Underneath the Underneath

By: FlameXFullmetal

Disclaimer: I really hate telling everyone that I don't own Naruto. I would tell you if I did. Besides Naruto would make a good pet!

A/N: Hello there! I am back! I hope that everyone is liking the story so far! I'm sorry if I seemed to make the last chapter Kimiko centered it truly was not my intention. Anyway back to the story!

"hello" people (bijuu in human form) speaking

'hello' people (bijuu in human form) thinking/coded hand signals

"HELLO" bijuu (full demon form)/summoning/deity yelling

"hello" bijuu (full demon form)/summoning/deity talking

'hello' bijuu (full demon form)/summoning/deity thinking

hello jutsu

*****************Trust******************

As the group stared at the man before them they felt a sense of unease settle in. The imposing ninja before them seemed different than most other ninja. His stance seemed almost civilian in nature but his aura screamed ninja. Kimiko's eyes narrowed at the nin and then she gave a feral grin.

"Pretty decent skill set you have. I honestly don't think I have ever found someone capable of hunting ninken before. The fact that you alluded my sensory abilities before now is also a feat not to be applauded." As he raised an eyebrow at the kunoichi, the ninja took note of the group before him.

"Two teams of genin huh? Well, this shouldn't take long." Naruto felt himself bristle at the insult. Internally Minato was quietly observing the opponent as Kushina ranted about her baby being, underestimated all the time.

'Interesting, he seems to have a good handle on hiding his chakra signature. His tracking also seems to be top notch as well. Kakashi's ninken are not easy targets even if he stayed upwind of them. The confident air about him means that he is well aware of the abilities of the higher ranking ninja before him. He is underestimating the genin though. Even though I haven't seen them fight, I can tell that the Kumo genin has a decent skill set and a decent jonin. Naruto and Kimiko may not be able to hold back in this fight.' He thought to himself. For some reason, he felt as if he should know the ninja before him.

"You say that the genin won't take that long, but you have yet to see very much of their skill set. You are either very cocky or that confident in your own skills." Kakashi mused staring the man down. A grin formed on his face and he smirked at the copy-nin.

"I know that they are not the run of the mill genin that Konoha has been producing lately. They wouldn't be with you if they were. You have never passed a team after all. I am also well aware that the Kumo genin is stronger than your average team as well. They would have to be considering their jonin's identity. However, it will not be enough to defeat me." He replied. His stance never moved from the relaxed pose it was in as the man replied to the jonin. He seemingly had no problems with staying relaxed and almost half asleep in the battle.

"Yes well I hate to break it to you but just knowing those things will not be enough to take the teams down." Jay snapped as he drew a kunai.

"Had you time to actually work together before now I may have a different opinion but as things are right now I am not afraid. Neither of your teams have worked together before and there is still a lot of mistrust between your villages to properly let down your guard to focus solely on me. Face it by working together you are at a disadvantage." He said finally standing up straight. He seemed to be bored at the moment and the genin were getting nervous.

'Naruto, I think I have encountered that nin before. He was a genin back then but he was talented with both fuinjutsu and genjutsu. Keep your guard up. You have to move the battle elsewhere he probably has this whole space trapped with seals. That is why he waited till now to attack you. I have no way of knowing how far he got in his training before defecting but erring on the side of caution is always best. I also highly doubt that this is the nuke-nin that the Kumo shinobi are tracking.' Minato suddenly commanded. Naruto jumped at the suddenness of the order but nodded none the same.

'What is his name?'

'Amemori Higashikuni.'

"Get back!" Naruto yelled as he raced through some hand seals. Kakashi glanced back and felt his eye widen at the jutsu Naruto was about to unleash. Jumping behind the genin he watched as the rest of the ninja followed his cue.

"Wind style: Dust Cloud!" He yelled and released the massive cloud that tore through the surrounding area. Narrowing his eyes Amemori jumped out of the way right into another jutsu, this one a combination of Naruto and Kimiko's.

"Wind Style: Divine Wind."

"Fire Style: Running Fire." They yelled simultaneously. As the fire met the tornadoes that had been summoned it turned into a massive cyclone of fire. As Amemori had no choice but to take his eyes off of the ninja in front of him to avoid the attack he missed them fleeing from the area.

