No More Chapter 9, a naruto fanfic

A/N: For the fanfic, the map I'm referencing has several unclaimed and unnamed regions for later expansion of the fanfic (random missions and such). One such zone will come into play this chapter, so I figured forewarning was in order.

I'm guessing this fanfic will transition briefly into crossover realm after this chapter. Don't worry, it'll be a short visit but worth the stay (I'm hoping). Maybe I'll come back if it's well-received.

Post-uber clone, the goal remains to minimize OCs wherever possible (Nurse Otoha is actually from the manga, volume #10, and the anime, episode #52, despite what some of the PMs I received may indicate). Gamatetsu, unfortunately, is not but I'm proud of my creation (most of you will easily remember that Gamatatsu is the bright yellow brother of Gamakichi). Those of you familiar with Fujino Omori's work will recognize where this arc is headed.

Mr. Paw Paw: You are only half right. This story does involve a little Asuma bashing but it's bashing with a (later) purpose. Since I am mid-draft mode on some pieces to shed further light on why the story is the way it's written, I will defer from commenting too much in depth and let the curious minds defending Asuma find out why. I'm a bit surprised at the interest because there isn't much fanfic material out there specifically about him unless it involves lots of gratuitous boinking with Kurenai, Anko, or (the occasional) Ino. (O_o)

As Zabzab points out, he was acting like a five-year-old and yes, that was contrived for their opening interaction since Kishimoto doesn't really delve deeply into Asuma's life and relationships beyond using him as a revenge plot to kill Hidan. It's like some runaway Greek tragedy. In fact, it was why I specifically chose to focus on Asuma as a central figure this time around (yes, there are times where he will fade to the background but he's meant to instruct and mentor not micro-manage). I was disappointed at the lack of development for this character in general fanfiction, especially since Kishimoto all but ignores him, but it's to be expected given his minimal role in canon. His relationship with his father is in the crapper, he's struggling to come into his own as an instructor and as a love interest for Kurenai, and, by the time he starts to come around, he loses his outwardly apathetic father that secretly loves and is proud of his son.

For lack of a better term, I decided Asuma needed some tough love as I still see him as the impetuous youth that ran away to the Capital to escape his overbearing father. Now I'm giving the father a second chance based on what he's learned dealing with Naruto as an orphan growing up. Just keep in mind that there are three relationship circles surrounding and intertwining with Asuma. Naruto is just the foci Hiruzen is using to give them a push. Despite the uncomfortable nature of the previous chapter, it serves to highlight some things that need worked on, some character flaws I noted in the canon Asuma, and I'm drawing out my interpretation of them. I guarantee many that read this will most likely disagree but that's okay. Remember Naruto's comments during their "official" team meeting? There is a reason why I put that there and installed him as a part of this team. He and Asuma are going to help each other whether they know it or not.

But there can be no growth spurt without a little discomfort and my Hiruzen has a vested interest in turning his wayward son's life around early on.

Overall, you raise some good points, however, I disagree on the Team Ten concept, at least for my fanfic. I've built this version around an Infiltration and Capture concept, which could be reasonably asserted for the canon story line. While Naruto easily falls into the role of a heavy hitter combat type and could arguably unbalance the team, his entering argument as a heavy hitter is to replace Choji. You could not in any reasonable argument convince me that Choji possesses the stealth capabilities to meet that function in an infiltration team despite being a shinobi just as Shikamaru and Ino both fail to meet the aggressive combatant role leaning more towards strategy and information gathering. It's a very thin argument to a very specialized team, hence Naruto's greater range of talents supporting the creation of a tailored infiltration squad.

First, however, he needs to change his son's perception of the team and Asuma, given the confrontational history he shares with his father, one eluded to in canon, I chose to tailor their ongoing feud using Naruto as the catalyzing link. In short, he is part of Hiruzen's plan and the Sandaime fully expected his son to go to some extreme to prove him wrong.

Hiruzen, in my fanfic, made the switch to fill a very personal desire but could easily substantiate the juxtaposition as Naruto demonstrably proved through his academy years that he has the skills for the job. The only reason there exists in canon an Ino-Shika-Cho combo is nepotism, pure and simple. The attempted argument is laughable in any language and translates in my mind to, "If Shika and Ino aren't good enough to get in an out with the INTEL, Choji had better be strong enough to break them out of enemy hands." That's a failed concept for an infiltration team as we all know that Choji is not, not as he is now, but Naruto's talents admirably fill the void (army in a box), both concerning infiltration and extraction/defense. But that digresses from why Hiruzen put him on the team to begin with, and that, I promise, I will make abundantly clear even though I hinted to it somewhere in the previous chapters.

Well, I've blabbed enough. Back to the story.

~Siva'a-tasi

~III~

A/N: Updated Feb 22, 2019 to correct grammar and spelling issues. The goal was to clean up some of the transitions and attempt to better identify when the characters are speaking/ thinking/transitioning from one scene to another. Making good progress this week and the next new chapter should be out this weekend, hopefully.

Disclaimer: Still don't own Naruto nor anything produced by Fujino Omori.

Warning: I'm not a fan of Sakura. If you've read Nature of the Beast at all, you're probably well aware of that fact. I believe her to be a shallow, miserable creature that Naruto should have avoided at all cost. I also think Sasuke deserves her attention as they are meant for each other, although he will be less douchie in my fic. Therefore, there is slight Sakura bashing in this chapter, but I take it easier on her here than I do in Beast.

Chapter 9: You Can Run

~ Previously on No More ~

"Do you accept this mission, Team Ten?" He was looking at Naruto expectantly for some reason and so was Asuma now. Shocked that they would be waiting on him, he unfurled it and started reading with Shikamaru and Ino picking a shoulder each to join him over. The ponytail-bearing kunoichi piped up quickly.

"Who in heck is Koaru Aono?" She jumped when she heard a growl escape from Naruto's throat.

"He's a traitorous bastard in need of killing." He looked up into the Hokage's eyes before snarling out, "I can't speak for my team, but I'll accept this C-rank and go without them if need be."

"You did see that the mission calls for retrieval dead or alive, right?" Asuma's question came with a raised eyebrow but the cranky Genin never missed a beat.

"So, you're saying I can pick one, right?" He closed the scroll and held it up with his left hand.

Asuma clapped his hands together once drawing all eyes to him as he reached out to take the scroll back. "Pack for a two-week C-rank and meet me at the western gate in two hours for roll call and loadout check." The three snapped to attention and strolled from the office without another word.

~III~

~ Thursday Morning, Week 6: Hokage Tower, 8 Hours Before Team Ten's Departure ~

Inoichi Yamanaka was standing next to a small window, its sliver-like view of every passersby on the street below only a peripheral interest at the moment. His sharp mind was elsewhere cataloging the six previous interactions with the Genin Uzumaki and how he was going to summarize his weekly progress report to the Sandaime Hokage. For a brief second, his mind stumbled on the mission his daughter was about to undertake with the Genin in question and, not for the first time, his brows knitted together in frustration at the path his Hokage had chosen.

'It is within his right but a Hokage should defer to a medical specialist unless they themselves possess the requisite skills. Why? Why would he do this?' It was circular logic that invariably led him down the same rabbit hole of endless unanswerable suppositions. 'There must be some plausible reason,' he postulated.

A gentle voice behind him steered his thoughts away from his tangle of questions and back to the Hokage's office door. Nodding his thanks to the receptionist from his own clan, Inoichi tugged on the hem of his long-sleeved shirt, straightened his spine, and entered into the lion's den, er, monkey's tree.

Pleasantries passed almost at a blur, the old man's eyes twinkling like small stars. As expected, the ongoing reintegration was proceeding smoothly despite Inoichi's personal misgivings. Something was gnawing at the back of his mind, something he'd overlooked since that first week and it was beginning to trouble him. He hated not knowing. Knowing that unfounded allegations wouldn't help, he stayed to the facts as he knew them, the boy's slowly improving demeanor, his increasing willingness to engage mentally but not quite yet emotionally, and the increasing ease of the process. It all seemed too good to be true really and, when things appear that way, they usually are.

Question and answer at the end of his report included the standard fare and, before he knew it, he was being dismissed. Rising from the comfortable chair and turning towards the weathered door leading to his freedom, he caught the barest hint of consideration in the Hokage's eyes, a mere twinkling really. Striding quickly for the exit before his mouth could stir up trouble, his hand landed on the knob just as his mind registered the dooming sound of a heavy door slamming shut.

