AN: Chapter title: Better Left Unread

"Are you sure you're alright? You look terrible."

"I'm fine…"

Ino's stare of disbelief was lost on Sakura, the pink-haired Genin already closing her eyes as she seemed set to nod off where she sat. The Chunin didn't bother with waking her up. This was the third time in as many days that Sakura had been utterly exhausted in the morning, had clearly not been getting enough sleep the past three days.

"Is she…?" Shikamaru didn't finish his question.

"She just needs a nap." Ino spent a moment to adjust Sakura, prop her up well enough that she wouldn't fall over in her seat. She turned back to the rest of the Tribunes, minus Hinata. "I'll let her know everything later." Serious blue eyes met those around the rest of the table. "It may be better that she's asleep for this."

"So this is about what you found in Naruto's office." Shikamaru's words were mainly for the benefit of Kiba and, to a lesser extent, Shino.

"What?! When did you get the chance to get in there?" Judging by the fact that Kiba was the only one half-shouting the information, the Inuzuka had been the only one left out the loop. From the way Akamaru shook his head on top of Kiba's own, even the ninken had pieced things together before his partner.

"The same day Sasuke left the village." Ino was set to leave it there, nodded to the softly snoring Genin asleep next to her. "The two of us managed to sneak in during all the commotion." Shikamaru and Choji didn't contradict her, were set to follow her lead. "Sakura watched the door and I found out what I could."

The Genin in question slipped off her shoulder and would've crashed into her lap if Ino didn't ease her down. The pink-haired Kunoichi didn't even stir as she found her new spot. Ino occupied one of her hands with Sakura's loose pink hair.

"Most of it just confirmed what we already figured out." Shikamaru took over. He had gone over everything Ino had found out. "We did figure out where the Daimyo of Waves is being held at least. It's a little obvious but it's the ports. He's moved to a new location every few days, escorted by a group headed by Momoichi's accomplice."

"Anything on who exactly that is?" Shino drew all eyes to himself when he spoke. He ignored most of the looks sent his way, his covered eyes focused on Shikamaru. "All I've managed to gather was that he possesses a Kekkei Genkai that makes him a dangerous opponent."

"According to what Sasuke told Naruto, he's a member of the Yuki Clan from the Land of Water. Kekkei Genkai users are normally hunted down in the area but this one survived and Momoichi came across him. In addition to him, he has a pair of Missing-nin known as the Demon Brothers, Gozu and Meizu, working with him in the Land of Waves. There were a few more names listed in the reports but I couldn't find anything on them in the Bingo Books so they're either dead or aren't worth mentioning." Shikamaru looked to Ino. "Anything to add?"

"Not yet. I'm still going through the Yamanaka records. My father ran an investigation on Momoichi years ago, after he attempted to kill the Mizukage. He should have more information on his known accomplices but I'm still looking through all his old files. If I find anything, I'll let you all know." The blonde Chunin turned to the Aburame. "Shino?"

"That was all the information I had." The Aburame's face was unreadable.

'He's lying.' Kiba knew Shino's tells. For whatever reason, the Aburame wasn't telling the group everything.

The Inuzuka didn't let what he was feeling show on his face.

"Keep me posted if you find out anything." Ino either didn't notice or didn't bring it up. Kiba wasn't sure which was the answer. "Next, Naruto's offers. From what was in his office he had one for Kiba, Choji, Neji, Tenten, Anko Mitarashi, and Iruka Umino. Shikamaru too but he already delivered that one." Minus Shikamaru and Choji, only one person with an offer from the blonde was sitting at the table with them and her eyes turned to him. "So, do you think he had any reason for bringing you in?"

All eyes at the table turned to Kiba, even Shino's covered gaze was focused solely on him.

"I guess I've got something." Kiba rubbed at the back of his head, tried to get his words in order. Akamaru offered a paw scratching at his head to help him focus. The Inuzuka spared a look to where the Nara of the group sat. "I mean…it's because we used to hang out back in the Academy, right?"

"That's our best guess right now." Shikamaru still couldn't quite wrap his head around such an idea. It was still strange to think about so the Nara did his best to occupy his thoughts with other matters. "And, while it works for me, you, and Choji, it doesn't help explain any of the others."

"I mean…if I had an army, I would want Iruka-sensei to teach them too." Kiba gave, what he considered at least, the obvious answer. It earned him a fair number of looks from the rest of the room. "I mean, come on. Even if the Academy was boring, Iruka-sensei was a pretty good teacher. Even before all this, I'm pretty sure Naruto liked him more than anybody."

"So…he wants a teacher?" As much as Ino didn't want to believe it, there was merit to the idea.

From the look Shikamaru sent her, he was thinking along the same lines.

