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Last time: The Exams conclude and Naruto gets promoted to Jounin.

This time: Old and new faces make appearances.

"I'm sorry, Naruto," Tsunade said as she glared down at the two chuunin who were bound with wire at her feet. The blond himself was leaning against the door. "I didn't think there would be people who would be this driven to attack you."

"It's alright," the newly-minted jounin replied. "It's probably my fault for letting Kyuubi out."

"Well, I didn't want to tell you this, but there've been letters of protest and death threats against you coming into my in tray ever since I went public with your promotion to jounin."

"Speaking of that, how'd you convince the council?"

Tsunade grinned. "Loophole. Awards for valor can be given by the Hokage without the approval of the council as long as it 'a conspicuous and valiant display of courage and integrity'." The Kage grinned. "I think that fit your fight with Ayame rather well."

"If you say so."

The Sannin strode behind her desk and sat down, surveying the chuunin, who were finally looking like they were starting to come around. "With this recent incident, I think that we should probably get you out of Konoha for a while."

"What'd you have in mind, Baa-chan?"

There was a knock at the door and Sakura came in. "Tsunade-sensei, here are the day's mission requests." The kunoichi set the stack of parchment on the Fifth's already cluttered desk and turned around, jumping when she saw Naruto.

"Naruto! Didn't see you there."

"Hey Sakura-chan. Baa-chan still have you slaving away?"

"Alright, enough chit-chat," Tsunade interrupted as she began going through the stack of paper. "Naruto, I'll get back to you when I have a mission for you. Until then, why don't you go and try to find something to do?"

"Right. See you later." The jounin left and Sakura followed hot on his heels as he left the tower and bounded onto the rooftops. The two followed a random course for a bit before Naruto headed for Ichiraku and Sakura left for the hospital.

The Jinchuuriki was busy inhaling a bowl of ramen when a voice behind him stopped him.

"So this is where you went. Should've known." It was Tenten, who was watching with mild fascination and disgust. As much as she saw it, it never failed to impress how fast Naruto could ingest ramen.

"Tenten-chan! How're you doing?"

"Fine." The weapons mistress replied, sitting down. She lapsed into silence and Naruto grinned.

"Alright, let me guess," he said. "You want to get back to learning jutsu."

The kunoichi laughed sheepishly. "You got me," she admitted. Naruto inhaled the last of the ramen and slurped up the broth, slapping some ryou down to pay for the bill.

"Okay, let's get going."

Naruto and Tenten spent the rest of the day working on jutsu and trying to unlock the first gate, and when they finally quit, both were sweaty and smelly.

"There you are!" Tsunade said when Naruto got home for the night. "I've got a mission for you. Get packed tonight and I'll give you the brief tomorrow."

"Right."

Naruto didn't sleep well that night. His first mission as a jounin. It felt almost surreal in a way, as if he'd come full circle. He'd had his first mission with Kakashi-sensei almost ten years ago and now he would be going again, his first mission for Konoha in five years.

He arrived early at the tower and was ushered into the room where missions were handed out almost immidiatly, ignoring most of the glares he got from the jounin and chuunin in the room.

"Naruto!"

"Iruka-sensei! How are you?"

"Good good…"

"I hate to interrupt," Tsunade said, as she pulled out a sheaf of paper, the mission statement for Naruto. "But Naruto's gotta get moving now and pull his team together."

"Huh? This isn't a solo mission?" Naruto asked, surprised. He was a new jounin and had never led troops into battle. It would be awkward for him.

"Well, it was going to be, until I noticed the mission request's origin." Naruto took the paper from his adopted grandma and looked at it. Under the heading 'Person(s) of Origin' was the name Fukayama Hinata.

"Fukayama Hinata? Who's that?" he asked.

"Oh right. You weren't here for that. You would know her as Hyuuga Hinata."

"WHAT!?" Naruto shouted. "Hinata-chan got married? When the hell did that happen?"

Iruka and Tsunade glanced at each other. "How long has it been? Two years now?" Iruka asked.

"Something like that. Now, all you need to know about her location is in this folder," Tsunade said handing him a manila envelope. "I'll give you around twelve hours to pull together a team and take off. Good luck."

Naruto left, rubbing his blond head. 'Great. Now I have to come up with a team for the mission.' He looked over the mission statement, checking to see how many teammates he was allowed. Four. Now he had to find three other people that he could work with and would trust him.

'How about that Hyuuga with the stick up his ass?' Kyuubi asked, thinking that the relationship between the timid Hyuuga girl and her genius cousin could work to their advantage.

