The trail reached the borders of Fire Country and straight into the Land of Rice Fields.
The fact Orochimaru's trail led here was confusing. Most of the smaller countries north of Fire were peaceful areas. Yugakure had long since abandoned producing shinobi, and the Land of Rice fields was mostly farmers who supplied a lot of the food in the region.
Takigure had been the most suspect territory towards the northern borders, being notoriously difficult to even communicate with them, but the trail had lead to the Land of Rice Fields.
Or it didn't, as the latest ANBU briefing information now named it as the Land of Sound. The Daimyo had apparently decided a name change was in order, and had done so as was his right.
He'd never publically given the reason why, but had merely declared it to be an extension of his extensive and synergistic diversification project. Naruto had looked up all the words involved in that sentence, and had trouble making them into a coherent thought.
Talon knew exactly what it meant. It actually meant 'I'm not telling you, and that's final'.
They paused on the side of the small stream that gurgled gently towards the ocean. It was also the boundary between the two nations.
"Right, from now onwards we are trespassing on another nation's sovereign territory, where if we are caught we could face..."
Hare cut him off.
"You do this stupid speech every damn time Talon. We get it. Let's go already."
"But Lion hasn't heard the speech."
"I'm sure Lion doesn't care."
"But it's important!"
"It is not mission critical and hence he believes it to be a waste of time. Am I right Lion?"
Naruto nodded.
"Hare is correct."
The sigh was long and disappointed.
"Fine, let's just go."
Maps of the region were quite sketchy to say the least. Although the administrative centre, the Daimyo's fort, was clearly marked, there was little else except mile upon mile of small farming villages and rice fields.
All four members of the team were happy they could water walk. The principles involved applied equally well to the slippery mud that made up the landscape.
It took four days of moving through the countryside and seeing small village after small village that they truly knew the trail had gone cold. Very cold.
Pig cursed as he slipped and sank a leg into the thick mud. Hare and Talon didn't bother laughing, the mission was beginning to get to them. They had spent the better part of a week wandering around mudfields for no result.
"There is nothing here Talon, why are we still looking? He appears to have slithered out of grasp."
"Rare to hear wordplay from you Hare."
"That was unintentional."
They stopped for rations in a small copse of trees that broke the seemingly endless fields.
"Nothing seems to be wrong. Everyone we've talked to, everyone has said that nothing has changed. Looks like he has escaped. The only big news was that some people had gone missing, but that happens everywhere in the country."
Naruto considered this. Whoever they were chasing was apparently big news, but they had left no impact by entering the country. Even this small nation had some ninja around, but they were easily avoidable. They would surely have noticed.
He mentally examined the entire situation again.
'If this is the norm, then the presence of the target has not changed the norm. This implies that the presence of the target is the norm.'
"What if having Orochimaru here is the norm for Oto?"
All three of the ANBU snapped round to look at him. Talon shook his head.
"Ok, several things worry me about that statement. First of all, how did you know it was him?"
"The wordplay and that I know more than you think I do. He's possibly the greatest criminal and one of the strongest shinobi we've ever produced."
"That sounds too much like admiration. But you think him being here is the norm? That means he practically owns a small nation on Konoha's borders."
"Well, nothing seems to have changed from his apparent arrival, so either he isn't here, and Dog was wrong, or his being here is normal. He was known for kidnap in his time."
"If that were true, where are his bases? There's no fort of any practicable size that isn't owned by the Daimyo."
"Why don't we try there? If he does own the nation, it would be clear that he would own the Daimyo."
Talon considered this.
"If you're right, and that is a big if, you do know that means we have to go and question the Daimyo right?"
"Yes."
"It doesn't bother you that you are about to break into the fortress of one of the more powerful lords in the elemental nations, and that if you get caught you'll be killed."
"No. I've done it before."
There was silence before Hare and Pig both lost it and started laughing uproariously.
"I don't know what I find funnier Talon," Pig managed between breathless laughs, "That I believe the kid, or that he has bigger balls than you have."
Naruto wasn't aware of any balls he owned other than those used in ninja work or anatomically. If the former, he was probably mistaken, and the latter...how on earth did he know? Surely Talon was older and hence larger.
He tried to put that thought out of his mind.
Talon sulked quickly before returning to his normal self.
"So, what's the plan Lion? Just walk right on in?"
"Well. Mostly."
The three ANBU walked slightly awkwardly towards the gates of the fortress, Konoha headbands clearly on display.
They just weren't used to the situation they were going into. Firstly, they had got themselves caught, and been under escort to the fort.
