*Chapter 25*: Chapter TwentyTwo: Seeking Out

Chapter 22: Seeking Out

"No. No, no, no, no."

The cloaked figure clenched his fists, watching the images in the scrying stone with incredulity. His eyes suddenly widened, and he screamed. "NO!"

He slammed both fists down on his desk with enough force to splinter the fine hardwood top. The bridge of the desk gave way, and the scrying stone- one of the last vestiges of the personal effects of the late, much feared Hanzou- flew from its stand, before it hit the carpetting with a muted thud. It rolled slowly for a second before it stopped, displaying to the man a warped reflection of the room, the splintered desk, and himself.

"Pein sama?" Inquired a voice from the door. "Is something wrong?"

Pein's eyes flashed dangerously. "Get out." He said in a whisper laced with menace.

The door, only cracked open, shut with a light scrape.

Pein's eyes lingered on the door for a moment, as he willed himself to calm. His blood sang with an urge for violence, but he managed to force back the unbecoming emotion- until his wandering eye landed on the scrying stone and his memory replayed what he'd seen in its murky depths, the vision in his mind's eye. His rage flared, and he grabbed the two halves of the desk, one in each hand, and attempted to throw them out the window, combined seven hundred pounds of awkward, heavily abused craftsmanship. The lighter half shattered the glass and jammed in place; the heavier half drove it- and the window frame and a good portion of the surrounding wall- completely out of the building. The debris tumbled out the side to land on the streets below, their impacts a dim set of crashes largely dulled by the sound of the constant rain.

It was quiet again. Pein could hear the rain clearly, through the hole he'd made with his desk. Some of that rain blew in, soaking the carpet near the hole, drops of water splashing and spattering the scrying stone where it now lay.

Sheets of paper flew under the door, a flying cloud of paper that coalesced into the shape of a woman, then taking feature and color. Pein looked back out the hole, wondering what would become of their goals now.

"Pein, what the hell is going on?" Konan demanded.

He turned rinnegan eyes toward her, his rage subsided, leaving only exhaustion and resignation in its wake. "The

Ancients of Konoha are awake again. And it's all because of that stupid bastard Orochimaru."

Konan snorted. "All because you didn't tell him about our real agenda or even their existance. I warned you that you should have brought him into the loop. He hates secrets. That's why he left Akatsuki." She folded her arms, her left index finger and middle finger alternately tapping on her arm, her signet ring flashing in the grey light. "How did he do it?"

Pein sighed. "I only caught images, flashes of it... but he summoned a greater serpent in the forest and damaged one of the trees there, part of which jostled an ancient. The ancient itself wasn't significantly damaged, but it woke rapidly- I can only assume it wasn't fully asleep yet." He found himself tensing again and forced himself to unclench his fist, ignoring the rivulets of blood that trailed from the four crescent shaped cuts in his palm. "But from what has been released to the council at this point- and I'd never even had a clue until the council meeting today, six days after the end of the second exam- that Orochimaru had been involved in the forest of death as well as the Konoha Hospital incident."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. You're going to have to explain all that- I don't exactly have the inside line to Konoha at the moment." Konan interjected. "What was he doing in the forest of death? And what happened at the hospital?"

Pein shook his head. "In the forest of death during the second exam, Orochimaru attacked a number of genin with the intent of recruiting the better ones in the exam for his own subordinates. The council had gotten some word of this but I'd discounted this as him making a rather harmless nuisance of himself, as all genin that have gone missing have since been accounted for. Aside from the three he killed to infiltrate the second exam, and one killed as collateral damage, no other deaths have been laid at his feet."

"That's it, then?" Konan said incredulously. "He tried to recruit and left without any candidates? That doesn't say much for this year's crop of chunin hopefuls."

"Thus we come to the hospital incident." Pein replied. "He evidently had a specific target in mind. This year's applicants are apparently especially talented, enough so that they were forced to hold preliminaries to the third exam. During those preliminaries, Uchiha Sasuke was hospitalized from some sort of poison after his match- which he won, incidentally. After the detoxification, at Sasuke's weakest and most vulnerable, Orochimaru managed to infiltrate the hospital and inflict a curse mark on him."

