It was just about sunset when Kakashi and Kurenai reach the gates of hidden village of stones, earlier than expected—thanks to the impatience of Kurenai and her desire to finish the mission quickly. They take a break just outside the village and prepare a strategy. Kurenai removes her head protector and takes out a map from her bag pack. With the map, she marks their targets.
"The grey documents are on the top floor office of each building. In the offices we have to find the vaults where the files are hidden. Tetsu must have his buildings heavily guarded—"
"Crooked feudal lords usually hire cheap goons as guards and they're not a problem although,I'm betting there will be highly skilled ninjas on the top floor."
"You'd think Tetsu would be scared to screw with Orochimaru by hiring cheap help. So how do you want to do this?" Kurenai asks with concern.
"We hit all 3 buildings tonight—get it done soon, instead of hitting one every night. That would arouse suspicion too quickly. We leave at exactly midnight when the night's at its darkest. Also, I'm hoping that we could be done quickly and leave way before sunrise—before the day starts. Being a genjutsu expert, you could quickly get us to the top office without alerting the goons and hopefully the ninjas too. But I don't think the ninjas can be easily avoided."
Later that night, Kakashi and Kurenai infiltrate their target base. As Kakashi predicted getting past the main entrance was easy but getting through the top office door was a bit more challenging. The ninjas guarding the office doors were chuunin level but they were knocked unconscious with some ease. It took them some time to find the vault (especially in the dark), which was located under the floorboards of the desk. After using a weak explosive tag to pry the vault open, Kurenai grabs the grey document and puts it in her bag. They do the exact same thing with the next two buildings.
At the third building, Kurenai was putting the last file away, when a huge hand grabs her neck and smashes her through the door.
"Kurenai!" Kakashi attempts to get to her but is stopped by the hulking silhouette.
"Looks like I caught a pair of thieves." The large man turns on the light and punches Kakashi in the face. Kakashi hits the wall and turns into a puff of smoke. "Kage Bunshin? We have ninja thieves."
With the lights on, Kakashi sees the bulked figure before him. The man's arms were huge and they were covered with a stone armor. The stone man charges toward Kakashi who jumps over the stone man and kicks him in the head. Wincing in pain, the stone man catches Kakashi's leg and hurls him on the ceiling. Just as Kakashi's about to be punched in the face, a kunai lands in the stone man's leg. Growling, the stone man turns around and Kakshi notices the explosive tag on the kunai and runs toward Kurenai and they both jump out of the window as the explosion erupts. Kakashi hears Kurenai groan as they land on the ground. They continue to run until they are outside a 6 mile radius from the village.
"You okay?" A breathless Kakashi asks as he sees her hand being stained by blood as she holds her neck.
"I'm fine."
Kakashi removes his headband and bundles it up. He uses his headband to apply pressure on Kurenai's gash to stop the bleeding.
"Here, hold this." Kurenai holds the headband against her wound.
Kakashi opens his bag and takes out a bottle of water, a bandage, and a piece of cloth. He also takes out his head protector (with the leaf symbol) and wears it in his loose usual style—covering his sharingan eye. Kurenai is ordered to remove her hand as Kakashi proceeds to clean and patch the injury.
"That should do it for now. Once we get back to the village we'll have the hospital clean it more thoroughly."
"Thank you, Kakashi," Kurenai says it with heartfelt sincerity and gratitude.
"No problem. You know…I could've use the bandages around your body, but that would make you naked right?" Kakashi jokes.
Kurenai walks over to him and smacks him on the head before walking away.
"Idiot! I do wear a shirt underneath you know!"
"You're mad that I didn't know you wore a shirt underneath?" Kakashi continues to push Kurenai's buttons and is clearly enjoying it.
"Seriously, what is wrong with you? You're a first rate serious ninja, then you transform into a perverted Idiot!" Kurenai walks off muttering in anger.
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Naruto explores the village and found everyone to be very friendly, especially the women. They were often coming up to him and saying "cute" a lot. Naruto reasons that they're saying "cute" to the white fox walking beside him. By mid-afternoon, he heads down to the forest. He sits underneath a tree and takes out his head protector from his pocket. Howaito sniffs it and looks up at Naruto.
"What should I do with this now?" Naruto asks the snow fox, who offers a grumble for an answer. "I still can't believe I just left. I left my life, my dream, and my promise."
The fox lies down beside Naruto, who found comfort in the creature's presence. Naruto returns the head protector in his pocket and runs his hand through the fox's head. He grabs the stick in front of him and throws it in anger. The white fox's quickly gets to his feet, runs after the stick and returns it in a quick flash.
"Whoa!" Naruto utters in surprise. He throws the stick again and the fox returns in a blur.
Naruto returns to his uncle's house to find him just returning from his trip.
"Naruto, how was your day?"
"What's with the fox? He's like super fast."
"Those tenka foxes are from the nimbus village. They're a very rare breed and they carry a large amount of chakra within them. The nimbus villagers used them during battle for their quickness and great power." He pauses for a second."They're usually hard to train because it's difficult to gain their trust. They're not like domestic dogs. However, Howaito seems to like you." Ryo observes.
Naruto stares at the fox and smiles at it.
"He and his mother are going to help us in training." Ryo informs Naruto.
"Really! How?" Naruto excitedly inquires.
"Just wait until you're healed."
"C'mon…just tell me…"
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Author's notes: Just wanted say thanks to Ibozun for pointing out that Ryo shouldn't refer to his brother as Yondaime. My bad. Once again, I welcome all criticisms, so don't be afraid to review.
