No More Chapter 33, a naruto fanfic

A/N: A quick apology for the delay in posting after so long. Life has been keeping me busy and this chapter was a bear to clean up. Also, the fact that my third project (after cleaning up and reposting Nature of the Beast) has already begun distracting me. I shall attempt to resist the urge...

Fair warning, this chapter has a lot of perspective changes; there is a lot of activity to warrant it. I've tried something new in clearly breaking out the POV shift rather than letting my readers figure it out on the fly. Let me know what you think.

In any event, this is the wrap-up of the Hanikamu mission and we shift fully into the Chunin Exam Arc (finally) with the Kusa escort. This should tie in a lot of the threads that seem to frustrate people so much, muahahahahahaha- *cough* - Ack!... ahem.

So, without further delay, enjoy as you will.

~Siva'a-tasi

~III~

Chapter 33: Good Riddance to Bad... Fashion?

~ Previously on No More ~

Naruto began searching behind the counter while Shikamaru squatted down in a corner to assume his thinking pose, his eyes raking over every other corner of the small store.

The cover was too thorough, too detailed. Shikamaru was beginning to think the papermaker hadn't started out as a spy and said as much. This, of course, painted a very dishonorable picture of the glorious Toad Sage as the three figured the meek paper maker might have been pushed into the spy business by the bullying Sannin and now the poor fellow might be paying the price for such a decision.

Too bad any further musing was cut off by the sound of the front door opening, the chime of its bell drawing attention to the four figures stepping inside to block the front entrance. Three unhappy minds latched onto the same thought.

'Troublesome.'

~III~

~ Konohagakure No Sato, Hokage Tower ~

~III~

There was a different sort of excitement running through Team Seven as they strode purposely through the Trade District of Konoha. Anyone could see it and many of the citizens took note as the Mighty Uchiha led his team in a beeline for the Tower of their leader. Backs were straighter. Their shoulders held back, even with the pink-haired maiden hoping to bear the future of their mighty Uchiha into glory. Many took note and greeted the future of Konoha.

Kakashi wasn't happy about it. Oh, he saw the civilians waving politely and bowing to the pompous teen strolling along without a care in the world and it only proved to further crease his brow. The fact that Sakura continued to dote on the arrogant ass only seemed all the more confusing; hadn't she toned down her infatuation? He could have sworn her face crinkled up in concern at some of his earlier behavior but that had apparently passed like a mild breeze.

It was disappointing, to say the least. He'd hoped for so much more out of her.

She'd made some progress in skill with both Iryo and Genjutsu if nothing else. She still refused to exercise under the foolish belief that either Sasuke or the kindhearted Choji would save her from her own folly. Despite the appearance of his eyes on the small shelter of orange in his hand, his exposed eye furrowed in disapproval.

Many a kunoichi had been broken and sold into slavery following those beliefs and he needed to rectify that somehow. He knew Sasuke didn't care for what he deemed "a useless fangirl" so that would leave the gentle giant from the Akimichi. Choji was strong, but he couldn't fight off everyone for her and she needed to carry her own weight.

He filed those plans away, however, at the first real notice of the tower looming ahead. Team Seven's chance to redeem themselves was at hand.

A brief nod to the sentries outside, a quick jaunt up the stairs to the receptionist desk sitting outside the heavy double doors of his domicile and there was no turning back now.

"Ah, Kakashi-san! Is it time already?"

He lowered his book far enough to eye-smile at the swooning woman behind the desk. It was old news but he played along; he refused to let another one get close to him, something usually made easier by the small orange shield he kept in his hand. 'Oh, well.'

"Hai!" Her name escaped him at the moment. "Please let Hokage-sama know that we are prepared."

She flushed pink briefly but stabbed the intercom with a finger, her eyes never leaving his lean figure. A moment later and the entire team was standing before the old man's desk, his (in)famous student nearly vibrating with excitement.

Their last, slash that, first C-rank had ended the worst possible way. The mission escalated, a comrade had been captured, and that led to the death of the client followed by their near-death in trying to escape a cunning trap. To add further insult to injury, the "Mighty Uchiha" as the Council referred to him, some in mockery, had failed in his attempt to both join ANBU (At the political conniving of the Civilian Council) and clean up his mission mess citing his teammates would only hold him back.

How the Council pulled that kind of leverage to get the boy an invitation still boggled the elite Jounin. it was unheard of; the ANBU chose their own. It was sacrosanct and none (that he knew of) approved of the spoiled heir so that meant he had inside support from someone. There were plenty of clan members in the elite force and it only took a recommendation supported by two other members to get an invitation. That meant the ANBU had a disease festering amongst their ranks.

That would have to be another problem for another time. He forcefully turned his attention back to the smiling Hokage motioning for Iruka to begin the mission brief.

"Greetings Team Seven," he began as two figures phased into view followed by a third literally sprouting from the wooden floor like a human plant. Tora, the tiger-faced ANBU elite, merely nodded to the silver-haired Jounin teacher, who promptly put away his porn much to the surprise of everyone save the Hokage.

"Are you ready for this?" the teacher questioned.

An arrogant grunt was the only response as the rest of the team learned early on not to take Sasuke's spotlight.

"Words, Sasuke, are important when addressing a superior," the cyclops admonished. "Iruka is still a Chunin and your senior so show the proper respect at all times."

That comment earned a thankful nod from the scarred mission briefer.

*Sigh* "Team Seven is ready to proceed," the Genin barked out. Kakashi refrained from smacking the back of his head as a result but did take note of the Hokage's disapproving frown.

"Yes, in any event, your mission is to report to the Kusa-Konoha border. At the checkpoint indicated on the map, you will rendezvous with two Kusa Genin teams and their Jounin instructors. From then on, you will escort them back to Konoha for the upcoming Chunin Exams bringing honor to Konoha." Iruka seemed to smile at the disgruntled face on the Uchiha before continuing.

"This at least is the public face of your mission," he teased even as he motioned towards the Tiger masked ANBU standing next to their sensei.

Sasuke's eyebrow twitched upwards.

"Your mission is a cover. Your team will be assisted by Team Tora, whose mission is to eliminate one of the Kusa Genin squads. Your job will be to obstruct the efforts of the second Genin squad in preventing the real mission, which will be executed by Team Asuma." The academy instructor began to pass out photos of a red-haired female with squared black frames on her face.

"Team Asuma will be extracting this female from the second Genin Squad and bringing her to Konoha. Team Tora will be impersonating an Iwa Assault and Capture team bent on taking the same target. In the confusion, you will delay what remains of the target's Genin team, should they attempt to save the girl, and assist Team Tora in dealing with the remaining Kusa shinobi."

By this point, Sasuke's eerie grin had returned.

"Kakashi, you will be the outward leader of the mission. In reality, you will defer to Tora, the ANBU Captain." Kakashi and the Tiger ANBU nodded to each other. It would be like old times.

Sakura tentatively raised her right hand.

"Yes? You have a question Sakura?" Iruka tried not to grimace at her default back to academy protocols.

"Iruka-sensei, shouldn't Naruto and his team be here for this brief?"

The question made sense actually but several were more shocked by the lack of her usual "Baka" suffix.

"Maa, Sakura-chan, Team Asuma is currently on an important retrieval mission and will meet us a day out from the checkpoint to confirm the plan." That seemed to mollify both Sakura and Choji who'd opted to listen during the briefing. Since their last C-Rank, the pleasantly plump boy had gotten serious about his training turning most of his extra padding into thick muscle, along with picking up a healthy dose of Doton jutsu to augment his fighting style. Instead of an endless supply of chip bags, he'd swapped to slightly less horrible protein bars, his hands subconsciously unwrapping one to snack on as he processed the mission package.

It didn't hurt that the boy had become deadly with his elemental affinity, his lessons fueled by his family out of sight of the untrustworthy Uchiha, the same Uchiha now grinding his teeth in frustration over the former dead last getting further and further ahead of him.

~III~

~ Hanikamu Trading Post (later that night) ~

~III~

The night air was fairly typical for summertime in the Land of Fire as Asuma's walking stick tapped rhythmically along his puttering path. Walking as the stooped vintner was a necessary pain until he reached the haven of their hotel room, so he helped to pass the time with a jaunty tune on his lips.

The night air was cool as the last of the day's heat faded away. The crowded shanties and homes were lit up light Toro Nagashi*, the flickering lights behind shuttered windows reminding him of the festival back in the capital. Pleasant, almost soothing though it was, it did little to ease his concern over the growing pool of crap Team Ten was finding themselves mired in.

