Chapter Two: A Solo Mission
Thirteen years had passed since the death of the Yondaime Hokage at the hands of the Kyuubi no Yoko. In that time, the village had seen the rise and fall of some of its greatest heroes, Uchiha Itachi had massacred his entire clan in one night, while Orochimaru had been chased away, a traitor to the very village that had praised him for years.
As the thirteen year old walked back towards the village, his body relaxed as he caught sight of the village gates. He slowed, taking in the scenery, enjoying the quiet of the long, angst-filled trip, as his teammates helped their sensei, a struggling white-haired man, cobble along. He could have, probably should have, helped, but it was the first time in three weeks the blond-haired shinobi had been given any time to himself.
He took the scroll from his pocket just as the village gates appeared over the hill, slowly showing Izumo and Kotetsu, the eternal gate guardians, that he wasn't a threat. A solid thump echoed behind him, and the shinobi winced as he heard his sensei cursing his two teammates for their ineptitude, resisting the thought of turning around to see the copy ninja on the ground.
As he approached the duo ahead, he extended his arms, noting that the only thing in his hand was the mission scroll that sensei had given him when the mission was first completed. He still hadn't any idea why the wily older man would trust him with the scroll's safety.
Izumo took the scroll without warning, and a few minutes said, "Names?"
"Jounin Hatake Kakashi leading genin team seven, Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura and Uzumaki Naruto reporting in."
Kotetsu, who had taken the scroll from his teammate seconds before handed it back to him, and said, "The Hokage is expecting a detailed report."
Naruto nodded, and as his two teammates entered the village behind him, Naruto turned and said, "Sasuke, Sakura make sure Kakashi-sensei gets to the hospital alright, I'll report to Hokage-sama."
He could tell his teammates wanted to protest, but Naruto snarled and released a small bit of Killing Intent, not enough to raise suspicions, but enough to get their attention. "I'll deliver Kakashi's report personally; it has a seal that can only be activated by the Hokage's chakra, so I can't alter it!"
The duo, both of whom seemed to see Naruto as a hindrance (despite the fact that he'd saved their lives during the stupid mission) grabbed the Jounin by the armpits, and started dragging him towards the hospital. Naruto growled in frustration, wishing he was Hokage, so tempted to see what their sensei had written about him.
He passed by the ANBU guards of the Village Administration Offices, nodding briefly at Yuugao and Hayate, the former whom waved at him gently, as he knocked on the door to the Hokage's office. Hiruzen-sensei smiled as he entered.
"Where is the rest of your team, Naruto?"
"Taking Kakashi to the hospital, we had a run-in with A-ranked missing-nin Momochi Zabuza and his C- to B-ranked apprentice, Haku. Kakashi is currently suffering from severe chakra exhaustion, and my teammates are… children."
"How is your cover?"
"It is fine, Hiruzen-sensei. I never battled Zabuza directly and made it seem like luck when I defeated Haku. If I didn't know better, I'd say Kakashi actually thought I was as stupid as I'm pretending to be."
The man nodded, "I assume his report will correspond to your beliefs?"
"It's hard to say, I know that despite losing their positions over a decade ago, the former civilian councilors still have a lot of influence, after all Kakashi was basically forced to take this team. If he's afraid the civvies are going to see the reports, it'll downplay my part."
The man nodded, and within seconds took the scroll, and read it quickly before handing it back. "Kakashi gave me two written reports, one written in the case of espionage, and one for the Hokage's official report."
Naruto smiled, and said, "I should have thought of that."
"You're young yet, Naruto. You have time to learn these things. How is your mission with young Uchiha?"
"He's stubborn, Hiruzen-sensei. And it's only gotten worse since the mission. He activated his Sharingan, and now believes himself superior to even Kakashi. And his hanger-on, Sakura, is always attempting to subjugate myself and Kakashi for "her Uchiha". Truthfully, if it were up to me, I'd have both of them dropped from the program."
The Sandaime looked at his paper and sighed. "If it were only that simple, Naruto… there are extenuating circumstances at play that prevent me from pulling young Sasuke from the program."
Naruto groaned and said, "How much longer will I be required to watch the Uchiha?"
The Hokage merely grinned. "Tomorrow, I have a meeting with the village jounin. Since you are currently unable to attend, I'll give you an overview of the notes, are you ready?"
Naruto nodded.
Hiruzen-sensei smiled and said, "In one month time the Chunin Selection Examinations are to take place. At that time, you will enter with your team, and regardless of the outcome, will be relieved of your babysitting duties, Naruto. Needless to say, you will be expected to maintain your cover at all times while the examinations are taking place."
Naruto smiled. "That sounds great, Hiruzen-sensei."
The old Hokage smiled, and then said, "Tell your team that they're on leave until Kakashi is fit for duty, and then you're dismissed. Meet me here at zero five thirty, and prepare for a B-ranked short term mission."
Naruto nodded and bowed before disappearing.
He appeared outside of the Konoha Hospital, and sighed as he eyed the beige building and its civilian guards. Contractors for the now defunct civilian council, they'd been hired on for a twenty-year contract fifteen years before, and Konoha didn't have the funds to buy them out.
As he passed by the guards, his Hitai-ate proof of his allegiance to the village itself, Naruto could hear the guard on the right telling the guard on the left how they should kill 'the demon' before it became to powerful.
Walking up to a kunoichi receptionist, Naruto slowed before her desk, showing her the miniscule amount of respect. He recognized her, of course, until recently Suzume had worked out of the Konoha Academy, and had transferred after the last class of students had proven too irksome for the woman.
Incidentally, she was one of the few civilian-born Chunin who didn't hate him. She smiled at his approach, a grin on her face as Naruto bowed his head and said, "Suzume-chan, it's good to see you."
"And you, Naruto. I take it this isn't a social visit?"
"No, I was looking for Hatake Kakashi's room, please."
She turned to her computer, and with a few strokes of the keyboard said, "Room 109, minor chakra exhaustion and ruptured tenketsu."
He thanked the older teacher, and turned, ignoring the suspicion-filled gazes of civilians. He quickly found the proper room, not surprised to find that both of his so-called teammates had already fled, and entered. To his unending surprise, Kakashi already had a couple of visitors. One very familiar, Maito Gai, and the other a miniscule copy of him named Rock Lee.
He eyed Gai for the briefest of moments, glad the man had suppressed his natural tendency to over-embellish as the jounin eyed him.
