It took them two days to get to the Land of Frost, having to stop regularly for Naruto's eagle to recuperate, unused to carrying two shinobi for extended periods. From there, they hopped on a ship that took another two days to reach the Land of Vegetable. Being a cruise ship, it had to let the tourists off at a couple of stops as they restocked their food supplies. All the while, Naruto kept up his sister's training, which turned into a form of entertainment for all of the non-shinobi on the ship. When they got off the boat they found that they walked kind of strange for a while, but soon got used to being back on the land. When they had, Mizuko asked, "So, are we going to travel on your Giant Eagle again, or walk the rest of the way?"

"Hmm…I think that we should probably go with Hiwashimaru," as he thought on what he'd overheard a couple of drunks saying in a pub in the Land of Birds.

"Why? I thought that if we walked, I'd get more training in."

"I overheard a couple of Torigakure shinobi saying that there was some sort of coup being planned by the 'advisors' to the Daimyō. If we're quick about it, hopefully we'll be able to do something about it."

"A coup? Why would it be happening? Better yet, why should we interfere with it?"

Naruto sighed and said, "Theoretically, we shouldn't. unfortunately for whoever is behind it, the Land of Vegetable is an ally of the Land of Fire. As such…"

"Oh. Alright then. I get it."

"Good," Naruto said. "Besides, coups are tricky things and it is just as easy to end up with someone even worse than the leader that was deposed leading the country."

"So…better the evil you know? Is that it?"

"In some situations, yes," Naruto agreed.

"I see."

"Of course, that isn't always the case and it is down to your own judgement as to what the case is at the time."

"Is that like what you tried to do with Mafūma-san back on the 'Wave Mission'?"

"Not really."

"Why? She's a 'bad guy'," Mizuko said, using air quotes. "...and you tried to deal with her."

"Mafūma and I go way back. So that was more me dealing with a friend and trying to make use of her values to sway the situation in our favour."

"I see. I hope that I can get a friend like that someday."

"Heh," Naruto said. "You probably already do."

"What do you mean?"

"Mafūma's a bit sentimental and sees the family of friends as an extension of her friends, which automatically makes them her friends too. So, technically…"

"I see," Mizuko said with a melancholic look on her face.

Seeing the look, Naruto asked, "Why so glum?"

"It's just…I don't know…" Mizuko sighed. "…even knowing that, it just seems kind of…I don't know…hollow…or something."

"Oh. Well, I'm sure that one day you'll cultivate your own friends. Though I'm not sure that you'll find one that is exactly like Mafūma."

"I guess that's fair enough," Mizuko said.

Naruto summoned Hiwashimaru and said, "Okay Hiwashimaru, we need to head to the Capital ASAP."

XXXXX

When they were closer to the Capital, they saw multiple columns of smoke rising into the air and Naruto groaned before saying, "Damn it! We're too late!" and sighed in regret.

Mizuko asked, "So, what do we do now?"

Naruto sighed again and said, "We might as well head on over to the Land of Sky. I've got another…!" but, before he could finish, a kunai shot up in front of them and, to Naruto's surprise, it looked like a standard kunai from Konoha. He grabbed it before it started to fall and saw 'Azumayatori' marked in fūin tenshō along the flat of the blade. he frowned and thought, 'Kurenai? What's she doing here?' He said, "You know what, on second thoughts…Hiwashimaru, let's set down here." Hiwashimaru let out a cry before circling down to the ground.

When they landed, Mizuko was surprised to hear three familiar voices exclaim her name. When she hopped off of her brother's summon, she said, "Hinata? Chōji? Sakura?! What are you three doing here? Also…aren't you all on separate teams?"

"As Mizuko went over to talk with her fellow genin, Naruto rubbed Hiwashimaru's neck feathers and said, "Thanks for this. I probably won't be needing you again for a while, so I'll see you later." Hiwashimaru let out a cry before it disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

When it was gone, Kurenai said, "It's been a while since I've seen him."

"Yeah, well I'd say that you'll probably be seeing more of him in the future."

"Why's that?"

