With no better option, and Kumo shinobi's close presence, Naruto and Ino went on the sea-faring ship.
One of the Kumo shinobi came to stand right next to Naruto. He was tall and wore heavy Kumo-style armor, as well as a large sword. Another man, this one bald, came next to Ino. This one started talking.
"Are you Kusumoto Akira and Chiyo?"
"We are." Ino nodded, accent back on.
The shinobi close to Naruto smiled thinly. "I was hoping we might be able to speak."
"Sure." Naruto nodded. "What 'bout?"
"Where're your manners, Akira?" Ino hit his shoulder. "Please have a seat."
Naruto grunted something that sounded like assent.
"I hope you don't mind our intrusion." One of them said.
"Not at all." Ino laughed.
"You have a lovely wife." The other said, his eyes roaming over her. Naruto noticed Ino stiffening.
"Thank ya." He said curtly, his eyes never leaving the shinobi's. "I'm lucky."
"You definitely are."
They sat down next to them.
"Let's cut straight to the case." Bald one said.
"Beg yer pardon?" Naruto asked, somewhat rudely.
"…What did you say?" Tall one asked dangerously. Naruto could almost feel Ino telling him to backtrack.
"Didn't understand what that meant." He grunted. "The expression."
"Oh." Something like condescension flashed across tall one's eyes. "True. You're from… far away, aren't you?"
"Near Riro, yeah."
"Sure." Bald one gave him a bland smile. "We will not waste your time is what I said."
"Ah." Naruto nodded. "Good."
"Are you aware of who we are?" He continued.
Ino nodded. "Yes."
"Please, tell us what you know already."
"You two are shinobi from Kumo, aintcha?"
"Good. So you can tell that much. And are you aware of what our specific role is?"
"Not really, no." She shook her head.
"Please clarify for her, then." Tall one said.
"Sure." Bald one answered.
One of Naruto's hands was fingering his dagger, ready for anything to happen.
Bald one leaned over to Ino, close, too close to her. He could see the worried look in her eyes. Something hot and angry flashed through Naruto's mind.
"We find rats." Bald one finished.
For a moment, Naruto could smell the familiar scent of blood in the air, picturing his dagger slipping through the man's neck faster than he could react. Something thrummed inside his head, and it was not only the very familiar call of the storm.
"Rats?" Ino blinked owlishly. "Are there really rats on this boat?"
Tall one chuckled darkly. "More than you'd expect."
"Yer... rodent problem doesn't really have much to do with us." Naruto grunted.
"I'm sure." Bald one nodded. "We just prefer to be thorough." He paused. "Do I need to explain what thorough means, maybe?" He asked snidely.
"Sure, why don'tcha?" Naruto nodded, his eyes not leaving his. Could he break his seal fast enough not to get Ino and himself killed?
The man ignored him. "I... doubt this has anything to do with you, but we have something of a situation, today."
"Really?" Ino asked. "What happened? Nothing bad, I hope."
"There are a few people who are not supposed to be on this boat… who managed to get onboard. We're trying to find them."
"Oh." Ino managed to look contrite. "I see."
"And that's not it."
"What else?" Naruto asked gruffly.
"We had an… unwanted guest leave Kumo, today."
"What kind of guest are we talking about?" Ino asked.
"The prisoner sort." Tall one finished. "One of them escaped."
"Isn't Kumo's s'pposed to be secure?" Naruto asked with a raised eyebrow.
Tall one smacked him across the face, splitting his lip open. Ino screamed. Some passengers definitely had noticed what was happening, but they pretended not to.
Naruto held a hand in front of her, the other bringing up his fingers to his lips. His thumb brushed his bleeding lip. He stared at the tall one again, not saying anything. Right now, he hoped his emotions didn't show on his face. Murder was never a good look.
"This is your only warning." The man spat.
"Sure, sure. I think I gotcha." Naruto replied easily, not blinking.
