Hello, heres the next chapter,
I know that I made a somewhat mistake, by saying Rin was an Inuzuka. I admit the mistake but it doesn't really matter for the story. I apologize for that.
The chapter is split into two parts, part 2 will be up in two days.
Enjoy the chapter.
The Huntress Is Revealed (Part 1)
After passing the test Naruko went straight to Danzo.
She walked into the underground HQ of ROOT and headed straight to Danzo's office.
"Good afternoon, Danzo-san. I hope I am not interrupting."
Again Danzo was short of a heart attack.
"No not at all. So what brings you here today?"
"My end of the deal."
She handed him a scroll.
"There you have the heads of the six targets you requested."
Danzo unsealed the heads and nodded.
"Very good. I trust that there are no witnesses."
"Of course not. Even Inu-san with his summons would find a trail leading into an alley and then gone. There is no traceable evidence."
"Very good. Listen Naruko, I know that you are going to be in the FRU from now on, but I would like to leave you with the offer, that if you get bored, come see me and I'll have a target or two for you outside of the village. And if you want, you can train with some of my men."
"I thank you very much for your generosity, Danzo-san. I might take you up on that offer."
Danzo nodded and Naruko left. She walked along the streets, trying to ignore her four stalkers. Eventually, she had had enough and threw a smoke bomb on the ground. Using the smokescreen, she made four clones and had them wait for the smoke to lift, then they were to walk around the village. She continued to the Hokage Tower and soon reached her destination.
She entered the tower and was greeted by the secretary.
"Well hello Shulmah-chan. I heard a nice little tale about your Genin test."
"Good afternoon, Emori Riah. And what tale did you hear?"
"I told you, Riah is fine. But anyway, Kakashi-san just came by half an hour ago. He was muttering about how you stole his and I quote 'Holy Book'. Maybe that will keep him from reading such things in public."
"Actually, I understand why he reads it. The plot is very interesting and the events are described in great detail. It is very informative and entertaining."
"Oh really now. I think I might have to have a word with him about that book," Riah said, with a dark look in her eyes.
Somewhere in the village on the hunt for a new copy of his book, Kakashi suddenly had the urge to hide.
"Anyway, what can I do for you Shulmah-chan?"
"I would like to talk with Ji-ji, is he free at the moment?"
"Why how convenient, he asked me to send you up right away. He must have been expecting you."
Naruko nodded and went to the office. She entered the office and saw two people she did not want to interact with.
"Ah, Shulmah-chan. How nice of you to visit. Could you wait a moment, I have to discuss some things with the Elders."
Naruko nodded and sat down against the wall, right next to an ANBU. She tapped her foot in order to communicate with her.
"So what's going on here? Ji-ji is rather tense."
She waited for a reply which came in form of tapping on the wall.
"Lord Hokage, is being pushed to have him force you to give up your power to the Uchiha."
Naruko sighed.
"Hiruzen, you must realize that such power would be more beneficial for Uchiha-sama." Homura shouted.
Hiruzen sighed and waved Naruko over to him.
"Shulmah is not under my jurisdiction, if you want her to teach the Uchiha her techniques ask her."
The two Elders sneered at Naruko.
"Brat the council demands you hand over your techniques to Uchiha-sama. He is far more capable to wield such responsibility."
Naruko thought to amuse the distressed Hokage and the ANBU, who had been listening to the bickering the whole time. She struck a thinking pose.
"No." she said after a few seconds.
"Why you…" Utatane yelled.
"I am not under any jurisdictions of this village, even if I were, you would still have no hold over me. You are civilians. Even if you are the Elder Council, a civilian has no say over a shinobi," Naruko said calmly.
The elders growled and left. Once the door shut, Naruko heard snickering coming from the shadows. She turned around and bowed dramatically. This earned her a laugh from the Hokage.
"So what can I do for you, Naru-chan?"
Naruko had started to train with the ANBU, so it was no longer needed for them to leave. They all knew who she was.
"I would like to know if I could still do some missions."
"Yes you can. Is that all?"
"Yes, thanks very much."
She left and headed to the mission assignment desk.
"How are you doing, Iruka-san. I hope you are all healed up."
"Yes I am, thank you Shulmah."
"I would like to have a few D-rank missions please. A dozen should suffice."
"Err… Sure. Just look through that cupboard and then bring the scrolls to me."
Naruko did and searched through the large amount of scrolls. She picked eleven easy ones and one physically challenging. She brought them over to the desk and handed them to Iruka. He quickly wrote them down and Naruko went outside. She created an army of one hundred and nineteen clones and handed out the missions.
"Groups of ten. You take these. You nine will follow me."