'Hey yeah! Great idea furball. 'Bout time you had one.'

'Shut the hell up brat,' the demon growled as Naruto headed for the Hyuuga mansion.

"Let me through you frozen bastard!" Naruto growled. He was standing outside the manor and the sentry had denied him entry. "I'm here to see Neji!"

"Neji-sama would never want to see a demon like you." The sentry repeated.

Naruto's temper was beginning to fray. "Look," he growled. "You let me through or I will let you meet Kyuubi and then you'll see the difference."

The sentry sank into a Jyuuken stance. "Are you threatening me, demon?"

"No. I'm promising you." Naruto grinned viciously. "And I never go back on my word."

"What's going on here?" asked a voice. The gate opened and Neji himself walked through the opening. "I can hear you in the courtyard."

"Neji-sama!" the sentry shouted, dropping to a submissive knee. "This whelp demands to see you but I know you would never…"

"Uzumaki Naruto," Neji said with a small smile. "What a surprise. Please, come in." The genius stepped aside and allowed the blond through, grinning at the stunned doorman.

"Now, Naruto. What do you need to see me for?"

Naruto handed him the mission statement and waited for the other jounin to quit reading it. When he finished, Neji looked…well he looked rather rigid. "You want me to come with you because you think that Hinata-sama's relationship with me could work to your advantage." It wasn't a question. Neji had read him like a book.

"Yeah. So how about it?"

The pale-eyed man sighed. "Well, I haven't seen Hinata-sama since her marriage. I have to clear it with Hiashi-sama, but it shouldn't pose too much of a problem."

"Yeah. I'll wait here. You should talk to Hinata-chan's dad. He wouldn't like me too much."

"Because of the Kyuubi?" Neji asked, walking away and smirking over his shoulder at Naruto's stunned look. Before Naruto could stop him, Neji had vanished into the manor.

Twenty minutes later he reappeared with a small pack slung over his shoulders and the two left the manor, heading for a shady tree to plan the rest of the mission.

"Neji."

"What?"

"How'd you…"

"Know about the demon? I didn't until a few days ago. After a conversation we had with Jiraiya-sama while you were in the ICU and the events of the final match of the Chuunin Exams, it all came together once I looked over our fight in our first exams and the events concerning Sasuke's assault on the Leaf. It hit me then."

"Sorry I didn't tell you."

"Forget it. I can understand what you're going through."

The pair plopped down underneath a tree and Naruto outlined to Neji what he was looking for in a team.

The genius tapped his chin. "Well, every shinobi team in the field needs a medic, so I would go with either Yamanaka Ino or Haruno Sakura."

"I'll check with Sakura-chan," Naruto murmured, hoping the kunoichi didn't have any plans already made. "I don't know Ino well enough to work with her. So, who's the last person?"

"Well, with me and Sakura you have medical and close-range combat covered. You are a mid to close range specialist, so that's covered. I would want a long-range specialist now. And that brings Tenten readily to mind." The prodigy looked sideways at the Jinchuuriki beside him. "It is my understanding that you have a student/teacher relationship with her."

"Uh, yeah. She told you?"

Neji snorted. "She showed me. You created a monster Naruto. You know that?"

"Huh?"

"Do you have any idea how hard it is to keep a Kaiten going when you have four Kage Bunshins throwing all kinds of weapons at you?" The two laughed lightly then stood.

"I'm going to find Sakura-chan."

"And I shall locate Tenten. With any luck, we will have a team." Naruto nodded and the two were gone in a swirl of leaves.

A few hours later, Naruto, his cloak on and the hood up, and Sakura were gathered outside the gate, waiting on Tenten and Neji, who were on their way. Hopefully. With less than an hour before the departure time, Neji appeared from thin air, Tenten right beside him.

"Well?" Neji asked. "Shall we go?"

Naruto nodded and the four vaulted into the trees and were gone with only the faint whisper of the cloak to attest to the fact they were even there. The team dynamics were quick to work out since everyone had worked together at some point in time.

Neji was the close-combat specialist and the ranking jounin, but he wasn't in charge, so he took on a more mentor style role to help Naruto with his leadership skills and also functioned as a second in command. Sakura was the medic and the back up close quarters specialist. Naruto was their all around tank and team leader with a special emphasis on mid and close range jutsu and Tenten was the long range specialist.

Team Naruto was only a few hours out from Konoha when the blond called a halt and they dropped to the forest floor.

