Thanks for all of your reviews; they are very much appreciated. I need more!

Assignments and tests are slow today so I said, "Why not write another chapter?" and I replied, "Meh, why not?" and here we are!

I wish to make something clear; Wave is an island country, and also the name of the village inside the country. The only village in Wave country, so technically Naruto is the Daimyo of Wave country but he would choose to be referred to as the Leader of Wave country, not the Daimyo.

Enjoy…

CHAPTER 3

Our protagonist was currently looking over a full-scale map of Wave Country.

The dark one had come back with the good news that the people there had not put up a fuss when the country was claimed, and so far, they still didn't have any complaints.

Naruto was outlining crucial parts of the island country to raise walls and place harsh security seals to prevent external attacks. There were several Daku water clones still in the village, their purpose was to aid in the construction of houses and ships for trading, looting Gato's and the Daimyo's strongholds and maintaining general internal security.

He was still patting himself on the back for seeing the potential in the country; trees were abundant and the soil was rich so there wasn't a lack of raw materials for buildings. The problems lay in the fact that water pollution from the dead tyrant had killed and scared off water life from around the island. Naruto planned to clean it up to attract them back. The villagers were feeding off of Gato's food storage which so happened to be enough for a while.

He had the perfect barrier seals to place on the borders and the Daku clones were as tireless as their 'boss', so the wall would be complete in no time. He had to focus mainly on security first before he could properly face internal affairs.

Naruto hovered his chair over to a neat stack of paper and selected a dozen from the top of a pile. He hovered back to his former position and handed the seals to the real Daku. "These are permanent; they're on paper but when they contact the ground and my chakra is poured in, they'd tattoo themselves to the ground. Place them on these points on the island and have your clones start construction on the walls immediately after they are placed. They must start after the seals are placed, behind the walls. If they are behind the walls then seal masters cannot access them to create counter seals. Understood?"

Daku bowed. "Yes, Master." And he marched out of the apartment. The young fuinjutsu master then went to his window, the one overlooking the village, and mused on what to do next, whether to start rehabilitating the waves dying economy or to start training the people to defend the country. He was broken out of his thoughts when the 'X' contact seal on his stomach tingled and Daku landed softly beside him. He was sure he was the real one because of how the seal reacted to his presence. "There has been a small hitch in the plans, Master." He was on one of his knees and his eyes were on the ground,

"At ease Daku." The boy still stayed where he was, looking out the window with one hand propping his head up and the other arm on his wheelchair. "What's the problem?" The dark one stood up smoothly.

"I was on my way out of the village when I saw two genin teams assembled before the gate."

"How is that a problem?"

"With them is a bridge builder that had come to this village months ago to seek aid, their function is to protect him against anyone Gato sends to kill him, but he didn't tell them the complete truth; the mission is a C rank and not an A rank. The people of Wave have tried sending messages for him to come back but from his stance, he thinks those messages are traps."

The pale blonde boy furrowed his eyebrows in deep thought. "Which genin teams are on his protection detail?"

"Team Seven consisting of their squad leader, Hatake Kakashi, and the genin are Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura and Sai—"

"The pale, nameless boy that just appeared after their graduation?" he said, intrigued as he swivelled to face the creation. "He is not on the reserve genin list, Konoha's birth registry or even registered as an immigrant. I suspect he works for a higher power; send a clone to find out all it can about him and if he isn't a threat then he should report back." Daku snapped his fingers and a shadow clone popped into existence, saluted to both of them and blurred out of the apartment. "Continue."

"Team Ten consists of their squad leader, Sarutobi Asuma, and the genin are Yamanaka Ino, Akimichi Chouji and Nara Shikamaru." Hearing the last name, Naruto scowled lightly.

"A Nara…"

"Precisely, Master. Should I dispatch him in Wave?"

"No…if he dies in foreign territory, it could be seen as an act of war. Wave would be destroyed before it could raise any sort of defence. What is the mental condition of the people of Wave?"

"Most are still suffering trauma from the despotic rule and others are recovering from critical malnourishment."

"What have you done about it?"

