AN: Hey folks. Here's the second chapter. Oh, and by the way, I forgot about the disclaimer, so here goes...

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Think this is good enough? Well, it'll do. For now, anyway. Now, back to finishing the next chapter of Foster...

Naruto: Factions

Chapter 2: Minister Cho's Estate

As was expected, people most qualified for such a mission were the four visitors from the Shing-Jea Monastery. A too large group would risk drawing the attention of the infected further inside the estate and the guards that were present at their current location were in no condition to fight, despite Master Sarutobi's and Sakura's best efforts.

The wooden gate rumbled loudly once again as the group of four were let out and into the open again. Naruto peered out curiously, trying to see any potential enemies that might have hidden themselves. Not spotting anyone he beckoned for the others to follow and led the way. He absently noted that with Kiba and Akamaru here everything would have been so much easier…well, not everything, but tracking the lost boy they were supposed to be looking for was certainly one of the aspects that the ranger could have helped with. As it was Naruto was forced to use his rather limited tracking skills to locate any signs of the boy's presence, while at the same time keep a lookout for the sick guards and scribes that loitered the area. As soon as the thought crossed his mind, he spotted a small group of the infected not too far away. He traced the footprints in the dirty ground below and cursed as he realized that the infected guards were in the way. To make matters worse he could see multiple other groups behind the closest one. He curiously noted that they seemed to be patrolling the area. It seemed that this really was a spell of some sort, as a poison could never force a human to do something as complicated as patrolling. The question that bothered him was whether or not the effects of the spell were reversible. After all, he'd rather not kill innocent men and women that were merely controlled by someone… or something. Somehow he doubted that a simple human, or even a group of people, was capable of something like this.

The blond sighed and made his way back to his team-mates.

"Alright. If I'm not totally off the hooker, then the boy went that way." Naruto pointed in the right direction. "The thing is, the area is swarming with infected guards. I don't know how far the boy made it but I doubt he could have gotten far with all of them around. There are also bodies of the guards that probably resisted that spell or whatever it was. They look like they were killed by their infected comrades, but we expected as much. What's the plan?" He looked expectantly at Sarutobi who, out of all of them had the most experience.

The old man rubbed his short beard in thought.

"How far apart are the groups?" He finally asked.

"Not that far." Naruto shrugged. "I could see the others clearly behind the first one."

Sarutobi nodded and continued to stroke his beard. After a while he finally let out a tired sigh.

"Usually I would suggest sneaking past them, but we are pressed for time. As long as we haven't found the body we can assume that the boy is still alive. Which means that every minute that we waste is another minute in which he can be killed. From the one infected guard, earlier at the entrance, we can conclude that while the infected still can use whatever magic or physical skills they knew before the attack, they seem to lack the self preservation instinct. If we rely on that and try to simply kill them as fast as we can, we might stand a chance even if we are outnumbered. Naruto, you will go in first. Out of all of us you have the best armor and are the most experienced in close combat. Sasuke, you will support him from behind with spells that cover a large area, like Breath of Fire. Make sure you don't hit Naruto. Sakura, you will concentrate on keeping Naruto alive. I'll make sure Sasuke and myself are in no danger and will summon several spirits that can attack from a distance. We will use this pattern for now. If it doesn't work, I'll try to come up with something else, but right now we don't have the time. Are you ready?" Sarutobi looked each of them in the eye before nodding and pointing for Naruto to rush in.

The blond dashed the distance between himself and the first group of guards. Unlike what he expected, they didn't seem to notice him until he was almost upon them. When he was mere meters away they finally seemed to acknowledge him and the two guards rushed to meet him while the scribe was bent over as the energy of a spell was channeled through his body before being released in some, no doubt destructive form upon Naruto. The young assassin braced himself and waited. The two guards attacked furiously but with little skill. The blond had little trouble evading their wild swings.

Feeling heat build up around him, Naruto made a quick shadow step to the scribe who had cast the spell. He heard Sasuke curse behind him as his own spell missed, because the guards turned and ran after the blond instead of staying in one place. Naruto drew his daggers and slashed at the scribe's throat. He felt the flesh open up under the sharp blades and pressed on, making sure that the scribe would go down. The infected magician fell before the guards reached Naruto. However, this time the boy was not quite fast enough to dodge the incoming club of one of them. It hit his back solidly and despite the armor absorbing most of the blow, the blond staggered forwards, the axe of the second guard poised to chop off his head.

