!*!*! ATTENTION... PAŽNJA... ופמערקזאַמקייַט !*!*!

Disclaimer: Not one single part of Naruto belongs to me. How can you tell? Because the woman of the village never gave Rock Lee a make over.

As they made their way out of the interrogation room, Shikamaru turned to Takeshi. "Where do the aids and the council members usually work? Would they be there now?"

"Well, they were all at the festival, but some of them are probably back working by now. Or at least the aids might be. They take their job very seriously. They should be down the hall from my office. I'll show you if you like," Takeshi said, his expression showing his confusion.

Shikamaru shook his head, "I don't think it would be a good idea for you to come along. It might be dangerous. One more question. Who knows that we have the assassins in custody?"

Takeshi thought for a few seconds. "Well, besides the people in the room right now, I believe that the person who let you use the room and one other who saw you and asked me. But I'm not sure any of them actually know that these are the assassins. They just saw you carrying them."

Shikamaru nodded. "Good." That meant that the person responsible for this mess still probably didn't know.

Next to him, Hikari was staring at Kotone. Suddenly, she burst out, "I'm sorry!"

Kotone stared at her for a moment, and then said slowly, "It's… okay."

Right, because having someone try to kill you was perfectly fine and logical. Was it pure-hearted of Kotone to forgive them so easily, or just stupid?

Shikamaru opened the door leading out into the hall and let Naruto, Hikari, and Keita come through, but he held up a hand when Shota tried to follow them. "You stay here," he ordered.

Shota glared up at him. "What? You're going to make me stay here because I'm a kid, is that it? I've killed people. I don't need to be babied by a pine-apple head like yourself."

Shikamaru's eye twitched. What was it with people insulting his head and hairstyle? Maybe he should change it… but that would be troublesome. He shook his head. "No, I'm not babying you. That would imply that I actually care, which I don't. I want you to stay here under guard so that your siblings won't try to escape. Because, if they try anything, we will still have you and can kill you."

Shota stared at him for a moment longer, and then nodded decisively. "Got it." He almost seemed approving.

Weird kid.

The odd group made their way down the hall, and Shikamaru kept one eye on the two siblings. They really didn't seem to bad, besides the fact that they had killed people. Hikari seemed to be staring at Naruto with something like… Oh, Kami. Really? The girl was blushing and sneaking glances at Naruto. That's the last thing that he needed, a girl who was crushing on Naruto. Just having the entire male population wasn't enough?

Grumpily, he switched his interest to Keita, only to find the boy staring at Naruto's ass. Maybe he should have ruffed him up a little in the interrogation room.

They walked down the hall, turning right and left until they were at Takeshi's room. The room for the aides and council members should be past that, and it was.

Shikamaru turned to Keita and Hikari. "You two stay with me. Naruto, can you go in there and talk to him? Try to get him to use his chakra."

Naruto nodded, straightening her kimono and smoothing her hair, and then walked into the room, almost closing the door after her.

The guy wasn't facing them, but they could see his profile through the crack in the door. Shikamaru just watched as Naruto started her performance.

She glided up to the guy and smiled warmly. "Katsutoshi! Hi."

Katsutoshi glanced up at her, a surprised expression on his face, but it quickly morphed into a smile. "Naru-chan, hello. I didn't expect to see you here. I mean, what are you doing here?" he asked, pushing his glasses up.

Naruto perched on the edge of the desk and leaned in toward him. "I came to see you, of course. I didn't see you at the festival, and I asked Takeshi about it and he said that you'd probably be here working," Naruto said with a definite flirty quality to her voice. "You shouldn't work so much. You should take a break and have some fun." The tone implied that there were all sorts of ways they could have fun.

Shikamaru held in a growl. He didn't ask her to flirt with him! Oh, jeez. He was actually jealous. Hormones and emotions were really troublesome.

Katsutoshi smiled slimily at Naruto. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt to take a little time off. Perhaps after I've finished these files? If you'd care you wait for me?" he asked, one eyebrow raised.

Naruto practically batted her eyes at him. "I wouldn't mind at all."

Shikamaru held his breath for a count of ten, trying to ignore the sudden urge to stab Katsutoshi with a pair of scissors.

