A/N: There are literally thousands of fics available to read for the Narutoverse alone. Among those, there are a large number of very talented writers. One such writer, slythefoxx2, has several to choose from. "Seals are Easy, People are Hard" is one such story. He has graciously allowed me to co-opt some of his work on sealing, which is phenomenal and deserves just recognition. I think some of the concepts blend well with the work I started in "Nature of the Beast" which were planned to be imported here. If you've read his work, you'll know it when you see it.
Some of you are going to have to learn to be a little patient. I've added some content because it made sense to do, but for every request I've answered there are at least a dozen more that I have not. Answers will come. I promise.
There is one question I'm going to throw up here because most people asking about it (or annoyed with it) have not read the plot string I put in nor the review questions with the CRA piece very closely. The Council is grasping for control, whatever control they can get, on a powerful shinobi they've maligned for the vast majority of his short life. The CRA is just another bid for control. The poll asked, "IF Naruto should fall victim to the CRA…" I've never touted this story as a Harem. I was curious to hear what the majority of my readers thought but never promised that this would become a harem piece. As I responded in one particular comment, harems are difficult to do well, and I've only read a very small handful that have managed to do so. I'm not even happy with the relationship pairings in my first story, NotB, so there's that.
What you are seeing in No More are normal expressions of romantic interest between a "good guy" and young ladies that would like to stake a claim, or at least partial interest, in that "good guy." Despite his emotional baggage and mental damage, Naruto (in my fanfic) still has it in him to be a good guy. He's not infallible with women, however, as he knows next to nothing about how to interact with them. If you haven't picked up on that in my writing thus far, here's a quick summary of how our hero is doing in the lady department:
Akimi, as far as he's concerned, is lost to him and she was his first "real crush." His time with Hestia, was all initiated by her but she isn't leaving Bell for some flashy sports car she knows isn't sticking around and has said as much, which was provided in a brief monologue I wrote with Naruto. There's more to Eina but it's in that letter he's been carrying in his jacket pocket, so you'll have to wait for that. Anko has flat out denied him (in the most brutal manner possible I might add) and Kurenai is happily stuck on Asuma (who knows if they'll work out yet since they're both chicken). He's sweet on Tenten but she hasn't done more than tease him a bit so who knows where he stands with her. Ino is back and forth so often he has no idea what the self-admitted Sasuke fan is thinking (remember, he was chatting it up with Tenten when that happened, so he has no idea she's passed on Sir Duck Butt). When it comes down to it, the only woman he's had clear, consistently positive interactions with is Hinata (and he has said in my story that he has an idea that she likes him back).
That doesn't mean that he's a cinch to snag the Bluenette. As always, he could still royally screw it up. That makes me wonder, how did Ino's chat with Hinata go? Oh yeah, I haven't revealed that yet.
As always, don't assume anything and back to the story.
~Siva'a-tasi
~III~
Chapter 15: Loose Ends
~ Previously on No More
"I'll keep this easy. You work for me, roaches. Your world stops with me. Disobey my orders or give me shit, and I'll kill you myself and worry later about whether or not to bury you or leave your carcasses for wild animals." Her ANBU masked panned all three faces.
"Our mission is to assassinate this Gato person. We will infiltrate Nami proper. We will remain unseen. We will achieve the mission and leave without a trace. Questions?"
The talkative ones immediately began signing for things like Rules of Engagement, limits of acceptable collateral damage, and Rights of Conquest. Hebi ignored them all.
"None? Good. We have a five-day window to get this done. Let's get moving."
~III~
~ Konoha, ANBU Warrens ~
"Single file on my 'Six' 'til we clear the barrier. From then on, a staggered 'Lima' until we stop for the day. Trip-Six, you got anchor! I'm pushing hard through to daybreak so keep up or get left behind, roaches!"
Naruto was trying to process as much information as possible. Emerging from the emptied briefing chamber, the team of three unknowns was keeping close tabs on the cloak directly ahead of them. Light through the underground passages coveted by the ANBU was slim to nonexistent as the tunnels were dimly lit every ten meters by glowing runes. Those without night vision ran the risk of being dumped in a blind turn.
Naruto could both see and feel Ino directly in front of him as the seals whizzed by in blurry streaks, her chakra spiking wildly along with the adrenaline coursing through her veins. If she didn't calm down, she was going to be spent long before they reached the coast. That was going to be a five-hour run at best.
The tunnel jogged left then began a steady incline, their snake-faced leader not breaking pace until she reached a wide juncture. Here the hallway spread out into a three-meter by three-meter kill box, a round room with sliding panels for entries and exits. At even intervals around the barren space, Naruto could just glimpse murder holes through the reinforced walls.
Murder holes allowed defenders to pepper infiltrators with flying death while the wall protected them from anything less than military-grade paper bombs. With nothing in the room to hide behind, they were aptly named and he counted an even ten of them before two ANBU appeared before the far wall.
"Hebi-zero-zero-two, AA-1096-Sierra-0241, immediate."
The nearest agent drew two kunai then paced sideways around them in a large circle. A dome light clicked on above them bathing the foursome in an eerie white light as he visually checked over them. How he could see anything with their cloaks was a mystery to the Uzumaki initiate but their inspector nodded his concurrence to the other agent standing a distant guard. A voice chirped through a hidden speaker system with a terse, "Approved," and the two guards vanished as the exit panel slid away revealing another dark tunnel.
