Chapter 46

Haku's mist-creating jutsu had been a godsend. While she claimed that Zabuza hadn't taught her much about his Silent Killing technique, she was clearly adept enough at the technique to easily avoid any people that could possibly detect her or her direct accompaniment in the mission at hand, Sarutobi Asuma.

Asuma had taken the lead, with comments from Haku on how to avoid patrols and areas choked with people. It was kind of unnerving for him to have the student of a Silent Killing master being his eyes and ears in the mist. If Haku had held on to any bitter feelings to how he had killed Zabuza in battle years ago all she really had to do was just take a moment and try to take him out.

Or try to anyway.

But that was still stupid for a different reason other than the fact that he was sure that he could take her on and win quite handily. They were in the middle of no man's land in Port Degarashi, and getting busted before they even got to sea was going to keep her from ever getting back to Kirigakure. What would she have done to do to reach out for assistance if the Konoha option fell through, go to Kumogakure? Good luck with that.

"Haku-san." Asuma whispered as they had reached the docks by that time. Anko and Yamato weren't too far away procuring a ship somewhere, but they weren't necessarily close either, "We need to prevent any of the other ships from leaving the harbor. That's how we're going to make sure there's no way we can be followed."

The quiet sound of the water ebbing and flowing actually managed to sound over the conversation being had by the two ninja concealing themselves in the mist and the dock supplies they were hiding amongst.

That eerie mask turned his way to let him know that Haku was indeed looking his way and listening to his request, "Of course Sarutobi-san, but do you already have a plan on how you're going to go about this?"

Asuma nodded and pulled out a large fistful of explosive tags, "Plant these in the sweet spots on the ships and blow those things right out of the water. They can't chase us without a vessel to follow with can they?"

Haku merely pulled off her mask to reveal a good-natured smile as she shook her head, "Asuma-san that is too noisy. We want to be able to escape before the enemy ever realizes we obtained a ship from them."

With a dry look on his face, Asuma just stared at the young woman as she reaffixed the porcelain mask to her face and looked around their surroundings as best she could in the mist of her own creation, "Since you said that I assume you have a plan to do this without making a boom?"

Haku didn't speak, instead creating several hand-seals before hopping off of the dock and landing as light as a feather on the surface of the ocean water. Light ripples emerged from the water where she touched down until it quickly frosted over and froze solid. Asuma watched from his point of view as Haku began to freeze the entire bay solid around the ships in sight. Frost even began to form around the bottom of the hulls of the ships.

Once she felt she had frozen enough of the area's water over, Haku jumped back onto the dock and looked at her handiwork with a nod, feeling that she had done enough to that area to detain the vessels there from being able to break free and pursue them once the time came, "Hyoton: Hyogen no Jutsu (Ice Release: Ice Field Jutsu)." She said calmly as she rejoined the Konoha jounin, "Shall we proceed to the next area and continue?"

Asuma just shook his head and lead the way to the next station of the harbor to continue their work. Kids were just getting scarier and scarier these days. He hoped his own child would end up being a terror, because the stuff some of these brats could do… well he or she would definitely need to be.

XxX

(Elsewhere in Degarashi Port – Wasabi Family Mansion)

Guren was not going to screw around with Naruto. Not for a moment. She was going to go for the kill immediately. Outright ignoring Naruto's testing move of sending out five clones to check her defenses, Guren wasted no time in ridding herself of the nuisances as she advanced across the main mansion rooftop towards the original, "Shouton: Suishouhari (Crystal Release: Crystal Needles)!"

She seemingly created multiple long pink crystals from nothing and fired them at Naruto's clones. The attacks pierced them and returned them to smoke and even one to ash and impaled themselves in the roof.

Without a beat being missed, Naruto's machete came careening through the air with its extremely long chain attached. Guren hit the deck, dropping to her belly on the rooftop as she could feel the ripping air of the chain swing over her head. Nature manipulation had been added into those two tools. She didn't want to risk trying to block such an attack with her crystal defenses yet since if he were willing to attack her after his previous defeat he probably assumed that his technique could break through.

From her place on her belly, Guren formed several crystal shuriken and hurled them at Naruto as his machete was pulled by the chain back into his hand. Naruto blocked the solid pink projectiles and sheathe the weapon before shoving his hands into the surface of the roof, breaking through just underneath it, "Giga Shintou (Giga Impact)!" Naruto twisted his hands and ripped them both from beneath the roof.

The action and the concentrated pressure of his wind technique started carving a grinding path through the roof to where Guren was lying down for cover. She quickly pushed herself up and dodged the path that was running right towards her before she found herself caught up in it.

Guren could see that Naruto's jutsu had ripped up enough of the roof that she could see the underlying support beams for their top level of the building, 'That would have stripped the flesh right off of my bones.' What a simple attack though. It was just him using wind-based chakra with pure brute force. There were no technical mechanics involved whatsoever.

The attack from the Konoha chunin didn't subside though, and Naruto was right there attacking Guren with his machete once more. First with an attack from the sky that missed and sliced cleanly into the roof. By then Guren was ready to fight back with her ever-present blade on the back of her wrist. The two traded strikes back and forth, but not only did Guren find that gaining ground in a melee fight with Naruto was exceedingly difficult, her arm blade eventually broke due to the constant barrage of Naruto's machete.

Gritting her teeth, she allowed it to shatter from one of Naruto's swings and planned in advance to deliver a retaliatory kick to his stomach that landed, knocking him away from her far enough to let her get some distance with a small retreat.

Naruto held his torso and growled as he watched Guren get some distance. That wasn't going to be good for him. He'd seen full well in the past what Guren could do if given a bit of space and time to prepare. Not this time.

"Setsudanki Hassha (Slingshot Guillotine)!" Letting fly with his machete and chain once more, Naruto targeted Guren mid-retreat as she ran up the gentle and then harsh slope of the mansion's steeple. She was fast enough to avoid it, but Naruto's machete and chain milled right through the building architecture and sent it tumbling over.

Guren cursed under her breath as the structure fell and jumped onto one of the exposed beams that Naruto's clear-cutting of the steeple exposed. Destructive little shit wasn't he? Dangerous.

"This was a nice home before you got here." Guren said, somewhat tauntingly, "It's a good thing I don't live here though, so I don't really care about it." Her face then twisted into a scowl as she made three hand signs, "Shouton: Suishou Kyou (Crystal Release: Jade Crystal Mirror)!"

Naruto watched a mirror in the form of a snowflake form directly in front of Guren. He didn't understand why she had created it though. He could break that easily and he knew that she was aware of that. It wasn't a sturdy defense at all, thus Naruto was prepared for an attack.

