A/N: Hey gang, it's been longer than I'd hoped but this chapter (and school) have been killing me lately, I swear: making up an entire mission and set of characters/npcs (or so to speak) for kakashi to interact with is NOT Easy! (Plus it doesn't help that I day dream other fanfic ideas-remind me to tell you about mha crossovers- more than I write)

So please let me know, drop any tips, questions, or plot/moment ideas (please I need them so bad)

Without further ado: chapter 3

(Oh yea and disclaimer: if I wrote Naruto, lee would end up with Sakura and their kids would be the cutest)

Chapter 3

Five days after our favorite ANBU left Kohona , our chapter opens*.

We are greeted with skies above a lonely mountain village, crisp blue slowly turning to a honey golden.

The air is cooling as night once again comes swiftly to the village of Ihona Mura. However, unlike most villages where the presents go to bed early and rise earlier, Ihona Mura is just waking up.

The night life of this little city is one that would rival a major village, bright fluorescent lights and darkly shaded alley ways illuminate the vivid contrast between the village's day and night.

Though the village was small- home to only about four hundred people, it was constantly full to the brim and bustling with life, due to her main source of income.

Ihona Mura is not like her other small farming hamlet brothers. Where they merely survived off of farming and fish trade, she thrived. It was to be expected of course if one knew the true nature of this little town.

Her black market was always growing and it's money was always welcome. The shady men and women who frequented the market often stayed to eat, drink, gamble and do other ...ignominious things, the likes of which are typical for such a place.

To suffice, the black trade brought people into the village, and the people spent money and the village grew. The locals profited (regardless of the fact they had to pay a tribute to a company of missing-nin for protection) and were quite content despite the …. danger of living near and supporting a growing black market.

Our gaze falls to rest on our protagonist crouched gargoyle-like on the roof of a medium sized building- a little flower shop to be precise. (Which almost seems out of place here, but the old couple who runs it has enough dirt on everyone for them to stay in business, so we don't question it)

With all of the casual attentiveness of someone who's done this a thousand times, the man in the porcelain mask perched high, watches the building located across the, well, sketchy would be the best adjective for the place I guess. Everything about it practically screamed: 'Come near and we'll make you bleed'

It was small and shabby with boarded up windows to complete to look. (And big ugly cuss words scrawled across the walls in faded paint. ya' know, just in case you didn't feel welcomed before)

Out of a side door on the building slipped a small fat man in a suit swinging a briefcase back and forth. Walking quickly as one who has an urgent appointment, he set out; bobbing down the street at a brisk pace, more reminiscent of ocean buoy than a man.

Under the porcelain mask, Kakashi's mismatched eyes narrowed slightly.

When the fat man enters an alley way to cut down his time, we find Our ANBU has vanished from the roof, leaving only empty air and lengthening shadows behind him.


The Busted Bottle Bar. 9:00 pm.

Kaito sighed contentedly. After a long day of hard manual labor in the hot sun, sipping his glass of sake was exactly what he needed; Smiling he watched the chaos that was generally Ihona Mura.

Kaito was one of the locals here. A farmhand was his official job, though occasionally he ran betting pools for the cage fights that happened once a month in the underground.

The underground, as it was called, was a series of caves carved into the side of the large mountain that Ihona Mura was nestled in, where most illegal activity took place. Cage fights, and slave auctions happened once a month and the general black market was open every other day.

As it stands, one may find entrance to these caves by asking the right people the right questions. It was one of those things that everybody knows but tells no one…. Unless you pay of course. Which was another thing Kaito profited from. Occasionally. It was an extremely risky business, both sides of the law could easily turn on you.

As of the current moment the village was extra busy. The end of the month drew near and the slave auction's first day of sales would start early the next morning. It was to be expected Kaito supposed, the mass of people that flocked to the Underground was astonishing.

For a little, remote place high up in the mountains, the small village could get ridiculously crowded. The small sunny streets were often packed with various types of people, a fair portion of them foreigners and disreputable sorts, but that was to be expected and accepted if one knew the true nature of the town.

Sitting in a front corner booth of the main street bar, as was his habit, Kaito watched the various people in the village bustle about and prepare for the upcoming slave auctions.

One elerdry shopkeeper was marking up his wares, as was common, before the village flooded with inhabitants. The head man's underling brokering a deal with the missing-nins that kept the village under the radar of the local Dynamo. He watched as other individuals went about their day, young lovers, old warriors, shifty eyed men and women in less than modest clothing, some were doing normal everyday village things, some doing things that were less... honorable, but people in Ihona Mura were quick to turn a blind eye to things, especially if money was offered. It was a blessing and a curse, the villagers lived under.

Something out of the corner of Kaito's eye, drew away his thoughts. It was a muscular man, thin and lithe with tattered clothes that at some point were once clean, walking (storming?) towards the small bar. He wasn't entirely sure why the man drew his attention, but the foreigner did.

