Ghost Stalker Chronicles Book 1: Paths of a Ninja

by NPCrusader

This is the continuation of the "Prologue" story. It takes over immediately where it left off. Don't know what I'm talking about? Read "Naruto the Ghost Stalker" before reading this. Asuma and his team, tasked with guarding Tazuna, encounter a most deadly foe. What will become of them? How are the other groups doing? What are Naruto's and Shino's missions and will they succeed?

3. The Infiltration of Gato's Mansion

Ghost Stalker Chronicles

Paths of a Ninja

Chapter 3: The Infiltration of Gato's Mansion

The dinner was, as one would expect from the hands of a seasoned wife and mother, delicious and filling. It was no ramen from Ichirakus, but Naruto definitely would like to eat food like this again if he could help it. During dinner, Asuma ate rather quickly. Not enough to warrant raised eyebrows, really, but Naruto and Hinata still noticed that he seemed to be in a small hurry for some reason. Their curiosity was soon sated once he was done and said he wanted to check on the recuperating Genin. Tsunami, having eaten alongside her guests, was also finished, used to not eating much to save food. She was now doing the dishes.

Once Asuma left to do what he said, Hinata looked momentarily at Naruto before resuming her meal, occasionally stealing glances at the object of her affections.

Naruto took notice of her behavior, but remained oblivious as to why, and decided to ask her about it. "Hey, Hinata? Something on your mind? You've been glancing at me now and then."

Asked innocently enough, Hinata was nonetheless under the proverbial spotlight in a dark room. It made her very uncomfortable, to say the very least.

"A...ano... I was just... thinking." She said weakly.

"About what? Something bothering you?" Naruto asked further, chewing on a small bite of his meal. He was used to her stuttering and shy demeanor so he didn't react to it.

'Not precisely' Hinata thought to herself, but said instead, "I... am just worried... about our... our..."

"Our...?"

"Our... mission. C...can we do... what we planned?" She said, giving an honest worry she had in place of the, at the time, more prominent thing on her mind.

"Oh, I don't see why we couldn't. I mean, I can handle myself and I am confident I will complete my mission. Asuma is a Jonin and can handle a bunch of low-life pirates."

"And... what about... me?" Hinata asked while poking her fingers together.

"What about you?" Naruto said, taking another bite of his food.

While not, strictly speaking, stating anything good nor bad about her skills, Hinata was a tad hurt from the nonchalant way he responded.

"W... will I do.. well or.. will I mess up? I did... make Asuma-sensei... upset with me."

Naruto regarded her for a moment before replying honestly. "There's no question about whether you did good or not. What you did before was a good call. It wasn't without its drawbacks. But then again, I've learned that the best of choices most of the time have their own downsides. Like I said before, what you did was in no way wrong. As for sensei, I'd say he was a bit angry with the overall situation and it kinda was taken out on you when he went and said what he did. Try to think of it, not so much like scolding, but more of a... what was the word? Hindsight-thing lesson."

Elated at his kind words, Hinata nodded, but asked after a moment. "Y...you still didn't... answer whether I'd... do good later."

"Oh, sorry." He answered, rubbing his neck sheepishly. "Of course I think you'll do swell. I mean, all you have to do is keep an eye out and let Asuma-sensei know where the bastard pirates are at."

If Hinata was prone to face-planting, she would have done so. As is was, with her being an adolescent lady, she kept her composure enough to a mere sad bowing of her head. Something Naruto immediately noticed.

"What? What did I say?" He asked, concerned.

"Y...you don't... think I'm... a good kunoichi. Th... that that level... of responsibility is... all I'm s..suited for." She said in a small whisper, Naruto barely caught the part of her not being a good kunoichi. She rose to leave in a saddened but dignified manner as she said it.

"Wh...what? No, wait!" Naruto exclaimed as he grabbed her arm firmly but not enough to cause pain or discomfort.

The abrupt change of the moment was almost enough to make Hinata faint, as she was set on leaving the room to sulk, but instead found herself in a close encounter with her love.

"Why are you so upset, Hinata?" Naruto asked so honestly concerned, and bewildered, that Hinata couldn't help but acquiesce to his inquiry, albeit still sad.

"You... don't believe... I'm suited... for more involving... more dangerous... tasks." She wasn't thrilled by the notion of being in dangerous situations, but she was well aware that as a kunoichi, she would inevitably find herself in missions placing her in danger and in positions of responsibility. She wanted to be up for the tasks, just like her Naruto-kun.

To her surprise, Naruto actually laughed a little at her statement. Was he of such low opinion of her?

"Hinata, why do you think that I think that? Did you forget already what you managed to do earlier? You and the rest of the guys managed to hold on as long as you did as well as work yourselves out of your tight-spot. Then you also made a hard choice, and the right one to boot, to come and help me out. To do that takes guts and skill. He may have been a clone, but the teme was very dangerous, but you took him out anyway, and in style too." Naruto said with a proud grin. "If it were up to me, I'd get you and the rest of the guys to help me out more, but you're under the command of sensei and what he says, goes."

Relived and happy, Hinata poked her fingers together again in her usual, shy manner. "A...ano, thank you, Naruto-k...kun. But half of... all that was... Shikamaru and Chouji's doing. And I... defeated that clone... from behind."

"None of that matters, you were a part of it all, a big part. They wouldn't have done as well, or even lost if you weren't there to help them, and me, out." Naruto said with absolute certainty. "It wouldn't surprise me if they both agree with me once they wake up."

Tsunami, hearing their discussion from the kitchen sink, smiled at the two's interaction. Her womanly instinct was telling her in no uncertain terms just what the girl was feeling towards her comrade and where things might lead to further down the line. In her mind, the two were sweet and deserved to be together, but it wasn't her place to play matchmaker, despite her desire to do just that. She pretended to be busy with the dishes while she was actually listening in on the interesting and adorable conversation the two were having, even if the discussed subject most of the time touched upon their sometimes unpleasant profession.

Hinata smiled cutely in appreciation of Naruto's honest words. Naruto grinned, something that was visible even behind his mask. Then she came to think of what he was about to do.

"N-Naruto-kun, please be careful." She said with a mix of confidence in his abilities as well as worry for his safety.

"Always, Hinata-chan. I wouldn't be where I am now if I didn't know the meaning of the word." He joked with a chuckle.

Giggling lightly, Hinata nodded and went upstairs. Naruto was about to head out to perform his infiltration of Gato's holdings when Tsunami spoke up.

"Naruto-kun."

"Yes, Tsunami-san?"

"Why do you constantly wear that mask of yours? I barely saw parts of your face the entire time we ate. Don't you trust us?"

Naruto ate by lowering his mask quickly and just as quickly put it back on as he had taken a bite, just like how Kakashi did when he ate.

"It's to protect my identity as much as possible. And I do trust you guys, but it's mission SOP for my branch of ninja."

"SOP?" Tsunami asked, confused.

"Standard Operating Procedure." Naruto said, proud to have memorized that, in his mind, cool term.

"Oh, I see. May I ask what is special about your branch that warrants such secrecy?"

"Sorry, Tsunami-san. If I told someone or someone who's not supposed to know that info somehow found out and I, myself, find out about it, I'd have to kill them. And I wish that was a joke." He said seriously but not unkindly. "Besides, it also is for your own protection in part."

"My own?"

"Yeah, I mean, you can't be a valuable target for this information if you don't know about it in the first place."

