Original Publish Date: 23rd-January-2016

A/N: This chapter is dedicated to Agent Orden, who got frostbite on his hands due to reading my story out in the cold. Agent Orden, that makes you severely cool. You deserve this dedication. Not only for risking your extremities, but also because you swore out on the road when you realized the chapters were over; that made me laugh, even as it got you scolded. That sort of dedication to my work is validating in the extreme. Thanks for making my day!

Chapter 16 – Heartlines

And I've seen it in the flights of birds, I've seen it in you,

In the entrails of the animals, the blood running through,

But in order to get to the heart, I think sometimes you have to cut through

- Heartlines, Florence + the Machine

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I was surprised to realize that the sun was up.

I could barely feel the pounding on the back of my eyelids that usually accompanied me messing with my Circadian rhythm. Instead, my body felt really cold.

Conversely, on the inside, my chest felt really…raw. I could feel a sort of pounding and a vicious sense of satisfaction and contentment, and a sense of heat. I don't know how else to describe it, except that it felt warmer and far more intense than the rays of the sun finally heating up my body.

I mean, yeah, I was excited about the alliance, but not this much surely?

I took a sip from my steaming cup of tea as I sat in the kitchen of the safe house, above the underground base that the Resistance was holed up in. Apparently I was on guard duty while Mei explained the situation to the rest of the rebels down below.

A reflexive shudder went through my body as I recalled the feeling of her chakra, her essence, against mine.

I shook my head to clear it. Now was not the time for such extraneous thoughts.

I took another sip of the tea to calm my raging feelings. I needed to be focused on the task. Now that the bargain was struck, I was to stay with the Resistance and assist them in their shadow war against the tyrannical regime of the Yondaime Mizukage.

The intelligence that Jiraiya had provided was all I had to go on at this time. While Mei and I had thrashed out the details of how Konoha would assist the rebellion, I was still in the dark about their actual tactics so far. From the intelligence report I had gathered that they primarily used hit and run tactics for food and supplies, while also disrupting the same for the loyalists. I didn't know if there were any jailbreaks planned, or even if there were any prisoners worth rescuing, given that all Bloodline Wielders were declared sub-human and summarily executed. It was more than likely that any prisoners worth rescuing were dead, but I didn't know this for a fact. For the time being, I guess that we would continue doing what was working so far.

Unless Tobi attacked us.

If I have the advantage of surprise on my side, I'm reasonably confident I can take Tobi down in one hit. If I laid down a Hiraishin marker on him, he would be toast. Those things were notoriously difficult to get rid of, being a space-time beacon; therefore it couldn't simply be 'rubbed off'. It was possible, technically, but hopefully I could neutralize him before he managed to do so.

Still, since he had allowed the coup to take place the previous time, there was no reason to prevent it this time. I'm not entirely sure why he let an entire country slip out of his grasp last time around, but he had, and I wasn't inclined to let him change his mind this time around. If I got a chance to take him down, I would; timeline and my knowledge of the future be damned. That would just leave Nagato to deal with, and I was sure a combination of Jiraiya and Naruto could convince him to seek the path of true peace.

I still had contingencies in case it didn't work out that way though.

After the debacle that was my so called 'Fūinjutsu Crash Course', Sarutobi later informed me that there was yet another reason why he had made it happen. He wanted the information that I was a Seal Master to leak to the Akatsuki, and force Tobi to ambush me, thinking me to be as great a threat as the Yondaime. The fact that Tobi didn't, meant that I just didn't register as a threat on his radar. Yet.

My head spun after Sarutobi's confession of his manipulations. Lies within plots within plans. Was this really what being a Hokage was about? I was nowhere near ready for that sort of shit on a daily basis! Even though I no longer wanted to be Hokage… I had given up on that promise when I had failed at maintaining all my other promises; getting Sasuke back, saving everyone, ending the war and ushering an era of peace…

It was up to Naruto to do all that. My job would be to simply enable him.

