"Talking"

'Thinking'

Jutsu/ Bijuu/ Summons

Flashbacks, Letters, and Setting

I don't own Naruto

Chapter 30: The Bloodline Rebellion Part 1

In the Commander's Tent

"Now that you're with us, we can't have you looking like you came straight from Konoha, now can we?" Mei said before she snapped her fingers. "Chojuro!"

A 16-year-old boy with short, spiky blue hair and glasses on his face, ran into the tent and saluted Mei.

"You called for me, Mei-sama?" Chojuro asked in a shy voice, a little wary of the blonde Konoha ninja also present.

"Yes. I'd like for you to get Naruto-kun here, a suit of our uniform, a sword, and a hunter-nin mask." Mei ordered.

"Hai!" The young teen scurried off to get the supplies after his reply.

"Good. When Chojuro returns, I'd like for you to change into your new uniform. Since you're so adamant about keeping your identity a secret, you may wear the hunter-nin mask when you go on missions." Mei told Naruto.

"A good idea." Naruto agreed with a nod. "So, what would you have me do?" He asked the young leader of the rebellion.

"Before I can figure out what kind of assignments I can give you, I'd like to send you on a mission to figure out what exactly you're capable of. A small test of sorts." Mei explained.

"I know you're quite confident in your abilities, but all we have are your words. We'd like to see some of your skills for ourselves. I hope you don't mind, do you, Naruto-kun?" The flirtatious woman purred in a sensual voice, making the hair on the back of Naruto's neck stand up.

"O-of course. I would have done the same thing myself." Naruto replied. He mentally chided himself for stuttering. This damn woman was throwing him off his game with her flirtatious approach.

"Why thank you, Naruto-kun. I knew you'd understand." Mei cooed as she smiled. "Hmmm, now what to do with you…" Mei hummed to herself as she looked through some scrolls and letters.

"Mei-sama! Here are the supplies you asked for!" Chojuro announced as he entered with an armful of supplies, as Mei picked out some letters.

"Thank you, Chojuro. You may leave them on the table over there. You are dismissed for now." Mei told Chojuro, who did as he was told and left with a salute.

"Why don't you change into your new gear while I decide the mission for you?" Mei told Naruto, who nodded.

He took off his blue cloak, then took off his Jonin vest, leaving just his black, skin-tight, long-sleeved turtle neck shirt he wore underneath, which revealed his chiseled body underneath.

It was Mei's turn to check out Naruto. Mei took a second to admire the blonde man's body. The outline of his abs and his pecs barely visible through the shirt revealed just enough to get taste of what really lied underneath.

She noted that he had a youthful and handsome face, but it wasn't as feminine or delicate as many of the handsome noble boys. The blonde hair, which was cropped shorter at the sides, complemented his blue eyes to give him a striking look. Together with his lean, yet muscled body, Mei had to admit the man was quite attractive.

Naruto, however, was oblivious to Mei's observant eye on him, and dressed himself in the classic Kiri ANBU attire, a dark grey long-sleeved shirt with a lighter grey flak jacket with shoulder guards on top. On his arms were greyish-blue bracers made of several layers of tough cloth.

Mei turned her attention away from the man, and got back to more important matters.

"Ah, here's a good one. This is a letter sent from some of our spies. One of the outposts overlooking a vital sea-route has been sending and receiving a large number of letters recently, far more than usual. Clearly, they are up to something." Mei explained.

"I'd like for you to lead a small team and gather intel on what they are planning. Ao will act as my eyes on this mission, and will take the role of an observer. However, if he deems the mission to be going poorly, he will take control. Everything clear?" Mei asked, smiling with her eyes and lips.

"Of course." Naruto replied. "If I'm leading the mission, I'm assuming I'll be allowed to put my own team together?" He asked Mei.

"Oh. Of course. Did you have someone in mind?" Mei wondered.

"As this is an infiltration and intel gathering mission, stealth will be of utmost importance. I'd like to keep the number at a minimum." Naruto reasoned.

"Fair enough. So, who will you be taking?" Mei inquired.

"I'll just be taking Ao. It'll be just the two of us." Naruto clarified.

