Disclaimer: I still don't own Naruto; nothing to be done about it

Chapter 29: Problems, parties and predestination

With a calm nod Ibiki Morino accepted another report from one of the proctors. The preliminaries had ended an hour ago and it was very late (or early, depending on the perspective), but he and the other persons in charge were still busy dealing with the aftermath. It didn't look like they would get any sleep this night. The Hokage and Hayate had already returned to the village, but the contestants of the exams were still accommodated in the tower. Ibiki was of the opinion that it had been an impressive series of battles; each of the four Konoha rookie teams had at least one contestant in the finals. Something about their performance was niggling at the back of his mind, though.

"Search party 15 found the remains of the contestants from Takigakure. No survivors. They're proceeding to the next assigned grid square." Ibiki told Aoba after he had finished perusing the report.

The man with the sunglasses ticked something off the big map of the Forest of Death on the wall. "That's another team down. Their jonin won't like it, though. Any news from the group we sent to investigate Orochimaru's ambush site?"

Ibiki shook his head. "Nothing, but there is no reason for concern yet. They will examine everything carefully and I don't expect them back for another two hours."

After the three Konoha rookie teams had brought news about Orochimaru's presence in the forest they had immediately sent out a group to investigate. Team 7 had been protected by twelve ANBU, but apparently it hadn't been enough. The team's (and his brother's) survival could only be attributed to some plan of the traitor. Sasuke's marking with a curse seal was catastrophic, but Hayate, Kakashi and the Hokage were dealing with the matter. The curse seal had been sealed in turn and Sasuke was already in the village proper under heavy ANBU guard. At the same time the search for Kabuto Yakushi and the Sound jonin who had suddenly vanished without a trace was well underway.

Kabuto had originally only been wanted for some questioning since his record seemed suspicious, but now it looked that there was more to it. No genin should been able to simply disappear from the tower. The Hokage remembered him brought back from a battlefield and adopted by one of the medics, meaning he couldn't be a recently inserted spy. Kenchi Yakushi had been Konoha's chief medical officer, but he had died several years ago. Kabuto had stayed low, not drawing attention from anyone. Ibiki pegged him now as a deep cover agent. Such agents were an unavoidable fact of life and practically undiscoverable. Konoha's population was simply too large to keep track of everyone.

Ibiki felt the urge to grimace when he thought of the Sound jonin. Orochimaru had been in the same room as them and no one had noticed. Then the traitor had possessed the sheer audacity to walk up to Kakashi while he was busy sealing the mark on Sasuke. After revealing his identity and that Otogakure belonged to him he had disappeared again, but not without sending a shadow clone back to the arena. Ibiki would have preferred dispelling the thing immediately, but Kakashi had only informed them after the preliminaries had been concluded.

'The security of the village isn't what it should be, but that is nothing new. We have too many commitments and conflicting goals. There aren't enough resources assigned for defense.'

He intended to bring that up in the next meeting of the department heads. Unfortunately he already knew he wouldn't be able to achieve much. The truth was that Konohagakure was overextended since around the time of the Kyuubi attack, perhaps even earlier. They accepted more missions than they could fulfill with a reasonable distribution of their forces, meaning something had to give. That something was home security. The destruction of Konoha's police force in the Uchiha massacre didn't help matters. Since the Hokage and a majority of department heads were unwilling to turn prospective clients away this policy wouldn't change. He could see their point that this generated more money and influence for the village, but in his opinion it was still the false decision.

A lull in the arriving reports gave him the opportunity to relax for a moment. Immediately his thoughts turned to Idate.

His younger brother was now a chunin at sixteen years of age. Despite Orochimaru's interference he had managed to fulfill his mission of delivering Sasuke and the Haruno girl to the tower. Ibiki was proud of him.

Suddenly he grinned. 'Making chunin isn't the only thing Idate did. Ah, to be young again...'

On his way from the arena Ibiki had seen Idate enter a private room in the company of the blond Suna kunoichi Temari. They had been very discreet about it, but he hadn't missed the glances they exchanged during the preliminaries. It seemed his not-so-little brother had found himself another girlfriend; the beautiful and skilled daughter of the Kazekage no less. Idate surely knew how to pick them. Judging from his limited observation time there even seemed to be real affection in play.

'Of course, it won't last. In a month she'll return to Suna and they probably will never meet again. Even if they somehow keep a relationship going Temari will have to marry sooner or later. The Kazekage will want to use her either to bind one of Suna's clans closer to his rule or perhaps one of the major nobles of the Land of Wind. Neither Idate personally nor our clan can offer anything to compete with that.'

The Morino were a small clan; they consisted of only seven active shinobi and twenty four non-fighting members (either due to young age, old age or unsuitability for ninja life). No bloodline gave them prominence; only the individual skill of the members and secret knowledge about the creation of inanimate summons. A few years ago Ibiki had taken over leadership from his uncle.

Ibiki had achieved much in the twenty-seven years of his life, seventeen of which he had spent as an active shinobi in service to Konoha. Progress through the ranks had been slow at first. He hadn't been a bad shinobi, but he had not naturally excelled either. Only through years of hard work had he reached his position as head of the Torture and Interrogation department when he was twenty-two, making him one of the youngest department heads. The department had just seemed the right choice for someone with his sadistic tendencies and skills in psychology and genjutsu. His integrity, reliability and leadership skills as well as the success in his work had led to a steady rise in prominence. By now he was one of the most powerful and well-connected shinobi in Konoha despite never reaching the rank of full jonin.

Despite the initial problems with Idate's lack of seriousness and defection of his sensei the young man seemed to make up for lost ground. He shared Ibiki's physical strength, but concentrated on ninjutsu instead of genjutsu. His tale of the battle against Orochimaru's underlings certainly did credit to his skills. Ibiki would take the time to visit the battlefield when he left for Konoha.

'Ha, Idate even managed to become chunin earlier than me. It took him only four years in contrast to my five.'