"Didn't you hear? When Miwa signed the toad contract, she took away my ability to summon them, leaving me with only Hiwashimaru."

"Then that was true then?"

"Yeah."

"I see."

"So, care to tell me what you're doing with genin here in the middle of a coup?"

"In the…" Kurenai frowned and asked, "What are you talking about?"

"You don't know?"

"No. we were assigned a C-Rank escort duty for these movers." As she talked, both Kurenai and Naruto turned to look at the 'clients'. "Although that seems to have been a cover if what you're saying is true?"

Naruto sighed and said, "We saw the smoke, so it's true alright."

Kurenai sighed and said, "I'm sorry to ask this of you, but…"

"No. it's fine. Heh," Naruto grinned, "Mizuko wanted to storm the castle by ourselves." A sweatdrop appeared on the side of Kurenai's head as she had had to talk Naruto out of doing much the same in the past. "So, have any of your clients been acting strangely?"

"Other than one on top of the cargo doing next to nothing, no. but they say that 'Shun' is recovering from some sickness or something."

"I see," Naruto said, thinking, 'I'd better keep an eye on this 'Shun' person. In the meantime…' and walked over to Mizuko and the other genin.

While Naruto had been bidding Hiwashimaru farewell, Mizuko had gone over to the other three genin and said, "Hey, how are you?"

"I'm good…Mizuko-san."

"Come on! How many times have I got to tell you? Just Mizuko is fine, Hinata." Hinata blushed at the friendly admonishment. Mizuko then turned to Sakura and asked, "So, how has your team been since Aniki's 'lesson'?"

Sakura grunted and said, "Fine…well…mostly anyway."

"'Mostly'? What does that mean?"

"Well…Sasuke's spending most of his spare time at the Uchiha Military Police Training Ground since your brother unlocked it, and Kiba's doubling down on working with Akamaru."

"Okay. So, why are the three of you on a mission together like this?"

"Well, soon after you left, Hokage-sama decided that it would be a good idea to have the genin get more experience working with each other, and under different Sensei's to give us experience with different learning methods and tactics."

"I see. That makes sense."

"Of course, it could also have something to do with the fact that your team is one member down, therefore technically unable to undertake any 'real' missions."

"Now that makes more sense. Miwa would probably drive Dad nuts if she was forced to sit around Konoha after our last mission."

"What happened on it?" Chōji asked.

"We ran across a couple of missing-nin, got trained by Aniki and met one of his friends that turned out to be from one of Konoha's genjutsu clans, though she didn't know that until one of the pseudo-missing-nin told us."

"What's a 'pseudo-missing-nin'?"

"Well…he was working under a missing-nin, but he'd never actually belonged to a Hidden Village himself, so…"

"Ah. I see. But enough about that. How has your training been going?"

"It's going real good. Though some of the exercises that he's got me doing are just nuts!"

"How's that?" Sakura asked.

"Get this, he's got me using two different techniques at the same time while I'm doing kata on top of the water! He says that before I'm done I'll need to be able to do them in heels!"

"What kind of exercise is that?!" Sakura exclaimed, not entirely sure that she wanted to know.

"Chakra control," Mizuko grouched.

"Chakra control? Why do you need training in that? Yours was always near the top of our class."

"Yeah. But that was only because Aniki left me with a couple of scrolls before he left that had jutsu that would aid in increasing the control that I have over my chakra. My natural ability with it is really rather abysmal."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah."

"What exercise was that?"

"This is one," Mizuko said before making a few hand seals and grabbing her right hand, which started to glow green."

"What's that?" Chōji asked.

"It's the Iryōton: Shōsen no jutsu."

"It's a medical ninjutsu?"

"Yeah."

"Can your sister use it too?"

"Yeah. Hana-sensei taught her."

"I see."

Just then, Naruto and Kurenai reached them and Naruto said, "Hi Hinata, it's been a while since I last saw you."

"Umm…uhh…" Hinata blushed. "I'm sorry," and bowed at her waist. "I don't…remember you."

"Oh, I'm not surprised. The last time was about a year after your sister was born."