Perhaps it was the way the young man moved, in an angry bustle like he loathed his very existence on this miserable planet. Perhaps it was the way his steps were balanced and swift despite his prominent limp that gave him away as dangerous, someone best avoided. Perhaps it was the small boy being led roughly by the forearm, (The child was very small and looked malnourished and maltreated) Whatever it was about him, it wasn't good.

" Hurry up brat " The young man growled, pushing open the door. The child only ducked and cowarded in responce, covering his head with his small arms in a fetal position as if fearing a blow.

The chibi might have (at one point) been clean and presentable but as of such very little of him was now. Kaito could hardly imagine what the kid looked like under all the dirt and grime and dried blood, (Goodness, why was there so much dried blood? ). The few physical traits he could make out were not positive ones either.

The boy was small, pitifully so. Kaito could see the ribs protruding under the skin, where a portion of the shirt was torn. Said shirt was way too large for the small urchin and not in good condition- probably never had been. Three whisker-like scars adorned each of the boy's cheeks. Kaito frowned, He didn't want to imagine what sick person had the sadistic mindset to have given such a small kid those scars.

Kaito wondered whether or not there was a safe way to help out the Chibi (he looked so much alike Kiato's own little one back home.)

Perhaps… Maybe if he had enough money he could bring him home to be an extra farm hand? No, he knew he didn't have enough money, even if he worked three or four side gigs for a month in advance he wouldn't have enough. Besides, someone else would surely buy the kid tomorrow at the slave auction. There were many people who would have more use for the little boy. Kaito probably could put in a good word for him to his friend who managed the kitchen staff in the large manors, at least the kid could have a warm place to sleep at night then.

The man with a limp had drug the tiny boy to a corner booth across from where Kaito was sitting and a little back. Watching the pair out of the corner of his eye, Kaito tried to appear only interested in his drink, which was slowly going lukewarm.

It was pretty easy to guess the reason the two had come to this particular bar - The Busted Bottle wasn't the most frequented bar in town for nothing. It's closed lipped owner is only part of what made it so ideal. It's illegal beverages and pretty ladies are also popular. Despite being a shaggy little dump it was a gold mine for information, and sometimes simply being present at the right time granted one profitable information.

Kaito knew from experience, there had been many a time the right information in the right hands could provide your bread and firewood.

Xxxx.

About half an hour and few drinks later, the bar door swung open to make room for a short fat man carrying a leather briefcase and Kaito winced as the cool air hit his face. Soon enough though, the door swung shut again and the fat middle aged man made his way over to a table.

Actually, Katio noticed, the table the man went over to was also the one where the limping man was sat with the small boy, the fat man (though don't let him hear you call him that) was probably there to make a deal for the boy on behalf of Zankoku, who was one of the more promante crime lords. Though it made Kaito wonder what was so special about that boy, perhaps he came from a promenade family somewhere, though with all the abuse marks it would have been long awhile since he'd gone missing.

The two men stood and together moved towards the back of the bar, the small kid in between them, the fat man having passed a key to the one with scars on his face.

It wasn't hard to deduce where and why they were going: Apart of The Broken Bottle's appeal was it's many back (soundproof) rooms one could rent out for private meetings and Zankoku had a permeate one rented out to his name.

As they rounded the corner, Kaito lost sight of the small party.

Xxx

Hito walked toward the pre-arranged back room, slightly apprehensive. He hadn't been a missing-nin for long and didn't fully understand how the whole thing worked. Well obviously he understood that money and knives and information played a large part in the affairs of the criminal underworld, but he had never had a class in the academy called "how to deflect from konoha and establish dominance as a missing-nin" (for obvious reasons).

He himself was a pretty good fighter, having graduated as early as the rest of the war time shinobi and had survived mostly by luck, but when the Nine-tails attacked and he lost all but one of his precious people, he had decided revenge was the only course of action.

'It's patriotic really' he thought 'the lengths someone will go to protect their country even if the hokage won't recognise it'

Warning bells should have started to go off and as a ninja he should have listened to his instincts but the lure of money and the imminent torment of the demon brat (because who knew what would happen if he outright killed the thing) was too tempting and the effects of the liquor was clouding his judgement. Trusting his combat skills to protect him, Hito cautiously opened the door to the pre-arranged meeting place making sure he was close enough to grab the kid if escape became necessary.

As he stepped inside the back room his instincts suddenly warned him to duck. But he wasn't fast enough.

He quickly found himself in a vicious choke hold, a Kunai to his throat.

"Those who betray their country are worse the scum" A voice growed in his ear, low and feral.

"You, Hashimato Hito, are condemned to death under the proven accusations of betrayal by defection from konoha and of kidnaping a minor." The voice rasped. "I would not try to struggle, I'm not in a mood to deal with your... crap"

Haito didn't move more than half an inch, slowly tensing every so slightly, about to make an attack, reaching slowly for the Kunai in his belt.