Worse yet, the more his team dug into what was going on in this shady little shantytown, the less Asuma liked what they dug up. Kubo was fairly easy to read; he was a control freak from a politically-powerful family and he disliked not being in control. The problem was that he could not control Takagi and that made for a variable the patron could not allow. It did not make him any less culpable in the crapfest brewing to a simmer underneath Konoha's nose.

Though his living arrangements were a bit posh and militarized in architecture, Kubo's business record read as being fair if not a bit cut-throat. Everyone knew exactly where they stood with the stonefaced businessman but he neither gloated nor bandied about boorish behavior. Quite simply it was all beneath him so why would he stoop to kidnapping?

No. Everything in his clan home spoke of Hi no Kuni pride. The plates they ate on, small embossments in the wallpaper of several rooms, small models of the Daimyo's "Will of Fire," his home literally oozed patriotism through its highly-polished rafters. Either he was a very convincing actor (and spy) or Asuma was wasting his time. Still, he needed to rule out one of the powerhouses causing this mess and tonight's effort went a long way. That just left…

His thoughts were interrupted by the tall shinobi landing a half-dozen paces in front of him, his eyes narrowing even as his free hand came up to rest atop the one holding his walking stick. Asuma wasn't the tallest of people but he held his own at little over one hundred and seventy centimeters, tall for a Sarutobi. This nin easily outspanned him by a hand or more with his lanky frame. He didn't appear to pack a lot of muscle so Asuma defaulted to the speedster setting for the guy's skillset. Taking a moment to stretch out his back with an audible groan, he scanned his latest companion for the evening noting the earth-brown slacks covering dark red sandals. There was a holster visible on the man's left thigh, but beyond that, the rolled-up sleeves of his dark-colored button-up didn't reveal much more than a pair of fingerless gloves; no headband, a thin cloth vest, and no other distinctive gear cluttered his whipcord frame.

While this didn't mean much to a shinobi, it screamed speedster to Asuma who wasn't necessarily known for his dazzling speed.

"Takagi-sama wishes to speak with you."

'Kurokuru' grinned and tipped his straw hat to the newcomer. "Please give my regards to Takagi-san. It's been a long day and I need to get back to my youngsters before it gets much later." He tried to be as casual about it as he could, but the guy was kind of blocking the street a bit.

"Oh, don't worry about that," the scarecrow began. "They should be waiting there for us by the time we get there."

Asuma's smile vanished immediately.

"It would be a shame if something… unfortunate… happened before we could get there, now wouldn't it?"

Not knowing whether or not the guy was bluffing, Asuma nodded his head once then shuffled off to following along behind the man he suddenly wanted to gut like a fish.

~III~

Meanwhile, In the Paper Maker's Shop...

"What? No heads up this time, super-Kage?" Shika whispered to his equally disguised teammate.

Naruto shrugged casually. "Sorry, was busy searching," the perturbed male shot back in a strangled hiss.

"Knock it off, guys!" Ino hissed back. "Focus on one problem at a time, will ya?"

Naruto and Shika both nodded then spread out a bit to make room for the newcomers. A quick glance over his shoulder showed Naruto a fifth person making themselves known just past the back door leading to the dye vats just as one of the four standing in the storefront delivered the evil ultimatum.

"Not sure who you lot think you are but you're messing around in Iwa business and that's going to end very badly for you."

Despite the bravado, Naruto noticed none of them wore the stone symbol on their forehead, not even with a nukenin's slash to indicate former affiliation. These guys must have been working undercover near here, so he cavalierly decided they needed a quick poke in the eye, so to speak.

"Iwa has no business in the Land of Fire," the raspy voice of his masked shinobi ground out emphasizing the last word. The evil grin beneath his mask had everything to do with the mousy little shinobi to the far-left shivering as a bolt of fear shot up his spine; Naruto immediately decided that one would become his first victim. The added bonus being that taking him out would open up an avenue of escape for his squad. He was so busy trying to formulate an escape plan he nearly missed the sultry voice commenting in the backdrop of his mind.

'It is not unusual for your kind to stab each other in the back through some petty scheme and then deny their involvement.' Naruto blinked in surprise. 'Humans are always scrabbling to steal from one another in their avarice. It is your way.'

'Not that I'm not happy for the history lesson, Kyuu-chan, but could we do this a little later?'

'…'

'Thanks! You're an angel!' He couldn't know that her thought process had been thrown off by the new nickname and that the powerful bijū was processing the interaction with rapidly blinking eyes. She'd decide later whether or not to maim him for it.

"Plan?" Naruto forced out through gritted teeth.

"Nothing comes to mind right away. Open to suggestions?" the pineapple-haired boy candidly responded with as the four near the front door began to spread out with pointy things gleaming in their hands now.

"Bum rush the single guy and high-tail it?" the sole female offered up.

"Sold to the Kunoichi with the startling blue eyes!" chirped out Naruto as four Kage Bunshin darted forward to intercept their late company, punch knives for close quarters firmly in hand, while she spun and flung the door open ripping off the flimsy locks and chains keeping them from the rear courtyard.

~III~

In the Back Yard of the Paper Maker's Shop...

Doi was mumbling to himself about the poor visibility into the paper maker's store. He could see shadows moving about and hear muffled voices but that was about it. He wasn't expecting much excitement anyway. There were only three of them and Iwakuzure had taken the rest of the squad in with him. What could three no-named shinobi do anyway against Iwa nins? Pfft! Him being in the rear of the shop was just a contingency, a boring back up plan meaning he'd miss all of the excitement this time.

He wasn't happy with it but they all kind of rotated around in the plans like this. It was just the luck of the draw and it was his turn to cover the back exit. Keeping one eye on the rear door, Doi began to idly glance around the large ink vats trying not to wrinkle his nose too much at the bitter aromas leaking through the wooden lids until the sound of thin metal snapping and the rear door flying open with a bang snapped his head around, his hands clumsily flying through hand seals as his eyes locked onto the crouching figure in black cloth streaking towards him with odd-looking kunai in his hands.

The figure lunged and Doi's eyes boggled then clamped shut as he hurriedly spit out his jutsu.

[Doton Doryūsou!] There was a rumble of earth followed by a muffled "WHUMP!" then a "POOF!" Doi's eyes blinked open as he processed the sounds his ears picked up. People didn't normally go "poof" when he used that jutsu; usually they "squished" or made other disgusting bodily noises. He stepped forward slowly, his right hand trying to wave the white cloud of smoke out of the way as he tried to peer through it.

His feet paused as something shot past him to his left side. It was too fast to see properly, barely a shadow followed by a whisper of air, but he spun nonetheless and dropped to a ready stance with a kunai in both hands, his eyes searching the dull night to locate the fleeing target. That was when the piercing pain hit the back of his neck and everything went completely dark.

Ino yanked the blade from the back of the dead nin's skull with barely a pause in her exit, Shika grimacing beneath his henge at the brutal execution of their one obstacle. Behind them both they could hear the invaders cursing and swearing under their breaths as Naruto's clones stabbed and sliced their way through the bunch, enough so that Shika brought the troupe to a halt once all three were clear of the small shop.

"What are you thinking, Shika?" The Nara turned to the copy he thought was Naruto after watching two of his clones mercilessly butcher one of the Iwa nins now fighting for their lives. True Shadow Clones were notoriously weak when it came to taking abuse, however, they were just as skilled as their originator when it came to taijutsu and Naruto was a bukijutsu savant with freakishly good night vision. In a darkened shop at night and in close quarters, the Iwa nins were getting more than they bargained for.

"I'm thinking we should let one 'survive'."

Ino easily connected the dots. "…and then follow them 'home'."

Naruto nodded wordlessly, created another clone, then dispelled it to relay the new plan.

Back inside the shop, Iwakuzure was cursing up a storm. Gou was the cell leader, but he'd just earned the squad leader position after the last one got waxed by a freak Leaf patrol two months prior. He'd be damned if after two years in this forsaken jungle of soggy moisture that soaked absolutely everything that he'd lose it, and his squad, to a bunch of faceless vagabonds without either clan or village association. He had to admit though, these bastards were tough.

Another scream to his left made him wince when the sound abruptly cut off. He knew that voice and swore bitterly while ducking to avoid another whistling slice from the dark-eyed demon dancing around him with those wicked-looking punch knives. He blocked the stab to his thigh with the kunai in his right-hand jabbing almost immediately after with the blade in his left. His opponent's forearm came up to bat his stroke away and he swore at the strength in the blow knowing that his arms would be bruised messes by morning. Whoever this demon was he was strong; that forearm felt like steel.

