The Konoha team was running full steam ahead, to the north, north-west and towards Konoha. Hopping from branches to branches, the four genins weaved in and out in a loose formation, the Hyuuga in front, followed by the girl, the green-clad boy and the younger blond.

They wouldn't be allowed to go much further. Kidoumaru had a mission and he would fulfil it, as failure meant death at his master's hands. He didn't want to die, call him selfish but really he didn't. So those children would die in his stead. It was bad luck for them really, as it could have been anyone else. It was what he found most funny with Fate: she was blind and random in her choice.

Kidoumaru paused for a second, stretched his eight limbs before suddenly gaining speed. They had been running for something like three hours already and they were now out of lord Mugabe's domain. Which meant that Kidoumaru could act. He would need to get close and personal, to make it seems like bandits had done the deed. His jutsu really was excellent for assassination but the marks it left were truly too much of a giveaway. He might as well leave his headband with his name on it and the new address of his master.

No, he was going to gut them messily, with a kunai. He hated that, the waste of precious meat, the needless loss of blood. It made the prey much less attractive than with his jutsu. Maybe he would have some fun with the girl before he killed her. She was kind of cute and not too young so she would do fine.

He licked his lips. He could already hear her screams and see her begging, terrified eyes as he possessed her. He felt blood rush in his nether regions and sped up, a giddy eagerness to kill taking control. His left shoulder suddenly burned, an excruciating sensation of pain and pleasure mixed and the veins in his body suddenly bulged, blackened by foul blood being pumped by his excited heart.

He sped and overtook the genins, glad he had left his miserable acolyte back in town. He wouldn't need him for this. He liked better to hunt alone anyway.

Once Kidoumaru had a comfortable advance on his four preys, he stopped and whirled around to face the direction they would come from. Stretching his eight limbs again, he took a kunai in one of his six hands and a whetstone in another and began to absentmindedly sharpen his weapon before he opened his mouth, unhinging his jaw.

Pushing chakra into his saliva, Kidoumaru felt the sticky substance of his silk drip from his unfurled tongue. Patiently, he spun the silk until he got a solid yet fine thread. With two of his free hands, he fished in one of his pouch for a bit of clay and pushed chakra inside the earth.

The lump turned into a spider and Kidoumaru attached the thread to the construct's rear before he dropped it and ran through several hand signs. The spider twitched once, twice and a third time before it rose on its spindly legs and crawled away, slowly at first then at an amazing speed all around Kidoumaru, stretching his thread and creating a net.

"Come rest into my net," sang the man. "Little naive buzzing fly,"

The silk behind the spider had turned the forest around him in one inescapable trap. There was only one entrance that would collapse as soon as the preys would be here.

"Lay down relax and rest, let me sing you this lullaby," Kidoumaru continued as his spider-golem came back to him.

"Now please I do insist, I'm having you stay for dinner."

He pulled the thread taut once and moulded his chakra, slightly differently this time, to make his trap sticky.

"Except there's a twist, and some salt and some pepper," He finished, kunai at the ready and grinning madly. He could hear them coming, loud and clumsy like the inexperienced little ninjas that they were. It was such a shame he had to make it look like an accident, such a shame he couldn't keep them.

His grin widened when all four genins were caught almost simultaneously in his net with surprised yelps that soon turned to curses.

"Hello," he greeted, revealing himself. He revelled in the fear that painted itself on the genin's faces. "I'm going to kill you," he said, releasing his killing intent in waves.

That seemed to paralyze the four genins who shivered in fright.

"Holy shit, you're one ugly motherfucker!" The blond screamed suddenly, which made the other three snicker, their fear momentarily forgotten.

Kidoumaru's grin twisted into a furious grimace and his killing intent spiked. "I'm going to make you suffer," he growled, crawling slowly on his net to reach the boy.

The blond simply grimaced and recoiled as best as he could, trapped as he was by the sticky silk. "Nah, not interested, sorry." He bit out with bravado.

It was then Kidoumaru heard the distinct hiss of a primed explosive tag. His eyes widened.

Escaping from the fortress without being seen was easy. Once Neji confirmed with his Byakugan that the shinobi he had spotted was following the decoy, Tenten and Naruto, each under a transformation, bypassed the guards - an easy feat when one can stick to vertical surfaces and most of the soldiers are watching the sea - before Lee and he followed soon after.

They avoided the night watch within the town proper without much difficulty: those guards were meant to detain drunkards and not spot ninjas. Team Gai and Naruto weren't the most stealth adept genins of Konoha but it was sufficient. They all regrouped in a dark back-alley before Naruto and Tenten both went away again.

The two returned sometime later with some clothes while Neji had sharpened a kunai. Lee shed some tears at being dolled-up but understood the necessity of it. His outfit and overall appearance had a tendency to imprint themselves in people's retina.

Lee was quickly made unrecognizable, his green onesie and orange leg-warmers concealed beneath large brown pants and a cream-coloured long-sleeved top and his bowl-cut taken care of.