Secondly, Naruto had decided to get into the fortress beforehand on his own, and merely handed them small vials containing a clear liquid, with the cryptic instructions: 'You'll know when to use the antidote.'
Thirdly, that Talon had actually agreed to this plan, the fact not lost on Talon himself as he walked slowly, looking at the armed ninja ahead and beside him.
The fact he calculated that his team could kill all 12 of them within two point six minutes as a worst case gave him some comfort.
But the thing that bothered them the most was the fact that they were doing this without their masks. They were ANBU for Kami's sake, why did they have to take off their masks.
It wasn't that they'd seen each other without them before. You knew your ANBU squad mates like family; you needed to when you shared a single room in the barracks. It was just that on a mission, it felt...wrong.
Right now, they were not ANBU; they were just a trio of chunin with an unexpected message for the Daimyo about an urgent matter.
As it turned out, Pig could write the letter in the style of the Daimyo the best, and had penned a letter about a guard trading scheme to better tie the nations together.
Talon had to admit, the entire exercise sounded plausible. Too plausible. He wondered if the Sound Daimyo would find it suspicious.
So the ANBU team walked onwards in silence. The guard squad escorting them was neither good conversation, or seemed to like the idea of their prisoners talking too much. They'd been allowed to keep their equipment, doing otherwise would have been a breach of good diplomatic relations.
He only wished he knew what Lion was doing as the great gates to the castle-fort swung open to allow them access and a scurrying official bade them welcome.
In the second highest tower of the fort, in one of the small dark rooms that no-one ever went near because it was perpetually locked, Naruto set to work on his part of the plan.
The small chemistry set gurgled gently. Anyone who was looking at what he was doing would die quickly, but anyone who survived long enough to look would not be able to tell what all the different liquids were. None of them looked very threatening, there were no deep toxic colours, only pale solutions that shimmered in their containers.
He precisely poured one into another, hearing the slight hiss and bubbling that meant the reaction was happening as he intended.
As it was, he was busy synthesising a toxin that he could slip into the Daimyo's food that would cause him to panic. It wasn't actually deadly unless he made the dose too high. It felt odd that he was only using it to scare the man. A small amount more and he could kill the man as slowly as he wanted.
It should give him shortness of breath by the toxin bonding to the red blood cells, and this would hopefully cause him discomfort enough that there was concern.
Anko's instructions from the first session were relatively easy, and this was one of the simpler poisons that could be created on the go.
He made calculations based on the fleeting observations of the man he had seen. He was large, although he put that down to living a rich lifestyle. He estimated the man's weight, metabolism, build. He guessed at diet, how the man would react to food. He'd observed a meal to see if there were any allergies. In the space of a day, he had built up a biological picture of the man.
Based on that, he measured out the number of drops it would take to put the man through the ordeal he wanted him to go for. Then he prepared the second vial he had swiped from T&I when nobody had been watching him.
Then he waited for the right moment to strike.
After several dull hours of having the proper checks and balances done, and as far as Talon knew, the correct jutsu, voodoo spells and small animal sacrifices due to the time taken, they were admitted to dinner with the Daimyo.
They were apparently dealing with a man for believed in buttering people up in an almost literal sense. At least they would be eating well this evening, possibly sleeping in more comfort if negotiations dragged on.
Talon suspected that Naruto's plan wouldn't give them that luxury. Still, the starter went without incident, with the Daimyo talking at length all about his fine land.
He found himself almost entranced by the way the man's moustache wobbled as he went on and on about the glory of the almost never-ending rice fields.
It took a special kind of man, he reflected, to love rice farming and the economy behind it to rise to his position. Then again, he and several others in his trade were just as obsessed with the vast variety of ways there were to kill another human being. Was there even that much difference between the two? A wide variety of techniques and methods, discussion about those and an end yield that had to be maximised.
He realised he hadn't listened one bit to anything the man had said. It was a good thing he was still going, even if he was nearly bored to tears.
The starters departed, and a variety of serving boys came in with another variety of dishes for the main course. One such boy bowed low, carrying a wide dish of seafood Onigri.
He mumbled gently as he proffered the tray to his lord first.
"What? Speak up my boy."
"M-my Lord, the chef presents this dish with his finest compliments, the fish especially was caught in the sharpest talons of an eagle, which the supplier claimed were so sharp they could not hold it."
"Oh-ho! Quite a tale my boy, quite a tale. Off with you, give my thanks to the chef for bringing me my favourite dish."