"Are," the pause after that one word was enough to snap him out of his dazed focus, "you absolutely sure there is nothing on your mind, Inoichi?"

For almost a minute, Inoichi Yamanaka considered those words. His mind warred with his hand as his fingers opened and clenched around the shiny brass orb. So simple a thing it would be to deny any such occurrence and heave the door open making good his escape. So simple a thing.

His wife always did say he had more pride and honor than common sense.

His eyes closed. His chest puffed out before exhaling a protracted burst of air. Before self-preservation could force him to make a break for it, Inoichi spun away from the door and strode purposefully to stand before the Hokage's desk once again.

Apparently, much to Inoichi's consternation, the Sandaime found this all very entertaining as that annoying twinkle in his eyes managed to turn up the corners of his mouth in equal merriment.

"Permission to speak freely, Hokage-sama." The old man nodded his head once, his now lit pipe finding its way between those crookedly smiling lips.

"Why Hokage-sama? Why have you spurned my advice and risked the health of the Uzumaki boy?" He was expecting the old man to snarl at him for questioning his decision. He was expecting the most powerful shinobi in the village to dress him down and send him packing. What he didn't expect was the briefest softening around the corners of those smirking eyeballs. It was almost as if they held the barest trace of sympathy? As if he'd passed some unspoken test.

This only annoyed him further but he held out for a response.

As he waited for the answer he never expected to receive, Inoichi realized that he was angry, very angry with his superior.

He didn't want sympathy.

He didn't want charity.

He had briefed the Hokage on the very real risks if this reintegration went sideways. He knew the risks to anyone around an unstable and possibly sociopathic vessel of the Nine Tails. People would die, and they would die horrifically. Now, as a direct result of the Hokage's decision to re-assign the Uzumaki boy to another team, his only daughter now stood front and center to the aftermath of Konoha's reasonably assured self-destruction.

Despite the hubris involved in thinking he was owed an answer, Inoichi felt he was owed an answer. No parent wanted to say "I told you so" while they were burying their only child.

As those thoughts ran rampantly through his mind, Inoichi noticed that the God of Shinobi had been watching his very bare emotions play across his face and did something he hadn't done since first dating his wife. He blushed with embarrassment.

Instead of chastising him for his brazen approach, the Hokage chuckled, rose from his chair and took several quiet steps over to the large windows overlooking the Hokage Monument. Inoichi noticed the old man had taken to doing that more often as of late.

"I've always hated that memorial. It reminds me every day of my greatest failure." Inoichi blinked having had his whole line of thought suddenly blindsided.

"Hokage-sama?" The old man hadn't turned around, but he kept speaking.

"I am an old man, Inoichi-san. I can feel it in my bones and each and every bone resonates with a different failure, none more so than how I failed my son. I drove him away into the capital and cost us the best years of both our lives." Inoichi was flustered. He honestly had no idea what this had to do with Naruto Uzumaki.

"I've spent the last decade being cautious and I'm out of time. Just once, I intend to force the hand of fate." He pulled a scroll out of his left sleeve and tossed it with a casual flick of the wrist to the Yamanaka Clan head before turning back to the window apparently having said his piece.

Still terribly confused, Inoichi unrolled what appeared to be Anko Mitarashi's twentieth report on her observations of Team Ten.

"Week 3, Day 4,

"The gakis appear to be making steady progress…"

He skimmed through the basic update material before something catches his eye.

"Despite my gut feelings telling me to strangle Asuma and take the team for myself, he's doing better. Seems he's taken a liking to my gaki in particular, the two training together like peas in the same sick pod. Seein' the little guy's eyes sparkle like that whenever he gets the real Asuma instead of a clone is fu-," that part seems crossed out and illegible, "freakin' weird but the shine in his eyes fades quickly when they get to the down and dirty. He's also fu- (more cross outs) damned good with those rotten punch knives. Nearly cost me a trench last week the little shi-." There's another ink blot correction before she moves on to a fresh paragraph.

He hasn't failed outright yet and, honestly, I'm surprised. Little Asuma appears to be growing up and part of me wants to blame the blond... knucklehead wrestling with him in Training Area Ten."

The Interrogation lead is first of all surprised with the high quality of Anko's detailed report. There's more about projection timelines and wanting to set up Ino to study medical ninjutsu, something that pleasantly surprises him. She's apparently planning to recommend it to Asuma the following day and see what he thinks. Inoichi's mouth twitches into the resemblance of a proud smile before closing the scroll and returning it gently to the Hokage's desk.

Inoichi looks up completely surprised, especially given the rough start of Team Ten on their first day.

"There is more at stake, Inoichi-san, than the Jinchuuriki. I believe he's where he needs to be."

He was familiar with Hiruzen's family situation and the quick-minded advisor put two and two together. Inoichi smiled as relief, not complete relief but a substantial alleviation, washed over him. The Hokage was playing a dangerous game but, for the sake of his daughter, he was hoping that luck was on their side.

Bowing once, Inoichi spun on his heel and left to find the nearest tavern. He'd send a mental message to Choza and Shikaku to join him once he'd found a booth for their afternoon booze fest. He'd help Anko with her report formatting once she got back.

~ Thursday Afternoon, Week 6: The Western Gate of Konoha ~

Naruto stood at the wide-open gates to Konoha's western face with his eyes focused on the village behind him. Despite the lazy Chunin trying to drill holes in his backpack with their eyes all the way from their guard table, he appeared calm and focused with his upright posture inhumanly still.

He'd been mentally reliving his visit to Tenten twenty minutes ago and was having a hard time understanding why she was annoyed with him. He wasn't expecting to be gone for more than two weeks but, when he told her, the air got very chilly in the weapons shop. Her parting shot of, "Don't be useless and get yourself killed!" seemed a bit unnecessary. Naruko's tittering in the back of his mind didn't help either.

He'd also been standing there for the last hour silently observing everything that passed by his statuesque position. Given his almost daily preparation for mission packing and the fact that he kept most of his tactical gear stored in sealing scrolls, gathering what remained took him all of fifteen minutes back in his apartment.

Naruto even had time to stock up on food and snacks kept in two rather heavily packed scrolls snugged up along the inner lining of his backpack designed to hold four seals vertically to conserve space. That allowed him plenty of extra time to hang out and observe people as the mission particulars rumbled around in his brain. Not that he'd done much of it lately with so many distractions available near the gate, like for instance his peers.

He'd spotted Team Eight coming from a crossing street onto the main thoroughfare from several blocks away. None of them were facing his direction so he could do little more than smile to himself. Hinata had been chatting animatedly with Shino much to the frustrated angst of Kiba as he trailed behind. The dog-nin was unhappily focused on the back of the bluenette's head much to his sensei's apparent displeasure as she stalked silently behind her team. Naruto filed that away for later discussion with his Hyuuga friend.

Easing out his shoulders (since his pack was considerably lighter with most of his crap sealed away), Naruto leaned against the sill of the great gate only to tense up when a familiar shriek obliterated the afternoon calm. Turning his head over his right shoulder and outside the gate, he grimaced at the sight of Team Seven strolling up to the guards and reporting their return from a Class-C mission, one clearly from one of the neighboring villages given their lack of packs or extended supplies.

The ear-splitting noise came from the braying pinkette glaring hatefully in his direction. On the bright side, Choji waved politely eliciting a brief nod of acknowledgment from the blond berserker.

"What are you waiting for, dobe?" Naruto's eyes flickered to the raven-haired boy smirking in his direction. He briefly wondered if answering the fool was worth the pain it'd cause and, having quickly measured the pain-pleasure worth of the situation on his personal shit-o-meter, turned away from Sasuke without a response and back to the hustle and bustle of inner Konoha.

It wasn't that he disliked the boy. They were tolerable rivals in the academy. No, he disliked the holier-than-thou persona and made it clear of what he thought about it by refusing to answer every time the massacre survivor deigned to piss him off.

Choji sighed understanding his fellow shinobi's reluctance and began dreading the predictable response.

'3…'

'2…'

'aaaaaand…'

"Hey, Naru-baka! You should answer when your superior questions you!" The girl's voice was absolutely murder on his ears. Naruto's pinky reflexively shot up to soothe his abused eardrum.