"That was close," Naruto said as they caught their breaths nearby. He had honestly never expected to have to use that jutsu so early as they were clearly not genin level by any means. However, he had intended to destroy that area in case they were led back to it. Hopefully, it had taken care of the seals there.

"What the hell!?" Karui yelled looking at the two in shock. Kakashi really wanted to echo the statement but kept quiet.

"That was Amemori Higashikuni. A genin that had impressed even the Yondaime Hokage with his knowledge and skill with fuinjutsu despite only having been a genin at the time. He is also very skilled in the use of genjutsu." Naruto explained making everyone's eyes widen. Noticing Kakashi's look he blushed and looked away. "The Yondaime is one of my role models and I kinda worship him a little so of course I would know that." The Kumo nin stared at the boy for a minute before sweatdropping.

"So that area could have been trapped and we would never have known it," Jay said shaking his head in dismay. He hated fighting fuinjutsu users. They were so difficult because many of them prepared a battlefield ahead of time.

"Yeah." Standing up straight he looked around and extended his senses searching for the presence of any hidden seals. It usually took him a while as he wasn't very good at it yet. Finding none he glanced back at the smoke rising in the distance.

"I doubt that will distract him for very long though." Kakashi leaned back and closed his eyes. He had no idea how they should go about the fighting the fuinjutsu user as Minato had never used fuinjutsu in his sparring matches against him. However, he also knew that there was no way around the fight either.

"We will have to reverse the roles and trap this area using it as the battlefield. We will also have to act as if we haven't been in the area before then. That way he doesn't pull the same stunt that you just did." Kakashi decided. There was really no other way. He really didn't want to involve the genin in such a dangerous fight. Nodding in understanding the two teams went to work arranging the traps. They had to be very meticulous to make sure that no part of the trap was visible. After twenty or so minutes the teams stepped back to inspect their work. After a few minutes, they nodded and moved from the area hoping that the ruse would work.

Amemori was pissed. That combination attack nearly killed him. If he hadn't been able to activate a barrier seal it probably would have. There was no way that those two were genin if they were using those kinds of tactics and jutsu already. Or Kakashi was bored and decided to give them a few last resort techniques way above genin level. That had to be it. There was no way that the genin could be that strong that young. 'You were.' His subconscious whispered. Growling he bolted ahead through the trees. He was going to kill the blonde and the redhead first. That was a vow he intended to keep. Looking ahead once more he smirked seeing the team moving through the trees. Weaving a few hand seals of his own he launched a water dragon at the group ahead and smirked as they barely dodged and fell from the trees.

"That was very clever and very tricky of you. I'm going to enjoy killing the two of you." He snarled. The relaxed smile has gone from his face as the genin looked up at him. Standing quickly they took battle positions. Hinata gulped nervously but kept her stance firm. She had not anticipated something like this on their first mission but she had to remain strong for the team and to prove to herself and her clan that she could be useful to them.

"Well, you caught up sooner than expected although it looks as if you didn't fully escape the inferno. Perhaps you are getting slower in your old age, Amemori." Kakashi said tauntingly at the man. Not only did the taunt infuriate him more he was very angry that the man knew who he was. He had managed to keep himself from being labeled a major threat in the bingo books mostly because of the fact that no one had ever survived running into him. Yet somehow the shinobi before him knew.

"How did you know my name?"

"My sensei, if you would recall what you know about me, was the Yondaime and you did meet him before," Kakashi said fixing the irate man a dead look. Amemori growled at the seeming disinterest that the man had for him. Then he blinked in recognition.

"I completely forgot about the yellow flash. Wow shows you how insignificant he was overall." He said trying to rile the silver-haired nin up. Either than a slight narrowing of the eye, Kakashi showed no reaction to the taunt. Naruto, however, was struggling to control himself as the fuinjutsu user insulted his father.

'Calm down Naruto this is what he wants.' Kushina soothed the boy. She was also angry that someone would dare to call Minato insignificant. Minato, on the other hand, was in the corner moping and sniffling at the insult. Kushina could only whine at the polar opposites for males that were in her family.

"Perhaps he was insignificant in the eyes of some, however, at the same time, the reverse may hold true. Perhaps he saw you as insignificant." Jay countered riling the shinobi up even more. Next to him however his genin were gaping. They had never heard anyone insult the yellow flash before. Even their sensei and the Raikage had only praise about the man.

