Another dawn rose on Wave, and with it, our heroes. Myself included.

Thankfully, I didn't have to lie in the tree too long. Not that I'm unpracticed at it, but I still prefer a futon or a mattress. Naruto and Hinata went back inside after about ten minutes. I managed to beat Naruto back to our room, so hopefully only Hinata ever knew I was there.

They're cute really. Puppy love. In a few years though, Hiashi was going to have high blood pressure, assuming he couldn't see how good they were together.

Kurenai passed by, eager to know what happened.

"I think it went well enough. I'm iffy on Sakura."

She nodded, "She seemed a bit dazed when she came in. Hinata seemed to float in," she trailed off, inviting me to share more. "After Sakura," she finished with a stinger.

"It seems they've formalized their relationship. Well, as formal as things get at that age," I confirmed her suspicions.

"Hah! Good for her. And him." She headed down stairs rather more exuberantly than I had expected the news to make her.

"Kurenai-san," I began, giving her a glare, "you didn't… bet on the outcome of this relationship, did you?"

She stopped short, going stiff. "Of course not!" She laughed nervously.

I sighed. She totally had.

"When were you going to cut me in?" I asked. Hey, a man has his priorities.

Kurenai paused. "... Sixty-forty and you keep quiet?"

"I literally pushed her at him last night. … Fine." I was just poking fun, this wasn't worth arguing over. "I do want to know who's running it though, I need to place a few bets of my own."

"Do you know Hayate Gekko?"

I blinked, not having expected the name. "Not well. I've seen him around a few times. Thanks."

"Get the munchkins training, and then we need to come up with a strategy for Zabuza," she reminded.

"Right."

Breakfast was eaten, and I resummoned Ringumo and Fandangumo. Things progressed much like the previous day, with our students polishing water walking while Kurenai and I made battle preparations and watched over the build site.

After lunch, one of the workers was causing something of a stir, so Kurenai and I went to check it out.

"I'm telling you he's definitely coming today, maybe tonight! There's a ton of activity at the port, and I recognized some of his men. Shouldn't we get ready?" The worker was talking to Tazuna, who shook his head.

"I got ready when I hired Konoha ninja. They've got a plan, they'll take care of us. If we start making barricades and putting pots on our heads that will just draw attention to- ah! Kurenai-san, Tsume-san. It sounds like things might come to a head soon."

"Perhaps. The ninja they hired won't be healed yet," I reminded.

"Assuming he is alive," Kurenai added. "Still, we will protect you all and the bridge. Don't do anything rash. We have a plan of defense, and no, we won't be explaining it."

I tried to see if anyone looked disappointed. A few workers looked frustrated, but I suppose I would be too if I were in their position. If anyone was spying for Gato, they were competent enough not give it away under passive observation.

Not a particularly high bar to clear, but it was surprising how easily espionage fell apart occasionally.

I hoped the kids had figured out water walking. It was time to hunt.

••••••••••

"All right!"

I was standing in front of our genin (and Ringumo), with a formation plan behind me, holding a stick in the crook of my back in my best Patton imitation. It would be lost on them, but one has to have fun somehow.

"The eight of us are going to board Gato's ship sometime this evening. We will disable or kill any look outs. I will capture and interrogate Gato, and we will acquire any papers or intelligence on site. He will have guards, mostly standard mercenaries, but we shouldn't rule out a genin or chunin, maybe two tops." I swatted the plan with my stick, pointing at the features. They were held onto the wall of Tazuna's house with webbing and various web strands connected the entire mess together. Ringumo had "helped" by applying crayon marks to many of the diagrams.

"This is the rough plan to the ship. It's not perfect, but we can see it has three decks. Engineering is over here in case there's an emergency, but we shouldn't need to mess with it. Quarters are here. The biggest room will be Gato's of course. Cargo is here, again, shouldn't be an issue unless we get some stragglers. Communications and the helm will be up here.

"For this, we'll have some ground to cover, and plenty of places for hostiles to hide, so we won't be using our standard teams of three. Instead, you'll be split into three pairs to search and disable crew and Gato's guards. Since team eight specialises in scouting and tracking, I want Sasuke and Kiba together, Hinata with Naruto, and Sakura with Shino. I'll have Ringumo, while Fandangumo will stay at the house while Kurenai protects the bridge and client. If you find a chunin or are outnumbered by genin, disengage and try to regroup with another pair or pairs. Remember, plans usually fall apart quickly, so this is pretty loose, and we'll deviate as situations arise. Any questions?"

