Last couple of chapters were kinda hit and miss, I know, but I'm pretty confident in this one. Well, got five hours sleep, let's see if that's enough to operate on today, should be, but should also be a royal pain. Anyways, right now I'm too tired to think that much, so here you go, read it, review it, or completely forget it, whatever. I'm gonna... zzz...

Disclaimer: Yeah, I realised that since Kishi released his chapter later cos of Golden Week, it meant that he needed to focus more on drawing than storyline to get back on schedule. Hence the irrelevent manga chapter.


Trials of the mind

Despite the progress they had made, the next day came with little of that. Deidara had stopped at the first inn they could find, before disappearing into the trees. He had told Naruto and Gaara that he needed to refill his stores of clay, a point that neither of the two boys had reason to doubt. And so now they waited for the alleged artist's return, doing whatever they could in the mean time.

Naruto and Gaara both sat in the outdoor bath, a boulder resting between them as was the norm. Sly words from Kisame had convinced them both to keep distance at times like these, though since Gaara usually did this alone it was mostly no problem. Of course, they were self conscious enough that what their sensei had told them still rang in their ears even now.

"Arrrhh… damn it sensei!" Naruto thought, cursing the ex-Kiri-nin in his mind. It was one thing to make jokes about their size or their personal habits, but going there was just wrong. He gripped his head and quietly groaned, why did he remember that at times like these? He looked over his shoulder to the place he thought Gaara was, suddenly hit with the urge to find some way of taking his mind off what it was currently stuck on.

"Naruto." Gaara spoke up, beating the blond to the punch. The red haired boy bowed his head and closed his eyes, listening to the water running down from the rocks in front of him, and feeling the steam curl over his pale skin. He looked almost like he was caught in a deep sleep, but of course that thought was preposterous. "In case that person shows up again, don't hesitate to attack.

Naruto's brow rose in surprise as he heard Gaara speak, it was almost like his mind had been read. Though he truly, sincerely hoped that wasn't the case. It didn't take him long to realise what he was trying to say, even if he was being unhelpfully vague about it. "Yeah… got it." he replied, giving a small and unnecessary nod. The memory of yesterday's fight was still fresh, thought was most likely because nothing of interest happened since. Most notably was Deidara's strange Jutsu, and how Kirai managed to disappear the way he did. "Doesn't look like Deidara-san really cares, so it shouldn't be a problem."

"Mm." Gaara grunted, giving his only technically verbal agreement. He too had sensed that Deidara was only humouring Kirai back then, he hadn't gotten serious until closer to the end. But even in that case it didn't seem like Deidara had too much desire to fight that person, so whatever it was Kirai had felt didn't seem to be mutual.

Silence fell once more, with only the cascading water bringing any sound to the bath. That quiet lasted for several moments, before it was joined with the sound of rushing water as Gaara got to his feet. As was another unspoken rule when it came to public baths, they both got out one at a time. Naruto let himself lower enough so that his head was just above the water, keeping his eyes fixed on the wooden wall separating the men's side from the women's. Just faintly he could hear sounds of movement coming from over there, it was clear that that part was in use too.

However, despite the discomfort Naruto often felt in the situation that he had been in up until Gaara's departure, when he was on his own like this the baths seemed like a pretty good place to be. There was no one to bother him here, and so he was pretty much left to his thoughts, however substantial or otherwise they may be.

"Hmm… does Tsuchi no Kuni has any good ramen bars?" he wondered, as he shifted and allowed himself to float atop the water's surface. A hungry grin appeared on his face as he had a slight daydream about the different kinds of ingredients the restaurants of Iwagakure may use. Of course, he had other reasons to go there too.

He had heard about the Great Shinobi World Wars, about how Iwa, Suna and Konoha had pretty much torn up the land in their battles, leaving Ame and Kusagakure in quite the state. Since then it had become a little idea of his, what would Iwa do if it learned that both Suna and Konoha had lost their Jinchuriki? From what he knew of that village, it would most likely start being much more aggressive. Hell, the only reason Naruto wasn't dropping by to let them know that was because in that case it would probably put the Jinchuriki at risk.

"Looks like it doesn't matter, since we're apparently not even going there." he thought, as he sluggishly drifted across the water's surface. Though since Iwa had done the thing he should have expected and pushed their Jinchuriki away, it couldn't be helped. Rather than that, it was very nice of them to make it so easy for Naruto and Gaara to meet with this person. "But we're only coming for this guy right now… what will Iwa do with the other once they know what's happened?"