Still, he refused to answer making Sasuke's eyebrow twitch even more. Their sensei had completed his report at the sentry station but opted to watch the interchange vice intervene, his one exposed eye focusing in on the obstinate blond.

"Cha! Ignore him Sasuke-kun! He's just jealous because his team didn't get a C-ranked first!" Choji tried to settle the ruffled feathers as best he could.

"Sakura-san, all we did was deliver supplies to-." The green-eyed monster didn't care as she cut off the gentle giant forcing him to flinch at her furor.

"A C-rank is still a C-rank and the lesser shinobi should recognize their betters with the proper respect!" Naruto sighed quietly but turned to look Choji squarely in the eye before acknowledging his efforts with a gentle nod and a warm smile. Having expended all the effort he cared to, the boy turned his attention back towards the village as his teammates, and both senseis, walked into view.

For his part, Kakashi felt extreme embarrassment for the behavior of his Genin. The cyclops wanted to believe that Sasuke and Sakura would be able to leave the academy behind and develop socially but those efforts seemed doomed to fail. He'd need to have another talk with Sasuke and Sakura later.

One to live in the moment, he took a second to take in the growth of Konoha's number one unpredictable shinobi. Naruto had changed noticeably from his academy days his calmer attitude forcing the elite Jounin's eyebrow to climb up closer to his hairline.

"Still braying like the jackass you are, forehead? I can hear you half way across Konoha." The nerve twitching across the pinkette's temple indicated extreme duress.

"Should have known a loser like you would be attached to more failures, Ino-pig." Naruto grimaced. It figured the one time she wasn't yelling she'd be insulting one of his teammates with that nasty medium-pitched growl in the back of her throat. He had a strong urge to smack her nose with a rolled up scroll and yell, "Bad dog!"

"Well, this has been fun, but we need to do a gear check before we head out on a capture mission, so you folks need to move on." Anko's sicky-sweet smile did not transmit a soothing aura. If anything, it made the howler monkey gulp in fear. "Like, now people."

The three returning Genin from Team Seven shuffled quickly on by.

"Retrieval, huh?" Team Seven slowed their pace to a short stutter step in order to delay long enough to eavesdrop without seeming like they were spying.

Asuma sighed. "Yeah, remember the kidnapping a little while ago?" The silver-haired cyclops nodded once. "Well, it looks like the bastard turned up in the unclaimed lands." While his Genin seemed confused, Kakashi's eye shot wide open.

"How certain are you that there are no nukenin between you and your prey?" Asuma's brows furrowed.

"The curse?" he responded hesitantly.

Kakashi nodded again this time solemnly. "The curse."

Suddenly Asuma seemed a touch less confident than a moment before. Anko scoffed loudly then trudged up to the sentry post to report their imminent departure while Asuma turned his attention to Team Ten with a parting shoulder shrug. They'd burn that bridge once they crossed it.

"Alright Genin. Gear check!" The three of them dropped their packs to the ground and began rummaging about to pull out the bulkier items laying them out evenly on the cobblestoned ground.

~III~

Kakashi stepped up to his huddled team as Sakura hissed out a question trying not to be noticed by the angry kunoichi.

"What are they doing, Kakashi-sensei?" Her eyes were trying to peek around his extra tall frame without being seen.

"Standard packout check. It's S.O.P. for C-ranks and above expected to last longer than a week." Kakashi shrugged nonchalantly and started to move off towards Hokage Tower to report the results of their day trip. He was trying to ignore his team's varied reactions and move them along before any of them could start up more trouble.

Choji nodded as he took out a fresh bag of chips and fell in step, making a mental note to restock as he was down to two reserve bags. Sakura's jaw flapped open as she looked frantically to Sasuke for some type of reaction. All she saw was his stern profile as he tried to grind down every tooth in his mouth. Her heart went out to her not-so-secret love but, in the back of her mind, a small voice was commenting on how ugly jealousy could make even the most handsome person.

She smashed that voice ruthlessly underneath her astral heel and trudged off faithfully behind her crush.

~III~

Anko looked up from the Genin frantically repacking their gear, her eyes lingering on the blond male a bit longer than necessary as she secretly questioned his sanity and met Asuma's gaze with a silent question. The taller male exhaled a rush of air and shrugged (yet again) before delivering his verdict.

"It's about what I expected. Ino has the bare necessities and a few more extra sets of clothes than I'd like to see. Shikamaru has a textbook kit, meaning his mom probably packed it for him because he found it too troublesome." Anko snickered. Asuma sighed again as Naruto began resealing the near-five-hundred assault weapons into various storage seals located on strategic points of his body and in his metal gauntlet. "Him," he nodded to the demonic grin on the Genin's face, "he's loaded for the apocalypse."

"No such thing as under-geared!" the resident demon container roared out. Asuma blinked surprised that he heard his comment.

Anko giggled. "I did warn you about his senses." Asuma could only stare on dumbfounded. With training the boy could be a tracker also.

The Jounin had to admit he was surprised to find a number of books squirreled away in there but the Genin was inordinately protective over them allowing no one but Anko near them. Perhaps he could get him to loosen up once he'd earned some trust. Maybe he could talk to him about the platoon-sized loadout of Stingers and how he got that many; Asuma's order was still six months out on Higurashi's wait list.

Instead of thinking on the shiny new toys he couldn't play with, he fired up another smoke and waited next to the still chuckling Anko as she twirled a Stinger of her own. Jealous didn't begin to describe the pouting look on his face.

It took another fifteen minutes to wait for Naruto to re-stow everything but then they were on their way to the first road junction that would lead them south. As it was already late in the day, Asuma wanted to make good time until they needed to break camp so that meant a shinobi's pace through the branches with Naruto taking point. Three good hours of jumping and Team Ten found themselves being signaled to the forest floor by their sniffer once Naruto caught sight of a suitable camping site fifty yards off the main road.

"Good eyes, Naruto. Shikamaru, take care of camp." The Jounin headed deeper into the trees to light up in peace and brood some more over being Stinger-less.

"Naruto – food. Ino – firewood. I'll set up the tents." Naruto nodded and popped a clone off, without seals or smoke, to help with tent staging catching the approval of their Special Jounin. With the rush of air being sucked in his wake, the blond Genin vanished into the growing shadows.

No sooner than he was gone, the clone exploded into a cloud of white smoke shocking both Anko and Shikamaru, the former whipping out a kunai and looking about for threats. When the cloud of smoke cleared, a tall woman with flowing scarlet hair was standing in the blond Genin's place. With a smile, she nodded to the spiky-headed Shikamaru then rooted around in Naruto's pack as she set up for the evening meal. First order of business appeared to be rice.

Shikamaru stood very still as she moved about, his eyes very nearly falling out of his skull.

"K-K-Kushina?" Anko's voice was barely a whisper but the woman, who could be no more than Anko's age, stopped and smiled back at her as if waiting for her to say something more. While she measured the rice from some supplies in one of Naruto's scrolls, she also unsealed a healthy batch of simple greens and mild spices, all the while humming a tender tune.

"Kushina? What the hell?! How? When? Why? What. The. FUCK!?" Anko's questions were coming too fast and the humming clone hadn't answered a one yet. Shikamaru, however, intervened to head off an explosion.

"You are not the real Kushina Uzumaki." It was a statement of fact, but the clone nodded anyway with her smile not fading one bit.

"You are correct, Shika. I am not." This did not sit well with the Nara heir and it only got worse once Ino arrived. It was hard to miss as she dropped her gathered lumber with a clatter that was one, hard to ignore, and two, thoroughly announced her confusion.

"I don't have much time before he returns." Her head cocked to one side as if she was listening to something. "He's found a healthy boar and will return after he's field dressed it."

Her eyes snapped over to Ino and then flickered down to the dried kindling at her feet. "Would you be a dear and start the fire?" That snapped her out of her funk as she numbly picked up a few pieces bringing them with her to the center of camp. Retrieving her pack shovel, Ino set about digging two circular pits, one smaller than the other before connecting them with a small trench.

The red head smiled then turned back to the other two with a pained smile on her face.