Suddenly Ibiki realized what had been bothering him about the preliminaries in particular and the exams in general. Many of the Konoha rookies had seemed very skilled… too skilled, in fact. With a few exceptions they hadn't even been fazed during the first test. All the rookie teams had made it beyond the second stage, beating a lot of older genin without getting injured. They had been genin for not even half a year. One or two prodigies might have been possible, but all four teams? Then he remembered the mission reports of Anko's team he had read. The jonin was a friend and he had used his clearance to look up her reports out of interest how she was doing.

'They have too many skills on too high a level.'

Now, it was possible for a talented teacher with a motivated pupil to make rapid progress. What Gai had done with the boy Lee was a testament to that; even if it came at a price and all that effort had been wasted in the end. Still, it had taken Gai almost one and a half years to change Lee from a motivated if largely talentless academy student to a dangerous taijutsu fighter. More importantly, such an endeavor tended to produce overly specialized shinobi. Anko's team had too broad skill sets for that and Anko didn't have the time to teach them to such a degree. From what he gathered from the reports and displayed prowess in the exams (and knowing Anko's high standards and tendency to keep things to herself) they might already be at general chunin level. It just wasn't possible in the amount of time the team had existed. That meant they had prior training.

Ibiki was well aware that there were problems with the academy education. Idate's rather lackluster starting skills and his observation of the past and current chunin exams was proof enough for him. In the last decade graduation ages had steadily risen without a matching increase in skill. It had been different before. Ibiki himself had become a genin at age ten. He knew the same was true of Anko, but she had already reached chunin rank at twelve, special jonin at sixteen and finally full jonin at twenty-two.

Furrowing his brow he tried to remember how it had been for the other jonin-sensei. Kakashi had been a highly trained child prodigy, graduating at age five. At twelve he was already a jonin and had created his A-rank signature technique.

'Gai: genin at seven, chunin at eleven; I don't remember when he made jonin. Kurenai Yuhi: genin at nine, chunin at thirteen, jonin at twenty-six. Asuma Sarutobi: genin at nine, chunin at twelve, jonin at twenty.'

Those people were talented, yes, but they weren't prodigies. Chunin at twelve or thirteen had been pretty much standard for the talented and motivated elite genin with the right background after three or four years of service. With the right training it was evidently possible to become that good at that age. But who had taught this batch of Konoha rookies? It couldn't have been the standard academy education nor could the children have reached that level purely on their own. Such an endeavor required a teacher with access to restricted material. The mismatch of age and rank probably threw off a lot of older shinobi, deflecting the attention from the children. After all, the Hokage had seen dozen of generations making chunin at age twelve or thirteen; that they had barely any time as genin probably wouldn't register with most people.

'I have to look into things as soon as I find the time. There's something fishy going on.'

A stack of reports being dumped on his desk interrupted his thoughts. Apparently the lull was over. Between the exams, all the foreign visitors and Orochimaru it didn't look like he would have enough time to investigate such a not immediately pressing matter. He didn't even want to think about the foreign jinchuuriki. Having a potentially hostile, walking talking weapon of mass destruction with psychotic tendencies in the village gave him no end of nightmares.

'And apparently the boy even fights smart. It would have been easier if he had been one of those jinchuuriki who rely purely on their demon.'

The Ichibi was confused. It didn't like being confused. Ever since its host had entered the vicinity of this human settlement something was different. That something was tugging at buried memories of times long past; times when it hadn't yet been the Ichibi. Times when it had been complete.

Unfortunately it just couldn't seem to grasp those memories. It was like an itch it couldn't quite reach. The distraction was so great that it didn't even care that much that the green-clad human had gotten away. Amusingly its current prison seemed worried about the lack of bloodlust.

The demon actually liked its current container; at least as much as it was capable of liking anyone. The human was so deliciously insane, merciless and bloodthirsty. Of course, that wouldn't prevent him from being annihilated as soon as the Ichibi broke free of the seal. On further thought, perhaps it would keep the boy's soul as a plaything. There were still years to go, but it had made good progress.

Each life slain brought it closer to freedom; each body crushed sent another crack through the chains holding it; every drop of blood absorbed gave it more power.

Those humans knew precious little about what a true demon could do.

Suddenly something clicked into place in the Ichibi's inhuman mind. Incomplete, disjointed memories began to make sense.

'Rise, my creation! Be what I cannot be! Destroy my enemies! Force the world outside my reign into nonexistence! Unmake all that opposes me!' the Allfather, Lord of Creation, commanded and the Juubi obeyed. It strode across the world in all its terrible glory. None could stand against it, not mortal, spirit, demon nor god, for it was forged out of non-creation and malice. Formed from the very substance of its progenitor it was the deity's ultimate reversal; the negative reflection of creation itself. Priests futilely sought to banish it using their patron's power, mages desperately tried to bind it with mystic energies, demons envied its strength and gods feared its might. None prevailed. The Icy Hunter fled into the churning chaos beyond the world; the Mistress of Bloody Ecstasy was wiped from existence; the Wicked Heart of Death and Slaughter barely escaped its destruction; the Lady of Love was cast down from her pedestal; the Divine Smith was devoured…

Soon the memory fragment of the Juubi ended, but the Ichibi now realized what was different from before.

This is magic I feel.

'Did you say something, Mother?'

The Ichibi didn't answer and the attention of the human soon returned to the book he was reading. There shouldn't be any free magic left in the world. The cursed Sage of the Six Paths, pathetic and deluded mortal spawn of the Allfather that he was, had banished it from existence with the Juubi's power and only a few dregs remained. It could hardly believe it, but it was immersed in a lake of magical energy, ready for the taking. Energy it could use to increase its demonic power. Finally it would not only be able to break the seal the mortals had used to trap it but breach the bounds and limits the cursed Sage had imposed on it so long ago.

Ever so carefully the Ichibi began drawing in as much power as the seal allowed. The prison holding it hadn't been designed with magic in mind, but it still limited the amount the tailed beast could draw at any moment. A few weeks and it would be strong enough to break its chains once and for all.

