Four Letter Words

Story Thus Far- The Sandiame's old teammate schemes his schemes as his subordinate is placed into team seven with Sasuke and Sakura. Kotaro has skipped out to party, err, make a house call. Zabuza's plans for revenge speed up as new tools come under his power. Leslie gets some protection, meanwhile Kyuubi rearranges it's own schedule.

A/N- Before going into the story, I feel it would be prudent to explain a little something about how chakra works (in this version at least) so people don't start reading and go 'huh?'. I'll let Inner Sakura explain, since she's so smart and kick-ass.

Well built, blood-red haired girl enters spotlight carrying a rolled up diagrams

"Alright numbskulls, the first thing you need to know about chakra is that it is a combination of physical and spiritual energy. The ideal mixture is 50/50 but everyone has different amounts." The diagram is set up and pulled down to show several ninja's in various types of training.

"Some who meditate have a higher spirit to body ratio, and those who train like freaks tend to have higher body to spirit. The point is chakra is influenced by both, which is the reason why hunter-nin's have to cremate a body. A good medic can analyze the chakra coils of the body and determine training methods used, and possible favored jutsu's." Diagram is rolled up to show a picture of human brain behind it. "Now considering that the spiritual part of chakra comes from experience and thought most people think that the brain is most important to the spiritual side. This is wrong. The brain is only an extension of the body, chakra is processed in the heart which is most closely associated with feelings.

"Considering this it should be no wonder that chakra contains bits of a ninja's overall personality, and that by stealing and implanting another's heart you can gain their chakra element. To this end there is no 'good' or 'evil' chakra. If someone has done largely 'bad' things of course their chakra is gonna give someone the creeps! It's subconsciously emitting the memories of those bad things."

Next picture shown is a human heart, the four chambers different colors. "Now, when the heart is added to another person, say by surgery or ingestion, a portion of the donators personality and spirit is transferred as well. Normally this bit will dissolve in time as the other's chakra overpowers it, but in some cases… very unique cases…" Inner Sakura grins and flips her hair back. "You'll just have to read to find out!"

Chapter Ten- Test

Water dripped down Naruto's back, startling him into awareness. He spun and looked down the dark tunnel that seemed to stretch forever. Shivers ran along his back and the blonde hugged himself. "Hello?" All around water trickled from the ceiling into the small stream winding around dull brown bricks.

"We're dead. You killed us."

Naruto stepped back, rusty water swirling around his feet. Multiple voices hissed from the shadows, accusing. Cursing. "What did we ever do to you!" The boy sucked in a breath as his heart sped up and his head whipped about trying in vain to find the source of the whispers. A pounding came from the back of his head, burrowing behind his eyeballs. "You ripped off my arm."

"I had a girlfriend."

"A mother."

"Who will tell them what you've done?"

"You killed us all, brat! Hell-spawn!"

"Hell spawn!"

"Inhuman cretin!"

Cold fingers of darkness began to encroach on his position eating the light as the throbbing in his head increased. Naruto groaned and felt his teeth grind together as he tried to block out the voices and the pounding. He didn't know what was going on, and it hurt too much to think.

From the shadows a dark hand reached out to grip his ankle, and from where it touched the boys skin turned a pale corpse-like gray. Naruto tried to kick off the hand in panic, but it only squeezed tighter.

"Don't you remember me, Naruto-kun? I just wanted to help you…" The voice rose above the din of the others with sweet temptation as an arm attached to the hand became visable and emerged in a gruesome birth.

"M-mizuki-teme!" Memories flooded his mind as the pounding of his head continued, and for a moment the blonde demon container lost himself within them. His teacher, smiling. No! He hated me! His teacher, trying to kill him and Iruka. What happened to sensei? The explosion that had rocked the forest.

"Bastard? Is that anyway to talk to your teacher...?" The shadow-Mizuki laughed as the biting cold traveled up Naruto's leg leaving a trail of strained and blackened veins. More hands reached out and held the boy in place, screaming obscenities.

"You killed us!"

"Bastard-child!"

"We will drag you down with us! To hell!"

"Hell is the only place fit for a murderous brat like you!"

"How dare you kill us!"

"How dare you leave us to rot."

Naruto screamed as his mind replayed everything that had happened since he left Konoha. Konoha was his home, wasn't it? "Weren't you going to be Hokage, Naruto-kun?"

Tears trickled down his cheeks as the pounding continued. I did terrible things. I killed them. I killed Konoha shinobi. I killed civilians. Who would want me as leader...

The false Mizuki smiled soothingly and relaxed his grip, inching upward to look into confused and tired blue eyes. "You need to go back, Naruto-kun. Konoha is the only safe place for you..."

Kyuubi narrowed it's eyes and peered past the bars on the cage into the darkness that was it's vessels mind. Her chakra was spiking, and striking at everything it could touch in agitation. Something was wrong. What could that brat be up to? "Naruto?"

No answer. Kyuubi waited a minute before calling again, though his fur was beginning to stand up. The boy wouldn't have figured out it's deception, would he? When it came to fighting the kid was clever enough to do any demon proud, but there were many things he lacked. Like common sense and sex drive, but the latter was a blessing as far as the demon was concerned. "Brat? Naruto?"