"…It makes sense." The Nara closed his eyes, thought back to simpler days. "Even when we used to ditch class, Naruto never tried to get out of whatever punishment Iruka-sensei gave us. He was stubborn enough to do it and then ditch class again." Despite himself, he couldn't help the small smile at the memory. "Even when he was being as loud and obnoxious as he could, he always listened to Iruka-sensei."

"But he's not offering a job to anyone else at the Academy." Ino didn't need to think much on why only Iruka had been offered such a job. Most of the other teachers either ignored Naruto or, once he started pulling pranks, tried to get rid of him with outrageous punishments. Punishments Iruka would usually intervene on. "So that's one down…" She jotted down her notes next to Iruka's name, the same for Shikamaru, Kiba, and Choji. "But what about the others? Does he have plans for all of them too?"

"Tenten for sure. Her teammate, Lee, mentioned that she's been working with his bodyguards. She disappears with them all day and he hardly sees her now when he's back from missions." Shikamaru still frowned at the conversation he had with Lee. "Still, there's something strange about her. Naruto's army, his Legionnaires and Praetorians, like her but Sasuke doesn't."

"When did you figure that out?"

"Our second day here. Sasuke pulled me aside, wanted to talk…"

The blade of a kunai was pointedly tapped against the side of his throat. He didn't need to glance behind him to know who was holding it. "Not even two days and you're already somewhere you shouldn't be."

"I thought you were with the Daimyo." It was an admission of guilt. He had been caught after all.

"That's not important." The Uchiha lowered the knife at least. The Nara wasn't at risk of being stabbed anymore. "What were you looking for in my office?"

"Lee wanted to know what Tenten's doing here all day. I thought he would owe me a favor if I figured it out."

"How conniving." The Uchiha put away the kunai. "But your trip here was worthless. All of Ken's work is sent to either Caesar or his Praefectus Castrorum." It was only for a second but, when Shikamaru turned around, he saw the scowl on the Uchiha's face.

"…You don't like her?"

"I don't."

"He didn't say much about her but he didn't hide that he doesn't like her." Shikamaru resisted the urge to touch his unmarred throat at the memory. He had been lucky the Uchiha had been in a hurry or else things could've ended poorly for him. "I just don't know why."

"Then that's something to look into. Once Lee comes back from his mission, we can maybe ask him about Tenten. Maybe the two have history we don't know about?" Ino glanced at her notes, the next name. "We can try talking to Neji too. He should be back around the same time as Lee." She glanced to the last name on her list. "The last name on the list is Anko Mitarashi. Anyone have anything?"

She didn't know anything about the woman, not anything more than what the others already knew.

She had been part of the Chunin Exams, both the proctor of the Second and later half of the Third Stage.

She had a mixed reputation around the village, some people liked her, some disliked her, and most simply tried to avoid her.

And she had been out of sight since the invasion, had been changed into whatever she was now during it.

From the looks she was getting, there was little anyone else thought they should add.

"Her and Kurenai-sensei are friends. They hung out a few times after she was done training us." Kiba at least gave a little contribution.

"Her Chakra is different from before. It's more agitated than before as well." Shino was set to provide no more words to that statement, settled back into his silence.

"…Good to know." Ino noted it down just on the off chance it was important later. "But, with all of the offers out the way, we can talk about what else I found out." Sakura shifted in her lap, Ino patting her head. The Genin settled down and remained asleep. "Naruto hasn't signed off on these yet but there's a number of programs Sasuke must've been planning for after the invasion."

"You mentioned one earlier before the others got here, something involving the village's Jonin." Shikamaru didn't have much more than that.

"Some of the Praetorians talked about it to." Choji spoke up as well, a few scattered conversations coming to mind. "They talked about being glad they weren't involved in it."

"That lines up with how they usually act when it comes to everyone but Naruto. Sasuke's idea involved putting Jonin in the role of…Centurion." The Yamanaka double-checked her own notes to be sure. "Judging from all the notes on it, they haven't finished all the planning for it yet but the idea is definitely something we should look into."

"Naruto puts his Centurions in charge of over a hundred Legionnaires…Ten of those Centuries make up his Cohorts…Eleven Cohorts counting his Praetorians…If they're excluded, that leaves ten…" Shikamaru was speaking more to himself than the group at large. He had memorized the chart Naruto had shown him on the day of the group promotion to Chunin, had worked to find out more about Naruto's Legion since then. "Is he making another Cohort?"

Despite speaking to himself, more focused on vocalizing his thoughts, his words carried.

"So Naruto can just make another thousand clones?! Just like that!" Choji wasn't the only one to come to that conclusion. From the looks sweeping over the faces of the rest of the Tribunes, all of them were coming to the same conclusion of how bad that could be.