"We'll take the western road and go along the coast for a while," said Neji. "Then, in two hours or so, we'll take to the woods and go straight for Konoha. With a bit of luck, they won't uncover our decoy too soon."

Tenten and Lee nodded and all turned to Naruto. The blond nodded and maybe his hesitation could be seen on his face, for all three other genins gave him interrogative looks.

"We also need to find Shinji." He said eventually.

"Shinji?" Lee asked in a mumble.

"The guy who spoke to me. I'm sure he's in danger." The blond explained hurriedly. "And it's partially my f-"

"Stop," interrupted Neji in a warning tone. "You didn't force him to talk and you warned him to prepare himself. If he is too stupid to listen to you then-"

"He wasn't taught to think like us!" Naruto whispered harshly. "He isn't a ninja, just a guy who is trying to keep his family fed. And I put him, them, in danger. I need to do something about it," the blond continued angrily.

"And where are you even going to go? Do you know where he lives? Do you know if the enemies will even act? Or when? What, are you going to stay here while we go back to Konoha?" Neji countered quickly, his tone betraying his impatience. "Get real, you can't save them."

Naruto looked struck as if the Hyuuga had punched him in the face. The blond knew Neji was right and the teachings of Ibiki comforted that. He couldn't help Shinji and his family because he didn't know when, where and even if they would need help. Maybe they wouldn't, after all: concealing the murder of an entire family was a lot of work and not worth it if the enemy could simply keep an eye on them. Naruto cursed silently.

"If you want to help, we need to get back to Konoha as soon as possible so that it can't ever happen," said Neji.

The blond looked up at the Hyuuga, who looked back, his eyes hard and unflinching.

Naruto swallowed his frustration, the bile and the urge to simply jump and do something, consequences be damned. He forced himself to relax, to think as calmly as he could, to consider the situation with cold intellect rather than hot feelings.

Neji was right. Naruto could create a thousand clones and find Shinji quickly and also alert half the region of their position and sick their enemies upon them. And even if he could find the boy and his family then what? Drag civilians along on their run towards Konoha? Protect them against an unknown level of threat? That would put Team Gai in needless danger and then he wouldn't have only Shinji's death on his conscious.

A part of him, the one he had pushed down, the one that housed his emotions, protested vehemently. They were ninjas! If they didn't use their powers to defend the people, what good were they? If they didn't help those in needs like the Academy advertised, what did they do? What about the Will of Fire? They had to help, no matter what! It would be fine!

"I'm sure Gai would help," the blond bit bitterly before he could stop himself.

The slap was launched so fast, Naruto couldn't even see it.

"And where do you see Gai right now?" Neji asked, anger and impatience colouring his voice red. "Here with us to help? No? That's what I thought! Clear your thoughts and stop deluding yourself."

"Neji, you're going too far," protested Lee. "And Naruto is right! Gai-sensei would-"

"No, I'm not. Our mission is to warn Konoha about the situation here. We are in danger and we have no idea how much we even are. I know you think me arrogant, Lee, but I'm aware some forces are too much for us to defeat. My Fate isn't to die here."

Tenten looked torn before she sighed and nodded once at Neji before she shook her head at Lee. "Neji is right. It's useless to think about what Gai-sensei would do, he isn't here with us. We're in over our heads and we need to book it. It's lucky we escaped from one ninja already."

The blond was nursing his cheek, the pain dousing his temper in metaphorical cold water. The logical part of his brain - and Naruto noted distractedly that it had Ibiki's gruff voice - supplied that acting would do more bad than good, everyone would likely end up dead and the mission - warning Konoha something suspicious was going on - would be a failure. The words of the Sandaime echoed in the blond's head. They were ninjas: the only reason they did what they did was the money they got for it. And the Will of Fire was certainly not about putting his comrades in more danger than they already were.

Plus, Neji was in charge of the team anyway. Not him. Neji was right or maybe he wasn't but the Hyuuga was in command. Naruto felt like tearing his hair apart before he took a deep breath and centred himself. He couldn't act up and just go off on his own, that would be idiotic and also insubordination, and that would get him locked up.

The blond breathed deeply once again. They would do it Neji's way. Even if he felt like he was being torn in two by the decision.

Naruto cleared his throat, attracting the attention of the three older genins, and bowed his head slightly. "I apologize for what I said, I was out of line. I'm ready to go," he said, his slightly trembling voice becoming firmer and firmer as he spoke. He looked at Neji, who nodded slightly.

"Good. We move."

It was a ragged group of two girls and two boys who took the western road just as Evening was slowly turning into Night. They kept their face low and concealed under a false layer of filth but the town was deserted enough that no one paid attention to them. They were simply another group of children who were suffering from the city's economic problems.

They walked for an hour, their only company the sounds of nocturnal animals coming to life and the chittering of hunting bats. The sunset gave the sky a red and purple dress before it slowly darkened, the brightest stars starting to twinkle against the black satin of night.

