11.PRECIOUS PEOPLE

"Time to rise and shine!" Kakashi announced, sweeping into the room that Shikamaru and Sasuke were sharing.

Sasuke glanced up from the table he was sitting at, and then went back to packing kunai and shuriken into his thigh holster. Sometimes it amused Kakashi that Sasuke was so picky about everything always being in exactly the right place.

Shikamaru grunted, opening an eye. He made eye contact with Kakashi before he closed it and rolled over.

A moment later, he started snoring.

Idly, Kakashi wondered what Naruto would do with such an obvious pranking opportunity.

Then Shikamaru half-heartedly crawled out of his futon, and stumbled to a stand, before yawning hugely as he stretched up.

"Kay, I'm ready to go." The lazy boy finally muttered.

Kakashi bemusedly noticed that Shikamaru had changed before going to bed the night before.

"Great!" Kakashi said. "Well, it's time to escort her highness the Fire Lady to breakfast."

He stepped back out into the hall where Sakura was chatting with Shijimi about something inane. Mentally, he added a bullet to the list on the complaints he'd be writing to the Hokage. Trying to trap a ninja bodyguard with courtly word games was conduct unbecoming of a noble.

Kakashi stepped in. "Well, if you two are ready to go, Shijimi-sama, we'd certainly like to get there on time."

"Oh, of course Kakashi-kun!" Shijimi said. "I'm sorry for delaying you, I know how important it is to be timely."

Kakashi merely raised an eyebrow. Shikamaru didn't bother holding back a snort. "Maa…" Kakashi said. "Well, you're the one that made reservations for breakfast, that's what I meant." He gestured, and the group set off down the road towards the trendy café Shijimi had made breakfast reservations at the day before. Kakashi was amused to note that Sasuke immediately went to the roofs and hid himself.

Kakashi smiled. "Our job is merely to protect you from horrible agonizing death. Shijimi-sama."

Shijimi was not one to be so easily frightened. "Oh, I have the utmost confidence in your ability to perform your duty adequately. Kakashi-kun."

Kakashi beamed. "Why thank you! It's nice to know you appreciate how dangerous ninja are." He paused, and made eye contact with Sakura. She'd understand why in just a moment.

"But," he mused, "Just hypothetically, it's very possible that an A-class missing-nin will appear out of nowhere and try to kill you."

Shijimi tutted. "Oh, surely that doesn't happen very often."

Sakura was a bright girl, she knew her cue when she saw it. "Ano…" she said, drawing the Fire Lady's attention. "We were ambushed by an A-class missing nin on our very first C-classed mission. It… was very close."

"And all because someone was abusing their ability to hire ninja!" Kakashi said loftily. "We forgave the client in the end because he was such a noble guy, but people who try to take advantage of the ninja they hire are universally hated by the Villages."

Shijimi narrowed her eyes, and spoke, a little too sweetly. "Of course, but you were the ones that accepted the contract, after all."

Kakashi shrugged eloquently. "Well…" He trailed off, glancing off into the distance. He seemed to unfold from his slouch, ready for combat. There were some huge chakra presences lighting up, some familiar and some not. Definitely bad news.

Shijimi spoke. "Is something wrong, Kakashi-ku-"

"Quiet!" Kakashi spoke. "Sakura. Sasuke. Get the client out of here." He formed a seal, and created a pair of Kage Bunshin. One jumped toward the scene and the other moved to brief Shikamaru.

"Who are those people?" Sasuke asked, leaping to run alongside Kakashi and Sakura, who had Shijimi perched on her back.

"Some jounin on vacation from Cloud and Stone." Kakashi said lazily. "Also the Tsuchikage."

Sakura almost stumbled, before turning to Kakashi. "What!?"

Kakashi shrugged. "Well, I ran into a Stone nin and we decided not to have a death match." With that, Kakashi smiled, although Sakura was only able to tell because his one visible eye was shut the way it always was when he smiled.

Sasuke spoke next, after dropping back slightly, allowing Sakura to take the lead. Curious, Kakashi fell back beside him. "Then we need to go back."

Behind them, already distant, there was a huge crash from a collapsing building.

Kakashi idly looked at his disciple. "Well, I sent Shikamaru to rendezvous with Temari, and it's better not to get involved in a fight between two groups that hate us more than each other."

Kekashi paused, then, as information from his Kage Bunshin came back. It was even worse than he'd thought; they were fighting Akatsuki, not each other. He barely pulled his attention back when Sasuke spoke, low and intense.

"No. Motoko's around here somewhere."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow at that. "I know you like her, but…we have our own mission to complete right here."

"I'm not going to leave her behind to die!" Sasuke hissed.

Kakashi didn't like it, either, but Motoko was supposed to be a smart girl with a lot of common sense. She was almost certainly high-tailing it back to Konoha even faster than they were, but it would take a little too long to explain that to Sasuke in this crisis situation.

"Sasuke." Kakashi said. "It's hard, but you need to believe in your comrades. Believe in Motoko's abilities as a kunoichi, okay? You'll meet her again, in Konoha."

Sasuke met his teacher's eye for a moment, and seemed to find whatever he was looking for when he turned back to watch where he was going. "Okay." He said.

I I I

"So that's why you need to go convince Temari to leave!" Kakashi told Shikamaru.

"Why me, instead of another Kage Bunshin?" Shikamaru grunted. "Push comes to shove… you can make her, I can't."

Kakashi nodded. "That's why. I don't want to give the impression I'm ordering a kunoichi from another village. That would be a violation of our treaty terms, as a matter of fact. You're her friend, so if you ask nicely she might actually do what you ask."

Shikamaru looked at Kakashi. "We are talking about the same Temari, right?"

Kakashi smiled. "You should trust your girlfriend more." With that, the Kage Bunshin cancelled before Shikamaru could say something witty.

"Troublesome." He muttered instead, before setting off to find Temari.