"Oh! I see!" Hinata said, her face turning even redder.

Naruto sighed and looked at Kurenai and said, "So, have you stopped for lunch, or…"

"Yes," Kurenai replied.

"When will we be leaving?"

"We should be leaving in about an hour. Why?"

"Oh good," Naruto said before turning to his sister. He said, "Mizuko, I want you to spar with Hinata for a bit."

"Ehhh!?" Mizuko exclaimed. "Why?" at the same time as Chōji, Sakura and, to Kurenai's surprise, Hinata herself.

Naruto said, "Because, no matter how much you spar against me, it will never be as good as sparring against someone of a similar level to yourself."

"I guess…but with my swords…"

"Taijutsu only."

"Oh! I see. Alright then."

"Uhhmmm…" Hinata said, "…Mizuko's brother-san…I don't think…that that's a good idea."

"Why not?"

"We're on an…escort mission…if we get attacked, then…"

"Oh, you don't need to worry about that. Kurenai is here and I'm pretty strong myself."

Mizuko scoffed and said, "Don't lie, Aniki."

Naruto sighed and said, "Again, Mizuko. Even I am not undefeatable. Just stronger than most."

Hinata and Mizuko then went at it for about ten minutes before Naruto put an end to the battle, both girls clearly getting fatigued, though they were still able to go on for a lot longer. When they'd backed away from each other, Mizuko asked, "So, how'd I do?"

"About as good as I'd expect without your swords."

Mizuko pouted and said, "That didn't exactly sound like a compliment."

Naruto shrugged a shoulder and said, "Well, it was against a user of Jūken, so that increases the value of any backward compliments. Seeing a satisfied look make its way to his sister's face, Naruto turned to Hinata and said, "As for you, why were you using Jūken?"

"Jūken…is the style taught…to all members of the Hyūga…so…why wouldn't I?"

Naruto sighed and said, "Both your sensei and your father have done you a disservice, Hinata."

"Eh? No! Kurenai-sensei has…"

"Excuse me?" Kurenai said with a venom-laced tone.

"Now now," Naruto said, holding his hands up placatingly in front of him. "Calm down. Just hear me out, okay?"

"Alright," Kurenai said. "But this had better be good!"

"Hinata," Naruto said, addressing the girl herself. "You are not suited for Jūken so you will never be able to use it to the level that others in the main branch probably want you to be able to."

"What…do you…mean?"

"Jūken requires lots of sharp movements to execute the more advanced manoeuvres."

"How do you…"

"My sensei was Hyūga Hidamari."

"Hyū…!" Hinata briefly said before her voice was cut off by a gasp and a tear rose to the side of her left eye. Eventually she said, "You were trained…by Mother?"

"Yes. It was…unfortunate…what happened. But, that aside, what is important here is that your mother was much the same as you."

"The same…as me?"

"Yes. She couldn't use it either."

"Mother couldn't…but…she was…a jōnin…so how…?"

"She developed two styles based off of the standard Jūken taught in the Hyūga."

"She…but…why wasn't I…"

Naruto sighed and said, "Who knows? All I do know is that they relied on the user's flexibility, rather than the sharp movements of the regular style that you were taught."

"What…were they?"

"One, the base style, was Jūho."

At that, Kurenai thought, 'Gentle Step? Now I see where he gets his naming sense from. I had wondered.'

"The second, more advanced style, was called 'Sōshiken'."

Hinata wonderously said, "Jūho…& Sōshiken?"

"Yes. And I'm almost certain that sensei would have made technique scrolls for them too, so I would suggest that it might be an idea to ask your father about them when you get back." At that, he saw Hinata bite her lower lip and play with her fingers. Naruto sighed and said, "Of course, you can have Kurenai go with you."

"But…this is…a matter…for the Hyūga…so…"

"If nothing has changed in the last three years, you should be able to take a Guardian with you before you come of age and, legally speaking, at any point before you become a Chūnin, any shinobi that is considered your immediate superior, counts as a Legal Guardian."

"I will…look into…that," Hinata said.