She got a quick nod and they all dispersed. A few minutes later, she stood outside a farm house. She knocked on the door and was greeted by a friendly old man.
"Why hello there, little girl. What can I do for you?"
"I am here because of the mission you put out. I am Genin Shulmah. What is it that you need me to do exactly?"
"Ahh… Yes. Nearly forgotten about that. Anyway follow me," they walked to the back and looked at the dead fields.
"Some rascals decided to prank me and threw a bunch of balloons with paint onto the fields. Then it started raining and now that paint has poisoned the soil. What I would like you to do is to dig up all the ruined soil and replace it with fresh one from clearing on the far side of the property. It's a small woodland area and the trees will purify the soil. I got you some shovels, pickaxes and a few of those wheelbarrows. And if you're feeling really motivated, you could use all the stones and boulders you dig up and build a wall around the entire property. If you run out of boulders there is a stone plateau you could start to quarry more."
"Will do, sir."
The old man left and Naruko looked around. She had ten fields to do, so she created another batch of clones to help. They started to dig up the dirt and rocks and after a couple of hours they were done.
(CLANCK)
"Ehh… Boss? I think I found something," one of the clones said.
They dug more and found a metal door locked with a heavy duty pad lock.
"Okay, you dispel and tell the other groups to hand in their scrolls, and have them come here. You go to the Hokage and tell them what we found. I'll start picking the lock and start scouting. The rest of you continue the job."
"HAI!"
Naruko turned to the lock and brought out her lock picks. It took her fifth teen minutes, but finally the lock was open. She slid the door open and was greeted by a hail of kunai.
Naruko created another dozen clones and had them unseal their Roman style shields. Then the clones went in. Ten minutes later the last cone was dispelled by being turned into a human porcupine. She created another batch of cloned and had them search for more traps. When the last clone dispelled she entered.
She was greeted by the stench of decay. She walked around and saw a truly disturbing sight. At the end of the corridor was some kind of arena in a giant cage. The floor was littered with bodies. On the other side of the room, she saw a row of tables with decaying bodies. As she walked further into the structure she started to understand what it was for. It was for human experimenting. She felt a clone disperse and knew the Hokage was outside. She made a huge army of clones and unsealed all of her sealing supplies and put them in the center of the structure. She had the clones map out the structure, use the Orion'aigan for the autopsies of the corpses, seal everything from rooms of importance and also start figuring out the purposes and functions of the experiments. She then walked to greet the Hokage.
When she emerged she saw the Hokage and two ANBU guards. He looked at her
"So Naruko, mind telling me what you have found here."
"Of course. It seems to me that it is a laboratory for human experimenting. As far as I can tell there were two major points of focus. One, maximum amount of pain, and two, maximum amount of injuries. But why tell you all this and ruin the surprise when you can see it all for yourself. Please follow me."
They walked into the structure and Hiruzen was shocked to say the least. He lost more and more color in his face the deeper they walked into the lab. All the while Naruko kept a straight face throughout the entire tour. After half an hour they were back outside. Hiruzen was a great many shades paler and the two ANBU were also a lot tenser than before.
"So as I was saying, I will do a thorough sweep throughout the entire complex, and bring a scroll with everything this lab had in storage. If you wish, you can also send someone to look through the lab."
"I will do that. Just be careful. This will be an S-rank mission. I'll send someone over."
"Very good. Have a nice day Hokage-sama."
Hiruzen left and left his two ANBU to guard the entrance.
"Hey girl, what is this?" the farmer said coming from seemingly nowhere.
"I am sorry, Oji-san, I can't tell you. Shinobi business, but you might want to go back to the house, you don't want to see what is in here."
The farmer nodded and left. Naruko sent a few clones to the morgue to get body bags and then went back inside of the lab, chuckling darkly. The ANBU looked at each other and shrugged. Naruko coordinated her clones and started sealing everything into one large sealing scroll. She copied the map onto the large scroll and started to write down the descriptions of everything. She then numbered each room and sealed the scrolls into the seal according to the room the items were in. For the bodies, she copied the autopsy reports and sealed them to the room numbers. The bodies, she sealed into a separate scroll along with the autopsy reports. When she was finally done after an hour of sealing she felt two people approach the lab. She had the clones disperse in groups and walked to the entrance. When she stepped out she was greeted by two very menacing glares.
Morino Ibiki was a large man, who had no problem with getting what he needed through any methods. This work ethic had him advance to the head of the Torture and Interrogation Department. He was a no bull shit man, who had no problem with intimidating anyone. Next to him stood his subordinate Miterashi Anko. Probably the most blood thirsty kunoichi Konoha had. Together they were the nightmare of the T&I, but this girl had no problem maintaining her calm and collected attitude.