For the first time since their meeting, the playful smile on Mei's smile dimmed into a small frown.

"I did say outpost, but the place is more of a fortress. I hope you understand that while this is a test mission, it is still important, so I suggest you take it more seriously. I'd like to avoid unnecessarily risking one of my most capable officers for the sake of your pride."

"Don't you worry about that. The two of us will be more than enough." Naruto said confidently, waving off her concerns.

"I see. If that's the case, you may head out immediately. Go to the docks, and there should be a boat that will be willing to take you there." Mei said with a smile.

Naruto nodded, as he strapped the sword to his back, and hung the mask to the side of his head.

"You can wait for Ao at the docks. I need to give him some last-minute instructions before you head out." Mei told Naruto.

Naruto nodded and headed for the docks.

When the tent flaps closed after Naruto left, the smile on Mei's face immediately vanished.

"Ao." Mei said in a low, commanding tone that oozed with authority.

"Yes, Mei-sama?" Ao asked as he stepped closer to Mei. She was clearly about to say something that was meant for his ears only.

"If the mission begins to go south, leave him." Mei commanded Ao, much to his surprise.

"What if he is in danger?" Ao questioned.

"Leave him to his fate. I'm not willing to risk you so he can stroke his own ego. It's not worth losing one of my most valuable officers for some pretty boy's dick measuring contest." Mei said with a cold tone.

She had seen this many times before. Men who would recklessly put themselves in unnecessary danger in an attempt to impress her. The methods and the people and varied; some of them had even been quite handsome. But what they all had in common, was that they never returned.

As such, Mei wasn't too concerned if Naruto didn't return. So what if another pretty boy went and got themselves killed foolishly? She had a war to win. She didn't have time for fools. If they wanted to throw their lives away in a futile attempt to get in her pants, they were welcome to have a date with the Shinigami.

"Keep a close eye on him. When you get back, I want a full report on the abilities you were able to see, is that clear?" Mei commanded Ao.

Ao nodded.

"Good. Now, unless you have any questions, you are dismissed." Mei ordered.

Ao walked towards the dock, deep in thought. It was just him and Naruto infiltrating a whole fortress which was armed to the teeth. He mused over Mei's instructions as he neared the docks.

Despite the flirtatious and playful façade Mei put up, she could be cold, calculating, and ruthless. Ao smiled as he pondered. That was exactly why he felt no shame in serving a woman 20 years younger than him as his leader.

"Thought you'd never show up. You ready to go old man?" Naruto teased when Ao got closer to the boat he was in.

"Hmph! Back in my day, people showed respect to their seniors!" Ao snapped back, as he entered the small boat that held Naruto and a rower. "Let's get going then. Time to see if your bite is as good as your bark."

Naruto smiled. "If it's a show you want, a show is what you'll get."

In Konoha, With Team 7

"Let me guess, you were gonna be here on time, but then one of your ANBU members suddenly and urgently needed your advice on some relationship issues they were having, but then the person they were talking about appeared, and you had to sort things out between them before you could come here." Narumi asked sassily.

"That was oddly specific. But… yes. That's exactly what happened. How did you know?" Kakashi asked in surprise.

"LIAR! I bet you lost track of time reading that perverted book of yours!" Narumi accused.

The 3 Genin looked at him in disgust, before they turned around and walked away from him.

Kakashi stood there flabbergasted. "Wha-where is this coming from? I'm late a few times, and now I'm suddenly a pervert who loses track of time?" he said to no one in particular.

"Hey! Get back here!"

A few minutes later

"Ehem, so as I was about to say, before you so rudely walked away, I'll be your substitute sensei while Naruto is away on his mission." Kakashi told the team.

"Eh? Really? When's Naruto nii-chan coming back?" Narumi asked.

"I'm not sure. It's a really important and sensitive mission, so the details are a secret. He'll be back when he gets back." Kakashi replied.

"So, what will you be teaching us while he's gone, pervert-sensei?" Sasuke asked.

"Hey! A man can enjoy some adult literature without being a pervert, alright!?" Kakashi shouted in exasperation, quite uncharacteristically. In the ANBU, he was a highly respected figure, seen as the epitome of cool, calm, and collected, an image he had carefully cultivated. In front of these 3, however, he was somehow turned into a joke, something he couldn't understand.