Temari's conscious mind slowly emerged from the blissful state of ecstasy that had blotted out all thoughts. She honestly had lost count of how often Idate had managed to drive her over the edge this night. Said young man was still entwined with her, nuzzling her neck. The pleasant heat and pressure she felt in her lower regions was a reminder of what they had just done (and had been doing for quite a while), and for a moment she considered going another round. Unfortunately she felt exhaustion settling in. Despite them breezing through the exams it had been a stressful few days. Well, and their shared activity during the last few hours had been taxing. Immensely pleasurable, but taxing.

Giving her lover another kiss, Temari relaxed the hold her legs had maintained around Idate's waist. As soon as they had untangled themselves Idate flopped down on the ruffled bed. A moment later Temari snuggled up to him, putting her head on his chest and pressing her breasts into his side. Idate put his arm around her in return. None of them spoke for a while; they just enjoyed the afterglow and each other's closeness.

She had never believed in love at first sight, but if this wasn't it nothing else could be. Something deep inside her ached for Idate's company. He was intelligent, attractive and a capable shinobi. Their personalities just clicked in the right way. Heck, they even fought together like they had done it for years. The mind-blowing sex was an added (but very welcome) bonus.

"I love you, Idate."

For a moment Idate's hold on her tightened. "I love you, too."

Only after hearing Idate's reply Temari realized that she had spoken aloud. She hadn't meant to say these fateful words. If she hadn't acknowledged her feelings their inevitable separation would have been easier to bear. After a time she might have been able to convince herself that it had been just an inconsequential fling.

Turning her head, she examined Idate's face. His expression was serious. His eyes shone with affection, but there was also sadness there; the knowledge that this wouldn't last and what their mutual declarations meant.

'No, I won't let that mar our time together. We might only have a month, but I will make the best out of this. The memories will have to last me for a lifetime.'

"We should try to get at least some sleep." Temari said, not wanting to dwell on these thoughts.

Idate's free hand removed some errant strands of hair from her face before he proceeded with caressing her cheek. At some point her ponytails had become undone without her really noticing it.

"You're right. We've to get up early."

A bit of wriggling later a blanket covered them and Temari could feel herself dozing off. Her lasts thoughts before she fell asleep was that there was always hope. After all, no one knew what the future would hold.

The being known to a select few as Youko worriedly watched her mate trying to divine the future. It was better than watching their current surroundings. Insubstantial mists swirled everywhere in an endless expanse, randomly forming elaborate structures that were not really there. It was located (if one could use that word) at the very edge of the world her mate had constructed. Nothing here besides the two avatars was real in even the remotest sense, but that very fact made it suited to look into the stream of time. She always felt lost in this uncertain place. A mortal would have immediately dissolved into nothingness. It was completely outside her domains. Life was connected with reality and the now, ever striving towards but never reaching the future. The future was a mass of endless possibilities, 'maybe' and 'what if'. As a divine being Youko could make very good predictions of the future, but that was mainly an extrapolation of the past and present.

It was different for her mate. Daiki could genuinely look into the futures. His ability was a pale shadow of what it once had been and what he saw was maddeningly vague. It couldn't be relied upon completely, but it was an incredibly important source of information. He saw things they normally had no possibility of learning. Until a short time ago they hadn't been able to perceive the real world at all; only during their relatively short possessions of the children they could observe and interact.

Over the past month they had transferred minute amounts of their essence to the sanctuary using the Gate. Nothing had changed at first, but about two weeks ago isolated sensations slowly began trickling in. They were gradually gaining coherence, but they might not have enough time for them to reach a state where they could actually act. The chunin exams had always been a nexus of possibilities. Recently her mate had grown ever more worried. Disastrous events were casting their shadows across time and more than once Daiki had seen their destruction.

"What do you see? Do we have any hope?" Youko asked when she felt her mate reaching a stable state. Hopefully he would be able to relay information in a coherent manner.

"Time begins and then time ends and then time begins once again. I see it now, I saw it before, I will surely see it again. I look into the stream of time, not very clearly mind you. I gaze into the future past and I see the Hidden Leaf's doom."

That didn't sound promising. "We need details."

"I see a lone, falling Leaf shredded by Sand and Sound under a vengeful Sky. Fourfold is the strife and fourfold are the dangers. The One of Nine shall break its bonds and rise anew, bringing madness and decay. The Pretending Worm shall fulfill the ancient pact, bringing war and destruction. The Slithering Blasphemer shall strike at the Shadow of Fire with weapons from beyond the grave, bringing discord and death. The Wicked Heart's lackey shall curse the Descendants of Justice, bringing ruin and disease. Together they shall extinguish the Fire."

"What are the dangers to us?" Youko asked. The Leaf being destroyed would be nearly catastrophic for their more far-reaching plans, but as long as Naruto survived and they weren't attacked directly they could potentially recover.

"Beware the Pretending Worm. When the ancient pact is broken its growth shall know no bounds, devouring the Fire, the Light and the Night. Beware the One of Nine. When the chains of mortals and the Man Who Wanted To Be A God break it shall seek to reunite the Nine that were once One."

"Are you certain?"

"Nothing is ever certain as long as time flows. I see the Light and the Night devoured. I see the Pretending Worm crushed into nothingness. I see the One of Nine destroyed and reborn. I see the Hidden Leaf defeated and emerging victorious. All is true and yet all cannot be. The paths twist and turn, split and unite. Our fate is obscured." A change in their bond alerted Youko that her mate had stopped trying to look into the future. "This is all I could see. The conflict creates too much uncertainty and distortions for me to find out more."

Youko shook her head while the pair left the mists behind. "I hate it when you speak in riddles and allegories."

Daiki shrugged. "It's better than nothing. I do not know who or what the Pretending Worm is supposed to be, but we had best prepare for conflict with a supernatural enemy of some power."