"I have made Henge'd water clones to speak with those traumatised as a way to vent out their feelings. It took a while for them to become familiar with them but they are now fully expressing themselves. The cure would have to do until we can recruit a psychologist to the country. Numerous clones have also been sent outside wave to hunt and gather for the hungry while the farms we have planted are growing, quite fast might I add, and the animals are still breeding."

Naruto wasn't particularly in a rush to send Daku out because he was fairly sure the genin teams with Tazuna were going at a civilian pace. "Excellent. I want you to go back to Wave as quickly as possible and spy on the security detail. If they get past the borders, try and scare them off. If they are adamant, retreat and allow them passage. Still, spy on them during their stay and if they get too nosy…stop them. Use only the same amount of force used against you. Nothing more, nothing less."

"Yes, Master."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

'Curious…' was the thought of the legendary copy ninja, Hatake Kakashi as he waltzed past a 'puddle' of water. He discreetly sent hand signals to his fellow jounin-sensei, Sarutobi Asuma, who nodded and calmly walked past the 'puddle'. Kakashi's genin team were taking the lead, Asuma's were bringing up the back and the client, Tazuna, was safely nestled in the middle. None of the genin besides Sai and Sasuke noticed the non-verbal conversation.

It was silent as they got a few metres away from the 'puddle' until—

Clank! Click!

"One down!"

"Asuma-sensei!"

The small body of water exploded upwards, bringing out two masked ninjas that had a thick, spiked chain between them. They had just finished off Asuma and were now charging through the hole in the formation's defence, supposedly to Kakashi. The jounin blinked in confusion at their target, which so happened to be him, and didn't react on time when a chain wrapped around him and turned him into minced meat,

"Two down!"

"Kakashi-sensei!"

Tazuna cursed foully and hid behind the two female members of the joint genin mission, while Sasuke and Sai ran at the demon brothers. Sasuke threw a kunai straight and true at the chain and pinned the metal to a tree behind them. The demon brothers were forced to dislocate their joint weapon and fight the two boys separately.

The Uchiha seemed to have overestimated his taijutsu prowess; he was forced to keep dodging poison-tipped claws without seeing the smallest opening to attack. Sai, on the other hand, was doing well enough; he was parrying the claws with a small tanto that had come out of his paintbrush. Out of nowhere a massive bouncing ball of flesh landed solidly on the chunin battling Sasuke and the one facing Sai froze abruptly. "Shadow possession success," Shikamaru drawled.

Both team sensei dropped down from the trees utterly unharmed. "Well done, all of you," Asuma said to the joint genin team.

"Sensei! You're alive!" Both girls screamed. The two jounins' rolled their eyes,

"Yeah, good work. Now relax while I go and interrogate these two." He tied up the twitching demon brother that had been flattened by Chouji's Meat Tank, and also tied up the other demon brother still being held by Shikamaru's Shadow Possession. He dragged both brothers to a tree, facing away from the genin. "Who do you work for?"

"We're not talking," the conscious brother spat.

"Oh well, I tried." He gingerly pulled out a kunai and was about to stab the chunin's arm but he was forced to catch a lightning-fast fist from a shadowy opponent. "Hm…who are you?" The attacker hummed quietly and pulled his fist back, then threw down a smoke bomb. "Shit," Kakashi muttered and tried using his normal eye to see through the smoke, cursing again when both the demon brothers and the mysterious attacker disappeared.

"Kakashi? Any problem?" the Third's son shouted from the clearing. He had instructed the genin to re-run inventory to keep them busy.

The copy ninja stalked out from behind the trees and stopped a few feet in front of the bridge builder. "Yes. I believe Tazuna here has some explaining to do."

"What do you mean sensei?" Sakura asked.

"I mean why would two chunin missing ninjas ambush us on our way to Wave Country? They were going to attack Tazuna. Before I could interrogate them, someone just appeared and escaped with them." He folded his arms and glared at the bridge builder. "Well? Go on." The older man stood strong against the glare, raising his head defiantly but when the other jounin glared at him he caved, telling them all the real reason he asked for a mission, why he didn't give the correct mission details, and what he intended during the mission. "That's it, we're going back to Konoha."

