Disclaimer: Look elsewhere for ownership rights of Naruto; I don't have them.

Chapter 22: An unwelcome surprise

"What did you do to Zabuza-sama?"

Just as the last syllable reached Naruto's ear he completed the last hand seal necessary for a kawarimi. A moment later he found himself hidden in the foliage; just where he had originally placed a log when they made camp. It was a security feature, really. If the camp was attacked already knowing where a suitable target for a switch was located could save lives. He had started performing the jutsu as soon as he noticed something was wrong, but it had been almost too late. The burning sensation on his throat made that clear. When he carefully touched the spot he could feel blood at his fingertips. Luckily the wound was minor; Haku had only started cutting when she felt the kawarimi take effect.

'How did Haku get free? I just checked her bounds a few minutes ago; she shouldn't have been able to make hand seals.'

From his vantage point he could see the girl standing in the midst of the camp, holding a kunai made of ice in her right hand. As he watched mist condensed out of the air, forming several ice senbon in her other hand.

'Well, that answers that. Apparently she is good enough to use her ice powers to form small weapons from the air moisture or create water directly. That makes things tricky.'

"Calm down. I don't want to fight you. We don't have to be enemies." Naruto said, using his voice projection technique to prevent Haku from locating him.

Haku snorted contemptuously. "Oh? And what was I doing tied up in your camp? No, you are my enemy. I saw your headband. You belong to Konoha. Now tell me, what did you do to Zabuza-sama?"

'What to do? She obviously doesn't remember what happened; probably because of the head injury. No sense in lying; I don't think I can come up with something convincing out of the blue.'

Naruto hesitated for a moment. "Zabuza is dead. Gato betrayed you and killed him and your other two friends. My team arrived after that and killed Gato's men along with him. You were rendered unconscious."

Haku's tone of voice grew icy. "You lie. We checked Gato's forces. He only had a few dozen unskilled thugs in his employ. There is no way they could have won against four shinobi of our skill. Zabuza-sama had already subdued the Copycat and I had disabled the genin. The only possible explanation is that you ambushed us. Since you are alive and I'm a prisoner that means Zabuza-sama is either dead by your hand or on the run. NOW TELL ME WHAT YOU DID TO HIM!"

Naruto carefully considered his options while the increasingly enraged kunoichi was standing in the middle of the camp. Haku obviously wasn't calming down. If the last thing she remembered was fighting and winning against Team 7 her actions weren't really unreasonable. Well, she seemed completely focused on Zabuza, but Naruto had no idea what the personal dynamics between the four nuke-nin had been. From Zabuza being Haku's lover, brother or father figure to beloved mentor; everything was possible. Unfortunately Naruto couldn't think of a way of resolving the situation peacefully. Zabuza was dead; there was no way around that.

He couldn't let Haku go free even he wanted to. She had attacked shinobi of the Leaf. Kakashi knew they had her prisoner. If she escaped it would constitute a black mark on their records, especially his. That was something they had to avoid. In contrast, bringing her back to the village reasonably intact would get them recognition, which would be useful for their plans. He sighed mentally. 'It seems I'll have to beat her down.'

As soon as he came to this conclusion he left his hiding place. "Zabuza is dead. You attacked shinobi of the Leaf without provocation. Surrender and no undue harm will come to you."

Haku's anger seemed to evaporate and all emotion left her voice. "You murdered Zabuza-sama. I will kill you for that." A second later she launched her ice senbon at him, but he could dodge them easily. Then he counterattacked with his knives. Metal collided with ice and the real fight was on. The first few seconds of the battle consisted more of trying to gauge the opponent's skills than of any real attempt to harm each other. Haku fought on the level of a high genin. She was really fast and very accurate with the ice senbon she created and launched at him constantly, but her other skills were lagging behind. Her speed was actually not so fast that he couldn't keep up, but his safety margin was uncomfortably small. Fortunately he was much stronger than her and far more skilled with his weapons.

He could kill Haku with few problems, no question. His steel knives were far superior to Haku's improvised ice weapons. The difficulty was that he wanted her intact. If he could get her to switch sides she and her bloodline would serve to strengthen Konoha. The village would need all the strength it could get in the next years. Suddenly Haku's ice kunai shattered after his latest blow. She threw the shards at his eyes, forcing him to evade.

Haku used the opportunity to create some distance between them and form an unfamiliar hand seal. "I must congratulate you. You are much better than the Uchiha. But this fight ends now. Ice release: Crystal Ice Mirrors"

Suddenly big slabs of ice materialized all around him, forming a dome of mirrors. Before he could act Haku stepped inside another mirror that had formed directly by her side.

Staying inside these things didn't seem to be a good idea; Naruto remembered Shikamaru telling them about how Haku had used something like this to take down Sasuke after his awakened sharingan made it too difficult to fight him conventionally. Quickly forming the hand seals for a kawarimi he tried to escape. A moment later he cursed under his breath. He couldn't connect with any object outside the wall of mirrors.

Suddenly Haku's image appeared in every mirror. "There is no escape. You might as well give up."

Naruto gave her a mocking smile. "I don't think so, Haku-chan."

'Underground Move technique'

It was a close thing, but Naruto managed to sink underground before a mass of ice senbon impacted on the spot he had just vacated. He returned to the surface at what he judged to be a safe distance. Haku's image was now scowling at him.

'Time for a little bit of psychological warfare.'

"Aw, is little Haku-chan angry? Seems like your technique has a teeny tiny little weakness." Naruto taunted.

Instead of answering Haku attacked again. She seemed to jump between different mirrors, each time launching a volley of ice senbon. Interestingly she often emerged from a different mirror than the one she entered last, but only attacked when she was outside the mirrors. Her speed was now up to chunin-level, but since he was quite a distance away and the attack came from only one direction he had no trouble evading or deflecting the senbon.

