were clearly bigger than Tamami's.

"Taichou, do not fear to touch your servant."

For long moments, his eyes held hers unflinchingly. She had completely surrendered herself to her new lifeline and was desperately trying to maintain her sanity in a life that had been turned completely upside down. He would not take advantage of her in this way. He gently squeezed causing her cheeks to pink before leaning in and whispering in her ear, her body stiffening as she waited for him to act.

"I appreciate your surrender and accept your sacrifice in the manner with which it is given." He leaned back so that his nose was centimeters from her own.

"I will not touch you again until you can make the same offer free of your pain and whatever debt burden you believe you owe me. When your heart truly belongs to me, Samui-chan, I will take you into my arms," he gently kissed her lips, "…and not before."

---

Kyuubi tsked in disappointment from within the seal. It was clear that his education on Kitsune culture was still lacking in a few areas and would need to be corrected concerning captured vixens.

---

He released her fleshy globes and backed away with a final squeeze. "I show you my face now so that you can recognize it around my teammates without giving away my secret. They do not know about," his hand waved arbitrarily to indicate the whole operation, "this, about my life as a specialist. As an assassin."

Samui nodded in understanding. Her nod did wonderful things to her chest.

"You will call me Naruto around my teammates, not Taichou, sama, or anything else. If anyone asks, you are my most personal guard. That will explain your constant presence around me."

She nodded, her breasts responding and catching his eye making her blush again.

"I will need to be comfortable around you," he tore his eyes back up to her face with a heavy sigh, "…and you will need to be comfortable around me."

She lifted her eyes from his muscled torso and saw something there she didn't remember seeing from her own Raikage - concern. He worried for her.

"Are you okay with becoming a Leaf nin?"

She took a deep breath to steady her nerves and he struggled, VERY HARD, to keep his eyes even with hers.

"I will go where you go and serve you. If I must become a Leaf nin to do so, then I shall. Remember that my loyalty, from this day forward, belongs to you Taichou. Not Kumo. Not Konoha."

Her resolve firmed even as the water began to cool, the chill causing her skin to break out into small bumps, other more noticeable protrusions growing as well.

"You returned my honor and saved me from a kunoichi's worse fate. My life, my all, is yours until you no longer have use for me." Her face grew grim. She knew all too well how fickle men could be with the fading flower of beauty. Her eyes showed that she fully expected him to tire of her charms and cast her aside, just as her Raikage did once she was taken by that pig of gangster.

Naruto stepped forward and embraced her, her cold skin smashed against his body armor, but she could feel the heat from his core. He radiated warmth like a small furnace and her arms slowly drew themselves around his waist.

"I NEVER abandon my friends." He abruptly released her to bathe and dress in peace, calling back over his shoulder as he left and closed the door, "Someday you will come to learn that about me."

Samui stared for many minutes at the fading back of the strange shinobi her life had become inexplicably connected with and she resolved to serve him to the best of her ability from that day forward. This time her blush had nothing to do with the fading sensation of his warm skin.

One of the clones leaned forward to place her hand into the water and warmed it with a small Katon jutsu. Sinking into the now reheated bath with a heavenly sigh, Samui smiled for the first time in weeks.

~I I I~

The third day also found the newly-replaced Naruto clone standing before the baker's home, his maul clutched in both hands as he stood facing away from the bridge, and in the direction that the thugs came from. He was pointedly ignoring the angry calls behind him from one Uchiha Sasuke who was trying to order him back to the bridge project under horrible threats of prosecution once they reached Konoha. The duck-haired boy had tried to force Kurenai into snagging him with no success.

The clone did not look to the family that stood in the door of their home staring at his stern profile, the mother hoping and praying that this brave young man would not die for their sakes but grateful that someone would be willing to fight for them when they could not fight for themselves.

In her heart, she did not know if they could survive another day of abuse and brutalization. His act of defiance was a lifeline she desperately needed.

When the boy's face slowly transitioned from resolute defiance to overjoyed celebration, the father slowly stepped from the entryway of his small shop to stand by him, noticeably swallow his fear and slowly turned to look down the village street. He dared to hope.

What he saw was a bittersweet victory. What he saw gave him hope that his family might be okay from that day forward without the need of their blond defender.

The thugs were indeed walking up the street as they had been the past few days but, instead of their normal bravado, they were hunchbacked and subdued. Their faces were bruised and bloody, clothes ragged, and both had at least one eye partially or fully closed.

Their hands were tied behind their backs and their journey was being "assisted" by several ninjas in dark combat gear sporting stylized masks resembling a bearded animal. Once they were close enough and the thugs were kicked into kneeling positions, the family – and the people on the bridge – could see that they were modeled after foxes. Very angry foxes.

They all looked the same, almost identical except for the symbol in the middle of the mask's forehead. The four herding prisoners with batons of their own had numbers, and the pair of thugs were clearly not here voluntarily this time. The apparent leader wore a letter in his mask… it looked like the letter "C." He stood in front of the father and bowed low at the waist before moving to the mother and children and repeating the motion, this time his arms were held out in front of his hunched over body holding a baton that rested on his open palms.

It took a moment as the mother looked back and forth between the masked nin with the baton and the two kneeling prisoners, but she eventually understood his meaning. With a warm smile and a tear in her eye, she stepped forward and gently closed his fingers back over the baton indicating that she refused his offer. The lead shinobi bobbed briefly and stood, his crystal eyes meeting hers for long minutes before he moved to the father and held up the baton again, this time with one hand.

This time, the offer was accepted, and the bitter man vented his anger until both thugs were bloody messes on the street.

By the time he could no longer swing his arms, his chest heaving with lack of breath and tears streaming down his face for his terrorized family, one thug lay quivering and the other unconscious. The father screamed one last burst that started in the direction of the two that had threatened his family and stolen his family's sense of security and peace only to end up thrown to the heavens, his neck bulging and veiny as his rage dwindled out before an uncaring kami.

