Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. This is fanfiction, after all.
Forests beyond the Great Naruto Bridge, Wave Country – April 11, AK 22
Shikamaru was leading a scouting expedition because of some unsettling rumors about a dark ghost roaming around in Wave Country. They had no other leads on where this cloaked man might be. And if Shikamaru thought about it, given the possible link between Sasuke and the cloaked man, the place of Sasuke's first mission might be as good of a start as any other possible place.
Their current mission was to confirm the identity of and gather any information. It was officially listed as A-rank with the potential to be moved up to S-rank.
"We have arrived," Shikamaru commanded, "Let's stop here. Phoenix, is this area clear?"
Phoenix knelt down and opened up a scroll as dozens of ink mice came from all directions, "All clear, Commander."
He nodded. "Good, now take off your masks and transform."
"Roger," the three chorused as he himself transformed.
Shikamaru looked around as his three subordinates took off their masks. The three faces he saw weren't their original faces, but Shikamaru knew it was Anko (Kappa), Sai (Phoenix), and Aoba (Raven). Anko and Sai were both ANBU captains and thus were given mythical animals as codenames depicting their status. Aoba, while one of the strongest ninjas in the village, had left ANBU for the traditional forces and as such had only a common animal as his codename. All in all, this squad was one of the best, if not the best, Shikamaru was able to put together without negatively affecting Konoha's regular operations.
"Memorize each other's transformed faces. For now, we will continue to use our ANBU codenames. Confirm identity through your chakra tattoos. Do not engage in any fighting and meet back here in a day."
He watched as his three teammates disappeared.
Shikamaru walked to the nearest food shop, disguised as a young entrepreneur. As he bought a few mackerels, his favorite food, he asked the merchant, "Miss, I am interested in starting a business here. While this country is quite prosperous, there seems to be lack of medical herbs. My clan specializes in herbal medicine and I was thinking of setting a branch out here."
The woman smiled as she accepted the money. "Well, we haven't had any shortages in supply even though it does get a bit tiring to go all the way to the mainland to get medicine. The walk across the bridge takes hours. I would say that if you started a business here, you would get a lot of customers among those who don't have the time to cross the bridge. Furthermore, there are still some concerns about safety."
Shikamaru paused at that. Kakashi made it a priority to ensure that all of Konoha's allies were safe. What safety issues could Wave Country possibly have?
"Safety?"
He briefly wondered if this cloaked man was terrorizing the people. Sasuke was never the type to abuse innocents; he was much more concerned about crushing strong opponents.
No, he couldn't think that way. Shikamaru shook his head. He couldn't fall into the trap of automatically assuming that this mysterious man was Sasuke. At this point, nothing was certain and any information would be useful.
"Yes, the bridge itself is long and doesn't connect to an actual port. So occasionally, on the other side of the bridge, people have been robbed."
He frowned at that. Were the people of Wave Country that poor that they couldn't even afford basic protection from bandits?
"Ah, that would be a problem. So what do people do?" Shikamaru asked. It was a leading question, one that could get him some answers.
"You must be new to this place if you haven't heard the rumors going around."
"Rumors?"
"Ah, well, there are rumors that the Daimyo of Wave Country wants to start his own hidden village. We've been far too dependent on Konoha for ninja support. But it takes two weeks to get there by foot so help is slow to come."
Shikamaru furrowed his brow. Ninjas could cross the distance in two days, but he wasn't going to tell her that. In any case, the woman did have a valid point. It would take time to get a message to Konoha and then wait for help to arrive. Even though it might not be the two-week-long wait the woman described, it still wouldn't be immediate help that some of the Wave Country people might need.
He decided to probe further, however. He and Kakashi had not heard any such rumors about a new hidden village; Wave Country was forbidden from pursuing such a goal in its treaty with the Land of Fire and Konoha.
"Ah I see! If Wave Country decides to build a hidden village here, it would make my decision to come here that much easier. I too had been somewhat worried about protecting my business."
The merchant smiled, but shook her head. "I don't want to be the messenger of bad news, but there's nothing substantial yet. After all, rumors are just rumors. I only brought it up because I personally think that the rumors of a hidden village began only because of a small ninja business that started up a few weeks ago, doing tasks that ninjas are good at for bargain prices. At first people were skeptical, but now, whenever people have to travel or get something difficult done, we call them."
"Interesting," he murmured to himself as he thanked the woman and left.
It wasn't quite the information he was looking for but it was something of relevance. Because the Wave Country's relative proximity to Konoha and Wave's good relationship with Naruto, the citizens of Wave Country almost exclusively used the ninja services provided by Konoha.