…the feel of her soft hand, the shining hope in her eye, the intensity of her chakra thrumming against my own as her luscious lips finally parted into the word 'yes'…

I shuddered again, and took another sip of tea to calm myself. The bargain was struck. Why was I still obsessing over that moment?

I put the cup down with slightly shaking hands, a giddy feeling in my stomach and a sense of roaring satisfaction in my chest. I smiled, because it felt natural in that moment. And why not!? It was the first morning with the rising sun I had experienced on this island nation. It was a spectacularly beautiful day. The distant sound of the ocean was so calming and soothing; it felt like it had always belonged at the edge of my perception. Maybe it was a part of my Uzusiogakure (Village Hidden by Whirling Tides) roots laying claim to me?

In any case, it was supremely satisfying to view the beautiful blue glimmering signifying the ocean right against the horizon.

I was suddenly seized by the urge to run into the water and take a swim. If I had still been a reckless teenager, I might have done just that, but even as the urge became almost irresistible, a sense of duty told me to stay at my post and guard the ramshackle…shack. I scowled, stupid sense of responsibility…always getting in the way of having fun…

Mulishly, I stayed at my post, but under protest. Instead of running out and diving into the gorgeous blue-green water, I took another sip of my tea…and promptly realized it was over. Dammit.

As soon as I got up to heat up the water, there was a sound underneath the table I was seated at. I immediately moved it aside and opened the hidden trapdoor, revealing the scowling guy who had first admitted me. "You're wanted inside", he said gruffly. He didn't move aside though, so I just stared at him. I was not impressed with his shitty attitude, and I wasn't going to put up with it. I put a slight sneer on my face, as if I was smelling something particularly unpleasant, just how Hinata had taught me (hadn't that been a weird lesson!); before he finally moved aside.

I made it a point not to bump into him, thereby pettily proving myself the bigger person. And yes, I'm aware of the irony in that statement.

I didn't let Scowling Guy lead the way this time; instead I managed to stay ahead of him throughout the trip back to the War Room. The stares were far more intense from the rest of the rebels this time, but unlike last time I didn't emphasize my footsteps and look everyone in the eye, instead I gave the impression of hurrying to complete an objective. Nobody went out of their way to stop me or delay me, but I definitely got the sense that I would be questioned at length by the other members of the Resistance.

Whatever, I could deal with a few questions.

I finally entered the War Room and immediately locked eyes with Terumī Mei. The raw heat in my chest let out a purr of satisfaction as soon as it saw her; I ignored it. I had an important non-verbal statement to make.

Namely, where did I stand in relation to the uncrowned Godaime Mizukage?

Since this definitely counted as a first public appearance of two newly-allied factions, public perception was paramount. If I stood across from her, we would be displaying an uneasy compromise between our respective countries. If it stood too close to her, I would be adjudged to be a letch; or worse, that our alliance was built on sexual favours.

To avoid all of those scenarios, I walked right up to her and took my place next to her, while I stood at (what I believed to be) an appropriate distance away from her. "Terumī-san." Until that moment, I don't think I had addressed her directly by her name.

At that, she smiled the same avaricious smile as when she had called me 'Namikaze'. "Please, Nanashi-kun, call me Mei", she practically purred, and the rawness in my chest let out a snarl of satisfaction.

The single greatest piece of advice Hinata had ever given me was one that I used more than once every day, and it was more than appropriate here: 'If you're not sure about what to say, just tilt your head and smile.'

I proceeded to do exactly that.

Her smile widened, her pearly white teeth reminding me of a shark, while her dimple only enhanced the effect.

I didn't shudder. I couldn't afford to. I was creeped the fuck out though.

"Allow me to introduce our benefactor, Nanashi-san from Konoha. We have come to an agreement regarding the terms for an alliance. I hope that we have a long and fruitful partnership in the future."

"Likewise", I replied tonelessly, nodding my head once.

This wasn't enough for one of the people in the crowd though. "In the future!? What about now!? We need help in our war against the Yondaime!"

I raised an eyebrow at the shinobi who had spoken out. "My village cannot risk a war, which is why the Konoha fighting force will only join in during the final confrontation against Yagura." I gave what I hoped was a winning smile. "In the meantime, my services are at your disposal. I can only say that I am not without skill."