"Oh man, why did you have to say that? What if the Yondaime's spirit hears that and gets angry and come back to take revenge. Then the two of you would get into a fight and we would have nowhere to run. We would be caught in the fight and most likely killed which would spark another war between Kumo and Konoha..." Omoi whined only to get smacked upside the head.

"Knock it off!" Karui snapped at the man. Even Amemori sweatdropped at the genin. How could anyone be that pessimistic and have such a wild imagination at the same time? Shaking his head to clear it he launched at the blonde who was the closest only to get blocked by the copy-nin. As their kunai clashed Naruto nodded slightly towards the rest of the shinobi who slowly backed off. If the plan worked then Amemori would knock Kakashi back into the tree behind him which would set off the traps one right after another. With any luck, he would be caught in one or two and be weakened or disabled long enough to capture or kill.

Kakashi was focused on the battle as he went over the plan in his head. He knew that at some point he would have to hit the tree behind him but if he let Amemori knock him away then the man would know that something was wrong. Luckily he didn't have to wait long as a foot made contact with his stomach and he crashed into the tree. The impact set off the first of many traps. The plan had been simple. Set the traps and then lead the irate and hopefully injured shinobi to the traps. From there anger him so that he doesn't think as clearly as he should. Intercept an attack and try to get him to trigger the surrounding traps but knocking him into a pre-determined spot in the area. With luck, he would be caught in the traps and the battle would be short-lived. Without luck, he manages to avoid them all and they have a very dangerous and prolonged battle before them.

Unfortunately for Amemori, he was unable to dodge the first of the traps which sent a massive barrage of caltrops at him. As he struggled to defend himself from the barrage and protect his vital points he tried to put some more space between him and the projectiles only to trigger the second trap. This one sent him airborne and straight into a swinging log. Managing to move to the side he crashed straight into a web of shinobi wire designed to act like a spider web. Grateful the slight lull in the attacks he was unprepared for the buckets at the upper corners of the web to tip and send corrosive fluid racing down towards him. Struggling to get free he dislodged himself taking only slight damage to his hands as he landed on the ground triggering a seal containing a second fire tornado that released as soon as pressure was placed on the center. Engulfed by the blaze he tried desperately to escape. Again he managed but instead of minor damage he was covered in burns and in some cases, the skin seemed to be coming off from the heat. Glaring at the group he noticed that the female blonde was missing just before his world went black.

Looking down at the decapitated corpse before her Samui shook her head and cleaned her blade. She had her doubts that the plan would work for a shinobi with his kind of skills but had been mildly surprised at the complexity of the arrangement. As she had been the quietest of the group, minus the Hyuga, she had been selected to get behind him and deal the finishing blow if she had the chance and the traps triggered the way that they had planned. They would have let one of the jonin do it but their absence would have been noticeable to the older shinobi. She felt impressed with the way that the other blonde had arranged the traps.

"Well, that was easier than expected. It seems that he was only dangerous if you fight on his turf and terms. Thanks for the ideas on the setup Naruto. I would have never expected that." Kakashi mused making the genin blush.

"Well in all fairness he did spend most of his childhood pranking the entirety of the hidden leaf to practice his stealth and trap making." Kimiko pointed out. Laughing Kakashi nodded and sealed the head and destroyed the body. Turning to Samui he held out the scroll.

"You made the killing blow so technically the bounty, if any, is yours." The gesture surprised the Kumo shinobi and Samui shook her head.

"It would have been impossible without the help of everyone so if anyone is going to claim the bounty then it should be the whole team or no one. Although, Naruto's design is what made it possible." She said rejoining her team. Nodding Kakashi put the scroll in his pocket and vowed to make sure that the team before him from Kumo got their even share. Taking a deep breath they headed back in the direction of the bandit camp hoping that the rest of the mission was going to be easier than it had started.

The team reached the bandit camp just after nightfall and perched in the trees above them. The camp was absolutely massive and Kakashi realized that the team may actually have problems being overwhelmed without the use of clones which would tip off the ninja among them. Turning to the other jonin he realized that he had come to the same realization.

"Well, this is unexpected. Although as all of the bandits never showed up the village had no way of knowing how big the camp would be. If Konoha had known that it would be this big they would have sent a couple of teams to ensure the safety of the ninja involved." Kakashi mused quietly.

"True. Kumo would have done the same. How should we approach this?" Jay replied in awe of how big the group had become.