But it wasn't supposed to defend her from anything, nor was it a direct method of attacking him either.

From the mirror, several clones of Guren climbed out from what seemed to be her very reflection itself. Not illusionary copies either. He could feel their presences and they moved independently of each other and of Guren herself who just continued to stand behind the mirror looking quite smug.

"You didn't think you were the only one with a high-level clone jutsu did you?" Guren asked as her clones spaced out, all positioned across the roof, "Suishou Bunshin no Jutsu (Jade Crystal Clone Jutsu). Lovely aren't they?" The real Guren from behind her mirror tapped it with her finger and shattered it into pieces as her clones lunged at Naruto directly to attack him at once.

A quick lunge from three of the clones had them bearing down on Naruto swiftly. He was able to dodge the punches of two of them before he cut straight through another with his machete and shattered it to bits.

Naruto had to shut his eyes and pull his goggles down over them to protect his vision as pieces of sharp crystal cut his face and clothing, even through his arm-warmers as he continued on to the next set of copies, 'I can appreciate a good clone jutsu.' As he reached the next two clones, Naruto avoided a punch from one by simply cutting its arm off. While the other one attacked his unarmed side, he formed a Rasengan in his free hand and shoved it straight through his enemy.

Thank you Jiraiya. Actually, thank you Yondaime Hokage.

An interested Guren stood back and watched Naruto handle her clones, trying to observe his patterns and what she could determine of his preferences. Seeing him take down five had been enough for her and with a snap of her fingers the other clones that had been moving into position to engage Naruto next all burst into particles of crystal, "Shouton: Shuriken Ranbu (Crystal Release: Shuriken Wild Dance)!"

Naruto found himself surrounded by a storm of crystal particles that began cutting into his clothing and flesh as he covered himself up. Guren merely cackled as she saw Naruto simply defend himself as best he could by curling up. Not so tough after all was he?

"Fuumon no Jutsu (Wind Ripple Jutsu)!" From his curled up position, he abruptly stood straight up and thrust his arms out, pushing away the crystal pieces in all directions with a low boom. Guren's hair got blown back a bit as pieces of her own crystal attack flew past her.

All she did was dust the bits and pieces that got onto her clothing off, "I see what you specialize in." Guren said as she confidently placed a hand on her hip and observed a slightly bloodied Naruto stare her down, "You hide it well enough with some of your other techniques like what you do with the ash… but you're still just a close-range fighter."

He could dress it up all he liked with his little machete and chain trick. At its core that was still a direct melee attack. And his sealing techniques, he had to be close enough to make full palm contact with at least one hand, two for the stronger ones. She wasn't even going to bring up the Rasengan itself that he had just used.

"Yes… you're more comfortable in close." Guren continued with a smirk, "That's unfortunate for you, because I don't plan on getting within fifteen feet of you again until I'm checking over your corpse to make sure you're dead." The one who could dictate the range of a battle had the control of the entire situation, "I don't need to stay close to my enemy to tear them apart."

The bulk of Naruto's ninjutsu that had range were dangerous, but the true treachery of the ranged machete attack or the hot burning ash or the Giga Impact that he used to rip up most of the roof in a straight line just so happened to be that Naruto didn't expect those moves to land. He used them to corral an enemy into a position where he could deliver his more subtle but notably devastating moves like the Rasengan, the famed melee jutsu of Namikaze Minato.

She only needed to see it once to know what it was. Orochimaru was rather interested in the pure chakra manipulation before he left Konoha. He never got a piece of the knowledge on it though before he departed the village.

Naruto's lips quirked in a moment of amusement before setting his face back to a serious visage, "You got me." He said with a bit of a sheepish chuckle, "I'm just a straightforward idiot. But then again, it's like standing in the middle of a road with a stampede of oxen heading right at you. Just because you know what's coming, does that mean you can stop it?"

"I did the first time easily enough didn't I jinchuuriki-boy?"

"That was a long time ago."

Indeed. Guren was aware that the danger of being struck with Naruto's wind-chakra through his machete rendered her crystal armor useless. He'd break clean through it and cut into her or through her. She was wasting chakra just trying to find a way to hurt him. He wasn't mindlessly plowing full-steam ahead the way he had the first time years ago, and he hadn't even drawn upon the chakra of the biju within him either.

That was what really irked her. That he was matching her without drawing upon a secondary source of power, and he was confident about it. Those cuts despite being numerous were mere trifles to him and she knew it full well.

Naruto's foot moved a step and Guren was right on him to attack again because as she knew, no matter which direction he was planning on moving in he was coming straight for her, "Shouton: Kesshou Seichou o Toge (Crystal Release: Growing Crystal Thorns)!"

A large jagged branch of crystal grew out from a portion of the roof and speedily expanded towards Naruto, branching off in multiple directions that he would possibly dodge in when he chose to try and evade the technique. With the numerous portions of it moving in all directions unpredictably, Naruto was going to get cut to shreds without knowing which way he'd wind up getting it from.

Naruto once more let fly with his machete, but instead of using it to clear-cut through anything as it wouldn't have worked in that scenario, he used it as a makeshift grappling hook and yanked on the chain attached to him under his arm-warmer, forcing it to retract and reel him in before he could be impaled on multiple sides.

The machete had impaled itself on the edge of the roof and due to the lack of safety that the top of the mansion now held, Naruto wound up hanging over the edge by his chain and dropped to the ground of the property, waiting for Guren to make her presence felt again.

Many long, large pink crystals started falling from the sky and spiking themselves into the ground all around Naruto as he began to get mobile and dodge the crystalline javelins that seemed to keep falling and falling.

Amid the many deadly projectiles, a large hexagonal shuriken flew through the air, independent of the javelins. Naruto saw it coming right before it reached him despite its flat hard-to-see shape and the speed it had been thrown to reach. Naruto used his machete and the dense mineral grinded against the well-worn metal of his weapon of choice, driving him back over the ground before Naruto could swing his own body around and redirect it elsewhere.

Mere misdirection. All of it.

Guren began weaving along the ground through the mess that her upright crystal javelins had made of the mansion grounds until she reached Naruto with her arm-blade drawn back and ready to run him through.

Naruto was barely able to turn around and prepare himself to retaliate, but Guren simply burst into shards of crystal once he sighted her, 'A clone?' That was annoying. Kami, was that what he had been doing to people for all of those years? He was an evil bastard.

But now Guren had him dead to rights and could finish him. He didn't even need to turn back around to know he was screwed. He could sense her there with his echolocation jutsu. That only left one option to try. His trump card to deal with Guren, "Shikamaru now!"