Lashing out with a low kick that he rechambered to avoid a slashing stroke, he whipped the same leg high to hopefully catch his opponent in the temple with a roundhouse. He was instead rewarded with a burning slash along the underside of his leg and cursed as he hobbled backwards a few steps, one hand pressing the kunai in its grasp to his stinging leg as he held the other out in front of his body defensively. It was then that another gargled cry to his right snapped his eyes in that direction only to see his last squad member in the building go down in a haze of pinkish mist.

Knowing the fight was lost, the hand pressing against his leg scrambled about to find the door handle before yanking it open so he could back out into the street. He dared to glance behind himself just long enough to make sure the way was clear before whipping his head around to keep his eyes on the evil bastard he now felt was toying with him.

"Bastard! This isn't done!" Iwakuzure spat out, his opponent's head merely tilting to the side in response as he watched his hobbling prey square up and throw both kunai in his direction. He watched in futile rage as the dark figure batted the projectiles out of the air contemptuously but by then the Iwa nin was already through his final seals.

[Doton: Dochū Senkō no Jutsu!] Iwakazure melted into the earth with a triumphant sneer. This nin was good but he couldn't beat Gou and that meant his squad would be avenged in short order. He just couldn't help but be confused as to why the masked nin's eyes were crinkled up into a nasty grin, almost like he knew something the Iwa squad leader did not.

The three remaining clones (there was one casualty in the fight) vanished in angry bursts of smoke before Team Asuma found their way onto the front stoop of the small shop, one reaching behind him to casually close the door as if nothing untoward had been going on inside just moments before.

"Can you tell which way he went?" The one speaking turned to glance at his dual carbon copies, both of which nodded in return. "Troublesome."

Without another word, the three leaped off into the night headed towards the northwestern part of town.

~III~

Near the Takagi Estate...

Several scenarios were rumbling around in Asuma's mind as he followed the still-unnamed nin. Under his humble wine-maker guise, Asuma tried to get him to speak on several occasions during the lazy twenty-minute walk across town and then across the sturdy bridge keeping Takagi's estate separated from the rest of Hanikamu. It was all to no avail as the merc shinobi grinned like a Cheshire cat the entire way but gave nothing away.

"You should be more concerned with what Takagi-sama wants from you, old man."

Asuma had to bite his cheek to keep from chuckling aloud. The guy had balls, he had to give him that, but it wouldn't help the man if his Genin team was injured in any way. Asuma didn't think there was a kami in existence that would save him once the Konoha Jounin ground him into chopped beef.

'Please let them be alright,' became an internal mantra for the stern-faced Leaf nin.

Takagi's estate was walled like some frontier fort from the West, the wooden beams all sharpened to points and standing vertically up from the ground as wooden soldiers packed tightly against one another. He could see stone towers just behind the wall with two men huddled in each behind a searchlight, most likely powered by candles and silver-backed reflectors to increase the light's power. On the ground level just inside the closed gate stood a half dozen men in mismatched outfits, most wearing thin cloth sporting stripes and faded colors. The only decent possessions they carried were the relatively new swords none of them held with any proficiency and the fresh chochin lanterns, one lantern per group of three smelly bodies. Asuma groaned internally as the six uncoordinated members fell in behind him, the lanterns hanging over his shoulders from the short bamboo sticks that held them aloft.

'By kami, I need a smoke.'

Instead, he turned his eyes outward beyond his new traveling companions to take in his latest surroundings. Takagi's estate was a horrific combination of traditional Elemental Nation architecture mashed with random pieces from other sections of the world. Alabaster foo dogs in pouncing poses were placed across from rearing horses snorting lightning bolts, armed Oni, and odd figures dressed in rigid plates of overlapping metal covering every inch of their bodies. Intermingled cultures clashed from statue to statue without forethought creating a cluttered eyesore; the open courtyard looked like an artistic wasteland.

A cold shiver shot through Asuma's spine as he tried to ignore their blank staring eyes as he trundled by in character.

The apparent ringleader of his escort didn't even enter through the front of the unnecessarily large five-story home – it looked like Takagi was trying to impress everyone at the same time. Swerving to the left side of the main house, the motley group avoided the dizzying maze of front yard mini-bridges over a koi pond large enough to swim in only to join a group of over-dressed pretenders led by what could only be the clownish personage of one Yari Takagi. In hindsight, it took a great deal of self-control for Asuma to hold a stoic face.

Takagi was a small man with a rather bulbous head and nose, a nose tinted perennially with the hue of evaporating grain alcohol – an expensive import from the far western plains. His heavily greased hair was cut in the gingko-style chonmage, an imitation of the samurai topknot minus the shaved pate and culminating in the hair resting atop his head being splayed out to resemble a fan. Asuma briefly wondered if the man's heavily greased head would burst into an inferno should a flame happen by but was immediately distracted by the rest of the man sporting the petrified hairdo.

Takagi appeared to be very pleased about something as the ornamental fan in his right hand was furiously fluttering in front of his buck-toothed maw, one happily showing as many of the gleaming white teeth housed in his head – there was a brief ping reminiscent of one Guy Maito but it passed thankfully. As gilded as the fan was, it alone could not pull his eyes from the gaily colored kimono hanging off Takagi's emaciated potbelly frame; if memory served the former guardian correctly, Takagi was wearing a heavily layered jūnihitoe-style kimono worn by the women of the court and nobility. Heavily layered in almost a rainbow of colors, jūnihitoe was a garment meant for posh functions and formal events. Normally a garment indicative of refinement, it only made Takagi out to be a stunted peacock of horrific taste.

"Welcome to my humble home, Kuro-kun."

Asuma's eyes narrowed at the familiarity from a male barely two-thirds his real age. To make matters worse, the young man's voice was a shrill cackle fit to make a person's ears bleed. His respect for the shinobi mercs tolerating the pompous ass rose a small tick; he would have knifed the man in his sleep just to be rid of his blood-curdling voice. Asuma forced an amiable grin easily sliding back into character.

"Forgive me, Takagi-san," he began with a bobbing acknowledgment, "but I'm not sure why I'm here exactly."

Takagi's even worse peal of laughter made his skin crawl. "Please, drop the act as impressive as it is, Asuma Sarutobi. I'd hate for your 'children' to arrive and find you broken and bloody."

Asuma's easy-going smile evaporated into the warmish night air like a puff of smoke. Infiltration and intelligence gathering were the bread and butter of daily shinobi life so it might not be beyond the scope of belief that the bumbling Iwa nins trying the last several days to intimidate his Genin squad might be remotely proficient in that art. Konoha had risen to the top of the dogpile in part because of the stellar spy work foundation laid by his father's peer group during the second and third Shinobi wars. Deep cover spies, moles, turncoats, disgruntled and flipped agents were only a few of the underhanded tactics employed on all sides looking to gain the upper hand and Konoha boasted, back in the day, an impressive record fostered by the village's master spy, Jiraiya of the Sannin. While he loathed the thought of giving any amount of credit to the "rockheads," it was not an idea to be overlooked however negligible their chances of success.

Glancing one last time at the sleazy slicked back hairstyle of the lanky nin staring him down with a kunai sloppily gripped in his dominant hand, he found the probability even less than Naruto's chance of suddenly spouting off holy sutras and shaving his head bald. Someone tipped off the little man and that meant Konoha had its own roach infestation needing to be rooted out. That would have to wait until they located the Sannin's missing informant. They had a job to do first.

"There's no way you figured that out on your own," the Leaf Jounin ground out. Straightening out his spine with an audible "SNAP," his eyes locked onto the color-challenged peacock and his attendants.

"Whether they did or didn't won't matter to you in the next few moments as I capture and sell off your Genin to the slave market." The colorfully-dressed man pointedly ignored the withering glare from the bearded nin. "Shinobi sell well regardless of their material condition."

It took a momentous amount of willpower for Asuma not to explode, the veiled threat to the sole kunoichi on his squad not entirely missed by the seasoned veteran. He decided then and there to make the little puke pay for that threat in blood… right after he dealt with his distraction.

The shinobi that brought him here was standing just off to his left side. Takagi stood three quick steps just off to his right. Three boys no more than nine or so were standing around with palm fronds in their tiny hands and their jaws hanging wide open with fright. Other than that, the largely open courtyard was empty save for the random stone benches scattered throughout the horrific landscaping, the fop's earlier attendants and sycophants having fled the moment imminent violence reared its ugly head.

"Run along, children," Takagi crowed. "I need to settle some business with Mr. Sarutobi."

That was all the chiding the smaller attendants needed as they scampered off into the overly large estate. While the smaller ones fled, Asuma slowly untied his wicker headgear with one hand while using the other to forestall Takagi's next irritating quip.

"We are men of action. Word games do not become us."