Suddenly the pain dulled and he felt his back heal, allowing him to twist out of the way in time to avoid the potentially lethal blow. He jumped back to try and get some distance between them. It worked especially well, since the two sick guards were in no condition to pursue him, grilled as they were.

Naruto shot an appreciative glance at his companions. He could see Sakura preparing some sort of enchantment while Sasuke and Sarutobi were on guard for any more opponents. Naruto himself turned around, but the groups that he had seen earlier, seemed to ignore the death of their comrades altogether, continuing on their patrol routes.

Carefully the party gathered together again to discuss the unexpected turn of events.

"Why aren't they attacking?" Sasuke asked, obviously on edge.

"Yeah, there is no way they could have missed the fight." Naruto agreed, just as confused as Sasuke.

Sarutobi took another look at the group mere dozens of meters in front of them.

"It seems that they will only attack us if we come too close. When Naruto rushed in just now, they didn't attack him until he was right in front of them." The old ritualist scratched his balding head before shrugging.

"All the better for us. It means that the spell or poison that caused this epidemic isn't as powerful as we thought it to be. Of course, it will now be easier to fight them. As long as we keep the groups far enough apart, we shouldn't have any problems."

As the leader of the Shing-Jea Monastery had guessed they had little problems on their way further. Naruto was once again astonished by the sheer size of the estate. It seemed as if it took up a considerable amount of the island and was far larger than any villages he had seen in his fifteen years of life. Seriously, Tsumei had nothing on Cho's Estate. Sure, most of the space was simply unoccupied land , but the fact that all of it belonged to a single man made Naruto's mind boggle.

After eliminating another two groups of enemies Naruto called for his team-mates to stop once again.

"There's something ahead of us that... well, I don't know, but it's something dangerous. Wait here while I scout ahead and see what this is all about." The other three nodded, also feeling the oppressive aura of the being that apparently waited for them not too far away.

Naruto sneaked forward until he reached another wooden gate that was luckily open. Peering inside, he was greeted with the most disturbing sight of his life. In the middle of a small ring of walls stood a... monstrosity. The vague humanoid shape and the remains of red and golden armor that peeked out from underneath the creature's exposed and unhealthy looking flesh, suggested that it had once been another guard. It's face was twisted in a mixture of rage and agony as it shuffled from foot to foot. With some trepidation the blond assassin observed the large hammer that the afflicted creature held in it's hands. He shuddered when it turned to face him, exposing more of it's gruesome details.

Naruto couldn't bear to just look at it any longer and quietly made his way back.

In subdued tones he explained what he had seen. Sasuke and Sakura fell silent at the revelation of what this spell was obviously doing to the human body. Sarutobi sighed and sat down.

"It seems that we will have to kill it as well. In a sense, I think it's better off dead than the way it is now. We do not know whether the transformation has increased the battle potential of the enemy, but we can assume that it specializes in close combat. We will employ the same strategy we did before. Naruto... head in when you are ready. We will follow." With that the old ritualist stood up and braced himself.

The blond felt very uneasy about facing this enemy. He had no qualms killing humans if he was attacked by them or if he was contracted to do it. He definitely had no problem killing the many different monsters that inhabited Cantha either. But this thing... It made him shiver to think that it had once been a human like himself. The flesh that covered most of the creature appeared to be rotting but didn't seem to affect the health of the abomination at all. It was absolutely grotesque, on a whole different level than the undead minions of the necromancers. At least their creations were manipulated by magic not to resemble a human being all that much. Naruto sighed and took out his daggers.

The four invaders in the estate sneaked as close as they could to the creature without drawing it's attention. Naruto took a look behind him and after receiving their nods, used Death's Charge to teleport to the afflicted. He could sense more than see as his team-mates also came within range and as Sasuke began casting his first spell.