He hopped to a roof, scanning, and noted with some wry amusement that he found her immediately on account of her running straight towards the scene, against the flow of people that were running desperately away.

"Oy, Temari!" He shouted, jumping across the street and landing on the building across from her. He had to shout to be heard above the din of the crowd.

She turned, and grinned when she saw him. "Shikamaru, what's up?"

"We gotta get out of here." He said, landing beside her.

She shook her head. "I can't. I need to collect intelligence on what's going on."

Shikamaru grunted. "We'll fill you in later. We have to leave now."

Temari frowned, and moved through the crowd. "No, I have a duty as a Sand nin to find out what's going on, you understand."

Impatient, Shikamaru just grabbed her arm. "Just trust me, okay?"

Temari didn't shake his hand off. "Just trust you, huh? What are you saying to a ninja from another village." She turned, and grinned at him. "Alright, I wasn't too excited about trying to spy on crazy powerful unknowns anyway. But if you betray a maiden's trust she'll cut you to pieces with one jutsu."

"Troublesome." Shikamaru groaned.

"Stop whining." Temari said, "And hold on!" With that, she grabbed him around the shoulder and lept, swinging her fan around and opening it beneath her, pulling Shikamaru on behind her as they shot off, skimming above the roofline. Now that she wasn't trying to sneak up on people, she could use the less stealthy flight mode, leaning forward and controlling her fan while she kept her body half-turned to keep Shikamaru from sliding off.

At least, Shikamaru mused as he watched the ground go past beneath him, he didn't have to run like a sucker.

But it made him nervous that she still had an arm clamped around his shoulder.

I I I

There was a pause as the group tried to comprehend what had just happened. The blonde kid that had been spying on them (successfully, Kirema sourly thought), had just charged off and they hadn't been able to stop him. He'd gone to save an enemy jinchuuriki from a group of four sociopathic S-ranked missing-nin.

At least the kid had balls, Ursura decided.

The seven women, four from Stone and three from Cloud, were arranged under what remained of the veranda extending from what remained of their hotel. Each was busy assessing their injuries, getting prepared for whatever would come next.

"You know what really bothers me?" Reiko mused, gingerly holding the side where Kakuuzu had nailed her with a kick, right over the kidney; it was bruising severely, even worse than the stomach-shot she had taken. Idly, she stuck her other fingers into her mouth to probe at the teeth he'd knocked loose.

"What really bothers you, Reiko-san?" Kirema said, sounding a little too tired to play games.

"When that blond Naruto kid blew through that wall, and then he was talking with Itachi for a little bit." Reiko said. "He said to Itachi, 'what two-tailed cat? There's another demon around here?'" Reiko paused and shifted uncomfortably. "That's really bothering me."

Ursura groaned. "Shit, you're right."

Okute coughed, retching blood onto the handkerchief she was holding against her mouth. "What… what do you mean, Reiko-san?"

Tetsuko, who was hovering over the younger woman, not able to do anything now that Okute was stabilized, not able to do anything for her own injuries, frowned. She leaned back, and spoke. "By saying 'another demon,' that Naruto kid implied that he was a demon."

"Or that he's also a jinchuuriki." Kirema said, before Ursura could say it.

"That's not all." Ursura muttered darkly.

Reiko nodded. "Yeah… if Konoha had a jinchuuriki, what would it be?"

Kamome sucked her breath in, worried.

Okute shivered. "You mean…"

Tetsuko nodded. "The One, Two, Four, and Eight Tails are confirmed as jinchuuriki. The Three Tails is loose in the Mist area. Five, Six and Seven are… accounted for." She grimaced. "That leaves only the Nine Tails. It's been suspected, but it's the only possibility."

Ursura grunted. "We had suspicions after the last Leaf chuunin exams, when the One-Tails, Gaara, was defeated. We're pretty sure it wasn't any of Leaf's elites, so…" Ursura waved her hand meaningfully, or tried to. Her fingers were trembling badly and she couldn't get them to stop. "Plus the Nine Tails disappeared in Konoha territory about 13 years ago."

Kirema closed her eyes. "Everyone thought it was a double-death with the Fourth Hokage, but there were always… questions."

"So yeah." Ursura said. "The blond kid is the jinchuuriki of the Nine Tails." She paused. "Or, that's what he wants us to think."

Kirema cocked an eyebrow.

Ursura grinned. "It could very well be insurance against us. A bluff in case we won."

"Doesn't explain how the missing-nin knew him." Reiko pointed out. "But if they were hunting the tailed beasts and he was one of them, it would explain a lot of his dialogue with Itachi nicely... and it's not like we haven't already discussed the possibility that Leaf has the Kyuubi jinchuuriki."

"I didn't say it was likely he was bluffing," Ursura huffed, "just that it was possible."

"So the question is, what do we do?" Kirema said. "If you're trying to say we can't beat him in a straight-up fight, that… might be true."

"Maybe, maybe not." Ursura sighed. "Jinchuuriki are notoriously unstable, fickle things. They lose because of overconfidence and aren't really dependable as ninjas." Ursura grinned. "Of course, this one seems pretty competent at infiltration gigs. I wonder if we were supposed to find out about it, whether missing-nin showed up or not."

Kirema sat up, eyes wide. "You mean… a threat by Konoha?"

Ursura nodded, smiling. It didn't reach her eyes. "If we think about what a jinchuuriki usually does, 'total annihilation' would probably be a good description. For the Nine-Tails… 'total annihilation' is probably understatement." The Tsuchikage shook her head. "So if you also give that weapon the capacity to infiltrate a ninja village, and prove that it's capable of sneaking around even elite assassins, then…"

"A weapon that can be deployed directly into an enemy Hidden Village, and released against the home forces as a surprise attack?" Kirema finished. "So the Hokage was demonstrating that they have a jinchuuriki that can sneak into one of our villages and then destroy it?"

Ursura grinned. "Sounds about right." She shook her head. "Man… what a scary idea. No warning, no prevention… you wake up and there's a bijuu killing all your cute little genin and massacring all your clans right in their houses."

