Out of the Unknown

by axellon2008

Naruto discovers a crashed starship outside his village and his life is forever changed. Under the unorthodox tutelage of a Sith Lord's spirit, he will learn the technology and history of a larger galaxy that he, and no one else from his planet, ever knew existed.

7. Chapter 7

AN: I don't own Naruto, or Star Wars

x-x

40 BBY – Current Year

Chapter VII: New team and new opportunities

Continuation of the previous chapter

x-x

To say that Kabuto was nervous was an understatement. He had just learned of his teammate's death and while he didn't care that Tsurugi Musumi was dead he did wonder why and by whom. Kabuto had been a spy for Sasori and picked to spy on Orochimaru as well as Konohagakure. The Snake Sennin noticed the seal in Kabuto's head and removed it very early on. For that and many other reasons, Kabuto had faithfully served Orochimaru and had great respect for the Sennin.

With his adopted father being such an influential person at the hospital and Kabuto himself being a practicing but low level medical-nin, he had access to areas of the hospital which included the morgue. Kabuto had spent several hours thoroughly examining Musumi's body for evidence and to hopefully determine how and why his teammate was killed. As a spy, he was always worried about being found out, however he was good enough to fool his father, his jonin sensei, the Hokage, and even the entire village. The only one he hadn't been able to fool was Orochimaru.

This murder concerned him as he needed to find out if there was a chance that his secret had been discovered by someone. Even if it was a small chance he desperately needed to be certain that no one knew about him. Musumi's only wound aroused Kabuto's curiosity as if he didn't know any better, he would have thought it was created by his master's Kusanagi blade. The cut was incredibly clean and left little damage to the surrounding tissue. Kabuto also examined Musumi's head. Even if the body was dead, a cacophony of information could still be learned by a skilled medical-nin or even a hunter-nin.

Kabuto could have learned what jutsu Musumi liked to use, what his elemental affinity was, if he had more than one affinity, and even what weapons Musumi liked to use. It was all there in the muscles, tissue, skin, and chakra pathways. A person just needed to be skilled enough to determine and recognize it. And Kabuto was just that skilled.

It was when he examined the head that Kabuto found something that he didn't expect. From what he could tell, it appeared as though the memory area of Musumi's brain had been accessed or damaged in some way. There was no physical damage but he could tell that something was off about it. 'Could someone have accessed his mind? What would they have been after in the first place? Was he in danger of being discovered? Did someone already know about him being a spy?' were some of the thoughts that went through his head as he analyzed the situation. He would need to prepare for any outcome and would need to remain calm. The one thing that he couldn't figure out was who had done something like this. As far as Kabuto was concerned, Musumi was an idiot that would never achieve the rank of chunin.

'Who would want to kill Musumi and who would want to go through his mind? He has nothing of value.' thought Kabuto as he tried to come up with answers. It didn't really make any sense. Musumi was just a genin and wouldn't know any secrets about the village or about anything useful in general. The only thing that he would know about was his genin team being spies for Orochimaru.

Paranoia was already starting to set in and Kabuto knew he would have to start double checking to make sure he wasn't being followed or watched. The only thing that Kabuto knew for certain was that whoever had done it, they weren't under orders from the Hokage as the Sandaime would never murder a genin.

If the Sandaime knew Musumi was a spy then he would have been captured and interrogated and not killed. He also knew that his still living teammate, Akado Yoroi wasn't responsible. That led Kabuto to thinking that it may have been someone that didn't take orders from the Hokage.

He thought perhaps it could have been Shimura Danzo or one of his 'Foundation' ninja that he still had. Despite being told by the Hokage to stop all covert operations and disband his Root ANBU, Danzo hadn't done anything of the sort. He had just gotten better at hiding the evidence of his actions from the village and Hokage. His Foundation had been responsible for numerous assassinations and missions outside of the village.

Orochimaru had even helped Danzo implant cells of the Shodai into an arm after he had left the village. Kabuto knew about this because he had helped his Master work with the Shodai's cells. 'Would Danzo try to get more information on Orochimaru-sama by targeting his spies in the village?' thought Kabuto as he adjusted his glasses again and he wasn't sure about the answer. He didn't know how Danzo would have found out about one of Orochimaru's spies in the first place.

It was a mystery and he didn't have enough evidence to make any conclusions. For now he wouldn't do anything except keep observing, continue his work for Orochimaru, and watch his back.

x-x

Sandaime's Office

x-x

The Sandaime sighed as he looked over the class list of the recently graduated academy students. He was having a hard time fitting Naruto into a group. The boy could fit with several groups and yet he felt they probably wouldn't work out. Naruto hadn't been the rookie of the year because he had been struggling with the clone jutsu despite having nearly perfect grades in every other subject and even performed the other academy jutsu perfectly. His grades had dropped just enough though to keep him out of the first spot in the class.

The Sandaime always stuck to tradition and put the top student along with the smartest kunoichi and the lowest student on a single team. That had been his team when he taught the Sannin but Naruto wouldn't be in that team and had to be placed elsewhere. The other problem with the teams was that they had one extra student because Naruto had skipped grades the previous year. This left an odd person out. The Sandaime was about to look through the list again when he remembered that there was an opening on an active genin team.

The Sandaime didn't have any waiting genin's to replace the missing member of that team but he could put an academy student for that position. While Naruto's grades may have dropped a little, he was still a very gifted student. The genin team in questions was really just a support team. They had been genin for a while but didn't go on very difficult or highly ranked missions. They had also failed to make it past the second stage of any chunin exam that they had taken. It was probably a very good team for a student that was skipped ahead several grades and that was difficult to place on any new genin squad.

The Sandaime looked over the skills of the remaining genin on the squad. Both were over five years older than Naruto but they didn't seem to be going anywhere in terms of rank or development of new skills. Yakushi Kabuto seemed to have average or slightly above average medical training however if he wanted to be on the medical-nin squad then he would have to at least be chunin rank. Akado Yoroi only seemed to have a single jutsu that he relied on which was the ability to drain someone's chakra on contact. It wasn't the first time the Sandaime had seen an ability like that but Yoroi hadn't progress beyond that skill or learn any other techniques in order to become stronger. Because of this, the young man would most likely never achieve the rank of chunin.

'It might be a good team for an academy student with no friends in his graduating class. They won't have very difficult missions and they don't try for the chunin exams every year so Naruto will have plenty of time to get adjusted to a new team before even thinking about taking the exam.' thought the Sandaime. 'The jonin also fits as I know him to be a very level headed person who won't judge Naruto because of his burden and would probably be better than many of the other jonin testing academy students this year.'

x-x

Naruto sat in the academy while the instructor gave his final lecture and congratulations to the students for passing the exam and moving on to genin. Naruto tuned the man out though as he started thinking about short term goals of himself as well as his Master.

