"There's a power greater than us all, and I suckle on its breast like a newborn."

Jiraiya, the Toad Sage, to his teacher Hiruzen Sarutobi

-O-

The training ground was empty. Not even the dew on the grass had been disturbed.

"One day I'm gonna figure out how you do that, you know," Sakura called. "And then I'll make you suffer."

"Promises, promises," Kakashi said, suddenly visible in the middle of the field. All around him the ground was untouched. Sakura didn't know if it was a genjutsu, or perhaps Kakashi was just that fast. "Well, shall we begin?"

Sakura chewed her lower lip. "Where's Sasuke?" Even though Sasuke had been leaving early every day, he'd at least shown up in the mornings.

"Sasuke has alternate arrangements. My first priority is you." The last sentence made Sakura feel all fuzzy and warm inside, and she tried not to smile. She was still angry about yesterday, damn it!

"In that case," Sakura began, then flung herself to the side. The blast of wind she'd known was coming sailed right past her. She stuck her tongue out at Kakashi. "In that case, I think I'm ready."

Kakashi chuckled – he actually chuckled! – and Sakura fought down a grin. Then he formed hand seals again and launched a barrage of blades of wind at her. Sakura's feet slid on the wet grass as she dodged and ducked and let the furious gale pass her by.

A brief lull in the onslaught gave Sakura space to weave some hand seals of her own. She held off on releasing her genjutsu until Kakashi recast his wind technique. To have any hope of tricking him, she would need to use the fact that his attention was divided. The illusion construct was more complicated than any she'd used before, but as she poured it into Kakashi's chakra network, it worked for just long enough to give her a foothold. To Kakashi's eyes, she moved out of focus for a second, disguising the direction her real self moved. Sakura appeared to burrow into the soil while two illusory clones stepped away and encircled him.

One of the clones was, of course, the real her. But she'd messed with her appearance so that she looked like a close-but-slightly-off duplicate, while the phantom that sunk underground was as close to perfect as she could make. Kakashi kept a wary eye on both clones but didn't seem worried. Sakura was ready to change that.

Sakura tended to the fake image she was showing. A slender arm – Sakura's arm – rose from the dirt, holding a kunai. Kakashi knew it wasn't real, of course, but still: for a moment Sakura had pulled his attention away, and she leant on that distraction for all it was worth. Naruto had described being on the receiving end as 'trying not to think about an itch, but the more you ignore it the worse it gets', which was surprisingly poetic for him.

Kakashi glanced down for a fraction of a second and Sakura and her clone leapt in, knives ready. He dispelled both illusory copies, revealing the real Sakura a few steps further back than the clone that had seamlessly replaced her, kunai already plunging for his chest.

He dodged the blow. Of course he did; he was a jounin. And yet Sakura still had a feral smile on her face, because for once she'd tricked Kakashi. She stopped and caught her breath after the brief exertion.

"Impressive," he said, and ruffled her hair. She slapped his hand away and straightened her bangs out again, hiding her grin behind a curtain of hair. "I really do mean that. I think it's fair to say that you're as prepared for your first match as you'll ever be. Temari would have to be the most skilled ninja of her generation to handle that little trick in a tournament setting."

This was the moment Sakura knew on some level was coming, and had been dreading. Kakashi was going to tell her that now Sasuke would get his undivided attention, so he could win that stupid bet. Sakura would have to make do with the scraps of time that were left.

"After Temari, you'll be facing another of the Sand ninja. So I'm going to teach you some more elemental manipulation. Kankuro is a puppeteer, and I've been told Gaara uses sand. This technique would work equally against both. Watch closely." The last words were barely out of his mouth when Kakashi snapped out a chain of hand seals, pausing after each one so she could commit the sequence to memory. Sakura shook off her confusion, along with the warm glow in her belly, and studied the seals.

Monkey, Dragon, Rat, Bird, Ox, Snake, Dog, Tiger, Monkey. Dog was the seal for water techniques, which Sakura was intimately familiar with from her water walking training, but its place in the series was wrong for imparting an elemental nature. Instead it was the Snake seal that set the element, which meant either a lightning or earth nature.