He scoffed, "And what can a single shinobi do that we cannot?"

I smirked; and the Sight and Sound Barriers snapped into view without a single hand-seal, deliberately excluding the shinobi who was antagonizing me. "Foxtrot Uniform Charlie Kilo Yankee Oscar Uniform", I spoke quickly, and then dropped the barriers. "Did you hear any of that?" I asked him sweetly.

He blinked in surprise and suspicion. "No." He looked around, noting the barely-hidden smiles and smirks on the faces of his comrades. "What did he say?" he asked the kunoichi closet to him; she covered her mouth to avoid bursting into giggles at his question.

"I have a request." My voice changed to a serious tone; everyone immediately dropped the smiles and gave me their complete attention. "Under no circumstances can my identity or my village affiliation be leaked. I cannot stress the importance of this enough. If the loyalists as much as suspect the presence of a Konoha shinobi, I will immediately leave the Water Nation and void the agreement we have with the Resistance. I will not risk a war under any circumstances."

The same guy snorted once again. What was with these idiots, needlessly antagonizing me? "You may have sneaked in, little leaf, but if the Kiri sensors are actively looking for you, they will find you before you get a mile away from the nation."

I gave a very nasty smile to the asshole, "Terumī-san expressed similar doubts. Why don't you ask her if she believes whether I can do it?"

Everyone's eyes shifted to Mei; she tilted her own head and considered my statement for a moment. To my surprise though, she spoke out, "I do have a correction to make to your assertion, Nanashi-kun." I turned to her with a start. Surely she wasn't going to inform everyone about the fact that I could use the Yellow Flash's signature technique!? It wouldn't void the contract, but still…

"I believe I told you to call me Mei."

I blinked in surprise, before letting the tenseness bleed out of my shoulders. "My apologies, Mei-san."

She gave me that terrifyingly beautiful smile again, and held my eyes for a moment before returning to business. "Each person in this room has my utmost trust; they have proven their loyalty time and time again. They will keep your secret, even from the rest of the Resistance. You have nothing to fear."

"That's good enough for me." I bowed to the rest of the room, "Thank you for your understanding."

It was yet another psychological trick, allowing them to think that they were giving me something; this was one of the first things you needed to do to establish trust.

I turned back to Mei, "So, what is the plan now?"

"Now, we give everyone their orders and they move out in small groups."

I nodded, it made sense. There was no point in congregating in large groups; that would only leave the Resistance…us, open to a large scale attack that could potentially cripple the Resistance. Small cells were the way to go. The only problem was getting orders to the right people at the right times. That was when I remembered Musuke; he got his orders from a dead drop. Fuck, this operation was planned down to the last detail. I was impressed by the professionalism and forethought that Mei had put into this operation.

"Why did you get these many operatives in the same location then?" I asked, genuinely curious.

Mei smiled a nasty smile. "This isn't the first time that Kiri have tried to infiltrate my merry little band."

Ah. This was a show of force then. Frowning, and taking a look around, I suddenly realized that had negotiations gone south, I could have been fighting everyone in this base. It would have been a nightmare fighting Mei one-on-one; having her backed up by what appeared to be the strongest fighters in her Resistance was likely to be purgatory. I was suddenly glad for my negotiation skills, poor as they were. I had no doubt whatsoever that Hinata would have done a far better job in my stead, but she was 10 years old right now.

I noticed Mei's smirk as she noticed my realization that I had walked right into the middle of a trap. It was exceptionally dumb, but there had been no other way for me to be successful in my mission. I then remembered that I could easily have flashed out of trouble, and returned the smirk.

"Which group will I travel with?" I asked her.

The same shinobi from earlier scoffed, before drawling out, "The one with Mei-sama, of course. Unless you're too weak to be a part of her guard detail?"

Yeah, it was time to put this fucker down for good. "Are you implying that she cannot take care of herself?" I asked, pointedly raising an eyebrow.

