AN: I am so sorry that this took me 8 months to update. That was ridiculous. But now, I have a regular updating schedule, and considering I'm trying to give up procrastination, it is working so far. Originally, this chapter was supposed to be the second and last installment of this arc, but I figured that it might be too long if I kept the last half in and I wanted to post this as soon as possible to keep with my update schedule. However because I have a schedule now, the next update (and the third and last chapter of this arc) will be by the end of this week. Give or take a day or so, and I'm only saying that to give me a little leeway because I have 3 exams, a peer review, and 2 quizzes this upcoming week…

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter! It's a bit slower than usual at first, but it is necessary for the climax. Keep in mind that many of the characters introduced here may be relevant to future chapters.

Chapter Six:
Blue Moon Rising

"Look underneath the perceived reality to uncover the real truth of things. This is how you thrive."

Part II: Snake Eyes

Dog tags were used in military services as a form of identification. They were markers of sorts, an (hopefully) adequate enough way of recognizing the owners. However, those tags were never simple ones in theory. Though they were made out to be mass produced and straightforward, the concept always had that deeper, darker, meaning. They had a clearly twisted way of reminding shinobi just how serious their occupation was from the day they signed up for it.

In a sense, dog tags were symbols of those shinobi would lose and those they had lost. On a corpse at least, they branded the dead.

Kotoko was a kunoichi who was all too aware of that fact. She fingered the shiny metal dog tag that dangled from her neck. It clinked slightly against the second one she also wore that had the name of her deceased fiancé etched onto its surface. His name felt cold on the pad of her thumb and she rubbed the metal in a continuous and intrinsic habit.

Carved there was the eternal reminder that Ryu Goto was in fact dead and had disappeared from the world completely about twelve years previously on that night. That night twelve years ago. That night when the fox attacked their home and destroyed not only lives, but families as well.

The woman walked with her curly dark hair dancing back and forth as it brushed against the forest green of her jounin vest. She tucked the chain that held the tags on it back under her mesh undershirt and continued on her way.

To some, Kotoko would be a forgettable person with a forgettable personality, but that was only because she willed it to be so. She did not want to be noticed. She did not want to be bothered. In fact, it was probably better for everyone if she just blended into the background and barely existed. That way, she would not have to see that boy and look at him and see her old teammate—that boy's father, and feel the overwhelming guilt settle in the pit of her stomach.

Yet, Kotoko was not always that way. She used to be a vibrant person that would smile widely and make playful remarks to her friends. She was kind and thoughtful, the kind of person who would come up to someone and offer a hello simply for the reason that they appeared lonely. She used to be openly creative, which was probably the reason she was such a talented genjutsu specialist, but creative in the sense that she used to paint and draw for others as birthday gifts.

The kunoichi she used to be was a loving one who was giving and lively when spoken to. Her heart was large and she was willing to share it.

But then, twelve years ago, that one event changed it all.

So she became seemingly cold and distant towards others. She remained respectful and obedient, but she never went out in public as often as her friends would have liked. However, nothing could change it because Ryu was dead now and nothing and no one could bring the dead back to life.

But her heart stayed the same. Kotoko never loved too little; she loved too much.

You see, she could even acknowledge the person who contained her loved one's killer. As much as she detested that creature, that monster that was the Nine-Tailed Fox, she could not bring herself to hate Naruto. Yet she could not bring herself to love him just for who he was—a mere child, either.

Perhaps the turmoil was made more difficult because of the fact that she was one of the few people that knew her old teammate who happened to be her Fourth Hokage, was going to have a child at that time. She had not known the exact identity of the boy, nor what his gender would be, nor even his name or the target birth date. Things like that were kept a secret outside a certain group for obvious reasons, but she and Ryu who had been teammates to Minato, were part of the handful that knew that he was to have a kid in the first place.

She remembered how absolutely honored and excited Ryu had been. "Can you believe that our little squirt is going to have a mini-squirt soon?!" he had bellowed happily, practically skipping on his feet. Kotoko remembered it clearly how he profusely congratulated Minato and slapped the grinning man on the back while he laughed. Ryu loved kids and if he had it his way, he would have "corrupted" the child as Minato had used to call it jokingly.

Kotoko almost shuddered at the thought of Minato also losing his life that night as he had originally planned. Then she would never know the name of that child he was supposed to have. She would be alone without either of her best childhood friends. She closed her hazel eyes, resigned and partially terrified at the idea that she may have been too weak in her heart to live in the village any longer if it meant living with that boy who would probably be prancing around without a care and with no parents to guide him and possibly no lead to his true identity.

She may have only seen Naruto as more of the demon than the boy for killing both her fiancé and her friend if she never knew who he was and why.

But regardless, that did not make things any easier as she watched Naruto then, her gaze following him as he stood up straighter, his spine snapped taut in front of the Hokage's desk.