"What'd we stop for, Naruto?" Sakura asked.

"Something needs to be said," he answered cryptically. He looked at the other kunoichi on the team. "Tenten-chan, you're the only one who doesn't know this."

"Naruto!" Sakura breathed.

"Know what?" Tenten asked.

To the weapons mistress, Naruto seemed to be struggling with some kind of inner conflict, but then his blue eyes steeled and he looked her straight in the eye. "I'm the Jinchuuriki for the Kyuubi."

Tenten looked stunned. Sakura and Neji could sympathize. They'd been shocked too when they'd found out that the hyper blond contained the most powerful of all the nine Bijuu. "You…you're the container for the Kyuubi no Yoko?"

"Yeah. I thought you should know since I told Sakura and Neji figured it out on his own."

The look of disbelief was fading from Tenten's face. "Well, I guess it does explain that weird chakra you use and why the Kyuubi suddenly appeared at the village wall during the fight with Ayame."

"Yeah. That was Kyuubi's youki. A demon's host is able to use his or her demon's power to their own advantage."

Tenten shook her head. "Well, I guess we can just count ourselves lucky that you didn't turn out like Gaara-sama did."

"Well, Gaara turned out alright in the end," Naruto replied, though the other shinobi could tell that Naruto was glad he didn't come out like Gaara too. "Come on. We still have another three days or so until we get to Hinata's village."

They leapt into the trees, bounding from branch to branch.

"I can't believe we get to see Hinata-chan again," Tenten said. "It should be interesting to see how she's been doing these past few years, right Neji?"

"If you say so."

"Hey, why did Hinata-chan get married anyway?" the blond jounin asked. "It always seemed like she was waiting for someone."

"You, you dumbass," Sakura muttered.

"Huh?"

"Oh nothing."

"Hinata-sama did not want to get married," Neji said, and he sounded sullen. "She was adamantly against it, but it was an arranged marriage and she could not disgrace the clan, and by proxy her father, over it, so she went ahead and did it."

"But what was the point. I mean, no offense Neji, but you noble guys don't do anything without a reason."

"Right, that is usually the case and it was no different here. Konoha, ever since we were hit by the invasion with Orochimaru, has been struggling somewhat with our mission load. In an effort to bring in outside money, a minor lord but wealthy lord, Fukayama Yoritomo, was promised Hinata-sama's hand in marriage if he would provide Konohagakure with some of his income."

"And has he fulfilled his end of the bargain?" Naruto asked.

"Yes," Sakura answered, being more familiar with the financial side of the issue than Neji was. "Every month he sends the agreed upon amount to Konoha. Not that he has a choice. Now that he agreed to help Konoha, if Fukayama backs out now, Konoha would…get even." Everyone knew that meant that an assassin, probably someone like Kakashi, would be dispatched to end Yoritomo's life and collect the needed treasure.

The days passed quickly after that, and soon the small village of Lahan came into view. They were somewhat close to the border with Stone, so the village was nestled in an oblong bowl that had been carved out of the mountains. A river poured from the cliff they stood on and wound through the town, dividing Lahan in half. At the end of the village farthest from the shinobi was a regal mansion, clearly visible because of its lush landscape that mimicked that village around it and here the river forked, flowing around the mansion and providing Yoritomo with a natural moat with which to shield his home.

A winding trail curled down the mountain to their left while another serpentine brown streak could be seen ascending the mountains behind and to the right of the lord's residence.

"So, where would you hide if you were a mountain bandit?" Naruto asked his team. That was what the mission statement had said. They were to protect the trade convoys that passed through Lahan from the south and headed north into Stone. Apparently, bandits had taken up residence in the passes to the north of the village and Hinata had requested Konoha's help with getting rid of them.

Why they were needed was beyond Naruto. ANBU had done a recon of the village and found that Yoritomo employed a sizable contingent of samurai, sent from the capital to the south in order to help keep peace in the village that was the final stop before the long and hard trek north. The blond supposed that they were there as a gesture of good faith between Yoritomo and Konoha that said that Konoha would watch his back if he provided the village with the money they needed.

"Well, let's get down there," Naruto sighed, heading down the path, his team behind him. It was another two hours before they reached the end of the meandering trail and entered the village. The river cut right down the center of the main street, so bridges had been erected every hundred yards or so to facilitate the easy flow of goods through the village.

Naruto's eyes flicked from side to side under his hood, taking in the sights and sounds of the little hamlet.