'I hope she keeps doing that. Maintaining these mirrors can't be cheap chakra-wise. It must be a bloodline technique. That means I can't be gentle in disabling her. Who knows what else is possible.'

Another sound caught his attention; it seemed that Haku was creating another mirror in his back to attack him from behind. Naruto was careful to keep his face an unreadable mask, giving no indication that he had noticed what Haku was doing. In the exact moment her image disappeared from the mirrors belonging to the dome Naruto sidestepped and turned around.

Haku had already emerged from the mirror and was completely in the air, flying at his last position at high speed with an ice kunai in her right hand. A surprised expression briefly crossed her face before Naruto grabbed her as she passed by him and drove the tip of his knife into a specific point of her right shoulder with full force. A moment later he had to let go of her to avoid getting kicked. Haku managed to turn her tumble into a controlled roll and jumped back to her feet.

"Do you have enough?" Naruto asked. He could see that the dome of mirrors was slowly collapsing. Apparently Haku wasn't sustaining the technique any longer.

Haku grunted in pain and anger, her right arm hanging limply at her side. "I won't give up until you lie dead at my feet. I'm far from finished."

Naruto was surprised when Haku used her left hand to make seals. Before he could react a thick mist blanketed the clearing, hiding Haku from his sight.

'Shit, that's the hidden mist jutsu again. I once read about one-handed seals but didn't think anyone was using them. Most people would rather go directly to seal-less techniques than invest the effort of learning to form seals one-handed.'

"Eight choices. Liver, lungs, spine, cervical vein, neck vein, brain, kidneys, heart. Which one should I go after?"

Naruto cursed himself silently while he tried to anticipate Haku's next strike. He should have immediately gone after Haku. It was to be expected that Haku had learned silent killing from Zabuza. Still, if this had been a normal mist Naruto would have had few problems. A fox locates the precise position of his prey via his hearing, after all, and he had regularly spent long stretches of time as a fox. His human hearing was inferior to that of his fox-form, but it should have sufficed to pinpoint Haku's general location. Unfortunately this mist was filled with Haku's chakra, warping the sounds irregularly.

'What should I do? Using mom's chakra would be overkill, but I don't want to risk Haku getting the drop on me.' he pondered. 'I guess I could hide under the ground, but Haku could use that to stage an escape. Now that she is injured it's the most likely course of action, especially if she gets the opportunity to think. If I try using my jutsu blindly I will either miss or kill her; neither option is acceptable.'

His thoughts were interrupted when he felt a slight movement in the air. He barely managed to dodge a few senbon aimed for his kidneys. His mind worked furiously until he arrived at a solution. 'That could work. Improvisation is king.'

'Wind release: Shield of the Four Winds'

The mist began to churn wildly as the air whirled around him, trying to form a stable construct. A moment later the unfinished jutsu collapsed, sending a strong gust of wind in all directions. The chakra-saturated pressure wave had only the strength of a strong breeze, but that was enough to disperse Haku's mist.

Haku was barely three meters away from him and blinked in surprise as her cover was blown away. Before she could react Naruto was already on top of her, disabling her remaining good arm in the same manner as he had before and kicking her legs out from under her. She still tried to kick him back, but Naruto was having none of that. He knew enough about human anatomy to disable her legs without doing permanent damage now that she couldn't defend herself properly. She cried out in pain and tried to struggle, but without proper control of her limbs it was futile.

Naruto slowly relaxed now that the battle seemed to be over, but he didn't let his guard down completely. Who knew what tricks a kunoichi like Haku still had in reserve? She would need a medic-nin's help to fix her arms and legs, but that didn't mean she couldn't have a last-ditch attack.

Haku seemed to realize that she had lost after a short while and went still. Naruto could see how all the fight went out of her eyes. "You have won. I give up. Now, please tell me what happened to Zabuza-sama before you kill me. Did you lie back then when we met in the forest?"

Naruto sighed. "I told you the truth, now and then. I won't kill you. We are from Konoha but didn't know about the other team. At that point in time we only wanted to catch five mercenaries Gato had hired. It was only several days after our meeting in the forest that we heard of them and tried to meet up. When my team arrived the battle on the bridge seemed to be over, but Gato arrived with about a hundred thugs in tow."

"That shouldn't have been a real problem. Zabuza-sama was wounded, but Gozu and Meizu were fresh and I was still in a good shape." Haku said with narrowed eyes.

"You didn't pay attention to their end of the bridge. They had bows." he answered bluntly. Haku flinched. Arrows flew faster than the typically thrown ninja weapons. If one didn't see them coming evasion was pretty much impossible. "Your two friends died without realizing what happened. Zabuza got hit several times, crippling him. You had two arrows stuck in your body, making one of your arms useless. The same was true of Zabuza. He didn't know how to make one-handed seals, did he?"

Haku sighed. "No, he didn't. Zabuza-sama never got the hang of it. Let me guess, we were too seriously wounded to retreat safely. Then we decided to take Gato out in hope of dispersing the thugs, but something went wrong."

Naruto nodded. "At first it seemed like you would succeed, but one of the thugs got a lucky hit past Zabuza's defense. You abandoned your advance and tried to help him, but you were clubbed from behind. Zabuza died there. After that my team took out Gato and his thugs."

"It… it might have happened as you said." Haku finally conceded. "What did you do with Zabuza-sama's body?"

"I can show it to you, but it isn't in a good shape."

"Please do." Haku pleaded. "I want to see for myself."

Naruto did as requested and retrieved the scroll with Zabuza's body, keeping Haku in his view the entire time. He carefully propped her against a tree before he unsealed the cruelly mutilated body. When Haku saw him she let out a wail of anguish. Tears were running freely from her eyes when she descended into sobs. Naruto felt very uncomfortable. He didn't have anything personal against Haku or Zabuza. Apparently they had really been very close.