"The rumors are…" Bald one continued, not paying them any mind. "The man named Uzumaki Naruto might still be around. Maybe on this very boat. Maybe you've heard something about that?"
A pause.
"Dunno no guy with the name, no." Naruto shrugged. "When'd he leave? And why? Isn't Kumo nice this season?"
"Will you shut the hell up?" Tall one seemed ready to hit him again.
"Please, stop." Ino said, looking defeated. "He won't say anything to anger ya no more."
Bald one stopped his fellow Kumo shinobi. "You heard her."
"Funny thing is…" Tall one said, now paying close attention to Naruto. "He's a large man. Strangely enough… He's about… your size."
He looked as though he didn't care about this at all, but it would give him a decent enough reason to kill Naruto, at least.
"So…?" Naruto grunted.
The Kumo shinobi's hand went to his sword. Naruto's hand stood ready to break his seals open. He would kill them both and escape. Ino understood it in that moment, and she prepared as well.
"Shinobi-san! Shinobi-san." The woman from before came running, breathless. "We found the man you were asking about earlier!"
"Can't you see we're busy? Which man?" The tall one asked rudely.
"Uzumaki Naruto."
Everybody halted.
"What do you mean?" Bald one asked, blinking.
"Uzumaki Naruto." She said. "He has been found hiding in a crate."
The woman led one of the shinobi down. The other, the tall one, stayed to keep an eye on Naruto and Ino.
"Don't think this means you're out of trouble, you country hick." He muttered.
Naruto frowned. "Look, I still don't know what the hell ya guys are rambling 'bout, but I'm waiting too, believe me."
Ino rubbed circles on the back of his hand, as a reminder not to do anything rash. "They'll get it sorted out, dear."
The Kumo shinobi tightened his hand around his bicep, waiting.
His partner came back, white-faced. "We have to go." The woman followed behind him, looking terrified.
"Go where?!" The tall one answered. "What are you talking about?"
"Uzumaki Naruto escaped the boat." He said. "He killed Shigeru by slitting his throat and was seen diving into the water."
"What?!"
"We have to go. Now. He can't be far!"
The tall one hesitated, shooting a dark look at Naruto. Who gave him his best "I told you so" smug expression. The Kumo ninja's hand twitched, but he ended up leaving, after kicking him in the stomach one last time.
The two Kumo shinobi left, leaping onto the water. The terror suddenly dropped from the woman's face.
"…Who the hell are you?" Naruto asked her, dropping all pretense of not being… himself. "And how did you know?"
She just gave him a mysterious smile. "Not even a thank you, then? Color me surprised."
Naruto's hand twitched. For some reason, he felt more in danger now than he had been when the two Kumo shinobi were around. This woman was a complete unknown. And she was clearly trained in the shinobi arts.
"Well, it has been nice meeting you." The woman nodded to him, before sending an unreadable look to Ino.
"…Who are you?" Naruto asked again.
She gave him a long searching look. "You can call me Shachi." And with that said, she disappeared around the corner. Naruto had the feeling this wasn't the end of it.
They were likely not under suspicion anymore. In just a few minutes, they'd be able to slip away. Both Naruto and Ino seemed to deflate.
"Look." She finally said.
"…Yeah?" Naruto asked.
"Next time we go up on a boat…" She started. "Yeah. Next time… Let's make it a nice and relaxing trip. With no stakes, all right?" Ino breathed out at last.
Naruto could only let out a weak chuckle.
"Hey there." Anko grinned, dropping casually in front of Toru and Hanabi.
His blade flashed from its sheath, glinting under the moonlight. Snakes shot out of Anko's sleeve, wrapping around Toru's hand and keeping the wakizashi in its scabbard.
Hanabi went for Anko's unprotected back, but a swift knee strike to her gut left her reeling. Snakes wrapped around her entirely, keeping her immobilized.
"Don't." Anko said to Toru, whose other hand was already weaving hand seals. "I'm not going to hurt either of you."
