I do not own Naruto.

Talk now – normal talk
What now – normal thoughts
Speak – biju, higher being talk
Listen – biju, higher being thoughts

Chapter 12 : Year Two part II

"You are correct it is a code and not a very good one at that. It appears that our little friend is using his job at the mail office to keep track of where the letters are being sent and then communicating this information to an interested party."

Naruto let out an exasperated sigh, he was certain he heard a hint of amusement and interest in Yukimura's voice. "I was hoping it wasn't that" he ruffled his own hair in frustration "what am I supposed to do with this information? I could try saying I found it by accident and take it to the Hokage, but the problem is I would have to explain how I got into the man's house. If I give it to Katsue and she goes to the Hokage or to other people the same question could still arise and our relationship would be brought into the light."

Yukimura shrugged his shoulders. "For now simply ignore it, we will see about incorporating this into the larger picture."

Naruto narrowed his eyebrows and crossed his arms. "You still haven't told me anything about that, what are you two planning?"

Yukimura waved his hand in a dismissive manner. "We will reveal it in time, at the moment we would rather not say anything related to this matter."

"Why?" One thing about his training at the hands of the two was that he saw the world with different eyes and could see how people hid things all the time, he was slowly beginning to hate secrets especially those kept from him, even if it was for his own good.

Yukimura hesitated for a moment. "You may not agree with all of the actions we are considering."

Naruto snorted. "I doubt that."

"In either case a great deal of things are still up in the air at the moment."

"What things?" What are they planning?

"It is complicated; we are attempting to tie several plans together, now you should return to your training. Sayaka has a new little regime all set up for you and Tenten."

Naruto let out an exasperated breath again, his shoulders dropping. "All right, how hard can it be?"

Yukimura gave him and amused smile. "By now you should know better then to ask that question."

Both Naruto and Tenten collapsed on the ground in a heap of sweat; they were badly bruised and worn out, Sayaka stood a few feet away from them smiling at the two.

Naruto could've sworn he felt his heart in his throat. "I ….could…really… go with ….. a …lot less….painful lessons."

Besides him Tenten nodded wiping the sweat from her forehead and breathing harshly. "Yeah…..that would….be nice."

They felt a wave crashing down on them, their bones seemed to rattle, their flesh quivered under the pressure and their breaths died in their throats, barely managing to look around they saw the dark aura around Sayaka and the look of scorn and her face.

"Remember his well for the rest of your lives children, there's no such thing as a painless lesson." The wave disappeared as quickly as it appeared and the two felt their breath returning. "They just don't exist. Sacrifices are necessary. You can't gain anything without losing something first, although if you can endure that pain and walk away from it, you'll find that you will have a heart strong enough to overcome any obstacle." Sayaka finished her speech and gave the two a warm smile.

Tenten nodded with something akin to admiration in her eyes at Sayaka's speech, Naruto nodded as well though more slowly, he took a few breaths before speaking. "Was the wave really necessary?"

"Yes, it helped to leave a mark on the two of you, a small incentive to aid you in remembering those words." Sayaka shook her head with distaste. "I have seem many attempting to take the so called easier path, those who were unwilling to make any sacrifices and then cried and wailed, surrounded by the corpses of their friends and ashes of their old lives, on how they didn't have the strength they needed to protect what was important to them. Regret swallowed those fools; I will not have either of the two of you walk that path."

They both shouted at this. "Hai!"

"Good, now rest before we continue."

"Ano, a though crossed my mind." Tenten asked her breathing was normal again.

"Yes, go on?"

Tenten weighed her words before continuing. "Why doesn't Yukimura know more about the way shinobi used chakra if he was the Kyuubi, I mean he was around for some time in that form, wouldn't he have a lot of knowledge on it?"

Sayaka smirked and chuckled she looked towards the door to the dojo. "Do you want to tell them?"

Yukimura entered and began grumbling to himself. "I don't know anything about the way shinobi used chakra back then, because why would I have ever needed to? Back then I could have crushed entire villages with a wave of one of my tails. Shinobi had rather puny chakra expenditures that were like tiny bubbles to me." He shook his head. "I was a lot more arrogant back then. It wasn't that unjustified, why would my old form care that much about humans. I may have known a fair bit about the nature of chakra, but why would I know how it works in humans, it was all as natural as breathing to me. It's like trying to teach someone anything that is absolutely second nature to you. I didn't know exactly how I did it;" he shrugged his shoulders again "I just sort of well did it, pure and simple."

Noticing their looks he continued. "Can you explain to someone how you breathe?"

Tenten scratched her head. "Er, no, not really, I just do I guess." Her eyes widened. "Oh, so that's how it was."

Yukimura nodded. "Yes, well there you go."

Sayaka cleared her throat to get their attention. "Now, while you rest. Naruto-kun what is all power?"

Naruto changed his position and sat straight with Tenten following suit. "All power is a test."

Sayaka nodded then looked towards Tenten. "What is knowledge?"

