Mission: Temptation

Chapter 8: Spy Life and Responsibilities

How's it going readers? There's still a month of summer vacation ahead of me so I think I'll be posting a few more chapters. After that, I'm probably not gonna post any new chapter until March next year. Just announcing that this early so that ya'll won't wonder about why I'll suddenly stop uploading new chapters.

Also for those of you who have read the Fables comics or seen the Wolf Among Us game, I've made a oneshot named "Happily Never After". Please do check it out if you're interested.

Alright, so now that all of those are out of the way, I give you the eighth chapter of Mission: Temptation. Flashbacks are in italics, and no I still don't own Naruto nor any other copyrighted work this story may have happened to cross with. Enjoy!

"You're spending more and more time away from the family, Temari. Don't think I haven't noticed." Temari cringed, hearing the monotonous scolding of her younger brother from behind her back. It had been about two months since her recruitment into team Alpha; Two months of having to come up with false excuses to tell her parents whenever she was being called to a meeting. She anticipated having a suspicious Gaara sniffing around her business, but she sure didn't anticipate getting confronted about it this early.

She turned around to see her red-haired brother standing with an almost perfect posture and with his arms crossed. His earlier sentence may have been in the form of a statement, but she knew he was demanding to hear a reason. Well so much for being stealthy.

"No need to be worried about me, brother. It's not like I got assaulted by some sex offender on my way back." Temari said, trying to tune down her brother's suspicion with her usual playful remarks. Gaara, being a man of few words, chose to reply with a low growl before turning his back and heading into his room. Temari sighed as she took off her running shoes and slipped her feet into some more comfortable slippers. Her brother's intuition wasn't something too easy to be swayed, but his respect for his older sister should be enough to keep him off her tail for some time.

Temari took slow, soundless steps as she climbed the stairs. Her parents didn't have the capability of finding out about her new job until Gaara did, but they did have the power to keep her from going to team meetings should they impose a curfew on her. She tiptoed her way to her room and checked her door hinge before nodding satisfyingly to herself. The small piece of paper that remained stuck in place told her that nobody checked out her room while she was away.

"A common misconception about secret agents is that they've always got some high-technology stuff to waste on their missions. Cars that drive themselves, devices that can easily unlock safes, drones that can turn themselves invisible in enemy territories. The thing is, only agents with some awful big fortune for themselves can afford to have shit like that. Our local government doesn't provide us with any of those stuff." Naruto explained as he walked in one of the many hallways of the Black Curse headquarters, the rest of team Alpha following behind him.

"One of an agent's most treasured skills is being able to improvise. Improvising with commonplace items not only lets us save money but also gives us the advantage of keeping our element of surprise." He continued, stopping near the doorway of team Alpha's meeting room.

"What we have here is a simple piece of paper that I have placed between the door hinges earlier." He said, pointing to a piece of paper that was lying on the ground. "It tells me that someone entered the room sometime after I left. Inference tells me it was one of our maintenance crew that did so. Not exactly the most foolproof alarm, but it does the trick." Naruto finished, picking up the piece of paper from the ground.

Once inside her room, Temari immediately threw her body to the swivel chair in front of her desk. She opened the drawer to her right and took a pen, shooting one last look to her door. She then opened the bottom lid of the pen and tilted it to get the ink container within. She took said container and inserted it to a small hole under the drawer. This revealed a small hidden compartment inside the drawer where she stored her "Awesome Biography of Secret Agent Temari". Temari remembered the time when she proposed to keep a journal to Naruto. Her captain rejected the notion immediately. Didn't keep her from keeping one anyway.

"What an arrogant jerk. He must have thought he's the only one with them improvising skills." Temari said to herself as she reassembled the pen and started writing in her diary.

"Dear diary, as much as I'd love to tell you about what's happening to your awesome owner right now, some blonde dickhead would be infuriated with me and so I have to write my thoughts into this random piece of paper." Temari narrated with a soft voice as she sat underneath a tree, writing on what would later be a page in her diary.

"And I do believe the captain would be just as infuriated if he knew you were writing a diary entry while still inside the headquarters." Temari yelped as she heard an amused male voice reply to her previous narration.

"Freaky. Last time I checked, diaries don't talk."

"They still don't." The voice laughed, this time identified by Temari as the voice of the so-called criminal that left Naruto dumbfounded on their first day meeting as a team. Temari glared at the brunette, hoping that her action would be enough to shut her teammate up. Yaru did stop laughing, but only to give her a mocking smirk. Temari then came to a realization that the man now knew about her keeping a diary and that he could sell her out to their blonde captain. Her face showed the panic she felt after realizing that fact, prompting the male to give her yet another laugh.

"Relax, Temari. I'm not going to spoil your fun. It wouldn't hurt to rebel against our strict captain every once in a while. We need our freedom and he isn't giving us enough of it." Yaru said, waving his hands dismissively. Temari raised an eyebrow as she stared at the guy, not quite convinced specially because of that deceiving smile of his.

"What are your conditions, bad guy?" She asked as said bad guy helped her up. This was blackmail material, and nobody lets go of blackmail material without having anything they want in return.

"Easy, young heroine. I'll forget I ever saw you writing a diary entry underneath this tree if you let me help you write the rest of your entries 'spy style'."Yaru replied, getting into his role in the bad guy-young heroine game they've had going for the past few days. His conditions immediately appealed to the blonde fan-wielder as he mentioned the word 'spy style'. He has spent enough time working in the underworld to know how to make irresistible deals and when to give a client the better part of the deal. This was the perfect time to put those experiences to use.