"What if the enemy... doesn't know that?" She asked with a shiver.

Naruto sighed with a neck-rub. "I'll admit, that could happen. But sometimes the enemy is good at finding out stuff and if they know for certain in advance that you don't know anything of value, then they wont go for you. My teacher has taught me that it is in a ninja's best interests to, if possible, learn whether a possible source of information actually knows anything beforehand. Otherwise, that source might alert someone after they've left, all for nothing. So while it doesn't make you completely safe, it doesn't put you in great danger."

"Well, forgive me Naruto-san. But I'd really like to see the face of someone fighting on my and my village's behalf." She said sweetly.

Naruto's eyes showed that he was smiling. "It's not just the weak bad guys here under Gato that are the only threat. If that was it, I'd have gladly obliged you. The thing is, though, in the future, someone could come by and try to dig up information about me and my branch in order to fight against us better, and they will definitely be of a higher caliber than anything Gato could muster.

If all they can find out is I wear black and have blue eyes, that's not much to work with. By the way, try not to mention my name when talking to me or about me from now on. Use my code name 'Ghost Stalker'. That wont tell them much if they're listening."

"You sound as if you are in constant danger." Tsunami remarked concernedly.

"All ninjas are in constant danger, even outside missions." Naruto confirmed with an uncaring shrug. "We have to be on our guard all the time, though we relax our guard more within the safety of our village. But even there we are at risk of enemy attacks." He shrugged again after he said that. "But we are trained to keep our eyes open and we're used to it anyway, so no sweat." He then said reassuringly.

Tsunami nodded in understanding. Well, she couldn't imagine living like that, but she understood what he was saying.

"Very well, even though I only know your name, Na... Ghost-san, it has been a pleasure meeting you."

"Likewise." He replied happily. "But I'm not leaving permanently, I'll be back later at some point."

"Oh. I'm glad to hear that." She said with a pleased smile. "Well then, I wish you the best of luck in your mission, Ghost-san."

"Thanks a lot, I'll be back before Tazuna-ossan can say 'Sake for the sake of sake'."

Before he could leave Tsunami giggled, saying. "He's not that bad a drinker."

"Oh yeah? Tell that to my nose which had to stand his breath on the way here." He joked as he left.

Village of Wave – A short time after leaving the household.

Gato's residence was not a widely known fact, despite being a despicable despot of the small country. In his, now well founded, paranoia, Gato's secluded himself outside of the village somewhere in order to keep himself and his possessions safe from prying eyes and thieves. That was all anyone could tell the inquiring ninja that was on the hunt for him. The locals were more than forthcoming with the little information they had, knowing it would aid in the downfall of their oppressor.

'I'll have to find and tail one of his thugs back there.' Naruto deduced.

That turned out to be as easy as it was revolting. Remorsefully, a villager had informed him of a brothel that the thugs had setup for the most destitute of women to provide their services to them in return for reduced taxes, and sometimes even actual pay, meager as it was. The way the man told it, the way they were treated was not worth any amount of money.

Naruto was burning with anger and the desire to rescue them. But remembering how he was trained, he began to temper his volatile emotions, instead focusing his energy, fueling his efforts rather than getting in the way.

Yokai taught him that if something was within the scope of a mission, or at least wasn't opposing it, then any desired actions taken must be taken with focus and clarity of thought, lest it interferes with his mission or worsens it. Naturally, this something is also required to not contradict ones' own views or that of the clan. The laws of the clan are as important as the mission.

After all, a Hyuuga, for example, would never give up his eyes to anyone willingly, that would be against clan law, for one. And while the Hokage had the power to issue any sort of mission, he would never formulate one requiring that of a Hyuuga. However, in theory, if he did, then the laws of the village, more precisely the fundamental laws involving the clans of the village and their rights, would prohibit it unless given permission from any concerning clan.

Naruto had wondered what would happen if clan laws and the mission ever clashed. Yokai responded saying that that is not something he should be worrying about now since that is something ironed out on the pre-assignment level. If anything happens during a mission to make it contradictory, the ability to communicate all the way back to HQ allowed them to solve any such problems before further instructions are given. If in a hurry, the default order would be to not proceed with whatever contradictory action that may have been optional, or prevent likewise actions if a third party's intentions are such.

"But back to the main topic." Yokai had continued his lecture. "In due time, and with satisfying precision, the desired mission objective, optional or otherwise, will be accomplished. Striving with untamed and unruly emotions and a mind that is all over the place is inviting death and failure for tea. And they rarely, if ever, turn down an invitation." Yokai had said both seriously and jokingly.

"There are three states of mind that never aids in any level of tasks requiring quick thinking, precision or planning. Those are fear/panic, anger and grief." Yokai had said. "If they are present, one must temper each as necessary, preferably instantly, and make use of the drive they provide to complete what must be done. This is a very hard thing to achieve, for some extremely so, and even those trained in it can't always keep their heads in the state they need them to be in dire situations. Especially when taken by surprise. It's like having a large pile of flammable material that you have to be ready at all times to contain. And when it does ignite, quickly make it no more harmful than a campfire; used for harmless and useful ends such as warmth, illumination and preparation of a meal.

Additionally, warmth is soothing, illumination makes you see things clearer in the otherwise dark night and a full belly helps you think of what's ahead rather than food. A soothed mind is not as easily distracted as one that is in dismay. If a mind, or heart if you will, can see beyond the present moment, beyond ones own immediate pain, one can prevent even further pain, your own and others', as opposed to wallowing in ones own and neglecting everything else. One can always grieve later, when things have settled down. It's a shame things have to be that way, but it's for the best if you can deal with it."

"And the food part? What part does that have?" Naruto had asked solemnly.

"It was merely a likeness for your benefit, since you like food so much." Yokai quipped with mirth.

"Hey, I aint an Akimichi!" Naruto angrily corrected, which only brought chuckles from his teacher.

This was a memory that always helped Naruto in aligning his mind to the task at hand when his temper flared, tempting him to let it do the thinking for him. Taking a relaxing breath, Naruto calmed down some and thought more calmly about his next course of action.

He concluded that he had to solicit the help of the poor women inside the brothel. Once again taking a deep breath, he prepared himself for the unpleasantness he was approaching.

He viewed the interior of the establishment through a window, making sure there weren't anybody inside hostile to him. Fortunately, there were none present at the time. Naruto entered. The place was kept in order and the decoration was surprisingly pleasant, but that did nothing to hide the air of despondency coming from the women in the room. They were clothed in simple clothing. Naruto correctly guessed that it was all they owned.

Before too long, he was approached by the apparent spokeswoman of the entire place, a more elegant woman in her 30s or 40s, the other women simply regarded him with small amounts of interest but a much bigger amount of sorrow. It tore at him to see them in such emotional pain.

"Welcome, Ninja-san." She greeted with forced pleasantry. Once she had taken in Naruto's entire appearance she spoke again in a more unguarded tone, which was naturally sadder. "Forgive me for being blunt, but you appear too young to be seeking out our services."

Appearing as kind as he could muster through his eyes only, Naruto responded likewise. "I'm not here for the usual things you do, lady. I'm here to see if you could help me find things out."

This seemed to intrigue the woman and the others within earshot. "If that is all you require of us, we'd be glad to assist you. However, what can we tell you that you wouldn't be aware of already?"