Hebi was off like a shot the moment she had space to slip by, her three "roaches" hot on mamma roach's tail.
The tunnel continued upwards before it split off then leveled. Before too long, the polished stonework gave way to earthy loam and a ladder leading up into a hollowed-out tree. Slipping through the heavy brush covering the entrance, the four emerged into the heavily wooded treeline some distance from Konoha. Hebi was up into the branches like her cloak was on fire, the three hopefuls scrambling to catch up and reduce the accordion effect as they matched her pace while taking station.
With Zero-One-Three moving one arm's length to his left and Eight-Seven-Seven (Ino) moving one arm's length to her right, Naruto had a clear view of Anko's back. It really didn't do him any good to stare at her since he spent most of his time trying not to faceplant on a branch or smack into a tree in the dim light of the new moon. He could see just fine. It was their pace that made letting his concentration slip dangerous.
Crashing into a branch at speed because he misjudged a leap meant broken ribs at a minimum.
If the pace through the tunnels was harsh, the pace set through the trees was blistering. Their leader made up for her minimalist vocabulary through direct action and the four sailed through the trees non-stop.
Naruto's mind drifted into a near-Nirvana state as he blocked out all unnecessary sound. His hearing and smell encompassed his immediate team as his newly developed sensory abilities reached out for chakra signatures, any signature he could find. For the first three hours, all he found were small villages on the edges of his range and the occasional hunting group camping for the night. Soon even those faded away and he focused on his team solely.
Anko was cruising along, her heart at a steady pace not far from her jogging pace. She could probably keep this up for an entire day. Oddly enough he detected flickering "ghosts" of more ANBU shadowing them, almost like after images directly behind.
'So, they're either watching us or they're here to make sure we don't screw it up too badly.' It seems their limited communication served another agenda.
The unknown shinobi behind Anko was faring well, his breath deepening every fifth or sixth exhale. He'd most likely make the sprint and be fine enough to fight after, his chakra focused up from his feet through his legs and lower back to reinforce his body from the impacts of each landing. It was called "sheathing," a basic technique taught at the academy that allowed shinobi to perform feats of physical renown. For a shinobi, this was commonplace.
His concern grew when he focused on the back and shapely legs of his Team Ten teammate. Her body literally glowed with chakra, every muscle fiber sheathed in a thin layer of light blue energy. She was wasting more chakra than she could recycle, and her breathing was coming in ragged gasps. She would most likely not make it without assistance and he could not bring himself to let her fail. He didn't know why she was here, but she was from his team and she reflected on them all. He would need to speak with her about conserving chakra but, for now, he had a solution available.
Glancing up, he saw Hebi's mask returning to the front after looking over her shoulder at the struggling kunoichi. Her fatigue was making her sloppy and her leaps were shattering bark with each landing making more noise than necessary.
It looked like it was now or never.
Naruto pushed forward slowly, his thrusts bringing him even with Eight-Seven-Seven. Her labored breathing was sending gouts of steam up through the eyeholes of her mask, so he waved a hand to catch her attention. When her face flickered over in surprise, another sign of fatigue if she hadn't even noticed his approach, he made a fist and held it out to her.
Hebi's mask turned around once more to watch the interplay.
Eight-Seven-Seven appeared confused until he made a fist with his left hand, pushed the knuckles together, then held them there with a slight shake to emphasize the connection. Once again, he extended his right hand to her matching her leaps every time she touched down on a branch minus the exploding wood.
Tentatively, she mirrored his gesture and reached out and it was like a dam burst. Chakra flooded her system filling her coils, the rush warm like a bright sunny day on a cold winter morning. It was calming and rejuvenating, her fatigue washing away as pushed enough of his chakra to fill her two-thirds full, as best he could tell from his inaccurate sensing ability.
The girl almost whimpered when he took his hand away and fell back into position but signaled a quick thank you as her focus returned.
When Naruto looked up, Hebi's mask met his gaze and she nodded almost approvingly before turning back around. Almost.
~III~
Raimei Higurashi raised his hand to knock gently on the closed door of his beloved daughter. His heart lay heavy in his chest as he listened to her ragged breathing through the heavy wood and tried to put on a smile she could hear in his words. At least she wasn't sobbing anymore about how she'd gotten someone killed. It was an improvement at least.
"I've closed the shop up early today." His voice sounded hopeful. "I thought," he knew he was reaching here but he couldn't just let her wallow in misery, "maybe we could go for a scoop like we did before you got too old, you know."
He listened intently but couldn't hear anything, not even her sniffles.
"I'll leave you be now. Just know," oh how he longed to have Hyuuga eyes right then, "just know that I'm never too far if you need me, Honeybear."
He'd called her that ever since they picked her up from the orphanage and to the grizzled old warrior she'd always be his little Honeybear. Leaving one last sigh against the painted barrier, the old shinobi that used to terrorize the field of battle with his great mallet turned to the stairs again. Three steps down and he heard the lock to the door click open and a puffy-eyed girl with unspooling hair buns shot out of the room latching onto his thick neck.
It took some time to calm her down enough to talk it through but with enough patience and rocky road ice cream, Raimei was able to get the whole story from her. She'd tried to escape from two high-class nukenin but was captured then traded for their client. The client died and they had to flee Nami, a blurry run she didn't even remember. It was a mess.