Was the service that Konoha provided really poor? Shikamaru frowned. No, that couldn't be it. Konoha always encouraged its ninjas to do quality work. Shikamaru gazed at the large bridge in the background. Naruto changed the fortunes of this country around so it wasn't likely that Wave Country was upset at Konoha. Then why were there rumors of wanting to start a hidden village within this country?
And this small ninja business sounded somewhat similar to what Akatsuki had done in the past.
This would merit more investigation later. For now he needed to focus on Sasuke, or whoever this man was.
Shikamaru continued to think to himself until he saw some children playing. There were four of them there, and they playing some game that required them to stay in their own individual boxes as they passed a ball around.
Shikamaru paused and weighed the risks and benefits. While children were often useful sources of information as they spoke without thinking, they also spread the word about your presence. It was a double-edged sword.
He made his decision. "Hi there, kids! I'm an acupuncturist looking to start an herbal medicine business here. I've been traveling around and heard some stories about a scary cloaked man wearing a black mask. You hear anything about that?"
There was a small pause as the children thought on that.
"Oh yeah!" a little girl nodded eagerly. "Everyone's been talking about a dark ghost that comes and goes."
"A ghost?"
"Yup!" this time a little boy spoke up. "They say it's the ghost of the Hero of the Wave, Lord Kaiza, watching over us."
"Meh! I asked that Old Man Tazuna about that. He says it's not true. He agrees that the dark man is watching over us, but that isn't Lord Kaiza."
"That old fart doesn't know anything! He's senile!"
"Hey! He's a nice old man! He's the one who built the Great Naruto Bridge! And he gives me candy every time I see him!"
"That's just something he brags about. Did you see him build it?!" A pause. "No! I thought not! And the candy's just his way of making you like him. You idiot!"
Shikamaru tuned out the arguing kids as he thought about the information he had been given. Tazuna was only an artisan but he had been elevated to minor nobility by the Wave Daimyo after his service to Wave Country. There was no way that the man was senile just yet.
That meant only two options. One, Tazuna wanted to allay fears about a ghost or criminal gallivanting in Wave Country. Two, Tazuna was an ally of the masked man and knew who he was.
The only issue was that there was be no way Tazuna would be helping Sasuke. While Sasuke was technically honorably discharged from Konoha, almost everyone in the Elemental Nations knew that Sasuke was extremely dangerous. Even Tazuna, who owed Sasuke a favor for that ill-fated C-rank mission, would not be so crazy as to help the Uchiha and risk Konoha's ire.
Shikamaru quietly walked away from the children, who were still arguing and insulting one another.
There would only be one way to find out.
Secret Hideout, Wave Country – April 11, AK 22
Ranmaru was facing a browned-haired person who suddenly transformed to a young black-haired man wearing ANBU gear, including a phoenix mask on his head.
"Sai? Did Sensei ask you to contact me?"
"No," Sai answered. "I am currently on an assignment to find a masked man that Konoha is familiar with. I know that you are currently acting as Kokuten and wanted to give you a warning."
Ranmaru frowned. He hadn't expected Konoha to be on his trail already. After all, it had only been two weeks. And he had made sure to cause trouble away from Wave Country. "Your village's intelligence unit is amazing. I've been extremely careful when moving around as Kokuten. To think that they tracked me down all the way to Wave Country."
This wasn't good. Ranmaru knew that Sai was a borderline S-rank ninja. If Konoha was sending someone like him to investigate, it was serious. The rest of his squads were likely to all be elites.
"I like to think that it's more because of your ineptitude, Ranmaru. You were seen by civilians." Ranmaru would have punched the tactless boy in the face if they weren't in such a dire situation. Sai was insufferable with his insults. Even his compliments were backhanded compliments most of the time. "Nonetheless, you don't have too much to worry about. We're in Wave with shoddy intelligence. The head of our intelligence unit, Ibiki Morino, heard from his operatives about rumors of a masked and cloaked man. We're here based on those rumors. Your identity and location haven't been compromised yet."
Ranmaru sighed in relief. He would never admit it to Sai, but it would have been pathetic if he failed his teacher so soon.
"Can you give me an estimate of your squad's battle strength?" Ranmaru asked. "I'm pretty sure I'll be able to escape easily if I'm caught, but it's still better to be prepared."
Sai frowned at this. "I wouldn't be too confident about escaping. I know that your eyes are powerful, but my entire squad is composed of A-ranks. I'm not sure if you received a bingo book with Konoha's ninjas, but my teammates are Aoba Yamashiro, Anko Mitarashi, and Shikamaru Nara. In a straight up fight, you'd be massacred. Even against one of us, you would have a hard time."
"Perhaps," Ranmaru conceded. He wasn't arrogant enough to deny the truth. But ninjas never fought fair and square. With enough preparation, anyone could be taken down. "Well, I recently learned a new technique for high speed movement," Ranmaru explained. "If the only ones here are the ones you named, then I should be fine. In fact, I think Naruto-sensei's the only one who'd be able to catch me from your village."