I felt, rather than saw, Mei's glare land on him. He paled at a frightening speed, and suddenly lost all bravado.

This would undoubtedly mean that I would not travel with Mei for the immediate future. The rawness in my chest did not like that. Not one bit.

Once Mei had finished glaring at the idiot for implying her incompetence, she started handing out assignments. At the moment it was nothing more than intelligence gathering for everyone involved. I was assigned to a group that was to gather intelligence on an armory, so that we could resupply the Resistance with fresh weaponry. There weren't too many weapons depots outside of Kiri, and those that were, were heavily guarded. Still, that didn't mean we could afford to leave any stones unturned.

I had some supplies of my own, but I hadn't been outfitted with the means to equip an entire resistance movement. I decided that I would keep my supplies hidden until there was a pressing need for them; save them for a rainy day, so to speak.

There were two shinobi who were to be my 'babysitters'; Shinzō and Fuyuki. Neither of them had bloodlines, but they were accomplished at 'sneaking about', as Fuyuki put it.

Once everyone was given their orders we were told that we would be meeting up at the south-eastern side of the country in 3 days. Everyone nodded, but since I had no idea where the hidden base was I kept quiet. Doubtless I would be led there by my handlers.

Mei finally called the meeting to a close. "Same exit strategy as usual; each group's departure is to be staggered, after an interval of no less than 45 minutes." I was impressed, the precautions were very reasonable. She was very professional about the whole thing. Although, I guess lives depended on it, so it was just common sense.

Mei sighed, "And once more I will be the last one to leave, sneaking out in the middle of the night, like a common thief."

My eyebrows rose, "Why?"

She turned a slightly condescending smile towards me, "The only way to avoid being identified is by using Henge, and using the Henge will cause any sensor worthy of the name to detect me. On the other hand, while I can keep my chakra suppressed well enough to escape from most sensors, well…" she subtly shifted her posture, emphasizing her curves, "My appearance is rather…distinctive."

I resisted the howling from my chest to drink in her appearance like a dehydrated man. "What if I could change that?"

Mei lost the condescending smile and raised a questioning eyebrow.

I grinned, and created a Kage Bunshin.

2 minutes later, I used the Henge to transform into the same nondescript brown haired/eyed man from 36 hours ago, in the port city, the one that had nearly got me caught. The Kage-Bunshin activated the seal and dispelled itself.

The kunoichi who had almost laughed at my Foxtrot joke gasped aloud, bringing her hand to her mouth. "I can't sense his chakra anymore! It's like he's a civilian!"

My grin widened.

Mei looked impressed.

So did the rest of the Rebel Council (as I had termed them).

"Where do you need to apply the seal?" Mei asked me.

"The heart and stomach; the sources of Yin and Yang chakra in the body respectively." I replied instantly.

Mei gave me wicked smile, "Is this a clever ploy to divest me of my garments?"

I stood no chance; my hand immediately rubbed the back of my head and my face started heating up. I stammered out, "What!? No! I don't want to…I mean, that's not how…Err…It's the…"

Mei's smile turned sultry and her eyes went half lidded, causing my babbling mouth to snap shut. "Well, Nanashi-kun…" she said breathily, causing my stomach to flip, "Your diabolical plan has succeeded." She deliberately glided as close to me (without touching) as possible as she passed by me, causing me to unconsciously breathe in her scent. My eyes were attached to her (deliberately) swaying hips; right until she entered the office and gently closed the door.

I kept my widened gaze on that damn door as my mind threw up image after image of the (increasingly little) clothing she was wearing in there; my chest was screaming out its approval. I could feel my heart banging as hard as it could against my chest; I was sure my face was completely red. I swallowed, my throat had suddenly gone dry.

It was only when I felt actual killing intent aimed at me that I remembered that I wasn't alone in the War Room.

I turned back to find everybody's gaze upon me. The ones aiming killing intent at me were, naturally, of the male persuasion.

"Err…did she…" my mouth kept moving, but no words came out. I think I had actually forgotten how to be verbose at this point. The only one not staring at me blankly, or outright glaring at me, was the sensor kunoichi; she had a sly smile upon her face as she looked on avidly, doubtlessly enjoying the show.