Naruto's hand leapt up. "Does the ship have cannons? And does this make us pirates?"

I was silent for a moment. And then smiled.

"Yes. And yes. We pull this off, we'll be pirates. Pirate ninjas. Hey, if you lose a hand, you could also be a cyborg!"

Naruto frowned, "Wha- um, no thanks?"

I shrugged. "Suit yourself. You're still not allowed rum."

It was impossible to miss the looks exchanged between the Team Kurenai members.

Shino's hand went up. "How many crew are needed to operate a vessel of this size?"

"Fifteen to thirty. It's fairly advanced," I stated, then shrugged. "The problem will be how many passengers it can hold. It's got passenger berths, and depending on how he's arranged things, the cargo hold could be fitted for holding people, which could mean more troops. This is just the base schematic."

Sakura put her hand up next. "How far out will we strike it? We all can water walk now, but none of us have truly mastered it."

I frowned, it was a good point. Too far out and they would be tired. Too far in and everyone would be alert for docking procedures. "We'll have to play it slightly by ear. If it's dark, or dusk, we can wait for it to come in closer. If it arrives before dusk, we'll need to attack farther out. Worst case, I can make a raft out of silk or something."

No more hands went up.

I smiled. "Well then. Until then and now, we should review our abilities in order to understand how best to work with one another. I know both teams know their own abilities fairly well, but if we all have to fight together, we'll synergize better knowing what everyone else can do."

"So what can you do besides have spiders leap on people's faces and spray web around," Naruto asked.

I sighed. "I showed you my hydraulic movement technique. My style mainly focuses on mobility. I'm not really who I want you all to interact with though. There's time for that later," I explained. "Naruto. Go over all the jutsu you know."

"Really?" he asked with a bit of a whine. "Fine. I know the campsite jutsu you taught us, and-"

"Which are? Kurenai probably taught them as well, but we don't know that yet."

The blond rolled his eyes. "An electric jutsu for charging small devices, another for creating a small light, a fire one for starting fires, a water one for condensing drinking water out of the air, an earth one for making latrines, how to activate storage or other seals, and… oh, and a wind one for... making wind."

"Drying clothes primarily, though you can push campfire smoke around with it too. Next."

"I make shadow clones. I think everyone's familiar with them by now."

I nodded. I'd give him that.

"I can do the excavation technique, which lets me and my clones go underground. And of course- Sexy Jutsu!"

"Good. I should point out that… 'sexy' jutsu is a real transformation. Not a genjutsu. Team 8, one of you next. Um, Shino."

He nodded. "By now everyone knows I use insects in most of my techniques. I can make more believable clones with my bugs, that can trap enemies that get into melee range with them. I have other similar techniques, mostly to do with getting my kikaichu bugs onto an opponent so they can be sapped of chakra. Kurenai-sensei also taught us the campfire jutsu. I also have the bunshin, kawarimi, and henge."

Naruto pouted, having clearly forgotten to mention them. Although I wasn't certain if he could perform a standard henge still.

"My kikaichu bugs allow me to track well, and I keep one on all my team members during missions in case someone is attacked or captured. I have extended this to team seven as well for the duration of the mission."

Sakura blinked, and Sasuke's eyes were shut in a grimace. Naruto looked at them and started chuckling.

"You put kikaichu bugs on us?" Sakura asked, her voice on edge.

"Of course. It is standard practice during a mission," Shino explained.

Sasuke was fidgeting slightly.

"Come on," I tried, "this can't be any worse than the spider realm, right guys?"

Sakura walked over and grabbed Hinata by the arm, dragging her off a ways.

Some hushed whispering ensued.

"... …"

"Nowhere objectionable, I promise, Sakura."

"Shh! … ..."

"If I told you, then you'll take it off."

"Rrrrr... Fine!"

The two trudged back, Sakura still unhappy, and Hinata poking her fingers together.

"You could have told us to begin with!" she said with a growl. Perhaps she was still on edge from last night.

Shino shrugged. "Apologies. Most Konoha ninja are familiar with it. I'll try to remember if we work with team ten."

"Sakura, why don't you go next, since you're so energetic."