"And this must be Naruto-kun, Kakashi!"
"Indeed he is, Gai-san. Naruto, this is Maito Gai-san, my so-called eternal rival, and his student Rock Lee. Lee, Gai, this is my student Uzumaki Naruto."
"Hello Naruto-san," Lee said bowing extremely lowly to him. Naruto returned the bow, not as deeply as the genin but enough to show respect. Then, he turned to his temporary sensei and said, "Hokage-sama has given the team leave until you have recovered."
The man looked at Gai, who immediately turned to his student and said something about youth, laps and springtime, before the duo ran out. As they left, Kakashi looked at him and said, "What else?"
"Where are my teammates?"
The cycloptic jounin sighed and said, "Sasuke has intimated that I am unfit as his jounin sensei and his hanger-on is going with him to try and force the council to support him."
Naruto laughed, drawing a strange look from his companion as Naruto said, "He has no friends on the shinobi council and the civilians, whom would support him, have no power whatsoever, though they've tried fighting back against the Hokage."
Kakashi smiled, the only evidence of which was the curvature of his one visible eye. "And what are you going to be doing while I am indisposed and your teammates are avoiding us?"
Naruto smiled and said, "I have a B-ranked mission!"
"It's about time," Kakashi sighed, "How much longer are you going to be shadowing the Uchiha?"
"Just until the end of the exams," Naruto assured him. Kakashi nodded. "Good luck, Namikaze-sama."
Naruto smiled, tipping his head towards the man as he disappeared via shunshin no jutsu.
After a half hour, he'd caught up with his teammates, who were both furious at the downtime the Hokage had assigned them, forgetting or omitting the fact that they were only genin, freshly minted at that, who were unable to perform missions as a cohesive unit, to say nothing of their abilities as individuals.
He made his way back to his 'apartment' a cover for the clanless orphan he was portraying. He groaned as he noticed that the graffiti covering the wall outside his low-rent apartment, and noticed that during his absence, the lock on his door had been changed and an eviction notice had been placed on his door due to 'lack of rent paid'.
An action totally illegal to any shinobi, Chunin and above, but not for a lowly genin, who was expected to only perform D- and C-ranked missions that lasted less than twenty-four to forty-eight hours to complete. He groaned as he noticed that his 'things' had been 'donated to charity' in his absence, another common practice.
"Hiruzen-sensei is going to be pissed," Naruto swore to himself as his elderly neighbor, a woman that hated him with a passion, threatened to call the ANBU if he didn't leave. He looked at the woman, and sighed.
As he exited the building, Naruto again walked to the Village Administration Offices, and without stopping pushed the door to the Hokage's office open. The old man stopped, and set down his stamp, before saying, "What happened, Naruto?"
"Uzumaki Naruto was evicted while on mission, Hokage-sama."
The man cursed. "I forgot you're undercover at the moment, Naruto. Do you have somewhere you can stay, other than your real apartment?"
Naruto nodded, "I have a few safe houses around Konoha."
The man sighed and said, "It's horrible that you need safe houses in your own village, but I understand the need at least. Will you be able to furnish them?"
"They're fully furnished, Hokage-sama, and fully owned by my various undercover personas so I should have no problem with 'neighbors' who try to have me arrested."
The man nodded, "That was a smart idea. What are your intentions towards your former landlord?"
"Nothing," Naruto sighed, "He technically did nothing wrong, after all I'm currently not a Chunin or Jounin."
The Hokage nodded, "Well, I am sorry Naruto. Get some rest; I'll need you fresh for your mission."
Naruto nodded then, with a few hand seals, and a look of concentration, he transformed. The Hokage laughed as Naruto, now a black-haired man with piercing green eyes left via shunshin.
A few minutes later he arrived at one of his safe houses, one-story house in the heart of Konoha's busiest dirt road. It was a well-guarded, well-kept house, a white building with a burnt orange roof, surrounded by a well-placed gate that barred entry to anyone not an Uzumaki. There were two ways for the seal on the gate to determine access, by a unique chakra trait all Uzumaki have, or by direct blood contact.
Naruto placed his hand on the seal, and pushed it open a few seconds later. As he approached the house, Naruto sighed as he pushed the door open. Letting his transformation drop, Naruto was never as glad for seals as he was just then. The house was immaculate. The surfaces were so clean he thought he could eat off of them, if needed. He made his way to his office, and sat in his chair, automatically feeling the seals activating around him, raising the security to its highest level.
Making his way to the kitchen, he made a light meal with food that he'd bought and stored here almost three months ago, all under preservation seals that guaranteed the food stays fresh for almost a year under ideal conditions.
After eating a filling, but healthy chicken cobb salad, Naruto quickly looked at his clock, and made his way to the bedroom. He was asleep within minutes of hitting the pillow.
When he awoke a few hours later, his mind instantly preparing for a new day, Naruto quickly sat up and tempered his breathing. He quickly dressed in a tight, black and grey bodysuit, with a steel grey ANBU flak jacket, leg and arm guards and attached to his back a long steel tanto. Quietly, he pulled out a silver mask and, using chakra, attached it to his face.
With a thought, he disappeared via shunshin. Once he'd reappeared, Naruto was in a steady kneeling position, as the Sandaime Hokage looked at him, and with a small smile said, "Rise Kuma. I see you are on time, as expected of ANBU."
"Hai, Hokage-sama," he said monotonously. The Sandaime nodded, and then pulled out a red scroll, placing it on the desk in front of him. Then, a few seconds later he said, "Your mission is one of a delicate nature, absolutely imperative to the security to this village. Our spymaster has discovered what he deems an immediate threat to the village; however he is currently in enemy territory. Your mission is to rendezvous with him, recover the information and return without blowing his cover. You are expected to be gone no longer than seven days.
On the way back, you will personally report the situation to the Daimyo," the Hokage said, causing an audible gasp to fill the room. Naruto and the Hokage both turned to the masked ANBU who had slipped as they bowed their head in embarrassment.
"I don't understand, Hiruzen-sensei."
The man smiled, and said, "I know, Kuma. However, the Daimyo personally requested the honor of explaining the situation to you."
Naruto frowned, but sighed as he said, "Do I have a team, or is this a solo mission?"
"You are not expected to need one; however, I am authorizing and ordering you to protect yourself and the information to the fullest of your abilities."
"Where am I to rendezvous with our spymaster?"
The man smiled, and said, "All other information is in the scroll, Kuma."