"A new lieutenant." Konan said thoughtfully.

"I am inclined to disagree." Pein contradicted. "I was most fascinated to learn that according to his former disciple,

Mitarashi Anko, he's apparently completed that technique he was spending most of his time pla7ying with a while back." He paused, waiting for Konan to piece it all together.

She did, too. "The Sharingan. This is about Itachi, isn't it?"

Pein scowled, nodding. "And that fool in his arrogant pride has started a chain reaction that is now wildly out of his control. Apparently after his scuffle where he summoned the snake, Uzumaki Naruto disappeared for several days. And according to the proctors for the exam, his dojutsu has... evolved, somehow. I'm willing to hazard a guess that he was taken and altered by an Ancient."

Konan's eyes widened. "Is it starting again?"

Pein's teeth ground together. "I don't know. It shouldn't be. The grove in Konoha has been quite active over the last hundred years, according to... him. They should be sleeping right now- all the ancients should be. It's because of this factor that we've been able to move as we have been. There should be a patch of peace now wihtout their interference, until they awaken naturally- but now that the grove is awake there's no KNOWING when they'll drift off again- by which time another grove will likely be rousing from their slumber. We only had a twelve year window- probably a first in THOUSANDS of years where all the known groves would be asleep at once- and that IMBECILE RUINED IT!"

"You should have told him." Konan reminded him.

"You already know why we couldn't." He snapped. "Until we know exactly where that curse mark comes from we couldn't risk that he himself was altered by the ancients. They have a tendency to reprogram creatures they alter, on a subconscious level, to defend the grove that took them at all costs. Comes from so many eons of warring amongst themselves; the survivors are justifiably paranoid. We couldn't risk it. Not then, not now, not ever."

Konan watched Pein carefully. For several long minutes the only sound in the room was that of the ever present rain through the hole in the wall.

Konan finally broke the silence. "When you think about it... the Ancients are rather awe inspiring for what they can do. Like the gods, almost. Seeming all powerful, like they can do... well, anything."

Pein fixed Konan with a stare and replied, "They aren't like the gods- they ARE the gods. They made everything. But even gods are not without limit, even gods can die. And I swear that for the sake of all men that live, I'll see every one of them dead. And then, fate willing, perhaps men will learn peace without the Ancients goading them into war." Konan averted her eyes, unable to withstand the intensity in Pein's gaze, as she said, "What about the Biijuu?"

Pein's response was silent; his teeth clenched so hard it hurt. "Pein..." She began.

"We have no choice. If the Ancients sense the movement of multiple biijuu over the course of a short period of time to a single location, they'll gather or create forces that can destroy that location and any threat the biijuu might pose, in fear that another grove is gathering for an attack." His next words were a growl. "We must halt our efforts at... collection, until such time as they fall asleep again."

"Perhaps..." Konan said thoughfully, "we could do so slowly. Take the jinchuuriki to staging points until such time as we are ready to seal them all at once into the statue. If we move them quickly enough and can seal them all simultaneously..."

"We would need to carefully coordinate our efforts and holding locations so that they were roughly equidistant. The Ancients would almost imediately deduce our intentions." Pein protested.

"We can time things well enough that there will be margin for error without them begin equidistant. Two of them can be positioned farther out that the others; those can be assigned to myself and Deidara since the both of us have access to flight. And you were already planning on aqcuiring them slowly, after the failure of the last attempt, remember?"

Pein's protests were growing feeble as he began warming to the idea. "We may have to hold them in separate places for a while..."

"We can use fuuinjutsus to lock away their biijuu powers- after that we can hold them easily. I realize to do this the statue will require alteration to seal them all at once, and if we are to do it quickly enough we will have no choice but to retrieve

Orochimaru's ring, but still-"

Pein nodded. "But it is still quite doable." he finished.

"Not a disaster." Konan agreed. "Merely a change in plans." She took a few steps forward. "And while we're on the topic, the Yonbii jinchuuriki has been found."