Worse was the fact that Tenten blamed herself. If she'd kept her composure, "…as a true kunoichi should!" they might have had the time to take care of the threat. Instead, she blamed herself for blowing it on the first night.
Raimei was never one to sugar coat things. The ice cream was doing plenty of that for them. No, instead he told her she was right. It was her fault for running off with a head full of steam in hostile territory and getting taken as a bargaining chip. It was her fault that old man Tazuna's death, whether he volunteered of not, was all on her.
It was brutal honesty and she needed to hear it.
After the shock landed on her but before she could break down again into unrecoverable hysterics, he also told her that she would have to find a way to deal with the loss and move on. Shinobi don't always save the day. Sometimes clients die despite the efforts of even the elite shinobi. It's a risk we take every time the headband is donned. It's a horrible reality and yes, it will hurt for a while, but you have to press on and learn from your mistakes.
"The good guys don't always win, baby girl. The difference is that we don't stop trying." Smiling around a mouthful of chocolate and marshmallows, they touched foreheads and spent the rest of the day reworking her opponents from the island looking for weakness "just in case."
~III~
A little over five hours later, Team Hebi reached the coast just south of Coral Village. The morning sun was just beginning to brighten the horizon. It would be another hour or so before the morning's panoply could shoot across the sky's canvass and the village was only beginning to stir with its early-rising fishermen.
Instead of turning northward and into the village proper, Hebi sharply turned right and streaked along the sandy coastline, her sandals churning up very little sediment leaving minute impressions wherever her feet trod. Her initiates immediately bogged down as they attempted to maintain her murderous pace.
With the briefest of glances, she chuckled then began to pull away from them.
Naruto scoffed at her callousness. This was brutal even for Anko.
Grasping for something, anything to solve the quandary, Naruto began waterwalking trying to spread out his chakra in flat planes to sustain his weight. It was dangerously inefficient and, to anyone else without his reserves, most likely lethal when already exhausted. To his surprise, it immediately alleviated about eighty percent of his issue. It wasn't sandwalking per se, but it did give him back most of his mobility.
Glancing back at his teammates as he shot by them, he noticed Zero-One-Three hopping in short bursts of ten meters or so. He would tire eventually but it doubled his movement speed and allowed him to keep Hebi in sight. Ino was burning through whatever chakra from his gift she had left in vain as her knees kept pistoning madly, the force driving her limbs into the soft sand most of the way up her shins.
Naruto sighed silently then swooped in grabbing her right wrist in his right palm and her left wrist in his left. Lifting upwards as firmly but as gently as he could, he plucked her from the sand like a child's shovel stepping under her arms and draping them over his shoulders and across his chest. She goggled and sputtered but didn't yell in outrage.
He was never gladder for the gag rule during this mission and could almost feel the heat of her blush underneath the hooded mask on her face.
Pushing more chakra to his feet to compensate for her added weight and gear, he released her arms to grab hold of her thighs (another sputter combined with a quick intake of air and her hands clutching at his cloak) before shooting off after the other two. He tried to ignore the feel of her legs wrapped around his waist focusing instead on breathing and chakra flow. Catching sight of their other teammate ducking into a hollowed-out section of rocky cliff, he shot in immediately afterward releasing his hold (reluctantly) on Ino's curvy limbs.
"You're going to want to work on your pitiful skills IF you get picked up, Eight-Seven-Seven. Can't rely on your teammates to rescue you all the time." The sour team lead turned to walk farther into the maze of carved out stone not looking back but expecting them to follow all the same.
When she'd gone in far enough to hang a quick left, her gloved palm brushed against the ANBU swirl engraved in the wall of a particularly small section of the cave.
"Welcome to your first ANBU Travel Cache. There are dozens of these strategically located around Hi no Kuni, and perhaps a few in other nations. If you three ever make the cut, you just might learn where some others are squirreled away at." She pushed chakra into the symbol releasing a supply store of water skins and dry rations.
"Watch rotation is me first, while you guys scarf down some grub, followed by the Gimp, Trip-Six, then Bunny-boy." Naruto swore Zero-One-Three growled, but it was too low to hear even with his hearing.
"Normally the watch rotation would shift so that enemies don't use your watch pattern as a weakness against your team but you," she thumped a finger square into the middle of Ino's armor plated chest, "need to build up some spunk. It's not fair that Trip here gets stuck with the crap watch because you're in no condition to fight after a short run. Get some sleep after your watch then get it in gear, Princess."
Oh, if she only knew how appropriate that nickname was since the girl's father called her that almost religiously. Still, she'd come a long way since taking her training a bit more seriously. Perhaps Shika could help him tailor something for her to help her the rest of the way.
The three of them sized up the small cavern and picked a corner of it to claim as their own while the perpetually-angry snake stalked off to watch the entrance. It was big enough for six to rest out of sight of the beach provided no one lit a fire.
~III~
Anko's stomping gate smoothed out into her normal silken glide once she turned the corner. She stopped just inside a nook near the entrance and leaned against the wall, her eyes taking in the soothing waves of the shore.
Her orders were simple. Push them to see how much they could take but don't break them. If at all possible, make them complete the mission that, in all honesty, she could do herself. They needed to know what the kids were capable of. ANBU leadership needed to know if they had what it took to make the cut.