A quick scan proved that physically Naruto's body was fine, but his heart rate was too high. He was tense. Kyuubi cursed and closed it's eyes, watching as Naruto progressed into a nightmare. "Damn it! I thought I had suppressed all that guilt shit… he can't return! If he does I'll never get out." Kyuubi licked it's chops, thinking of possibilities. It was no ordinary nightmare, a strand of wild chakra should have disrupted one of those immediately. No, this was far more complex than idle thoughts, and set Kyuubi on edge. The way it repelled any and all attempts of the fox's manipulation proved that. Kyuubi snorted and began using it's tongue to clean teeth. Perhaps it's chakra was unable to pierce the compulsion jutsu, but maybe someone else's could. Human chakra may be able to fool the seal...

Kyuubi could faintly taste the exotic flavor of it's most recent meals. She carefully isolated the tiny bits of stubborn chakra and pulled them out, a plan forming. "Well, well, well, thought you were clever Yondaime. Thought you could get away with implanting compulsions into my vessel. Pah. Become Hokage? Protect the village? Perhaps it would have worked if he had been seen as a hero, but he wasn't. You forgot just who you were dealing with. You were eight hundred years too late to deal with me." Demonic blood-like chakra swirled around the two minute cores of glistening blue energy. The twin balls lapped at the raw power, absorbing it at an amazing speed and growing into humanoid shapes. Kyuubi grinned revealing his set of human length teeth, something the figures were already very familiar with. "I have a job for you two."

Naruto couldn't remember feeling so cold. "How could you betray the village like that, Naruto-kun?" The ghost of Mizuki asked. Naruto couldn't reply, his mind was trapped in a sewer of misery. The village had been right to hate him, unsupervised he had caused so much destruction and sadness….

"Back the fuck off!" A rough and vaguely familiar voice yelled accompanied by a whine of machinery. Naruto watched in mute shock as a chain of shuriken ripped through the shadow people, forcing them to release him. Wha?

Two figures burst through the darkness, glowing a faint red. They weaved around each other in perfect synchronistic movement while the chains they commanded shredded the shadows with blue tinted red chakra. Naruto's world tipped as one of the men scooped up his prone and recovering body bridal style. His mind was still sluggish from the whirlwind of memories and his body felt like lead. He had tried calling out for his conscience but it had felt as if a brick wall a thousand miles thick had separated them.

"Hey, kid. You okay?" Slowly dull blue eyes focused on the man holding him, and widened with recognition. Around them shadows seethed in anger at the interruption.

"Y-you're that guy… with the brother!" Naruto exclaimed and jumped out of the hold and into a defensive stance swaying slightly. Now that he was faced with something he could deal with, he felt the depression and uncharacteristic thoughts melting away. I thought I killed them… no! Don't think about it! It's confusing!

Gozu held up his hands in surrender with a dry laugh, his brother eyed the bubbling darkness and retracted his chain for later. "Demon brothers, we were called. Didn't think we'd meet a real one… kinda cool, that."

Naruto relaxed. "So you're not gonna try to kill me?" He rolled his ankle to get feeling back in.

Meizu shook his head. "Can't, you ate us. Well we had a little talk with the-"

Gozu silenced him with a glare and picked up the sentence. "With your conscience. It's very worried about you. It sent us to keep these things away so you can go on about your business."

"…if I ate you, how can you be here."

Meizu spoke up with a smile, though it was hard to tell because of the breather mask over his mouth. "The seal on your stomach opened a door to another plane where evil clones of the people you have fought before arise to confuse you. Since you ate my brother and me, we were able to go through the door in your stomach to help do battle. We live here which is located for all intents and purposes, inside you."

"…oh. Okay! I guess that makes sense." Naruto grinned. Makes more since that the stupid seal would also be a door. How would a giant fox demon fit in my stomach anyway? Actually if this is another world the demon should be around here somewhere! Scary.

"Hey kid, why don't you wake up?"

"What?"

Gozu poked the blonde in the forehead, while at the same time channeling a small portion of the Kyuubi's stored chakra into him to jump start the waking process. Naruto gave a squeak and fell backward. He vanished moments before hitting the water.

Meizu looked around and backed into his brother, weapons drawn. The shadows inched forward, several of them now wearing the faces of those the two mist trained shinobi had eliminated during their short career. "You killed us! You murderers!"

The brothers laughed. Growing up in the 'bloody Mist' tended to cut morals and ethics down to the bare minimum. Murderer wasn't exactly an uncommon or unwanted title. You weren't considered an adult until first kill. Gozu pulled a kunai from a case on his brother's hip. "This has got to be heaven. All the people we could ever want to kill… over and over again."

"I don't know." The younger leapt forward into the pulsing mass of humanoid shadow, slashing and fighting for all he was worth.

Naruto opened his eyes and found Kin hovering over him with a worried expression. Naruto sneezed and felt his stomach, the odd warmth that had always come from it. There's an entire other world there! Awesome! Wait... does that make me god?

"Are you alright, Naruto-sama? You were shaking in your sleep…" Kin commented, a wet rag hung in her hands from her intent to apply it to the small child's forehead. Naruto flashed her a smile and threw off his covers, they were still staying in the cabin, and walked to the corner where his things sat. He sorted through the forehead protectors, stumbling upon the two with the four curvy lines.

"Gozu and Meizu, so that's their names… I'll remember for next time."

Kin sighed and dropped the cloth into the bowl she had been using. Haku had told her what to do and had left the fevered boy in her hands. I'd be a pretty bad servant if I let my master die. For whatever reason the fever had passed. Didn't even have to use the medicine.