Sakura performed the seals herself, feeling them mold her chakra. She paused, puzzled, at the end. "This is only half a technique." Her chakra was streaming out of her at an alarming rate and she ended the flow with a thought. It was missing a critical component, which meant it needed an extra three seals at a minimum, probably closer to four or five.

"I designed it that way. The rest of it is raw elemental shaping. It's impossible to steal – the only way to get this technique is if I teach it to someone, or they recreate it from scratch. Even a Sharingan would have difficulty copying this," Kakashi said. He looked unbothered, as though it was a normal thing to do. Sakura wondered if all jounin were so paranoid.

"So what's the missing part?" Sakura asked.

Kakashi frowned. "This is the final technique, but it might be years until you can handle it. Unless you make shocking progress over the next month, I won't be teaching you this in time for the exams." He ran through the seals again, every motion as crisp as before despite the tenfold increase in speed. A torrent of electricity blasted out of his hand. Sakura squinted against the glare and watched it settle down to a fist-sized ball of super-concentrated lightning chakra.

She'd always been good at jutsu theory, so it was easy for her to deduce the point of the technique. "It's for piercing, isn't it? That thing will punch through any defence. Earth's the strongest protective element and lightning overpowers it." Sakura's voice was hushed as she figured out the implications. "It's as pure an expression of killing intent as you could make. You can't use it for a non-lethal takedown. Pulling it out is as much of a threat as a signed letter stating you want to kill someone."

Lightning still flowering from his open palm, Kakashi shrugged. "It's come in handy a few times. I wanted it to be known as the Lightning Blade, but Guy convinced everyone to call it the Thousand Birds instead."

Chidori. Sakura turned the name over in her mind; it was enticing. Guy must have the soul of a poet. "It's beautiful. So how do I start learning it?"

"Water walking is the first of many steps to mastering the elemental nature of Water. Lightning also has many steps, and we'll begin by magnetising a needle. Lightning and magnetism have a strange relationship, as you'll find by the end of the third stage." Kakashi flipped a pair of senbon needles at her. "Lift both needles while only touching the upper one."

It was a productive morning, though Sakura found the exercise frustrating. She managed to magnetise the first needle within fifteen minutes, but keeping the pull strong enough to fully lift the second needle was a fiendish exercise in control. If she hadn't seen Kakashi demonstrate with two full-sized kunai she might have believed it impossible.

After she ate her lunch, Kakashi put her through more physical exercises, although she didn't have to dodge anything for a change. "You might have to fight three battles back-to-back. I won't have you collapse midway through because you lack stamina," he said. Sakura saved her breath for running, although there were a few choice words she wanted to say.

Once training was over, all Sakura wanted was to go home and have a shower. On the way there, though, Shikamaru and Choji melted out of the general bustle of Konohagakure's streets. Before she could so much as ask what they were doing, she was bracketed by them and pulled into a small cafe.

"Hi, Sakura. You might be wondering what this is about," Shikamaru said once they'd sat down, fiddling with his ponytail.

"What's with the cloak-and-dagger bullshit?" she asked, annoyed. "And if you're gonna waste time before getting to the point, at least buy me a coffee and a pastry or something."

Choji nodded and went over to the counter to order. Shikamaru waited for his teammate to return before he launched into an explanation. Sakura made no apologies for the way her stomach gurgled in the awkward silence.

"Look, Sakura, I know you and Ino have your differences, but maybe you can look past that. I'm worried – we're worried – about what she's up to." Shikamaru paused as the food and drinks arrived. Choji had ordered a big sharing platter and Sakura immediately started eating. "She won't talk to me. Sasuke won't talk to me. I was hoping you could at least make sure she's in a healthy place, mentally and emotionally."

Sakura bit her lip as she thought of the right phrasing. "You want me to ask my friend about her relationship with the man who I want to be with? I think I can have a pretty good guess as to what they're getting up to, and the last thing I want is to hear any details."

"I don't think that's what's happening at all." Shikamaru paused, picking his words carefully. There was a poorly-hidden concern in his voice. "Yesterday morning Ino made an off-hand comment to Asuma, about how an issue his grandfather had been having could be solved by getting someone with a Sharingan involved. Asuma didn't pick up on it at the time, but it proved that Ino has inside information on the Hokage's personal affairs. That's not normal, especially for a chunin. She's up to something, or involved with some group, and I think it's dangerous to both her and Sasuke."