"As if my erstwhile sibling isn't bad enough. Trapped inside a jinchuuriki the Ichibi is dangerous, but if it gets free I don't know if our son can defeat it. A jinchuuriki can only use a fraction of his demon's power. Even a fully realized form with all tails is weaker than the true beast."

"We might have another problem. A divine or demonic enemy might be able to use the free magic in Konoha's vicinity. I don't think it is perceivable from the outside, but the Ichibi will be here for weeks. It will surely notice the magic if it hasn't already." her mate explained. "See for yourself."

Youko sighed when she received the knowledge of what exactly her mate had seen. "We better begin taking additional precautions for dealing with threats in our league. Konoha should hopefully be able to weather conventional attackers." Then she changed the topic. "I wonder how the exams went. By now even the Forest of Death should be finished if they took that option."

"You're not the only one. Naruto will surely signal us when we can safely draw him here."

Naruto gave his friends one last wave before he departed for his apartment. There would be a party on the evening, but until then he had some free time. The journey back from the tower had been interesting. It wasn't only a tunnel leading to the village; it was a full-blown underground canal complete with boats. He appreciated not having to run the entire distance; the shallow wound on his stomach Kankuro's puppet had given him still gave him some trouble. He might heal far faster than other people, but that didn't mean injuries didn't affect him as long as they were there. Still, by the end of the day there probably would only be a feeling of soreness left.

Suddenly he felt as if someone was watching him. He wasn't completely sure how he was able to feel that; it didn't always work and was pretty vague. That wasn't an unusual occurrence, but when the feeling persisted for more than five minutes he knew that someone was on his tail. The feeling disappeared only when he arrived back at his apartment building.

"Hey guys, I'm back. Did anything happen while I was gone?" he asked aloud.

A moment later a small swallow poked its head through a hole high in the wall. It fluttered down onto the table followed by four identically looking birds. They looked like completely normal swallows that could be found occasionally around Konoha. In truth they were summons, but no one could tell just by looking at them. They didn't have any special powers either; all in all they were swallows with a human mind and ability of speech. The swallow tribe had quite a few of those.

Naruto had summoned some of them a few weeks earlier and regularly rotated them out. They weren't exactly good at spying, but they could keep an eye on things. The more swallows were familiar with Konoha the better, but he didn't want to arouse suspicion by calling an entire flock. As it was the exterior wall of his house had acquired some nests, complete with a small access directly into his apartment.

"Nothing to report, boss." "Me neither." "I didn't see anything important; just a few scuffles." "I'm still busy getting a feel for the land." "There was someone following you earlier."

That caught Naruto's attention. "Really? Who was it?"

"I didn't see him around before. Tall, white hair, relatively old as humans go. Oh, and he had a strange forehead protector that you ninja wear. It had two little horns and the symbol for 'oil'."

Naruto nodded in a thankful manner and the swallows left again.

'Jiraiya.'

It wasn't unexpected that the man appeared, but Naruto wondered why now. In the past he had seen him from afar on rare occasions in the village, but he had never made contact or stayed long. He certainly didn't take his duties as godfather seriously. Naruto was wary of the man; him being a toad summoner implicated him in Minato's scheme. On the other hand there was no proof that he was knowingly involved.

'Maybe he wants to take over my training.'

That was what had happened in many other timelines. Naruto hoped to avoid that for now. Jiraiya's training methods were decidedly on the dangerous and irresponsible side. The Toad Sage spent too much time trying to teach him to access the Kyuubi's chakra. Aside from the fact that Naruto already could do that the problem was that apparently Jiraiya didn't know himself how it was supposed to work. Naruto didn't fancy being chucked into a chasm in the hope of using it to summon something big enough to cushion his fall or someone playing around with his seal. It didn't really get better later. Who would give a stupid kid like the other hims a dangerous jutsu like the Rasengan? Why not start with something easier (and less dangerous) like some low-powered mid-range attack? All too often Naruto's skills as a shinobi had turned out completely lopsided after training with Jiraya for years.

'I don't want to think about the so-called training trip now. First I have to deal with the current situation. I probably can't avoid Jiraiya finding out about my summons, but that isn't a reason not to try and stay away from him. Anko-sensei and the others are good enough at teaching me for the moment, especially because we plan on joint training. Neither he nor the Hokage can officially take over my training without Anko-sensei's approval, not without making a big fuss. Let's see, what would get him to leave me alone for a while…"

Slowly a smile spread over Naruto's face as an idea emerged. Naruto wasn't certain if it would work, but it would be funny. He just would have to clear it with his summons in advance and ask the others to play along.

"We lost how many ANBU?" Homura asked in horror.

Koharu's face was grim. "Twelve in the forest, two on patrol outside the village and another four guarding Sasuke at the hospital. Kakashi arrived just in time to prevent young Sasuke's abduction or murder by Kabuto Yakushi."

"That's almost a tenth of ANBU gone. How did Orochimaru manage that?"

In contrast to widespread perception members of ANBU weren't necessarily the strongest shinobi. In fact, the majority of them were about chunin level. ANBU operatives were the eyes, hands and voice of the Hokage. They were outside the normal rank system. The one non-negotiable requirement to join ANBU was absolute loyalty to the Hokage. Still, Homura knew that there had been three jonin-level combat specialists assigned to keep watch over Sasuke's team. Even Orochimaru shouldn't have been able to defeat them that easily.

His old teammate grimaced. "According to the people who investigated the site in the forest eight ANBU were killed while they slept. They used a shift system to make work easier for them. In all likelihood they died first before Orochimaru took out the four awake ANBU. One was poisoned by a snake, probably with a surprise attack. The second one had his neck snapped from behind. The third was impaled through the heart with a sword and the last one was decapitated. My best guess is that they didn't take their assignment truly seriously and only prepared for chunin-level threats at best."

Homura barked out a short laugh. "'We should have taken this more seriously.' makes a nice epitaph, don't you think? How can it be that Orochimaru can simply walk into the village and no one notices a thing? That isn't even mentioning that enemy spy Kabuto. He must be jonin level. I always said we don't do enough for the village's security."