The blond wondered why everything seemed to move in slow motion, himself included. He really wished it would stop and just go back to it's normal pace. The way everything seemed to slow down gave him time to take in every gruesome detail of his enemy's body. Naruto felt as his arms and torso moved to perform a lead attack, while watching as the great hammer in the hands of the afflicted made it's deadly descent on his person.

The lead attack struck and Naruto was able to evade the strike for the most part, receiving a weak hit, that would still bruise if he didn't do something about it. A yellow lightning bolt struck the creature from above, courtesy of Sasuke. Naruto watched as the green blood of the afflicted began to pour out of the new wounds with the abomination taking absolutely no notice of it and taking another swing at him. He was faster this time, both managing to secure an off-hand strike and evade the hammer completely. Another spell struck and was followed by several orbs of greenish light that were hurled by the spirits that were summoned by Sarutobi. Before the afflicted could retaliate again, Naruto finished it with a double strike and watched the massive form crumple to the ground.

Apparently he left his guard down too soon, as an explosion of green substance, not unlike the Death Nova of the necromancers, engulfed him. His breath caught in his throat as he inhaled. Dropping to his knees the blond started coughing violently, feeling his insides burn as the acidic smoke made it's way down to his lungs. In no time at all he was seeing black dots everywhere as his vision blurred.

Before it could get any worse he felt a soothing touch on his back and the burning subsided, until finally there was nothing but phantom pain remaining. He looked up to see the worried faces of Sakura and Sarutobi hovering over him with Sasuke gazing at him with... well, the closest thing to concern that the blond had ever seen from the raven haired elementalist.

"You okay?" The pink haired monk spoke, all the while continuing to cast mild healing spells on him.

Naruto nodded and stood up shakily.

"Note to self, don't breath in any green smoke that erupts from huge mutated creatures when they die." He croaked, resting his hands on his knees to regain his bearings. Sarutobi shook his head and took a look around. Not finding anything suspicious he proceeded to a yet another wooden gate that blocked their passage. Not too far away he could see the mechanism that apparently was supposed to open it, but was unsurprisingly unmanned. Pointing towards it, he and the other two males of the group made their way towards it. After a short struggle they were able to proceed further inside, luckily, without encountering any more of the abominations.

After entering what appeared to be a yet another stony structure resembling an outpost, Sarutobi suddenly cried out in alarm, pointing behind the gate leading out of the structure. Upon turning the three younger people could see the small boy that lingered there, gazing at them with fear.

Sarutobi, Sasuke and Naruto immediately started on the mechanism that would open the gate, while Sakura moved to the wooden bars and tried to speak to the child. As soon as she opened her mouth however, the child bolted, skillfully evading the groups of the sick guards. Soon the boy disappeared over a stony bridge.

"Sakura-chan, I think you scared him..." Naruto ventured, unhelpfully. After receiving a blow to the head with a staff that was definitely not made for usage in hand to hand, the blond and the rest of the group proceeded further.

After pointing which way to go once again, Naruto was stopped by the voice of the old ritualist.

"It seems the boy is heading for the main estate. It is good and bad at once, seeing as minister Cho should be also there. If, however, the main estate has fallen... It will be hard to get out of there unharmed."

With these encouraging words the group made their way deeper inside until they reached a rather beautiful garden.

"Ah, yes. I remember that minister Cho likes to import many different animals. He treats them well and is known to have such exotic creatures like moas. Rumor has it that he even keeps wolves and bears. This garden was built for them exclusively." Sarutobi rubbed his beard in thought.

"Uh-huh. And with this disease at large, the animals have turned into ravaging beasts. Is that what you are trying to say?" Naruto quipped, his eyebrow developing a slight tick.

"Well, it is a possibility. We do not know whether the sickness befalls non-humans." Sarutobi replied. Just then a horde of very evil looking... flamingos... raced around a corner and towards them.

"..."

All of the younger people in the group glared slightly at the Master.

"Well, I guess it does befall even animals." Was his reply. They had no more time for talking, seeing as the moas, Naruto remembered the name of this specific breed of birds, had reached them. The fight was short and brutal, with the quartet of adventurers coming out on top easily. Their vitory appeared short lived, when all kinds of animals, ranging from wolves to bears decided to join the fray.