There was silence for a minute as Katsutoshi filed papers and Naruto watched him, and then Naruto said, "Oh! There was something that I wanted to ask you! Takeshi said that you'd had some shinobi training. Is it true?"

Shikamaru watched as Katsutoshi stiffened abruptly and glanced at Naruto suspiciously. Seeing only a very pretty innocent looking blonde batting her eyes at him, he seemed to shrug off the suspicion. "Yes. I do have a little shinobi training. I chose not to pursue a career in that field however. I think my skills are more suited to politics."

Oh, that might not be entirely true. Back-stabbing and assassination plots are pretty useful in both fields.

Naruto leaned closer to Katsutoshi. "Really? That's so cool. I always found that sort of stuff interesting. I wanted to be a ninja, but I'm from a civilian family, and they were against it. Can you show me something, please?"

Katsutoshi hesitated, and Naruto pouted prettily. "Please?"

Ah, beautiful women were the downfall of many a powerful man.

Shikamaru watched as Katsutoshi catapulted and nodded. "Sure. What do you want to see?"

Naruto shrugged. "Whatever you want to show me."

Was he imagining it or did a lot of what they were saying have sexually charged overtones? Shikamaru shook his head. He did not want to think about it.

Then, Katsutoshi did it. He brought his hands together and formed the seals of his doom. A puff of smoke appeared and then faded away, leaving a tall guy with blonde hair and green eyes standing there.

Hikari tugged on Shikamaru's sleeve. "That's him! Different eyes, but everything else is the same. His voice and mannerisms, everything." Behind her, Keita nodded in positive agreement.

Shikamaru opened the door, and Katsutoshi turned back into himself with a pop.

"Hello, Shikama-" He stopped abruptly when he saw Keita and Hikari standing behind Shikamaru, but his surprise only lasted a few milliseconds. He smiled in a welcoming manner and said, "Shikamaru, nice to see you again, and who are your friends?"

Keita stared at him. "Don't you 'friend' us and pretend not to know us. You should remember our faces, after all, you hired us to kill Kotone."

"What are you talking about?" Katsutoshi looked at Naruto for support, but she was just looking at him blankly, emotions hidden.

"You hired us to kill Kotone for you. I recognize you," Hikari said.

"So, you're the assassins? And you're trying to blame me for this sad series of events? And you two actually believe it?"

"Yes," Shikamaru said flatly.

"Well… I don't know what I've done to deserve this sort of attack on me, but I assure you… Even if these allegations were true, I doubt that you'd be able to make the council take the word of two assassins over the word of a trusted aide." An oily quality had come into his voice. "Now, unless you have any other things to accuse me of, I'll be leaving." He started to move to the exit, but a well placed kunai thudded into the woodwork a few inches in front of him, halting his progress. Katsutoshi pushed up his glasses. "Ahh, you two are shinobi. I should have seen that coming, but it doesn't make a difference."

"Actually," Shikamaru said, stepping closer and pulling out his tanto knife, "it does. You see, I can control shadows, and I was on the same team with a girl who could force herself into other people's minds. She taught me a few things. So, now I am extremely flexible and can rip information out of your mind. I'll be able to extract every sick little thought that's in there. The only downside is that I haven't perfected the technique, so there's a chance that your mind will break and you'll turn into a gibbering mess, plus it would be kind of troublesome."

Of course, most of that was a complete and utter fabrication, but Katsutoshi didn't know that.

Katsutoshi studied him silently, and Shikamaru kept his expression confident but emotionless. Then, Katsutoshi apparently believed his lie, because he tried to run.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. The guilty always run.

In a flash, Naruto was standing in front of the door. Katsutoshi whipped out a knife from someone on his person, but it was quickly knocked out of his hand.

"Did you really think you could get past two full-fledged shinobi?" Shikamaru asked. If they had been civilians, Katsutoshi probably would have escaped.

Realizing that he had definitely exposed himself as the one behind the murder plot, Katsutoshi seemed to change emotions again. He relaxed, stood still, and ran a hand through his hair. "Well, I thought it would work."

"So you admit it?" Naruto asked, speaking for the first time.

"Yes, I do. Hum… And I didn't think that anyone would suspect me, even if these idiots got caught." Hikari and Keita seemed to take offense to that.

"Why did you do it?" Shikamaru asked, although he already knew. Greed. Greed of power. The same thing that drove so many men and women down illegal paths.