"That's not ener- ugh. Right. Okay, the academy three, the camping jutsu, a basic healing jutsu, a fascination genjutsu-"

Kiba snorted.

"- that you're all familiar with," she said with a grin. "And I can make explosive tags."

"Bark!"

"I agree," I faked, "Kiba should be next."

"That's not what he said," Kiba frowned.

"Oh? What did he say?" I inquired.

Kiba looked at Sakura and swallowed, deciding not to translate. "I can turn bestial, and make Akamaru more human shaped. We can do combination attacks like that which are more powerful. We can perform a drilling attack, either separately, or together, and we can blind fight with our sense of smell. I like to use special odorless smoke bombs in order to obstruct vision, which is helpful for our whole team. Shino can kind of blind fight, but only when he's got a kikaichu bug on an enemy. I'm great at tracking, but not as good as Akamaru. We've gone over the basic stuff already," he bent down and patted Akamaru.

"Hinata?" I prompted.

"I-I'm mostly an in-fighter with my gentle fist style, which can seal off chakra points and coils. My Byakugan allows me to see almost everything around me, including chakra, and through obstacles."

"That's not all there is to it, right?" She was doing better already, but Hinata still needed encouragement occasionally.

"Ah, I can see through most genjutsu, and I can fake blind fighting since I don't need light in most circumstances. I can also tell the difference between clones and people."

"There you go. Much better," I grinned. I looked at Sasuke.

"I have a few fire jutsu, and I'm working a bit with wire techniques. I just had my sharingan awaken, so I'm able to predict movements and see chakra. Almost all of your clan techniques are safe by the way, so don't freak out and think I'm going to steal them. I mean, I might be able to do Kiba's beast form, or I could imitate gentle fist, but there's not really any point if I don't have the supporting techniques and skills."

"What do you mean, you might be able to copy my beast human clone?" Kiba asked with a slight scowl.

Sasuke shrugged. "The sharingan is very powerful. But my clan over promoted it as well. It can't copy techniques that require blood limits."

"Kiba and I don't have blood limits," Shino said dryly.

Sasuke snorted. "You host insects throughout your body, and you don't think you have a blood limit? Trust me, my clan had a large vested interest in this topic. I'm sure in the last decade our knowledge has been superseded by medical nin, but we used to be the foremost experts on blood limit theory. Most clans have one. For example, no one in my clan's history has ever been able to control shadows like the Nara clan, despite many attempts."

"Huh. Learn something new every day," I said. "I hope that gives everyone a better idea how to fight with one another. I want you all to do a little bit more water walking practice, and talk to one another about how you might fight together. Collaborate. I'll be doing the same thing with Kurenai."

••••••••••

Fifteen hundred arrived, and found us all on a water tower in the docks. I looked over the dock yard. Amongst the squat warehouses, a few lookout posts and towers speared the sky. There were several dozen workers hauling crates and barrels hither and yon, probably in preparation for Gato's arrival. I would need to take out a few spotters and the radio room right before the attack. I didn't want to have to make up responses back to the boat, I'd let them do their jobs.

Otherwise we would be leaving them alone. For now anyway. They couldn't really do anything without boats, and Gato had taken care of that for us. Even if any of them got a clever idea, Kurenai was watching the workers, and Fandangumo was watching the town.

Really, there was nothing to do but wait.

So we had a picnic.

I even made a silk umbrella.

… I might not be as cool as Kakashi, but I'm a hell of a lot nicer.

••••••••••

The afternoon rolled on, and turned to dusk. No green flash as the sun hit the horizon.

That's a real thing by the way, it's just dependant on atmospheric conditions, not magic compases.

A bit of fog rolled in with the temperature change. All the better. Not too thick, just perfect. The salty air filled our nostrils, a low breeze crossing from the sea: Not strong enough to push the fog banks away, just enough to keep the sounds of the dock in our ears.

Everyone was sitting fairly close, the light breeze that had earlier been a relief now slowly sapped away your body heat.

"Is that it?" Shino asked. It had been the first chatter we'd had in over an hour.

Sasuke followed his finger, activating his sharingan. Hinata had yet to develop her byakugan to see that far yet. "I can tell it's a large ship. Can't make the details out at this distance."

I shrugged. "No one else is coming here. It's not exactly a travel destination. We'll let it get in closer. The fog and twilight will work for us."

