HIDDEN STONE SECRETS IV

In a very familiar sight, Onoki is slumped over his desk, staring at a scroll. He's holding his head with both hands in disbelief.

"So you're telling me you were transported to the past, met Mito Uzumaki who told you about the Great Beasts, fought against Lord Mu…"

Naruto corrects him. "We didn't actually fight him ourselves, we more just avoided him."

Onoki continues as if Naruto hadn't just spoken. "... and THEN, it turns out the Temple of Stone's Song, which has been a place of great importance and reverence to the land, is actually one of these Great Beasts."

"Was." This time Hinata corrects him. "It was destroyed and any remnants of its chakra were gone, although we've no experience and no history with them, so we can't be certain it's dead for good."

Onoki nods. "Tailed Beasts reform after several years if they're ever killed. The same could be said of these creatures."

Naruto chimes in. "But Mito said the Great Beasts are people who mutated 'cause of Tailed Beast chakra. So maybe 'cause it's not their own chakra, they can't reform, and when they die, they die for good."

"An astute observation, my boy, and definitely a possibility. But the fact still remains we can't be certain. Either option is possible, so we can simply prepare for the worst and hope of the best. We'll keep watch over that Beast's remains."

They both nod.

"There's also something else that happened. Before it died, I… saw a woman. In a place that looked real similar to where jinchuriki and Tailed Beasts talk. I think it was the person that thing used to be, before she took in too much Tailed Beast chakra. So it might be possible to delve deeper into our minds and talk to each other, if they really were created that way."

Onoki scratches his chin. "I see. And did she say something? Anything that might help us?"

Naruto pauses for a moment. Throughout the entire battle, Kurama was acting weird but that one meeting pretty much confirmed what it was about. That woman from an age gone knew Kurama by name, and one big issue the fox had had with people is that they never cared whether they had names. Whoever that woman was, Kurama knew her well. The reason he knew how to activate the seals, and the reason he wasn't his usual self during the fight… But that's a story for another time.

"No. She just… said 'thank you' and disappeared before she could say anything."

"That's certainly unfortunate that we couldn't gain any more insight." Onoki leans back in his chair and grumbles, going over all the details in his head.

Hinata looks at him expectantly, if there's anything else he'd want to ask but when he doesn't, she speaks up instead. "Then we shall take out leave, if there's nothing else to discuss."

"Ah, well, there IS one thing." Onoki makes a gesture to a Hidden Stone ninja by his side, who takes out 2 small cases from a scroll and places them on the desk in front of Naruto and Hinata. "Your payment for the mission."

Naruto and Hinata both share a confused look at the need for cases. When Naruto opens one, his eyes bulge and he shuts it closed. "Uhh… you sure this is right?"

Onoki nods. "You uncovered the age-old secret of the Temple of Stone's Song, and while it's a shame it was destroyed, you prevented a powerful being from rampaging these lands. That's easily an S-rank mission. You've earned it." He offers them a smile.

"Thank you kindly, Lord Tsuchikage." Hinata bows again, and Naruto follows suit.

"For now, rest. We'll send someone to contact you for your next missions in a couple days' time."

Having returned home, the kids drop their bags and lie down on the ground, groaning.

Naruto throws his bag on the couch and hangs himself over the backrest. "Kids, pick up your bags."

"But you threw yours, too, Naruto-shisho." Shoto turns over on his back, staring at the ceiling.

"Do as I say, not as I do." Naruto's voice comes out muffled, having dropped face first on the sofa.

"That's not fair." Kotori protests, trying to get a look at her dad without actually moving. It's more difficult than she thought.

Hinata chuckles and picks up the bags off the floor. "Come now, there's more comfortable places to rest."

Yokumaru picks himself up and dusts his clothes off. "Is this what ninja missions usually are?"

"What we went through is more… unusual." Hinata helps Kotori and Shoto up, as well, straightening their clothes. "You wouldn't fight anything on that level for a while, but that doesn't mean they won't be dangerous. Kotori, you saw how we'd sometimes return from missions tired and beat up, right? There's a lot of sides to being a ninja; what you saw is merely… an oddity."

Naruto hops to his feet. "It's not like you'll even be fighting at first. Genin missions are more like chores and odd jobs around the village."

