"We're here." Suigetsu said while looking for a parking sport around the area.

The trip itself had taken at least four hours to complete, time during which very few words were spoken but it was a place distanced enough from the prying eyes of Fugaku for now. The castle itself as most in Japan was a sight to behold, it was divided into four sections but the one where they needed to head to was the castle itself. Once they had stepped out of the vehicle Sasuke led them through the main gate, one of the guards recognized him and allowed them to pass, they walked through the palace.

"Were are you leading us?" It was Iruka who asked.

"Somewhere within the castle where we can talk, the guards and staff here could listen."

Sasuke continued to lead the inspectors to the main entrance of the castle that was surrounded by a stone base, once inside they looked around the architecture and paintings, most of which had been rebuilt since the castle was damaged during the last world war.

"These sliding door don't hide the sound so much..." Anko said to Iruka.

"I know senpai, if anything the sound here seems to rebound."

"Not where we're going, just you two wait." Suigetsu responded startling both inspectors.

They reached a room where a large golden fish statue stood behind dividers, Sasuke reached for the statue's right eye and introduced a finger pressing a hidden button that activated something on the floor, everyone watched as a tatami mat next to them slid open revealing a set of stairs leading to a secret area of the castle.

"They don't show you this in the tour, you guys are lucky." Suigetsu smirked.

"Follow me."

Anko and Iruka obliged and started to head down behind the young Uchiha, Suigetsu also followed closely as the tatami mat closed behind, leaving them in pitch black darkness until Sasuke pressed a brick on one of the walls, this lit a line of bulbs of placed on each side of the upper side of the walls creating a path for them to see. Iruka was more than nervous at this point, he tried to suppress the lump on his throat as they all moved on, Anko on the other hand was her usual self, calm and collected but on her guard, her shinobi instincts were well trained despite her life as police detective, if anything her job had sharpened her senses a bit and for now she knew there was no danger ahead of them, that did not stop her from being self cautious but not to the level Iruka found himself at.

They eventually reached a large room that was completely dark, the path of light formed by the candles had ended where the stairs did, again Sasuke looked for a lever on the wall and pulled it up, well placed torches around the large room lit themselves and illuminated the area to reveal where they were, it was still somewhat dark but Anko could make out the form or several antique plate armors, what she believed were samurai battle suits as well as several weapons hanging from the wall and behind cases, some of those weapons were of shinobi nature but they all shared something in common, the Uchiha's unmistakable crest.

This was a war room.

"Last time I was here I was playing hide and seek with my older brother Itachi, we were kids back then but I still remember this place... Father only found out about this place before my brother went missing, he believes it was closed by his orders, he didn't suspect I had a hand in keeping it open all this time."

Iruka approached one of the old armors to take a better look, this was a crimson red armor, it looked very well taken care of.

"These belonged to someone from your clan..."

"They did, we try to keep vaults like this full of antiques that once belonged to the Uchiha hidden all over the country, this by far is my favorite."

"Because of your brother?" Anko asked.

"No, this..." He opened a small sophisticated safe using his fingerprint and pulled out from it an old notebook, looking through it he found the page he wanted to show them, it had a drawing of a stone with strange symbols than neither Anko or Iruka recognized.

"What is it?"

"The reason my brother disappeared, it's a tablet that can only be read by the Uchiha clan and according to the notes he left, Konoha might know where it is..." he closed the notebook and put it inside one of his jacket pockets while closing the safe again. "This is also one the reasons I need to talk with Naruto Uzumaki, if he's been to Konoha then I must go there and find out what happened to my brother."

"... Konoha?" Anko looked uncertain. "You really believe it exists?"

"You don't? After everything that has happened it's hardly surprising inspector, I don't know why my father is after that guy but I'm certain it has something to do with Konoha."

"Sasuke, we should get going..." Suigetsu warned "We're too exposed and I don't trust that we're seen here."

"Yeah, I know..."

"Something wrong?" Iruka asked.

"Tell me, do you guys pretend to go back to the police station and alert people potentially in my father's payroll with the information you have? Or do you want to help me stop him?"