The girl stood and took the bowl over to the small kitchen and left it by the sink, her steps confidant. Zabuza had given her a little talk about tools and how to care for them, and as strange as it was, she felt better after it. Caring for human tools was much like sharpening a knife, you have to follow the groves it gives you. Trying to force the blade to conform to one's ideas will only dull it.

Apparently this meant Kin was stuck to practicing calligraphy while the others were out, and tending Naruto. She didn't mind. The new perspectives this philosophy offered was amazing and strangely heart-warming. Orochimaru had never really cared about his tools. "Naruto-sama, Zabuza-san wants you to meet him by the well when you feel up to it, though I don't think he'll be there for a while. He and Haku went into the village to pick up some things."

"What's he want that for?" Naruto asked while rearranging the stolen forehead protectors. He chewed his bottom lip and debated if he should wear one. Technically he hadn't passed the test, but hadn't he still fought with -and against- official ninja? Didn't he have awesome jutsu skills?

Kin shrugged and found the small stack of paper left for her as well as a brush and knife. Her eyebrows lifted at that. Ha ha. Very funny Haku, I'm not using my blood. "Dunno. Something about testing your competency with a sword…"

"Alright!"

The kunoichi shook her head in exasperation. "Didn't even close the door…"

Hinata waited beneath a tree at the assigned training ground, one hand scratching Akamaru behind the ear. Kiba was resting to the side in a patch of mid-morning sunlight. Kurenai-sensei had the habit of turning up at the right time and most of her students had taken to turning up early to try and catch her approach. Despite Hinata's bloodline vision the girl hadn't quite caught her sensei.

Shino voiced his suspicions at last nights dinner and the other two genin of Team Eight were forced to agree. Genjutsu.

The bug user of the group could be seen keeping to the shade of the countless trees as he walked toward them. Shino was punctual as well but at least he could be seen. Kiba's nose twitched and he rolled over to wave at his compatriot. "Morning."

Shino nodded and leaned against the tree. Hinata leaned back as Akamaru suddenly shifted under her hand and bounced over to Kiba. Animals thought and experienced things differently from humans making them a weakness to genjutsu users and Kiba was taking advantage of that. "Good morning sensei!"

Kurenai ghosted from behind a tree and tapped her loudest student on the shoulder, causing him to spin around with a look of annoyance. "Good morning, Kiba. Hinata. Shino." She smiled to each of her students and passed a small treat to Akamaru. During her academy years she had kept a large dog, but after graduation she never had to time to care for it and as it wasn't a nin-dog it could hardly come with her on missions. Perhaps I should look into getting a summons... Seeing Kiba's attachment to his partner brought up memories of her pet. "If I may, did you three have fun last night?"

Surprisingly it was Hinata who spoke up. Also surprising was instead of tapping her two index fingers together they circled each other. It was like twidling thumbs, only it was her fingers. "Ano... Kiba's mother is a really good cook... and his family is nice... I enjoyed it."

Shino voiced his agreement and Kiba cheered. Unspoken was the wish to do it again. Obviously in Inuzuka clan was extremely likable. Compared to the Hyuuga they must be paradise. The jounin rested a hand on her hip and gestured to the field where various obstacles could be seen. "Alright. I've set the gears, and added a few traps myself. Your goal is: reach the oak in the center and retrieve the three charms I've attached to the branches."

"Are their any rules or limitations?" Shino asked softly as he adjusted his glasses. Someday the red eyed woman was going to get him some goggles.

Suki watched the humans and studied them curiously. They seemed to exchange the shiny bits for favors, which the squirrel could understand whole heartedly, but they did the same with the flimsy bits too. That was confusing as they didn't use it to build shelters. What good was the flimsy bit?

"Hey. It's called money. Cash." Squash commented from his perch beside the squirrel leader, his gaze following that of the smaller creature. "I been living here for years and still don't understand the fascination with it- it just keeps trading hands and sometimes gets back to the person who gave it away in the first place."

Suki raised a paw and scratched at an ear. Humans are strange. "So, they thump thump and gather gather same place? Every sun?" He leaned toward the other animal but was careful to maintain a respectful distance. Raccoons didn't normally eat squirrels but it wouldn't due to offend their most important helper.

The city adapted raccoon took a moment to puzzle out the strange speech that the squirrel employed. "Yeah, but it's more like ev'ry few suns. Days. 'Cuz they have these box things that stores the food for them and keeps it from rotting."

The brown furry animal turned his attention back to the market street, tail twitching intermittently, and continued watching. "Where do givers get it?"

"Dunno, but I got a friend that lives near a farm. I think she said something 'bout a big man den to store stuff... not sure why they do that farm stuff."

"Farm feed family, right? Right? Make sense." Suki watched, fascinated by the squiggly lines. "Why they mark?"

"Eh? Actually… I don't know why they do that. I think it's called writing."

"Writing." The leader of the squirrels hopped along the roof, tail twitching. Lady Fox had suggested that they study more than how the humans used their chakra, and it was coming in handy. But the marks were the sticking point. They just couldn't figure out what they were, what they meant. The problem had been taken back home but the only thing they could come up with was territory markers.

Problem was they did not mark with scent and the writing moved just as often as it remained stationary. Not territorial then. "It important." Suki was sure of that.

Squash shrugged and climbed down a rain pipe into a back alley. "So? I'm going to get something to eat, you coming?"