Her own tone had changed from the carefree one to a more serious one. "Knowledge is a weapon, and we must arm ourselves well before we go into to battle."

"Good."

Yukimura stepped up looking at Tenten. "What does the Kenshin strategy entail?"

"If you find yourself in a pitched battle fighting against multiple opponents, run away and then turn around to deal with each pursuer as they attempt to catch up to you, or otherwise find some way to create a one-on-one battle. Specifically, the difference in speed between each enemy will result in them becoming slightly strung out if they all run at full speed to pursue. There's also another spin on this; when you can't use the take down one guy at a time as you run strategy, you lure your pursuers into a narrow alleyway or other place where they can't all rush you at once."

He gave her an approving smile before looking towards Naruto. "Now as to why your training is not focusing more on jutsu."

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Besides the obvious?"

Yukimura rolled his eyes. "Humor me."

"Because of the paradox of jutsu, many shinobi become obsessed with a quest to gain powerful or cool jutsu, however there is a flaw in that. If one pursues only abilities, a person will not gain any wisdom about chakra, these jutsu are simply side-effects of our knowledge. Chakra must be studied in depth, it should certainly be the higher priority; jutsu should be secondary, they should not be the focus of one's training. There is nothing wrong with honing the abilities you've obtained, but concentrating solely on those abilities means that they will not become strengthened. A certain degree of balance is required when dealing with chakra, a person cannot limit himself to learning only certain things; one should learn anything and everything that one can."

Yukimura nodded. "Well said, I hope you will remember those words in the future as well."

Sayaka looked towards Tenten. "Now as to why you're training focuses on multiple skills rather then specializing?"

"Because training in something means not training in something else, if you face an enemy against which your abilities work, then specializing in them could very well gain you a win that you wouldn't have gotten if you had spent less time on it and branched out. It's a matter of time; most people have to specialize in order to become effective in the field, teamwork would serve to cover all areas and mitigate any weakness. While it would be ideal if everyone had years to bring all their skills to a high level, people don't have that so the most logical and cost effective course of action is to focus on one's inclinations and individual talents, then bring the other skills up over time. "

Sayaka smiled at Tenten. "Excellent, rest now and we will continue later."

Barely had the two managed to close their eyes that Sayaka's voice awoke them.

Sayaka had an amused smirk on her face. "Now now, you've slept long enough we will continue now, this part I believe that you will enjoy."

The two perked up that, anything was better then what they had experienced so far.

"It concerns the ability that you asked about earlier, the Eye of the Mind, it has two variants, in essence this is a natural talent to avoid danger on the basis of an innate 6th sense, intuition, or prescience, where accuracy of instinct has been augmented by experience, somewhat overcoming the problem of visual obstructions that appear in the course of combat."

Naruto nodded curious about the ability since he heard of it, with Tenten having a glint in her eyes hearing more about the ability.

"The difference between Eye of the Mind (True) and Eye of the Mind (False) lies in that the former is an ability that humans can obtain through accumulation of experience. The False version is superficially similar, but in fact represents a natural instinct that cannot be obtained regardless of effort or experience, even though experience can refine its accuracy. Eye of the Mind (True) is a heightened capacity for observation, refined through experience, capable of calm analysis of battle conditions even when in danger and can deduce an appropriate course of action after considering all possibilities to escape from a predicament. So long as there is even a 1% chance of a comeback; this ability greatly improves the chances of winning."

Both Naruto and Tenten had questioning looks on their faces realizing the problems with obtaining the ability.

"The problem as you may have realized is that either you are born with one of these or need time and the correct situations to refine the other." Sayaka smiled, "it is however your lucky day as I have merged the needed elements for the ability into your new training regime."

Naruto and Tenten's eyes widened and they both shivered at the same time.

Sayaka gave the two a predatory smile and nodded. "Yes, it is quite alright to tremble now."

Naruto slumped down on the bench next to Tenten resting his head on her shoulder with her resting her head on his, she looked as exhausted as he was; the two were out in the front garden having finished their training exercises.

Naruto groaned. "So what did she make you do?"

Tenten felt eyes slowly closing and released a yawn. "Tied up side down with ropes while getting slowly lowered in a water tank with things getting thrown at me, I had no weapons on me and I couldn't use chakra. After that I had to go through a tunnel filled with opponents, some with weapons and a few without them, I couldn't even keep the ones I got from them. I think the water will have something in it next time, or it will be replaced with something worse, maybe fire or poison."

"Ah." Naruto tried to nod his head but failed.

"You?" She asked barely managing to keep her eyes open.

"I was stuck in a room while it slowly filled with water."

Tenten barely managed quirked an eyebrow she felt like she had just lifted a sack of potatoes with the act. "That doesn't seem too difficult."

"I had an arm and leg paralyzed while trying to get out of there and then I had to fight opponents hand to hand with one arm still paralyzed."

Tenten rubbed her head against Naruto's nodding. "Ah, that sounds much better. Do you think this is her way of making sure we aren't afraid of water or drowning?"