What followed was a lot of violence against the poor critters that dared to bare their fangs at the visitors from the Monastery.

Naruto pulled the small throwing knife that had been lodged inside of a bear's skull out and, after wiping it on the animal's fur, put it back in it's place on his armor. Just now they had crossed a small wooden bridge that was there for mostly decorative purposes than anything else and luckily they seemed to have finally made it out of the garden. A large stony structure loomed in the distance, much larger than the small outpost-like ones they had entered before.

"This is the main part of the estate." Sarutobi confirmed. "Naruto, can you see where the boy has gone?"

The blond in question was already on all fours and looking at the ground intensively. Finally he sighed and stood up.

"I can't say for sure in which direction he ran. The ground here is much harder than before and while an adult might have left some tracks, the kid probably doesn't weight enough to leave footprints here. My best guess is the main estate, because that's where his footprints last pointed."

The ritualist nodded.

"It is just as well. We need to check if minister Cho is well, and if possible guide him out of this dangerous place."

The other two members of the group sowed their accent and they moved on. On their way they encountered several other groups of sick guards and scribes, which probably meant that the minister was either dead or had been infected, but Master Sarutobi insisted that they make sure.

After what seemed like an eternity they finally were able to conquer the last flight of stairs that had been protected by a slightly larger group than usual. A wide archway led them into an auditorium of sorts, that was surrounded by walls like any other room would have been, but missed the roof. Several huge pots with trees planted inside of them were lined up from both sides, marking a corridor like way to the front.

Three people stood there. Naruto didn't see any signs of the sickness on them and nodded to his companions. Sarutobi rushed forward. The man standing at the point of the triangle the three men built with their bodies was clad in traditional blue robes and a hat that marked him as a part of the ministry. The two men behind him were obviously guards, if their red and gold armor was anything to go by.

"Cho! It is good to see you are unharmed, my friend." The spirit summoner exclaimed as he came near.

The man, now identified as minister Cho didn't answer, instead staring blankly at Sarutobi. Finally he opened his mouth.

What escaped from there were not words but green smoke, and Naruto belatedly realized that the three men before him were no longer themselves.

Master Sarutobi gasped and took a step back. In hindsight, it was a good thing he did.

The minister exhaled sharply, as if taking his last breath, before his robes tore and his body began to mutate. The quartet of invaders were again hit by the malicious aura of the creature that was born in front of their eyes. Unlike the hammer wielding abomination, this one didn't resemble a human being at all. Naruto was forced to cover his mouth with his hand to keep from gasping in horror as the skin rippled and new appendages spewed from the body.

Finally the transformation seemed complete. The creature towered a good two heads above the two still immobile guards. It's insect-like body moved a little forward on it's six legs, as the still vaguely humanoid body that sprouted from one end of the lower half waved a gnarled staff at them, that had been in the possession of minister Cho before the transformation began.

In a very perverse sense, the resulting creature somewhat resembled a centaur. Naruto had seen some of those on occasion. Despite their inborn dislike for their two-legged counterparts, the centaurs sometimes visited the Monastery, usually around the new year's festival.

Back on topic at hand however, the creature turned on the two sick guards, who dropped dead at the monstrosity's whim. Naruto watched in mute fascination as the creature cast it's spell, and the dead bodies burst open, the dead bones and parts of the flesh twisting together to form two undead minions. These ones however were regular bone-horrors, often used by the necromancers.

Master Sarutobi seemed shocked. He had only moved a little bit, when the creature began it's transformation, taking a few steps back.

Minister Cho meanwhile gathered some of his energy in the staff and prepared to fire it at the still rooted to the spot ritualist, his minions moving to attack as well.

Naruto ran as fast as he could to the old man's side, pulling him out of harm's way, the greenish orb of light sailing through empty air mere moments later. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Sakura taking cover behind one of the potted trees, while Sasuke prepared some spell.

Naruto followed Sakura's example and pulled Sarutobi behind him. Really, he couldn't blame the poor guy for freezing up like that. He had heard that the old leader of the Shing-Jea Monastery and minister Cho were close friends. Seeing someone you knew and cared about turn into an abomination had to have some effect even on the mentally strongest people.