Eventually it made its way in closer, and I stretched out my arms and rolled my shoulders, grinning in anticipation.

"Sit tight kids, I'll be back."

I ran towards the edge of the tower, towards the next highest building, and leapt off.

I heard a few gasps before I swung away, carried in a beautiful parabola by my spider silk. I could manifest the webbing with only two hand seals now: Something I had to develop in the Spider Plane and never, ever stopped practicing. All for moments like this.

I hadn't had a chance to really let loose since 'I' arrived. I had visited training fields now and again outside of team time, but my style is all about mobility.

It was good to be in the air again.

Swinging from grapple lines isn't easy. Even if you can make them on the fly. You don't want to hit where you're going, because you'll swing straight into a wall. Now I could tank hitting a wall, but it basically kills all your momentum. And if you want to go somewhere farther off, then you need to keep moving. So really, you need to aim to the sides of the direction you want to go, and sort of vector your way to the destination.

Spiderman makes it look easy.

He also always has conveniently located cranes and stuff to thwip at. Sometimes they just stick to air, I'm pretty sure.

I had aimed well, off to the side of where I was running, and swung gracefully towards the radio tower. This time I tagged the top of it directly. There's a period of time, sometimes very brief, although sometimes nonexistent, where you're holding two weblines, and letting them tug you in two directions. You have to play one or both out, or tug.

Unfortunately, I don't get to do this often. It's fun, but very tricky, and unless I'm in a place like the forest of death, or the spider plane, there usually aren't enough tall anchors for me to use. And unlike Spiderman, I can just shunshin of course.

I landed against the middle of the radio tower, near the observation and broadcast room. A few quick leaps got me off the girders and onto the platform by the door. It wasn't locked. Unsurprising really. It takes a fair amount of discipline to keep up an annoying security feature for years when nothing ever happens.

Inside were two men seated in front of com equipment, with a good view of most of the docks. I snuck up slowly on the ceiling as they muttered to each other about how bored they were, and one knocked a bit of ash from his pipe into an ashtray. I reached down and took hold of their heads, letting them look up in shock. I grinned back down.

"Goodnight." I slammed them together, their heads making a thudding noise. Ah, the old double coconut knockout. A classic.

An application of webbing stuck them to the floor, and another on the edge of the door on my way out would prevent anyone without tools from getting in.

Similar antics quickly took care of two more guard towers, before I landed back on top of the water tower.

"You've never done that before!" Naruto said, almost accusingly.

My eyebrow went up. "Should I have?"

"Yeah, it's cool!"

"I can do lots of things you haven't seen. Let's go. Stay tight in this fog." I looked at Ringumo and patted my shoulder. She grinned, before changing back to her spider form and jumping up to her perch.

We all ran down the side of the tower, quickly crossed to the edge of the dock, and got to the water's edge. This would be the tricky bit. They couldn't fall this distance without ending up underwater.

I spat out several web lines before jumping down, and the kids rappelled down to the water's surface. A few seconds later, and we were all walking out to the boat.

Walking, since the genin still couldn't really run. I was pretty proud still. It wasn't easy doing this on the open ocean, and we hadn't had much time to prepare.

The mass of the vessel loomed over us like a great whale, ominously black even in the twilight afforded by the mists. The electric lantern lights overhead were faint, barely able to pierce through and let the crew see where they were going. I glanced over at Hinata. She nodded, and activated her Byakugan.

She made hand signals: Five men on the forward section of the ship, ten men on the aft. One just above us. I nodded, and took the lead, climbing up the side of the ship with chakra. The genin followed, creeping up and staying below me.

I crept silently, coming right up to the top of the deck. The man was leaning against the rail, looking inattentive as he smoked. I glanced at Ringumo, and she scampered up my arms. I reached out and seized him, covering his mouth at the same moment Ringumo bit his neck, driving her venom into his veins. He shuddered and struggled briefly, before I yanked him over the side and into a web net. I tied it off, and with another web shot stuck the improvised cocoon to the hull. The man struggled for a bit more, before ceasing. I glanced over at Ringumo, who was smiling as only a spider can.

I looked down at my students. I pointed at Sasuke and Kiba, directing them forward. They nodded, silently hull crawling along the ship side. I motioned to Naruto and Hinata to head aft, and they too headed off. I motioned to Sakura and Shino, and they followed me up and over the side.