Kotori scowls. "That sounds boring."

"It is." Naruto ruffles her hair as he passes to grab their stuff off Hinata. "But it's work that needs doing." He kisses Hinata on the forehead, now holding all of their backpacks. "You and Kotori go take a bath, me and the boys will get dinner ready."

"It'll take a while to get the bath ready, I can help with the cooking."

"Bath's ready!" A voice calls out from the corridor. Everyone turns around to see a Naruto walk out, wave, and disappear in a puff of smoke.

Naruto smiles. "Bath's ready."

Hinata looks between where the Clone was, and Naruto. "Is that why you sent a Shadow Clone earlier?"

"Yep! Figured it'd do you good after everything so I decided to prepare it in advance."

Hinata blushes and pecks him on the lips. "Thanks."

Kotori giggles while Yokumaru and Shoto fake-gag. She lightly smacks on the shoulder.

"Alright, Kotori, let's go." The two girls head off while the boys go to the kitchen to get dinner ready.

Naruto is, admittedly, not the best cook. He spent most of his life on cup ramen and did fairly well for himself, although that's needed to change as of late. The time spent over at the Hidden Cloud allowed him to pick up on some of the skills he'd missed out on. He learned a bit from Hinata, Samui, Atsui, and even Kotori.

Yokumaru seems proficient, himself, which in hindsight makes sense. He'd had to care for his mom, given her condition, so he had to pick up a few skills. Shoto hasn't really needed to cook anything so it's a bit of a learning process for him.

Throughout the preparations, Yokumaru is a touch quiet while Naruto instructs Shoto on what to do and how to do it. He still does his tasks but his mind wanders occasionally to what the man in blue armour said, about them being untrained.

"Sensei." He's intently focused on chopping vegetables. "I'll practice twice as much. Three times as much. You won't regret taking me as your student."

Naruto smiles and pulls the boy into a hug. "Listen, I'm a big fan of pushing myself to get stronger and stronger, alright? But what're you training for?"

Yokumaru looks to him with furrowed brows. "Huh?"

"You know, your goal. I plan on becoming Hokage, leader of the Hidden Leaf Village. Shoto, what's yours?"

The boy answers without interrupting his assigned task of preparing the rice. "To make the Teshin clan known among shinobi again."

"See? He's got a clear goal to keep him on the road to get stronger. What about you?"

Yokumaru takes a moment to gather his thoughts while adding the chopped veggies to the dish. "Everything I've done was for mom. I guess, I wanna help her and make sure she lives a good life."

"There ya go. Then always keep that goal in mind, alright? Never forget that you're doing it for her. Wanting to get stronger just for the sake of getting stronger isn't gonna lead you anywhere good. Always keep your friends and family close to your heart. Don't let anyone else's words pull you away from that path."

Yokumaru nods and gives a bright smile. "Yes, sensei."

Shoto hands over the bowl of rice to Nartuo. "That guy sounded like a jerk, anyway. He tried to attack us."

Naruto chuckles. "Well, he's also a Hokage, you know. The Hidden Leaf's Second Hokage and was a pretty good one."

The three of them continue to cook until Hinata and Kotori make their way back, clean and refreshed.

"Your turn." Kotori taps out Shoto and Yokumaru, and now the boys go to take a bath.

After they bathe and return back to the apartment, Hinata and Kotori have finished the dinner they started and everything is ready. They all set the table together and sit down to eat, happily chatting away.

After the fact, they relax in the living room. Kotori managed to beat the boys to the armchair and is flaunting her victory by making herself right at home. Naruto looks around the kids playfully taunting each other, and Hinata by his side. Their eyes meet and without sharing a word, they both agree the kids should know. It might be a bit early for them, but they've shown to be well beyond their years, and they deserve to know so why not now.

Kotori's mocking of the boys is interrupted when Naruto stands up and sits on the ground between the sofa and the armchair. "Alright, everyone sit around in a circle."

"Aww." His daughter whines. "But I just won the armchair."

"And you can win it again, come on." He pats the ground next to him.

He takes Hinata and Kotori's hands as they sit by his sides, and they in turn take Shoto and Yokumaru's hands, forming a complete circle.