"Took your time to get here, didn't you?"
"What are you doing here Gaki? This is a restricted area for only Jonin and ANBU," Anko said already drawing a kunai.
"So you guys ready for the tour?" Naruko said completely ignoring Anko's threat.
"You gonna stand there until you grow roots here or are you coming. I still have to complete a mission."
She walked off and the two interrogators were forced to follow the girl. Naruko stooped in the first room. When the two interrogators got there they were shocked.
"What the hell Gaki, you cleared the whole place out. How are we gonna do our studies?"
"With this. Genjutsu: Riariti Kioku!"
The room lit up and soon it was exactly like it was before Naruko had started her job.
"As you can see, this is the first room. Here is where test subjects were held. As you can see on the far side of the arena there are doors. Those are cells where the subjects would be held. The arena was used to probably weed out the weakest through mortal combat. The survivors would then be put on the table and, going by the tools found, subjected to experimentation on pain resistance. The dead would come into the next room."
They walked to the next room. There was a path and a table in the middle of the room. All around corpses were hung by their feet and were being dissolved by some kind of fungus.
"Welcome to the Hanging Gardens," Naruko said cheerily.
"Here the corpses from the arena were brought hung up and injected with a Fungus. It was probably used for future experimentation as chunks would fall off and then be collected and put into a storage tank. There is a trap door under the table. I had a clone eat a bit of the chunks on the ground at it died instantly. This suggests that whatever that fungus purpose here was, it is extremely toxic."
With every room they visited Naruko's jokes got darker and darker, all the while still maintaining her cheery attitude. It really unnerved them. Then finally they had seen every room. And now they were back outside.
"Gaki, you are sick."
"And why is that Kunoichi-san?"
"No one could be so cheery after seeing stuff like that."
"Who said I am cheery? All you see is a mask. One I don't use that often anymore, but it still is a mask."
"Tell me Genin," Ibiki said.
"Who is your squad leader? He must be insane to have one Genin do an S-rank alone."
"I don't have a squad leader yet. I am part of the FRU and I have yet to be put under someone's command. So as long as that didn't happen I do D-ranks all over the village. I stumbled upon this lab during one of those missions. Now if you have all you need. I will destroy the lab and finish my mission."
The two Jonin nodded and Naruko went back inside and drew seals on supporting beams and walls. She exited the lab and activated the Explosive Seals. The ground shook and started to collapse. Naruko made an army of clones and swiftly finished her mission. She went to the farm house and got the signature of the old man. Then she did a quick mission report and ran to the Hokage. She entered the office and met the two Jonin from before.
"I am sorry, Hokage-sama, but Riah said you were free. I can come back later if you wish."
"No it is quite alright. I was just finishing the reports of Ibiki-kun and Anko-chan, here. Would you like to give your report?"
"Yes, sir."
"Naruko unsealed the big sealing scroll and rolled it on the table so that they could see the map. As you can see, Hokage-sama. I have numbered the rooms and given a brief description as to what they were. In the seals next to the map you will find a list of items, like the amount of weapons in the traps, number of bodies and other things like potions and poisons, also I have numbered the bodies and added the autopsy reports. The last two seals are the entirety of the armory and the library. Also some things are missing from the list which you will find in this scroll. This scroll contains all the documents from the safes and are the documentation results of the experiments."
The three senior shinobi looked at the bigger scroll and were amazed by the detail.
"This is very good work. Here is your check and a little extra. I don't have to tell you that all of this information is absolutely classified. You are to talk to no one but me about it."
"Yes Lord Hokage."
Naruko left and walked to the mission assignment desk to get her pay. Iruka handed it out, though quite a bit worried for her, having seen she had done an S-rank already. Naruko took the money and left.
The next day was as the same, minus finding the lab of a sadistic scientist. She did a few dozen missions and picked up her money. After that she went to Ichiraku Ramen and had one of the new Rabbit Ramen. Just as she finished, she sensed the attention of an ANBU who was just on his way to her. A second later he was in front of her. He handed her a piece of paper and disappeared.
Uzumaki Namikaze Naruko no Hanyou,
You are here by accepted into the First Response Unit. Go to the ANBU HQ to Sub Level B. Ask for Washi.
You are expected there in two minutes after receiving this note.
Naruko disappeared in a burst of speed and went straight to the ANBU HQ. She entered the building. She told the lady behind the desk where she needed to be and an ANBU operative took her there. She activated her Orion'aigan and scanned the floor for an eagle mask. She quickly found it and raced to the ANBU operative.
"Uzumaki Namikaze Naruko no Hanyou answering your summons," she said in her usual monotone voice.