"So we have to destroy it now." Tetsuko said.

"Can we?" Reiko said, sounding honestly curious. "If we were in top condition, maybe… but we're all pretty hurt. What can we do?"

Kirema sagged, deflating as she considered the question. "I guess we have to see what the Hokage's game is."

Ursura shrugged. "I suppose we've been out-foxed."

There was a pause, and then Tetsuko groaned at her leader's joke.

I I I

Neji tapped his finger against his sleeve, impatient to get going.

Everyone assumed that his long, silky hair required lots of maintenance and that he spent lots of time in the bathroom every morning prepping it.

In reality, Neji rolled out of bed, dunked his head in the sink, and ran his fingers through his hair; bam, he was good to go. He showered, if he remembered. It wasn't that he was unhygienic; he was just typically dirty for an adolescent boy of thirteen.

Lee… Lee, on the other hand, spent fifteen minutes every day gelling his uncontrollably wild hair into that tamed bowl shape.

"He doesn't even have hair anymore." Neji muttered to himself.

"What was that, my youthful rival!?" Lee shouted right in Neji's ear.

Neji winced and turned to face his teammate. "I said…" but then he trailed off, mouth open.

Lee scrunched his face, looking very worried. "Is something wrong?

"Lee…" Neji said, "you're hair… it's…" here, Neji gestured impotently at his own head. Finally, he managed to finish his sentence. "…Back."

"Indeed!" Lee roared, striking a pose on one foot. His teeth went ping, and he flipped his head, showing off his newly-restored bowl-cut.

"But… it was… gone." Neji lamely finished.

"Don't question the power of Youth, my youthful rival!" Lee roared, gyrating his stance.

"That doesn't make sense!" Neji protested. "You can't just, just 'youth' your hair back!"

"Neji." Lee said, uncharacteristically solemn. He relaxed, and stood at attention. "Don't question the power of Youth. Some questions… some questions have very dangerous answers."

Something eldritch, something that hinted at the incomprehensible horrors that lurked in the vast gulfs of the plutonian abyss shone in Lee's eyes for a moment, a subtle gleam that chilled Neji to the core of his soul.

Then it was gone when Lee's teeth went "ping."

I I I

What woke Yugito was a spike of pain that dug into each side of her throat, interrupting the duller haze of suffering that always seemed to wash over her when she overused the power of the Demon Cat.

She cracked an eye, fearing the worst after losing the fight with Hidan.

She was being held bridal-style, an arm wrapped around her shoulders, cradling her head in the crook of the right elbow, while the left arm was supporting her knees, and the left hand was supporting her right hip.

Another jolt of pain in her neck, when he sprung off a roof, and the pain finished pulling her into complete wakefulness.

She looked up, and saw a whiskered face wreathed in blond hair, backlit by the morning sun. The face swam into focus, a lip being worried by teeth and blue eyes that darted around nervously, pinched with concern.

He seemed to notice her attention, and glanced down.

A smile spread across his face. It made Yugito think of when the sun broke between the clouds and illuminated a valley between the high mountains, and suddenly everything was warmer because of the direct sunlight.

Motoko had made her feel that, and Motoko was just a lie this boy had made up.

"You're awake? That's great!" He said, not seeming to notice her dark mood.

"Hmn." She stiffly responded.

"Anyway, I'll have you back to your team in a minute." Something dark passed across his own face, but it was gone almost before Yugito could notice.

He continued to speak. "They'll have you fixed up in no time. Believe it!"

"Whatever." Motoko finally said.

He glanced at her, dismayed, but didn't say anything. He jumped again, and Yugito winced slightly as it jolted her neck.

He noticed. "Just one more hop and we'll be there, okay?"

Yugito grunted.

Naruto frowned, not quite sure how to handle this new, sulky mood Yugito seemed to be in. Sasuke sulked like this sometimes when he lost at something, but somehow Naruto felt that teasing Yugito about losing to Hidan was exactly what not to do.

He jumped again, mulling over what he was going to say next, and was interrupted from further conversation by the Tsuchikage speaking up when he landed in the ruined inn courtyard.

"I can't believe you actually came back, kiddo."

I I I

The day was going to be a hot one, he mused, once the sun got a little higher in the sky. Already there was an occasional grasshopper making noise, it would be a full-blown chorus by afternoon. The insects were nothing. They totally ignored people; during the Third Secret War, the Kamizuru bee-user clan of Hidden Stone had genetically altered the native grasshopper population of the Fire Country to ignore humans, thereby reducing the chances that Leaf Ninja would detect an infiltration.

The Bookie was right. The guard was lax, only two teams of career genin led by a chuunin each to guard the whole facility, plus support staff. There was nothing here to stop him from waltzing in and taking what he wanted.

He closed his eyes, and sank back beneath the earth, slowly burrowing his way towards the prison.

Like most prisons in Fire Country, it was built on an artificial island that divided a river. The water was raw material for suiton jutsu and a preventive measure against the very kind of underground infiltration he was now using.

Too bad for them that the Yonbi allowed the man named Shisui to easily do element combinations.

Shisui converted some chakra to the water element, and melted it together with the earth element he used to tunnel through the ground. Rather than transforming them into a third, unique element like wood, he saturated the earth chakra with water chakra; the result is a cohesive 'mud' chakra that can be used to bridge the moat.

Shisui slid along underground, and reached the inner courtyard. This is where the executions are held; he could sense that it was empty, there was no one around.

Shisui would have liked to come up closer to where Chouzouyama was being kept in the Eastern cell block with other financial criminals, but to do so would require going through the hardened floor of the building. That would take too much time and leave too much evidence.

So Shisui emerged into the late morning sunlight of a courtyard that stinks with the blood of beheaded men.

Immediately Shisui cast a genjutsu on himself, obscuring his presence from sight and smell. He sneaked into the hallway leading up to the courtyard, past the offices of various prison officials.