"Here is your mission scroll, Team Seven," she heard the voice of her former teammate state with that authoritative tone of his as she gently pushed open the door and stepped into the room and waited patiently for her turn to make a report.

The brunette woman watched as Kakashi Hatake nodded at his sensei and took the scroll in his gloved palms, carefully patting the item into his back weapons pouch.

He and his team appeared to be packed for a mission that would take at least a week. The genin's forms were ready and their stances wide and strong as if they were prepared for something like that the whole of their short lives. For a second, it made her think of the days when she, Ryu, and Minato were all on Jiraya-sensei's team during the Third War before Minato was apprenticed by their teacher.

"I expect that this mission will take about a week, but I will give you a few days leeway just in case there are traveling issues as always," the Yondaime informed the genin cell. "It should be a simple C-rank so," and Kotoko noticed the meaningful look the man gave his son, "do not go looking for trouble when there won't be any."

She saw how the smaller blond rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment.

"I'm sure they can handle escort," Kakashi said after he performed an onceover on the three shifting young ninja.

Kotoko moved slightly forward, subtly entranced with the look on Minato's face as he replied with a, "Oh I know they can do it," and then he smirked and he was suddenly glowing with only the kind of pride any man who was a father could exude, "You'll do fine."

From that last line alone, she knew that he was especially talking to Naruto who had suddenly seemed nervous at the prospect of finally leaving his home for a job.

The woman observed how Naruto seemed oddly sheepish and she could almost see the soft smile that showed up on his face like a slow growing brightness of a star and he bowed his head with a whispered, "Yeah."

The genjutsu specialist felt that guilt take over her gut again, like ivy would as it wrapped around her middle in twists and turns to strangle her. She had a desperate urge to touch the extra dog tag again just to feel Ryu's name, Ryu's presence in the room.

And then the shame, the tremendous, overpowering feeling, encased her in its arms as she witnessed that boy travel out of the office with a grin over his shoulder to his father and an enthusiastic reply to something one of his teammates had said. Minato's stare lingered on Naruto slightly longer than on the others as they exited, and the guilt festered deeper.

But then that terrible emotion solidified as Naruto turned around, a joyful beam on his face, and he greeted her with the single statement that made her crumble on the inside because she could not bring herself to fully care for someone that contained the thing that had killed her loved one even though she knew in her gut that he was so innocent and not at all evil…

"See ya later, Kotoko-san!" And the bouncing blond was out the door in a flourish, but she never responded to him. She barely even spoke to him because her fingers trembled every time she did.

In her heart, she wanted to be able to say something to Naruto as well, if not for her former teammate's sake, but for Ryu's, but instead she faced her friend as the Hokage and not as a classmate.

"Kotoko Yagi reporting from a successful B-rank mission, Yondaime-sama," she remarked and Minato looked up at his friend as if seeing her for the first time, but that did not stop her from noticing that bittersweet sadness in his eyes as he let his stare flicker back to the retreating backs of Team Seven for a single second before coming back to her.

"I'm glad to hear it," the leader replied and it was back to official business like nothing out of the ordinary had occurred.

There was no mistaking it. Even as the woman made her report, recounting how she had defeated the enemy missing-nin from stealing the valuable golden treasure from the Fire Daimyo's palace, she felt the persistent shame in the back of her mind.

She and Ryu had always known from the moment that they met Minato Namikaze that he was no idiot and even Jiraya had known that the man would go places. He was the prodigy of their generation and was incredibly intelligent and shrewd. But he had this one aspect of his personality that both he and Kushina shared: he could make anyone want to listen to him.

Things like that made someone observant. So Kotoko knew inherently that even though the two had maintained their friendship throughout the years even with the loss of their third team member, that he was always watching her closely whenever she was around his son.

And this was all because she knew that Minato Namikaze was not stupid.

The guilt would always trouble her because Minato discerned that she feared his only son…and Ryu would be so disappointed in her.

ooo

Team Seven walked as a group down the dirt road surrounded by the typical forests that enveloped the Land of Fire. The heat was sweltering in the summer air and each of them could adequately feel the heat seeping into their clothing like a furnace would if it slow cooked their skin. The dampness of sweat already started to soak into the fabrics.

Just a bit over a day into their mission, the group was just a handful of kilometers away from the sprawling farming village of Mie which sat to the northeast of Konoha just near the border of Fire Country on the side of the Land of Rice Paddies.

They were on the way to the Ueda Family Merchant House (1). It was a budding business that had only started just less than five years previously, but their success was well known throughout the small country because of their ability to trade quality rice, starches, and farming supplies. Not to mention that they were practically becoming legendary with their homemade rice cakes that many were praising highly and the Fire Daimyo was hard-pressed to try some of his own.

The terrain was evening out and the trees of the Konoha ninjas' homeland were disappearing behind them, allowing the sun's rays to come crashing down in waves through the little shade covering them.