Naruto nodded and said, "By your leave?" At the Hokage's nod, Naruto quickly exited the building. Within moments, he was back at his safe house, where he quickly gathered his go bag, and placed it in one of the seals on his flak jacket. Then, he opened the mission scroll, and rolled it out.
As he expected, the scroll was encoded.
ls vy xt wg ly ia kt ka xh tk sx ns in ly ia nt wg xs ct ps mt av cz gr hz pn
He sighed as he got to work deciphering the string of letters. To his chagrin, when decoded, the following appeared.
Tpzxzpvusvjhalahynlapyhpfhsvjhapvuypjlmplskzjvbuayfx
Again sighing, Naruto continued decoding his mission scroll.
Misqsionlocatetargetiraiyalocationricefieldscountryq
Once that was finished, Naruto quickly placed the scroll in his fireplace, and with a quick Katon jutsu, reduced it to ashes.
As he left the compound, Naruto secured the residence and rushed to the northern gate, passing through without waiting for permission from Izumo or Kotetsu to pass through, though as he was wearing his ANBU armor, it wasn't a surprise.
He quickly took too the tree tops, suppressing his chakra instinctively as he rushed pass teams returning to the village. Below him, newly appointed jounin Yuuhi Kurenai was returning to the village with her team. To his surprise, the young kunoichi of the team, a Hyuuga, caught sight of him as he was passing overhead. He felt sheepish for the briefest of moments.
He traveled for eight hours, running then hopping from tree branch to tree branch, as he quickly traversed the densely populated forest. Up ahead, he could see a clearing, signaling the border to the Valley of the End, a symbol of Konohagakure no Sato, and the official northern border of the Land of Fire.
As he neared the border, a sudden chill crept down his spine. He froze, his eyes searching his immediate area. A few seconds later, a sudden spike of chakra coming from under him caused Naruto to jump to the side, just as a large earthly spike erupted from underneath him.
He sighed as a few seconds later; three enemies appeared before him, two shinobi and one kunoichi, all bearing a solitary note on their Hitai-ate. Naruto tensed at their approach, looking at each of the three, studying their movements and preparing for an altercation.
It came seconds later, as the first shinobi, a large, bandaged man wearing a flak jacket, went wildly through a series of hand seals, while the second rushed in. A second later, a sword pierced his torso, as the first shinobi said, "Katon: Baningudaemon no Jutsu!"
The flames hit Naruto, and the three enemy combatants started to celebrate, and for a few seconds all seemed quiet, until the sound of a falling log hitting the ground was heard, and the sound of a sword slicing through flesh, caused the other two to freeze up.
Quickly, Naruto turned away from the fallen shinobi, as he eyed the second, a taller, stockier male with a pale grey flak jacket and grey bodysuit eying his fallen comrade angrily.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu", Naruto intoned a second later, causing three clones to appear beside him, quickly they separated, circling the two remaining enemies as they had tried to do earlier. In less than a second, two more thuds were heard as both bodies hit the ground. Naruto looked at all three, a small frown crossing his face.
Quickly searching through each of the three dead enemy's belongings, Naruto came across three wallets filled with a large amount of local currency, five different technique scrolls, one mission scroll that he placed on the ground, three sets of twenty shuriken, three sets of ten kunai, two rolls of high tensile ninja wire, a bokken, three tanto, and several pictures of Jiraiya and his 'oil' headband.
Naruto quickly sealed away the unnecessary items, keeping only the mission scroll out. He swiped some of the blood from the kunoichi, who was the one holding the scroll, and pressed it to a seal. As the scroll unfurled, Naruto was both grateful and aghast that it wasn't even encoded.
He quickly found out that the woman was Eko Kotone, and her teammates were Osamu Katsuo and Kenshin, and that their target was the Sannin Jiraiya, or any Konohagakure shinobi of higher rank.
He glossed over the information, and found that according to their sources, Jiraiya was currently staying in the Land of Sound's (which he'd never heard of) capital Onsei (which according to the scroll was formerly called Ine shigai).
Now he knew where he was, and about where he was headed. He placed the three bodies in a pile, and with a quick "Katon: Kasou no jutsu" cremated his former enemies on the spot.
He took to the trees a few minutes later, suppressing his chakra as much as possible as he went branch to branch in order to hasten his speed. Less than a day into this 'B-ranked' mission, and he'd already had to kill three enemy shinobi. Ugh.
Twenty minutes after his encounter with the kunoichi and her team, he heard loud voices coming from underneath him. He stilled immediately, as the voices below started bellowing orders. Apparently, Kotone and her team had missed their last check-in, and "leader-sama has ordered us to find out what happened".
The shinobi, he observed, were not very well-rounded. In fact, only three of the fifteen sent out seemed to be anywhere nears the level of a jounin, a fact that relieved him. He waited a few minutes until they were well out of ear shot, and then continued on his way.
He approached Onsei on foot, creating a hard transformation, kata no henka, around him as he went. When he found the small town, Naruto sighed in relief as he approached the local ryokan. As he entered, Naruto removed his geta, and placed the customary ones on his feet, then walked up to the check-in counter, and booked a room.
He was quickly given an assistant, a young woman who quickly explained the pricing per guest per room to him, and then turned to the shopkeeper, and booking him for one guest, one room. Fifteen thousand ryo later, and a sizable five thousand ryo tip for his assistant, Naruto was checked-in.
As he found his room, Naruto quickly established security seals around him, before flaring his chakra to the seals. To his relief, the seals settled into the walls just fine, and Naruto could feel the room resonating with him.
The next morning, Naruto woke fresh, and walked down the stairs, before walking to the dining area, where he was set upon by his eager assistant, who seemed hell bent on helping him. He quickly ordered, a light breakfast with steamed rice, miso soup, broiled fish, tamagoyaki, and nori, with a cup of green tea. The waitress eagerly jotted down his order, and rushed to the back.
He waited for fifteen minutes, watching the other patrons of the small ryokan dining hall enjoying their meal, when his assistant came up to him, and placed a plate down in front of him, with a small cup sitting next to it. Naruto applied chakra to his nose, and took a deep sniff, plastering a smile on his face as his waitress looked at him curiously.
Not detecting any small poisons, Naruto took his chopsticks, snapped them and with a silent prayer, took a bite of his meal. He ate cautiously; applying chakra to each morsel, filtering each bite as it coursed its way through his system.