"Sure, sure, whatever you say." Sasuke replied, causing Kakashi to nod in approval. Sasuke then smirked, "But you're still a pervert."

Kakashi smashed a palm into his forehead. These damn kids really knew how to push his buttons. It looked like this was going to be a long day.

"… Can we just get into the training?" Kakashi sighed in defeat.

"Fine. I guess that's enough teasing for now. So, what will we be doing?" Narumi asked.

"Thank you. Now, we'll be working on your improving your elemental affinities again. You all know how to do it, so get to it." Kakashi ordered.

"…" the Genin looked at him quietly.

"…What?" Kakashi asked.

"That's it? You're not gonna teach us anything new? Plan a new training regimen for us?" Sasuke and Narumi asked together.

"No need to fix something that's not broken. You all need some more work on your chakra control and elemental affinities, so that's what you'll be working on." Kakashi responded.

"Fine." Sasuke said tersely before turning around and finding a nice spot he could train, undistracted.

The 3 Genin walked away, each to their own spots.

"Lazy!" Narumi spat out as she shot Kakashi a glare.

"Damn, a tough crowd out here." Kakashi said to himself as the Genin walked away.

He found a nice tree he could lay under, and pulled out his own, un-booby-trapped, copy of Icha Icha Sensei to read under the shade.

While he appeared to be reading, he was in fact, deep in thought.

As the Genin were busy training, he had his own problems he needed to figure out.

'How am I gonna get these kids to not tell Naruto what happened? Should I order them blatantly? No, that'll make it more suspicious. Is there some way to underplay it, so they don't feel like it's something they feel like they need to tell Naruto? Ah, wait, Narumi got stabbed in the stomach, and the other two learned of her Jinchuuriki status. That will be difficult.'

Kakashi sighed. How did he get involved in this mess?

'Maybe I should just tell him myself. He'll be a lot angrier if he finds out we hid it from him. It feels wrong keeping something like this from him, despite my orders. Besides, what's the worst that he could do?'

He turned the page to his book to keep up the appearance of reading his book, carefree.

He looked at the fingers that turned the page. His index finger, though hardly noticeable now, was still slightly crooked, a souvenir from the last time he sparred with Naruto when he was angry.

'Ah. Scratch that. There's a lot he can do.'

Kakashi sighed again. 'I wish I got squished under that rock instead of Obito so I wouldn't have to deal with this shit.'

He felt the headband over the spot that covered his hidden eye. "Heh, they would have had a field day with you, old friend. Wish you were here.'

At the Outpost near Kiri

"We're here." Ao announced quietly. "So, what's the plan?"

"I'll sneak in, get the letters, and come right back out. We get in the boat, and head back to our base, leaving them none the wiser." Naruto said nonchalantly, as if what he just said wasn't ridiculous to hear.

Ao got angry. "Do you see that fortress over the cliff? That's the outpost. You see all of those lights? Those are torches, held by guards, who are trained shinobi, some of who are sensors. Do you think this is a game? We'll need a solid plan and to have even the smallest chance of getting up there unharmed. Coming back down will be a whole different challenge of its own."

Naruto picked at his ear with his pinky. "Yeah, yeah. I heard you. Listen, this is my test, my mission. Let me do things my way, and you can see if things work, ok?"

Ao huffed. "Why you little arrogant pup! Back in my day, we actually took our missions seriously!"

"Oh, I'm quite serious. Who said I wasn't taking this seriously?" Naruto asked as the boat quietly arrived at a beach that was covered by the shadow of the rocky outcropping of the cliff the fortress sat on.

"Do you honestly think you can get through the fortress, unaided? This is usually a mission for a team of at least 4. Do you even know how many people you're gonna have to get past? You're gonna need someone to watch your back and keep an eye out for you. Do you even have any idea where the letters might be?" Ao questioned dismissively.

"Hmmm, let me see…" Naruto closed his eyes and began to focus.