But it was over before it even began. The ANBU soldier anticipated the atack and instantly Hito felt the cold whisper of steel and smelt the thick metallic scent of his own blood as the light went out of his eyes.

Anbu Wolf slowly let the man's body slump to the floor.

The little child stood stock still just in the doorway, frozen in fear and unsure of what to believe. The mean bad smelling man was dead but who was the new guy with an even scarier face? It was all white and red like a monster!

The fat man suddenly 'Poofed!' into another monster-man, but this one was wearing some of the fat man's clothes! Naruto yelped. Where did all these monsters come from?! Did the new one eat the fat man?! Would they eat him?! That's what the Lady at the orphanage always told him… Naruto shivered, He never wanted to see that meanie-head lady again! He hoped she'd stuck her toe or something and ne've come back!

The monster bent down towards naruto, putting his hand on naruto's shoulder.

"Look at me." The voice was soft but commanding. Nartuo nodded and looked hesitant into the monster's white face, and what he saw scared him. The monster had one red eye and one black one!

The monster muttered something as he put his hands in a ninja sign (was the monster a ninja?) and suddenly Naruto's head felt foggy, like when one's not awake but not asleep.

Sleep….

what …..

a good….

idea…

.

.

.

.

The kid slumped over, asleep.

As the Shadow-clone ANBU gently picked him up into his arms, he waited patiently for the regular Kakshi to finish taking care of the body.

"Kid's out cold, boss, I also went ahead and erased his memories of the last few moments too"

There came no audible reply from the original ANBU who merely gave a curt nod of acknowledgement.

Working quickly, Wolf sealed the corpse in a body scroll to be taken back to Kohona, analyzed, and confirmed as Hashimato Hito

Finished, He slipped the scroll back into its place and took hold of Sensei's ki- the objective to let his clone slide off the nasty clothes they had taken from the old fat fool earlier. It would be used as evidence, so his clone sealed them into a separate scroll then dismissed itself with hiss of smoke.

As Wolf left, he quietly slipped the barkeep a small pouch of coins- to pay for the darken carpet stains… and his silence.

The barkeep pocketed the pouch and nodded his thanks. Not giving much more thought to the man with the unconscious child who slipped out into the cold night. If anyone asked, he had never seen them.

xxx

Kaito came stumble-running out of the bar, silently cursing at his clumsiness.

He followed after the man who had left with the kid. Just barely noticing them leave, they had slipped out so casually and silently that had not Kiato been watching for the child, he wouldn't ever noticed them.

He didn't know why but he had grown quite fond of the small child and he definitely didn't know what he was planning on doing when (if) he caught up to the man but he pursued them anyway.

What would he do? Leave a word of advice? That would be stupid. Ask to buy the kid? he could but that would be foolish simply by the way the man walked (not to mention he had never seen the scared man with a limp come back out of the back room) and most likely futile but nevertheless, he followed.

As turned the corner into a side alley where he was expecting to find the man and child, he instead found a dead end, silent and empty.

Looking up at the dark sky littered with stars Kaito sighed.

'Kid, I hope ya do all right out there'


As the sun rose the next day, somewhere in Ihona Mura the fat man woke with no memory of the previous day as he looked down to wonder:

Why the heck am I naked?

Xxxx.

*note: Yes, I know it's dusk again, but I can't help it- dawn or noon or whatever didn't make sense and the sunset/rise is just too much fun to describe. Besides I love starting or ending with a description of sky or nature or whatever; but I promise I'll work on it... later

A/n: so um… was that okay? Beter? Worse? Too fast? Too much monologue? Too wordy? Is kaito weird? Do you want to see him again later? Please let me know so I can work on fixing it, I'm trying to work on making the story seem less rushed but so far I don't think that's happening. And btw making up a whole city and people is uh.. Really hard…. So did it sound okay?

Also, yeah I know it would have been better If kakashi or some of the other characters cussed but i'm trying to keep it relatively pg-13, ya'know? So ig if ya feel cursing fit a moment better feel free to mentaly add it in. your the reader; I personally however won't ever write those words down or say them.

Oh, and sorry this is late, I wanted to publish this (yesterday) on wed, november 11 - Veteran's day in America- Thanks so much to all who serve! and also Pervy Sage's birthday- but it was too late and I wanted Lydia (the most amazing sister- thanks so much for everything! that last bit was for you!) to proofread it first, so yea, sorry.

To Him be the glory,

Bye!

Postscript: Would a naruto/ boku no hero crossover be something ya'll would be interested in? I'm thinking of dropping Izuku into the naruto-verse during an AU blank period because I think it would be really cool for rock lee and sakura to meet deku but I haven't come up with too much of a plot other than yet so it's sorta half baked so far (kinda like this story) but is that kinda interesting? Maybe? Please let me know!