Once finished, Naruto bowed slightly thanking the young woman for her generous service. Then, he walked out of the parlor and slipped his geta back on his feet.
He quickly walked through the town, briefly wondering if Jiraiya was still even in the country. Both his intelligence and the Sound Jounin-oyabun seemed to agree that the Sannin was in the area. He sighed, wishing that he could extend his chakra to use as sonar, but he could tell just by looking that he was surrounded by shinobi affiliated with this new sound village. And while he was sure that they held no threat to him, Naruto really didn't want to start an incident.
Thankfully, Naruto was closer to the Sannin than most people, so he knew most of, if not all of, Jiraiya's quirks. Thankfully, if the old pervert was in the area, he'd know soon. So, after asking a male (he found out first hand why you should never ask a female) where the nearest brothel was, the man grinned and directed him directly there.
To his chagrin, Jiraiya wasn't there, though the beautiful woman he'd met told him that the Sannin had, in fact, been there the day before. He smiled and thanked her, and left before the woman had a chance to seduce him any further. After all, despite his lust for the beautiful woman, he had a mission to perform.
As he left, Naruto looked around for the next closest house of sin, and found that he must be close to the red light district, because the displays of open prostitution were apparent.
He quickly found the next closest brothel, three buildings down. Inside three beautiful women, each topless, were lamenting quietly to themselves as lecherous sound shinobi surrounded them.
Quickly, a plan came to mind, and Naruto transformed his appearance using his kata no henka, into that of a sound jounin, with accompanying Hitai-ate.
"Ne," he said quietly as he caught their attention. The shinobi turned to him immediately, and their eyes grew smug as he produced a picture of Jiraiya, and asked, "Have you found the target yet, or should I tell oyabun-sama that you were slacking off instead of doing your jobs?"
The men smugly responded that they had, in fact, had the three women before him drug the Sannin, and that he was on his way back to the Sound Village. Naruto produced a smirk the men quickly accepted, because they swiftly turned their attention back to the women they surrounded.
That was their mistake.
Naruto immediately produced seven Kage Bunshin, who moved faster than the shinobi could react, and slit six of the seven jounin's throats.
The last one, who immediately became enraged, attacked. To Naruto's surprise, the shinobi was slow; a fact that he used to his advantage. As the man came at him, at a speed that would be faster than most Chunin could handle, Naruto ducked his errant stab, and pinched the man's brachial plexus. The shinobi fell, incapacitated. Naruto turned to the geisha behind him, and with a sigh, watched as his clones snapped the women's necks.
Within minutes, he'd left the village with the other shinobi in tow. Of course, he'd drawn a lot of attention, but as he was dressed as a sound shinobi, no one dared approach him.
As he reached the woods, Naruto quickly cleared the tree line, and in less than fifteen minutes, had found a clearing. Setting his enemy down, Naruto efficiently stripped the man, and placed a two purpose seal that suppressed every seal the shinobi had etched into his skin, and checked his mouth for suicide teeth, and when he found three, pulled them. Then, after thinking a few seconds, pulled each of the enemy shinobi's other teeth. He then placed gauze in the man's mouth, closed it, and used a jutsu, Hashofu no jutsu, to prevent the jaw from opening.
He then picked the man back up, and walked over to a tree. Pulling his high tensile ninja wire from a scroll, he used clones to wrap around, and tie the shinobi to the tree. Supplying chakra to the wire would ensure the man was unable to move.
Then, he sighed as he waited.
Once the man started coming around, Naruto watched him as the shinobi mentally took stock of his predicament. The man tried to move each part of his body, and Naruto noted, that when he found himself unable, moved onto another.
After fifteen minutes, the shinobi sighed, and opened his eyes. Naruto stood, then, and used the jutsu, Kaiko shogai o teishi no jutsu, to loosen his jaw.
The man spat the gauze from his mouth, and looked horrified down at the fabric, before he tried biting his teeth. When nothing happened, Naruto opened his hand, and dropped the teeth before him.
"You have no options," Naruto told the man calmly. "You are going to tell me what I want to know. If you do not, I will leave you here to die, after using a seal of my own creation to continuously provoke your nerves. It will be harsh. It will be excruciating. The only reason you are still alive, and not already suffering such a fate is that I do not feel like unnecessarily searching for something in which you know the location."
The man moved his neck, and studied his front for any new seals. He found one.
The man smirked, and applied his own chakra to his body, and then frowned as nothing happened. "Oh yes, I have suppressed all other seals on your body. But perhaps you would like a taste of what awaits you."
The man's eyes widened, as Naruto used a single seal, Tora. Suddenly, the man screamed as pain erupted from every single nerve at once. Naruto watched as the man continued to scream, struggling against the ninja wire, and causing the wire to tear into his skin. Blood started running down the shinobi's skin.
After ten minutes, the man was still screaming himself hoarse. Naruto nodded, and then used the crossed tiger hand seal. The seal on the man's stomach stopped glowing, and immediately the man's head fell as he whimpered softly. Naruto walked forward.
"Now, I have no desire to leave you here in such pain. However, Jiraiya and I are comrades. So, your choice is this. Either you tell me where the Village Hidden in Sound resides, or I will leave you here, seal active, for the rest of your life."
The man's eyes widened, and quickly he told Naruto what he wanted to know. Naruto created a single Kage Bunshin, who immediately left.
Several hours later, Naruto's eyes perked, and he said, "You were telling the truth. Therefore," Naruto pulled one of the man's cyanide pills, placed it in the man's mouth, and collapsed it. The man swallowed the cyanide immediately, and a few minutes later died.
Naruto quickly let the man down from the tree, and used the Cremation Jutsu, turning the shinobi's body to ash. A minute of silent reflection later, and Naruto sighed before he pulled a scroll and a calligraphy pen from a seal.
Spymaster captured by Village Hidden in Sound; attempting extraction, will contact if successful. Then, he created three Kage Bunshin, rolled the scroll up, and handed it to one of them. "Do not stop for any reason. Report to the Hokage."
The three clones nodded, and within the minute were out of his line of sight.
Following the now deceased shinobi's directions, Naruto moved through the forest. Extending his senses as far as he was able, Naruto listened for the normal signs that he'd been found, a huff of breath, the snapping of a twig, the crinkling of leaves.
The first dirt road he came to, Naruto had to stop as a group of genin and chunin passed before him. They were talking excitedly about their 'Otokage' and his coup for capturing one of the Sannin. He grimaced as the lead chunin wondered aloud if the man would let him assist in torturing the Konoha spymaster.