"Anko-chan, you know the pain that drove Naruto to this state, so much pain that it broke his spirit into many pieces." The purplette nodded silently and opened her mouth to presumably repeat her questions but the clone held up her palm to forestall her. "Another time and I promise I will answer all of them. I need you to be aware of something. While most of us have been returned to the fold by your father," the woman's head turned to nod at Ino as her eyes locked with the girl's ice blue pair, "there are others hiding in the shadows. They don't want to be found. Their hearts aren't quite so… forgiving." Anko winced.

The red head's eyes flicked up to the trees nervously for a second before returning to the girl. "My time is growing short. Soon I will rejoin with Naruto and be no more, but your father must find The Three." Her eyes were pleading with the long-haired blond now. "Please tell him, he must find The Three at all cost."

Her face slowly changed, her red hair shrinking and fading until it became the color of spun gold, her features becoming less smooth and more angular. Slowly her body shrunk and took on the hard edges of the younger Naruto Uzumaki but the last thing that changed was her voice as the words "The Three" faded one last time into the night sounds of the forest.

As if nothing happened, the clone blinked a few times then stood up from the pre-staged dinner only to return to the unfinished tents. Not twenty seconds after it secured the ground spikes on one side, Naruto stepped into the camp with a huge boar slung over his shoulders and a pleased grin on his face. That lasted until he noticed everyone in the camp staring between him and the clone, confusion and shock written all over their faces.

"What? You guys don't like pork?" For several minutes no one said anything, the clone pausing to glance back at him over the rising tent long enough to shrug his shoulders and shake his head.

Dinner was a very quiet affair that first night.

~III~

The next morning, Naruto rose from his shared tent leaving behind a softly snoring Shikamaru. Chuckling softly, he unsealed the fish he'd caught yesterday from a small lake before he stumbled across the boar tracks and began the morning meal. He'd learned the basics of survival cooking during his personal training away from the team and prepared a simple white porridge to go with the fresh fish.

Asuma stepped into camp having had the last watch, his eyes focusing intently on the Genin as he went about his self-appointed morning duties. When no change happened, when Naruto didn't sprout a second head and start speaking in tongues, he sat down across from him on the other side of the campfire and added a few more twigs to keep it going. Lifting the tea pot from a handy warming stone, he poured himself a fresh cup and stared one last time at the unpredictable shinobi.

Absolutely certain the boy's head wasn't going to start spinning around on its own, he focused on his morning drink and started thinking ahead to their day of travel. If they pushed, they could reach Sutirū-ōtā by late night, however, the sail to Istoria would take three days leaving them a little over a week to find Koaru. It might take them a day to reach the haven but, with Naruto's clones, they could narrow down the search time if needed. The city's clans would be their biggest hurdle.

"Mmmm, this is good tea, Naruto." Shocked by the simple complement, Naruto nodded his head in thanks.

"Anko-Sensei has been helping me with my preparation." Asuma nodded appreciatively. Who would have thought that Konoha's Snake Mistress was a tea aficionado? Before too long, the very woman in question stepped out of the female tent, stretched like an overgrown cat, then joined them around the cook fire.

Naruto tried not to heave another sigh once she started pulling the same inspection of the busy substitute chef. This was getting old and no one would explain why. Instead he changed the topic of focus.

"Sensei, what do we know about this unclaimed land of Istoria?" That appeared to snap them out of whatever funk they were both partially in to.

~III~

Asuma wanted to wait until they were traveling before, he shared what he knew about their destination and opted to start out the day at a normal pace, so everyone could talk freely. No need in repeating the same story multiple times and they were going to have to camp out at least one more time so why not? Either way, the entire squad was enraptured by the tale of a land transposed from a different time and place.

"You all know that we're headed to Istoria but what do you know about it?" Asuma was not surprised to hear Shikamaru and Ino chime in right away with answers.

"It's a free nation unaffiliated with any of the elemental kingdoms. They have a king instead of Daimyos and Kages. They export very little, but their economy is remarkably stable. The oddest thing I discovered looking through the library was that they have non-aggression pacts with everyone, and I mean everyone. They're a neutral zone and any able body that can make it is welcome provided they aren't fugitives from justice." Shikamaru's forehead was puckered up in serious thought, something Naruto noticed as he turned from the lazy Genin to follow Ino's addition.

"Daddy had access to a tiny bit more information, which he's authorized me to share with you." Asuma nodded to indicate that she should proceed.

"Istoria's capital is Orario, the Great Walled City. Anyone leaving the elemental nations will most likely head there first. With the exception of one or two other fair-sized villages, there isn't much in the rural areas or farmlands besides farmers, who largely supplement Istoria's economy. This means that our best bet will be to search Orario before moving on." Her smooth brow puckered up just like Shikamaru's did a few minutes before.

"He also said that they don't have samurai, shinobi, monks… nothing along our lines of traditional forces. Their defense is provided by a core standing militia augmented by their adventurers. The militia isn't anything special, farmers trained to fight and such, and records indicate none are powerful enough to challenge our dobe." She smirked evilly hoping to get a rise out of Naruto, a smirk that withered when he didn't react at all, at least not noticeably. "Ugh! Anyway, it's not known how their stronger adventurers compare to our shinobi, but I guess we'll find out for ourselves."

Inside she was a bit disappointed. So far Naruto hadn't bitten on any of her jibes at his expense and she was beginning to think she'd lost her mojo.

"I don't understand." Everyone turned to the quiet Genin running point, his head tilted up into the trees as he spoke over his shoulder.

"What's the deal, gaki?" He turned around to walk backwards and face his "big sister."

"If they don't export much, how do they make their money? How does their economy thrive? Unlike Kaze no Kuni, Istoria doesn't appear to be a desert. It rests on a higher elevation and is separated from the arid region by a cliff that spans several hundred leagues. Also, they appear to have thousands of hectares worth of workable farmlands and forests but don't use over eighty percent of it relying on exports from Orario and trade through internal merchants." Asuma smiled seeing how he'd connected the missing dots and nodded at the additional strategic information as the blond flipped around to face their path again.

Reaching into his jacket, he pulled out three copies of Konoha's Bingo book and tossed one to each of them with a, "Here, catch!" in order to get Naruto to turn around for it.

"Read those when you have time. For now, turn to the appendix in the back and read up on what we know about Istoria, at large, and Orario in particular. While we're walking, here's the abridged version." He paused to fire up a smoke savoring the calming release as he pushed a plume of wispy smoke up into the morning sun.

"Orario thrives on its people. Adventurers are their prime economy and, given the extremely high mortality rate of these adventurers, they need a constant influx of people to keep its source of steady income flowing." Naruto tucked the book into a jacket pocket and spun back around again, his eyes settling on the trees around them while his ears tuned in to his sensei's monologue.

"You see, Orario rests smack dab on top of a multi-level dungeon that constantly spawns monsters of all sorts. Killing these monsters mines their greatest resource – mana crystals. The stronger the monster, the stronger the mana crystal, and those are diluted and used to power many of their unique creations, like light stones or other long-lasting power sources.

"The problem is that the dungeon, and its monsters, fight back. It is rumored that the dungeon itself is a living, breathing entity eternally spawning creatures for its defense. Additionally, the deeper you go into the dungeon, the stronger the monsters become. In the early days, before they built Babel Tower over the entrance, those monsters overflowed from the dungeon and scoured the countryside for victims." Asuma paused to take a really deep draw before continuing.

"Now here's where I draw the line on the legends surrounding Orario. It's said that the gods themselves came down to Istoria and showed man how to harness the power of the dungeon, the only one of its kind and the only place these monsters spawn from. It's these gods that formed a family structure about themselves, something they to this day call Familia, and began staking out their respective claims leading to the early wars for clan member resources. For decades death and chaos ensued until a strong bunch of humans formed together and sued for peace among these deities. It's said that these brave souls formed the first Guild and helped establish the governing rules that dictate how every person living within the walls of Orario coexist."

"Come on, sensei!" Ino was openly scoffing. "Monsters? Gods walking the earth? Tell me you don't buy into this nonsense?"

"No, not really. First rule and foremost among these 'gods' is the fact that they must forgo use of their powers while in Orario. I find that overly convenient." Asuma chuckled clearly not believing the tales.