Takagi's grin widened a bit more even as he urged on his shinobi lackey with a subtle head nod, said lackey stretching out his shoulders in preparation for his upcoming bout.

Setting his wicker hat down alongside the small gourd hanging from his impromptu stave, Asuma hefted the sturdy walking stick giving it an experimental spin. It was never intended as a weapon having been meant as a prop, but the sturdy oak would do in a pinch. His gaze took in the still tooth-filled maw from the paunchy lordling and wondered how much the dwarf actually knew. It didn't take much to conclude the little roach probably knew quite a bit on his abilities and that meant his opponent probably knew more than he should. To quote Shikamaru, this would be troublesome.

Asuma resolved not to draw his punch knives unless absolutely forced to, just in case. Just because he preferred them didn't mean he was untrained in the clan's preferred weapon.

Repositioning just enough to open up space between himself and the nearest stone bench, Asuma slid his feet shoulder-width apart and loosened his grip on the staff just a hair, both hands spaced near the other about midway as the end tapped onto the flagstone courtyard with a wooden "thunk."

Takagi took a seat on a nearby bench anxiously awaiting the clash as the two began the traditional pre-fight staring buildup. It was too bad the mounting pressure rapidly deflated at the sound of another Iwa shinobi limping at a frantic pace into the courtyard yelling someone's name like a frightened child.

Two seconds later the tall nin backhanded the fool into silence indicating his name was most likely this Gou-san person. Asuma smiled immediately once his eyes caught sight of the blood trail from the wounded nin's leg; his Genin were clearly alive and still out there… somewhere.

~III~

Three shadows alighted on the branches of a tree just beyond the wall unseen by the three-manned patrols huddled as close to a ball-shaped lantern as possible while they scuttled about. One spoke once the trio of stooges wandered far enough out of hearing range.

"It's probably safe to drop the henges now," Naruto suggested. Well, his wasn't a henge but most nin didn't know that. The Kyuubi's youki affected his illusions making the personal ones solid, a very handy trait to have when you're a hated and starving orphan that wanted to live another day in Konoha.

"You're probably right seeing as they have Asuma cornered."

Ino agreed with the pineappled Nara using a single head nod and the three let their dark images melt away into wisps of chakra smoke.

"Naruto," the no longer orange Genin turned to his male teammate, "we need a path inside if we're going to help sensei."

Naruto's face broke out into a feral smile right before his after image faded away. Ino barely felt the pulse that released his gravity seals and turned her eyes towards the back yard where Asuma had begun his fight with the supposed leader of Takagi's Rock ninjas.

~III~

Asuma knew better than to sit around and give an unknown nin time to plan. Surging chakra to his legs and lower back, the former Guardian dashed forward in a passable Dynamic Entry imitation. CLACK!

Takagi's amused smile grew marginally wider as he followed the blurring shinobi; Gou might be a bit in over his head with this one.

"Urck!" Gou grunted out, the force of the walking stick thudding into his cheek pushed him back a meter or more before he could arrest his slide by pushing chakra to the soles of his feet. Wiping away the leftover blood from his mouth, he looked up from the tracks left in the earth to the walking stick still extended in his opponent's hand, the end unwavering despite being exploded into a flowering mass of wooden splinters.

Asuma's eyebrows rose a bit as he watched small flat pieces of earth slide from the Iwa nin's battle kimono to land in a pile of debris at Gou's feet. That armor probably saved the man a few cracked ribs. Unfortunately, his walking stick was finished so he tossed it away and settled into a loose fighting stance with his fists half curled in front of his body.

Gou responded by thrusting his hands into the earth at his feet and rising up with two globs of rocky earth that quickly hardened into the shape of kunai with his angry yell of [Doton: Tsuchi no Tanken!].

"My turn!"

Asuma smiled lazily even as he shuffled backward, one of his feet always keeping contact with the ground allowing rapid changes in direction when needed. It resembled a zig-zag crab-walking that kept him half an arm's length away from the rock-swinging nin. Not that it was hard to do to begin with; Gou was apparently slow by Jounin standards, his form colored by anger and frustration as he tried over and over again to gut his apathetic opponent on the end of his jutsu.

Every move seemed almost telegraphed, his form sluggishly unkempt after sparring with Kurenai, Gai, and Kakashi. He expected more from Iwa. It didn't take much to be made aware of the typical Rock nin slurs and insults lobbed in the general direction of Hi no Kuni.

Konoha was no better when it came to village rivalry. 'Quantity over Quality' was the popular comment when people referred to the "Rockheads" living to the northwest. Any Leaf nin a year or more into the rank of Chunin automatically subtracted a rank from the title of an Iwa opponent, something Asuma thought thoroughly arrogant and more likely to end up with a rock kunai sticking out of their chest. Despite the tendency to not let personal biases color his opinion of an opponent, Asuma had to admit that this Iwa Jounin was not worth the rank he sported and decided it was time to make his opinion known.

Left foot slid forward, left arm swept low to push Gou's right arm out to the side, a hand gripping the opposing wrist as the right palm shot out and struck the diaphragm. Asuma paused half a heartbeat to enjoy the sound of air rushing from Gou's lungs as his left hand yanked upward twisting the captured arm and pivoting the lanky nin's body into a horizontal barrel roll of Asuma's choosing. The nin flopped onto the hard earth with a heavy grunt and hefty thud, the rock kunai in his right hand crumbling away to small pebbles.

Asuma spun, his right leg snapping up just before his heel reversed direction towards the downed man's skull, his sandaled foot making contact to Gou's face right before it paled into hard alabaster. Asuma's foot smashed through the substituted statue shattering it to pieces.

Asuma ducked and pivoted his hands coming up to his chest after flipping through three seals ending on Tori. [Fūton: Toppa!]

Ducking perhaps saved his neck as Gou appeared in an [Iwa Shunshin!], his remaining rock blade slashing through the air horizontally where his neck was a moment before. He was just in time for the Breakthrough to punch him directly in the chest and send him limbs-akimbo over several stone benches before smashing violently through another statue.

It would seem being forced to strike a deal with Kakashi for more Fūton jutsu scrolls to teach his student would pay off in the long run. Naruto was going to like that one once they were back in Konoha and could train again.

Asuma rose from his crouch and began stalking purposefully over to finish off the poor bastard when his neck started itching something horrible. Spinning around and crossing his arms in front of his body kept the sandaled foot from smashing through is ribcage instead sending him on a short trip in another random direction. He managed to flip around and get his feet up to prevent a nasty spill before the grassy earth could greet him face-first.

"Tsk! I broke another sandal!"

Asuma looked up with shock clear on his face. He'd felt nothing by way of chakra from the pampered looking snob up until that foot connected with his arms. That blow hurt and he heard nothing by way of fluttering robes.

"Gah! Get up, Gou! It seems I'll have to save your worthless hide again." Asuma watched as the soft-looking fop slipped off his sandals, leaving them on the ground where he stood, and slipped his fan into his pomegranate obi.

"Take Iwa-kun and prepare our shipment for transport." The small man linked his fingers then pushed his palms outward with an audible cracking of his knuckles. "I'll see our guest off."

Asuma did not feel very comforted by the offer of hospitality. Setting his feet in preparation for a new challenge, he paused once something orange clamped onto the back of the smaller man, then another, then another. Two of the orange objects yelled out in pain before vanishing in a violent puff of smoke but the third exploded in a violent burst of electrical energy just as three figures leaped down from the roof to land just behind him and the now spiky-haired Takagi.

"Glad to see you three are okay."

"Troublesome, Asuma-sensei. Can't you gather information without being kidnapped?"

"Now is not the time to critique my acting skills, Shikamaru. I need you to go after those two!" Asuma's hand shot out to indicate the two nins pushing aside a wooden platform near the center of the yard as they slipped beneath the surface. "I have a hunch you'll find our goal down there."

"Think you'll be able to handle this guy then, Sensei?" Ino whispered out. Takagi was already rising from the ground, his hair standing up in all directions like a long-spined pufferfish.

"Worry about the mission. I'll take care of this. Now go!"

In true shinobi fashion, the three of them leaped away making sure to open up some space between them and their sensei's opponent. Takagi reached out to grab one only to leap back as the taller Jounin shoulder blocked him from their path. Both grunted with the impact.

For Takagi, his body hadn't regained normal function after that blast. He'd been careless and, even as he fought to shake off the final traces of electricity rendering his motor skills useless, he was vowing silently to strip the source of those clones slowly and painfully. Gritting his teeth and shaking the last bits of numbing pain from his fingers, Takagi turned to face his final obstacle.

Asuma, seeing the complete absence of humor from his "host," drew his punch knives before resetting his stance. Things were about to get serious.