'Seems lively enough,' he supposed, 'and it doesn't look as if the people are heartlessly oppressed or anything like that.' They passed a tavern and the blond noted its location. He would have to come back to it later. Bars and pubs were often a good source of information as the unsavory characters who knew much about the goings on of an underworld came there during the night and most could be 'persuaded' to talk.

The four ninja arrived at the bridge that spanned the natural moat around the house. There were two ornate bridges that covered both parts of the fork, but all the shinobi could see the minute, almost invisible, seam that told the four instantly that the bridges could either be raised or a section would drop out, leaving the enemy floundering in the water for just enough time to be picked off by archers.

Now they stood in front of the gate into the main compound, which was manned by a pair of samurai in dark blue armor with a light blue haori over the armor and ceremonial, but fully functional, yaris.

"Halt!" the one on the left barked. "What is your business?"

Naruto lowered his hood. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto, jounin from Konohagakure, with my team, here on orders from the Godaime Hokage." He produced the mission statement. "We have a mission request from the lady of the house for escort services to the convoys passing through town and the statement said to see the lady to finalize the details."

The samurai snatched the paper from Naruto's hand and looked it over, checking the writing and looking at the seal on it, the stylized Leaf of Konoha which was underneath the kanji for fire. Finally he thrust it back. "We received no such information from neither Yoritomo-sama nor from Hinata-sama. You will not be allowed into the residence. Leave now or our spears will move you."

The samurai on the right sighed and stepped forward. "I'm Nobunaga Aoshi," he said. "Forgive him, he's new to gate duty and he's used to hearing orders direct from the top. Let me see the orders." He took the statement and looked it over. "Right. It's all here." He stepped up to the door and rapped hard on it.

The doors parted and revealed a splendid white marble sidewalk that was lined on both sides with small bushes. Other paths lead off the main one, heading for what were probably servants quarters and other buildings. The main path led right to the carved oak doors of the main house, which was surrounded with a wraparound veranda, the roof of the veranda supported by red lacquer pillars that had gold caps on them.

"Straight ahead to the doors of the main house," Aoshi told them. "One of the servants will meet you inside and take you to Hinata-sama." Sure enough, the moment the team walked through the door, a maidservant in a plain plum kimono met them with a bow.

"Good day!" She chirped. "My name is Hinamori Ako. How can I help you?"

"We're here to see Hinata-sama," Neji said. They'd discussed proper protocol before entering the village and decided that Neji, as the one most used to the noble pomp and circumstance, would be the one to handle the negotiations with Hinata and her husband.

"Of course…uh…"

"Hyuuga Neji."

"Oh! That's milady's maiden name! Are you related?" asked the bright girl as she led them down the ornately furnished hall. That floor of teak and the whitewashed walls looked like they were clean enough to eat off of. The metal fixtures were burnished till they shone and the pictures were perfectly preserved and spotless.

"Yes," Neji replied to Ako's question. "I'm her cousin."

"Oh, you're so lucky, Neji-sama," the girl replied. "Hinata-sama is so kind and poised. I want to be like her so much!" The girl was clearly held in awe of Hinata, and from the way she was talking, the shy girl hadn't changed much since she'd been gone.

They came to a set of sliding paper doors that had an ink picture of a serene lake with cattails and jumping fish being pursued by herons on it. Four samurai in similar armor to those outside flanked the door, though these had more ornate haori and their helmets had a high horsehair plume on them.

"Um…these shinobi are here to see Hinata-sama," Ako said timidly. One of the honor guard slid the door open a hair and called into the chamber on the other side. No reply was heard, but he and the samurai across from him pulled the door open so they could file through.

"This is where I leave you," Ako said. "If you ever need anything, don't hesitate to tell me!" Then the team had stepped through and found themselves flanked again by more honor guard. Apparently, this guy liked flaunting that he had a lot of money and had the favor of the daimyo.

Two also stood at the foot of a raised dias upon which sat Fukayama Yoritomo and Hinata. The lady looked absolutely stunned at the members of the team that had replied to her call for help and she outright gaped when her eyes landed on Naruto. She was wearing a pure white kimono that made her eyes seem dark by comparison and she was wearing the barest hints of makeup that made her seem even prettier than when she had been a shinobi. Hinata's hair hadn't changed much, except it was a tad longer and better kempt.

The four shinobi sat down at the lord's feet and bowed. A long time ago, Naruto wouldn't have bothered with the bow, but he knew that the success of the mission depended on Fukayama's favor, so he went through with it.