Shisui used a bizarre hybrid jutsu of his own creation. It is both ninjutsu and genjutsu, and combines shape and element manipulation. The effect is simple to describe, but very, very hard to achieve: with this jutsu, Shisui vastly magnifies his ability to sense chakra. It is a bit of a double-edged sword, since using the jutsu makes him very easy to sense as well, but against six career genin it's not a concern. It's the two chuunin he worried about.

He could sense the presence of the eight ninja used to guard the prison; three were in the office block, five seemed to be on perimeter guard, and the last was over in the interrogation block. Bookie had heard a rumor in town that one of the chuunin was an interrogation specialist.

Shisui drifted into the building, moving as quietly as possible, until he reached the East Prison Block.

The large, central prison bay holds the general prison population, and cells that can be individually locked radiate around the room. Like most countries, the Fire Country allows complex prison gangs to develop and subsidizes some of the prisoner management to those gangs. Manipuating at that level of political intrigue is expected of anyone who reaches a high enough rank to become prison warden.

The leader of a block gang is the one who controls the keys to the secondary prison cells. They can be used for private rooms for the elite or for their intended purpose: punishment.

Shisui sneaked to the East Block and looked through the steel bar-and-mesh used to seal off the prison proper. The prisoners were lazing about, nothing to do between their morning and noon meals.

Shisui and Bookie talked for two hours and couldn't decide on the best method for extracting Chouzouyama. The twin problem of identifying and extracting his target is complicated because Shisui doesn't know what Chouzouyama looks like or sounds like; Shisui isn't good enough to ensnare someone in deep genjutsu and ask them questions they won't remember.

It was Bookie as the client who proposed the method, and frankly Shisui didn't have a better idea.

Shisui dropped the disguise genjutsu and cast a henge to change his appearance. Now, it was Bookie dressed as a high prison official that stands before the East Block. Silent as only a ninja could be, Shisui-turned-Bookie walked to the gate and regarded it; a prison official would have a key.

"Yessir, can I help you sir?" Said a thug sitting by the gate. Wearing the simple white kimono issued to prisoners, he also had an armband wrapped around his left bicep. Without knowing the extraneous symbolisms, Shisui knew it identified the thug as the designated doorman for the gang that controlled the East Block.

"Bring me the prisoner named Chouzouyama." Shisui commanded.

"Yessir, right away sir." The thug said. He scurried out, into the mass of prisoners interestedly rubbernecking.

A bald and square-jawed man is hustled over to the prison gate by two more gang officers. The man has only been here a few days, long enough for the gang to work him over, still an outsider to the East Block.

When Shisui sees the spark of recognition in the man's eyes, it's enough; this man is Chouzouyama and he recognizes the face of Bookie that Shisui is borrowing. Shisui reached out and used earth chakra to guide fire chakra into the lock on the gate. The metal hissed and melted under his touch, and he wrenched open the gate when the lock turns to soft slag.

"This face hired your rescue." Shisui said, and with a cross-shaped seal three Kage Bunshin appear, two taking down the prison officers while the third heaved Chouzouyama over his shoulders in a fireman's carry.

That Bunshin darts out, and Shisui slammed the gate shut. In a few minutes, at most, these men will realize the gate isn't locked anymore.

Shisui darted out, abandoning stealth for a quick extraction. He dropped the henge on himself, and his bunshin does the same.

Shisui is almost in the courtyard when the first ninja appears. A woman in her twenties, Shishui can tell at a glance that she's one of the genin.

He pooled chakra in his gut, and breathed out a huge mass of mud that swallows up her shuriken and then her, too. He formed the seals, and then dove into the mud, tunneling through it with jutsu, his Bunshin dragging the target behind it.

He popped out into the courtyard, and one of the chuunin attacked, just as expected.

This man is better than the one before, although odd. Everything above his nose is wrapped in bandages, and his forehead protector covers where a man's eyes are. Distantly Shisui wonders whether the man is Hyuuga.

The man darted forward, using taijutsu of some kind, but Shisui knocked him back with a raw blast of air-element chakra and then the man is mostly swallowed by the earth.

He's running out of time, the others are coming. While the bandage-head is cursing him and digging his way free, Shisui is already diving underground, his Kage Bunshin handing Chouzouyama off to the real self before it cancels.

Nearly thirty seconds later, Shisui burst out of the ground, and heaved his target out and pulls the older man up and onto his shoulders. While Chouzouyama gasps for breath from his unexpected trip underground, Shisui is already running as fast as he could towards the checkpoint in the next country over.

The mission will not be successful until they get over the border. Shisui reminds himself that so he won't get sloppy on the last leg.

I I I

Ursura raised an eyebrow when the blond kid landed with Yugito in his arms. She had been debating various pursuit strategies. Once he captured an enemy jinchuuriki, he would definitely escape. And that was disregarding the whole "he got exposed as a spy" thing.

"I can't believe you actually came back, kiddo." She finally said. "I mean, what the hell?"

The kid just gave her a strange look, like she was being ridiculous. "I said I would bring Yugito back, didn't I?"

Ursura couldn't help it, she had to laugh at that. "Yeah, but…" She shook her head. "You know what? Forget it." She pointed at Kirema. "You just give Yugito to Kirema, okay, and then come over here and we'll have a little chat."

The kid eyed her a little bit, and then he eyed Kirema, too, before shrugging slightly and handing the sulking host of the Two Tails to the enfeebled leader of the Could delegation, before walking over to where the Tsuchikage was standing up.

"Let's go sit over underneath the veranda, okay?" Ursura asked, somewhat rhetorically. Then she added, "Or under what's left of it, at any rate."

"Sounds good." The kid agreed, sounding way too happy about basically being debriefed.

The Tsuchikage sat down, and she grimaced internally when it was a little too much like collapsing into a seat. Whatever that crazy genjutsu Itachi had used on her was, it had sure messed her up good.