~III~

"Do you have it?!" Ino sounded slightly panicked as her hands swept one side of the platform.

"Troublesome. We need to hurry."

"Not quite… I don't… WAIT! Got it!" Naruto's hand brushed along a small lever with a loud "Click!" A small section of the wooden platform popped up revealing a hatch large enough for one person to step down through. A shaft descended below the surface, a metal ladder attached to the wall ended just before an elevated platform. Without hesitation, the blonde berserker slid down the ladder, both hands and feet rubbing against the rails to slow his descent to a platform half the distance from the shaft opening to the stoney earth below.

Beneath them lay a large underground complex. Directly beneath their entrance sat a series of open cages, most of them filled with people of dubious health and cleanliness. From what Naruto's overly sensitive nose could deduce, the vast majority of them hadn't seen soap or water this side of several months. The foul aromas were enough to nearly choke him before a flash suppressor jutsu could be applied to his nose. Once he could look around without his eyes watering, he made out several holding pens much larger than any he'd ever seen before.

Inside of them sat four badgers as large as rhinos, each accompanied by one grungy human wearing leather collars linked to bracelets by heavy chains.

At one end lay large bins filled with earth, rocks and other raw materials shorn from the earth. Even though they sat on thick rails, the bins were large, far larger than any human could possibly move without some form of external power, like chakra or large animals. A deep snorting grunt solved the puzzle as the three Genin witnessed a fifth badger of enormous size pushing a newly-filled cart with its forehead until it butted up against another resting bin. The bright spark of a stun wand jabbed into the creature's furry haunch produced a pained wail before the creature shuffled off meekly to a holding pen large enough to keep it, another small human clinging desperately to the creature's shoulder blades.

Naruto's teeth began to clench hard enough to make his gums bleed before he was jarred out of his growing rage.

"Focus, troublesome blonde," Shika hissed.

Not a dozen paces away stood the two Iwa nin they'd followed down here giving orders to several non-shinobi men, one of whom was angrily arguing back before a backhand from that Gou character ended the discussion. While they were too far away from his teammates to hear what was going on, Naruto's keen ears caught every word.

"Shika, they're planning to gather up their prisoners and ship them downriver to someplace called Otogakure. Apparently, they have a big buyer there looking for 'volunteers' for medical experiments."

Ino grimaced in distaste. Such practices went against everything ethical medical practitioners avowed.

"We know the wounded nin isn't much of a challenge. What about the big guy?" Shika looked to his blonde teammate for confirmation.

"He seems to be the leader. Not sure how I'll do against him. I think I can at least stall him while you find our target and make a break for it."

"Naruto-." Ino's tirade was cut short when the other blonde grabbed the back of her head and planted his lips firmly against hers. When he finally broke the kiss, her flushed cheeks and wide eyes gave him enough room to get a word in edgewise.

"Have a little faith in me. I'm not looking to beat him, just delay him. I know my limits, dattebayo!"

Neither Shikamaru nor Ino was fooled by his wide grin and bursting image of confidence. That verbal tick only showed up when he was either super excited or super worried.

"Don't die on me or I'll kill you myself!"

Naruto blinked stupidly for a few seconds trying to figure out how she could make that work before shrugging it off and slinking away to create a ruckus. Once he was swallowed up by the shadows, Ino turned to Shikamaru with a scowl on her face.

"Hurry up, nerd. If he dies, I'm coming for you once I'm done with his ghost!"

"Troublesome!" Shika slunk off as they climbed over the rails to the cages below.

~III~

Another heavy-fisted punch cratered the ground where he once stood. Asuma took in the wide-ranging destruction in the back yard admittedly surprised at the strength in his diminutive opponent. The man was using Doton chakra to strengthen his body, but he hadn't cast a single jutsu of any kind. He was stronger and faster than any mere noble, his control admirably good despite his obvious limitations but the fight made no sense.

"Stop trying to figure it out. I stopped trying a long time ago." Takagi shot out another fist in a straight punch. Asuma, having learned in the first three seconds of their fight that blocking was a waste of time resulting in additional bruises, let his blow slide by his head with room to spare.

Takagi was enjoying himself enough he felt like sharing some more.

"You're not the first Leaf nin to come here sniffing around things that didn't concern them. You most assuredly won't be the last." Takagi's leg rose and fell in a serviceable axe kick that created a slightly larger crater.

"My estranged father couldn't figure it out either. Oh, how happy he was when his second son came into this world only to utterly abandon me once they discovered my genetic shortcomings; I suffer from a genetic deformity resulting in stunted coil growth."

Another fist to the face of a defenseless statue and Asuma understood why there were so many mismatched pieces of art in the stone garden.

"While I can never grow reserves large enough to become a truly formidable shinobi, my control over the reserves I have is phenomenal, or so I'm told. It just means that I needed to turn what I did have to the physical pursuits." Takagi seemed almost sleepily calm as he spoke.

"Who knows, if I kill you perhaps I'll earn a reprieve from this dismal post so that I can return to civilization." The smug man chuckled. "If nothing else the bounty on your head will earn me a very comfortable life of leisure."

They charged each other once more, Takagi's billowing sleeves shooting out with a metal bar slipping out from his sleeve. Asuma blocked with one knife then slashed across the man's midsection as Fūton chakra burst out of his second blade. Takagi spun like a top, his body pivoting wildly as the extra length of wind blade slashed across his expensive garment sending his obi to the earth in neatly severed strips.

For several seconds the man stood there fuming as he looked down at his ruined eveningwear, the bloody slash across his abdomen leaking down across the rather subdued hakama revealed beneath his garments.

Asuma found himself shocked at the rather unassuming split trousers of plain black cloth, silk or not.

"You may find me slightly more difficult to kill than your last opponent."

With the first signs of uncontrolled emotion and a blood-curling war cry, Takagi cast aside all images of foppery and rushed forward to clash with a man he suddenly wanted to pummel into bloody chunks.

~III~

"You're messing with our production. Takagi-sama is not going to like that, you know that right?"

Gou was unphased.

"Who do you think wants the cargo prepped for shipment? Get it done, Kotsuchi." Gou chuckled as the squat, angry man stormed off. A round of beer at The Rest and all would be forgiven once the Leafheads were dealt with. Gou turned to scan the rest of the operation only to leap back at the last minute. The rock-hard earth, where he was standing a moment before, cracked in wicked spiderweb fashion as one of those Leaf Genin, the blonde male, impacted.

He ignored the bleating beasts shuffling in their enclosures and focused on the small pain in his neck.

The man's eyes narrowed dangerously as the boy's body burst into dozens upon dozens of copies without smoke or flashed of jutsu-laden light. The boy was skilled but before he could puzzle out his latest opponent, half of the carbon copies fled off into different corners of the underground cavern, a few even streaking down the large tunnels carved out by the enormous badgers slaving away for Takagi's operation.

~III~

[Naruto's Point of View]

'You can't afford to hold back.'

Naruto kept a remarkably calm face despite the absentee bijū making herself known. 'I know and welcome back.'

'Shut up, focus, and don't die.'

'I missed you to.'

That was about all the time he had for idle chatter as the taller man rushed forward and jammed a rock kunai through the boy's chest. Just as a disappointed frown crested the man's face, the Genin vanished into a puff of smoke.

From his vantage point near the back of his remaining swarm of Kage Bunshin, Naruto frowned.

'He's using chakra to form those kunai. The Iron Kimono won't help us here.'

'Keep it up anyway; you need the control practice.'

'Sure, sure. Now pipe down and let me focus.'

A grunting "tsk" deep in his mind was the only response but it felt good to have her back in his corner again.

Six clones rushed forward closing in on the taller Iwa nin from all sides. Naruto's opponent lashed out to his right to impale a doppelganger only to change tactics mid-swipe and duck a flying chunk of rock following the clone's [Kawarimi]. Then it became a furball of flying limbs and weapons, the self-proclaimed Iwa Jounin dodging and swaying from hurled stones or boulders as the clones snagged larger and larger pieces of rock to keep him occupied.

Gou grunted in frustration as one clone blocked his rock kunai with a glowing punch knife while another slipped in a kick to the back of his knee. He had to admit that the kid was good… either one on one or en masse. So, he decided to even the odds.

[Doton: Ganchūsō!] The Iwa nin stomped his foot forcing the chakra through his feet to keep from dropping his kunai jutsu. Spears of stone shot up from the cavern floor puncturing two clones, but they were seamlessly replaced by two more.