"Maybe?" Shikamaru shook his head, didn't have an answer. "But that could be wrong. He had more than three thousand clones for the invasion, had more in reserve judging by how he took on all of the duties the Hokage assigned." The Nara felt like burying his face in his hands. "And we don't even know how many clones he can make. Or how he even makes them."

"Those things aren't even close to regular Shadow Clones." It was the only thing the Nara could know for sure. "Shadow Clones don't bleed, usually can't take more than a few hits. But his clones, his Legionnaires, they've taken full force hits from Choji and gotten back up. I swear he's cracked ribs, knocked their arms out their sockets, and they can just get back up. It doesn't make sense."

"Nothing about him makes sense." Ino scoffed as she leaned back in her seat, one hand still combing through Sakura's pink locks. "But that's something we can focus on. From what my father told me, nobody knows anything about how Naruto made his army. If we can figure out more about how it actually works, even the smallest bit, we can maybe figure out a way to get rid of it."

Shikamaru was quiet, let his mind drift over what he knew.

'And how are we supposed to do that?' The Nara doubted any of them would find anything worthwhile, any groundbreaking discovery. His eyes flickered to the empty space next to Ino, that the Kunoichi there was sleeping through all of this. 'If we want to find something out, we need to talk to her.'

His dark eyes shifted back to Ino.

She was talking but he had stopped listening. He knew what she was talking about, something involving Naruto's constant surveillance across the village with his Praetorians.

'But Ino doesn't want her talking to us. She's keeping her close in the tower, doesn't leave her alone for long either.' The Nara had noticed a shift when it came to Ino and Sakura, a change he was still trying to understand. 'But why?' It was the question he couldn't answer and he didn't want to ask his teammate.

He didn't know if she would even give him an answer.

'What is going on with you Ino? And why are you hiding it from us?'

"What was that about?" Kiba had caught up to Shino once their meeting was finished, once all of them had separated for the rest of the day. "What's going on that you didn't tell them everything you found out?"

"It wasn't necessary." Shino was calm in the face of anger born from confusion. He continued on his way even as an angry Kiba followed after him.

"We're not supposed to be keeping secrets from each other! That wasn't the mission!" Kiba's words were joined with a sharp bark from Akamaru. The Aburame had been around the ninken long enough to even knowing he was glaring at him.

"I'm not doing this to hurt our mission. What I found out…it's useless if I can't confirm it. Provide more information." Shino turned to meet Kiba's eye, noted the frustration on his face. "I see. You believe I did this for other reasons. Come with me if you want to know."

It didn't take long for the Aburame to find a quiet place, to dispatch his kikaichu to keep away any eavesdroppers. The fact that he had cast out a sensory net made Kiba take him all the more serious.

"What I'm about to tell you shouldn't leave between the two of us." Shino waited for a moment, needed a moment to gather his own thoughts in truth. "I only have my suspicions but…" The Aburame didn't know what to say. "There's been strange correspondence between Momoichi's apprentice and Sasuke. They're discussing things that don't make any sense unless…"

"Come on man. Spit it out already." Kiba stepped closer, more concerned for his teammate that anything else. "What is it?"

"Sasuke and Momoichi's apprentice have been discussing things such as land distribution, the role of a Clan in a village. Construction quotes are also involved. He's mentioned hiring trackers for finding whatever members remain of the Yuki Clan, bringing them together. They only way it makes sense is if Naruto plans to build a village." Shino still didn't know what to think about the idea.

He hadn't come forward with his information despite going through dozens of messages.

It was too outlandish.

It served only as the actions of a traitor.

"You sure about this?" Kiba seemed to follow the same line of thought, the Inuzuka suddenly gravely serious. "This can't be something you're wrong about man. This is…We can't just let him do this. This is…stuff like this carries an execution order."

"I don't think there's anything we can do to stop it." Shino thought back to the vivid memory of the Chakra Naruto had loaned him, the sheer power that had been beyond anything he had felt before. Nothing came close to it. "Even at our best, even if Hinata joined us, if we all acted together, I don't think there's anything we can do to stop him once he sets his mind to something. The best we can do is to continue to gather information."

"It feels more than a little useless." Kiba's own frustrations were a surprise to the Aburame.

His surprise must've shown on his face.

"I get why we're doing all this, intel's important, but…it feels like we're not doing anything at the same time. It feels like we should be doing something else, something more. I don't know…" He almost wanted to growl. "I know we're here for a reason, Sasuke may be an asshole but he grabbed us all for a reason, but nobody is just telling us what we're supposed to be doing. It's like we're stumbling around blind, that they expect us to know something they never told us."