"So." She began. "You probably know a lot about us, but I don't know much about you. Why don't you tell me about yourself?"

"Okay!" The kid said. Again, there was way more enthusiasm than most interrogation suspects had. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto! My favorite food is Ramen, and my favorite color is orange! I especially like Miso Ramen, and not just because it comes in the orange package, either, but it's tasty. I guess my hobby would be gardening, well that and becoming a better ninja, of course! Why, just the other day I-"

This was definitely the first time Ursura had ever seen inane blather used as a defense technique in an interrogation. Sure it was data, but it was so riddled with crap and lies, probably, that it was likely worthless. The Tsuchikage felt out of her depth, debriefing hostile enemy nin was an art of itself that she had little to no training in, and she didn't think normal tactics would work on this clown anyway.

"Kid." Ursura said, holding up a hand. "Let's keep it simple. Name. Village. Serial Number. Rank."

Naruto blinked. "Okay… well, my name is still Uzumaki Naruto. I'm a ninja from the Leaf Village, and… I don't remember my serial number, although I'm pretty sure it had a six and two eights in it. And I'm a genin."

Ursura nodded. "Okay, now we're getting somewhere." She glanced behind the kid, to where Tetsuko was sitting, ready to provide a counter-questioner in case they needed to keep him off balance or something. "So… why were you spying on us?"

He shrugged. "Granny Tsunade wanted me to find out if you guys were gonna invade or what."

Ursura wondered how this kid managed to land this sensitive of a mission if he just spilled his guts as soon as anyone even asked him. Also, Granny Tsunade? Who talked about their Kage so irreverently? She hadn't even gotten to the part where she threatened him for not talking, he was just merrily yammering away.

"I'm glad that you don't want to go to war with us." He continued. "Cuz, well, you guys would lose."

Tetsuko stiffened at that, and Ursura couldn't help grinning. It wasn't a very nice expression. "And why do you say that?"

"Because Konoha ninja are incredible!" He proudly exclaimed. "I mean, you guys are all pretty good too, but you're just not as awesome as we are!"

Ursura wanted to break his teeth. "Alright, alright… next question. The Kyuubi no Kitsune."

He stiffened, and glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. It was all the answer she needed, and Ursura sat back, hiding her nervousness with a grin. It changed the entire nature of the conversation. It didn't matter if he spilled his guts; if he burned them all to crisps it wouldn't really matter what he said to them. What's the point of training a death machine in interrogation procedure?

"Never mind." Ursura said, changing tack. "And what does Tsunade-hime plan to do, if we go to war, eh?"

Naruto shrugged. "I dunno. She didn't tell me and I didn't think to ask."

"Then what would you do, eh?" Ursura said. "If you were Tsunade, what would you do?"

Naruto puffed his chest, crossing his arms in an overblown display of assumed authority. "That's easy! When I'm Hokage we're not going to go to war!"

Ursura traded glances with Tetsuko. She nodded, too, looking about as incredulous as how Ursura felt. "When you're Hokage."

Naruto nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah! I'm gonna be the next Hokage, it's my dream!" Abruptly, he frowned. "But, I want to protect everyone. Ninja battles are awesome, but wars suck. So I don't want to go to war with you guys."

"That sounded pretty stupid, but it was a nice sentiment." Ursura frankly responded. "But you need to get your head out of your ass. What if Cloud over there declared war on you, eh? What would you do then?"

Naruto smiled. "Then I'd beat up their Kage to make them stop."

That was the most audacious strategy Ursura had ever heard, in her entire career as a ninja. The ridiculous part was it was actually a pretty reasonable idea. As a jinchuuriki, the kid probably had the potential to go toe-to-toe with the Raikage or with herself.

A fight between Kages, betting the whole war on a proxy battle. But ninjas really only fought proxy battles for their countries, anyways.

Ursura raised an eyebrow. "And what if the Fire Lord told you that we, you and me, kid, what if he said that Stone and Fire were going to war."

Naruto shook his head vehemently. "He can't tell the Hokage what to do!" He protested. "The Kage's the strongest person in the Village, in the Country."

Ursura shook her head, disbelieving. She knew she was getting sidetracked from interrogating this kid by his zany policy opinions, but… how couldn't she ask? "That's not how it works, kid. The Daimyo controls the money, he pays the budget for the Hidden Village. You gotta do what he says!"

The kid frowned. "Why?"

Tetsuko couldn't handle it. "Why!? The Daimyo collects the taxes and supports the finances of the Village. If you don't obey he can threaten your budget and you'll be ousted by the council! That's why you have to do what the Daimyo says!"

"That's not what I meant!" Naruto shot back. "Why does the Daimyo control the budget, huh? What stops the Hokage from taking control of that!"

There was a pause as the two interrogators digested that. Overthrowing the Daimyo, who provided funding, was the closest thing to heresy the ninja world had. The Mist civil war had been sparked by a rogue faction trying to seize control of the taxes, and it had ruined the country.

"Kid…" Ursura said.

But Naruto was on a role. "The Daimyo… what did he ever do that was so great, eh? Just because he was born, he's on top?" Naruto shook his head, and slapped his fist in his hand. "The Hokage is the greatest ninja in the village. Out of everyone, they're the best choice, who trained every day for years to lead everyone! How does being born compare to that!" Breathing a little heavily from his outburst, he visibly reigned himself in. "If the Daimyo told me to put all my precious people in danger because of his own reasons, well, I wouldn't let him!"

"And if I said you were going to war with the Stone country, hmm? What if it was Those that Hide in the Stones that brought war to your door step?" Ursura said.

Naruto looked her in the eye, and said, "The Kage leads the Village. If a Village goes to war, it's because the Kage said so. If the Stone and the Leaf go to war, it's because you, the Tsuchikage, said so." He leaned forward, eyes burning with intensity. "If you threaten my precious people like that, I will personally hunt you down and kill you right in your office while you're wearing your big hat."