"I wanted to protect someone precious to me. To work for that person. To fight for that person. To make that person's dream true. That was my dream. For that I became a shinobi. For that I maimed and killed. And now there is nothing left. I can't even take revenge anymore." she said in a grief-laden voice between sobs.

The blond boy would have liked to give her some privacy under other circumstances. Instead he patched up Haku's wounds. They didn't bleed much, but Hinata would need to heal the tendons and muscles he had damaged later. Haku didn't react to his ministrations; she stared at Zabuza's corpse and continued sobbing.

"For what it's worth, I'm sorry." Naruto said when he was finished, placing his hand gently on Haku's shoulder.

It seemed to reach Haku for she turned her head and looked at him with empty eyes. "I always thought when a person has something important to protect they become truly strong. Now that Zabuza-sama is gone my strength has left me. Please kill me."

Naruto shook his head. "You know I can't do that. I will bring you to Konoha. Your fate will be decided there. Tell me, what was Zabuza to you?"

"Everything." Haku said sadly. She continued telling him about her life in a dead voice. Her mother had been a simple farmer's wife. She had possessed a bloodline, but kept that fact secret. The civil war in the Land of Water had created a lot of enmity against bloodline users in the normal population and she feared for her life. One day Haku had accidentally discovered her inherited ice powers. Her mother had tried to hush it up, but her father had witnessed the event and gathered a mob. Her mother had been killed by her own husband. Haku would have died, too, but she had instinctively used her bloodline powers to slaughter the mob including her father. After that she had been forced to live on the streets.

"I had and was nothing. Zabuza-sama found me and gave me purpose. He said I had the same eyes as him and took me in. I agreed to become his weapon; his ultimate tool." Her tears started again. "But in the end I was of no use to him. Now he is gone forever. Why won't you let me join him in oblivion?"

The blond boy just looked at her without answering. There wasn't a good answer that he could give. The girl returned to her mourning after a while. Naruto was deep in thought. Haku was obviously psychologically dependent on Zabuza. He didn't know enough about the Devil of the Mist to decide if he had deliberately manipulated Haku or if she had latched onto him to this degree herself. In any case, they would have to watch out for her attempting suicide.

'I hope Hinata and the others return soon.'

Homura was rather bored. The planning session between him, Hiruzen and Koharu dragged along without them making much progress. Most of it should have been handled by someone else lower in the hierarchy, but Hiruzen was somewhat of a control freak and tried to do everything personally. It was one reason his desk was always overflowing with paperwork. When he was younger he had always used some shadow clones to better distribute the workload, but Homura had noticed that the clones became fewer in number after the Hokage passed fifty. Around four or five years ago he had stopped using them completely.

"Have you considered the proposal from-…" The Hokage was interrupted by the door banging open, clearing the way for an attack run by his grandson.

"Fight me, old geez- URK!" Konohamaru's shout was cut short as he was yanked back by his scarf and collided with the floor.

"You are in range of my divination. Eight Trigrams Sixteen Palms!" a white-eyed girl of about Konohamaru's age shouted before she hit the boy with what looked like Juuken strikes. Judging from the boy's mostly limp form he was now effectively paralyzed.

"Ow, ow, ow! Stop it, Hanabi!" he shouted.

The girl gave Konohamaru a knock on his head. "Be silent! It's your own fault! How often have I told you not to skip class? I won't have you running off again, Konohamaru." The Hyuuga girl bowed deeply after a moment to compose herself. "Honored Hokage, honored elders, I apologize for this intrusion. With your leave I will now take this delinquent back to the academy."

After an amused nod of the Hokage the girl grabbed a protesting Konohamaru by his scarf and dragged him out of the room.

"Does that happen often, Hiruzen? Normally it was Ebisu who came after your grandson. He was less… forceful." Koharu asked with a raised eyebrow.

The Hokage chuckled. "Not as often as it used to. That was Hiashi's daughter Hanabi. Apparently she made it her task in life to reform my wayward grandson. There even seems to be progress."

"The girl reminds me of your wife Biwako. I clearly remember her beating you up and dragging you home when you goofed off. It seems some things stay in the family. Do you think we should ask Hiashi to arrange a wedding?" Homura asked.

Koharu laughed and Hiruzen coughed slightly. "I think that would be a little premature. Now, back to the task at hand. The renovation of the stadium is on schedule, but Haruno-san brought it to my attention that we might not have enough accommodation for all expected visitors. I propose…"

Hinata was still mulling over the developments on their way back to Naruto and their camp. The captured mercenaries had been delivered to their client. They would be entertained in his dungeons for a long, long time until they would be allowed to die publicly. The client's granddaughter had awoken and was on the road to recovery. It would take months until she fully recovered, but the young woman would suffer no lasting damage. The mayor had thanked them profusely and promised to pay them for two C-ranks, one for healing his granddaughter and the second one for capturing her assailants.

'Zabuza's corpse, his sword and his two dead helpers will yield a good bounty. Unfortunately we will probably have to share it with Team 7. It's standard practice if several teams are involved in an engagement and Kakashi did injure Zabuza quite a bit.'

Even divided by eight it would be a tidy sum. Unfortunately she would have to relinquish about half to her clan, as would Choji. It was one of the main sources of income for all shinobi clans. Still, the money would be nothing to sneeze at. High-quality equipment wasn't cheap. Each member of the circle was building her own war chest. They might need it in the future.

Hinata had to suppress a gasp when their campsite came into range of her byakugan. Chunks of melting ice were lying around. A sobbing Haku was sitting amidst the destruction near the unsealed corpse of Zabuza, oblivious to everything around her. Naruto was standing a short distance away, his eyes never leaving the form of the girl.

She faked activating her bloodline for a moment before she addressed Anko. "Sensei, there seems to have b-been a problem at the camp. Apparently the kunoichi got f-free and put up a fight, but Naruto seems to have things under c-control."