"Despite all that, we are going there to find Koaru Aono and we will have to deal with the Guild while doing it. Gods or not, the Guild is the real power structure. Our contact is someone named Eina Tulle. She'll let us know what we can and can't do so there may be some unpleasantness involved. At a minimum, one of you may have to temporarily join a guild so we can work in peace." Asuma took another final drag before flicking the butt to the ground and stomping on it as he passed by.

"Bring your A-game kiddies. I'm told it's extremely easy to step on the toes of someone in a Familia and make enemies." He glared at Ino who noticed and squawked indignantly.

"Why does everyone always look at me?!"

~III~

Another restful camp night found Team Ten a few hours away from Sutirū-ōtā. From their elevation in the high hills, Naruto could see the lights of the port town from his rocky perch. With a dozen clones spread out around their campsite, he felt at ease, relaxed.

In fact, he'd spent the last half hour reaching out with all of his senses trying to catalog everything moving within fifty yards of their camp. Small rabbits, which one of his clones bagged with a few cloned Stingers, set them up for a tasty breakfast in the morning. He could hear the water splashing along the shore of the tiny lake they took turns bathing at earlier. His ears picked up various nocturnal animals rooting about but nothing overly dangerous. As the night life went about their normal routine, he took a deep breath and reeled in his senses so as not to overwhelm them with his big sister's scent as she closed in from his left side.

"Hey, gaki." She strolled up and plopped down next to him. "Turn in. It's my watch."

Naruto turned his head to begin his turnover and froze, his mouth open and eyes locked onto her light brown orbs reflecting back the abundance of moonlight. The older woman blinked a few times before her hands reached up to pat lightly at her cheeks wondering if something was stuck on her face.

"What?" The younger blond shook his head quickly, his mouth slamming shut with a click.

"Nothing. I just never realized how beautiful you are." She blushed a bright red as he stood up and brushed off his trousers. "I have a dozen clones spread out in standard clock formation twenty meters from camp. They should last another five or six hours." Before the admittedly beautiful woman could close her mouth or respond, he was gone.

Breaking camp in the morning, Team Ten found themselves entering a neat and orderly village surrounding a crystal-clear, deep-water cove. Looking out to the break water, Naruto made out two rock wall water breaks, one right after the other, forming a zig-zag entrance into port. The end result was an incredibly still harbor blocked from view if you were sailing along the coast.

"C'mon. Our ride leaves in a few hours," Asuma mumbled out striding confidently to the harbor master's office. Mid-morning found Team Ten weaving their way through the water break aboard the Blue Mermaid with their gear stowed below and the team topside watching the port fall away. Shikamaru noticed the arrow slit laden alcoves inside the break with volley ports carved out for ballista and other harbor defense systems.

He also saw more than one Leaf hitai-ite gleaming in a few of those murder holes. Feeling nervous from the time they entered the seemingly quiet town, Shikamaru was never more relieved to be away from civilization as he was at that moment.

He felt as if every person there watched them from the time they walked under the welcoming arch to the time the Mermaid cleared the first breakwater. It was not a pleasant feeling.

The ship's captain had commented their trip would take three full days. Knowing that he could either spend time staring up at the sky, something that appealed to him greatly, or sleep, Shikamaru chose the latter. Turning to head below he paused when he saw Naruto, who was leaning on the railing watching dolphins dance along the fast-moving ship's bow wave, bolt upright. His eyes were panicked as they scanned the water's surface. Striding to the other side of the deck, he thrust his face over the edge and searched anxiously, his body tense and alert.

"Naruto, calm down. I'm sure the boat won't sink and, even if it does, we're close enough to row back safely." His tone was light and slightly patronizing, but it took a moment for his teammate to relax and release a nervous chuckle.

"Yeah, Shika. Guess you're right."

Shikamaru watched him carefully, Ino taking a minute to catch the boy's panic attack before shrugging it off and plopping down among a spool of line to read her copy of the Bingo book.

"You sure you're okay?" Shikamaru asked one last time only to get a dismissive wave in return.

"Yeah, just nerves, I guess. First time on a boat, y'know?" He chuckled again trying to ease the mood, but his eyes never relaxed nor did they cease their constant scanning of the water's choppy surface. He was looking for something but didn't feel open enough with them to share. Shikamaru nodded once then moved below. If he hurried, he could get in a good three hours before lunch and Naruto could sort out his nerves on his own.

Naruto, on the other hand never took his eyes from the water. He couldn't explain it but something big was out there. He almost missed it watching the dolphins play as they were. He admired their freedom, the absolute joy in their movement when something large, extremely large, swam underneath the boat its body nothing more than an elongated silhouette as it glided effortlessly through the deep blue depths. It was the panicked scattering of the dolphins as it passed that drew his eye, the sudden burst of frothy red seawater as a chewed flipper floated to the surface in its passing minus the rest of the dolphin.

Whatever it was, it was larger than the boat they were currently using as transportation and that worried him.

It must have submerged before coming out the other side of the hull, but he'd felt a tug at the base of his neck after Shika went below causing his hand to shoot up absently to rub the back of his neck. He'd felt the sensation a few times back in Konoha since Kenshin placed the new seal there, all a similar kind of tugging at the base of his neck. This pull, however, was much stronger than anything he'd experienced in Konoha. It was powerful, enough to make his head pulse with the beginnings of a major headache.

Kenshin had warned about that as well. He cautioned that a powerful enough entity might be able to overcome the anti-summoning seal if it tried hard enough to claim him. For now, it should be enough to protect him from the four crazy women trying to imprison him in the Red-Light District.

So far it had worked twice, and they hadn't tried since. This was different though. He could almost feel the colossal hand of power trying to reach around his neck and yank him through the ether and it scared him.

It wasn't dark and malevolent like the sensation he got from that first time. If anything, it seemed curious. Just a light tug on his chakra network then it was gone. He gulped as he dreaded what a serious attempt would do to him and whether it would try again. His thoughts, however, got sidetracked as Anko distracted him from his worrying death spiral.

"Oi! That's a good idea, gaki. Come give big sis a neck rub!"

His eyes snapped up from the water finally with a smile. It wasn't the first time she'd asked for one and he had to admit he wasn't too horrible at it. Ignoring the chuckles and cat calls from the sailors thumping about on bare feet, Naruto plopped down behind her on a crate and proceeded to knead her hardened shoulders working his way up and down the length of her supple neck. She'd rolled her collar down enough to give him access and he tried, he really did try, to keep his eyes off the swelling curves of her cleavage as she leaned back into him and rested her arms over the tops of his thighs. Her body mesh did nothing to hide the smoothness of her skin or the shape of her body and that was a problem sometimes.

He wasn't supposed to think the thoughts he did about her.

Her appreciative moans also made it hard for his mind not to wander a little. Tearing his eyes from her partially-revealed chest, he looked up around the deck and decided to complete the rub down by feel instead of ogling her body. He was less likely to get stabbed that way. Instead his deep blue orbs landed on Ino, who had interrupted her reading and was watching him work, her eyes taking in every movement of his fingers as they rolled and worked the stiff muscles from the incredibly verbal Special Jounin. He almost laughed out loud, but it would have ruined Anko's mood.

The girl was visibly jealous, her lips pursed in displeasure as one hand clamped on to her own shoulder.

'Let her stew for a bit.' Naruto smiled blissfully into the late morning sun.

~III~

Hiruzen Sarutobi was not having a good day. Worst of all, it had nothing to do with the inordinately large stack of paper work trying to spontaneously multiply atop his desk. Instead, it centered solely on the ancient pair of people standing before his wooden bastion of power, people that he used to call teammates and now wanted so very desperately to strangle so very much.

"Hiruzen, I see no reason why this should be a strenuous decision. Test the boy and, if the test proves true, we can begin preparations to establish the CRA. This should be no different than any other shinobi under your command." Mitokado Homura's pinched face, his eyes squinted to near slits behind an oval pair of green glasses, seemed to have difficulty grasping his former teammate's reluctance. If the thin line of his lips were to thin any further, Hiruzen swore his beard was going to swallow his hairless upper lip. His female teammate, now also advisor to the Hokage, was fairing no better.

Hiruzen couldn't help but wonder what these two fossils did all day. They were both gray and wrinkled like dusty prunes, their moods equally bitter, but he forced himself to listen to their latest assault on his sanity.