Naruto had even changed out of his normal black and orange jacket because of its long sleeves and instead opted for wearing an alternative set of clothes. He wore a russet orange shirt underneath a light gray zipped-up vest with a hood and the Uzumaki swirl patched onto the back. His pants were made of the typical shinobi style material, but they were dark gray so that they complimented the lighter color of his vest. The bottoms only reach up to his ankles and were threaded together in the same color of orange as his shirt. Below them he sported his navy shinobi sandals.

Sasuke wore the usual Uchiha fashion with the dark blue shirt and wide collar. The symbol of the Police Force that consisted of a dark shuirken and the Uchiha red and white fan on top of it was stitched onto one of the sleeves. The pattern was outlined in yellow to show that he was still a member in training. His shorts were long and white and slightly ruffled from the dirt the team had to sleep in.

Sakura had on her red dress with the white circle stitched onto the back symbolizing the Haruno family. Underneath were dark short spandex so that she could move freely, and unlike the boys and their sensei who wore their forehead hitai-ate on their foreheads, she had hers tied securely on the top of her head like a headband.

The three of them plopped down next to a slow rushing river when Kakashi had suggested that they take a quick break to fuel up and eat lunch.

A low fire started burning over a pile of forest debris. After a few minutes of catching freshwater fish, the group had food being cooked on sticks over the flames, one fish per person. Naruto had whipped out a cookware pot out of seemingly nowhere and when asked he revealed that he was carrying around a storage scroll.

"Yeah," the blond stated matter-of-factly to Sakura as he was in the process of fishing out a plastic cup of instant ramen from said scroll, "My dad's not the only fuuinjutsu specialist in the village. My mom's actually the one who helped him perfect his seals." At the awed look he received from his female teammate, he added with a grin, "She's been teaching me some."

The Uchiha pouted and crossed his arms as he tentatively reached out for one of the fish that appeared cooked enough. "Let me guess," he said with a sideways glance towards he best friend, "You wanted to master the storage seal so that you could bring tons of ramen with you on missions."

Naruto scooped clean water from the river into the pot and set it atop the fire, poured the uncooked ramen noodles from the packaging into it, and waited for the contents to boil to the amusement of Kakashi and Sasuke.

The boy huffed after a pause. "You're a jerk, aren't you, Uchiha?"

The raven smirked. "I'm just saying the truth out loud," and he bit into his lunch with a satisfied crunch.

Moments passed in contented silence as the group quietly munched on their fish while Naruto waited for his ramen to be fully cooked. The noodles took some time to become edible enough to eat, which caused the bond to start fidgeting and twiddling his thumbs to the immense enjoyment of Sasuke who was chuckling under his breath.

The Namikaze finally sighed and dug out a metal bowl from his scroll after another controlled pump of chakra. The item popped into existence over the paper and he grabbed it enthusiastically, using a set of travel chopsticks to pick up some of the miso flavored ramen and placed it into his bowl.

"Mm! My favorite kind of food!" he let out with a belch.

"The whole world knows that," teased his friend and the other two laughed at the playful jab.

To Naruto, the ramen was just right, albeit not as amazingly delicious as his mom's or Ichiraku's, but just right in his case. The soup was salty and frothy with a tinge of chicken artificial flavoring, not that he minded. He slurped the noodles up and savored the residual taste on his tongue, all the while ignoring the looks he was getting from his teammates and teacher who were already finishing up their fish or picking their teeth for tidbits of leftover food particles.

A second later, he heard Kakashi slap his hands together in a single loud clap. The three genin snapped to attention the best they could with the exception being Naruto who continued to eat haphazardly.

"Alright pop quiz!" the silver-haired jounin sang as he crinkled his only visible eye into a smile. The three young ones groaned.

The man leaned forward with that annoyingly happy expression covered by his face mask and went on, "What is the political state of the Land of Rice Paddies?" he asked, then he pointed to his students, "Go!"

"The Land of Rice Paddies is a fairly new country that is only about a decade old," quickly responded Sakura with an apt appearance as she set aside the stick she had eaten from, "The country just got out of a civil war between its ninja clans and was finally united under one Daimyo. They currently have no formal allies to speak of because they are still in the process of developing, but because they are neutral, many nations like to trade with them and they allow foreigners in."

Kakashi nodded in approval then lifted dual fingers as if showing them a number two. "Okay. Now what is the status of their ninja village, if any?"

It was the Uchiha who decided to answer this question and he immediately snapped his head up, to the delight of the fan girl on the team. "Because the ninja clans just stopped fighting, their relationships with each other are pretty tentative. Rice Paddies has trained shinobi, but no village to keep them together and they are still separated by clan like in the Warring States Era."

"Right," the jounin acknowledged. "Any notable customs we should be aware of?"

"It's rude to wear hoods when you're walking in the middle of any town there because people still get suspicious," Naruto explained between bites from his food. He chewed a few times and tapped a finger on his chin. "Oh and it's bad to refuse food from your host too many times…"

"Correct," sighed Kakashi, "though I don't know if the last one was necessary…"

Sasuke smirked and jabbed a thumb in the direction of his childhood friend. "This idiot here only thinks clearly with his stomach."