"Unless you can tell me right now, I intend to find out where Gato's hiding so I can sneak inside and do, at least, some damage to him, perhaps even take him out of the picture entirely, if I'm lucky. I don't think you ladies got anything against that, do you?" He said, keeping his glee for what he was going to do in check.

All the women gasped and then talked with one another in hushed voices, but they were all in better spirits already from the news.

The head mistress regarded Naruto with a smile as she spoke. "You are right in assuming that. Unfortunately we can't tell you anything as the bastards that come here are tight-lipped about his whereabouts. We do know that they know, though."

Nodding, Naruto then told them his immediate plans. "Right then, the next time they come here, I want you to fake some kind of illness going about in here. Something that is 'contagious' and easily faked. It should make them think twice about going any further. Once they leave, I'm gonna follow them and once I find where Gato's at, I'll do my thing to hit him where it hurts."

The women applauded and their spirits were higher than they've been in a long time. Naruto rubbed his neck and sheepishly said. "I haven't done anything yet, ladies."

The head mistress surprised Naruto by embracing him in a hug. "The fact that someone is fighting him, someone capable of much more than a regular civilian, is cause enough for us to celebrate a little. And that we get a day free from the brutes' treatments gladdens our hearts."

"I promise you," Naruto said as he returned the hug. "I wont leave Wave before Gato's dealt with and every last one of you are free."

"But what would we do after that?" One asked, her spirits dampened at the thought. "I'm not a craftswoman".

"Nor am I." Said another and there were some others agreeing.

"How long have you been in service to Gato's men?" Naruto asked.

"Since Gato, basically, took over. It was 5 years ago. Most of us are only about 22 to 26 years old. We haven't had the opportunity to learn anything useful, not enough to work with anyway." The mistress said sadly.

"Can't you get help from your fellow townspeople who do have a profession?"

"We would, but they aren't in a position to support us and any training we might require since we can't support ourselves."

Naruto crossed his arms and closed his eyes in thought. Then he opened up the channel to HQ.

'Oi, HQ! Ghost Stalker to HQ!'

'HQ here, go ahead Ghost Stalker.' Replied the voice of Yokai.

'Sensei, I've got a bunch of poor women in a brothel here that could use some help.'

'I don't see what we can do about it right now, Stalker. It isn't within our mission parameters to aid them either.'

'It isn't against the mission either, is it? Look, I've got an idea I want to run by you and Jiji.'

'I'm listening. Once you've run your idea by me, if it's a good one, I'll run it by the Hokage as well.'

'Sweet! Alright, here's the thing. They are more than willing to learn a profession so they can become productive citizens. But Wave needs time first to recuperate once things are dealt with here. Time these ladies don't have. I was thinking that they could take up apprentice positions with various Leaf craftsmen before they move back to Wave.'

'Hmm, that's not a bad idea. I'll run it by the Hokage and get back to you on that. In the meantime, proceed with your mission as you see fit.'

'Will do, sensei. Out!'

When Naruto refocused on the head mistress, she was looking at him with a weird expression.

He immediately knew how he must've looked, spacing out like that. "Sorry about that, I was in contact with my superiors." He said, keeping it vague.

"You didn't say anything." She pointed out.

"We have means to speak sort of like telepecy." He explained.

"You mean telepathy?" She giggled, the other women did likewise.

"Yeah, right." He agreed, chuckling. "Just, please, don't tell anyone about it, ninja secrets and all that. It is dangerous for you if any bad guys found out you know something about it."

"Our lips are sealed, we promise you. Aint that right, girls?"

A chorus of "Hai!" came from the cheered-up women.

"Good! I was speaking with them about perhaps giving you some help. Now, before you get your hopes up too high, I'm not 100% sure it will go through. But I'm pretty sure my leader will find a way."

Despite his cautionary words, the women were immediately talking animatedly about their possibilities. The head mistress was looking at the adolescent ninja warmly.

"So," Naruto began awkwardly, not used to such a look. "When do they usually show up for their... fixes, if you excuse the expression."

"They usually come later in the day. I imagine the first ones will come in a few hours."

"Crap, so I have to wait." Grumbled Naruto in irritation.

"I'm hurt, Ninja-kun. Don't you find our company agreeable?" The head mistress asked with a teasing expression.

"No, no, it's not that." Naruto said, waving his hands in front of him in a mix of defensive and reassuring gestures. "I'm just eager to kick Gato's ass for what he's been doing to Wave."

Laughing melodically, the head mistress once again hugged Naruto. "I'm not certain such language should come from a young man such as yourself."

"Oi, I'm not a kid." Naruto weakly defended with a unseen, yet noticeable pout in his voice.

"Oh, are you a man then?" She teased.

"Um... well." Naruto rubbed his neck uncertainly, completely missing the insinuation.

The women laughed hard at Naruto's cluelessness. Naruto got the distinct impression he was being made fun of.

"Hmph. That's what I get for trying to be nice, I get laughed at." He turned around, a distinctly sour expression over his entire body.

"Aww, don't be like that Ninja-san. We were only teasing you because we like you." The head mistress said sweetly.

Turning back around, Naruto showed a happy countenance in his eyes. "Yeah, I get that a lot back home. What's your name, miss?"

"Deshio, Higata." She introduced herself with a bow. "And your own name, Ninja-kun?"

"I'm sorry, Higata-san. When on a mission, I only use my code name; Ghost Stalker."

A small shiver ran through her back at the code name. "That's a scary code name" She commented.

"Thanks, that's the idea." Naruto happily said. "And I got the skills to back it up."

"Can you show us?" A woman asked, stars in her eyes.

"Id' love to, if it wasn't dangerous to flaunt ninja skills around, for more than one reason." Naruto said seriously.

"Aww..." She and other women deflated.

Hating to see them sad, he decided to humor them with basic ninja skills. "How about this, I can show you some basic skills all ninjas know that aren't dangerous?"

"Yay!" Was the chorus. And so Naruto spend time entertaining the women with basic ninja stuff like wall walking, kawarimi and henge. The henge was particularly popular with the women when he impersonated various people he met both in the Leaf and in Wave. He had a feeling some of them wouldn't appreciate the way he portrayed them, but he didn't care, he was enjoying seeing the women laughing and awing at the things he could do too much, and the comment "And this is a basic ninja skill?" was uttered way more than once.

Once the ninjutsu skills were exhausted, he switched over to doing some more recreational skills. This included kunai and shuriken juggling, arranging makeshift hurdles with the furniture and then performing flips, back-flips and other acrobatic moves to get through or over them.

Then, the girl that happened to be on the lookout at the time (they took shifts), alerted them to approaching "clients".

Rearranging the place to the way it was before, the women then went into their roles of being sick in the flu.

They easily bought the excuse since Naruto lent some sneezing powder he always carried for emergency prank making (yes, he has those moments). It was slightly unpleasant for them, but they still gladly endured it for the sake of the ruse.

Once the gullible thugs left, Naruto bid the ladies farewell and promised to return at least once before leaving Wave. He then followed the thugs as discreetly as only a ninja could. Turned out that it was a good thing he was a ninja and not a civilian. For a civilian would have been noticed easily by them since they were cautious and were under orders to make certain no one ever followed them back to where they came from.

The thugs didn't immediately return to Gato's mansion, for it was a mansion as he found out from listening in on their hushed discussions among themselves. It was apparently once the local lord's residence before Gato had him assassinated without any incriminating evidence leading back to him.