"Who are you?" Fukayama asked. His voice was like Hinata's father, one that was aristocratic and had an air for command about it. The man himself was dressing in a blue kimono top and a navy hakama, with the same haori that his guards wore on his shoulders. Yoritomo's face was narrow with high cheekbones and stern narrow black eyes that seemed to be like tunnels and not eyes. A topknot sat on top of his head and over his left eye ran a vicious scar that looked as if it'd been made with a sword, a theory that was promoted by the wakizashi tucked into his obi and the daito that sat on an ornate wood and beaten gold stand next to his left hand.

"My lord, we are the jounin that was sent from Konoha at Hinata-sama's request."

Neither Neji nor Naruto, even in their submissive postures, missed the man's hard eyes flick over Hinata, who flinched as if he'd struck her.

"And what is your mission in our lands?"

"Sir, it is our understanding that the trade convoys that pass through Lahan have come under attack by bandits in recent months. Konoha has been contracted to defend these convoys both as a gesture of goodwill and to ease political pressure from Iwagakure."

"My men have provided adequate protection for the traders. The bandits are being hunted even as we speak and I fully expect my men to wipe the fools out. My wife has apparently wasted your time and I do apologize. I shall pay Konoha double my usual rate as an apology."

"Now hang on!" Naruto shouted, lurching to his feet. The samurai leveled their weapons but otherwise made no move. "Hinata-chan wouldn't waste Konoha's time! Not when she's from our village herself!"

The blond missed the lady go red and mouth 'Naruto-kun'.

"Naruto, get down here!" Sakura murmured angrily as Neji and Tenten scowled at their leader's behavior.

She was ignored.

"If these convoys are really as safe as you think they are, then you won't mind if we take a look at your arrangements!"

"Do you speak for your captain?"

Naruto snorted then grinned cockily. "I am the captain. Neji speaks for me."

"And you are?"

"Uzumaki Naruto, jounin!"

"Well, Uzumaki-taicho, please, examine to your heart's content."

"Don't mind if I do." Then he turned his back on the room and marched away.

"Excuse him my lord," Neji said quickly. "Naruto-san has a tendency to be…impulsive, to put it mildly."

"I understand. However, Neji-san, if he shows that level of insubordination again, the Hokage will hear from me and I will withhold payment for the mission until he is properly punished."

"Yes sir," Neji answered, privately thinking that Naruto would only get a slap on the wrist, being tied to the Hokage's hip as he was.

"Now get out of my sight."

The shinobi rose, bowed and retreated, racing after their leader as soon as they were out of the mansion.

"Neji, what now?"

"Naruto may have been impulsive, but he did have a point. Hinata-sama knows the meaning of applying for a mission from Konoha just as well as we do. Something's not right here. Sakura, find Naruto. Tenten, you and I'll go up to the pass and see what we can dig up."

"Right."

The three shinobi blurred away.

Across the village, Naruto was racing up the pass and out of Lahan. Kyuubi had sent his youki into Naruto's nose, sharpening it to better than that of a dog's and now the blond was racing to track a scent he'd found.

It was the scent of some aged blood.

He arrived at a carnage scene. A trading convoy had come under attack in the pass and had been utterly butchered. Donkeys and mules lay dead and rotting, along with the corpses of the caravan's personnel.

"Damn."

His face contracted into a scowl when he noticed scar marks on the ground. They were long gouges that had been sliced neatly into the unyielding granite of the mountain. Naruto knelt and examined one. The inside of the cut was as smooth as glass.

It looked familiar, but the blond couldn't place it.

Then it hit him.

"Wind-type chakra. Whoever did this isn't your ordinary bandit." Just to prove a point, he unsealed Kazekiri and channeled his charka into the blade. When he was satisfied, he swung at the ground right next to the gash.

Naruto's swing carved out a line that was identical in every way to the one left from the attack.

"Well that proves that," he muttered as he sealed the sword away. "No samurai would be able to defend against a shinobi with wind chakra. I've gotta tell the others."

"Don't bother," said a voice behind him. Naruto spun, cloak flaring wide, hands speeding for his shuriken holster. He stopped mid-motion.

"Neji! Tenten-chan!"

The Hyuuga genius walked up the to the other jounin and belted him across the head.

"Ouch! Hey, what the hell was that for!?"

"Next time, don't piss off a noble. It makes the village and Hinata-sama look bad." The prodigy answered as he knelt next to the two slashes in the ground. "But you were right. This was done by wind chakra. Byakugan!"