"It seems like there's… 120… no, 127 people in there. The largest number of them seem to be on the top floor, as if it needs to be guarded more heavily than other spots. That must be the command center. I'll start looking there." Naruto answered as he sensed the chakra sources in the fortress.

That surprised Ao. How did he know that? He closed his eyes and stretched out his senses. 127 chakra signatures.

He opened his eyes in shock. This pup was a sensor too? Sure, Ao was able to sense them too, but he was the most powerful sensor to come out of Kiri since the Nidaime Mizukage. They were still quite far off from the fortress, and Naruto was able to pinpoint each chakra signature.

Naruto smiled at the shocked look on Ao's face. "You might want to pick your jaw off of the floor, old man. A fly might accidently fly into your mouth."

Ao closed his mouth, which he wasn't even aware was hanging slightly ajar.

"Now, get yourself comfortable. I'll be gone for a little bit." Naruto said as he weaved through a few hand signs.

"Meisaigakure no Jutsu. (Hiding with Camouflage Technique)" Naruto whispered out, and began to vanish from sight, right in front of Ao.

Ao's eyes almost popped out of their sockets as he watched the blonde boy in front of him become invisible in front of his very eyes.

"Wha- That's the Nidaime Tsuchikage's Jutsu! How do you know that?" Ao asked in shock.

A voice whispered from behind his head. "Oh, you know. I picked up a few tricks here and there."

Ao flinched as he turned around. He couldn't see, hear, or even smell Naruto.

He focused his senses to locate Naruto. When he tried his hardest, he could sense the smallest trace of Naruto's distinct chakra. He was shocked. Ao was hailed as a prodigious sensor, and here he was, barely able to sense someone who was barely 2 meters away from him. In fact, if he hadn't known exactly what to look for, he wouldn't have known Naruto was there, even if he had his senses up.

"Now, if you've made yourself comfortable, I'll be on my way."

A few seconds passed, and Ao assumed Naruto had gone towards the castle, but it was hard to tell since he couldn't sense the blonde.

Waiting for several more minutes, when he was sure Naruto was far away, he secretly activated the Byakugan that had been implanted underneath his eyepatch, a souvenir of the past Shinobi World War.

Only then could he finally find Naruto visually. He saw Naruto scaling the side of the fortress, remaining undetected. "Incredible…"

With Naruto

Naruto scaled the side of the fortress noiselessly, until he reached an open balcony on the top, where 2 guards were stationed, looking out into the seas to look for any approaching rebel ships.

He boldly jumped between the two, as he knew they couldn't sense him. He landed perfectly, cushioning his fall by landing on the ball of his feet and allowing his flexed knees and ankles to absorb all of the impact, and creating no noise, due to several silencing seals he had inscribed onto his sandals.

He waltzed right by them, and entered the hallway that led to the command center. He easily slipped by each of numerous guards that lined the hallway, until he reached the door of the command center, which had 2 guards stationed on either side of the door.

He didn't want to let the occupants know he had ever entered the fortress of an outpost, so he decided not to kill anyone. He had to wait for the door to open, and somehow slip right in, all without alerting the guards.

He used the tree climbing technique to stick his feet on the wall, and positioned himself over the door, and waited patiently for someone to either enter or leave the room.

After roughly 15 minutes of waiting, the door opened, as one of the officers left to go to the bathroom.

In the short opening between the man leaving the room, and the door swinging shut behind him, Naruto released his hold over the threshold of the door, and fell in the gap between the open door and the room inside.

Before his feet hit the ground, he caught the door frame with his hands, and swung himself up, so his feet reached and clung to the interior wall, and let go of the door frame, before the door closed on his fingers.

Naruto was inside the command center now.

He took a look around to see what he had to work with.

There were several guards, stationed all around the room, and several officers were seated or standing around a large central table, that had a huge map unrolled on it. They talked and discussed amongst themselves as they pointed at various points on the map.

Naruto scanned the room to see if what he was looking for was in the room. On one end of the table, there was a small pile of missives and letters sent from Kiri's high command.

Naruto smiled. Bingo.

Naruto climbed towards the ceiling, where the beams that held up the roof were exposed. He sat on one of the beams, as he began to strategize.