"Impressive. Hokage-sama said you were full of surprises, but even I did not expect you here within one minute. You really are worthy of the FRU. Now to begin follow me to the armory. We need to get you suited up."
"May I speak freely, sir?"
"Sure go ahead."
"I would like to keep this outfit to be honest. It has served me well over the years. That and it is nearly indestructible. Don't take me wrong I would like to have a modified chest piece, but other than that all I really need is a mask."
"Indestructible ehh? How about we put that to the test?"
"Fine. Throw a kunai at me."
She turned her back to him and he threw a Kunai. The kunai flew true and hit her in the back. What amazed him was that it did not pierce the fabric, it just bounced off.
"Impressive, you can keep the outfit, let's get you that chest piece and your mask then."
The walked to a room and there was a forge and a blacksmith. Washi told him what he should do and soon the armor was done. Naruko put it on and it fit perfectly. The mask was next and that too was done in a short amount of time. It had a fox design on it. Naruko took it and put it on.
"Down here and on missions of the ANBU you are Kitsune. Now let me assess your skills. I will be doing a basic checkup and have you checked by our highest ranking medic. Now you are twelve years of age?"
"Correct."
"Going by the academy files, you are an excellent student. You have problems in jutsu requiring low amounts of chakra. Problems meaning you cannot successfully execute those techniques."
"Correct."
"On your first evaluation, you displayed a wide array of jutsu from two different elements, all of which were C-rank or higher."
"Correct."
"You are very proficient with the bow you carry, other than that you have a large survival knife and two ninja-to on your person."
"Correct."
"Do you know you affinity?"
"No, sir."
"Alright, follow me."
They walked into another room which seemed to be the sparring area and went to a desk. Washi got out a piece of paper and handed it to Kitsune. Kitsune took it and channeled her chakra into the paper. The piece of paper shredded itself into many different pieces. Some of those pieces went up in flames, others turned wet, some crumbled to dust and some shreds wrinkled. Again Washi was amazed.
"You have all five of the base elements. You are very lucky Kitsune. Now show me what you have in your arsenal."
He would learn very fast that it was bad for your health to give the girl no restrictions. Naruko hit her new mentor with everything she had. And after an hour of nonstop dodging for his life Naruko had done her last jutsu. Panting heavily at the girl he started to wonder why in the name of Kami she was not an ANBU Commander.
"Very good," he said after regaining some of his breath.
"You are truly skilled. I say you are ready for the field. You can stay here or do some missions inside of the village or you can go home and enjoy the comforts of a nice warm bed. The choice is yours. Here is your communicator be here tomorrow at three and be ready to fight in Kenjutsu."
Naruko nodded and left. She sealed the mask and headed to her house. She was going to do some research on a few seals she was working on.
The next day came and she was at the training room. In front of her stood a female ANBU operative with a cat mask. Naruko knew who she was and decided to have a little fun.
"Are you going to fight with me today, Neko-nee-chan?"
That comment had every ANBU off and on duty standing at the banisters. It was Neko's day off and she normally spent training or outside with her friends. To hear she would spar today was a great deal of entertainment, except for the person that was her partner. They saw a little girl standing in the ring and they started snickering. Neko on the other hand knew exactly who was standing in front of her. She looked at Washi and saw him nod. He had asked her to assess the girl's skills in Kenjutsu and maybe even teach her a new trick or to, but for now they would spar.
"Alright. The rules are simple, we don't go for the kill, and we do not maim our opponent. Three touches and the match is over. The only other way to win is by either knockout or submission. If you draw blood your out. Do you agree to these terms Kitsune?"
"I do."
The two got into a fighting stance and waited. After a few minutes Naruko charged with a few Shadow Clones. The clones were quickly taken out, but now Naruko had a good sense for the speed of her opponent. Naruko charged with her two ninja-to. She decided to go with one of her oldest styles, Mori Umihebi no Boshi Tsume. As the name suggests, she was spinning the whole time, while blocking and striking. Along with her outfit, one of the hatchlings had called it Dragon Scale, it was one of the most defensive yet lethal styles in the world.
At first Neko was confused by the strange style, so she decided to send a Shadow Clone first to gauge the defense and offense of the strange technique. She was amazed that the clone was cut down immediately. She rushed in and blocked a two bladed swing to her head. She jumped back and rushed at her again.
"Oborozukiyo."
She rushed at her with a strike so fast, her blade was leaving after images. Naruko did the only thing she could do, duck and roll. She pun around and countered but was blocked by Neko. Neko was now gaining momentum. She put the girl on the defensive one strike flowed into the next, she left her with no chance of recovery. She did a downward slash to the girls head only for it to be blocked by the two blades in a cross. Naruko saw her opening and took it. She kicked Neko in the stomach with enough force to send her back.