~III~

[Guo's Point of View]

He swore under his breath. He wasn't exactly low on chakra but his earlier bout with their Jounin didn't leave him overflowing with power. This lowly Genin was a chakra powerhouse to throw out solid clones and not appear dazed in the slightest, meaning that a war of attrition would not go in his favor. Smiling evilly, he turned the rock spears from his last jutsu into the material needed for his next.

~III~

[Naruto's Point of View]

Naruto spared a quick glance over his shoulder as his team whispered and spoke to prisoners in each cell. He looked long enough to see Ino fan Shika over with one hand while the other pointed inside the dark confines of the holding pen. Then he was bombarded by the rapid influx of memories from a half dozen clones exploding out of existence.

It didn't take much to pull what happened together from the images he saw. The shinobi channeled more chakra, stomped his foot again releasing his jutsu as the spears shattered into jagged fragments before shooting out in all directions. He even managed to hit a few clones standing over by the large earth bins freeing the large badgers from their hostile handlers.

Signing for his remaining five clones to rush in, he summoned four more clones, drew his punch knives and joined them.

~III~

[Shikamaru's Point of View]

Shikamaru was annoyed by his female teammate's troublesome behavior. He'd just begun checking the cells on the left side of the holding pen when her excited squawking and hand waving summoned him back over to her for the third time in as many minutes. If it was another wild Genin chase over some poor emaciated waif they couldn't save, he was going to brain her unconscious and search the rest himself.

"This had better be good, Ino. Naruto can't hold that guy off much longer."

He tried not to roll his eyes as she grabbed his collar with one surprisingly strong hand and pointed to the back of the third cell on her side.

"LOOK!" she barked.

He did look if only to hurry the process along… and found himself staring into the face of a middle-aged and slightly better-dressed male at odds with the rest of the ragged prison population beneath Takagi's estate. Not that they had much time to spare but he found himself doing a rapid comparison of what they knew.

'Plain face (even with the soot and dirt trying to hide his features), brown hair, elongated face, middle-aged…'

"Tamaguchi-san?" Shikamaru hissed out.

The slightly weathered man looked up from staring at the dirt-covered floor and blinked in surprise but said nothing.

"The toad sings twice in the spring…" Shika began, his voice trailing off without losing that hopeful edge to it. Just as he was about to give up hope and keep looking, he heard…

"…only when the last blossoms bloom." By now the forgettable man was standing and shuffling towards the locked cell door.

"Stop gawking and work your magic on the lock, Ino." Shika's harsh whisper broke her from whatever daze held her motor skills captive, her fingers freeing small tools from the knot of her ponytail and she knelt before the lock.

Shika paused to glance back into the larger chamber where a mosh pit of limbs and battle cries held the enemy at bay. 'Hold on, Naruto. Just give us a few more minutes.'

~III~

[Naruto's Point of View]

~III~

The shinobi clashing blades with him was purely defensive and Naruto understood that clear as day. Was he a stronger opponent? Certainly he was, however, he was fighting the Leaf Genin in his element – kunai to kunai, er, punch knife. Bukijutsu was Naruto's specialty one he'd only improved immensely in having Asuma-sensei as a teacher.

The long hours sweating and bleeding under instruction were paying off handily. As his blades sang in harmony with those of his shadow clones, he tried hard not to underestimate the skill of his older opponent. The guy was their leader after all, wasn't he?

As chakra covered blades sliced through the air in that high-pitched zzziiinnggggg that he'd grown to love, Naruto fell more and more into that automatic "zone" as he called it. The rest of the world began to dull just a bit, his eyes locking in on the opponent standing directly in front of him. Some sounds filtered themselves out as others were brought to the front, such as the labored breathing coming from the Iwa shinobi trying to slit his throat. It was almost to the point where he could hear the man's heartbeat growing louder in his ears, the furiously pumping organ rising in tempo as the enemy's breathing grew more and more labored.

Behind him, he could swear he heard the voices of his teammates trying to get his attention, but he couldn't risk stopping now. No, he needed to keep this guy here until they were safely up the ladder, otherwise, he'd just chase after them. No, he needed to slow him down at least since they'd be running with a civilian in tow, a civilian most likely weakened and injured by the same shinobi trying to carve him up.

He ducked as a kunai sailed over the top of his head, his ears picking up the vibrating TING as another was blocked. His hearing picked up the jagged sound of cloth tearing along with the flesh beneath it as the tall shadow hissed again in pain. It wasn't just his ears working overtime either.

He could smell the metallic tang of fresh blood as it coated blades, clothes and flesh alike.

He could smell the man's rancid breath as his lungs pumped like bellows for the forge.

He could feel the air as it brushed along his face with each frantic slash just narrowly avoided.

He felt alive in the dance.

Just as suddenly as he was settling into a rhythm, growing more comfortable with the way his opponent fought, he was abruptly thrown out of sync. Something tugged at the attention of his opponent, the taller man's eyes flickering over his shoulder for the briefest of moments. It was enough to earn him a hiss-inducing curse from the clone on Gou's right rear flank. It was the briefest of hiccups in the dance steps, a ripple on the surface of an otherwise smooth pond.

It was still enough to draw Naruto's attention back to the real world and his puffing opponent. Perhaps it was a good thing as he almost missed the sudden change in tempo, a change that would have gotten him killed fighting in a still experimental haze like he had been. His zone wasn't perfected yet and Asuma-sensei had berated him more than once about using unperfected techniques in actual combat.

Such as it was, the abrupt break in tempo was noticed by more than just the original and that was what saved his neck.

~III~

Whatever spooked him, the taller man took a chance and lunged with his right foot directly behind a leading kunai in his right hand. Blocking another attack on his left from the nearest clone, the sudden move saved him from dual attacks from the rear but cost him a fairly deep wound to the thigh. His foot connected with the stomach of the "body" in front of him folding him in half enough allowing Guo to continue his forward motion using the bent-over figure as a platform supporting his barrel roll.

It also helped that it allowed him to shank what he hoped was the real one in the kidneys with a kunai as he rolled off his back to escape the ring of flashing steel. The stomach he kicked felt real, a solid blow, so he didn't pause to look back and see whether or not the figured crumpled to the ground, his eyes focused on the swatch of blonde hair waiting their turn to climb up the ladder leading to the surface.

Everything froze as he bolted from the ring of children killers pushing his remaining chakra to already exhausted and bleeding legs. Someone behind him yelled in surprise and the blonde curtain of hair swung about revealing a young face, someone that might have grown up to be a beauty if they'd done anything else with their life.

The tall shinobi kept running while drawing back his arm as those by the ladder, both climbing and waiting to climb, froze like deer in a forest.

Then the arm whipped forward sending the deadly weapon sailing across the remaining gap of space separating a hunter from his prey.

~III~

[Naruto's Point of View]

~III~

There was a sharp pain in his gut as his opponent's foot connected; saw what you want about Iwa nin being low quality, the man's reflexes were still firmly in the Chunin range and that kick knocked the air out of him making the room blur uncomfortably. Doubled over in helpless frustration, he was caught completely by surprise when his world blurred right as the taller figure leaped over his back.

Breathless, temporarily weakened, and now dizzied, he slumped to the group just as he heard the popping sound accompanied by the death of the clone that swapped with him at the last second. Naruto's head came up to see the tall man's arm whip forward sending a kunai tumbling across the cavern.

'No!'

It was arcing away from their little mosh pit and right toward Ino's turned back.

"NO!" His shout was enough to get his teammates to turn around but Naruto's eyes snapped back to the evil bastard trying to kill his girlfriend; he was still moving towards them, another kunai gripped firmly in his right hand and his eyes locked firmly on the shocked female he was originally aiming for.

His clones gave chase and were closing, only they weren't fast enough to intercept him.

"CLANG!" Ino's deflection of the weapon was a given but that left her temporarily open for a kunai thrust, which was what the now grinning Iwa scumbag was hoping for. She could see it in his from her perspective.

Shika, three steps up the ladder trying to push their rescued customer up ahead of him was both out of position and unable to use his shadows to help.

Naruto, still on the ground with one hand outstretched towards the back of the fleeing villain would never make it and he couldn't see her to Kawarimi. He could feel the increasingly violent attempts by his clones to swap with the Iwa Jounin, a very difficult thing to do with an alert opponent, especially if that opponent was stronger than you. It was a skill that relied on surprise, skill, and chakra differential; if you had enough power to overpower your target, the swap could happen. As Naruto had been spamming clones to help keep the self-proclaimed Jounin distracted, these were all created with sets amounts of chakra, a skill he'd developed during his first slide and refined even further. That, unfortunately, left them with smaller pools than the still tired Jounin, pools they'd been burning through desperately to keep their speed and resilience up in order to make credible threats demanding of the man's attention so his team could make their escape. That meant his clones didn't have the strength to bully past his defenses and bring him back to buy those precious seconds needed for them to getaway. Two of his remaining clones spontaneously dispelling in trying to force a swap were proof of that.