Anko scowled before nodding in acknowledgement. A short time later they arrived at the campsite.

"Naruto, what happened here?" Anko asked.

Naruto answered without turning his head. "I'm glad you're back, sensei. Haku woke up and immediately started attacking me. It seems she doesn't remember anything about the thugs showing up. Oh, she can form ice weapons without hand seals. I didn't want to knock her out directly. She's been unconscious for days and I didn't want to aggravate whatever damage she suffered. I had to beat her down conventionally. Hinata, could you please take a look at her and make sure she can't use any chakra?"

Hinata complied immediately and closed some specific tenketsu points of the girl. It would prevent the use of jutsu but allow Haku to move around with some difficulty. Or at least she would be able to move around as soon as Hinata healed the girl's other injuries. Naruto had apparently tried to keep the raw tissue damage to a minimum. It would still have left Haku crippled if she hadn't been there. Hinata really didn't like having to patch up the same patient multiple times. As things were she quickly mended the severed muscles and tendons. It was always easier when the injuries were fresh.

Haku let out a small wail when they resealed Zabuza's body. After that she went completely unresponsive. Hinata sent a questioning glance towards Anko. The jonin thought for a moment, then signaled her to sedate Haku. A quick tab on some pressure points and Haku slumped unconscious on the ground.

"Now that we can't be overheard I would like a more detailed report, Naruto."

'What a sad story. Haku got dealt a crappy hand.' Hinata thought after Naruto finished his retelling of the battle.

"Good work, Naruto. You didn't do anything wrong, but there is one matter that caught my attention. I thought you only worked on lightning techniques?" Anko asked.

Naruto grinned sheepishly. "I did, that one is an older project I never got working right. It always fails after a few second without really doing anything. What it should do is encase me in a cocoon of super-fast air currents, optionally combined with pure wind chakra. The only thing it does now is guzzling a whole lot of chakra and producing a short-lived breeze. Still, I have the chakra to spare and it's useful for dispersing mist and perhaps a few other area techniques. "

Anko nodded in acceptance. After updating Naruto on the events in town they broke camp. Luckily the fight didn't destroy any of their supplies. The journey back to Konoha was uneventful. Their prisoner slowed them down, but they kept her mostly unconscious to make transporting her easier. If they kept doing that long-term it would cause health issues, but for the few days of their journey home it wouldn't have any negative effects. Hinata always closed the girl's tenketsu before she woke her up, just to be safe. Even when Haku was conscious she mostly stared into empty space. It seemed the girl had lost her will to live. The only one who got her to speak at all was Naruto, but even then he mostly got monosyllabic answers. Even that happened less and less.

They needed four days to reach Konoha. Instead of entering the city they made a stop at their usual training ground.

"Okay, wait here and guard the girl." Anko instructed. "We don't want anyone knowing we have her. I'll notify the right people and will get back to you as soon as I can. It shouldn't take long."

With these words Anko left, leaving them alone with their unconscious prisoner.

"What do you suppose will happen to her?" Choji asked.

"Most likely they will keep her in one of the secure cells of the Torture & Interrogation Division. With her bloodline she is too dangerous to be kept anywhere else." Naruto answered.

"I think you're right. They will ask her all s-sorts of questions, but they won't torture her. Her m-mind isn't stable enough for that. If y-you think about what people work there they m-might even be the most qualified to help her." Hinata added.

Choji looked at the unconscious form of Haku. "I can't help but wish we could have let her go. She lost everything and doesn't deserve to be locked up."

Naruto raked a hand through his hair. "I'm sorry for her too, but she did attack a fellow team. That makes her an enemy. If we hadn't arrived Team 7 would be dead. Now, Haku didn't actually kill or permanently maim any Konoha shinobi. That will earn her some amount of leniency. They might let her out after some time if she behaves reasonably. From what she told me she never was a regular Mist kunoichi."

Hinata nodded in understanding. "That means she c-could theoretically join Konoha. Her b-bloodline makes her very valuable."

It was then that Anko returned with three shinobi in tow. The apparent leader was a large, imposing man clad in a grey uniform and a black trench coat. Black eyes situated in a scarred face swept over them. "What do you have for me, Anko? You said it was urgent."

Anko gestured towards the unconscious and bound girl. "She is why I called you. Her name is Haku. She was the subordinate of the nuke-nin Zabuza Momoichi. They attacked Kakashi's team on their last mission. Their employer betrayed them shortly after they subdued Team 7. All of her accomplices died in the ensuing struggle. We took out the survivors, rescued Team 7 and recovered the bodies. Naruto here found the prisoner still alive and secured her."

Naruto met the man's gaze unflinchingly. "Interesting. Anything important I should know immediately?"

"She's high genin level, borderline chunin. Additionally she has a bloodline that enables her to use the ice element with some unique jutsu, making her far more dangerous than usual. She can even create ice weapons from thin air without hand seals and use one-handed seals. Don't ever let her move freely or use chakra. Her psychological condition is delicate so handle her with kid gloves. She's mostly unresponsive, possibly suicidal. Looks like standard conditioning pattern seven centered on Zabuza to me, but due to some unique circumstances in her past it was extremely efficient. The worst she did to us was beating some genin up and paralyzing them with senbon. That's all immediately relevant information; I'll try to get a full report to you as soon as possible." Anko explained.

"Shimon, Mozuko, you heard the lady. Take the prisoner to a free cell on level three. No one should see you arrive. Do a full medical check-up but keep her sedated for now." the man commanded. The two grey-clad shinobi that had accompanied him saluted and approached Haku. One of them did a short check of her status before they carried her away.

The still unnamed man turned back towards Team 11. He scribbled something on a piece of paper that he handed Anko. "Here's your receipt. Congratulations, seems like you made a fine catch. Your team seems to be shaping up nicely, too. I always said you had a knack for dealing with youngsters." Suddenly he broke out in a wide smile. "The whole department misses you, Anko. Don't be a stranger and drop by some time."