He scratched at an eat rapidly and smoothed down his brown fur. "It important." Suki performed a back flip and rushed along rooftops using chakra to boost his leaps. Eventually he came to a meeting point where a group of birds were waiting near a puddle. Their cover of course was the 'bird bath'. "Nemi!"

The young bird hopped over. "Yeees?"

"Go to the big place. Find out about writing. Take others with you."

"I wiiiiill." She shrilled and exploded into the air, two of the others on her trail. Suki watched with a small amount of envy before dismissing the emotion. Flight was dangerous. Leave the sky to the birds and the cover to him. Plans began forming in his mind, plans revolving around the things he had learned with the raccoon as guide. He just needed to discuss it with the other leaders.

He's pretty small, but I don't want to get him used to something he'll grow out of. Zabuza rubbed his covered chin and gave the barrels of bokken another glance-over. His clones, damn useful things, had been left to evaluate the overall skill level of his newest acquisition while he and Haku traveled to town to gather supplies. Now that they had some money to spend the boy was eager to pick up a few more accessories.

"Are you looking for something in particular, sir?" The graying shop owner asked with squinted eyes and a smile. His hands were one big callous, and Zabuza instantly began attempting to puzzle out the mans history. Blacksmith, former. Probably made several of the pieces on sale before surrendering the majority of the work to a family member or friend. Barely a blip on the threat radar. "From that beautiful work on your shoulder I assume you would want something a bit… ah… bigger?"

Zabuza reached up and patted the handle of his faithful weapon with fondness. Kubikiri had been taken from his former sensei's corpse, literally. "Not for me, though I may like to have some professional repairs made to this one. It's been a while."

There was a gleam in the shop keepers eyes as he appraised the legendary sword of one of the seven swordsmen. "It would be an honor to polish up such a blade, a true work of a master." He bowed once again.

"Could you have it done by tonight?" The missing-nin swung the sword down and fingered one of the many tiny nicks in the metal. The life of a ninja was a hard one, especially a ninja on the run, and he hadn't been able to care for it as he would like. Now that we have time and money it can get a real polish. I can sharpen and clean but repairs are beyond me.

"Of course, of course! I imagine that a warrior such as yourself would hate to be separated from his partner for long. Will there be any thing else I can help you with?"

There was a wooden sword of a deep red wood that caught his eye. He suspected it had been purchased from a carpenter, as opposed to many of the slap-dash swords sitting in the barrels. It lacked a cloth for the handle, but the boy had plenty of spare strips if it really bothered him. In a blink the muscled man plucked the sword out and held it up for closer inspection.

Satisfied, Zabuza asked, "How much?"

"Ah, that's a particular piece my son," Zabuza shot the old shop keeper a look. "One thousand, discount for the service you and yours have done the town."

Zabuza nodded and dropped the money and his beloved sword on the counter. "I'll be back before nightfall."

"She will be ready by then, sir." The shop keeper pushed up a pair of glasses and counted out the ryo as Zabuza left the weapons shop, new bokken in hand.

Zabuza walked the street and watched as people moved with a certain something that had been absent the days before. A spark? With the local thugs gone the townspeople seemed happier uncaring of the bloodbath that had taken place.

"Oh! Excuse me!" A woman epped as she hurriedly exited a shop and danced around the large man. She crossed the street and waved to a friend, Zabuza watched as a breeze caught a few strands of hair and caused flashes of gold as they reflected the sunlight. Golden hair…

Boards creaked under the weight of the two hundred plus ninja as he poked his head into the grocery store and speared the cashier with his eyes. "Where is the nearest bar?"

There was a young man at the post and he squeaked. Zabuza looked dangerous and scary, there was no way around that. "I think Ginger's Ale is open now, down the street to the right. Past the fountain, next to the apothecary."

Zabuza grunted his acknowledgement. So that's what the building was. No wonder the kid had gone in it so much. Using the trademark method of all shinobi, Zabuza took to the rooftops and headed for the bar. Where there's a bar there's wenches.

Haku exchanged pleasantries with the seamstress and owner as he entered the shop humming a soft tune, one of those his mother had been fond of. The ice user had just seen the shadow that was his mentor heading off for some relaxation. That sat just fine with Haku who privately thought it would do the normally serious and blood thirsty shinobi some good. And while he's busy with that I can work on getting him some new clothes, kami knows we need it.

A dark green material slipped through slim fingers far a moment before Haku sighed and discarded it. The color would be good for hiding but wasn't hardy enough. Absently the boy walked among the clothing racks searching for something that looked as if it could take the punishment his a shinobi's life style dished out. Dust from years of fabric traffic tickled his nose and caused him to sneeze. The family run shop didn't bother much with sweeping.

"Bless you."

"Thank you." Haku rubbed his nose and glanced up wondering if he could henge and get into a larger city that might have some shinobi worthy gear. Something that was more fashionable at any rate. That's a neat trick, the ceiling is so blue it's almost black, then fades to white at the floor.

"It was done with layers." The kindly seamstress commented from her seat at the front of the store. She smiled and pointed at the white band going around the store, the thimble on her finger nearly falling off, and explained. "Lot's of people that come in here ask about it. My father did it. See, he was having trouble deciding what shade of blue to make it, and mother got annoyed and said to use all the buckets. It was quite a bit of work, let me tell you." She slipped a needle from the fabric she was working on and placed it between pursed lips.