Ursura held his eye contact for a minute, holding up a hand to keep Tetsuko from attacking him from behind. The kid was serious. Scary shit, man, Ursura thought, and she couldn't help shuddering a little bit (to be fair it was mostly from that genjutsu of Itachi's) and looking away when she noticed that his eyes, normally blue, had darkened, had reddened and the pupil began to distort into a slit as he got angry.

Then she grinned, and heaved herself to her feet. "You're some hard-core shit, you know that kid." She shook her head. "Man oh man." Although it was wrapped in platitudes and seemingly juvenile ideals, there were some ruthless sentiments underneath his words.

His doctrine was simple, but subtle. By holding the enemy leadership directly accountable for their wars, by killing them first, he was ensuring that an enemy country would only start wars that the leaders were personally willing to die for. Ursura had seen many that got drunk on power and viewed the ninja beneath them as expendable.

Naruto was turning that upside down. He was viewing the lives of the foot soldiers, of the individual ninja, as more precious than the lives of the leaders. Something in that appealed to Ursura, something in that made her want to believe in the kid.

"All right, kid, last question…" She said, looking down at the kid. "What if you started the war?"

Naruto looked up. "I wouldn't." He said firmly.

"For the sake of the argument, kid, humor me." The Tsuchikage said.

"I would kill to protect my precious people." He said frankly. "How can I expect you to be any different?"

Ursura leaned down, so that her eyes were inches from his. "I like you." She declared, voice alight with savage intensity. "You've got balls, kid, and your heart is in the right place, and you're a lot less stupid then you sound."

"Hey!" Naruto complained.

"I tell you what." Ursura said, grinning. "When you become Hokage… we'll sign a peace treaty, you and me, and the Stone and the Leaf will be allies, how about that?" And with that, Ursura held out her hand to the boy sitting in front of her.

"Tsuchikage…" Tetsuko murmered, but Ursura waved her off.

"I'd like that. I'd like it a lot." Naruto said, taking Ursura's hand and allowing her to pull him up, so the two were standing.

The sun was climbing in the sky.

I I I

There was something making noise. It was difficult to tell what, exactly, over the throbbing that made it feel like his brain was trying to burst out of his skull through his temples. It sounded vaguely like someone was talking to him.

Jiraiya just groaned pitifully in response.

"Boss! You gotta wake up!" The voice said, an urgent whisper right in his ear.

Jiraiya groaned again, and rolled over to get away from the voice. Unfortunately he didn't remember how narrow his cot was, so he ended up rolling off the edge and hitting the cold, hard cement floor with a thud.

Then Jiraiya whimpered.

"Boss! Come on, this is important!" The voice said again, somehow right in his ear again. "Naruto is in trouble!"

Blearly, but with some urgency, Jiraiya cracked open an eyelid and made eye contact with the Toad perched on his shoulder. Gamakichi really did look worried.

Jiraiya managed to force himself to a sitting position, and ran his hands down his face. He could feel the stubble from not shaving, the tracks where drool and mucus had trailed down his face, and his eyes were still crusty and blood-shot. His senses of touch, hearing and sight were painfully sensitized and everything felt like it was covered by grit.

Jiraiya made another noise, this one somewhat more interrogative.

"Naruto got caught!" Gamakichi said, distraught. "And he fought with Itachi or something!"

Jiraiya stilled, looking carefully into the Toads eyes. They were serious. Jiriaiya swore incoherently, and somehow managed to leverage himself onto his feet. Swaying, eyes crossing from sudden nausea and a flare of hangover-related pain, Jiraiya fumbled through some handseals before disappearing into a swirl of ninja smoke with a pop that was somehow obscene.

Moments later, the bars to the cell clanged as the guard ran his billyclub along them, tapping each of them in turn as he walked along the cells of the village lockup. "Rise and shine, drunkards and vagrants, rise and shine." The guard shouted, rousing the various miscreants.

The guard stopped when he got to the cell that Jiraiya had been sleeping his hangover off in.

The cell was empty. "Oh Shi-"

I I I

Yugito sat sullenly, legs pulled up against her chest, arms wrapped around her knees. She stared dully into space as Kirema sat across from her, frowning. Kamome was sitting at Kirema's left, her face closed to emotion and rigid with pain, while Reiko had an indescribable look on her face.

"So." Kirema said. "This Naruto person is the real identity of a Leaf kunoichi you befriended here at the festival." The leader of the Cloud Team shook her head, voice angry and incredulous. "Just like that, you compromised your role and reduced your effectiveness as a weapon. I am very disappointed in you."

Yugito didn't say anything; except for the clenching of her jaw, she might have not even heard.

"Answer me!" Kirema spoke sharply.

"I apologize. Kirema-sama." Yugito said in a monotone.

Kirema eyed Yugito for a moment longer, before nodding. "This conversation is over. Understand that we'll have to reassess your dependability as a ninja after this."

"Yes. Kirema-sama." Yugito said, repeating the same studied monotone.

Kirema carefully stood, mindful of her own wounds, and moved to where the Tsuchikage had finished speaking with Naruto. She glanced behind herself; Kamome stood with somewhat less grace than usual, but Reiko met her eye before saying, "I'll be along in a minute."

Kirema studied Reiko for an instant before nodding, and proceeding to where Ursura stood.

Reiko stood, and moved forward to sit down next to Yugito, mirroring the younger girl's posture, sitting with her legs pulled up and her arms around her legs. The posture made Reiko's side throb, but no matter.

"When I was thirteen, my jounin-sensei was killed right in front of me." Reiko began. "It was during one of the border skirmishes between the Second and Third Secret Wars. We were on a relatively routine intelligence-gathering mission in the Rain country."

"We were deep in Rain territory. Our sensei had gathered the information we needed and we got a little sloppy on our stealth on the way out. That's why we were discovered. The man who found us was already the rising hero of his country, none other than Hanzo the Salamander."