"I'm going to Wave, sensei," Sasuke grunted and crossed his arms. "I'm not going to have any unfinished missions in my record."

"I'm going too!" Ino and Sakura squealed and latched onto Sasuke's legs.

"What about you Shikamaru? Do you want to go?"

"It'd be too troublesome, but whatever."

"Yeah, whatever," Chouji parroted.

Asuma face palmed. "We'll send a messenger hawk back to the Hokage and tell him about what happened, maybe send reinforcements if possible."

With their unanimous decision made, they proceeded to wave.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Daku looked down at the lone conscious demon brother and hummed dispassionately. "You've failed your mission…" he was looming over the brother, who was on his knees. From his right forearm, a stake shot out smoothly. "What do you have to say for yourself?"

"We're sorry, Daku; we were outnumbered and outgunned."

"Then why didn't you retreat and give a status report to Zabuza?" The dark one said coolly as he raised the stake arm to his face and looked at the groove lines running neatly from the base to the sharp tip.

The demon brother began shaking. "We-We just wanted to see if-if we could pick them off. We thought we had killed the copy ninja and the other jounin. We are so-sorry Daku."

Daku narrowed his red sclera eyes down at the quivering chunin as he lowered his stake arm. "Remember who you work for, and next time think with your heads before you go for the kill. Do I make myself clear?" the chunin frantically nodded, repeatedly muttering his thanks. "Get out of my sight." The chunin picked his brother up and ran straight for Wave Country where they would receive medical treatment. His master planned to recruit the Demon Brothers to his army and offer them sanctuary and, when Wave's economy improved, eventual payment.

The brothers weren't the only ones Naruto had hired…

Daku retracted his stake and sprinted across the border, slipping into the darkness of the forest and navigating expertly till he dropped directly behind Zabuza. Daku had to duck a horizontal sword swipe immediately after. The Mist missing ninja grunted sourly and stood down when he saw it was his employer. "What?"

The dark one straightened up. "Konoha ninjas are on their way. My master says we should…dissuade their progress as much as possible, and if it can't be helped we should retreat and allow them through." He turned his head and looked at Haku, the masked hunter ninja and continued, "You are to provide support when it can't be helped." The boy nodded and fixed his mask before he sprang into a tree, hiding himself. "They should be here in a few minutes. Wait for my signal."

With those parting words, Daku faded into the darkness.

Zabuza shivered. "That guy gives me the heebie-jeebies."

Haku giggled from his perch. "Me too."

Daku had dislocated his arm with the ease and disassociation of an unfeeling sociopath, and that memory still woke Haku up in a cold sweat, remembering the blank, almost bored, red eyes as they bored into his skull while Daku tore his arm from its shoulder socket.

Self-preservation and the urge to be near such a force of nature for their protection was what kept Haku under Daku's employment, and how Zabuza could be convinced to stand to be around the creature that had so thoroughly thrashed him.

Zabuza scoffed and mentally prepared himself for the fight that would most definitely come. He calmed his breathing and about ten minutes later he heard a bird call from a distance, the signal that the Konoha ninjas were there. "Show time kid," he said and swung his sword at the ninjas.

"Everybody duck!" The ninjas took the yelled command to heart by lying flat on the ground; Sasuke forced Tazuna down fast enough for the lethal head-cleaving blade to waft over him and jam with a thud into a tree. They stood up and the genin took standard formation around their client as Zabuza appeared on his sword. "Zabuza Momochi, The Demon of the Bloody Mist."

The Demon of the Bloody Mist chuckled darkly, sending tendrils of fear down the genins' spines, and grinned from under his face bandages. "I see my reputation precedes me Kakashi of the Sharingan."

The Uchiha sharply turned to his team's sensei. "Sharingan?"

"I'll tell you later." Kakashi waved the boy away; his eyes were still zeroed in on the missing ninja. Zabuza leapt off his sword, his hands dragging the blade with him, and landed softly on the ground. "I guess you're here to assassinate Tazuna."

It wasn't a question; it was a statement.

"You could say that." Zabuza leaned on his weapon as another ninja landed quietly beside him.

