A/N: Hello everyone. Chapter 12 is finally here and I won't delay your reading further. I hope you enjoy.

Naruto's first mission ever as a ninja had concluded without incident, which surprised his teammates immensely. It was kind of an accepted phenomenon for first missions in the corps to go wrong. Dog had signed herself at their return to Konoha, mumbling that their next assignment would go terribly wrong.

The reality was that the month of border sweep had been a tranquil affair, mainly he consisting of treks achieved at unreasonable speed without spending chakra. No time had been lost on the boy's training either: from tree to water walking, team formation, strategy and tactic, shurikenjutsu, and not forgetting Naruto's beginning with ninjutsu, every free second had been used to their fullest.

The blond boy had revealed a knack for inventive shuriken tricks but had shone most brightly in ninjutsu, revealing where his talent lay. There were no two words about it, Naruto was a ninjutsu monster. He had more or less proved that he had a quick understanding of ninjutsu and internal chakra manipulation by learning shadow clone in record time and making an internalized version of the reverse Jyuuken work but proper guidance had allowed the blond to truly shine.

It had only taken Tiger beating the concept of "mastering" a jutsu, rather than simply "knowing" it, inside his skull for Naruto to fully use his potential: when a few misconceptions had been corrected and knowledge had been provided when lacking, his ridiculously huge chakra reserves, his bullheaded approach to a challenge, and his ingenuity when facing a problem had done the rest.

His knowledge of his own chakra, at this point intimate, and his augmented control, had also allowed Naruto to master leave-cutting in the month, changing and attuning his chakra to his wind affinity.

His shadow clones also. According to Cat and Dog's whiny protests, it was definitely cheating, to what Naruto had answered "ninja", possibly making Tiger positively radiate pride. Possibly.

His natural affinity -or in other words, the element Naruto's chakra was most attuned to- had been tested for Wind and Tiger had lost no time on starting the boy on elemental manipulation while giving him two jutsu to learn: the Great Breakthrough and the Wind Bullets.

Elemental manipulation allowed for a jutsu user to forgo the hand-signs that moulded the chakra to resemble a specific element, making the process subconscious, faster, and more potent. As a result, the jutsu were cast with fewer hand-signs -so faster- and were more powerful. A higher level of elemental manipulation even allowed form-free jutsu: the ninja would just bend the element to his direct will, without needing any hand-signs.

But those capable of that were seldom seen, as even the Sandaime Hokage wasn't capable of it, and for a good yet simple reason.

Elemental manipulation was hard, very much so. Naruto's affinity only meant that a ridiculous percentile of his chakra was already naturally moulded with the characteristic of Wind Chakra, making wind jutsu slightly easier to learn and cast. It did not mean at all that the exercise was anything resembling a piece of cake.

Naruto was a dedicated worker. The combination of his curious, inquisitive mind and his love for hands-on approaches had quickly yielded results as far as jutsu theory went. Casting a jutsu repeatedly and altering it by adding, modifying, or removing hand-signs was easy for him, given his abilities.

Elemental manipulation though, that was a bitch and a half, and all his hard work had yet to award the blond with a real breakthrough. Oh, he could manipulate his chakra to cut a damned leaf in half, as required the first exercise of Wind Manipulation. His intimate knowledge of his own chakra won through meditation and his extended control had seen to that.

There was a tiny detail he just could not wrap his head around. Naruto just could not understand how cutting had anything to do with wind. Wind did not cut and Naruto frankly did not get why and how he was supposed to integrate this chakra to his Great Breakthrough, which was a jutsu made for pushing people away, nor into his Wind Bullets which was supposed to pierce people.

It was a load of bull, in the blond's honest opinion and Tiger had been stumped by the question. It was the reason Naruto was holed up in the library despite being on a three-day leave. There was a lot to be researched and things to experiment on and he had little time before he would be sent out again. Eagerly, the blond hunched over a large book with a leather back cover.

"The theory of all jutsu", by Hiruzen Sarutobi and another author whose name had been redacted, looked promising. If it had been written by the Professor himself, it had to be somewhat useful. The blond wondered for a second who the mysterious co-author was before shrugging. It wasn't his problem as of now.

"The use of chakra through hand-signs, commonly called ninjutsu by us ninjas, is a very obscure science. This book will try to rationalize the mechanisms involved in moulding chakra, casting jutsu, creating jutsu, and so on and expose a few theories as to their inner workings, some never postulated before."