As she churned her task over in her mind, her thoughts drifted back to the three youths. Their identities had intentionally been kept from her but the one she called Trip-Six seemed familiar. His mannerisms sparked something in the back of her mind, but the concept slipped away every time she reached for it. It wasn't like with Zero-One-Three. Everything about him screamed "whiny brat" to her and she hoped to hell he ate a paper bomb in their first scrap. She didn't like him and that meant automatic lack of trust.
"You know I could have finished this up already and been halfway home by now."
A familiar mask faded into view next to her, the fully-encased leader of the ANBU Division folding their armored arms across their chest somewhere inside that voluminous cloak.
"Whaddya think, Commander?"
The voice modulator made the Commander's voice so garbled she had to listen to make out anything, but years of practice helped.
"I think you need to focus on the task at hand. You will have your hands full with the arrogant one so be extra sure to not let them die from their own stupidity." The Commander began to fade out again but Anko's sharp intake of air stopped them.
"Yes, Hebi?" The hardcase ANBU assassin swallowed hard before answering.
"I did what you asked." The shrouded figure turned their head to stare at the clearly uncomfortable kunoichi for several torturous minutes.
"Yes, yes you did." It turned away almost immediately, their body fading once again into the dark lines of the seaside cavern, as their mechanical voice bounced back to her through the cave's weird acoustics. "However, you are not free yet, Anko-chan. Not quite yet."
No one could see the tear sliding down the snake ANBU's left cheek under her mask. Silently, she turned back to the soothing sounds of the coastline and cursed the angry decisions of her youth.
~III~
[Thank you.]
Naruto glanced up at the still huffing Yamanaka, signed a quick [Welcome] back to her, then held up his fist for another fist bump, which she happily returned. When he pushed just a touch more chakra into her exhausted body, the girl nearly moaned out loud in pleasure, her knees buckling ever so slightly.
She couldn't see him smiling under his mask as he watched her breathing even out. Deciding to let her reaction slide, he got set up to sleep first. Naruto could eat when he got up for watch without the fear of being found out. Settling down in his corner patch, he placed his back against the wall and tilted his head forward to rest chin-to-chest. Sleep took him almost immediately.
"We need to talk about the company you keep." Naruto smiled as his eyes opened, his head coming up to meet the gaze of what appeared to be an annoyed fifty-foot fox.
"Since when do you care about the company I keep?" Naruto strode to one side of the dark cavern that reflected his mindscape and stared thoughtfully at the bleak décor.
"Since it starts impacting my already miserable quality of life. I don't have a great deal of room and maggots like you want to start renting out my oh-so-cushy loft. I am not a fan." Naruto grinned even as he cocked his head in the direction of the angry bijuu.
"Maggot? Did I get promoted from meatsack and missed the notification scroll?" The snarky chakra entity spun ninety degrees in its cage before thumping down in the wet chamber with its furry back facing the smirking blond.
"You don't think I'd neglect you, do you?" He could see the large entity's head raise up with a huff.
"You've done so quite handily over the last fifteen years. Why stop now?"
Naruto tsked softly then closed his eyes to better concentrate. Changes came small at first, as changes often do, but they began to pick up steam as he grew used to the mechanics of altering his mindspace.
"I'm not fifteen yet. Still have until Thursday." He wrinkled his brow up in concentration.
The first thing to change was the general walkway leading up to the cage. A strip of the ground an arm's length in width appeared, the hard stone compacting violently downward to form a rectangular trench leading away down the corridor to a pool Naruto remembered from his earlier visits. Inside the cage, the trench split off into two directions following just inside the bars as it collected water to run it off into the new irrigation system. A second trench broke off to feed through the sluice gate off to the side. Inside the cage, Kyuubi's body rose as the floor bowed near the middle causing the murky water to run down into the trenches and away from the cranky fox leaving him elevated on a dry patch.
At this point, the fox spun back around to watch what was going on.
The room outside the cage expanded both outward and upwards, the walls lightening from a dingy charcoal grey color to a rich blue the color of midnight. White crystals sprouted along the edge of the room and began pulsing softly with whitish blue, soft pink and pearl hues giving a soothing atmosphere to the chamber.
"What are you doing anyway?" Naruto glanced back to see the fox's head tilted in curiosity. It was almost cute.
"I'm making room for a new guest." The disgusted "Pah!" made him chuckle just a bit. Turning back to the left side of the room, the wall starting about two meters above the floor receded backward enough to make a shelf, the left side of the massive slab or dark blue stone gently curling downwards to form a ramp. At the very top, a bowl of the same material formed large enough to hold Opal, the inside filling with a soft-pink feather-stuffed cushion.
Naruto stepped immediately to the right and created another bowl without the giant pillow just below that shelf and to the right. Above it, the head of an Umihebi emerged from the wall face and the stone creation opened its jaws wide. Steaming water poured out to fill the bowl until a smaller spout on the side of the bowl began trickling out into a circular pool directly below it. That water trickled out to a larger pool a few meters from the roost, the level filling up to the edge but never overflowing no matter how much water trickled in to it.
"Ugh… lizards!" Naruto snorted but then swayed a bit where he was standing. Glancing up into the crystallized roof, he smiled and vanished from the room.
Behind his mask Naruto opened his eyes to look into the facemask of Eight-Seven-Seven only inches from his own, her hand gently shaking his shoulder. Lifting his head, he rose from his lotus and gave her a "thumbs up" before traipsing off to stand his watch.