The chakra veins in Neji's eyes bulged outward, standing out in cold relief on his temples as he scanned the area with his bloodline. "There's residual chakra everywhere, but there's no sign of whoever did this," he reported as he shut his limit down. "We'll have to worm our way into the next escort and hope the bandits attack."

Sakura appeared in a blur.

"What's going on? I felt Naruto and Neji's charka up here and I thought there was a fight!"

"No," Neji replied, "but look at this."

Sakura took one look at the gashes then began scanning the dead bodies in the area. "Yeah, but there's more than one bandit. Some of them have burns and some have been crushed. This guy here has fern-shaped burns that usually come from lightning."

"Wind, Fire, Earth, and Lightning-types," Tenten summarized, counting the types off on her fingers. "Ouch. That's a big band of missing-nin."

At the word missing-nin, they all looked at Naruto.

"Have you heard of this type of thing before, Naruto?" Sakura asked.

The blond crossed his arms and thought for a moment. "Yeah, actually. There've been rumors flying around for the last few years that there's a band of missing-nin running around northern Fire Country and the surrounding areas. I don't know if the rumors are true, since I usually stayed south of here, but they supposedly call themselves the Four Corners because of the four different chakra types. I guess they're real after all."

"Any idea who they are?"

"No. I didn't think they existed until this point."

"So why haven't Iwa and Konoha done anything about this?" Tenten asked. "I mean, it's hurting both countries."

"It's the principle of the thing," Neji answered. "The villages have been rivals since they were founded. Konoha won't do anything to help Iwa and Iwa won't do anything that'll help Konoha, but they'll still make a big political scene over it."

"That's petty!"

"That's politics," the Hyuuga replied shrugging. "Now we should get back. It's gonna get dark soon and we need to convince Fukayama-sama that he needs our services."

"So," Fukayama said, looking down his nose at the three shinobi bowing in front of him. Naruto remained defiantly on his feet. "You believe these attacks to have missing-nin behind them?"

"Yes sir," Neji murmured, "evidence at the scene points to such."

"Very well then, I'll allow this mission. Feel free to make yourselves at home. I'll tell Ako to make sure you're comfortable." Before anything else could be said, the side door to the chamber opened and a boy about thirteen years old stepped into the room.

"Father," he said, his voice an exact copy of his dad's, "it's time for my kenjutsu lesson."

"Your father is busy, Oda-kun," Hinata said softly.

The boy gave her a look that could've frozen ice. "I didn't ask you…mother!" There was a sarcastic emphasis on the mother part of the sentence.

Hinata seemed to clam up. Naruto's hand twitched beneath his cloak. That kid needed a good beating, the Jinchuuriki decided and mission or no mission, if he acted like that just once more…Sennen Goroshi time.

"Do not speak to your mother that way," Fukayama admonished, but there was no force behind his words.

'Maybe a Sennen Goroshi for him too?' Kyuubi asked.

'Don't tempt me furball.' Naruto answered, though he had the grin he wore when he was planning a good prank on.

"Yes father."

"Good. Now, go get your gear on and we'll practice in the courtyard. Hinata, show them to their rooms."

"Yes sir," Hinata responded. "Please," she said to her former comrades, "follow me."

Through the mansion they went till they came across an ornately furnished room with futons and a divider to split the room into men's and women's. It had bookshelves and a heater in the middle of the room. A sliding door opened right onto the veranda.

"Wow, Hinata-chan!" Sakura exclaimed. "It's great!"

The retired kunoichi blushed. "Thank you, Sakura-san. And I'm sorry for the way my husband acted."

"Don't be," Naruto growled vehemently. "But how did you end up with that asshole of a son?"

Hinata bowed her head. "Oda-kun," she said, "is not my child. Before me, Yoritomo had another wife. She died in childbirth with Oda-kun, and he resents me because he thinks that I'm here to replace his mother."

"Geeze," Naruto sighed. "I guess that means I can't use Sennen Goroshi on the little bastard."

"Naruto!" Sakura snarled, raising a threatening fist.

Tenten moved quickly to diffuse the situation. "So, do you have kids now, Hinata-chan?"

Hinata blushed. "Um…No. We've tried, but so far, no luck." She seemed scandalized by that and looked at her feet. Tenten and Sakura were relentless though, and soon the two had Hinata telling them all about her life as a lord's wife.

It was past midnight and everyone was asleep when Kyuubi nudged his host awake.

'Get up brat. Time to check in on that pub.'

'Right.'