Naruto smiled; this book sounded perfect.

It was only hours later that the blond exited the underground compound, his head hurting and his eyes bloodshot, various concepts all more complex than the other jumbled in his brain. To say he had not understood a quarter of what he had read would be an understatement. For the first time in ever, Naruto really resented the Academy for messing up his education and himself for acting like a clown for the better part of it.

The boy knew he simply lacked too much knowledge to even begin to get what his grandfather's book was hinting at. It was humbling because the thought anyone could know so much was obviously so. It was infuriating because Naruto would not have been so utterly lost by some concepts if he had been a bit more diligent in his studies.

Sure he had enjoyed history, literature, and the various manual lessons on gardening, carpentry, and other practical stuff they had received.

But he had also been childishly preoccupied with ninjutsu and martial art, only to disdainfully ignore subjects such as mathematics and physic and of course, it was those subjects he ironically needed to know about now. Worse, his obsession with jutsu hadn't even paid off because he had been too immature to accept exercising his chakra control.

It did not really matter that, had he diligently worked on the leaf exercise, it would not have mattered because of his tenketsus being weirdly closed off. It was the mindset that counted and his had been disastrous. You could work relentlessly, if you went in the wrong direction and started from nowhere, you couldn't go anywhere. It was well and good to know about history but a ninja needed to be well rounded.

All that because he had wanted to be flashy enough for the villagers to see him and impressive so that Sakura would accept a date.

Naruto resisted the urge to hit himself. He had already banged his head hard against the reading desk of the library, so hard that the old librarian, who was a pretty "chill" man, had come swearing that, while the blond was free to try and liquefy his brain, he was not so cordially invited to do that elsewhere.

Taking a deep breath, the boy centred himself and calmed down. He had jotted down on a notebook an insane amount of things he needed to go and read about and with the help of his shadow clones, he would do just that. It was simply a shame that there was so much ground to cover, partly due to his own negligence.

He would still find a way to prank the hell out of his old Academy teachers. They also had a hand in his state of ignorance.

First of all, he had to eat something, and the weather was perfect for some ramen. In fact, after a month-long mission where ration bars had been on the menu for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, any weather was perfect for ramen. It was lucky Konoha just happened to be home to the best ramen cooks in the world. A goofy smile bloomed on Naruto's face in anticipation.

The seventy-two hours of rest Naruto had been granted came and went faster than they had any right to and soon, the boy was once again stuffed inside his armours and at the ready, prepared to go out on a new mission.

Naruto, his teachers, and another team were gathered in a briefing room. It was a small closet with enough chairs for sixteen persons to seat -in other words, a platoon- with a screen where one could project various information. Presently, there was a map of the border region between Fire Country and the Land of Rice.

"We have a bit of an international problem at hand, ladies and gentlemen," explained Tiger in his monotone. "An unidentified group probably lead by ninjas attacked the border hamlet of Ohira Gai sometime in the past week. Two platoons from the Regular have been dispatched in order to reinforce our presence in the vicinity but when they arrived, the village was nothing but ruins. The alert has been given thanks to a knife-grinder who was making his monthly visit. Our ninjas could not pursue, as the attackers withdrew beyond the borders of Rice Country."

The man paused for a second and, seeing that he had the undivided attention of all seven other ninjas in the room, continued. "Under normal circumstances, we would dispatch a diplomatic request to the Daimyo of Rice for the right of intervention but we cannot afford that. Villagers have been captured and we do not know what they plan to do with them."

"No ransom demanded? What is the profile of the abducted?" A man from the second team, wearing a bird mask, asked.

"No ransom demand as of yet. There is no particular profile: men and women, all rather young, have been abducted. Between twenty and forty in total."

"Slave traders?" Another ANBU, a lizard-masked woman this one, offered.

"Doubtful, considering slavery isn't legal in Rice Country."

"It isn't the case in Lightning Country." The first unknown, bird-masked man offered. "Not entirely at least."

"They would need to cross Rice, Hot Water, and Frost. Extremely inefficient trade route." Tiger countered.

"What about sea trade?"

"The authorities of Rice Country would not allow such a trade. And the Frozen Sea is not ideal for seafaring."

"An attempt at contraband then?" The bird-masked man suggested.

"The coast is straight, there is nowhere to set up a pirate port in Rice." Cat interjected.