Sai nodded. "Well, I doubt any one person could beat Naruto at this point. It makes me a bit surprised why they haven't recalled him and sent Naruto after Kokuten. Konoha hasn't been shy about overworking Naruto in the past."
"Who knows?" Ranmaru shrugged. "A change of heart? Maybe they're finally viewing him as more than just a weapon pointed at Konoha's enemies?"
"From Konoha?" Sai shook his head. "Impossible. Konoha is rotten to the core. Even worse than it could have been under Danzo."
Ranmaru wasn't sure if he agreed. Danzo would have thrown the entire world into an endless war. The façade of peace they had been painfully bought by the sacrifices of the poor and of the few good people willing to take hits, but it was better than everyone suffering.
"In any case," Ranmaru said, redirecting the conversation away from an irrelevant topic, "I'm not too concerned about myself. I'm more concerned about little Yuna."
"She's here with you?" Sai asked with a raised eyebrow. "That is quite…" A pause. "Surprise."
Ranmaru knew that was Sai's equivalent of saying, "What the hell?!" Sai kept his emotions tightly controlled and even in situations where Sai tried to express himself, Sai would be at a loss of how to react properly.
Ranmaru didn't blame him. Yuna was strong for her age, but she was still only ten years old. She would be a liability against a squad of elites.
"She's currently out training. I'll have to find her as soon as possible. Your squad is probably looking for any suspicious activity and they'll be able to pick up on her if she continues training."
"Why is Yuna here in the first place?"
"Well, Sempai and Sensei are both gone, so I'm the only one who can take care of her. Naruto-sensei told me to train Yuna while I was here."
Sai somehow managed to look unhappy even with his near expressionless face. "This isn't good. Yuna attracts a lot of attention to herself. If Konoha catches you, the entire plan is ruined. We spent years investing in this project. I've personally managed to gain the trust of a lot of important people in Konoha during that time in order to set them up for a huge fall. But even I don't have the political capital to cover something like this up."
"Then what do you suggest? It's Sensei's will for me to watch over her. And she's young; there's no way she can just live by herself."
Ranmaru waited as the young man thought of a solution.
"Shikamaru is here because he's looking for information about Kokuten. We'll just have to use some misdirection."
"Misdirection?"
"Naruto taught you his Raikiri Current, right?" Sai asked carefully.
Ranmaru nodded. "Yeah, he did. He said he developed it after seeing Sasuke Uchiha use it many times. It's based on your Hokage's Raikiri though and has denser lightning chakra."
"Good," Sai replied with a short nod. "Tomorrow, near this time, my squad is meeting near the Great Naruto Bridge. You need to show up and 'attack' us using lightning attacks, especially the Chidori variants. Once we start giving chase, disappear towards the Land of Fire. If you're as fast as you claim you are, then you should have no problems even with only the Great Naruto Bridge as your sole route of escape. That will turn the investigation away from the Wave Country and might even satisfy Shikamaru enough to go back to Konoha."
"I see," Ranmaru said in a thoughtful voice. "You want me to fool them into thinking that Kokuten is Sasuke. Any particular reason?"
"Being one of the four ANBU sub-commanders, I have access to the most classified documents. It appears that Shikamaru and the Hokage believe Uchiha is Kokuten. If we play this correctly, this should only reinforce their views."
"There's only one problem," Ranmaru answered back. "Sensei doesn't want me to operate inside of the Land of Fire."
"At this point, it's either us investigating Wave Country or you operating in the Land of Fire. Take your pick."
"Naruto-sensei's going to be really mad at me."
That's your problem to deal with," Sai said with an incredibly fake smile. "I'm sure Naruto will just let you off with some minor training to make up for your pathetic deficiencies."
Ranmaru blanched at the idea of "minor training." Naruto-sensei was going to kill him if he disobeyed orders. He groaned as the ANBU operative started to make preparations for their escape plan. Ranmaru knew that his hideout was no longer safe and that they had to destroy it. It would be a pain in the ass constantly being on the move instead of having one hideout, but that was the only plan that they had. If anyone from Konoha managed to catch Yuna, things would get difficult.
Forest near the Great Naruto Bridge, Wave Country – April 11, AK 22
Like his sempai, Ranmaru was a sensor. His particular sensing ability was only active with his eyes on or with his spirit field activated, however, and this time he didn't want to rely on his unique skills too much. He had to diversify his skills.
So it took some time for him to find the blond Yuna Kiyomizu who was improving her archery skills near the small waterfall.
Ranmaru watched her pull her chakra string back on the white wooden bow and create a chakra arrow before firing at a make-shift target she had made about twenty meters away. Judging by the holes, she was hitting the center each time.