Pein smiled, a genuine smile for the first time in days. "Magnificent."

A sheet of paper peeled away from Konan's cloak and drifted to her hand. Drawn on it in a careful hand was a map, which she now handed to him. "We've located him, here, in the mountains of Tsuchi no Kuni."

"Excellent. My Earth Realm is already near Iwagakure- I can be there before long. I'll get him myself."

This was- as Shikamaru might say, or his father for that matter- troublesome.

Last night, after he'd finished up with the medic nin's checkups, Naruto ran into Shikaku on his way to the Hokage tower. The older nin had gently cautioned him against his nightly investigations in the tower, and made mention that nothing would be said about Naruto's late night research in the restricted access files, should Naruto likewise not mention to the Hokage about the early disclosure of the mission.

(Flashback)

"Also, keep an eye out for anything... unusual." Nara Shikaku said. "The Hokage has been acting rather strange, distracted and somewhat erratic, lately, especially where it concerns some things that have been kept hush hush about the council. I don't know all the details, and wouldn't pass them on even if I did. But I want you to keep an open eye, just in case."

"Erratic how?" Naruto asked.

"Sometimes he'll seem to be his old self, and other times he will jump to a strange conclusion or make an odd decision. I've been passing along to other teams to be extremely cautious in their missions, as I've begun to be concerned that this might be the early stages of senile dementia. No proof as yet, and what symptoms that match are very mild, so far... but be forewarned that it may come to it that the Hokage will have to be... retired early for medical reasons. Do you understand?"

Naruto frowned. "He's the Hokage. He always works for what he believes to be best for Konoha- and he's a lot older than either of us. He's seen things and knows things that we've never encountered, so why should we second guess him?"

"I'm not talking about second guessing him- his decisions seem to be good ones still, of late. But it's our job not just to see what is in front of us, but what is ahead and what lies underneath. I see possible warning signs, and I'm passing along the warning to all the people whom I believe need to know." Shikaku said. "Call it a compliment, kid- I'm so far only telling Jonins or people who are within a year of becoming such. I know you understand the need for secrecy, and I know you're good enough to trust on this, but this requires a jonin attitude- hero worship cannot be allowed to get in the way. You're becoming one of our heavy hitters, whether you realize it or not, and if word gets out to other villages that our Hokage might be weakening, it could be disastrous, so I want you to be prepared for what may come- Likely as not, you will be called on and there won't be time to explain the situation. Are you ready?"

Naruto shrugged. "As ready as I can be, at the moment, after hearing our hokage might be starting to lose his mind."

Shikaku nodded. "Code word is Sleeping Monkey. You hear this codeword from me or any other Jonin in the village, you are to report to the tower immediately to Maito Gai, Hatake Kakashi, me, or Hyuuga Hiashi, in that order. You'll receive your instructions there. Got it?"

Naruto nodded again. "Understood."

(End Flashback)

And that encounter was why Naruto sat here, in the Hokage's office, staring blankly at the piece of paper in front of him as though it was the first time he'd seen it. "If this is as important as you say it is, Hokage sama, then there's no way we should be going on this mission."

Next to him, Shino said face was as blank and unreadable as the mirrored sunglasses he always wore. Past him, Hinata's face was likewise difficult to gauge. She looked at Naruto for a few seconds before straightening her pages in her lap and looking expectantly at the Hokage.

Kurenai chose this moment to speak up. "While it is true that this is an important mission, B-ranked with room for interpretation as A-rank, this is due primarily for who you will be searching for and the client who is requesting the mission."

Naruto frowned. "Who is this Tsunade woman, anyways?"

Ebisu sensei from his position at the door gave a disgusted snort. "Did you not pay attention at all in the academy?" He snapped with a sneer. "You can't get through life on brute strength alone- even if it is all you have to offer."

Naruto looked at Ebisu for a moment, before sighing and turning his eyes back to the Hokage. "Who is this Tsunade woman, anyways?" He repeated.