There were a few seconds of silence before Dog broke it. "I don't like it." The girl said, nodding sagely. "No one raids a village for fun."

"But what for then?"

"Maru, anything comes to mind from your cover work?" Dog asked, turning toward Naruto.

The blond racked his brain for a few seconds. Rice Country itself did not allow slave trading. Neither did Iron Country to the west; after three bloody slave revolts, they had chosen to exploit their rich iron mines by free men. Lightning was too far, especially if the sea route was out. Which left an illegal client inside Rice Country or in the Land of Hot Water. Or something far worse the boy absolutely did not want to think about, like a cult of some sort.

"Illegal buyer from either Rice of Hot Water. I... Don't want to think of anything else." The youngest operator answered before explaining his reasoning.

All ANBU nodded. That seemed possible. "If that is the case, we need to uncover who this buyer is." The bird-masked man said with determination.

"I just don't get the why. Do they expect Fire Country to do nothing?" The lizard-masked woman mused aloud.

"The discovery of the raid happened early by chance," explained Cat. "Without the knife grinder, it would have taken several weeks."

"There is no more time for speculations soldiers." Tiger interrupted, the sheer authority his voice suddenly manifested silencing everyone present in the room. "The mission has been approved by Hokage-sama himself and we are not here to discuss the motives of criminals."

The seven ninjas chorused an obedient "yes sir" as they focused on Tiger once again.

"We pack for a one-month scouting mission beyond enemy lines with the possibility for it to change to a hostage rescue mission if the occasion arises. We do not know the number of hostiles. We know some probably have ninja training but we do not know how many, nor their level. Due to those unknowns, this is an A-rank so I'll remind you to take your precautions, ladies and gentlemen. We leave in half an hour, exit seven."

The rattling sound of chairs being displaced invaded the room for a moment before all eight ninjas exited. Naruto walked up to Tiger.

"Yes?" The man asked in his droning, emotionless drawl.

"Hum… I was wondering what you meant by taking precaution?"

"This mission is ranked A and as such, it is fully possible we die during its course. Do you not have a testament?"

The blond felt his stomach sink and his guts twist in knots at his sergeant's explanation. Twelve did not feel like it was the right age to write a testament yet he supposed it was the world he was living in now.

That was it. That was his first true mission. He would be tested. His skill, his mettle, all of his being would go through the tempering flames of combat. Naruto was not sure which, of sickening terror or violent excitement would win the battle that had begun to rage inside him. The blond nearly heaved before a strong hand clasped his shoulder.

The sudden contact broke Naruto out of his spiralling gunk and the boy rose his head so that his gaze met Tiger's.

"You are a fine ninja, Maru. Believe in yourself. Yet if you must have doubts, at least believe in your team. The Will of Fire shall prevail."

Naruto fought against the bile that had risen in his throat and swallowed painfully. With a tentative nod, the blond answered in a whisper. "H-hai."

Half an hour later, the two teams were gathered in front of gate seven. Team Ku, consisting of Hawk, Crane, Snake, and Lizard, would be under Tiger's command. Naruto breathed deeply in hope of appeasing his still frayed nerves but to no avail. He had written his testament, giving his few nothings to Konohamaru and it had been difficult not to empty the content of his stomach.

Tiger threw a sweeping glance at the assembled ninjas and when he spoke, his voice was vibrating with a rare kind of authority.

"We are shinobi and we do our duty, in the name of the Will of Fire. Let's move out, Vic formation behind Dog. Dog, I want good speed."

In a rush of wind, the eight ninjas started running, working their muscles hard, trickling a tiny but constant amount of chakra to strengthen and heal them. For civilians, it was a full three-days journey or so between Konoha and the small village of Ohira Gai and they had twenty-four hours to travel this distance before tracking would become overly difficult.

They would make it in ten.

Tiger really was a slave driver.

Naruto swayed on his feet, the lack of oxygen accessing his brain making the ground dance, and squashed the urge to just empty the content of his stomach inside his mask. Instead, he folded around the waist, his hands on his knees, panting for air. The blond blinked rapidly to clear his eyes from the beads of sweat trickling into them. He had a momentary grateful thought for Tiger and Cat who had convinced him to cut his hair. Had he still had his shaggy, long curls, no doubt he would have been drowning in his own sweat by now.

The balaclava was not that open and the helmet weighed heavily on his head after the insane marathon he had just completed.