Naruto responded in a dry tone. "Well if that's the case, I hope we don't ever get afraid of fire!"

Tenten chuckled. "Heh, yeah. I wonder does any else have to do these kinds of exercises?"

"I doubt it." He tried to dismiss the train of thought.

"If they did though?"

"Well, at least we would have a strong opponent in the future!"

"Heh, yeah."

The two leaned back into the bench relaxing, a cool breeze whisked past them, Naruto suddenly felt something wet touch his head, he knew it wasn't raining outside, and only felt it on his head. "Sister, are you drooling on me?"

"I'm really sleepy.…do you have the strength to move?"

Naruto sighed and continued in a resigned tone. "No, drool away sis." He leaned more on his sister as sleep finally took him.

Well at least their instructions weren't vague or anything, that still left with a few places to search. Oh well here's hoping fifth tries the charm.

Naruto looked around the high walls surrounding the house, Yukimura had told him about hearing of the incident involving the Kurama clan not long ago and how only the young heiress and her uncle had survived. The two now lived in a smaller house that the clan owned, he knew what Yukimura wanted after he heard the word heiress, now was the perfect time to befriend the young girl. He was surprised when Yukimura told him that he had found a way to leave the god realm for a limited amount of time and in a greatly weakened state, the only thing Yukimura could do was to act as a spy and even that had its risk, still progress was progress.

Now after searching for the house and finally finding it, he was looking for a way to actually meet the young girl, it was his luck that the house was near the Hokage monument and he could use the excuse that he was going there instead. There, he could see a small crack in the walls surrounding the house; he looked through and saw a small girl brown haired girl playing there with a ball. What do to what to do? Sometimes it's best to go with your instinct….

He used his best innocent voice. "Do you want to play?"

The girl jumped up and looked around herself visibly shaken. "Who said that?"

He liked the look the girl's eyes had. "Um…I can't really jump over the fence so could you come closer to it?"

The girl came closer to it cautiously and peeked through the openings in the fence.

Naruto gave a cheesy grin while he rubbed the back of his head. "Hi! I'm Naruto."

"What are you doing here?"

"I was trying to find a short cut to the Hokage monument when I heard some noise and came here to see what it was." He fidgeted for a moment to appear nervous. "So um what your name?" He felt the girl's eyes studying him and weighing her options.

"Yakumo."

He gave her another cheesy smile. "Great you wanna play together?"

Homura let out a tired breath as he cleaned his glasses, his shoulders were slumped and the wrinkles on his face seemed more visible now, his constant frown was present as always. He placed the glasses back on and ruffled his short grey beard thinking about the day's events.

The most recent uproar in Konoha was that of an Uchiha police officer who had murdered a young nineteen year old civilian worker who had first been suspected of trespassing on a housing project, the boy had been unarmed but had apparently startled the officer upon opening the door and coming upon the officer. At that point the Uchiha flung a kunai at the boy and mortally wounded him. It was revealed later during the investigation that the boy worked there and had returned because he had forgotten the keys to his home. The Uchiha themselves were patrolling the area and entered the building when they allegedly heard noises coming from there.

Although the clan head and leader of the Uchiha police force stated that the officer's actions appeared unjustified, a jury found that no criminal act occurred and that the event was a tragic accident, the officer was thus cleared of all charges. Konoha however still had to agree to pay a large sum of money to the boy's family; it wouldn't do to kill the all of them, an image needed to be maintained.

Personally he would have made the Uchiha pay the entire sum themselves, they were still a part of Konoha. The officer's fate was being discussed, visits to a psychiatrist were certain, whether the man could rejoin the police force and the still be a shinobi were uncertain.

Just what we needed, even now while we're still dealing with the Tetsunori Endo scandal, it is during times like these that I can see myself agreeing with Danzo concerning how a shinobi should act. They would not have such slippery fingers or other issues with his training, amongst other things.

The problems with the Uchiha clan seemed too had simmered down with the inclusion of the young clan heir into Anbu, and he had shown his worth there, even recently when he had confronted Shinga during the latter's defection. How Hiruzen couldn't see a second Orochimaru in the man is beyond me, a closer eye should have been kept on him after Orochimaru's defection.

A shame with this more recent incident involving the clan the flames seemed to have been stroked once more, people were already distrustful of them after the Kyuubi incident and now this has only turned more people against them. Even Hiruzen's talks are barely making any progress, should things deteriorate further, drastic action will need to be taken against the clan. He would do what whatever was needed to ensure Konoha was protected, even from one of her own clans.

Homura leaned back into his chair and remembered that it had not always been this way, not long ago he had thought differently. The current problem was that Konoha was drunk off its own power; it believed that it was strongest and that nothing could truly touch it. And while it was true that Konoha had emerged victories from the wars, those victories had made it possible for a massive ego to grow and that left unchecked threatened to destroy it now.

Year ago he would have thought such a thing pure madness, in his mind back then Konoha was the strongest, there was no doubt about such a thing, those shinobi who were ill prepared were responsible for their fate, Konoha had given them training, if they failed it was because they were weak from the start.