Everyone gasped. The two were now going at it for over ten minutes, something many of them couldn't do, not against Neko. They were actually starting to cheer for the small girl.
Naruko rushed in and started slash and thrust only to be dodged and blocked. She was about to separate when she felt Neko's sword on her shoulder.
"That is one hit for me," she said.
Naruko separated and took a different stance, Kitsune no Ken. Both ninja-to were in the back hand grip. Naruko kept a close eye on her opponent and the disappeared in a burst of speed. Neko kept up with the speed and so they were trading strikes in high speed. The two were so fast, they were leaving after images of themselves. Naruko did a spinning side thrust to her opponent, only to feel the tip of Neko's sword at her throat.
"That is number two."
Naruko was not happy. At least one hit, that couldn't be that hard. She took another stance, Kodaiken no Ato. She now had her left blade in the back hand position, while her right was in the front hand position. She waited and Neko didn't let her wait for long. She dashed forwards and delivered strike after strike. After a few minutes she did an over the head strike which Naruko blocked. Instantly, she thrust her sword forwards and tapped the stomach of her opponent.
"Yes… Finally I got you," she panted lightly.
She may have near limitless stamina, but she went head to head with a veteran ANBU sword specialist for Kami knows how long. Even she had some limits.
"That you did. And you have proven yourself. C'mon now, I still have game point."
Again Naruko fell into another stance, Choro Deizu no Ken. This was the fourth style she used making many wonder how many more she knew. Neko was once again putting pressure on the girl. She was rather impressed by her abilities and was actually considering training her. She saw some minor dents in the stances and their defenses, but other than that the girl was extremely good and talented. She made two Shadow Clones and rushed her. The clones attacked from the left and right while she attacked from above.
"Mikazuki no Mai."
Naruko was speechless. That was a very powerful technique and she had just been beaten. She knew if Neko had used it from the start the fight would have been over then. She had one sword on either side of her ribcage and on sword right next to her neck. It had been so fast, she didn't even see it, though out of reflex she had started to block the two sideway strikes but was too slow.
"And those are three, four and five. I win. It was a very good fight Kitsune. Come to my room if you ever want to spar again or maybe learn a new technique."
Naruko nodded and let herself fall to the floor. Neko walked away and talked to Washi.
"Her Kenjutsu skills are nearly on par with mine. I only won because of my experience. I would say she is mid S-rank at least in Kenjutsu."
"So she is a solid S-rank in Kenjutsu and on par with the Sennin in Ninjutsu. She definitely is an attribute to our unit, but she may be severely under promoted."
Neko nodded and left. The other ANBU left as well.
"You did extraordinarily. Go home kid you earned it."
Naruko did and went to her house. She had a few clones continue her research and went to bed. Sleep did not last long however when an ANBU knocked on the gate. She got back out of bed and got into her clothes. She walked outside and saw Washi standing there.
"Washi-taichou. What can I do for you?"
"We got a notice. An outpost is going to being attacked. Be at the gate in one."
Naruko nodded and left. She sprinted to the gate. She met up with four more ANBU. They headed to the outpost. They arrived after a short travel. The higher ranking ANBU went to talk with the shinobi inside of the outpost, Naruko decided to stay on the roof. She sent out clones to scan the area. After half an hour a few clones were dispelled and seconds later the enemy ninja came. They were throwing kunai. But as soon as they saw the ANBU in the room the eight ninja turned heel and ran. Naruko had an arrow and fired.
"Hanta no Geijutsu: Shi no Sen Doriru Kako Ya."
The arrow split and turned to her targets. The arrows started spinning. The tips were starting to show a spiral of chakra.
"Split up and hide in the trees!" she heard the yell.
She watched the swarm of arrows split into eight groups of roughly the same amount and saw them getting faster in their descent. A couple of seconds later she heard the cries of disbelief and then silence. She jumped off of the roof and mad seven Clones to gather the bodies. She took the one farthest away. It was a female. Naruko went through her belongings and sealed everything on her person. Then she sealed the body labeled 'Meat'. Soon her clones brought the other bodies. She took everything and sealed the bodies. She returned to the outpost. She went to her superiors and showed them the headbands.
"Iwa…" they cursed.
"Kitsune, go to Hokage-sama. Tell him to send another team here to back up this team up."
Naruko nodded and moved. She ran straight to the Hokage. She went straight to the office. She knelt down before the desk. She stayed silent as her leader was currently talking to the Elder Council.