Then Naruto heard something interesting. Apparently the captain of the guard for the old lord, a warrior trained in the ways of the Samurai, was captured trying to avenge his lord, being convinced of the one behind the deed to be Gato.

Now, he was rotting in one of Gato's holding cells in the cellar, only to be taken out for Gato's amusement when he was to fight unarmed against his own thugs armed with blunt weapons.

Turned out that he was proficient with unarmed combat as well, the thugs took a beating before Gato ordered the Samurai to be overwhelmed and thrown back into his makeshift dungeon.

'A possible ally.' Naruto considered.

The tailing of the thugs was taxing on Naruto's nerves, as they extorted the poor people of Wave in their patrol route through the village. But Naruto knew their time would come eventually. Still, it itched in his fingers something fierce to beat them into the ground.

Finally, they were headed back to their master's lair, it was a considerable distance from town.

Naruto had to hand it to the late lord. The mansion was impressive for a lord of a minor country like Wave. It was big enough to encompass several houses found in the village. And that was merely the first floor taken into account. The second floor was not as large as the first one, being only half the size in total, but it still was enough to be quite spacious. Although Naruto couldn't see it, he knew there was a cellar beneath the visible structure.

He had to wonder why no one in the village thought that Gato was inhabiting this place, especially since the former lord was no longer home.

'Well, I'm here to gather intel, perhaps I'll come across the answer to that.' He thought with a mental shrug.

It was starting to get dark, the perfect time to begin stealth operations.

As the thugs were just untrained goons, Naruto was certain that he could get about in the mansion relatively unhindered using his Spirit Stride technique. 'Still,' he thought. 'I have to keep my limits in mind or I risk letting myself get discovered. And against these low-lives, that would be embarrassing.'

After making sure no one was on the other side of the outer wall, he jumped over on the back side of the mansion. There he found the back-door that the servants once used to go through in their daily business performing chores. Scratch that, apparently Gato decided to keep some servants around from the old lord. A few just went outside to dispose of rubbish.

'More like slaves.' Naruto thought, taking in their appearance. They had seen better days. 'Is it really such a chore for a man of Gato's considerable wealth to at least try to take care of SOME of his... subjects?' Naruto wondered angrily.

Approaching the slaves, he singled out someone that was taking his time in garbage disposal, apparently not keen on returning inside, rather spending a few extra moments with smelly trash.

The others had started to head inside and the last man was finishing up. As soon as the others were inside, Naruto switched from Spirit Stride to Haunting Hunt silently and then snuck up to the unsuspecting man, a man approaching his thirties by the looks of it.

The man was resigning himself for more chores and degrading treatment from the mercenaries under Gato's employ when he was suddenly on his knees from someone lightly kicking him from behind on the knee-joint. He was then grabbed from behind, his mouth covered by a hand he couldn't see. The other hand from his attacker held one of his arms behind his back in just the right position to cause pain, but as it was, only caused discomfort.

"Shh!" Naruto shushed the man. "I wont hurt you if you keep quiet, understand?"

The man nodded fearfully.

"Alright. Keep nodding or shake your head in response to my questions, can you do that for me?" Naruto asked firmly yet calmly. The man nodded once again.

"Right. First off, are you and your fellow servants happy with Gato since his take-over?"

The man shook his head immediately in a fierce negative.

"OK, would you say all of you would be willing to help bring about his downfall?" Naruto asked.

The slave gave a slow shrug. Naruto sighed. "If I let go of you, do I have your word that you wont raise the alarm or anything of the sort?"

A nod was his reply. Naruto let go of the man who turned around only to see nothing. He paled and started to clatter his teeth in fear. "G-g-ghosts!" He exclaimed.

"No, I'm a ninja. Please, don't worry." Naruto said, trying to calm the man down.

"A...a n-ninja?"

"That's right. I'm here to cause trouble for Gato."

Exhaling a deep breath of relief, the man said. "Thank heavens! Someone has finally come to put an end to this bastard."

"That's the plan." Naruto said. "Now, why did you shrug instead of nodding before?"

"Well... I can only speak for myself, sir. I'd like nothing more than help you hurt Gato, but in my personal opinion, some of the others might be too afraid to oppose him to help you, though they hate him just as I do. A few might see a chance to gain a better standing with Gato by alerting the guards to your presence, all to improve their own lives."

Groaning and rubbing his temples in disappointment, Naruto asked further. "If that's the case, what can you tell me of the place?"

"It's the former lord's mansion, designed for comfort and a posh lifestyle. It has little in terms of security outside of the men stationed here. There is a central alarm that alerts every man in the place if one is triggered."

"Only manual triggering, like a button on the wall right?"

"Correct, sir."

"OK, so no traps."

"None that I'm aware of, sir."

"None that you're aware of? Great, that means I have to be careful anyway."

"If you don't mind me saying so, sir. I may not know of any traps, but it is my belief that there aren't any traps found inside, the old lords didn't see the need for any and Gato has not ordered any to be setup. The only place I can think of that might have some sort of security measure is the vault he has in the basement level."

'Interesting.' Naruto thought before asking, "Isn't the basement where he keeps any prisoners as well?"

"Why, yes. There's only one down there though, the former..."

"Captain of the guard, I learned of him from the guys I followed here."

"Ronin-sama was captured trying to avenge the old master. Unfortunately he failed, valiant though his attempt was."

"Ronin?"

"He refuses to be addressed by his given name any longer since his failure to protect his master. Now he wants to be known for the failure he sees himself as, as a Ronin."

"Ronins are dishonored Samurai." Naruto said out loud in thought. "Was he trying to regain his honor through vengeance?"

"I don't pretend to understand the ways of the Samurai. But perhaps he doesn't seek to regain his honor, as much as to cleanse himself of dishonor."

Nodding, Naruto filed that away for later. "You seem to respect him."

"Ronin-sama was a very honorable Samurai and he treated us servants with respect, though we are lower in stature compared to himself and the old master. Anything he asked for, we servants gladly did to the best of our abilities. The men under him considered his word to be law, second only to the old master."

"Sounds like someone I might respect too." Naruto said with a cloaked grin. "What of his old guard?"

"Some sought employment elsewhere, a few even became mercenaries that Gato immediately employed. Those tend to be among the nicer ones since they are from Wave."

"Aren't they angered by the state of their homeland?"

"I'd say they are displeased, yes. But they can't see a way to rectify that on their own. They are too few in numbers."

"I can imagine them being treated differently by Gato and the rest of his thugs. Is that right?"

"That's right, Shinobi-san. They are kept from the village so as to keep them from seeing the results of Gato's handiwork and cause unrest among his men. They are merely guards here and aren't allowed to leave."

"Why did Gato hire them if they are an inconvenience? Isn't he afraid of backstabbing from his own men?"

"I do not know. Perhaps Gato suspected they would attempt to seek outside help once they learned the true extent of what was going on in their own country? As for backstabbing, he keeps a bunch of outsider mercs that receive better pay to keep him secure at all times, they also seem to know more about combat if what I hear occasionally from the guards is right."

"Yeah, makes sense." Naruto agreed. "Aren't you missed inside?" He then asked, worried that the servant's absence might arouse suspicion.

"Oh, don't fret, good sir! I'm no one special among the servants and we are of enough numbers so the guards don't take the time to learn our faces, names or whereabouts, as long as we don't venture further outside than within the walls."