"Naturally, we still tried to achieve our objective, and escape past him into our homeland. Our sensei rushed him. Today, intellectually, I know that sensei was using a combined taijutsu/raiton-ninjutsu technique called 'Skyrider,' and Hanzo countered with a partial summoning that augmented his body."

"At the time all I knew was there was a huge flash of light, and a dull boom, and then Sensei was bleeding all over the place from where his lung used to be and The Salamander was standing over Sensei with a frog-looking thing sticking out of his shoulder that leaked smoke out its mouth."

"We were only genin, but we knew what we had to do. We rushed him, and he took us down hard—Tozemaru was good, really good for a ninja his age, so Hanzo was a little less careful with Tozemaru, and cut off his arm with his freaky shoulder tongue."

"So there Hanzo was, standing over us, and Gennei—he was my other teammate, he died years ago in a poison gas jutsu from a Hidden Grass chuunin—Gennei shouted something about why didn't he do the honorable thing and kill us, too."

Reiko smiled, then, a crooked, complicated expression. "I don't really remember what Gennai said, to be honest, but I'll never remember the half-sad, half-exasperated expression on Hanzo's face when he said to us, 'Listen, kid, don't spit on my kindness.'"

Reiko was silent for a moment. "I was really bitter for about three, four years. What the hell, kindness, he just killed sensei and crippled Tozemaru." Reiko paused, significantly. "Then I learned more about tactical MO and realized that Hanzo should have killed us all."

Reiko flopped back, and winced when it aggravated her wounds. "I guess what I'm trying to say is, kindness in the ninja world can look like cruelty, if you don't think about it. Hanzo killed Sensei and ruined Tozemaru, true, but… he also spared our lives when it was really not such a smart idea for him."

"So now we have this kid, this Naruto, who disguised himself as a kunoichi to spy on us, and in so doing lied to you about his identity." Reiko said. "And he hurt you because his mission required that he deceive you. But his mission didn't require that he befriend you." Reiko snorted. "And it certainly didn't require that he charge into the jaws of death and snatch you off those jagged teeth, either, eh?"

Sighing, Reiko stood up. "Kindness indeed." And Reiko walked away.

Yugito squeezed her knees tighter, not sure what to feel.

I I I

Kirema nodded to Kamome, who went over to stand with Tetsuko and guard the prisoner while Ursura and Kirema conferred.

"So, whadda ya think?" Ursura said, crossing her arms to hide the shaking in her fingers.

Kirema frowned. "He's too dangerous to take prisoner, but it would be really good to extract what intelligence we can from him."

Ursura grinned. "I say let him go."

Kirema raised an eyebrow.

Ursura scowled. "Come on, think it through, it's obvious. If the kid doesn't report back then Konoha will know we found him. They already suspect that we're collaborating, plus Kakashi's suspiciously convenient bodyguard mission—and then their spy doesn't come back."

Ursura shook her head. "And anyways, we're already assuming we could take him. On top of that, I don't have anywhere in Hidden Stone I'd trust to hold a jinchuuriki, let alone that one. I imagine it's the same in Hidden Cloud."

"So, just let him go, scot-free." Kirema said.

Ursura shrugged. "At the very least it'll throw Konoha through a loop. And anyways… we can leverage it as political capital later. I can't take the risk of holding him, I might as well try and get some benefit, even if it's just holding something over Tsunade's head."

Kirema just shrugged her acceptance, and even though she had a sour look on her face she kept her opinion of releasing the spy go to herself.

I I I

"Alright, kid, we're gonna let you go." Ursura said.

"Finally!" Naruto groaned, standing up.

Tetsuko caught her Kage's eye, and saw something in there that decided her, because she didn't protest when the boy stood up.

"Well, it's been fun!" Naruto said enthusiastically. "I hope we get to meet again sometime! Only, you know, not as enemies during a mission!"

"That was probably too honest, but I agree, kid." Ursura shot back. "Anyway, take care of yourself, okay? It would be lame if you died stupidly and didn't become Hokage."

"I'll become Hokage one day and we'll all live at peace with each other! Believe it!" Naruto shouted, pumping his fist in the air.

Tetsuko nods stiffly, not really wanting to acknowledge the kid but not wanting to show disrespect to someone her boss favors, either.

Okute waves timidly, and Chigaku looks up and nods before laying her head back down on a slab of sandstone she'd dug up and going back into recuperative sleep.

Kamome bows, somewhat formally, from where she was sitting against what was left of a pillar from the veranda, and Reiko doesn't look up from her physics book when she waves.

"Goodbye." Kirema said, somewhat stiffly, and Naruto turned to look at Yugito, who wouldn't meet his gaze.

He stays like that for a moment, face frozen, before his smile becomes softer, and the happiness seems to fade from it. "Yeah, take care, okay?"

With that, Naruto turns and leaps over the veranda of the ruined hotel. The authorities will be here soon and Naruto wants no part of that.

Yugito stares at his back as he leaves, and continues to stare for a moment after that.

"Yugito." Kirema says. "Don't go and do something you'll regret."

"Yugito." Reiko flips the page, eyes intent on her book. "Don't stay and do something you'll regret more, either."

Startled, Yugito turns to look at the jounin. Reiko glances up from her book, and says, "If you let it end like this…" and trails off, leaving all the what-ifs to Yugito.

Resolved, Yugito nods and, without meeting Kirema's eyes, shoots off after the boy.

Kirema rounds on Reiko, who reluctantly puts away her book and prepares to take her scolding like a woman.

I I I

Naruto is at the apex of his jump when he gets tackled from behind. Startled, he turns his head and recognizes Yugito, who has wrapped her arms around his shoulders.

He barely manages to land without skidding off the back of the building. Yugito doesn't exactly impede him, but she's sure not helping. He has to contort pretty badly to finish the jump.

Naruto contemplates the two inches between them and the edge of the roof, as well as the restaurant dumpster that would have broken their fall if they hadn't cleared the roof.