"Lame, Uchiha," whined Naruto and Sakura only giggled beside them, happy in simply observing the boys perform their antics.

Shaking his head, the teacher just let the boys banter back and forth. He observed them as he took a few steps over to the river in order to refill his canteen with a refreshing batch of water before the man finally came back and patted the friends on the heads and grinned widely behind his mask and letting them know that break time was over, to clean up, and then follow him because they would get the mission going.

Nonetheless, it took the team another good hour before they finally reached the border checkpoint. When they did, it was standard protocol.

A particularly fat ninja with the crest of some Rice Paddy Clan on his shoulder halted the team at a wire fence that had what looked to be a small somewhat-livable building attached to it. He lazily asked them for their IDs and papers, as well as for their reason for entrance into the foreign country.

"Kakashi Hatake," the teacher droned out before any of his students could say a word, "Registration number 009720, and jounin of the Village Hidden in the Leaves. My genin team and I have been assigned a C-rank escort mission from Mie to Saga for the Ueda Family trade group."

Nodding, the man gestured over to the three preteens and they stated their names and ID numbers as well. Naruto refrained from using his last name and instead offered only his first name. Luckily the shinobi did not notice and Kakashi was grateful that the boy did not forget to practice extra precaution. Though it would not be entirely out of line to state his surname considering that they were in neutral territory, the name Namikaze in and of itself was an infamous one. They did not need to add any more attention to their team, especially with the Copy Ninja and an Uchiha already on board.

So after successfully passing border patrol, the team made their way to the village of Mie which they reached in record time as it was not far from the border itself. Kakashi was happy with the pace they had and noted that according to the position of the sun it was only about 1400 hours (2) in the afternoon.

The sun was relatively high in the sky and carriages were bring drawn by water buffalo that waded through the crowds lazily. Other water buffalo were being guided through the assorted rice fields that dotted the edges of town as numerous fish swam around their legs and in between the rice stalks. A pair of civilian school girls in uniforms that consisted of gray drab jumper-dresses and a collared white blouse underneath passed by Team Seven and giggled at the sight of the boys, an action to which Sakura was very displeased with.

Unbeknownst to the girls, both Naruto and Sasuke had spotted the imposing building labeled The Ueda Family Merchant House in golden kanji to offset the purple tiled roof. They sped by them and the school girls screeched as their gray dresses flipped up and a few people caught a glimpse of their underwear.

The gigantic merchant house was the largest building on the block, completely eclipsing the tiny homes and shops with their thatched roofs and purely wooden exteriors with the occasional concrete. The roads were dusty and barrels of either water, rice wine, or sacks of rice grains were being carried throughout the streets.

"Here we are," Kakashi stated matter-of-factly.

They opened the imposing mahogany doors and a blast of cool air hit them in the face. Inside was a fairly nice lobby with shiny red tiles and handcrafted furniture, if not for all the boxes and containers that were stacked throughout the place.

A fat man with a virtually bald head and graying leftover sideburns was directing workers everywhere and leading them to an extravagant bunch of carts somewhere in the front of the building. His silky robes flapped about him like a bird's wings would and he had a very pointed beard that vaguely reminded the team of a sheepdog.

Two others were not working at all. They looked to be their client's sons that were on file. One was tall and lanky with a pair of oval glasses propped on his crooked nose and a mop of dark hair and dark eyes. He was playing with what looked to be a finger trap contraption and he had a self-important look to his posture. The teenager to his left was short and stout with spiked brown hair and eyes that had a displeased glare to them. They both wore equally as expensive looking robes as their father did.

Naruto glanced over to Kakashi and nodded. They had both deduced the same things from observing their clients and from what was on their files: Ichiro Ueda was a haughty know-it-all teenager who had to be at least eighteen, while his brother, Jiro Ueda, was a seventeen-year-old and a cynical and quiet guy who was probably shaped with the idea that he would not directly inherit the family line in lieu of his older brother.

"Welcome, welcome," boomed the overly happy voice of the Ueda head. His large belly bounced up and down as he noticed the shinobi. He had outstretched arms as he sauntered over to the group. "We're so glad to have you here, of course, of course. With the bandits coming around for us, of course."

Naruto watched as Sasuke's eyebrows twitched at the verbal tick.

"Of course," drawled Kakashi sarcastically, much to the amusement of his students who snickered in the background. Not that the man noticed.

"Well then, we're almost loaded and we already had lunch, of course," continued their client. "We always leave in the afternoon. My boys absolutely despise having to wake up early, as you know."

"A shame, really," added the Hatake.

The large man explained that the money had been sent to the Hokage and that the shinobi would be paid after the mission was completed with a C-rank pay. Team Seven was already aware of this, however. It was generally how most mission protocols worked out, with a few exceptions here and there. They simply indulged him in his clarification.