And there was the hook. Shikamaru had reframed the whole situation to be a threat to her friend and her team. Sakura couldn't avoid digging into things now, and he knew that. She glared at him and drank her scalding hot coffee in a single draught, then stood to leave.

"I knew I could count on you," Shikamaru said, tone bland again. Sakura didn't dignify that with a response.

-O-

Sasuke stood outside the Hokage's private residence, feeling entirely out of place. "Good luck in there," Asuma said, stepping aside and letting Sasuke enter the courtyard. "Rather you than me."

"Thanks," Sasuke replied, trying to hide his confusion. He squared his shoulders and walked through the doorway. He knew at least a squad of ANBU would be hidden somewhere, but he couldn't find the faintest trace of a human presence. It fed a constant itch between his shoulder blades.

The Hokage was waiting. The Hokage was waiting. Sasuke babbled out an incoherent apology which was casually waved aside. Hiruzen Sarutobi, the longest-serving leader of any of the Five Great Villages, puffed on his pipe and smiled, his face folding like crumpled newspaper. "You might be wondering why I agreed to teach you."

In fact, Sasuke was wondering why he was here at all. Ino had been rather cryptic when she told him where to go that morning. Admitting it seemed like a bad idea, though. "I'm a little confused, yes," he said.

"It is uncommon for a teacher to have two pupils reach the tournament stage of the Chunin Exams," Sarutobi said, folding his hands together. "If it does happen, alternate instruction is arranged for one of them. It wouldn't do for the Leaf to appear weak. Think of this as an investment; the more impressive you are, the more money will flow into Konohagakure. There are, as always, other reasons – but we will speak of them later."

"I'm very flattered," Sasuke said, because he couldn't think of anything else.

The Hokage clapped his hands together. "Let's begin, then. I've been informed you copied a technique from a Rain ninja in the second stage of the Chunin Exams. Could you demonstrate it for me?"

Who told him– Kakashi must have realised after I fought Lee. Sasuke nodded and faced one of the logs arranged at the end of the courtyard. He raced through the hand seals he'd stolen, feeling them draw on his spiritual and physical reserves and mould the ensuing chakra into a broad slash of wind. The technique was draining, but by varying the energy he supplied it with, he could control the size and shape. Since it looked to be a long morning, Sasuke cast the technique with the bare minimum of chakra required for it to hold its form.

The Hokage's face was inscrutable as he watched the attack sweep the length of the courtyard and set one of the logs to rocking.

"Try again, but this time change the last seal from Dog to Bird."

Sasuke nodded and did as asked. His chakra was pulled into a tight formation, the edge harder and sharper than before. Something felt off, though.

The Hokage puffed on his pipe again. "Have you had any training with the element of air?"

"I've only learned to use fire techniques, when I was little anyway, we did practices– I mean, no, sir. I haven't trained with air techniques ever." Sasuke cursed himself as he stumbled over his words. Nerves were unavoidable when speaking to the God of Shinobi, the man who had known every Hokage the Leaf had ever had, the walking legend who'd met Madara Uchiha on the battlefield and walked away alive.

"No matter," the Hokage said, sounding pleased. "I will give you some exercises before we part. Work on them on your own; when you have completed one, move on to the next. First we will do something that requires supervision."

Sasuke smiled, relieved that he wasn't being dismissed. "Sure!"

"Perform the same technique, but with the Dog seal again. Use as little chakra as possible – it doesn't matter if the technique fails, so long as you are moulding at least a bit of chakra during the casting," the Hokage ordered.

Sasuke did as he was asked. A gentle wash of wind spread out, barely a breeze, and dissipated after a few yards. The chakra felt sluggish, as though it was resisting his commands.

"Now run through the twelve basic hand seals for me. Don't mould any chakra, please."

Sasuke obeyed, though he was confused. Hand seals weren't hard – even when Kakashi was at his most irritating he'd never wasted time on practising those, especially since even Naruto had perfected them at the Academy.

The Hokage frowned as he saw the crisp motions of Sasuke's fingers. "If I run through a series of seals, can you copy them perfectly with your Sharingan?"