It wasn't the rudest thing Naruto could have done; even so, Naruto was just a genin and Ebisu a Jonin. One did not disregard one's superiors in such a fashion, even if the superior had instigated the rudeness.

Ebisu apparently wasn't one to let it pass, either. "Your manners are as poor as ever. Still, I suppose it is to be expectedI'm accustomed to dealing with clan heads and hokages. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised at the illbred behavior of a clanless orphan who lacks not just shame but even people willing to stand living with him."

Hinata and Shino looked at one another uneasily. Ebisu sensei wasn't behaving like a teacher or a jonin- in fact, it seemed as though he was actively seeking a conflict or trying to make a scene. And why was the Hokage just sitting there watching this? Why didn't Kurenai sensei say or do something?

Naruto sat rigid, staring in the direction of the Hokage. "Hokage sama, I apologize for my lack of knowledge. Please enlighten me, that I might perform my mission to the best of my ability and ahead of other concerns, such as people whose choices are to place their own issues ahead of the good of the mission."

The Hokage nodded. "That's good for now, Ebisu."

Ebisu sensei nodded in return, and his demeanor completely altered. The antagonistic attitude and beligerence evaporated, leaving behind a cool tempered, somewhat detached professional that Naruto could still tell held more than a little genuine disdain. But his posture and voice were polite. "Of course, Hokage sama."

The Hokage cocked his head to the side in a fashion Naruto found to be oddly familiar. "In part, Naruto, that was your first introduction. Not necessarily in topic, of course, but at least in spirit. And it is a comfort to see that you are more in control of yourself than you were when you were first introduced to Tazuna. While in some cases a demonstration such as you made then can create smoother sailing later on, letting a client trust to your skills and thereby stay out of your way, against Tsunade it will only get you killed. While she is most commonly known as the Legendary Medic, she was also one of the Sannin. And regardless of your past successes, I think you would fare no better against her than you did against her team mate." Naruto scrunched his brow and found himself wishing he'd gotten less quality sleep time during lecture. After a moment he figured it out. "You mean Orochimaru."

"Yes." The Hokage looked particularly grave, but something about his expression bothered Naruto for some reason.

After a moment, Naruto started rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "He won't find me so easy, next time."

The Hokage gave a long suffering sigh. "He won't go so easy on you next time. But it doesn't matter now-"

Naruto interrupted. "Who was their jonin sensei?"

The Hokage paused for a second, appraisingly, before answering, "I was."

Naruto rubbed his hands across his face, a certainty growing in him, the motion masking the flickered activation of his Kamigan.

The kamigan saw right through his own hands- and the Henge on the "Hokage."

Naruto realized with a start that the Hokage was being impersonated by Kakashi Sensei. Naruto began to speak as he dropped his hands and the Kamigan alike, but Kyuubii stopped him.

KID, DON'T TIP YOUR HAND. JUST BECAUSE YOU FIGURED OUT SOMETHING WAS OFF, DOESN'T MEAN YOU KNOW THE WHOLE STORY. PLAY IT CLOSE TO THE CHEST.

The "Hokage" waited for Naruto to continue with what he'd been about to say. When it was apparent Naruto intended to remain silent, he went on. "While Tsunade is not necessarily an antagonistic woman, she is at the least highly contrary. Her psych profile indicates she is somewhat threatened by strong male figures, and as such she will tend to challenge them, especially if they are just raw talent, or not fully seasoned and trained. This means that you, Naruto, she will find to be a prime target."

Naruto listened carefully as Kakashi spoke, hearing despite the jounin's skill at impersonation a slight bit of Kakashi's own speech patterns and mannerisms creeping in- the longer he spoke in a block, the more it happened. But Naruto in spite of his distraction heard the pauseKakashi left to provoke Naruto's response.

Naruto decided to take the bait. "So I'm obviously not a good choice for this mission. If so, why am I going along?"

Kakashi sighed, tapping out the Hokage's pipe in the ash tray, then looking at the bowl of the pipe with a frown. "Because Hiashi sama insisted. Allow me to elaborate."

He picked up a remote and tapped a button on it, and a screen Naruto had never seen used before flickered on in the corner of the room. "Note what is on the screen."