Soon, the caravan was ready to embark on their two day journey.

"Good luck, my boys!" bellowed the Ueda patriarch. "You'll do well, of course."

The glasses-wearing teen briefly acknowledged his parent with a head tilt and said, "You really should stop doting on us, father. It really does get irritating at times. Perhaps you should rely on our servants to carry your boxes instead of your educated and proper children."

"Yeah, yeah whatever father," snapped Jiro who was the shorter brother. "We'll write when we get attacked by bandits along the way."

Naruto and Sasuke shared a quick glance with one another and an unspoken message was shared between the two friends: the mission was undoubtedly going to be a long one. If they were annoyed by the merchant family now, they could not imagine how it was going to turn out much later when they were already hours into it. As they knew Shikamaru would say…what a drag.

And so they went on with the hot summer sun baking their backs as if they were supposed to be rising bread dough in an oven. They easily exited the gates of Mie with their long trail of carts and horses following behind and both Ichiro and Jiro Ueda were sitting with bored looks on their faces inside carriages. Ichiro was fanning himself was a hand-painted paper fan decorated with ferocious tigers and his sibling simply glowered in his own horse-drawn carriage.

All in all, Naruto deeply felt that the two had sticks so far up their asses that they must have been poking out through their frontal lobes (3) which may have caused severely negative effects on their personalities…not that he would say anything out loud without getting in trouble. He just knew that his team wanted to say it though.

The blond almost felt bad for the poor servants. They were sweating and huffing with absolutely no complaint and they even had to deal with the endless complaints from the two brothers without showing distress themselves. At least, he hoped, they were getting paid in decent figures. There was no way he could be bribed enough ryo in the universe to work for those fellows.

But wait. Naruto groaned in his head. He already was working for them.

With that grim thought in mind, he shoved his hands in his pockets and moped, earning a questioning eye from both Sasuke and Sakura.

Much of the trip continued in a similar vein. The heat was incredibly sweltering, the wheels on which their carts and merchandise sat swayed in a seemingly rhythmic pattern, and it seemed that for all intents and purposes that a thickening, figurative, misty cloud had been created out of the horrid humidity and descended upon their bones.

Amidst the weather were the continuous complaints from the Ueda brothers. From Ichiro's whining about the uncomfortable rocking of his personal carriage, to Jiro's moaning about how pointless it all was for "daddy dearest" to hire a pack of trained shinobi from Konoha because there were probably all going to die alone in a ditch anyway.

Naruto was prepared for his irritation to escape from him via spontaneous combustion. He even thought that he would ask Kakashi-sensei to put out the flames with some sort of water jutsu.

"I think we should stop here for the night," Kakashi spoke lazily when the sun had barely peeked out beyond the horizon. A crimson orange sunset bathed the Land of Rice Paddies in its minimal light.

The taller Ueda, Ichiro, stuck his head out of the window in his carriage. "Oh I was not aware that an uncouth ninja such as you could think," he sneered. "Honestly you'd think we're all a circus band with your funny outerwear."

Naruto started to lunge at the older brother with a snarl on his face, "Hey you can't just—"

Fortunately enough, Kakashi was able to stop the kid before he did anything too rash and the man continued, saying, "What Naruto was trying to say is that he agrees with me. The area is getting darker and it would be best for all of us if we rested here and made camp so that we could travel in the morning."

The silver-haired shinobi then promptly clamped a hand over Naruto's mouth, much to the boy's immense displeasure.

With a huff, Ichiro ordered his servants to carry him out of the cozy confines of his travelling coach. The men scrambled to please him; one even went so far as to collapse upon his knees and bend forward so that his back was exposed and the teen stepped onto the poor gentleman without so much as a word right before his pristine shoes touched the surface of the dirt road.

Much to the dismay of his older brother, Jiro got out by himself. Though both did not bother to assist the shinobi and the other workers when it came to unpacking and setting up a temporary camp.

Kakashi then commanded Naruto to be their lookout while he, Sasuke, and Sakura helped to put out tents and sleeping bags. The lone female on the team did not hesitate to squeal in delight at the prospect of working with her beloved Sasuke-kun and the Uchiha in question sent a withering, jealous look over to his best friend.

The sun steadily dipped behind the image of the rice fields just as Naruto heeded orders and hopped onto the roof of one of the fabric covered wagons. He crouched and enhanced his hearing and sight with chakra, azure irises scanning the surroundings without pause.

It just so happened that the wagon he had chosen as his designated perch was the very same wagon that the Ueda brothers had decided to sit underneath so that they could find solace in the shade it gave.

Ichiro looked like he was writing a set of notes in a travel journal. He fiddled with his glasses occasionally. "Fantastic," he said loudly, "Those lowly shinobi really are unaware of the intricacies of properly unloading packed items. Jiro," he added in the direction of his sibling, "just look at how roughly that jounin takes them out of our wagons."