Anko nodded. "Thanks, I will. Give Shinobu and Tonbo my regards."

The scarred man's gaze swept once again over them. "If you think they're ready you can bring your genin along. I'll be happy to give them a tour." With a last nod towards them the man disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

"Who was that, sensei?" Naruto asked curiously.

"My old boss Ibiki Morino, the head of the Torture & Interrogation department. He's a great guy and very good at his job." Anko answered smiling. "It's too late today to write our reports. After we report in at the gate you can return home. Meet me again tomorrow morning at eight o' clock here. You all did very well on the last mission; I'm proud of you."

A few minutes later they arrived at the main gate. It didn't take them long to conclude their business with the guards and Anko left towards her home. With a sigh Hinata said goodbye to her teammates. She didn't look forward to seeing her clan again, with the exception of her little sister. Especially unsettling was that Naruto's parents still hadn't made contact. In the past there had been sometimes delays, but now they had already missed two of their scheduled visits.

Hinata really didn't appreciate missing out on her Naruto time. She already felt the stress building up and really needed a break. The situation wouldn't be critical for a while, but that didn't make it easier. It would be nice to not have to worry about this world for a time again.

'I wonder what is taking them so long.'

Unimaginable images of what had been, what was, what might be and what could have been swirled chaotically, bathing the surreal surroundings in an orgy of otherworldly light. The entity known as Daiki had united all parts of himself and was now digging deeper and deeper into his own being in search of the oldest part of his existence. It had been buried under untold other layers during the merging with the then-Kyuubi, but they would soon have need of it. Originally they had planned to do that gradually, but with their new insights a faster approach was called for.

He could feel his mate straining to keep their world stable against the pressure he exerted in his quest. This world was too confined for what he was doing, but they had no other available. Reality bent and broke under his unbridled presence. The cottage and everything else a mortal mind might have recognized had lost form long ago and were now an unidentifiable part of the not-space he and his mate occupied.

The memories of a thousand lifetimes as a mortal whirled by, a reminder of his long imprisonment before he entered this world.

Deeper.

Images of the moon and the starlit night danced around and through him as he dove deeper into his own structure. He soon left his divinity and the connection to his mate behind.

Further still.

A myriad different worlds and universes, experienced by countless avatars.

Still not there.

Pearls of knowledge and skills he could no longer use drifted by, waiting for a time when he might have again the capability to understand them.

Soon.

Deeper and deeper he delved in the search of the oldest part of his being. That which had always been there from the beginning, long before his rise and fall.

There.

He knew the gate. He was the gate. He was the key and guardian of the gate. Past, present and future, all were one in the gate.

Anko wasn't angry. She had passed the bounds of white-hot fury long ago and was now filled with an ocean of icy rage. Naturally she didn't give any outward sign of that; such a blatant display of inadequate emotional control before the Hokage wouldn't help her case. The last comment from the old man had been almost enough to drive her over the edge, though. Almost.

"I believe that concludes our business. Mitarashi-san, I thank you for your time. You may leave." the Sandaime said in his kindly voice.

Never before had Anko wished so much to possess the power to wipe that false, condescending smile from the old man's face. The cursed seal on her neck was throbbing in tune with her heart beat, enticing her with the promise of power. Kakashi gave her one of his eye-smiles, mocking her further. With all these things fanning her wrath Anko did the only thing she could.

She bowed respectfully.

"As you command, Hokage-sama."

After the door closed behind her she traversed the Hokage's tower at a leisurely pace. Even when she left the building behind her pace didn't quicken. Only when she left the city zone behind did she break into a run. A few minutes later she arrived at the currently deserted training area number thirty-six.

'No one is here. Good.'

Finally safe from potential observers Anko let out her penned up fury. With a scream of boundless rage she attacked one of the biggest trees with her bare hands.

Naruto ran through the woods at high speed with Mizuki by his side.

"I don't know what is wrong with her. When we arrived she had already reduced three big trees to splinters and was working on another one. She didn't react to anything we said. None of us wanted to approach her, so I tried to get hold of you while Hinata searched for Kurenai and Choji stayed with her." Naruto explained.

Judging from his expression the white-haired chunin didn't have the slightest idea either. A moment later they arrived at the site. Anko had obviously finished with her bout of violence and was now standing amidst the ruins of a fourth big tree, breathing heavily.

Choji waved them over to him. "I think she has calmed down somewhat, but I didn't want to do anything without you here."

Mizuki nodded. "It's good to be careful. I take it from here. If she attacks me I can hold her off long enough for you to get away. I hope."

He carefully approached Anko, careful to stay in at least her peripheral vision. When he was about to touch her Anko seemed to snap out of whatever problem she had. "Mizuki? What are you doing here?"

The man relaxed somewhat. "Naruto called me. Your genin found you occupied with reducing trees to kindling. What in the world happened to get you riled up like this?"

Anko looked around, taking in the sight of the destruction and the position of the sun. "Oh. I just wanted to let out some steam. I didn't realize how long I was at it."

"That doesn't answer me question, Anko."

Their sensei breathed deeply before answering. Her voice was barely above a whisper at first, but grew steadily louder. "He got away with it. THE DAMNED ASSHOLE GOT AWAY WITH IT!"

"Who got away with what?" Mizuki asked calmly, showing no signs of being perturbed by Anko's outburst.

In that moment Hinata arrived with Kurenai in tow. "Anko, what is the matter? Hinata here dragged me here because you freaked out or something." the sensei of Team 8 asked.

Anko tiredly held her hands up. "I'm okay now; I just had to get rid of a lot of penned up anger. Let's sit down; I have some things to explain. They affect your team, too."

A minute and an introduction between Mizuki and Kurenai later they were all seated on the grass in a small clearing a short distance away from the destruction.