On the one hand, revealing Sharingan secrets to outsiders was breaking centuries of Uchiha Clan tradition. On the other hand, there was no Uchiha Clan any more, and it was a reasonable question, asked by the Hokage. Sasuke considered it for a second. "Yes, and I would also copy your chakra flows at the same time."

The Hokage nodded once. "Then please do so."

"Um– am I allowed to ask a question?" Sasuke asked.

The Hokage laughed. "Child, you are here to learn. Ask anything and everything you need to know."

"What's the point of this?" Sasuke winced. That was ruder than he'd meant to be. "I mean, um, I don't want to be rude, but perhaps I would learn better if I knew what I was meant to be learning?"

"The role of hand seals is to alter the flow of your chakra. A pair of seals in sequence will alter the flow twice. A strong technique can use dozens of seals to create a very specific chakra construct. To form a seal is to align your chakra pathways in a specific pattern, thus channeling your chakra into a specific form. Therefore, a hand seal is not just the position you hold your hands in, but also the way you approach that position – and the way you move away from it." The Hokage lectured with his hands clasped behind his back, eyes fixed on Sasuke's.

"So you want me to learn the proper movement leading up to each hand seal."

The Hokage smiled. "Very smart. But that's not all. Moving from Bird to Snake is a very specific transition, and there is a special movement that allows your chakra flow to continue smoothly. In fact, every pair of hand seals has an ideal movement that connects them, although this is not often taught."

"Twelve hand seals means there are sixty-six unique transitions possible," Sasuke said after a minute's thought. "But only if all the movements are symmetric – so if I go from Boar to Ram, it's the exact inverse of the movement from Ram to Boar.

The Hokage shook his head. "The transitions from Boar to Ram and from Ram to Boar are different. Monkey to Tiger and Tiger to Monkey are the same gesture, though. In total there are ninety transitions to learn, but we will only cover the thirty-one common ones today."

He stopped and stared at the clouds for a second as they passed by. When he continued, his voice was fainter, and Sasuke wondered what thoughts could pull such a man out of the present.

"This was my first original discovery, long before I surpassed my peers and stood astride the battlefield, all falling before me. It was useful in fights, but more than that it gave me the prestige that led to me learning from the Shodaime. I wanted to teach these lessons to every ninja of the Leaf, but they aren't useful for any but the ninjutsu specialists. And, alas, I have no time, there is never enough time. My students, and my students' students, may have learned them, but piecemeal and with no understanding of the foundations. This secret is a poor companion in the grave, and yet it may keep me company there."

Sasuke cleared his throat, uncomfortable.

"Then again, perhaps you will learn technique and theory both, hmm? Let us begin." His voice was stronger now. Sasuke used a tiger seal to force chakra flow up to his eyes – the hand gesture was a crutch he wouldn't need for much longer, he knew. His eyes burned as his vision sharpened, blood and chakra flooding into them.

The Hokage's chakra was monstrous. Naruto was powered by a demon, and even his massive reserves were dwarfed by the ocean that sat inside the Sandaime. A constant river of chakra flowed out of him, wrapping him in a shroud of medical chakra. As Sasuke watched, fascinated, the Hokage shifted his weight slightly. Chakra reinforcements on his muscles carried out the brunt of the work, while a thin sheath of wind chakra stopped any moving of the air, and earth chakra hid the tiny vibrations that should have rippled through the ground. Throughout it all the Sandaime's attention stayed fixed on Sasuke.

"Copy me for as long as you can," he ordered, and Sasuke nodded.

The barest trickle of chakra poured into his arms as Sasuke grit his teeth and copied the Hokage's hand movements down to the millimeter. His fingers protested at some of the motions but he wasn't about to lose this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to learn from the Sandaime.

"Not bad," the Hokage said once he'd finished running through some fiendish finger contortions. Sasuke sighed in relief as he let his Sharingan fade away and rubbed some blood back into his cramped hands. "Although you need to strengthen your core a little. Here – copy what I do."

Two hours later, Sasuke staggered out of the Hokage's residence. His hands twitched from the pain he'd put them through, and his chakra was spent – and then some. He was weighed down by four scrolls on wind nature training, as well as instructions to return in three days.