They had run ten hours straight, without break, at a pace he considered barbaric, and it was not something he wanted to do ever again. Too bad he was in ANBU and that would be expected of him. Maybe he would be able to say no.

Three weeks ago, he had hit the lower speed requirement for an ANBU endurance run and, thanks to his very good stamina, he was able to maintain this speed for days if necessary. But today, Dog had imposed a pace he was not yet trained for and Naruto had needed to actively use chakra to sustain himself. A lot of chakra. The natural, subconscious trickle that was usually enough had not been and he had actually spent more than he was comfortable parting with.

However, his capacity to follow and finish the travel of the day was the proof he was becoming stronger and stronger. Naruto was not without pride at the accomplishment but the feeling was not enough to ease the burning sensation of his lungs trying to give up on him while his heart was decidedly hesitating between quitting now or immediately.

It did not help that the seven other ANBU with him showed no easily visible sign of being winded if not for their powerful, noisy yet forcefully regulated, breathing.

"Keep walking Maru," advised Cat to the blond in-between deep breaths. "It will help regulate your heart beat faster and better."

And indeed, Naruto could see that all his fellow ninjas were walking in large circles to abate their frenzied heart and relax their muscles. Observing them further as he started walking, he could see their muscles trembling and cramping, and their breaths were more gasping than he had thought at first. The blond frowned; he still needed to work on his discipline if he was still so openly displaying weakness like he was. The others were just as exhausted but they simply did not allow it to be easily seen.

"Don't forget to stretch either." The woman added after a second of thought. The blond simply nodded. Cat's words sounded wise and Naruto knew the benefits of stretching after a rough effort.

While the blond desperately fought to return his body to its normal rhythm, Tiger was already meeting with the leader of the regular forces already deployed. It took the man a few minutes to get a report he was satisfied with and when he returned, the blond could stand without the impression his heart was trying to jump outside his chest.

"We need to go immediately. The trail isn't fresh anymore. The northern wind is still strong and it has been pushing rainclouds from the Frost Sea down to here. Thirty minutes to freshen up and we depart." Tiger ordered sternly. "Maru, do not allow yourself to get cold, keep walking, and drink a lot. The rendezvous point is the northern gate. Dismissed."

There were seven silent nods and the two ANBU teams separated, Naruto dutifully followed Cat and Tiger while Dog took the three hounds with her, already intent on finding any kind of trail she could.

A quick trip to the toilets, a ration bar, and a ridiculous amount of water later, and all eight ANBU had gathered once again at the northern gate, standing at the ready, some lightly jumping in place to keep their muscles hot.

"Found something Dog?" Tiger asked tersely.

"The scents are old but I got it. I'm quite sure they are not waiting for us."

"Good, same formation, Dog you go as fast as you can without losing the track but fifteen clicks max. Go."

Naruto swallowed a groan of misery and prayed the Flame he would be able to hold on. The half an hour break had done wonders but even he was not eternal.

It took the two ANBU teams another hour to reach the border with Rice Country. The spec-ops followed a scent that did not bother leaving the road, a road that quickly changed into a sort of trail until it morphed into nothing more than a forest path. All eight ANBU stopped at once when Tiger ordered them to with an abruptly raised fist. On the side, disappearing under the undergrowth, was a rough slab of stone indicating the border between the two countries.

After motioned toward her for her attention, Tiger signed something to Dog in a flash. Enemies?

The teenager simply shook her head no and the man relaxed minutely.

"Welcome to Rice Country ladies and gentlemen." Tiger drawled in a mirthless whisper. "We will continue to follow the trail until night falls, then we take a break. Questions?"

"Priority?"

"Stealth.

"Contact handling?"

"Unseen and observation. We switch to destroy if contact is identified as our objective, on my orders only. Silent communication starting now. Be on guard."

All nodded and the eight soldiers resumed their run yet this time, all were nearly completely silent if a bit slower. No twigs snapped under their feet, no bush was displaced by their sleeves, and it was as if eight ghosts had organized an otherworldly procession in the slowly deeming light of the late afternoon. It did not take long for Naruto to spot what Dog was following. A few days ago, a rather large group of people had gone through the same trail they were now following. The majority of the traces were that of untrained civilians, many injured, yet the blond could see the proofs of the passage of grown men, armed. Some were more worrying because they were subtler, which pointed towards ninjas.