He had obtained several jutsu from the Ame ninja but found out that genjutsu really wasn't something he was good at. Most of the problem was his chakra control and not his aptitude. He had been interested in genjutsu in the academy but would have to work on his chakra control before he would be able to look into it again. Naruto had also tried to find a way to create genjutsu with the Force as his Master told him it was possible but that he wasn't getting very far on his own developing Force Illusions.

Mizuki was an interest to his master and finding out what the man knew about the snake sannin was a priority but would wait for now. He couldn't go leaving another ninja of the village without any memories so soon after killing a genin, however he wasn't sure anyone would be able to link those together. The village would likely be on higher alert for a short period after the assassination so he would have to wait for a little while before considering anything.

He also had to keep his sword from being noticed as anything more than a normal ninjato, which was difficult to do with the color of the blade. 'It may not have been such a good idea to kill that genin with my sword or let it be seen by the weapons store owner and his daughter.' thought Naruto as he hadn't really thought about that at the time. He was more concerned with other matters and not thinking ahead or considering the effects of his actions. Plagueis had commented on the lack of secretiveness when evaluating his test and told him to have more tact in the future.

Now he was left with a slight problem. He doubted that anyone would be able to figure out that it had been his blade that had done the deed but it did have a sharp edge, even without the vibrations, that it could easily draw attention to it. 'Perhaps I should use my regular ninjato that I used to practice with. At least for a little while, and then switch back.' thought Naruto. He wouldn't need it for a while because he would most likely be doing D-rank missions in the near future.

Recently he had heard a few students talking about a blade that he had created at a local weapons shop but it was still just rumor among academy students and he hadn't heard any of the villagers or ninja talking about it. It was a risk though as the shop owners daughter was in the academy and did like to talk about weapons but no one knew much beyond the fact that it looked unique. It was when people saw him using it or started to question its qualities that he would become nervous.

Naruto came out of his thoughts as the chunin teacher finished his speech and started going through the genin teams. Naruto listened for his name but he hadn't heard it. It wasn't until the very end of the list that his name was spoken, "Uzumaki Naruto. You will be placed on a existing genin team, Team Shinjiro." With that said, the genin were left to sit and wait for their new jonin sensei to collect them.

Naruto could hardly keep the smile off his mostly hidden face. He had been placed on the team that he wanted. While he kept up the smile and waited to be taken to his new team, a part of him was relieved. Killing the genin hadn't been for nothing and everything had worked out how his Master had planned it, despite inadvertently discovered a genin team of spies working for a missing nin.

The man Naruto had been waiting for entered and he waited to be called before he got up to go with his new squad captain and sensei.

"Uzumaki Naruto." the man stated and Naruto got up to follow. He made sure he didn't instinctively get up to go with the jonin whose face he had memorized, as that would have raised questions as to how he even knew who the man was.

x-x

"It must be a little problematic to be placed on a team you've never met before. I suppose you would have rather been on a team with your friends." said Toshihiko Shinjiro, Naruto's new sensei.

"I don't have any friends." stated Naruto as they continued to walk to meet the other team members at their usual meeting spot.

'I suppose that makes sense...' Shinjiro thought, '….he's been moved through the academy and skipped ahead so he probably wasn't able to make many friends in his classes. Hopefully he'll be able to fit in with Kabuto and Yoroi.'

Getting over the loss of a teammate was never easy and replacing that teammate would be difficult on the the rest of the team as well as the replacement. Shinjiro wanted to make the transition to a new team member as easy as possible for his team while working Naruto into the team dynamics. Naruto's file didn't tell him that much about where the boy's skills might be but he could tell that Naruto was at least decent in ninjutsu and above the rest of his older classmates in taijutsu. He would need to find out everything that Naruto could do so he could work on formations and strategies for the team.

First however, Naruto would need to meet the rest of the team.

x-x

"I can't believe you talked me into this again." stated Neji as he walked the streets with his classmate Tenten.

"It didn't take that much convincing, this time or the first time." Tenten replied with a slight smile and Neji frowned at the answer as it was correct.

This was the second time that the duo 'conducted activities' related to Uzumaki Naruto. The first time was a few days earlier in order to find out where the boy lived and other information about his habits. Both academy students were interested in Naruto for different reasons though.

Tenten was only concerned with the sword and scoffed at Neji's accusations that she was being obsessive about it. Ever since the afternoon that a boy had come into her families store and created such a unique and amazing sword, she had 'focused' on learning more.

It should not have been possible for the boy to create such a weapon in that amount of time. She had been learning to wield and create weapons for years and she knew it wasn't possible for her to create something as amazing as the boy had. She also knew that even her father couldn't have created something like it. Once she had seen the sword, she knew that it stood apart from all other swords that she had ever seen before.

This left a plethora of questions that she wanted answered. How did a novice at sword making create such a weapon? What was the sword made from, as the metal had a distinct color that was different than anything she had ever seen? Where did he learn to create swords? What process did he use and what tools were used? The sheer number of questions that she wanted answered had been bugging her since she had first seen the sword. She wanted to know and it was important to her. If her family could make more of those weapons then they would get a lot more business and she also wanted her own unique sword. She would settle for him making her a sword if she couldn't get him to teach her how to make one.

Unfortunately, while Tenten was not a shy girl and spoke her mind, she didn't know how to approach the boy and get what she wanted. He was always the odd person in the class and didn't speak to anyone except questions for the teacher to answer. Naruto mostly ignored everyone else around him. After leaving her grade she had trouble finding him as he disappeared right after class was over and arrived at the academy without anyone noticing. It was also Tenten's experience that techniques for making swords weren't shared with anyone else besides an apprentice or family, so it was unlikely that he would answer most of her questions.

The curiosity about the sword itself had been reaching a boiling point in her and she just wanted to see it again. She wanted to inspect it and touch it. Tenten wanted to learn all she could from it. The image of the blade laying on the counter in her families shop had been imprinted on her mind since he had showed them the blade to get the right size sheath for it. It wasn't just that she wanted to see it, she had to see it again.

The strangest part was that Naruto didn't wear the sword and she hadn't seen it at all since he first created it. It was never with him when she did see him which meant that he must leave it at home and that was where Neji came in. Trying to follow the boy home hadn't produced any results as he seemed to know that he was being followed or just always made sure he wasn't tailed. She needed to find where the sword was while making sure she wasn't caught and Neji's dojutsu would enable that.