"That's probably because he's used to unpacking bodies," growled Jiro. "This is pointless. I don't care if that guy's a jounin or whatever...those kids are genin. How are a bunch of dimwitted runts supposed to protect us? Father and that Hokage must have lost their minds." He frowned as he stared at the pink hair of Sakura. "Plus we have that idiot girl and those two snot-nosed boys. I can't believe a man like the Fourth allowed them in. The Hokage sounds like a moron to me."

Naruto pursed his lips. He did not appreciate the rude commentary especially since he was right where he could hear them so clearly. So he inadvertently decided to speak up.

"I can hear you, ya know," said the blond.

The sound caused the two brothers to look up in surprise. They craned their necks to see Naruto's face staring back down at them from the top of the coach.

When the boy realized that he had accidentally spoken his thoughts out loud, he groaned. "It's not nice to talk crap about the people trying to protect you."

His eyes moved to the book that currently resided in the older Ueda's lap and with a sudden start, Naruto finally saw that the notebook Ichiro was writing in was not a travel journal, but rather a complaint journal. There were phrases written in bullet form:

-Incompetent guards.
-Atrocious unpacking skills.
-Lacking in needed finesse.

The further his eyes read the various scribbles, an even bigger headache began to throb at his temples. The annoyance started to build up to a point that he felt like a pot was about to boil over in his brain.

"It's not your job to eavesdrop," the elder brother spat importantly.

"It is my job to eavesdrop," replied Naurto as he puffed out his chest proudly, "I'm a shinobi."

"Not on your clients, obviously," pointed out Ichiro with a flare of his glasses lenses.

The boy leaped off of the top of his post and landed neatly next to the two brothers. A puff of dust floated up in a tiny cloud as his sandals scraped the ground. The older Ueda brother crinkled his nose in disgust.

"Keep your—"

"Look," interrupted Naruto, "Your dad spent money to keep you guys safe. He trusts you to go on this trip without him and he trusts us to protect you from bandits." He narrowed his eyes to emphasize his point, then continued, "So you keep to your business, and we'll keep to our business...

"And I don't appreciate you insulting our Hokage, ya know."

They did not exchange words soon after that, at least for a few hours, and Naruto had promptly switched places so that he could watch over the camp during the first shift without any unnecessary distractions until it was time for him to go to sleep and for Kakashi to go next.

And finally in the morning, the caravan left their clearing for the last day of travel to the village of Saga, until they arrived in the very late afternoon.

The village was situated on top of a great hill and had buildings sprawled throughout it so that it looked like a giant had sprinkled them on a gargantuan cupcake. The roofs of all of them were of varying shades and ranged in all kinds of sizes.

A stone wall enclosed the village and a lookout tower hovered nearby and was manned by a ninja of yet another Rice Paddies Clan.

By the time the travelling group entered Saga's grounds, they already had been checked and searched. The shinobi from Konoha had noticed that Saga was much grander than Mie and seemed to be dominated by a ninja clan called the Tsukino (4).

Members of said clan bore dark blue circles with a singular white stamp in the middle of it on their clothing. Many active ninja were wearing uniforms that resembled the gray vests and black pants of the Cloud Village, but they deviated from the design with many of the purple motifs added on like the sandals were.

Instead of the dusty roads that seemed to snake around Mie, Saga had significantly more paved streets. People along with the Tsukino shinobi walked around on them and mingled with each other. The stores were cleaner and the people looked happier.

It was with this observation in mind that Naruto realized that this was probably because Saga was largely controlled by a huge clan of ninja. The people must have felt more, and as a result the air permeated a greater taste of security as compared to the portion of the Land of Rice Paddies that Team Seven had passed through. It especially helped that since the country was still fresh from a civil war, the village gained a sense of stability to be united under one clan rather than multiple fighting ones.

If one did not know better, one could even say that Saga looked to be the humble beginnings of a hidden village.

Though in the middle of it all there was more than a handful of people that were acting strangely with their eyes shifting every so often, like they were worried about something that would not appear and that was most definitely not there. Naruto and Sasuke raised their eyebrows at this, exchanged looks with their two other teammates, and they all determined how odd that was without saying a word.

"This is our stop," one of the servants informed the travelers, and the caravan plus shinobi halted in front of a large warehouse behind a store labeled Trader Jin's.

The place was a gigantic supermarket exclusively for traded goods. Apparently, the Ueda Merchant House had a contract with them and was delivering their orders of rice cakes and rice sacks in exchange for money.

The husband and wife that ran the store were overly enthusiastic to learn that their delivery had come safely. They complained that there had been a lot of attacks on the roads lately and no one knew why. People assumed that it was bandits because something was always missing from the travelling party and it was usually food or money. But sometimes, they said with overly serious faces, a person would go missing.

It was a daunting thought, especially because people were involved, but they also reassured them that it was normally people wandering around the outskirts of Saga late at night. With this and the combination of the missing goods from select caravans, merchants had been terrified to go anywhere near Saga and Trader Jin's had been receiving defective goods for months.