'What?' Guren quickly ended her attempt to kill off Naruto mid-step, a large crystal lance formed around her right arm. She had forgotten about the boy's damned teammates. The most irksome of them was the smartass Nara. He had been lying in wait the whole time just letting Naruto fight to lure her into a trap? 'Where could he have been-?'

With a big grin the moment Naruto felt her hesitate, he wasted no time in whipping around immediately and grabbing her free arm with his nigh unbreakable grip, yanking her right into him as hard as he could where he smashed his forehead right off of her face, "Bam!" The sudden stunning attack allowed Naruto to draw back his machete for a cleaving strike, though his head was a little fuzzy after the headbutt.

The reason being that Guren had her fully transparent crystal armor on as well. That stupid brat tricked her by making her think his backup had arrived and got close enough to actually headbutt her, hard enough to stagger her even with the armor on. It was absolutely humiliating.

Guren managed to block Naruto's machete shot with her crystal lance that shattered from the slash. Her now free hand grabbed Naruto's wrist to subdue his machete arm, thus the two of them were locked in a struggle with one of them controlling one of the other's arms with their own.

The combat carried on to an equal stalemate as the two used their knees and feet to throw off the poise of their adversary's instep to compromise their balance. Again, nothing came of this and they were stuck locked together in a test of strength that Naruto was slowly winning.

"Give it up." Naruto said as he started overpowering Guren. She was no Tsunade by any stretch of the imagination, but she was strong for a woman.

Not a chance that Guren was going to let him go. They were danger close. If she let him go all it would take from Naruto would be a slight of hand and there would be a chance that he could fix her with some sort of crippling fuuinjutsu. She wasn't even thinking about letting him go and allowing him to use the Rasengan. She doubted her thin sheet of crystal armor would protect her too much from that attack, "To a scummy Konoha ninja like you? Ha. A shinobi of Otogakure never surrenders. We fight to the death."

"Okay." Naruto grunted out as he crisscrossed his arms and turned a direct about face before shouting in effort. Much to her surprise, he jumped and hefted Guren clean off of the ground before slinging her over his back and head and slamming her right into the ground with crushing force, "Raaagh! You think I need a weapon? My hands are my weapons!"

Just because she had subdued his ability to cut her temporarily didn't mean he still couldn't hurt her. He had a hundred ways to do that with his entire body, and he had just shown her one.

The armor didn't help her from feeling the consequences of the crashing slam and all of the breath left Guren's body upon impact. Her eyes went wide with panic when she saw a Rasengan begin to form in his left hand from where she was on her back. No way would she be able to deal with anything like that as she was. It would be an impossible feat to get hammered with such a jutsu in her prone position.

"Kesshou: Rokkaku Shuriken: Crystal: Hexagonal Shuriken)!" Shooting her arm up at Naruto, Guren created several snowflake-looking crystal shuriken aimed at Naruto's neck and head. He leaned his head back out of the way to avoid a grisly death. The slight opening was all she needed to ensure her survival and Guren rolled up into a headstand and a mule kick that smashed Naruto right in the chin the moment he looked back down at her.

He had been knocked up off of his feet, but he landed and kept standing. He'd been hit harder. Both Jiraiya and Tsunade had made certain of that for differing reasons. But he had missed his chance to finish Guren off. She had gotten her distance from him without wasting a step. Apparently even though she herself had said that the only way he could beat her was in close, she had seemed to underestimate just how quickly he could put an end to things if he caught her slipping.

She was definitely not going to do that again. And the lying about Shikamaru or Ino was not going to work for him again, stroke of genius though it was. It worked for what he needed it for at the time and that was all that really mattered.

Guren was hiding it well through her hateful glare, but she was sweating at this point. He had come within an eyelash of finishing her off. If she hadn't made him flinch with her sudden creation of crystal shuriken they would have had to scrape her scattered brains up off of the ground come sunrise.

Encasing him in crystal was useless in an attempt to kill him. She had tried it before and all he did was protect himself and break free with the Kyuubi's chakra. He wasn't such an easy out this time.

Enough of that thinking! She had the experience edge! She was one of Orochimaru's elites! She could beat him! All she had to do was settle down and outthink him. He was just a blonde brute with some slick tricks. He couldn't have too many of them left up those arm-warmer sleeves of his to pull out and fight with.

XxX

(Moments Before – Inside of the Mansion Main House)

Shikamaru finished tying up Gato as Ino applied the last sedative senbon to him to make sure he wouldn't wake up until they were rightly out at sea where he wouldn't be able to stage any sort of hijinks to try and weasel his way out.

A pair of female assassins lay defeated on the floor of the room wearing Otogakure headbands. It hadn't taken anything more than a minute or so to dispatch them handily enough and from there all they had to do was knock out Gato. It wasn't a bad thing that Ino took pleasure in that part in particular was it?

It was an act of mercy on their ears to put that shrieking banshee of a man under just to get him to stop yelling and begging off. Neither of them could blame him really, he wasn't a fighter, but did he have to be so annoying about it?

Hefting a thoroughly bound and gagged Gato up over his shoulder, Shikamaru frowned as the mansion shook once again. He was focused on his and Ino's fight against Gato's personal protection detail and figured that all of the rumbling around the house was in his head that he needed to focus on not getting taken off of his shoulders at the time. Now he was definitely feeling something, "We need to get back outside. It's retreat time."

"Yeah, yeah." Ino said, making sure that the Otogakure pair of kunoichi weren't going to be able to pursue even if they woke up anytime within the next 48 hours, "It sounds like a warzone out there. Is Goldie-kun alright?" She couldn't help but think of him fighting off a whole army of Otogakure shinobi, even though she knew that was very farfetched.

"He's probably the reason it sounds like that to begin with." Shikamaru said, shifting Gato on his shoulder with a grunt, "Come on. Let's-." The mansion shook terribly and the pair ran outside into the hall to see that a large portion of the ceiling above had been torn off somehow and left the beams clearly visible as well as the night sky, "Damn it… subtle as a rhino Naruto."

"Restraint definitely isn't the word of the day tonight is it?" Ino asked no one in particular as the two of them traversed upwards to go out through the roof. Whatever Naruto was doing, he definitely wasn't sandbagging it. Or maybe he just couldn't?

Upon being touched by the moonlight once more, Ino's eyes widened at the completely ruined roof that was basically nonexistent at this point. But there was no Naruto in sight. Shikamaru tapped her on the arm and pointed towards the center grounds at the back side of the mansion and came upon the sight of two fast moving combatants chasing one another on the flat ground around many crystals that were impaled in the earth.