Neji however wasn't interested in the sword or Naruto either, at least he wouldn't admit to it, he just wanted answers to the questions that had been plaguing him. Neji had grown up and developed specific beliefs but Uzumaki Naruto was an anomaly and countered those beliefs. Fate decided everything in Neji's opinion and no one could escape that.

Uzumaki Naruto was an orphan and didn't belong to any clan. The boy was poor and lived on his own in a dilapidated apartment. With no clan and no one to help him, the boy should have been at the bottom of the class or no better than average in the academy. He shouldn't have gotten any training or help and his fate should have been mediocrity in the academy. His grades and skills should have been among those of the civilian children and yet those things were not true.

Uzumaki Naruto was skipped ahead three grades, surpassing the children of all the clan heads in the village. Several of the students and even a few teachers considered him a prodigy and perhaps the best of his generation. Now the boy had just graduated at the age of nine from the ninja academy. None of it made any sense to Neji.

Neji was considered a genius and the best Hyuuga to come in several generations. He excelled at jyuuken and the gentle fist style which was acknowledged by everyone in his clan, main house or branch house. Fate had determined that and it was Neji's fate to succeed at the academy and in his ninja career. It was therefore difficult for him to understand how Uzumaki Naruto was performing above everyone else when he clearly shouldn't be.

The only explanation for this was that somehow Naruto was cheating or being helped. It was frowned upon for any ninja of the village to help or provide lessons to an academy student if they weren't a teacher at the academy. Someone must be helping him and Neji wasn't about to sit idly by while this happened. Fate could not be changed and Naruto's fate was obvious to him. Neji agreed to go along with Tenten in order to discover what was really going on and then he would expose it and put Naruto back in his place. No one can escape their destiny and Neji would make sure of that.

While both had followed Naruto before, they weren't following him this time. Neji had used his byakugan to make sure that Naruto wasn't near his apartment as Tenten was dead set on seeing the sword again and 'touching' it. Neji was more interesting in searching for evidence and closely examining the apartment to find out what was really going on. They would have to sneak into the apartment to get to it and while it was illegal, they both determined that they had sufficient reasons to do it.

They knew that Naruto had been placed on a genin team and would be away from his apartment for a while which would give them some time to get inside and look around.

x-x

Naruto sat at a training ground on a log as the other members of his new team introduced themselves. He was listening to what they were saying but also analyzing them and reviewing what else he knew about them. He idly wondered if either of them knew about the kyuubi which was an interesting thought. They wouldn't have even been out of the academy when the village was attacked and the kyuubi was sealed so they may or may not have been privy to that information.

Akado Yoroi had just finished telling Naruto about his dreams for the future and Kabuto's introduction was next. The white haired genin first adjusted his glasses while giving Naruto a small smile before he started. "My name is Yakushi Kabuto..." but the remainder of Kabuto's speech was lost when Naruto felt something. It took a second to identify what it was when he realized that the security seals on his apartment had gone off.

'Who would break into my apartment?' he thought as he continued to partially listen to Kabuto's introduction. He wasn't going to interrupt as there was nothing important inside his apartment that wasn't well hidden. If the other seals went off on one of his hiding spots inside the apartment then he would be concerned.

Naruto's eyes widened and his hear beat quickened as a moment later the seals on his main hiding spot activated. 'How the hell did they find it so quickly?' he questioned as it was a village full of ninja but he was sure that his hiding spots would fool anyone who wasn't specifically looking for a hidden area. At this point Naruto was starting to have trouble sitting still as Kabuto finished his introduction.

'Who the hell is in my apartment?' he wanted to know and moment later he knew his answer. He was again taken by surprise when he had the sudden feeling that someone had taken his sword from the hiding spot and was holding it. Naruto also received a few images of who was holding his sword. 'I never knew I had this kind of connection with my sword.' he thought as no one else had ever come into physical contact with the blade besides himself.

He was broken from his thoughts to give his own introduction to his new teammates and decided to wait before getting back to his apartment. He knew who was there now and what they were doing. If they did steal from him then he would know exactly where to go. He would delay for the team meeting to be over which shouldn't take that long and then would see what was going on.

x-x

"Its just as amazing as I remembered it!" Tenten said contently with her eyes fixed to the sheathed ninjato.

"It's still in the sheath, and aren't you becoming a bit obsessed over it?" Neji questions with a shake of his head.

"You're one to talk. How much time do you spend on your hair and looking at it in a mirror? Then again I suppose you would know all about obsession." chided Tenten as she set the blade down on the table in the kitchen and Neji merely frowned at her.

Neji had easily found the secret compartment in the wall in the kitchen with his Byakugan though neither had noticed the seals that they had tripped. While Tenten stared at the sword in awe, Neji continued to examine the apartment.

'There was a black cloak in the hiding place along with several scrolls.' he remembered and went to the hiding place to examine them. He removed the cloak to get to the scrolls underneath. There were six of them and they were all the same size and color. He tried to open them but was unable to as they were sealed shut and he also couldn't look into them with his dojutsu to read what was inside. Putting them back where he found them, he noticed several other hiding places with his byakugan but nothing of note was there except money and a few more scrolls.

The scrolls were rather suspicious as they were sealed shut with perhaps a blood seal which was advanced for any academy student or genin. 'What would be in the scrolls that he would need to seal them shut and then hide them?' questioned Neji as he continued to analyze the rest of the apartment which was rather standard. He found nothing else that was out of place or suspicious. Neji deactivated his byakugan upon hearing the 'oohs' and 'ahhs' of his fellow classmate as she removed the ninjato from the sheath. He moved over to the table to get a better look at the sword that had captivated the thoughts of his classmate for some time. It was rather unique and he could see what had caught her interest as a weapons expert.

Tenten removed the blade from the sheath and examined it in every way she could. It was exactly how she remembered it. The red blade with black edges and a black handle. She picked up the blade and examined the balance and weight. Oddly she thought it was rather heavy for a blade of its size but the balance was perfect. She then pulled out a small magnifying glass and examined every inch of the polished blade. Amazingly enough, it was perfect and didn't have a single fault or mark. 'That doesn't make any sense. Every blade has tool marks or some kind of imperfection.' noted Tenten curiously and her findings made her wonder more and more about the process that was used to make it.

She looked up and at Neji, then smiled. It was disconcerting for Neji as he really didn't like the smile and apparently had good reason as a moment later Tenten plucked out one strand of his perfect hair. Neji flinched and gave a glare but was curious to see what she would do. Tenten used to hair to test the sharpness of the blade.