"Surely you must see things our way, Hiruzen. It's not as if the boy will find willing brides with his reputation." The familiarity rankled the ancient leader, but it was to be expected. They were Team Tobirama decades ago and a certain level of familiarity was expected at their age. It wasn't like he could take away their rice pudding as punishment.

"I will deal with the CRA when he is of the appropriate age and not before." They'd been at this argument for over an hour and Hiruzen was craving a drink, or ten. It had been almost four days of constant badgering from completely out of nowhere and it all reeked of a plot.

It all smelled of Danzo's greedy mitts.

~III~

Magnus could not believe his good fortune. He'd found one, or, more likely he'd stumbled across one blindly, but the favor would be his nonetheless.

Another powerful stroke, another graceful twist of his body through the water propelled him onward effortlessly. With almost decadent ease, he slipped his sleek form through the waves no longer content to lazily glide in the warm currents. He had a destination and a purpose now.

A siren walked among them once again. No, not just a siren, this was a full-fledged Walker.

Cresting the surface to purge his massive lungs, Magnus dove deep enough to breach the thermal layer. Warmer currents felt nicer, but he needed to push on and the cooler water kept his enormous frame from overheating through prolonged exertion and he had so very far to go. The sandy shores of the desert region, the Land of Wind if he was not mistaken, were still in view which meant he had many leagues left to travel and this simply could not wait. Sure he could release himself from this plane and return home but he was far too excited. His thoughts needed to be clear as a cavern pool first.

Today was far to momentous an occasion.

At his normally very leisurely pace, he could remain below the water's rippled surface for an hour or more but today demanded much more of the mighty Magnus. He would need to remain focused and aware of the rats as they sailed above his domain lest carelessness complicate their existence, the whole contingency of a broken allegiance.

His mind kept rolling over and over again the sensation, the tingles, the calling. Among their kind, the calling was few and far between over recent cycles of the seasons, the things humans measured the passage of time with. Bubbles of his laughter burst from his great maw and shot to the surface as his mirth tickled his sleek belly.

'Focus, Magnus. Deal with the Clutch first, then we can ridicule those land-cursed rats in their mediocrity.'

The fact that the Walker ranked as one of their feeble race never reduced the siren to the level of a common human. Never that. A Walker was a Walker after all. They were bonded through the blood, linked through all time and, after several cycles of the human world, they would be joined once again.

To think he'd almost missed it. It was laughable as he looked back on it his humor sparking another fit of what could only be called giggling, a larger burst of bubbles shooting to the surface as several Selachii scattered in his passing. It was rather difficult to contain his excitement, after all. His clan had waited and waited since the Breaking of their summoners.

This was beyond big. Given that Magnus measured fifty human meters from tip to tail, he had a good idea of what constituted as "big."

It started with the call, that soothing pull on his chakra from the hereditary ties to that precious bloodline. Everyone from that clan possessed it. They were still tied to both the Uzumaki and the branch Senju. So long as even one member of the royal family still walked the earth, they stayed tied to the clan. He, more than any other, knew the pull as his wanderings farther and farther away from what used to be the ancestral nest had brought him to distant shores in search for more of the call. Any instance was a pulsing beacon of hope.

Now it was to be known that not every Uzumaki possessing the blood was a Walker. Only the deep line, the royal blood, held that claim but any true blood of the clan could call to the Umihebi. There were just too few left and the rest of his Clutch were beginning to falter, to lose hope.

Many of the few hatched ones remaining had surrendered to their withering, their once bright scales dimming as hope faded but not Magnus. He'd first felt the calling along the sandy shores he now jealously prowled. There was one far in the deep sands and one nestled in green hills further east, too far to summon alone and the pull was too faint, too infrequent to convince the others let alone Poseidus. Never that one. They would not stir from their lethargy for whispers along the winds of a dying land.

He'd followed this wooden intruder into his domain once before, and many times since then, intent on crushing it. He was very grateful now to have abstained from such a rash action and good fortune now smiled on their clan.

They could not ignore this. This Walker rode the waves to that dismal place along the most southern shores of that barren wasteland. Were they seeking shelter? Were the hateful rock chewers persecuting them? The Umihebi were needed once again! Their scion was in jeopardy and action was needed!

Curiosity peaked, Magnus had approached the ship to perhaps get a closer look. He wanted to be sure before returning to the Clutch. The pull was stronger, much stronger than anything before but still not that of a pureblood, so he'd begun to despair. Seeing as the frail wooden vessel had drawn his favorite snack, he'd taken heart of this encounter as a good sign despite the hatchling's lineage. Resolving to snatch one of the smooth-skinned leapers in passing, he'd nearly missed the taint, that malignant power of fire and hate, as suppressed as it had been.

Once it hit, the shock threw off his aim and one of the creature's fins was severed in the frothing churn of his bite. His body curled beneath the waves as the gracefully-powerful neck snapped his muzzle towards the surface.

On impulse, sheer elation, he reached out with just the barest tug on that bright beacon of deep blue chakra only to find a barrier. The Walker was protected by a seal! True, the seal was weak, but he'd only wanted to test the waters, so to speak. The blood was young, a hatchling in itself and perhaps not prepared to brave the waters. To summon them below the waves was to possibly doom it to an early demise. The seal confirmed what he needed and that was enough, for now.

It was there without question. The undeniable tether to the royal line. It was a Walker, the carrier of the Great Burden rode upon that wooden deathtrap.

It was then that Magnus pointed his snout to the ancient home of Uzushiogakure and surged forward in a plume of churning water.

This news could wait no further. His aimless days of wandering were at an end.

~III~

Ino was staring at the proffered handkerchief with a huff on her face, her eyes bouncing back and forth from the dingy cloth to the gap-toothed sailor smirking down at the blond girl curled up once again on her favorite bail of rope (she refused to call it a line since, in her book, rope was rope).

"Take it girlie," the one everyone lovingly called "Cookie" garbled out. "Ye stare any harder an' the poor lad'll be starkers afore we reach land." Cookie apparently hailed from this Istoria they were bound for and his speech was brutal enough to decipher without the chuckling.

His meaning was clear enough, however, and she waved off the assistance as her gaze swiveled back to the source of Cookie's amusement.

She'd been trying to read the bingo book section on Istoria the second day of their voyage. She'd been topside enjoying the warm sun and steady trade winds. She'd been peaceably minding her own business. Then he burst on the scene in all his distracting… tanness!

If she was willing to be honest, he was there first. When she came topside, Naruto had been wrapping up what he called a modified morning exercise routine, which translated to a reduced exercise routine since he couldn't do everything he normally did on a small boat. Cookie, who had prepared breakfast for the crew then come topside afterwards for his morning smoke, had been there pretty much from the start.

He was also more than willing to share the details of said routine despite not knowing the names of any of the exercises. He just described them as colorfully as he could, say for instance Naruto apparently being able to run up one side of the main mast and down the other without falling or hurting himself. When Cookie asked the boy "what in tarnation had squirreled its way up his bum," the grinning Genin had responded exuberantly with "the fresh sea air!" then excused himself to continue his sprints. His sprints just happened to be straight up and straight down the mast using only his feet no hands.

Ino had seen more advanced shinobi do something similar but she had a hard time believing Naruto knew the technique before both her and Shikamaru. She wanted to ask him to demonstrate once, but he was still working out when she arrived topside and the exercise he was doing had short-circuited her brain.

Standing on his hands while the ship bobbed about, both shirt-less and shoe-less, Naruto was doing handstand pushups. According to his count, he finished up at five hundred then flipped lightly onto his feet, his arms, chest and neck flushed pink with fresh blood.

She sat there, on her spool of rope, drooling hence Cookie's earlier offer to help her wipe her gaping mouth.

Grinning like the loon he was, Naruto turned about to face the emerging crew and greeted his latest acquaintances, the sailors of the Blue Mermaid. As of yesterday afternoon, he'd ingratiated himself with the amicable crew and asked if he could learn whatever they could teach him about their trade. A few easy smiles, some casual joking and they'd folded him right into the mix. At the moment, he was learning how to ties knots in short lengths of rope Fergus was calling a sheet. Later on, as the hours waned in the day, it would probably devolve into the same spectacle she saw last night; the crew sang, danced, smoked (pipes) and wrestled as Cookie played a weird musical instrument that expanded and contracted like a collapsible lung and whined like a dying mule.