How could they be weak, they had after all emerged victories from the wars and Hiruzen had made a name for himself during the first war, even without a bloodline or blessed with the great lighting affinity of the raikages he had proven his great strength. With other strong shinobi present in Konoha and their names well known through out the Elemental Nations, they were strongest, they had the strongest shinobi as well, there was no doubt about such a matter for him.

It was only during the end of the last war that he realized the truth, when his old genin team had been slaughtered that his eyes were opened to the truth. While they were no where near the strength of the Sannin, they were never the less strong shinobi and he was proud of them. It was during his investigation of their death that he had found signs of the corruption that now plagued Konoha.

While his old team was strong, such a thing could not be said for the other shinobi under their command; he refused to believe that the entire group could have been weak from the start. He had blamed his old team at that time rather then facing the truth of the matter. It was only after the death of the Yondaime and the following incidents that convinced him to look over his past findings again. His discoveries were as bad as he remembered and once he investigated to see how they evolved things only grew worse, from there he began to untangle that web of corruption that had appeared and grown over time in Konoha.

Somewhere a long the way what Konoha represented changed and it became something else, he believed it was sometime during the first and second war that it all began, the emergence of Sakumo Hatake and the Sannin certainly helped matters. Arrogance, complacency, and much worse had spread through out Konoha, the training of their own shinobi suffered then and continued to suffer after that as well, things had gotten to lax in Konoha for it's own good.

Hiruzen, Koharu and Danzo seemed blind to the issues, they still believe everything is right within Konoha, Danzo if he could, would have all of Konoha's shinobi undergo his training and wage war until only Konoha is left standing, something that at the current time with more of Konoha's infrastructure rotting underneath would destroy us all.

Perhaps it is for the best that we each play our own games to keep Konoha standing, most likely Danzo will soon lose his small group and his actions will be further limited, even I can see that Danzo will not renounce the entirety of his small army. No he will continue to act from the shadows doing what he believes is best for Konoha, even if he may further damage it if left unchecked, what he needs is proper direction and boundaries something that Hiruzen seems to forget or chooses to overlook.

At least I still hold some cards, it's time I found another assignment for my young protégé, I was lucky to have found someone else who has seen the rot that is spreading in Konoha, especially one so young, even if her past is tainted her future may yet be brighter.

Katsue leaned back into her chair and cracked her knuckles, in front of her she had the schedule for the study group she had helped to create, there had been far less hurdles to jump even after its creation then she expected there to be. It helps that the children actually want to learn and are diligent. Tsk though actually planning ahead is so damn troublesome, it's a good thing I had some practice when I came up with schedule for Naruto's separate training.

That sent her mind onto another matter, while the group did add more to her work plate she felt the whole thing was satisfying, the only downside was that she couldn't help Naruto as much as before.

That brought a scowl to her face; his news teachers weren't against him as much as others however they still treated him as coldly as possible and still took a few measures to sabotage him. Keeping him last during throwing practice while allowing other children more time in the hopes of the practice time ending and him missing his turn. They would use the excuses they could to shrink from their duties. It gnawed at her that even with their attitude his new teacher were doing a far better job then she had done the first time around.

Nothing much I can do for now. She lit one of the scented candles on her desk, before returning her gaze to the papers. A bonus to the study group is that Tenten is finally starting to make some friends. The girl had gained a reputation of sort in the class and many avoided her. Considering how she often demolishes her opponents during the spars I'm not that surprised. Well at least now she's mellowed out a bit and the other children benefit from sparing with her, now that she's showing more restraint.

"That smells lovely."

Katsue looked behind herself from where the voice came, she smiled at the woman. "Thank you Aya-san."

The woman had long curly black hair that reached her shoulder blades; a rectangle shaped face, dark eyes, a large nose and wore glasses, her height was equal to her own however the had what could be called generous curves when compared to the woman. At first glance many would call the woman attractive, perhaps that was something had given her an advantage in the field, and it was something that reinforced the old saying of looking underneath the underneath.

Aya Aki had been part of the seduction division, and had made a name for herself there, managing to accomplish many missions that even those considered more attractive had failed and barely escaped with their lives. Many still could figure out the woman's secret, she had seduced both men and women, and driven many to suicide after her disappearance.

She heard rumors about a brawl that happened between several men on who could court the woman, that event ended with several of them in the hospital or in prison to cool their heads. Aya had retired from active duty and had begun teaching at the academy a year before she herself started teaching. The woman taught some of the more feminine parts of the kunoichi trade, she suspected but couldn't confirm that the woman was also keeping an eye on girls who had potential for the seduction division.

"I didn't know you had classes today."

The woman shook her head. "I'm filling in for Sunada who took a few days."

"Sunada?" The name sounded familiar to her, she snapped her fingers remembering from where. "Ah yes I remember now. He was the one..." she bit her lip as she closed her mouth, she managed to catch herself as she almost uttered the word Naruto-kun, it wouldn't do to blow the secret in such a way. Though Aya's expression made it clear that she realized that Katsue has stopped herself from uttering something she didn't intend or was inappropriate.