She positioned the sword with the blade facing up and gently touched a part of the strand of hair against the blade. It effortlessly cut and she was rather impressed. Although Neji was slightly put off by the display, it was his perfect hair after all. Tenten then decided to use the nail of her thumb to test the sharpness.

"Why if you just used my hair are you now using your thumb nail?" asked Neji.

"Using a hair isn't really a test of sharpness." replied Tenten.

"Then why did you pluck one out of my head and use?" asked Neji while narrowing his eyes.

Tenten merely shrugged while smiling, "I was presented with an opportunity and I took it. Turns out Hyuuga hair is not better than everyone else's hair." The answer made Neji twitch with anger as he had lost a perfectly good hair for nothing but he didn't comment further as Tenten started her 'real' test.

The nail of her thumb was easily cut. In fact if she hadn't been so cautious about it, she probably would be bleeding right now or would have taken a part of the tip of her thumb off. 'I've never seen a sword this sharp. How in the world did he sharpen it so finely and to such a razor edge? I wonder how strong it is?' she thought but was brought out of her thoughts by Neji who was still periodically activating his eyes and looking out for the apartment owner to come back.

"Tenten, he's coming back." stated Neji with his byakugan active.

Tenten's eyes widened and she rushed to put the blade back in the sheath, then put it back in the hiding place. She replaced the piece of wall that hid the secret compartment and then both students got out of the apartment. They may not have known how to tree walk yet but they could still jump and fall good distances without any harm.

They stopped rushing when they were a good distance away from the apartment. They both looked at each other and Neji was the first to speak. "Did you put sword back right where you found it?"

"Yes I put it back on the black cloak where it was when we opened the hidden compartment." replied Tenten with a sigh. The last thing either wanted was to be caught. Neji nodded and they started heading their separate ways.

It wasn't until Neji was nearing the Hyuuga compound that he had a thought. While the scrolls were suspicious, there was something else that he had overlooked until Tenten had mentioned it. 'I can understand that the scrolls were put in the hiding places to keep them from being found but why was there a black cloak? The cloak should have been in the closet. Why would someone want to hide a cloak?'

Unfortunately he didn't have an answer.

x-x

Naruto entered his apartment with caution. He knew that the girl from the weapons shop had been there but as he got close enough to his apartment, he could feel that someone else was with her. It took only a few moments to identify the person from his memories of different people that he had come into contact with. It was a Hyuuga boy from one of his previous classes. A branch member if he was not mistaken.

He now knew why his hiding places had been discovered so easily as it was due to the dojutsu possessed by the Hyuuga clan. Naruto was still paranoid so he first examined the entire apartment for traps before he started looking in all his hiding places to see if anything was taken.

He sat down in a chair at his kitchen table and set his sword down on the table in front of him. Nothing had been taken but he could tell that the scrolls in his main hiding place had been looked at. He was fortunate that he had placed seals on them to keep them from being opened but he was unable to tell if one or both of the intruders had been interested in the scrolls. It wouldn't have been good to have academy students find copied water jutsu from the Nidaime Hokage as he had copied the jutsu from the main scroll which was at the hideout inside the Hokage mountain with the Raijin. He used those scrolls to learn the jutsu from so that he was separated from the stolen scroll in case the hideout was ever found.

Naruto had a hard time believing that Hyuuga Neji would have agreed to help break into his apartment. 'He must have had some kind of reason or curiosity in order to come here and not only look through my entire apartment but act as a lookout.' believed Naruto and he wondered what those reasons were. He didn't take Neji as the kind of person who would help out another academy student. The Hyuuga boy believed they were all beneath him.

Looking at his sword, Naruto found himself experiencing many different feelings that he would normally have had tight control over He felt rather angry, frustrated and even affraid. Searching his feelings he found that he was not angry about his apartment being broken into or his hiding places found. He was feeling these emotions because someone had done something to his property, his sword. It seemed that he had more of a bond and was more attached to the sword than even he was aware. It would explain the images that he saw of the girl examining his ninjato and that he knew someone else was holding it.

The real question was what would he do now? There was no way he was going to leave his sword in his apartment or put it anywhere else. He knew that the girl, Tenten he believed her name was, had tried to follow him several times but apparently her interest in the blade was such that she was now bringing in a Hyuuga to help her get access to it.

Naruto had been wary of using his sword and wanted to use another for a period of time but now he was positive that he couldn't let his sword out of his sight or off his person. It was his sword and only he would use it and not some other person. His teammates already knew from his introduction that he was interested in kenjutsu but he would have to hide its special properties from them. It might be difficult in the case of the ever observant Kabuto, but he didn't want to be parted from his weapon again.

Plagueis was silent as his student thought about his created weapon. He was interested to see that Naruto and the sword did share some type of bond and that the boy was rather possessive of it. Naruto didn't act like that with any other object so it must also be because of the forging process or rituals involved in the blades creation. Feeling with the Force, Plagueis could already feel the sword taking on a slight aura of the dark side of the Force. He was interested to see what would become of this.

x-x

'Stupid D-rank missions.' thought Naruto angrily as his team was coming back to the Hokage tower after spending a portion of the day weeding a garden. Naruto had learned how bad the missions were from draining minds but it was even worse when experiencing them firsthand.

It had been several weeks since Naruto joined his new squad and since then they had done nothing but team training, formations, and crappy missions. It was mind-numbingly boring but the team actually managed to get along just fine. Naruto had never imagined himself getting along with any of his teammates no matter what team he was paired with and it was ironic considering they were spies and he himself had committed numerous crimes against the village. They were all actually guilty of treason, though no one knew about it or had the evidence to convict them.

From working on his team, Naruto had noticed several things about genin the in the village. There didn't seem to be many people that actually took genin seriously. Not the villagers and not even the other higher ranking ninja of the village. It also seemed very dependent on age. Between the age of thirteen to sixteen was the range for genin that were more likely to be taken seriously. Kabuto was already at the end of the that range while Yoroi had passed it and Naruto himself had yet to reach it.

Genin that were younger and older than the range were taken less seriously as younger genin were seen as being physically weaker and the older genin were seen as being not very competent because they weren't able to become progress in rank to chunin. Naruto found it interesting that people didn't see his team as competent or powerful, especially when it came to Kabuto. The glasses wearing genin was nearing the higher limit on the age range but no one seemed to take Kabuto seriously. From what Naruto knew from stolen memories, Kabuto was at least on the same level as their sensei, possibly stronger.