Naruto closes his eyes. "Explaining would… take a lotta time so I feel it's better to just show you. Just remember, you're safe, alright? Nothing and no one's gonna hurt you."

The kids share an uncertain and somewhat nervous look but ultimately nod. They trust their dad/teacher/mentor/person.

Naruto allows his chakra to flow through everyone, connected by their hands. For Hinata, it's a familiar feeling but for the kids, it's an entirely new sensation. Their breath escapes from a gasp as weightlessness comes over them, where Kotori can't help but be reminded of when she fell down the cliff to save Takai and Kitsui, except this time she can feel Naruto and Yokumaru holding onto her safely. The weightlessness lasts only a moment but it lingers for a bit more, even after they can feel themselves firmly sitting in… water? It's weird. It feels like water but at the same time, they're not getting wet.

All three of them open their eyes more or less simultaneously and are met with, for lack of a better term, a monstrous sight. A giant fox towers over them, nine orange tails swirling behind it. Its low grumble resonates through the unfamiliar dark yet somehow lit chamber, the growl echoing.

The kids gasp in surprise and jump to their feet, backtracking. Their freeze in place, hand slightly trembling.

"Guys, I told you you're safe, right?" Naruto stands up along with Hinata, still holding hands. "This is Kurama. He's my friend."

The fox sneers. "This may have been worth it just for those reactions. I haven't gotten to see them in so long."

"Uhhh, sensei…"

Shoto finishes the sentence. "What's… that?"

"Isn't that… the thing you turn into?" Kotori's the first to really shake off the shock.

"Yep." Naruto nods. "Like I said, this is Kurama. I guess you could say he's my roommate since he lives inside me."

He's met with very puzzled looks.

Hinata squeezes his hand. "I think we should start from the beginning."

Naruto scratches his head. "Alright. This'll take a while. Kids, sit down. Kurama, look less menacing."

"Can't." Comes a brief reply.

"We'll figure something out." He approaches the kids, who've now significantly calmed down, and sits down with them. "See, Kurama's a Tailed Beast, one of nine. You guys already saw two of them- the Four-Tailed Son Goku and Five-Tailed Kokuo, and before that, Kotori, you saw another two over in the Hidden Cloud- the Two-Tailed Matatabi and the Eight-Tailed Gyuki."

Yokumaru stares up to Kurama. "Tailed Beast. Everyone keeps talking about them, and Great Beasts."

Naruto nods. "Yeah. That big rock creature was one of the Great Beasts, and we can't really beat them without Kurama and the rest. See, he's sealed in me and we share our power, and fight together." He looks up to the fox and smiles. "We're a team."

Kurama scoffs and looks away, acting disinterested.

"Is that why everyone treats you like a celebrity?" Kotori asks. "'Cause you have this power?"

"Yeah, more or less. I don't know if I'd have gotten to where I am without him."

Shoto solemnly looks down. "So we can't help?"

"Whatcha mean?" Naruto cocks his head.

"Since we don't have a… Tailed Beast on our side, we can't help fight against these other Beasts, right?"

Hinata leans down and caresses the boy on the head. "That's not true, at all. Everyone can help in their own ways. I don't have a Tailed Beast, either, but I was able to help Naruto against the stone creature."

"That's right. And I'm gonna need a whole lot more help. Hinata, Shima, Fukasaku. We won 'cause everyone was on my side. And I'll be relying on you guys, too, when you get bigger, alright?" Naruto flashes them a bright grin.

"Tch. My power is not so weak that I need help from any random brat."

"We were having a moment here, Kurama!" Naruto reprimands his roommate.

When he turns around, he's met by much more relaxed, smiling faces.

"We won't let you down!" The three of them say in unison, pulling it off better than they would've if they'd practiced.

He smiles as Hinata clings to his arm, and brings everyone back to the living room of their temporary home.

The three kids stand up, each of them with a reinvigorated motivation.

"We won't let you down, dad."

"I know you won't."

With that, they head off to their room. Once they're out of earshot, Naruto leans on his girlfriend.

"You didn't tell them the most important part." She snuggles with him.

"Which one?"

"About how you were treated because you were a jinchuriki."

"That's a story for another day. That won't affect them in any way, and won't help them. Besides, it's in the past. I'm not gonna keep worrying about that."