It was the worst possible situation to be in. He felt hopeless. Helpless. He wanted the man to stop. He wanted to pull him away from them so he couldn't ever hurt them.

It started when his frustration at the situation he was supposed to prevent as the blocker began to develop. It was his job to tank the threat and he had failed. He almost didn't notice the churning burn in his stomach that spread up through his chest and down along his arm straight to his palm.

[Shikamaru's Point of View]

There was a sick squelching sound right as the Jounin came to a sudden stop in front of Ino. There was a momentary pulse of yellow light, a flash that started over by Naruto, right before he heard the sound of flesh being pierced by a blade. Blinking rapidly to clear the glare, Shikamaru opened his eyes and snapped his head down to where his teammate was standing, her own kunai held diagonally across her body to deflect the stab from the taller Iwa nin, both fighters paused as if the whole thing had been frozen for some celestial judge to make a judgment on a penalty or something equally ridiculous, the Iwa's eyes wide open in shock.

And that's when he saw it.

'Troublesome sunofa-.'

[Ino's Point of View]

Ino was shocked and thanking Naruto's dogged knife fighting training over and over again in her head. She'd only just managed to get her blade back down again from over her own head to cross block the lunge away from her vital organs. She'd have a nasty scar on her left shoulder if she didn't tend to it, but the arm was still serviceable, the slice not too deep.

What caught her eyes was the glowing kunai piercing through the man's diaphragm, the wicked edges of the blade serrated and sharp. It pulsed with Naruto's power, a powerful, steady, golden glow that made her feel warm and safe, a sensation she tried to block out when the man standing before coughed roughly, his blood splattering across her face and chest.

Suddenly metal tines of the same golden energy flipped out of the blade sides right before something tugged on the weapon pulling the guy a couple lurching steps away from the ladder. With him stunned at being impaled, she glanced around his body to see a long chain of the same golden energy extending across the cavern from the end of the glowing kunai to the palm of her favorite Uzumaki.

~III~

A few moments later, the three Genin emerged from the underground ore processing facility/ prison pausing just long enough to signal mission completion to their sensei. He smiled to acknowledge their success then motioned for them to take off and execute the next phase of the plan.

"Well, Takagi, it appears this is where we part ways." Asuma raised an eyebrow at the sudden burst of cackling laughter from his smaller opponent.

"And just what gives you the impression that I'm going to let you waltz into my home, destroy my property, involve yourself in my affairs, and then just as easily waltz right out again?"

It was a fair question if the taller Jounin was being honest with himself.

"Um… I've been holding back the whole time?"

That made Takagi blink dumbly as his smile began to fade. That shock turned to rage as he realized this fool hadn't been taking him seriously and he resolved to change that. Thrusting his feet out into a wide stance, fist tucked firmly into his hips, Takagi began to build chakra into his skin and muscle tissue.

Asuma knew where this was going as he watched Takagi's skin begin to darken and he wasn't about to engage in a round of fisticuffs with the small tyrant. [Body Flickering] to the man's back, he sheathed his back and lower body with a healthy dose of chakra before thrust kicking the straining midget across the stone garden and into a pile of busted statues. He knew it wouldn't cause much damage, but it did open up enough room (and time) for his last jutsu of the night.

With his chest expanding and his hands ending on Tiger, Asuma expelled a billowing cloud of greyish-black smoke, the rolling fog shrouding everything where his opponent lay.

"You think this puny cloud CAN STOP ME?!" Takagi roared as he pulled himself up from the debris of his impact. Asuma could hear him working up to a really good rant filled with lots of expletives and vulgarity but, by then, he'd lost interest.

Clamping down with an audible CLICK on the flint he slipped between his teeth during the [Shunshin], Asuma smiled in the satisfaction of a job well done when the ash cloud erupted into a ball of hellfire and damnation. Without looking back, he leaped away into the night to catch up to his team pausing just long enough to grab the rest of his disguise kit holding all of his belongings.

[Takagi's Point of View]

'Despite the protection of my ultimate defense jutsu, that heathen's last attack hurt. Ugh, my ears are ringing. Why am I so dizzy?'

I stumbled rising yet again from even further destruction to my garden paradise. No matter, I'll just order more art from that sculptor that visits from time to time. Perhaps he'll know someone, one of his bounty hunter friends I can send after that heathen!

I bite down on my anger and turn my attention to what's left of my resplendent kimono. Oh yes, he'll pay for that with his life. Unfortunately, I am momentarily distracted from plotting my revenge by the reports coming from my frantic servants.

Apparently, this corner of the mansion has caught afire. I wave that away inconsequentially since it can be replaced but then the truly troubling things begin to come up.

'Breathe. Remember to breathe Takagi-sama. You are an important man, a leader, and a leader must always set the example,' I remind myself before signaling for the bowing figure to continue. Apparently, my slaves are missing and the Honey Badger Clan members I "obtained" to fuel my mineral mining operation have fled through the tunnels, most likely headed home to freedom. They will be prepared to prevent further kidnappings meaning my source of gold, metals, and jewels has run dry.

It appears my time in Hanikamu has come to an end. My older brother will be extremely angered by this. This operation was extremely profitable in both resources and information for the Tsuchikage. I sigh heavily as the servant is clearly not finished with his dire report.

He tells me in a quivering squeak that the invaders also managed to kill most of the shinobi leaving only Iwakuzure, a mid-level mercenary. I grunt in disgust despite the injury he suffered earlier in the night as part of the failed kidnapping attempt. This conspicuous lack of any additional injuries, despite the massive amount of damage to my estate and "business operations" confirms that he most likely hid during the entire conflict.

I think about taking his life just to balance the scales of retribution only to pause when he mumbles something that catches my attention.

"What? Say that again!" I order imperiously, mostly because my ears are still ringing and this fool won't stop mumbling.

"Oh, Takagi-sama, I said that Gou would have been fine if that stupid blonde kid hadn't stabbed him at the last second with that glowing chain jutsu."

I blinked a few times as the information settled into my still adrenaline-fueled brain.

"You are positive of this fact?" Something in my voice makes him gulp before he nods in response.

"Get my scribe and pack my belongings. We are done here."

There were several confusing mutterings, but I quell them all with a glare.

We are returning to Iwagakure in the morning and there is a lot to prepare. Get moving." I turn once again and storm off to get cleaned and changed issuing orders as I go. My estate will be a flurry of activity up until the point of departure. If we are lucky, we'll make off with forty percent of what we've managed to take before trouble arrives on my doorstep from Konoha. There is no time to waste, however, as my duty to my "brother", Onoki, must come first.

He must be told that an Uzumaki still lives, one with the ability to revive that accursed clan. Only the royals could use those damnable chains.

We have much to do before making the mad dash across the border.

[Naruto's Point of View]

We run as per the plan, the three of us sailing through the trees not making a sound. Four hours out of Hanikamu, our group drops to the forested ground and everything from then on becomes automatic. I try not to notice the odd way my teammates keep glancing at me, especially Shika.

Besides, I can't explain what happened any more than they can. Well, I can but there are things that should be kept hidden even from those I trust. Knowing I'm a royal would increase their level of personal danger and I can't have that. I'm not strong enough yet so I play dumb, something I know Ino won't believe for a second.

Shikamaru starts prepping a cold camp. He signs in academy signals for me to set up a perimeter and I release a dozen copies smokelessly, soundlessly, to begin laying out tripwires and seal traps while carefully leaving one opening for our sensei.

Ino unseals the package from a medical transport scroll and begins treating him for a wide variety of ailments. She's efficient, quick even as she starts at his extremities checking for function, range of motion, and injury before working her way in towards his core. She treats numerous bruises and a few hairline fractures before feeding him a ration pack to help replenish his lost strength from weeks and weeks of deprivation. I can't help but smile as I watch her work.

She's come a long way since the academy in such a short time.

I turn my attention outwards again and wait. Asuma-sensei will be here soon, and we need to be ready to move when he arrives.

~III~

It didn't take long for Asuma to catch up to his Genin. When he lined himself up with the approved direction relative to the center of the camp and walked into the small clearing they'd scouted prior to this mission, the entire team was standing and facing the approaching Jounin, the three of them forming a triangle around the client with Naruto at the front.

'Well, there go the days of me sneaking up on them,' he thought with a grin. Still, Asuma was proud of his team. Very proud. They'd come through brilliantly but now the hard part remains; how will they perform against their peers when the Kusa nins become the enemy? They'd have to play that by ear he supposed.