That explained the strangeness of some of the population.

"Sounds like a case of serial kidnappings," intoned Kakashi with a seemingly bored façade. "I'm sure the Tsukino Clan can handle it."

"But the thing is, they haven't taken care of it," replied the wife hotly.

The husband patted the woman on her back. "Now, now dear. None of those conspiracy theories you've been spewing about for weeks. The attacks have been getting less, haven't they? I'm sure what they say about supernatural wild dogs assaulting people can't be true. It sounds ridiculous."

"How can you say that?!" the lady bellowed, her hands on her hips now. "Over thirty people are gone and all you can say is—"

"—thank you, shinobi-san," butted in her spouse as he ignored her ranting, "for bringing these fine rice cakes over to us safely."

And that was the end of it. The Ueda brothers were given a heap of golden coins for their trouble and were hastily brushed aside. The shop was closed for the day with a heavy slam of the door. Ichiro wailed about how rude it all was and Jiro grumbled about the increased probability that they would each die gruesome deaths without the prospect of any outside assistance.

After The brothers began complaining about upset stomachs and how they really should eat lunch, no matter how late it would be, the group decided on eating.

The group minus the servants who wandered off on a break, stopped at a restaurant. The sun was still peeking out over the hill in the afternoon and all thoughts of the strange story that the couple at Trader Jin's had shared fled from their minds.

Previously they searched for a decent place to eat and people on the streets highly recommended a place known as the Full Moon Diner and they were able to locate it fairly easily.

The place was renowned throughout the village and apparently throughout the Land of Rice Paddies for cooking up the best meat pies which were uncreatively titled "Full Moon Pies." Despite their formerly disgusting demeanors, the Ueda brothers were surprisingly pleasantly delighted to enter the restaurant, though that could be attributed to the fact that many of the higher echelon of their nation and many of their other snobby peers had also eaten at the place as Ichiro had informed them time and again.

Full Moon Diner was run by a faction of the Tuskino Clan and was by all means a family restaurant. It looked like the majority of the people that worked there had the customary Tsukino crest somewhere on their clothing.

Inside the restaurant it was dimly lit and every table had three neatly placed candles atop them that had small flickering flames, as well as pristine dark blue tablecloths. The floor was made of wood panels and waiters and waitresses made them creak as they stepped on them. Almost every single spot was occupied with a customer.

In one of the corners a dark haired woman was sitting on a low stool that had an elevated platform in front of it. On top of this platform rested a koto (5), an elongated hollow wooden instrument that had thirteen strings on it. Her fingers moved gracefully across them, and although some could say that the music was beautiful, Naruto thought that it sounded somewhat foreboding as each string was plucked, like there was something waiting behind a door somewhere he could not see.

The five of them were directed to a long rectangular table on a far wall and a lady walked up to them with a smile on her face.

"My name is Chiya Tsukino," said the woman with a smile. She had long, black, and flowing hair that reached far past her mid back. Her eyes were gray and sparkled knowingly, and if Naruto had to say so himself, she have a very beautiful figure that exuded calm and tranquility. She appeared young, like she was only in her mid-twenties. Her face was round and heart-shaped and just under her left eye was a tiny mole.

"I'm the owner of this restaurant," she continued. "I am very pleased that you are here and," she pointedly looked at Team Seven who sat nearest to each other, "I see we even have foreigners gathered at our humble diner." She raised an eyebrow at them. "Would you fine guests require a drink before you order?"

"Yes," replied Ichiro with another one of his haughty smirks, "I'll have jasmine tea."

"Sake," ordered Jiro immediately without as much as a second thought. Naruto grumbled to himself about what a drag it would be to heave a drunk guy on the streets in the middle of a weekday afternoon. The rest of Team Seven simply asked for water.

The drinks barely arrived when Jiro was already asking for more rice wine. Naruto sank into his seat further and Sakura was staring at him and giggling. It was then that they were prepared to order and all five of them requested for the infamous Full Moon Pie. If they were going to make it all the way in the middle of Saga, they might as well get something memorable for it.

Minutes later, five sets of the meat pie came in simultaneously. A waiter set them one-by-one in front of them, almost like each pie was so delicate that it could crumble with an instant. Naruto grinned and stared at his portion.

The pie was a little smaller than his head, circular, and steaming hot. Its crust was yellowish-brown and looked delectable and crispy. The middle was caved a bit and the dent was filled with a scoop of white jasmine rice and an egg was cracked on top of that.

Naruto's mouth was watering profusely and he did not hesitate to dig in with the long-handled spoon he was given. As the team and the Uedas ate, the sound of the koto in the background seemed to dissolve in the background. With each pluck of its string, another bite was taken, and the late lunch went on. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the amazing meat pies, though Jiro constantly asked for more and more sake.