'Well, I suppose it's a start anyway,' Naruto thought.

Kurenai said, "Why did you say that I 'did her a disservice'?"

Seeing Hinata's attention move to this new topic, Naruto sighed and said, "Alright, to be fair, you probably didn't know about what Hidamari-sensei did…"

"Thank you."

"…but, you still should have been able to see that she wasn't cut out for Jūken."

Kurenai sighed and said, "I did…"

Hinata said, "Kurenai-sensei…then…why…didn't you…?" getting hurt by the information.

Kurenai sighed and said, "I have found very little use for taijutsu over the years, specialising mostly in genjutsu. As such, I couldn't really do anything about it, despite seeing the problem."

Naruto sighed and said, "Which is why I called it a disservice and not…something more extreme."

Kurenai sighed and said, "Thank you," with a smile on her face as she could now see a path to aiding her favourite student that she didn't know about before.

After that, they travelled for another five hours before setting up camp for the night. When they were about to turn in, Naruto handed Kurenai a scroll and asked her to give it to his father when she returned to Konoha when they were done on this mission that was growing increasingly more complex if the amount of time Kikusuke had been gone was any indication.

XXXXX

The next morning, Kikusuke was still missing. Naruto frowned after he'd finished his breakfast and looked to Gisei and said, "Gisei, did you find anything strange while you were out hunting last night?"

"Yeah. That guy, Kikusuke, was involved in some sort of battle that left the ground all soggy."

"And him?"

"He was dressed up like a shinobi and there were flowers scattered all around the place. But yes, he's dead."

Chōji asked, "So, what do we do now?"

"We've got to tell the peddlers, but let me do the talking, alright?"

Hinata and the other genin looked to Kurenai, who was the technical leader of the mission, who nodded and said, "That's fine. He's better for what needs to be done right now."

"What…needs to be done?" Sakura said with a questioning lilt to her voice.

Mizuko, rather rudely, said, "And here I thought that you were supposed to be the smart one."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Think about it. as far as we were aware, he was just another peddler, but he was clearly a shinobi disguising himself as one for some reason. To do our job, we need to know what that reason is."

Sakura sighed and said, "I guess that sometimes there is no 'underneath the underneath', huh?"

Naruto sighed and said, "That's Kakashi for you."

"What do you mean by that?" Sakura asked, miffed that her tormentor was talking smack about her sensei when he wasn't there to defend himself.

Naruto sighed and said, "Never mind," and got up. He walked over to the peddlers, followed by his shinobi compatriots with Gisei at his side. He said, "Alright, there seems to be a slight problem."

"What is it?" The leader of the caravanserai asked.

"It would appear that there are some shinobi following someone that is travelling in our general direction."

That got the peddlers talking amongst themselves. Shun said, then we should probably take some measures to increase the likelihood of the survival of the majority of the cargo."

Naruto's lips twitched downward at that idea. But, in a calm voice that in no way reflected how he felt about what Shun was suggesting, he asked, "Alright, do you have any plans on how to do that?"

"Yes. We should split the group into two. That way you'll be able to protect more people, more easily."

"How do you figure?"

"There are six of you, correct?"

"That's right," Naruto acknowledged, not liking where this was going any more than Kurenai, who also knew what the plan was going to be.

"If you separate the ten of us, then not only will you decrease the number of people that you need concern yourself with, you guarantee the survival of one group. That is, if they are after us."

"I see. That…is alright…" Naruto agreed, to the shock of the genin, though they didn't let their displeasure be known. "But that just leaves the groups."

"The group that is going first would need to consist of the stronger individuals that can travel faster, so the second group would have to be the elderly and the children."

"I see. Then that would mean that you will be going in the slower group too then."

"What?!" Shun exclaimed. "Don't be ridiculous! I can keep up with…"

Sakura said, "What are you talking about? You've done nothing this entire time, and Kikusuke-san said that you were rather weak…or sick, or something."

"I can…"

Before Shun could come up with an excuse, Yurinoshin laid a hand on 'his' shoulder and sighed. he said, "They know, Haruna-sama."