The leader embraced him without shame, a brother in arms to another brother, one hand cradling the back of his head to his battle-geared shoulder.

Most of the eyes on the bridge were leaking by then except for the scoffing Sasuke and his diehard fangirl. Tazuna flung a disgusted look to the two Team Seven members looking on in annoyance.

With the flick of a wrist, two of the four masked nins slung the thugs over their shoulders like they were sacks of rice and turned to walk off. The remaining two each had the swords of the now dead or dying henchmen and one took his war prize out of his sash and handed it to the father in the exact same fashion that their leader had offered the baton to the mother. Confused, the man accepted it thinking it a gift, his face clearly showing his confusion as his emotions played out across his reddened face.

It lasted until the leader of the rescuing nins, as by now dozens of similar scenes were being played out along the village street as hundreds of similarly dressed shinobi cleared out Gato's gang of thugs, did something that stole the breath from the lungs of everyone watching this small family's drama play to its conclusion.

When the baker turned away from the growing volumes of cheers erupting from the heart of his tiny village, he saw the leader of this group of nins, kneeling seiza fashion on the ground, with his vest opened by both hands to reveal his meshed chest underneath.

Then the meaning of the sword struck home.

He was offering his life in exchange for failing to protect the baker's family in a timely fashion. He was opening himself to a fatal blow from the girl's father with the very sword used by Gato's men to threaten his family.

Sakura, despite being a complete Sasuke fangirl, gasped and moved forward to stop this catastrophe only to find a female arm reaching across her chest to block her.

"Kurenai-sensei!"

The taller woman only shushed her with a hiss of air, a look of serious concern on her face as the scene played out. She had no idea which one was kneeling in the mask, the original or a clone, and her worry was real. In silence, she began molding chakra... just in case.

In shock, the man looked to his wife in confusion and back to the motionless ninja still kneeling before him. He was more than shocked – he was stunned and horrified, his hand opening to drop the unsheathed katana on the ground with a clang.

The nin's eyes in his mask never left the baker as he reached out and hefted the weapon, his arms lifting it horizontally and, with a gentle tug, separated the pommel from the sheath, the first two inches of the blade slithering free. One of the other nins wordlessly stepped alongside and just to the rear of the kneeling shinobi drawing his own blade in one smooth motion, the sharp end rising gracefully as he spread his feet nearly shoulder-width apart and waited.

A small hand alighted on the kneeling shinobi's wrist and the masked fox turned to lock eyes with the daughter. Her eyes were big and clearly scared, tears running freely as she calmly stared into the red crystals that stood for eyes in the emotionless wall of porcelain.

He stopped moving as the two locked gazes.

Every face watched as the two communicated silently for several minutes, the nin slowly re-sheathing the weapon and tossing it to one of the other silent guardians. Once the blade was clear, she slowly stepped into his embrace hugging her masked savior, the intimate embrace oddly out of place given the obscene levels of violence occurring throughout the village at the moment.

Sakura couldn't hear what was being said once the young girl lifted her head from his shoulder, but it was clear from the occasional head nod in agreement that the shinobi was speaking with her. A few more words of wisdom and the trio of remaining masks departed as silently as they came.

As a collective, the bridge crew and their guardians sighed their enormous relief and tried to make heads or tails of the odd liberation of Wave.

~I I I~

---

The rest of the operation wrapped up in short order.

The Daimyo's residence was quickly secured. The few bandits in hiding, waiting for things to blow over so they could escape with their hides intact, were easily found out and publicly executed.

The Daimyo made an appearance later that day, in full regalia, with her remaining retainers and a horde of masked ninja as her escort. She toured the Mayor's recovered home and the recovery process of the hospital and bank, which now had the stolen money back that Gato had been storing in his pilfered warehouse. She was pleasantly surprised to see the masked shinobi adding security seals to the building and its vault, helping her link her blood to the most secure storage compartments where she could keep the Daimyo's sacred documents away from thieving hands. She quickly reinstated one of her most trusted maidens, her Minister of Finance, as the new bank head with orders to return to normal business within the month.

The Daimyo also made an appearance in the village itself much to the surprise and confusion of Sasuke and Sakura, who were still lounging about on the bridge while Shino and Kurenai stood watch over the bridge builder. Sakura was feeding the lazy emo princess while Naruto's clones supplied the bulk of manual labor needed to complete construction, much to Tazuna's continued disgust and annoyance.

The Daimyo, recognizing the faces on the many replicas of her savior, deftly connected two and two realizing this army of skilled ninja that rescued her nation were all part of the same brave boy, the Uzumaki heir. She looked at him and blushed, much to Sakura's annoyance. Once she'd completed her visit to her people promising a better future for Wave, she purposely strode to the middle of the bridge to meet with the tall beauty watching over Tazuna-san.

The red-eyed kunoichi bowed while Tazuna stopped his work and knelt before his leader, a look of sublime pleasure slathered across his normally disgruntled face at the sight of his Daimyo alive and well.

Tazuna also nervously took note of the horde of masked ninja standing guard.

"We share a common ally."

Kurenai noted the familiar masks of the clone army at her back and smiled. "It is good that he was able to reach you in time."

The Daimyo of Wave Country took the taller woman's hands in her own and beamed with happiness.

"If I could repay him with more than my love, I would."

Sasuke gaped openly from his moody supervisory position but focused on the small army of foreign nin.

"He has done more for my country than you could know, and we are ever in his personal debt."

Kurenai blinked making a mental note to receive the gaki's full report later.

"Please inform your Hokage that we are saved. Gato is dead and, by our last reports, Zabuza has departed our shores courtesy of his negotiations."

Kurenai bowed low touching her forehead to the Daimyo's hands.