"Whatever you decide." She kisses him on the temple.

Naruto and Hinata, as in the Hidden Cloud, are set to do missions for the next two and a half months. They make a deal just like before to not have both of them away from the village for too long, if at all possible. This does mean that one of them has to take the occasional Genin mission, but that has also been turned into part of the exchange program. As Chunin, they take command of Genin teams and work together with the less experienced ninja, sharing their own practices and tips.

The kids, on the other hand, don't have the Academy to keep them occupied as the school year has ended for summer break. They have to look out for other ways to keep themselves occupied, but they do manage to make friends with the local kids while playing outside. Some of them are Academy students, younger or older than them, so they still have someone to talk shop with.

The shinobi kids show off their talents and even make some of it into a game- Hide and Seek where they use the Transformation to turn into people and the others have to guess which one they are. That DOES mean that the civilian kids can never be the hiders so they don't play using ninjutsu that often, preferring to stick to games everyone can take part in.

-x-

Transformation

Hinata has taken Kotori, Yokumaru, and Shoto up to the rooftop of their apartment building, overlooking their neighbourhood. She points to the three adjacent streets, forming a U shape.

"Those are the streets you're allowed to hide in. You can enter buildings open to the public, but only with express permission from the store owners, alright? We don't want to inconvenience anyone with our practice. You've five minutes to prepare and find a suitable location and disguise. Any questions?"

Shoto speaks up. "How is it even possible to hide from you?"

"I won't be using any sensory abilities or my Byakugan. I'll just use my own eyes to discern how well you blend in." She looks between them to see if there are any more questions and when no one speaks up, she smiles. "Begin."

They all Flicker down, using the surrounding buildings as ledges, still being relatively inexperienced with the Body Flicker, they can't yet directly go to ground level like Hinata or Naruto.

She turns around to give them their freedom to move around and find a hiding spot. When the five minutes are up, she Flickers down and begins walking down the streets, keeping a very careful eye out for anyone and anything out of place.

She walks calm and steady, although not to the point of being suspicious and alarming the passersby. She walks past the three streets in order once, and on the return walk finds all 3 of them.

The first stop is a food stall. Inside are the stall tenders (obviously), 2 young women eating snacks at a table, an elderly shinobi in uniform at a different table, and a younger shinobi in the same uniform on the stools. She sits down by the younger man and pats him on the shoulder.

"Aww." The man whines and in a puff of smoke, is replaced by Shoto. "How'd you know?"

Everyone inside chuckles, being privy to why he was hiding.

She points to the older man. "You thought to blend in with the gentlemen but you made the mistake of using his uniform. It used to be standard issue shinobi gear decades ago and nobody wears it anymore, besides the retired old guard."

Shoto counters. "But what if it belonged to my grandpa or uncle, and I'm wearing it as a memento?"

"That's unlikely for a shinobi to do, as shinobi gear isn't something simple like a hat that is passed through the generations. One can certainly keep an older flak jacket as a memento, but flak jackets of today are made of sturdier material so older models are prohibited from being worn on duty; and off-duty, no one would wear them as a sign of respect."

He lowers his head. "I see. So flak jackets are more than just armour."

The old man sips his drink and says in a gruff voice. "No, they are not. Just as one would not dare wear the Tsuchikage's official garments. There are replicas that the young'uns wear when they play pretend, but their colours are different and it's very obviously a fake. We shinobi have our traditions and customs, and we follow them to the best of our hearts." He pats his armour. "This is a symbol of MY service to the village, not someone else's."

Shoto stands up and bows. "I apologize for the disrespect." Hinata bows, as well.

"There's no need. You didn't know something, and now you do." He gives a warm smile, his eyes twinkling. "You'll get her next time, kiddo."

Hinata places a hand around Shoto's shoulders and leads him out. "Now, I believe Yokumaru is closer."

He looks up to her. "You already found them?"

She only smiles in response.

The second stop is a plant shop. Unlike Ino's flower shop, this place offers a wider variety of flora for the home, and it's all potted plants. From simple decorative flowers on display on the front to small trees in the back.