"You all know what happened on Team 7's last mission. Earlier today I had a meeting with the Hokage and Kakashi to clear things up." Anko said before pausing for a few seconds before she continued with a sigh. "It was a complete whitewash."

Kurenai's jaw dropped. "Kakashi got away with needlessly endangering his team?"

Mizuki didn't seem surprised. "Of course he did. Can't punish the famous Copycat Kakashi Hatake, master of a thousand jutsu and the Hokage's most trusted man, can he?" he said bitterly.

"I have to agree. Either the Hokage is becoming senile or he thinks avoiding the morale effects of any punishment are worth letting Kakashi off. If it becomes known that one of the top jonin of Konoha was punished for incompetence it would cast doubts on his ability to lead. Kakashi was an ANBU captain and is one of his most trusted men, after all. The worst thing that can happen to him now is a slap on the wrist behind closed doors. The Hokage signed off on his report, thereby endorsing his actions." Anko shook her head. "Do you know what Kakashi answered when asked why he didn't abort the mission after the client's deception became clear? It wouldn't have been courageous. Then he spouted some crap about the Will of Fire and not abandoning comrades. I still can't decide if the Hokage actually agreed with him or only feigned approval. Most people will lap it up, though."

"Is the old man insane?" Kurenai asked aghast. "That sets a catastrophic example. If the story spreads even more clients will begin to lie about the mission parameters. Things are bad enough as they are."

Naruto and his two teammates had stayed silent until now, but now he voiced a question. "Excuse me, but how can Kakashi claim to be a jonin after that? He made blatantly stupid mistakes. From leaving the Demon Brothers behind without guard after their initial encounter, continuing the mission after the deception was revealed to not calling for help after it became clear that Zabuza wasn't operating alone. Heck, we are only a few months out of the academy and know better."

Mizuki shrugged. "Who can say? Kakashi has a pretty impressive record. By all accounts he is one of the strongest jonin of Konoha. Maybe he has simply gone off the deep end."

Anko shook her head. "Now that I had time to think about it I'm sure this isn't a recent development. The entire thing reeks of unbelievable overconfidence. I have a theory. What makes Kakashi famous? I don't speak of any individual battles but the one thing that's always there."

Kurenai had a look of realization in her eyes. "The use of his sharingan."

Anko nodded. "Yes. In all the years since the third shinobi war he coasted along thanks to a bloodline that isn't really his. He used it in all his important fights. Not once did he engage an enemy of special jonin rank or above without it. Don't misunderstand me; a shinobi should always use all the tools at his disposal. That's just common sense. Unfortunately Kakashi has become completely dependent on it. Oh, he is still a jonin skill-wise. He's just not as good as everyone believes, including himself."

Mizuki looked thoughtful. "That sounds plausible. He burned out early. It happens. Think about it. He was hailed as a genius when he was a child. If I remember correctly he became a genin when he was five, which is frankly insane. At that age no one is mentally and physically ready, prodigy or not."

"He wasn't the only one. That was a desperate time in the war. We mobilized everyone who could hold a kunai. The losses among the children were grievous." Kurenai added. "Around twelve he was made jonin. By then he had been Minato Namikaze's pupil for a while and came up with that original jutsu of his. There was this business with the Kannabi Bridge. He was never the same after it by all accounts."

"Since then he has spent his time in ANBU or on high-profile missions. I don't think he can relate to normal genin at all. He actually asked his team after the encounter with the Demon Brothers if they wanted to continue the mission. It was Team 7's first C-rank; new genin simply do not have the experience to make such a decision. No offense to the genin present." Anko said in their direction.

Choji responded with a smile. "None taken. We know our limitations."

Anko chuckled. "Right. As I was saying, Kakashi is so used to working with fellow professionals that he can't deal with the situation properly. Most chunin for example would have had a realistic grasp of the situation and aborted the mission. Kakashi not sending for help in Wave is another sign of his mindset. ANBU are the ones who are called in if a situation is too delicate to be handled by other forces. At most times they can't call for reinforcements if they are out of the village. I'm not sure the possibility even entered Kakashi's mind."

"That sounds suspiciously like you are excusing his actions, Anko." Mizuki said.

"Partly. Oh, make no mistake, I still blame him. As a jonin he should be able to recognize that he is doing an abysmal job and do something about it. Some people are just not suited to teaching or leading teams of fresh genin. There is no shame in admitting that. He has clearly psychological issues, like always being late. Unfortunately the Hokage and other people let him get away with it." Anko said. She paused for a moment before continuing. "That's not the only thing. He is ruining his team. I've only had a few hours contact with the girl and the Uchiha, but the Nara boy told us a lot. Kakashi just started them on tree walking on the mission, which is another problem. Not only is that one of the first real chakra exercises after the kiddy stuff with the leaves which he should have taught them in the first few weeks, a mission in unsecure territory is the worst place to start training new things. According to Shikamaru the team's skills have made no true progress since graduation. He wastes all their time with so-called teamwork exercises and some sparring. None of them has the necessary knowledge to properly train on their own."

Naruto had to agree silently. Hinata spied on everybody and had shared her observations with him. Shikamaru was just too lazy to do anything on his own and Sakura had an aversion against physical exercise. They weren't mature enough to be sufficiently motivated on their own. It was a sensei's duty to take the appropriate measures to remedy that. Sasuke trained on his own, but he wouldn't grow significantly stronger without someone guiding him properly. In short, Kakashi wasn't doing his job.

"Can we do anything about it?" Mizuki asked.

Kurenai sighed. "Not with the Hokage backing him. A jonin-sensei is almost completely free in how he teaches his team. Kakashi can't interfere in our teams and we in his. Oh, we could get a lengthy investigation going, but it would take months and would be delayed at every turn. You know, Anko, I always doubted you when you spoke about the Hokage's policies weakening Konoha. I think I'm coming around to your view with this madness."