Naruto watched for a few seconds- it was his match with Choji. "Okay- but why are you showing me this?" He asked. "I remember it fairly well- I was there, after all."

Kakashi nodded. "So you were." The scene changed as Kakashi pressed another button; suddenly it was a different camera angle. Naruto saw Ino collapse, watched Hayate declare victory in slow motion. "Wait for it." Medics rushed over, began shouting in panic, then there was a blur and Ino's oopponent, that Takigakure bastard, Mizuten or something like that, vanished from the screen. Kakashi stopped the feed, and rewound it.

It took Kakashi a minute or so, but finally he pinned down two frames. One with an approaching blur and the second with the tail end of it on the other side of the screen. The actual grab had been too fast to catch.

"This film is specifically designed for shinobi fights. It runs at three hundred sixty frames per second. When you intercepted Mizuten san, the camera caught you on exactly two frames, and neither one anything resembling clearly." Kakashi clicked another button; the scene shifted to another angle. Frozen at this angle, the image was slightly clearer, but still not very recognizable. "We pacified their jounin sensei by showing him this video feed. At the speed you were moving, your grab should have killed him. When you slammed him into the wall, all you would have needed to do is let momentum go to work- hitting the wall at those speeds should have left him a greasy smear across it. Your self control, as well as your caution in both the grab and the impact, impressed a great number of people. Since Hinata's normal guardian for a mission of this sort would be her cousin, and since he is... indisposed, Hiashi sama decided to find a substitute, and has deemed you to be adequate to the task. Meaning that, as 'Adequate' by a Hyuuga's standards, he sees you as the hands down best chance Hinata has of returning to the village alive and unharmed, regardless of what you may run across."

Kakashi turned off the screen and set down the remote. "There are, of course, other considerations... but I think you can understand the core reason now for you being chosen."

Naruto nodded. "I understand."

And he did- he was here for the express purpose to ensure that nothing happened to the Hyuuga heiress, nothing more. Heh. I always wanted to be a body guard for a princess, he thought to himself.

"Stay in the background as much as possible for as long as possible- as long as you cultivate a silent presence she will identify you as a professional, if a rather unorthodox one. If I could I'd hide you behind an ANBU mask but you have none of the mannerisms, training, or knowledge of an ANBU- you'd stick out even more in her mind, and the less attention you draw the better. I'm leaving Kurenai as the prime leader of this mission; since Tsunade respects confident, strong women, this likely will make a good impression on her and possibly dispose her favorably towards your mission. We need every advantage we can get right now."

Kakashi filled in Hinata and Shino on their roles in the coming mission as well as Kurenai and Ebisu. "Additionally, I was pulled aside by Shikaku before we started this briefing and he had an absolutely fascinating idea. I would like to explore it, and I've found myself in an especially serendipitous situation- specifically, Naruto, you will be exploring the limits of your chakra control. We'll see just how well and how finely you can coordinate it. If this turns out like Shikaku- and I, as wellthink it will, you may be able to do something no other ninja can. And since you will already be travelling with the best sensei Konoha has to offer, you will have the personal opportunity to make the most of the idea." Kakashi stood up. "The mission begins tomorrow morning. Rest up; part of the reason this team is travelling with such heavy firepower is that most of the territory you will be travelling through has seen moderately heavy traffic by Kumogakure nin- they Hyuuga Kekkei Genkai is something they've wanted for years, and is readily noticable even at a casual glance. You won't get much rest at all if they pick up your trail, so be alert."

The others stood up as well. Hinata smiled at Naruto mysteriously, and then at Kakashi. "Thank you, Hokage sama."

Naruto didn't stand up. "May I have a word with you in priovate, Hokage sama?"

Kakashi paused for a moment, before nodding. "Of course, Naruto."

The two of them waited while the others left, before Kakashi said, "So, Naruto. What is on your mind?" Kakashi finished filling the bowl of the pipe with tobacco and lit it carefully, puffing several times, before drawing deeply on the pipe, obviously enjoying the aromatic tobaccos.

