Okay, the next chapter. I really laugh when I read this shit. x''D No, not shit, but this is a lot worse then where I currently am in the story, and what I've written lately. This is really bad compared to that actually. x''D Ah well, I hop you'll like it anyway.

Enjoy!

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Chapter 7: "The Hidden Village of Mist"

As they walked the road towards the Water Country Shora talked a whole lot to Sasuke. Kino talked with Akamaru, he found it really funny to talk to a dog, and Onaru was walking quietly at the side. Under the short times Shora didn't talk to Sasuke, Naruto and Kiba discussed plans with him. And when Shora didn't talk to Sasuke, she talked to Sakura. Sai had his sketchpad up and painted parts of the surroundings. He sometimes fell behind the group, but it was normal for him to do so.

When they had been walking to the night they were just a few kilometres from the border. Sasuke held up his hand and ordered them to stop.

"We're going to set up a camp in the glade in that direction," he said and started to walk there.

"I would appreciate if you tried not to get noticed by someone, I would like us to keep a low profile. When the camp is set up, we stay there until sunrise tomorrow; I want everyone to be awake then."

He stopped and put down his backpack, followed by the others.

"Naruto, put the tent up," Sasuke said and lay it down flat on the ground.

Naruto grinned. "No problem,"

Kino, Shora and Onaru all wondered what he was going to do. Naruto formed some handseals, lifted his hands and released chakra. Kino whistled and Onaru widened his eyes. Shora didn't really bother what was happening. The chakra released from Naruto's hands snuck under the tent and lifted it up. Sasuke, Sai, Kiba and Sakura quickly put pales in the corners to keep it down. With Naruto still blowing wind into it they put in the lodgement and Naruto took down his hands. Onaru had his mouth open in surprise. When he noticed that he quickly closed it.

"That," he said and pointed, "was the most… Awesome way of putting up a tent I've ever seen. And the fastest."

Naruto laughed.

"So that's why you chose a place away from the road?" Shora asked.

"Not really," Sasuke answered her. "It's mostly because we're not allowed to go in to the village without a good reason. That's why I came too. We have to get past the guards at the village gates somehow. So if someone, by chance, would come on this road from the Mist Village during night, they won't notice us."

"Oh, I see."

Kino glanced at her.You like that Uchiha don't you, you little hag? Kino asked her in his mind.

Shora looked at his accusing face and lifted an eyebrow, as she simply asked him: "What?"

Akamaru went into the forest to get some fire wood when the others got inside the tent.

When he came back the Rookies had laid down to sleep. The white dog placed the wood in a pile in the middle of the tent. Sasuke lightened it with a fire jutsu. The Jounins waited until the Rookies had fallen asleep before Sasuke put up a map.

"The Mist Village is highly guarded for many reasons," he said, "so sneaking in is not an option. That's what I'm going to use the Sharingan for. We're going to walk in through this gate," he said and pointed on the south gate of village. "That way it won't look like we're coming from the Fire Country. We're going to look like normal travellers, as I stated this morning, and try to not wake up suspicions. That we can't show that we are ninjas can be a problem."

"Because the Mist Village is filled with petty thieves, right?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke nodded. "The Rookies are going to get a different mission then us, I will tell you tomorrow about that Naruto, so the best would be if Akamaru went with them. We can't do any moves that can blow our cover, but a dog can always bite. If we would get caught in a situation like that I'm sure we would find a way out of it. Asking around about Hamero Hutaku can be the dangerous part, so we will do it without the Rookies. However, there is a problem."

"A problem?" Akamaru asked. "What do you mean?"

"The Mist Village is known for gathering information about other village's Jounins. It is possible that they have information on us in the Bingo Book. If the situation is really bad, they know what we look like. It's not like a group of the best Jounins in Konoha can stay low that easily. In the worst case, we might need to use henge. And that burns chakra. I'm not really worried about Naruto, but the rest of us don't have the same amount of chakra as he do. And in case it would lead to a fight, we will need all our chakra. We need to make ourselves look as different as possible, without wasting chakra."

Naruto scratched his chin, and then dragged his hand over the whiskers. He then started to grin. "There's no reason to worry about that," he said and everyone looked at him. "Shinobis doesn't pay attention to normal travellers. They've never done, never will do."

"How can you be so sure about that?" Sakura asked him with curiosity.