Ino was waiting for him. "What on earth was that?" Sasuke rasped. "How did you manage to get me private lessons with the Hokage?"

She smiled as she pulled out a salve and rubbed it on his hands, leading him down a little-used path that looped through the woods. "All I needed to do was convince Asuma that you were the solution to a problem that he was having. Hiruzen Sarutobi is an old man, and he wants to pass on his skills to a successor. He was pushing Asuma to learn from him, but Asuma's got his own projects he'd rather work on, and besides he lacks any aptitude for half of Hiruzen's arsenal. A loyal ninja of the Leaf, with a Sharingan that lets him copy any technique and who's known as a fast learner with a talent for ninjutsu? It's the perfect distraction as far as Asuma is concerned."

Hearing the Hokage spoken of as just another ninja, especially with the familiarity Ino implied, was close to sacrilege. Sasuke shook the feeling off after a moment. Perhaps learning from the Hokage's grandson had changed Ino's outlook – he had no idea what Asuma thought of his grandfather.

It was an ambitious plan, and Sasuke recognised that there must have been more work involved than Ino was letting on. Her claims from a few days ago seemed less and less outlandish. "What do you want me to do now? Actually, how come Asuma isn't with you at the moment? You're his only student to reach the tournament."

They took another turn down a faint forest trail as they talked, Ino leading the way.

"Shikamaru's pulled Asuma away for a private lunch. He's going to complain about how there's something wrong with me, but Asuma will dismiss it as jealousy coupled with a crush that Shikamaru won't admit to." Ino shrugged. "I'll see if I can break the pattern this time, but Tenten always beats me. And before you ask – I know you're about to – I'm not telling you how any of the other fights end."

Sasuke almost stumbled, hating feeling like his thoughts were written on his forehead for her to read.

"Sorry, that was a bit rude." The apology only made it worse. "Anyway, your afternoons are going to be spent sparring with Hinata. Guy has handed Tenten over to Kurenai while he focuses on Neji, so her genin are left to their own devices for the moment."

Sasuke frowned. "Why Hinata? She's not a great sparring partner, and she doesn't know any techniques I care to learn."

"Look at yourself." Ino stopped him with a hand on his chest. Sasuke glanced down – his hands trembled, his shirt was damp with sweat and he was covered in dust and grime.

"I'm fine."

"Do you really think you can handle the workload that Hiruzen's putting you under, and also heavy-duty sparring? Hinata uses the Gentle Fist, the same as Neji – or similar, anyway." She finished with the salve and pulled out a water bottle for Sasuke. He drank greedily. "You can learn to counter the style, and Hinata will get plenty from the sessions as well. Consider everything I've done so far, and think about whether you can trust me on this."

Sasuke didn't have to pause or mull things over. The answer slipped out without a conscious decision. "Of course I trust you."

She smiled. "That instinctive faith is something that will be very useful for both of us. Anyway, we're here." She took the bottle back.

Hinata was waiting in a small clearing in the woods. Apart from spotting her in passing during the Chunin Exams, Sasuke hadn't spoken to her since the Academy – or thought about her at all, to be honest. It was surreal to see her standing amongst the trees, maintaining a traditional yoga pose, calm and focused. The last memory Sasuke had of her involved a very public breakdown. She'd been asked to demonstrate a kunai technique for the class and hadn't handled the attention well. After that, the instructors hadn't called on her again, not that it stopped her from trembling when they were near.

"Hello Ino, Sasuke," she called as they came closer. "I brought lunch for us. I hope you like dumplings."

"I've got to rush off, but I'm leaving you in capable hands. Have fun, and make sure not to overdo things, you two!" And with that last piece of advice, Ino slunk off down another bare-earth trail towards the village.

Silence reigned in the clearing for a moment, then Sasuke cleared his throat. Waiting on Hinata to start a conversation was still an exercise in futility, it seemed. "Hello, Hinata. It's been a while. Thanks for helping me out."

"Come, sit down and eat. You look tired. We can spar after we rest," Hinata said.

They ate for a few minutes, with no conversation save compliments on Hinata's cooking. Sasuke had manners, even if he didn't always use them. And considering he was about to be quite rude, it was important to set a good precedent.