Katsutoshi shrugged. "Well, I wanted power, of course. I am rather brilliant, and I'm sure that in time I would have peen promoted to a position of power, but why wait twenty years when you can have it in a fraction of the time? I just needed a couple of people out of the way first. Kotone needed to die. After that, things would have been simple. It wouldn't have been hard to have everyone believe that Takeshi, after his daughter's tragic death, buried himself in his work and, while out finding shinobi to come to the village, got killed by a rogue one. Ozuru would then be put in charge, and would be his aide. He's got a bad heart, so he would die soon enough, and, if not, the process could always be helped along a little. Then I would b-"

Shikamaru cut him off. "You know what? You are really boring to listen to. I already knew all of this." Seriously, what was it with evil guys and their monologs about their plans? "We even have your confession. You're going to spend the rest of your life in prison. I don't think your life is going to be very long, though. Plotting to assassinate your leader's daughter and then him and then possibly another person? I'm pretty sure that calls for a death sentence."

Katsutoshi, after initially scowling at him, smiled thinly. "Actually, I don't think that's going to happen. I'm guessing that you didn't guess it was me by just listening to these two. You probably looked at the history of the village. Maybe some old laws." He pushed up his glasses. "Let me enlighten you about another one. Members of the council cannot be sentenced to death, and that law applies to aides as well. I'll probably get a life sentence, but there won't be any death sentence for me. And who knows how long I'll actually be in prison."

Shikamaru, along with Naruto and the two assassins stared at him. Shikamaru felt a headache coming on. What was wrong with the old laws of this place? They seemed to be put in place to purposely get in the way and make things difficult.

Katsutoshi stood there, looking smug even though his plans had failed and he'd been captured. Shikamaru glanced to the side and saw Keita and Hikari glaring at him. Naruto was glaring, too, but her glare was on another level. He was surprised that Katsutoshi hadn't spontaneously combusted from it yet. He looked back at Katsutoshi. The guy hadn't even moved a muscle, just stood there complacently. It was incredibly annoying.

He nodded. "You know what? You're right. I suppose you won't be put to death like you deserve, but I still think that you shouldn't get away with it."

At his words, Katsutoshi stiffened. "You're going to kill me?"

Why did almost all people think that being a shinobi meant that you had no morals and could kill whenever you felt like it? Well… Actually, when he thought about it that wasn't too far from the truth. He pushed that thought out of his mind, and said, "No, I'm not going to kill you." He turned to Naruto, Keita, and Hikari. "Suspects usually get a little roughed up when they try to escape and then get recaptured, right? And when the person isn't cooperating?"

The three nodded slowly, not quite sure where he was going with it.

"Would you three agree that he's not cooperating?"

As if an exploding tag went off in their heads, they knew what he was talking about, and so did Katsutoshi.

He backed away from them. "You… You're going to injure me?"

"Nope. Just maim you a little."

"That's the same thing!"

"Okay, then, yes, we are."

For the first time, a glimmer of fear showed on Katsutoshi's face. Apparently, he wasn't a big fan of pain. Too bad… for him. Sure, what was about to go down was probably a little, or a lot, wrong, according to some people, but letting him go scot free seemed even more wrong.

"Naruto, would you like to go first?"

She nodded and then stepped in front of Katsutoshi. At first, she didn't do anything, just stood there looking at him for a moment. Then, she slapped his across the face, leaving a burning red imprint of her hand on his face. "How could you! Kotone trusted you. She thought you were her friend. And… and you like ramen! You bastard!" She punched him in the stomach. "You. Don't. Deserve. Ramen!" Each word was punctuated with a blow.

Shikamaru just stood back and nodded as she punched him. It would figure that she'd be upset about that. Ramen was sacred to Naruto, and Katsutoshi was a fellow ramen lover who turned out to be an evil, manipulating piece of dirt. Following Naruto-logic, she probably felt betrayed, horrified, and justifiably pissed off.

Naruto moved to punch him again, but this time Katsutoshi struck back, striking at her with a quickness that Shikamaru didn't know he had.

Naruto looked down at where he had struck her. A kunai was half imbedded in her shoulder, and scarlet blood was already staining her kimono.