Anko remained silent while thinking everything through, the boy had a point, if both went back to the station they would not be able to do anything without alerting the people who had been bought already by Fugaku and bury any possibilities of an advantage forming a solid case against him, yet chasing Naruto with the unknown chance of locating a place she was not certain of entirely was not the greatest of plans either, in any case she had to make a call soon.

"Let's head out, we can make a plan to find this kid on the way..." she said.

"Senpai...! Do you really-?"

"He's right Iruka, we can't go back right now or we're done for, they think I'm still at the hospital so we might as well use the time wisely."

Sasuke nodded "Agreed, let's go."

Once again Suigetsu urged them to leave and the group headed outside once again making sure nobody was around when they left the closed the entrance to the vault, once they exited the castle however Sasuke noticed the guard who was supposed to be at the entrance was nowhere to be seen, now the main gate was open and as they continued walking he saw two new vehicles were parked next to where their own SUV was, the group immediately froze when four figures opened the doors to meet them, they all spotted black business suits with white shirt and red tie. Sasuke's eyes narrowed, he did not expect his own bodyguards to follow him this far and so soon. Suigetsu knew who they were as well and did not like the scenario, on the other hand both Anko and Iruka were completely unaware of these people's identities but knew something was definitely wrong.

"Who are those guys?" Anko asked Suigetsu.

"The Sound Four, you were asking about Sasuke's bodyguards, well..."

"Sasuke-sama, please come with us." spoke a man with light grey hair, his bangs covering his right eye who also had a shade of green lipstick on him as he grinned.

"Let me guess... Father sent you."

"He did but we'd like to resolve this without making a mess, not that anyone would mind though..." he set his eyes on Anko and Iruka specifically.

"I see... " he closed his eyes for a few seconds and opened them again revealing his Sharingan, the opposing group looked surprised as they had never seen their former boss use it before "Go back and tell my father he doesn't own me."

"Sharingan..." one of them said, this man was dark skinned, had shaggy hair tied into a ponytail and was taller "I thought only a few Uchiha could develop it..."

"He's the boss's son Kidōmaru, it's expected his bloodline was passed on to him..." spoke the largest man in the group, he had three tufts of orange hair on his head, a mohawk of sorts that ran down the middle and two similar styled tufts of hair at the side, fair-skin and narrowed, slanted orange eyes. "Sasuke-sama, won't you reconsider our offer? We have no inte-"

"Will you shut the fuck up Jirōbō?! He's clearly not gonna listen to reason, y'all better get ready to fight him..." spoke the last one in the group, a woman with long, untamed, dark pink hair and brown eyes and slender frame. Suigetsu, Anko and Iruka quickly moved next to Sasuke, both inspectors drew their guns and pointed them at his former bodyguards.

"You two know that's not gonna work with them right?" Suigetsu said almost matter of factly without taking his eyes off the front.

"Yeah... still, we don't want another Naruto Uzumaki incident, we don't know who's watching us." said Iruka.

"Last chance Sasuke-sama, if you don't come willingly we'll have to drag you by force." said the man with light grey hair taking one step to the front, the rest of his team also readied themselves.

"You're more than welcome to try Sakon..." Sasuke sentenced before he himself went into a fighting stance, both sides knew enough talk had been made.

A tense aura had been formed in the parking area as both teams remained still, waiting for the opposing party to make the first move. It came seconds later as the Sound Four launched themselves first, Anko and Iruka fired their guns at Tayuya and Kidōmaru but none of the bullets found them, they dashed in zigzag patterns to make them miss every shot until both Sound ninja appeared right in front of them and kicked the guns away from their hands followed by a simultaneous kick to the mid section of each inspector that launched them back past the gate. Sakon exchanged a forearm strike with Sasuke followed by an attempt to grab him and toss him over his shoulder, Sasuke managed to flip mid air to avoid any impact and but had to remain again on the defensive as Sakon was already next to him launching several punches, he managed to block every one of them thanks to his Sharingan and was starting to form a counter attack in his head.

"Why do I always get the big guy?!" Suigetsu almost yelled as Jirōbō charged at him ready to tackle him into oblivion, as soon as they made contact however, Suigetsu's body liquefied and scattered all over the place leaving a confused Jirōbō in his wake, when he turned he noticed a puddle of water that started to take form into a person, once solidified again Suigetsu made a finger gun with his right hand and aimed it at his opponent's head.