If he just took all of the letters, they would know something was wrong, even if he was able to do it undetected. He would have to either replace them, leave the appearance of them being destroyed, or leave the originals and take copies instead.

He decided on this last option, and quickly came up with a plan to implement it.

He started by casting a subtle genjutsu on everyone in the room. It was so subtle, that everything was practically the same as reality. The only place affected was the part of the room the letters were in. It appeared that the letters seemed to still be there, untouched.

In reality, however, Naruto had created several clones of himself to copy down the letters. With hands well-practiced from his calligraphy practice for his fuinjutsu, he and his also invisible clones quickly copied down the letters as quickly as he could. After a little over 5 minutes, he had all of the letters copied down and sealed into a scroll.

There was just one last thing he needed to do before he left. Even as smart and capable as he was, there was no way he could pile up the letters in the exact same way they were in before, and someone sharp might notice. However, he had a plan of his own. Naruto had invisible clones stand near the door, undetected, while he once again positioned himself over the door. He then began to wait once again.

When the man who had left earlier came back, Naruto and his clones sprang into action.

When the man casually pulled the door shut behind him, letting the momentum of the door close itself as he let go, Naruto left the same way he came in.

Meanwhile, Naruto's one of Naruto's clones pulled the door shut with much more force, causing the door to slam shut loudly.

Another clone used a weak wind jutsu to send a gust of wind at the pile of letters. Naruto then released his genjutsu on the occupants of the room

*SLAM!*

*WHOOSH*

"Hey watch it you idiot! You're sending all of our orders flying all over the room!" The commander of the outpost yelled at the man who just entered.

"S-sorry commander. I could have sworn I didn't close the door that hard…"

"Shut up and pick up all of the letters! I don't need your stupid excuses!"

"H-hai!" The bewildered man then went on to pick up the letters.

Meanwhile, Naruto jumped out of the balcony, between the 2 guards who never even suspected that an intruded had just entered and left right under their noses.

Naruto landed softly in the sand, rolling once to dissipate the momentum, after his chakra-laced feet absorbed some of the impact.

He then stood up and headed over to Ao.

Ao had been secretly able to see Naruto's brazen actions with his Byakugan, down to the clones and genjutsu.

He was shocked Naruto had been able to get away with such a bold approach. Other than the Meisaigakure no Jutsu (Hiding with Camouflage Technique), most of his jutsu were simple ones. Naruto had been able to pull off the risky and brazen plan only due to his flawless execution.

Naruto released the jutsu making him invisible, and appeared in front of Ao, holding up a scroll.

"Got what we came for. Now, let's get out of here."

Ao could only nod. He was still speechless from what he had just witness. Perhaps the young pup was more skilled than he had expected.

In Konoha, in front of the T&I building. In the evening.

"Told you I'd get him to spill the beans." Anko said with a victorious smile.

"Wha-how! I did everything by the book! I even did that one thing with the candle you told me to try!" Izumi huffed out in shock and irritation.

"Well you see, Izumi-chan, that's the difference between us pros and you amateurs." Anko sneered.

Izumi rolled her eyes. "Whatever. You just have a scarier face. Once I grow out of my baby face stage, I'll get those jerks to sing like they were at a concert."

"Yeah, yeah, excuses, excuses." Anko said in a sing-song voice, dismissing Izumi. "Now, if I remember correctly, someone owes me 5,000 ryo." Anko reminded Izumi as she stuck out her hand.

Izumi rolled her eyes. "Fine. A bet is a bet I guess. Here's your money." She counted out a few bills and placed them in Anko's waiting hands.

"Ah, the sweet smell of victory." Anko hummed as she breathed in the scent of the bills.

"Umm, you know that's not very hygenic." Izumi advised.

"Sorry, what was that? I couldn't hear you, over the sound of my new fan." Anko said as she fanned herself with the bills she spread out into a fan-shape.

"Tch. Whatever. Forget I said anything." Izumi rolled her eyes again.

"Wonder how many sticks of dango I could get with this?" Anko made a show by counting on her fingers with exaggerated motions.

"Don't tell me you're gonna spend all that on dango." Izumi sighed in disbelief.