"When I told my father about this assignment, he gave me a piece of advice: Trust the Hokage. He has a plan."

"It's hard to feel trust for a guy who doesn't do anything about Naruto." It was the looming weight in every discussion with or about the Third Hokage: What did he plan to do about Naruto?

It seems like no one in the village had an answer, were always left guessing if there was anything they could even do about the blonde. If they even should do anything.

As weird as it was, most of the village had gotten used to seeing his army of clones. It had been months by now.

As weird as it was, it was slowly becoming the new normal.

"Still. We should trust in the Hokage." The Aburame had made his stance on it all clear to his friend. "At times, we as Hidden Leaf Shinobi, must play the roles assigned to us. Even if we don't know the greater plan at work, we must accomplish our mission."

"What did I miss?" The pink haired Genin was finally awake, rubbed at her eyes after sitting up from her unexpected pillow: Ino's lap. She had no idea how she had ended up there and did her best not to be embarrassed about it.

By the smile Ino was wearing, her face was definitely red.

"Nothing you didn't already know." Ino rose from her seat. "I'll tell you all about it later."

"Where are you going?" Sakura's question only earned a wave goodbye from the Chunin.

Neither caught the frown the other was wearing.

'Ino…what's going on with you?' Even if she had been exhausted for the past few days with her late-night training, with her extra training with Yugao, she would have to be blind not to see the change that her friend had gone through. And it worried her.

Ino wasn't acting like herself anymore. As much as she tried to hide it, tried to keep anyone from noticing, there was something going on with her. Something bad.

And she wasn't telling her anything, was trying to shoulder whatever it was by herself.

Naruto,

I hope you never have to read this but…I wanted to leave this just in case the worst happens.

This is your Mom. My name is Kushina Uzumaki. And I'm so sorry I couldn't be there for you. I wanted to be your Mom so badly. I wanted to see you grow up. I wanted to see you happy at all your birthdays, see all the friends you've made, and I wanted to see everything you've done.

I'm so sorry that I'm gone and you had to grow up without me. I'm so sorry that I couldn't be there for you. Even if I'm gone, even if we never had the chance to meet, I wanted to let you know that I love you.

I love you Naruto.

I love you Naruto.

I love you Naruto.

I would write it a million times if I felt it could reach you.

I love you if you have my hair or if you have Minato's.

I love you if you have my eyes or if you have Minato's.

I love you if you're stubborn like me or smart like Minato.

I love you if you became a Shinobi or decided to be something different.

I love you no matter what you look like. I love you no matter how you act.

I love you and I'm sorry I can't be there for you. I wish I could be. I want to be there with you for every moment I can, but I…I know there's a risk with my pregnancy.

I know there's a chance that we'll never get to meet.

Naruto, if you're like me, then you're also the Jinchuriki of the Kyubi. I know we did everything we could, tried to make everything go perfect, but I knew this could happen. And don't for one second blame yourself or anybody else for what happened to me. I wanted to have you. I never thought for a second about not having you.

You're not a mistake.

You're not a burden.

You didn't hurt anyone.

You didn't cause anything to happen to me.

If you want to blame anyone, blame that stupid fuzzball.

But never blame yourself. Nothing that happened to me was your fault. I know Minato will say its his fault, that he should have done something different. If he says stuff like that, hit him for me. Tell him he's being an idiot.

There was never a time when I was happier than when I found out I was going to be a mother. No. There was a time better: When Minato and I picked your name.

Naruto. I'm sorry to say but there will be plenty of times when things become hard, when you feel like they're impossible to overcome. All I can tell you about these times is to hold tight to your dreams, hold on to them and never let them go! Even when things seem hard, when you want to quit, you can keep going with them.

No matter what path you walk, I want you to live a life you're satisfied with. Your goals need to be your goals. Your dreams need to be your dreams.

People may tell you that you need to be something but don't listen to them. Follow your own path just like I did.

Please Naruto. Even if I'm not there, if I can't be there, I want you to be happy above all else.

I love you Naruto Uzumaki.

Signed your loving mother,

Kushina Uzumaki

Ino stared at the letter in her hand.

The letter from Naruto's dead mom.

"My mother held the beast before me. I don't precisely know what happened but the beast escaped the night of my birth, claimed her life when it did so."

Kushina Uzumaki, the woman who had died the same night as the Kyubi's attack, her death had directly caused Naruto to become a Jinchuriki and be raised as an orphan.

She shouldn't have this letter.

She should have never read this letter.

As she stared down at the aged scroll, only one thing came to her mind: She needed to get this back where it belonged.

Which brought a question:

"How the fuck can I do that?"

AN: 2/3 chapters for this update.