Aya's face took on a stern expression. "The Uzumaki pranked, yes that's the one."

Katsue nodded. "Yes him."

"It would be well if you remembered the name instead of other potential nicknames. The laws must be respected Miwa-san no matter the case, or our own personal feelings."

She panicked realizing the trouble she now faced. So she thinks I would have called him something else, true no one actually calls him a demon in the academy, though they aren't that far behind. Damn it what should I say to cover for myself? It has to be something to help in the future as well. "Yes, of course."

"I realize that some our colleagues like to bend and dance around the rules, however a stepping on them will not be tolerated in my presence."

She nodded quickly. "Of course." She didn't say whether or not the laws could be bent around her either, I wonder just how would she treat Naruto if he was her student? If she knows I was his teacher then she may have heard how I treated him before, it could be seen from that point of view that I came up with a nickname to call him when the other teachers were around. "You are correct Aki-san."

The woman's tone finally relented. "Now, no need to be so formal Katsue-san, I was just reminding you of something you already know, no harm done, isn't that correct?"

She nodded again shakily. Is this what made her such a good agent going for seemingly innocent and caring to threatening in the blink of an eye? "Of course Aki-san." I need to stir this conversation somewhere else. "You mentioned Sunada had taken a few days off?"

"Yes, apparently the man had applied for jounin rank however after the prank the application was rejected, he is mostly likely blowing off some steam. Honestly if he is caught so easily then he doesn't deserve the rank."

"Hmm." Naruto did mention that the man had been mean to him for no reason; I guess Sunada is one of those people, not long ago I was one myself. If Aki knew of Naruto's potential and his skills she would pity Sunada for going up against him.

"Ah it looks like the fresh meat is quite active today."

She looked towards the person Aki was referring. "Oh, him."

The man was of average height and build, he had black hair that he kept in a ponytail, dark eyes and a scar that ran across the bridge of his nose, he wore the standard Konoha shinobi outfit complete with forehead protector, sandals, and the flak jacket, his sleeves were rolled up about one fourth of the way.

A chunin who joined the academy not long ago. There were steps need to be taken before a person could start teaching at the academy, not very hard ones she had to admit to herself, however they were still there and the man had breezed past them with ease. Since then he had been assigned to several teachers to act as an aid doing anything and everything needed.

Aki continued. "Rumors has it he may actually get a class next year."

"I think he's earned it, he has been helping the other teachers for some time now and they've all spoken good things about him."

"Perhaps, he's still very young isn't he?"

She wanted to scowl at the woman. I'm not much older myself. "Does that really matter that much?"

The woman shook her head. "Perhaps not, I'll leave you to your work then." Aki only took a few steps before she tilted her head back looking at her. "Oh and do remember what we talked about concerning rules."

She gulped and nodded, letting a breath she had been holding after the woman left the room. That was unexpectedly harsh; she looked towards the person the last part of their conversation involved, no time like the present, getting out of her chair she made her way to the man. "Ah Umino-san correct?"

The man nodded smiling. "Yes, Miwa-san."

"I don't believe we've been properly introduced since you started here have we?"

"Um, well not yet no."

"Let's change that shall we?" She held out her hand. "My name is Katsue Miwa."

"Umino Iruka." He shook her hand. "A pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise." She smiled at him and sent a look to the papers he placed on his desk moments before she approached him. "I hope I'm not keeping you from something important."

"Oh no, I just finished looking over some assignments." The man had a small smiled on his face.

She noticed the man's smile. "Did you find something amusing?"

"Just what some of the students wrote, they have a very active imagination!"

She chuckled at that. "Didn't we all at that age?"

"Yes I guess everyone did, I know I used mine, that's for sure."

"Oh?" she asked intrigued.

She noted how he seemed embarrassed. "I was err quite the prankster when I was younger."

Interesting, something he may share with Naruto. "You don't seem like one Iruka-san."

"It was a long time ago."

"It couldn't have been that long; you're not that old yourself."

His expression changed taking on a sad look. "It feels like a lifetime since then, after the Kyuubi attack a lot of things changed."

"Yes they did, you lost people back then?"

"My parents, I think everyone lost someone then."

Oh damn it. Her eyes widened at that however it appeared Iruka had ignored it. "Yes."

"I was alone after that, I didn't have a family and I did what I could for attention getting into a lot of trouble, however in my darkest moment I was cheered up by Hokage-sama."

Ah and there it is. "He is a great man."

"Yes he is. I've wanted to become a teacher for a long time now, I want to pass on the Will of Fire to the next generation," Iruka cast a look on the papers on his desk "the children of the village are the backbone of Konoha, and now I finally have the skills to protect them even if it means to sacrifice my own life to ensure their safety. I'm sorry I rambled on like that I"

"It's alright" she grabbed one his shoulders giving him a comforting squeeze and smile "you're following your dream and you have a passion for it there's nothing wrong with it. You're good man Iruka."