Yuna was his sensei's youngest associate. Two years ago, her parents were killed in front of her and she was about to be abused in that way despite her young age. According to Yuna, his sensei had come, had talked to the murderers for a few seconds, and then had moved.
He decided he had had enough and moved to accost her. He made sure to activate his eyes. Yuna was sure to overreact.
"Yuna," he called out. Instantly, her eyes hardened and she leapt into the air.
Ranmaru rolled his eyes as the girl fired a volley of arrows. The girl always overreacted. Ranmaru merely took his staff out and noticed with some pride that there was water-natured chakra in the arrows. To counter, he called upon earth-natured chakra and blocked all the arrows as dirt and smoke were kicked up all around him.
"I bet he's toast! No one sneaks up on Yuna Kiyomizu and lives to tell the tale!"
"Your firing speed improved," Ranmaru said dully as the smoke dissipated with the help of a small wind technique. "On top of that you managed to combine shape manipulation with nature manipulation. Good job with those water arrows."
"Eh?" she pointed at him. "Big Brother Ranmaru? Let's play again!"
Ranmaru nodded and disappeared from her view. The next second he held her up in the air by the neck. The girl hadn't even been able to put up a meager defense. "Yuna, it's clear that you haven't been doing your speed training for the last week. You should have been able to dodge that by now."
"Aww…" she asked, not even bothering to struggle. "I lost too quickly."
Ranmaru dropped her and smiled as she landed on the stream without getting wet. At the very least, the girl had greatly increased her skill in chakra control and manipulation through his training.
"We have a bad situation, Yuna."
"Huh? Really?"
He nodded. "We have some bad people from Konoha chasing us so we'll have to lie low for some time. That means no training and no talking to strangers, okay?"
"Eh?" the girl whined. "But it's boring if I don't train! I'll just beat up all the bad people and make them go away!"
"Yuna," Ranmaru said with all the patience he could muster. It wouldn't do well to yell at a ten-year-old. "We'll worry about beating them up later on. Right now, Naruto-sensei wants us to remain unseen."
"Awww," she said disappointedly, "okay. I'll behave. Master is on his honeymoon so I won't cause any problems."
"Good," he nodded. "We also have another mission coming up once Sensei gets back."
"A mission?" Yuna asked excitedly. "What are we going to do? Are we going to take down monsters and evildoers?"
Ranmaru rolled his eyes at the childish ambitions. "No, we're going to start making moves against Konoha."
"We're going to attack a great village?" she gasped. "That's suicide, even for someone as amazing as Master! I heard rumors that a gigantic fox comes down from the heavens to protect Konoha. Master's strong, but he can't beat a deity!"
Ranmaru groaned at her over-imaginative mind. "No Yuna, we're going to infiltrate Konoha as servants. Attacking Konoha will come much later."
"Oooh! So we're going to pretend to be villagers? Can I become a genin instead? I always wanted one of those forehead protectors," she pointed at her headband.
"Hm…"
Ranmaru considered it. They were supposed to enter as hired servants, but it technically couldn't hurt to enter as wandering genin looking for work. He was slightly on the older side for genin, but the plan might work. He would have to check with his master. In his opinion, it would be much better than entering as servants.
"Hey, Big Brother Ranmaru," Ranmaru blinked as Yuna waved her hand in his face, "You just zoned out there. I know you're starting to get old, but I think you're getting senile, too."
There was a brief pause before he decided to teach the annoying little girl a lesson.
He leaked his chakra pressure and glared at her with his red eyes only to find her eyes extremely big and sparkly. He tried to resist and stay angry but ended up sighing before lifting his aura.
"Ugh, damn it, Yuna. I hate that look of yours. How a demon like you ends up looking like an angel, I have no idea…"
"Hehe, Big Brother Ranmaru, you can't hit me, can you? I'm just too cute, huh?" the girl taunted while flashing an innocent smile.
Ranmaru put his face in his hands and groaned in frustration. The girl definitely knew what she was doing. The carefree and idiotic persona was definitely an act. "If you keep doing that, then I'm not going to let you become a ninja even if Sensei allows it."
The girl turned and gave him a rather evil smirk. "Yeah? And what are you doing to do when Master decides to train you for an entire day as a punishment."
Ranmaru paled. Serious training with his sensei was not fun in the least. He was already going to get punished for operating in the Land of Fire. If Yuna made Naruto-sensei angrier at him…Ranmaru shuddered. His sensei had said it was painful because Ranmaru couldn't properly use chakra, but Ranmaru didn't agree. His teacher was just a sadist.