Just then, Naruto's jutsu wore off, startling the servant. "Oh, crap. Sorry about that, my jutsu wore off." Naruto said, chastising himself for forgetting himself.

"That's quite alright, sir. I'm actually glad to speak to a person rather than thin air." The servant joked.

"Where's Gato now?"

"I do not know, sadly. He is not in at this time."

"Where's his office?"

"It's located on the second floor in the middlemost room. If you intend to go there, I must warn you that it is under guard even if Gato himself isn't present."

"It's my specialty to go where I'm not supposed to, undetected." Naruto said with a gleam in his eyes.

"I believe you, sir." The servant said with a nervous smile.

"What's your name?"

"My name? I'm Reizoku Fukou."

"It was nice to meet you, Fukou-san. Before I go and put the hurt on Gato, what will you do once he's gone?"

"I am uncertain. Perhaps I will find someone else to serve."

"You want to remain servant?"

"It's all I have ever known, and it has been more than enough for my family since the beginning of their appointed servitude. My family has been in service to the lord's family line for generations. We were appointed the position of head servants long ago and we were well taken care of by the masters just as we took care of the masters. Only now are all servants treated equally, equally poorly."

Giving the dutiful man a contemplative look, Naruto spoke after a moment. "Maybe that will work itself out somehow. Until we meet again, Fukou-san."

"Good luck, Shinobi-san."

Naruto went to the first floor wall and attempted to scale it, only to be surprised by the fact his feet wouldn't stick to the surface. Reacting with quick reflexes, he avoided impacting painfully with the earth, flipping instead on his hands and righting himself up.

"It would seem that whatever skill you ninjas use to get about on walls will not work on the mansion walls." Fukou commented with surprise, correctly guessing what he intended to do and understood that Naruto failed to do it.

"It's coated with an anti-chakra substance. Now that I think about it, it was guarded by samurai, and they have methods to make it difficult for ninjas to infiltrate where they are stationed. I didn't think it would last so long." He spoke out loud in thought. He doubted Gato would be aware of the coating, much less be behind it. "And it's too high to simply jump up."

"You have to go there the regular way?" Fukou asked.

"Yeah, but that's no problem, I'll use my camouflage jutsu to sneak by unseen." Naruto said before applying his Spirit Stride silently.

Very impressed by the existence of such a method, Fukou nevertheless wished him, once again, good luck before resuming his duties as if nothing was amiss.

Naruto moved about inside, getting the layout of the place as he went. His first order of business was to locate the office Gato no doubt had his more important documents dealing with things going on right now. In the vault in the basement most likely had other important documents, and money as well, but those were all of secondary importance right now to Naruto. He would have a look at them later when he got there.

Easily finding the stairs leading to the second floor, he moved about and reapplied his jutsu as necessary when it was about to run out. There were guards around, but there weren't any with ninja training what he could see, not that he expected any with such training, and they were distracting themselves with harassing the slaves or playing dice or cards. Too occupied to notice a silent infiltrator like Naruto.

As Fukou had informed him, the door to the office was guarded by some mean looking mercs. Naruto considered gaining entrance through the ventilation shafts but the ones here were to small. Frowning in dismay, Naruto realized he'd have to do something about the guards. However, he'd have to check the door first to see the extensiveness of the locking mechanism.

Having a freshly applied jutsu to camouflage him, he quietly moved to the door, right between the men on either side of it. In the part of his mind that held his prankster side, Naruto chuckled at the fact the stern looking men were unaware of a brat lurking about right beside them.

Looking at the locking mechanism, he was relieved to find it was a simple, physical lock requiring a key. Though it was expected, he had learned long ago to not make assumptions and proceed like they were facts.

Regarding the guards, he tried to spy whether any of them carried the key. As he suspected, they didn't have the key on them, probably because Gato didn't trust anyone but himself with his own keys. Prudent, Naruto had to admit.

Considering the type of lock on the door, Naruto believed he could pick it open without too much fuss and then once he left, leave it locked again, leaving the owner of the room none the wiser that someone was there.

That left just the guards. No matter how stealthy Naruto was, they would notice someone picking a lock right beside them. Even if they didn't, the door opening would be a dead giveaway. Probably would add insult to injury by needing oil in its hinges.

Knocking them out would make any attempts at secrecy moot since Gato would know someone was here once they woke up. No, he would have to distract them.

To his surprise, he spotted Fukou coming down the corridor leading to the office carrying a tray of refreshments. Naruto quickly deduced that Fukou foresaw Naruto's need of a distraction and disguised his attempts to help by performing a duty. Smiling, he stepped back and waited for the right moment.

"Good evening, sirs." Fukou addressed the guards.

"Whaddya want, slave?" The one to the right of the door spoke gruffly.

"I brought you some refreshments, it must be taxing to stand still all day." Fukou said with a bow. Naruto didn't know if he was being sarcastic or not, but was leaning towards the former.

"I s'pose it is." Said the one to the left, eyeing the drinks and snacks.

"Oi, we're on duty." The other reprimanded.

"The boss aint 'ere, Dori. Why not enjoy ourselves a li'dl?" The left one protested.

Considering it for a moment, he then nodded with a grunt before the two approached the tray.

"Ya can leave it 'ere on this table, slave. Then go on back to wherever you place is." Dori ordered.

"As you wish, sirs." Fukou said before placing the tray on the indicated small table located in a T-crossing in the corridors before retreating.

As the guards were enjoying their snacks, still within viewing distance of the door, Naruto began picking the lock. They may be in sight of the door, but the angle was wrong to see when it opened, nor was the tiny noises enough to alert them from where they sat.

Quietly and quickly picking the lock, Naruto slowly opened the door, hoping its hinges were oiled. As it turned out, Gato hated squeaky doors, so he kept it oiled.

Entering and closing the door silently, he then beheld the room. It was a nice office, as he expected. A leather chair on wheels somewhat resembling the Hokage's chair stood behind an oak desk. File cabinets located against the wall behind the desk indicated that Gato was a busy man. Naruto created a few shadow clones and had them sift through the files for anything of interest. Naruto himself went through the desk itself for anything of importance.

The desk drawers produced nothing but various office related objects. He frowned and made sure everything were left just as they were before regarding the rest of the room, waiting for his clones to finish their work.

There was a grandiose painted picture of what he assumed was the former lord, or someone in his family line. The name of the man in the picture was indicated to be Moto Fumetsu. An elegant name, in Naruto's opinion, suitable for a man of noble standing. Add to the fact he had a fine reputation among his subjects, he seemed like an okay person to Naruto, which prompted him to feel some sadness on his behalf for his assassination.

Then his clones seemed to have finished as he heard the dropping of papers on the desk along with the dispelling of the clones. There were only a couple of folders on the desk. Looking through them, Naruto found out that Gato has had some dealings with a mysterious criminal organization not even he was privy to the name of. The only dealings he had was that of information and money. He paid for some valuable intel on Wave and its lord the organization was in possession of as well as some men the organization in question had access to. No, not access to, had intel on.

That was strange, the criminals were seemingly very influential in many respects according to Gato's notes, but weren't a large presence on the world at large. Gato wrote additionally in his notes that they were to be dealt with in a delicate manner, or he, himself, could find himself on the opposing end of their manipulations.