It was no surprise that Jiro had gotten piss drunk by the time they were all finished. Ichiro vehemently refused to go anywhere near his younger sibling and so thus all the carrying and dragging went to Team Seven, much to the immense displease of, well, all of them.

Jiro ran into a wall all by himself and the group was hard pressed to leave the restaurant and get back on the streets, not that it helped much. They still had a handful of hours of deliveries to do.

"HAH," mumbled the drunk Ueda loudly, "…look at 'dat dumb ass bitch!" He swayed from side to side and Sakura barely caught him with her shoulder and let out a displeased growl.

"Don't call me that!" snarled the pink-haired female. "That's rude."

"…wasn' talkin' to you," garbled Jiro in reply. He pointed a finger to someone's pet that just passed by them. "…talkin' to 'da dog."

The team laughed and the boys joked about how it was hilarious how Sakura had assumed that the aforementioned bitch was her. They laughed even harder when her face turned into a deep crimson and she started sputtering sentences that were no doubt defending her being but ultimately failing. In the whole process, Jiro stumbled along and chuckled drunkenly at random things and people that sped along.

And so for the rest of the remaining daylight hours they delivered their goods to various stores around the huge and spread out village until all carts were empty save for their own personal items. In no time, the first and arguably the most tedious part of the mission was completed. All that was left was for the team to escort their clients back home safely to Mie, preferably when dawn broke out. But knowing the extremely laid back and spoiled brothers, they most likely would not be leaving till the afternoon the next day. They had simply gotten lucky that day when they left camp relatively early.

All in all, the mission was going smoothly so far, except for the fact that they had to slog around a completely wasted individual. They had not had any significant delays and they had somehow avoided being ambushed by enemy bandits. Though if the genin had to be honest with themselves, they were pretty bored with how things were going. Kakashi seemed happy enough in comparison.

Naruto was munching on a rice cake when the group finally settled in at a hotel for the night. They were about to walk in when he suddenly jumped when something twitched in the bushes. A pair of yellow eyes peeked out at him, attached to a small, harmless snake that was roughly the size of his forearm. He stared at its eyes like he was in a semi-trance, like the reptile was reading his soul.

The blond remained like that for seconds until he perked up at the sound of a voice calling his name. The snake then slithered away almost instantaneously.

Shaking his hair out of his eyes, Naruto followed his team inside. Fortunately, the hotel they were all staying at was very nice. Unfortunately, the Ueda patriarch had not paid for it and the money had come straight out of their paycheck, and as if that was not bad enough, they had to room right next to the Uedas.

"This bites," the Namikaze groaned when he sat on his futon.

"Just be glad that this thing is almost over," replied Sasuke who was on the futon opposite from him. Kakashi was moving around on his own and giggling furiously at the Icha Icha book he brought along. Sakura was in another half of the room, separated from the boys by a sliding wood and paper door. "I just want to go back to Konoha now. I don't know if I can stand doting around these guys any longer."

"Tell me about it."

Sasuke grunted and reluctantly turned over in his mattress, shifting into the most comfortable position possible. "Well we better sleep while we can. Kakashi-sensei said he'll take first watch anyway." To this comment, said teacher only seemed to giggle louder and both boys sighed in frustration.

"Yeah. See you in the morning, Uchiha."

Naruto flipped over on his side as well and closed his eyes. The full moon shone brightly through the windowpane and the stars twinkled in the black blanket that was the night sky. In the distance, something howled ominously and its sound reverberated in the air.

Coming up next…

Chapter Six: Blue Moon Rising Part III (Cursed Howling)

Team Seven faces a bizarre and unforeseen enemy, and what does the fox mean when it says that Naruto is trapped in a loop…?

Answers to questions that you might have been wanting to ask…

(1) Ueda is a Japanese last name that comes from the words "high" and "rice paddy." I thought that the rice paddy portion was adequate and a nice nod to the Land of Rice Paddies region in which most of this chapter takes place.

(2) 1400 hours refers to 14:00, to those who do not go by the 24-hour clock, otherwise known as military time. I can't say I go by the 24-hour clock either, but for all intents and purposes of the story, all stated times, if any, will be in this format.

(3) Frontal lobes refer to the frontal lobe of the brain. It controls personality, emotion, memory, and a range of higher thinking. It is located at the front of the cerebral cortex and is anterior to the parietal lobe as well as superior and anterior to the temporal lobes.

(4) Tsukino is a surname that means "moon field." In regards to this chapter, this is obviously relevant.

(5) A Japanese koto is a traditional Japanese stringed musical instrument, similar to the Chinese zheng, the Mongolian yatga, the Korean gayageum and the Vietnamese đàn tranh. Koto are about 180 centimeters in length, and made from kiri wood. They have 13 strings that are strung over 13 movable bridges along the width of the instrument. Players can adjust the string pitches by moving the white bridges in the picture before playing, and use three finger picks (on thumb, index finger, and middle finger) to pluck the strings.