"Also, I asked that he return to my court before you depart. I ask that you return with him so that we may talk in peace."

Kurenai righted herself just as Sasuke strutted past, his new Sharingan (recently revealed in the desperate battle with Zabuza and the hunter nin) blazing at the disguised nin.

"You will unmask and make your presence known!" All in all, he sounded rather pleased with himself. The platoon leader, however, was much less impressed and merely scoffed.

Sasuke, as a result, was not pleased by the notable lack of respect.

"Don't you dare disrespect Sasuke-kun!" Sakura screeched out at the top of her lungs.

Kurenai look chagrined at their childish behavior and tried to apologize while waving the two petulant children off, but Sasuke would not be deterred.

The Daimyo of Wave was clearly not pleased by the treatment of her nation's savior and made a point to mention it to Hiruzen in her correspondence.

Sakura, lacking the wherewithal to be embarrassed by her pandering, stepped forward to smash a fist down onto the head of the nearest clone, which earned her a backhanded slap instead.

She landed hard on the bridge, her head and body spinning midair even as her mind reeled in shock. 'How dare he!'

At that exact moment, all three hundred of the mask-wearing nins stiffened, hands reflexively twitching to the hilts of the many, many tantos strapped to their backs. It was an eerie sound and, when multiplied by two hundred and ninety-nine others, downright frightening.

These mercenary nins were well-trained. They were very well-trained.

Sasuke decided, for the first time in his life, that discretion truly served his purposes better and dragged-half-carried the dazed Sakura away with him. Only when they returned to the far end of the bridge in progress, did the legion of masked killers relax.

Kurenai, thoroughly embarrassed by Team Seven's lack of professionalism, tried to apologize again but the Daimyo would hear nothing of it.

"He spoke about those two, but I found it hard to believe anyone could be so dense. I shall have to make amends." She turned to Kurenai and embraced her as an old friend.

"Please take care of him when you are away from here. He needs someone to look after him and the pain he carries hidden inside." She turned and strode away back to the cheering people of her village leaving a very concerned Kurenai behind.

The resulting celebration would last for an entire week.

~III~

Naruto (the clone) stepped out then returned later that night with a busty blonde in flowing robes by his side (her gear stored in a fresh scroll the original Naruto had given her which she promptly pushed down between her large breasts as the borrowed robes had no pockets. Everyone stared so long Samui began to shift nervously from one foot to the other, her eyes narrowing dangerously at the one-eyed Jounin whose sole eye refused to lift to the level of her face continued to leer. Her hand nervously reached forward and meekly grabbed onto Naruto's jacket sleeve.

His hand reached across his body and gripped hers once in reassurance.

Hinata, though curious, walked over and hugged the stranger (Samui stiffened and her body twitched) welcoming her to the home and offering tea to break the ice. Samui blinked, looked to Naruto, who returned the look and nodded once as if to say it was okay, then peacefully allowed herself to be led away by the bluenette.

Sakura stormed up to the golden blond and began to berate him for bringing home a strange woman, as it was obvious from the kunoichi grapevine that he already had both Hinata and Ino. Weren't those two enough for him?

Both Samui's eyes narrowed dangerously and Tatsua growled at the Rosette.

Naruto merely sighed and brushed past her, not even bothering to respond, before clasping hands with Shino. "Sorry for being… preoccupied."

Shino waved it away. "Your clones have been more than helpful. We are nearly ready to return home."

Naruto nodded in agreement and Tsunami set out another plate for dinner having recently had her pantry restocked by a revitalized Nami economy. They would all eat very well that night.

Hinata was quietly chatting at Samui who politely listened, her eyes darting to the blond shinobi with affection and to the pinkette with annoyance. Hinata noticed both and smiled.

"You will come to love him as I do."

Samui's shocked look, as her head whipped to the shorter Hinata, tried to deny it but the bluenette merely laughed it away.

"Deny it all you wish but he is a good man with a heart large enough to love the three of us. You will become our sister and together, we will keep him safe."

Samui didn't have a response to that so she said nothing. It was not a normal thing to hear. And who was this third woman, at least she hoped it was a woman? She looked back to the pink-haired creature and hoped it wasn't her at least. Hinata must have read her mind and giggled.

"No, it's not Sakura."

Samui sighed in relief. Loudly.

"That's cool," Samui whispered out sounding more like herself than in the last few weeks.

The night passed in quiet conversation until it was time for people to break up and go to their respective rooms. Hinata tried to pull Samui along upstairs but the woman, distraught over Naruto's treatment by the arrogant Sasuke, who spent a large portion of the night competing with Kakashi for her attention while either staring at or talking to her breasts while continuously insulting the "Dobe," who she rapidly deduced to be Naruto, shot out of the house and followed the blond below where she spent the night sharing his bedroll.

Naruto, who had just begun to drift off to a well-earned sleep, was awakened by Samui's very curvy body wriggling into his sleeping bag, rubbing along his entire length in doing so, and snuggling up to his front while pulling his arm around her waist with her head sharing his other arm as a pillow. His body warmth eased her nerves immediately, and she soon drifted off into the first deep slumber she'd had in many weeks.

He ignored the fact that she slept naked. As did the four clones he set up as guards, the traitors.

'What will you do with this Kitsune from Cloud, Taichou?'

Naruto wasn't sure. 'We'll have to see if she can repair her soul first, Sua-chan. Then we will see.' With her curvy body pressed against his own, he drifted off to a fitful sleep. Eventually.

~III~

---

At the Southern Fire Shore Across From Wave Country…

His name was Kaminohono Tseguro, a proud fifth-generation samurai from the Land of Fire, and he was wondering for the fourth time on this journey why his Lord had forsaken him so. As he waited for the bridge he could see some twenty meters off the coast of Hi no Kuni to get completed, he frowned at this assignment from the Fire Daimyo to establish an elite guard for the Land of Waves to support his smaller neighbor but complete it he would.