"Haruna!?" Naruto exclaimed. "You're old man Kazuhiko's daughter?"

"That man was my father by blood, yes. What of it?"

"You idiot! Had you told us that, then not only would this mission have been staffed differently, Kikusuke wouldn't have had to die!" Mizuko exclaimed.

"What would a girl like you know about what I've been through? How I've suffered over the years? I was given over to a foreign land as a hostage! Just to secure the welfare of this land. Sacrifices are necessary for the survival of a nation and so long as the rightful lord of that nation lives, it can be resurrected and brought back to life again!"

Mizuko angrily said, "What the hell would you know about me, huh?"

"You seem to have grown up with a family that clearly cares about you, if the situation that you are in right now is any indication. So I hardly think that a brat like you has any right to a say in the matter."

"My mother, died the night I was born. My father, is the Hokage. The leader of our village. So he didn't really have much time to spend with either my sister or me, and what he did, was usually spent with Miwa. My brother…" Mizuko said, pointing at Naruto, "…was usually out of the village for months at a time, killing his fellow Konoha shinobi. So we were basically raised by a clan who, literally, would rather spend their entire time talking and playing with dogs rather than humans! So don't you dare try and talk about abandonment issues!"

"I…"

"As for Hinata here, she's been called a 'failure' by her father, her father's father and even her younger sister! And she comes from a clan that actually prides themselves on being the closest thing to human robots! And, neither of us would ever come even remotely close to thinking something so selfish!"

"Also,"Naruto said, "Do you really think that the people that you would be ruling would accept a lord that sees them as nothing more than expendable pawns?"

"Of course they would! I am the…"

Yurinoshin sighed and shook his head. He said, "Haruna-sama. Ideological differences aside…" looking at the Konoha-nin. "…their mission is to protect the peddlers. Not just us."

Haruna sighed and said, "Fine. What is your plan?"

Naruto turned to the genin and asked, "What do you four think?" to the utter dismay of Haruna. Kurenai though, smiled at his actions, having thought of using a number of her genjutsu to punish the uppity girl. She nodded at Naruto, telling him that she could appreciate the ingenuity of what he'd done.

"Us?" Chōji said. "Shouldn't either of you be making plans like that?"

"Yeah, shouldn't you?" Haruna asked in a desperate tone.

Naruto looked at Haruna and said, "You hired a bunch of genin to get you out of the country. Now, it's their job to see it done."

Haruna bit her lower lip, nervous about whatever type of plan that genin could cook up.

Hinata said, "I think that…Sakura should…go first."

"Why?" Mizuko asked. "It's pretty obvious what we have to do."

"What's that?" Chōji asked.

"We need to seal that sanctimonious bitch and bury the scroll in a ditch," Mizuko said, revelling in the horrified look on the stuck-up princess' face.

"We cou-uld…" Sakura said, while Inner-Sakura punched in front of her and exclaimed 'HELL YEAH! TEACH HER A LESSON!', but continued on to say, "However, that wouldn't really meet the requirements of the mission, and the ruler of the land would end up effectively dead."

"Yeah. What's your point?" Mizuko asked with a dead serious look on her face.

"Even if she is currently deposed, she can still be used as a figurehead if the new rulers end up being worse than the previous ruler was."

Mizuko grunted and muttered, "I still think that we'd be doing the world a favour."

Chōji said, "Obviously we can't go through with all of Mizuko's plan, but we could still seal her and Yurinoshin and take them with us."

"No. The ones after us could just destroy the scroll, or even just plain attack the caravan anyway."

Mizuko eagerly said, "We could do as she suggested."

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked. "That plan has been rejected."

"Oh. Sorry. I meant a variant of it."

"What's that?"

"We get some rope…"

"Ye-eah…" Sakura hesitantly said.

"Then, we use it to hogtie them and leave them here while we do our job protecting the peddlers."

"Noo, Mizuko, we're not killing the client," Sakura said.

By Haruna's side, Kurenai looked at Naruto and asked, "I take it that she gets those ideas from you?"