~III~
Ebisu stepped out of the public baths wrapped in a towel and feeling refreshed. He always felt newly purged of the lingering filth coating the city with that monstrosity running amok. One could never be too careful after all.
Entering the locker room, the elite instructor paused as two vest-clad shinobi appeared barring his path. He didn't need to turn around in order to detect the two behind him.
"Can I help you?" Outward, Ebisu was projecting undisturbed calm. Inside he was frantically trying to devise an escape, his mind generating and discarding dozens of scenarios. This much attention could only mean that he'd been found out and that bode ill indeed. As a strong proponent for the core basics of shinobi philosophy and protocols, he tried to vary his daily routine as much as possible despite his one true weakness being the public baths.
He enjoyed a soak in the onsen, the cleansing power of the steaming water a balm to his daily frustrations and that weakness had led to this moment. He was blocked off from his locker and surround by several Special Jounin from the T&I capture squad wearing only a towel.
'Damn you, demon brat!' He had started his onsen habit once a week at the behest of an acquaintance in the The Brigade, someone with both a strong mutual hatred of the beast and a strong love for the older traditions. Ritualistic cleansing in the hot springs was said to be good for the spirit and inner harmony, beliefs that had contributed to his now thrice a week habit of soaking in forty-degree Celsius carbon dioxide water.
Ebisu shook his head sadly giving the impression that he was disturbed by the event. He was merely jogging loose his mental review of hot spring benefits, something he could delve into further when he was free of his current predicament. His thoughts were further interrupted when a bundle of garments hit the floor at his feet.
"We've taken the liberty of gathering your things for you and removing any 'pesky' items that may cause you injury. Please dress yourself as we can't have you traumatizing women in the village walking about in only a towel, now can we?" His voice was too relaxed, almost emotionless and it sent a chill up Ebisu's spine.
Ebisu was further affronted at the insinuation but dressed all the same. He took excellent care of his body and was considered handsome by some. Aside from the rude behavior, this presented him with another problem to solve. No doubt they'd combed through his belonging and taken all of his weapons even the... Yes, they found the hidden lock picks in his bandana. 'Curse them!'
Before he knew it, the proper instructor was being paraded through the heart of town enroute to Hokage Tower.
"That should do it," this voice coming over his left shoulder.
Without another word, his four escorts turned off the main drag a few blocks shy of their destination. The two behind him stopping near the entrance of the alley as the two in front maneuvered to keep him in view. Shocked at their odd behavior he froze for a second only to receive a sandaled foot in the back as he stumbled to regain his footing.
"So, I'm to be murdered like some dog in the streets?" Silence was his only answer as they moved further into the darkened dead-end strip. Ebisu's mind was racing, and he took several deep breaths to try and still his thoughts. He would need calm to come out of this alive. Perhaps he could overpower one and take his-?
A bundled parcel struck the ground next to his foot. He saw his weapons enfolded neatly among a cloak and backpack. He turned back to view his "captors" with no small amount of suspicion from behind his trademark sunglasses.
"We will delay our report of your escape for one hour, no more. Through that dumpster is a Root escape tunnel that will provide you safe conduct from Konoha. I suggest you stay well clear until our master's ally is prepared to make his return." Ebisu's eyes widened here as he had no desire to learn what any of that meant. Too many secrets made one expendable all to often for his liking.
His eyes grew bigger when one of his escorts calmly drew a kunai while his partner turned and casually struck the armed man in the face. Then the striker turned around presenting his back to the kunai-wielding shinobi who promptly implanted the weapon into his partner's back in a non-vital area.
Ebisu scooped up his belongs and fled for the dumpster with all the speed he could muster. He'd just been made a nukenin and had no desire to pay a visit to Ibiki knowing that he'd never survive long enough to meet the man.
Anyone inspiring that type of emotionless loyalty was not a person he wanted to meet with, nor anger.
~III~
Bathroom breaks and breakfast were wrapped up in the early evening while Hebi summarized the day's priorities. Pulling out a crudely hand-drawn map of the main island, their temporary squad leader highlighted several target areas of interest.
"Gimp, check out Tazuna's house. I either need proof of life or proof of vacancy. If it's abandoned, it just became our base of operations." Her finger tapped a circled location near the southwestern edge of the island and the mostly-refreshed Genin bobbed her head once in acknowledgement.
"Bunny, you get the village. We need hard INTEL on the number of Gato's goons still lurking around there, if there are identifiable patrols, access points, egress points, potential bolt holes, the whole kit and caboodle. Got me?" The silent figure nodded sharply. His mask was still focused on the larger map as he took in every detail he could.
"Trip-Six, you drew the shit straw again. Sorry little buddy." Naruto's eyes flicked up to find her eyes behind the mask and he withheld a groan. He knew that twinkle in her chocolate browns and she wasn't sorry at all. He looked back to the map as her finger swept everything around the business sector where she believed Gato was holed up.
"You get to search the business and administrative buildings here as well as the surrounding countryside. Troop strength, key nukenin or ronin still hanging around, points of access, Gato's location, anything and everything we need to storm the place tomorrow night." He nodded even as his heart sunk. Even with no scale to go by, it still sounded like a square mile of RECON.
It was going to be a long night.