"You've got a deal, bad guy. Now tell me, what do you mean by letting me write diary entries like a spy?" Temari asked, clearly intrigued about the method her comrade was going to share with her. Yaru pulled out a pen from one of his pockets, an action which prompted Temari to roll her eyes.

"Don't you dare tell me you're a fan of Naruto's improvision lessons now?" She let the threat be known to Yaru with a melting glare, trying not to imagine his two male comrades discussing about how they transform commonplace items to awesome spy gear.

"I didn't learn from him. I have my own creations. I guess having your rebellious act revealed to Uzumaki sounds more appealing now?"

"God no!" Temari objected, snatching the pen off the brunette's hand. This earned her an honest smile from her comrade who then proceeded to explain the mechanics of the pen to her.

"Nice doing business with you, young heroine. The pen you now have in your possession uses lemon instead of ink. You may refer to it as the invisible ink, but I tell you it's no longer gonna be invisible once exposed to candlelight. Great deal, isn't it? You get to brag about your daily adventures as a secret agent and at the same time eliminate the risk of revealing vital information to the enemy." Temari couldn't help but agree with Yaru. If all businessmen were like the brunette, Temari wouldn't mind getting herself into more of these bargains.

Temari leaned back into her chair once finished writing her diary entry for the day and securing her diary back to its hiding place. Her final task for the day was finished and she was free to retire to the comfort of her very own bed. Little did she know that her brother stood leaning at the walls outside her room plotting to investigate the secret she was hiding from him.

ANBU Memorial Park [2115 hours]
Blue Tears Memoirs Department
North Wing Ground Floor
ANBU Black Ops HQ
Konoha District 5

Naruto stood before the grave of Rukia Arashima for the second time, this time in a calmer state than the last. He may have sworn never to forget his dead partner nor the vengeance he had to exact on her killers, but in order to accomplish the mission that had been assigned to his team, he knew he had to put aside his personal issues and help his teammates overcome theirs. He has come to say goodbye to his fallen comrade. Death is the inevitable fate of all mankind, and he has come to accept that. The time will come for him to avenge Rukia, but for now he had to honor and respect his comrades who are alive.

"I hope you won't get angry at me for saying goodbye, Kia. I've come to my senses. I have my responsibilities as Team Alpha's captain, and that comes before my personal intentions. I'll make sure that these people won't stain the reputation you've helped build for the team. I believe it's time to pull them out of their normal lives, sis. I hope you'll still be proud of your former captain." After uttering these words of goodbye, Naruto turned to leave his former comrade's grave. He still had one more visit to make before the night ends, and he wasn't planning to hold it off until the last second.

Gutenberg Memorial Park [2230 hours]
Blue Tears Memoirs Department
North Wing Ground Floor
ANBU Black Ops HQ
Konoha District 5

"Kame Tsuchi and Inazuma Tsuchi. I'll assume they are some close relatives at least?" Kin yelped in surprise as she heard a voice behind her. Knowing from her previous training not to let her guard down, she turned and immediately went into her fighting stance. She heard a chuckle of approval come from her companion and recognized the voice as her team captain's. She then shot Naruto a glare that told him his actions were unwelcome, which made the blondie throw up his hands in defense.

"I wasn't trying to startle you Kin, but I believe I have to commend you for your alertness and readiness for combat." Naruto said, smiling genuinely at Kin, a smile she gladly reciprocated.

"So, what brings you here, Naruto-taichou?" Kin asked, the formality of her tone throwing off the male in question.

"Just call me Naruto if we're not on any official secret agent mission. The title makes me feel old." Remarked the blonde male as he scratched the back of his head in a sheepish manner. "I'm here to make a visit. You?"

"Same." Kin answered, gaining a look of confusion from her male companion. She sighed as she then started to explain her case. "My parents didn't do anything noble nor served the ANBU. They're buried here only because Orochimaru insisted and Kabuto was in charge of this cemetery."

"Sorry, I didn't mean to." Naruto apologized feeling that he had to apologize even though he didn't know why he was doing so. Kin shook her head as to dismiss his apology, not having taken any offense from his inquiry.

"I should be going home now, Naruto. I guess I'll see you in school tomorrow." Kin said, smiling at her team captain.

"Yeah. See ya." Naruto said as his raven-haired comrade turned to leave. He waited until she was completely out of sight before heading deeper into the cemetery to visit the special lot where his parents were buried. Once he reached the place, his expression turned into one of melancholy. He never understood why he had to live his life without any living parent. Nobody told him exactly what his parents had died for. All he knew was that they died protecting him and the rest of the country. Even so, he took his strength from their death. In this world, only the strongest were allowed to live long, and knowing that his life was a gift from his parents, he needed all the strength he could get in able to fend off for himself and to avoid dishonoring his parents' will.

He frowned at the cage-like tomb that stood before him. If his parents really did die as heroes, why did their tomb look nothing like a lying place for heroes? He had requested for years to have the style of his parents' tomb changed, but his request was always turned down for no reason. Perhaps his parents had willed it to look that way. If that was the reason, Naruto dared not argue with their reasoning.

"Hey, Mom. Dad. I'm going on another mission." He narrated, trying to sound like a normal son telling his parents about his many adventures. "Hope you'll guide me through this one. Give me the strength to live through this, and I promise I'll visit you as soon as I get back. That's all I have to say for now. See you later." Naruto forced a smile towards his parents' tomb before walking away and leaving the cemetery. If only he had stayed a minute longer, he would have heard a low growl from inside his parents' tomb. A growl that came from the creature that had to be sealed away with the cost of his parents' life. Whether or not this creature would answer to the protagonist's call for help remains to be seen.

Aaaaand done! I hope you liked this chapter, and I hope to see you in the many chapters to come. Ja!