"You!" Kakashi exclaimed with wide eyes. "You're the one that took the demon brothers." Then he couldn't see the man too well with all the shadows cast by the trees, but now he could clearly distinguish the man in a camo turban, through which all he could see were eerie red eyes.

"Yes, I am. My name is Daku, and would you all be so kind as to leave Wave Country?"

"Why should we leave?"

"That is none of your business. I shall only say this once more: leave Wave country, and leave Tazuna behind if he wishes to stay."

"Technically Tazuna is our client and we can't guarantee his safety if we leave him."

"Which leaves the option of force." Daku looked at Zabuza, instructing him, "You handle the other jounin while I deal with Kakashi."

"You six stay here and guard Tazuna," Kakashi said as a thick mist rolled around them. The joint genin teams were blasted with an invisible pressing force, as if the heavens had dropped a bag of stones on them and they began to see the hundreds of ways they could die. Zabuza grinned and said his usual intimidating words, after hearing them Sasuke contemplated stabbing himself and getting over it but Kakashi halted him with his reassuring words, "Don't worry, I promise I'll protect all of you." He eye-smiled and the mist covered him and Asuma from their vision.

"Do not make empty promises, Kakashi," Daku said quietly and kicked Kakashi's right thigh but the veteran jounin raised his guard fast enough and blocked the blow, wincing when the limb met his guard. He made to punch Daku but the dark one blurred under his outstretched arm and savagely dealt an uppercut to the masked ninja's chin, the jounin exploded into water half a second later. "Water clone…"

He sprouted out a stake arm and batted some thrown shuriken away, he then slid away from a kick and raised his stake arm to block a kick. Kakashi grunted in pain when his leg met the solid stone stake and dropped it. He jumped up when Daku tried to sweep his legs from under him and axe-kicked the creature as he came down. Daku crossed his arms and absorbed the full brunt of the blow, shuffling back involuntarily, and pushed the limb away.

The two breathed out and flashed at each other, falling into a dizzyingly fast sequence of punches, kicks, blocks and parries. The mist blew away courtesy of Asuma's Wind Release: Great Breakthrough, so all could behold the blazingly fast sequence of attacks both were dealing out to the other.

"Wow…" Ino breathed and Sakura dumbly nodded in agreement. Sai though was busy observing the masked opponent his team's sensei was battling against; he wasn't bearing the identifiers of a missing ninja—a hitaite slashed out—and he wasn't moving like someone who should have a spine, noticing the perfect somersault over Kakashi when the copy ninja attempted to slide a kunai through his chest.

Kakashi thrust the blade forward again but Daku wrapped his right arm over the man's arm and Spartan kicked him in his belly, throwing him away. "I had to limit my speed to jounin level for you, and I have to say, I am very impressed, Kakashi." Daku looked at the blade he had taken from Kakashi, quirking an unseen brow at his reflection and facing Kakashi again, discarding the kunai. His voice or expression didn't convey his next words, telling Kakashi, "Limitations are exhilarating."

The copy ninja grunted to his feet. "I take it that isn't as fast as you can go."

"You are correct." Daku now had stakes coming out of both arms. "Now stop holding back."

The orange-masked man pulled down his mask so both of his eyes were exposed. "I plan on doing that." He brought out another kunai and sprinted at Daku, bringing both knives down on him. Daku raised an arm and caught the attack, kneeing Kakashi in his belly and elbowing him in the chest so fast Kakashi felt the pain before the attack. He was thrown back again.

Asuma was holding his own against the swordsman with his trench knives, often briefly looking at his fellow jounin in between attacks. He sidestepped a smash and stabbed at Zabuza, the man lifted the flat side of his sword impossibly fast and the two weapons clanged off each other. The Mist missing ninja kicked Asuma and kicked again at his shoulder, but the Third's son wasn't a former Fire Guardian for nothing; he caught both kicks and spun the surprised ninja in the air. Zabuza used the aerial spin to slash his sword down and Asuma flipped away from the sword slice and went through some hand seals.

"Fire Release: Ash Pile Burning."

He blew out billows of ash at the Mist missing ninja and when Zabuza was fully covered Asuma gnashed his teeth together.