"Pardon the intrusion." She excuses herself to the older woman manning the store and immediately goes to an ivy plant, next to a tree. She takes one of the vines and when she does, it becomes surrounded in a puff of smoke, and she's now standing there holding Yokumaru's hand.

"I was a good plant!" Probably the weirdest complaint he's ever given.

"You were, but you didn't belong here. That ivy is an invasive species that quickly latches onto nearby plants; they're not sold in stores like this for precisely that reason and if they were, they'd never be placed next to other plants."

Shoto looks around the room. "Why'd you even pick that one and not any of the plants actually in here?"

Yokumaru grumbles and looks down. "I dunno, it's just a plant that grew a lot back home. It's pretty."

The woman at the counter smiles. "You certainly know a lot about them."

Hinata turns to her and smiles. "Yes, I enjoy flower pressing and have studied a good deal about flora, both native to the Land of Fire and not."

"So I lost before we even started." Yokumaru rubs the back of his neck.

The older woman pats him on the head. "Next time."

The three of them excuse themselves and head out to find their final target.

The third stop is a young man feeding sparrows on the side of the road, throwing crumbs on the ground. Hinata approaches, which spooks some of them away, but she takes one specific sparrow in her hands and pets on the head. In a puff of smoke, it's replaced with Kotori, who Hinata continues to pet on the head.

The man throws another handful of breadcrumbs to attract back the ones that were spooked. "Well that didn't take long." He chuckles.

"How'd you know?"

"The feathers. You've studied a lot about condors and sparrows as part of your training, and you've done exceptionally well," Kotori's grin drops slightly when Hinata continues. "But you studied ones native to the Land of Lightning." She points to the birds nomming on bread. "The sparrows native to the Land of Earth are bigger and have different colouration. That's another aspect of your training we need to focus on."

Kotori nods. "Okay."

They excuse themselves to the man feeding the birds and go back home.

This game continues on for the coming months, eventually adding the rule to not use disguises that have already been used, to up the difficulty. Throughout the whole process, the kids actually become friends with the locals, with them even joining in on the game to aid the kids in hiding better and picking better Transformations.

Naruto is, admittedly, not as observant as Hinata and it takes him slightly longer to find them, but Hinata has keen eyes even outside of her Byakugan so that's to be expected.

They do switch it around a bit. Some days, two of the kids hide while the other seeks; other days Naruto or Hinata hide and the three of them have to find their teacher.

With each passing week, they kept getting better at blending into their surroundings and not alerting others to their presence, and it took Naruto and Hinata longer and longer to find them.

-x-

As it turns out, Toshikazu Miyoshi, the old man from the food stall, is a veteran who's been on missions with the Teshin clan before they left the Hidden Stone in disgrace so he had many stories to tell Shoto. The boy is able to gain some insight on how his clan fought back when they were shinobi, although it's been a while since Toshikazu has seen them so his recollection isn't entirely complete.

Toku Gushiken, the woman from the flora shop, has a very good friend who sells crystals and gems. Yokumaru has seen Kotori extensively study birds seeing as her abilities apparently correlate to her knowledge of what she's summoning. Maybe his abilities are the same? Hinata or Naruto, depending on who's leading the exercise for the day, take him to the store and, with permission, he inspects the various minerals and is given a few crash courses in composition, environment, cause of forming. The woman also takes a closer look at the crystal that Yokumaru himself creates to give him pointers, and as he expected, his use of the Crystal Style eventually became much more smooth and easy. As to not be rude, they also buy several gemstones and crystals from her, as a show of gratitude, although they're not entirely certain what to do with them. Gifts when they get back home, perhaps?

Shinzo Nanami, the man who fed the sparrows, is a veterinarian who also co-owns a pet store with his wife and younger brother, so he's been a good source of knowledge for Kotori, getting more details on how avians vary depending on where they're from. She's also given some good materials on an animal that's seen a lot in the Land of Earth- the ostrich. By the end, she becomes able to summon a very young ostrich after thorough study.

-x-

Substitution

This game is a more simple one with not a whole lot of rules.

Naruto and Hinata pick a log and the kids form a circle around it. First one has to substitute themselves with the log, then the second one has to substitute with the same log before it falls to the ground. If someone is unable to switch places with it in time before it hits the ground, they add 5 to any part of their endurance training- push-ups, sit-ups, squats, anything.

