A.N.: Because everybody asked so nicely, here comes another chapter. The next one is still in writing and because I'm a bit stuck now, I can't tell how fast the updating would be. So read and enjoy!

A.N.2: Now reposted with less grammar and spelling errors.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Amegakure~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The word traveled fast through the Elemental Nations. Soon everybody knew what had occurred in Suna. Sure, nobody knew exactly what had happened, though many people 'knew' and made no secret of it. But no matter the quality of information a person received, there was one thing they were all certain about: There was going to be a war. And Hidden Rain was going to be caught in the middle, as usual. Hanzo Salamander was cursing the unfortunate geographical location of his country. With borders shared with three of the major shinobi nations, namely Wind, Earth and Fire, and some minor, like Grass, Bird and River, whenever those three so-called great ones decided to clash it inevitably happened in their territory.

And war was going to happen, that much he knew. Sure, the nations would play at diplomacy for a while, pestering each other with outrageous requests, but that was just a front to make it look like it was someone else's fault and also to give them time to mobilize. This latest mess caught everybody unprepared.

The old village leader smashed his fist into the table and watched the desk shatter with small satisfaction. This war couldn't have come at a worse time. Not too long after the Third Great Shinobi War had ended, a civil war broke out in their country. He didn't know who lead the other party and he had punished many of his spies for their inadequacy. The only thing he knew for sure was that they claimed to want peace. Fools the lot of them. They were the ones who had started the war first place. He knew that many people didn't want his rule, but he was doing what was the best for Ame. He didn't want to see rampaging armies running amok through his country ever again. He had enough of it to last him for several lifetimes. He did his best to prevent it and that was to make Ame strong enough that the Great Five would rather pick another battlefield. People complained that he impoverished them with his taxes and high military costs, but did they already forget that war was far worse? Couldn't they see he was trying to protect them? Apparently not.

He ran a hand through his long white hair. He had to find a way out of this mess, but sadly nothing came to him. The only thing that was obvious was that he couldn't afford to wage war at two fronts. He wished he could just deal with the rebels swiftly, but they were hidden well. Well, it wasn't like he had a choice. He sat down to the spare desk in his room and started writing out orders. Send more scouts, deploy more troops, maybe raise the bounties for every rebel's head? Nah, their treasury was already almost empty. If he was religious, he would have prayed. But life had gotten such tendencies out of him a long time ago.

He finished and stood up to hand the scrolls to his assistant. Then something made him pause. The silhouette of the jounin on guard around his office seemed different than before. Was the guard changing already over? He checked the clock. Nope, there still was almost an hour to go. So what then? His paranoia flared up. Could it be another assassination attempt by the rebels? They had tried it enough times to know it was futile.

He sighed and silently created a Water Clone. He let it open the screen separating his office from the rest of the world while he himself hit behind the table. It proved to be a wise decision. The clone was destroyed by no less than four kunai with explosive tags the moment it stepped out of the room. Hanzo swore under his breath. There was water everywhere. The ink on his painfully done paperwork was dissolving in it and making blue splotches all over it. Didn't they have any consideration for hard effort? He'll have to work for a week overtime to catch up with the bureaucracy. The assassins would be coming down in an especially painful manner.

They didn't wait for him to counterattack. Before he could think of the most painful way to send them off to the next world, the ceiling above him crumbled, sending huge pieces of rubble falling onto him. 'So they're good,' he thought. 'Well, they had to be to dispose of my guards silently. All the better, I didn't have a really enjoyable fight in ages.' He didn't even have to think about what he was doing. He created a shield above himself and at the same time sent a Bunshin jumping out of his hiding place, acting like he was trying to escape from the downpour of rocks. Quite predictably it was hit with a hail of senbon the moment it appeared. This alerted Hanzo to one of his opponents' positions. He threw a handful of kunai with explosive tags at him. There was no more need to be worrying about the documents lying in his office, they were ruined anyway.