"Hiruzen, you must see that that kind of power is far better used to help Uchiha-sama."
"We will discuss this at a later. Now leave!"
The Elders glowered at him but left. The saw the ANBU and knew it must be important so they stopped bickering. As soon as they left Kitsune stood at attention.
"What can I do for you, Kitsune? I thought you were by one of our outposts."
"The outpost has been attacked, the enemy has been defeated. Ryu-taichou said to go back and request another team of Chunin to the outpost."
"I see… Who was it that attacked us?"
"An eight man squad from Iwagakure no Sato. Three females and five males. No survivors."
"Are you sure you there were only eight."
"If there were more they were under my sensors. I counted eight chakra sources attacking and I eliminated those eight chakra sources. If there were more I did not see or sense them."
"Very good job. I'll send a team right away. And Kitsune, I have an A-rank with probability to turn S-rank mission for you."
"What is it you wish me to do, Hokage-same?"
"The documents you brought to me a few days ago, I want you to examine them. I want to know what the person found out with those experiments, I want to know everything that is contained within those files."
"Anything in particular you want me to keep an eye out for?"
"Yes, village secrets, secrets of other villages, clan secrets anything that could be of importance and or endanger this village. Do you accept this mission?"
"I do."
"This is an off the book mission. You are still to maintain a public face and go on missions. You also have to show up for your training. Do not tell anyone including me, where you do your research and only come to me with you results."
"I understand."
He handed her the scrolls labeled 'Library' and 'Safes'. She took off and went straight to her house. She walked through the portal and went straight to the Holy Mother. She sat down in the tent and gathered her thoughts.
"So what can I do for you today, Naruko-hime?"
"I need a place where no one could find me. I figured the tribes camp would be a good place to start."
"Well I know of a place where you could go, but answer me this, why do you need such a place?"
"It's for a mission. I do not want anyone knowing of what I am doing."
"Very well. Take this seal, it will transport you to an underground caves system. Choose a cave, put this seal in the center of it and you can travel to it and back. I suggest you choose a large cave, and take Hogo-sha with you, he's been anxious to talk to you again. He is probably hunting rabbits for that contract you made. Look for him in the northern parts of the forest."
Naruko nodded and headed out. She ran along the tree branches. She had missed the scents of the forest. She searched for tracks, but she could not spot any.
''When you can't find a track, it means one of two things. One the target is trying to make sure it is not found, which means you have to look harder. Or Two, you are looking in the wrong places.' So I am looking in the wrong places. He's hunting rabbits so he'll be looking for tracks on the ground.' She thought.
She dropped to the ground and looked a little while later she found him. He was skinning four rabbits.
"I see you've been busy, Nagai Ha. I had to come all the way out here and look for you."
"Well since you aren't around that much and someone has to take care of that contract you got us, I figured I do it or else get bored. It's not quite the same without your knucklehead around. No one to argue with."
"So you missed me?"
"What? Course not, you're annoying."
"Alright then I was just wandering if you could help me set a few things up, but if you don't want to I'll ask Mara-nee-chan."
"Wait, I didn't say that. Just let me finish with these rabbits and I'll meet you in the camp, kay?"
"Okay."
She ran back to camp and started on preparing the meat she had gathered on her first mission outside the village. She sealed away the heads and gave the meat to the Holy Mother. Then she went to one of the scouting platforms where a huntress was sitting on.
"Hey, Mara-nee!" she called up.
She saw a head pop up from the tree.
"Hey Naru-chan, what can I do for you?" she said after jumping down from the platform.
"I was wandering if you would join me and Nagai Ha for a little project?"
"Of course."
Seconds later Nagai Ha came around the corner and instantly felt a wave of doom. He walked up to the two females and looked at them. They were as usually on high alert and indifferent.
"Well let's go then shall we."
She channeled her chakra into the seal and they found themselves in a giant cave system.
"We're in the Unholy Caves. Here rogue tribe members were brought and hung by their hands. Never to be fed, never to die. It is the ultimate punishment. Many go insane after a few months. This tradition was last used a thousand years ago. Ever since then, no one went rogue. All the ones that were held here were killed and given to their blood bonds. Why in all the pits of hell have you brought us here?" Nagai Ha said.
"Because it is the safest place for something that is only meant for my eyes."
"Okay so what are we looking for?"
"The largest cave we can find in five minutes. I say we split up and we go through the caves. If you find a large cave flex your chakra and the other two will come."
The split up and ran into three different directions. Five minutes later Naruko felt a large chakra spike. She rushed over to it navigating the caves with utmost precision. She could smell the chakra being emitted. She followed the scent and found herself in a very large cave with Mara and Nagai Ha.