"Crap." Shikamaru said with a frown evident on his face, "Naruto's fighting Guren? What is she even doing back in this town?" Didn't she get redeployed anywhere else? Talk about returning to the scene of a crime…

Guren's eyes noticed them standing on the roof and saw Gato with them, 'Feh, of course he didn't come alone.' As loathe as she was to protect the slimy toad she couldn't let them get away with an affiliate of Otogakure. Who knew what sensitive state information that undisciplined bastard was privy to?

But Naruto noticed this as well, and placed his body between Guren and the main mansion building as they continued to fight. She wasn't going to get Gato back, not while he had anything to say about it. And the two continued their fast-paced ballet of violence amongst each other.

Ino quickly brandished a handful of senbon, narrowing her eyes on the scene before them, "We should help him then. She can't handle the three of us at once. Not a chance." She stopped when she remembered something important and shot her eyes towards Gato's unmoving frame on Shikamaru's shoulder, "…One of us has to take him though."

Shikamaru knew that Ino wished to fight, if only because she felt that she had something to prove. And to be honest they could have used the help if only to make it so that they could leave as quickly as possible before the signal to evacuate went up. But there was a chance that they wouldn't be able to get Gato out even if that was their mission, and aside from that he and Naruto were more accustomed to working together than any combination of the two boys and Ino at that point.

He had a bit of a solution though, but it was a crappy one.

"Ino, can you interrogate Gato here?"

Surprised by the sudden request, Ino almost balked at it in response, "Here? I mean… I could, but it's going to take a while by myself, especially without the mind reading amplification machine. It's not a quick process." That was why they were to capture someone and take them away on the ship to begin with. A decent interrogation would take time, and that wasn't something that they had in spades at the moment.

It wasn't a technique that one could use under fire either. Ino would need her focus to dive into Gato's subconscious and she wouldn't be in any sort of position to defend herself while doing it. Certainly not something that could be done on the frontlines of a battlefield.

Fine then.

Shikamaru passed Gato off onto Ino who took him while Shikamaru shook his arms out, "Take Gato to the docks where Anko-sensei and Yamato-taichou are. We'll be right behind you. All of us can't stay and fight this time."

"I know. I'm an information specialist." Ino said, more or less consenting to the idea, "The intel is more important than some pride of mine in a fight. You two had better hurry up." She said before choosing to leave the mansion in the hills and begin making her way back to town.

'We'd better finish this in five minutes.' Shikamaru thought to himself as he saw Guren break off from fighting Naruto to try and stop Ino, "Not a chance. Kage Nui no Jutsu (Shadow Sewing Jutsu)!" From Shikamaru's body, shadows materialized in the thinner shape of extending threads that rushed out towards Guren along the ground to try and stop her.

In mid-motion, Guren saw the shadows coming along the ground and gazed upon them with some interest, 'So he can make his shadow that much harder to avoid now can he?' And it was faster as well. But it was still on the ground, and she could dodge it just as aptly as she did the first time.

Until the tips of the sharp shadows leapt off of the ground and effectively became a three-dimensional attack that was meant to stab her instead of capture her movement.

Because she was already moving through the air with the momentum of her jump, Shikamaru's shadow threads stabbed against her. But it wasn't good enough for him because he didn't feel his shadow tendrils take hold, 'Tch… that damn crystal armor of hers.' He had to stab her so that he could sew her stuck to detain her… or kill her. Whichever one was easier.

Thank goodness that kid's shadows weren't strong enough to bust the crystal armor. That was all Guren could think to herself. But then there was of course still Naruto that had been given a golden ticket to attack by his partner's intervention.

Who wouldn't cash in on such a thing? Certainly not Naruto… with his wind-enhanced bladed weapon. He was a damnably well noted opportunist of the highest magnitude.

Naruto took a clear, wide-open swing of his machete at Guren's back, only to find that he had cut through a crystal doll that had been made in her image. She shed her crystal armor and Kawarimied with it. Of course she did. Why wouldn't she have seen his attack coming? A seven year old would have seen it coming.

But from the blood on his machete, Naruto thought to himself that the most obvious method of attack could still get results, "Sorry Shika. Just a half a second faster." They hadn't been directly countered yet though, "Which way did Ino-chan go?"

"This is why I hate fighting the good Otogakure ninjas…" Shikamaru complained as both he and Naruto went off in the direction that Ino ran towards, off of the mansion grounds and back towards the town, "…Their troublesome gambits throw off my plans."

Probably something they pick up over time from Orochimaru. Hey, they need some good traits to have them break out of the mindless drone/cannon fodder level of being an Oto shinobi. Still, not particularly good in this case, because both Naruto and Shikamaru didn't need to be master tacticians to know where Guren was going.

Especially when they saw a small trail carved out in the ground made up of mashed little chips of crystal mixed in with the torn dirt and grass, reminiscent of a tire track.

XxX

(With Anko and Yamato –Degarashi Port Harbors)

"That is seriously one useful hunter-nin." Anko said aloud from her place looking over the side of their modest-sized vessel. Her reason for being rather impressed was because with the exception of a clear and easy to use path for the ship that she and Yamato had commandeered every other ship that could be used to pursue was trapped by thick ice, "These kids are starting to make me feel old."

Haku had almost completely frozen off any chance for them being pursued.

Yamato had to agree to say the very least, "The Hyoton kekkei genkai is versatile." He said, and as someone that had a pretty damn high-level bloodline limit technique himself that was high praise, "It's kind of why the whole anti-bloodline sentiment took off so easily in Kiri all those years ago. They made the people without them feel inadequate and threatened."

Turning around with a dry look on her face, Anko pointed at the portions of ocean that were frozen solid, trapping the vast amount of ships there at Degarashi Port until it melted, "Seeing that would make me feel safe if anything, knowing that it was on my side. How'd the brat brigade even beat Haku the first time?"

A soft set of footsteps landing on the deck alerted Anko and Yamato to Asuma's presence, and on his back he had Haku held up piggyback. That was strange. Haku didn't seem to be the type to allow herself to burden others on her team.

As he walked over he already knew what his colleagues were going to ask him and Asuma explained before anyone could inquire, "She was thorough. Thorough enough that she had to take a soldier pill to keep going." Of course, because that had to use up a horrendous amount of chakra, "She probably hasn't even fully recovered from the state she was in when she made it to Konoha."

"I'm fine." Haku said, her face still concealed by her mask. At least it was until Anko walked over to her and took it off to find her face paler than normal and sweating, "…Honestly. I can still help."