The Jinchuuriki stood up, the covers whispering from his body without a sound and he peeled off his orange shirt, which would've marked him as a shinobi, and pulled a nondescript tan tanktop, then grabbed his cloak and padded out of the room, leaving his hirai-ate behind. The blond considered leaving a Kage Bunshin as cover, but decided against it. The team would find out tomorrow.

The honor guard and normal samurai were patrolling the grounds outside, but for Naruto, who was a jounin and had spent five years living and hunting in the shadows, was able to sneak by them no problem.

This was where his cloak came in handy. It served as cover for his arms, preventing the enemy from seeing his movements too much during the day, and at night, it helped him to blend with the shadows and made his figure blurry and distorted.

The human eye was drawn to movement and regular shape during the night. The cloak would shift in the slightest breeze, confounding the eye and making a sentry or guard overlook him altogether. The hood on the cloak hid his flaxen hair, which even on a moonless night, would stand out simply because of its light color.

A sentry shivered as something raced past his back and the guard thought he heard the slight rustle of fabric, but when he turned to look, there was nothing there. The man shrugged and continued on his rounds, never once looking up at the top of the wall. If he had, he would've seen a black shape crouching on the terra cotta shingles like a shadow that decided to take on life.

The moon slid behind a scudding cloud and when the grounds were once again bathed in pale silver light, the top of the wall was empty.

The pub looked like it was closed, but Naruto knew better. He could hear the loud and raucous voices, slurred by alcohol, on the other side and smell the sweet and sickly scents of various kinds of beer and sake.

The bar went dead silent when the door swung open, the grubby and sloshed patrons looking towards the door, a square of black against the rough wood paneling of the pub walls. A shadow detached itself from the blackness, seeming to glide across the floor with sounds like footsteps, striding across the room without a word.

A few of the more superstitious and hammered patrons fled the tavern, screaming incoherently about demons. The figure let them go, knowing that any explanation given to the authorities would be dismissed as the raving hallucinations of a drunken man.

One man sitting on a barstool gasped as the shadow sat down next to him, his stool sliding out from under him as the man crashed to the floor and crawled away to join a group of rough-looking men with a set of daito on their hips. Either ronin or mercenaries, Naruto couldn't guess.

The bartender was cleaning some roughly hewn wood mugs, glaring at the intruder who was looking more and more like he was a buzzkill which meant less business. The manager caught a flash of teeth as the shadow's mouth, hidden in the dark hole of his hood, moved.

"Sake."

"Thirty ryou."

The charged amount of money was put onto the table as a hand emerged from the rippling folds of the shadow's form. The bartender neatly palmed the money and pulled it towards him then set a sake bottle, nowhere near thirty ryou's worth, on the bar, along with a dish.

The man poured himself a bit and gulped it down.

The babble broke out again in the bar as the patrons decided the man wasn't there for trouble and soon the raucous babble was at its highest pitch again.

"Never seen you before," the bartender muttered to the shadow as it took another swig of sake. "Where're you from."

"Don't have a home," the man beneath the cloak answered simply.

The manager, a brutish looking man with beefy hairy arms and a bull neck perched on a barrel-like chest with close-set beady eyes and a full beard on a leathery face, shrugged. He got all sorts at his pub, ranging from the samurai at the lord's mansion, to the rabble that only came out at night. "Whatchya here for?"

The man under the cloth seemed to regard him for a moment.

"Information," he said finally, looking a little bit higher, and the bartender caught a flash of a brilliantly blue eye.

"Dunno nothin'" the bartender said as he began to move off.

"A man like you?" the shadow asked skeptically. "Come on, we both know you hear things from these jokers."

"So?"

The man pulled out another thirty ryou. "What do you know about the caravan attacks that've been happening in the mountain pass north of here?" The bartender prowled back to the shadow and snatched at the note, but the money was gone before he even got close. "Ah ah ah, information first."

The manager spit on the floor behind the bar then answered. "No one knows too much about them. Rumors are sayin' it's some kinda missing-nin group, but I don't buy that."

"Why not?"

"Ain't my business."

The shadow sighed, then put the thirty ryou on the table.

A rough voice broke in then. "You wanna know 'bout them attacks?" It was a man in a roughly sewn outfit of what looked like burlap, sitting in a booth off to Naruto's right. He had long gray hair that was held back in a ponytail and a scar that ran across his face like Iruka's did. Slate gray eyes drilled into Naruto's face. They were hazed over by spirits, but there was a fire in them that told the blond the man was only partly sloshed. The man's arms were burly and muscled, but not from overwork, like those of the farmers that lived around the village and farmed the left fork in the river. "I can tell ya."