"We don't," Naruto said shortly. "Why would they? Haven't you noticed that everyone who walks in looking like a ninja, you always wonder who that might be. But if the person looks like a traveller, no one pay attention to that guy."

Sasuke frowned. "You have a point there," he said. "It's settled then. Now we should get some rest."

He folded the map and put it inside the Konoha Vest. All the Jounins lay down on their beds and fell asleep. Akamaru stayed up keeping guard.

Next morning at the village gate

Two Mist Jounins stood at the gate, incredibly bored. There were never anything to do during the watch, and they weren't far from falling asleep when the Konoha group was seen on the road. The Jounins actually hoped they didn't have any permission to come here so that they would get something to do. As the group came closer one of the guards thought their faces looked a bit familiar. Naruto and the others stopped. Sasuke walked to the front.

"You have any permission?" One of the Jounins asked them.

Sasuke smiled. "I'm afraid we don't, but perhaps this works for you," he said and activated the Sharingan.

He hypnotised the Jounins to make them think that they had permission and then deactivated the Sharingan.

"You can pass," the left Jounin said and they moved out of the group's way.

Sakura smiled as she walked by. "Thank you," she said.

When they came in to the village Shora gasped. The mist village had a bad leader. It was magnificent, but most families lived in poverty, and many children lived on the streets.

"The Mizukage is selfish," Naruto told her. "He pretends that he doesn't see the poverty the families live in and takes the money for himself, but this last year he's been spending it on making the village's army forces more skilled and powerful, and try to increase the numbers."

"That's horrible," Shora cried out.

Naruto nodded in agreement. The group stopped. Naruto faced his team.

"We're going to split up here," he told them.

"What? Why?" Kino asked, obviously upset. "We're not going to do anything?"

"You think we would bring you if you weren't going to do anything?" Sai said.

Kino made a confused look.

"You are going to do an own mission," Naruto told the young ninja, and made Kino's eyes sparkle.

"What, what, what? What kind of mission?"

"Not so load Kino," Naruto said. "You are going to keep an eye on some shinobis from here and see if the mention Hamero Hutaku. And if they by chance mention where he is, Akamaru will be able to take you to us. Then we'll go there immediately. And try not to stand out too much. Nobody knows we're here."

Kino shrugged and started to walk away with Akamaru. Naruto called the others over.

"Keep an eye on him," he told them, "so that he doesn't do anything that stands out." Shora and Onaru nodded. "Now that that's taken care off," he then said when the Rookies strode away, "let's gather some information. Any plans Sasuke?" Naruto said as he turned around, only to find Sakura and Sasuke kissing.

Oh, but please, he thought and gave up a sigh.

Sai could barely keep himself from laughing when he saw Naruto's face. Naruto cleared his throat. Sasuke and Sakura separated.

"Thank you," Naruto said, "I know you didn't think I was looking, but would you please stop doing that in front of me?"

Sakura blushed, and Sasuke thought: Just because you want to be together with Sakura, idiot.

"Yes, I do have a plan," he said. "I think the best source would be the bars, but we have to keep our eye out for thieves and get ready to pay a little bounty for the information. We're going to split up in two groups and go to different places. Naruto, you're with Kiba and Sai,"

Of course, Naruto thought.

"And I'm with Sakura," Sasuke continued. "We'll meet here at noon, even if we didn't find out anything, so that we can have some lunch."

"Ero-sennin used to be good at this stuff," Naruto said when they separated, "and he had this ability to make it enjoyable at the same time."

Sai laughed. "I see what you mean Naruto."

"Hey what's wrong Kiba?" Naruto said and looked at his friend. "You seem a little down."

"I haven't been without Akamaru for really long," Kiba answered. "It feels like something's missing."

"I understand what you mean," Naruto said and patted Kiba's back. "But cheer up, you'll see him again."

"I know, but still."

Naruto stopped to think about something. They had walked into an empty ally as a shortcut, and Naruto got a funny idea. Kiba stopped and turned around.

"Naruto, what are you doing?" He asked, a bit curious.

Naruto grinned. "I'm going to cheer you up," he answered.

Kiba raised an eyebrow. Naruto looked in every direction and tried to sense nearby chakra, but couldn't find any. He put together his hands in a seal.