"It's very pretty." Haku's eyes sparkled upon landing on the section for the heavier cloth, plotting. The layers comment had given him an idea. "You wouldn't happen to know where I could get steel mesh?"

The middle aged woman shot him a confused look before realization dawned. "Ah, you're one of them ninja-types." She smirked and put her stitching to the side, standing up and brushing off random bits of thread and fabric. "Just so happens I got some in the back. 'Couple of them dead beats were looking into it but when I told them the price they never showed."

She reached over the register and put up a 'back in five' sign up. Haku followed her to the back room, which was a like walking into a dream. Clothing in styles that spanned several decades was stored in water-proof boxes, as well as a wide variety of bolts of cloth in case someone wanted a special made outfit.

"My family has been running this store for generations, every year a few of us travel around the major capital cities to research the latest fashions. Of course, out here we tend to build up lots of stock but we also get orders from out of town for some of the older things!"

"Truly an impressive selection." He meant it.

"Thank you! Here we are, it's a bit heavy and big for you, but there were some directions," the mesh clinked as the seamstress pushed it aside and searched the box. "Ah ha!" With a flourish she presented a small pamphlet to the boy, the directions on altering the chakra-sensitive mesh.

Haku's eyes skimmed over the words. It didn't look too hard, and with their funds though expensive the outfits he had in mind would be in his price range. He looked up. "I'll take them, now there were a few items in the store proper that had my interest though not the right size…"

Thousands of beady black eyes stared at him from above. At least, that was what it felt like as numerous forest dwellers perched on the trees watching. Watching, and Shidou had no idea if they understood. The vixen was the only one that could answer back, and she wasn't available for the demonstration.

"This is a kunai, or as most historically minded individuals call, glorified shovel." The woodsman held up a rusty kunai from his makeshift table. It had come from a small collection of random objects that had been gathering in the cellar for generations. It was the 'random ninja shit' that was used in battles and forgotten about, probably due to lack of time to retrieve it all. "Most shinobi use these for basic traps and distractions. They serve today as a throwing knife, but as you can tell by the width of the blade and angle it could be put to good use as a digging tool."

Shidou set it down and picked up a knitting needle. He didn't actually have any senbon but he knew what they looked like and figured the animals would get the point. At least, from the way several squirrels had started chattering and looking at their paws he hoped so. He was willing to bet they didn't quite understand why humans would need something to help dig.

"This is what a senbon looks like, except they usually pointed at both ends. Some shinobi use them to knock out opponents. Some acupuncturist's use them to heal. My mother used them to heal and knit." With a small amount difficultly because it had been years since he last tried, Shidou wound some yarn around the needle and quickly demonstrated the basic 'knit'. In the tree's a group of exotic seeming birds thrilled in recognition of the action.

Setting the needles down, Shidou picked up a set of metal jack-type pieces and held them up. "These are caltrops. They are used to aid in running away by slowing down the opponent. Stepping on them can be very painful, and they are usually used when sharp." He tossed them to the ground, took a breath, and walked on them. Shidou bit his cheek and jumped back to rub his foot. Luckily the things were too dull to cut him. "Like I said, it's painful and sharpened can injure the persuer enough to force him to stop."

At this most of the animals began jumping up and down, pointing and chattering in their animal speech that went completely over his head. Shidou scooped up the caltrops and dropped him in a can while waiting for the commotion to die down. He was getting ready to move on to the non shinobi weapons when a nervous wave sweapt through the crowd. Somewhat attuned to the forest and it's inhabitants Shidou stopped and looked toward the disturbance.

There was a large animal hobbling toward the clearing, but he couldn't make out exactly what it was. "Shidou… human…" The throaty rumble of the fox vixen issued from the same direction. Shidou watched as the much more fluid form of Lady Fox joined the hobbling figure. It was dragging something hard in it's mouth.

They emerged from the shadowy brush, and Shidou felt his anger boil. A distressed wolf limped into the clearing on three legs. The forth was partially decomposed and locked in a rusty hunters trap. The scrawny wolf tossed the offending object out. Lady fox narrowed her eyes at it in disgust. "What is… it?"

"It is a bear trap." Shidou's father had always thought the metal monstrosities were unfair and heartless. Their family had preferred snares, and the sight before him caused Shidou to affirm his faith the wire traps. Sure they could go off wrong and cause pain before death but these ALWAYS did it. "Hunters use them, and sometimes they are forgotten."

He went over to the macabre metal teeth and found the lever to loosen it. It came apart with a shriek. Using a stick he gestured the pressure mechanism. "When enough wait is on this part," he pressed down with the stick. "Maybe a bigger stick?"

Second time around the blood encrusted teeth snapped up and broke the stick. The gathered creatures hissed and stepped back, fearful. "These… bear traps… have been a problem… for years. It has crippled… the wolf and… killed others."

Shidou watched as the young wolf licked at the still bleeding wound. It had healed to a degree but sloppily and still leaked blood and pus. There was no question that the animal had chewed it's own leg off to get away. "May I look at it?"

The wolf growled softly but let him walk closer. It was bad. "Can… you… do anything?" Lady Fox questioned curiously.

Shidou shook his head. "I have some painkillers but that's it. Nothing to help with the infection. If you could find a retired medic-nin maybe-"

"Medic? Medic-nin? What... do they do?" There was the tone of distrust in her voice. The forest creatures did not trust shinobi of any sort.