Boom!

The resounding concussive shockwave of the explosion rocked past him and hit Daku, who had just elbowed Kakashi away, throwing the creation into the water as well as the Copy Ninja.

Daku was the first one to recover, a bafflingly fast feat; he stood on top of the water and trapped Kakashi in a Water Release: Water Prison. Zabuza, thinking he could hold out against the ash by holding his breath and closing his eyes, was thrown into the forest and safely caught by Haku. The man's breath was short and laboured, and his body was severely burnt. His critical condition forced the ice user to knock the man out and focus all his attention on him, forgetting about his boss who was still battling with the other Konoha ninjas.

"Hold on Kakashi, I'm coming!" Asuma yelled and dropped onto the water's surface expertly. The water was not even rippling under him.

He brought up his trench knives and murmured his next jutsu, "Flying Swallow."

The edges of his knives hummed with invisible wind chakra and it elongated, sharpened and overall put a foreboding feeling into Daku. The turban-wearing creation raised one hand and made seal-less water clones that didn't waste any time to dash at the other only wind user in Konoha besides his master, Naruto.

The wind user clenched his teeth resolutely and slashed, hacked and stabbed mercilessly at the clones.

Clones are well known to have less than a quarter of their summoner's strength, so it was understandable how over twenty water clones couldn't get into Asuma's guard fast enough to take him out. The long, wind blades sliced them into ribbons and dispelled them as soon as they got into range.

The jounin was making progress to where the caster of the water clones was holding his comrade hostage, perspiration dripping from his hair along with water that had exploded off the water clones.

Daku stopped summoning clones and resolved to take potshots at Asuma with his stone stakes. The dark one hoped his chakra battery had enough chakra stored up as a backup. Though cutting the strong rocks out of the air was easy enough, the projectiles were coming at Asuma faster and faster; he needed a distraction and he needed it now.

Sasuke answered his unsaid prayer with a massive demon wind shuriken.

The last loyal Uchiha had grown tired of watching his teachers fight and had wanted to get in on the action, so against his better judgement and Shikamaru's frantic gestures for him to stand down, he pulled out the giant shuriken and hurled it at Daku. The weapon whistled in the air and time slowed down, Daku stopped his stone stake onslaught and fired a precise stake at the shuriken, breaking it into millions of pieces and the wind user took the split-second opening professionally.

He threw one of his trench knives, still coated with wind chakra, at Daku.

The dark one hummed sourly and increased the chakra flow going to his legs, the water under him exploded upwards and the lethal knife whistled past him. Kakashi escaped from his position, thanked Asuma quietly and both jounin took strong stances on the water as their opponent landed smoothly. He looked at both jounin and began flashing through some hand seals. Kakashi, catching his breath, followed half a second later and both went in sync, with Asuma flashing through his own hand seals.

"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"

"Water release: Great Waterfall technique!"

"Water release: Great Waterfall technique."

It was the wind technique that attacked first, followed closely by Kakashi's water attack and then Daku's water attack.

The wind technique smashed at Daku's water attack, weakening it, and Kakashi blew straight through it, ramming into the wide-eyed Daku.

The dark creation regained his footing on the water fast and began another set of hand seals, feeling his body already tapping in on his battery store. The water wave that had crashed into him settled down so he could attack.

"Fire Release: Fire Dragon Bullet," he droned his jutsu and began spitting fire bullets at the duo from where his mouth was supposed to be under his turban.

"How much chakra does this guy have?!" Kakashi exclaimed and ran lengthwise away from the exploding fire bullets. His fellow jounin ran in the opposite direction, towards Daku.

"I don't know, but he won't last for long!" Asuma used his lone trench knife and slapped the fire bullets away. He ran at Daku and slashed but the creature stopped his jutsu and rolled away. The man kept slashing at him; Daku felt his battery store emptying until a wind blade nicked his arm.

For the first time since his creation, Daku felt pain.

The blade cut through the tube that supplied his left arm with chakra, but not deep enough to cut it off completely. He masked it well and kept stepping away from the continuous lethal slashes.