The moon was high already when Naruto felt a rush of memories that made him stop in his tracks. Looking pale, he turned towards his three companions and grimaced. "We'll need to go quicker."

"What happened?" Neji asked.

Naruto shook his head. "The decoy is done for already and I don't know if I k-" The blond felt the word get stuck through his throat. He swallowed; his mouth was dry. "If I… Neutralized the opponent."

They all knew the clones had been strapped with high yield phosphorus explosives. There was no surviving the detonation, much less the firestorm that ensued. The members of Team Gai had little doubt Naruto's replicas had neutralized the enemy shinobi who had been in pursuit.

Lee patted the boy's shoulder before he gave it a light squeeze. "You did what you had to, Naruto-kun," whispered the older genin. He didn't smile, it was not a matter deserving of one, he simply looked the blond square in the eyes. "Do not hesitate to speak of it once we are back to Konoha."

Tenten nodded profusely, her eyes glazed over for a second as a memory overtook her momentarily before she squeezed Naruto's other shoulder. "To us also."

All three looked at Neji who looked back, his white eyes undecipherable. "Death is part of our way of life. Sometimes it's them, sometimes it's us. I do hope you knew that?" The Hyuuga said evenly.

Lee and Tenten both gave their teammate the "dude!" look and Neji's eyes tightened. "Well, now you do, welcome to the club. The faster you accept it, the more comfortable you'll find the seat," he said, his voice unchanged, calm and factual. "That's all there is to it. Let's move now." The Hyuuga ordered, taking the lead and preventing any protest from his teammates, who looked ready to start a fight.

Tenten and Lee both gave one last squeeze to Naruto and followed after their teammate. The blond flashed them a grateful smile and ran behind them, his azure eyes fixated on the Hyuuga's back.

He understood every member of Team Gai had killed already, probably from up close, given their fighting style, contrary to his remote execution. Nonetheless, he had heard their comforting words and seen the sympathy in their eyes.

Even in Neji's.

What he couldn't understand was, who had Neji lost to be so comfortable in his seat already?

Kidoumaru felt strange. Unbalanced. And his chest felt heavy, as did his eyelids. And his everything hurt.

He forced his eyes to open and his face scrunched up in terrible, horrible pain.

"Tututut, Kidoumaru, you're in such a state, aren't you ashamed?" Someone drawled next to him.

Kidoumaru ignored the annoying voice and took stock of his situation and indeed, he found it was a sorry one. He understood immediately he was going to die. He felt anger wash away the pain at the thought. Those little fuckers, they had tricked him, the flies were wasps.

He had underestimated them and his life was the price for his foolishness.

"The great Kidoumaru, dying in a bath of his own guts. They got you good, didn't they? I guess you deserve it though." The annoying voice continued. "You were an asshole, Kidoumaru. And a cretin. Also, a sadistic pervert. Serves you right for not taking enemy shinobi seriously."

Kidoumaru tried to insult the voice but he only gurgled. Not surprising, considering he was missing half his torso. The only reason he even had a shred of consciousness attached to his body was no doubt the power of his cursed mark. He could feel its power weakening though, pumping with foul drugs that were no use to keep him alive.

"Don't worry though, Kidoumaru. I'll do your job in your place. Then the master will see I'm ten times more worthy than you. He'll grant me the mark, make me one of his elite. Because I knew you were following a dud, Kidoumaru, of yes I knew it. But I didn't say anything because I'm an asshole too but I'm much more clever than you."

Kidoumaru prayed for death to take him. He couldn't bear to listen to this annoying voice any further, it really was torture. It was a shrill, chittering sound. A noise more than a voice, it was high pitched and trembling. So annoying it was. Like the cries of a hunting bat.

"I know where they are, of course. It's a shame how ninjas rarely think of looking up. Even the Hyuuga missed my dear pretties. Soon Kurokoumori of the East Gate will join the Sound Four. How does that sound, huh? Awesome r- Ah! You're not listening Kidoumaru, how mean."

And indeed, Kidoumaru wasn't listening anymore. Nor was he looking or even breathing, for Kidoumaru had finally died.

"Oh well then, time to go kill some noisy little genins. And I'll call for some help, as far as I'm concerned. See you in hell, Kidoumaru."

A dark shape jumped high up in one of the trees that hadn't been mercilessly blasted away by the explosive tags - those genins were vicious, Kurokoumori wouldn't underestimate them. Then, the silhouette, barely visible against the night sky, unfurled what looked like wings and jumped higher even. Just as gravity seemed to want to affirm its right to make everything fall down on earth, the sound of large, leathery wings whipped by the winds echoed in the ruined clearing. The shape glided westwards. The hunt was begun.

AN: I suck at balancing the Action and the Question. Especially in 3,000 words. That's a weird constraint if a necessary one if I want to publish every day. However, I thought it was necessary for Naruto to ask himself what the hell he is doing with his life and realize it isn't necessarily what he naively thought it was.

Oh well, leave your thoughts in a review if you'd be so kind.