So Gato was scared of them? And yet they weren't powerful, not as one normally can be anyway. More like exceedingly cunning. Naruto frowned in concern. A cunning enemy is just as dangerous as one who is mighty. That was one absolute rule in any form of warfare, large or minor. Criminals who are powerful are someone to handle with care due to their reach and power, but they are easily found and so are their weaknesses. But criminals who are cunning are much more difficult to find, as are their weaknesses. Well, if they don't have a considerable amount of brawn to protect them, that's a weakness. But in all honesty, if they play their cards right, they may never have the need for it.

He read on. It was written down that part of Gato's scheme was to cover up the death of the late daimyo and assume his role in secret and "sanction" Gato's activities. No wonder no one thought to point Naruto in the direction of the mansion, they thought Gato was somewhere else. A clever misdirection, Naruto had to reluctantly admit.

Now Naruto knew where Gato got his information from to make his hostile takeover. Other than that, Gato seemed to have started out as a small-time businessman with some ties to regular organized crime. As he grew in wealth, so did his greed and ambitions.

The more recent documents indicated Gato received intel, as requested, from the organization about the whereabouts and good-to-knows about Momochi Zabuza as well as his companion, a young person named Haku. It struck Naruto as odd to refer to this "Haku" as a person. He expected an organization as well informed as it, apparently, was to be aware of the gender, but it looked as if they weren't.

Anyway, they seemed to be aware of a great deal regarding the two. Zabuza apparently was seeking employment due to being in need of money for whatever reason. The Org. (short for the Organization) was suspecting that the nuke-nin is attempting to found and fund some sort of guerrilla force to combat his abandoned home's regime.

That meant that Zabuza was perhaps trying to overthrow the Mizukage. If a missing nin was up to such schemes, it spoke much of his ambitions. It looked as if he had dreams of assuming the position of Mizukage. It wasn't Naruto's business really, but it could become it if he succeeds and causes trouble later on an international scale.

For the moment, he deemed it was information he definitely had to relay back to HQ. But before that, he had to finish his immediate objectives. He read on.

Haku is a loyal companion of the missing nin. Haku has no registration anywhere and as such has no bounty as a missing nin, since that status is not applicable to him/her. However, it has been witnessed that Zabuza's companion has skills normally associated with Shinobi, more precisely found with Chunin or ANBU. Precise level unascertainable at this time as Zabuza is highly protective of his protege and said protege is secretive, always wearing a mask and clothing to disguise his or her identity and gender. Main choice of weapons appear to be senbon.

'So, that's why they were so vague before.' Naruto noted.

Then Naruto came across something that made him raise his eyebrows in surprise.

'We will take immediate action to influence Zabuza's whereabouts to a place of your choosing upon confirmation of your desire to hire him and his companion.' He read.

'Influence his whereabouts?' Naruto repeated in his head. 'How the heck do they influence a missing nin to go somewhere at their whim? And they word like it's a mail-order service. I wonder if we're gonna refer to these guys as "Nuke-nins 'R Us"'

Having reached the end of that folder with the stamp of confirmation from Gato, he took a look at the next folder. This one detailed his current mercenary strength and overall deployment pattern.

This included the dealings with the pirates he had come into contact with. Apparently, the pirates and Gato were once at odds with one another due to conflicts, meaning battles, with Gato's own blockading forces. The pirates wanted a piece of Wave and Gato's, then, less than able forces stood barely a chance against the more battle-hardened pirates. Under a white flag, Gato had approached the leading pirate captain and came to an agreement to make them his own private naval force. It was a hefty price Gato had to pay, but it still left Gato with a net income rather than a net loss. His plan was, once Wave was bled dry, to move on and utilize his new-found naval might to establish similar blockades and extortion operations on other smaller fishing villages. Over time, he would attempt to establish himself as a form of mafia that held influence over not just land areas, but sea areas as well.

'Highly ambitious. Perhaps even doable.' Naruto grimly thought.

He also saw, to his dismay, that his land based mercenaries are spread out to keep order and bring in money occasionally. They are rarely ever gathered in one place, other than the mansion. If they were only gathered here, among innocents, the trap they had in mind had to be scrapped.

Gato wasn't in the house either, so taking him out wasn't an option either at present, as he couldn't remain there indefinitely. He needed to get back to Asuma and make a modified plan, as well as report in to HQ. He could do it right then and there, but he was in hostile territory and could be discovered in a hurry if he wasn't careful. Then the element of surprise would be lost.

He took out a small camera and took photos of all the documents he looked over before returning them to their proper places.

It was on his way out that he realized that the guards were back to their original positions on either side of the door, he could sense their presences through the door. He had taken too long to get back out, but he was so engrossed in the surprising information that he forgot to hurry up.

He searched the room for an alternate way out. As before, the vents were out because they were too small. Biting lightly on his upper lip in thought, he wondered if he could distract the guards somehow from the inside.

Then he had a thought. He may not be able to crawl through the ventilation shaft, but it was a short and straight shaft from the wall in here to the corridor on the other side. He ought to be able to create a shadow clone as long as he had a line of sight to the other side and create it there. It was out of line of sight of the guards as well, so they only should hear some noise and the clone would be gone before they came around.

His plan formed, he used a cabinet to gain some height to see through the vent that was located on the upper part of the wall. Once he saw the other side, he created his clone and it was successfully created on the other side. The poof of its creation alerted the guards. They only heard a small sound of something, but they were curious enough to leave their posts.

Hastily making sure to not leave any evidence of his being there, Naruto exited the office and locked the door behind him while the guards were busy looking for the source of the noise, which they never found since the clone dispelled somewhere safe.

Making his way to the basement level, Naruto went in search for the dishonored samurai held captive there.

He had hoped for some way to immediately get out of the mansion from the basement, but it was too far underground for that. He had to go back the way he came to exit the premises.

Contrary to his own assumption, the basement level was unguarded. The vault room was in fact almost a vault in itself, thus it was not really in need of any added security, or so Gato believed it would seem. Any thief would have to brave through the heavily guarded upstairs to get to here, a feat only the greatest of thieves had any hope to accomplish once, let alone twice. They didn't think very much about ninjas coming here, obviously.

The room the samurai was held captive in was without any guard as well. He supposed the door was robust enough to withstand any attempts at forcing an escape, and a samurai would never be caught knowing how to pick a lock, much less in possession of such tools.

Lightly knocking on the door, he got a faint but firm "Yes!"

"Are you the one they refer to as 'Ronin'?" A stupid question perhaps, but it was a form of introduction as a non-hostile party to the samurai.

Silence met the ninja at first before light shuffling was heard and the man's voice was heard more clearly. He was obviously closer to the door now.

"I am he." He asked with a guarded tone.

"I am a friend, I've come to help you." Naruto said.

"Tell me your name, would-be friend, before we proceed any further." The samurai more or less ordered.

"I can't, Ronin-san. I'm supposed to keep my identity a secret." Naruto said, trying desperately to keep the fact he was a ninja from the samurai, who naturally detest ninjas.

"Whatever for?" Ronin inquired firmly.

Sighing in defeat, Naruto knew he had to be upfront with the man now if he had any hope of establishing a rapport with him.

"Because I'm a ninja on a mission." He said.

Silence met him and Naruto feared the worst.

"Are you here in Wave to facilitate the removal of Gato?" Ronin asked, guarded as he was since the beginning of their conversation.

"As a matter of fact, yeah." Naruto replied.

"If that is your task, what are you doing down here with a dishonored samurai? You should return to your mission and remove him post-haste."

"Well, sir, I heard of your situation and I wanted to give a hand." Naruto answered honestly.