"They speacialize in using their chakra -fire- to heal."

Storage scrolls. They had her working on something so basic as simple storage scrolls, though admittedly it made sense. Neither missing-nin appeared to carry large packs on them and undoubtedly they would have to carry quite a bit of supplies with them. It wasn't like they could just walk into any place they wanted to when they ran low on something. There was always the possibility of being sighted and reported to authorities.

Kin shivered at the thought of being forced to return to Oto and working for them. Now that she had some food in her, and some rest, she was thinking clearly without the drive of panic. It was unlikely that they would just kill her, she would have proved to useful to get rid of outright. Either they would experiment on her body or send her on suicide missions.

The former was more likely.

Anger simmered in her body and she pushed her brush down a bit more forcefully than intended, smearing previous work. "Who came up with these damn things anyway?" Kin grumbled and balled up the paper she was practicing on before tossing it into the bin. Most seals were designed in a circular pattern with spirals being the strongest, though there were a few exceptions to that rule.

Haku had made a foot note about a man in the Waterfall village that had developed a specialized seal that went down in lines like regular writing but it only worked to transport items from one scroll to another. The seal was limited as it could only handle objects that would fit on the surface it was written on within a few inches and if not attuned to the other scroll would end up catching fire.

Easier to write but the little nuisances were too troublesome. Besides that, how often would someone be able to tell another to put the weapon on the scroll and send it in time for it to be useful? Kin pulled her hair from the pony-tail she'd put it in to keep it out of the way, and ran her fingers through the course threads, thinking.

Her role was first to take care of Naruto-sama, that went unsaid. She had to make sure remained at the least, content. It he was upset it would cause trouble for them all. Her place in the team was a bit different than what she expected from life a shinobi. Mind games and physical combat was what she had been prepped for.

'In the shinobi world, there are very few who take an interest in designing new seals. Even less learn how to dismantle them. I've heard of some people countering by overlaying one, but to break it… I'm sure you know where I'm going with this. You are not stupid.' Kin snorted. She wasn't stupid, but the idea seemed strange. But it was practical. How much easier it would be for a shinobi team to have a master a seal cracking and lock picking?

In order to find and exploit the weaknesses of them, she first had to master creating them. Maybe I'll figure out how to do this without the annoying circle pattern. It's pissing me off. She dropped the brush and flexed her hand smiling in satisfaction as her knuckles popped. The problem in creating the storage seals was that not only did it require a small amount of constant chakra flow while making the marks, but they had to be made from the out inward. If she miscalculated the space needed even a little bit it was wasted.

While Kin had prided herself on independent study of a wide variety of subjects art wasn't one of them. Good hand-eye coordination did not good calligraphy make. Annoyed with her lack of progress Kin got up and stretched. She needed a break from the endless tracks of black on yellow or her brain would melt. "I wonder what how Naruto-sama is doing?"

Dark eyes landed on a basic lock that had been left with her things for her to practice with. Or to relieve boredom. It was hard to tell with Haku, the boy was like a parfait with all those layers. Top was sweet and creamy , and digging a bit deeper a load of sugar coated fruit to cause her pause, but Kin suspected below that was a gritty gram-cracker too stubborn to get soggy and admit defeat. Or maybe I just want a parfait.

Kin examined the lock and found some left-over wire in her pouch. Almost delicately she held the lock in her hand and stuck the slim wire in, twisting and turning it while listening for any clues to the inner workings of the thing.

Kin decided she hated straight-forward locks the most.

Naruto was breathing hard, his sweat staining the wood a weird purple. He was crouched close the ground, Zabuza's water clone holding the end of a branch close to his throat. During the battle at the ware-house Zabuza didn't get a very good picture of the boy's sword skills and so had hoped to correct that today. Apparently he didn't have any beyond 'this is the pointy end, it goes into OTHER people'. They were using branches taken from surrounding tree's instead of real swords, so the nin had thought his new student was just getting used to it, but that was not the case.

"Who gave you this, again?" A shadow clone Zabuza asked from the tree's where he was watching the two battle it out. While the water clone was weaker and therefore closer to Naruto's level it couldn't transmit information upon death. The shadow clone would, so it was his duty to watch and judge. To his surprise the katana Naruto had was a good quality and would take quite a bit of punishment. He even went so far as to guess that the blade had been layered with one of the new alloys to help conduct chakra. "I doubt they just gave these away to anyone."

Naruto leaned on his temporary weapon, wiped his palms on his too-big shirt, and took a breath. Both clones watched in amusement as the boy that had been getting tossed around (and in) the well recover. He went from about to pass out to barely winded in three minutes flat. "No one gave it to me. I took it. Spoils of war."

That declaration brought a smirk to the murders lips. The spoils of war was an extremely Kiri outlook, and one he could accept. "Makes sense." While other villages certainly practiced taking things from downed enemies to supplement yourself, like ration bars and extra weapons, the bloody Mist was the only one to take it into their own village. That was one of the ways to advance through the ranks, though few did it. Kill a jounin, and you take their title. If you're fast enough you might even take their wife.

"…I'm not very good, am I?" Naruto groused and walked over to the well to draw up some water to drink. All the hopping around was making him thirsty!

"Truthfully, you suck. You fight like a baby." The water clone mocked as it took out a kunai and began shaving bits off of his own branch to make it more sword-like.