A samurai does not question the will of his lord.

For the second time, he wondered who these shinobi were that left such a bloody scene near the small coastal village's entry and if he would need to eliminate them in order to liberate Wave.

He hoped so. By the Great Buddha, he could use a good fight.

~III~

---

Back in Wave Country…

The following days blended into a familiar routine. Naruto spent his nights in the mindscape learning about history and Fūinjutsu from Ienaga. Hinata would spend her time bonding with Samui, learning of her home, and sharing her future plans with Naruto. Both would spend their time avoiding and ignoring Kiba and Sasuke's attempts to win Samui over and Kakashi's attempts to corner her (amazing how spry the nearly-dead Jounin was suddenly).

Samui, when away from the house, stayed by Naruto's side with Hinata, who no longer needed to tend to the still "weakened" Kakashi. Inside the house, she split her time between sitting with the other women (minus Sakura who fought to keep her Sasuke-kun away from the hussie) or sitting on Naruto's lap, just to irritate the other three men desperately doing their best to annoy her. Often, Hinata and Samui double-teamed their favorite ninja plushy and sandwiched him between them both, making the eyes bug out on Kiba and Kakashi.

Sasuke merely hid in the corner and pouted. With longing looks at the happy threesome, Sakura tried to join him repeatedly with no success.

Kakashi, in order to clear the males away from Samui, boldly announced he would be teaching his team something new while Kurenai and Team Eight guarded Tazuna. Kurenai asked if they could "observe" his magnificent training event before reporting for guard duty, to which a gloating Kakashi agreed (he figured that he'd get to spend time with Samui while they trained). After proudly demonstrating tree climbing, his face fell flat when Hinata, Samui, Shino, and Naruto promptly ran to the top of the tallest trees they could find, all evenly balanced on the very tip.

Sasuke, Sakura, and Kiba all stared in disbelief, then glared hatefully at their lazy sensei.

Kurenai scoffed and called her team down as they all sauntered off towards the bridge, Samui in tow. Naruto would later summon an army of clones that would strip down from the waist up and sweat away with the rest of the laborers. More songs followed this workday and the bridge vibrated with stomping feet and harmonizing voices.

Kurenai (though she hid it well), Samui, and Hinata all drooled for a good portion of the following day. So did many of the single (and secretly married) women of Wave as they watched their hero labor on the bridge en massé.

These were the happiest of days for the three women staring at the sweaty clones then hungrily eyeing the original sweating alongside them. Many women from the village coming to deliver lunches to workers lingered a great deal longer than was appropriate, some having to be ushered off by concerned husbands and boyfriends, boyfriends especially.

Back in the tree line, Kakashi sat glumly as he watched his team struggle (all except for Sakura who picked it up immediately) to master the exercise.

Zabuza never resurfaced much to Sasuke's torment. No one knew why, and the egomaniac wanted a rematch.

Two days before they were to depart, Kurenai and Naruto were summoned to the Daimyo's court, which meant Samui, Shino and Hinata followed as part of his team. Sasuke felt snubbed but did not press his luck with the particularly hostile fox nins about (Naruto had been providing fresh guards at the end of every day). After the elaborate greeting Naruto received, much to the surprise of his team, they were greeted like royalty and served as equals.

Barring a side conversation between the leader and Naruto, who received a gold-encrusted scroll with a deep bow, it was a pleasant morning highlighted by Naruto being dubbed the "Hero of Wave Country," complete with an honorary lordship to Wave Country and a parcel of land he could later build a mansion upon. Only Samui smiled in complete understanding as she knew the entire history behind his recent achievements, but his companions earned a bit of her trust when they encouraged him, rather than heaping derision on his head as she had seen Sasuke and his team do.

Alas, the time flew all too quickly, and they departed to the well-wishes of the Daimyo and her court.

Naruto promised to tell Hinata everything when they got home. Hinata was having none of it and crawled into his bedroll before he could fall asleep and put her nose inches from his until he crumbled and relayed the story, all the while Samui crouched impatiently less than a meter away urging him silently to "get on with it."

It would be an hour before Hinata would, with some reservations from a few "gaps" in his story (S-Class secrets and all), kiss her Naruto-kun on the nose and wriggle her way from the sleeping bag and return to her own bedroll in the home above, leaving a very flustered Naruto behind as a result from her body repeatedly grinding and rubbing against his own. She felt bad as she could feel his anatomy stiffen from the effects of her proximity, but she'd try to make it up to him later. Always later.

Samui had no such reservations.

Sliding into the now vacated, and recently warmed, half of Naruto's bedroll after stripping down, she felt his firm reaction sliding along her naked backside. Looking over her shoulder to the very red-faced genin, she rolled over completely and pressed her body against his, his hand twitching against the soft skin of her back.

"Why do you do this to yourself, Taichou?"

Naruto's face twitched, his mouth opening and closing as his eyes filled with the sight of her cleavage causing his brain to shut down. She cupped his face and made him look her in the eyes.

"You may take me any time you wish but why do you let her frustrate you like this?"

Naruto's eyes slid closed as he tried to restart his brain, his body very much aware of her flesh pressed against his, what it was doing to his hormones, and his promise to not take her. His inner voice was calling him an idiot very loudly at this point.

He tried to roll away, but she rolled over with him, her body ending up on top of his as the whole bedroll shifted. Her legs clamped down on either side of his body, her hands still trapping the sides of his face. She could feel his body pulsing between her legs and it made her flush with warmth.

"Y-You don't understand. She wants to wait until we're married and I w-want to honor her wishes." Samui blinked. He was either very naïve and she was taking advantage of him, or he was very sweet and romantic, something fatal to heartless killers like shinobi. He glanced down at her cleavage then back to her face.