Naruto wondered how a jonin sensei could not notice something out of the ordinary on his own team but he supposed it was due to the whole team being spies and covering for each other. Naruto was beginning to see just how the team had managed to escape any notice for so many years. He was also starting to question whether he wanted to achieve a higher rank anymore.

It was good to be underestimated and everyone seemed to do that for most genin. Chunin ninja were able to access the ninja library but given the lax security, he might be able to break into it and get anything he wanted. Chunin were also restricted out of certain sections of the library that only special jonin and higher ranks were allowed in to view. Naruto didn't know how long it might take to reach the rank of chunin or special jonin so he would have to think about it.

Plagueis had little to say about the matter as he wanted his student to make these decisions and stated that while both choices would lead to different outcomes, in terms of rank, and struggles for Naruto, they would achieve the same goals of learning more jutsu and techniques.

Naruto would have to meditate on this decision in his free time.

x-x

Several weeks had passed since the murder of a genin in the village. Over that time, no new information or even a suspect had been found. From stealthy excursions into the village during several times of the day, Naruto found that the security in the village had lessened back to where it had been several months before. Naruto took this as a sign to start tailing and observing Mizuki.

The records of ninja were unfortunately held in Konoha Ninja Library which Naruto didn't have access to but would one day get into, one way or another. He therefore didn't have much information on Mizuki. Naruto already knew that the chunin was under investigation but no one was following him or even keeping an eye on him. It seemed that the village wasn't very concerned with the suspicious actions of Mizuki or they just didn't have the manpower to keep a close eye on him.

Naruto was searching the man's apartment while the chunin was teaching at the academy but found nothing of interest. Like Rokusho Aoi, Mizuki tended to favor weapons over any jutsu or at least didn't have any scrolls of ninjutsu or genjutsu in his apartment. This lead Naruto to wonder why Mizuki wasn't working on learning any techniques from the library or at least learning nature manipulation. It seemed odd that Mizuki wouldn't try to learn any jutsu as Naruto had the strong feeling that the chunin was obsessed with getting power and prestige in the village. 'Why wouldn't he start learning everything that he could with his access to the ninja library? What kind of person is obsessed with power, but won't take full advantage of what is available to him?' Naruto questioned as he left Mizuki's apartment just the way he found it. It was Plagueis that answered as he had seen this many times before.

'He is the kind of person who doesn't want to work for power or for prestige. He wants things given to him and everything to be easy. He won't work for power and is a narcissist so he believes he is better than everyone else and should be noticed above others. Its possible that he is interested in Orochimaru because of the man's power and prestige. He probably wants the same and was thinking about how to get it when you gleaned those thoughts from him. If he really is that interested in Orochimaru then he must have some information about him. Aoi and Musumi didn't have very much information and one of them was even a spy for the man. Mizuki is older than both and could have more knowledge that they know nothing about. Even if he doesn't know much, he could be used for other things.' suggested Plagueis but he didn't elaborate much and wanted Naruto to figure out what he might be implying.

Naruto thought about what his master had said while walking away from Mizuki's apartment and making his way back to his own. He made sure no one had seen him as he ducked down the back alleyways of the village. 'What could Mizuki be used for? He's a teacher at the academy, but he doesn't have access to anything that I haven't already stolen from there. Lets see...he's chunin in rank...' and it was at that point that Naruto had realized what his sensei was thinking.

x-x

Umino Iruka walked to Mizuki's apartment and rang the bell.

Mizuki walked to the door and looked through the peep hole. His face darkened at the sight of his long time 'friend' and before he opened the door to see what Iruka wanted, he had to put on the facade that he had been using for years. 'What is he doing here? I see him enough at the academy as it is.' thought Mizuki with some anger.

"Iruka, what are you doing here?" Mizuki asked with a smile and as nice a tone as he could fake.

"I thought we could go over the class notes and homework." stated Iruka with a similarly fake smile and tone.

"We already went over them for the rest of the week." state Mizuki as he was slightly puzzled. Iruka faltered for only a second before stating, "I meant for next week."

Mizuki twitched at this but didn't think it that odd. Iruka liked to keep up with all the classwork and often asked his opinion on what they were teaching the students. Mizuki didn't give a damn but had to keep up appearances so he invited Iruka inside his apartment.

Iruka already knew where everything was and walked to the dining room table in the kitchen. Mizuki walked over and for a moment found it strange as they had sat in the living room area the last time Iruka had come over but didn't think much of it at the time.

Iruka was about to open the scrolls that he brought with him, when he asked, "Do you have any tea?" and the question made Mizuki twitch again. "Sure, I'll go get us some." said Mizuki in a sickly sweet voice. Iruka didn't unroll any of the scrolls but got up and walked towards Mizuki. "What kind of tea do you have?" asked Iruka as his face darkened slightly and he performed a single seal.

"You know perfectly w..." but Mizuki never got a chance to finish as Iruka's chakra glowing hand came into contact with his shoulder. Mizuki immediately felt his strength leave him and before he could attack or do much of anything, he had already slumped down to his knees.

'What the hell! He's draining my chakra?' thought Mizuki as he looked up at the 'friend' he always disliked and wondered why he was doing this. He tried to reach for a kunai or break contact with Iruka's hand but it was no use. His chakra reserves had always been low and it was one of the reasons why he hadn't spent much time learning ninjutsu.

As more chakra left his body, his hand which had managed to reach a kunai loosened and the metal weapon fell to the floor. His vision was swimming and his body felt completely useless. Mizuki's eyes started to close and he completely collapsed to the ground unconscious.

Iruka smiled slightly and was enveloped in smoke as the henge was released and revealed Naruto in his black cloak.

Naruto knew better than to try mind tricks out on Kabuto but it turned out that Yoroi was rather susceptible to them and it wasn't hard to trick him into giving Naruto his chakra draining technique. Naruto bargained for a low level water jutsu just to make him think that it had been a fair trade. He also added the thought that it would be a good idea not to tell anyone about the exchange. The technique proved to be very useful and this was the first chance he had to test it against someone.

Moving quickly, Naruto dragged Mizuki out of the kitchen and into the living room. He tied the man up and then placed his hand on the chunin's head. Activating his Drain Knowledge technique, he started looking through the chunin's mind for the information that he was after and anything else that might be useful.

Naruto sifted through the memories to find many things that were strange to him. He found that Mizuki was jealous of Iruka ever since they were children. Mizuki was loved by a woman that Iruka had feelings for but he himself felt nothing for her and just used their relationship to hurt Iruka. During a mission, Mizuki had killed a teammate who was injured to not slow down the rest and complete the mission and that was the reason why he was being investigated.