The blond smirked to himself and slid over into the seat across from the man. Now Naruto could see the weapons the guy had on him. It was a kodachi, a sword of medium length between the katana and the wakizashi. It was an unusual choice but told Naruto that this guy wasn't at all unconfident with a sword if he carried something like that around.

"And what can you tell me?" Naruto asked politely.

The man belched loudly, exhaling the scent of strong beer into the Jinchuuriki's face. "Well, I'm not about to tell you that now. How about a bet?"

The blond bit his lip, weighing the options. If he didn't do it, this opportunity might slip through his fingers. On the other hand, he didn't gamble, but, Naruto supposed, he couldn't be anywhere near as bad as Baa-chan.

"Shoot," he said finally.

The man grinned. "Well kid, if you can beat me in a fight, I'll tell ya what you need to know. If I win, though, you owe me my next round of drinks."

"Alright," Naruto agreed, thinking that this would be fairly easy.

"Well, then, follow me." The man stood and he shocked the hell out of the blond Konoha-nin when he didn't stagger once. Either he had the constitution of a rock, or he was hellishly resistance to booze. Either way, Naruto followed the man south, out of the village and up the path that Team Naruto had followed earlier that day into the village.

When they reached the top, the man turned off the path and led him into the forest that grew along the river. Finally, they came a clearing that had a rather wide stream running along its west side.

The man cracked his neck. "Well, might as well start," he muttered. "Name's Ren by the way."

Naruto reached up and lowered his hood. "I'm Sanosuke," he answered, giving an alias he'd used a few times during his work as a missing-nin so as not to tie his rather illegal actions to Konoha and disgrace the village more than he'd already done by becoming a missing-nin.

"Sanosushke," the other man repeated, showing that he wasn't as resilient to booze as Naruto thought he might've been, though a single slurred word didn't account for much. "Too damn long. I'll call ya Sano for short."

"Fair enough." Unbeknownst to Ren, Naruto had reached into his kunai pouches beneath the cloak and pulled the knives out, ready to hurl them into the other's shoulder joints and end the fight by jamming them.

"Well, let's go!" Ren shouted.

Naruto's cloak burst open, flaring like an expanding shadow, and the two kunai flashed from his hands, mere black streaks in the night, speeding right for the other man, who seemed not to notice.

There was a silver flash and a shower of sparks and the kunai fell to the ground. Ren's kodachi was in his hand and Naruto, to his dismay, hadn't even seen him draw it.

The swordsman looked almost disdainful. "Shinobi, eh?" The man's gray eyes searched Naruto's face and forehead. There was no haze of alcohol in them. The blond scowled as he realized that Ren had been pretending the entire time. He'd probably faked the scent of alcohol by either spilling it on his clothes or taking only a drink or two, as Naruto had done. "Lousy dishonorable bastards. Don't know the meaning of the word 'honor'."

"That would make you a samurai," Naruto answered. Then he smirked. "Or more like ronin, if your clothes are anything to go by."

The kodachi was returned to its sheath as Ren lowered himself into a stance that would allow him to dash forward and slash Naruto as he passed.

'Iaido,' Naruto realized. 'I've got one shot to block it!' He pulled out two kunai and brought them up to guard. 'Let's make it count!'

Well, that should be a good point to stop. So now we move into another arc. This chapter was mostly talk, but I had to do it to set up for the fights. So, Naruto's gonna fight a former samurai, which I think would be interesting. For those who caught it, yes, I am a Xenogears fan. I was looking for a name of a small village and Lahan was the first thing that came to mind, so I went with it. Oh, if you think Fukayama's an ass, well you're right. In my mind, Hinata's dad would never let her marry anyone other than a proper noble and in anime those guys tend to have metal rods rammed up their ass, so that was what I went with.

Glossary

Daito: Refers to both the Katana and the Wakizashi as a set. Only samurai are allowed to even wear them.

Kodachi: Exactly as I explained in the fic. A sword of medium length, between that of a Katana and a Wakizashi. Shinomori Aoshi from RuroKen uses two of the things and gives Kenshin a hard time.

Sennen Goroshi (Thousand Years of Death/Pain): If you don't know this one, you are very new to Naruto's world. Sakura describes it best. It's the Super Powerful Ass Poke. Like Orioke no Jutsu, it has yet to be defeated.

Lahan: Like I said, a village from Xenogears. Gets oblitereated within the first hour of the game when Fei goes crazy.