The man, wearing a scratched Rain hitai-ate, like all the rebels did, jumped out of the way, exactly as the legendary ninja expected him to. Another set of Explosive Tags was already in the air, and those were his special secret design. They could move on their own and they homed in on humans. The little tags of paper stuck to the assassin's legs and refused to get off. Hanzo had no time to watch as they ignited. The man's companions were upon him in an instant.

The Doton user who had brought the ceiling down on him used another jutsu to make spikes rise from the ground. The old shinobi pulled a quick Kawarimi with one of his bookcases. Too bad for him that one of his attackers had expected this. He noticed a violent wave of water rushing towards him as soon as he materialized. But he didn't get to be an old shinobi without being really good. He was already moving before he could finish his thoughts. He jumped back, his hands flashing through seals. A wall of earth materialized between him and the attack, stopping the approaching wave harmlessly.

His ears caught the sound of an explosion. It sounded like his first opponent was out of the game. The quiet swish of air being cut with a blade was nearly drowned in the crash. But Hanzo had survived countless battles by being able to pick up such little clues and act accordingly. He pivoted on his heel faster than most of the ninja were capable of, with a few exceptions. He blocked the approaching sword with his forearm guard. He never went anywhere without his full armor lately and his precautions were paying off. The swordsman had barely enough time to blink in surprise when Hanzo's fist shot forward. The assassin was very good that he managed to raise his arm to his defense. Hanzo's armored fist only ripped through his sleeve and broke one of his bones. The old village leader didn't give his opponent a fraction of a second to recover and pressed on his attack. His right foot shot forward. The assassin jumped back to avoid it, but the kick was only a feint. A small pulse of chakra activated the senbon launcher in the sole. The poisoned needles embedded themselves in the attacker's thigh. It would be only a matter of time before he was completely paralyzed.

Hanzo didn't let his guard down. He could name dozens of shinobi for whom it was the last thing they ever did. He threw a kunai at his opponent. The man still had enough strength left to parry. Then a small rumble warned the white-haired ninja of somebody approaching. He leapt away, whirling around while still in the air, but he couldn't see anybody. Then he noticed a piece of rubble move. 'Meisai Gakure no Jutsu,' he recognized. 'That's Iwa's technique, and a highly treasured one. Are they from there?'

He filed the question for later. Idle musings during a fight were a sure way into an early grave. He threw another shower of kunai, forcing the masked assassin to reveal himself. A resounding clank made him know where a kunai was blocked. A series of handseals was already finished by the time. He spat a jet of water, the stream forming into the shape of a serpent. It impacted with the masked shinobi head on. The man was sent crashing into the nearest wall.

He was only mildly surprised when he noticed three kunai with Explosive Tags flying towards him. So the swordsman wasn't down from the poison yet. He'll have to finish him off later. He switched with another bookcase. The kunai slammed into it, the activated tags blowing it into smithereens. The shockwave from the explosion finally sent the poisoned man to unconsciousness he wouldn't be waking from. It should be only two or three of them now. Piece of cake for Hanzo.

This particular cake proved itself a bit hard to chew when the ground below him changed into a pair of giant hands trying to squash him. He jumped from the spot before they could do so. 'Another Iwa jutsu. It seems they indeed are from there. Does old Oonoki really think he can get rid of me so easily? He should have come himself to do so.'

He noticed a hail of kunai flying at him while he was still midair. He had no way of dodging. He quickly spat a stream of water, deflecting the deadly projectiles. He noticed the ground he was sailing to turning into mud. The office's floor was concrete. 'Crap, this is getting nasty.' He bit his hand and formed five seals. A salamander materialized under him, small enough to fit into the room, big enough to swallow a man whole.

"Get him, Kanetsu," he commanded. The summon didn't need to be told twice. His tongue shot out of his mouth, tasting the air, searching for his masked target. He located him within a second. A jet of flame flew out of its mouth, hitting the man dead on. He barely had the time to scream before the superheated flames of the Salamander clan cooked him alive.

