Naruto's turn. I like writing Naruto, on one level he's so childish, but he's also really insightful when he tries. It's an interesting balance to try to get.

Edit 23/3/16: wow barely any changes at all ;)

-/-

Naruto didn't like this. He didn't like it at all.

It wasn't that he didn't know that Konoha wasn't perfect. He'd spent most of his childhood being quietly shunned and ignored after all, and he was very familiar with how little care orphans actually got in the Konoha system. But, that was different somehow. That was civilians being... civilians. Ninja like Jiji were supposed to be different, better. He remembered talking with Jiji about how being Hokage meant protecting everyone in the whole village, even if they were horrible, mean people.

But... The Uchiha...

Shikako had said she didn't know what the truth was behind the Uchiha's role in the Kyuubi attack. She had said she was fairly certain they hadn't been involved, or at least hadn't been the ones to start it all. She had said she didn't know how far the Uchiha had got in plotting their coup, but that they had been planning something at that point. She had said that Itachi had gone to Jiji, had begged on his knees for him to protect Sasuke.

Naruto believed her. She had looked so sick when she had described things and so, so scared. Even if she didn't, Shikako didn't lie. If she really didn't want to talk about something and you kept pushing her she'd go quiet and retreat, but she had never ever lied to him. Now this Danzo guy, who was apparently scary enough to make Sensei cold and crackly, was messing with his team! Or had been messing with his team - it didn't matter. He wanted to find this Danzo and rip him to pieces for being the reason that Shikako was looking like that, for being the one who had taken Sasuke-teme's family from him. He knew that Sasuke wanted to do it too.

Only this guy was scary and dangerous and powerful enough to wipe out one of Konoha's Founding Clans in Konoha itself. And then pin the blame on someone else. And then make everyone believe it.

So. Taking down the Danzo guy would need planning, careful preparation and information.

Just like painting the Hokage monument had! It had taken months to figure out the patrol patterns and then find an outfit that matched the rock shade at that exact moment in time. Then there had been delays when they had changed patrol patterns, and he'd had to work on his stealth skilłs after that one guy started... But it had so been worth it! Definitely his best work ever!

Oh right, information.

He needed some.

And Sensei had found just the guy to get it. Ibiki-taicho could be really scary when he wanted to be! Itachi would definitely crack and tell them everything he knew! Then they could take everything to Tsunade and she could take care of the Danzo guy and everything would be ok again. Naruto pulled out the scroll he'd got back from his awesome toads and handed in over with a sharp grin. Oh yeah, Itachi was in for it...

"The prisoner is in here?"

Shikako nodded once, chewing her lip. "He should be unconscious when he comes out. The seal works by taken the complete space the target occupies, including a thin layer of their surroundings and drastically slowing time with respect to our plain of reality. As far as he's concerned, it shouldn't have been more than a second since he was sealed."

Naruto grinned. That sort of thing may be completely above his head but he'd heard the Pervy-sage complaining about time based seals so he knew that they were horribly difficult. Ones that added in 'space' had to be way harder than that! "Wow, how'd you figure that?"

She smiled shyly at him. "I tried to seal a lit candle and then unseal it without putting out the flame."

The creepy guy was giving him a look and he smiled back sheepishly. The guy let his gaze turn blah and focused on his teammate. "Shikako if you could?"

She nodded sharply, and unrolled the scroll, her hand lighting up blue as she concentrated. Then the space seemed to warp around her in a sort of swirly bubble. When it was gone and he could look at the spot again Weasel-teme was lying unconscious underneath her palm. The glow around her hands changed to green for a moment before she pulled out loads more tags and did something that made the ink wriggle all over to the prisoner. It was very cool looking. And also slightly scary. Some of those ink lines looked weirdly spiky.

"The prisoner is secured as requested?" Shikako nodded. "Thank you. The two of you may go."

Naruto opened his mouth to protest - they were the ones who had caught him! And the ones that had told Ibiki in the first place! - but Shikako had her hand over his mouth before he could make a sound. He grumbled a bit at her when she let him speak again, but let her drag him away. He'd left a clone in the area anyway. He'd hear it all...

"Hey!"

She twisted around to blink at him. "What?"

"Kakashi-sensei stamped on my spider!"

She snorted softly. "Of course he did. Anyway, it's best if you're not around for the next bit. They're going to be talking secrets."

"I'm a secret. I don't get why I can't hear more of them."

She smirked, which was almost what he had been aiming for, and he grinned back at her. "Come on... We can be really really sneaky..."

"No, Naruto."

"No, what?"

Naruto blinked as Shikamaru was suddenly standing there, slumped in half as usual, looking like a strong breeze would blow him over. It was really creepy how he could do that. It was like he had a mystical sense that let him know whenever his sister was getting genuinely annoyed at them. He always appeared whenever one of them was trying to persuade Shikako of something. Was he... Was he stalking his sister?

Naruto pushed that thought away and pasted on his best innocent smile. "Nothing! Hey, we were going to have dinner at your place tonight! What's your mum making?!"

Shikamaru shrugged, turning a suspicious gaze on his sister. "You haven't had another mission."

"Just felt like it."

He sighed. "Let mum know. She's getting steak later."

"Will do."

Naruto waited until Shikamaru had slouched off out of hearing range and turned to his friend. "Is your twin stalking you?"

"Not for the last year."

"Then how does he know to keep showing up?!"

She smirked. "No idea."