"No. I've got nothing to do with this one. Although, I've got to admit, I am impressed."

Kurenai sighed and said, "Of course you are," not inspiring confidence in Haruna that they wouldn't follow through with whatever plan the genin came up with if it wouldn't work.

When Mizuko started talking again, Sakura cut her off, saying, "Mizuko. We are not going to be using any plan that involves using Haruna as bait, her death, or any type of grievous bodily harm. Understand?"

"Really?" Mizuko asked in a disappointed tone.

"Yes!"

Mizuko huffed, annoyed that she wouldn't get to punish the spoiled, brattish, princess. After a few seconds, Hinata said, "If we…take the princess…away from the peddlers…then there would…be no need…for them to…attack them…and they would…need to come…after us."

Chōji said, "That's a great idea Hinata."

Sakura said, "But the peddlers…"

Mizuko cut her off, saying, "Aniki and I can just leave some clones behind. That should be enough of a deterrent.

"What good are clones?" Sakura asked. "They're just illusions made from chakra."

"We use…a different sort of clone," Mizuko vaguely said.

Hinata, knowing what she was talking about, said, "I think that we should trust her…Sakura-san."

"Alright then. And, with two jōnin, we should be easily able to handle whatever they throw at us."

"Actually," Naruto said, "it's only going to be Kurenai that goes with you."

"Eh? Why?" Sakura demanded. "Why are you leaving us now?!"

"I'm not leaving…per say. Plus, you'll have Mizuko with you, so you'll be alright."

"What about you?" Mizuko asked, not wanting him to just up and leave again.

"Don't worry. I'm just not too good when it comes to waiting to be attacked."

"What do you mean by that?" Chōji asked.

"Naruto got a dangerous grin on his face and said, "Gisei, it's time to hunt."

"Really?" Gisei eagerly asked, bounding over to Naruto.

Naruto nodded as Mizuko's face lost all of its colour. Seeing this, Sakura hesitantly asked, "What did he mean by 'hunt', Kurenai-sensei?" as Naruto and Gisei melted into the shadows of the forest.

Kurenai sighed and said, "Mizuko told you earlier. Her brother is a hunter-nin. He is going to try and stop whoever is after us from getting anywhere near us to begin with."

"Then…shouldn't some of us go with him?"

"No. we would just get in his way. Especially if the one chasing us is a suiton user."

"A suiton user? What does that have to do with anything?"

Kurenai sighed and said, "Mizuko's brother is known for two things within the jōnin ranks. His skill as a hunter-nin, and as the strongest suiton user in the ranks and a battle between two suiton users can get very large, very quickly.

"They can get 'large'? What do you mean?"

Kurenai sighed and said, "He once fought against Uchiha Itachi and their fight reshaped The Valley of the End."

"Seriously?!" Mizuko exclaimed.

"You didn't know?"

"No. I'll have to make sure he tells me about that at some point too."

"Oh yeah!" Sakura said, turning to face Mizuko. "Miwa said something about your brother shirking his duties. Do you know what that's about?"

Mizuko said, "Shirking his duties? Sorry, I've got no idea."

Kurenai thought, 'Shirking his duties? It's probably got something to do with the Uchiha Military Police Force.' She said, "I wouldn't worry about it, Mizuko. If it's what I think it is, then I doubt that he even knows he is."

"Well…if you say so, Kurenai-sensei."

"I'll bring it up with him when he gets back. For now though, we seem to have somewhat of a problem."

"What prob…Aaagh! The clones! He forgo…" Mizuko hung her head as she sighed and said, "When you get back, tell Miwa to add another week."

"Huh?" Sakura asked. "'Another week'? Add another week to what?"

"She'll know what it means."

"So, what do we do now? Without the clones…"

Hinata said, "There's a…small village about…one league…down the mountain."

Kurenai said, "Alright, Hinata. Chōji. I want you two to make sure that the peddlers get there safely."

"But…what about the mission?" Chōji asked.

"Once they're there, come back after us."