Yuna's smirk grew wider. "Master loves me, you know. I can get him to punish you whenever I want," she said in a singsong voice. Her voice then turned pitiful, "Master! Big Brother Ranmaru hit me on the face when we were sparring. Master! Big Brother Ranmaru didn't want to buy me candy. Master! Big Brother Ranmaru made me cry! WAHHHH! MASTER! BIG BROTHER RANMARU—"
"I get it! I get it!" Ranmaru said, now more alarmed by the chance that one of the ANBU operatives would catch them than Yuna's threat. "If Sensei allows it, you'll get your damn forehead protector."
Yuna ran to give him a hug. "Yay!"
A sweat drop just appeared on the side of his head.
Outskirts of the town, Wave Country – April 11, AK 22
Anko Mitarashi was anything but happy at this point. She was going through dango withdrawal and her search for the prick of an Uchiha was going nowhere.
She initially accepted this mission to extract her pound in flesh from the former Orochimaru boy toy. She had nothing personal against the Uchiha, but she wanted to eradicate any evidence of her old teacher from the world. If it meant ripping the last Uchiha to shreds, so be it.
She didn't think it would be this hard. From everything she knew about the Uchiha, he was arrogant and welcomed any challenge and threat on his life. More and more, she was getting suspicious that this Kokuten wasn't Sasuke Uchiha.
Things just didn't add up.
She was currently heading towards the home of a man named Tazuna. Apparently, he was the leader of this particular town. She didn't care about protocol at this point; she would just get her answers by threatening the man.
"Kappa."
She jumped and got into a defensive stance when she saw that it was the transformed form of Dragon, the ANBU Commander.
"Yes?"
"You're heading to Tazuna's place, I presume?"
She nodded. "I heard his name mentioned multiple times. I figure the best way to get information is to get it from the leader of the town."
"I hope that doesn't mean threatening to cut off his family jewels," Dragon said dryly.
"Tch," she grumbled, a bit upset at being found out. "This mission is a waste of our time. There's really nothing here."
"I wouldn't say that," Dragon shook his head. "I'm not sure if you heard or not, but there are rumors of a new hidden village here."
She raised an eyebrow. "You actually believe those? Wave Country knows that it's going to get crushed by Konoha if they started anything like that. I'm more interested in this little ninja enterprise that a small company set up."
"I heard about that as well. After all, Akatsuki started up that way as well so I checked up on. The company is called Kiyomizu Angels and is comprised of only genin-level workers. It seems that they do take some low C-rank missions as well, but they don't seem to be much of a threat to Konoha. Even the workers aren't really ninjas; they're just people who know how to use chakra."
Anko frowned. "You mean like the samurai of Iron Country?"
Dragon nodded. "It's not as if chakra usage is banned so people using this company are not technically breaking the terms of the treaty. And this company is doing D-ranks that need to be done on a daily basis."
"I see. Konoha doesn't take D-rank missions requests from foreign countries so there was a demand for that."
"Yes," Dragon agreed before gesturing ahead. "It looks like we're here. Let's go in."
Anko stepped up to the gate and knocked. "Hello? We're looking for a senile old man named Tazuna!"
"Anko," Dragon groaned. "You can't go about it like that. He's a noble. I'm beginning to think you're venting your frustrations by intentionally sabotaging this mission."
She shrugged. In her opinion, there was no mission to sabotage in the first place. They were just grasping at straws at this point. And from what she heard, this Tazuna was once a commoner and lived among the people as one. He might respond more to familiarity and crude language over formality.
The gates opened to reveal a beautiful woman dressed in a formal kimono. Anko appraised her. The woman was about the same age as she was. Despite her soft features and the humble air around her, and the fact that she opened the gates herself rather than sending out servants to do so, she looked every bit like a noblewoman.
"May I ask who so graciously demands an audience with Lord Tazuna? Otherwise, my senile father might think enemies are after his life."
Anko wanted to cackle as Dragon got an uncomfortable expression on his face as he tried to think his way out of the situation.
"We are humble visitors from the Land of Fire. We're a couple," Anko threw Dragon a dirty look, "hoping to start a herbal business here in Wave Country. We wanted to speak with Lord Tazuna about his thoughts. The people in the town suggested that we come here. Please excuse my wife's language. It's that time of the month."
Anko wanted to strangle Dragon at that remark. The woman in front of them stepped back in mild surprise and laughed lightly at the excuse. "Ah, yes, well do come in. I'm sure my father will have quite a lot to say on that matter."
"Welcome!" Tazuna shouted in a jolly tone as they walked in. "Tsunami, can you get some tea for our visitors. " They sat down. "Now then," Tazuna waved, "what bring you to our country."
Shikamaru repeated his story. "We are humble visitors from the Land of Fire and wanted to start a herbal business here in Wave Country. We are only in the beginning phases of our plan and haven't obtained a license or bought real estate here, but we wanted to scout the land before making any decisions."