Shaking her head, Anko took Haku off of Asuma's hands and proceeded to carry her inside to find a spot for her to rest, "You're going to take some down time now. Or do you want to be completely exhausted by the time we reach Mizu no Kuni? That's where you're going to be needed." The purple haired kunoichi reasoned as they headed on in.

Putting too much effort into just the first leg of the mission? Well for someone that had no problem being the willing tool of another person it didn't seem to be that unbelievable. That was a good mindset for one-shot missions, but for S-rank missions with multiple parts to it that kind of operating could be treacherous.

…How many S-rank missions had his team been on again?

Damn it.

Asuma palmed his face hard and turned towards Yamato, "We can call for my team now right? I think the quicker they get here the better." Yamato nodded and unsealed what looked to be a long bamboo tube that he slammed against the ground. From the top of it a bolt of lightning shot out of it into the sky, visible from anywhere in Degarashi Port, "How much time do you think it'll take"

"I have to give them two minutes and then I'm casting off." Yamato explained with a frown, "Otherwise we'll have Otogakure enemies all over us, making your sabotage mission worthless. We can't sit here trying to defend the ship for them until sunup." He and Asuma began to prepare the ship for a quick departure. Luckily by intention Yamato had obtained a ship that would be easy to get ready, "They have standard procedure memorized in case they get left behind don't they?"

"They won't get left behind." Asuma assured him as they got to work.

XxX

(Elsewhere in Degarashi Port)

Ino had cleared the hills where Gato's Mansion had been situated with the little man himself over her shoulder the entire way, 'Kami, why couldn't he pick somewhere closer to live?' Ino thought to herself, 'I am so out of active mission shape… being stuck in T&I all day.' But if nothing else she had covered significant ground on the way back through the village and had managed to avoid any unwanted run-ins with the enemy ninja populace. That was something that she attributed to having already been in the town for a significant mission in the past.

Hopefully this time around it ended better.

That was then and this was now though, and thinking about such things would do nothing to ensure that she reached the harbor with Gato in tow. Especially when she saw the hard to miss shot of lightning streak up through the sky from just over the water. That was the cue to get gone.

As if those in control of time and fate were getting a kick out of Team 10's situation, Ino found herself deposited back around the shipyard. The same chunk of territory in the town where things had come to a close the last time.

The sound of quite a ruckus alerted her beforehand to any trouble, and it was a good thing as well because Ino was then forced to dodge for dear life when a nearby building wall was smashed through with reckless abandon. It could have been infinitely worse.

"Found you princess." Guren had plowed through the wall while standing within a jagged wheel comprised of crystal, "You did a pretty good job of avoiding those trash 'sentries' all over town, but I'm not the absolute bottom of the barrel. It's easy to consider where you were going to go. No way would you be fool enough to try and escape over land on your own." Guren's eyes twinkled seemingly in delight at the fact that she definitely seemed to be alone and had Gato right there over her shoulder, "You had an exit strategy."

"Ooh, someone needs to give you a gold star for figuring that one out all by yourself." Ino jabbed sarcastically much to Guren's displeasure. Not particularly the best idea for someone in Ino's situation, but being demure wasn't going to stop Guren from trying to kill her. Thus being a bitch was preferable by her standards.

Guren's crystal wheel shattered of her own volition and she started walking towards Ino trying to scope out the best way to deal with the little nuisance before she could turn and run somehow again. Ino couldn't fight because she was holding up Gato and only had one arm free at best, "You know, I just don't get why you Konoha idiots keep trying to pick fights against Otogakure. We've made you look foolish time and time again and you still just keep on running your heads against the wall. Is it merely because you know by now that Orochimaru-sama commands us?"

"Hokage-sama isn't petty like that, even though from what I've heard Orochimaru is a nasty guy that screwed our village over." Ino said as her eyes darted around to look for some kind of opening to take advantage of. She'd take anything at that point. Just keep Guren talking, "Your village steps on too many toes. You prolonged a civil war and you're still taking advantage of the devastation it caused in Mizu no Kuni. You're going to start another war somewhere else if you keep doing things like that."

"It's the faults of the idiots in Kiri that let Orochimaru-sama too close." Guren explained with a smirk, "But don't worry your pretty little head about it. It's not your problem anymore. Die."

As Guren lunged forward, Ino evaded away from her and shifted Gato from her back to hold him up in front of herself at the pursuing Guren like a human shield. She saw a change in Guren's eyes as the woman got close and saw Ino's intention to avoid her attack.

Not a bad idea. She figured that since Gato was a VIP, Guren wouldn't risk his health. She was his bodyguard after all. But that was incorrect.

Guren was not in Degarashi Port as a part of Gato's security detail. She was there to merely oversee the dispatching and the arrival of ships that contained Orochimaru's interests such as his experiment subjects. Gato had nothing to do with anything involving Guren's mission. She didn't care about him at all.

Besides… Orochimaru didn't need him anymore anyway. He had gotten everything he needed out of Gato Corporation. At this point Oto and Gato Corporation were closely interwoven enough that anyone beneath Gato's station in the company could be used as a mere puppet figure under Orochimaru's command. That was the eventual plan anyway, this was just speeding it up a bit. The fool actually thought that his money was keeping him as an important figure to Orochimaru… as if money couldn't change hands easily.

"Shouton: Suishou Rou no Jutsu (Crystal Release: Jade Crystal Prison)!"

Once Ino and Gato were within hand's reach of Guren, Ino saw the devilish smirk on the woman's face and mentally cursed. She had no choice but to let go of Gato or pay the ultimate price, which left the man to the fate of being encased entirely in crystal. Sometimes it was easy to underestimate just what many of these people were willing to compromise in regards to morals to win.

She stared at Guren standing next to the crystallized Gato, still smirking before she punched the statue and shattered it entirely. Gato's body went right along with it, disintegrating with the crystal particles, "Oops." She disingenuously said, seeming to take pleasure in the look of anger on Ino's face, "I'm sorry, did you need him for something?"

"Didn't you?"

"Not really. He served his purpose. We were just looking for a good time to take him out. At least now we can blame it on you if it comes to it."

How callous. Allies were expendable and allegiances changed like people changed clothes in the Elemental Nations, but really? Just like that? The second it became a tad bit inconvenient to have him as an ally anymore she was cleared to kill him, and she'd get away with it?

And she had the nerve to feel like the superior ninja because of it. If Ino didn't have to run away, she would have stopped to fight just out of principle. Actually, Guren was probably going to make her stop and fight regardless. Right on time, Guren chose to attack her next and finish her off as intended, but at least Ino's hands were now free to fight.

"You made me fail my mission bitch!" Ino shouted as she made hand-seals and prepared to attack a charging Guren.