They do get the hang of it fairly early. It does take them a bit more time initially to form the hand signs and weave their chakra, and the log is dropped a few times by all of them, but by the end, they manage to do it swiftly and precisely. That is, until Naruto and Hinata start throwing projectiles at them. Small rubber balls that prove just enough to break their concentration and make them miss the timing, but acting under pressure, while being attacked by the enemy is something they definitely must get used to, in order to be shinobi.

-x-

Clone

This game is a fairly simple one, as well, and serves a double purpose.

One of them hides behind a large rock and they and a Clone come running out. They have to ensure that their Clone is a good enough replica of themselves and not give away who the real one is. The other aspect of the training is the ones who are trying to spot the fake from the real one. Observational skills are crucial to a ninja so they need to develop them in a similar vein to what they utilize in the Transformation training.

-x-

Body Flicker

The kids are sitting on the ground outside, in the empty training area they found before.

Naruto taps the tip of his boot on the ground, lightly hopping in one place. "Alright, pop quiz. What's the Body Flicker?"

Kotori raises her hand excitedly.

He chuckles. "We're not in class, Kotori, you don't need to raise your hand."

Kotori rubs the back of her head. "Uh, sorry." She clears her throat and recites what she learned from the Hidden Cloud's Academy. "The Body Flicker's a technique that allows the user to move at a nearly untraceable speed for a short period of time by infusing their chakra. The better one's chakra control is, the farther they can go."

"Exactly right; you sound like Iruka-sensei." He smiles at the textbook explanation she gave. "So you're gonna try and get better and better at using it. You've got until our mission here ends to get as far as possible using the Body Flicker."

Shoto looks around the empty field. As to not get in the way of anyone else who may want to use it, they've taken to using the very end of it since they don't really need a whole lot of space for this exercise. Naruto draws a straight line, parallel to the field and Flickers a fair distance away from it, drawing a new line.

"Alright, I think this is fair." He gauges the distance. "You have two and a half months to reach here."

"Wha- But, dad, that's really far!" Kotori stands at the line and looks at the marked area like she's looking at a bottomless void. "There's no way we can get that far!"

Shoto Flickers away and tries to get the distance, but he doesn't even get halfway. She misjudges how far he can actually go versus how far he wants to go and ends up landing on his butt. He grumbles. "It really is."

"Shouldn't we start a bit easier, sensei?" Yokumaru looks just as uncertain.

Naruto sighs and places a hand on his waist. "Oi, oi, come on. Didn't you guys say you were gonna train way harder? Is just this enough to give up on being a shinobi?"

"Ah…" They look down embarrassed.

"We'll do it!" Kotori declares and follows Shoto, Flicker as far as she can, which is only a few centimetres ahead of him.

Yokumaru breaths in and Flickers, as well, right next to Shoto.

Naruto approaches with a smile. "That line I drew is your end goal, to reach by the time our mission here ends. If you can reach it earlier, that's good, but you're not supposed to get there tomorrow or even a week from now. In the meantime, you'll have other goals to beat."

"What goals are we supposed to beat?"

Naruto grins at Shoto's set-up for the reveal. "Each other." He takes out a brown piece of chalk and marks where Shoto landed; a white piece of chalk to mark where Kotori landed; and a blue piece of chalk to mark where Yokumaru landed. He throws each marker to the respective child. "Use those to mark how far you get, see who can Flicker the farthest."

The three of them share a look and smirk. The game is on.

From then on, they compete to beat their own records, each others' records, and eventually the goal Naruto set. They mark their progress and even started marking the date they reached them. They also customized their starting points, giving themselves a square to start from and keeping to their own imaginary lanes. Shoto writes "Iron" in his box, Kotori- "Bird", and Yokumaru- "Strength".

For two months, with two weeks to spare, they make significant progress in their chakra control, and eventually they all manage to cross over the finish line. Kotori was first by about a week, followed shortly by Yokumaru, with Shoto being last.

By the end of their stay here, they've gotten really good at the E-Rank techniques. Hinata may even argue they're better than Academy kids their age, although she might be a bit biased.