It made absolutely no sense, but Naruto was able to follow right along. Ino guessed stupid was as stupid did and Naruto was "among his kind" so she let it be. Unfortunately, her eyes never left his wide back and quickly bronzing shoulders the whole time, no matter how often she silently invoked Sasuke's name.

Cookie merely chuckled and wandered off to start lunch. The day was getting on after all.

~ Day 3 At Sea: Nearing the Port City of Melen, Istoria ~

The morning began just like the previous one. Naruto trained. Ino (not-so) secretly drooled. Cookie predictably teased her over it.

As the blond Genin once again dumped a bucket of salt water over his head to rinse away the sweat, their senseis trudged out onto the deck dragging a reluctant Shikamaru up along with them. Naruto could tell he was cross considering the guy only surfaced for meals and cloud watching in the crow's nest.

"Captain says we'll put in late morning," Asuma started out, his head nodding to the hazy land mass off in the distance. "We're supposed to be meeting with a Guild rep in the port town of Melen and traveling under their escort by carriage to Orario. To that end, we'll only spend enough time in port to clean off the salt and stink," several heads turned to Naruto who scowled in return, "then hit the road. No dawdling, get me?"

Three heads nodded in return.

"Have you three decided who is going to join a guild if push comes to shove?" The more details were planned out, the smoother this would go in the long run.

Shikamaru nodded and hitched a thumb towards the other male Genin. "If Familia focus on dungeon crawling and combat, Naruto is best suited among us to that role. If things really get bad, he can summon up his own back up as well. If we have to, maybe we can find a healing guild for Ino. It might help her with her studies. I will stay linked up with our Guild rep and learn as much as I can about the rules and regulations of Orario."

Asuma and Anko both nodded at Shikamaru's foresight.

~ Day 3: Capital City of Orario, Istoria ~

"I'm not a fool, Beissoz, despite what you think." The dark-eyed man, although kneeling before the towering figure, glared up through the parted bangs of his equally dark green hair. Humility had never really been a strong suit with him, but he needed the fool to continue his personal operations until he could find a way to start his own Familia. Once that small detail had been taken care of, he could finally remove his only obstacle (his eyes swung to the shadowed figure in the corner of the Set Familia audience chamber) then he could finally be rid of this pompous fool that labeled himself a kami.

Gritting his teeth and trying to play the servile gang member, Beissoz, spared a single glance for the brown-haired family member kneeling next to him and leaked a sigh through gnashing teeth. The words of an angry god drew his eyes back to the raised platform as he tried to suppress his disdain.

"I normally turn a blind eye to your," his tirade slowed but the piercing gaze remained unflinching, "activities. You bring in badly-needed valis and a much-needed boost to our foundling Familia." His eyes drew down to slits in the olive canvas of his smooth complexion. "It in no way provides you with immunity from the Guild nor the pantheon and what scorches the earth beneath your feet threatens the roots of this house."

The heavily-muscled patron stepped down from the dais and Beissoz tensed for a brief moment, his right hand twitching instinctively towards the umbrella strapped across his back.

"Solve this problem with the Guild, child. Do not make me regret giving you my blessing."

Once again, Aoi Rokushō, under the pseudonym Beissoz, bobbed his head in deference to the arrogant sod lording his status over him. Like the fools in Amegakure, like the fools in Konohagakure, he would learn what a grave mistake it was to betray the Hand of the Thunder God. Rising from his servile pose, Aoi clucked his teeth to get his companion moving.

"Let's go, Snorri(*)." The brown-haired boy wearing still-new light plate stood without a word and fell into step behind his big brother, nervous hands automatically adjust the leather strap across his chest keep his short blade strapped snugly to his back.

The sooner he could get out from under this man's boot, the sooner they could drop their false identities. The Guild was the real power here and this soft city was just ripe for the taking.

Once Set could no longer feel his children's presence, he turned his chiseled features to look over his left shoulder immediately gaining the attention of his faithful long-time servant. "Watch them, Seti. His associate has drawn too much attention from outsiders. There will come a time where we will have to distance ourselves from these two and we must make sure their stench does not cling to us."

The shadow figure bowed at the waist, his entire body garbed in flowing midnight silks revealing only a pair of steel grey eyes. Just as silently as Aoi's companion, he strode from the chamber via another route and into the morning light of Orario City.

~ Late Friday Morning: Approaching Melen Harbor ~

Mid-morning came sooner than the crew of the Mermaid wanted to admit. This rough and tumble crew stood gathered around the main deck as the Captain, Asuma, Anko and Shikamaru stood up by the helm watching them cheer on the contestants high above the wooden planks.

Most of the preparations for entering port had been completed, as is good and proper for any seasoned crew of mariners. This last task, the securing of the main mast, had been put off so that the crew could say its final farewell to the rowdy blond shinobi they'd unofficially made their mascot. Ino, standing among the alternatively sniffling and cheering sea dogs, was standing at the base of the main mast with her arms hanging limply at her sides in utter disbelief.

She'd been flabbergasted, her mouth wide open and head tilted back as far as it would go from the moment the contest started. Naruto Uzumaki, the dead last, the ultimate dobe of her graduating class, had proven himself far again ahead of her and the fact had knocked her senseless.

The contest was simple. Naruto and Blinkers, the crow's nest lookout, lined up on either side of the main mast. The contest, once Cookie shouted "go!" was to scale the mast as quickly (and safely since there were no safety nets) and secure one half of the main mast. Since there were two cross mains, the first up the mast got to choose which one to work on first so speed mattered as one cross main rested an additional ten meters above the first. Competitors could use the iron pegs driven into the mast to climb it as it was too broad a beam to reach around by hand. The first to haul up each section of their sail and rig it to the horizontal cross main beam won.

Blinkers, called that due to his unnerving ability to keep his eyes open for extended periods of time, had never lost this challenge since he won the post as ship lookout.

Ino was chuckling as the two contestants lined up. Despite knowing it was coming, she still jumped when Cookie shouted and the two were off. Standing where she was, she could see both of them and that was when her jaw fell immediately open watching Naruto shoot up the mast without using his hands. Barefoot and shirtless like all the other sailors, his feet slapped lightly against the well-seasoned wood of the main mast and carried him straight to the higher cross main.

From there on, it was skill against skill with one exception. Naruto was hanging upside from the underside of the cross main, some thirty meters above the deck, by the balls of his feet as he hustled across the cross main from one side to the other.

Realistically, with his well-trained body and chakra to strengthen his movements, Blinkers never stood a chance, but the crew cheered them both on all the same. In due time, the spectacle ended forcing Naruto to begin the tedious farewell process, each of the crew's members rubbing the blond mop of hair that now hung loosely about his shoulders and patting him good naturedly across the back. Ino swore she caught Anko wiping a wet spot from the corner of her eye once only for the brusque kunoichi to appear statue-like and emotionless the moment she fully turned to inspect her. Shrugging it off, the slightly jealous kunoichi resolved to get her selfish teammate to start sharing some of his training secrets once they were done with this mission.

Eventually lines were hauled over to the pier as dock hands heaved and pulled, some weaving a line or two across bollards to keep the boat in place as others looped theirs across the horns of heavy oxen to help them heave the ship in close to the wooden pier. Once secured, the oxen were moved to the previous lines and the process repeated. The Genin watched in fascination, their gear slung over their shoulders as they waited for the brow to finally go over. Then something caught Ino's eye.

Standing on the pier shouting orders in a similar language was a tall slender man with the tanned body of a sailor dressed in loose-fitting blue and white shorts. With a shirt wrapped around his waist and a towel looped over his broad shoulders, Ino's breath caught in her throat as her ice-blue eyes locked onto his nearly flawless features. He was beautiful.

Long chocolate brown hair that matched his large and welcoming eyes was tied into a worker's ponytail keeping it out of his face as he yelled up to the ship's Captain asking basic information about their length of stay and intended departure. His laughter was easy, as easy on the soul as his form was on the eyes. Naruto? Naruto who? She promptly forgot the rough-edged blond she'd been fantasizing about for the last five days and leaned heavily on the railing, apparently next to an equally fascinated Anko.

Asuma let loose an annoyed sigh at the two twitter-painted women and instead slid over the Captain to listen to their conversation without the heaving sighs drowning out their words.