Before the two could clash though, Ino without warning phased through the ground. A thoroughly confused Guren was even more so when from the exact same place in the ground a grinning Naruto leapt out with a blue spiraling orb of chakra in hand. There was absolutely no time to react, "Rasengan (Spiraling Sphere)!"

The sound of shattering was from the front of Guren's armor being destroyed by Naruto's Rasengan as it was slammed directly into her chest. The force of the jutsu slammed her back through the air straight through the wall of a warehouse.

The confusion didn't end with just Guren. Ino blinked in confusion as she emerged up from the ground yards away from where she had originally been. She turned around and saw Shikamaru breathing a sigh of relief with his hands held in a strange hand-seal different from his normal shadow possession seal, "Shika? What just happened?"

"Kawarikage no Jutsu (Shadow Replacement Jutsu)… I hate that jutsu." Shikamaru said as he stood up from his position, "It looked like you needed the help though."

Ino nodded and saw Naruto standing on the pile of crystal debris from Guren's cruel execution of an equally cruel man. She wasn't going to shed any tears over it, but damn it, Guren really messed things up, "Guren killed him. It was my fault." Sure, it was either let her freeze Gato or wind up being crystallized along with him, but that didn't clear her of responsibility.

Able to hear Ino's admission of guilt, Naruto just cracked his knuckles as he stared at the hole that Guren had created with her body after his Rasengan, "Then we'll just catch her first." He said as if it were that simple.

Pointing at the sky in the direction of the ocean, Ino raised a point of importance, "Goldie-kun, the signal went off. We need to leave."

"This'll only take a minute." Naruto assured her. They weren't going to fail the only assignment given to them and botch the first mission Team 10 had been handed since its reformation. Ninja Guardians couldn't fail their missions or the worst could happen to the entire country. Well that mindset carried over to that moment too, because the home of a friend needed help, "I promise."

"You wish! Shouton: Hashou Kouryuu (Crystal Release: Tearing Crystal Falling Dragon)!"

Four large dragons comprised of crystal broke through the warehouse walls surrounding the trio of chunin with Guren riding on the head of one of them. They couldn't dodge them all and they couldn't defend themselves from them all.

Each and every one of them were annoying for their own reasons, and they had failed their mission. The only thing left for her to do was finish them off. Maybe if she delivered their heads back to Konoha that would get the intended message she wanted to express across to them?

Gritting his teeth, Naruto was about to see just how big of a boom it would take to break those dragons down, but he was quickly reminded that he wasn't fighting by himself anymore.

Shikamaru sighed in exasperation and rubbed both of his wrists over the sleeves of his open black jacket, "Right then…" He thrust his arms out in two separate directions and from beneath his sleeves shot a pair of blades.

It made Guren wonder what he was aiming at because they went nowhere near her, even the one that flew her way. But she found that she was unable to control her dragon or her own body, 'No way! I was watching! He never made his shadow even budge again!'

"Kagemane Shuriken no Jutsu (Shadow Imitation Shuriken Jutsu)." Shikamaru said, smiling slightly at how things managed to shake out for them. Thank goodness he took the whole chakra-infused blades thing from Naruto and Asuma. It used way less chakra to catch his enemies even if he only had two shots, "Now finish."

"With pleasure." Ino said as she brandished a small pellet that she threw right at Guren's head. The immobile woman was unable to do anything as it burst on her face and sent blue gas right into her breathing passages. There was nothing she could do but glare hatefully at the lot of them as she began to go under slowly but surely, "Nighty-night now."

Her eyes finally drooped closed and her crystal dragons collapsed, sending Guren falling to the ground. Naruto blinked and rubbed the back of his neck as he looked around, "Wow… that was easy." Infinitely easier than taking Guren on one-on-one had been.

"Of course it was." Ino replied matter-of-factly as she started pricking Guren with separate poisonous senbon to try and keep her sedated until they could properly bind her, "That's teamwork Goldie-kun. Thanks for saving my ass you guys." She said with a brilliant smile as Naruto stayed away from the dangerous enemy kunoichi until he was sure she was out and while Shikamaru placed his special blades back onto the wrist attachments beneath his sleeves.

"It's definitely an ass worth saving." Naruto mumbled to himself just out of Ino's earshot. Shikamaru heard him though, and shook his head at his friend's idiocy. As they prepared to head for the water Naruto then scowled at the sound of forthcoming enemies, "Great." He said to himself, "We didn't take that long that they caught up did they?"

They sort of did. But even with the method that they had used to defeat Guren, they hadn't caused too much of a ruckus in town. They could probably get away, but they had to go right then or they were going to be in serious trouble.

Taking the initiative for once, Shikamaru picked Guren up off of the ground and hoisted her over his shoulders as he and Ino took off to try and make themselves scarce. They could follow where the signal to leave came from easily enough, and now they even had a captive. One that would admittedly be harder to break than Gato, but one that would more than likely have better information.

"Yeah you guys go." Naruto said, reaching through his equipment rapidly as his teammates led the way and left, "…I'll be right there."

XxX

(Onboard the Confiscated Ship)

Asuma's fingertips drummed the railing of the ship rhythmically as he peered out impatiently towards shore. The last preparations to leave were being made by the older team members from Konoha and it had been past two minutes since the signal went up, "These kids are going to be the death of me."

"Man Asuma." An amused Anko pointed out as she leaned against the same railing as they waited, "I remember back when you hated kids. Right before you had this team as a matter of fact. And now look at you. You're taking care of foreign teenagers, you worry over your old genin squad like a mother hen, and you're even having your own brat in a few months." He shot a treacherous look her way that she just shrugged off, "You really think you've kept it that good of a secret to where nosy people don't know something?"

He of course assumed that Anko was referring to herself when she spoke of nosy people.

And if she did indeed know, he only had one thing to say, "Well then where's my gift?"

Anko scoffed and gave Asuma a few pats on the cheek, "The to-be mother is the one that's supposed to get the gifts Smokestack. But I'll tell you what. Your gift is me having the good grace to not tell the entire village that you and Kurenai are more than special friends." As if everyone with half a brain didn't know already.

"That's a crappy gift. I'm taking it back." A bark of laughter left Anko at Asuma's reply.

Yamato looked out towards the warehouse-laded harbor as he dropped down from the mast after finishing his last assignment prior and made his way to the ship's wheel to begin steering it, "We can't wait any longer. I could see it while preparing the sails, they're swarming over the harbor.