As soon as they were passed, Naruto crossed the dirt road and flew into the woods on the other side. He took to the trees, and threw himself forward, as images of Jiraiya screaming as the other man had just moments before filled his mind.
He knew better of course, Jiraiya could take months worth of torture before he betrayed Konoha, but the thought still disturbed him.
He came to a second dirt road, quickly passing over it. One the other side, a clearing met him, and Naruto sighed as he rushed through. A few seconds passed, when he caught someone on the outer reaches of his attention. Diverting his trip eastward, Naruto rapidly caught up to a freshly minted genin who was in the midst of taking a woman's clothes off of her body, his pants already around his ankles.
He moved before the genin could react, wrapping his hands around the boy's jaw and twisting rightward. The sound of the boy's neck snapping caught the woman's attention, and she tried belatedly to cover herself.
Naruto turned away from the woman, picking up the genin's warm corpse and taking it with him. About five minutes later, Naruto sat the boy down, stripped him, and studied his form before again using kata no henka.
His form was perfect, even mimicking the seal adorning the boy's neck. Then, he again used the Cremation jutsu to get rid of the genin's body. He then rushed through the woods, and exited a few seconds later, before he came to the fourth and last dirt road. He quickly saw a group being led by two jounin, who ordered him to get in line, and asked if his mission had been successful. Naruto panicked for a brief second, wondering if the boy was supposed to know the jounin, but automatically nodded. The jounin sighed, and said, "Seppun-san really needs to talk more."
The kunoichi to his side, a black-haired girl smirked, and said, "Your parents really named you Seppun?"
Naruto shrugged at the girl, and hoped the boy he'd replaced didn't know her. She looked at him, and shrugged, "Well, it's not my business. Anyway, I'm Tsuchi Kin."
He again shrugged. She frowned, and said, "You sure don't talk a lot, do you, Seppun-kun?"
He shook his head. A few minutes later, the jounin in front came back to them and said, "We'll be returning to base in a few minutes. Do not break formation, and do as we jounin tell you, or you will be reported to Orochimaru-sama."
Naruto instinctively repressed his urge to freeze in shock. He kept moving, and calmed his rapidly beating heart, as the group came to a tall tree with a carving of a tree wrapped around it, leading to the top where a snake's skull seemed to be carved.
The jounin placed his hand to the tree, and fed it some of his chakra, chakra which came from the seal on the man's neck. Naruto inward sighed, as the shinobi lined up, and as they passed fed their own corrupt chakra into the tree, before moving in.
As the line came to the end, Naruto instinctively created two Kage Bunshin, who each killed the two jounin now staring shocked as he pressed a hand to the barrier, and tried his own chakra. The last thing he heard was the sound of simultaneous jutsu going off behind him.
When he was repelled, Naruto smirked, and lifted his shirt, and looked at the seal adorning his stomach. It was an eight trigrams seal surrounded by a five elements seal. He turned to one of his Kage Bunshin, who quickly and decisively removed the five elements seal from him.
Placing his hand back to the tree, Naruto again pushed chakra into the tree, and smirked as he was pulled through.
Once on the other side, he noticed a large village where before it was only trees. He briefly wondered how the village was hidden so well, but put the thought out of his mind. He immediately noticed a force of no less than two thousand shinobi, of various ranks, milling about and talking animatedly about something that had recently happened.
Checking in a window that his cover was still in tact, Naruto simply walked around the village, learning the layout and tactical exit points. As he neared each new area, Naruto would create a Kage Bunshin, who would kill and assume the shape of a person that inhabited the nearest alley.
So far, that had been three jounin, five chunin and eleven genin, all of whom fanned out, and continued doing the same.
The village hidden in sound was a large village. At his best count, it contained over two hundred buildings, and to his chagrin contained no civilians. What it did contain, to his horror, was an outrageous amount of missing-nin, all of whom bore the standard sound Hitai-ate. The only reason he found out that they were missing-nin, in the first place, were the several hundred crossed out Hitai-ate contained in the armory.
He dodged what he found to be Orochimaru's tower, waiting for his clones to finish their inspection of the village before he assaulted the well fortified building. Really, he was hoping that his shadow clones would tell let him know that they'd found Konoha's spymaster.
Once an hour had passed, Naruto stopped when a memory filled his mind. His clone was standing in front of the Sandaime Hokage, who was telling him that saving Jiraiya was the top priority, his mission had been upgraded to A-rank, and a team of ANBU was being sent out to extract them immediately. The good news was well needed. Though, he wished he could let the Hokage know that it was Orochimaru that he was assaulting.
Finding a safe alley, Naruto went through a set of hand seals, and slammed his hand to the ground. Immediately, a seal erupted around him.
Naruto then created another clone, and said, "Dispel if you've found the prisoner cells."
The clone nodded, and dispelled himself, as a memory of what he'd just said came back to him. A few seconds later, a lone memory came to his mind, and Naruto quickly headed that way.
When he arrived at the barely guarded six-storied building, a sign on the front displayed that it was the library. Naruto was about to turn back, when a jounin merely nodded his head to him. Naruto nodded back, and entered.
He rapidly moved past rooms he knew were occupied, or not in use, moving swiftly to the third floor, where his clone had last been. Upon arrival, he quickly opened the last door his clone had been in front of, and noticed that there was a single female inside. She was nude, covered in a multitude of ineptly plastered seals. He winced as he noticed, in particular, a worrisome seal that would ensure pregnancy, one that would ensure loyalty, and one that would prevent all forms of suicide.
In fact, it seemed just from studying the unconscious woman's seal collection, the only seal she didn't have was one that would compel her to enjoy the conception.
He sighed, and whispered to her that he was sorry he couldn't save her, before he placed a particularly vicious seal on her thigh that would activate the next time someone, anyone, raped her.
Then, he kissed the woman's forehead, surging chakra through his lips. When he pulled back, a seal was where his lips had once been. With a surge of chakra, the woman's body twitched once, before the woman's body stilled.
Anger filled him. The atrocities he was seeing filling him with a rage that would soon encompass him. He quickly, quietly moved through the cells, taking note of which ones contained a shinobi, or kunoichi, whom would later prove useful, and which ones contained civilians' long dead whose corpses were being studied even after their deaths. As he exited a room, he created a single Kage Bunshin that he would leave behind.
The savagery was staggering.