A vein could be seen throbbing near the blonde's hairline, and Naruto went red. He knew he wasn't very good, especially against a far more experienced swordsman, but he wasn't that bad! It wasn't his fault he'd never been properly trained before! "I do not fight like a baby!" The bucket went into the air, forgotten. "Why do you have to be so-"

Like a good leader, the Mist trained shinobi was learned how his subordinates ticked. Before Naruto exploded into a rant of self-righteous indignity, further proving Zabuza's theory that he had been neglected, the water clone closed the distance and pushed a kunai close to the young boys stomach. Naruto swallowed, self preservation warring with anger.

"Relax. He won't hurt you, he just wants to make a point." Naruto's conscience remarked.

"Has anyone ever tried to teach you how to use one?" One what was obvious, and though he was still scowling Naruto shook his head in the negative. "Then it's not your fault. You got potential but it's going to take some work. I'll teach you."

As the clone tossed Naruto back his branch, Naruto's mind cleared off all the little insults he'd been thinking up. He liked Haku and Zabuza, that was why he agreed to the terms of the evaluation and didn't try any of his other techniques. Now with the offer of teaching Naruto REALLY liked Zabuza. I'm going to look so kick-ass with my sword! I'll slice them and dice them!

"And put them in a pie?" The voice whispered hopefully.

"Eh, no. No pies. I can't cook." Naruto answered as he cheerfully fell into the basic sword stance and let the clone make adjustments. He still missed Iruka-sensei, which Zabuza's calm patient comments reminded him of, but he was starting to get the big picture. Leaving Konoha was probably the best thing he had ever done for himself.

Zabuza pressed down on the short boy's shoulders to get him to relax, and let the pie comment slide. Part of him was curious as to where it had come from, but it really wasn't any of his business. If the kid could multi-task all the better. I don't think I want to know how his mind works anyway.

"Excuse me!" A voice shrilled as the body it belonged to twisted expertly through the half opened window. Around the room other birds of prey ruffled feathers in a show of annoyance but peered at the newcomer with interest. Leki was a wild falcon, a forest falcon, and didn't bother the human bred messenger birds. Unless she had a story. "How has the hunting been, Lord Joshua?"

Most raptors were sticklers for formalities. Joshua blinked from his perch and stared at the slim female. She shook out her feathers from the rough landing and waited happily for a reply. Joshua wondered how she was able to maneuver like she did, the window opening was tiny! Being big isn't everything, I suppose. "It has been well enough. Is there any particular reason you're here?"

The other birds tuned in, those with hoods cocking their heads to listen. Leki emitted a low pitched questioning warble to a young sparrow-hawk before hoping up to his perch and taking some water.

"Actually, it's just that I have been hearing some things, you see, and they may or may not effect you." She paused to smooth down some white chest feathers. There was a nail head that always caught her when she tried getting in the roost that messed up her look. One day she was going to get the human to fix it. One day. "I've heard it on the grapevine that there are a bunch of creatures planning a revolt of some kind sun up."

Above an old peregrine hawk shifted and called down: "East. Humans call sun up east."

Leki bobbed her head. "East then. The creatures want to fight the humans and take back the forest. I figure since Lord Joshua works with humans he would like to know."

Joshua looked down at his foot and the small bell attached to it. He himself had mastered the art of moving without it ringing, but few others had. That in itself could be thought of as a form of rebellion, but the nonsense the feral falcon was talking of was ridiculous. Humans were too many too big and too clever to oppose.

How many adult humans won a fight with a raptor? Sure they could get in their licks, but nothing would stop the tide. "This is preposterous. Your information must be inaccurate."

"Nope. I checked it out myself before coming. It's an… what was it called again… alliance! Land walkers and sky rulers are working together, and not just the big ones. Little prey birds are in on it too."

"Why?" Asked a dark brown male across the room. "How?"

"I heard they are learning how to use the fire. Then they're going to use it on the humans." Leki spoke as if it were a great secret, and a hush fell down on the room. A soft breeze came from the window and danced with loose feathers and dust but did not intrude on the suddenly introspective birds.

Joshua's gold eyes turned to the door where he could hear the faint thumping of footsteps. "Leki, do you plan to join them?"

"Me?" She too had turned to the door. "I don't know… my territory is rarely touched by humans."

The door opened and Yoshi walked in, his eyes quickly taking count of his avian menagerie and noticing the new addition. His face lit up sending a beam of joy into the thoughtful atmosphere. "Wow! A forest falcon, and a collared one at that. How did you get in, lovely?" He took careful steps toward Leki.

She spared one last glance at the head falcon, and spread her wings. Think about what I said Lord Joshua. The humans you keep come from the den in the East.

Yoshi squawked as Leki zipped from her perch, casually batting him in the nose as she sped by and out the window. He followed her path, rubbing at the wounded spot. "Beautiful."

The others shifted uneasily at their posts in thought. What would they do if the forest rebelled? Should they do anything? Most liked their handler, he was fair and sometimes spoiled them. He let them raise their own chicks. Those in the big den were not allowed to do that.

Yoshi sighed and went around switching out old water for new in their tins. "Lord Joshua?" A female asked softly so that their human would not hear. "Should we do something?"

Joshua turned his head and buried it in a wing. "No. If anything happens, we'll deal with it then. No sense worrying."

Yoshi finished refilling the bowls and looked around. His elated mood from seeing the new bird had gone, and he felt weird. It was the feeling he got before one of his beasts grew ill, or something worse. They seemed less chatty today. Almost cautious. Yoshi tried to shake the feeling. Tried.