"Hey Shika, when is the feather quill mightier than the kunai?"

Asuma grinned at the cunning challenge method the blonde male devised during their… third was it?... infiltration mission. The method was pretty ingenious given that the challenge wasn't issued to him but to one of his teammates. A spy not read into the system would wait thinking that they were being rude or trying to egg them on. That pause would mean their death as a response was required within five seconds or the team would default to a violent response.

"That's an easy one," the Jounin began, "it's when the quill is held in the hand of an Uzumaki."

The three Genin visibly relaxed the tension in their bodies without relaxing their guard. We'd learned that mistake before developing the current challenge system.

Asuma stepped forward and affectionately rubbed the head of his blonde attack beast, much to Naruto's frowning dismay. It was tough enough to tame that mess of spikes, but he loved the familiarity no matter how much he complained.

"How is he, Ino?" The growing girl, strike that as he noticed her developing body. He'd have to ask Kurenai to check up on the girl's education concerning seduction and infiltration. She was almost a given for those types of missions once she hit Chunin and, with her supplementary training under Naruto, that was almost a certainty now.

The three Genin noticed their sensei's grimace but assumed it was related to the still grungy and weakened spy.

"He's healthier, now. I fixed some minor bone breaks, cured a nasty internal bleeding/infection situation in his lower intestines most likely caused by blunt force trauma." Everyone listening correctly assumed the man was beaten. "Other than being in desperate need of a bath, a good meal (despite our ration packs, thanks for those Naruto), and two days' worth of sleep, he's healthy as a small horse."

Asuma nodded happily. "Well done, Team Asuma."

That comment brought three brilliant smiles out of his still semi-stressed Genin team. The experienced soldier knew something was off between them, but they'd have to bring it up when they were ready. Sometimes it was best to let them sort through things on their own unless it started to affect the team dynamic.

They appeared to be fine so he wouldn't push, for now.

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you Tamaguchi-san." The weary man's smile, delivered while still sitting cross-legged on the ground and frantically shoveling rice and vegetables into his stomach – perhaps the only decent meal he's had in weeks, bobbed his head gratefully trying to avoid talking with a mouth full of food.

"Once you're fed, I'm afraid we're going to have to deliver you to Konoha by less than conventional methods." Their "guest" glanced up in confusion.

"We have another mission to complete so I'll have to use a family summons to take you the rest of the way. It will be faster as well since we'll need to reseal you into the medical transport scroll to do so."

Tamaguchi had paused in the rapid annihilation of his meal only to resume with more frantic head nodding and chewing, washing down his latest mouthful of food with a swig from an open canteen. "That's okay. It's actually a pleasant way to travel, the best night's sleep I've had in a while."

Having said his peace, he immediately began cleaning up the rest of the bento ration pack.

Asuma turned to his team and beamed. "I'm proud of all three of you. When things got rough, you didn't fold. I've seen infiltration teams more experienced than you crumble under the pressure."

There was something more behind the tightening of his eyes near the outer edges. There was a painful memory there leading to a story for another time.

"Rest for a bit. Once he's ready to go, we'll make our way to the Kusa-Konoha border checkpoint. We're a day and a half early so we can move at an easier pace."

And like a dam releasing, the tension visually leaked from their shoulders and the group began to drift slightly never more than a few steps away from the noisy chewing and gentle conversation as Asuma spoke more with their guest. Ino naturally gravitated to her love interest but, if Asuma noted anything odd in the way Shikamaru also edged in closer to whisper to their blonde bulldog, he mentioned nothing of it.

They'd just completed a big mission and were bound to draw closer because of it. It was only natural.

~III~

In the Office of the Hokage...

It was quiet in the spacious office. On the couch near one bank of windows reclined an old man, his favorite gorilla slippers keeping his toesies warm as he puffed happily on his favorite ivory-bowled pipe. In his left hand perched his favorite guilty pleasure as three identical copies of himself huddled around a desk bedecked with neatly organized piles of paperwork. The three were comparing multiple pages while one read through their latest project; they were working on an organized reference binder cataloging all of Konoha's laws, regulations and ordnances since the villages founding.

There was a special binder specifically focused on clan laws.

There had been several discoveries over the last four days of this project, most notably laws his own advisors had been able to sneak through Council. The oddest part was that he could not for the life of him understand how they'd gotten them to pass. Several of them even found support from unlikely sources like Shinobi clan leaders who should have fought tooth and nail against them.

"I'll bet Danzo used that overpowered eye he stole from Shishui to get this one through."

Hiruzen looked up at the comment from one of his clones, his finger marking the page of his current chapter; he really was behind on his literature. The sight of his three doppelgangers made him smile. One Hiruzen bombarded by senseless paperwork was a recipe for being overwhelmed. A trio of sharp-minded Kages working together, however, was a different story altogether. They'd already caught and foiled nine separate attempts by the Council to wheedle more power out of him and reversed no less than thirty laws violating Konoha's founding charter.

Those had been ridiculously easy to reverse in their regular Council meetings, the fines for such underhanded attempts being levied upon the offending guilds or clans. No, he'd never go back to doing paperwork the old way again. If he ever got too old to generate them, he'd force the hat on one of his students and retire to read his passion full time.

He'd just turned back to his little orange book when his sharp ears picked up a familiar puff of smoke atop his desk.

"Ah, a mission scroll from Asuma," one of the clones chirped out.

"Hopefully it is good news?"

"Ah, it's a medical transport scroll!" The clone made a hand gesture and a purple-haired ANBU appeared next to the desk. Neko had some proficiency with the healing arts, a necessity from her time looking after a certain blonde scamp near and dear to every Kage in the office.

Thanking the summons with a fresh banana, the clone handed the scroll to Neko who laid it out on the floor in front of the desk where everyone could see it. With a burst of chakra, a very confused and ragged looking man in his mid-to-late thirties appeared before them squinting into the bright lights of the office.

He yawned before mumbling out, "Hisa Tamaguchi reporting, Hokage… er… sama?" He held up a separate scroll uncertainly to one of the three copies staring at him in mild surprise.

"Summon Jiraiya-kun, Boar." With an accompanying rush of air, the office was shed of a ghostly inhabitant.

~III~

[Jutsu Used In this Story]

[B-Rank] Katon: Haisekishō (Fire Release: Ash Pile Burning): The user spews a stream of chakra-infused gunpowder from their mouth, which surrounds the region. As the gunpowder is composed entirely of ash, it stays in the air around the victim like a cloud, which can be used as a smokescreen. After surrounding the enemy with the ash, the user can ignite it with a flint placed on their teeth beforehand to create a spark, resulting in a violent explosion, burning the enemy. However, this technique requires keen senses to read the air currents, the insight to read the movements of the enemy, the tactical experience to not also enfold one's allies in the flames, and careful attention for the timing of the ignition.

[C-Rank] Doton: Doryūsou (Earth Release: Earthen Rising Spears): Doton Doryūsou no Jutsu is a Ninjutsu technique utilizing the Earth Element. After forming the needed hand seals, spears of stone will raise from the ground to pierce the target. The technique can be countered by an opponent who hardens their body with a stronger Earth Element jutsu.

[C-Rank] Doton: Dochuu Senkou (Earth Release: Underground Submarine Voyage): This technique allows its user to silently emerge from an earthen surface, moving as a fish does underwater. As or after they've emerged, users are often well-placed to perform assassinations or guerrilla attacks.

[C-Rank] Doton: Ganchūsō! (Earth Release: Rock Pillar Spears): This technique lets the user create a few rock pillars that will protrude from the ground to skew the target. The rock pillars will even pass through obstacles to reach their target.

[C-Rank] Doton: Tsuchi no Tanken (Earth Release: Daggers of Stone): A modification of Doton: Doryūsou, this jutsu forms handheld weapons from the earth at the user's feet. Better than average skill is required to maintain the form while throwing the weapons in combat. This jutsu was created by Guo of Iwagakure.

[D-Rank] Fūton: Toppa (Wind Release: Breakthrough): After gathering chakra in their stomach, the user expels it as a gust of wind. This technique is powerful enough to blow away everything within the user's immediate vicinity. This technique can also be used for supplementary purposes, such as creating a vortex of wind to save a falling ally.

[World Lore]

Toro Nagashi - The hauntingly beautiful festival of Toro Nagashi (literally, 'flowing lanterns') is one of the major events in Japan's year. Traditionally celebrated at the end of Obon – a three-day Buddhist festival held in late August – Toro Nagashi sees thousands of lanterns set afloat at dusk to commemorate the souls of the dead. The resulting scene is a spectacular play of light and dark as the lanterns' glow slowly fades into the distance.