Neither Asuma nor Anko really argued as they couldn't, but before anything else, both Shikamaru and Ino's feet landed on the deck and with another guest in tow as well. It was one that both Anko and Asuma knew because of the outburst from Orochimaru's first apprentice, "What the fuck? I thought you were getting Gato, not Otogakure's resident queen psychopath!"

"She killed Gato." Shikamaru said informatively, unceremoniously dropping Guren onto the deck now that he didn't have to carry her anymore, "We needed to take someone useful or we would have been behind the eight-ball to start the mission, and Naruto was fighting her anyway so we just all jumped her and took her. She wasn't expecting us to have even half of the techniques that we did."

He modestly made it sound so simple. A lot of positioning was needed to work out the way that everything ended up and the planning from the moment that he switched out Naruto and Ino's positions with his shadow to the second he pinned Guren's shadow with his blades had been painstakenly set up.

In her chase to catch Ino, Guren couldn't have given them an easier area to trap her in either. Seriously, in a junction of warehouses? Consider that capture gift-wrapped. She threw Shikamaru a soft ball for that one.

With the ship finally moving out of its placement in the port, Yamato walked over and picked Guren up with one hand by the rope tied around her waist with a satisfied look on his face, "I'll take that. We'll put her in the hold and restrain her for Yamanaka-san to interrogate once we leave." While he was pleased at how things had worked out there was one thing left to worry about, "Where is Naruto?"

A decent question as Asuma would have figured Naruto to be faster than Ino and Shikamaru if it came to them having to race to the ship, especially since Shikamaru had been carrying a prisoner at the time.

And then a chain of explosions started moving through the shoreside warehouses to deter any enemies from venturing any further towards the ocean, especially with the large pluming cloud of ashes that shot out from them. From the fire of the blasts a rather bulky figure flew from the harbor and made a crash landing on the deck.

The attentive group from Konoha flinched at the landing but looked again to see a very large orange toad bigger than a full grown human wearing an open blue vest. He was slightly singed, probably from the series of explosions, but he was otherwise alright, "Yo." Gamakichi said, lifting a webbed hand to wave at the lot of them, "Long time no see for most of you jerks."

That was Naruto's favorite toad summon creature, Ino would have known that brazen way of speaking anywhere. The last time she'd had seen him he'd been a little puny thing. Puberty must have hit more than just them if Gamakichi looked like that now, "Where's Goldie?"

From Gamakichi's back, a soot covered hand was raised and waved to reveal Naruto who slid off of Gamakichi's back. He was covered in ashes and coughed a few times, "The special explosive tags need more work. Thanks 'Kichi. I wasn't going to be able to jump that by myself." He said as he pulled his goggles from off of his eyes back up onto his forehead. It seemed that the area around his eyes was the only place that wasn't absolutely filthy.

"You owe me Naruto." Gamakichi said, as he watched Naruto shake the soot off of himself, "You had me test out those stupid tags back on the mountain. Do you know how much of a mess those ashes make?"

"If you tested it then you should have told me how they blew up before I used them here! I thought they worked the way they were supposed to when you never answered me back about 'em!" Naruto yelled back at his most familiar toad, "Now I need to wash and change my clothes to get this crap off."

Gamakichi flicked his tongue out at Naruto and slapped him across the face before gagging once he retracted his tongue, "Bleh! Damn it that tasted gross! That tasted like licking the ashes off of a cigarette!"

Well that was because it was basically what he did… along with some toad oil as well that Naruto used to mix the concoction. Naruto cackled in response to the backfired prank and gave Gamakichi a few victorious pats on the back, "I'm covered in my own ashes dumbass. What'd you expect? Alright go home."

"Whatever you jackass… don't get yourself, the cute blonde little sweetheart, or your lazy teammate killed. I like them. Later." Canceling his own summoning in a puff of smoke, Gamakichi vanished back to the mountain that he and the others of his ilk called home.

"Your summons really don't respect you kid." Anko commented, poking at the sticky ashen mess that was Naruto, "I thought I walked the line with mine, but I think if your toads were snakes I think they would have tried to eat you by now."

"Nah, the toads are cool." Naruto said, swatting the tokubetsu jounin's hand away from him, "It's not just me though. I think they treat Ero-sensei like a bigger idiot. They don't take him seriously at all. I get respect from most of them except for Gamakichi and Gamabunta."

It was quite noticeable by that time that they were out in the open ocean and hadn't been pursued yet. Haku's little tactic of freezing the outlets of the harbor worked like a charm. Ships weren't getting out of there for a while, and with the panic accidentally caused by Naruto blowing up a few warehouses it would probably disguise their departure for a short time as well.

As they sailed away from the burning and smoking seaside of Degarashi Port it was next on to the islands that comprised the lands of Mizu no Kuni, and whatever nasty surprises awaited them upon their arrival.

A short reprieve at sea, and then onto the next challenge. They were all quite certain that there would be more than a fair share of those once they made it.

"Good work so far everyone." Asuma said in Yamato's stead as the leader of the entire team could currently be found down in the hold restraining their captive,

"You altered your plan once the parameters of your mission changed and depending on what Ino can get out of our new friend Guren it might have been for the better." He gave Shikamaru a pat on the shoulder and was about to do the same for Naruto when he saw how much of a mess he was, "…Take a shower and put on some clean clothes Naruto."

"Bah." Naruto spat as he waved Asuma off and walked inside to do as requested. It wasn't like he didn't want to be clean as well.

It took a moment of just standing around before Ino subtly tried to follow him in, failing as Anko, Asuma, and Shikamaru spotted her before she reached the door inside. Noticing all of the eyes on her, Ino turned around slowly and smacked her lips as she pointed toward the depths of the ships, "I'm just going to go help Goldie-kun find somewhere to clean himself up. Then I'm going to sleep."

"In separate bedrolls please." Anko chimed in with her cheek in her palm, "We're not running that kind of ship here." Oh, messing with the kiddies was so much fun. What great downtime entertainment while on a mission like that one.

A raised middle finger from Ino was the response, flipping her ponytail over her back as she went inside. So what if she was probably only going to use that situation to try and see what Naruto was working with underneath most of those clothes after three years? There wasn't anything wrong with that. For all she knew he'd do the exact same thing if given the opportunity.

Omake: Guardian Days 2

(Three Months after Naruto and Shikamaru's Acceptance)

The training for the Ninja Guardians turned out to be just as demanding as had been anticipated. Increased physical training was par for the course, along with the technique training required for each member. Psychological torment was also quite commonplace, but that wasn't supposed to be a part of the intended curriculum for new recruits.

It just happened.

A lot of the times not even from the senior members of the team. The imperial doctor was a major contributor to most of it.