"Could you umm… slide off so we can go to sleep." Samui grinned evilly.

"No, I don't think so."

His eyes bulged.

"You are very comfortable, and I think I'm going to stay where I am."

The sounds leaking from his mouth weren't any language she had heard before.

"If you want to move me, you have two perfectly good arms for it."

Naruto was beside himself. She slept in the buff and moving her meant he had to put his hands on her. While not a bad proposition, it made him feel dirty as many, many sexual thoughts fed through his mind. He'd just met her after all and she was no doubt in a less than stable place after what she'd been put through.

When she laid her head on his chest and closed her eyes, he tried to roll over only to find her legs braced to either side. He couldn't just roll her over and it only served to press her chest more into his own as she actively resisted him. By this point, his erection was becoming painful, so he settled in on his back and tried not to think about the incredibly beautiful (and incredibly naked woman) lying on top of him.

It was a VERY long time before he calmed down enough to go to sleep.

To make matters worse, she chose to sleep that way for the remainder of the time they spent in Wave saying it was more comfortable than sleeping on the ground.

Three days later with the work finished, the Leaf nins said their farewells and crossed the completed bridge while Tazuna was trying to name it, passing the contingent of samurai from the Fire Country's Daimyo, each side providing respectful nods, as the armored blade wielders sought out their temporary host.

Naruto's clones would release themselves later after providing the necessary background for why there were there, easing his concern over the fledgling nation's new security. In time, they would be a fully functioning nation, one he could build ties to should he ever rebuild his family home in Uzushiogakure.

Having been gone a month, Naruto turned his attention back to Konoha. He only had one pressing problem to deal with: he had no idea how to explain Samui to Ino.

The day-and-a-half journey back to Konoha highlighted several additional issues.

Sasuke, despite Sakura's opinion on the matter, felt that Samui belonged with the Last Uchiha, namely himself. His conviction only grew when she emerged from Naruto's tent the last morning of their trip wearing her usual kunoichi attire, her red-handled tanto secured in her sash. The fact that she cared nothing for him, evident by her foot connecting with his face at every opportunity, did nothing to alter his world view. She was a strong kunoichi and he deserved to have her at his side. He could finally focus on rebuilding his clan. For the life of him, he failed to understand why she failed to see this logic. This only increased Naruto's status as his hated rival.

Sakura clearly hated the more beautiful and far curvier kunoichi and her presence was a clear sign of disrespect to Hinata, whom she never really cared about before. Sakura made it her mission to spare the Hyuuga heiress any further grief and spent the trip trying to convince Kurenai to banish the buxom Cloud nin, which accomplished nothing more than irritating everyone, including her Sasuke-kun. This further increased her angst and hatred of the dreaded Naruto-baka as this was clearly part of his plan to part her from her beloved Sasuke-kun.

Kakashi, when he wasn't trying to seduce Samui, was trying to get Kurenai to explain what happened and how Naruto had captured an enemy nin and made her his personal slave, a term that earned him the anger of Kurenai, Hinata, Samui, Naruto, Shino, and Tatsua. He was largely ignored as a result, especially once he started trying to bribe Naruto with jutsu scrolls in exchange for "late evening time" with Samui.

That earned him a slap from Kurenai.

Samui spent her time flanking Naruto with Hinata on his other side. The entire way back, she wondered why he tolerated these idiots in Team Seven. Clearly, he was stronger than all of them and should, at some point, put the brooding Uchiha brat firmly in his place. Hinata explained that he had done just that multiple times but the Last Uchiha was just that dense. Naruto ended up spending time trying to explain the situation back in Konoha, including his most hated enemy – the Konoha Council advising the Hokage. He hoped she would eventually understand why once she had time to grow accustomed to Konoha.

Suddenly her old life was just a little less horrible, and she found someone that needed her as much as she needed him. She'd found where she needed to be. Something clicked in her mind and hope blossomed in her heart.

Samui promised to find a three-person sleeping roll when they got to Konoha, so they could all snuggle on long trips. Hinata nearly passed out when she tried convincing the girl to sleep naked like she did. Sakura spit her tea out when she heard this and Kakashi nearly passed out from blood loss.

Samui, in her defense, had blocked them out and completely forgotten they were still there.

Naruto spent his nights in the mindscape running through the basic strikes and forms of his family's taijutsu. It was the safest way to study the form without Sasuke-teme trying to copy them with his recently-activated Sharingan from their encounter with Zabuza.

With Samui sleeping in his bedroll and on top of his body, Shino began displaying… unusual behavior, even bowing to Naruto and including the title "sama" when addressing the blond genin. Naruto couldn't understand the sudden interest and the boy's desire to stay near his new idol, often avowing (rather loudly) to earn the right to serve his mentor until he obtained his proper status as a living Buddha. Naruto tried to shrug it, and Samui's constant snickering, off as one of Shino's unusual quirks.

With advanced notice of their return, both teams arrived at the gate. Naruto landed just short of the watch post-Sasuke as the Uchiha and his team had run through already, Sasuke doing so that he could loiter for one last crack at Samui when another blonde missile tackled Naruto to the ground.

Naruto saw her coming and, instead of dodging, closed his eyes and braced for impact. It was only because Samui saw this play out that she didn't intercept the pony-tail wielding blonde.

"WELCOME BACK!" Naruto grinned up at Ino as her lips pressed firmly against his.

"It's good to… SMOOCH… be back…SMOOCH… Ino-chan."

Hinata tapped Samui on the shoulder and motioned to the blonde lady straddling the blond Kitsune as if to say, "She's the third one."

Samui merely nodded as the proverbial light came on in her head. The girl seemed… friendly enough. Her eyes narrowed when the pink-haired banshee stomped over to separate them. Having had enough, Samui blurred to stand directly in front of Sakura, mild killing intent leaking from her body and halting the angry pinkette.