It was on guard and eyes wide open that Naruto entered in a foreign country for the second time in his life and still illegally. The Land of Rice was very different from Fire Country. Most of the Land of Fire was a plain, covered with a dense, dark forest made up of towering colossal trees, while multiple rivers cut through the vegetal maze, flowing from the north to the south, down in the Sea of Tea or spilling over in the Land of Rivers.

Rice paddies were massively concentrated in the south of the country whereas the rest of the land lived off of the exploitation of the forest, cutting down and processing all kind of exotic wood for carpentry, naval construction, pieces of furniture, fuel, matches, and so on, or on the contrary growing semi-wild orchards to collect all kind of fruits.

As such, it was a surprise for Naruto to see that the landscape of Rice Country was the opposite of what he was used to. Konoha did have rice paddies along the Naka river, of course, mainly overseen by the Akimichi. But still, it was not the village hidden in the leaves for nothing and the woods were an essential part of Konoha.

In the Land of Rice, the landscape seemingly consisted of paddies and there was nothing that could remotely be called a forest, in the blond's opinion. There were plenty enough of trees that the eight ghosts were never spotted by the rare peasants still working in the fields but the boy felt naked nonetheless.

The trees were so small, they looked so frail, and it was definitely impossible to use them to travel. The two ANBU teams were forced to progress on the ground and Naruto did not like that situation one bit. It was somewhat reassuring to stand at the top of a massive tree, like having the high ground or something like that.

Tiger pushed his men for four more hours before he allowed them to stop; the light of the sun had ceased to shine upon the world, replaced by the reflection of an incomplete moon. Once again, Naruto fought against the urge to buckle and fall and stretched to cool down. He felt disgusting; like he was bathing in his own sweat but he knew, after his first mission, that all ninja clothes were made in a fibre that easily dried.

Four hours stop. Maru, Hawk, last guard. Crane, Cat, third. Snake and I, second. Dog, Lizard, first. Eat, drink now.

Naruto gratefully allowed himself to sit on the ground with a stifled grunt of exhaustion. Not bothering to mask himself with a partial transformation given the darkness of the night, the blond wolfed down a dreadfully tasteless ration bar and took a greedy swig of water of out his canteen before he curled inside his cloak and allowed sleep to take him.

Fourteen hours ago, he had been in Konoha, receiving the second mission of his career, and the first one where he was sure to see combat and kill for the first time. He had no time to contemplate further as his exhaustion was too great to allow him to dwell on unnecessary thoughts.

Naruto awoke with a start a second before he felt Cat touch his shoulder in order to wake him up. The blond stifled a string of expletives and displaced his mask slightly to rub his sleep-addled eyes before he splashed his face with some water from his canteen. Shaking himself like a startled dog, the boy eventually replaced all his equipment as it should be and flared his chakra gently to open his tenketsus that sleep had closed off.

Acceptable, you can go faster. Next time. Cat signed, to which Naruto simply nodded, swallowing a defeated sigh. He had no idea how he would ever go on today. He hoped the bandits weren't too far away because endurance running was the invention of the devil and Tiger was its messenger, sent to spread the vile torture.

Naruto's hour of guard passed without incident and soon, the eight ANBU were up and going again, following Dog and her hounds.

It took another day of a slow hunt, the tracks being already muddied by rain and time until the ANBU caught up to their preys during the morning of the third day. Naruto was a shuddering bundle of nerves and he had decided that the worst part of a fight was not the exchange of blows but the time leading to it. Marching blind through Rice Country, following an unknown number of bandits, some possibly ninjas, all that for three days non stop without much sleep, with the added knowledge that a bunch of Fire Country citizens were counting on them was tiring, to say the least.

The sun was barely up, Tiger had sent Dog and Hawk for recon and Naruto was biting the inside of his cheek, too full of nervous anticipation to enjoy, or even consider, the possibility of rest. Just a few more hours and he would experience and hopefully live through his first fight. Despite what it meant, despite the blood that would flow, despite the death that would doubtlessly occur, he was expectant, impatient. He just couldn't wait to test how strong he was, how much better he had become. Not that he would ever wish to kill anyone of course. Those he would fight were kidnappers, after all, bandits, the scum of the earth that deserved to be punished, right? He was to be their executioner, the harbinger of their sentence, simple as that, no feelings involved.

He was certainly not excited to kill anyone, right?

The boy was startled out of his troubled musings by the hand of Tiger falling on his shoulders. Taking a deep breath to calm his instinctual need to jab a kunai somewhere inside the man as a defensive reflex, Naruto looked at his officer.