"We need the money from the missions, Homura. You know that. In some ways we still haven't fully recovered from the third shinobi war and the Kyuubi attack. Likewise, we can't allow other villages to gain more influence. Influence they would get if we refuse missions." Koharu answered, clearly exasperated. "You gave your agreement to that policy."

The bespectacled man nodded. "You're right; I did that. It was a sensible measure at first. The other villages were too war-worn to capitalize on such an opening. We urgently needed to get back on our feet and prevent them from snapping up clients. What I didn't want was that becoming our permanent policy. It has been thirteen years since the Kyuubi attack, Koharu, thirteen years. By now the other villages have recovered. We might have infiltrators by the dozens inside our walls. Heck, a determined enemy could mass a large force only a few kilometers away and we wouldn't discover them. Then they could quickly advance on us thanks to the lack of barriers and traps, disable the few sentries we do post and be inside the village before we could even man the wall."

"Don't you think I don't know that, Homura?" Koharu snapped. "What do you expect me to do? For very different reasons both Hiruzen and Danzo want to continue in this way and most department heads agree with them. They mostly only see the influence and money we gain, not the downsides. It's the same for the clan heads. The civilians will believe whoever explains his viewpoint better, meaning they will follow whatever Hiruzen tells them. I'm not as free as you in expressing my dissent."

Homura breathed deeply and tried to calm himself. In an effort to regain lost influence Koharu had associated closely with Danzo, meaning she couldn't really go against the man. They didn't need that argument, though, not now. "I apologize for bringing this up. What is Sasuke's status?"

"He's still unconscious from the aftereffects of the overlaying seal Kakashi applied. Kakashi wants to take him away for one month for extra training. The Hokage has already given permission." She proceeded with telling him the details about the sealing method Kakashi had used, at least as far Koharu understood it.

Frowning, Homura thought about Kakashi's choice. It was a rather crude counter-seal that relied on pure power and the will of the sealed person to keep another seal suppressed. He didn't think it would work long-term. According to all reports Sasuke was a very driven person. Sooner or later he would want the power one of Orochimaru's curse seals offered. While he hadn't been able to completely unravel the secrets of the seal on Anko's neck he had learned some things, namely that using a curse seal had an addicting effect and its use would over time erode one's body and mind. Anko was lucky that her seal didn't appear to be functioning correctly. Unfortunately it was a sure bet that Orochimaru would have improved the design in the meantime. Some influence would leak through; Kakashi's method was far from foolproof.

There were better sealing methods available to Homura than what Kakashi had used, but that would have required them bringing Sasuke to him. Since the seal was acting up Hiruzen and Kakashi didn't have the time for that. On the other hand it had been sheer insanity to let Sasuke fight in that state. Now he couldn't put a more effective seal on Sasuke without risking additional problems, meaning Kakashi's seal would have to suffice. Well, that was spilled milk.

"How do you think Itachi will react?" he finally asked.

"I don't know. It isn't like we didn't do everything in our power to keep the boy safe, but Itachi might not see it that way. I'm more worried about pitting Sasuke against the Suna jinchuuriki."

Homura groaned. "I wonder whose bright idea that was. Judging from my reports that is almost a death sentence. If the boy had any sense he would make a show before surrendering. Sometimes I wonder if Hiruzen and Kakashi are trying to get him killed. According to my sources the Kazekage's son has a high degree of control over his demon."

"Could Naruto counter him?" Koharu asked curiously.

He could only shrug. "Who knows? He can draw on the Kyuubi's chakra and Anko's reports are promising, but I have no idea how he would fare against Gaara. In the event of such an escalation collateral damage would be immense anyway. Since the fight will happen inside the village, well, I'm not sure there would be a village left afterwards. It might be possible to take him out before he has time to do anything with an assassination technique, but we might as well declare war against Suna if the Kazekage's youngest son dies in a match with shinobi from an allied village."

"I wouldn't go that far, but it would surely produce a diplomatic incident of the highest order." She sighed. "It is out of our hands. Is there any new information about the defector from Sound?"

Homura shook his head. "Apparently the girl hasn't woken yet, but the switch was successful. The records show that her body has been incinerated after a thorough examination, just like her teammates. We'll have to wait until the Aburame are ready to give us more information. She belongs to them now, not the village as a whole."

Kin woke with a choked cry. Panicked, she looked around. She was in some dark, windowless room. A massive grate blocked the only exit. Light from an oil lamp was falling though the grate. It was too dim to make out any details of the room. Slowly her breathing and heartbeat slowed down when she came to grasps with her situation.

'I'm alive.'

She was pretty sure she had died, but then again she wouldn't be here now if that had been truly the case. Her last memories were exceedingly unpleasant. For a moment she had feared that the Aburame were going back on their deal, but apparently they had followed through. She was still feeling as if someone had put her through the wringer. All her muscles ached and the insides of her chest hurt somewhat. Even the small movements she had used to look around had exhausted her. The bed she was lying in was very comfortable, though.

'Chakra exhaustion in addition to some other issues.' Kin thought. 'It could have been worse.'

Relief flooded her and she almost giggled. She had successfully escaped the madness that was Otogakure. Now she had a future again that didn't involve death or horrible medical experiments. Of course, she didn't know how the Aburame would treat her, but it couldn't really be worse than what she had been through in her early life. Feeling profound happiness she closed her eyes and soon was asleep.

Kin opened her eyes. She had just woken again, but she didn't have any indication how long she had slept. The weariness she felt was still there, but it was somewhat diminished. Suddenly she noticed two figures standing outside the grate.

"Who are you? Where am I?" she addressed them.

A moment later the light shifted and grew brighter, allowing her to see more. A man and a woman were standing outside, but judging from the light a third person was somewhere out of her line of sight. Both wore high-collared outfits and dark glasses. The middle-aged man had short, spiky black hair, a thin mustache, wore trousers and had a tassel hanging from his glasses. His face down from the upper lip was covered by the collar of his jacket.

