I do not own Naruto

Two days later, Tazuna's house

"Good morning, hatchlings." Risu greeted his students while sipping a cup of coffee

"Good morning, Risu-sensei" chorused the three

"Today we resume our training regimen. Eat something, do your daily exercises and meet me back here by 8. Oh, Sakura, before you go, did you bring any make-up?"

Sakura blinked, taken aback by the question

"Uh, I did bring a palette and some eyeliner… why?"

"Oh dear, that's not nearly enough. Bring it here once you're done with the exercises."

The three grabbed some fruits and left the house for their training.

"What was that just now?" asked a very confused Naruto

Sakura shrugged, just as confused as the blonde "I have no idea"

Sasuke groaned "Let's get these exercises over. The sooner we finish, the sooner we'll learn"

As the trio entered the kitchen, they saw the most bizarre sight they'd ever seen yet: the dinner table was completely covered by pallets and pallets of make-ups, dozens of different brushes, a large mirror, multiple bottles with colored fluids, collection of mannequin heads and what looked like prosthetic noses, ears and even entire mouths. Sitting at the table, Tazuna waved at them.

Team 7's danger sense immediately flared up. They couldn't quite put their hands on it, but there was something off with Tazuna. Sasuke activated his Sharingan, unsealing his sword and assuming a defensive stance.

"You are not Tazuna."

The man smirked. "I rushed a bit too much, but I take fact it took the Sharingan to notice it was a fake as a victory on my end"

"R-Risu-sensei? Is that you?"

Risu nodded, reaching behind his ears to slide his fingers beneath the mask and slowly pulling it off of his face

"Indeed. And, as you might have guessed, today I'll get you started on disguises and impersonation."

"But sensei, don't we have the Henge for that?" asked Naruto.

"Oh, don't get me wrong, the Henge is an amazing jutsu if you are trying to fool a civilian. Any ninja with decent experience knows how to check for genjutsu and while it's true that overcharging it with Genjutsu manifestation is often enough to fool chunins, it simply won't cut it if you're trying to trick a jonin or gain access to secure locations with trained ninja guards."

He glanced at Sasuke "You'll need to learn this if you want to sneak up to a missing ninja, especially one with a Dojutsu."

Sasuke nodded, seeing where their sensei was aiming at.

"So, pick up a head, a brush and let's start with shadows and how they influence someone's perceived age."

When the other teams got back for lunch, they were greeted by a geriatric-looking Naruto and a baby-faced Risu, much to Kiba's amused laughter and Neji's dismissive scoff.

"No need to dismiss a good disguise, Neji-kun. I know it might look silly to you, but I know how to make disguises that are specifically tailored to trick even our eyes. If I wanted to, I could easily pass for Hiashi-sama or one of the clan elders. Not that our clan would ever try something so disrespectful as that, of course."

Neji glared dagger at the older Hyuuga. "While I think this is a valiant exercise, Risu-sama, I believe it might not be as universally useful as you make it out to be" commented Neji, barely controlling his anger at the man's jab.

"R-Risu-sama, please d-don't instigate Neji-kun" whispered Hinata

"It was not my intention to instigate anything, Hinata-sama. After all, Neji-kun here would never do something so crass as to openly dismiss a skill that a fellow shinobi spent years perfecting, would he?" shot back Risu, staring at Neji with mild amusement.

"Be as it may, we do need to prepare for tomorrow's visit" interjected Kurenai.

"Who's visiting tomorrow?" asked Naruto while cleaning his face.

"A royal inspector. The fire Daimyo has heard rumors about Wave's wish to join Fire country and is sending bureaucrats to inspect the city. We received a messenger hawk 20 minutes ago." answered Tenten.

"That's excellent news! Naruto, that's your chance to get first-hand experience on politics." commented Risu.

"Eh? I need experience in politics?" asked Naruto.

"Every Hokage needs to know about politics. If you're serious about it you will need to master politics and deal-making like it's second nature to you. Today's exercise for you is to go around the village and gather as much information as you can regarding how the Wave population feels about the possibility of joining Fire country. When the inspector arrives, give your report and offer to guide them to the most important business. I'll ask for you to assist during any negotiations."