"My turn fatso!" he grinned "Suiton: Mizudeppō! (Water Release: Water Gun)" he compresses a drop of water in his index finger, firing it with tremendous force and speed similar to a gunshot, to his shock Jirōbō blocked the bullet with one hand that despite leaving a mark did not show any signs of seriously injuring the big man "What the...?!"

Tayuya kept the pressure against Anko using her taijutsu, some of the punches and kicks she launched were finding her face but Anko remained on her feet, she was seriously restraining her shinobi instincts against this woman but the more she hit her the harder it became to not go all out.

"Senpai!" Iruka tried to go to her position and help her but a sharp kick to his head stopped him in his tracks and sent him back to the floor. Kidōmaru appeared a few feet away from him and casually walked to where he was.

"And where do you think you're going?" he said with a sadistic smile on his face, he went for a punch on his downed adversary "You're fighting me!" he bellowed as the same time Iruka moved away and dodged the punch which cracked the ground with force.

"Such force! What is he made of?" Iruka thought looking at the crater he had made while taking some distance from Kidōmaru, just like Anko he wanted to avoid using any shinobi techniques recklessly in the open, the sound of the bullets was probably enough already to attract attention from their surroundings although in reality it should do the opposite, he knew the curiosity of people would get the better of them though.

Sasuke continued to defend himself from Sakon's attacks which was starting to make him think he would never fight back, perhaps even that he did not dominate his Sharingan. "What's wrong Sasuke-sama?! You have those eyes just for show?! C'mon!" Sakon yelled while keeping the pressure, one of his punched was strong enough to send Sasuke sliding back a few feet despite absorbing the impact with his crossed arms, Sakon thought this was the perfect chance to enter his defense and land a more devastating blow.

"Fight ba-!" He was stopped mid sentence when a sharp kick hit him straight in his jaw sending him back and landing hard on the concrete, he was stunned for a few seconds before realizing what had hit him, Sasuke remained where he was slowly lowering his leg, his Sharingan was still activated but this time something was different, he had a small grin.

"Fine then, I'll fight back." He said confidently.

Sakon stood up and spit some blood "Lucky shot..." he said before attacking again, this time his moves were more methodical as he noticed Sasuke was adjusting to them, the more he attacked the easier it became for the young Uchiha to block his moves, despite his experience in hand to hand combat he found himself unable to land anything on his former boss, it was almost as if he was being toyed with.

Sasuke was getting quickly adjusted to his eyes, it became easier every second the more Sakon pressed, he could predict his every move before it even happened, he would definitely thank Naori once they met again, her training methods had paid off. He saw an opening in Sakon's defense and took the chance to land a hard right palm strike on his cheek that sent him a few steps back but Sakon remained on his feet, now he was angry, he went to the offensive again and Sasuke received him with a couple of well placed strikes, none too hard but enough to make him stumble and almost lose balance.

Sakon refused to give in and attacked again, this time trying to tackle Sasuke and take him to the ground but the Uchiha heir would not be bested by him, he stopped his charge with his arms, he was only dragged back a few feet before fully blocking him, Sakon continued to struggle pushing him but Sasuke was having none of it, he decided to test his strength and picked up Sakon over his back before finally tossing him like a rag doll on the opposite direction, close to where the others were fighting making his partners notice he was losing the bout.

The distraction allowed Anko to reach for her gun and fire at Tayuya, Iruka mimicked her actions and did the same against Kidōmaru, both ninja somehow managed to get behind cover in time before any of the bullets found their mark, Sakon hearing the shots quickly went behind a wall before he could be hit also and cleaned the small trickle of blood on his mouth, Suigetsu also took advantage of Jirōbō's head turn to launch himself over his head and envelope it in a large bubble of water formed with both arms.

"Gotcha!" he said confidently as Jirōbō struggled for air.

"Hey Sakon! Let's stop playing around with these guys, use the seal already!" yelled Tayuya behind one of the vehicles in the parking lot.

"Or just say is you need help, no shame!" said Kidōmaru in a mocking tone also taking cover.