We slid down onto the deck: Fortunately there was plenty of cover in the form of tied down crates and supplies. The crew were scattered across the deck, at most in pairs. Most clustered around the lights. Three were playing cards in the direct center, over a hatch leading down into the depths of the flagship.

I immediately decided they would be last. I motioned to Shino to get his bugs on the way, and he nodded. With soft buzzing sounds, the destruction bugs flew low like smoke from Shino's jacket under the cover of the interspersed shadows. To my right, there was the cry of one of the sailors. The three in front of us all started, looking toward the aft section. I sighed.

"Change of plans, " I muttered. I fired off three Webbing lines with the Wind Bullet jutsu to give them extra speed, and yanked all three sailors towards us. Sakura stood up and hit one, her strength, though modest for a ninja, was enough to drive him into the desk and out cold. Shino's insects enveloped the next one, his cries silenced as the destruction bugs injected him with venom and made him pass out. And I didn't do anything too fancy to the last guy: Just webbed up his mouth and knocked him out with a punch across the temple.

I shot a glare at Naruto as he and Hinata emerged from the right. Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"Sorry. There were a lot of them and one of them made a noise before we got him," he murmured. Hinata blushed. I sighed and shrugged, as Sasuke and Kiba joined us from the forward section of the ship.

"Well, can't be helped. Let's get going," I ordered. I lifted the hatch open, and gestured us all in. "Hinata?"

Her veins bulged as she used her Byakugan to scan the ship. "G-Gato is in the mid-rear section. So is most of the crew. There are a few men in the engine room. Cargo hold seems empty of people."

"All right. We'll take care of Gato first, and then take each group individually," I stated. "Remember: We want Gato alive. The rest? Bring them down non-lethally if you can, but if you have to…?"

I nodded, and got nothing but nods back. I smiled grimly. "Move out."

We kept Hinata in the middle of us as we entered the ship. She swept around constantly, scanning as we headed aft through the dull gray interior on mostly wooden floors. Kiba and Akamaru kept their keen ears and noses on the alert as we walked down the metal corridor, our steps virtually silent against the hum of the ship's engines.

Sasuke and Naruto took the lead, Naruto forming hand seals to create a few clones to fan out while crawling on the bulkheads like spiders. I gave him an encouraging smile, one he returned.

Hinata held up a hand, and we all stopped. She pointed at the junction ahead of us, towards the port side. I nodded, and looked over at Sasuke and Naruto. Naruto grinned, and I spotted some of his clones heading down the ceiling above us. Sasuke moved forward as well, hugging the wall. We all heard the footsteps of the target… And Naruto's clones got the drop on him. Literally.

"URK!" He cried, falling to the deck as several blonds dogpiled him. Sasuke lashed out, sticking a nerve point and the sailor was out cold. The Naruto clones hefted up the heavy sailor, and I shot webbing to stick him up onto the ceiling.

"Very lackluster security," I observed softly. "Still... stay alert, everyone."

Maybe I was being overly cautious. But I hadn't survived this long by being sloppy.

We made it to what Hinata identified as the mess hall. There were the sounds of merriment… before a loud buzzer went off.

"Ceiling!" I hissed. We all leaped up to the ceiling, sticking and pressing ourselves against the hard metal bulkhead. Sakura, without being told, quickly cast a genjutsu over us all to blend in. Just in time, as the hatch was slammed open and numerous armed mercenaries and soldiers charged out. They headed in the direction of the cargo bay, excitedly yelling and chanting and growling. All heedless of us above them.

Geez. No wonder Batman had such an easy time of it.

I glanced over at Hinata. She nodded, and signed that Gato was in there. With two guards. I nodded, and looked at Ringumo. She grinned at me, practically chomping at the bit to get in there. I shook my head. I bit my thumb and made the seals for the Summoning Jutsu.

I had someone else in mind for this job.

With a poof of smoke, my summon appeared. Even my own genin, after seeing the Spider Plane in all its horrible beauty, cringed at his appearance.. The gigantic arachnid burst into the stateroom, easily knocking aside the two guards within. An older man yelped in terror, just before my summon trapped him between his giant claws. We all dropped down, and I casually shot off webbing to pin the two bodyguards to the deck. I smiled broadly at the small man in the nice suit, who looked like a compact parody of every Japanese gangster ever.

"Mister Gato, I presume?" I asked.