You are nervous. Meditate.

The blond had to try twice before his finger signed what he wanted them to sign. Acknowledged, sergeant.

Naruto was dragged out of his painfully achieved meditative state an hour later by the return of Dog and Hawk. The boy felt better, centred, and at least his mind was not clogged by questions he should not even have asked himself.

He had a simple answer: he was a ninja, and there was no rights or wrongs, only the words of his Kage. He was a ninja and there was no emotion, at least not during a mission. He would solve everything else later when they would be back in Fire Country.

Report, ordered Tiger silently with a single motion of his right hand.

Thirty-seven hostages, bad shape. Twenty-one hostiles, five ninjas, chunin max, no allegiance signs. Waiting in a clearing, camp two days old, no relief tent. Hawk signed quickly.

Tiger emitted a minute humming noise. The camp was two days old which could have meant it was the bandits' final stop but the problem was, they weren't touching the women. Twenty-four hours was plenty enough time to set up an open-air whorehouse, except if the ladies could not be touched.

That meant -Tiger was sure of that, ninety per cent- they had a client because, in his experience, outlaws and female captives de facto meant rape if the women were not reserved for something, or someone, else. And if the kidnappers were indeed waiting here for a potential buyer, the mission had just become a tad more complex. They could not lead thirty-seven hostages back to the Land of Fire securely if they were pursued. Leaving an unknown threat behind one's back was never a good idea. Tiger and his men would need to ensure the neutralization of both threats. Easier said than done given that they had no idea when the buyer would arrive if it existed at all.

The missions orders were clear, they had to recover the hostages and lead them back home. That left Tiger with two choices: he could order to attack now, start retreating and be possibly caught by a faster, unknown threat in an unknown time. Or they could wait for a bit to see if the client did indeed exist and assess its threat level. They would need to establish watch over an undetermined period of time, which would increase the chance of them being detected, if minutely. The man sighed silently so that none of his subordinates could hear him. If there was one thing he did not want to risk, it was having unknown pursuers on his tail.

Fox-hole, everyone. Observation, relay. Lizard, Cat, go. Rotation three hours, signal everything.

The two ANBU nodded and darted away while the six ninjas left followed Dog who quickly found them a place where they could dig their fox-holes.

A fox-hole was a simple hole dug underneath a sizeable bush and partly covered by a piece of cloth made of the same chakra reactive fibre as an ANBU cloak. It made for a simple yet efficient hiding spot. It was, of course, less pleasant than a good old tree but it did the job nonetheless.

The rotation allowed Naruto to sleep for nearly six hours - a luxury if anything - before he felt one of the Haimura Brothers, La, come to him. The blond silently followed the dog until he reached the hiding spot Tiger had chosen for observing the bandits' encampment. Naruto simply nudged his officer's hand lightly and settled as comfortably as possible in a shallow hole, covering himself with his cloak, leaves, undergrowth, and stifling his chakra flow.

He had learned to consciously trigger his disappearing trick after Dragon, Owl, and Tiger had explained to him what exactly it was that he was doing. Dragon had purveyed instructions on a very peculiar genjutsu in order to help the boy master and further develop his subconscious chakra cloaking. Genjutsu were difficult but Naruto knew that right now, he was as undetectable as he could get.

Taking a deep breath, the young ANBU initiate readied himself for a long wait. As he settled himself for his watch, he ignored the alien buzzing of resigned fear and greedy anticipation that pervaded the clearing.

It was not during Naruto's watch that a second group joined the first band of outlaws. As the sun slowly went down on the third day, Naruto was jolted awake by Dog this time. He knew what it meant, as it was not his turn to go keep an eye on their targets. It took less than a second for Naruto to be ready and going. Squashing all unnecessary thoughts, the boy hurried along the rest of the ANBU to the border or the clearing, where all eight operators lay down, blending as best as they could in their environment. Naruto took a deep breath and allowed the peculiar state of relaxed tension of his comrades to smooth his own jitter.

Eight ninjas, chunin chakra level. Dog informed by hand signs.

In the clearing itself, eight newcomers had arrived. Dressed in black pants and greyish top, their head masked by a balaclava, they were wearing a uniform. The mysterious headband engraved with an eighth note dissipated any doubt the ANBU could have had.