His partner didn't seem a bit bothered by his teammate's gruesome fate. He used another Earth jutsu to try and dispel the summoned creature. He didn't get enough time to finish his handseals. The salamander's tongue shot out once more, hitting him square in the chest. The tongue stuck to him like glue, bringing him into the animal's mouth. One gulp and it was over for him.

For Hanzo, it still wasn't time to relax. His finely-honed senses told him there was still one more opponent. Kanetsu slowly turned his head. 'So there,' Hanzo thought. He still couldn't see anything. It didn't surprise him anymore, he already knew his enemy knew the Meisai Gakure. The soft flickering of Kanetsu's tongue let him know where exactly the man was. He launched two kunai at him and was rewarded with a hiss of pain when one of them found its mark. The assassin lost his concentration and became visible again.

"Restrain him," he commanded his summon. Kanetsu obliged and soon the man found himself bound with his elastic tongue. Hanzo watched the man carefully. It was the same one he had flung into the wall with his Water serpent. How he was still moving after such hit was a mystery, but the aged village leader could tell he wouldn't be able to do so for much longer. Even now the man was bleeding profoundly.

"Who sent you here?" he asked. No answer. Not that he expected one, but it never hurt to be polite. The man only stared at him with blank face. It was strange considering how much pain he had to be in. The man must have an extraordinary discipline. Hanzo ever saw such in very few shinobi.

"Answer or the pain you're feeling now would be nothing compared to what I'll put you through." Once again, no reaction. The man only struggled some more. Then his body suddenly arched and after a moment he went limp. Hanzo sighed. He really wished to know who had sent them. They didn't seem like the regular run-of-the-mill rebels, but he wasn't entire convinced they were Iwa ninja either. Everything sure pointed that way, though not too obviously, but Hanzo was an old ninja and he didn't take anything at face value anymore. He started looking through the dead assassins' possessions. So far everything he found belonged to either Ame or Iwa. He was almost convinced that they were indeed Rock shinobi, when he noticed something about the swordsman he poisoned. His torn sleeve revealed a fresh cut and an old scar. A curved scar located between two prominent freckles. He realized where he had seen it before.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Flashback~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It happened during the last year of the Second Great Shinobi War. The warring parties were already exhausted and they would be seeking truce soon. Now was the time when the outcome would be decided. The efforts of years of struggle could be nullified by one word from a diplomat, by a few brushstrokes on paper. It was a difficult time, but also a time of great opportunity. And Hanzo was determined to take it.

There was a small group of shinobi within his country, who were trying to gain peace. It sounded like a nice idea to Hanzo. If he was the one to lead the negotiations that would end the war, it would bring prestige and honor to him and his country. It was risky and prone to fail, but it was the best prospect he had. But he wasn't known as a negotiator or a peace activist, and he most likely wouldn't be believed if he called in for a peace conference. Everybody would think it was a trap. The initiative had to come from a more credible source, so he decided to bring the group in to help. It would be better to have them on his side than against him after all. Amegakure didn't need any more enemies then it already had.

But almost as soon as he sent out the first message, he was approached with another prospect. Shimura Danzo of Konoha had offered him alliance for some services that would help Danzo. He read the message over and over. If it was true, it would secure the position of him and his country and it wouldn't put him in as much jeopardy as trying to settle it peacefully would. With a strong ally at their side, they would be with the winners and Ame would become a force to be reckoned with. But in this plan, there was no more place for the peace activists. Their movement would hinder his new plan and what would be worse, it would undermine his authority. 'Sorry, kiddies, you'll have to go.'

The plan was simple enough. He and his forces alongside with some of Danzo's would ambush the peace group where they were supposed to meet for negotiation. They would wipe them out with their superior numbers and skills and they would be done with it. Then they would proceed to strengthen their positions, mutually helping each other.

For a while it seemed it would work out. They had successfully surrounded the much smaller group of children and he had taken a blue-haired kunoichi friend of their leader hostage. They even convinced the leader, Yahiko, to commit suicide. How that fool ever believed he would let his girlfriend go he never understood. Well, idealists and their naïveté. Though, in hindsight, maybe he had been the naïve one.