Right after that memory, was when he found what he was after. Mizuki had actually encountered Orochimaru. They had talked and Orochimaru had given Mizuki something. It was a piece of paper with some kind of formula and picture on it that would apparently give him power. Once he found the memories of Orochimaru, he searched for anything else concerning the snake sannin.

It took a little bit of digging but he did find small bits of information. Mizuki had idolized Orochimaru and wanted as much power from the man as he could get. He was still working out what exactly the piece of paper that was given to him was and Naruto as well as Plagueis were rather interested in it. They also learned that Mizuki planned to take a scroll from the Hokage to give to Orochimaru for more power. The chunin had yet to figure out how to take the scroll but he had been working on finding out where exactly it was in the Hokage tower and how it was guarded.

Beyond that, Mizuki had little information on Orochimaru. He barely knew why the snake sannin had even left the village in the first place and even believed that the man had been wrongly accused and ostracized from the village.

Both Naruto and Plagueis were primarily interested in the piece of paper and the Scroll of Seals. Mizuki no longer had the sheet of paper which had a formula and picture on it but had gotten a tattoo placed on his arm that had all of the information, then he destroyed the paper. They also found out from Mizuki's mind that the scroll he thought about taking contained all of the forbidden jutsu in the village and they now knew its existence as well its general location but no information about what traps might be protecting it.

Naruto had finished with his searching of Mizuki's mind and made sure to destroy all of the man's memories. He had only wanted to find out some information about Orochimaru but had gotten far more than he originally sought. He could tell that his master wanted the scroll and the information on the tattoo in addition to the other plans that they had.

Naruto didn't stop to think very long though. He now had more things to accomplish in the same amount of time. He went to one of the scrolls that he had brought with him and copied down all the information he had just taken concerning the formula and the image that were on the paper Orochimaru had given Mizuki. He didn't know what it all meant and neither had Mizuki but it would be something to figure out in the future.

After that was done, Naruto went back to his original plan. He picked up the scrolls and left he apartment. Mizuki would be unconscious for some time as he had a bad case of chakra depletion.

x-x

Mizuki walked up the long staircase to the Konoha Ninja Library. He showed his ninja identification to the guard at the door to the library and was allowed entrance into the building. The disguised Naruto was instantly aware of the camera's and even the ninja librarians that were looking at him.

Mizuki may be under investigation but he wasn't forbidden from being in the library and had access to it because of his rank. Unfortunately since he wasn't a special jonin or jonin, he only had limited access to the resources present there.

Both he and Plagueis looked through the books and scrolls on the walls and ranked the ones that they each were more interested in. They had limited time and wouldn't be able to look at everything in the library. Mizuki would only be unconscious for a day or so but since it was the weekend, no one would come looking for him, at least Naruto hoped that no one would. Mizuki didn't have many people that normally came to see him and aside from possibly Iruka, few people that he socialized with.

With a short mental debate, both Plagueis and Naruto decided which information would be the most helpful to copy down and learn in the time that they had. A moment later, Naruto started looking through the scrolls on nature chakra and manipulation. He quickly copied the information down onto the scrolls that he brought with him.

They had agreed to look at all the jutsu they could but Plagueis wanted to look more into the fuinjutsu area of the library which was untouched by nearly everyone that came into there. Naruto questioned the reasoning but said nothing to Plagueis as his Master knew what he was doing and Naruto trusted his judgment. The library also had information on the ninja of the village but they didn't want to draw too much attention, so they stayed away from that section.

Naruto spent several hours in the disguise of Mizuki and sitting at one of the tables in the library while copying down and memorizing the information that he read in the scrolls and books that he looked at. He also found what his master was looking for in the fuinjutsu section which was seals concerning security. After Naruto's apartment had been broken into, Plagueis decided that the hideout in the Hokage mountain needed its security increased to prevent anyone from finding the stolen items that they had hidden there and from gaining any access to it at all.

The Sith did have Runes which were a part of Sith Magic and consisted of a series of symbols that could be placed on surfaces to produce various effects of the Force. Plagueis was interested in seeing what ninja fuinjutsu could do compared to Sith Runes. He had been rather interested after examining the storage seals and having his holocron sealed into one on his student's arm. From what Naruto found, fuinjutsu was easier to apply as Sith Runes had to be etched or carved into a surface whereas fuinjutsu was a combination of ink and blood that could be applied much easier and faster.

It seemed each style had its own advantages and disadvantages too. Fuinjutsu could be used for sealing an area and barriers whereas the Sith Runes could be used to make people overlook or to better hide an area as well as protecting a surface from damage. Plagueis believed that the best security that could be provided was a combination of both styles and he had waited on adding Sith Runes to the hideout until he had learned all that fuinjutsu was capable of.

Sith Runes were one of the reasons why Plagueis's private quarters had survived the explosion of the reactor after his apprentice killed him so many years ago. Otherwise, his holocron and other items would have been destroyed in the explosion.

x-x

Naruto had quite a bit of work to still finish as he left the ninja library when it closed later that afternoon. He still had to figure out how to take the Scroll of Seals without getting caught as he had less information about its location than he did when he took the Raijin and the scroll left by the Nidaime.

'I have to memorize the patrols and figure out when its best to infiltrate the Hokage tower again.' thought Naruto with a weary sigh as he had been looking through and copying scrolls and books for hours.

He wasn't planning to infiltrate tonight as there were too many possibilities of making a mistake because he was so tired. Mizuki would only stay unconscious for less than a day so he would have to drain more of the chunin's chakra in the morning to make sure that he didn't wake up. The chunin was still part of the overall plan and needed him to remain in his apartment until everything was over.

x-x

Later that night, the sky was dark and the stars were out but Naruto's attention was elsewhere.

Sitting in a vantage point on a tree that was growing out of the side of the Hokage monument, Naruto looked through his goggles and monitored the activity in and around the Hokage monument, which included the Hokage tower and adjacent buildings. His life sensing ability had enough range that he could feel everyone inside the building from where he was and was watching for ninja patrols on the outside.

He was still tired but was trying his best to focus on what was happening beneath him. Both Master and student were very interested in finding out and learning what was in the scroll as even Mizuki didn't know anything that was in it, just what kind of techniques were supposedly in it. Kinjutsu were something that Plagueis was very interested as they seemed to be the more dark side of Chakra techniques and he was interested to see what these techniques entailed and what they could do with them. While he would most likely never be able to use Chakra, his student would be able to use the techniques on his behalf and for their benefit.