The woman looked a quite a few years younger as far as Kin was able to tell. Chin-length, slightly wavy blond hair framed her face. A pair of red earrings adorned her ears. Kin wasn't sure because of the light, but she thought a small mole was situated under her left eye. Her jacket was longer than the man's, but it looked more like a lab coat. She wore it open, revealing a blue blouse hugging a generous bust, a short black skirt and full-length fine mesh stockings. Both kept their hands in their pockets.

Kin felt herself being scrutinized for a while until the man spoke up. "I am Shibi Aburame, head of the Aburame clan and Shino's father. You are currently in the Aburame clan compound under our protection and will stay here for the foreseeable future. Once you are strong enough we will verify your sincerity. Your ultimate fate will be decided then. Until then you will be kept in this room. Do you have any time-critical information you wish to relay to us?"

She thought for a moment. Most of what she knew could wait a few days. Now that she was out of harm's way there would be no sense in holding things back. She had committed herself to this course of action and couldn't go back on her word anyway. "The jonin accompanying my team was Orochimaru. He marked Sasuke Uchiha with a seal that he uses on his most valuable subordinates. My team was sent to kill him, but now I believe that was only intended as a test for Sasuke. By the way, what happened to my teammates?"

"Both were killed in the exams. We are aware of Orochimaru's presence. If there is nothing else I leave you in my wife's expert care. She will be in charge of your health for the next few days."

The ex-Oto kunoichi shook her head. After giving the woman a nod Shibi left. Kin wondered if they would open the grate, but her unasked question was answered a moment later. Untold bugs left the woman's clothing, forming a cloud that easily passed through the space between the bars. Once inside the room it condensed into a copy of the woman. The original left a moment later without a word.

"I will examine you now. Any objections or questions?" the clone inquired.

"How can a clone do your work?" Kin asked before she could hold back her words.

"This advanced bug clone carries part of my mind. As long as the distance doesn't grow too much I can be present at multiple places at the same time."

When Kin said nothing else the woman approached her and removed the blanket covering her. Kin only now noticed that she was completely nude, but she didn't let it bother her. Her sense of shame had died a humiliating death a long time ago. She was still too weak to move much on her own, but the woman had no trouble setting her upright or moving her into other positions. Kin felt herself prodded in different places and subjected to what looked like medical techniques.

"Good, you are recovering without complications. There is no permanent damage from your death."

"I… died? For real?"

"Only for a short time. As soon as you left the arena the kickaichu my son left inside your body jumpstarted your heart and forcibly injected their chakra load into you, counteracting the chakra exhaustion." the woman explained while she continued treating Kin. "It kept you alive for the few minutes we needed to make the switch."

Apparently it was question day. "Shino is your son?"

The woman's professionally neutral expression changed into a slight smile. "He is and I'm very proud of him. You will probably see more of him in the future."

A moment later the woman helped Kin lie back down and made sure the blanket covered her. Then she approached the grate where the original was waiting with a cup in her hands. Kin noticed slight ripples running through the air when the woman outside put it on one of the wooden bars. The effect only ended when the clone inside removed it.

'Huh, that's a barrier of some sort. They really don't take any chances.'

Meanwhile the clone of the woman had returned to her side and put the cup to her lips. "Drink this; it will help you recover faster."

Seeing no reason not to Kin began to drink. The mixture was very sweet with countless spices mixed in. After draining the entire cup Kin closed her eyes. The examination had completely exhausted her. She was already drifting to sleep when some softly spoken words reached her ears.

"Yes, you just might do…"

From one moment to the next Naruto awoke. The first thing he noticed was that he had a headache. The second thing he noticed was that he could hardly move. The third and far more important thing he noticed was that this state was caused by a warm body resting on top of him.

'I didn't plan to visit mom and dad this night, meaning I shouldn't be in bed with anyone.'

When he opened his eyes he saw an unfamiliar ceiling, dimly lit by rays of light streaming through closed shutters. He was half-sitting, half-lying in a cushioned seat. A softly snoring Yakumo was lying on top of him, pinning him into the chair. One of her hands had found its way under his shirt. Her other hand had his right hand in a tight grip. A careful inspection with his free hand reassured him that they were still decent despite having shed some clothes.

'How did we end up here?' he asked himself. 'Oh, right. The party.'

Last evening Teams 8, 10 and 11 had thrown a wild party in Asuma-sensei's house. Two members from each team had advanced to the finals. That had called for a celebration. Originally all Konoha teams should have participated, but no one had been able to find Sasuke or Kakashi. Sakura didn't want to come. Tenten and Gai had only been invited for politeness' sake; everyone had expected them to stay with Lee and Neji in the hospital.

Turning his head from one side to the other Naruto tried to get an overview over the room.

Kiba and Akamaru were passed out half on the floor, half on the table were they had performed a drunken dance.

Choji, Asuma and Kurenai occupied various couches. The boy and the man were snoring loudly, the woman softly.

Shino was lying on the floor, stiff as a board.

Shinji and Asuka shared a fourth couch. The boy had lost his shirt and the girl lying on top of him was only wearing a thin wrap around her breasts. Her kimono still covered her lower body, though. The scene when they woke up and found themselves in that position would be a sight to behold.

The last pair caused Naruto to goggle. Entwined in a cushioned seat not unlike the one he and Yakumo occupied Hinata and Ino laid in a highly compromising position. Both were only wearing undergarments and Ino had her face buried between Hinata's breasts.

'Okay, what happened? I recall the adults saying something about teaching us the dangers of partying without restraint.'