Kurenai watched them work their way around the course with pride. They used the environment to their advantage and communicated effectively. Her emotions flared. She knew she wasn't supposed to teach it -she wasn't even supposed to know it!- but it would help them. She watched as Hinata located the control seal of the dummies and sent a spike of chakra through it effectively shutting down the drones. Most genin and chunin tended to simply plow through the drones instead of taking out the controls. The chunin maintenance workers preferred that method; they hated the work required to replace control seals.

Shino moved in calculated graceful movements, his arms rarely left his pockets as he avoided a sets of kunai and shuriken. Hinata called out a warning and Kiba responded with an enthusiastic yell as he ignored the illusionary fireball that hit him head on. Adrenaline rush...

Kurenai leapt higher into the tree to better monitor her team's progress. My sensei taught us, why not continue the tradition? They've certainly earned it. I doubt any of them will actually go for ANBU anyway. Hinata is too focused on face-to-face fighting. Kiba will never be accepted unless he's willing to loose Akamaru. Shino might... but somehow I can't see it. Ruby lips quirked in a grin. "Alright. ANBU hand signals it is."

Kiba and Akamaru corkscrewed through the ground setting off hidden mines that Shino's bugs had detected. Shino and Hinata walked around the debris at a steady rate toward their goal. Three charms hung from the dead limbs of a tree, their small bells clinking in the breeze. Hinata continued up the bark at a sedate pace but Kurenai could see she was winded. The girl had been pushing her limits the past few days, it was a wonder she hadn't burned out.

Kurenai approached as Hinata reached the upper limbs, carefully balanced with chakra as the scraggily branches wouldn't have supporter her otherwise, and began cutting the strings that held the charms in place with a kunai. Kiba was running around catching them, Akamaru following with happy barks, and the red eyed woman decided that it wasn't just adrenaline. The Inuzuka was a natural brawler. He energized by fighting. The more he tussled, the harder the battle became, the stronger he got.

It was a rare to find such good chemsitry in a team.

"That was a little unorthodox, but I was very pleased with your performance and teamwork." Hinata lost her control at the praise and the branches supporting her snapped sending her flying to the ground. Kurenai's throat seized as she watched, arms automatically reaching out to catch the girl. Solid ninja's acted without thinking, after all. Kurenai sat her student down with a sigh. "Hinata, next time your running so low ask someone else to do it."

The girl looked down, ashamed, and began twiddling her fingers. "A-ah. Sorry, sensei."

The raven haired woman twirled to her male students, tongue clicking in dissatisfaction. After last night's semi-rivalry she felt they deserved a kick in the pants. "Next time a girl is falling, I don't care who, I expect my gentlemen to catch her. Got it?"

Kiba looked from Hinata to the charms still in his hands in embarrassment before nodding. "I get it, sensei. Sorry Hinata." Friends before mission.

Shino nodded his confirmation of the lesson. Being a shinobi does not mean one has to act like a hardened killer. We have our missions, but we have our own morals and edict too.

Appeased for the moment, Kurenai gestured to the charms. "Remove the paper from the bell and take one. These papers are made from special tree's and are used to determine a person's elemental affinity. The known possible elements are Fire, Water, Wind, Earth, and Lightning. Shino, which are advantageous?"

The bug user rubbed the yellow parchment between his fingers while answering, something that the academy never taught. "Fire is strong to wind but weak to water. Wind is strong against lightning. Water is weak to earth. Earth is weak against lightning."

"Very good. Now to find out which element is yours channel a small –small!- amount of chakra into the paper as if you would for tree walking."

Hinata closed her eyes and concentrated. She blocked out the ache that filled her entire body, at least she ignored it as much as possible to complete her given task. She knew she was tired, exhausted, and on the verge of collapse, but Naruto wouldn't have given up. He would have been ecstatic to learn his element.

Naruto.

Her reason. Eyes blue like whirlpools she could drown in.

Whirlpools…Hinata frowned at the slick wetness on her fingers and opened her eyes. The parchment was drenched and sticking to her hand. "Kurenai-sensei? I think I'm water."

Someone had just won twenty ryo.

Shino glared at the little scrap of yellow behind his glasses. He officially hated it, and ran another bit of chakra into the thing. It quivered as if in agony, and Shino could imagine it screaming for mercy as he shocked it again. This time it went straight before falling limp as if it had given up all hope.

Sensing victory his allies hummed in anticipation. The bug user sent a last charge into the paper and nearly voiced his anger at the lack of reaction.

A feminine hand rested on his shoulder. "It's alright, Shino. Not everyone has an element."

Shino gave into his superiors logic and handed her the parchment. It wasn't like he needed a bunch of jutsu anyway. "It would likely have interfered with my allies." He still glared at the offending piece of paper as the jounin folded it up and stored it away.

Akamaru sniffed the suspicious paper and claimed that was no active chakra within the thing itself, and so Kiba did as instructed. It moved, and so he deducted that he hadn't used enough. "Let's try this again…" With another burst of energy the paper suddenly emitted a shriek and began folding in on itself as if having some strange seizer. "Sensei! I don't know what this means!"

Kurenai walked over and watched the phenomenon curiously. "You used too much chakra, but I would have to say… lightning. Definitely lightening."

Kiba gave her a shit eating grin. "So I get to electrocute people. Sweet!"

END.