Shikamaru mouth went dry and he stepped forward, anger welling within him, ready to kick the shit out of Katsutoshi, but Naruto got there first.

"You think a kunai is going to protect you and stop me? Well, you're wrong!" she snarled, her leg a blur as it crashed into his side, sending him flying into the wall. A small amount of chakra was starting to leak out, but it wasn't hers. It was the Kyuubi's. After several more satisfying kicks and punches, Naruto hauled Katsutoshi upright and slammed her knee into his groan, making him elicite a high-pitched squeal of pain before falingl back to the floor.

Shikamaru, along with Keita, winced. There were some things that no man deserved to have done to him. Shikamaru looked down at the groaning pile of bloodied and maimed flesh on the floor dispassionately. He couldn't find it in him to feel the least bit sorry about what had just occurred. Instead, he was worried about Naruto. The entire shoulder of her kimono was now stained the deep red of fresh blood, and she didn't even seem to notice.

"Naruto, let's get you patched up. I don't think Katsutoshi is in any shape to try and escape," he said, putting a hand on her arm.

She took a deep breath, calming herself, and then looked down at the metal protruding from her shoulder as if she hadn't seen it before. With one smooth move, she yanked it out and tossed it to the floor carelessly. "No, I'm okay. Kyuu-chan will heal me. It's not that big a wound."

"But-"

"Shikamaru, I'm fine." It was the tone of voice she took when there was no room for argument, usually when the discussion had something to do with ramen.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Hikari and Keita give the unconscious form of Katsutoshi a kick. He tried again, "Naruto-"

But before he could say anything else, the door opened, revealing a shocked Takeshi. The man's eyes flickered from person to person rapidly. A bloodied Naruto, smug looking assassins, and a bloody and bruised mess on the floor. "Shikamaru… What happened? Why is Naruto bleeding, and why is one of my aides on the floor mauled?"

Ah yes… When he says it like that is does sound a little sketchy.

Shikamaru walked over to Takeshi, taking particular care to step on Katsutoshi as he did so, and said, "Why don't we go somewhere else less bloody and sit down and I'll tell you everything?"

Takeshi looked around Shikamaru to Katsutoshi. "Is he alive?"

"Yes, he's fine. Just a few minor contusions and bruises."

"His arm looks like it's bent in half."

"And some broken bones," Shikamaru amended. "He'll be fine. Although you might want to get a healer in her before he bleeds to death. Now, let's go and I'll explain everything. Yeah?"

For some reason speechless, Takeshi just nodded, and let Shikamaru lead him away. Naruto followed them after asking the siblings to carry Katsutoshi.

They did, but not without dropping him several times gleefully. Hikari and Keita got dropped on at the interrogation room, back with their brother, Katsutoshi got taken into custody and supplied with a medic-nin, and then Naruto, Shikamaru, and Takeshi retreated to Takeshi's office where Kotone was waiting.

The girl jumped up the second they entered, eyes widening as she ran to Naruto. "You're bleeding!" she gasped.

Naruto waved it aside and plopped down into one of the chairs. "I'm fine. I just got careless."

"You need to see a medic!"

Shikamaru nodded inwardly. At least someone agreed with him.

Naruto rolled her sky-blue eyes. "I'm fine, although I am a little hungry. Do we have any ramen?"

Shikamaru sweat-dropped. Of course…

Takeshi turned to him. "Tell me what happened."

And so he did, telling them everything about the assassins and Katsutoshi and his plans and the old laws of the village that would have come into play.

When he was done, the first thing Takeshi said was, "I want to smack the boy," and the second thing was, "We really need to abolish those old laws."

Shikamaru nodded. He knew there was a reason that he liked Takeshi. The guy had a good head on his shoulders. He leaned back farther back into the chair, slumping in it comfortably. Everything had been wrapped up. The assassination was taken care of, the people caught, and the mission done. Which meant…

He glanced sideways at Naruto who was comforting Kotone. Which meant that they would go back to Konoha, and who knew what would happen then? Would he and Naruto get closer or would they just go back to being sort of friends that hung out once in a while?

He rubbed his head. Kami, the situation was troublesome.

Hey, sorry this took so long to get up. Things have been... difficult. Never mind. I just hope you all enjoy this. I'll try to get chapters up sooner for you all.

Ja ne,

Rumer Hasit