"Thank you Miwa-san."

"I'll let you get back to work." Oh Iruka, the world eats good men for breakfast, clearly you've escaped its teeth, but I have to wonder for how long? You haven't seen what the world can spew out and you are blinded by your admiration. A shame, I hope Naruto doesn't come into contact with him, if he does Iruka will have a personal crisis on his hands.

If there was one thing Naruto was grateful about his reputation, it was that all of the people from his apartment building, save Katsue and the landlord, had moved out and no one else showed any intention of moving to the place either.

With the landlord not bothering to check any of the apartments, and being drunk most of the time, Naruto and his sister had almost complete free reign over the place. They had already stashed a few items in the other apartments after exploring them thoroughly for anything worth taking.

Naruto himself had stashed several of the items he had stolen in a few rooms, while first making it look like someone entered the apartment illegally. The two following advice from Yukimura had created numerous safe boxes, in case the need should ever arise, and stashed them across Konoha and even in the forested areas outside of it.

To their surprise and amusement the two managed to find the safe boxes of other people, apparently they weren't the only ones who thought they could conceivably need to make a quick exist from Konoha in the future.

The contents of boxes varied to a degree, though a small number of common items still existed, Naruto swapped a part of the money he had stolen with those found in the safe boxes. At least he thought this way he could have an excuse as to why he had more money, he had simply found it while playing.

"He who lives for nothing is nothing. He who dies for the chained one is a hero!" The priest's voice seemed to boom across the area as he spoke capturing the peoples attention.

While she admitted she wasn't as good as sneaking around as her brother, she still had some good skill at it and she could spot other people sneaking around her and watching from the shadows. Every time she got near the new priests she would get a distinct feeling on the back of her neck. It took a while before she was finally able to realize what was going on, she would sit and listen to all the priests while studying her surroundings, a few times she listened to them from afar getting a better view of the situation.

It wasn't that hard to spot she realized, the Uchiha police force seemed to have people patrolling the area and a few would often remain in a given place for a length of time to observe things. When she looked at it closer she saw that the Uchiha where positioned in such a way that someone always had their eyes on the priests at all times, they were never to far away from them.

A bit of observation on her part also led her to discovering that the Uchiha's also seemed to be keep the priests under observation even outside of the market place, whether at a restaurant or the places they slept, it seemed someone always had a pair of eyes on them.

They must keeping them under observation to see if they actually are priestess or spies, maybe they also want to know how their influence in Konoha is growing. The priestess could still be deep undercover spies who would turn the new followers into spies as well. Come to think of it I don't think that there are any temples in Konoha, maybe Konoha didn't allow them to be built, and now with the new priests they want to see how far they are willing to go. Well I'd best get home, I'm sure Yukimura and Sayaka will have ideas about this once I tell them.

Well that is interesting. Naruto mussed as he watched a playground from afar, he had just seen a few children mock an Akamichi child because of his weight, with him leaving the playground upset. Huh well I guess keep this place under observation has finally paid off, best to introduce myself now. What to say, what to say, probably some stuff on how his weight doesn't matter and offer to play together. Heh I'll just be my normal adorable and innocent little self, it worked well on Yakumo, this way I'll get someone on the inside of a clan, maybe he even knows the clan heir.

Hidero struggled the free himself from the chains holding him, sweat dripped down his face as he struggled, he was chained upside down to a winch and was being slowly lowered into a vat of poison. Following his survival of the trial and the gift of receiving his markings, his entire life had become one training exercise after another.

The older members of their order would beat him in the morning and in the evening, to ensure that he would be used to pain and could fight on withstanding it. They threw rocks; blunted kunai and shuriken at him to aid in develop his reflexes.

Any show of hesitation or a mistake would be severely punished, any hint of mercy rewarded with cruelty. Their leader had taken to personally instructing him, his new Master explained to him everything there was on the history between his people and their hated enemy.

He could feel himself growing stronger with each session in his training, every injury hardened him and his hatred, every thing was just another step he needed to take to get closer to killing his people's enemy.

A small smile graced his lips as he heard a click from behind as the chains holding him gave way; he swung himself with the remaining chain and jumped down near the vat.

He looked to his master expecting some sort of praise, the response surprised him, turning his gaze down as the air left his lungs he saw his master's fist planted in his stomach.

"That chain is useful to us, more useful than you are right now, did you not consider its importance? It's use as another weapon against your enemies? Foolish child, you will retrieve the chain from there."

Hidero fell to the floor clutching his stomach and grasping for air, he managed to get his breathing under control and rose to his feet staring at the vat in front of him. Just another step, no one else is training as hard as I am; I wish they did so I would have a worthy opponent in the future.

Naruto entered his apartment with a smile on his face and a letter in his pocket, he still needed to keep things hidden in case the Hokage spied on him but the news he wanted to share it as soon as possible. "Oh snap sister."