"Our join-up spot is here," she hissed tapping a small lake halfway between the Naruto's assignment and Tazuna's house. "We will assess INTEL and plan our strike. You have until two in the morning to get the job done." Her mask swept all three listeners.
"One shot to get it right campers. Don't screw up and don't die!" She rose and rolled the scroll up before stashing it.
"If what I saw coming down here is true, Trip you're the only one that knows the water walking exercise even if you haven't perfected it yet." It wasn't spoken like a question, but she was looking for confirmation. He stroked his thumb along the left side of his jawline.
"Good. You are responsible for getting Gimp across and I'll take Bunny with me. Mount up and let's get going."
Eight-Seven-Seven stepped behind Six-Six-Six as he squatted down. With him not bringing a backpack, hanging on was a simple process barring the tanto sticking up between her armored breast covers. Ino tried not to think about that image or the way the sheath rubbed between her thighs as her arms wrapped around his broad shoulders. Despite her best efforts to picture Naruto's face, this hunky shinobi underneath her was making her heart race.
'Focus damnit! Mission first, boy catching can wait!' That lasted until he rose smoothly, and her calves locked in front of his waist.
Both Ino and Naruto turned to see Zero-One-Three waving his arms angrily and slapping his forearm guards together in the academy sign for [Negative] over and over again. Hebi merely laughed at the repeating pinging from the metal covers.
"I never said I was giving you a free ride so you can get your jollies off on me, cockroach!" One of her hands shot out and grabbed him by the cloak. He almost shrieked as the much larger and stronger ANBU agent jerked him off his feet and shot out over the water, Zero-One-Three's legs waving in the air like a trailing flag.
Naruto shook his head once before he began channeling chakra to his feet. Testing the water's surface to make sure he could hold the extra weight, he started off at a slow trot gradually increasing his pace as he grew more comfortable with her on his back. He discovered that it was easier to run than to walk as his feet required less contact with the water's surface, which meant he had to channel less chakra to stabilize his body. Soon he was streaking along matching Hebi's pace as they sprinted across the strait between Nami and Hi no Kuni.
~III~
With everyone on dry land (and Zero-One-Three recovered from his parasailing experience), Hebi cut them loose to start their respective reconnaissance missions. The three probationers leaped away in shadowy blurs.
~ [29877] ~
Their landing left her very close to her target location. Three hundred yards or more led her to the underside of the stilted multi-level home, a small dock running up the far side and to the front door. It looked peaceful enough until she heard heavy footsteps thumping along the wooden path leading to the family pier. Slipping up underneath the home, she jammed her body into the crease between the underside of the house and the sandy earth beneath it. With a hand on a kunai hilt, she waited and listened in on a highly aggravated conversation.
"C'mon, you gotta be sick of this crap too!" It was a pair of thugs in mismatched leather clothing.
"Not much we can do about it until they find the daughter and her son. They might come back so we wait. Gato's orders." The speaker was middle-aged and scruffy looking. His partner wasn't much younger, but his striped battle robe looked about two sizes too small.
'Good for her to get away!' Ino fought the urge to pump a fist at the small victory but her celebration was cut short by the continued whining of the first thug.
"We could be hanging out in the brothel with a bottle each. They're not gonna come back with us lurking around." He got a devious look in his eye. "Hey! Hey, if we disappear for a few days and then return, they might come back so we can catch them!" The older partner seemed to consider the argument for a minute before conceding the point with a brief head nod.
As he turned away from the water and plod along back up the walkway, his suddenly cheerful friend slapped him on the back in victory as they headed off to town.
She counted to thirty before moving around to the other side of the home and leaping up to the second-floor overhang. Slipping inside one of the many broken windows, she sighed quietly at the destruction. Even worse was that it wasn't limited to a few rooms of the house. There was damage everywhere, the worst of it on the ground floor as seen by the trashed kitchen and living room. Anything of value had already been claimed.
Ino cleared the ground floor then headed back upstairs to make sure there weren't dead bodies or prisoners lurking in a bedroom.
"Oi! Whoever you are, you should just come out now and save us all a bit of trouble!" She froze having just rounded the corner at the top of the stairs. The voice reminded her of the pair she'd seen earlier. She could just hear the whiny one snickering down below.
"Nice plan! We catch us one of them Leaf shinobi and we've got it made! Gato might let us back into the fold for real with Zabuza gone." His teammate shushed him so he could listen.
"No sense running. I got your scent now and can track you anywhere on this island." Something about the way he said "scent" made her shiver as her grip tightened on the kunai handle in her right hand.
~ [29013] ~
He was free of that horrible lot. Finally, he'd get to prove himself without having to worry about those failures trailing behind him all the time. Let that "Six" guy the snake bitch was cooing about take care of the weak female. He had a mission to accomplish.
He sighed happily and worked his jaw underneath the mask. 'Ugh! How come no one ever talks about how bad your breath can get under one of these things?' He was looking forward to a good toothbrushing just as soon as he could take the damnable thing off.
Traveling through the trees made short work of the distance to his target area, his mind cataloging the terrain and the distinct lack of people leading up to the village proper. Every farm he passed was dark and deserted. The whole island felt abandoned.
Altering his course to the north, Zero-One-Three landed on the unfinished bridge giving him enough height to see down into the heart of the village. Below him lay the discarded tools of the long-absent construction workers. In several spots, he could see freshly added stains of blood where bodies had fallen. Without the bridge builder, there was little chance of this thing ever being done.