Just as he was about to run out and try to help the Uchiha, Naruto felt a hand grip his wrist. Looking down, he realized that it was none other than Sarutobi himself. The old man was already getting back on his feet, a grim look upon his aged face. Apparently Naruto had underestimated the man quite a bit.

"Thank you, Naruto." The Master said, his voice not even trembling as the blond had half expected it to. "Let me deal with Cho. You and Sasuke take care of the bone-horrors." He growled out, forcefully moving Naruto aside and marching out to meet his opponent head on. The young assassin followed him with his eyes for a brief moment, but quickly turned to obey the old man's orders.

Running out, he saw Sasuke, sweat covering his pale face as he tried to fend off the two undead minions with his staff. He had been not fast enough to destroy them while they had been at a distance and now had no time to cast a spell without getting ripped to pieces by the heavy claws on the horror's paws.

Naruto used Death's Charge again and quickly dispatched one of the minions via a dagger in the back. The second one, now aware of the intruder's presence was not so easily defeated. However, Naruto didn't have to. The blond steered the creature away from Sasuke and waited, patiently fending off the horror's slow jabs until a lightning orb came sailing from Sasuke's direction and impacted heavily on the creature's head, sending sparks over it's body. It remained standing for a minute, jerking slightly from the electricity that coursed through it's body, before falling down and disintegrating as it hit the ground.

Naruto turned in time to see Sarutobi enveloped in the green explosion that followed minister Cho's death. Sakura apparently noticed too, and seeing as the other two party members were not hurt, rushed to the old man's side. Sarutobi, however proudly walked out of the smokescreen on his own before she could reach him. At their questioning gazes he just sighed.

"I held my breath." He explained.

"Is the minister...dead?" Sakura finally asked, as the silence stretched on and became uncomfortable.

Sarutobi looked back at the corpse of the creature that had once been his friend.

"Yes, Sakura. Yes... he is dead." At this the young students lowered their heads in respect. No matter what happened here, Cho was known for his good deeds, unlike the majority of the ministry's members.

Their mute tribute to the deceased man was broken by a sob from somewhere within the hall. The four exchanged looks, before Naruto drew his daggers and proceeded in the direction of the sound, not willing to take chances.

As he drew closer he could hear muffled weeping of a child. Against his better judgment and with some trepidation he sheathed his weapons again and looked back at his companions. Sarutobi sighed, before calling out.

"Child! Come out, we wish you no harm!"

The sobs ceased and after some time the boy they had seen earlier emerged from behind one of the potted trees. His cheeks were stained by tears and his eyes were red and puffy. However, Naruto couldn't see any sign of the green smoke that heralded the deadly sickness on the boy.

Sarutobi crouched slightly and beckoned the child to him. The kid followed the gesture until he was standing right in front of the ritualist.

"Do you know who I am, child?" The Master asked.

"Yeah. You are Master Sarutobi, right?" The kid replied after some hesitation.

"Yes, yes I am. Now... Why are you crying, my boy?" Sarutobi gently asked, even though it was pretty obvious why the kid was distraught. Nevertheless, the boy replied.

"I...I've seen a dream...a nightmare..." Naruto exchanged looks with Sasuke and Sakura.

"I was playing with the animals in the garden... and then a dark shadow came... and everyone got angry!" The boy continued his tale. "They started hurting each other..." He sniffed once again, close to breaking into tears again. Then, some realization dawned on him and with horror in his voice the boy spoke. "Master! My father, he is waiting for me outside the estate. Do you think that he will be... angry too?"

"No. No, my boy. I think your father will be very glad to see you." Sarutobi smiled reassuringly at the boy.

After safely delivering the boy to his father, the group was forced to split up.

"I have to take the news of this incident to the mainland. Meet me in the Linnok Courtyard in two days. Meanwhile go to the Ran-Musu Gardens. Find Ang the Ephemeral, he will tell you what to do."

With these parting words Master Sarutobi bid them goodbye and embarked on his journey across the sea, while the three young adventurers made their way to the small village they were instructed to go to.

AN: I changed some stuff in the Mission. Mainly because I already had it written out when I noticed it was wrong. Please comment.