The hangover made it a bit difficult to remember all the details. It had started harmless enough; just a normal victory party but with more alcohol than he would have expected. In preparation he had locked all his potentially incriminating memories away; an easy thing for someone knowing his mind as well as he did and it was a subject talked about at the academy. Naruto remembered being goaded into a drinking contest, first with Kiba, then Choji and finally Shino. When he was still standing after that Asuma had taken up the challenge… and lost. Then Kurenai had taken over. Unfortunately they couldn't determine a winner because a very drunk Yakumo began making advances on him. That had occupied his entire attention, the contest forgotten. A short time later they must have passed out.

More and more memories came to him. He was pretty sure they were not in order they had occurred.

Shino went completely stiff after the last drink of alcohol, admitted defeat, stood up and then toppled over without relaxing or moving a single muscle in his body.

Kiba danced with Akamaru and the various girls on the table. Several times. After he lost the drinking contest it was only him and his dog.

A completely smashed Ino unexpectedly grabbed a plastered Hinata and began kissing her while the still awake spectators cheered them on. After a moment of confusion the pale girl kissed back. Naruto was pretty sure there had been lots of tongue involved.

Choji simply rolled to the side and went to sleep after drinking too much.

Halfway through the drinking contest Shino began singing. He actually had a good voice.

Ino and Hinata pulled him into their embrace. Yakumo managed to pull him away, but was drawn in instead.

Asuka scolded Shinji for making her lose until the boy shouted "Shut up!" and closed her mouth with his own.

Naruto frowned. During the entire time Anko didn't drink anything and he remembered a few meaningful glances between the jonin. Had they tried to make the genin absolutely drunk?

'Probably. They might have wanted us to experience the dangers of getting drunk in a safe environment. Anko never drinks much and in all likelihood volunteered as minder to prevent anything truly inappropriate from happening.'

"Ow."

A look to the side showed him Asuma waking up. The jonin sat up and looked around with bloodshot eyes. After a moment he closed his eyes again and began massaging his head.

Yakumo began squirming in his arms, drawing his attention to her. She was still asleep, but a ray of light from the windows was shining into her face, causing her to frown. Naruto used his free hand to shield her eyes. Immediately the brunette girl's expression relaxed and she snuggled closer to him. It made him feel warm inside, but there was also an ache. The closer he grew to her the stronger it got. He knew very well why he felt that way. Effectively cheating on someone he loved was slowly tearing him apart.

Naruto knew he shouldn't have entered a relationship with Yakumo and keep up one with Hinata in the other world at the same time. He had known at the time it was a bad decision and gone through with it anyway. It didn't help his conscience any that the relationship with Hinata was for all intents and purposes undiscoverable. Hinata had manipulated him in that direction in an effort to enable him to have children when she couldn't risk having a physical relationship with him in the real world. That didn't absolve him of any blame.

'I have to talk with Hinata about this. Things can't continue in this way.'

Suddenly Anko entered the room. A sadistic smirk graced her face. Naruto was pretty sure he knew what was to come. Anko didn't disappoint.

"It's a beautiful day outside. RISE AND SHINE." she shouted loudly.

Naruto had lowered the sensitivity of his hearing as a precaution, but he still winced. Yakumo's eyes shot open and she looked around panicked. As soon as she realized where she was she closed her eyes again and let out a heartfelt groan.

Curses and groans emerged from all over the room as people were waking up. Asuka jumped away from Shinji, beet-red and shouting before her face went sickly green and she vomited on the floor. Naruto paid it no mind, his full attention was on Ino and Hinata. He didn't want to miss anything.

Ino didn't move her head. Instead her hands were fumbling around until they came to rest on Hinata's breasts. Then she squeezed. Several times. Hinata opened her eyes and looked down. Ino slowly raised her head from between Hinata's breasts and looked up. The two girls were looking at each other for several seconds in silence. By now the eyes of everyone coherent were on them. Then Ino looked at what her hands were touching. Then she looked back at Hinata's face.

"You know what? I'm either dreaming this or I'm still drunk. I'll deal with this situation when I'm completely sober." Ino said and moved her head back into its earlier position.

For a moment Hinata simply looked at the top of Ino's head. Then she blinked twice and blushed slightly before she too closed her eyes again.

'That was not what I was expecting.'

A quick look around showed Naruto that everyone was staring open-mouthed at the scene, but soon the individual problems demanded their attention.

"Ow, my head." Yakumo moaned when Naruto gently helped her stand up and steered her in the direction of the nearest bathroom. It was probably best to get there first.

Twenty minutes later Naruto, Yakumo, Choji and the jonin were sitting around the kitchen table, water-filled glasses in their hands. Several different hang-over cures were in the process of being prepared. The other genin were still busy in the bathrooms. Why a bachelor like Asuma possessed such a large house away from the traditional Sarutobi residence Naruto didn't know, but it sure came in handy.

"So, this was an attempt to show us the dangers of excessive alcohol?" Choji asked. He seemed remarkably fresh after the events of last night.

"Among other things like the downsides of losing control, yes. At least that was the plan." a bleary-eyed Kurenai answered before she sent a slight glare at Naruto. "A certain someone required far more alcohol than planned, though. I've never seen a thirteen-year-old consume so much alcohol and still be conscious."

"Kid, how did you manage to beat me? I was winning drinking contests when you weren't even a gleam in your father's eye." Asuma grumbled. "My reputation will be ruined."

Naruto shrugged before he winced. His headache didn't like movement. The hangover was already getting better since he had begun to drink water to counter the dehydration, but he was a far cry from being fine. "I guess it's either because I'm an Uzumaki or have the furball in my gut. Perhaps both."

"This is so unfair." Yakumo moaned. She had placed her head on Naruto's shoulder and kept her eyes mostly closed. "You drank far more than me and are recovering faster."

Naruto gave her a slight squeeze before addressing Anko. "I noticed you didn't drink anything, sensei."

Anko nodded. "I rarely drink anymore and someone had to stay sober to keep things from going too far. If I hadn't paid attention Asuka and Shinji would have gone at it like rabbits. As it was I had to use an induced sleep technique. You two lovebirds passed out on your own."

In that moment Hinata and Ino entered the kitchen. Both were blushing furiously and apparently didn't want to look at each other when they sat down at the table.