Naruto frowned. "Sounds boring. But if that's part of the Hokage job I guess I have no choice but to learn it."

"Yosh! Naruto-kun's dedication to his dream is most youthful!" shouted Lee.

Neji scoffed. As if that blonde could ever hope to become Hokage. Risu-sama should have known better than to encourage his foolish dreams.

"Sakura, you have something in mind that you want to practice tomorrow?" asked Risu.

"Well… You said you know some Iryo Ninjutsu, right sensei?" asked Sakura tenatively.

"I know a total of three Iryo Ninjutsu: one supplements my hand to hand attacks, one creates poison and only the last one actually heals. I can get you started with some basic theory, but I'm not even close to being proficient. I should still have enough material to fill a few hours."

"If that is acceptable, I would also like to observe such a lesson." commented Shino, to everyone's surprise.

"Shino, want to become a medic? Could have sworn you were interested in bugs and stuff." asked Kiba.

"Some basic knowledge on medical techniques could prove beneficial in optimizing the abilities of my companions." replied the stoic Aburame.

"I'd like to join as well! Tsunade-sama has always been my hero but I never got the opportunity to try Iryo Ninjutsu outside of the hospital, and their lessons would prevent me from training with sensei." chimed in Tenten.

"I can safely say I was not expecting that. But I do owe you two for taking care of my team while I was away with Gato, so it wouldn't feel fair to refuse. I just hope your expectations are too high."

He turned to Sasuke. "I have something special in mind for you. Mind if we take a walk after lunch?"

Sasuke nodded and waited for his sensei to re-seal his disguise kit and for everyone to finish eating, then he followed Risu-sensei into the treeline

"What do you have in mind, sensei?" asked Sasuke

Risu pulled out two folders and handed them to Sasuke. "These two are Zori and Waraji. They tried their luck at becoming samurai at the land of Hot Water, but failed and were kicked out of the program. They became bandits for a while, gaining a small bounty of 6.000 ryo from their homeland until they were hired by Gato and ended up working as his elite bodyguards. You are going to kill them."

Sasuke studied the pictures. They didn't look particularly difficult to take down

"These two aren't exactly a threat to either of us, but your first kill never goes as smooth as you planned it. Emotions are high and people tend to either move with the efficiency of an ANBU captain or that of a first year academy student. Hence why I'll be accompanying you."

"I can handle this." protested Sasuke.

"I wouldn't have given you this task if I didn't think you were capable. But I'll follow you regardless, just to make sure."

Kage Bunshin no jutsu

Risu handed a scroll to his clone "For the Iryo Ninjutsu lesson" He turned to his student

"Now, Sasuke. I'll show you the way to Gato's mansion. Once we get there, you take the lead."

Evening, Wave's forest

Waraji was furious. After Zabusa's little stunt everything had gone to shit. Stupid ninja had massacred the boss right in front of everyone and left a trail of corpses on his way out. Most of them were absolute morons, but among the dead there were a few good ones he spent some time training. With their help he could have taken over the business, but he and Zori were barely able to keep the bastards from stealing everything that wasn't nailed down and ran off en masse. The ingrates were still stealing and running off, but at least the two of them were able to maintain a semblance of control over the rabble.

They had a good deal going on: Zori kept things organized at the mansion, while he chased down the sons of bitches that stole from them and brought back their heads on a pike. Funny how despite the many examples he had given them, these morons kept trying.

His musings were interrupted by a hail of shurikens which he promptly dodged to the side. He turned toward the attacker, a kid no older than twelve. A ninja, by looking at his hitai-ate.

He smirked, unsheathing his blade. This would be good. Kami knew how much he hated fucking ninjas.

"You got a death wish, kid?"

He dashed toward him at full speed and a murderous glint in his eyes.

"Don't mind me granting it!"

To his surprise, the kid pulled out a sword and clashed against him.