"This will do perfectly. Now to seal of the entrances."
"I'll handle that."
He made a quick string of hand signs and the entrances collapsed. She placed the scrolls down, placed the seal on the floor and channeled chakra into the second seal and they were back in camp. Naruko said good bye and left. She went to her house and sent an army of clones to the mission office to do D-ranks. She left a few clones in the mansion and then returned to the cave. She made another army of clones and had they read one item out of the scrolls. She skipped the jutsu and went straight to the literature. She had the clones read one book, put the major topic on a piece of paper with all the important things the book mentioned, then they were to hand her the paper, briefly summarize the book and continue with the next one. The papers she would pin to the wall, whenever a subject seemed to be linked to another, she would connect those with a piece of red string. After a couple of hours there were no more books and reports. She had just put up the last paper. She took a few steps back and looked at the wall. Whoever did this was conducting research on all aspects of the human being. Religion, Moral, Ethnicity, Psychology, Consciousness and more.
'But why? It's like there is something missing… Everything is connected somehow to the human being. There are two main subjects that all the research is centered around. The Human Consciousness and the Human Physiology. But this still is too much of a mess. If only there were a center piece that would give all this a sense of meaning.'
"Dammit." She cursed.
She walked over to the scrolls and took out a jutsu. It was the Yamanaka Shintenshin no Jutsu. She raced back to the wall and started to reconnect the papers. It soon dawned her that this was something extraordinary. Whoever this person was, wanted to take over a bodyof another person. Now it all started to make sense. The pain of the experiments, the various poisons and potions. It was to make the body ready for the takeover. She connected and it all added up. She wrote down everything she had found out. All the connectors. And she wrote down her theory. She couldn't prove if she was right without the end result, but it seemed that she was hitting the wall dead on. When she was finished she closed the scroll, sealed it with a blood seal, a lock seal and a chakra seal. After that she booby trapped the scroll with a dozen or so trapping seals. And to make sure no one could steal it and hide it she put a chakra drainage seal and a locating seal on to it as well. She was good enough to hide the seals inside of the decorating calligraphy she put on it to camouflage the seals and make the scroll less important looking. When she was done she used the seal and was back at the mansion. The army of Clones in the cave had long since dispelled. She sprinted to the Hokage Tower. She ran into the office only to find it empty. She left the room via the window and ran to the Sarutobi Clan compound. The guards outside saw a huge cloud of dust coming their way and braced themselves for the impact that was sure to come. The dust came and settled and what they saw was a small female ANBU with a Kitsune mask climbing out of a trench which appeared to be her skid marks. They sweat dropped by the action but still were on high alert.
"What can we do for you, ANBU-san?"
"I need to talk to Hokage-sama immediately. It is of utmost importance."
"Please come in. I'll get him for you," one guard said.
"And I'll take you to the office."
They walked through the compound and went straight to the office. Seconds later, Sarutobi Hiruzen came into the room with a very dark look in his eyes that promised utmost pain and humiliation, if he was woken for nothing less than a crisis. Naruko stood there as impassive as ever until the Hokage waived the two guards away. He activated the security and privacy seal and then looked at his most recent new ANBU.
"You better hope this is really important Kitsune otherwise you'll be doing nonstop D-ranks for months without pay," he growled.
"Don't worry, consider this a mission successful. But I suggest we do this somewhere more secure."
"Where would you have us go?"
"The place I do my research. The only way there is this seal and my chakra so it is the securest area right after the Shinigami's mansion."
She channeled her chakra into the seal and they stood in a large cave. A portion of the cave wall was covered in papers and red string. Kitsune was sitting in the middle of the cave waiting patiently for her leader. Hiruzen looked over the papers and had to admit, she had outdone herself with organization. He walked back to the girl and sat down.
"So Kitsune, what did you find?"
She opened the scroll and deactivated the traps. Hiruzen was surprised by the amount and the complexity of the seals. He quickly read over it and saw he could not read a single word of it.
"This may all be very secure, Kitsune, but I cannot read this."
"Oh. I forgot to translate it back."
Two hand seals later Hiruzen was looking at an extremely detailed report and an on the dot accurate theory.
"I am impressed. This theory of yours is completely right."
"I take it you know of the way to make that jutsu happen, I take it?"
"No, but I know of how to start the process. We have a person here who was granted this 'gift' as you put it. Though we couldn't find out anything. All of the memories were wiped away. Even Inoichi didn't have any luck."
He looked up again and saw the girl writing down everything.
"So who is it that had this say… morbid inspiration?"
"Orochimaru."
That name said it all. He studied the girl and saw she did not even flinch.