"Ah yes! Wave Country doesn't have too many herbal businesses here so your super herbal business will thrive here! The prices you'll get are super and—"
Anko decided to cut in before the man rambled on. "We heard rumors about a masked and cloaked man here and were wondering if you had any bandit problems."
The old man brief paused and she thought she saw a flash of intelligence in his eyes before he laughed loudly. It was so brief, she convinced herself that she imagined it. Especially considering that his next response was so stupid.
"Oh no bandits! The masked man you hear about is the super will of Naruto Uzumaki, manifested as a spirit—"
Anko groaned internally. It was going to be one of those nights. A long night without booze to drink, dango to chomp on, people to torture, or any useful information to obtain.
Tazuna's home, Wave Country – April 12, AK 22
"How is the progress going, Lord Tazuna?" Sai look at retired bridge builder and now minor noble.
"We have already gotten permission from the Wave Daimyo secretly long ago," Tazuna said proudly, holding out a wine glass. "The drilling has finished a few months ago and the building is now half complete."
"That is good news," Sai smiled. "The construction of the new village may be finished in two years."
"Ah, I almost forgot. Why has that Ranmaru boy been here for the last two weeks? It was hard trying to convince people that there wasn't a ghost flying around."
Sai felt irritated at the boy's ineptitude but decided to take his frustrations out on the boy when he returned to the village. He was supposed to remain unseen at all times, but had foolishly left his illusions up for everyone to see. Sai was normally a calm person, but there was just something about Ranmaru that made Sai want to beat the crap of him. Sai had mentioned it to Naruto and Sasame and was both amused and intrigued when he found that they both felt the same way.
What was the term that Naruto had used? Oh yes, bully magnet.
Sasame had shrugged and passed it off as something masters felt towards their disciples.
In any case, Sai felt pleased that his emotions were much more in line with normal emotional people. If Naruto wasn't considered emotional, then Sai didn't know who was.
"Naruto has been on his honeymoon and couldn't act as himself. Ranmaru was ordered to act as Kokuten in his place."
Tazuna took a drink of wine before looking at Sai again. "It wasn't easy to act crazy to get those strange people to stop asking me questions yesterday evening. It was clear that they were under some sort of transformation technique so I provided the least amount of information as possible and tried to act crazy so that the information I did give them would be disregarded."
Sai bowed his head lightly in apology. "They were ANBU operatives from Konoha. Konoha has started to hunt for Kokuten and discovered that there were rumors of a masked man in this village thanks to Ranmaru's incompetence."
Tazuna guffawed loudly. "Don't be too harsh on the child. It's already impressive that he can hold his own against the strongest ninjas at that age."
"With all due respect, Kokuten and I were already fighting S-ranks at Ranmaru's age," Sai pointed out. "A squad of elites would have been a walk in the park for us back then."
"Well, that's an unfair comparison. Naruto is the most powerful person in the Elemental Nations." Tazuna pointed towards the bridge. "If he could help me build that when he was just a brat, I shudder to think how strong he is now. You can't hold Ranmaru up to those standards. And besides, he's stronger than Inari and Inari's been training for much longer."
Sai gave up after that. The conversation was done after the old man brought his grandson into it. Any more and the man would be offended at the insinuation that his chuunin grandson was weak. Instead, Sai smiled and nodded at the compliment on behalf of his friend. It wasn't often when people actually gave Naruto genuine praise from the bottom of their hearts. "How are the finances going?"
"Steady," the old man laughed. "More than enough to keep all the workers happy. To be honest, it's been quite a boon for Wave Country. I don't know how Naruto has so much money, but I'm not complaining. But tell me something. Is there a reason why this village Naruto is having us build underground?" Tazuna muttered.
"The reasons are two-fold, Lord Tazuna. First, being underground will keep the new village safe from attack. Wave Country is a rather small country and is prone to being attacked."
"And the second reason?"
Sai smiled again. "Again, the reason has to do with the fact that Wave County is small. There is no room for growth if the village becomes large in the future."
"But it's not like the village can grow underground. We can only drill only a certain amount of rock beneath the ground before everything above collapses," Tazuna argued.
Sai pulled out new specifications for Nami, the Hidden Wave Village. "What we asked you to do so far is to drill underneath the uninhabited area off to the east. If you look here, these are plans for the growth of Nami. Kokuten and I are working on various ways to make life underwater possible."
"Underwater?" Tazuna gasped. "That's impossible! Even if you were to create a city behind glass or metal, the water pressure would eventually cause structures to break. Even chakra-reinforced material can't withstand the forces of nature."
"Fuinjutsu generally allows us to break the boundaries of reality," Sai responded in a calm tone. "Both Kokuten and I are fuinjutsu masters, one of the few left in this world. We can make this work."