Then Danzo gave an order to slaughter them all. What happened next still haunted him in his nightmares. The red-haired one had glared at him with Rinnegan eyes, something that wasn't supposed to exist outside of legends. Then he had summoned… something, he had no better name for it. A spectral serpent had come out of Its mouth and whoever It touched had dropped dead. He had lost nearly two dozens of his best jounin that day. It was a sore blow to Amegakure's strength. He himself had saved his life only through a quick escape. He wasted no time in searching out Danzo.

The one-eyed ANBU commander was running at top speed away from the disaster scene. And disaster it was for all parties involved. Hanzo quickly caught up with him. One of the two guards protecting him moved to intercept him. The Salamander batted his arm away. With a kunai. He was in no mood for pleasantries. Blood spewed from the man's arm, but he paid no heed to it. He and his partner moved to attack him again.

"Stop," Danzo commanded.

"Well, what have you to say for yourself?" Hanzo growled.

"What do you have to say for yourself?" Danzo retorted.

"What do you mean? This was your plan!"

"And you provided the intel," the ROOT commander pointed out calmly. "Why didn't you report their power?"

'Because I had no idea,' Hanzo thought, but refrained from saying it aloud. "Why did you insist on killing them all after their leader was dead? They would be harmless without him."

"It's unwise to leave an enemy alive," Danzo growled.

"It's unwise to make needless enemies," he shot back.

"Our world is full of enemies. You should know that." The warhawk sounded like he was lecturing a stupid child. Hanzo didn't take such tone from anyone.

"Of course I do," he spat. "But for you, there is nothing but enemies. You know what, Danzo? Our deal is off. I don't want you to drag me into another disaster like this."

"You're making a mistake." His voice didn't even sound threatening when he said that, he was merely stating a fact.

"Whatever," the white-haired man shrugged. "And now get out of my territory before I change my mind."

Before the Konoha trio left, he got one good look at the arm he had cut earlier.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~End flashback~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He was now looking at exactly the same arm, only the fresh wound had turned into a faded scar. There was no doubt, this was the same man that had been with Danzo on That Day, as he privately called it. If he didn't notice it, there would be no way for him to tell the men weren't from Iwa. 'So you wanted me to think the Tsuchikage wanted to get rid of me? You wanted me to side with you again? Like anything good ever came out of that.' He smiled grimly. 'No, you old coot, no more. I'll teach you to mess with Sanshouuo no Hanzo!'

Three days later Ame signed a treaty with Iwa. Soon after that the war began in earnest.

The first shinobi of Konoha to notice it was a team patrolling the border of Ame. They were doing their routine runs, still fresh after leaving the base, supposed to spend another four days in the perpetually rainy climate near the Rain Country. When they noticed the movement in the bamboo forest, they made the mistake of going to investigate. When they realized they encountered a superior force of Iwa ninja, they were already surrounded. They put up a valiant fight, but they were hopelessly outnumbered. None of them escaped.

The base near the border didn't get an advance warning. The Rock Ninja swarmed them like angry wasps. They managed to repel the first attack and send a message to Konoha, but eventually they were overpowered. Before the Iwa forces could push any further, reinforcements from Konoha arrived and stopped them. The frontlines were established.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Near the frontlines~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Because they were a newly promoted team of chuunin, they weren't sent to the battlefield right off the bat. They were even on the mission together with Tenzo-sensei. Their objective was simple: escort a convoy of provisions to a border fortress. Because of the importance of the delivery, there was another team of chuunin consisting of Hagane Kotetsu, Kamizuki Izumo and Akame Iwana with them. Their commander was the tokubetsu jounin Mitarashi Anko.