The Konoha operators all swore silently. They weren't really supposed to engage ninjas from a hidden village, even an unknown hidden village. Their collective musing was interrupted when one of the mysterious shinobi handed a scroll to a mean-looking, muscled man, the leader of the bandits.

It was the payment. The mysterious ninjas were buyers indeed. Tiger shifted ever so slightly so that all seven of his soldiers could see his hands.

Execute plan two.

All seven ANBU silently gave the man a thumb up and scattered, stalking at the very edge of the clearing but not entering it.

Naruto felt like his stomach was right behind his teeth and as if his heart was dancing a jig right inside his ears. He was shivering from uncontrolled anticipation, adrenaline rushing in his blood vessels. Tightly, he gripped a kunai and readied himself.

He heard more than he saw the hostages being dragged out of the meeting point and on a small animal trail, watched by the eight mysterious ninjas, while the group of outlaws departed in another direction. Naruto took a sharp breath. His team would follow the ninja while the other would stalk the bandits. They would strike in about half an hour or so, just to be outside the range of each other. Until then, they would simply stick to the shadow.

Thirty minutes was an incredibly long time in a trying situation. The four ANBU of team Ro had stalked their objective with the efficiency of as many Jaguars and had remained undetected but it did nothing to abate Naruto's anxiety. The enemy nin were too relaxed, too unconscious. They felt secure in a place they apparently knew and considered home and they would be struck down, smoothly. Criminally, almost.

Suddenly, he heard the sound he was waiting for, the cry of a bird native to Fire Country. His body, more than his mind, obeyed the command. Joining his hands in a cross-shaped hand sign, Naruto silently willed five clones in existence and flooded his body with chakra.

In a blur, the blue-eyed assassin sped through the undergrowth, taking by surprise an unsuspecting enemy nin while his clones fell like harpies on another.

There was no fight; the enemy ninja was entirely too surprised by the ambush to put up one. Naruto's target had no time to react to the cloaked ghost appearing in front of him like a vengeful spirit. Ignoring the alien roar of fear and surprise he heard at the limit of his psyche, the blond had already used one of the tricks Cat had taught him in shurikenjutsu. Hurled by a smooth, whip-like motion of both his arms, two kunai were flying toward his opponent who could only raise his arms to intercept them. The blades sunk in the man's forearms, eliciting a pained grunt.

The ninja did not notice the two senbon Naruto had projected in the same movement, hidden by the much larger kunai. The long, steel needles flew along a vastly different trajectory and embedded themselves in the startled man's calves, damaging both his sciatic nerves and causing pain to erupt in the ninja's entire lower body.

For a second, Naruto felt the characteristic heat of a fire jutsu heat the forest somewhere on his side but the blond paid it no mind. Ruthlessly, the boy engaged the wounded, staggering man in close combat.

In a swift movement, Naruto took hold of the man's right arm and stepped inside his non-existent guard while rotating, exposing his back the ninja while forcing the ninja's arm to overextend. With his free hand, the boy punched with all his might at the elbow joint, which gave in with a satisfying crunching noise. This time, the mysterious nin screamed in pain.

The boy stifled the man's cry and his desperate attempt at a palm strike at the initiate's head by elbowing the incoming hand away before driving his folded arms under the shinobi's chin while creating a lock around his fragilized arm. With a final twist, the enemy's right elbow broke completely.

Naruto exited the man's immediate proximity, rotating again, using the momentum to deliver a debilitating knife strike to the enemy's jugular. With a gurgling sound, the hostile crumbled. The blond did not lose a second and drew his chokuto across the downed man's throat, flooding it with wind chakra.

Naruto's mastery over the elemental transformation was nowhere near perfect but the reinforced meshing of the balaclava gave under the blade like butter under a hot wire.

Blood escaped from the gaping, morbid smile Naruto's blade had just opened on the dead ninja's neck. With fascination, the blond watched as the red, life-sustaining liquid escaped its frail prison, pumped toward a strange kind of freedom by a dying heart. There was a look of absolute panic, the colour of sheer terror, in the drowning man's eyes. There were maybe traces of anger too. All of it was grating against Naruto's mind, like a furious flood attempting to break his mental levees.

The funniest was undoubtedly the small bubbles the man created with each of his desperate attempts to breathe. Eventually the powerful, foaming almost, bleeding slowed to a stop.

The lights in the ninja's eyes dimmed.

Suddenly, Naruto remembered four versions of himself tackling another masked shinobi to the ground, one stabbing each limb, a fifth replica firing a powerful Wind Bullet through the chest of a panicked man.