Tenten snapped her head towards him from the table. "Huh what is it?"

He smiled at her. "I think are money problems are solved!"

Tenten's eyes narrowed looking at him suspiciously. "Why? What did you steal?"

"I didn't steel anything I got a reply for the books I sent out."

"Really?" she asked incredulously.

He nodded enthusiastically. "Yep, they want to meet here in Konoha and discuss publishing some of them!"

She smiled as well. "That's great!"

"Yep, we're celebrating tonight!"

"Great that means we can buy some new things."

"Yep." He nodded thinking of the future.

"With the money you recently stole."

"Yes. With the money I recently…..shit."

Tenten's eyes turned cold looking at him. "So you have been stealing again."

Well double shit, he shrugged his shoulders. "It helps pay the bills."

"Until someone catches you and then what are you going to do?" she slammed her hand on the table "You'll get mind rapped!"

"Nothing like will happen I'm always careful with the targets I pick and I go in with two back up plans."

Her eyes were slowly watering. "Something can always happen, something that you didn't plan for!"

"I'll be fine you don't have worry so much."

"Do you know what could happen if you get caught, what the Hokage will do? I could lose you! You could …."

Naruto could see her shaking now he didn't hesitate and went over and hugged her. "I won't happen I promise you that."

Tenten sniffed and nodded. "I'm going with you next time."

"What?" He could hold the surprise from his voice.

She broke the hug and starred him directly in the eyes. "I said I'm going with you next time."

"But but you have the academy and can't afford to miss out on it."

"I don't care."

He heard the steel in her voice, arguing now would be useless, he relented. "Ok, if this book thing happens I'll keep my thieving to a minimum, and I'll wait for when you can come with me, all right?"

"Yeah." Tenten nodded wiping her eyes.

Well that was nice, I guess this is what kids my physical age should be doing, rather then the insane exercises Sayaka creates for me. The fact that I let slip the information about the clan heirs starting the academy next year, will either get her mind working or that of her uncle's. He shrugged and took another path to his apartment. Ten-chan won't be back for a while so I might as well explore another forested area in Konoha.

Life had been pleasant for him in the last few months, he had made a friend in Yakumo, and in Chouji, who to his surprise was the heir of his clan, it was only thanks to his training that he kept the reactions of surprise, joy and a grim smile of his face when he discovered that little truth. It was a shame that he couldn't have his new friends meet his sister yet, but they needed to have a stronger bond first before he could reveal that secret. Tsk I wouldn't trade her for them no matter what happened.

Soon enough he would start a new academy year together with the clan heirs and then he could finally drop a part of his mask, even if just a little. Katsue will be glad when that happens, she's already angry about my situation now as it is, and I only have so many excuses to use.

There were a few things he expected to find during his trip on the bottom of that list was a tag labeled Kisuke stuck to a rock, he scratched his head looking at unsure of what to make of it. Well this is just odd. He pumped a bit of magic in the surrounding area and discovered that he was alone there.

Going by the paper and ink this isn't that old, so someone made this recently. It doesn't look like a trap of any sort. Ever so gently he lifted part of the paper from around the rock to see if he could spot anything else under it. I can't tell what this thing is supposed to be, no one knew I would take this route so it can't be for me. Was this left behind for someone else? I did stumble on a spy operation already so this may not be that far off. Then again it may just be something utterly unimportant, well then nothing ventured nothing gained.

He pumped more magic into the surrounding area and the rock before taking a deep breath, in the next moment he tore it off and closed his eyes. He expected something to happen only to open his eyes and see that he was holding a rock and a piece of paper. Huh I guess shouldn't think that everything has to exciting all the time. Deciding to explore the matter later, he pockets both the stone and paper then heads off back towards his apartment.

"The ripper killed again!"

From the shadows Yugao watched as the man who shouted from the top of his lungs was running through the crowd causing panic. She and her Anbu team had just finished their mission and were preparing to return to Konoha when she heard the man shouting.

Her eyes flew from face to face of each person she saw; she could see fear and despair in their eyes. Again? How many times has this happened before? A small sound drew her attention to her left; her captain had arrived as well.

She made a few short gestures in the language all Anbu used. Should we investigate?

Her captain's reply was crisp and clear. Negative. The mission comes first.

Yugao knew her captain embodied what it meant to be Anbu; he had made their rules of conduct part of his own being.

For every battle honor, a thousand heroes die alone, unsung, and unremembered. It is what it means to be an Anbu. She nodded and left together with the rest of the team, as they snuck through the shadows making their way out of the town she cast one last glance back. It's out of my hands now.

She noticed one of her team members, Bear, signaling to her. It's not the only town where this ripper person has killed.

She signaled back confused. What?

I heard rumors of this happening in other cities as well, Konoha nin were called to investigate however they could find the killer.

She looked ahead her captain was talking to another team member, Sheep, and ignoring them, from her left the last member of her team joined the conversation. Horse, the only other woman on the team.