Now, it's time for them to leave. Onoki, Kurotsuchi, and Akatsuchi are at the main gates to see them off. Onoki is, as usual, floating which the kids can't help but stare at. Naruto taps them on the head as a signal to stop it.

"You needn't have come out all this way, Lord Tsuchikage."

"Nonsense! I wanted to see you off, so I'm seeing you off. And also to thank you for your service, you've been a great help." He shakes hands with both of them, and floats down to shake hands with the kids. "And you be sure to grow to be great shinobi."

They give firm nods. "We will!"

Kurotsuchi places a hand on her hip. "So where you going next? You have the Hidden Sand and the Hidden Mist left, right?"

"Yes. The Hidden Sand IS much closer and would be the better choice time-wise, but…" She looks to Naruto, who returns the look and continues.

"But the Hidden Mist might have something on the Hidden Whirlpool about the Great Beasts."

Akatsuchi chimes in with his bellowing voice. "Although the Hidden Mist hasn't given us any updates, and they've been looking into it for a while now."

"Yeah, but it might be something like the Temple of Stone's Song where only we can find it. But… I think we should head to the Hidden Sand."

Hinata nods in agreement. "Then the Hidden Sand, it is."

With that, they give their final goodbyes and leave the Hidden Stone Village.

Somewhere in the Land of Wind

A large group of heavily armed bandits, easily two dozen, are moving through the sandy dunes of the Land of Wind, all wearing cloaks to keep them safe from environmental hazards. They climb to a higher vantage point and smirk once they see their target.

The Land of Wind is not what many would call green. Their major flora is located at the borders with other nations, very few plants actually growing in the centre of it. So these border green areas are vital for both the land and the Hidden Sand Village. For one, the village's signature Puppetry requires plenty of wood, and they either get it from places like this, or buy it from other lands.

The forest in front of them is crucial. If they can take control of it and the nearby villages, they can practically keep the land hostage.

As they begin to step forward to make their way to it, they're stopped by a gurgling sound. They turn around to see 3 of their men located in the back fallen to the ground, their chests pierced. A 4th stands up, clutching his chest, where a pink crystalline sword has pierced him.

The woman pulls out her blade, letting the body fall. She stands before all of them, now in plain sight. She's a young woman, in a green one-sleeved kimono with a white camellia on the side. Her light blue hair is tied in a large spiky ponytail, leaving two strands to frame her face. "You just couldn't keep quiet, could you?" She shakes her head. "No, that was my faulty aim."

They all draw their arms. "You bitch, who do you think you are?!"

Before they can even move to charge at her, their feet are stuck. Where they previously stood on solid ground, if a bit sandy, has now turned to mud. They're all stuck.

"Earth Style: Swamp to the Underworld"

"What?"

"Where'd this come from?!"

They all try to struggle free, to no avail.

A man appears from behind the trees. "Don't insult her." His deep rumbling voice matches his appearance, being a bulky man with fists like tree trunks themselves. He looks to the woman with the crystalline blade attached to her arm. "You shouldn't leave too much evidence behind."

She sighs. "I know, I know."

The bandits, currently knee-deep in mud, throw kunai and shuriken their way. The woman blocks with her crystal blade while the man's body simply turns to mud and absorbs the projectiles. Some begin to weave chakra but before they can finish, the woman has already finished her own jutsu. They all become covered in pink crystals, very quickly growing from small specks on their clothes, to encompassing their entire bodies.

"Crystal Style: Crystal Pentagonal Prison"

The bodies encased in crystals are slowly swallowed by the mud, which soon after disappears and leaves behind only wet soil.

The man approaches, visible worry on his face. "Are you alright?"

The woman begins picking up the weapons that were left behind. "Of course. You?"

He pats himself down as if he himself is not sure. "Yeah." He helps her pick up what they can. "We should hurry back home. We've been away for a while now. They might get suspicious."

She stands up, kunai and shuriken safely packed away in her pouch. "Then we can just say we were out on a romantic stroll." She leans down to kiss him on the forehead, making the burly man blush. "But you're right, we are late."

Having scavenged the remains, they make their way toward the forest.

Name meanings

Toshikazu Miyoshi, Toku Gushiken, and Shinzo Nanami = first picks from a Random Japanese Name Generator. I have no idea what they mean.