In a burst of chakra, Daku stepped into Asuma's guard and kicked him back, and punched Kakashi's chest when he erupted out of the water. His legs were shaking as he levelled a killing glare at the Konoha ninjas before he blurred into the dark forest.

Kakashi and Asuma, who had recovered from the blows, sighed in relief.

Asuma retrieved his other knife and staggered back to the joint genin team. He looked at the other jounin curiously. "Kakashi…?"

Thump

"Sensei!"

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Naruto half-heartedly glared at the letter he had received a day after he had sent the dark one to his mission.

"So, they did get past you, Daku…" He sighed and closed his eyes. "It was inevitable you see your limit." He pumped more chakra into the 'X' seal, so much so that it filled the cloth creation in Wave and almost filled the battery seal.

He neatly folded the letter and sealed it into an arm of his chair. He then tapped the seal on the right arm of his chair and it lifted off the ground, hovering under a tree in his special place, the same place he had been going to relax and where he had personally met with Hinata.

He cut off the wind chakra so it touched down.

He now understood why his 'X' seal tingled without his loyal creation being around; it meant that Daku was suffering from chakra exhaustion and was in dire need of chakra to repair himself. The water clone that had delivered the letter looked barely alive and had dispelled after he had dropped the letter. The shadow clones that had been with him had even dispelled so they could transfer some of their chakra to their 'boss'.

There still weren't any clones to guard him but Naruto didn't need them yet. He could hover to his special place before sunrise and study seals till sunset when he would hover back in the dark.

Quite frankly he was surprised that his seal creation stood up so well against two A-rank jounin ninjas that had names in the bingo book and were both reputed in and out of the village for their skills.

He was proud of his dark servant.

He already began spinning plans in his head to increase Daku's skills. He unsealed an empty scroll and began scribbling the training regimes his creation would go through when it had fully recuperated, he sealed in some advance water and an advanced genjutsu into the scroll.

The right arm of his wheelchair tingled three times.

A minute later he spied four pairs of eyes—three pairs of eyes and a pair of dark glasses— spying at him from a bush. He ignored them and kept writing until he finished, then he sealed the scroll back, mentally reminding himself to send it later and leaned into his chair to observe the sun, which surprisingly enough, was setting.

There was quiet in the circle of trees, until Kiba shouted, "I don't know what you're freaking about Hinata. He can't even walk!"

He stomped out of the bush to the calm blonde boy.

"Kiba!" The flustered girl scampered out as well and tried to yank the Inuzuka back but he pulled his arm away from her and stopped a few feet away from Naruto. His ninken, Akamaru, was beside him. Shino chose to be quieter; he briskly walked out and stopped beside Hinata. The girl was busy hiding behind Kiba.

"Hey, Blondie, what's up with you?" he crossed his arms and waited for the sitting boy's reply.

Naruto's expression was smooth, almost emotionless. He allowed his eyebrows to furrow slightly and an invisible smirk barely crinkled the corner of his lips. "I don't know what you mean."

"I mean, what are you doing to mess with Hinata?" Kiba growled and took an intimidating step forward. Naruto though wasn't in any way intimidating. He didn't move back.

"I've only met your teammate yesterday. I don't know how I could 'mess her up' after one encounter."

"Aha! So you do admit you can mess her up!"

Naruto shrugged. "Maybe. I'm not in the mood for your accusations. Please leave."

Kiba pulled away from Hinata's grasp and walked directly to Naruto. He stopped in front of the boy and poked his forehead. "Yeah? And what are you going to do about it?"

"Kiba…"

"I know what I'm doing, Shino," Kiba barked over his shoulder. He faced Naruto again and poked his forehead, eliciting no facial response from the cripple. "So? Whatcha gonna do, Blondie?"

"I am warning you—" he was cut off by another poke. Shino's hive was now buzzing loudly and the bug boy took a cautious step back, dragging Hinata with him. Akamaru knew something was amiss; he whimpered and hid behind Shino. Naruto grit his teeth and tapped a seal on the left arm of his chair—

A dome of wind, starting from around Naruto and bursting outwards, repulsed Kiba away. Naruto tapped another seal on the arm of his wheelchair and a rope shot out from the arm, the rope wrapped tightly around the airborne Inuzuka's throat. Kiba clawed at the rope but found it futile, and Naruto tapped the seal so the rope slowly reeled him back.