Salvation came in the form of an epiphany via Sakura-chan's description of procedures for female patients attended by male doctors. Medic-nin's were awesome!

I swallowed again, moisturizing my suddenly dry throat. I looked at the smirking kunoichi, "Err…could you…umm…accompany me? To her office I mean. I don't want to be accused of…err…you know…um, inappropriate behavior." I made a conscious effort to stop babbling at that point. There was no way in hell my arm was coming down from rubbing the back of my head however.

The kunoichi's smile didn't change in any way, nor did she visibly react. She watched me squirm for a moment, before finally taking pity on me. "As you wish", she said noncommittally.

My sigh of relief was very audible.

The sensor kunoichi used the same tactic as Mei, walking as close to me as possible, causing me to have a head rush from her scent for the second time in the last few minutes.

What was with these Mist kunoichi!?

I quickly caught up to her and overtook her, opening the door for her; unlike Mei earlier, she didn't give me an orgasmic smile. She just walked past me as if I was a part of the furniture. I took a moment to take a deep breath and violently shook my head to clear it. I had a seal to draw. I needed all my concentration.

The fact that I walked in to see Mei in her bra did not help with that concentration bit at all.

I immediately tore my gaze away from her, the blush returning to my face full force as I closed the door behind me. The other kunoichi's smirk was threatening to break into a full blown laugh.

"If I had known that the sight of my undergarments would leave you so flustered, I would have shown them to you during the negotiations."

The other kunoichi started snickering at that. I gave a dirty look to Mei, but my mouth had no snappy comebacks; mostly because it was busy drooling over her barely contained décolletage. By the Log, how big were those things!?

Before Jiraiya's traitorous voice could whisper the answer in my ear I slammed that mental door shut. I did not need any more distractions. Two kunoichi laughing at my expense was distracting enough.

I finally extracted the damn brush and quickly soaked it in some ink. Gulping, I tentatively made my way to the red-hot Terumī Mei standing in just her bra.

"Is that your brush or are you just happy to see me?"

…I think this is what they called being mortified.

"Now now Mei-sama, don't tease the poor boy too much…" the other kunoichi said faux-concernedly; I just knew the punchline was on its way. "…you don't want him having an accident all over your stomach."

…I was wrong, I realized as I closed my eyes. This was what they called being mortified.

When they stopped laughing at me, the other kunoichi continued, evidently not having had her share of fun. "If I had known it was this easy to distract Konoha shinobi, I would have taken off my clothes in the middle of battle years ago!"

I buried my face in my hands. I had no comeback, no respect, nothing. I gave up.

Once they were finally done with their laughter and poking fun at me, I said gruffly, "Can we please move on? I need all my concentration for drawing the seal." After a few moments, and a little more giggling, they graciously accepted my offer.

I finally bent in front of Mei and started applying the seal to her flawlessly toned stomach first. I tried to ignore just how perfect her skin was as I drew the outline of the seal. My face was still burning, but now it was from humiliation. I've never before been in a position where I've not managed to say a word while someone has their metaphorical way with me. I can't say I particularly enjoyed it.

On the other hand, I got to hear Mei laugh. If her speaking voice sounded like a choir of angels, her laughter was ambrosia made sound. The weirdness in my chest really liked hearing her laugh.

Once I was sure that the stomach half of her seal was rightly drawn, instead of moving on to the heart, I hesitated. I started drawing over the already drawn seal. I'm nervous all right!? I've never drawn this particular seal on another person before; let alone a gorgeous woman like Mei. I've also never been teased like this by anyone before, and it was giving me…performance issues.

Out of the corner of my eye, I spied movement. I turned my head to see the other kunoichi silently shaking with laughter, biting her lip to keep the sound from escaping. Undoubtedly she could see me hesitating and was laughing at my plight. I scowled at her and accepted the challenge, straightening myself. Of course, this brought me face to face with Mei's…bra.

…let's just say I managed to draw the seal properly and leave it at that.