Tazuna shook his head. "Still impossible. Fuinjutsu can hold for decades, but it too requires chakra. Chakra degrades over decades. The effort needed to constantly replenish those seals is impractical. Not to mention, fuinjutsu is a dying art. There's no guarantee that those coming after you will be masters capable of maintaining such a large sealing array that's needed to make this plan viable."
"Impressive," Sai compliment, mildly surprised by the man's knowledge. "You are well informed of the ninja arts."
"Of course," Tazuna grunted. "After that mission where I had to build a bridge, I learned everything I could about ninjas to better protect myself. I personally can't use any ninjutsu, but my grandson Inari is quite the talented ninjutsu user."
Sai nodded. "Naruto has told me as much. In fact, Inari will be one of the founding members of the new village, if you are able to complete this for us."
Tazuna frowned. "It's not about willingness, Sai. And I would do this even if Inari weren't considered a founding member. It's about what is possible. I still don't see how this can actually be done. The underground chamber we built so far should be more than enough space for a minor village."
"We're not interested in just a minor village, Lord Tazuna. And normally, we would be inclined to agree with you that something like this isn't possible. However," Sai created ice out of mid-air before dissolving it into water and then finally air, "we have discovered a new way of manipulating nature itself. "
"Ice chakra nature manipulation?" Tazuna gasped. "That's just like the extinct Yuki clan!"
Sai shook his head. "This isn't chakra manipulation at all. This is pure water manipulation. With this we can nullify the water pressure. Naruto and I have personally developed and are mastering a new branch of sealing arts that manipulates the properties of nature itself."
"But fuinjutsu needs to be maintained with chakra!"
"This isn't chakra-based fuinjutsu, Lord Tazuna. We use something called spiritual energy and physical energy. By harnessing the physical energy present in nature itself, we can make a self-sustaining sealing array that doesn't have to be maintained by anyone."
"That still doesn't solve the problem of what would happen if the seals were to get damaged."
"We know, but that's a risk we are willing to take. We can create hundreds of backup layers if that will appease you and the others, but there are risks inherent with any village," Sai explained logically. "If we built a village above the ground, then you would be more prone to attacks. If we built a village in the air, then there would be a risk of the village itself falling to the ground. All things considered, we came to the conclusion that the best way to go might be to go underwater. If you are still unsatisfied, then the underground portion can be for the civilians while the underwater portion can be for the ninjas."
"Very well," Tazuna nodded. "It seems like you has placed quite a bit of thought into this. Quite different from the loud-mouthed person he once was."
Sai's eyes narrowed and hardened at the statement as he remembered what had happened between Naruto and Sakura. "Time changes people."
"Indeed."
Forests beyond the Great Naruto Bridge, Wave Country – April 12, AK 22
Shikamaru looked at his team members. Sai (Phoenix), Anko (Kappa), and Aoba (Raven) had all arrived at the meeting place on time.
"Did any of you find something out?"
Aoba, no, Raven, shook his head as they all put their masks back on and released the transformation technique. "Nope, all I got were vague rumors about a man in a dark robe and mask. Some people were convinced that he was the Shinigami."
"Dragon and I ran into each other at the same place. Both of us discovered that this Tazuna person was telling children that the masked man was not someone to be afraid of," Kappa purred while twirling a kunai.
"Did you interrogate him?" Phoenix asked in a somewhat interested voice.
"Phoenix," Shikamaru groaned, "you know we can't use standard interrogation procedures on civilians in another country. That's grounds for war. Even if Wave Country is small, the economic fallout would be significant."
"So then, what did you find out?" Raven asked curiously.
"Nothing really," Kappa muttered. "The man was just senile, cackling at random points and mentioning the word 'super' a bunch of times."
"And he seemed to think that the masked man was Naruto Uzumaki's will floating through the Wave Country and protecting it from outsiders," Shikamaru said with a frown, even though he knew they couldn't see it.
"Naruto?" Raven asked incredulously. "That's ridiculous! There's no way Naruto would be an enemy to Konoha."
"Right," Shikamaru nodded. "I got the feeling that the old man knew a bit more than he was letting on, but as Kappa stated, his mind was completely a mess. He was randomly blurting out different facts about the past."
"But why Naruto?" Phoenix asked, sounding slightly alarmed. "There has to be a reason for the man to name Naruto of all people."
"I thought about it as well, but it makes sense he would pick Naruto." Shikamaru gestured towards the bridge. "We're talking about the guy who named his bridge after Naruto in gratitude for saving this country."
"I checked the marketplace after our talk with him," Kappa added with her arms folded. "There are a bunch of stores that have the names of that team that was sent here on that mission. You can see Naruto Ramen, Sakura Apparel, Kakashi Books, and more. I think I even saw a Sasuke gay bar."
There was a long silence among the men at the last comment.