He let those thoughts brew in his mind for a good few moments, wondering if maybe it would have been a better idea to try and get both at the same time. But he knew that would have been even riskier considering they knew nothing of the Iwa mindset. It seemed the better idea that they take things slowly for now, and for the most part hope for the best.

Slowly his thoughts turned idle, leaving him staring at the blue sky with a complacent expression. He could as well have been asleep in this state, and was beginning to feel inclined to do so. However, something from the corner of his eye was keeping him awake, large figures amassing on the rocks to his left.

"No." he said, in a strong and firm tone. The figures faltered for a moment, the thick steam leaving them almost impossible to make out. But Naruto knew those shapes well enough to dread them, their intentions were painstakingly simple. "Stay back- no, don't- DAMN IT!"

He suddenly went to extreme effort to right himself as six large, dog shaped forms dropped from above. He could see the outstretched forms and the lolling tongues of the beasts he knew so well enlargement at a dangerous rate. It was all he could do to get out of the way in time.

FWOOOSH!


Several countries away, back in Nami no Kuni, the time was considerably later. Yagura and the others had returned to the building where they had been hired for their mission, and now stood at the ready for the task that had been given unto them.

There were three noticeable things about the room they stood in. First and foremost was the ear-splitting racket brought on by the cheers and jeers of the dozens of men filling the room. Second was the stench of sweat and alcohol that came with these men, filling the air in a nauseating smog made visible from the equally smelly cigarette smoke.

The room itself was quite large; it seemed to be an adaptation of the basements from each of the surrounding buildings above. Despite this, the place was so cramped that there wasn't a single person in there who wasn't forced into some sort of physical contact with another, much to the misfortune of a certain girl. However, the attention was not on this factor, but the spectacle that was going on in the middle of the room.

Iron bars separated the spectators from the challengers down on the lower level, where there was a tall, square arena. Two young men dressed in little more than cargo shorts and gauze were caught in what was essentially bare knuckle boxing. Both of them were bruised and one even had a split lip, this fight had been going on for a while.

And still the cries came, gamblers and frequenters to this haunt calling support to their favourite player as the fighters dug into each other in their no holds barred combat. Though they looked about ready to collapse, sheer will kept them going. Yagura had to hand it to them; had their situations been different, they could have been fine Shinobi.

He watched from in amongst the crowds, his expression flat as he gained no enjoyment from the battle below. The bars and men that almost completely hid him from view served to his disadvantage. Being short as he was he could hardly see anything worthwhile. As it was he was forced to maintain close proximity to the bars just so he could get fairly adequate view of the other side of the cage.

Though the lighting was fairly dim, he could just make out Utakata from the back of the crowds. Pretending to scratch his head, Yagura pressed his fingers to the small transceiver in his ear, speaking as clearly and discreetly as he could. "I see three people on your side who don't look too interested in the fight." he said, slowly scanning the crowd across from him.

There was one man who looked to be in his early twenties, dressed in baggy clothes and wearing a woollen hat that covered his ears. Another was a man who was roughly the same age, sporting a hooded jacket that he was utilising to its full potential. The third was probably the oldest of the three, his hair thick and wavy. Each of them had two things in common. One was that instead of the fight, they were looking across the ceiling, doors and the other people around them. Second, and most definitively, was that each of them was wearing concealed earpieces just like Yagura.

"I got it." Utakata replied, using his shoulder to press the transceiver as he pretended to rid himself of an itch. Though it was tougher from his perspective, he managed to locate each of the men that Yagura described to him. "There's two guys on your side, a bald guy with earmuffs to your left and a guy on your right that looks like he's been molested by a rainbow."

Unlike Utakata, Yagura had no such luck in finding those people without risking being obvious. The descriptions were fairly useful though, most of the people here looked the same anyway. That made the ones who didn't stand out even more so. "Fuu, how're things on your end?" he asked, turning his eyes to the last open space; the area to the left. He couldn't see Fuu at all in the crowds, and he had a good idea why.

"Eww… it stinks over here!" Fuu complained, putting her hand over her nose as she backed up against the stone wall behind her. Bare armpits filled her sight as she saw sweat drip down the bodies of the men all around her. It was clear that out of the three of them she was enjoying herself the least. "I don't see anyone in particular, but some of these guys don't look as dirty as the rest."