As he finished the last dumpling, Sasuke fixed Hinata with what he hoped was a piercing stare. "Why did you agree to this? I know Neji doesn't like you much, but I don't imagine the Hyuga are happy you're helping your cousin's opponent."

"I– I owe Ino a great deal, and while I have plenty to be doing, a lot of my work requires long waiting times. Spending a few afternoons with you, practising taijutsu and helping a friend, is a very small price for me to pay." Hinata's gaze firmed as she glared right back at him. "And I don't care what my family thinks. Neji can go fuck himself. Anything that leads to his embarrassment and anger is good, as far as I'm concerned. I know you and Naruto don't like him, and you've met him exactly once. I have to live under the same roof as him."

"Makes sense. He didn't strike me as a particularly pleasant fellow," Sasuke said, then yawned. With the morning's exertions leaving him drained, and a full belly, he found it hard to keep his eyes open. "We've just eaten, so we shouldn't spar immediately anyway. Do you mind if I take a break?"

Hinata smiled. "Ino said you might be tired. I have some exercises I wanted to do anyway; I'll wake you in an hour at the latest. We have all afternoon, so there's no rush."

When Sasuke woke again, he felt refreshed, although his hands were still sore. Hinata had packed away the remnants of their lunch and was working her way through more yoga poses. He caught a glimpse of a fresh scar on the back of her forearm, running from elbow to wrist, before she shifted her stance and her sleeve covered it again.

She saw that he'd awakened and beckoned him to join her. "I want to show you a handful of strikes so that you understand the philosophy of the Gentle Fist. It will make it easier to defend against the techniques if you know what the aims of the different attacks are."

A jounin teacher was valued for their skills, but also their ability to impart those skills to others. It was soon clear to Sasuke that the second part of that was important, and Hinata lacked it. Still, once they settled into a pattern of spars with frequent breaks to discuss the outcomes, he found he was picking up the general philosophy of the Gentle Fist. Because a Hyuga could wound with a glancing blow, and cripple an opponent's arms if they blocked too much, it was near-impossible to stay up close for long. Sasuke started relying more on tricks with ninja wire and shuriken, as well as grabbing for Hinata's jacket or trying to trip her.

When Sasuke stumbled into the Uchiha house that evening, he was sore all over. Dozens of spots ached from the chakra-empowered hits Hinata had landed on him during their fights. His fingers were still cramped from the contortionist exercises the Hokage showed him, and he knew tomorrow he'd be doing them all over again. His muscles ached from the strain of the day's events and even getting up the stairs seemed an impossible task. In the end he had to settle for sleeping on the couch, wrapped in the downstairs blanket that had a stain on the corner.

But in three weeks he would put Neji on his ass and prove in front of all of Konohagakure that the name 'Uchiha' still meant something.

And inside of two years, he would bury Itachi's head in the deepest cesspit he could find.

-O-

Lee, Naruto was beginning to realise, was one of the oddest ninja in the whole of the Leaf. How anyone could be so perceptive one second, and so naive the next, he had no idea. "Let us race to the next village!" Lee shouted as they hurtled through the treetops of Rice Country.

"This is hostile territory," Naruto reminded him for the tenth time. "We've got to stick together for safety."

"That is very true," Lee said, grinning. "We must postpone our race until we return to the warm embrace of our homeland!"

Naruto ignored him for the next ten minutes. It wouldn't do to encourage whatever flight of fancy or odd sense of humour was coming from Lee.

For all his eccentricities, Lee was a good travelling companion. He would cook, set up and take down a camp, fetch water and stand guard without a word of complaint. He kept pace with Naruto and never asked to stop for a rest. And Naruto would freely admit that without Lee's navigating skills, they'd be lost somewhere in the vast forests of Fire Country. But he couldn't compare to Team Seven. Naruto missed his friends and his teacher.

And after two days, Lee's company was starting to wear on Naruto. "We should stay quiet from now on, so we're less likely to be noticed by enemies," Naruto said as they broke free of the trees and entered the vast farmlands that gave Rice Country its name. Lee nodded emphatically and gave him a thumbs-up.