The boy was cursing, gurgling words and struggling against his throat restraint. He looked up at his captor and struggled all over again when Naruto unsealed a stick from an arm of his trusty wheelchair.

"Do you know what I'm going to do with this?" Kiba whimpered and tried to pull away but the rope held strong. "Correct. I'm going to beat some sense into you." He brought the stick down on Kiba's head. The wooden weapon cracked against the boy's cranium, and Naruto raised the stick up again. "Apologise." Thwack! "Apologise." Clack! "Apologise." Thump! "Apologise—"

"For crying out loud, Kiba. Just apologise!" Shino yelled, his hive on the verge of rebelling. Hinata was shakily standing behind him, looking surprised at how well the crippled boy defended himself.

"You should listen to their advice before I bring out my metal stick," Naruto said ominously, his face still a perfect pale slate and the wooden stick was raised for another strike. Kiba was rubbing his sore head and whimpering, struggling against the ropes. "Last chance-"

"Fine," the boy gurgled. He gnashed his teeth and spit some blood out of his mouth. "Fine, I'm sorry! Now let me go!" he was massaging his head and whimpered again when the stick was smashed on his head. Kiba screwed his eyes shut, whimpering and moaning pitifully as lights popped behind his eyelids. He could barely hear the cripple or anything for that matter.

"Say please."

"Please!" Naruto tapped the seal and the rope, as if it had a mind of its own, unwound from Kiba's neck and retracted back into his chair. He tapped another seal and another dome of air threw the boy away.

"Good. Now I don't want to see any of you here again. Leave. Now." Hinata ran to Kiba and helped him to his feet as the three genin ran out of the clearing. Before Hinata left she turned and sent a glance at Naruto, mouthing an apology at him but Naruto wasn't looking; he was focusing on the setting sun. The girl tried to cover her disappointment and left with Kiba.

Not too long later, a dozen Daku clones landed around him and fell on their knees. The one at the front spoke, "We are sorry for our late arrival, Master!"

"Don't worry about it; it was a nice exercise." He sealed his wooden stick. "Any news?"

"Yes, the jounin Konoha ninjas are still recovering from the fight and are training the genin in case the boss ever attacks again,"

"I don't care what they do, as long as they don't go snooping into my business they can stay. I'm talking about Wave."

"The town hall has been fully restored and the Daimyo's palace has been fortified, ready for you to come whenever you want. Work on the walls is underway. The boss has already placed the seals, and he says it'll be finished in a few weeks. A barn has already been filled and the masses have been fed so rice prices are lower. The first ship has been finished and we are currently exporting half of the farm produce to Hidden Waterfall village; they are still sceptical about our trading alliance but they aren't putting up any sort of fuss. The Head of that village has scheduled a meeting with the boss in two months, precisely over the day Konoha holds their chunin exams, to see if there is any way to extend the alliance. The bridge is being built as we speak."

"Good." Naruto unsealed the letter he had written before and handed it to the speaking water clone. "Take that to Daku and tell him to study it." The clone saluted and ran to wave. Naruto pointed at a random clone. "I want you to go to the forbidden section of the library and copy the security seal down if there is any, bring it back to me at my apartment so I can give you the counter seal and go back with three others to copy as many scrolls as possible, irrespective of what they are talking about." The clone saluted and ran off to the library. Naruto pointed at another clone. "You…I'm hungry. Go and get me some ramen, the legal way." The clone bowed and went off to perform his duty. "The rest of you are to escort me home."

His security detail marched around him as he hovered over his apartment.

It was dark but the clone navigating his chair guided him to the right path. He allowed his loyal servants' clones to take him home as his mind wandered. He was thinking about a lot of things; how to incorporate Hinata into his master plan, how to prove Wave's faithfulness to the alliance to Hidden Waterfall, how to attract more alliances, what counter seal he would have to come up with, among other things.

All in all, he wouldn't be idle for a very long time.

Authors note

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Review!

Foy.