There were no 'accidents', and no more jokes were made at my expense. I will swear that till my dying day.

When I finally put my brush away Mei finally asked me a genuine question. "How long does the Henge last?"

"Theoretically? Until the seal degrades; but realistically until you break it. The maximum I've gone is five days without breaking it, but I'm sure it could have gone far longer."

"And how do I go about breaking it?"

"Just channel your chakra. The seal will try to actively suppress your chakra, but once you cross a threshold, about the amount needed for a D-rank technique, it break the seal, and you will be free from the Henge. Of course, when you do, there will be a backlash in the form of a chakra flare, so make sure you're in a safe place when you do break it."

"I see. And how do I activate it?"

"Change into your Henge, and then channel chakra into the seal from point at the bottom of your stomach."

"Very well. I will select a form that we already have identification ready for." At my interested look, she added, "I'm sorry, I completely forgot about getting you papers. I'll arrange them for you right now."

She started to put on her brown top again, and I averted my eyes to give her a semblance of privacy. I could feel the amused smile she was sending my way, but mercifully she didn't make any more fun of me.

Once she was decent I opened the door and waited for the two kunoichi to leave before following them out. Predictably, everyone was outside; and unless I was very much mistaken, nobody had moved from their places. I was almost certain they hadn't as much as drawn breath the entire time I was in that damn office. And naturally, they were almost all staring at me. It was really unnerving.

"Why have none of you left yet?" Mei asked pointedly, a sharp rebuke in her voice.

Everyone still in the room flinched, and two people started to quickly head for the exit.

"Actually, I suppose it is for the better that you haven't. We will be tacking on an extra day to our schedule; therefore we will be meeting in 4 days instead of 3." She then gave one of her genuine smiles, "I'm taking a detour to have a freshly prepared salted mackerel for once."

I blinked in surprise and tilted my head, before I put myself in her shoes. If I was declared a traitor, and could not get to within a kilometer of Ichiraku's without an army on my ass; I would take the first chance I could to sneak in and have a bowl too. I only realized I was nodding unconsciously when the kunoichi nudged Mei and pointed at me. Naturally they both started giggling again.

I twitched and stopped the nodding, looking away with a scowl. I was done being the entertainment for the day.

I looked around for the two guys who had been assigned as my teammates. Spying them I made my way to them and spoke up, "Can you guys tell me where to get those identification papers? If you have any pre-prepared ones I can tailor my Henge form for those."

"Sure, follow me", Fuyuki said. Shinzō just shrugged and started walking; I got the impression that he didn't like talking much. We went out into the hallway and into one of the other rooms, where another person, introduced as Shūsuke, kept a folder full of forged identities. I selected one that was close enough to my actual height, and quickly transformed into it, re-applying the Henge seal. I was now black-haired and black eyed with a slender nose. The last attribute caused me to see more of the world than I usually did, which was kind of weird. Also, there was no mask in the Henge.

Now that we were ready, I asked my new partners, "When do we move out?"

"Less than an hour, the first group just left. We're the second ones out. If you need to go to the bathroom, I would suggest you do it before we hit the road. We have a lot of ground to cover before nightfall", Fuyuki said, and Shinzō nodded in agreement. I took them at their word.

Upon returning from the bathroom I took my place next to my teammates near the exit. I passed a few minutes by memorizing the information on my fake ID. Fuyuki broke the silence, to the initial annoyance of our third teammate. "Sooo…what happened in there?" After an initial glare at his friend, he too turned to me in interest.

"Where, the bathroom? Well, first I entered this stall-"

Apparently Shinzō didn't like smartassses, "Not the bathroom! The office! With Mei-sama!"

"What do you know? He speaks!" I drawled out, hoping to distract them; this was not a conversation I wanted to have. Unfortunately he didn't rise to the bait.

After a few seconds of their staring I sighed, "Nothing. They made fun of me while I drew the seal. That's all."

A few seconds of silence passed before Shinzō rolled his eyes and went back to his silence. Fuyuki hung on a bit longer, hoping for a few more juicy titbits, but I didn't give him anything else. As if I was going to recount that humiliation.