Looking down the street from his perch, he saw plenty of Gato's men staggering about. Some traveled in pairs in the direction of a hastily-built building glaring with gaudy strings of light and poorly-played shamisen music. Those not traveling with other bandits had women of various ages cowering beneath their arms in obvious terror.
It appeared that the three shinobi vices were in full swing here.
Leaping back into the trees, he worked his way around the village center grabbing a hasty count not bothering to travel into the obvious brothel. There were maybe fifty men staggering from building to building, nothing his team couldn't handle even with the failure of a girl on it.
He chuckled out loud this time. Even with her poor skills, she was better than the girls from his academy. Maybe he could help her a little and become her "hero."
"Yeah, she might do," he grunted out loud.
It didn't matter to him that he'd spoken since there wasn't anyone around to catch it. He chuckled one last time before landing on a thick branch to get a closer look at something that caught his eyes.
Standing in front of a run-down shack two houses back from the main road was a figure in grey robes sporting a dark grey hakama. Slung into the left side of his obi were two sword handles, his hair in the unmistakable cut of a samurai.
Zero-One-Three lingered for about an hour before another person wandered into the picture. With a quick bow to the robed woman, the lean figure pulled aside a cloth hung over the door to allow her entry. Ten minutes later, she emerged with the help of another identically-dressed male before scurrying off in the direction she'd come from.
"Any change?" the first ronin inquired. A sad shake of the head came back amid the new person's cracking back, his stretch drawing out his pleased groan.
"No, the fever has broken some but persists. The old woman claims tomorrow for sure." The first ronin grunted but if it was a positive, negative or just an observation Zero-One-Three could not tell.
"Tomorrow it is then." The first guard nodded to his partner before stepping inside the hut. The newcomer took up his spot and stared lazily about, his eyes taking in the dark corners and cubbies of the poor neighborhood.
One he would try by himself but there was no guarantee that two ronin would play by the rules. Zero-One-Three slowly backed away from the area before heading off into the night. Two streets over he came across the first ronin no longer hidden inside the small hut but standing proudly in the street with one hand on the hilt of his katana.
He cursed softly. The guy must have snuck out the back of the hut and circled around.
"Did you think we couldn't sense some shinobi rat like you skulking about?" Zero-One-Three slid quietly out of the tree and landed ten paces or so from the smirking sword wielder. Lifting one hand to casually draw the tanto slid sideways into this sash, the silent shinobi slid his feet apart and prepared to do battle.
The ronin's thumb slid the crossguard of his blade forward two inches easing the weapon in its sheath. It was going to be a good night after all.
~ [29666] ~
Naruto's trip to the far side of town went off without a hitch. There weren't many people out and about late at night, so he had the run of the area.
Once the main section of the village was behind him, the jinchuuriki gently swung back around to the business district his feet stopping a hundred meters from the main road. Taking stock, this was the only section of town with any lights on.
The entire block had been confiscated. Armed patrols were spread out wandering aimlessly, most fisting bottles of wine or sake. There were a few glancing about nervously but their numbers dwindled as more and more alcohol flowed. Something was bothering them. Those that weren't chasing booze were chasing whatever woman they could find; bandit or civilian was irrelevant.
He wanted to rage at their debauchery.
He wanted to howl at their villainy.
He wanted to sigh because he couldn't say a damn word or do any of the above. Stealth was the whole name of the game.
Without seals or words, four clones shimmered into view dressed the same way. [Forest, West Quarter, North Quarter, East Quarter. Zero body count. Go!] The four clones vanished.
Naruto jumped off from his perch and paralleled the one and two-story stone buildings of the business district until he could find one close enough to suit his purposes. Dropping down to a thicker branch, he used another silent jutsu, a henge, changing his appearance into a large alley cat with dark fur. He had to pause for a moment as his vision swam momentarily. The initial change was always chakra intensive and to become such a small animal took enormous amounts of chakra. Once the change was made, maintaining the henge was easy.
Swiftly moving from the branch to the roof below it, he wound his way among the closely situated buildings thinking how poor this Gato's security was. All of his guards were on the ground either too drunk or distracted to care.
Using his keen senses, He moved about from rooftop to rooftop until he located the tallest building in the cluster, a three-story one with a signpost out front proclaiming the Mayor's office. It was a simple matter to get close enough to peer into one of the upper story windows and see the orange-haired monstrosity responsible for all the pain and suffering.
Apparently, he was celebrating his total victory. Turning away from the window, he set about trying to get an accurate headcount of the mercenaries standing between their group and the target. Since there were no walls to impede their approach, the hardest part would be avoiding detection.
He glanced back down to the street and sniffed in disgust. Another hour or so and even that wouldn't be a problem.
He'd swung around half of the business compound when his body jerked taught as the memories from one of his clones rushed back to him. 'Wounded shinobi; senbon; cave in the deep woods; trapped mother and son matching Aono family description.'
He bolted from the sturdy stone structures and dashed into the treeline, his henge abandoned the moment he was clear. By the time he'd followed the clone's expanding search path to the cave's entrance he'd been joined by his three remaining clones.
Barely standing upright at the entrance of the cavern was a masked shinobi in a torn and bloody battle robe. Long and bedraggled hair framed a Kiri hunter-nin face mask. In one hand the figure shakily held a bloody and chipped kunai. In the other were three senbon knuckled in a very bloody and trembling fist.