He moved swiftly through the fourth and fifth floors, noticing an abject improvement in the style of interrogation as he moved onward. The higher up one went, the more sadism went into causing the subjects to suffer. In one particular room, one the fifth floor, three sound jounin were cutting small cuts on the naked body of a woman who would wince as the jounin that produced the cut would increase a count by one. The death of a thousand cuts. By the sounds of it the woman, a kunoichi, had endured almost three hundred fifty of the cuts, if the pool of blood at her feet was any indication.
Now, he was at the last cell before the door leading to the top floor. He was just about to open it, when the door leading to the sixth floor opened, and Naruto's eyes widened, as Orochimaru, as well as a sound jounin he didn't recognize, appeared. Cursing, he kneeled as the man's amused eyes swept over him and he chuckled softly with a kukuku.
"Hello Seppun-kun," the man whispered as he passed, "What are you doing on the fifth floor."
"My lord," he said, glad for once that his version of the Henge copied everything about the subject, even their voice, "I was intrigued when one of the jounin leading our team mentioned the Sannin Jiraiya was being interrogated. I was hoping you would allow me to… question him."
Orochimaru went silent, and Naruto prepared to fight the Sannin even though he was unsure of how such a battle would go. Then, to his relief, the man said, "Kabuto-kun, why did you not tell me Seppun-kun was as blood thirsty as he is?"
"It was meant to be a surprise, Orochimaru-sama."
"You can question Jiraiya, Seppun-kun. Leave him alive, and do not let him escape. If you do, I will kill your entire family, and you will take his place learning my displeasure. Kabuto," the man said immediately, "We have work to do."
Naruto was about to breath in relief, when Kabuto said, "Orochimaru-sama, perhaps I can accompany young Seppun-kun, assure he doesn't mistakenly release the prisoner?"
Orochimaru paused, and said, "Yes, do so, Kabuto-kun."
Kabuto walked to the door, a soft chuckle escaping his lips, as he supplied his vile chakra to the door. He gestured for Naruto to go first, which Naruto did warily. As he entered, the door closed behind him, and a surge of chakra seemed to light up a false chakra circulatory system.
A groan not his own filled the air. He turned around and saw Jiraiya, bloody, bandaged and bruised lying strapped to a table. The Sannin opened his eyes, and studied the seals around him.
He studied the seals, and noticed right away what they were. Gravity and resistance seals surrounded him, making his every movement seem like swimming through tar.
"Really," Orochimaru's voice caught his attention. "Did you think that I couldn't recognize an infiltrator in my village, Seppun-kun? My Cursed Seals allow me to sense everyone in the village that has them, and while the real Seppun-kun did, indeed, have one, the seal on your neck is just decoration.
He didn't say anything, instead taking the opportunity to study the seals on display around him. It took a few minutes, but after identifying them Naruto grinned. Looking down at his wrists, Naruto swiped his blood along the two seal formula there. A second later, he could feel the pressure holding him down reduce by half.
"Not feeling very talkative," the Sannin on the other side of the door said to himself, "Too bad for you. Kabuto-kun, go in and subdue our guest."
Kabuto entered, a second later, and closed the door behind him, before looking down at a helpless Naruto. As he bent down, determined to pick him up, Naruto released a seal on his wrist, grabbed the kunai that appeared, pushed it through the jounin's neck, and watched as he fell to the ground. Then, he turned back to Jiraiya and quickly unhooked the Sannin, and said, "Are you well, Jiraiya-sama?"
The tall Sannin sat up, and formed a Rasengan, pushing it forward into the chest of Kabuto, who had miraculously stood up. He unhooked the wires going to his veins, and stood up, kicking the still alive sound jounin in the ribs. The sound of them snapping filled the room.
"Identify yourself," Jiraiya said hoarsely. It was apparent who the Sannin was talking to.
"Kuma," he shortly said. Jiraiya looked at him, and frowned, when he softly asked, "Kata no henka?"
Naruto nodded. The man sighed, "Good, maybe we'll get out of here alive after all. Do you have any soldier or plasma pills on you?"
Just then, Orochimaru could be heard asking Kabuto if he'd subdued them yet. The duo shared a small smile as Naruto pulled two of the mentioned pills from his pack, and handed them to the Sannin. Jiraiya took them and swallowed them, immediately feeling the surge of chakra that accompanied the first, and the increase of blood production that accompanied the second.
"Actually," Jiraiya said, "Kabuto-kun was kind enough to let me go, Orochimaru. In fact, he and I are getting better acquainted as we speak."
Naruto chuckled as Jiraiya turned, picked up the traitor, and shoved a second Rasengan through the boy's chest. Kabuto's screams filled the room, echoing off the walls, as Orochimaru screamed in anger, pounding on the door. Naruto knew, though, that the man dare not open the door, because with Jiraiya free, even if Naruto himself was no challenge, the man would be decimated.
Another surge of malevolent chakra filled the room, though the door stayed closed, filling the small area with killing intent. Jiraiya looked at Naruto, who merely raised an eyebrow and placed his hand to Kabuto's back, and placed the same two purpose seal from earlier, and activated it with a single tora seal.
Kabuto's screams again filled the room, as the boy dropped and spasmed around in agony. Jiraiya frowned, and turned the boy over, then to Naruto's surprise copied the seal he'd found there.
"This is some impressive seal work, Kuma-san," Jiraiya said calmly. "What is it called?"
Kuma frowned, "I don't know, I haven't named it yet."
Jiraiya's eyes widened and he smiled, "You created this, Kuma-san?"
Naruto nodded, and Jiraiya inspected it again, this time with a master's eye.
"It's timed?"
"Yes. It will disappear the second I stop supplying chakra."
Jiraiya looked on and said, "Let me see."
Naruto shrugged, and did so. Instantly, the seal disappeared. Jiraiya clapped.
"Again," the man said. Naruto shrugged, and placed a new seal on Kabuto's front this time, and surged his chakra. Jiraiya nodded, "Yes, you're definitely an Uzumaki, for only an Uzumaki has such finesse with fuinjutsu."
Naruto blushed.
"Will the seal disappear if it's painted on?"
"No," Naruto stated. The man nodded. "What are the seals?"
Naruto sighed and walked forward, whispering into his ear. Jiraiya did them slowly, once, then quickly while molding chakra and applied it to Kabuto's back. Then, he looked at Naruto, who said, "Tora."