The blond felt air rush in his lungs. Had he forgotten to breathe? The man was dead but Naruto kept staring. He knew that the other ANBU, his teammates, would not face any problem given how easily he had dispatched his own given opponents. He had created clones to take care of the civilians. He could indulge his curiosity for a few seconds, right?

The hand falling on his shoulder and dragging him out of his slowly spiralling thoughts was a sign that apparently, contemplating a corpse was not something he had the time for right now. Naruto reflexively moved to strike but stopped at the sight of his officer. His attack had felt sluggish anyway.

"We need to book it." Ordered Tiger tersely.

"Yes, sergeant." Someone answered in Naruto's place. The boy was pretty sure he did not talk like that.

Willing his eyes to detach themselves from the rapidly cooling sack of flesh that had been a living, breathing man just a few moments ago, Naruto turned around only to fall to his knees. The adrenaline high he just been on had just abandoned him and the blond felt his vision sway just as his ears gave him with absolute certainty the indications that he was definitely on a boat on an ocean by rocky weather.

The boy barely had the time to remove his mask before he heaved, the meagre contents of his stomach escaping it. Naruto watched for a second and frowned.

"We move Maru." Tiger reminded him with steel in his voice. Naruto could only nod, still confused by his momentary weakness, and stand up. "Good," said Tiger, his voice back to the emotionless monotone. "Let's go."

As silently as they could, the four ANBU herded the group of terrified civilians away from the lieu of the fight, in the direction of Fire Country. Distractedly, the blond saw Tiger create a few clones from the earth and gather the eight dead ninjas they had just ambushed before he made them sink under the soil.

Pure earth chakra manipulation, Naruto surmised. Simple but efficient in order not to leave any trace. The boy returned to the present and approached Dog when she signed for him to come to her.

"What is it?" The blond's voice rung curiously muffled to his own ears as if he wasn't inhabiting his body anymore. Naruto felt like he was observing himself talk to his teammate.

"Team Ku should have taken care of the bandits by now but I won't take any risk. I want ten clones patrolling our rear and northern flank."

"Yes," Naruto whispered, again barely conscious of the fact he had spoken.

It definitely felt strange. Maybe there was something wrong with him? The boy touched his body to check for wounds, ignoring the strange look Dog was giving him but found none. Given the fact he could barely feel what his fingers touched though, he might have missed something. Ultimately, he decided to shrug the questions away.

He created the ten clones his tracker had required of him and watched as they departed, stiff and distracted.

He had other things to take care of anyway, like the two ghosts silently screaming murder and revenge just behind him. He would need to deal with that.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed. Alright, this is going to be a rather lengthy note, so do not feel obligated to read everything or at all.

First off, the reason it took that long to get this chapter out was a peculiar case of writer block. I knew what I wanted to write, I did not know how to write it. Real life kept me busy as well, which did not facilitate the process. Chapter 13 is already being worked on and should be released soon as compensation of sort. I know I promised action and I suppose this chapter 12 won't be satisfying for many of you. All I ask is for a little bit of patience.

I know many of you suspected Naruto's very first mission to go wrong. The fact it did not is a message form me to you all: I'll try to be surprising, so be on your toes.

Secondly, some of you remarked that 15 km/h is slow. While it is absolutely not slow and certainly not the average running speed of a human, it is rather unimpressive for a superhuman ninja. Yet you all need to remember that the Warmer is basically a hard slope that Naruto runs without active use of chakra. Nonetheless, it happened that I actually played myself, using various measurement units rather than one. It is corrected now and Naruto average speed on the Warmer is roughly 20 km/h, without active use of chakra. If he decides to flood his body with his life energy, Naruto will run much faster but for a greater cost.

Now to answer a guest reviewer who asked me if I have a pa-tr-eon account. The answer is no. Your kind reviews are payment enough.

To answer some complaints about my use of the rank "sergeant": what is the hierarchy between two chunin, or two jonin? Who has command? We have no idea so I will use supplementary military ranks however I damn please. The debate is closed and there is no use leaving a comment about that again (be it in support or against).

Shout out to Lord Kyuubi, who proofread this and gave some valuable and valued feedback.

Don't forget to leave a review, I feed on them.

P.S: did you know that it is impossible to write pa-tr-eon on the doc manager? The word is automatically erased once you save your document. Well fuck you, FFdotNet, fuck you.