Below their fist was a growing pool of red liquid.
Taking a deep breath, Naruto raised his hands with fingers spread wide and began slowly stepping forward to indicate himself as non-threatening. The injured shinobi wasn't buying it unfortunately and the bleeding hand clutching senbon weakly came up across their chest.
"You… shall not… take them," came the weak threat.
For the first time, Naruto cursed the "no speaking" rule and figured this was going to have to go the hard way. Four copies of Two-Nine-Six-Six-Six darted forward as the shinobi's bloody hand flicked out with as much strength as they had left.
~III~
Omake: Just Between Us Kunoichi
Ino Yamanaka strolled with purpose across the business quarter. Everywhere about her folks were opening cart stands or store fronts and small children were running around chasing one another and giggling like banshees. For some reason, her feet stopped carrying her along as she watched the tiny ones playing shinobi or samurai as was their wont.
It was pleasant to watch but having a child wasn't on her priority list at the moment. When Sasuke was the dream to chase, the thought of helping rebuild the Uchiha Clan was always at the top of the list but that was his dream. She had another focus now and helping him reach his goal meant that a family would have to wait.
You can't have a family with a dead guy and a poor ANBU soldier often ended up dead. She'd need to make sure he was the best out there, untouchable. Perhaps he'd help her reach her goal in the bargain. A family could be a reachable goal after that.
The smells of the market quarter broke her out of her daze, one particular smell she was searching for to make her peace offering. A short detour later and she was headed across to the training grounds, and carefully boxed present gently gripped in her immaculate fingers.
This needed to go well. She needed to not make an enemy this morning no matter how difficult the conversation was going to be.
She took a whiff as she walked. Against her now normally healthy eating regimen, the lure of sweets hit her more often than not and she could afford to…
No! She needed these for something else. Maybe she'd get one on the way home.
The streets thinned out to lined paths through the parks. Soon enough those gave way to marked training fields, the vast majority of which encircled the village and extended far beyond the walls of her home. Before she wanted to accept it, Training Area Eight came into view and Ino spied Team Eight going through their sparring matches. She took a moment to watch them work, her inner analyst coming to the forefront as Ino started dissecting their styles.
Shino was methodical, the picture of conserved effort. No wasted motion in defense, no wasted breath as he sidestepped or Substituted out of range. His interplay with his kikaichuu swarm made her skin crawl. 'How did that not hurt?'
Kiba on the other hand was all over the place. Either he had phenomenal endurance of abysmal self-control. She got her answer once he popped a soldier pill and flicked one to his dog, Akamaru, who went from snowy white to scarlet in his shaggy coat of fur. She rolled her eyes then looked over at her mark for the morning, the Hyuuga heiress.
Ino was already intimately familiar with the girl's Gentle Fist. Four years of spars in the academy tends to make you very familiar with the girl responsible for every bruise you went home with during your zero wins against her family's martial arts. Those hits stung and she was annoyingly fast.
Right now, those eerie blank eyes were eyeing her curiously as their sensei, Kurenai, stepped away to referee the two boys trying to kill each other. In all honesty, Kiba was trying to kill Shino and failing horribly but things were getting a bit out of control as the dog-nin drilled his way through another tree.
Ino stepped away from the treeline and held up the box for her newest frenemy to take.
"Can I help you, Ino-san?" The girl looked puzzled. That was good. She needed to keep her off solid ground and escape before the fingers could start flying.
"No, Hinata-san. I just wanted to make an offering of peace." The bluenette's head cocked to the side even as her nostrils flared. She could smell what was in the box and her smile seemed sincere.
"I was not aware that we were at war. Are we?" Ino's smile was small and sad at the same time.
"No, but I'm afraid we will be when I tell you what I came to say." Ino's hands were trying to find something to latch on to. Kami, she felt idiotic doing this over a boy that hardly spoke to her. She felt worse when the Hyuuga's smile grew a bit wider.
"You've fallen for him." It wasn't a question. She knew.
"I'm going to take him and make him mine." Her brave front was the only thing keeping her from turning into a blushing moron.
"Good luck with that." Ino was trying to decipher where the stuttering fool was since she could find no trace in Konoha's ranking royalty. She sounded too confident for her own good and it unnerved Ino just a bit. Was she really that far behind?
Turning around and walking calmly from the training field, her mind worked over her current standing with a certain blond-haired, blue-eyed Genin.
~III~
A very pleased Hinata sat down and gently pried up the taped sides of her morning's victory feast. That first tender bite was going to go down so sweetly knowing that her greatest opponent for Naruto's love was-."
Her eyes bulged as her Byakugan flared frightening her teammates just as they were walking over to ask her what their conversation was about. As wave after wave of killing intent rolled off her petite frame, Hinata's head snapped upwards to some unseen enemy and she roared out her rival's name officially acknowledging their war.
"IIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" When her eyes snapped back to the open box, all she could see was the empty spot where the first cinnamon roll was missing.
Hinata's entire team stepped backwards to make sure they were out of Jyuken range.
~III~
Halfway through the Market District of Konoha, men, women, and children all paused and the inhuman howl of rage brought everything to a sudden stop. With a devious smirk on her face, Ino Yamanaka kept walking towards her family compound.
First blood had been drawn.
~III~