A few minutes before we were scheduled to depart another kunoichi walked up to us. This one had an angular face, a slender build and dark hair and eyes. Her voice, however, was a very familiar musical one; it gave me a start to hear it. "Nanashi-kun?"

"Yes?"

The disguised Mei handed me something, "Use this to wash out the oil from your hair in a day or so; it gives better results than anything else in the Elemental Nations."

"Thanks", I said reflexively. I blinked in surprise as I realized I was looking at a tiny little bottle of shampoo. It even looked feminine. Mei was still looking expectantly at me, so I slid it into a pocket so as not to be rude. I had absolutely no idea what she was talking about, but there was no way in hell I was going to use a feminine hygiene product; even if it is a relatively unisex one like shampoo.

Upon seeing me put the shampoo into a pocket she smiled. "Well, you won't be seeing me for a few days. You'll miss me, won't you?" she asked, blinking coquettishly again.

I gave her a gimlet eye instead; ignoring the screaming in my chest to do exactly as she asked and more.

She laughed her divine laugh once more. "Fine, fine…I wish you luck in your mission" she addressed all three of us this time.

"Thanks." I grunted out, while the other two also expressed their thanks a little more eloquently.

"Safe travels", she said in farewell, and started to move away.

"Enjoy your salted mackerels!" I called after her.

She gave me a delighted smile over her shoulder, "Oh, believe me, I intend to."

We left a few minutes later. We were travelling by road, not by a boat, so we were on foot. Since we were pretending to be civilians we didn't run or augment our bodies with chakra in any way. The fact that we had to walk at civilian speeds was annoying, but it couldn't be helped. We quickly decided not to take a break for lunch, even though that was hours away. By my estimation, it was 10 in the morning, but I was quickly corrected by the other two; by the standard time of the Elemental Nations it was only about 8. I remembered just how quickly the sun had set last when I was travelling with Musuke just over a day and a half ago; had it really only been that soon? It seemed like a lifetime ago. So much had happened since then… I had met Mei…

Despite the satisfied purring in my chest whenever I pictured her, I wrenched my traitorous thoughts away. I went over the cover story I had cooked up with Shinzō and Fuyuki; we were construction workers traveling east after the completion of the last project which just so happened to be near the base we had been using. The base was just over 100 kilometers away from Kiri, but looking at it on a map it was practically next door to the village. I made a mental note to draw a few seals to upgrade the security for the base whenever we used it next; I had been able to sense the presence of chakra signatures within half a kilometer of the base. If I could pick it up, no doubt a sensor could as well.

Then I remembered the fact that Mei was fully expecting a trap, and the base was intended as a battlefront. I guess it wasn't a frequently used hideout after all. Once more, I was impressed by the astuteness of the future Mizukage. She was indeed a formidable kunoichi; but I had gotten the better of her. Hehe, that mouse had sure scared the hell out of her; although she later got me back with that whole seal debacle.

I was doing it again. I shook my head to clear it from the thoughts of the gorgeous woman with the beautiful eyes and heavenly voice and the striking hair. I shook my head again because clearly it hadn't worked the last time. Ugh.

There was a bit of excitement to break our monotonous trek towards the eastern side of the island when we happened upon a shinobi patrol. They asked for, and were quickly provided, our identification papers. I made sure to keep my face visible but my eyes lowered, displaying my submission. A cursory glance at our identification was all they took before sending us on our way. We didn't even need to use our cover story.

We ate a pre-packed lunch of onigiri as we walked without taking a break. I was known for my stamina, but I was impressed with how these two hadn't as much as broken a sweat, even under the sweltering sun and the high humidity.

The day passed quickly, with only minimal communication between the three of us.

The sun was just about to set when we came upon the village we had planned to spend the night in. The armory was just on the outskirts of the village, so it was a natural place to hole up in. Even as we entered we saw another shinobi patrol harassing a simple vegetable stand owner. All of us carefully kept our eyes averted; but I was sure that everyone's blood was boiling. We just couldn't do anything about it right now.