"Sure doesn't feel like it." He said evenly, racking his brains for a way to get them out of this sticky situation. It had barely been an hour since they had left Sasuke. Were they this bad at being missing ninja?
Anko laughed. "Yeah, sorry about that. I'd get why you're on guard, though, what with being missing ninja and all."
"Oh, I'm sure you understand the feeling quite well." He raised an eyebrow. The fact she knew this already was a bad sign. Very bad one. "How's Ino, by the way…?" Toru asked, keeping his tone even despite his complicated feelings on the issue.
"So you do recognize me!" Anko grinned sharply.
"Of course. I'm in the Hunting corps, after all. I mean, I was." He muttered. "Orochimaru, Ino… and that Indra guy. You've all become pretty popular, lately."
"We sure did, didn't we?"
"Sure, sure." He nodded calmly, but his grip on his sword's grip was tightening, until his knuckles turned white entirely. Anko noticed it, even though she knew she had to avoid staring at the blade itself. "Tends to happen when killing a Kage."
"You can turn your Sharingan off." She said, ready for a fight as well. "I know you layered an illusion to make it look like it is off already, but I won't fall for it."
"I'm afraid I can't do this." He said, tone hard.
"Oh…? And why is that?"
"Your lot killed my cousins' father." He now growled.
"We didn't." Anko said, shaking her head.
Toru snorted. "Of course not." His eye suddenly turned to a point beyond Anko's shoulder. "Hanabi, now!" He shouted.
Anko turned around, whirling-
Only to realize that Hanabi was exactly where she had left her, still trapped by her snakes. 'Ah fuck.' She had fallen for the oldest trick in the book, and she'd have to convince both of them to keep silent about it if she wanted to keep her credibility. If she managed to convince them, of course.
Anko's hand went up to parry Toru's kick. Internally, she nodded in approval at the way he had bent and stretched himself to attack despite her tight hold on him. A good fit for Snake style.
She ducked under the second kick that followed, smashing the handle of a kunai inside his gut, with enough force to send him flying up in the air.
He tried to use that to his advantage by wrapping his hand around the sword's sheath to free it. Anko had known he would do something like this, though, and the snakes twisted, keeping the sword in its scabbard.
He released a fireball at her, one that she dodged, all the while maintaining the snakes coming out of her sleeves. God, this was going to be annoying.
"Stop." Anko ordered, tightening her hold over him and getting a little bit frustrated. "You're trying my patience."
"And why should I?" Toru asked.
She sighed and created a Shadow Clone who replaced her in holding Hanabi. Toru, she kept bound herself, moving behind him and forcing his head up.
"Your Sharingan is still on, isn't it?" Anko asked in return, not waiting for an answer. "Good. Don't try anything funny. Then I want you to take a good look at my clone, so that you know I'm not lying. You can do that by reading my body language, can't you?"
"I don't have much of a choice, do I?" Toru grunted in answer, letting the illusion that hid his Sharingan fall away. There was not much of a point in that anymore. He would try to snare the clone into an illusion to make it attack its master, once her guard was down.
"Not really, no." She said, shrugging. "You, there. Hyūga. Do the same thing."
Hanabi was still bound, her mouth as well, but after shooting her a terrible glare — one that might have seemed more impressive if she wasn't so… harmless right now — she did as Anko had told her.
"First things first…" Her clone started. "As I said before. We had nothing to do with Fugaku's death."
"Fuck off." Toru growled. "I still don't believe that."
"Don't you trust your eyes… I mean your eye?"
"You could still be lying."
"My name is Orochimaru." The clone said with utter conviction in her voice.
Even then, Toru still noticed it was a lie.
"So? Could you tell or not? It would definitely make my life much easier if you did." Anko continued.
"…It was a lie, yeah." Toru gritted out, hating the fact he could tell.
"What do you say, Hyūga?"
Hanabi's terse nod confirmed it.
"Good." Anko nodded. "Do you need another test?"
"No. You're either able to fool both of us, in which case it won't matter… or you're telling the truth. I don't know which option I hate the most, honestly."