Yagura lowered his hand from the transceiver; it seemed most likely that those were also Shinobi in disguise. In a small country like Nami, manual labour took majority to skilled labour. That meant that at the end of a long day, it was improbable that one would prioritise personal hygiene over unwinding. And besides, there weren't that many skilled labourers who would risk being in such a place.

There was one thing that troubled Yagura however. It was something he just couldn't put his finger on, despite his efforts. Their employer had hired them from the fear that Konoha Shinobi were planning on shutting down his operation. True enough, it looked like there were such Shinobi present at this time. So whether their employer had good intelligence or just had luck with paranoia, it seemed that there would be action taken on this mission after all.

"But if there's this many Shinobi, we won't be able… to…" Yagura thought, his words trailing off as his eyes slowly widened. Down below the fight had come to an end, cheers coming from one side of the room while groans and boos came from the other. As the two fighters left, only one of whom walked, two came in and replaced them. It was these two that sparked Yagura's thoughts, they both fit the steadily growing paradigm forming in the situation. Carefully, and so not to cause alarm, he raised his eyes and looked around once more. "So many Shinobi… this isn't a sting…"

"It's a crackdown." Utakata said, fixing his eyes on Yagura with his fingers pressed against the transceiver. Yagura and Fuu both slowly raised their gazes to stare at Utakata, their expressions stunned as their lips parted. Yagura and Utakata in particular met each other's gazes. They both knew it; this situation was about to go to hell.


"Gah, what a pain." Naruto muttered, rubbing his sodden hair with a towel as he left the baths and headed inside. The dogs were still swimming around quite contentedly, though had been warned that if anyone were to show up they were to disappear immediately.

Naruto had slipped into his slacks, but carried his haori and bandages hooked over his free arm so not to get them too wet. The hallway of the inn was empty of anyone but himself, it seemed like all the other occupiers where either eating or sleeping. At least he didn't have to worry about comments of indecency then; he was still trying to work out why people gave him nervous looks just because of the way he dressed.

"Ah well, guess I'll get something to eat too." he thought, making his way back to the room he had purchased for the night to collect his wallet. He hung the towel over his arm as he slid the door open, heading inside so he could properly change. "Hey, I think Akira and the others are gonna need another obedience drill." he said, dropping his towel and haori on the floor as he began wrapping the bandages around his arm. "They're starting to get a little cocky, Y'know?"

It didn't take him long to finish replacing the bandages, soon his arms were completely wrapped again. He made to pick his haori up and throw that on, but then he paused with a creased brow. He straightened up and turned his head to look at the corner to his right. In just a few moments, his expression turned from confusion to shock. The Ekokaeten was gone.

"Eko?" Naruto called, stupidly wondering if the blade had moved since he last put him down. He glanced around the room, his thoughts confirmed as he realised he had made no mistake. And there was no doubt in his mind either; with a blade that big and heavy, whoever took it was definitely picking a fight with him.

"Oh, I get it!" he thought, his shock disappearing as a smile appeared on his face. He looked to the wide open window; he now understood just what was happening. A chuckle passed his lips as he headed towards the opening in the wall, which headed out into a vast crevice littered with trees here and there. It was out to this vast emptiness that Naruto now looked, a slow grin spreading across his lips as his hair obscured his eyes. "Guess I'll put off dinner for now."

Gripping the sides of the window tight, he placed his foot on the sill and pulled himself up to a crouched position. He slowly searched the landscape with strong scrutiny; there was no immediate trail to speak of. And at this distance, it would be impossible to call Eko back to him. He considered calling Shinmaru to help track down the thief, out of the six dogs his sense of smell was the strongest. But he decided against it, he would do this on his own.

Hopping out onto the ground outside, Naruto began slowly stepping over to the cliff face just fifty yards away. Soon he was looking down into the vast valley below, where water from the hot springs and other locations cascaded down in the form of thin waterfalls all around. It was a sheer drop, Naruto wondered if the owners of the inn had maybe made a poor choice of location. From where he was standing, he could only just make out the face of the cliff before him. It seemed to incline slightly inwards, hence the small falls dropping instead of trickling down the rocks. Naruto's decision was now certified; he would have to go this way.

Taking a few steps back, he rolled his shoulders to make sure his bandages weren't too tight. He looked straight ahead, his eyes fading out of focus as he tested several little details. The wind was blowing south east, drifting across the left side of him and floating on by. The air was a little thin, though that was to be expected from this height. And the temperature was very warm; if not for the thin steam pouring over from the baths Naruto would have been dry by now.