"I see. So do you know why he created this technique? From what I could find out, He could take over someone's body, completely casting the other person's soul out."
"Orochimaru was a genius. A prodigy seen once in a generation, but he had this fanatical endeavor after I named your father Hokage, to learn all the jutsu in the world, even Kinjutsu. I caught him eventually and he got away. But if I had to hazard a guess he is looking for immortality."
"I see. Shinigami-sama will not be pleased by this. Thank you for this information, Hokage-sama. I hope the information was sufficient."
"It was. I will hand you your check tomorrow. Is there anything else we need to discuss?"
"Yes sir. I looked through the information and as you said it is a seal. I have studied the basic layout of the descriptions, but without the finished project I cannot see if the seal can be unsealed and destroyed."
"I see. I will see if the person is willing to come to you so you can study the seal."
"Thank you."
And they were back in the office. Hiruzen said his good bye and Naruko went outside. She decided to go to the ANBU HQ and do some research on Orochimaru. She headed straight to the library and looked for the target section. She quickly found him and was amazed by the amount of data they had on the man.
She set everything on a table and started reading each and every scroll, report, file and document. She copied the data and when she was finished, she started organizing it to her personal preference. After a couple of hours she was finally finished with everything and put everything back on its shelf.
"You can come out now, Washi-taichou. I know you've been watching me since I entered the library. What can I do for you, Taichou?"
"Very impressive, Kitsune. But I expect nothing less from Shinku Hantoresu no Konoha."
"What?!"
"It seems on your mission you missed one of the Iwa ninja and he got away and reported right back to the Tsushi-kage. Here is the latest issue of the Bingo Book."
He handed her the book and she flipped through the pages until she found herself.
Name: ?
Known aliases: Shinku Hantoresu no Konoha, Konoha's Crimson Huntress
Age: ca. 12
Height: 5'8
Rank: S
Rank of Service: ANBU
Affiliation: Konoha Gakure no Sato
Affinity: Strong Fire affinity; possibly more?
Bloodline: Endurance? Healing? Senses? Strength?
Techniques: Strong Fire Techniques; A to S Rank Taijutsu; Extreme mastery in the Art of Archery; At least intermediate knowledge in Fuinjutsu
Known accomplishments: Killed A-Rank criminal Yasutoro Miagami
Responsible for Elimination of multiple bandit camps throughout multiple countries;
possibly reason for the disappearance of many missing Hunter-Ninja from multiple countries:
Killed the Renka Siblings; eliminated multiple Hunter units;
Description: The Crimson Huntress is a very dangerous opponent despite her size. She has blonde red her tied into two pig tails. Along with her hair she is easily identifiable by her black trench coat with crimson stripes; a bow with a quiver of arrows on the back; and two ninja-to sheathed inside of her boots; on her right arm she wears an armband with four tails on it. Her speed surpasses most veteran ANBU. She has unnatural stamina and strength. Any injury will heal in moments. When alone do not attack her and be very careful, an extremely cautious retreat is advised. Think trice if the money is worth the hassle, before you engage with extreme caution in groups UNDER twenty, a cautious retreat is advised. Engage with extreme caution in groups OVER twenty.
Wanted in: Iwa (Dead or Alive); Kiri (Dead or Alive); Kumo (Alive); Suna (Dead or Alive); Kusa (Alive); Oto (Alive); Ame (Alive); Taki (Dead or Alive);
Bounty: Iwa: 35.000.000 Ryo; Kumo: 35.000.000. Kiri: 25.000.000 Ryo; Ame: 5.000.000; Kusa: 3.000.000 Ryo; Oto: 2.750.000 Ryo; Taki: 2.600.000 Ryo; Suna: 2.500.000 Ryo;
"Seems I've been stepped up a rank. Kind of scary really, now I have half the world paying for my head on a stick," she chuckled darkly.
"Well, you haven't lost your sense of humor, I see. So why were you studying all we had on one of our most notorious criminals? You planning on going on a hunt? Because of you do I will have to stop you, you may not be under Hokage-sama's direct authority, but you are part of the FRU and that means part of the team. If you abandon your team you are even worse than the scum you are hunting."
"Do not worry, Taicho. I am merely doing research on targets of opportunity. To be informed is to know when you are outmatched so you can fall back and regroup."
"Very good. If every Ninja would think like you do, our memorial stone would only be half as big as it is now. Get to bed kiddo, enjoy the sleep."
Naruko left and went home. She had a few Clones work the information she had gained into her research while she went to bed. The morning came and Naruko spent a few minutes meditating the research her Clones did in their nightshift. It seemed that Orochimaru no Sennin was indeed hunting for the secret of immortality, so he could learn all the jutsu of the world.