"I didn't know you smoked... Kakashi sensei."

Kakashi froze, pipe halfway back to his mouth.

Naruto didn't wait. "I know it must be important, whatever it is... but why are you impersonating the Sandaime Hokage?"

He knew he should sleep. Tomorrow was a big day- a day he began a mission that proved he'd been right to work, right to hope, right to strive past the opinions, hatreds, and fears of the villagers. Tomorrow he'd be starting a mission that clearly stated that he was recognized for his worth, individually selected by the Head of the most elite clan in Konoha, because he was best for the job. Recognition, at last. Yet that accomplishment was tainted by what he'd learned mere minutes after the conclusion of the briefing.

The village was in crisis. And almost nobody in the village knew it.

Naruto regretted knowing, regretted asking, regretted even listening to Nara Shikaku. Regretted even guessing that the Hokage was not who he appeared to be. It shook his world to its very foundations, to know that a Hokage could go missing nin, could abandon his village.

The old man had always been everything Naruto had ever wanted to be. Everyone in the village loved him. He protected everyone- he was, to Naruto, all that a shinobi could ever aspire to. And Sarutobi sama, the great Sandaime Hokage, was now gone, left his village, and left his hitai ate behind.

The Kyuubii was silent.

Naruto appreciated this. He sat on his bed, leaning against the headboard, fingering his own hitai ate, tracing the leaf with his fingertips, trying to feel it for the sense of wonder and joy and pride he remembered from when he'd first received it. Pride in joining the ranks of Konoha shinobi, that once, the Hokage himself had tread the same path he himself was walking.

Naruto, more even than the tales of the Yondaime Hokage, admired the Sandaime. The Yondaime had been a dashing, heroic man, a story, a legend... but...

... But while the Yondaime had been a hero, the Sandaime had been, to Naruto, the very symbol of what a Hokage was.

Guide. Protector. Leader. Lord.

Hokage.

Naruto sighed, scooting down and laying full outon the bed, still in his shirt, even though his lights were long since off.

Recognition. At last.

He kept trying to feel the pride, the joy. Yet the only thing he could feel was the cool grooves in the smooth metal of the hitai ate.

He should sleep, he knew. Tomorrow was a big day.

But he just couldn't sleep.

End Chapter Twenty Two

-AN: Aaaaaannnnnnndd I'm back.

My apologies for the better than three weeks I've been gone, and a further apology for the shortness of this chapter. I've been splitting my attention between two stories, seasonal stuff, work, and reallocation of assets for my company- meaning I'm having to figure out how to keep my company afloat in the face of the worsening economy. We're not in trouble... yet... but I'm trying to ensure that six months from now we're not filing chapter eleven or- god forbid- chapter seven (Shudder).

All that aside, I got a lot of mixed reviews on my release of the last chapter. Some people liked it, some people hated it, a lot of people jumped to a lot of conclusions about the pairings on this fic. I'll say this again.

Don't conclude ANYTHING about final pairings. The story is going where it's going, and yes, there is a bloodline conflict with crossing the Kamigan and the Byakugan. But for god's sake PLEASE stop mailing me hate about pairingscommentary on POSSIBLE pairings is cool. Speculating is cool. Calling me an asshat for pairing up Hinata and Naruto is just irritating. Keep in mind: Twelve to fourteen years old. Even if betrothed, marriage is a long way off- and this is NOT a pairing or a harem fic. Relationships are fluid and complicated. Try to judge the relationships in the story according to what's happening IN my story, not in what's happened in another story you read by someone else and hated. This isn't a hate fic, this isn't a bash fic, I will NOT be randomly offing characters without good reason. And I'm sorry if you don't feel that Sakura should be a ninja, I tried to set up her responses in the preliminaries to play appropriately to her strengths. If you dislike the underhanded tactic she attempted, all I can say is: Ninja. They don't tend to play fair.

Alright! That should about cover everything. Reviews welcome, thanks for reading, and hopefully I'll have another chapter in ten days or so.

And Happy new year to you all.

Ja Mata.

-AXENOME