"Of course not! What kind of girl do you think I am!" Anko said in a faux-defensive tone. "I'll be buying sake as well!"

Izumi sweat dropped. "Ah, right. Of course. That makes it much better."

Anko snaked her arm around Izumi's shoulders. "Why don't you join me? I recently won a bet against this amateur girl who thought she was a real hard-ass, so I'm loaded. The drinks will be on me!"

Izumi rolled her eyes again, before she started chuckling. "Alright. I'll take you up on that. I need a drink after dealing with this one annoying girl who thinks she's too cool for school."

"There's my girl! Let's get going then, shall we?" Anko began to take the younger girl to her favorite bar. "For the record, I heard that not-so-annoying girl actually IS too cool for school."

Izumi just chuckled, going along with Anko's antics. After all, if you can't beat em, join em, right?

At the Bar

"Geez Izumi, that's the 4th guy you turned down tonight! He had quite a cute little ass too!" Anko wondered out loud.

"Yeah, yeah. He wasn't my type." Izumi brushed off Anko's questions with a smile.

"You say that about everyone. What, you holding out for Naruto or something?" Anko inquired.

Izumi spat out her drink. "What? Naruto? Oh, gods no. He's like my best friend! It would be weird to think about him like that!"

"Whaaaat? Girl, you're crazy. He's like one of the top 3 hottest guys in town, and you friend-zoned him? What, you prefer girls or something?" Anko questioned.

"No! Of course not. It's just that he's not my type." Izumi said in defense.

"No, of course not. Let me guess your type. A guy with a smooth, silky black hair, a smaller frame, with soft eyes and a somewhat aloof attitude." Anko asked sarcastically.

"Hmmm... now you're getting somewhere." Izumi gushed as she began to think about a certain man.

"Mhmm. Strong, silent, responsible type?" Anko continued.

"Yes… Oh my. Did someone turn up the heat in here?" Izumi asked as she looked around.

"… the kill the whole clan and become an S-rank missing-nin type?" Anko said in a deadpan voice as she stared at Izumi with a look to match her delivery.

"Mmmm… yes… Wait. What? What the hell? Of course not!" Izumi was broken out of her day dream when she realized what Anko said.

Anko chuckled. "Izumi-chan, when are you gonna get over Itachi? He's a missing-nin now. He almost killed your whole clan for crying out loud!"

"That's not true! There's more to that story!" Izumi cried out in defense, before she clamped her hand over her mouth. Shit. She was supposed to keep that a secret.

Anko raised an eyebrow. "Come again now? You know something about that incident that the rest of us don't?"

"N-no! Of course not! I'm just saying there must be more to that story. Itachi-kun would never act like that without a very good reason!" Izumi tried to cover up her slip-up.

Anko stared Izumi down with a stare that had broken down many of her interrogation victims in the past. Izumi tried to look calm, but she couldn't help but squirm a little under the veteran interrogator's stare.

Anko decided to let it go. She was off work right now, and she didn't want to go into work mode with her friend. She'd let her keep her secrets for now. She changed the subject.

"Anyway, if you're not going to claim Naruto for yourself, you should hook me up with him." Anko proposed.

"Wait, what? You like Naruto? I was trying to set him up with Shizune-san!" Izumi replied.

"What? Shizune-san? Sure, she's sweet, caring, nurturing, accepting, and kinda cute, but- ah wait. I see where you're coming from." Anko admitted.

"But hey! What about me! I can be sweet! You can ask my snakes!" Anko retorted.

"Ummm, I'm sure you are, Anko." Izumi replied. "So, what makes you a good match for Naruto?"

"Uhh… is that even a question? He's hot, and I'm hot. Have you seen me?" Anko said as she stood up and spun around dramatically, presenting herself to Izumi. "Did you see that? Did you see how nice my ass is?"

"Errr… it's… uhhh… very nice?" Izumi didn't know how to answer.

"Damn right, it's very nice!" Anko said as she lifted her head victoriously.

"All jokes aside, we get along. Him and Kakashi are some of the only guys who can deal with me, without being intimidated. I mean, if Kakashi would get his damn masked-face out that damn book, and wanted to recreate the scenes with me, I'd be down, but at this point I'm not even sure he likes real women." Anko said slightly more seriously.