A grin etched on Jiraiya's face, as he did the tora seal, and Kabuto screamed again. Naruto looked where his seal was, and frowned, before taking Tora, and watching as the blood vessels in Kabuto's body started erupting. Jiraiya looked on impressed, again, as the traitor stopped moving, and blood started leaking out of his orifices.
"Note to self," Naruto said, "Do not use more than one at a time, the results are deadly."
"It's better to learn these things on an enemy, though I think Kabuto-san will survive. I don't know how, but he heals as well as a jinchuuriki."
Naruto increased the amount of chakra flowing to the seal, and watched as Kabuto's skin started melting off, before both he and the Sannin cut the chakra flowing to the seals, which disappeared.
Jiraiya then turned to the door, and said, "Alright, Kuma, I hope you had an exit strategy."
Naruto frowned, and said, "I am surprised it has not gone off yet."
The Sannin studied him, and sighed, "I guess we'll do this the hard way."
With that, he created a third Rasegan in his hand, and pressed it to the door. The door exploded outward, catching Orochimaru in the wake as Jiraiya and he rushed through. Jiraiya quickly set upon his traitorous teammate, who hadn't recovered in time to fight back, as Orochimaru's forces flowed out of the cells.
Only Naruto knew that most of them weren't Orochimaru's forces. The ones that were, were quickly set upon by the clones Naruto had created earlier, who quickly went about freeing the prisoner ninja. Within five minutes, a second wave of vengeful, enraged former detainees were rushing the hallways as Naruto thought and created an absent Kage Bunshin, to whom he merely said, "Extraction".
The Kage Bunshin disappeared, and a second later, Naruto could see all the Bunshin in front of him got the message as they nodded as one and started rushing down the hallway.
The close quarters were imperiling, though. Most of his clones dispelled from being crushed against the wall, while others took friendly fire, as a result of a misaimed jutsu.
His clone army was reduced by two thirds in less than five minutes.
"Let's go," Jiraiya said a moment later, as Orochimaru collapsed, both of his arms cut off. Naruto nodded, and the duo started running down the corridor, following the stampede in front of them.
They quickly passed through the fifth and fourth floors, which had been cleaned by the impromptu shinobi army. The third floor, to Naruto's shock, was already in ruins by the time they arrived, fire suppression seals working overtime to put out the raging flames in front of him. He sniffed, and recognized the smell of burnt flesh and blood.
As those escaping ran past the first room he'd come too, Naruto looked inside, and sighed. The woman was dead, now, her body lying in tatters around the room. A single shinobi was lying against a wall, his lower half completely gone.
"Your work," Jiraiya asked. Naruto nodded.
"What happened?"
"Conception seal," he said gruffly. The Sannin, however said, "What happened?"
"The woman had been raped, by my estimate, no less than ten times, and was unconscious when I arrived. I placed another seal of my own creation on her thigh, and one on her forehead. The second I activated immediately inducing a brain aneurism, while the second I set to activate the next time the woman was raped," Naruto explained.
Jiraiya merely said, "I'll want to see those too," before they ran along, catching up to the army now on the second floor.
Within minutes, they were nearly outside. Jiraiya cautioned him to prepare for a running battle, as they opened the door.
To the Sannin's astonishment, a large scale battle was already going on around them, though Jiraiya did notice they were outnumbered ten to one, even with the rescued ninja helping out.
"Good too see you, Jiraiya-sama," one of his clones came up, "I am clone 167. Oyabun called for an extraction. We are prepared to get you to the village gates, where a Konoha extraction team is prepared to receive you!"
The man studied the clone and said, "One of yours, I take it?"
Naruto nodded, and the man smiled before he said, "Good job 167."
The clone smiled, and returned to battle.
The running battle was harsh. Genin, chunin and jounin of all ages and sexes died around them. Within fifteen minutes, his clone army was down by half, and those they'd freed were down by two-thirds.
As they neared the village gates, Naruto crossed his fingers and smirked, "Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu".
Instantly, five hundred more clones erupted around them, surrounding them in a semi-circle that led them directly to the gates. Jiraiya ran forward, studying the seal array that kept the village hidden, and then quickly inscribed something over the main part of the seal. The barrier fell.
Naruto rushed the freed ninja through, ordering his clones to keep the battle going even after they left. His clones nodded in agreement, as Jiraiya went through before him.
As they came through, Naruto noticed the ANBU were already attempting to subdue the prisoners, but stopped at a command, Jiraiya's.
They apologized, but did surround the Sannin, who said, "Kuma, you were sent to meet with me, right?"
Naruto nodded. The man sighed, and handed him a scroll, and said, "I'm headed back to the village. Finish your mission, and meet me at Ichiraku Ramen, in five days."
Naruto sighed.
"Jiraiya-sama," a woman spoke then. He turned.
"I'm Kori Otome, and these are my brothers. We're refugees from Kirigakure. Can we come with you?"
The man nodded immediately but said, "You'll need to keep up. Anyone else want to come to Konoha?
A few looked like they wanted to accept, but the majority were their friends, and shook their heads, a few even going as far as saying, "We're Iwa-nin" in explanation, which was perfectly exceptable.
Jiraiya and the ANBU rushed off in one direction, while Naruto sighed and watched. About five minutes later, Naruto headed off, after making sure that the freed prisoners left behind were going to be alright, before heading in the same direction as the others. Five hours from Onsei, he'd officially been on this mission for a full twenty-four hours.
He quickly applied chakra to his resistance and gravity seals, groaning as the familiar weight settled on him. On the way back, he'd come across dead sound ninja, the signs of a Konoha attacker evident, quick and efficient.
Three hours passed before he found a sound ninja that was still alive, though by the looks of her, the woman wouldn't be for long. A large spear of ice had penetrated her sciatic nerve.
He knelt at her side, and the woman sighed as she caught sight of him. Naruto wondered for a moment why, and then remembered.
Releasing the kata no henka, the woman's eyes widened as she thrashed around in anger. Naruto, not bothering to worry about the woman, produced a kunai and slit her throat, ending the woman's pain.
He stood back up, and started running again, rapidly nearing the Valley of the End a few miles away. As he neared the Valley, Naruto created a single Kage Bunshin, who he ordered to run back to Konoha, and report in to the Sandaime that he was heading for the capital, which would actually be the longer of the two trips.
After all, you couldn't just enter the capital without permission.
He stayed straight as he entered the Land of Fire, the capital on the southern end of the country, past Konoha and all the major landmarks. Being over three hundred miles in length, even the most seasoned of shinobi couldn't run it in less than three days.