It was slow going, slogging through rice paddies, but after the first hour they picked up the pace. Naruto figured out that they could use some of the drainage canals to hide in. Once they were out of sight they could use water-walking to stay out of the thick mud. Skimming over the half-inch of murky water above the thicker sediment was an odd feeling, but once Naruto was used to it, it was a lot of fun.

The good times ended abruptly when they reached the village where their intelligence contact was supposed to be.

"Ninja," Lee whispered, although they both spotted the handful of men and women perched on rooftops at the same time.

Naruto scowled. It was unlikely he and Lee had been spotted yet, which meant they had a lot of options – everything from assault to infiltration to fleeing the country.

"I don't suppose you've been in a similar situation before?" he asked Lee, without much hope. Lee shook his head.

They moved further back from the village in case there were patrols. Once they were safely out of sight, they slunk into a thicket of reeds to come up with a plan.

"It's a tiny village in the middle of nowhere. There's very little chance that ninja being in the same spot as our contact is a coincidence. Either they've already captured him, or they're setting up to do so." Moment by moment, the situation was looking grimmer.

Lee shook his head. "Those ninja weren't hiding, so they're not setting up an ambush. That means they already captured their target. But they also don't seem to be expecting us."

"So to summarise: our contact is probably captured, but he hasn't given up any information. Those ninja are hostile to the Leaf and would plan a trap if they knew we were coming. Either they got him recently and he hasn't talked yet, or he's dead." If his first mission without a jounin went horribly wrong, could he be demoted back down to genin? Naruto didn't know, but perhaps he'd be finding out rather soon.

They stared out of the reed bed, watching the empty road. "We could infiltrate the village," Lee said, once it became clear that Naruto was done talking.

Naruto shook his head. "I saw four ninja. There will be more with the spy, and we can't fight them all. The best thing to do is return to Konoha and pass the word that the spy has been compromised."

"We don't have to fight them," Lee countered. "If we can speak to the spy, we can get the location of the dead drops and return them to Konohagakure. We can get names and locations to warn the rest of the spy network that there's a leak somewhere. Perhaps we can even find out who moved against him, and why."

"If we're caught, or even just delayed getting back, it could cost the Leaf a lot of agents. Every second that the higher-ups don't know that this spy in particular has been compromised is a risk." Naruto had no idea what sorts of plans might be in the works, but having an important contact captured in hostile territory had been one of the 'oh shit' scenarios that were covered in the Academy.

Lee wouldn't meet Naruto's eyes. "Are you proposing we flee?"

"Doing nothing and returning home means abandoning a ninja of Konohagakure." At the end of the day, the decision was simple. Stay safe, make sure things didn't get worse, and let a handful of Leaf ninja pay the price. Or risk more to try to save everyone.

So that's what it meant to be a chunin. A foreign country, a mission gone wrong, and nobody to hand the decisions over to.

Naruto hadn't become a ninja for half-measures. He knew, deep in his bones, that it was the wrong choice. But he made it anyway. "Alright, let's get to our spy. Here's the plan."

-O-

If Naruto were a farmer, he'd work naked, he decided. The straw hat he wore was incredibly itchy and his new clothes chafed against his skin. He took a deep breath, almost gagging on the smell. Something was smeared on the elbows and knees of the outfit he'd stolen, and it might have come from the inside of a cow.

Beside him, Lee looked almost as miserable as Naruto felt. "Let's get this over with as fast as we can," he muttered.

"I don't like it any more than you do," Naruto said, shivering as he felt something move against his skin. He tried not to think about the lice and fleas that might be nesting in his clothes. His ninja outfit was safe, at least, rolled up and stuffed into a sack that was manure- and pest-free.

Lee frowned as he scratched at his chest. "I would like to remind you that this was your idea."

Then they were too close to the entrance to the village. "We'll need to be quiet, or our accents might give us away as foreigners," Naruto hissed. The very air felt heavy on his back, but he relaxed his shoulders lest the tension give him away as an infiltrator.

Naruto plodded down the road towards the main gate, every nerve in his body crying out how wrong things were. He was supposed to hide, to creep on silent feet, slithering past the foe with his superior ninja skills. The sun was much too bright and he was exposed on an open road with enemies ahead. Naruto felt their eyes on him and Lee, and shivered.