"Tch...! Fine, let's end this! Enough playing around!" he had enough, a second later a path of markings coming from the base of his neck emerged covering half of his face, almost simultaneously his team started to show the same patterns, Jirōbō immediately powered out of the bubble surrounding his head sending Suigetsu flying back hard against the floor, Tayuya and Kidōmaru dashed at an alarming speed and kicked away the guns of both police inspectors and punched them in the stomach taking their wind out and sending them back several feet back, finally Sakon went after Sasuke who was taken by surprise due to his chakra's sudden change, he prepared for the incoming attack but his Sharingan was unable this time to catch his moves as he landed a solid kick to his stomach, Sasuke's breath left him but he remained on his two feet, he grabbed Sakon's leg to avoid his escape and went for a punch but Sakon moved aside with ease and used the momentum to spin and use his free leg to land another solid kick on his chin, as he went up in the air Sakon reappeared in over him with his leg extended and connecting one more heel kick on his chest making Sasuke land very hard on the ground and creating a crater around him.

Sasuke coughed up some blood at impact, his head felt woozy as he tried to recover and wondered what Sakon had done to himself in order to hurt him, he did not get the time as a hand was already grabbing one of his legs, he looked up to see Sakon with an evil grin on his face looking down on him.

"Done already?!" He swung Sasuke twice before launching him against one of the walls, the impact much harder this time making it break, Sasuke landed hard on the other side, rubble all over him. Suigetsu watched in disbelief as the Uchiha heir was being manhandled by Sakon but could barely pay attention, Jirōbō was now trying to crush him with his fists and was much faster than before, if not for his liquid form he would surely be dead but he managed to slip past his attacks until he felt something under his feet, he looked down in horror both of his feet being trapped by a pair of rock formations, he tried to liquefy again but nothing happened, he was stuck in place, Jirōbō took the chance to use one of his jutsu to trap him and make him suffer just like he had tried a minute earlier.

"Doton Kekkai: Dorō Dōmu! (Earth Release Barrier: Earth Prison Dome of Magnificent Nothingness)"

Placing his hands on the floor, a dome of earth was created around Suigetsu trapping him inside, he tried moving again and notice immediately his chakra started to get drained through the floor, Jirōbō smiled.

"Now you can't slip away with that water jutsu of yours, I'll make sure you die slowly..."

"Shit!" Suigetsu thought as he struggled to get free of his prison.

Anko and Iruka were not faring any better against their opponents who had also dramatically increased their power, Tayuya's taijutsu alone was already hard to handle before she had summoned those markings but now her blows were landing with more precision and Anko was being roughed up pretty badly, she still refused to use any chakra to defend herself afraid of the consequences, Iruka did try to fight back using only taijutsu but to no avail, Kidōmaru was jut too unpredictable on his attacks, he shot what seemed like a spider web from his mouth that caught both of his arms when he tried to cover and then he was thrown around several times with it, he was not sure how much longer he would be able to sustain the damage, everyone was in a serious predicament. Sakon casually walked over to where Sasuke was, he struggled to get up, his expensive clothes already tattered and torn, his Sharingan still flaring.

"Forget it Sasuke, this is only level 1 of our cursed seal, you don't stand a chance so come with us and stop this nonsense already." Sakon said confidently.

"No Sasuke-sama this time eh Sakon?" he responded almost mockingly, he had a few tricks left to use against his adversaries but his worry was his Sharingan that was starting to drain his chakra reserves, never using it in actual battle made him realize he did not possess yet the stamina to keep it active for too long.

Things took an unexpected turn as the air suddenly changed, several flower petals started to appear everywhere making the Sound Four realize someone was using an illusion on them making them stop their movements.

"Genjutsu..." Tayuya said.

"It's a distraction, but it's none of these guys..." added Kidōmaru who scanned the area, he looked over to Sakon who nodded, all four members simultaneously used a hand seal to break the illusion but soon regretted it, standing between them and Sasuke were eight cloaked figures wearing different animal white masks, each holding a weapon in hand be it a kunai or a sword, leading them stood a ninth figure wearing a white cloak and a similar mask.

"She got the message...!" Anko smiled.

"These... Anbu...?" Iruka questioned weakly.