"Right! Chōji said, nodding as he set about readying the cart. As he did, Hinata informed the head merchant what was happening.

As they did, Mizuko, Sakura and Kurenai set about readying themselves. Sakura said, "Hey, sensei…"

"What is it, Sakura?"

"Why choose us?"

"You both have the most to gain by spending more time with me than either Hinata or Chōji."

"Why is that? Hinata is normally one of your…"

"And that is exactly why I can take my time with her. As for Chōji…that's a different matter," Kurenai said, a blush making its way onto her face. Luckily, Sakura didn't see it and Mizuko, who had long since finished packing, didn't care. "You, Sakura, are a genjutsu type, like me."

"What about Mizuko? No offence," Sakura said, looking at her somewhat friend, "but she's about as far from a genjutsu type as you can get."

Kurenai said, "You do have a point there, Sakura. However, her brother wanted her exposed to how a genjutsu user battles, and she makes up for the areas that genjutsu types like us tend to lack."

"Where we…lack?"

Kurenai simplified it to a staggering degree, saying, "She's better in a strict fight."

"What do you mean? All shinobi can fight, so…"

Mizuko grinned and said, "Wanna test that theory, Sakura?" drawing the two strangely shaped kunai from their holsters on her belt.

"That's not necessary Mizuko," Kurenai said, concerned at hearing her brother's famous line being used against a comrade. Especially given all of the plans that Mizuko had come up with that ended in Haruna's death. Mizuko let go of her kunai, letting them drop back into place.

Sakura said, "Do I want to…" then saw an image of Mizuko's brother superimpose itself over Mizuko and, in a double-tone, say, 'Want to test that theory?' and the image's face blacked out, the eyes glowing red as a white 'mouth' appeared, smiling maniacally down at her as it increased in size.

Then, the image dispersed into an explosion of cherry blossom petals that rained down around the three kunoichi. Sakura shook her head in surprise when Kurenai said, "And that, Sakura, is when genjutsu are most effective."

"Sakura blinked and looked at Kurenai and said, "Huh? Genjutsu? But…Mizuko can't…"

"I know. That was me."

"But how? I was just thinking on when Mizuko's brother used that line against Sasuke and then…can you read minds?!"

"No," Kurenai said with a smile. "I read your body language and figured that you'd heard that line from Naruto at some point, so I layered his image over Mizuko's and used the surface memory to get the words in his voice. After that, it was all a pretty generic genjutsu that afflicted the optical sensors in your brain."

"And…the petals at the end?"

"A personal quirk of mine that tends to filter into my jutsu from time to time."

"I…see."

"You probably don't, but that doesn't really matter."

"No no. you meant to say that genjutsu is more effective when making use of what the victim is seeing or feeling at the time, then making them see something that exacerbated their fear of what they are thinking about."

"Oh? Maybe you do get it then."

XXXXX

About fifteen minutes later, Naruto thought, 'This humidity…it's…' and sighed. He walked into a clearing and said, "So, how long have you known that I was coming?"

"A while now," a ninja said, walking into the clearing from the other side.

"I see. Do you mind telling me your name?"

"I'm Ruiga. One of the Janin."

"Janin?" Naruto said, frowning. "Sorry. Never heard of you."

"I'm shocked. You've never heard of the Legendary Janin?!"

"Nope. But then, I grew up around legends, so maybe theirs just eclipsed yours…or…it could be that you're just legends in your own minds." Ruiga's lips twitched downwards. "Legendary status aside, mind telling me why you killed Old Man Kazuhiko?"

"He was a fool. Though not so foolish as those dunderhead advisors that we killed were."

"Let me guess, they betrayed one leader, right?"

"Exactly. You understand, don't you? You can't trust traitors."

"That really depends on the situation, and the one that did the betraying. After all, couldn't the same be said of you if you killed the ones that hired you? In the end though, all of that is just sheer sophistry. So tell me, are you the one that ended that Hana-ninpō user?"

"What's it to you?"

"Under normal circumstances I'd buy you a drink."

"But now?"

"I've been hired to protect the heir of this country."