The dumpster is full of natto.

"That was close." He whispers to himself.

"It was, wasn't it?" Yugito said.

"Yeah," Naruto says. Honest relief enters his voice. "But, but, we made it at the last instant!"

Yugito squeezes his shoulders. "I felt betrayed, you know."

Naruto almost says 'then why'd you try to tackle me into the dumpster' but something stays his tongue. He pries Yugito off his shoulders and turns around so they're facing each other. He looks up into her eyes and is astonished to see she is almost crying and is hesitating to meet his gaze.

Naruto looks into her eyes and realizes that, once again, he has no idea what she's talking about.

"I'm sorry." Naruto says. He sounds confident, but he's basically guessing.

She smiles, tremulously. "Thank you. I'm glad… it wasn't all a lie."

Naruto screws up his face, frowning. "What are you talking about? I never lied to you." Naruto pauses for a moment, and the emerging black look on Yugito's face sends him scurrying for words. Also the hands on his shoulders are beginning to squeeze more threateningly. "Well, aside from the whole disguised-as-a-girl thing." Naruto admits. "But that was just for the mission. I kinda forgot about that part because hanging out with you was such a blast, you know?"

Yugito smiles. "I'm glad. Friends?"

"Of course!" Naruto shouts. He would have struck the nice guy pose, but Yugito still had him in this death-hug thing. Alternatively he would have put his hands behind his head, but again, Yugito was in the way. He settles for settling his hands on top of hers.

More solemnly, he meets Yugito's eyes and says "You're precious to me, now. A precious person."

Yugito blushes, and looks down. "You… you're precious to me to."

"That's great." Naruto says, earnestly. "The pain of being alone… I'm glad you don't have to feel that way anymore."

"But… you're going to be going back to your village." Yugito says. "We might never see each other again."

"Never is maybe a bit strong." Naruto says. "Heck, Temari is from Hidden Sand, but she's at Konoha like every other week. Usually hanging out with Shikamaru, now that I think about it."

"I don't know if I could get away from Hidden Cloud that often." Yugito says. "But… I'd like to stay in touch." More hesitantly, she adds, "do you think… you could write me?"

"Of course!" Naruto says. "My handwriting's not too good and Iruka always said I couldn't spell but I can try for you."

"Thank you." Yugito said. "I'd… I'd really appreciate that."

I I I

Jiraiya has never felt more conflicted in his life.

He'd gotten to Snow Country in record time. It wasn't just a land-speed record; he'd traveled across about three countries using space/time ninjutsu. And he anticipated a pitched battle against at least Ursura of Five Bears and the Akatsuki duo of Itachi and Kisame once he got there.

But then when he got there Naruto was having some teary goodbye scene with a hot blonde kunoichi several years older than him. She was all over him!

Jiraiya had never understood what Uchiha Mikoto had meant by saying "sometimes you want to hug them and strangle them all at the same time."

He also wanted to punch Naruto in the face. Or buy him a beer.

"That magnificient bastard." The Toad Sage groused.

Once the kunoichi left, Jiraiya settled for tackling the kid out of the sky and giving him the noogie of a lifetime.

"What the hell was that about, eh brat?" Jiraiya roared.

"Goddammit Ero-sennin what's with the mid-air tackles all of a sudden?" Naruto roared.

"Well you need something to calm down after being all love-love!" Jiraiya shouted, still grinding his knuckles into Naruto's head as hard as he could.

Meanwhile, Naruto managed to pull out a kunai and punch Jiraiya in the kidney with the ring. "What are you talking about, eh? I was just saying goodbye to Yugito-chan!"

Jiraiya kicked his defacto apprentice in the face while nursing his side. "Stupid brat! Show more respect to your elders!"

Naruto rubbed his blackening eye rebelliously. Hard experience had taught him not to get drawn into arguments with Jiraiya unless he was sure he could win. Better to bide his time and get revenge by more subtle methods.

Jiraiya shook his head. "Right. Give me a quick report."

Naruto crossed his arms, and frowned officiously. "Yes! I made contact with the target groups and found out that Stone and Cloud made a mutual defense agreement in the Hot Spring. But they don't seem to want to invade, which is good 'cause then I'd beat them up! Then Akatsuki showed up and kicked everybody's butts and I stared down Itachi. Then I blew off Hidan's head with rasengan, but in retrospect I don't think that killed him."

Jiraiya stared for a moment, unable to believe that but also pretty sure Naruto hadn't lied to him. "I think your debriefing with Tsunade is going to take a while."

I I I

"Are you sure that was wise? Tsuchikage-sama." Tetsuko said, voice lacking in any inflection that would imply she disapproved.

"Was what wise?" Ursura said, eyes forward as the two waited for Okute to report back. They were taking it slow and careful on the trip back to the Stone Country.

"Promising a treaty to the Leaf like that?" Tetsuko said. "We've been their enemies for a long time."

"Friends today, enemies tomorrow." Ursura quoted. She didn't have to finish; the corollary of that famous saying was, of course, "enemies today, friends tomorrow."

"Besides," The Tsuchikage continued, "I offered a peace deal to him, contingent on him becoming Hokage, no one else."

"And if the Reikage finds out?" Tetsuko asked.

"There were only the three of us." Ursura responded quietly. "And I doubt that blond bastard will say anything."

"I would never!" Tetsuko hissed.

"I wasn't questioning your loyalty." Ursura said. "But, frankly, I'm pretty sure the Raikage would have done the same thing." The Tsuchikage sat up, and rubbed her face. "Listen… I'm used to thinking big, thinking ambitious. It's part of being Kage, of reaching for the top, you know?"

Ursura leaned forward, and looked her second in command right in the eye. "He said some very interesting things about the Kage as the leader of the country. Mist botched their chance… but if we, the other villages, all agreed to go at the same time… well."

Tetsuko said. "You mean…!"

Ursura grunted. "Yeah."

No more was said.