"This does not concern you," she hissed.

Ino broke her kiss long enough to look up at the still jiggling blonde hoping that she looked like her in a few years. Whoever she was, she'd earned brownie points for blocking the angry pink banshee.

Every Leaf nin at the gate paused, some hands twitching towards kunai holsters.

Sasuke's eyes lit up – she was a kunoichi and a strong one at that. She is perfect to help rebuild his clan!

"Take another step near my master, and I will carve out your lungs with my blade." She delivered the threat evenly and without haste.

Ino's eyebrows raised before her head snapped down to the other sheepish blond. His "oops" face wasn't quite cute enough to get him off the hook.

"Wanna explain that one, Na-ru-to-kun?!" Ino's favorable impression of the kunoichi did not translate to the boy she'd been kissing very amorously not ten seconds before.

Sakura chose that moment to forgive Naruto and Ino their public immorality slinking off to rejoin Sasuke.

Sasuke wailed hearing Samui's use of the word 'master.'

Naruto rose and realized that this was all getting out of hand. He created a lesser clone and directed it to take Hinata, Ino, and Samui home. Hinata and Samui probably wanted to freshen up and he needed to make a report to the Hokage first. He'd be home as soon as he could. He asked for Ino's patience and would explain everything once he got home. He still owed Hinata some details and he didn't want to repeat himself to multiple people.

The clone replied with the usual, "Ossu!" and started walking to the other side of town, the girls following a moment later.

Naruto nodded to Kurenai and then headed off to the tower with his sensei, Kakashi and Sasuke pestering him the entire way about how he met her, how strong was she, what were her measurements (Kakashi), and other idiotic requests for information.

He ignored them in return.

At the Hokage's office, Kakashi let Sasuke give the mission report, which colored Team Seven in the most flattering of circumstances. The Hokage nodded with a polite smile then turned to Kurenai and Naruto, noticing (and not caring) that Kakashi and Sasuke stayed to gloat over their success despite not knowing what happened to Momochi Zabuza.

Kurenai nodded to Naruto who stepped forward to offer three scrolls. Sasuke's eyes narrowed slightly.

"Hokage-sama, all three mission objectives completed satisfactorily."

Three? Sasuke's dominant mission performance suddenly felt a little shaky.

Hiruzen nodded sagely as his pipe found its way into his mouth. He would read the details later.

"Our first mission to escort badly needed cargo by boat to Wave was completed in one and a half days. We departed as planned and encountered then defeated six pirate vessels intent on hijacking our vessel, the Nami Hebi."

Sasuke snorted.

"And how did you deal with the pirates, Naruto? None of you are long-ranged combatants or a dolphin, like Iruka here." Kakashi would not tolerate embellishment during an official mission brief despite Sasuke's unique version of the truth.

Kurenai grinned and Naruto replied, "I made creative use of Daibakuha Kage Bunshin no Jutsu and water walking."

Iruka whistled in appreciation as Kurenai smugly placed that Captain's token on the Hokage's desk.

"Once ashore, we rendezvoused with Team Seven so that we could link up and protect Tazuna. As Team Seven previously stated, they had just completed their fight with Momochi Zabuza and his henchwoman, Haku, so we reset back to Tazuna's house for the rest of the day."

Sasuke interrupted his own preening and barked out a laugh. "Haku was a boy, dobe. You need your eyes checked."

Naruto promptly ignored him and pointed to the second scroll. "In there you will find my account of the rescue operation for the Daimyo of Water Country along with an enclosed personal letter with her royal seal."

Iruka's eyes grew round and Sasuke looked like he'd swallowed an apple. Whole.

"She has offered to renew Wave Country's long-absolved treaty with Fire Country provided her requests are agreed to."

The Hokage nodded noting he would review this with the Council. Kurenai had mentioned those "stipulations" in her advanced communique, but Naruto as an ambassador? He would need to consider that carefully.

"I take it there were no complications in her rescue?"

Naruto shook his head.

"Clearing out bandit strongholds predicated the easy rescue and return of solidarity back to the parent nation. Given that Kakashi-san injured Zabuza Momochi in their fight, it made infiltrating Gato's organization child's play. As we were leaving, the contingent from Fire Nation was arriving to establish her new guard."

Hiruzen sounded very pleased at this outcome. Fire Country had the chance to repair bridges burned with the fall of Uzushiogakure and establish close ties with a strongly situated neighbor. A water base to launch Fire missions from would go far to benefit Konoha.

Sasuke was sputtering like rapid-fire farts in an onsen. "Those samurai?!"

Kurenai and Naruto both nodded. "In securing the Daimyo, and destroying Gato's poppy infrastructure, we located him in his modified hideout."

Naruto unrolled the third scroll and unsealed the little man's discolored head.

"The money he stole from the country's banks, as well as the crops and other valuables he stole, were all returned to the nation, whose people immediately threw a week-long festival in celebration."

"Residual bandits?" the old man queried.

"Dead."

"And the final tally?"

Naruto didn't pause. "Nine-hundred and eighty-eight once those that went into hiding had been rooted out."

Kakashi and Sasuke were both wide-eyed and speechless.

"Good, Naruto. I will credit your team for the successful completion of the A-Class escort and I will credit you directly with two S-Class missions for infiltration-assassination and diplomatic rescue missions. I will delay the A-Class capture and conversion of the Cloud Jounin, Shimizu Samui, until she has had her interview with Ibiki. If she converts, you'll gain the necessary credit for the Bingo bounty of twenty million." Hiruzen pulled out a thickly-padded envelope and slid it across his desk to Naruto who palmed it and slid the package into his pouch.

"Here are the bounties for Gato's head. Fifty million Ryu in gold bonds to be paid upon delivery."