"No Sharingan. You wouldn't want to accidentally copy a faulty stance like his."

Waraji cursed. Of course there was another one. The cowards never fought fair.

The kid charged at him. Waraji swung his sword in an horizontal slash, exploiting his longer reach in a preemptive strike. The kid jumped over the blade, the blade spinning downwards towards his neck.

He raised his arm to block, the kid's sword cutting into his forearm as he stepped forward, regaining his stance and prepared another strike. The kid was mid-air, he had no way to dodge. Sasuke dropped his sword, moving his fingers far faster than what Waraji expected.

Suiton: Suijun no jutsu

His sword impacted a water shield, splashing water around as the kid landed and immediately drew a kunai and went in, stabbing him in the gut.

Waraji winced in pain, looking at the smiling kid.

"Don't get cocky, you little shit!" he screamed, grabbing Sasuke by the neck and slammed him to the ground, sword raised to stab the little ninja. His arm was blocked halfway down by the little fucker kicking his swordarm in the inside of the elbow. They stood there for a second before the kid pulled out the kunai in the man's guts and started to stab him. Over. And over. And over.

Waraji screamed in pain, dropping the sword and releasing the kid's neck. His arms reached to his belly, trying to prevent his guts from spilling over the ground. As he raised his head to glare at the kid, he saw the glint of steel aimed at his neck, before everything went black.

Sasuke panted, the adrenaline still coursing in his body. He winced as he massaged his neck. That samurai had one hell of a vicious grip. He needed to ask sensei for some exercises for it later.

"Not bad, Sasuke. How do you feel?"

He looked at Risu-sensei, then he shrugged.

"Fine, I guess. I wasn't expecting that grab"

The Hyuuga nodded "I had a hunch you'd be desensitized to death already. Can you tell me what went wrong in the fight?"

"He grabbed me"

"No. You dropped your guard and then he grabbed you. You are too used to academy spars where landing what is considered a lethal strike ends the fight. You thought you had won and dropped your guard. An enemy with a deadly wound still has enough strength left to fight for a few more seconds and will almost always try to take you down with him. I hope this fight will be the last time you make such a mistake."

Sasuke nodded.

Risu walked over to the corpse, picking up his sword and tossed it to Sasuke.

"A memento of your first kill. Seal it somewhere and always carry it with you. It's good luck"

Sasuke nodded, opening up his sealing scroll.

"Not there. Sealing scrolls are for gear, not mementos."

"Where did you seal your memento, sensei?"

Risu pulled a small sheet of paper under his left glove, unsealing a bloodied brick.

"My first kill, as you can imagine, was quite messy. An old lady that ran an orphanage in Tonika village. We were sent there on a C-rank mission to deliver some supply. While we were there sensei noticed that there were far fewer kids than what there should be. We started investigating, but were careless. The old lady caught on, drugged our food and took us to the basement where she was harvesting organs to sell on the black market. I had eaten shortly before dinner, so I ended up with far less drug in my system. As I woke up, I saw that bitch pulling out sensei's kidneys. I grabbed the closest object I could find and smashed her head into paste."

He sealed up the brick and slid the paper back in his glove

"Sensei had to retire from active duty after that. He's still kicking and working at the archives, but after that mission my teammates decided it was too much and retired. Sometimes I feel the need to pull out this brick and think about what could have been. If we didn't get caught investigating. If I hadn't eaten before dinner. If that bitch had decided to harvest my organs first. I just take it out and think of how different things could have been. Every choice I made, every risk I took. Did I make a mistake? Had I done everything to minimize the risks? Was there another choice I didn't know I had?"

He looked at Sasuke.

"I'd like that sword to be that for you. What if you hadn't properly mastered the Suijun no jutsu. What if you had missed the elbow when he tried to stab you. What if his grip strength had been enough to snap your neck. What if you hadn't dropped your guard and allowed him to grab you. That's what that sword should be. A chance for you to sit back and reflect on everything you've done so far, everything you've become and everything you could have been. Do you think you can do that?"