Anko snorted. "Fair enough, but you both should count yourselves lucky you at least have these fancy eyes. Most shinobi can only rely on intuition."
Toru said nothing. Which Anko was almost certain was pretty rare for him.
"Orochimaru-sensei, Yamanaka Ino, and the man you know as Indra…" The clone continued, making sure to word it in a way that was truthful. "…had nothing to do with the Fifth's murder either."
Toru said nothing, simply staring at her silently. Trying to figure if she was just wording things to her advantage.
"…That complicates things a bit." He finally let out.
She gave him some time.
"…I've always wondered about it." He finally admitted. "Well, my cousin and I did, but well… it was his father, so he could be a bit angrier about the whole thing."
Anko nodded, loosening his bindings in a slight show of trust. He nodded gratefully, and Hanabi mostly glared at her when she did the same.
"It's… Ah." Toru muttered. "I don't know what to think of it. I'll have to tell Sasuke soon. If it's true."
"You can, yeah." Anko nodded.
"Oh, I can? Thank you for your infinite generosity." Toru snarked.
"Do you want to be bound again?" She asked, raising an impeccable eyebrow.
"…Nah, I'm good."
"Good boy."
"Why did you tell us this?" Toru asked Anko. "And why did you come to meet us for that matter?"
"Can't you guess?" Anko grinned.
"…Oh, hell no!" Hanabi growled. "I'm not joining up your band of criminals. Not coming to Umi. And he isn't either!"
Why was she speaking in his name...?
"We might well be a bunch of criminals." Anko nodded. "Well, some of us. But so is every village. They just so happen to be the ones declaring what's law and what's not. Morally, I'd say we still have the high ground."
Toru, on the other hand, was not as quick as Hanabi to say anything.
"Don't tell me you're actually considering it!" Hanabi said, glaring at him.
"You know, Hanabi-chan… If we really were negotiating right now, you'd just have done the equivalent of stabbing my foot with a rusty kunai." Toru said dryly.
Hanabi turned red in her anger. "Who gives a damn about that?! They're a pack of vipers and traitors and-"
"And murderers and power-hungry bastards, yeah yeah. I've heard it all." Anko finished, staring at her with a mocking smile. "I'm sure you'll fit right in."
Toru laughed and Hanabi tried to lunge at him. Anko prevented it.
"What… would you ask of us?" Toru asked.
"Don't!" Hanabi tried once more.
"I'm curious, that's all!" He retorted, hands up in the air.
"You should listen to him a bit more." Anko said. "He seems to understand what life as a missing ninja means."
"Of course I do." Toru chuckled darkly. "I've been catching some of these guys for years. It's a miserable existence."
"We don't care about what the villages are up to." Anko started. "And if any of us has trouble with them, we won't force you to take part in that. That includes Konoha. Because of Umi's particular location, we will never be forced to do so."
"You know, if something sounds too good to be true…" Toru muttered.
"Yeah. Got you." Anko chuckled. "I can't promise you we — as a whole, will never kill Konoha shinobi. If the circumstances call for it… well, we will. And uh… Indra has killed several ROOT shinobi when rescuing Ino, that part is true."
"…I see." Toru grimaced. He had hoped this particular part might be wrong as well.
"And every village or organization you're likely to find out there has killed and will kill Konoha shinobi." Anko finished, shrugging.
"I know this already, yeah." Toru said. "Still… They are... no, were my comrades in arms."
"Were they?" Anko asked with a dry smile. "I was originally from Konoha, too. So was Orochimaru. That's why we still have some sympathy for the place and try to stay away from it."
Toru said nothing.
He let out a long breath. "...Can't say I care that much about ROOT myself, though. Not now."
Anko paused. She had expected more pushback.
"What do you know of Akatsuki?" She finally asked.
"Not much. Some criminal band?"
"You could say that." Anko deadpanned. "S-class, all of them. We're going to kill them. Are you in?"