He heard a loud, derisive snort.

"A ninja? Helping someone out of the goodness of their heart?" He asked, this time sounding both disbelieving and mocking. "Do you take this former samurai for a fool?"

"I don't consider any samurai a fool." Naruto responded.

"Ah, but a former samurai is then?" The man asked, as if he caught Naruto attempting to deceive him.

"I was under the impression that once you're a samurai, you're always a samurai, even if you're a ronin?"

A brief silence followed that statement before Ronin spoke. "Impressive, young ninja. You'd be surprised how few outsiders know of that facet."

"And you would be surprised by how honorable some ninja can be." Naruto remarked.

"Hmph, that has yet to be seen."

"Yet, being the key word, right?" Naruto quickly returned.

The man on the other side of the door barked out a laugh. "Hah! You are an amusing one, ninja. But tell me, why should I trust you?"

Giving it some thought, Naruto said finally. "I have no proof to give outside of my word and the fact that I am here and willing to help you. If it's any worth to you, my way of the ninja is to never go back on my word."

"Hooh? I was not aware that ninjas had such codes of conduct."

"Not all do, but I do, and I know a few others that have given themselves similar codes to follow."

"I must admit, I have never dreamed to hear of such things coming from the mouths of ninjas. Tell me, where do you hail from?"

"Konohagakure no Sato." Naruto said, using the traditional name of his village.

"The supposedly strongest shinobi village of them all, eh?" Ronin remarked.

"So I've been told we are." Naruto humbly responded.

"Hah! A humble response. I may not trust ninjas, but I can trust a man that holds such honorable codes of conduct and personal values."

"I'm honored to have gained your trust." Naruto said.

"I didn't say that." Ronin said firmly, but continued in a more relaxed tone. "But I am willing to give you the benefit of a doubt. Now, let me out of here so I may continue my quest to slay Gato and rid my homeland of his defiling presence."

Naruto grimaced at that. "Erm... there's one problem with that part."

"What is it?"

"If I let you out now, they will undoubtedly know someone helped you escape and it wouldn't take long for them to figure out that the mansion has been infiltrated, and the element of surprise will be lost."

"Hmm. And you would need that element to harm Gato the most?"

"Yeah, but I swear I will help you out soon and, if possible, help give you a shot at Gato himself." Naruto said.

"Hai, the element of surprise is not a dishonorable facet of warfare." Ronin mused to himself audibly. "Very well, I shall trust you to keep your word. I don't have any choice otherwise at any rate. What are your plans for the time being then?"

"For now, I will regroup with my fellow shinobi present in Wave and devise a plan to take down Gato based on intelligence I gathered here before I came down here to you."

"You're awfully trusting to tell that to me." Ronin remarked.

"Why would you tell Gato anything, you want him gone as much as anyone else around here, maybe more."

"True, but even samurai are not as trusting as you just were. Many would call it foolish."

"Yeah, maybe." Naruto agreed, looking a bit shamed since the samurai had a point. "But I have a good feeling about you and even though I should, as a ninja, keep things to myself unless necessary, I wanted to include you in our plans."

"What? Why and how?" Ronin asked, genuinely surprised by that.

"Because I learned that some of your former subordinates are among the mercs here in the mansion. They've been restricted to being mansion guards and haven't been allowed to see the state of the village."

"Hmm, I believe I know who they are and how many they are. They are not many. But they are of better quality than the rest of these worthless buffoons roaming the mansion, both in personal values as well as combat skills. You are considering recruiting them to our cause?"

"Since they had very little to do with Wave's suffering, I wanted to give them a fighting chance to redeem themselves by fighting against Gato, yes."

"A noble sentiment, but how do I factor in?"

"I was thinking once I do spring you out, you could convince them to abandon Gato's employ and fight with Wave against him."

"You mean to include the people of Wave as well?" Ronin asked a bit shocked.

"I'm hoping to at least give them hope again. If they want to fight to free their homes, it should be their choice at least."

"And me and possibly my former subordinates could stand with them then. Hai, that sounds all well and good. But we must reduce their numbers somehow before it comes to that."

"That's what I want to talk to my friends about. At the very least we can deal with the pirates I think."

"Pirates?!" Ronin exclaimed shocked. "Gato's employed pirates as well?"

"Yeah, they've become his mercs of the sea, patrolling the waters of Wave instead of his usual merc force."

"This is worse than I ever feared." Ronin ground out through clenched teeth.

"Like I said, Ronin-san, me and my friends are going to deal with that if we can. But we have more problems than that."

"Terrific, what else is there?" Ronin sarcastically asked.

"We have a missing nin somewhere around Wave that is hired by Gato to kill the local bridge builder, whom my friends are currently guarding."

"Bridge builder? Of what importance is this person to Gato?"

"He's building a bridge in order to break Gato's hold on Wave and open up a much needed trade route to the mainland."

"And Gato wants to stop this of course. Who has he hired?"

"I dunno if you would be aware of this guy, but his name is Zabuza Momochi."

"The Demon of the Hidden Mist?" Ronin asked, his tone tense.

"So you do know him?" Naruto asked, thoroughly surprised.

"I once battled him to a stalemate when my late lord was the target of an assassination attempt about 8 years ago by an angered businessman. Wouldn't surprise me if it was Gato once again back then."

"You must be a great swordsman to stand up to that guy." Naruto commented admiringly.

"I pride myself in my swordsmanship skills and other weaponry." Ronin proudly stated.

"This reminds me, how was lord Moto assassinated?"

"So you know his name?"

"I was in Gato's office, lord Moto's picture was still there."

"It is a fixed picture, irremovable, and it's not lord Hata, who was the last lord, but his ancestor, lord Fumetsu. Out of all the known Moto's, lord Fumetsu was the most vain, though he was still an honorable man by all accounts, in fact he was the one that brought the most prosperity to the land of Wave during his reign. He commissioned that painting to be made and placed permanently on the wall. Heh, I bet it frustrated Gato to not be able to hang his own picture in the room as a way to complete the unofficial annexation of the land."

"Unofficial is right, Ronin-san. Gato's covered up the death of the daimyo to the rest of the world. To the villagers it appears as if the daimyo sanctions the actions of Gato."

That was apparently the last straw for Ronin. "He defiles the name of my lord!? Drags his reputation through the muck?! Probably in revenge for his refusal to do business with him years before in addition to the benefits of keeping him alive on paper." Ronin raged. "This cannot stand! How long do you need before you return to me and release me, ninja!?"

"I wish I could give you a straight answer but I don't know. All I can say is that I will try to hurry." Naruto said, trying to placate the enraged man.

"Do hurry, me and my blade... that's right, my blade. Gato took it from me." Ronin deflated some when he realized his trusty blade wasn't with him.

"Do you know where it is? I'll grab it for you when I get a chance."

"As dishonorable as it is for a ninja to even touch a weapon owned by a samurai, I cannot be further dishonored as it is. I believe my weapon is stored in the vault like some trophy. None of the mercs could come to agreement who should claim it so they simply stored it there with Gato's permission until later. That much I managed to learn during one of the times Gato had me fight for his entertainment."

"I'll go and see if I can grab it. I don't think they'll miss it. Once I return to free you, you'll be reunited with your weapon." Naruto promised.

"I... thank you, ninja. What is your name?" Ronin asked, humbly. He was surprised to be shown such kindness from someone who could be considered of a naturally opposing profession. A profession filled with dishonorable and unsavory characters, from what he was taught.