One of the cloaked Anbu ninja charged at Jirōbō forcing him to jump back and release his hold on the dome that quickly started to crumble around Suigetsu setting him free, he did not understand what had happened but as soon as he saw the cloaked men were on their side he smiled again, regaining his mobility he went over to Sasuke.

"Are you all right?!"

"I'll be fine..." he released his Sharingan knowing he could sustain it no longer "What about you?"

"Yeah, I'm good... Who are these guys though?"

"We're the backup..." Spoke the leader of the group to them, it was a woman's voice "You won't be dying today..." She focused her attention back on the Sound Four "But you guys are!"

"Heh... Just try it assholes!" challenged Kidōmaru defiantly, ready to release more of his seal but Sakon stopped him, he gave his leader a questioning look believing they could take them on but Sakon knew better.

"We're outmatched! These are Anbu, even if we go full strength we won't win against all of them!"

"If... we go back empty handed the boss won't be happy..." Tayuya reminded them without taking her eyes off front.

"Hnnn...!" Sakon was furious at the outcome of their encounter "Retreat!"

"You won't get away!" Yelled one of the Anbu launching himself at them backed up by three of his teammates, Jirōbō pressed his hands on the ground making a tall mud barrier rise from the ground making some of the vehicles in the area flip into the air and blocking their view momentarily, the Anbu ignored the chaos and broke through the barrier with ease using kunai with explosives attached to them but to their surprise the four shinobi on the other side were gone already, a hole on the ground was all that remained where they once stood.

"After them!" Commanded the leader of the group, the four masked shinobi dashed into the city.

"They can't return to my father, they're as good as dead..."

"You can't be too sure these days..." said the woman, she turned to meet them, Anko was the first to acknowledge her.

"You're late..." she said smiling while dusting off her coat. The Anbu leader remained silent for a few seconds until she removed her mask, revealing the face of a beautiful woman with fair skin and red eyes, she had long black untamed hair and wore make-up consisting of red lipstick and purple eye shadow, Suigetsu and Iruka could not hide their blush at the sight of her, only Sasuke remained neutral, wondering who she was.

"Nice to see you too Anko..." she finally said smiling kindly, to which Anko grinned, quickly embracing her and presenting her to the group.

"This is Kurenai Yūhi, me and her go way back..."

"I thought the Anbu no longer existed." Sasuke said.

"Technically we don't, at least officially... It is common knowledge amongst shinobi the group was disbanded after World War 2, even the hidden villages refuse to acknowledge our existence..."

"Konoha..." Iruka said out loud.

"Not just Konoha, the other four as well... Suna, Kiri, Iwa and Kumo, any records they had of us are nonexistent now."

"So... Konoha is the real deal then?!" this time Suigetsu asked surprised.

"As real as it gets kid, I get some of you have adapted to a normal life in today's society, doesn't mean there's not more out there." Kurenai finished.

"Kurenai, do you... Do you know where Konoha is then?" Anko asked, Iruka actually surprised by his mentor's question.

"No... but I can take you to someone who might, you know what that means thought, right?"

"Yeah..."

Kurenai proceeded to place her mask back on "You've neglected your abilities as a shinobi for too long, if you and your group come with me, there is no turning back."

"Turning back from what?!" Now Suigetsu was curious.

"A new life..." Anko concluded.

"Senpai... are you sure?"

"You guys don't have to tag along, this should be my responsibility from now on since I'm the one who wants to put an end to this..."

"No..." Sasuke stepped forward "I'm going too, you're not the only one interested in stopping my father, this is also my job inspector." He looked over to Suigetsu "What about you?"

"Well... *sigh* doesn't look like I have much of a choice again right? If it means we can get off your dad's radar for a while I'm in, sure..." he almost sounded annoyed.

"And you?" Kurenai now talked to Iruka, who seemed hesitant.

"Iruka... you know if you go back to Tokyo the chief will make your life miserable, come with us."

Iruka chuckled "Nothing is easy with you is it senpai? Count me in."

"Hey, what about that guy?" Suigetsu pointed at the guard who was hiding behind one of the walls, he was cowering in fear after what he had witnessed.

"Let me take care of that." Kurenai said as she started walking towards the man, he dared not move.