The nearest ninja hopped down to get a closer look at them both, jumping and landing without even the whisper of cloth against cloth. His uniform was black with stripes of camouflage across it, and a balaklava covered everything except his eyes. "Carry on," he said after a heart-stopping moment where Naruto thought they'd been caught.

They passed through the half-open gate and walked into the village. Naruto's heart was racing and his eyes were a little too wide; Lee looked to be in much the same state. There was a little alley between two of the houses they strolled past, shadows beckoning. For a split second Naruto was oh so tempted to rush down it and hide in the darkness, and carry out the rest of the mission as a ninja should. He quashed the urge. Outnumbered, in strange lands and against an unknown foe, their only hope was to pass unnoticed.

"That was a musical note on his headband," Lee whispered, voice pitched low enough that Naruto struggled to hear it from two feet away. His lips barely moved.

That little fragment of information alone was worth the risk, Naruto decided. Knowing which ninja force was interfering meant the Hokage knew who to organise reprisals against. Naruto wasn't sure off the top of his head which village used a musical note, but the Leaf had detailed records of all enemy encounters. Someone would find something, Naruto was sure.

The streets were empty. A handful of villagers peered out from squalid houses, but the doors were closed and locked. Those windows that had shutters were barred, and even the washing had been taken off the clothes lines.

The phrase ghost town came to mind.

Naruto was the first to see the faded sign with peeling paint in the shape of a cup. Their contact was supposed to meet them in The Apple and Oak, and what were the odds that a village this small had two pubs?

There were no ninja guarding the place. Most likely they'd moved their captive somewhere more private, perhaps a nearby home. Lee nudged him with a shoulder and blinked at the drinking house, and Naruto nodded. It was worth looking for clues inside.

Instead of signs of a disturbance, they found their spy. Naruto had been given a description rather than a code name, and the stranger with his feet up on the table fit it perfectly. The man was tall, had long shaggy white hair, and wore a garish red-and-green outfit together with wooden sandals. But he hadn't been captured – far from it.

He sat opposite another four ninja with the same music headbands as the guard, guzzling a cup of rice wine and wagging a finger in their faces. Not a single one of them dared move a muscle. It was the most impressive display of killing intent Naruto had ever seen.

"...anyway, tell him if he wants to talk to me he should come here and do it himself. And if he complains about missing-nin hitting his bases, remind him that his talent for creating enemies is unparalleled. His list of foes is extensive, and it includes me." The white-haired man burped. "Now stop looking so scared. I'm not gonna kill you, 'cause then who would carry my message?"

The four ninja bowed. "Thank you for your mercy, Lord Jiraiya," the leader said, voice cracking mid-way through the sentence. They filed out past Naruto and Lee without giving them a second look.

So. Naruto swallowed. The contact they were meeting was none other than Konohagakure's spymaster himself, the Toad Sage, Lord Jiraiya of the Sannin.

His earlier panic was replaced with a wholly new sense of dread.

Jiraiya grinned at them, beady eyes sharp in his lined face. "You'd be here to pick up the dead drops, right? Let me guess. You got nervous when you saw the ninja but decided to sneak in and find out what was going on."

They were all alone in the drinking house now, so Naruto and Lee exchanged a look, then sat down opposite Jiraiya. "Yes, Lord Jiraiya. We're chunin from the Leaf," Naruto said, figuring a bit of respect couldn't hurt. The man was a living legend, after all.

"Those outfits were an inspiring touch, although I'm not sure if the cowpats were necessary." There was a twinkle in Jiraiya's eye.

Naruto scowled and shucked off the filthy clothes, pulling his ninja outfit out of a sack and slipping it on. "We had to improvise."

"There's been a change of plans. I have some information I need to pass on to the Hokage, so I'll be heading back to Konohagakure with you. I've already picked up the information we need, so it's a straight run back." And with those words, he hauled himself to his feet. "It's a little dangerous out here and I wouldn't want to leave you to get hurt."

Lee was the first to move, and Naruto followed them out of the drinking house. With Jiraiya escorting them, there was no chance of anything going wrong on the way back. But there was a gnawing feeling in his belly. What could be so urgent that Jiraiya had to visit the Hokage personally?