"Uh…" Toru hesitated. "Look, I kinda want to live."
"Yeah, no guarantee about that." Anko shrugged.
"Nothing against you guys, but this sounds like even more dangerous than staying on our own. I think I'm going to have to refuse." Toru shrugged.
Hanabi looked reassured.
Anko nodded. "Fair enough."
Toru continued, for curiosity's sake. "…What do you guys have to offer? I guess there's no generous retirement plan either?"
Anko thought about it. "No back-stabbing each other, since we tend to stay away from lying, access to some very… unique seal-enhanced equipment, uh… the ability to warp all over the world - don't say it to too many people, I'm not supposed to tell you before you're in - and for both of you, a free house on a tropical islan-"
"Alright, I'm in." Toru nodded eagerly.
"You can't be fucking serious!" Hanabi raged, getting into his face and pushing him. "What even goes through this thick skull of yours?!"
Toru blinked at her vehemence. "You've heard the lady-" Anko glared at him. "The amazing young woman. It's a sweet deal."
"How does dying against the worst monsters the shinobi world has to offer sound like a sweet deal?!"
"I'm a hunter ninja. These Akatsuki bounties must be sky-high." He turned to Anko. "They are, aren't they?"
"Yup. Money's pretty good on the island, anyway. It's a booming village, expanding fast." She nodded.
"See?" He shrugged.
"What about Konoha?! We won't be able to get back if we ally with the people who kill-… who are accused of killing the previous Hokage!"
"Uh, we're kinda traitors already." Toru shrugged. "It's all or nothing. There doesn't seem to be a better way we could protect our Konoha friends than with these guys. They care more about this Akatsuki thing."
"…"
"You guys could also join another village, technically." Anko chuckled. "Though Kumo might not be able to accept you openly, since they're allied to Konoha… and the other villages are fighting… or will be fighting against your old home."
"…" Hanabi stayed silent.
"Or you could even go with Akatsuki, I guess. If you're hell-bent on ruining the entire world, it's a nice place to be, I've heard. The people are pretty sociopathic though, even for our standards."
Toru nodded wisely, as if he knew anything about it.
"Also… we could get your seal removed." Anko finally told her, making Hanabi take a sharp breath. "We got some excellent seal-masters on hand. One of them is kinda… busy right now…" In prison. "… But uh he'll be back soon."
Hanabi said nothing.
Toru knew what she was about to say, though. She would accept, after mulling it over a bit longer. Her mind was already set on it, she just had to justify it to herself.
"And that means we have business with your cousin." Anko added.
"…What about Neji…?" Hanabi finally asked. "Oh. He's part of it, isn't he?."
"Yes. We'll capture or kill Hyuuga Neji." Anko answered easily.
Hanabi's pale lavender eyes were on Anko, seeking for a sign, any sign that would mean a lie.
"Promise you aren't planning to turn on us." She said quietly.
"I promise." Anko nodded. "The only thing we want is your help with Akatsuki and our village. We won't raise our hand against you, unless you do it first, of course. There won't be any eye-stealing either, if that's what you're worried about. Which is something Kumo can't promise, I'd say."
Toru was paying attention, too. Hanabi's eyes were unmoving, taking in… everything.
"…Okay." She finally said.
"What do you mean, okay?" Anko asked.
"I mean let's go, then." Hanabi said, quietly. "To Umi, or whatever your village is. I'm in, too."
Toru and Anko shared a look, and she shrugged.
"Sure, let's go."
Anko seemed to think about something. "Ah, yeah, there's one more thing."
"…What is it?" Toru asked.
"I'm not sure where to start, so if you're still willing to come with me, you'll have to ask him yourself, but…"
"What are you talking about?" Toru tilted his head.
"Mmmh, how do I even say this?"
"Get on with it." Hanabi grunted.
"Sarutobi Naruto is alive, he's the one you know as Indra." Anko dropped the bombshell with all the bluntness her sensei had once tried to help her get rid of.