"You're not going to kill him are you? He's innocent..." Sasuke added.

"Who do you take me for kid? I'm only gonna make him forget what he saw."

As Kurenai drew closer the last thing the guard remembered was a rain of petals dancing around him, then everything went blank.

Sundown came fast, night approached even faster, the plan was already set in motion as Ino awaited instruction all by herself on the rooftop, she provided everyone with a mental link to communicates amongst themselves during their escape, once done, she would make sure the link was cut off to avoid sharing unnecessary thoughts between them, for as long as she controlled the connection she knew it was necessary to keep a clear mind, the last thing she wanted was for someone like Sakura invading her thoughts.

"Shouldn't you be downstairs with the others?..."

He stiffened when she called him out, Naruto knew better than to try and sneak on her, the fact that she did not even turn around to face him was astounding.

"... Shino and Karin are working as we speak..."

"Good, why are you here then?"

"I dunno... perhaps I wanted to talk you out of this..."

"Not a chance, you and the others need to get out, I'm not important here."

"That's not...!"

"Naruto..." she finally turned to face him "You have a task to complete, I'm here to help any way I can but I cannot have you here throwing me off, I'm staying, end of discussion."

Naruto gritted his teeth at how stubborn she was being, in a lot of ways he would have done the same had the tables been turned.

"I'm not leaving you here... You just can't walk away like this and pretend everything will be fine!"

"This isn't the time or place to talk about that, we-"

"They left overnight...!"

Ino stopped talking, her eyes widened, she noticed Naruto's fist clenched.

"Mom and dad... I had already finished high school, we were supposed to go on a vacation the following week, the three of us I mean." His eyes lowered as he continued speaking "We would talk about what my career choice would be, I wasn't sure yet what I wanted to do with my life... Then one day I got home and they weren't there... No calls, no notes, nothing, they just... left."

Ino's eyes softened, she had not taken into account that during their time in Konoha she never asked him what had happened to them, her struggle to maintain a safe distance from Naruto had completely made her forget why she had brought him to Konoha in the first place, and it was not to become like her.

"So I improvised... I did what I had to do for a year without them." He raised his head, looking at her again, his eyes were almost in tears "I'd do anything to get them back, even if only to yell at them for leaving me in the dark! I know I made a mistake and I'm paying for that, but I won't let this search become an excuse to be separated from those who are by my side now! So please... don't do this!"

Ino was speechless, for a moment her heart felt heavy again but the feeling had changed, it was not pain nor regret, she could not describe it. The feeling made her remember what Jiraiya had said a few days ago, then it hit her, she still had something that belonged to Naruto.

"Naruto I... there's something I need to-"

"It's done! We need to move now! Your turn Ino!"

Karin's voice interrupted her, they signaled the hacking was complete, which meant in a couple of minutes they would be tracked, now it was Ino's turn to use her sensing abilities to measure the incoming retaliation.

"You need to what?" Naruto asked confused, she turned her back and went to the floor in a meditating position, using her hands she formed a seal and started to focus.

"They succeeded, your files are gone, now I need to do my part."

Naruto knew what this meant, the moment she expanded her chakra the chances of being detected by shinobi nearby increased dangerously, he was determined to not leave her take on this challenge alone.

"You should get back to the others Naruto, there's no telling who'll show up!"

"Like I said, I'm not letting you do this alone Ino!" he stood now next to her and prepared for the worst.

"Stop it! You don't have to play the hero! Just-"

"I'm not leaving you! End of discussion!"

It was ironic he had decided to finish that sentence the same way she did earlier, but his point was made, he would not repeat the same mistakes of his parents, family or not. Ino knew it was pointless to try to convince him otherwise now, something had changed again within him, call it a sense of duty or perhaps something else, he would stand there with her and face the storm by her side.

"We have a lot to talk about but first, let's get out of this mess!"

-o-

DISCLAIMER: The usual, not the owner of Naruto, just the plot.

Hello again, didn't feel right to end this cursed year without one more chapter since I notice my last update was a while ago, still working from home, still procrastinating on the story xD... Anywho, enjoy the chap and see ya again soon hopefully. Happy Holidays to everyone!