My summon, a gigantic Amblypygi, made an approximation of a grin with his pedipalps.

"I do good, Ando-kun? I do good?" He asked in a low, friendly voice. I nodded, and patted him on the head.

"Very good, Babukun! You didn't crush him this time!"

"Babu..?" Sakura began.

"Kun?" Naruto finished.

"Hi!" Babukun said happily, waving his other legs and smacking one of the bodyguards. "Oops!"

"Check him, Sakura," I said. Gato shook his head rapidly.

"Whoever you're working for, I can double his price! Triple!"

"We're not interested in money, asshole," Naruto growled.

"Let him go easy, Babukun, I need this one tied up so he can answer some questions."

"Yessir!"

Shino was on him immediately with the rope, and had him trussed up quickly.

Babukun wasn't technically a spider. Nor was he a sunspider, like the Juro clan frequently used for combat. He was, well... hideous. I say this as someone who can hug a human sized spider.

Imagine a fairly large body, with six thin legs and giant whip like antenna. Six, I hear you ask. Yes. Because the front legs became massive 'jaws' that look like someone grabbed praying mantis claws, added more spikes, articulated them, and stuck them on the front of a spider in a horrible parody of jaws.

His species isn't too bright, not being true spiders, and thus just missing the genetic lottery in the spider plane, but I use him for intimidation. It rarely fails.

I looked around. The living quarters should be just off of this section, and it would probably be where I found the office as well.

"On me," I said, grabbing the rope and dragging Gato along on the floor, the genin and summons following me.

"What are you doing? Surely we can talk about this? I can outbid any contracts you've taken!"

I walked down the passageway, swinging door hatches open to see their contents. "I'm sure you can. Don't worry, we'll be talking about this, that and the other soon enough, we just need to find your work space so I can- ah! Here we are."

We walked into a room full of file drawers, two desks, and ostentatious decorations hanging on the walls. An overly decorated katana crossed with the sheath mounted under a gilded silk fan. A detailed painting of a couple in congress on a large bed. I had to admit, the vase was actually nice, pity it was surrounded by so many gaudy knick-knacks… That dagger would probably bend if you tried stabbing someone with it. If it wasn't in a case, I'd think it was a letter opener.

I shook my head. "Alright. I imagine you've been on the other side of this, but here's how this works. I'm going to ask you questions, you will answer them. I will start reading these files, and if I find out you've been lying, my summon will start gnawing on you. Starting with the feet and hands."

"You always bring me on fun missions Ando-kun!"

"I can make you very-"

"Wealthy. Yes. The thing is, we have you. We have your records. I can take these back and we'll have your network. We have magic, mister Gato, we can empty your accounts or hijack your empire. Your cooperation will buy your life, but ultimately that is unnecessary. Just convenient. We can dump you off at some port with a few of your guards and enough money to find your way. Or you can be nibbled on, and then thrown overboard. Take your pick."

"What? After all the horrible things he's done?" Naruto shouted.

I rolled my eyes. I should have gone over this with everyone, but I would have thought even Naruto would understand how this went.

"His cooperation will be convenient enough. Yes."

Hinata pulled him back and whispered in his ear. He blinked, and frowned. "He should be in prison."

I shrugged. "So. Are you feeling talkative?"

Babukun snapped his oversized pincers, just as we practiced, and Gato winced.

"I'll talk."

"Wonderful. Sorry Babukun, I'm sure we'll find you something tasty in the messhall later."

"Oh well. Maybe someone won't talk one day," Babukun sighed.

••••••••••

Naruto

••••••••••

A head suddenly popped through the doorway. "Gato, sir, radio call for you fro-" the man cut off as he viewed the tableau in front of him. The door slammed shut just as a jet of web hit it.

Sensei sighed, spitting a small jet of fluid to dissolve the web. "Hinata, Naruto. Go take him down, and check the radio room for anyone else."

Hinata dashed to the hatch and opened it, I was right after her.

"He's headed right and up," Hinata called.

"Copy!"

We ran down the halls, our speed handicapped by the tight space and the occasional box left in the way.

"Hard left coming up, then up a floor!" Hinata said as we came up to a T- intersection. We skidded to a halt, and I saw a vertical hatch and ladder path. Hinata lined herself up and jumped up to the next floor. "He's almost to the radio room!"

I jumped through as well, and I could finally see him, we must have made time on the ladder.