"Do they know the lightning clone or other combat able version?" Kakashi asked. Nodding his answer Kakashi sighed.

"Alright then. Several groups will be needed to tackle this camp. Clones will be mixed with the real shinobi to make it more viable. That way the clones aren't easily dispelled and a way out isn't made. We'll use stealth kills for as long as we can. No jutsu and no chakra usage for as long as possible. If we can get in the camp and close enough to your nuke-nin then we can go all out as he won't have any forewarning. When that happens Hinata I want you to use your byakugans to locate the women and once you have we will send a dedicated group of clones there to free them and prevent any hostages. I can leave the ninken that are able with them once they get to safety as a precaution." Kakashi informed the group. As everyone nodded in consent Samui frowned.

"There seems to be one flaw that I can see. Even if we could make more than two lightning clones it would eat a massive amount of our chakra. As a result, there would be a massive amount of danger posed to us. As jonin, you would be able to make even more of the clones than we can but not that many without tiring yourselves out. How do we cover the entire area and how do we make the clones without being sensed?" Kakashi eye smiled and motioned for them to follow him away from the camp.

"Naruto and Kimiko have a mass of chakra and can easily create two to three times as many clones as I can and have more than enough chakra to spare." He said as he put enough distance between the camp and the team. Jay felt his eyes widen in shock at the declaration. He had never considered the idea that a genin could have that much chakra naturally unless they were a jinchuriki. However, Konoha only had the Kyuubi to the best of Kumo's knowledge and there were two of them.

"Kakashi, I have to ask you a question that you are free to not answer but I feel I have to ask for the safety of the team. Are either one of them jinchuriki?" Karui, Samui, and Omoi jolted at the question and Kakashi stared impassively at the jonin. He had no idea how to answer that question.

'Dad? Now what?' Naruto asked the Hokage. Minato hummed as he thought of the possible answers and the outcome of each one. He knew that eventually, the Kumo nin would figure it out anyway as they had two jinchuriki last he knew.

'Naruto I will leave that to you. You have some very good instincts in you so I will leave the decision to you. How you explain Kimiko's reserves is up to you as well.'

"I'm afraid that..." Kakashi started to answer.

"I am," Naruto replied cutting his jonin off. "Don't look at me like that sensei. It's my secret to tell and as such I will exercise that right when I feel it is safe. Besides, it's not like they don't already know. Regardless of how we answered they would have figured out the truth. Isn't that right Jay?" Naruto said towards the Kumo jonin. Jay nodded in affirmation to the question and shrugged at Kakashi.

"As for Kimiko, I had a really hard time keeping my chakra from overflowing when I was younger and the Sandaime deemed it necessary to siphon some off it out of me when the levels grew too large. Kimiko was selected to hold the excess chakra and as a result, her reserves have been growing at the same rate as mine. Furthermore, traces of Kyuubi's chakra can be found in her system at times." Naruto 'explained' to the group. 'Sorry, Kimi-chan.' He thought to the vixen who shrugged mentally. She didn't care.

"I have never heard of that problem before." Jay mused.

"Well, I was very young when the sealing happened. My system was more fragile than most of the other jinchuriki. It was forced to grow at an unnatural rate to accommodate the nine-tails chakra. To fast for a baby." Naruto replied making sure that no signs of lying could be picked up.

"I am only telling you this because it is important for you to know as neither I nor Kimiko have been trained to handle the chakra before and may lose control. I do trust that this knowledge will go no further though." He said. He knew that he was making a big gamble but at the same time perhaps a show of trust was what was needed to begin to close the rift and be able to count Kumo as an ally.

"I think that we can adhere to that. After all, I see no reason why Naruto or Kimiko's safety should be compromised. The only one who may find out is their jonin and only because he is that observant."

"B, right?" Kakashi said in amusement. "If I remember correctly the Hachibi jinchuriki."

"That is correct." Nodding Kakashi and the rest of the ninja made a silent agreement that the knowledge would be kept secret and began to make preparations for the attack on the camp.

*****************T.B.C***********************

A/N: I made up the name, get over it. Actually, I used a random name generator for it. The jutsu are real having been used in either the manga or the anime (I looked those up to because I was too lazy to make them up). Sorry if the big fight was anti-climactic. I was coming up with a blank on how to write it. I have never been good at fight scenes. Anyways the mission ends in the next chapter! Ja ne!