His name was Njord, and he was the leader of the Njord Familia in Melen. The dock they'd tied up to, and every other one in the port town of Melen, was his responsibility. The young man in the long-sleeved half-shirt crouching next to him on the pier as Rod, his right-hand man and second in charge. If they needed anything to do with water transportation, these two were apparently the ones to seek.

Anko and Ino had absolutely no issue with that.

Asuma tipped his brow in thanks and the surprisingly young Familia leader nodded back with an easy smile before turning to stroll off to another pier where a larger cargo freighter was making berth.

"He has a favor to ask o' ye, Shinobi-san." Asuma had given up on the honorifics three days ago and simply raised an eyebrow in the direction of the salty-bearded sea dog. "That youngin' be havin' a parcel Lord Njord is wantin' to make its way to Orario. He's hopin' ye be willin' an able and he'll pay one-thousand valis fer it." The man's garbled speak took some getting used to but the gist was simple enough.

"And to whom does it need to go to?" The ferry Captain grinned bright and bold as this would earn him a small favor with Njord Familia.

"Ye be lookin' fer a Chloe Rollo, a dark-haired waitress at the Hostess of Fertility Inn. Can't miss the pointy ears atop her noggin' and the cat's tail from 'er, ahem." The good Captain left it at that as he walked away form a rapidly-blinking Asuma. Flagging down the crouching youth on the pier, he thumbed a hand at the bearded Jounin and gave a quick thumb's up as he left to tend to the final berthing of his boat.

Once the wooden plank touched down, the ship literally exploded with hands looking to enjoy liberty in port before the ship set sail the following day. Team Ten, after receiving a small box from Njord's representative, was promptly greeted by a pink-haired woman with eyes a slightly darker shade of the same unusual color. All three Genin had to resist the urge to ask if she had relatives in Konoha, an annoying female from their class in particular, as she came smartly to a stop in front of them and bowed at the waist.

"Welcome to Istoria! My name is Misha Flott, a Guild representative from Orario and I shall accompany you there once you've had a chance to freshen up a bit." Her smile was radiant, her gloved hands clasped together professionally before her neatly pressed outfit of dark grey slacks, matching vest and ruffled tie over a long-sleeved white shirt with ruffles around the wrists. One hand shot up to indicate the public baths located at the end of the pier, one with several armored individuals barring entry to people and shuffling them on.

"The Guild has taken the liberty to secure a bath for your use until we are ready to depart. Please, make yourselves comfortable." As they strolled off, Ino couldn't help noticing the young lady's eyes locking onto Naruto's still bare and heavily-tanned upper body. Although her head was still bowed, the blush on her cheeks was unmistakable.

Never mind that she was busy looking for that tall drink of water named Njord and that her frantic search as they headed off to freshen up was the only reason that she noticed. Realizing that the girl's interest could not have been solely professional, jealous Ino began to rear her green-eyed head and Njord soon found his memory stuffed to the back of the mental dungeon.

Naruto, the joyous sailors now a fading memory and refusing to lower his guard now that they were land-locked again, counted off the stocky bearded male shorter than him and the tall grey-haired male with both suspicion and surprise. Was that tail waving lazily behind the latter person? He was so preoccupied he failed to notice the almost identical pair of scantily-clad bronzed women standing in front of the lady's entrance, their piercing gazes quickly evaluating the three young ones and rapidly disregarding the darker-haired male with the oddly-shaped hairdo and the younger female, also blond, as viable physical threats. Both their eyes returned to the stocky male with the lion's mane of golden hair and did not leave his gracefully padding form until his back disappeared behind the dividing wall that hid the bath's male inner sanctuary from sight.

Loki Familia had a mission to perform after all in addition to their escort duty.

"Riveria, did you see?" The first woman's voice was almost guttural, almost like a gentle rumble as she turned to the pointy-eared woman with teal-colored hair standing with her sister next to the female's entrance to the baths.

"Yes, Tione, I saw. Remember our focus. Observe and report, nothing more. Loki herself will decide if any of them are worthy to join us." The Amazonian woman nodded even as her nose wrinkled up cutely in consternation. The blond boy was dangerous. The way he moved, the way he took in everything around him. The way he sniffed with his nose as if testing the air. He was a hunter among sheep.

Hunters she didn't know tended to worry her.

~III~

At roughly the same time, another Familia was having its own troubles back in Orario. Consisting of only two members, the Familia's goddess and her sole family member, they were both running for the lives on Deidalus Street in near a large festival. They were running because a silverback was loose trying to make a late-morning snack out of the both of them and he was giving them a good run for their money.

Hestia Familia was one of the poorer groups in the city of Orario. Too poor to own a fancy mansion or even a poor hovel, they worked and scrimped to make ends meet and survived in the hidden basement of an abandoned church courtesy of the goddess's long-time friend (another goddess) named Hephaestus, the goddess of the forge.

Hestia didn't have the resources her friend had. Hephaestus owned an army of smiths and could marshal massive resources. Her shops sold top tier weapons and armor rivaling Goibinu Familia, another top-tier crafting guild, and commanded nearly a dozen floors for their shops in Babel Tower.

But that was them. Hestia was the virgin goddess of the hearth, architecture, and the right ordering of domesticity (the family, the home, and the state). She had no hearth to speak of (beyond her hidden basement apartment) and working as an architect gave her headaches. Face it, she was lazy. The domesticity thing was pointless until she either had a family of her own, something she couldn't do as a spirit in the walking flesh since she could not bear children, or she grew her Familia large enough to give her something new to focus on.

None of that mattered at the moment. At the moment, they were streaking through Deidalus Street. Well, the white-haired, crimson-eyed teenager was running for his life and Hestia was cradled snugly in his arms trying not to swallow her ears with the smiling blush taking over her face. Were they involved in a precarious life and death situation of epic proportions? Sure, but she was being carried princess style in the arms of her precious follower, or child as the gods and goddesses of Orario referred to them. It wasn't a familial relationship, just a term used to reflect the parental link from the gods to their precious humans. Nothing more. Otherwise her personal thoughts at the moment would have condemned her to the lowest layers of the Abyss.

So, forget the raging blush on the scantily-clad goddess as her follower tried frantically to save her life from the enraged yeti nearly three meters in height. Forget that his only weapon had broken against its reinforced hide the one time he'd stood up to the beast to defend her life, hence his desperate sprint through Orario slums.

She was happy as she clutched the delicately-wrapped parcel to her ridiculously over-proportioned bosom.

Now if she could only remember why she felt that something was slipping her mind, something very important…

~III~

Seven Easy Steps to Ninja Stardom

by Minato Namikaze

Chapter 3: A One-Trick Pony is a Dead Pony

Impressive. You've survived Chapters 1 & 2 and you're still reading. You must be serious about this Shinobi thing, huh?

Good.

This next chapter is, without a doubt, the most important chunk of time you will spend in pursuit of that goal. Don't believe me? Okay then, let us see just how serious you are then.

Name three shinobi that specialize in only one particular technique and have risen to prominence in the shinobi world. By rising to prominence, I mean reaching Kage-level strength.

Can't do it, can you?

There is a good reason for that. Shinobi that rely on a single style of fighting or technique or jutsu have failed, been defeated, or have died long before fame and fortune fell their way. You need only look at the Kage of today to see that powerful ninjutsu alone is not enough. You need only look at past Hokages in Konoha to see the truth.

Even with enormous bloodline strength, they were ruthless combatants well-versed in taijutsu, shurikenjutsu, bukijutsu, bojutsu, and numerous tradecraft vital to building mainline shinobi of virtue and talent. Adaptable to any situation, able to adopt different techniques to defeat a wide range of foes, the message, by now, should be clear.

Master the basics, master your specialty, then master something new. Once you're done with that, keep going until you run out of things to learn.

For every strength, there is a weakness. For every strong taijutsu master, there is an equally strong shurikenjutsu master. For every wind, there is fire. For every fire, there is water. The cycle is never-ending.

He who is capable of adapting, wins. He who fails to adapt, fades away.

~III~

A/P.S.: (*) Snorri is clearly an alias. The name comes from the Icelandic historian, poet and politician Snorri Sturlson who gathered as much of Viking lore that he could and consolidated it into a book he called The Prose Edda. Reference courtesy of Wikipedia and norse-mythology dot net.

~III~