Anko chuckled mirthlessly. "Then you will really like the next tidbit. It concerns my team, too. Have you spoken with your genin about the upcoming chunin exams?"

"I have. They said they didn't feel ready and I have to agree. It's far too early for that; they are only a few months out of the academy." She looked at Anko suspiciously. "I really don't like where this is going. Why do you ask?"

"Because the Hokage all but ordered me to enter my team into the exams. He mentioned he would speak with you and Asuma in the next few days, so you can expect to be summoned by the old monkey. Kakashi's team will likely enter too, for that matter."

'Fuck.'

Aside from the fact that it was too early for them Naruto really didn't want to enter this particular chunin exam thanks to the visions of the futures he had seen. Not only was it the most likely point in time for an attack by Orochimaru, but it would almost inevitably lead to an encounter with Jiraiya. Which meant signing the toad contract. The very toads he suspected having a hand in the formation of Minato's plan to create a savior. And he didn't have a believable reason to refuse signing the contract; summoning contracts were highly coveted, after all.

Meanwhile Kurenai had regained her voice after a moment of shocked silence. "You're surely joking? Please tell me you're joking."

Anko shook her head. "No such luck. Apparently Konoha made a weak showing in the last exams and there aren't any promising candidates lined up this time either. Our batch of genin consists mainly of clan heirs and has enormous potential, so I think the Hokage wants to make use of the home advantage. He apparently figures that will make up for any shortcomings on the genin's part."

"B-But sensei, isn't the p-participation voluntary?" Hinata asked.

"In principle yes, but what the Hokage wants the Hokage gets. I'm probably supposed to manipulate you into entering." Anko looked she had bitten into something sour. "I fear we have no choice. We can't afford to land on the old man's shit list. Not when he practically ordered me to get you to participate."

Kurenai stood up, shaking her head in disbelief. "I have to get back to my team. I really hope you're wrong about the exams, Anko."

After Kurenai had left Choji posed another question. "Can we put up a show and fail deliberately at the first stage?"

Naruto shook his head. "No, that would make us look like idiots and damage our reputation. Now that we have to compete we have to give a good showing. The chunin exams are to start in little more than a month, aren't they sensei?"

Anko nodded. "That's right. What do you want to do in the meantime? Thanks to our last few missions none of you should have any cash problems. Do you want to go on another mission or spend the entire time training?"

Choji and Hinata seemed to think for a moment before turning to him for guidance. "I think we should go on a last mission. If some of us make it to the final round we'll be stuck here for a month."

Their sensei raised an eyebrow questioningly. "How do you know there will be a one month interval?"

Naruto shrugged. "There are always three rounds with the last round being an arena fight. I heard some workers talking about at what date they had to complete the renovation of the stadium."

"I saw some special food orders for the banquet after the final round of the exam in my father's study." Choji added.

"I looked at the appointment c-calendar of the Hokage's secretary when we last v-visited the tower." Hinata explained.

"You know, sometimes I wonder if there are any village secrets that are safe from you three." Anko said, shaking her head.

The three genin shared a look before answering at exactly the same time. "No."

Mizuki gave Anko an amused look. "It seems they did their homework. I really pity their adversaries in the exams."

Kankuro was happily entranced working on one of his new puppets in his personal workshop when his sister's voice disrupted his concentration. "Kankuro, father wants to see us immediately."

With a sigh he put down the part he had been examining and turned to his sister. "Any idea what he wants?"

Temari shrugged. "I have no idea, but he seemed agitated. We have to pick up Gaara on the way."

After wiping his hands clean of the fine oil he had used to lubricate some of the joints of his latest creation he reluctantly followed his sister out of the workshop. 'Just when I was making progress.'

In the past months Kankuro had made great strides in the art. That mission had completely changed his outlook on life. No longer would he rely on the puppets another man had created. No, he wanted to be recognized for his own contributions to the art. His knowledge of puppetry and the related sealing arts was steadily increasing. He had even gotten the Honored Siblings Chiyo and Ebizo to give him some lessons. By now he was regularly conversing with other master puppeteers. Some of them were rather reclusive, though. For example, he still didn't know who the man (or woman) was who signed his letters with a black scarab. The insightful letters that simply appeared in his mailbox had given him much to think about.

His sister's voice interrupted his musings. "Gaara, the Kazekage requires our presence."

Apparently they had reached Gaara's training area while he was deep in his thoughts. Their youngest sibling stopped doing his physical exercises and just looked at them. None of them had a good relationship with their father, but Gaara had by far the worst. That was one thing that hadn't changed. After their catastrophic mission Gaara had turned into an outright slave driver and forced all of them to change their ways. On the positive side he had stopped threatening to kill them.

Kankuro wasn't sure, but for a moment something different seemed to be looking out of Gaara's eyes. Then he nodded in acknowledgement and the moment passed. Despite everything that had changed his little brother was still scary.

Dosu listened attentively as he was given his orders. A personal audience with the leader of Otogakure was a rare honor.

Finally the figure asked "Do you understand your task?"

"It will happen as you command, Orochimaru-sama."

Naruto examined the gathering of his friends. Full meetings of the circle had been a rare occurrence in the last few months. "That's all we know about the exams. Did Kurenai or Asuma mention anything?"

Yakumo nodded. "Kurenai-sensei explained it to us. She said she would back our decision if we didn't want to participate."

"We immediately assured her that while it was earlier than expected we felt ready enough to give it a try. The fallout of refusing wouldn't be worth it. Even Shinji agreed. He has made enough progress that he's no longer a liability." Ino explained.

"Okay, that's good to hear. Shino?"

"Asuma-sensei did not make any direct mention of the chunin exams, but he dropped some hints. I expect him to spring it on us in a few weeks. Asuka and Kiba will most likely enter without giving it much thought considering their personalities. Despite my attempts and some progress they still are overconfident. Barring bad luck they should be able to survive the first two stages with my help." the young Aburame reported.