"All right." he thought, taking several deep breaths. His eyes came back into focus and set themselves on the cliff ahead. He hadn't done this very often; there were few cliffs like this place down in Hi or Mizu no Kuni. After a moments pause, he was fully prepared. Breaking from his standing position straight into a sprint, Naruto dashed straight for the edge. Then, putting all his weight into his legs, he leapt off the cliff face and into the empty sky. "I'll come find you."


The noises of the people filling the basement complex were as loud as ever, their voices melding into one indecipherable call. But for all the effect it had, the place could as well have been silent; not Yagura, Utakata or even Fuu had the focus to even hear these booming sounds, nor see what was right in front of them.

"A… crackdown?" Fuu repeated, her eyes wide as she stared at the ground. She barely even noticed the cold wall on her back, nor tried to hide her pressing the transceiver behind adjusting her hair. A foreboding sense of dread had come with the utterance of the word, but she wasn't sure why. "What's that?"

"It means that these guys are aiming to take down every last person here." Yagura replied, without hesitation. He was the first to recover, and the first to begin his more thorough analysis of the crowd. They were lucky that they hadn't been spotted, but he had a feeling that luck was being rather mischievous today. "The fighters, the guys running the place, and even the spectators."

Utakata looked up at Yagura as he said this, his brow creasing with a distressed look. His teeth clenched and his hands tightened, of all things to happen this was beyond what he had expected. "And here I thought Konoha was peaceful." he muttered, with a darkening expression. He couldn't see the sense behind such an act, surely shutting the place down was enough? Was it really necessary to got this far?

Fuu, getting caught up by the solemn words her companions spoke, began looking between the places she imagined them to be worriedly. This mission was sounding to be even more serious than her last one; at least there it had only been a single rogue ninja. "W-what do we do?" she asked, hoping this situation wouldn't turn into something really dangerous. Her hopes were hindered however as no immediate reply came; the other two were hesitating.

"There's no way of knowing just how many Shinobi are actually here, there could be more outside as well." Yagura said, more voicing his thoughts than directly saying anything. This was because while he spoke, his mind was going into overdrive as he considered the situation as carefully as he could. "This mission could be a little out of our depth… what do you think?"

If anything was going to test Fuu's faith, it was this. She was shaken by Yagura's question; she didn't want a decision like this to be placed on her. Utakata too was troubled; it was more in his nature to follow orders than come to his own conclusions. But he knew that in this case it was unavoidable. Between the three of them, it was only Fuu who was unable to come up with an answer.

"All right… guess we'll need to do something soon." Yagura said, when he was feeling a little surer of their thoughts. He took a pause and breathed deeply, readying himself to voice his decision. Once he was ready, his eyes focused and his expression became fixed. "Ok, we'll need to-"

"Sorry niisan." Utakata interrupted, catching the younger boy by surprise. Yagura creased his brow as he looked at Utakata's face; the elder boy's eyes were obscured by his hair. He slowly searched his friend's face, wondering what he was going to say. "You mind if I take over?"

Yagura blinked, this was an unexpected thing for the normally passive Utakata to request. It was that, coupled with the unreadable look on his face that made Yagura frown uncertainly. "Utakata, what're you thinking?" he asked, unable to figure out what was going on in his companion's mind.

Utakata took a moment to respond, before raising his head. He met Yagura's eyes with a smile, but that didn't make his expression any less serious. "We need to make sure at least our employer gets out of here." he said, turning his eyes over to the place where he knew their third companion was. "Fuu-chan, can you handle that?"

Fuu's eyes widened in surprise as she was given a task, she hadn't expected to be given anything specific to do. "Ah, hai." she replied, with a dumb look on her face. She lifted her head and looked around her, locating the room that their employer was probably inhabiting at this moment. "I think I can do that."

Utakata gave an unneeded nod of thanks at Fuu's cooperation, before turning his gaze to Yagura. The straw haired boy met Utakata's smile with a stony expression, he was clearly getting a bad feeling. "Then, niisan, I'll need you to make sure it's safe outside." he said, knowing that he wouldn't need to ask, but also knowing that it wouldn't be that simple.

"What about you?" Yagura asked, cutting straight to the point. He so far understood what Fuu's role was, and his own was pretty clear. But his bad feeling was growing; what was it that Utakata-. Then it hit him. There was only one thing Utakata could do in that situation. "No way, don't do it Utakata!"