Sasuke nodded, unsure how to respond.

Without a word, the two ninjas headed back to Tazuna's house.

The following evening, Tazuna's house

The shinobi sat down at the table, enjoying Tsunami's meal. Sakura, Tenten and Shino had spent two days studying the basics of Iryo Ninjutsu with Risu's shadow clone, and they had learned how to perform basic first aid as well as a few exercises that would one day help them learn how to perform proper healing jutsus.

Sasuke and Risu returned to Gato's mansion, where Sasuke had killed the second samurai by sneaking up on him and stabbing him through the chest. Risu wasn't particularly impressed with the Uchiha's stealth and had promised himself to have him work on that.

Naruto, as instructed, had spent the first day gathering information and the second day reporting said information to the envoy of the fire Daimyo, following them around as they bought a sizable chunk of land and struck deals with various businesses. At the end of the day, it had been decided that Wave would remain an independent nation, but would host an embassy for Fire country as well as a secondary residence for the fire Daimyo's third son.

Kurenai, Hinata and Kiba had spent the day guarding Tazuna at the bridge, while team 9 had disappeared until an hour ago, probably training somewhere.

Naruto slunk his head on the table, sighing deeply.

"S-something w-wrong, Naruto-kun?" whispered Hinata, who Risu had insisted should sit next to Naruto, much to Neji's disapproval.

"I didn't think politics could be this boring."

Risu chuckled. "Are you reconsidering the role of Hokage? Perhaps you could settle for a job as a jonin sensei?"

"Fat chance, Risu-sensei! I'll become Hokage no matter what! 'ttebayo"

Hinata blushed, staring at the blonde with a slight blush of admiration.

"Uh, Hinata-chan, are you ok? You are getting red…"

"Naruto, please refrain from teasing Hinata-sama." warned Risu.

"Teasing? I wasn't teasing her! And why do you call her -sama anyway? You're a jonin!"

"It is only proper. Hinata-sama is the heir of the Hyuuga clan and is destined to become the new clan head" dryly pointed out Neji.

"Wow, Hinata-chan! I didn't know you were such an important person!" commented Naruto, smiling at the girl next to him.

"That's because you never paid attention in class. Shino, Hinata, Shikamaru, Chouji, Ino and Sasuke are all future clan heads. You should have paid more attention instead of skipping class" boasted Kiba.

"You skipped class just as much as I did, dog-breath!" exclaimed Naruto.

"Kids, calm down. We don't want to have a fight on our last day in Wave." interjected Risu

"Last day? But sensei, the bridge isn't finished yet! Shouldn't we stay until Tazuna-san completes his work?" asked Sakura.

"Protecting Tazuna was never our mission, Sakura. We were sent here to gather information about Gato, deal with him and in the meantime assisting team 8. Our mission is complete"

"So, you're going back to the village now? Shame, having you around was a joy." Commented Tazuna, handing Risu a cup of sake.

"We'll be glad to visit again should we get another mission in the area. But no, we're not going back to the village."

"Ah, was that about the trip you asked the Hokage about? I've been wondering about that." commented Gai.

"I was hoping to take a boat to an island north-east of Wave. Visiting some old ruins while giving my hatchlings some survival training."

"We can certainly find you a boat. After all you did for Wave, it's the bare minimum we can do." commented Tazuna, raising his cup for a toast.

"R-Risu-san, w-what's to the north-east of W-Wave country?" asked Hinata, noticing Naruto's melancholic look at his sensei's words.

"Probably the most important archeological site in all of the elemental nation. The land of Whirlpool and the ruins of Uzushiogakure."

Notes

So, you're finally getting some combat as well as bits and pieces of Risu's backstory. Hope you enjoyed the battle, because there's a lot more where that one came from.

Also, yes. We're doing a mini-training arc in Uzu! I know when that happends in fanfiction Naruto usually get a MASSIVE power boost, but I hope to have convinced you by now that this isn't the type of story I'm writing here. I hope you'll find reading about this the trip as interesting as I found writing it!