Another patrol moved through the area and did a sweep of the outside of the building while the ninja inside the building walked around the halls. Naruto made another note of it and the time that it occurred. 'Konoha ninja are rather punctual when it comes to patrolling but at the same time very predictable and complacent.' thought Naruto as he knew that even though he planned to steal the scroll the following night, the patrols would still follow the same schedule, possibly for the rest of the week. Besides watching for the patrols, Naruto also looked for any gaps where they patrolled and looked all over the outside of the buildings. If anything went wrong, he would know the best place to hide and make an escape.

His mind wandered to the other tasks he had to do in the next week. Naruto planned to spend a good portion of the following week learning and adding all the seals he found and Sith Runes to the hideout and even some to his apartment. He had not underestimated the ninja of the village but it seemed he had underestimated the curiosity of his former classmates. He now had to contend with a byakugan which would be difficult as he couldn't feel that he was being watched by the dojutsu. It was a problems that couldn't be completely solved.

While looking through the fuinjutsu in the library, Naruto did find a couple that could be used to hide an area from the dojutsu but he couldn't hide himself if someone saw him going to his secret hiding places in his apartment or his hideout in the Hokage mountain. 'I don't have anything that can fool those eyes from seeing me whenever they want, and I can't even tell I'm being watched.' thought Naruto with a scowl as it could hinder his plans if he was caught or even if someone saw him doing something illegal or suspicious.

It all started with his sword and now he wanted to make sure that no one found anything else about him or his activities in the village.

x-x

The following night, Naruto made his way to the Hokage tower. He had spent the day planning everything out and would have Mizuki take the majority of the blame for the theft just like Rokusho Aoi had. Mizuki had been drained of chakra again, not all of his chakra but enough to keep him unconscious for the rest of the day and most of the night.

Naruto soundlessly slipped through the village and idly wondered how many more times he would have to do something like this. He was barely out the academy and was already regularly committing treason. He cared nothing for the village, at least he told himself that, but he couldn't help but wonder how long he could get away with this without someone starting to catch on or without making a mistake.

It seemed that every time he had these 'activities', it lead to something else being revealed or discovered in the village. Naruto had been spying on the chunin examinees and found out about the Raijin and Nidaime's scroll, eliminating a genin to take his spot on a team lead to him learning about spies of Orochimaru in the village and a few of the snake sennin's activities, and now while trying to find information about Orochimaru from Mizuki had lead to learning of the Scroll of Seals and the mysterious formula and image. This provided opportunities but also threatened to get him caught or discovered. When would he finally be able to let things calm down before he got caught.

'This isn't what I should be thinking about.' Naruto chided himself as he focused back on the task at hand. 'I'll have to lay low for a long while after this and not do anything else inside the village.' he thought as outside the village was a different matter entirely.

Naruto eventually donned a henge of Mizuki and entered the Hokage tower through one of the windows on the second floor of the building. He ended up in a records room. Closing his eyes, he felt for the life signatures of people in the building and found they were exactly where they had been the previous day. Glancing at his watch, he knew he had about ten minutes until another patrol came by and the guards inside the tower had a slightly different schedule.

Moving stealthily down the halls, Naruto looked for any traps, cameras, and now that he knew what to look for, he also looked for fuinjutsu security seals. From what Mizuki knew, the Scroll of Sealing was kept in a special area that ninja could only access with the Hokage's permission. The only person that Naruto really had to worry about was the Sandaime as he lived in the Hokage tower and slept near the room Naruto was heading to.

When he was stealing the Raijin, Naruto didn't worry that much as that sword had been kept on a different floor so it wasn't that much of an issue. Now however, he would be much closer to the Hokage than he planned on and it appeared that the Sandaime was up late trying to finish his paperwork. That also hadn't been a problem the last time he was in the building but Naruto had also gotten better at suppressing his chakra and stealth in general. He was also under a henge and hiding his scent. He wasn't sure how well he could outrun ninja if he was caught but he did have a plan if anything went bad.

Ascending a staircase and waiting for a chunin guard to pass by, Naruto moved down a new hallway and arrived at the room he wanted. Checking as best as he could for fuinjutsu, he didn't find anything and used the Force to sense if the door was booby-trapped. It wasn't so he forced the lock and opened the door, quietly entered the room.

Moving in the dark, Naruto looked through the room and cursed. 'This entire damn rooms filled with scrolls!' he thought and it made him want to yell out in frustration. He had no idea what else was in the room, only the Scroll of Seals, and if he had known, he would have better prepared. Mizuki also didn't know what the Scroll of Seals looked like and it was the only one he was after. The only thing the chunin did know was that it was a really large scroll. 'That information is no longer relevant.' thought an agitated Naruto as he examined several shelves of big scrolls. None of them were even labeled.

Angry and frustrated, Naruto started frantically searching for what he was after. He wanted a specific scroll and he wasn't about to start stuffing every scroll he could find into his pockets as he had no idea what was in them and no time to find out. His pockets also weren't that big.

Naruto ignored several shelves of smaller scrolls, which were within his reach, out of his mind and focused only on the big scrolls. He did know that the Scroll of Seals contained all of the forbidden jutsu of the village, so he partially opened and glanced at nearly every scroll on the shelves until he saw something that was promising.

'Shadow Clone Jutsu. B-ranked Kinjutsu. This jutsu is forbidden to...' and he stopped reading that entry to look at the next one. The next jutsu was also labeled as a kinjutsu so he grabbed the scroll and rushed to the door of the room while he put the strap on the scroll over his shoulder. He never noticed that as soon as he took the large scroll off the shelf, a sealing array was activated.

Naruto exited the room and checked for life signs as he glanced at his watch. 'Shit, I took too long...' and he stopped as he felt ninja behind him and coming up the staircase ahead of him. 'Did I trip something?' he thought before glancing back to see a frowning Hokage.

Turning to the way he was heading before he stopped, Naruto saw two chunin come out of the staircase door and two ANBU come running down the hall.

'Fuck! Time for the escape plan.' Naruto thought at he ran forward at the four ninja ahead of him. There was no way he would charge the Hokage and he watched as the ninja tensed and reached for weapons.

Instead of fighting them though, Naruto smashed into a nearby door and forcibly entered the random room. He stopped as soon as he entered and started frantically making handseals for a jutsu that he had only managed to practice on. His practice however was on a much smaller scale and in his bathroom tub.