"P-Please, be careful. Avoid any i-injuries or hopeless fights. The exams are o-only about promotion; they aren't w-worth risking too much at this point." Hinata counseled.

Choji cleared his throat. "I would like for us to give Shikamaru a heads-up. Kakashi most likely won't tell his team anything until immediately before the exam. If he has time he might find a way to avoid participating. Neither he nor Sakura are anywhere near ready for the exams. "

"Choji is right. Shika will need all the help he can get. He wasn't a very good friend in the last years, but I still don't want anything happening to him." Ino agreed.

"Anyone against?" Naruto asked. No one spoke up. "Okay. Ino, Choji, we have to work something out that doesn't throw suspicion on us if it falls into someone's hands. I think an anonymous note is the best idea; I can slip it into Shikamaru's pocket at the next opportunity."

With all the serious topics out of the way the group just socialized a bit until the members had to leave. Naruto enjoyed the company of his girlfriend Yakumo a bit longer when all the others had left. With both of them on different teams and busy with training they didn't have much opportunity to spend time with each other. Naruto cherished their time together all the more.

It was very different from his secret relationship with Hinata. For one it was far less intimate in a physical sense. They still hadn't progressed to full kisses, much less the things he and Hinata did in the world of his parents. Additionally Naruto still wasn't sure if he truly loved Yakumo. He certainly enjoyed her company greatly and found her desirable, but they just couldn't spend enough time together to explore their feelings. Not like the years he had spent with Hinata. Then there was the thorny matter of him effectively cheating on her. Naruto had not the slightest idea how Yakumo would react if she ever learned about that. Not that it was likely that she ever would. She didn't have the safeguards against someone plucking the information out of her mind that Naruto and Hinata enjoyed. He simply couldn't risk telling her about his true parents and all that entailed.

'No sense fretting about it now. I have to take things as they come.'

It was already late evening when he took his leave. Naruto's thoughts returned to the most pressing matter at hand. He needed a summoning contract of his own if he wanted to avoid signing the toad contract. It wasn't absolutely guaranteed that Jiraiya would approach him, but he didn't want to take the risk. Not any contract would serve, though. The summons would need to be strong enough to fend off any attempts of the toads to contract him too, like they could do if he only signed a minor contract. Likewise, they couldn't be on friendly terms with the toads.

From the visions of his father he knew where several summon contracts without current summoners were located. Most encounters in the other timelines had been random, but a few contracts were always in the same locations. Unfortunately he couldn't simply go and collect them. They had to find a mission that led them in the vicinity so he could 'accidentally' stumble upon it. Until now they didn't have much luck.

'Well, I can always hope.'

That night he finally felt the pull he had anxiously awaited for so many days. When he next awoke he found himself cuddled up to his mother. Hinata was similarly cuddled up to his father but seemed still asleep.

"Welcome back, kit." Youko greeted him. "I'm sorry that it took so long, but what we did was incredibly important."

"You have to tell me all about it." Naruto said.

His mother chuckled. "We plan to."

Sasori of the Red Sands was not an emotional man. Ever since he had replaced his original body his emotions had been even fainter than before. Nothing in his demeanor gave any indication that he was in a state that would be described as beyond furious in more emotional men.

A few days ago he had done maintenance on the seals that allowed his puppet body to perceive sound and accidentally set the sensitivity far too high. Luckily headquarters had been mostly silent. It had been purely by chance that he overheard a particular conversation between Akatsuki's leader and an unknown man. To his surprise the man had given their leader directions that were promptly accepted.

Even more surprising were the contents of the conversation. The secret goal of their mercenary organization had always been driving the other villages into ruin and attaining world domination using the power of the tailed beasts. Apparently that was only the façade for their leader's true plan. He wanted to create an unprecedented weapon of mass destruction out of the fusion of all the bijuu in an effort to establish world peace. Sasori didn't know how the unknown man fit into the grand scheme of things, but that wasn't truly important.

What was important was that Sasori hadn't signed up for the pursuit of a pipe dream. Additionally he didn't like being deceived. Outright defection seemed unwise, though, considering the power of Akatsuki's members. He would play along for the time being, taking precautions and laying the groundwork for his eventual disappearance. Patience was important, even if he hated waiting.

'I should discreetly send a few observers to Konoha. Both the Ichibi and Kyuubi will be there. Their interaction will yield much useful information.'

Perhaps he should return to the place of his birth after he left Akatsuki. By now he was far wiser than the angry young man that had turned his back on Suna. He had killed the Sandaime Kazekage long ago, the man who had sought to limit his art. His successor was not a wise man. Sasori's spy network had brought him notice of the plans concerning the Konoha chunin exams. Even if he succeeded the inevitable losses would weaken Suna a great deal. It was unlikely he would retain the title of Kage after that, creating an opening to take the village into a new direction.

There already was a promising young puppeteer he had been in contact with under a false name. That meant a cover identity was already in place and would only have to be fleshed out further. He had suborned enough people in the right positions to create an impeccable back-story. Then, when the time was right, he would put the final piece of his plan into action.

Sasori would have to die.

Author's notes: Too much work and not enough time to write make me an unhappy author.

Haku will have a long and difficult recovery. There's no way I'll have her functional so soon after the center of her universe died.

I let Kakashi get away with his irresonsible actions, but in contrast to canon more people know what actually happened. His reputation will take some hits among the people in the know.

Concerning the chunin exams: I always wondered why all of the rookie team participated. In my version of the story the Hokage 'suggested' to each jonin they should nominate their teams. We only ever get a good look at Team 7 in canon, but at least Sakura and Naruto were completely unprepared for the exams. Judging from their fight Ino was in a similar shape. It just seemed premature for the rookie teams to be there.

The next chapter will have a whole lot of Shikamaru in it.

So long.