The killings may have started near the border with Tea, Yugao's eyes widened, they were near the border with the lower countries if that was true then the killer had travelled through the damn country to get from one end to the other, Konoha wasn't called in when they started and by the time we investigated, the crime scene was a mess and we couldn't get anything.

She flew through the needed signs to question her teammate. And it's the same killer?

Horse shrugged before signaling her answer. Don't know, it's still possible.

The conversation ended when their captain gave the sign for silence.

Yugao glanced ahead attempting to shut out her thoughts on the matter. Ironic the mission had us saving people from death at the hands of bandits on the road and here people are dyeing in what should be safe and peaceful cities. Eventually the killer will get caught or he will find someone who will fight back and kill him.

Naruto awoke suddenly feeling a coldness on his back, his eyes quickly traveled to the room's window, what he saw however was the image of a transparent man floating at the foot of his bed.

He blinked and rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't seeing things, looking closer at the man, who had a gaunt face, was tall, had long loose brown hair, with a distinctive bang covering the right side of his face, and was wearing Anbu attire. Seeing the man's clothing Naruto immediately started to pump some magic into the room to see if he was being spied upon.

The man waved at him and came closer to him. "Don't be afraid little boy, I'm not here to hurt you."

"What?" There doesn't appear to be anyone else in the room and Hokage isn't using the seals either, best to enlarge the range to make sure there's no in the other rooms either. "You aren't?" He cast a look at Tenten who was still sleeping peacefully. She's sleeping like a rock isn't she? I guess the extra training she did at the academy wore her out.

The man shook his head. "No, I myself am unsure as to why I'm here in the first place; I only awoke in this place barely for a few moments ago."

Besides Katsue, there's no one else in the building. This may not be a trap after all, however I can't tell if this is an illusion or not. "Why are you here?"

"I don't know, I don't even remember my own name."

"Really?" he tried to keep his voice as childish as possible but he knew a spark of something else had entered it. Interesting, let's try something then. He pumped more magic to his right arm and approached the transparent man.

The man scowled at him. "You can't touch me, sadly I can't touch anything either."

Naruto smiled and brought his hand towards the man as if he wanted to shake hands, the man looked irritated before stretching out his hand, to his surprise a mark appeared on Naruto's palm and the man was quickly drawn into it.

Naruto let out a breath and shook his hand; he looked around the room and then placed his head back on the pillow.

"What's going on?"

Naruto looked to his left and noticed then woken up as well though she looked half asleep. "Nothing just a stray cat with golden eyes that was looking at us from the window."

Tenten nodded her head as if she understood the situation. "Um ok, damn pervy cat."

"Go back to sleep that's what I'm going to do." Naruto closed his eyes and snuggled closer to Tenten. Well those two can handle whatever that was.

Kisuke opened his eyes and found himself on a small green hill overlooking a river in a valley of sorts; behind him he saw mountains while beyond the river their appeared to be an endless green plane. What happened I was in that boy's room one moment and the next I'm here?

"Ah hello."

He jumped hearing voice from behind him and got into a combat position by instinct. He saw two people behind him, the two people a men and a woman wore silver robes. Where did they come from? I didn't hear then nor did I see them approach.

The man chuckled as he took a step forward. "Well we have some good news and some bad news for you my good man."

Kisuke stayed in his combat form looking the man. "Who are you?"

The man continued speaking ignoring his question. "The good news is that we will be able to help you remember who you are and what exactly happened for you to end up in this situation."

For a brief moment a small hope grew in his chest, before she squashed it, he didn't know were he was or who these people were he couldn't trust them, his tightened his stance in preparation for a fight. "You can?"

The man nodded and his face took on a grim smile with the woman next to him doing the same thing. "The bad news is that we will have to mind rape you to dig out everything useful that you may posses and then force your soul to move onto the afterlife while breaking the bonds holding it in the world of the living."

"What?"

"Goodbye." A moment later chains sprouted from the earth and bound him in place, it wasn't long before his scream filled the valley.

AN :

Review away

Constructive criticism or pointing out possible errors/issues within the story is always welcomed.

Check out the new poll on my page and the forum where the other polls are.

- Next chapter wraps up Year II

- this chapter really lacked the meat that others had, sadly this is also I think the smallest chapter to date.

- I had other plans for the chapter however real life got in the way of them and I rushed things along. Both Naruto and Tenten should have had interactions with their classmates and Naruto with Yakumo and Chouji, sadly that wasn't meant to be.

- I want to wrap things up regarding year II next chapter so I can get the ball rolling on the more important parts.

Completion date 20 IX 2014 – publication date, mostly likely 5 XI 2014

Judging by the trailer for the new Naruto movie, the pairing may in fact be Hinata, and after the recent chapters if there are still people who are rooting for NaruSaku, well Kishi kind of took a piss on that. Personally I would like to see him end up with Anko or Tenten, or Mei or Samui(There's a good joke there about them propagating the master race waiting to be made there). It's still early to celebrate victory in the pairing war, even if it does seem like there's a good chance of it.

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