"Like I said before, I can't tell you. But my code name is Ghost Stalker." Naruto replied.

"I see. Well then, know that I would like to learn it, and more, at a later time, if possible. You have managed to bring doubt to my once firm opinion of ninjas, something I never dreamed would happen."

"Who knows, Ronin-san? Maybe I'll be able to learn your name too."

"I... I'll consider it." Ronin admitted.

"OK, well, I have to go now. Until I get back, Ronin-san." Naruto said in goodbye.

"Best of luck, Ghost-san." Ronin said.

With that, Naruto left the imprisoned samurai and went to the vault room. The door appeared just as secure as any safe might. It didn't come with a knob though, it had a simple, if not slightly larger than average keyhole, revealing that the key itself is thereafter. Picking this lock was somewhat tougher since the mechanisms will be harder to move due to their increased weight. It was to Naruto's benefit that there was nobody down here to come running once the inevitable noises made by his attempts started.

Again, to Naruto's benefit, the former lords and Gato never bothered to install any traps or alarm if any tampering was attempted. Naruto suspected it was because of their sense of security, and perhaps a little bit of not being up to date on technological advancements, at least when it came to the daimyos.

With a resounding click, the lock was successfully picked and the door was open. Inside was a great many valuable objects. Most being different works of art, either paintings, vases or sculptures. Others were virtually useless but sentimentally valuable objects, such as a parasol with fancy designs on its surface and various elegant clothing, for very special occasions. Why the lord didn't keep those in a wardrobe of some kind eluded Naruto.

'Perhaps they weren't his size or in his taste.' He mused absently.

Further inside he saw a collection of weaponry. It wasn't unheard of for people of at least some nobility to take a fancy for weaponry, even if they may detest their true purpose for being. It was always weird to Naruto to like something but not it's use. In his mind, you had to accept both the weapon and its purpose as a package deal.

He had never actually seen a noble's collection until now. What he could tell was that the weapons were all decorative, because they weren't made to be used in actual combat. Again, he was confused as to why something that was clearly a weapon, was made to not be a weapon. It was like cooking ramen that you weren't supposed to eat.

At least it helped with locating the katana that belonged to Ronin. Out of all the weapons in the room, the katana and its sheath were beautiful, but not overly fancy as its decorative counterparts. Just to make sure, Naruto grabbed the blade's handle and pulled out the weapon from its sheath and inspected the blade.

He was not disappointed. The weapon was made by a craftsman of great skill. The handle and blade were put together in a sturdy combination and the blade was keenly designed with a pattern of kanji along each side of the blade. They told of the code of the samurai. Since it wasn't his weapon, Naruto kept himself from reading the inscribed kanji in further detail. Perhaps Ronin would indulge him later in telling more of his own weapon.

Taking out a scroll used for sealing, he stored it inside for safekeeping before putting away the scroll and resumed his search of the room.

He spotted a couple of trunks. Locked, of course, but easily picked. They contained various jewelry and valuable trinkets of all shapes and sizes. Whether they were wrongfully taken from the people or old possessions of the former Moto family, he couldn't tell. Deciding that neither that, nor the contents were important, he closed the lids and left them locked , the valuables untouched.

There was nothing further of interest except for a medium sized safe located right at the middle of the furthest wall. Approaching it, he saw that it had a combination of locks. One being a classic knob-lock and a keyhole.

Effective, but nothing Naruto couldn't work out with some effort. Creating a clone, he had it handle the keyhole while he tackled the knob.

He soon discovered, however, that it was a mistake to have the clone do the keyhole simultaneously as he was working on the knob. His efforts caused noises that interfered with his attempts to hear the small clicks inside the safe as he turned the knob.

He dispelled the pouting clone and went at the regular lock first. It took him a longer while than usual since there were several more pins to deal with, and more pins meant that he had to get further inside the hole and be more careful in his hand movements. He's done it before in training, but not very much.

Nevertheless, after a while he got the lock picked and could move on to the knob. With his greater than normal sense of hearing, even compared to fellow ninja, Naruto had little trouble to hear the muffled clicks of the hidden mechanism connected to the knob. With care and patience, Naruto finally got the vault completely unlocked.

Naruto's eyes couldn't help but widen in awe. Inside, the vault contained great amounts of cash bundles, of rather high value bills. It appeared to be mostly 1000 Ryo bill bundles.

(Reminder: 1 Ryo is 10 Yen according to Narutopedia. 1$ is about 12 Ryo if we recalculate a Ryo's worth compared to Yen)

Despite there being so much money before his eyes, Naruto doubted this was the extent of the wealth Gato had stolen from the people of Wave. He had to have more money located elsewhere too. Gato was nothing, if not a prudent man. And putting all his golden eggs into one basket didn't strike Naruto as something Gato had a habit of doing.

Seeing the value of the money, Naruto was still not tempted to take a single bill. For one, it was once someone else's money, even if some of the money may have been owned by now dead people. Naruto's sense of honor demanded that the people got every Ryo back by the time he was done. Second, he wasn't a greedy guy himself, and his pay was enough to satisfy him. Thirdly, if he removed money from here, he ran the risk of Gato detecting the lacking amounts of money compared to what there should be. Then again, he may not, but Naruto wasn't about to take that risk. The people would get their money back, all of it, in due time.

What did interest Naruto was the documents located inside. They appeared to be deeds to various houses and stores in Wave. It made sense to own places in Wave if he wanted to have a justifiable way to claim money, even if he took the route of a businessman sanctioned by the daimyo. If something was legalized, it helped to quell insurrection somewhat, even if it was secretly legalized crime.

Taking photos just in case, Naruto came upon the final piece of documentation. It detailed the contracted agreement between Gato and Zabuza Momochi and his companion Haku. Of peripheral interest was the fact that the Chunin level nuke-nins were not originally with Zabuza, but complimentary help that Gato provided to sweeten the deal. They, in turn, came from the Org., though exactly how was not detailed. Not that that mattered.

A separate note, a newly written one if the relatively fresh ink was anything to go by, turned out to be a reminder for Gato himself to devise a plan to rid himself of the disappointment that was Zabuza. This could mean Gato had just left when Naruto arrived. Sighing at that, Naruto read the note.

'For a second time, the missing nin has failed to deliver services as was agreed upon. His failure with the daimyo years ago could have been a fluke, if that was the only failure this pathetic excuse of a "mist demon" made me suffer through. Now, he has failed yet again in offing that less-than-nothing bridge builder and his weak guard. I don't care if they got unexpected help. In fact, that explanation of his is more likely just an excuse to hide his own incompetence. "Ghost Stalker", how laughably quaint.'

Naruto bristled at that.

'He's turning out to be anything but cost-effective and I have to get rid of him somehow. I could perhaps gather all the Wave-born mercs and sic them on him at a moment of weakness, they'll kill him, but not before he takes out a nice portion of them, maybe even all of them. Leaving me with less of a headache all in all.'

'That bastard! He's going to betray his own man.' Naruto thought with increasing anger. Composing himself, he took photos of the note and the related contract. Seeing as there was nothing else of interest in the entire room. He closed the safe and locked it before exiting the room and locking the door as well. After that, it was a small matter of camouflaging himself and leaving the mansion to return and confer with Asuma.

There would have to be some changes to their initial plan, to say the least.