••••••••••

Sasuke

••••••••••

Akamaru's head whipped around, and he let out a yip.

"Oh? Where?" Kiba asked.

"Bark, ruff! Grrr, wuff."

"Those men who rushed past us are down stairs making noise," Kiba translated to sensei.

Tsume frowned. "Clearing a boat this size is always a pain. We probably should have dealt with them then, but… eh. We needed to capture Gato. Wish Hinata was still here to scout them." He paused in thought. "I want the three of you to go and mop up," he said, pointing at myself, Kiba, and Shino. "Check the cargo hold. They seemed headed that way when they left."

I nodded and made for the door, hearing the other two follow behind. I headed in silence, my Sharingan spinning. It was a drain on my chakra, but in the dark environment of the ship's hold I needed every advantage. Kiba followed, Akamaru sitting atop his head, with Shino in rear.

We made our way to the cargo hold, checking intersections and rooms on the way. As we approached it, I could hear a muted conversation.

"This isn't impossible. We have weapons they don't expect, and we know the ship. If we push, we can reclaim it and save Gato. Hell, we might even end up with a bonus. If we just sit here, we'll end up trapped. You don't give ninja time to think of ideas."

"You'd know, huh? Not all of us can go toe to toe with them. I think we should just stay right here and teach them what happens if they stick their noses in the room."

"That's just slow death. I can think of five ways off the top of my head of how to deal with us at no risk given ample time. If we push, we'll get the momentum back."

The three of us stopped, and we had a silent meeting with hand signals, while the targets continued to argue back and forth. Finally we decided on a plan of action, and Shino stepped past Kiba and I, opening his jacket slightly. A cloud of insects boiled out and poured across the floor.

Most likely they would take out the whole group without any issue, and we would never need to deal with whatever mysterious weapons they had.

We waited a few minutes for the insects to start working, and a gasp echoed down the hall. A nod from Shino meant it was time to enter. We busted into the hold, blowing the hatch off its hinges with my Grand Fireball. We were greeted by about a dozen men, all but one swatting themselves in panic.

The one that wasn't panicking had a mask, and tossed a cylinder at our door. I flung a kunai at it, my sharingan letting me hit it easily mid air. It burst in smoke, quickly filling the room. Visibility plummeted, and we bolted from the door. Just in time, as a series of bangs and flashes from the center of the room erupted, and sprayed the hallway we had vacated.

Guns! My mind identified, but weapons like none I'd heard of before. This was firing quickly, but even as I thought it, the barrage stopped with a click.

I heard another click, and even more smoke started pouring out from the center of the room. The smoke was irritating, but I didn't feel sick, so I would assume for now it wasn't poison.

The men in the center started choking, and I could hear Akamaru whining, and coughing, presumably coming from Kiba, since it came from the same spot. A shot rang out and I heard a box splinter near the spot I had heard the whining.

Enough was enough. I didn't have too many more of these in me, but I took in a deep breath. "Grand Fireball technique!"

"Smoke and Ash technique!"

Even as my fireball flew forward, the smoke in the room lightened, and turned into a spear, piercing into my fireball and snuffing it out. It kept going, and I flung myself to the side as it smashed through several crates I had been standing in front of.

Someone (Shino?) flung several hissing kunai into the center, and suddenly explosions lit up the room.

My head was ringing, and I knew we couldn't take much more of this. We needed to see, and I had copied a technique just recently that might help.

I jumped to the ceiling, "Air bullet technique!" I fired several blindly into the center of the room, pulling smoke into the wake of each ball of air and raising the visibility some.

I saw movement and instinctively moved again. More bullets headed my way as I ran, a constant stream of lead following me down onto a wall and across it.

"Passing fang!"

A muffled scream let out shortly before it was silenced. I kept running for a few seconds before realizing the gun had stopped.

"BARK!"

"Yeah, it's all over buddy. Oh, a few are still awake." I saw Kiba's shadowy figure kick something, and I could barely hear a grunt over the ringing in my ears.

"Shino, you good?" Kiba shouted, though he was hard to hear.

"I took some wood shrapnel in my side, but my jacket took the brunt of it. The smoke killed a significant portion of my kikaichu though. Sasuke?"

"I can barely hear anything, and my chakra is low, but I'm not hurt. Let's make sure these guys aren't going to try anything and go back for healing.