"You're kidding," Shikamaru replied in a dry tone.
"Awww, don't be like that," she answered back in a hurt voice. "Are you questioning my loyalty or ability to report information?"
"No," Shikamaru muttered, "just your sanity. You know that homosexuality is illegal in most countries."
"Tch," Kappa grunted. "Fine, I didn't see a gar bar. I just wanted to lighten up the mood, you know? And it's not like Uchiha ever showed interest in a girl so I figured it made sense."
Shikamaru rolled his eyes behind his mask. He would never get used to Kappa's strange sense of humor. "Whatever. In any case, we're still lacking a lot of information, unless you have anything else to add, Phoenix…"
Phoenix stood there silently for a bit. Shikamaru gave him the time to gather his thoughts. Phoenix was one of the best operatives they had and would have been the ANBU Commander if he hadn't had ties to Danzo Shimura. Even after all these years, there was still some suspicion among the upper echelon in Konoha that Phoenix wasn't entirely loyal. Naruto and Kakashi shot those suspicions down, but trust was earned not given.
"I managed to find what appeared to be a hideout," Phoenix finally said. "I believe it is where this unknown man is staying."
"What?!" Shikamaru hissed. "Then take us there now!"
Phoenix shook his head. "There will be no need to. I already destroyed the hideout."
"You little inexperienced bastard," Kappa whispered angrily, "How will that help us gather information at all?"
"I'll have you know that I'm not a virgin," Phoenix deadpanned.
"You little—"
"And you had no confirmation that it was this mask man's hideout," Raven interrupted, ignoring Phoenix's comment and Kappa's outburst. "You should have just reported back here."
Shikamaru thought for a second. Phoenix was not a person who did anything without thinking things through. His loyalty might be in question, but his skills and mind were not.
"Explain yourself, Phoenix," he ordered.
"I noticed quite a few traps in the area," Phoenix explained. "I was only able to bypass all of them because I am able to move through the air. Getting near the hideout would have been impossible."
"Then we could have hitched a ride on one of your ink birds," Kappa hissed. "You just blew a chance to gain more information."
"Kappa, quiet," Shikamaru ordered. "I'm sure Phoenix knew what he was doing."
"I operated based on the hypothesis that our enemy is Sasuke. I destroyed his place and left a message telling him a time and place where we could fight face to face. There's still a few hours before the appointed time, so we can set up traps here and fight on our own terms and not his."
Raven groaned. "He's not going to fall for that!"
For a normal opponent, that could be correct, but Sasuke was notoriously idiotic when it came to the idea of getting even. Sasuke loved revenge more than Hinata loved Naruto and that was still an understatement. If Phoenix destroyed Sasuke's hideout, Sasuke would definitely come running out to get revenge and to prove a point.
But Sasuke wasn't a complete idiot either. He had to know that he was going into a trap. Furthermore, Sasuke was dangerous.
Yet something about what Phoenix said didn't seem right. He seemed a bit too confident that Sasuke would foolishly come without thinking about the consequences.
"Wait, did you address him as Sasuke or something else?" Shikamaru interrupted suddenly. "If this enemy isn't Sasuke, he's not going to take the bait. He'll just spring our trap against us."
"Neither," Phoenix said in an odd tone. "I just called him by a nickname. It always used to make Sasuke unreasonably angry. It's why I'm sure he'll come straight for us."
"And that nickname is…" he probed, dreading the answer. If Chouji's and Ino's actions were anything to go by, the nickname was not pleasant.
"Dickless."
There was an extremely long pause. It was so quiet that they could even hear the wind blowing through the air.
"You just poked a sleeping dragon in the eye," Kappa groaned, slapping herself on her mask. But she started chuckling. "But I got to give you props with the nickname. It's hilarious. Plus," she turned to look between Phoenix's legs, "You must be packing quite a lot to insult an S-rank like that."
"We're going to die, aren't we?" Raven moaned. "Sasuke's not going to even give us a chance to escape. Did you have to intentionally provoke a fight?"
Shikamaru didn't say anything and though to himself while his other three teammates bickered amongst themselves to get rid of the stress before getting into a fight with an S-rank.
Kakashi was right. This was a suicidal mission and Shikamaru didn't have any intentions of leaving alive if it meant getting invaluable intel on this new threat. So he wasn't completely opposed to a fight.
Phoenix must have felt the same thing and intentionally goaded Sasuke or whoever the hell it was.
However, they needed to figure out a way to get at least one of them out to report back to Konoha.
AN: It's been some time, eh? I'd love to say updates will be coming faster, but I'm at a loss of how to write this mini-arc. It wasn't one that was initially planned so I'm kind of making things up as I go along. If worse comes to worse, I'll just wrap it up in one more chapter and skip on ahead.