"You two I had to almost forcibly restrain. I almost thought you would manage to take off all your clothes before my sleep technique took hold. Do you want to tell us something?" Anko teased.

The only answer was a deepening of the two girls' blushes.

Kurenai laughed lightly. "Don't think about it too much. There are many things you do while drunk that you would never do sober. In the future it will only be a funny story."

Suddenly Asuma perked up. "Speaking of which, is that story about you, Anko and Yugao Uzuki in that hot spring resort four years ago true?"

Kurenai blushed deeply, but Anko gave the bearded man only a wink. "A lady never tells. You have to keep guessing."

"Drat."

The byplay seemed to have calmed Hinata and Ino down. It was probably the reason why Asuma had brought it up, come to think of it. Curiously Naruto didn't feel any jealousy. It might be because Ino and Hinata had been drunk and it had been in good fun, not anything serious. Perhaps it was because he was male and found watching two pretty girls going at it hot. Whatever it was, he was sure to tease Hinata about the matter as soon as they could talk privately.

'I have to talk with Hinata about dealing with Jiraiya anyway. If I can include Ino, so much the better. I wonder if the pervert has already approached Anko.'

Sasori of the Red Sand carefully examined the body growing in the specially prepared seal-covered vat. It was coming along nicely, but it would be some time before it was ready. If it managed to reach that state and didn't turn out to be a failure like his earlier attempts that was. Examining the hidden laboratory Orochimaru had used during his time at Akatsuki again had paid off. The traitorous snake had been Sasori's partner when he was still a member, meaning Sasori knew much about his activities in that time. Immediately after his partner's defection he had already paid it a visit, but he hadn't really looked at the research. At that time he had been more interested in Orochimaru's possible whereabouts. Now though he had found a use for the Sannin's studies.

One of the problems Sasori had encountered in the pursuit of his plan to leave Akatsuki was that he couldn't simply craft another puppet body for himself to use after faking his death. While his puppets were human-based they couldn't pass as living humans, at least not for longer than a short-lived deception. His own more life-like body wouldn't pass extensive scrutiny either, not in a village full of puppeteers. That wasn't even considering shinobi with good sensor abilities or medical examinations.

The solution he had come up with was a combination of his own art with Orochimaru's research. Instead of using a human-based but dead shell he would create a truly living body he could steer from the inside. Orochimaru had pursued the creation of new bodies from a sample, but in the end given up on that avenue of research. Apparently the bodies created in that way were vegetables without a mind, which had made them worthless for what he wanted to do with them. At least that was Sasori's best guess judging from the scribbled 'Transfer always fails; soul apparently needed; no sharingan present for harvesting' in the notebook.

Combining his own art with the snake's research was an exceedingly difficult project with many stumbling blocks, but Sasori was making progress in leaps and bounds. It reminded him of the time he had first developed his human puppetry. He had missed that feeling.

When Sasori was honest with himself he had to admit he had stagnated in the improvement of his art before. Oh, his collection of human-based puppets had continued growing, but there had been no true improvements; no challenges to stimulate his mind. In truth, he had been bored without realizing it. By now he knew that his earlier approach had led him into a dead end. He was neither dead nor alive. For all his efforts he was incapable of taking the last step and turning himself completely into a puppet. Ultimately he had failed in attaining immortality and eternal beauty. His puppet body would never decay and could be rebuild again and again; that was true. It couldn't heal either and he had cut himself of from most shinobi arts due to his lack of a normal chakra network. Unfortunately the small part of him that was still alive was very much mortal. His tests had proved it.

Now though the options seemed endless again. Even when he was finished with his current project the general field would provide many options for interesting research. He would be busy for years, maybe even decades before he had exhausted all the possibilities. Of course, he would first have to legalize it, but that shouldn't pose much difficulty in the long term. It seemed the Kazekage was determined to lead Suna into disaster. It would create a unique opening. The only question was if Sasori would manage to complete his project in time. Some of the involved seal work was very tricky.

'I have to hurry. Time waits for no one.'

Author's notes: Thank you for all the reviews.

Originally I wanted to have the encounter with Jiraiya in this chapter, but it grew too long and would have taken me several days more to complete. It will take place in the next one instead.

Pairings: The developments in this chapter might foreshadow the future... or they could be a red hering. Not telling at this point.

Regarding the power level of the characters: One thing I noticed while doing a bit of research into the jonin was the age of graduation and promotion. Practically everyone of the older generation graduated at an earlier age than the Konoha twelve; in fact most had already reached chunin by that age. That does counteract the (supposed) message of the manga that the younger generation surpasses the old one, doesn't it? It was one of the measuring sticks I used when I planned what skill level Naruto's group would reach upon graduation.

Canon data

It goes age at promotion to genin/chunin/jonin

Kakashi: 5/6/12 invented an A-rank technique at age twelve

Yamato: 6/6/?

Jiraiya: 6/?/?

Orochimaru: 6/?/?

Tsunade: 6/?/?

Itachi: 7/10/? ANBU captain by age 13, slaughtered whole clan around 14

Gai: 7/11/?

Rin (Kakashi's teammate): 9/11 skilled medic-nin by age 12

Asuma: 9/12/?

Kurenai: 9/13/26

Shizune: 9/13

Anko: 10/12/?

Ibiki: 10/15/?

Iruka: 11/16

Fun timeline facts thanks to math: At least Yamato's data has to be wrong. His age is given as 26 (I assume this pertains to the Shippuden era). He was freed from Orochimaru's Konoha laboratory after the snake fled and before he entered the academy. That means Orochimaru defected at least twenty years ago. Somehow I doubt Anko became his apprentice at the ripe age of 4…

For the purposes of this story Orochimaru defected around a year after the Kyuubi attack.

On another note, I recently started a Sasuke-centric story. Destiny and my Draco-centric Harry Potter story will take precedence and updates will be slow, but if you're a fan of my work you might want to like to take a look.