Naruto was glad they were going on a mission with her. She was always fun to be with, though often in a creepy way, and since the war broke out she didn't show up as often as she used to do. Two of her subordinates, Izumo and Kotetsu, were good company as well. The third not so. His single eye was piercing Naruto with a particularly unfriendly glare. The blond was used to it, more so after the Tsuchikage's letter, but he usually didn't have to stand one particular hateful person for so long. The tension this caused within their group was getting at everybody's nerves. In the end, Hana was the first one who decided to break it. They were currently traveling through an agricultural region, rice fields lining the road on both sides, no place to set an ambush anywhere in sight. It was a good area for a conversation.

"Hey, Iwana, what is your problem?"

"What do you mean?" the one-eyed chuunin retorted.

"Why do you keep scowling at my teammate like that?" she clarified.

"And why shouldn't I?" he shot back.

"It's getting on my nerves," she explained.

"And he is getting on mine," Iwana growled. "I can't stand to see him walking around like nothing happened!"

"And I can't stand to see you insult my teammate," the Inuzuka growled back. The Haimaru triplets growled with her.

"Leave it alone," Naruto said.

"I can't," the dog mistress refused. "No matter what you still think, the war isn't your fault."

"Yes," the boy sighed, "you keep saying that."

"And we'll keep repeating it until you get it," Hotaru added.

"Say whatever you want, it's still that brat's fault," Iwana refused to change his opinion.

"And you better not say anything," Tenzo interjected. "You're only disrupting our teamwork. Surely you don't want to be accused on sowing discord within the unit. Do you know what the penalty for doing it during wartime is?"

The one-eyed man gulped. He knew it very well.

"Or you might keep talking if you want," Anko added. "I'd actually prefer if you did. I haven't killed anybody in… eight days? My my, the time is running by so fast."

"Whole unit of freaks," Iwana muttered.

"What was that?" the Snake Mistress asked all too sweetly.

"Nothing." He put on his best innocent face.

"I thought as much," she nodded. "Little chuunin like you shouldn't use such words around their betters." Iwana shot her a dirty glare, but said nothing.

"Don't be so harsh at him," Izumo said. "He's probably just jealous that you're all so famous while he is not."

"That sounds right," Kotetsu nodded. "Everybody heard about Anko and Naruto, but who ever heard of some Akame Iwana?"

"I certainly didn't," the younger chuunin with bandanna replied. "But Naruto, he will get far. So young and he already writes history."

"That's quite a feat," his spiky-haired friend agreed. "What were we doing at his age?"

"Flunking the Academy?" Izumo offered.

"No," Kotetsu shook his head, "that was a year later. Wasn't it when we blew up the janitors' closet with our homemade Explosive Tags?"

"I thought those were smoke bombs," Izumo replied.

"No, Smoke Bombs don't do so much damage," his partner disagreed.

"That's what we thought. We wouldn't use them there anyway."

"Wouldn't we?" Kotetsu raised an eyebrow.

"Well, back then we probably would," Izumo admitted. "But we aren't like that anymore! We haven't blown up a closet in… how long was it?"

"Last year," the man with the bandage over his nose supplied. "During the mission to Border Town."

"Oh, that was quite something," Izumo smiled at the fond memory. "We shouldn't show our faces in there for… at least another year."

"So as we said, we are good for causing small trouble, but we never did anything big. Starting a war, that's far outside our reach. Only a truly great character could accomplish that." By the time they finished, everybody's mood was brightened by the light, teasing tone of their bickering. Even Naruto was smiling. Iwana occasionally shot him a dark glance, but everybody ignored him.

"You see it, Tiny? Your reputation is preceding you," Hana teased.

"Would you please stop calling me Tiny?" the blond scowled. "I'm a chuunin now."

"I'll stop calling you Tiny whenever you stop being the smallest on the team," the clan heiress retorted. Naruto scowled and then eyed his teammates. He reached barely to Hana's shoulders and with Hotaru it was even worse. Then his eyes landed on the Haimaru siblings. Despite their fast growth, they were still puppies. The Inuzuka noticed the direction of his glance. "No, Tiny, dogs don't count."