"I see. That's too bad then," Ruiga said, twirling his tonfa into position.

"I guess so," Naruto said, activating the Hidden Kunai Mechanisms up his sleeves, ejecting two kunai into his hands.

Ruiga grinned and asked, "What good're those going to be against my tonfa?"

"Not a lot I'd say," Naruto admitted.

"So then, why'd you bring 'em out?"

"However, my Namikaze-ryū: Nigenteki Reisui no Tsurugi will be a different story," Naruto said as two green blades made of water surrounded the metal blades of his kunai.

Ruiga's eyes widened as Naruto ran at him. He quickly said, "Suiton: Sameha Tonfa!" as he brought his tonfa up to defend against Naruto's attack. The water finished coating his tonfa just before Naruto's blade made contact, preventing them from getting cut in half.

Naruto jumped back and said, "So, you use a streaming technique too, do you?"

"Clearly," Ruiga said.

They both thought, 'Damn! That technique is about as strong as mine is and, judging from that exchange, we probably possess a similar amount of physical strength. This' going to drag out if I don't start taking him seriously.'

They then let out their killing intent, which was felt even as far away as Kurenai's team were. It caused Mizuko to bite her lip at the feeling of her brother's killing intent. Kurenai said, "It's been a long time since I've felt that level of killing intent."

"'Killing intent'?" Sakura asked.

"You fainted when Aniki levelled his against you during that lesson," Mizuko said.

"I…" Sakura sighed. "…don't even remember that."

"In any case, compared to this, it was nothing."

Kurenai said, "Sakura, killing intent is used by high-level shinobi to intimidate lesser shinobi into submission, eliminating both their will to fight and the need to waste your chakra fighting against them."

"But…surely they know that it won't work against the other?"

"Maybe so, but it can still have some affect on even higher-level shinobi if they have no way to counter it."

"How do you counter it?"

"With your own. Alternatively, someone else can use theirs to shield you from the majority of its effects, though some can still get through, even if the shinobi in question are on the same level, like those two probably are."

"What do you mean 'probably'?" Mizuko asked.

"Your brother has an…unfortunate habit of fighting against an opponent using the same method that they are. Of course, that isn't always the case, but it does seem to be this time."

"That's stupid," Sakura said. "Why would he…!?" Sakura gulped as she felt a pressure bearing down on her, similar to, but significantly weaker than, that which was being generated by the two battling jōnin. She forced herself to look where it was coming from and saw Mizuko in her hell-demon mode, white chakra roiling around her body.

At the sight, Kurenai thought, 'Naruto has started her on the killer intent training already?! Well, he is a hunter-nin, so I guess that it's really not that much of a surprise.' She said, "Calm down, Mizuko, she…"

Mizuko, glaring at Sakura, said, "Apologise!"

"S…s…sorry…" Sakura said as the cold feeling got worse as her 'friend' talked.

Mizuko left 'hell-demon mode' and had a massive grin on her face. She said, "Good," which somehow scared Sakura even more than when she'd had Mizuko's killing intent being forced upon her.

Kurenai said, "Uuhh…Mizuko…"

"What is it, Kurenai-sensei?"

"What else has your brother been teaching you?"

"Not a lot. Just these really awesome chakra control techniques, some fūinjutsu, taijutsu…though not too much of that just yet. Oh yeah! And some stealth techniques that Hana-sensei taught him."

"If they're the ones that I'm thinking of, he didn't 'get taught' them."

"What do you mean?"

"He copied them."

"Seriously?! But then…why didn't he rename them too?"

"Your brother got into some…very deep trouble over doing that with techniques from the Inuzuka clan before, so he was probably trying to avoid that happening again." Kurenai thought, 'Of course, Hana sent him to the hospital when he did.'

"What technique did he copy?"

"He hasn't told you?"

"No. Only that it happened."

"I see. Well then, in that case, you should probably ask him about it."

"Why can't you just tell me?"

"It's not my story to tell."

Mizuko sighed and said, "I kinda figured that it would be something like that," and started walking in front of Haruna and Yurinojō, as they had been told.