Kakashi and Sasuke were both trying to figure out how he accomplished all this while working on the bridge as mule labor then it made sense – shadow clones! Then Sasuke's mind immediately switched subjects upon hearing two words in reference to the same subject, Samui and Jounin.

Sasuke's eyes glittered with the thought of stealing the powerful shinobi from Naruto. She would be his crowned jewel. Besides, Uchiha Samui sounded much better than Uzumaki Samui.

Hiruzen turned to them both. Everything in here is an SS-Class secret. IF EITHER of you discusses this, I will have BOTH of you locked away at Ibiki's disposal. Is that understood?"

They both nodded dumbly.

The Hokage turned back to Naruto. "How did you deal with Zabuza?"

Naruto shrugged as if it were unimportant but Sasuke perked up.

"Gato had money set aside to pay the nuke nin he intended to double-cross, so I took it once he was dead and paid off what he owed him. Zabuza, once paid, had no reason to remain in-country. He and his apprentice were last seen leaving Wave three days before we departed for home."

The Sandaime nodded happily seeing how things appeared to be neatly wrapped up. "Get some rest Naruto. You've earned it."

Kurenai and Naruto bowed together before strolling out past the stunned duo from Team Seven. Naruto had never felt better than when he was looking at the stupid looks on both Kakashi and Sasuke's faces.

For Sasuke's inner monologue, jealousy was the theme of the day. The dobe of his class had eclipsed his performance and successfully completed missions tied to high political value, earning a reputation among very powerful people. He was now tied to not one, but two Daimyo's and the personal savior of one. That fifty-million bounty only rubbed more salt in the Samui-wound making it that much harder to woo her away now that Naruto wasn't dead broke anymore (Sasuke didn't know about Naruto's connection to the Arashi Seal Consortium, his current net worth, or the billions being stolen at that very moment from Gato's foreign bank accounts).

As far as he knew, he was being left behind by the dobe! He would need to act soon. He left Hokage Tower a very unhappy and unfulfilled genin.

Meanwhile, Naruto waved farewell to his sensei, gently pinched her rear (resulting in a slight shriek of surprise on her part), then leaped from roof to roof to find his way home. What he found there wasn't anything like what he expected.

~I I I~

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A/N: Behind the Scenes - Ecology of the Nami Affair

Holy Ramen! You would not believe the amount of wailing and gnashing of teeth this Arc caused in the original release. Yes, the more controversial bridge sequences caused outrage (warranted), but the biggest grief came (and still appears to be an issue) over Sasuke being placed in charge over Kurenai (only slightly less so for Naruto being given the S-Ranked assassination mission).

Breathe people.

Are you breathing? Good. Now listen up as this is the only place I'm going to explain the "Why" behind the "What" of this particular sore spot. By sore spot, I meant, "Why the Hell is Sasuke in Charge" sore spot.

Let's begin with Hiruzen's actual assignment of the mission. I explicitly left out his detailed justification in giving Sasuke the "Second" spot and the following diplomatic mission being assigned to Naruto for one very important reason: It's a Dictatorship. Hiruzen isn't required to explain the reasoning behind his decisions but I see this abused in just about every fanfiction involving the Hidden Leaf. He simply doesn't have to and, in the vast majority of cases, shouldn't if he wants to maintain good order and discipline in a militaristic city/ organization like the one he rules over.

It doesn't mean that Kurenai isn't sharp enough to figure it out on her own just that she's not expecting an explanation.

If Hiruzen has to defend every decision with an explanation, eventually people begin to question orders. That eventually leads to people deciding - on their own - which orders they will and won't follow without understanding the bigger picture.

That's bad for a military dictator of any kind and often leads to vicious war crimes and abuses of power.

Does this suck for you, the reader? Of course, it does. You're curious. You want to know who-what-when-why-where and not knowing frustrates you. Now imagine how Hiruzen's subordinates must feel? I've served in the military and had to both deal with and issue orders in the same fashion - newsflash! It's aggravating as all get out but professionals deal with it. Constantly. Civilians usually don't "deal" well in those situations because you often feel like you should know the why behind what you're being asked to do and therein lies the difference. Shinobi, like the military of any country, aren't usually "asked" to do something.

That's why they are called "orders."

Kurenai got her one shot to express concern before her leader and then was told, in no uncertain terms, to "Shut Up and Color with a Fresh Box of Crayons."

Hiruzen continuing with his orders is, in effect, the equivalent of saying, "Your objection has been noted and summarily ignored. Moving on..."

But there is more to this so now that we've looked at why I didn't dig more into the dynamic, let's look at what I did and didn't share with you, the reader.

Despite some of the indicators I added to this version alluding to the fact that Hiruzen's decision is clearly "not a normal option for a fresh Genin squad," he gave it and they followed it. If you've forgotten what those indicators were, see Kyuubi's comment about sending an ANBU squad near the top of the chapter or Kurenai's inner thoughts concerning how difficult her squad's reaction to the order modification would make their mission. Kurenai is aware that the modification is unusual because of her rank but note how she's already made the decision to carry out the Hokage's orders as if it was an order she gave?

Yeah, yeah... I can hear all of you armchair warriors out there screaming, "Bullshit! She's a Jounin and he's a boot-Genin!" AND that brings me to the main point behind the odd set of orders: She followed the order because she's a well-trained Jounin with a specialized career field in a professional military organization. For those of you that have served, you'll have some idea of where I'm going with this. For the rest of you grinding your molars, refill your coffee/ tea and cop a squat.

Not every nation has a professional military (buying a general's uniform from an online surplus store and naming yourself 'Generalisimo' doesn't count) and it takes a lot to build and maintain one. I've read countless fanfics, even the really good ones, that gloss over this fact because audiences find it tedious filler information that they could honestly care less about but it creates more plot holes than you'd think. You need more than just warm bodies to make one.