"Hmmm… Kakashi-san, eh?" Izumi said as she rubbed her chin. Her mind began to scheme. Sure, her love was doing kami-knows-what in kami-knows-where, depriving of her of any love-life, but damn it, if she couldn't enjoy romance of her own, she'd at least be the best damn matchmaker in this village.

Anko could practically see the gears turning in her friend's head.

"Yes! Yes! Scheme away, my little devious mastermind! Scheme away! Get me my sexy hunk of a man!" Anko cheered, as she patted Izumi on the back.

In the Rebel's Commander's Tent

"This… is… troubling." Mei said as she read through the orders Naruto was able to copy from the outpost.

"According these letters, they've been amassing a large force of over 1,000 shinobi to attack our base in Seagull Island." Ao said as he looked through the letters.

"This is bad. That's one of our biggest bases. We've got over 500 people there, and more than half of them are shinobi." Another officer commented.

"Shit! That's where Mangetsu and his brother are!" Zabuza growled out angrily.

"When are they planning to attack?" A different officer asked.

"According to one letter, they'll be attacking… tonight." Ao said in a serious voice.

"Oh gods… they won't even know what's coming… it'll be a massacre." One officer stammered out.

Zabuza slammed the table with his fist. "Damn it! Even if we left right now to reinforce them on our fastest ships, the earliest we could get there is by tomorrow morning. It'll be too late."

"How did they even know we were on Seagull Island? It's secluded, and it's an insignificant island that's mostly inhabited by seagulls!" An officer shouted.

"It seems their informants are finally beginning to map out our bases." Mei mentioned in a calm voice, though inside she was screaming. This would be a huge loss for the already small rebellion. Still, she had to maintain her appearances of being calm and collected, for the sake of her men. She could only cry from the weight of her losses and burden of leading the rebellion when she was alone, which rarely, if ever, happened.

Meanwhile, Naruto was studying the huge map that was laid out on the table, which was used for strategizing.

"Hmmm… If we leave now, I think we could reach the island in about 3 hours." Naruto quietly suggested.

"Look, we basically live out here in the sea. That kind of distance will take at least 12 hours. It's not like traveling over land, alright?" One officer said dismissively. "Geez, these mainlanders… you hear the shit they say?"

Ao, however, wasn't so quick to dismiss Naruto. He'd seen the smallest of glimpses into Naruto's abilities, and realized the young pup wasn't all talk.

"3 hours? I'm guessing you have some secret way to travel faster?" Ao inquired.

Naruto nodded. He unsealed a large folded up sheet of cloth.

"I had this specially made in Wave. It's a sail that has ninja wire woven into it to make it extra tough."

"And that helps us how?" A doubtful officer asked.

"I've got a jutsu that will help us travel faster, but it'll tear right through your average sail. If you outfit your ships with these, I'll help us get there in time." Naruto explained.

"How many of those sails do you have?" Mei asked.

"Just enough to outfit one of your largest ships. I didn't have much time to get more, you see." Naruto replied.

"Ao, how many men can we fit on our largest ship? Without any cargo?" Mei asked.

"Around 150 to 200 men, Mei-sama." Ao replied.

"Even if we send 200 shinobi to reinforce the 300 or so that are present there, we'd be outnumbered 2-to-1. Trying to escort or protect the civilians present will be a big hindrance. We risk losing even the reinforcements if we send such a small number, while gaining nothing." One officer advised.

"So, you want her to not do anything? Let our brothers in arms just die?" Zabuza snapped.

"Better letting them die, than losing everyone! That was the whole point of spreading out our forces!" The officer retorted.

Arguments began to break out all over the tent.

Meanwhile, Mei was silent, as she looked over the map. Naruto too, remained silent, awaiting Mei's orders.

"Ok that's enough." Mei said quietly, but her officers didn't hear her over the commotion of their argument.

"I SAID THAT'S ENOUGH!" Mei shouted out with authority, as she released a large amount of killing intent that swept throughout the room. Everyone stopped speaking immediately.