The man took one of them, savoured the smell, and swallowed it in an ungainly movement unbecoming of his status.
Talon merely waited for the end results.
"My Lord, you were talking about the export rates and logistics?"
"Ah, not quite. I was explaining the tariffs, ever so slightly different to the rates dear guest."
He coughed a little and drank from his cup.
"My apologies, anyway, ah yes, the tariffs."
He took another drink and pounded his chest. Talon played the diplomat.
"Are you feeling alright my Lord?"
"It feels like some of that went down the wrong tubes. I'm sure it will be just fine. Boy! Bring me water, I fear if I drink too much more of this fine sake, I will be unable to concentrate and discuss with my guests."
The serving boy ran off to fetch the water.
Talon watched as the man's face lost some of his healthy redness, he decided this was the time to act.
He discretely emptied the antidote vial into his own glass.
"My Lord, your glass is empty, take some of mind."
"Ah, thank you Iniko. The Fire Lord picks his messengers well."
He drank from the glass and coughed again.
"Ah. That feels...good. I will still need the water, where is that boy."
The servant boy ran in, holding a jug of water. The lord drank from it without delay.
"Thank you boy, you serve me well this evening."
The boy bowed and left again. Talon took the opportunity.
"My Lord, on our travels, we heard news of some missing people from a couple of the villages. I'm sure our lord would happily offer the services of some tracking teams if they need to be found."
The man chuckled.
"I'm sure Oto's own shinobi forces have the problem well in hand, have no worries. Our country is prospering like never before since a benefactor arrived to help our training."
Pig and Hare looked decidedly more nervous, and busied themselves with any food that was not seafood.
"A benefactor? Perhaps you could lend him to Konoha some time, we would I'm sure pay handsomely for such a man. Or woman of course, this is an era of equality."
The lord chuckled.
"Ah, I believe he is due to visit Konoha soon enough, after all, some of his team made it through the first rounds of the chunin exams. I obviously can't name him, or your lord would simply buy him from me."
"Oh, surely a secret between friends my Lord?"
"I simply cannot say, I fear the idea is too...scaly for dinner talk."
"An interesting choice of words my Lord."
"Oh, yes, rather. A poor one."
'Lie.'
"Your Lord mentioned guard sharing schemes?"
"That's all covered in the letters we brought with us. I'm still interested in the rise of Oto's stock as shinobi. Some people are beginning to whisper your name as the sixth great nation."
"Oh you flatterer, my benefactor would be tickled to hear that from a Konoha shinobi."
'Ok, that settles it. This is bad.'
"I regret I won't be able to see him in action at the chunin exam finals. They're close aren't they?"
"Not more than a few days I believe, we hope to have our work here done by then. But your benefactor in action? I hope you mean he will shame us on the dance floor at the official banquet as opposed to any sort of military action. Such a thing would be unthinkable at such a time."
"Ah, you amuse me sir. You do indeed. Sadly I fear this food has made me tired, I believe negotiations are done."
'He knows he's said too much. How on earth did Lion get hold of the stuff from T&I? I might need him to steal some for our own use at some point.'
"Thank you for your time my lord, I'm sure our counterpart shall look forward to hearing your reply soon enough."
They parted company. Talon gently but forcefully fobbed off the offer of accommodation for the evening, and the team hit the main road from the fort until they were out of sight. He checked over his shoulder every so often to see if anyone was following them. It appeared that the Sound Lord wasn't too bothered by the prospect of their escape.
They moved into a small copse of trees by the side of the road and recovered the gear they had left behind.
Pig sighed happily as the mask snapped back into place over his face.
"That was insane."
Hare too got his mask into place and pulled the katana onto his back again.
"Too right, that plan was risky. Lion played a dangerous hand."
Pig snorted.
"I meant the food. Such quality, I should push for a place on our Daimyo's guards."
Hare laughed.
"You would be thinking about the food."
Talon had finished and was looking around.
"Where is Lion?"
"Here."
Naruto dropped from one of the trees, his cloak giving a small rustle.
"Good, I'd say our job is done, and we need to get the information back to the Hokage as soon as possible. Let's move out."
The team made haste through the land of Oto and back towards home.
AN
First a thanks to everyone who reviews. A hundred reviews is a great start before the story has even hit 50k words, and I am incredibly happy that people are liking the fic.
Secondly the fic won't be updated till early July as life has decided to get busy and internet free for the next week, and I'll be somewhere in Wales up a mountain for that time. So I apologise for breaking my update every three days routine.