"You certainly rolled back into town fast..." Naruto said with a grin as he sat on the observation bed inside of Tsunade's rather spacious office, "…Again. I thought you were never supposed to be here." In Tsunade's own famous last words, 'Just how sick or hurt could a bunch of straight-laced, neat-freak nobles get?'

The answer was of course more than had been first assumed by the legendary ninja medic. It turned out that nobles, especially the young ones, seemed to like dangerous situations or enjoyed putting themselves in harm's way for a rush in the middle of their largely boring lives. And she would get summoned back to the court for anything above a boo-boo level injury.

She had been back eight times in the last three months for at least three to four days each time.

"Oh hush up Naruto." Tsunade grumbled as she filled out the last dregs of paperwork, describing her last recorded patient's idiotic injury (A young teenager's attempted ninja activities without supervision or direction. He attempted to jump rooftops like the Ninja Guardians and failed miserably after slipping on the tile of his intended landing zone), the treatment prescribed, and her own personal comments on the matter (Moron, should be kept on a leash for the foreseeable future until he shows some maturity), "Aren't you supposed to be training?"

"Lunch break." Naruto held up an empty cup of ramen that he then shot into the trashcan closest to Tsunade's desk. Like a bad sport, Tsunade swatted away the container with enough aim and force that it flew back across the room and bounced off of Naruto's forehead, "Oi, that was going in." He said, not even flinching, "Where's Shizune?"

"Out doing the legwork for today…" Tsunade ran a hand through her hair with a desperate sigh. That was exactly why she hated being called back to the capital; because then any little sniffle would be the responsibility of her and Shizune. It was flattering because it was basically the noble population saying that every other doctor was completely inadequate when compared to the greatness of Tsunade, but it was still annoying, "Do you want to do me a favor?"

"Not unless that favor gets me out of evening training with the Guardians."

"I could put you through that wall. I'm sure that would buy you a full day off of training."

"That's not how you ask for a favor Tsunade-baachan."

If they hadn't been alone he definitely would have been going through the wall for calling her that, but as it was no one heard it but the two of them. Thus she let it slide this time, "Please help me you damned brat."

Now that was better. When Tsunade asked him for things without the added threat of bodily harm in the instance of his refusal of her request he felt far more inclined to assist her. The 'brat' part didn't even matter to him because he had been called brat so often he automatically turned his head when he heard anyone random yell it in the streets.

"What do you need me to do?" Naruto asked, hopping off of the examination table and walking over to his fellow blonde for whatever she wanted, "Is it something hard?"

"It's something that involves you anyway." Tsunade told him as she got up from her desk and rolled her neck out to rid it of the stiffness. That breast size of hers did damage of its own over the years, "I need you to inform all of your Ninja Guardian comrades that I'm going to need to run a physical on all of them before 5 pm. And make sure to drag your little lazy friend here so I don't have to do this tomorrow."

As long as she was there she might as well get one of the responsibilities of her job out of the way and do her routine checkups of the Ninja Guardians. There was no time like the present.

A nod came from Naruto as the two walked towards her door, "Right. Go get everybody and tell them they need their checkups done. Got it. Easy." Tsunade opened it up for Naruto to leave, but she raised an eyebrow when he just made three clones to retrieve his teammates, "There. Done."

"I can see that." How convenient for him. Maybe she could use him as a medical gofer more often? Tsunade pointed her thumb back towards the examination table indicating that Naruto was to go over there, "Alright then, since you're here already you're first. Ditch the orange clothes so we can get this over with." The door was shut to preserve Naruto's modesty.

"Do I have to get any shots?" Naruto asked, shedding his gear as requested to leave himself in his boxers without a second guess. So much for caring about his own modesty. She was a doctor though, so it was cool.

"We'll see. Now wait here while I go make copies of these forms to send off." Tsunade said, glaring hatefully at the stack of forms in her hands. Even when she shut the door behind herself to leave Naruto alone in the office he could still hear her muttering angrily all the way down the hall.

With nothing to occupy himself in the meantime while waiting for Tsunade to finish making copies, something that he thought would take a while when he heard a crash from down the hall in the direction that she went, Naruto just leaned back on the examination bed and tried to get in a quick snooze.

This failed when he got the memories from his clones back. The ones sent out to retrieve Shikamaru and Sadao just dispelled like normal following a routine delivery of a message. The one sent to Kotoko's room to do the same though, not so much.

The way Naruto's clone worded the need for the checkup, Kotoko took it as Naruto being the one endeavoring to administer the examination then and there. This was something the semi-insane kunoichi apparently had no issues with when she shrugged her shoulders in response and casually disrobed of her kimono on the spot.

Needless to say, Naruto's clone had no idea what to do, and it merely froze in place staring at her for well over four minutes before finally having slowly lost enough blood through its nose to register a dispel.

When Tsunade walked back into the room she was confused by the fact that Naruto was unconscious with blood drying from his nose to his chest. Also confusing her was why his boxers looked a touch tighter than they should have otherwise.

Jutsu List

Hyoton: Hyogen no Jutsu (Ice Release: Ice Field Jutsu). Ninjutsu, kekkei genkai, defensive, supplementary, short-to-mid range. Haku will use her body and chakra as a medium to quickly freeze anything beneath her feet; the point of expulsion for the jutsu. Haku uses this jutsu for multiple purposes; to manipulate battlefields to her liking, to increase the difficulty of pursuit when she is being chased, even for surprise movements in the midst of combat.

Fuumon no Jutsu (Wind Ripple Jutsu). C-rank ninjutsu, offensive, defensive, close range. Taking the same principle of Chakura Hankyouteii no Jutsu (Chakra Echolocation Jutsu) in how the chakra is released, the user of this jutsu adds their elemental affinity to the jutsu and creates a shockwave. The closer to the jutsu the enemy is, the more dramatic the damage will be. Up to a range of four feet the shockwave will cut an opponent and cause internal damage, outside of five feet to the farthest range of the jutsu which is twelve feet the attack will merely knock an opponent back with varying intensity.

Kawarikage no Jutsu (Shadow Replacement Jutsu). Hiden, ninjutsu, supplementary, mid-to-long range. A technique of Nara Shikamaru developed out of his clan's ninjutsu style. With the use of Shikamaru's shadow he can direct the quick transportation of people or objects at the opposite ends of his shadow as long as there is something in both places to switch with. This can be used for surprise attack countermoves with skilled teammates. *note* Shikamaru cannot outright switch himself with people and objects at the other end of his shadow, but at times overcomes this by using a previously created shadow clone with the ability to use the same techniques as him at the other end. This enables him to switch himself back and forth via his clone, but at a major cost to his own chakra.