"Ao, you and Zabuza take 200 of our strongest fighters, and head over to Seagull Island immediately with Naruto. We'll send another 600 men on 3 ships, to sail there as fast as they can. Ao, I want you to command the 200 to help our forces there hold out against the Loyalists until the rest of our reinforcements can arrive." Mei ordered.

"But that leaves only 200 shinobi to protect this island!" An officer cautioned.

"It's a risk I'll be willing to take. If they come here, I'll be waiting here to send them to hell where they belong." Mei hissed in a low voice, that promised pain for whoever got on her bad side.

Ao nodded. "Understood Mei-sama."

He then turned to the lower ranked officers behind him. "Zabuza! I want you to gather 100 of the best fighters on the east side of the island, then head to the docks. I'll do the same from the west side of the island. Naruto-san, you go to the ship right away, and rig up the ship with your special sails. We don't have time to waste."

Naruto and Zabuza nodded.

"Good. Now the rest of you get ready to head out as well. Time is of the essence. Everyone, move out!" Mei commanded, and the officers saluted her. "Ao, Naruto-kun, stay for a second."

The rest of the officers ran out of the tent to prepare to set sail as soon as possible.

"Naruto-kun." Mei purred out.

"Yes? Mei-sama?" Naruto replied.

Mei seductively walked over to Naruto, and softly caressed his cheek. "If you can help my men rescue my forces on Seagull Island, I'd be very grateful." She said in a suggestive voice.

She then leaned in to whisper into Naruto's ear. "And, I reward those who I'm grateful to, quite generously."

Naruto's toes curled, and his breath hitched in his throat when he felt Mei's hot breath on his cheek, and Mei's large breasts being pressed onto his chest.

"H-hai. I'll make sure we get there in time, and deliver a decisive blow." Naruto barely gathered his wits to reply.

Mei stepped back and smiled. "Good. Now get going. We haven't much time."

Naruto nodded and ran out of the tent, in a hurry to leave before he made a fool of himself.

"Ao." Mei called out in a serious tone once again.

"Yes, Mei-sama?" Ao replied as he stepped closer.

"How capable did you gauge him to be? Do you think he can deliver?" Mei questioned her right-hand man.

"He mostly used basic techniques to infiltrate the outpost and steal the intel by himself, so I'm not sure of the full extent of his capabilities." Ao explained.

"So, what you're saying is, you don't know." Mei reasoned.

"I don't know everything he is capable of." Ao continued, "However, everything he did, he did flawlessly. He is a powerful sensor, who, which I hate to admit, is on my level of sensing. His stealth capabilities are greater than any I've seen in all my years as a shinobi. He is also capable of using Konoha's forbidden shadow clone jutsu. I haven't seen him fight yet, but I believe he is more than capable of holding his own." Ao reported.

"Good. Hopefully, we can see more of his capabilities in this upcoming fight. Continue to keep an eye on him, and let me know what else he can do." Mei ordered. "You may go now."

Ao saluted Mei and ran out to gather his fighters.

"Trying to play the teasing game too, are we Naruto-kun?" Mei murmured to herself as she went back to the map on the table.

She chuckled. "Good. It'd be boring if you showed me everything right away. A girl can enjoy a little mystery." Mei said to herself as she planned her next moves.

"We'll see who wins this little game. I'll strip you bare, and have you exposed before me soon enough."

*Author's Note*

And that's the latest chapter, and the start of the Bloodline Rebellion! What did you guys think?

Someone pointed out the pairing thing kinda took away the suspense of how the relationship would develop. I have to agree. I'm done with the pairing votes or suggestions now. I think I have a good idea of which pairing to do now anyway. Sorry if you don't get the pairing you wanted, but you know how it is. I can't please everyone, and no, I won't have a harem. No CRA here.

So another thing that's been on my mind, is an idea for another story. Ideas keep popping up, and I'm too far into my story to implement some of these ideas in this one. However, if I started a new story, the rate I update this story would obviously slow down, and it might have other effects too, so I don't know if I should start.

If you're interested in what the premise is, you can ask me in PM or something.

Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! This is an arc I've been waiting to write, so I hope I can do it justice, and you guys enjoy it!

Stay safe, and hope you guys have a great day!

Until next time!