We found a ratty inn to put us up for the night, and immediately took a single room with an extra bed. The grim look on the faces of my companions told me that even that was stretching our resources to the breaking point, but we didn't have a choice. We entered our room and tried to surreptitiously make sure that we were not under surveillance. We didn't find any obvious signs, but that didn't mean that we could let our guard down.

We had already planned our own inspection of the armory earlier in the day during our trek, so there was no real need for talking. We were going to take turns walking past the armory on our way in and out of the village, every hour. That would give us 6 hourly updates, maybe 7 if we left the village together for a final time together. Being seen in close proximity to the armory would definitely raise suspicions, so we would have to be careful not to loiter.

Since there wasn't anything to do, we all drifted off into an uneasy sleep.

The next morning, just like we planned, one by one we left the hotel and slowly walked past the armory. I was second in line; I kept my eyes directly averted, walking as slowly as possible without looking like I was checking the place for its defenses. We had agreed to start the first pass at 9 in the morning, which meant that it was now 10. I used my peripheral vision as much as possible, analyzing and memorizing as much of the structure as I could. What I saw didn't really fill me with too much confidence.

It was crawling with Kiri ninja.

I counted 8 that were just loitering around outside, and 2 that were hidden via a genjutsu; clearly they were all on guard duty. And if there were 10 in plain sight, there were atleast as many more inside. Attacking this place would not be advantageous; there was too much chance for something to go wrong. It would be easy for one of them to slip out and come back with reinforcements.

Damn.

I hoped that on my return trip I would be able to spot a weakness.

We met up outside town at a nearby pier. It was sparsely populated, so we didn't meet up all at once, instead we appeared to 'run into' one another at different times of the day. We quickly exchanged information with each other in whispered conversations; none of them had anything new to report. Fuyuki had been the third to leave, and had reported a guard switch, but the guards all came from inside the facility so there was no way we could set up an ambush.

It was almost certain this was a waste of our time, but we still had to get back and hope that there was an obvious hole in their security, unlikely as it was.

It was at this particular time that I realized exactly how valuable a Yamanaka clan member could be. All you needed was line-of-sight, and you could take over an enemy, force them to seal their supplies in a scroll, and simply 'drop' them in a location from where they could be picked up.

We didn't stick together and found various reasons to hang around the dock. I pretended to ask around for construction jobs in and around the area, the other two did something similar I think. I used some of my meagre currency to buy a light lunch, and talked to some of the other dock workers. I asked them a few cursory questions about their jobs and their lives, and they gave me mixed answers. One thing that they all had in common, however: they were all effluent in their praise of the Yondaime Mizukage and praised his regime, all the while looking over their shoulders hoping that their loyalty wasn't called into question.

It was sickening, but I was getting used to the feeling. And if that wasn't an indicator as to how bad things were, I don't know what was.

Once I had managed to kill enough time I started to make my way back to the town. Once more a shinobi asked me for my papers at the exit of the pier, and once more he only took a cursory glance. If he had tried to shake me down I don't know what I would have done, but thankfully that didn't come to pass.

I saw nothing different at the armory on my way back, so I didn't even try to walk slowly.

Once all three of us had met up back at the room we all exchanged grim glances, confirming that the armory was not a location we could attack offhand or infiltrate easily; not unless we committed a serious attacking force for that purpose, or we got extremely lucky.

We only spoke of our plans for the next day, i.e. leave early and make our way to the southern part of the country. We could take it a little slower than we had the previous day, since Mei was taking an extra day to satisfy her inner glutton. Still, this left a bad taste in my mouth.

The mission was a bust.

Author's Note: Have you ever fallen in love at first sight? I have. I didn't even realize it for a couple of days afterwards. I mostly just described my own feelings during that tumultuous time. Ah, those halcyon days of my teenage years…It will take Nanashi a little longer to figure out that he's been struck by lightning though :)

I wrote a poem for the girl who I fell for, but I never had the balls to show it to her.

What about you? Have you ever fallen for someone at a single glance? What did you do/not have the guts to do, for that person? Tell me below :)