The Haimaru barked. To an outside observer it sounded like they were complaining about being called insignificant, but the members of Team Tenzo knew better. The triplets detected enemies. The freshly promoted chuunin tensed. They tried to act like they noticed nothing, but they couldn't keep their hands from straying near their kunai pouches, their eyes from darting across the rice fields, searching for a place that could be concealing enemies. Anko noticed their sudden change of demeanor.

"What's going on?" she asked in Konoha's secret sign language. Aloud she said: "Even they would outgrow him in a couple of years."

The three canines barked happily. At least that was what it was supposed to sound as. In fact they were reporting their findings about the enemy.

"Enemy ahead," Hana signaled back. "Approximately ten of them. Strength unknown." "You hear that, Tiny," she teased. "Give them two or three years and they'll be like Kuromaru. So you'd better do some fast growing in the meantime, or they might mistake you for snack."

"They'd rather not even try," he scowled at them dangerously. "I think I smell them as well."

By that time everybody was aware of the danger and they were covertly shifting into battle positions.

It didn't take long for them to reach the ambush site. Whoever made it marked it clearly by a huge puddle in the middle of an otherwise dry road. The members of the Konoha party had hard time not to scoff aloud. How could the enemy be so stupid?

It turned out they weren't. While the Leaf teams were preparing for danger ahead, the real attack came from behind. Only those with finely-honed chakra senses had an advance warning. When Tenzo shouted "Duck!" the massive wave was almost upon them. Naruto didn't waste a second to obey, but he was already too late. The wave slammed into him full force, pushed him to the ground, then some counter-current lifted him up and dragged him somewhere to the fields. The young chuunin struggled to get to the surface, but the water didn't allow him. There was chakra in it, hindering his movement. He couldn't even use the bottom to stand up, his feet sunk deep into the mud. He tried for a Kawarimi, but the enemy chakra around disrupted the flow of his own.

'Crap, I have to do something or I'll drown here,' he thought. Unfortunately in all his training there was nothing that would prepare him for this situation. They had trained fighting underwater a bit, but never being held beyond the surface by a jutsu.

He was about to panic, when he noticed a shadow moving towards him through the rice stalks. 'Enemy!' He spun as fast as he could. It was just in time to redirect the man's kunai jab away from his torso. It was barely enough, but his flak jacket blocked the blade before it could reach his skin. He reached over his shoulder and took out his ninjato. Charging Wind chakra into the blade was reflex now, but there was no air to form the sharpened extension. He swung his weapon at the enemy, but his movement was hindered by the water and the man evaded skillfully. Before he lost sight of him, Naruto got a glimpse of his breather. Even if he couldn't see his hitai-ate in the murky water, he was pretty sure he was facing a Rain nin.

The currents of the water shifted slightly. Naruto didn't need any more warning. He swung his sword over his shoulder. He was rewarded by the sound of escaping bubbles when the attacker let out a silent scream after Naruto's blade sliced into his biceps. It seemed that even underwater the Wind chakra could sharpen edges.

Naruto felt the chakra in the water around him dissipating. The pain must have broken the Ame ninja's concentration and he lost control of the technique. The blond wasted no time in swimming to the surface. It surprised him how close it actually was. 'The jutsu must concentrate on making the surface solid,' he theorized.

He took a deep breath as soon as he could. He shook his head rapidly to get the water out of his eyes and took a moment to survey the situation. The carts from the supply caravan were randomly lying around, most of them overturned and dunked in the muddy water. 'The garrison isn't going to be happy,' shot through his mind.

He scrambled to the surface of the water and stood up. There was no way he was getting entangled within the rice stalks again. He barely straightened, when the Rain shinobi sprung from the water, trying to pierce him through. Naruto took a desperate leap away. He almost made it, he received only a shallow cut on his thigh. The Rain shinobi was upon him in an instant. Naruto barely managed to block his stab with his sword. He didn't even have the time to charge the blade with chakra again. The force behind the attack sent him skidding across the surface. The masked ninja pressed his attack. It looked like Naruto was in for a tough fight.

The end for now.

Next time: Battle (obviously).