"You're being too loud niisan." Utakata replied, still smiling warmly at his friend. "We probably won't be able to just leave, we need to make sure that they're too occupied to notice." he finished, before giving a small wave with one hand, and removing his earpiece.

Yagura's teeth clenched as he realised Utakata fully intended to go ahead with what he said. He even watched as his fellow ex-Kiri-nin drew a tanto from the folds of his kimono, before disappearing into the crowds. "Shit!" he thought, as he turned around and headed away himself. As much as he hated it, joining in the fight would probably get them both killed. And so he headed out to do as Utakata asked, reluctant though he may have been.

Watching from over his shoulder, Utakata saw Yagura disappear, and from a glance ahead was sure that Fuu was gone too. That was good, he could now move ahead with his plan freely. "If it's just me, Konoha won't come chasing after us." he thought, as he located the closest disguised Shinobi, the one with the thick, wavy hair, and carefully walked up behind him.

Once he had neared a certain distance, he noticed that person tense up. That was almost enough to confirm his thoughts that this guy really was a Shinobi, but he just needed to check to be sure. "Hey, someone knocked my transceiver, you got a spare?" he asked, gripping his tanto at the ready. The man in front of him seemed to relax a little, turning his head to look back.

"Uh, sure, I think-" was as much as he managed to say. With a flick of his wrist Utakata slashed the undercover ninja's throat with his blade. The Shinobi blinked in surprise, before blood started bursting from the thick opening in his neck. "GRAHHH!"

"Guess it's time…" Utakata thought, his eyes hidden by shadows as he kept his blade held at neck level. The spraying blood and death cry of the Shinobi drew the attention of everyone nearby, his yells soon mixing with others as they realised someone had been killed. As people began to rush for the exit, the suspicious people staying put, Utakata lowered his hands and kept his head bowed, his lips devoid of any expression. "… Let's see then… if I really am…"


The air beat hard against Naruto's skinny body, striking his shoulders and numbing his skin. It was at this time that he really wished he'd brought his haori, but there was no sense in thinking about it now. Instead he channelled his focus to his descent; the ground below was quickly becoming clearer to see.

He had heard of other people who liked to do things like these. Adrenaline junkies, some would call them. Though to be honest, Naruto couldn't quite see the thrill in such a thing. Maybe it was the fact that he found the heat of battle to be much more exciting, or maybe it was just that his training as a Shinobi meant that there was little to no doubt that he would come out of this alive. In either case, whatever feeling those people got, he wasn't receiving.

Well, that wasn't strictly true. He knew what was coming ahead, and that made him very excited. Indeed, if not for his rapid fall his grin would be much broader. However, he doubted his head could hold that much wind flapping into his mouth, so he kept his lips sealed tight. This wasn't to last too much longer however; the end of his little trip was finally coming into sight.

He glanced around him to judge the distance between his body and the rock wall. Once he had confirmed it, he clapped his hands together in a method he seldom used, but needed to make sure he accurately regulated his chakra. When he was certain, he released it to the open air, the Fuuton: Reppusho thrusting him back to the cliff face.

Once his momentum had been set, he slowly flipped through the air and planted his feet on the wall, before leaping straight down from there. He bounded off several jutting pieces of rock, before finally reaching a place close enough to be called the bottom. With one final flip, Naruto struck the ground in a crouched position, one leg outstretched to the side as he pressed his hands against the ground.

"Alright…" he thought, smirking to himself as he steadily raised his head. He could see the falls from the near incalculable height above strike the ground down here, forming into streams amongst the boulders and heading in the same rough direction. His heart was racing and his breaths came in hard lungfuls, but for some reason he couldn't wipe the smirk from his face. "That was pretty awesome."

After a moment's recuperation he slowly got to his feet, his numb body a little unsettled. But his blood was pumping back fast; he was getting pins and needles all over his torso just from the slightest movement. It was enough to make him shiver, which was unfortunate considering that it only triggered more of the same.

"Hey, you're here aren't you?" he called, looking around with a confident expression. He could almost sense the presence of another person, but his internal systems were a little frazzled at the moment. Fortunately that person was on to make their presence known, in the form of the Ekokaeten appearing just beside Naruto with the tip embedding into the earth. Naruto casually looked up over his shoulder, finding the person who threw the blade. "It's been a long time…"