He could feel the ninja converging on the room while two of them ran to go outside the building to make sure he didn't jump out the window in the room and escape. It only took a few seconds but Naruto was stressed and it felt like his handseals were taking forever.

He finally completed the ninjutsu and said in Mizuki's voice 'Water Release: Exploding Water Colliding Wave' and he spewed out water out of his mouth which filled the room.

x-x

The ninja came to a halt at the door that the intruder ran into as water started rushing out the small gap in the bottom of the door. A moment later, the door burst open and a torrent of water flooded the hallway. The Sandaime felt the jutsu building up and had already gone through handseals for an earth wall which he used to stop and deflect most of the water away from his ninja.

The ANBU that were outside would likely apprehend the intruder which the Sandaime recognized as a chunin named Mizuki. He only knew the man because of the recent suspicious circumstances on his recent mission and Ibiki was looking into him.

x-x

The water destroyed a window of the Hokage tower and gushed out of the tower while taking Naruto with it. Naruto went through more seals to create a water clone of Mizuki with the scroll strapped to his back but without a ninja vest. Naruto then reached into his ninja pouch to retrieve a scroll and unraveled it while he landed on the ground below. He released the contents to the water clone which caught the ninja vest and put it on while running towards the real Mizuki's apartment.

The ANBU arrived a moment later to give chase to the clone and didn't see the disguised Naruto as he had already sunk into the standing water to hide himself. He would wait as he could feel many other ninja heading towards the Hokage tower and they would no doubt be sent to follow the intruder which would give him an opening to escape.

x-x

The water clone ran through the village on a obstacle course for the two following ANBU. The water clone jutsu had a tenth of the originals chakra and had little intelligence but they could still move fast. The ANBU were starting to catch up but the clone moved through the village with ease while they were slowed down trying to apprehend it and retrieve the scroll without damaging it.

By the time the clone made it to the apartment building and went through the front entrance, the ANBU were nearly on top of it and had already thrown several projectiles to stop the thief.

The clone made it up the staircase to Mizuki's apartment and ran inside the apartment while locking the door behind it. The clone then took off the vest, threw it on the bed in the bedroom and entered the connected bathroom. Not bothering to shut the door behind it, the clone stepped into the tub and ended the technique, turning back into water which started flowing down the drain.

A moment later, the ANBU broke into the apartment and found a unconscious Mizuki on the floor. They were stopped long enough by finding the thief that by the time they got to searching the bathroom of the apartment to look for the scroll, the tub was already empty.

x-x

Hokage's office

x-x

"What do you mean you didn't find the scroll?" demanded the Hokage to a group of his ANBU. It had only been half an hour since the theft and now his ninja were telling him that despite apprehending the thief, they were unable to locate the stolen scroll.

"We chased chunin Mizuki back to his apartment. We found him unconscious from chakra depletion but the scroll was gone. He didn't drop it on the way to the building because he had it while we were chasing him and we are searching the entire apartment building and surrounding area for anyone suspicious or anywhere that the scroll could be hidden." replied Crow of the ANBU forces.

'I can't believe this.' thought a frustrated Sandaime as he rubbed the side of his face and forehead. "Where is he now!" demanded the Sandaime and it was Crow that replied, "We took him straight to interrogation."

"Was there evidence of anyone else being involved?" inquired the Sandaime.

"The tracking teams didn't find any other scents at the tower or at the apartment but they tracked Mizuki's trail from the tower to the apartment. We know he was the one who took the scroll but we aren't sure if he was working with someone else or acted alone." answered Crow.

The Sandaime nodded at the answer and thought about the situation. 'A chunin managed to get into the tower and take the forbidden scroll.' he thought and then continued, 'He then used at least a B-ranked water jutsu to create a diversion to help him escape but his file says that he doesn't know any water jutsu, have a water affinity, or know anything higher than low ranked ninjutsu for that matter.'

'So, he used most of his chakra to escape and managed to get back to his apartment before passing out from chakra exhaustion, but that doesn't explain where the scroll is. Perhaps Ibiki and Inoichi will have more luck.' he thought with some hope. The theft of the Scroll of Sealing was no light matter as that scroll had incredibly powerful and contained the most dangerous jutsu of the village. He hoped that the interrogation department would find out why the chunin did it and where the scroll was. It was likely that the chunin was working with someone and the village was currently on lock-down to prevent anyone from entering or leaving.

The Sandaime only had to wait ten or fifteen minutes before Inoichi entered the room to give his report.

"We weren't able to get anything from chunin Mizuki, Sandaime-sama." Inoichi stated with a small bit of shame in his voice but while keeping eye contact with the Sandaime.

"Did he kill himself?" asked the Sandaime as that was common for prisoners who might have information or don't want to go through torture and interrogation.

"No, Sandaime-sama. He is perfectly healthy besides the chakra exhaustion but...he has no memories." stated Inoichi seriously and he knew the Sandaime would get what he was telling him.

'So its happened again. Something else was stolen and we still don't have any leads on who is doing it, and another ninja of Konoha either had some part in the theft or was framed.' thought the Sandaime and heavily sighed after his ninja had left his office. 'How is it that someone can keep getting away with this in a village full of ninja?'

x-x

Naruto sat in his bed at his apartment and stared at the ceiling. He had already dropped the scroll off at the hideout and was slowly calming down from the adrenaline that had been flowing through him from his activities earlier in the night.

'I was almost caught tonight.' was the thought that kept going through his mind. He had made a plan just in case he was caught and it had worked perfectly but that wasn't exactly the point. Naruto was more concerned that his luck was going to run out.

It was true that both he and Plagueis wanted the scroll and after removing Mizuki's memories it presented a perfect opportunity. He could possibly have waited or made a different plan but he pushed forward and that was what almost got him caught.

Despite the situation being over, he still had many things to do and many different problems that he had to watch out for. The hideout needed to be secured and made nearly impenetrable from people and dojutsu. It would take some time to make sure that the area was safe as it now held three items that he had taken from the village and at any point, if a Hyuuga used their dojutsu or a person went into the area behind the faces of the Hokages, they would find evidence of someone living there and the stolen items.

Naruto was rather stressed out by that. He could technically be caught at any moment and he already had several people following him on an unrelated matter but he had to make sure they didn't find anything that was incriminating. He knew that perhaps the girl student could be bought off but he wasn't sure about the Hyuuga. He had to make sure that he wasn't followed or if he was, that he didn't reveal the hideout or anything else that would raise questions.

As it was, he was now looking forward to spending more time outside of the village on missions and less time near the items that he had stolen and inside the village that he disliked.

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