You need a method for initial and supplementary training to keep up your professional military (most fanfics have that with an academy and OJT through a Jounin but skip out on the steps that come after they hit Chunin - don't feel bad, Kishimoto does the same thing).

You need a way to differentiate between your frontline combat and support troop infrastructure. This is more important than you think and the reason why the world has organizations like NATO and the Geneva Convention.

You need a method to regulate and discipline your military and most just flat out ignore that other than a Council Tribunal or corporal punishment. There's actually a lot more to that than you'd think.

You need established tactics, techniques, and procedures for when your military gets into it with another force, be they brigands or another professional military (Line up like the British did in WWII with the Germans and trenching it out doesn't cut it these days and teamwork exercises aren't enough to teach everything).

You need an established logistics organization to keep your military fed, clothed, and equipped. Do you honestly believe that a bunch of merchants selling specialty equipment and the ANBU armory can keep up with tens of thousands of active and reserve shinobi? Really? Hey, let me interest you in the latest batch of high-tec combat gear I picked up at a great price...

And that's just the beginning. The sad part of it is that nearly every fic ignores the training piece of it. Genin aren't blank slates when they get to their Jounin instructors. The academy, even Konoha's half-assed broken one, teaches students how to set up a camp, basic military protocol and chain of command policies, hand to hand combat, basic equipment maintenance, basic security/patrol mechanics, basic unit tactics & formations, and the basics to infiltration/ assassination. Hell, Kakashi proved it in canon when he ordered them to get into a "Manji Formation" without having to explain it when Team 7 first met Zabuza. There is a LOT of stuff behind a military organization that you just don't have the time to get into to keep an anime show or fanfic entertaining.

We'll just ignore the fact that Naruto was a blockhead that didn't pay attention because he's not one in my fanfic. It also means that, as good shinobi, he is not exempt from following established procedures and verifying the level of threat associated with his target before trying to assassinate him, which he does through his clones. I was very deliberate in dragging that out in the pre-mission planning phase to prove a point: Naruto is a professional shinobi in a professional military and he knows his procedure. He also made the tactical decision that he didn't need Kurenai to support him through Genjutsu - that does not mean that Kurenai is not the tactical leader of his mission to kill Gato. As his Jounin, she is still on the hook to make sure he does not fail. Why do you think she listens in on his mission planning/briefing so much?

She simply has very little reason to get involved (what, did you really think she'd let a fresh Genin go completely solo despite the low threat of a civilian?).

But what does all of that mean for this story?

It means that Kurenai knows enough to not overly contest her orders and that she'll get supplementary instructions in the scroll that the Hokage gave her (and ordered her to keep on her at all times) that I intentionally did not share with the readers. It also means that despite her recent promotion to Jounin instructor and by Kishimoto's own admission, she is still a specialist which, in my fanfic, makes her a combat support kunoichi and not a frontline heavy combatant, like Kakashi and the members of his Genin squad.

You don't have to agree with me. That's okay. It's still the reality of the mission and it's done for a reason.

Sorry, you don't get to see behind every curtain but you can believe that she shared her mission assignment (through the scroll) with Kakashi as soon as they got settled in Tazuna's house, which is in keeping with standard shinobi procedures.

If you've served in any professional military, you know the difference between unrestricted and restricted (or staff enlisted/officers as they are called) military positions (basically the difference between an infantry officer and a supply officer). For those of you not familiar with the distinction, the impact of such a distinction is simple: if most of the leadership at a forward base is wiped out due to enemy action and the only two leaders left are a brand new infantry officer and a mid-grade supply officer, the brand new infantry officer becomes the one in charge. In a professional military and with very few exceptions, this becomes the reality and everyone in that forward base knows it. Do they hate it? Yes. Do they think they'll most likely all die because of it? Probably. Is that brand new infantry officer scared shitless? Most definitely... but it's their reality and it's a similar concept I employed for the Nami mission.

Simply put, the troops would rather follow the guy or gal that graduated from "Knife and Fork" school but can kill you with his pack shovel - if he needed to - versus the guy or gal that spent their whole career counting knives and forks.

You don't think that the first scroll they were given (not the secret get-out-of-shinobi-prison-free one) had additional instructions? How about that it enforced the modified chain of command so that Kurenai could focus her efforts on supporting her Genin assigned to assassinate Gato provided that their initial intelligence gathering upon arrival (oh, look... another standard procedure we didn't spell out) confirmed that the little bastard didn't have more shinobi in his employ? Wouldn't the fact that Zabuza was still incapacitated and the fact that Gato didn't have other missing-nin in his employ mean that a shinobi capable of sneaking past and avoiding ANBU would be capable of sneaking past bandits and thugs to kill one non-threatening civilian an acceptable risk?

I'm not going to rehash the internal/ external political concerns Hiruzen used to justify the mission for Naruto. I've already done that in the chapter. The Daimyo has every right to claim his mission is an S-Ranked based on the level of political sensitivity. That is his right as the supreme power of his land.

What do you think would happen if word got out that a petty criminal kidnapped and/ or executed a Daimyo? Do you think it would matter to other crooks whether it was an established billionaire with lots of support behind him or that the Daimyo was a "poor country ruler" with no military to defend her? Nope. Before you know it, there will be Daimyo's getting kidnapped left and right and that undermines the power of EVERY Daimyo, regardless of country. It's politically sensitive to the Daimyo. It's time-sensitive as it needs to get resolved quickly.

Why can't, eh... ANBU do it? They can't because they're stretched thin between their normal duties and doing the Uchiha's local policing job. He simply doesn't have the available ANBU (at the moment) to spare without risking Konoha to outside forces. It's a judgment call and Hiruzen made it.

End Story: It's an S-Ranked, Hiruzen can't ignore it, and Naruto's team is his quickest option (for various reasons) until Gai and his squad return and redeploy.

~III~