And the Sandaime wanted him back in seven!
For an hour he calmly walked the path, exhaustion already catching up with him after the running battle he'd participated in earlier. His chakra, even as abnormally high as it was, was running low for him. Then, he frowned. Pulling up his shirt, Naruto cringed as he looked at the eight trigrams seal. Creating another clone, he steadied himself as the clone reapplied the five element seal.
It was then, that his clones, which had held the line abundantly well, started dispersing by the dozen. Orochimaru, who he'd last seen lying near death, with both arms amputated mind, was cutting through the swarm of clones like they were nothing, while Kabuto, who he was surprised to even see alive, was snarling as he did the same. The sound ninja, who had been dysfunctional only moments before, seemed to find a second wind with their leader in battle with them.
As the last of his clones died, Naruto saw Orochimaru's face in his field of vision, as the memory of pain erupted on his neck, where the man had attempted to apply a seal, thinking the clone was the real him.
Though, the man's face as he dispersed was hilarious. Especially since he'd inserted his thumb between his pointer and middle finger and gave the man an impromptu 'fuck you' as he did.
He did briefly wonder how Orochimaru had gotten his arms back so quickly though. He'd better remember to report that to the Hokage and Jiraiya… he guessed.
He sighed, tired from the days action, as the sunlight started fading in the horizon. Not wanting to be disturbed, Naruto headed into the woods, and quickly found the nearest clearing, where he set about pitching his tent, and building a fire.
Just as he sat down, preparing to cook a meal, his clone in Konoha dispersed. The Hokage had congratulated him on a job well done, and had further upgraded his mission to S-rank, after Jiraiya's first hand account of his actions, which sent a feeling of pride through him. The Hokage then assured him, that while he needed to be back in six days, that if the Daimyo made him wait, an excuse was ready for Team 7.
As the memory ended, Naruto smiled and set a sealing scroll on the ground, before applying chakra to the first of three seals, and scooping up what came out.
Inside was a large fish, a scoop of rice, three ration bars, which would supply needed nutrients that he didn't get from the rest of his meal, a small dab of grease, and one-half gallon of water. He then applied chakra to the second, and took the pots and pans that appeared, and walked over to the fire, before setting them on, and filling the pot with water, and the second placed the grease, which rapidly melted.
He cooked in silence, as day turned to night, the sizzling of the frying fish wafting around him, as the rice came to a boil. He removed the pan from the heat, and placed it on the ground, before flipping the fish, and letting it cook on the other side, and went back to the third seal, where he got a disposable plate, disposable fork, and disposable cup.
When he returned to his fish, he found that it had finished, so scooped it off of the pan, and plated it, before looking at the cup of rice, which had finished absorbing the leftover water in the pot, which he also plated.
With a silent prayer, Naruto started eating, starting with the rations; which always tasted like cardboard.
His meal went quickly, and Naruto sighed in relief as he quickly threw the plate, fork and cup (which he'd used to consume water) into the fire, where they burst into white smoke. Then, Naruto turned to the pot and pan he'd used, which he'd picked up and placed on the sealing scroll, before applying chakra to the paper itself, and the two items disappeared.
Once it was rolled back up, Naruto placed an orange rubber band around it, signaling that it had been used already.
As he slept that night, his mind filled with visions of the hundreds that he, or his clones, had killed that day, and of the fifty or so he'd given a fighting chance.
Once the morning sunlight filtered into his vision, Naruto woke and jumped up. Now that he wasn't in constant danger, Naruto extended his chakra to his peak, and felt for anyone around. To his surprise, Team Kurenai was already headed back to Konoha, a surprised, upbeat team indicating that they had not failed the mission.
To his further surprise, three ANBU were in the woods, headed his way. Naruto frowned, and stood, before using a few jutsu to clean the area, covering any traces he'd been here, and collapsing his tent, which he'd picked up as the ANBU landed in front of him.
He immediately noticed they were from Konoha, which allowed him to relax his guard.
"Kuma-san," the leader said walking forward, "We have been sent with word from Hokage-sama."
Naruto nodded, and said, "Speak then, Uma-san."
Uma nodded. "The Hokage has deemed the information you are carrying to be too dangerous to be left in the absolute care of one shinobi for such a long period of time. Jiraiya-sama's report seems to indicate a situation that the Daimyo need to be informed of immediately. The Hokage has ordered, therefore, you to make all haste in reaching the capital, and to return to the village as soon as possible."
Naruto sighed, and said, "Tell the Hokage I hear and obey."
The ANBU shifted, "You are three days from the Capital, Kuma-san."
Naruto nodded, "Yes, I am. However, the Hokage has just given me leave to reveal an S-ranked secret to your team, Uma-san."
The three immediately stiffened, as Naruto sighed, and created a one-handed ram seal. Then, Naruto spoke something that had all three ANBU shocked beyond belief, "Hiraishin no Jutsu!" As he disappeared in a burst of yellow light, Naruto briefly wished he could have seen the looks on the ANBU's faces.
He groaned, as he reappeared three minutes later, surrounded by a force of fifty samurai that stood in front of the Daimyo's throne. He knelt, showing the man subjugation that only the Hokage and he afforded.
The Daimyo stood and said, "ANBU-san, I assume the Hokage has a reason for you appearing so abruptly in my presence?"
Naruto nodded wordlessly, and produced the mission scroll he'd been given by Jiraiya. The Daimyo opened it, and silently read it, before he looked down and said, "You are ANBU Kuma?"
Kuma nodded, and suddenly, the Daimyo did something he did not expect.
"Guards, leave us."
The guards shifted as one, and looked at the Daimyo in confusion. The man grinned happily, and watched as the samurai and his twelve guardian ninja, who had reacted with a staggering amount of haste at the blatant chakra use, filtered out in two's and three's. As the final left, the Daimyo said, "You can take your mask of in here, Naruto-san."
Naruto's eyes widened in fear as he snapped his head up, and looked at the Daimyo in confusion. The man merely docked his head to the side, as if waiting on him to comply. Slowly, he removed his mask, and hung it at his side. The Daimyo smiled imperiously and said, "Walk with me, Naruto, and let me tell you a story about that mask."
Naruto warily stood in the Daimyo's presence, and stepped in line as the Daimyo walked towards the doors on the opposite side of where the samurai exited. As he reached the door, the Daimyo smiled.