"Hey, you're not going to…?" Kiba said.

"Henge!" Naruto said, quietly, and transformed into the same version of the Hokage he did at the academy, when he hadn't yet grasped that jutsu. Kiba couldn't keep it in; he burst out a loud laughter. Sai started to laugh too. Naruto transformed back.

"I knew that would work."

The few people that heard that laughter turned around with a curious look on their faces, but returned to what they were doing after a few seconds.

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The Rookies and Akamaru had been cautiously following a member of the Water Country's council, hoping that he would mention something about Hutaku when Kino felt a hand on his shoulder. He stopped, and so did Shora and Onaru. They faced a really tall, well-built man with black hair.

Akamaru whispered to Shora: "That guy is not alone, if I need to attack him, we run when I'm done."

She nodded. The man spoke.

"It's not good for kids like you to walk alone on the streets," he said. "Let me help you a little."

"Thanks for the offer," Shora said, "but our dog here is enough protection. Right, Akamaru?"

And with those words the white dog jumped forward and bit the big man in his crunch. He howled of pain, and like it was a signal twenty other men jumped out from roofs and alleys.

Shora and Onaru grabbed Kino's, who was about to challenge them, arms and ran away. To go faster they jumped up on Akamaru, who was faster then them, and ran through the streets. They pushed away anything and anyone that got in their way, even if Akamaru tried not to. He even jumped over a short, old lady to avoid hitting her, which nearly made the Rookies fall off. However, the gang was a little too big and they managed to surround the group.

"Any plan?" Shora said anxiously.

"I'm thinking, I'm thinking," Onaru said.

"Let's just fight them!" Kino shouted and made an attempt to jump off.
"Kino, no!" Shora said and grabbed him. "We're not supposed to do anything suspicious remember?"

Kino snorted and stopped fighting back. Akamaru desperately searched for a way out. He couldn't find any.

"This is bad," Shora said. "I hate that I can't do anything. And we have a river in the back too. Damn it!"

"You're a persistent bunch of brats," the big man said. "That bite really hurt."

Akamaru growled. The man laughed, and a skinny, brown haired man with a sword spoke.

"That big dog can't do anything now," he said.

Onaru was starting to become desperate. No matter how much he thought he couldn't find a way out of there, neither could Shora. If they didn't found out something soon they had to reveal who they were. Akamaru was just starting to gather up some power to burst out of the ring the gang made when one of the Mist Kunoichis suddenly appeared in front of them.

"Suiton: Suiryuudan no jutsu!" She shouted and the water from the river blasted away the gang into the walls on their sides or ten metres away on the hard ground.

Kino and Onaru had their mouths open in shock. Shora gave up a sigh in relief. The kunoichi turned to face them.

"Are you all right?" She asked them.

The nodded and jumped off Akamaru that, who didn't like to do it, acted like a normal dog and jumped on her, licking her face. She gave up a laugh, slowly pushed the dog away and stood up.

She turned to the gang. "If you ever touch innocent travellers like this again, you won't get away so easily," she said and glowed at them. "You hooligans are a disgrace to this village."

The gang muttered and walked away.

"Who are you, lady?" Kino said when she turned around to them again. She smiled.

"You can just call me Shoraku. What about you?"

Kino put his hand on the chest "I'm Kino, and this is Onaru and Shora," he said and pointed on his other team mates.

"Nice to meet you. What are you doing in this village? It's not the best place for travellers."

Shora rolled her eyes. "We've noticed that, and our business is private."

Shoraku frowned. "Sure, whatever suits you guys," she said and started to walk away.

Akamaru called Shora closer. "Hey, she might actually be someone we can trust," the dog said.

"Really? Are you sure?"

Onaru and Kino had leaned closer to hear what they were talking about.

Akamaru nodded. "We should give it a chance, she might know Hutaku; if we're lucky."

Shora gave up a sigh. "Since you're a nin-dog, I trust your judgement," she said and then shouted to the kunoichi: "WAIT!" Shoraku stopped and the Rookies ran up to her.

"What is it?" She asked them when they stopped.

"You look like you are someone we can trust. Akamaru here says we should tell you, since you might be able to help."

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Someone thought that this was a little fastpaced. I dunno what you guys think but... I do agree a bit. I just didn't have the creativity to figure out something more to write at that moment. x''D

Reviews!